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My mid-season slump seems to have been going on for some time now. Now, I've read Cleon's tactics and tweaking guide, and I try to adjust accordingly. The first half of the season was easy, and we (Southmapton) were in fifth place at mid-seaon, which was acceptable to me, and then the dreaded re-ranking happened. It seems to have been competely half-assed. Some teams that were below me play to win, some teams that were above me play to counter-attack, some counter-attacking teams play direct, others play for possesion, some attacking teams play short passes, others play long ball. Reagrdless, I have tried my best to adjust my tactics accordinly, but whether I win or lose seems to be a matter of chance and to have nothing to do with the progress of a game. I can dominate and lose against an attacking team, or have no posession and win against a counterattacking team. How is this possible and what can I possibly do? It's starting to get incredibly frustrating. It seemed easier before 7.0.2...
well since you've tried tactic changes, what other game aspects are there to try to manipulate?
training
mind games
pressure opp star players
inspiring team talks
call a meeting
criticize a player
praise a player
sack a captain
buy an opp star player
sell a shti player
promote a wonderkid
demote an oldie
loan someone
made every subtle tactical change?
tc saint, i understand your frustrations, i cant answer wether it is predictable or not, but i can tell you what i do. when re-ranking seems to take affect raise your individual player instructions to a more attacking mentality ie.( i play as Sunderland so quite similar) i use rule of one usually so if i start the season on an average mentality staring at 5 for gk then i will higher it to 7 after a few months. hoe that helps a bit. when youhave 1st season in prem lowerit considerably again.
criticize a player
(But no one is playing especially badly. No one is ever below a six. Can't critcize them for that. They take it to heart)
If a senior player plays less than 7-7-7-7-7, then you should tell him you're disappointed with his performance or that he's playing below par. If he can't handle that he's not professional enough to be a regular first teamer.
I've also criticised certain players for playing 5 7s and they've responded well. Providing you also give credit where credit's due, the players respond to it. For me, that's playing two or three 8s in the past five and no sixes.
It's the best way of keeping morale very good/superb - essential for winning consistently.
As for the re-ranking question, I repeat my assertion that it doesn't affect you as much as you think. While Warrenwwr put it accross flippantly, his ideas are sound - look at the overall squad management. Keep a tight ship and you'll keep a good record. Just be prepared to modify (not necessarily overhaul) your tactics on a game-by-game basis.
Thanks shorty27 and Millie for some helpful ideas. As I mentioned, I got a lot of this sorted, and managed to finish 7th, which was just about my target (I'm very interested in developing young players, so I didn't really want to go up to the Prem too soon). Funny though, I sorted it by completely overhauling my tactics, rather than tweaking. I think there was something wrong with my center-back instructions. I'm trying to figure out what. Thanks for the advice.
Is re-ranking always predictable? 
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