Constantly conceding in the last 10 minutes

Im newcastle in the 3rd season, most matches i get 1 or 2-0 up manage to hold the lead until the 80th minute, then as soon as we are about to win even against the worst teams we suddenly concede 2 or 3 goals in the space of 10 minutes and i end up drawing or losing the game. Ive tried telling the team not to get complacent at half time, subbing defenders near the end when they are tired, changing to defensive at the end, and still it happens most games. What am i doing wrong?

First of all, telling them not to get complacent over and over and over again will make them stop caring about your motivational speeches.

Second of all, I have noticed when changing to defending against a weaker team you're chances of actually defending the lead will decrease, so instead I recommend changing depending on "how the game feels". Does it feel like you're going to lose the lead? Does it feel like you're going to keep the lead up if you change to defending?

Third of all, try doing alot of tactical changes starting around the 75th minute. Change the pace of the play, change the width of the play, not drastically ofcourse but something that will make the opposing club less able to find a hole through your defences.

Forth of all, subbing your defenders is a terrible mistake. If you "had" the game all this time the defenders are most likely stil quite rested. As a cautious manager myself, my best advice here is to follow my 3rd step and change the line of the defenders to deep.. and untick offside trap ofcourse.

Last but not least, player attributes can tell you alot if you're really reading them properly. Don't do mistakes like putting up a deep defence with short defenders or a high defence with slow defenders.

The complacency thing should only be used when playing teams of equal or higher reputation and you're winning 2-0 at half-time. Telling them not to get complacement is a reminder that they are better than you. So against a lesser team and you say "don't get complacement" you are probably damaging morale of the players.

Try a different half-time team talk. And if you're all over them I usually put it to All Out Attack, Retain Posession and Shoot on Target. That should get the AI to resort to a defensive instead of attacking tactic.

Rather than subbing tired defenders, look at your players motivation and sub them based on this. If they are playing poorly or nervously then mabye sub them.

Also perhaps think about subbing tired attacking players and use a counter strategy rather than defensive, then perhaps the fresh legs will be able to launch successful counter attacks getting you more goals. This trick seems to work for me, I end up scoring more late goals than conceding.

First of all, telling them not to get complacent over and over and over again will make them stop caring about your motivational speeches.

Second of all, I have noticed when changing to defending against a weaker team you're chances of actually defending the lead will decrease, so instead I recommend changing depending on "how the game feels". Does it feel like you're going to lose the lead? Does it feel like you're going to keep the lead up if you change to defending?

Third of all, try doing alot of tactical changes starting around the 75th minute. Change the pace of the play, change the width of the play, not drastically ofcourse but something that will make the opposing club less able to find a hole through your defences.

Forth of all, subbing your defenders is a terrible mistake. If you "had" the game all this time the defenders are most likely stil quite rested. As a cautious manager myself, my best advice here is to follow my 3rd step and change the line of the defenders to deep.. and untick offside trap ofcourse.

Last but not least, player attributes can tell you alot if you're really reading them properly. Don't do mistakes like putting up a deep defence with short defenders or a high defence with slow defenders.

I only started trying out using dont get complacent at half time / subbing defenders near the end after my team kept conceding .. and trying both of these failed lol was still conceding late. It always seems to be the bad teams I concede against right at the end.. ( was winning 2-0 vs reading then they scored at the 88th minute and 91st minute, and then same happened against blackburn) is there anything that could be wrong with my tactics causing this?

I find if I'm leading 1-0 or 2-1 I 'encourage them', if against a bigger side i tell them 'don't let your performance drop', or you 'have faith' (works brilliantly i find) If I'm 2 up against weaker opposition the I use 'pleased' and that works if the opposition is bigger the use don't get complacent or again have 'faith'.

These are the only options I use and they work well for me. I also always tell them I have faith before every match unless playing a rival the it's 'for the fans'

800th post woo-hoo

look at your players attributes. if their work rate, determination, stamina and natural fitness are low then this can cause the problems you are suffering

Sometimes I'll have a player that is carrying a knock and is at 50% but goes on amazing runs and scores. I don't take off players that have really positive morals and are currently playing well in the game.

If it's the 60 minute in the game and a player has below 6.5 in rating I will sub them, they clearly can't get into the game.

I often find singling out the captain at half time to say "Prove a point" or generally like his arse that makes him play better and thus motivates the players around him.