retired_ionakeeper1

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me just what i'm doing wrong. I'm managing coventry (i guess thats the first mistake), now before i continue i know the game is very realistic, and doing crap with coventry is about as true to life as it gets. in real life they're the worst team we've seen at the club, ever. having said that i think its a fair comment to say that SI must have a good opinion of the sky blues, seeing as theres a fair amount of talent in the game squad. 20-1 odds at the start of the season, fair enough there's potential for a spot of luck, but a mid table spot most likely. now before i updated, i managed to get the team into the play-offs in the first season on 2 occasions. using 4-4-2 at home, with no tweaking, and 5-3-2 defensive away on counter attack. since the update ive tried these tactics, and been sacked. ive tried 4-4-2 counter, and been sacked, tried 5-3-2 attacking, and been sacked. pretty much ive tried using mixes of 4-4-2 and 5-3-2 in various styles, defensive and counter attacking away/against stronger teams. and standard at home/against weaker teams. every single time i play the game i do well for the first 10 or so games, and then i hit the worst spell of form in the history of football. all the stats say i should be winning, more possession, action zones filled with sky blue, and reasonable amounts of shots on target. yet the last 10 times ive started as cov (actually its about 20), this ALWAYS happens, beginning of november i start to lose a vast majority of games, and draw the games i deserve to have clearly won. its quite literally driving me insane, and i wouldn't be here asking this if i didn't think it was of bug proportions. on my current game im 12 games without a win. 6 drawn 6 lost, before which i was 5 won 5 drawn and 1 lost. i managed to go 4 games without scoring a goal. during which time my team pummelled the opposition goal totalling almost 20 shots on target. on paper i shouldn't have lost a single match. if you have any questions that might clarify something then by all means ask. i'd really like to know if anyones seen anything like this or knows what i can do. thanks

retired_slayerbing

Hey mate, in future just to make it easier to read I'd break all that up into paragraphs... I think some people will look at it and not even bother reading it and you'll miss out on help due to that.

retired_rjw13838

I can confirm that.

retired_omid

Phew, that was a tough read.

Right, basically what your saying is that for the first 10 games or so, playing as Coventry, you manage to do quite well, winning a fair few and drawing some.

Then it kind of goes a bit wrong and you start losing games, although in those games you are the dominant side, having more possesion, more shots etc, etc.

In my opinion opposition teams start to treat you with more respect. They will get players behind the ball, and look to counter attack you. This is why you are finding you are having a lot more possesion than them, because they are allowing you to have the ball, and they get 9 men behind it when the dont have possesion.

I dont know what sort of tempo you use, but try slowing it down. If your playing a fast tempo game then you get more chances, but they are of less quality. And, if your opposition is defending well against you, then your strikers will be even more rushed.

Read some of the sticky's at the top of the page, for some good advice on re-ranking and how to set up a tactic.

retired_ionakeeper1

Thanks alot dave, will consider that. will also try to format my posts for easier reading in future too. At that point i was wound up like a watch and it kinda came out as one frustrated schizophrenic splurge.

retired_ambular0820

There is a theory making the rounds around (:p) explaining the sudden loss of form come mid-season. Some call it the curse of undead pirates, others re-ranking of your team's performance by the AI.

From what I've read and experienced, it amounts to the AI adopting a generally more defensive strategy. Now I don't quite pin what makes it so effective against human players; prima facie, a more defensive strategy adopted against your team should result in less goals scored overall, meaning perhaps more draws, but certainly not more losses all around. And yet, that seems to be the result for most people.

Perhaps what explains more losses is the way AI changes tactics within the match. A more defensive game overall does not mean a defensive game throughout the entire match. Perhaps most goals conceded comes in just at these points where the AI decides its time to go attacking, and when that happens they catch your team off their balance, scoring goals. Perhaps.

Another factor involved may have to do with your team losing the ball too often in the middle of the park due to the opposition's tighter formation - resulting in quick counterattacks. From what I've observed, the AI is quite adept in executing a counterattacking style of play, making it difficult to defend against and generally prevent.

I will not insult your tactical acumen by offering general strategies here; what I can suggest is for you to watch full games to identify problems, then work your way from there.

As you begin to tweak your settings, keep in mind that changes you make take time to stick. Major changes in your playing style take two or three games to settle, so dont worry if your latest idea initially seems to confuse the lights out of your players. Stick with it, making small adjustments where necessary, and try something new only after you're convinced that the tactic is performing to its potential.

Good luck! It's basically all trial and error, so try not to get too frustrated.

retired_liliana

I disagree with one thing: a defensive strategy doesn't mean you're playing to draw. It's an option, which you might choose because your opponent is too strong, or simply because you like its security.

As for the original poster's problem, I think it might be bad man management. Re-ranking, as far as I can tell, doesn't come into play as early as november. I might be wrong on this one, I haven't played many full seasons in FM07 yet.

But bad man management can cause a snowball effect. Morale is low, they lose, you slam them, morale gets worse. The in-game tips seem to be very good guidelines as for how to deal with team talks.

There's also the possibility that a few players are too comfortable with their position and therefore underperforming. Check their form, and if you see too many sixes give a reserve a chance for a couple of games.

If none of this helps, I suggest you rethink your tactical approach. There's plenty of good stuff in this here forum.

retired_kelseyjo

teamtalks influenced matches for me in this period too

i set assist.man does talks and stopped losing easy matches from November onwards

find 1 with good determ, man manage & motivation


check the weather, November-March is usually bad-weather time, so passing style makes a huge diff too