A Little Advice Please

So i bought this game a couple of weeks ago, i absolutely love it and i think it is the best one yet. The last one i played was 03.04. I started out as Exeter City, as i always have done, who are in League One after two successive promotions (in real life) and are probably in the bottom 3 teams in the division.

My objective is to avoid relegation so i went out and bought a striker to help the goal scoring along (i wont name him). In the first season i failed to do this, was close but was just ousted out, however my new striker scored 31 goals, so i simply conceded too many. The second season i signed 3 or 4 players to bolster midfield and defence and finished 8th and lost in the playoff final.

The third season i basically replaced another 4 players or so to replace the crap left over from before and im really struggling. Im currently 18th and failing to score, which compared to last season, is a complete turn around from scoring in nearly every game. What i want to know is where i might have gone?

-- The players i signed were better statistically than who they replaced.

-- I have tried to be positive in press conferences and team talks.

-- I have kept to 4-4-2 with the players who played last season in the same positions.

-- Ive not touched training.

Could it be that:

-- I have a young squad and for defenders they simply arn't mature enough as a line, because they are all younger than 23?

-- I have been too positive in team talks? Worn them out through over positiveness?

-- I have signed too many new players and that has likely caused them not to gel?

Any replies appreciated,

Thanks,

Could it be that:

-- I have a young squad and for defenders they simply arn't mature enough as a line, because they are all younger than 23?

-- I have been too positive in team talks? Worn them out through over positiveness?

-- I have signed too many new players and that has likely caused them not to gel?

All three tbf

So how do you approach team talks? Do you always say something? Always ask the assistant?

I have a similar issue with my current year (2014/2015 season). Won 2 Fa cups (and charity shield, woohoo) with spurs and last season won the league (wasnt even trying till the last third of the season, I just found myself up there). However a couple players retired, sold one or two and bought in a couple of new places to freshen it up. However his season is turning into a disaster. Cant beat anyone for toffee, loosing to teams i should easily beat and players who were stars for the last 2 years at least dont get a rating above 6.0 every game. I alternate (somewhat randomly) between my own team talks and the assistant, yet i have not changed anything with regards to training, tactics etc (maybe after 5 seasons the computer has finally worked out how to beat me but would have thought it would have been done alot sooner. I also find my players 'not bothering' in the match engine.

Is it that I have just done all I can with the team or have they had enough of winning them thing????

well, it is quite difficult to do balanced team talks, as they are a tad rigid.

Try "expect a win" sometimes as well, sometimes you have to put pressure on them to perform.

I just let the assman even though that is never a good idea... I just cant be arsed...

well, it is quite difficult to do balanced team talks, as they are a tad rigid.

Try "expect a win" sometimes as well, sometimes you have to put pressure on them to perform.

I've only used the "expect a win" option sparingly (on10.3) and it's not worked once. Before this patch it woeked like magic. everything always goes from the sublime to the rediculous after patches.

Pleased and thrilled which never used to be a good idea before 10.3 suddenly work really well. Would like to see a bit more balance/thought required so that every team talk has its place depending on the situaition rather than one or two always working no matter what.

-- The players i signed were better statistically than who they replaced.

-- I have tried to be positive in press conferences and team talks.

-- I have kept to 4-4-2 with the players who played last season in the same positions.

-- Ive not touched training.

Could it be that:

-- I have a young squad and for defenders they simply arn't mature enough as a line, because they are all younger than 23?

-- I have been too positive in team talks? Worn them out through over positiveness?

-- I have signed too many new players and that has likely caused them not to gel?

First off, I think it's worth mentioning that blips can and do occur, but don't be disheartened because you can turn things around. Imo FM10 is the first edition that has raised the bar for managers as seasons progress and I believe that part of the reason for this is that AI managers have improved and as such your rivals improve at a more realistic rate that previous games. In my career save I won the title three years in a row and was becoming quite complacent, taking things for granted, next thing you know my biggest rival came storming through and had an amazing season, winning the league and we struggled to make second place. This had never happened to me before and all I can say is that the new challenge helped me become even more engrossed in the save. To cut a long story short, I think that we’re too quick to blame ourselves or our players when we suffer a dip in form, when it might just be down to the fact that the teams around us have improved and afaic this is one of the best things about FM10.

However, there are one or two things that you have mentioned, which may also contribute to your current plight. First off, I don’t think you’ve signed too many players, you seem to have spread it out quite well and I would only be concerned about the effect of a number of signings if I was making 6/7 signings hat would change the first team, per season. Also, I don’t think you need to worry about formation or training, I stuck to my guns when I lost the title and even though I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I kept faith in my tactic and never changed it, eventually I ended up regaining the league title and winning the treble. Regards training, I never have and never will touch training and I’ve maintained success throughout the FM series, so I don’t think you should worry too much about ignoring it.

The two things that stand out in your post are player age and team talks. Player age can affect performance, there are certain hidden attributes that increase with age and these are just as important as the main visible attributes. My main concern, always, with a young team is ability to handle pressure and professionalism, it takes time to maximize these attributes and perhaps your young stars haven’t made the step up, yet. Where you tipped for promotion or a high league position? Perhaps the pressure of expectation was too much and this affected morale, which in turn affected results. Perhaps their lack of professionalism means that they have struggled to cope with a dip in form and they have ended up spiraling into a really poor run and can’t get out of it, again, because of their lack of professionalism. It’s always nice building a young team full of futures stars, but imo it’s always worthwhile having a few older, dependable work horses who will help the youngsters along and long enough in the tooth to cope with the worst situations.

Now, team talks, on 08 I got away with saying “For the fans” every game and on 09 being positive seemed to be the way forward, but the game has moved on and we now have to offer relevant team talks, which is great in terms of realism, but can take some getting used to. Being over positive is fine, sometimes, but it can get boring and it might not be relevant. Players need to be told when then have messed up and they don’t want to hear that you think they can beat a team that they have no chance of beating, repetitiveness and lack of relevance can lead to complacency as they ignore your team talks. For the most part I have used “Wish luck” at the beginning of the game and when it coems to half time I check their motivation before selecting an appropriate team talk e.g. “having a good game” = “pleased”, “playing ok” = “faith” and “having a poor game” = “disappointed”. That examples touches on another area of team talks that has changed since their introduction, we might have been able to get away with a global team talk before, but man management is far more important now and I find that I get best results when I give individual players an individual team talk, when needed, as a result I’ve had players turn a 6.2 into a 8.1. I’m talking too much, so I’ll sum that up with this; don’t be too positive, be relevant and take the time to man manage team talks, the benefits are enormous.

One last thing; what’s motivation like and squad harmony like? It can change a team and perhaps all you need to do is spend a bit more time on interaction, man management or even just offer a few new contracts. All of those will boost morale and probably harmony, which in turn should boost performances.

So how do you approach team talks? Do you always say something? Always ask the assistant?

My ass man's an idiot. So's yours. If you let him do them, you're missing a trick.

Do you set a team talk per person or always for the whole team?

I set an overall team talk and then go about setting individual team talks for those who need it e.g. players having a bad game or playing nervously.