1 goal 2 goal 3 goal 4 goal 5 goal just not enough

As the title has said i have just played 5 amazing games

Playing as Reading in the championship i have just drawn 4 games all 4-4 followed by a 5-5 draw.

Now the point is in all games bar 1 i have been leading 4-0 and in the other 4-0 then 5-1 now i know there are some who say tactics, teamtalk and such and believe me i have tried them all and i have tried many diffrent things ie keeping the same formation changing the formation even going the other way and going all out but i have a sense that as soon as i get 3 and that seem to be the magic number the ai then just batters me no matter what i do. I play the games all on full match so i can see what is happening and i agree that sometimes teams come back from the dead with comeback with caution to the wind stuff but to be fair the defensive laps are incredible and the shambles that happens is in my opinion nearly game breaking.

I have watched football for years and in all my time i have seen teams coming back from the dead but a 4 goal cushion is usually good enough in at least 95 per cent of the time but in this game the only thing i have learned is to win you either have to have a lead by 2 with 5 minutes to go

SI this game has the makings of a great game but i feel we have slipped back in the match engine and i believe the defending has never been great on the game but it needs tweeking all round because to be fair some of my own goals have been scored by laughable defensive errors by the ai

Just finished another game and guess what 3-3 now maybe just maybe its time for fm09 but its a shame i know fm10 could be so much better

I have never encountered this on any regular occasion, I have just finished my first season and only had 2 comebacks against me and that was by Chelsea and Barcelona. I think the game is very realistic in the sense if your 4-0 up its more than likely that your opponent will use some attacking tactics to try and get those goals back so in reality you should switch yours so you try and hold onto the ball a little more rather than leaving your tactics as they are. Also if you can score 4 goals why wouldn't the other team in theory also be able to score 4 goals against you?

Havnt encountered it either.... having more problems scoring goals lol

I'm impressed that you managed to get 4-0 up. Whenever I score the other team goes straight down the other end and scores within 2 minutes. Have played 2 and a half seasons and this has happened in 38 games lol.

On the flip side though the other team has scored and then i've gone down the other end and scored 8 times so it's only 30 games away from evening itself out.

I was annoyed at first but now it's just lol cos i know that when i score the opposition will score.

My career so far is 132 games and one 0-0 draw.

blue all is true if i could score 4 why shouldnt they well lets say tactics it is not i have tried them all believe me keeping possession clearing to wings and all the various other ways of ticking the clock down and you say why should nt they score as many as i have well lets look at it how many times have you seen a team come from being 4 goals down irl i can tell you it will be less than 5 times in professional football only time i have seen it done was the Manchester city v Tottenham game and never witnessed it live so for it to happen 5 times on the trot with some of the most bizarre stuff happening well as they say your going to say tactics but believe me it cant be. I forgot to mention on my original post iam currently top of the championship so my tactics are working fine and i am a big reader of the TT10 but until the balance of attack and defending is looked at in patch 2 i advise people the best time to score 1 in the first half and one late on.

out of intrest how many clean sheets you keeping

Nicksy i totally agree it hard to win on fm with only 1 goal and keeping clean sheets is rearer than a albino badger but iam not here to slate the game far from it but i want some kind of realism and i feel whilst the game has made some leaps foward it also has made a few back and i would like them sorted in the next patch

Comebacks are all too regular for me too.

It's not as bad as the OP is getting, but I never feel confident at even keeping a 2-0 lead. Since FM10 came out, I've been changing my tactics during games a lot more, and it's worked a lot better than in previous games.

However: When going 2-0 up with 4 minutes left, I went from 'Attacking' to 'Standard', and dropped the D line slightly further back - however the opposition still got both goals back, including the equaliser after 93:56. Yes, on balance, a draw was a fair result, but it seemed that nothing I could do could stop the comeback. I know you can't always do it in real life if the other team gets on a roll though.

I agree wholeheartedly that quick equalisers are a massive problem. To be honest, if I go 1-0 up early on, I'd keep my tactics the same. I wouldn't change something that's given me a goal in the first 10 minutes, with the opposition barely getting the ball, let alone looking dangerous. Although I've never lost a 4 or 5 goal lead, I always have the feeling that 2, or even three goal leads aren't safe, unless your opposition aren't very good.

Sorry if it read like i was slating the game. The constant come backs and the "you score, i score" moments are annoying but it's only a game. I presume it's all down to tactics. I have to download all my tactics from the forum as if I create my own i always score first but lose 4-1. The only tactics that seem to do anything good are the old style tactics with sliders, I can't do a thing with the tactics creator.

I'm playing as I type (as Tranmere) against Donny and I just had 3 chances and 70% possession upto 12:24 when I scored. 15:08 and it's 1-1. lol

Last season I was managing Sheff Wed and had a great game against Huddersfield. They scored after 10 mins I equalised after 68. By the 80th minute it was 4-4 as it turned into a basketball game. (Then they scored in 90th minute and i lost 5-4)

I can understand it is very frustrating.

