Help! What just happened to my team?

[karabas1543]

Hi all!

I'm really dumbfounded about my current season as Blyth. After a roaring start, my team is suddenly playing like it's a whole division lower and I don't understand why.

Here's what happened. We're in our 3rd season and were promoted from BSP to npower 2 via play-offs. It was a very lucky run and we were definitely not the best team in BSP. On top of that all the promotion salary raise clauses meant that I couldn't sign any decent players to join and was left with largely the same team (although I transferred a lot of players to full-time as they're young and I want them to develop). So I really was expecting to struggle in npower 2, given that my team wasn't even that good in BSP (predicted 24th for this season).

However, we started out with a blast. First 6 games 15 goals scored, 2 conceded (this is against promotion contenders), beat a championship side in a wild cup game, etc. We were locked into 2nd place for a good long while. Then, just as unexpectedly, we started losing. Lost to a team on the very bottom of the table 1-3, then another 2-3 defeat, then scrambled a crazy and lucky 5-3 victory, but only to lose in the next three games. We haven't seen a proper win for some 10 games and have dropped down from 2nd to 9th and it's looking like we'll drop lower.

Generally I wouldn't be complaining as we have a **** team, but I just don't get why this huge drop in performance (and it's not a slump... it's been like this for a while now). I tried watching the games more carefully, but it's as if the team dropped a whole league level in skill. Defenders that used to close down every shot, pass, and header are now just letting opponents run into the box and score, or forgetting to mark players. My goalkeeper allows easy goals even though he would rescue me 10 times each match at the beginning of the season. My midfield misplaces passes (we play a short passing game and passing is the one skill that we're good at - 5th in the league). My forwards still find chances, but can't score from the easiest of situations.

I never changed anything tactically, because I figured it was just a slump, but at this point my team just can't find a win anywhere and it's been at least 10 games of this travesty. I have no idea what's happening. Why was my team playing so well at first? Why are they getting totally destroyed now? Any advice?

 

[AVFC BOWDS]

Maybe this was a sign that you were over performing.
Unfortunatly i assume that your not in the transfer window, so just manage your training, put on a heavy workload if you havnt already, make sure there being trained in the right places for their roles in your tactic, which brings me to my other point. Every one has a main tactic, especially me, with my attacking 4-2-3-1 as my personal favourite, but when im doing bad, this usually means that the other teams in the league have sussed out your team, which they needed to do as you were second, so swap to your backup tactic, i usually try and make it as different from the main tactic as possible in case i end up like this. If it isnt that different or you dont have one, make on from scrap, and wait till the team adjusts as the results arnt going to improve quickly anyway. If you have a weak side for your league, go for a counter strategy, (unless that is your current tactic that has stopped working, in which case go for contain as goals will come with possesion) as you can get some flukey wins, which with a weak side is what you should be aiming for. Promotion with an un-impoved squad sounds to risky to go with attacking, but i applaud you for doing so well up to this point. The only other thing i can think of is that maybe your coaches arnt training them well enough with low attacking/defensive ect, or low determination, discipline or motivation which can lead to unconsistent performances, maybe try a small adjustment, if you can.
finally scout for a cheaky impact free signing, as in the lower league for me it has proven to happen. Unfortunatly as your already into it i cannot offer any advice on any particular player as i dont know who is on a free (obviously). But just look for the stats that fit the roles of your (new) tactic.

Hopefully with these changes, if not tried already, will change your form, but dont expect miricales, basing this on the fact you havnt made much imorovement since promotion.

I also forgett about those promotion clauses, when in the next window (if your still in the league) look at the leagues average wage and lower it for your squad, unless for an important player. Also try and sell off those players whose clauses wrecked your budget, unless they have potential, in which case loan them off.

Sorry for the mind numbingly long answer, but i hope it helps all the same, unless yuve treid all this already, which i could only put down to your squad and\or the unrealistic form problems caused by SI.

 

[karabas1543]

Wow, thanks for that! Very useful actually, I will try it out and let you know how it goes.

My tactics are really weird to be honest, maybe I'm not maximizing my potential there. I play a standard 4-4-2 with attacking wingers, an AP and a DLP in the center mid, and a complete forward/poacher combo up front. In BSN and BSP I got through using a fluid/counter mentality, but I've had some success with fluid/control in this league. I play attacking because I'm usually in a position where I have to score more than the opposition. My back four are pretty good, but their average age is ~21, so they're prone to these inconsistencies and silly mistakes I guess. They all have a lot of potential, so I prefer to keep them, especially since their contracts are fairly cheap still.

I have the cheapest team in npower2 actually, average salary of $450/pw (though I think that was the figure before the club went pro and I signed people on full-time contracts), and I'm still $2K/pw over the salary budget (my limit is $14K/pw), so at this point any signing that would actually improve my play would completely wreck my budget.

I will try to redo my tactic - defensively my team is pretty good in a 4-5-1 but we can't connect with the lone striker, so I'll try to do a 4-1-2-2-1, that might make more sense. I still have faith we can end up in the play-offs - 7th place isn't that hard to achieve overall. I was promoted from BSP when my squad was expected to be 24th in the league, so anything is possible. I'll let you know things work out! Thanks once again for a thorough answer.

 

[karabas1543]

So I got promoted to npower 1 after a crazy season. My team ended up slumping again and there was little I could do, although I luckily had my board select Chelsea as an option for a parent club during the slump, so I quickly signed a few $1M+ players. That and a constant high focus on teamwork development and changing between my first and second tactics and I ended up sneaking into the 5th spot (4th-7th ended with 70 points each) and winning both games to get promotion. I think it's even better than winning promotion through placement in the top 3 - made $600K from gate receipts for the play-off final at Wembley!

I have the top scorer in the league and am the second most scoring team in the league also, so once again attacking football worked when playing as an underdog! My board more than doubled my transfer and wage limits, so I should be able to do something to develop the team further and stay in npower 1.

 

[cooknaris]

I'm facing something similar read this http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/lower-league-managers/108685-need-urgent-help-afc-wimbledon.html

 

[Montanaro]

tldr