January slump

There's been a bit of talk on here about your team playing poorly after Christmas and I've read many replies saying it's because teams re-evaluate your performance and alter their tactics against you, and I've read that the weather conditions mean you should play more directly, etc.

That's all fine, I get that.

However, I really believe the game changes slightly and means it's slightly more biased against you. I think this because:

• In August to December, I have many examples of my strikers being put through on goal 30 yards out and running towards the goalkeeper and finishing clinically about 7 out of 10 times. (which seems reasonable, as his finishing is 19).
  
• In August to December, my central defender would win a lot of headers from corners, and score about once every 2 or 3 games. Between this time, he had 9 goals in 17 games.
  
• After December, my strikers would still be put through on goal (so my tactics/passing/chance creation is obviously still strong), but this time, he'd only convert 1 or 2 out of 10.
  
• After December, my central defender still wins headers (so he hasn't lost his jumping/heading ability, and my crosses are still accurate) but they go over the bar pretty much all the time. He's only scored 2 goals between January and the end of the season.
  

If I was watching the 3D pitch and I could see a specific change in the accuracy of my passes, or could see other teams using long balls more, or could see them pressing me more or standing off more, then I could believe the excuses a bit more, and my assistant might be more helpful if he pointed these things out to me (such as, the weather is bad today, try more long balls).

However, I can't see any change of any kind - the opposition seem to be doing the same things, and my passing and chance creation still looks good. I look as dangerous as ever until the final shot.

I honestly believe the game has something in built (perhaps randomly) that says "Right, it's the new year, he's 8 points clear, let's make teams play differently against him" but the game isn't clever enough to reflect this visually, so it reduces the probability of you scoring clear cut chances, and it reduces the probability of you scoring from headers, and it basically makes it a little bit more difficult for you generally to compensate.

Does anyone else find this?

Am I the only one to get this?

So how do you explain people winning every game in a season or going the full season unbeaten if after January the game suddently turns against you?

You can still win games - I'm just saying I think the game does affect your team by re-evaluating it and making some more things more tricky. For example, tactics, formations and player instructions count for nothing when your striker is 1 on 1 with the keeper, and I find in my experience of 11 seasons, the probability of your striker scoring is higher before Christmas than after it.

I've always associated mid season slumps with fatigue and injuries.

The best time to deal with it is in August, by setting sensible tactics and training schemes. (rich club solution: buy fitter players.)

You can still win games - I'm just saying I think the game does affect your team by re-evaluating it and making some more things more tricky. For example, tactics, formations and player instructions count for nothing when your striker is 1 on 1 with the keeper, and I find in my experience of 11 seasons, the probability of your striker scoring is higher before Christmas than after it.

This is something I know a few people complain about but I think that maybe you're a victim of your own success (I said 'think', this is my theory but could well be bs, just based on my observations!). As I'm sure you know, a lot of the time players play well/badly based on motivation in the game, do you do your own pre-match team talks? I always check what my ass-man says in his opinions before going to the team talk page. He'll highlight in there anyone who's cocky/complacent or out of form (this is if you have a good ass man with good knowledge of the players). On the team talk screen if you then ask assistant he'll normally say the same thing to 9 or ten but there's usually one or two who get something different, sometimes it's "pick up where you left off" or "I expect a performance". My reasoning is there must be logic behind this, and it must be down to some hidden motivation factor that we can't see?

On fm10 I was united on my first save (as I am on 11) and Rooney was scoring bucketloads and then stopped as you describe. Next match I looked in the ass man info before the game and I can't remember the wording for the life of me but it alluded to the fact that he was having such a great season he might need pushing to continue it. Out came the "expect a performance" team talk and back came the goals.

Gotta be careful though, I've signed dzeko on 11 and his ability to handle pressure is woeful and he always seems to be nervous, I seem to have no way to tutor him so I avoid the "expect a performance/win" comments with him at all costs and it's paying dividends (still going to sell him if I can, can't be bothered molly coddling him each game!)

The weather /pitches have a huge effect. If your tactic relies on short snappy passing then the chances are that it will get found it in December / January.

