retired_bobwaldo1

Hello everyone.

I'm starting to get the right hump with FM recently and I think I need to ask you guys about my predicament.

I've been playing the Sports Interactive games (Champ and FM) since 98 and I've always been pretty decent winning a few trophies along the way. Thing is since I got the FM games I've bombed yet I'm not sure if it's my tactics or the way the game runs on my machine.

I've been everyone known to man, with FM07 I've been Spurs, Southend, Leyton Orient, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, a mixture of teams you would say but I still can't get any higher than a mid table finish most of the time. More than likely I stop a career first season and start again and I'm sick and tired of doing this.

At present I'm Everton after getting the job from working at Leyton Orient. I hadn't done anything great with the O's. Finished 14th in my first season and got to the Johnstones Paint Trophy Area Final after being relegation candidates but that was it. Was sat in 15th second season before the toffees came in for me though I reckon that was because I made myself an ex International player at the start of the game which I believe makes you more attractive to the bigger clubs. Thing is I'm in bits with Everton. I took over when they were 16th but the squad are pretty tidy and shouldn't be where they are. I play a 5-3-2 formation with my fullbacks further up the pitch from my center backs in wing back positions. My strongest side is as follows.

Keeper is Howard, Centre Backs are Lescott, Yobo and Stubbs as the sweeper (have his arrow pointing backwards so he plays deeper. I play him there because he lacks in pace unlike the other two. Wing Backs are Andy Van Der Mayder and Anderson Silva. I then have two midfielders sitting in the middle of the park, one a defensive midfielder (Phil Neville) and the other an attacking midfielder with no free role (Tim Cahill). I then have another attacking midfielder sat just behind the front two as my playmaker (Mikel Arteta) and I have an arrow pushing him up to the front two. My pair up top are James Beattie and Andy Johnson. I set all my individual player tactics to the general player settings for positions that FM have on the game yet I modify little areas like there tackling, making my attacking midfielders and strikers normal in this area and as I have already put, unticking the free role for the deeper attacking midfielder

I'm playing attacking with medium much creativity on the toggle bar though my passing is more mixed swayed towards direct. I play normal tempo but very close to quick because I hear if you play quick it means players miss more chances. I also play normal width very close to wide as I hear playing wide stretches your side and makes it easier for the opposition to pick you off on attacks. My defensive line varies to who I am playing, if I'm up against quick strikers I play deep and if they are big and strong I just play normal. I have my closing down set to often but only the first notch into it. My tackling varies as well. Normally I play normal but if I'm playing against a side who mix it up a bit or if I'm needing a goal I play hard. I always play a playmaker and a target man but I have taken the target man option off before because people on the forum say it's to one dimensional yet it never improves my team.

I've taken so many tips from the forum aka making sure key players on opposite sides are well marked, closed down and put onto there weaker foot. I always look at my scouts match report on the opposition yet I'm yet to produce a side that can do something. I've never got near a top half finish let alone title charge or a cup and sometimes I'm just flabbergasted with some of my results. Take my recent career, lost to Chelsea at home 5-1 and they played one up top. I went to Sunderland who are down at the bottom with me and got d*cked 6-1 at the Stadium of Light.

Thing is I wonder if it's my laptop that is the problem. Whenever I log out of the game I get told that my windows is low on vital memory and that it's taking back up from unused page files. I've had one career crash on me while I'm playing it. I know it may sound like I'm trying to blame everything bar myself but could it be my laoptop that isn't running the game properly? I've only ever really had this problem when running FM, I swear my laptop meets the requirements needed to run the game.

Surely I'm not a bad manager as when playing this game at my mates houses I've done well. Bear in mind it's been for the max of about half a season but I've looked like I'm going places aka had Spurs top at January in my first season. Thing is I get nowhere near that on my machine.

Please help has I really don't want to be fraustrated with this game, I love it too much but the last few years have been shocking!! Please let me know if I've put this in the wrong forum, I wasn't sure if to put it in tactics or bugs.

