Losing streaks. Play your way through or change things?

My third season as West Ham Manager and things were going great come January. Third in the table 3 points off the top and still in the Champions League, F.A. Cup and the League Cup. I have 3 tactics. A Home 4-4-2 an away 4-4-2 which made me stronger away in the 3rd season and also a 4-5-1 which I used against likes of Liverpool and Everton who play with men in the AM slots.

I went on a 10 game winning run between January and February only conceding 6 goals, then I lost one. I won the next two and then lost another. I then beat Everton 1-0 in the League Cup Final but suddenly went on to lose 6 games on the spin conceding 13 goals and only scoring in two of those games. Suddenly from dominating possession in games I was not even keeping control of the ball. Obviously confidence goes and I did have a few injuries but more than had the players to cover. It was bizarre it is almost like the AI suddenly worked out my tactics and the older players like Parker, And Reid and Zigic suddenly looked like they had aged 10 years in 6 weeks!! I went crashing down from 3rd to 6th so out of the title race and obviously capitulated in the other cups. I have now won one and drawn two of my last three so steadied the ship so to speak but I am still not playing well.

Now I know it happens IRL but what I can't understand is how I can win the League Cup which surely breeds confidence and then get a 6 game losing run and how to get out of it. Do you stick with it and try and play your way through or do you change things dramatically?

Also with the 4-5-1 in the first game I used it I won 5-1 away at Southampton and Carlton Cole scored 5 goals. It hasn't hit those heights again. Can you confuse the AI with a new tactic and it suddenly susses it?!?! Very frustrating when you think you have found the holy grail and it lasts 90 minutes!!!!

I have a similiar issue. I am playing in Turkish League w/ Besiktas. I lost the championship in the last game, and the Turkish Cup in Final. That hurts a lot, but I didn't want to quit and reload since I don't like cheating. Started the next season and qualify the Third Round Champions League play-off by eleminating AEK with winning the two games. In the middle of those games lost the League opening match against Galatasaray 3-1. Then lost the fourth round Champ. League first game (away) against Sevilla 3-1 with 2 penalties given to them. Then tied against Karsiyaka (relegation candidates) 1-1. Won second Sevilla game 1-0 with missing a penalty (82nd minute; god that hurts the most) and knocked out from Champs League. And lost against Denizlispor 1-0 with my MC being sent of around 13th minute. This should be my record awful season opening since the first CM.

I think confidence and morale have a lot to do in FM2011. IMO confidence have more effect in the game than it should be. Once most of the players in your best 11 start having morale problems, then there is not much things to do than simply winning couple games in a row. That is how it is IRL, but not that much drastically though. The first win is more important, and enough to change things around most of the time IRL i think. The morale effect should be tweaked IMO.

I agree. I wouldn't mind so much if good morale had a similar effect to bad morale but it doesn't seem to. I mean West Ham won their first trophy since 1981 by winning the League Cup in 2013 so you would think that boost the whole Club morale wise yet we go and lose 6 on the trot!!!

Definately play my way through. I had a horrible bit of fixture congestion around christmas and I got in a 'drawing' streak - basically every game against lower oppostion would end 0-0 or 1-1 and nothing I did changed anything. In the end I simply stopped messing around with the tactics mid game and let the team play and I ended up comming out of the streak with enough time to scrap the league win.

If you get a free midweek play a friendly against a wee team.

Will really boost the confidence getting a high score.

I change to a more conservative tactic and change my match preparation to defensive movement. Once you scrape a couple of 1-0 wins you can go to team blend or attacking and start winning properly again.

Not 100% effective, of course, but it is if you're one of the better teams.

I think it's also to do with the weather. It happens every year on pretty much every save since FM07 +. I cant remember the last season I've had a good 'festive' period.

I usually start like a house on fire but come December through to February I struggle, once i get into March my form picks up again. Not a coincidence. I cant stop it though, ive tried all the suggestions (playing more direct, Rest and rotate players etc) Just seems to be one of those things.

