When I first started playing CM years ago, it took me a long time to win with any club, much less a lower league side. Then again, I never played with anyone other than a marginal Premiership club, so I gave myself more of a challenge anyway. But it simply takes time to master tactics and man management in the game. I must have tried a dozen or so saved games on two different versions of CM before I finally had success. And, even then, after I earned promotion in my second season, I could not compete in the Premiership and kept losing.
I just learned as much as I could about player attributes, tactics, player instructions, morale, coaches, and all the things that affect the game engine and results. I read Marc Vaughan's first guide to CM and that helped tremendously, because I realized how many things in the game I had overlooked. I had been doing almost nothing in the area of tactics, and I was not paying enough attention to my player attributes. Basically, I wasn't being much of a manager. You've got to learn how to manage before you can win matches.
Ever since then, I've been able to do well in most of my saved games, but sometimes you will still encounter some struggles and frustration. Just stick with it and consider all of your saved games as a chance to learn. Set a goal to finish at least one season, and just use that time to study your tactics, make adjustments, and try to start winning.
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