Complancy/Overconfidence may also have set in. I hit a massive slump when my players started thinking they could just turn up and win games. Your assistant manager feedback during games will tell you if players are overconfident/complacent, though by the time you get to that screen it's to late do anything about it in the team talk .

I agree that weather and pitches have an impact. I do get that excuse. However, my point is that if I manage to play well enough to get my best striker 1 vs. 1 with the goalkeeper, then I've overcome the weather/pitches obstacles and I'm doing well. However, the game won't let you score as many in that position for some reason.

I still stand by the fact that in a 1 vs. 1 situation, tactics/formations/weather/pitches/morale don't come into it. It's just 1 guys finishing & confidence vs. one guy's reflexes & confidence.

I still stand by the fact that in a 1 vs. 1 situation, tactics/formations/weather/pitches/morale don't come into it. It's just 1 guys finishing & confidence vs. one guy's reflexes & confidence.

There is more to it than that tho, composure/finishing/decisions of the striker, what foot he is using, how well he is playing, is it raining or not, how tired is the player can all affect his final decision, same with the keeper, his reflexes, his positioning, perhaps his size ( prob not in the game to be honest but not sure ) again the weather, what side the stiker is aiming for or what angle the striker is coming from can all affect the final outcome.

All those things are also present before December (with the possible exception of the weather), and yet he scores more than after December.

All those things are also present before December (with the possible exception of the weather), and yet he scores more than after December.

I must say i havent noticed my strikers scoring less after december but ill have a look through some of my saves and see what the stats say, not that my games are the be all and end all but i just havent noticed that before. Again tho if your doing well then teams will be more motivated against you, that includes goal keepers they will be quicker off their line, positioned better than maybe they were before xmas, keeping a clean sheet against the top scorer in the league is a big coup for keepers. Attackers can get complacant if they think they are going to score everytime they are though and maybe make poorer decisions.

If attackers are getting complacent, or getting too confident, or even if the weather was bad, there should be some message from the assistant pointing this out to you, or the player should be compensating for the weather himself (considering he's the professional player and I'm not!), or we as manager should be getting some feedback to tell us to do different things.

I've read many examples of teams going on huge losing streaks after December, so some sort of assistant feedback, recommendations for solving problems, etc should be given to me.

Like an instruction to my striker to say "Right, it's after December, so this means the goalkeeper is now somehow quicker off his line, despite the muddy pitch. Don't let this strange phenomenon freak you out, just be aware of it, and don't try and control the ball and take 10 touches before scoring now. Instead, wait for him to rush out, and then kick the ball past him, use your pace to run past him, and score. Easy."

Like an instruction to my striker to say "Right, it's after December, so this means the goalkeeper is now somehow quicker off his line, despite the muddy pitch. Don't let this strange phenomenon freak you out, just be aware of it, and don't try and control the ball and take 10 touches before scoring now. Instead, wait for him to rush out, and then kick the ball past him, use your pace to run past him, and score. Easy."

I am probably going to shock a lot of people but it is actually a tactical issue. You see, there are several different strategies in the TC and they all have a purpose - and the whole point is to figure out which one is best suited for your next match. What does happen during the course of the game, is that the AI will at one point change the way they generally play against you (which is influenced by your result form) - if you are in good result form then the AI will increase their overall 'defensive' value against your team. You have to know how to increase your teams overall offensive value to 'overpower' the AI and that is why the SI have introduced the TC.

The ME is calculating the procentage of success/failure of the instructions you give it, and if you are generally incorrect in the Strategy you are using then the ME calculations will not really be calculating in your team's favor. This is why it might appear that you are overpowering the AI although you are not, but once the strategy aspect is correct then the calculations will be in your favor (more or less). You can say that it is poor programming or whatever, but I can say that there are teams in the real world that do overpower opponents every week without winning so this might be the way that the SI have presented this aspect.

Remember this is a game, so what we see in the ME is the outcome of the calculations - I don't have any real life stats that I can compare this aspect to so I can't honestly say if it is right or wrong, it's just the way it is. Also remember that I am the messenger and have no influence on why things are the way they are...