The general/random bad runs you get are always worse when in the same situation as yourself. You are on the verge of doing something brilliant but just have it taken away from you. It can be heartbreaking.

In my current save I have taken Oldham from L2 to the Prem in 5 season. I was on the cusp of CL qualification in my first season in the Prem. 3rd with 10 games to go. Off the back of 4 wins on the bounce to put me in the CL places my next 4 reults were DLLL ! Leaving me now 7th and 7 pts of 4th. This is probably down to the squad not being able to cope with the pressure, but it doesnt make it any less fustrating!

Alsoa quick tip.

Using 'Team Blend with a high workrate is good for keeping the morale of your players quite high during these slumps. Usually only my least determined players end up with Poor or V. Poor Morale, everyone else stays at Okay even after a run of 4/5 games without a win, or after a heavy tanking. Without the high Team Blend the morale of the squad drops to Poor/V.Poor within a couple of defeats and always after a heavy defeat.

You could do either, and it really depends on your situation.

In my one season as Sampdoria, I was atop the league and then hit a bad rut of eight or so games, with something like only one win, some draws, and a bunch of losses. Part of it was injuries, as you've said, and of course the morale dent made things tough. As key players returned though, I was able to play my way out because I knew that my system worked. Had I had long-term injuries to certain positions, I may have had to change tactics up.

I play either a 4-4-2 with wingers or a 4-2-3-1 but these both get sussed quickly so normally a switch to a flat 4-1-4-1 helps settle things out and secure some points. I like to keep things far more tight and more direct passing to a big strong centre forward. it annoy's me that this happens so quickly and that it happens every year!

I then beat Everton 1-0 in the League Cup Final but suddenly went on to lose 6 games on the spin conceding 13 goals and only scoring in two of those games. Suddenly from dominating possession in games I was not even keeping control of the ball. Obviously confidence goes and I did have a few injuries but more than had the players to cover. It was bizarre it is almost like the AI suddenly worked out my tactics and the older players like Parker, And Reid and Zigic suddenly looked like they had aged 10 years in 6 weeks!! I went crashing down from 3rd to 6th so out of the title race and obviously capitulated in the other cups. I have now won one and drawn two of my last three so steadied the ship so to speak but I am still not playing well.

Now I know it happens IRL but what I can't understand is how I can win the League Cup which surely breeds confidence and then get a 6 game losing run and how to get out of it. Do you stick with it and try and play your way through or do you change things dramatically?

Also with the 4-5-1 in the first game I used it I won 5-1 away at Southampton and Carlton Cole scored 5 goals. It hasn't hit those heights again. Can you confuse the AI with a new tactic and it suddenly susses it?!?! Very frustrating when you think you have found the holy grail and it lasts 90 minutes!!!!

Did you say 'well done' to your players post match after winning the League Cup? I had a similar experience after winning the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in league one, my team went from being a virtually all conquering machine to a pub team overnight, blew a ten point lead in the promotion race. I think if the option is there to say 'don't get complacent' following a mid season cup win you should always take it, the effects otherwise are devastating.

I said "congratulations" I think. You could be right but I remember in FM10 saying don't get complacent and the team hated me!!! I think team talks etc have far too much bearing on the game. I had my Assistant telling me that Fernandinho should be dropped due to bad form which to be fair was right. Rather than drop him I told him he needed to pick his form up. He spat the dummy saying he thought he had played quite well and thought I was being unfair. I gambled and told him I was the Manager and didn't like being spoken like that and fortunately he apologised and now feels we have a good relationship but his form isn't much better!!!

It's like the kids. You tell player A that they should benefit from Player B's experience but they turn it down. It wouldn't happen. A Youth player is just that and should heed a Managers decisions. Far too many possibilities of saying the wrong thing that in turn affects form on the pitch IMO.