Soon to be fired?

Hey guys. I'm into my 2nd season with Aston Villa and I appear to be having the traditional second season blues (and claret). My Job is very insecure and a fair few of my players are now losing confidence etc. I've given new contracts to as many players as I can to keep morale up (and that worked for a month or so) but now it's looking poor again. My problem is not that i'm losing but that i'm always drawing. Be it Man Utd or Wigan (I have lost a few but not many!) I'm sitting 13th in the prem after 13 games played and my team is as follows:

Asenjo (GK)

Rafinha (RB)

Fabio Aurelio (LB)

Laursen (CB)

Curtis Davies (CB)

Tymoschuk (CDM)

Ashley Young (LM/AML)

Barry (CM)

Milner (RM/AMR)

Edu (ST)

Agbonlahor (ST)

My tactics are all in the centre other than Mentality (one into attacking), width (wide) and time wasting (normal). I tick none of the boxes and tend to drop deeper for away games and also change mentality to normal.

My training is going well and i've scored goals in the last 14 games so that doesn't appear to be the issue! I also drew Man City in the the 2nd round of the league cup and they knocked me out...which doesn't help!

Can anyone suggest anything to help me get out of this position?

Cheers

A lot of it is down to player morale - you have to get them believing in themselves. Otherwise, it's your tactics.

Both issues are deeply covered in threads in the TACTICS & TRAINING forum.

1) During a match, what's your team's motivation? Any players playing without confidence or looking complacent?

2) Look at you assistant manager report during a match, what does he say about your passing?

3) How much possession do you have during a match?

4) How many players are underachieving? (look at your players average rating in the last five games)

1) During a match, what's your team's motivation? Any players playing without confidence or looking complacent?

2) Look at you assistant manager report during a match, what does he say about your passing?

3) How much possession do you have during a match?

4) How many players are underachieving? (look at your players average rating in the last five games)

Generally my players appear to be either totally lacking confidence or really up for it. It can literally change from one game to another at the moment.

My assistant is picking out players rather than claiming my passing in general is bad. However a trend does appear with short passing. I will try and change my passing dynamically dependant on the assistant.

Possession at home is often 55% and away it varies from 50% down to 35%. Usually at half time i'll slow down and change my passing style to short / low end mixed when i'm away to try and increase my poss.

I tend to focus my disappointment on players that play below a 7. When losing it tends to be my wing backs / side mids that have the worst rating.

I am a more casual player and I change things around based on common sense but I'd like to avoid theorycraft if possible hehe.

Try lowering your mentality and tempo when you're playing away. That should improve your possession.

Are you also using counter attack away? Seems to help my team a lot.

As for morale, try using player interaction > recent form:

disappointed: form is 5.8 - 6.1

below par: 6.2 - 6.5

acceptable: 6.6 - 6.9

pleased: 7.0 - 7.3

This seems to increase my player's morale.

Try lowering your mentality and tempo when you're playing away. That should improve your possession.

Are you also using counter attack away? Seems to help my team a lot.

As for morale, try using player interaction > recent form:

disappointed: form is 5.8 - 6.1

below par: 6.2 - 6.5

acceptable: 6.6 - 6.9

pleased: 7.0 - 7.3

This seems to increase my player's morale.

In terms of tactics I pretty much do as you suggest but ill fiddle around with the degree that I change it. Yer I play counter attack aswell and it does have its benefits.

Thanks for the reply and ill post how the motivation advice goes

I have had no real luck carrying on as I am. It's far to annoying to keep drawing and angering my board. I think I may try a new game. I'm aware a few people have said that the 2nd season seems alot harder. While it is more realistic that teams learn your tactics it does seem counter intuitive that if you change your tactics it takes time to for the players to adapt and if not you're screwed any way lol. Ahh well rant over (due to constant poor results and the only reason I haven't been fired is down to the load game button).

Using the suggestions above made little difference but I suspect that if starting with that stance would work as opposed to adjusting to it.

Looks like it's time to be a Man Utd or an AFC Wimbledon. The only two kinds of teams that I find fun as a casual player!

Thanks again for the posts