I think people's opinions vary a lot based on what kind of club they normally manage. I always like taking a small part-time club and turning them into a powerhouse in the EPL over time. As you progress into better competition then you need to rethink your tactics, what works in BSB-N wont work that well in EPL, so always keep that in mind when thinking about your tactics. FM13 seems to be 'harder' because tactics and morale have more of an effect than in past years.
Since tactics aren't as important when your club is a monster, I think discussing the whole approach from an underdog perspective is far more useful. Here is my collection of random thoughts for dealing with a bad run, or just a ****/young/thrown-together squad.
In my experience I've found at lower levels counter attacking football with some speedy poachers works the best (usually
). If you can get your hands on a player with their main strength listed as 'skillful' they'll probably be your best player. Fit, fast players with a direct passing style is good. CDs with good arial attributes are also important.
I'll adjust my formation to the payers I have, but I do like getting a pair of speedy wingbacks if possible. They just do so much for a team, and I normally combine that with 2 defensive CDs and at least 1 defensive DM (when I say defensive I mean pull that mentality slider all the way back). This generally restricts teams to attacking from the edges on a break, and hopefully your CDs are decent in the air to cut off a cross. If your CDs are pushing up too high and being run around or passed over, set the line deeper (obviously), it helps to check the opposing teams strikers speed and adjusting on game day.
I personally love having a good creative AMC with some flair. Trick passes are the most effective when its done playing a through pass into the box, and I love setting my AMC as my playmaker. I'll play wingers or wide midfielders if I have the players, but theres nothing wrong with 2ST, 1AMC and 2CM and setting the formation to wide. Wingbacks really help out if you have to play the front of the formation like this.
Sometimes I'll get a bad run and it keeps on going until I make a change to my approach. Sometimes its just getting morale up - a good team meeting and telling every player they need to step up their level of training normally helps a lot. Other times changing my formation will help (try to have real options with your 2nd and 3rd tactic), since opponents do play better against you when they know what you're going to do. Sometimes just yelling at players, handing out fines and even dropping them into the reserves for a few games will make them wake up.
Occasionaly I'll see a key injury for my opposition, so I'll have a look at who will probably be starting for them instead and declare them as the weak link in the media. I've had a DM give up a penalty (which won us the game) by getting in his head pre-game and him making an awful tackle against his own goal line. I've also had this backfire when calling out a starting striker and he rammed a hattrick down our throats. I just stick to doing this to backups and youngsters now.
Something I find a bit riskier is commenting on an opposition manager before a game. Sometimes I've managed to put pressure on the other team by talking about their relegation/promotion chances, but other times that has backfired and they've played above themselves. I haven't worked out a good stratergy for this yet, but it does seem to have an effect. It's probably linked to their man-management or perhaps the player's 'important match' rating, but I haven't looked at it too closely yet.
Playing at Home I find better success being a bit more attacking, I won't shy away from switching to overload if I'm down a goal with 20 mins left. I'll also rip into my players at half time if I need to. When playing away I focus on keeping possession and manage the game with the frame of mind that a draw is a victory. Telling my players they've been unlucky at halftime if we're down usually goes well, but I will get aggressive with the senior players who have been doing poorly.
Hopefully something in that will help someone out =)