Cheers for listening.

retired_nsample

AFAIK, the game either works or doesnt, so it is very unlikely that your laptop is affecting the game itself.- so regrettably it is probably the combination of tactics, team talks and players that frustrate us all.

Upgrading your laptop memeory etc will help the game run faster but will not help you win more.

retired_bobwaldo1

Thanks Fraz though I just don't get it. My mate just picks a tactic, normally 4-4-2 and then tinkers with a couple of the team tactics and leaves the rest of the player tactics and pitch instructions yet seems to be brilliant with Spurs.

In three seasons his won the League and the League Cup, got to two FA Cup Finals and the Champions League Final. I'd be lucky if I finished ninth!! I know Tottenham are good on the game and have great players but I really can't see how his pulling this off when he hardly touches the tactics. I'm not going to go to him for advice either cos he would rub my nose in it!!

I don't think I tinker with it much, as I said I leave the player instructions more or less as they are on fm when you select there defaults and create my own team instructions so how can I not pull off results like him? I just don't know where I'm going wrong now and I'm running out of ideas.

Sorry, don't mean to sound like I'm blaming my laptop for my dreadfulness!! It's a bit weird that it brings up that warning when I get off.

The thing is I've read posts on here till I'm blue in the face and taken ideas that I thought would benifit me but still got nowhere. As you can see from my strongest side they should be good enough to play to my tactics. Beattie is a great target man to hit as his heading and jumping are high. I've tried to get my Wing backs hitting him with crosses and got my team to hit the target man with passes into his head yet that hasn't worked. I've then taken that all off and made my players play mixed crosses and that hasn't worked. It leaves me totally and utterly confused!!

Help is much needed!!

retired_lisa.cochran

You're not alone mate. After struggling with Eastleigh in the Conference - read, lost all my games - I decided to start a game with Chelsea and rekindle that long lost feeling of winning a game. With 100m to spend, I set out to sell dead wood and replace them with world class players for every position of a 4-4-2. After doing that, I set up my tactic, a basic 4-4-2 with individual instructions based on the strengths of the players and team instructions based on how I like my teams to play - which, may I add, have given me great success in previous games with top tier teams.

I had a great start to the season beating Liverpool 3-1 in the Community Shield, followed by two consecutive 5-0 thrashings of Sheff Utd and Middlesbrough and a 4-0 against Watford. Apart from a very unlucky 0-2 defeat against Liverpool, I averaged 3 goals a game with almost no goals scored against me. Not even mentioning winning all my CL group stage games up till then, highlighted by a remarkable 2-0 victory against Inter. All in all, things couldn't get better. I had no major injuries, my new signings were doing extremely well and most important for me, my players were playing the way I wanted them to.

I realize it's no great feat completely obliterating everyone with Chelsea. But that's where the fun stopped.

Not even halfway into the season I lost a league game against underachieving Portsmouth - my first defeat. No hard feelings, they played good and deserved to win. This is where the injuries crept in. Maka, who completely dominated the midfield, out with a pulled hamstring. Not a problem, seeing we got a surplus supply of world class midfielders. Next game versus Aston Villa a mediocre 1-1 draw, their goalkeeper getting rewarded with man of the match performance - my keeper getting nothing but a torn calf muscle as reward. No problem though, every team gets a dip in form now and then.

The three games that followed managed to completely turn everything around. I lost to Charlton in the Carling Cup 3rd round. Newcastle followed. And to top if off Reading had their way with my team to put the final nail in the coffin. Up until then it wasn't losing, but the way we were losing that pee'd me off. In all those games we got a shedload of shots on target (as usual), managing 14 (of 21) in one game. M'boro had one shot on target the whole game. One. And it went in.

