Do you ever feel there is nothing left for you to try?

Because I am getting that feeling now.

I am currently in 2015 with Marine FC and my once succesful 'simplicity' tactic, that got me to 2nd in the table 2 seasons ago, is now failing and my team are just not playing well. I just wonder whether there is any point in me continually persisting with the game when every single thing I have tried just seems to fail and I continue losing.

Here is a PKM of my most recent match against Fleetwood where my players make ridiculous mistakes and let me down. What can mistakes like this be down to?

Here is the tactic that got me to here in the league only two seasons ago. Since that game, I have not made too many changes to the squad and the foundations are still there; the morale is good and the captain is the same.

I am not claiming to be a tactical genius, infact, I would say I am pretty poor at tactics but when what once was a succesful tactic turns to absoloute tripe, I find it frustrating to say the least.

I have now tried everything, I downloaded tactics, tried the standard tactics, developed my own (above) but everything I try ends up being exacly the same and my team do not perform at all and it is incredible frustrating when this happens.

I am hoping someone looks at the tactic and the PKM and can inform me where exacly I am going wrong and also that someone can explain how one's fortunes may change so dramatically when nothing drastic takes place with the team.

Are there any other people here who are feeling how I am now? Anyone else that is consistantly left frustrated and asking yourself "Why do I bother?"

What has changed since your tactic was successful to now when your tactic is unsuccessful?

Is it a change in reputation? Could it be that because your club's reputation had risen other teams are taking you more seriously and are now approaching you differently by defending and counter attacking instead of just going at you for the win?

My reputation is still obscure.

My reputation is still obscure.

I meant the club reputation, are they predicted to finish higher in the league?

This season we are predicted to come 10th which is about 6 places higher than when my tactic was succesful.

Teams will be playing more defensivly against you now. As you have been achieving above expectations other teams will be scares of you and sit back and let you come onto them. Maybe if you try and make your tactic more attacking and try get the ball out wide as much as you can to stretch teams

Teams will be playing more defensivly against you now. As you have been achieving above expectations other teams will be scares of you and sit back and let you come onto them. Maybe if you try and make your tactic more attacking and try get the ball out wide as much as you can to stretch teams

My tactic is an attacking one. If you have a look at it, you will see that the whole system is based on forward play.

Also, the match loss seems to be down to stupid and unrealistic errors.

Think Dafuge has maybe hit the nail on the head there. Makes sense really because I'm sure next season when teams go play Stoke at the Britannia stadium they will change the way they play because of the way that Stoke play under Pulis at home.

I would maybe look to developing a new tactic that works for you (alot harder than it sounds, i know) home and away so teams don't know how you are going to set out before the game. I know you said you've tried other tactics etc. but I find your team needs time to adapt and adjust to the new formation/instructions you have given them.

It will be frustrating for awhile maybe but have faith in your football manager knowledge and stick with a tactic that you are having some success with and hopefully, come time, your team will start performing again.

I will try my developed, rafa-esque, 4-2-3-1 formation that, again, used to give me some success.

Though I still find it pretty stupid for me to have to develop a whole new approach; something that doesn't happen in a managers time at a club.

I will try my developed, rafa-esque, 4-2-3-1 formation that, again, used to give me some success.

Though I still find it pretty stupid for me to have to develop a whole new approach; something that doesn't happen in a managers time at a club.

I think you have developed Hammer1000-itis

This is pretty much what alot of his threads were about IIRC.

Good luck Peter

No, but I used to dismiss what he was saying in my head. Now I really understand the frustration he was going through as his tactic crumbled for no reason what-so-ever.

Just out of interest, at which club did you develop your tactics?

Personally, I always develop my tactics with clubs with excellent players, like Man Utd and Chelsea. If I am successful with these teams it tells me that my tactics are good enough provided I have the quality of players at my disposal. This always gives me the hope that once my players are better than the opposition's, I should expect to win the majority of games. Developing a tactic with lower quality players may well give you an advantage with lesser quality players (a bit like Stoke and Hull at times) but in the future when the quality of your team improves and the opposition change the way they play against you, the tactic may not always be as effective.

Just out of interest, at which club did you develop your tactics?

