retired_nygirl98

Hi all,

First post here. I'm what you might call a 'FM dinosaur', having played virtually every incarnation of the series, but for various reasons (inter-relationship harmony mostly!) I resisted the temptation to delve in to FM07 for as long as possible! I finally succumbed, and after reading some posts by the wise and knowledgable posters here, built my first tactic managing the Mighty Reds.

Days of frustration followed until I finally felt like I was making some progress. Then my hard drive died! When I finally found the courage to start over, I put what I'd learned previously into effect, and off I went - on a run which saw me lose only one game and draw two right up until Christmas. Then something happened.

My players started picking up injuries left, right and cente. Gerrard out for one month, Kuyt out for 3, Crouch out for a month etc. It got so bad that I couldn't even field a complete bench in my Champs League quarter final against the Man U Rowdies. Unsurprisingly, I lost!

By the end of the season, I had won the league, losing only twice but drawing 9. My players performance levels dropped off. I started conceeding goals where previously my defence had been rock solid. The goals started to dry up too, but then given the attacking injuries I had I wasn't that surprised. I'm trying to understand why my defence started to concede more goals (with essentially the same players I started the seaon with) and perhaps more importantly, why was I picking up so many injuries?

Had the game's AI started to crack my tactic? Was it looking at my impressive record and taking matters into it's own hands by restricting me to half a fit first team squad? Is it down to my training schedule - or lack of one?

I've never worked on training schedules, just leaving my players on the general setting and I'm wondering if this is the explanation. Losing a vital first-teamer every match just seemed to me to be pure sadism on the part of the game, but am I contributing to my own downfall?! I'm really enjoying the game and would appreciate some expert input.
Many thanks.

hdsegal

The longest I have ever had with a successful tactic is seven games, before it goes to pieces.

retired_nygirl98

Yeah, I realise from a lot of threads on here that this is the hardest version yet, and I do feel like I've achieved. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of why I had so many injuries really. Do you use your own training schedules, or leave it with the default general setting?

retired_barbiej

Just out of curiosity I was wondering how often do you rotate your line up? As during December there is a fixtures line up and your players do suffer slightly from fatigue hence injuries are more likely to happen.
As far as your tactics getting cracked, this happens after each game to an extent as the AI learns more and more about your style of play until the tactic is neutralized again to an extent.

retired_nygirl98

Well, I try to pick my best eleven obviously. My in-form players. I'm always mindful of fitness levels and try not to play anyone with a level below 95%

retired_e_fores

With regard to injuries, your probably just unlucky. If you look at the real Prem injury table around Xmas time you'll see it's pretty horific, and the game isn't that unrealistic in that aspect. It's just one of those difficulties yo have to put with, though of course training levels, game tempo, not subbing at good times and the like can affect the amount.

Don't worry, in one game I had 5 people injured (all long periods) and the next game another 2. All were key players too.

I quit that one.

retired_nygirl98

I wonder how many of the folks with great winning records use their own (or someone elses!) training schedules!