Of course morale went through the floor. From then on my once world class players looked like a bunch of conference part-timers, not being able to string together 5 passes or get a semi-decent cross in. My 52M pound striker hasn't had a goal for 5 games - where he used to average 1.5 goals/game. Opponent goalkeepers are having the matches of their lives against me. It's just mind boggling to me how a tactic that seemed to be working just how I wanted it to suddenly came to an abrupt halt and sabotaged my players into becoming a steaming pile of. Or was it the tactic? I've reloaded games (call me a cheater, I don't care, this save was suppose to be a fresh break from the usual relegation battling I usually love and loath to do) changing tactics, lineups, opposition instructions, you name it. I still lost those games.

Rant over. Maybe I should go back to managing utter crap teams and lose there, at least I won't feel too bad then.

retired_weeha

What was your final league position?

retired_rayrhi

First thing I would say is that a basic 4-4-2 is the most effective formation in the game. I don't know about the rest of the folks on here but a 5-3-2 is VERY difficult to implement in this game. Playing Van Der Meyde as a wing-back is tantamount to suicide...

retired_lisa.cochran

Just to elaborate on my last post, here's two back to back results. Note the opposing keepers rating. Totally p*sses me off. I can post more if needed to.

Chelsea vs Tottenham

Match Stats

Player Ratings

Action Zones

Chelsea vs Fulham

Match Stats

Player Ratings

Action Zones

As you can see, I seemed to have dominated both games in almost all departments. I really hope FM08 will have some sort of feedback system as I don't see the series progressing any further with these kind of results where you have got no idea where you went wrong.

retired_nayelita

ye. i understand your frustration.

i think u should change tactics to 4-4-2. its the most balanced tactic and most easy to modify to a team.

suggestion : play 4-4-2 with little direct and offesiwe wiingers.tag counter attack couse its way overpowered in fm2007.make sure u get an very good targetman jumping/heading/strenght 18+ and tick in use targetmen in team tactics.with this small changes u can make huge succes.

about everton : i dont know much about the team but i do know that tim cahill is one of the best targetmen in the game.make sure u have him in box when u make crosses and corners and make an tactic around him. or retrain him to striker and use as target striker with andrew j as fast striker next to him.

retired_bobwaldo1

Stuyvesant - I've been looking around at threads on here and came across Cleons Sheffield United challenge, have a read of it, got to say it's looks to have helped me no ends.

I took in areas that I thought would benifit me and my team, especially the player instructions and not going to over board in that area so my team instructions work better. I've also taken more notice of the scouting reports plus have made the match layout show the score along with the match stats, this means I get to see how things are panning out so if I need to make changes to my team instructions I can.

Played nine games last night after reading that thread and changing my tactics around and won five (3 away) drew three and lost one.

Everton 0-0 West Brom
Everton 3-2 Tottenham
Middlesbrough 0-1 Everton
Everton 0-0 Blackburn
Everton 0-1 West Ham
Man City 1-3 Everton
Aston Villa 1-1 Everton
Everton 2-1 Bolton
Fulham 0-1 Everton

Not saying it's fixed all my problems but it's a step in the right direction. I took into account that my player instructions don't need to be extreame ie putting mentalitys into attacking or defending etc. Best thing to do seems to be to sway near them lines in the mixed and normal areas. I kept my passing all as mixed for my players so that they co-operated when ever I asked them play short and sweet or direct. Also found out it's best to play short and slow or direct and quick.

By the way your problem with goals might be that you have your tempo on really quick, I hear that makes players rush there shot. I play my tempo on normal but just below quick and make sure my strikers have good composure so they take there time on thinking where to put the ball before stroking home!!

Will let you know how I continue. At present I have three games to go and am now seven clear of the drop though I have Newcastle at home (winnable), Arsenal away (have run away with the league) and the red half of the city at home last day (they are second). Need to get something against the toon to be a bit more at ease in the difficult last two games. Will let you know how I get on.

I'm still playing 5-3-2 by the way.

Kennec - Bang right about Cahill. I playing him in the middle of the park and have Arteta as my playmaker but always have him challenging the keeper for corners, his already scored three from set pieces because of this. His brilliant in the air. I keep Beattie up top as my target man.

retired_nayelita

yup hes like best of best in air. superb other stats to. prolly best offensive player in game in the air..................