Hi guys. I have been having this problem with every team I manage on FM 15. If I start the season well and go on to get consecutive wins, around Mid-season I start losing matches no matter how small a team I play. This then leads to other teams overtaking me and after that winning the league while I finish second or third. I have tried switching tactics and using an entire new first eleven but no success. Any of you guys got any ideas? It happens to me every time and so far I have been unable to resolve this situation.
MIdSeason TROUBLE
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razielioux
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I am pretty sure a team meeting and appropriate team talks would help.
Thats not enough information mate. You need to show us your tactics and tell us exactly what you do tactically.
Also - do you play the same against weaker teams?
Fitness can also be a factor, especially in the lower English leagues with their fixture congestion. If your players get exhausted and need a rest, you might want to dial down their training intensity a bit - and rotate the squad as much as the quality of players allows.
Thanks. But I don't think team talks is a problem. With my team talks the team is nearly always 'fired up' or 'motivated'. I have not tried team meetings though. Will give this a try next season.
I play a normal 4-2-3-1 with wingers as my default tactic. I have a 4-4-2 and a 5-2-3 WB formations as backup if the default tactic does not work.
And I play the same tactic against the weaker teams as well though I do some squad rotation when I play weaker teams.
Fitness is not an issue as I have a fairly large squad and am able rotate if necessary. The training intensity is on very high in preseason and on average when the season starts. The training intensity remains on average throughout the season. So I don't think I should lower the intensity anymore? What are your thoughts?
WJ
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It's exactly what I said. Everyone is rushing/bursting forward. This works well if there's space to burst into. After the midway point, teams sit back more, so you won't have that same space available. Because your tactic lacks movement to open up defences, you'll struggle. It's not patient enough. You're trying to pick a lock with a hammer, basically.
What makes it worse, is that your 4231 lacks any midfielder screening your defence and the 442 leaves the CM/D all alone in midfield. In both cases, counter attacks will crush you. In fact, all 3 tactics are poor in midfield.
WJ
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How to Play FM: A Twelve Step Guide
Pairs & Combinations FM2015 - UPDATED
Lines and Diamonds: The Tactician's Handbook for Football Manager 2015
Those will help you. Don't over do it on the TIs unless you're see that you need them. In a lot of cases, people just make their tactic worse by applying illogical TIs.
Pairs & Combinations FM2015 - UPDATED
Lines and Diamonds: The Tactician's Handbook for Football Manager 2015
Those will help you. Don't over do it on the TIs unless you're see that you need them. In a lot of cases, people just make their tactic worse by applying illogical TIs.
No, that sounds reasonable - it's what I do too.
What about your pass completion rates? How many of your players' passes actually hit the target? In my experience throwing away the ball too much can also be a problem, especially if you rotate a lot or bring in a lot of new players.
So I basically have my U18s focus on fitness training to build them up physically while they're still young, whereas the first team will usually focus on teamwork and/or team cohesion.
Conflictinbanno
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All 3 of those tactics have so many people on attack duty, leaving very few people back, so I'd imagine teams are going to try to sit back and counter you when all those players burst forward. Change some roles/duties, start again on the TI's then you should soon be okay, you've got a decent squad at your disposal so I think you'll soon be okay!
razielioux
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My observations precisely.
What I would do is to play 4-1-2-2-1 or 4-5-1 whatever you call it. Check this out, this is my current tactic:
View attachment 237162
I've instructed the team to play possesive football with short passes, also with low tempo to give your players time to open up defences (even against teams who parked the Mourinho bus). To use WJ's expression, it's like replacing your hammer with Sam Fisher's lock pick set.
In case you need it I could show you my exact team instructions once I am home.
Hope it helps.
I would be grateful if you can send me the team instructions. I used this formation before I switched to the Wingback formation but I could not get it to work. The team was dropping too deep and was leaving my attackers isolated. However if you can send me your team instructions I will give your tactic a go and see how it goes.
Thanks for your reply. I will try your suggestion and turn some players to support duty. Do you think I should change the players roles? I basically want my team to play possession football and send in lots of crosses. So what do you think I should change in my tactics to make them better?
WJ
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Can't say I like the look of it, but at least explain WHY it works, otherwise what's the point?
My pass completion rate is always above 80%. So I think that is not the problem. I failed to mention in my earlier posts that after mid-season my team becomes stable again and I start to win matches again but by that time I get left too far behind in terms of league points and therefore finish second or third. If pass completion was a problem I would not have started the season so well and would not have recovered after losing a few games. As I mentioned my team loses a couple of quick matches and then plays a couple of draws after going back to winning. This happens around mid-season somewhere in late January or early February. After that I have no problems. My question is that why does the team slip in mid-season?
