What am I doing wrong?

[gustavl]

Hi everyone,

Here's a little bit of frustration venting from my side and a cry for help from a desperate FM2010 user. I have been playing FM for a long time, with the recent two versions of FM being very hard for me to suceed in.

The pattern is the same EVERY **** time, and I don't know what I am doing wrong. No matter which team I choose, the first season will usually see me fulfil my goals and have the board pretty satisfied with my job. The second season though usually sees me fail totally from the beginning. A good example is the game I am currently playing with Valencia. First season saw me challenge for the title, eventually ending up in 4th place, reach the final in Europa League and in the Spanish Cup (winning neither) and earning champions league qualification. Overall a solid first season. This second season has gone horribly. I am barely holding on to fifth place, I was knocked out of Champions League first knockout round to Lyon which I should have won. Knocked out of Spanish Cup by Getafe, and recently lost on Nuevo Mestalla to a Villareal side who are barely avoiding relegation.

It seems my biggest problem is a sort of form/confidence abyss which my players usually hit around january/feburary. I try to boost confidence by praising wins, etc. but it does nothing! I change tactics, and fail even more...

What the **** am I doing wrong?

 

[JP Woody]

Do you buy and sell many players after your first season? How often do you change your tactics?

 

[gustavl]

Define "many" players. I am not a big spender. I usually get one or two big signings but that is it. Change tactics I rarely do. Well of course I do change little things like mentality and touchline instructions, but I dont move around big things during the season. Unless of course my form goes to ****, then I am forced to do something...

 

[Gza-Ob1]

ok dude ill try and narrow it down for u get a good assistant manager with over 17 for motivating change ur tactics now and again if u want me to make a formation for whatever team u are i will make it check my formation under the tactics area gs tf guide amazing results tactic or as i said tell me what team u are and ill make u a formation or use jp woodys high scoring tactic dont change to much players ethier each season i usually get 1 striker 1 left back 1 centre back 1 midfielder depending on who i am smaller teams ill go one at a time and sell to buy changing ur players a lot upsets your team get good coaches for attacking and defending and make sure ur average age for ur team is not to old i like to keep my entire team young maybe if u are successful you are making to many changes stick with what brought u sucess in the first place

 

[Mahmoud ElHamawy]

well if you sell or buy several players they need time to gel with ur team.. and well the AI of the game i think is pretty good i mean after playing first season i usually change some stuff as the other teams start to read how i play and start loosing games.. plus try to not change much ur first 11 as they would gel well together . also thats football luck dude i used to loose so many games unluckily thts jst life i just power through... are the players saying there is a lack of harmony among ur team btw?

 

[gustavl]

@Mahmoud: Yes harmony is sometimes a problem. One of my problems might be that I am not good at using my whole squaad which often results in some of my players becoming unhappy. Does this affect the performances of my top players?

@gza: The problem is that I can't get a new ***. man because the old one would be too expensive to terminate his contract. Is there any way to work around this?

 

[Mahmoud ElHamawy]

well lack of harmony causes problems and well i dont usually use my full squad too but try from the begging when offering a player his contract if you wont use him much try setting it to rotation or back up so he would accept it... also for the players tht wud be unhappy play them in the cups, lower league matches and you should be alrite... also try tweaking ur tactics every once in a while i usually change the tactics during the match if its not going very well...

 

[swisswales]

It's happened to me too, but only when I reach a point of a major overhaul, bring in what I think are better players, yet they do not gel and harmonize quickly, and by then I'm already on the downward spiral. So I avoid this now as mentioned by several above, you should keep your major signing to 2-3 max and not get rid of too many key, mature players who's influence, work rate, experience and consistency will help you get through a rough patch, sometimes even the best youngsters just haven't the confidence to win all the time...(****)....

I'd suggest as a quick fix to go through all of your training and individual roles and ensure that you aren't missing anything and have them setup just as they should be for you Sometimes I have found that my tactics have changed because I was changing them myself way too much and not keeping tabs enough. Keep a core base of your tactics and training. Put them on harder training for 2 weeks to show them you mean business and try a new formation as maybe the rest of La Liga has sussed you out now! See if the interaction is working on your Captain - perhaps there is the chance for him to talk to the squad....but this is rarely...you could even change Captain if he is *****, but beware the backlash!

Once you've done this, try saving the game and play 2-3 games whilst 'on holiday' (just to get a few wins under your belt) hopefully a small sequence will boost confidence and they will start to put together better results....and improve your season. I don't like to manipulate the game like this, but it's better than wasting your hard work and getting fed up.......and eventually starting over....

good luck! hope things pick up for you!

 

[Gatid]

Every new season new teams get better players and has slight changes of tactics, so the tactic you did used against them might not work again as they've figured out your tactic so i what do after a successful season is a few changes of players and slight change to your most dominant and successful tactic/formation, also you could make a plan b tacic a completely new one for times when you need a change. Having better coaches would do nicely, especially the coaches with high ratings for 'tactical knowledge' as they might spot dangers to your team in a game where you wont see.

You should be aware that if you had a wonderful first season your bound to have the hardest the following season as your players get complacent, teams will see you as a danger, and the club you manage the expectations will be much higher than usual and loads more it will take all of your current mangerial ability to do as good as the first. So if you dont do great the second season dont worry about it.