Anyone else notice this?

I'm playing as Blackburn, but I've noticed this with similar teams. I'm going along nicely, playing well, plenty of goal's etc... then I reach a point in the fixture list where I play a group of the top four in successive games. Of course I am beaten which isn't unusual, but then confidence seems to evaporate, can't pass, can't tackle and the player's seem to have forgotten they are foottballer's in the space of 2 or 3 games. Can the loss of confidence from losing to the top team's really cause such a dramatic loss of form?

Confidence and motivation are two of the biggest factors IMO. If you can keep them two high then you'll win more than you lose overall.

That's the thing, both seem fine before and after the bad result's. It seems once you start sliding there's nothing you can do to stop it.... wierd.

Arange a friendly match with some crappy team,beat the hell out of them.that will boost your teams morale again

This is really strange. I've had a friendly with Kettering, won 9-0, made no difference to morale witch according to my assistant "couldn't be higher". After the friendly, no change, I'm being easily beaten by teams at the bottom when I was having pretty impresive result's previously. I'm totally at a loss as to what's triggered this sudden and total loss of form, nothing has changed apart from losing to 3 of the top 4 teams. I know this sort of thing can happen in reality (Hull last season) but surely in game it should give you a chance of stopping it?

You can manage, but not stop, a motivation drop. And yes, I've had the same experience. I am managing a mid-team in Italy and I get the top4 in a row too, at least in the autumn. It's better during the spring. But I've learned to use the reserve squad and just go very defensive. Sometimes you get lucky and draw, and if not, the B-players get the heat.

You can manage, but not stop, a motivation drop.

That's just it, motivation is great, everything else seems fine too, just can't explain why I can't seem to string two passes together when three games ago I was performing great. I'm not having a moan at the game, I know this sort of thing can happen IRL but the manner in witch my performances have dropped at the same time every other team in the league have increased dramatically makes me suspicious of my game. Is this happening to other people, if so can it be sorted tactically or are we talking bugs forum?

Iam suffering a similar experience. I recently got Rushden promoted to League 1, we started off like a house on fire and after 6 games we were sitting in 4th place. My main striker scored 4 goals in 4 matches, then suddenly not one of my strikers can score a goal. I have upwards of 5 forwards/strikers and NOT ONE has scored in over 6 games. The goal can be wide open yet they miss. In fact one opportunity was exactly that. The keeper was standing near the right goal post, a shot deflected & ended up with my striker standing directly in the middle of the goal mouth about 2 metres out and his shot flew off to the left missing by a mile. Now if that was to happen in real life he doesnt deserve to play the sport. And at times like this it always seems that you lose a match in the dying minutes. Yes Iam dominating posession & shots on goal, yet whats the point in dominating??

On the other hand the previous year I was middle of the table playing ordinary soccer, strikers couldnt score again. Suddenly out of the blue we have a 6 game unbeaten run to take us up to 4th, we lose one game and then go on a 8 game unbeaten run winning games 5-0, 4-1, 3-0 to win the League 2 title.

So go figure...the only thing I did last year was get fed up & went on holidays for a month. When I came back for some reason the whole team had gelled & were suddenly playing like world class athletes.

I know many people on here believe the game doesnt cheat, but I can start a game & know within minutes if I will win or not. I put the inability of strikers to score down to the game trying to make it more challenging, which is weak.

@Sharkie - Even that happens in real life as well. I recall Van Gaal coaching AZ, where one season he was a title contender, but the very next year he nearly relegates with the very same team. The next year he wins the league - again with pretty much the same team.

And when it comes to players suddenly not playing well anymore - well, even that`s not new in FM. I`ve had this for 4 years or something already. At times they simply don`t play good football, so as a coach you should try to work around that. Try to take out some players who don`t play well and put in some Reserve-players who do well, or try to switch around your formation or don`t play all-out-attacking anymore (Remember: it`s your tactics! ) and after a little while you see improvements again.

It`s really nothing new. You might simply have had luck previously, but even a world class coach can encounter these kind of problems.

Squad rotation and switching players helps a lot. Slight adjustment to the tactics as well. We don't want the team to go stale

Yes - morale is too fickle imo, not only that but it has too much of an effect on the team. Not only is bad morale contagious, but it turns the team into an absolute joke.

And worse still is that players morale seems to be effected on a results only basis. For instance, I also have a Blackburn save - we played Man Utd and lost 3-2. We were 2-0 down and got it back to 2-2, but then lost to a free kick in the 75th minute.

Now surely, the squad should take heart from that performance, right?

Wrong. That one game took them all down from superb/good to low/suicidal.

I know this sort of thing can happen in reality (Hull last season) but surely in game it should give you a chance of stopping it?

This happened to both Hull and Tottenham last season, but in opposite directions. Tottenham had a terrible run, but once it was over performed at their expected level. Hull had a great run of form, but once it was over performed at their expected level. The other 18 teams were relatively constant throughout the season with small fluctuations in form.

In other words, 10% of teams had drastic changes in form. In FM, estimate what percentage of your seasons contain a drastic change in form at some point (i.e. going from looking good against top teams for several games, then looking poor against bottom teams for several games or vice versa - I'm not talking about winning a couple then losing a couple)

The tottenham thing wasn't down to morale though.

They brought in a new manager who is simply better at player interaction. Combine that with the fact that the previous manager had put the entire squad on strict diets which meant that they weren't getting enough energy to play 90 minutes of premiership football and you get Tottenham in the bottom 3.