Help! I'm getting destroyed in League 2 after promotion! (Lot's of pics)

[PlaysWSquirrels]

I'm playing Rugby Town, and after four consecutive promotions I have finally broken through to some real competition. Unfortunately, though, I'm getting murdered. I've played three games so far and lost them all, only scoring twice and conceding 9.

Here are my starting 11:
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Not too bad in my opinion, but my CBs are dinosaurs and I am getting burnt by pacey strikers.

I'm using a 4-3-3 tactic that was very effective in the BSN and BSP, but I feel it needs a lot of refinement now that I'm playing against decent players. I'm by no means a tactical genius (very far from actually...) so if something about it simply doesn't make sense then let me know! Call me an idiot if you like, I don't care, I just want it improved if possible .

Here it is:
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CM's are (left to right) Advanced playmaker, Ball winning, Deep lying playmaker.
Strikers are Advanced forward, Trequartista, Poacher.

Kerlon (trequartista) is my designated playmaker and Sunu is my target man with Run Onto Ball supply (16 pace/14 Accel).

My aim with this tactic was to create a control oriented, short passing game that was deadly on the attack with 3 strikers. It worked initially but I can't seem to find the net anymore.

So, to wrap this up, I'm looking for two things:
1. Player improvements (especially at the defensive end)

*Transfer budget is 3.17m and my salary is 13.75k under. (I can basically sign whoever wants to play for me so give me suggestions!)​

2. Tactical improvement/refinement

Thanks for any help.

 

[RaveMan]

Hmmm... Your team seems quite good (better than my havant & waterlooville team), first of all on the defensive side, i would try to get some loan signings, for example i've got a guy called Danny Batth on loan who is doing exceptional for me in league 2, my other centre back is a lad called Sean McGinty who has been a rock at the back for two seasons now, also look at romain villard, byron webster and steve williams.
In midfield i would recommed Brian Kerr, daniel de ridder, garry roberts (port vale), michael bostwick, danny green and andy haworth.

It really depends on the reputation of your team and if you can attract players of a higher standard, so keep looking at your player search and the ones on the transfer list.

As far as tactics go i'm no expert even though they are one of the most important aspects of the game, i usually play a more high tempo direct pasing game, maybe you should look at tactics such at this
- http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...ootball-manager-2011-2-tactic-discussion.html

or maybe this - http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...aining/51246-kofloks-goals-galore-2011-a.html

I usually play the 4-1-2-3 tactic at home and play a balanced 4-4-2 away, this usually picks some points up ( i am currently in the play-offs). I hope this can help in a some way, as i realise that you might not be able to get some of these players or what i'm saying is totally irrelevant to your team, my best piece of advice is to keep searching in the player search and scout as many players as possible, and really praise wins and sympathise a lot when you lose or draw just to keep morale up, also talk to the players about their performances. This is my first post so don't slaughter me if it was *****.
I wish you luck!
Duncan

 

[Fluride]

Look to bring in loan DC's with tad more pace, also maybe try not playing such an attacking formation, stop leaking goals first of, even try playing not a traditional 433 but droping 2 of the strikers deaper, and maybe also an achor man..41221..

 

[joshr100]

How to you manage a club like Rugby? Ive looked for add ons but cant seem to find any anywhere and would love to try and give my local club (Tipton Town) ago

 

[Dazzmondo]

Wow u mustn't be very good... jk

U have a good enough team from looking at ur tactics I would suggest a few things,

Play with a deeper defensive line as ur defenders could be caught out by fast players leaving u vulnerable at the back, make the defense a little tighter aswell (decrease the width) as it may decrease the chances of players getting through the middle and scoring u may have to be careful about croosses though.

I see u are playing with shorter passing I would suggest playing direct as when playing shorter passing u will prob be dominated by better midfields and not be able to break on a counter attack which u should always have on (put it to yes).

I also wouldn't recommend playing with control mentality as again the teams in the league are better than u and u won't be able to control them like u could in the lower leagues, I would suggest counter or else possibly attacking for the start and once u score go counter.

Set ur ball winning midfielder to defend as he doesn't seem to offer much passing wise anyway, maybe make Johnson a deep lying playmaker aswell and make one of the 2 dlp defensive.

Unfortunately I don't think u will be able to dominate games with the players u have except for maybe the very weakest in the league so I would suggest as I said above to use either a counter or attacking mentality also once u score always change ur tactic to either counter or defensive as they will try to respond immediately and u will have to be prepared for an onslaught for about 10 mins after u score.

Can't recommend any buys as I don't know who is available to u. I hope I helped and sorry if I didn't.

EDIT: If u can get Sean McGinty I would buy him as he is very good the same with Febian Brandy if u need goals.

 

[PlaysWSquirrels]

Well I'm pleased to update that I am now on a 4 game winning streak and am tied for 3rd at the moment. I changed my tactic to Counter, direct passing, and deeper line as Dazzmondo suggested and it seems to be working great. I also got some new signings at the back:
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...one of which whom immediately got injured :S:
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Looks good from here. At least I won't be relegated if things continue. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions! I appreciate the help.

How to you manage a club like Rugby? Ive looked for add ons but cant seem to find any anywhere and would love to try and give my local club (Tipton Town) ago

Custom database that goes down to level 11 in England. Don't recall where I got it from, try googling something like 'FM 11 level 11 England database'.

 

[joshr100]

ok pal I will try now, thanks