Couldn't stop ridiculous losing streak...sacked for the first time ever in FM

Okay, I played Dortmund, first season finishing at 8th, which is pretty much what me and the board expected. Got into the Europa League via fair play rating. Only notable signing for the next season was di Maria. Finished 4th this time, but I could have done even better with a bit more luck in the last few games.

I then managed to sign freakin Pato for 24 millions. Not really realistic, I don't see him playing at any club in Germany any time soon, let alone us. Now I expected to finish at least 3rd, only set european qualification as a goal though. All seems well. The club is happy. The players are happy. The fans are happy. We win the first game against Cologne at home 4:0, playing very good football.

We then go on an almost historical losing streak. 7 losses in a row. In most of these losses I created more chances than my opponent! I then manage to draw Hamburg and beat Leverkusen. In the next game I lose 4:0 away at Schalke (fierce rivals) including pretty much the whole deal: Not converting my chances, penalty and red card at the same time, my players repeatedly ignoring the ball lying right next to them in their own box (sometimes 3-4 players at the same time). Sacked.

Now I know all this is certainly possible in reality as well, not disputing that. Just don't know how this could be possibly considered fun as the game gave me no feedback that there was anything wrong in my squad. The tactics employed worked a treat last season. I didn't sell any first team players. I signed probably the best striker in the whole league. Moral was high or better even right before I was fired. What did I miss? Some hidden factor? Or was it just incredibly bad luck?

Well, kind of had to vent somewhere, and since this is the official forum, I figured this the best place;) all the same, if someone has a suggestion I'd be glad to hear it.

I've had a similar experience although I survived the sack. I was managing Liverpool and had won my first 10 league games, I then faced Man Utd at Anfield who were about 7 points behind me, I lost 4-0. Then after that I lost 7 successive games in all competitions including losses against Rangers, Hull and Wigan with the same tactics, I also failed to get out my CL group. I'd never had such a bad run in all my time of playing FM, my teams morale was all poor and I couldn't win a game to save my life, I tried every team talk to try and encourage my team but to no avail, I had no idea what was going wrong at all.

lol, I've had similar problems before. The thing that gets me is when players ignore balls sitting right next to them. People can scream "it's your tactics" all you want, but no tactical instruction existing should ever result in a player ignoring a ball 2 feet away. That's just dumb

Thanks for the replies...

Matt, I had actually, as I wrote, still high morale in my squad. Did your team create enough chances? I know many will say I just suck at tactics, but the thing is I created enough chances and usually controled the match.

Bit bummed right now, I guess I'll reload a pre season save just to see if it happens again. Don't really want to play a "reloaded" save though. Kinda sucks, heh, figured I was set for entertainment for 4-6 weeks.

About losing/winning streaks, I already found them a but overpowered in FM09, but what do they actually affect? Anything besides morale?

Well what can I say, I think this is the greatest game in the world. I've been playing it since it first made an appearance on the Atari ST as Championship Manager (memories!!). However, I too felt very frustrated after been sacked in the beginning of my second season with Liverpool. I was 8th, but still had good morale. I was especially annoyed as I’d done a better job in the demo, but started again after the patch.

I decided to start a new game after a couple of days of moping around and reading the forums for help. I’d read how someone had won the FA Cup, Champ League and Prem in their first season with Liverpool. So I decided if they could do it, then I could. I started with a fresh approach. In the past it was all about buying as many good youngsters and getting rid of the cr*p. I found buying so many players seemed to unbalance the team. So I’ve basically used the same set of players and limited my buying to three extra players and a couple of loan players.

I also created my own tactics from the wizard and have only changed tactics three times this season. In the past it was all about getting the best players and playing them on the field with any good tactic, but I’ve noticed this isn’t the case now. The most important thing seems to be that player roles. Should Torres be a complete forward, target forward or poacher. If you choose the wrong one, he will not play as well. During a game I’ve kept to the same tactic (most times), but only change from Counter to Attacking or vice versa. There is nothing more satisfy than scoring a last minute equalizer when you are 1-0 down and you've changed your tactics to Overload or more Attacking. Also the touchline shouts are amazing, I normally change to work into box and after 5 mins will score, if i'm creating chances but missing them. Basically, the number one thing is listen to your Ass Man, he will tell you about your tactics and what you should do to win (in a nutshell).

Anyway the story so far. I’ve got 3 games left this season. I’ve already won the Premiership, Torres has 40 goals and Gerrard 30 goals. Torres mainly plays as a Target man and Gerrard as an Advance Midfielder. Torres did got most his goals in the first half of the season as a lone striker, but I changed tactics from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-3-2 after a couple of bad games and Torres was injured. I’m in the Champions League final against Munich and I'm hoping to buy Jovetic in the next season to add to the squad.

The point is, don’t give up, I almost did and remember the match day is the most important part of FM. Play your players in the right positions and give them the right roles. Take a bit of time to see what’s the problem from the matchday feedback. And keep to a good tactic that matches your players, tweaking the tempo and passing and using attacking or counter. All depending on how the game is paning out. Attacking seems to work better than Counter with 4-2-3-1 and Counter seems to work better with 4-1-3-2. I know this is only a game and should be easier, but it's so satisfy when you tweak your tactics and you go on to win the game. :)

I've had a similar experience although I survived the sack. I was managing Liverpool and had won my first 10 league games, I then faced Man Utd at Anfield who were about 7 points behind me, I lost 4-0. Then after that I lost 7 successive games in all competitions including losses against Rangers, Hull and Wigan with the same tactics, I also failed to get out my CL group. I'd never had such a bad run in all my time of playing FM, my teams morale was all poor and I couldn't win a game to save my life, I tried every team talk to try and encourage my team but to no avail, I had no idea what was going wrong at all.

arnt Liverpool on a run similar to this at the moment?

It does seem like a loss to a bad team and send things spiraling out of control fast if you draw or lose the next match...oh crap. What I usually did to get out of a losing streak or bad stretch of matches is either go all out attack style: 4-3-3 with two playmakers, target man and 2 inside forwards, very fluid style; or straight ugly football: 4-5-1, counter, rigid line, full backs leaning to defense, play ball up the gut, etc. Just grind it out or pump everything so highly that you overwhelm the opposition. Also once you get a 2 goal lead or lead with 30 min or less left, play bunker ball to get that result. It sucks to get sacked though, especially if a manager you hate takes over and turns things around...never happened to me though