Conflictinbanno
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It's finding the right balance, I personally make sure I have at least 1 defend duty in midfield, mainly because I like to protect my back four. I would also have a support duty in one of those attacking 4 in a 4231 myself. You could probably find playing possession could really benefit from roles in certain ways, you also need to decide who you see making those crosses. If it is the wingers, then maybe you want them to have a role that aims to get crosses, if it is the full backs then maybe you want them to cut inside and be in the box for the crosses. If you o that you'll find the roles will practically pick themselves on how you want the team to play as a whole.
Short passing may be a worthwhile team instruction, but you may find you are acheiving that already with the right positions, roles and duties.
From my guess of the players you have and the way you want to play however I would probably be thinking something like this in the 4231 formation you use.
Mentality: Control/Counter this depends how you want to play, do you want to sit back and then attack forward quickly on the break? If so I'd probably guess Counter. Control would be more if you want to be looking to attack more, get the ball forward quickly. Or maybe you want neither and then Standard could be better.
Team Shape: Flexible (I personally always use this but this could be up to you, I find Rigid/Very Rigid restricts your players to play their role and not have any place for them to think for themselves, while fluid/very fluid I just avoid myself s I find the players don't do what I want, but from what I've read, that is more worthwhile using generic roles like CM, CD, Defensive Midfielder, Attacking Midfield etc.and not good with roles like DLP, BWM, False 9, Anchor Man etc.)
Team Instructions: N/A I personally wouldn't set any until the team is fluid in the tactic and you can spot things you feel the team are either doing too much or not enough as a whole (same goes to player instructions)
Now for the next part of players, this is where it gets a little bit tough as I don't know the players well but guessing by how you want to play, I'll take a crak
GK: Sweeper Keeper/Support (kept this as you had as I imagine you want to him sweeping up through balls)
LB: Full Back/Support (again kept this the same, I see him supporting the left winger but I picture him as being sensible with this)
CBL: Central Defender/Defend (again kept this the same, no harm in what he is)
CBR: Ball Playibg Defender/Defend (again kept this the same, but I'm hoping Pezzella has decent passing, decisions especially to know when to play the ball like this, if not I'd put him as the same as the other CB)
RB: Full Back/Attack (the reason I've gone for this is because I imagine he Darmian is actually a pretty good dribbler and crosser, so it makes you a bit more varied to the left)
CDML: CM/S or BBM/S (I imagine you see this guy as your legs in the middle, a jack of all trades type player, maybe get to the edge of the box now and then but also willing to run and track back to help the defence)
CDMR: DLP/D (if the other guy is on support I'd immediately want this guy on defend, he will be less forward as a result of this and offer some protection to your back 4, also he should hopefully be the first player your defence will look to as a passing outlet and he is the man to look to spray the passes to the main attacking 4)
AML: Winger/Attack (as said above, I'm guessing this guy is more of a winger than the AMR, although I don't know that much about him, someone to get to the byline and deliver crosses as much as he can, while he has a full back behind him at all times to keep the defensive numbers up)
AMR: Inside Forward/Support (this is a tough one, I'm guessing you want him to cut inside and have shots at goal, but I've never really used an Inside Forward on Support duty so he may be more suited to the Attack duty, but I wouldn't want all 3 attacking mid's on Attack myself)
AMC: AM/A or AP/A or SS/A (these 3 all spring to mind but it depends on exactly what you want him to do. A mixture of goals and assists, then AM/A could be more suited as he will have a few pops at goal but also look to pass as well. Primary assists, then maybe AP/A, more likely to hover around the edge of the area and look for the AMR/ST in the box or get the ball out to your winger/RB for a cross. Shadow Striker if you want him to get in that box and score as many goals as possible, but aren't concerned on him being very defensive)
ST: CF/A or AF/A (I don't think El Shaarawy is much of a hold up player from what I know about him, I thought he played out wide most of the time but again my knowledge of him isn't great, so I think a duty of Complete Forward could be slightly risky as it expects them to do as many of the Striker roles in one, look to hold up the ball and pass it, keep the ball and dribble past people to score, or get into the box and be the main person players are looking for. Advanced Forward from what I remember is basically the pin point of your attack, he will get in the box and look to score as often as possible, but still maybe try to feed the Inside Forward and the Winger or maybe even the AMC if he is a Shadow Striker)
This is all a guess however without knowing the players, but that's why I've given my thinking behind it in brackets. It also depends on how you want to play. Maybe do what I've done and post what you want each position to do/what role/duty you feel is best for them and everyone would happily assist you in that way, trust me as I've asked questions loads of times.
Thanks a lot for taking out time to reply. You have been a great help. I really appreciate you explaining everything in detail. Everything is clear now in terms of tactics. I will try your suggested roles and see if it works in the way I want it. Once again thanks for your detailed response.