Runs of form

I've tried playing FM10 a couple of times and each time had to give up in the first season. Both times I was playing as Palace.

The first time I was doing OK. I was in 9th place in December, and had just won 3 in a row. Suddenly nothing went right. I lost nine in a row, and ended up 15 without a win before I quit and tried again.

This time I randomised the fixtures to mix things up a bit and won my first two games, both away (2-1 league v Watford, 5-2 league cup v Dagenham & Redbridge). I then proceeded to fail to win in my next 13 before I quit.

Tactics wise, each time I mainly played 4-5-1 but occasionally went 4-4-2. I try to adapt my tactics game by game to take into account my players, my opponent, and the pitch. I don't think tactics are the problem as I did fine up to the start of the run of form first time round.

Player wise, my players aren't great, but they're not terrible. I don't expect to finish higher than mid table, but I don't expect to lose nine in a row either. So I don't think they are the problem.

Morale wise, it was destroyed by the end of each run, but OK for the first few games. Motivation also. As I was even losing to clubs at the bottom, with very poor morale on most players I don't think motivation or morale are the problem.

I don't see how you can get out of a rut as you need a win to boost your players, but you can't win as they are so bad. Penalties are almost always scored in the game. In each of my bad runs I had one penalty, each hit the post.

Apologies for the rant, but I've loved CM/FM since the very first one, but I'm just not enjoying this. I don't mind losing if I can see why, but this is just frustrating.

So my questions are:

does anyone else experience this?

Can anyone see what the problem might be?

How can I get out of this.

I'm tempted to stop playing and give up on FM, but I'm hoping with another try I can get it right. Previous versions have done this a bit, but nowhere near as badly as FM10.