Predictable winning and losing because you are a bad or good team.

[CMPUNK1]

Hi

Long time FM player but something is starting to annoy me and it is the predictability of big teams winning and smaller teams losing. Don't get me wrong this is the kind of thing that happens in real life to some degree. I do however think that it is too predictable.


I am in my fourth season with Hull City and managed to make them a really good team and the equivalent of a Southampton in terms of league position. I pride myself on been been very educated in terms of tactics and training and I am doing well for myself on the game.

As an experiment I played Tottenham 15 times and lost every single time regardless of what I changed.

So my point is do you find it annoying that big teams win on the game too often just because they are the bigger team. It just feels like it is already pre determined before the game has started.

 

[WJ]

It is, without a shadow of any doubt, your doing that you're not beating Tottenham. As well as player quality, tactics are important to and to a lesser effect, morale/motivation. With the right tactics, you will be able to get a result against Tottenham.

 

[MillerJA9]

It is, without a shadow of any doubt, your doing that you're not beating Tottenham. As well as player quality, tactics are important to and to a lesser effect, morale/motivation. With the right tactics, you will be able to get a result against Tottenham.

I do tend to agree with this in some respects. @CMPUNK1 What you must bear in mind is, no matter what you change before playing Tottenham, your squad would not have adapted to these tactical changes and thus won't be able to execute them to a high standard, making it less likely of working, particularly against a good team like Tottenham. The tactic I am using took me from League One to fifth in the Prem in three seasons. I beat some of the big teams, I lost to some of the big teams. I don't think it is as cut and dry as you're making out. Train your team up on three different tactics with different styles/team instructions and you'll find one of them will work against the big teams (if it is well-designed of course). I feel I personally need to do this to combat if my tactic starts to slip at any point, however I have the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.
View attachment 381495
Here is the tactic I use, minus a few of the team instructions. Give it a go if you wish.

 

[rocheyb]

You can deduce from this screenshot what my record against Tottenham was by the fourth season in. Now, about to start season 2022/23 - the occasional 0-4 reverse aside (a dead rubber after I'd already won the Premier League and threw some youth players in) - they're my *****! One of many, in fact. And with all due respect to Hull City, I started with the team that you say your team now emulates:

View attachment 381481 View attachment 381433

You might have already worked out a good tactic to operate against Tottenham, but perhaps your players just aren't as good as theirs yet, so it hasn't got you the result. As a seasoned FMer, you know that if you keep going, keep improving your squad and modifying your tactics until you have your team firing on all cylinders, then at some point you'll come into more success - and then more money, and you'll be able to take larger steps towards establishing Hull City as perennial title contenders. I'm sure you have already scored some unexpected wins against some of the bigger teams, even if you haven't claimed any trophies yet.

In my save, I've had two summers where I've thought to myself, "Right, this lot aren't going to get any better so it's time to clear out some dead wood and get some world-class potential players in." The first time I did that, I won the title for the first time that very next season - from an 8th placed finish the previous year, after two consecutive 6th places before that (see the 2nd screenshot).

The second time, having finished 2nd, 1st and 2nd in the interim, was during my most recent game session - forced upon me by the inevitable ageing of players like Jonjo Shelvey (30), Nathaniel Clyne (31) and Jay Rodriguez (33).