I just got promoted to the Premier League playing with Boro

And I've spent much research/scouting and upgraded my defense and midfielders accordingly before the season. It doesn't matter. Teams like Man Utd, Everton, Tottenham, especially Birmingham are throwing me around like a ragdoll. Rooney scored 4 goals on me by himself in my match against United.

*Shakes fist*

But yet I destroy Arsenal 5-1 in my first game against them, and I shutout Chelsea 2-0. *confused*

Did I just get lucky or is something wrong with this game? By the way, do you guys always change up your tactics when one of your coaches tells you to? Ex: "This team is weak against teams that play with slower tempo." ...etc .

Edit: Also I have found that "Fining 1 or 2 wks salary" on a player doesn't do much good. However, if I threaten to put them in the Reserves, they shape up. Scott McDonald was giving me attitude after he got sent off for getting a red card when I gave him a warning. His morale was Very Poor. When I talked with him the next day and told him I was going to send him down to the Reserves if he didn't shape up his behavior. Things changed.

He went to Okay behavior and scored a hat trick the very next game.

I never fine players for red cards, because i don't care that much, but i will warn them, and they accept that.

anyway, good result against the goons, and as for chelsea? Also a brilliant result. You are bound to have a mixed season, just look at newcastle. Nothing wrong with the game in this sense, some results are quite random by then again no-one can say it doesn't reflect real life

Moral of the story with player interaction - talk to them first before beating them with the big stick, no matter how frustrating they can behave sometimes.

I tend to be more lenient to begin with, then more forceful if they're not heeding my "advice".

As for your results, it can often be important to be mindful of scout, coach and assistant recommendations - before, during and after games. Especially if you know you have good quality staff, who's information can for the most part, be relied upon to be pretty accurate. During matches, it's also worth keeping an eye on the assistant feedback, to help see where things are going wrong, along with what's working well, against a particular opponent.

Essentially, it depends on how much you want to observe. You can still play with your standard tactical approach, but additionally, you can also aid your chances by using the media to point out a "weak link" in an opposing team to hopefully reduce their morale. Use opposition instructions to pressurise opposing players into mistakes, make changes to your starting strategy (more defensive, offensive, counter, etc...), or utilise shouts to change things based on what you see happening in matches.

Awesome advice. One more question please.

During a match do you guys change your "Instructions" alot or do you mostly just go for the main tactics changes like "Standard" to "Attacking", etc.??

I have found that if I start messing around with the Instructions too much, it does more bad than good.

Any advice on this?

Thanks again!!

Well, I tend to use the Tactics Creator exclusively nowadays. So, I always have a "core" formation and overall strategy I work with. I may change the starting strategy if I feel it's necessary, based on opponents, pitch conditions, etc... With the 4-4-2 system I'm using, I mostly start with "control" (because my team is superior technically and mentally to most in my division), but also use "attack" and "overload" when and where required. I'm very offensive minded though and have a defensive strategy that's served me well for a number of releases now, so doesn't need to change much, apart from the defensive line. Any changes I make during matches though, are always done with the shouts.

It's important to better understand what the shouts do and mean though, so check the online manual references here: http://www.footballmanager.com/manual/227