Why is FM 09 so damn hard!

Don't get me wrong, I love Football Manager and expect some difficulty (and realism - no good expecting West Ham to win the title in the first season), but FM 09 seems incredibly hard to me (and I've been playing this since Championship Manager didn't even have the real player names!!).

I have just started as Liverpool, had a nice pre season, won in the first leg of the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round (away to Levski Sofia) and felt ready for the new season.

Lost 0-2 at home to Newcastle and then 2-1 away to Wigan (with an 87th minute goal making the score respectable).

Not only losing those games, but being dominated by the opposition too (which has happened even when I was Manchester United against much weaker opposition).

What is going on? (I'm not normally this bad!!!!)

Oh, and what level of intensity should the training be on when the season has started?

same, i'm not very good at the game either and i often blame the game for being too hard, but at the end of the day i think i'm just rubbish! But obviously asking here for help is a good idea, everyones really friendly, i've already PM'd a few users for some help, and there all willing to give me some tips, have a go

I usually go the route, find a formation (for me DR DC DC DL: AMR MC MC AML; ST ST), use appropriate tactics, and then go out and find the players that will fit.

In about 3-4 seasons I can usually get a Uefa cup team (e.g. my current team Fiorentina) to win the league and regular quarter finalists in Champions League.

Make sure your players are all being trained to their positions, if you leave them in general they will never develop.

Apart from that I have no secrets.

All the emphasis is on the tactical side of fm this year, sorry but it is true you need to download a tactic, but even that doesnt gaurentee you much

All the emphasis is on the tactical side of fm this year, sorry but it is true you need to download a tactic, but even that doesnt gaurentee you much

You dont need to download a tactic to ensure any success in this game. It is harder than any other previous FM tactically, but if you persist and tweak team and player instructions along with small modifications to the formations accordingly - you can get results.

The game is not harder, it just takes longer to gel the team, and 4-4-2 never failes. Just get your players to learn how you play, and it will get much easier. It takes about 2-3 seasons for that if you are a uefa cup team. The key is patience. Don't expect to win everything.

I actually prefer the challenge this year, i am by no means a tactics jedi, but when you get a win or win the league you actually feel as though you have worked for it, what im trying to say is if you just pressed continue and won every game 3-0 you would get very bored, very quickly, one of the reason I buy FM is that I enjoy the difficulty…..

I felt the same way when I first started this but then I decided that I like the game and it had to be me so I started watching full matches. Spotted the weaknesses in my team then started by making sure I don't concede much then built my attack. I eventually discovered the "secret" with the tactics started a new game with Villa since I've always played with Liverpool and I've taken them to the champions league but only in my third season started the whole thing over again in the first season got 9th place then the team started to gel got 5th eventually got 3rd behind liverpool by 3 points Man U ran away with it they managed to notch up 96 points. It's a shame I was in the title chase up until feb where I started to pick up a lot of draws due to injuries to my main strikers.

Keep at it and watch full matches watch what your tactics are doing to the team. I started by setting the sliders at extremes to look at what a slider did on the pitch. This was really helpful for me it made me understand what I was doing with the sliders.

It gets easier as you get to know the game. I always struggle against teams playing 4-3-3 for some reason, but most others I can beat now by tweaking the default 4-4-2 and looking at oppositions instructions. Getting a really good ass man helps with the OI feature, but if he's crap it can backfire. I always look for one with good tactical KNOWLEDGE and MOTIVATING, as well as decent training and judging attributes.

Well i fought hard to find a tactic that suit me and my team and finally found one, after months of research...

I will post it tonight on the tactics thread...

Anyway its a 4-3-3, and its just amazing...

U just need patience and love for this game, and im not talking about FM but about football

The game is not about tactics at all. It's about owning the fastest, strongest, fittest and best in the air players you can find. Once you've done that, winning stuff won't be a problem.