My recent experience is that to hold on to a lead I go rigid, tell players to stay in their positions, less creative freedom, go narrow, stay on feet and to keep the ball. I also pay attention to the ass man reccomendations regarding OI. And also tick counter attack.

It looks like a lot, but it is quite easy to do if yo get used to it. The reward has been four clean sheets in row my Lazio team (first season), two of these away, one of them a 4-0 victory against Palermo.

Not sure if it will help you, but I was in the same situation as you, really frustrated. But after I tried this I feel I control the games more.

I also read that the zonal marking may be not working very well, so I also reccomend man marking.

Good luck with your game.

P.S. I use the Man Utd tactic in the TT&F appendix. A very solid tactic, I have to say.

come backs are VERY regular for me as well, i'll go 1-0 up 1-1 and then lose 2-1 2-0 up and draw 2-2. Gets me angry and i try to blame me more than the game but who knows, MAYBE FM CHEATS!

nah it doesnt cheat. for it to cheat it would have to be doing something you cant. And as it has the same options available to the AI as the human player there is no cheating. Perhaps the game is just better than you are??

nah it doesnt cheat. for it to cheat it would have to be doing something you cant. And as it has the same options available to the AI as the human player there is no cheating. Perhaps the game is just better than you are??

Wink was implying a joke...

It really is your tactic's.

When i first started playing FM10 ,i had similar issues. I started a thread called "is defending broke?" as i really struggled with defending.

However ,after some tweaking and some serious attention to detail ,i would say i have a very good balance between def and attack now.

Did the treble first season (mickey mouse cup ,champs league and prem) scored 92 and conceeded 33 in the bpl.

Second season bpl so far ,played 14 ,scored 31 and conceeded 7. In 5 champs league group stage game's ,i have scored 19 and conceeded 1.

I had the same problems for several seasons. Was often winning or losing 5-3, 6-2, 4-3 etc. But.....Just stick at it, I felt like it was broke at times but I eventually worked it out. I've now got Forest top of the premiership, played 12, won 8, drew 4 and conceded only 7.

The trick is to keep your team extremely compact so there isn't space between defense and midfield. You really need to set the mentality sliders for each player yourself, rather than let the tactics creator do it. I have my CB's two notches below my full backs, my full backs the same as my DMC, wingers have same mentality as deep lying striker etc etc. Keep them all close together, no more than two notches on the slider between any position. It's also very very important to let your assistant manager set the opposition instructions each and every game so he marks certain players tight and plays every attacking player onto their weaker foot.

I've done all this with a standard 4-4-2 formation.

Here are my latest results.....just to show it can be done (its a few seasons into the game).

Bolton A 1-1

Sheff U H 1-1

Portsmouth A 2-1

Colchester H 3-2 (league cup)

Leeds H 3-1

Everton A 1-0

Tottenham H 3-1

Notts Co A 3-0 (league cup)

Manchester U H 1-0

Wolves H 3-1

Sunderland A 2-1

West Ham A 0-0

Crystal Palace A 2-1 (league cup)

Chelsea H 0-0

Burnley A 1-0

Exactly same tactics (442) played home and away. Only time I ever change is when leading with 10mins to go I switch to a v defensive formation with two actual DMC's.

Stick with it.

Watson well I'm Man utd so i am a top team but with my formation i have kept quite a few clean sheets. Both of my keepers have kept 15 clean sheets each in all comps.

Watson well I'm Man utd so i am a top team but with my formation i have kept quite a few clean sheets. Both of my keepers have kept 15 clean sheets each in all comps.

Nothing to do with the standard of players no? Just your formation?

wow after playing fm/cm for over 10 years and like i said iam top did anybody not read iam doing well and standard of player for this league rubbish well lets just say there as good as it gets for the championship and to say its tactics well bugger me i never thought about going defensive at all. Come on please iam not new to team talks and various other changes ie going defensive protecting a lead, going narrower and all that all iam saying is against lower level teams in the cup i can comfortably keep clean sheets even if i go all out for 70 minutes but like i originally said the balance of attack v defence is not correct.

interesting also all the people saying i did this did that as baker says try playing down a division you will see what i mean and keeping clean sheets is not so common.

Yeah don't want to say it's your tactics, but combining these and team talks in the correct manner should stop these.

But the point is that if your tactics and team talk are good enough to go 4-0 up then why can the opposition score at will? I understand that there are comebacks after half time - usually a change of personnel is involved though rather than just a tactical change and rousing team talk. In FM if you aren't a top side then when taking the lead the opposition seem to be able to score at will.

