Comparing my defensive stats from this year to last.

[lsamped]

I have only played 23 games this season, but my side has allowed almost as many goals as they did in the entire season last year. I havent changed my tactics and my back line has remained from last year. My side only allowed 28 goals in the 38 games we played
Cissokho--brazagali--chielinni/subotic---leichstiener

The only thing I notice different, is leichstiener's star rating went down to 3. At the end of the seaso, I'm going to go through every game and analyze how the opposing teams goals were scored and address the situation. In the mean time, does anyone have any ideas of why is has happened?

 

[Sheep_8]

Teams are getting use to the way you play if you havent changed your tactics, so they know how to break you down more effectively. Also defenders are getting older and so not as good, only advice would be to change defensive line instructions a little in your tactics....

 

[Schultz]

In my experience, some players will get "lazy" if they are guaranteed a place in the first team every week, so I use a lot of rotation in my line-up. My defensive line, for example:

DR: Two players of approximately equal skill. One is a bit on the nervous side, so I usually reserve him for low pressure matches. He plays something like 40-45 % of the games, while the other one takes care of the rest.
DL: Basically the same as DR.
DC: Four players, let's call them A, B, C and D. A is the strongest player and a very consistent performer. He features in 80-90 % of my games. B is good too, but a little less consistent. About 60-70 %. C is the weakest of the first three, but still good enough to play maybe 30-40% of the time. Finally there's D, a promising youngster looking to break into the first team. He mostly starts in League Cup games and other low pressure matches, or I put him on the field in the last 20-30 minutes of games where I'm already doing well.

I've been doing this for the last six or seven seasons, making sure to bring in new blood from time to time. They're playing well, morale is high and, due to most of the players being 99-100 % when I play them, the team suffers fewer injuries. I also haven't changed my basic tactics in all this time.

That's my advice... Rotation

EDIT: This is obviously not a formula, as each team is different. Regardless of what you do, keep a close eye on player personalities, morale, team talks and the like. Even the best players may need to be coddled from time to time