good/bad runs: how to enter/avoid them

I decided to start this topic as I see that is something that provokes a great deal of interest/discussion. Unfortunately, these discussions often go in the wrong direction. I'm talking about dealing with crisis situations - when your team doesn't play as you like, you start losing games in a row without having a clue what might go wrong, you seem not capable of turning things around. Some of posters here call it "AI presses the I win button" but I must say that I disagree with that theory...

What is my experience? Personally, I believe that I have a good understanding of football and FM in particular. I'm able to assign suitable roles to my players, identify strenghts/weaknesses, adapt my tactical approach depending on the opponent, pitch, conditions, form, odds etc. What I find it very difficult and still I have no rational explanation of is the phenomenon of good/bad patches of result.

I mean either ways: sometimes my team is playing very well, my instructions are literraly translated on the pitch, the team plays nice fluid football (even with a rigid philosophy).

And we have the opposite scenario: the team enters a bad patch, nothing goes right, suddenly the players stop listening to you etc, you have the feeling that you lost control. I have to say that I manage to identify the signs of good/bad form which is already something - sometimes I'm absolutely confident going into the game and winning it, sometimes I feel powerless to avoid defeat. The thing that I'm missing is identifying the actions that lead to me to this patches of result.

One thing about my managerial style - I tend to be relatively cautious in my approach - I do not like to make drastic changes or to overload my players with instructions because this way I can spot how individual changes affect the way my team is playing. Still, I'm not able to understand what am I doing particularly right/wrong to find myself in these situations?

So, what is your experience with these situations: how do you deal with out-of-form teams, how do you put an end to these winless periods?

- sitcking to the same formation/players or adding more variety and tactical surprises;

- more intense player/staff interaction;

- play more defensive, more rigid philosphy hoping to grind out the much needed result - maybe this is the way that it works for me but again I'm not quite sure as the duration of some of my bad runs can be really discouraging (for me a run of 6-7 games without a win

- you reload games till you're back on track

Or if you want: how do you make your team reach its peak? I mean, in real life the best managers are able to take out the most of their teams when it really matters - but I have no clue how can I make this happen in the game. It is certainly not through training...

All these good/bad runs, are they really rationale or as in real life not everything can be really explained?

I do not expect to hear the 'magic formula' as I'm sure that there is not one solution. But it will really interesting if we can have a good debate on that because I firmly believe that managing these situations is what makes the difference between good FM manager and the best ones.

In my experience, changing tactics just makes things worse and playing ultra-defensive just means you lose 0-1 not 2-6.

the most important thing is: DON'T yell at your players when they're morale is low, no matter how much you want to.

the most important thing is: DON'T yell at your players when they're morale is low, no matter how much you want to.

If I've lost a game when my entire team have been dross, I don't give a post-match teamtalk. I've never had any backlash from doing that. I imagine, like you say, it's better than going mad at them if they're already down. Morale is massive in this game.

i am happy to tweak tactics, under the logic that something is going wrong to make me slump to 1 win in 6, therefore it needs fixing, but drastic changes are never encouraged or practiced by me. good morale is key, fresh players i like too, so i am happy to keep rotating, treating the situation as normal

Yea I must say I'm often swayed by someone having 100% fitness over someone who hasn't if I'm in a mini crisis.

don't change your team too often, and if you start to suffer a poor run play the players with the highest ratings over the last 5 games

... if you start to suffer a poor run play the players with the highest ratings over the last 5 games

I do that anyway Within reason, I suppose.

i normally play the best performing players, but (especially in the SPL with no reserve league) i like to give all of my squad some game time, switching a player here and there

lots of man management, private talks between games as well as good use of team talks - really shake up a player or two with a individual talk that differes from the rest of the team. also call team meeting if thats an option. call out the players that arent training well. recognize & praise the players that are playing well. and if the team is feeling the pressure and losing several in a row, then try taking the pressure off by telling them to just go out and not worry about the result.

one way you can tell the team is feeling pressure if you are outplaying the opposition but not scoring. high possession and shots compared to the other team, but nothing to show for it builds pressure. take that pressure off your players and you'll see them relax and score more often

also i replace some players are disinterested, complacent, etc with guys that may be less talented but are ambitious - sometimes you can get a goal out of the blue from those guys. i had one player on the transfer list, he was very subpar to the rest of my team, but he got into a couple games and scored in both, i ended up keeping him and giving him more appearances to reward that