European Competition Bias?

I'm playing a game as Barcelona and have just lost at home 0-3 to FC Kobenhavn. They basically dominated the whole match and I barely had a single chance to score. I made 2-3 changes for this game but nothing too drastic. I used the same tactic I had been for the past 15 games. The previous Champions league game, I lost 4-0 away to Fiorentina and had literally no half decent chances.

In the league I have played 8 and won 8, scoring 25 goals and conceding just 2. I went to the Bernebau and dominated the match, winning 2-0. I absolutely hammered Sevilla on the road. All of this was using the same tactic. How does a team who does this in the league turn into a team that gets so badly dominated in Europe? I know Barcelona lost at home to Rubin in real life, so losing is not completely unrealistic, but the fashion that I am losing these games in beggars belief. It's nothing like the way I am playing in the league. To go from league leaders to European flops in one match just feels so wrong and unrealistic. It actually feels like European games are somehow programmed to be more difficult, regardless of the actual calibre of the opposition.

Maybe they play different football compared to the Spanish teams there fore your tactics dont work against them.

Make a new tactic for the champions league games and use the tactic you use now against the Spanish teams..

Thats all I can think of..

What Ryan said.

And really, there's been an real life counterpart of that... Inter.

Maybe they play different football compared to the Spanish teams there fore your tactics dont work against them.

Make a new tactic for the champions league games and use the tactic you use now against the Spanish teams..

Thats all I can think of..

I'm sorry, but this is not an acceptable explanation. Tactics can maybe fail when playing as different teams because they don't suit the players, or against opponents of stronger calibre, but for it to stop working just because it is a different type of competition is just wrong. More so given that my tactic is a defensive one. It is not like I play a fast attacking style in Spain that gets exploited in the more cagey affairs in Europe.

I have played 5 more league games since my last post, I have won 4 and drawn 1. In that time I conceded only one goal and scored fifteen. I have also played two European games in that time - I drew 2-2 away to Sporting thanks to a late Bojan equalizer and lost at home to Fiorentina 1-2. They had 64% of the possession. Puyol did get sent off shortly after the second half begun, so that would have played a factor, but the overall change from domestic to Europe is simply wrong. I even tweaked my approach slightly in midfield and changed a deep lying playmaker to an anchor man. Didn't do a thing. It is like the game recognizes the competition as European and says stay at home next time.

I can't say I've experienced the same thing managing Liverpool. I should get a good indication soon as the next two ECC games I play are vs Chelsea (whom I've played 3 times already this season). If there is a noticeable difference purely based on the competition as you suggest, I'd expect it to show up.

My teams usually play far better in Europe than they do in the league, often thrashing vastly superior opposition. I have long suspected that underdogs get some sort of special boost in European matches (I tend to use teams from small countries).