It's not inconsistence is something else!

Having taken Leyton Orient to the Championship from League2 and after a very strong first season finishing 8th I've now come across quite a conundrum. I perform very strongly against the top teams in the league, regularly beating them and getting very credible draws, both away and at home. BUT, when I come up against relegation fodder and generally teams in the bottom 6, I struggle. Epically. I came up against Huddersfield sitting in 21st, with myself in 12th and far far better form. I expected a win and a performance from my star striker (though we finished 8th last season we're still tipped to go down for some reason :/ so I'm still obsessed with home form!) And well, 30 minutes in we're 3-0 down. On player motivation it doesn't say anyone is disinterested or even playing bad! I just don't understand what is happening!

I play a 4-4-1-1 focusing the play through the middle with a starting tactics at control.

Any help would be much appreciated! Oh, also, has anyone had a new stadium built for Leyton Orient? 9000 capacity is killing me.

With Stockport, just got to the Prem and the board have expanded the stadium by about 2500 seats, meaning the mighty Edgeley park now holds just under 13000! Think if i manage to stay up may request a new stadium or further expansion.

I've found similar to yourself that I tend to perform better against higher ranked clubs than the relegation fighters. However I never ever ever use the team talk expect to win. Don't think i've used it for the last 2 versions after finding it near enough impossible to get a result after saying it!

Having taken Leyton Orient to the Championship from League2 and after a very strong first season finishing 8th I've now come across quite a conundrum. I perform very strongly against the top teams in the league, regularly beating them and getting very credible draws, both away and at home. BUT, when I come up against relegation fodder and generally teams in the bottom 6, I struggle. Epically. I came up against Huddersfield sitting in 21st, with myself in 12th and far far better form. I expected a win and a performance from my star striker (though we finished 8th last season we're still tipped to go down for some reason :/ so I'm still obsessed with home form!) And well, 30 minutes in we're 3-0 down. On player motivation it doesn't say anyone is disinterested or even playing bad! I just don't understand what is happening!

I play a 4-4-1-1 focusing the play through the middle with a starting tactics at control.

Any help would be much appreciated!

The reason you do well against the top teams is because your tactical philosophy is a little cautious - which is good against teams that come at you as the top teams usually do. On the otherhand, it is not good against really defensive opponents as you are not putting them enough under pressure. In this case, at home CONTROL Strategy is simply not attacking enough and you should go for more ATTACKING Strategy. Away from home you might be a little too attacking with CONTROL Strategy.

CONTROL has nothing to do with controlling a game, it simply is a setting between attacking and standard strategies...

When you play weaker teams at home, they play a very cautious game, so you'll need to press more, play wider, be more attacking. Control may work for most of the matches, but sometimes you'll need to increase the pressure. Change your full backs' role to wing backs, push up your defensive line, play wider, quicker, more direct, etc. They'll crack eventually, even if it has to be from a corner or something. Just don't do that only in the 85th minute, that may be a little too late. You can also use team talks to prevent this, say "I expect a win" and "disappointed" if you're not producing what you're expecting.

To answer your thread title, I'd say it's not inconsistence, it's AI. Tactics don't work equally for all teams.