Personally, I always develop my tactics with clubs with excellent players, like Man Utd and Chelsea. If I am successful with these teams it tells me that my tactics are good enough provided I have the quality of players at my disposal. This always gives me the hope that once my players are better than the opposition's, I should expect to win the majority of games. Developing a tactic with lower quality players may well give you an advantage with lesser quality players (a bit like Stoke and Hull at times) but in the future when the quality of your team improves and the opposition change the way they play against you, the tactic may not always be as effective.

I developed my tactics with Marine FC in the pre-season of the season shown in my opening post. I knew that the tactic would be solid so I thought, I'm doing awful, what can I lose.

Just out of interest, at which club did you develop your tactics?

Personally, I always develop my tactics with clubs with excellent players, like Man Utd and Chelsea. If I am successful with these teams it tells me that my tactics are good enough provided I have the quality of players at my disposal. This always gives me the hope that once my players are better than the opposition's, I should expect to win the majority of games. Developing a tactic with lower quality players may well give you an advantage with lesser quality players (a bit like Stoke and Hull at times) but in the future when the quality of your team improves and the opposition change the way they play against you, the tactic may not always be as effective.

This is exactly the reason why I haven't started a game with a lower league club yet because I try to perfect a tactic with a big club. I'm 9 seasons in now in my Villa career and I finally think i've got a tactic that is solid home and away and one that I would be confident trying in the lower leagues. I like to know that my tactic is going to work against world class players/teams so I know it has a chance of working at clubs with a lower quality players. Once I've won the Champs League with Villa, I think I will move onto a new save and try out my tactics with maybe a League One/Two side.

I developed my tactics with Marine FC in the pre-season of the season shown in my opening post. I knew that the tactic would be solid so I thought, I'm doing awful, what can I lose.

I'm no tactical genius either, but I'll have a guess here.

It looks like you had a bad season the year before, so decided to attack. You built an attacking tactic which worked for one season while teams thought you were a relegation battler who would be easy prey. It worked, teams who were expecting an easy game faced a team who were battering them. After you finished 2nd, the other teams no longer treated you as a relegation battler, so no longer attacked you, instead they sat back and hit you on the break, making the most of your attacking tactic.

I've made many a career of the shock attacking tactic when teams are not expecting it, especially when I've been able to accumulate a lot of good players in a short space of time. Things start to go wrong when I gamble on that and don't get promoted, especially when I lose a playoff final.

I'm no tactical genius either, but I'll have a guess here.

It looks like you had a bad season the year before, so decided to attack. You built an attacking tactic which worked for one season while teams thought you were a relegation battler who would be easy prey. It worked, teams who were expecting an easy game faced a team who were battering them. After you finished 2nd, the other teams no longer treated you as a relegation battler, so no longer attacked you, instead they sat back and hit you on the break, making the most of your attacking tactic.

I've made many a career of the shock attacking tactic when teams are not expecting it, especially when I've been able to accumulate a lot of good players in a short space of time. Things start to go wrong when I gamble on that and don't get promoted, especially when I lose a playoff final.

Yes, completely got you now.

Well, fortunately, my tactic has just picked up and I have won 4 in a row. As soon as my fortunes turn again I will probably favour a more balanced tactic and hope that balanced vs balanced will get me some decent results

Cheers for your help Daf.

You've mentioned your tactics, but could it be something else that's causing the problem? Have you brought in a lot of new faces? Perhaps they are taking time to gel, or maybe aren't good enough players. Have you sold any players who were instrumental in last season's success?

Yes, completely got you now.

Well, fortunately, my tactic has just picked up and I have won 4 in a row. As soon as my fortunes turn again I will probably favour a more balanced tactic and hope that balanced vs balanced will get me some decent results

Cheers for your help Daf.

No problem.

I say I'm no tactical genius, but I know how to create something that will get what I want to achieve. Like I said, I always test tactics with big clubs but I always aim to create balanced tactics that are competitive under all circumstances. For me, a successful tactic is one which achieves what is expected (or better) with the players is has. Tactics which overachieve with lower quality players will always get stuck at a point unless you constantly adjust them. Maybe it is just laziness but I have always preferred to stick to one tactic and take my time improving the players to take the club to the top. I have already proved that it is possible to take a club from the bottom to the top by sticking to one tactic and just improving the players and I still prefer to play the game this way.