The question is that if they can do this then why not from the start. If it's the boost in motivation from conceding goals then I (and I think many others) feel that this is one of many areas of the game where what should be a subtle effect has been made massive.

Well ,like i said in my other post ,i struggled just like you did and then after some tweaking ,my def seem's to be working just fine.

I was managing liverpool who obviously have good qaulity in defense ,i still struggled. So ,it sort of make's a mockery of people saying "but it's harder lower down" ,or ,"your doing well because you have great players!". I was doing crap defensivley with very good defender's. It was my tactic's and team talk's that were the problem.

So ,was it because the FM10 ME was flawed? i really dont think so. Sure ,the game isnt perfect but my point is ,if your getting result's like that ,then i am 100% positive that if you persevere and keep tweaking ,you will find the right balance and you wont have to go back to FM09 ,and you can have as much fun as i am now having on FM10. I was having exactly the same issue's as you.

dking like i said it not about success it about realism for me and for me the balance is wrong

I was 2-0 up against Man City in the Europa League with Sampdoria with 10 minutes remaining... i switched to a flat back 4, 2 dm's 2 wide m's and an am and cf.... game finished 5-2 to City... this is the only unrealistic example i've seen in any of my games so i dont see it as too much of a problem. That said, i have also staged dramatic comebacks so it works both ways.

Watson I did half a season as Afc Wimbledon and still didn't have many comebacks against me, did concede like every game lol but still no comebacks as great as what happens to you.

There's obviously a problem, but part of it can be overcome by playing in spells against good to decent oposition. i actually start most games playing a 4-3-1-2 which i play with a very slow tempo. This usually allows my Ajax side to pick appart most decent oposition (in europe as well as domestic). But as soon as I go one up i switch from zonal marking to man on their main attackers.

When I get a 2-0 score line I then instantly switch to a preprepared very narrow counter attacking 4-3-3 but I pull both AM r/l into MR and ML positions this allows the team to both soak up pressure and attack for a while at least until half time. At half time i switch to a counter attacking defensive 4-3-3 but again I pull the wingers back to make a 4-1-4-1. sometimes this allows me to pick off the oposition other times it frustrates them as i use a health dose of time wasting.

When I get to the about the 60 min i sometimes depending on success switch back to the 4-3-1-2 which usually has the effect of restoring the attacking balance in my favour.

Basically playing in spells against decent oposition helps as it confuses the AI. This has worked well for me in the 1 seasons i've played so far. It also worked a treat on previous games.

WHen im 2 or 3 goals up now, I put in a defensive midfielder in place of an attacking mid, trequartista or a play maker and and waste time, retain possession etc.

In 4 seasons of Fm10, ive never drawn or lost from 3+ up. I have however been nabbed from 2-0 up a few times but not since I change to contain/counter/defensive with some personnel changes.

I also take off nervous/complacent players and especially, tired ones.

Tired players tend to not chase/mark opponents properly and make more mistakes.

When I first popped into this thread I took it a little off track by talking about "i score, you score".

Back on track i've just been sacked after I was 2-0 up at half time in the cup. It was a pretty even game with me playing balanced tactic and controling mentality. I knew that if i left it like this I would get beaten by the comeback so I changed to Rigid and Counter with players wasting time more often.

I lost 4-2 with 4 goals in 12 minutes.

Ruining the game for me now too :-(

Funny thing is the "I score, you score" thing had stopped happening after 3 games of the season when my tactic settled in. Then out of the 12 games before i got sacked i drew twice after being 2-0 up and lost 3-2 twice after being 2-0 up. Doesn't seem to matter what i do to the tactics, outcome is always the same.

Hmm, I noticed that there are a LOT of goals in my Dinamo Zagreb game, a 6-3 win in a cup game (no extra time, one leg, aggregate 9-3), a lot of 4, 5 goal games, a couple of higher. But that is near the Dinamo Zagreb reality, haven't played with a lot of other bigger clubs...

I'm starting to wonder if I'm playing the same Football Manager as some people. FM10, right? In my own game, I've seen absolutely nothing whatsoever like what the OP is describing. But it can't just be tactical, surely?

Starting to think maybe it's not tactics. On my third team in this game now and still getting teams coming back from 2 down all the time or instantly equalising. I've used all sorts of tactics but none have helped. Sheff Wed, Tranmere and Hartlepool must just be crap.

Can't switch it off though cos i'm determined to beat it.

iam finding the optimum score is 2-1 and by that i mean i hope now they score first as i know i can turn it around

Know what you mean about hoping you don't score first. Just played Brighton who are one place above me in league and struggling. Battered them and went 1 up. 1-1 at half time so went to counter strategy to get a nice away draw. Lost 5-1.

Anybody here finding it too dificult to control games even against relegation teams? On the other hand attacking and overload gives you a lot of possession football and goals.

So, all out attack might be the best way to win games.