February drop?!

Hey lads,

Has someone else experienced the following set of events?

For example: I'm playing with the gunners I'm leading the title race by some 12 pts ,through to the knockout stage of the cl and in contention in the FA and League cups. Then comes February and I begin losing points like 0-1 home losses to teams placed 15 and downwards whilst I'm controling the games.

Here's an example:

Arsenal-Birmingham: 0-1

shots: 28-2

on target :15-1

i also draw 0-0 alot. My strikers shoot from inside the six yard box and miss. I make rotation, nothing helps. The peak of misery was the cl knockout matches against Inter , i drew 0-0 away, missing 2 penalties as well. At home happens the following:

Shots:23-3

On target: 16-2

Clear cut chances: 6-0

Woodworks:3-0

final score: 0-3

milito 2, and an own goal from squilacci.

I don't get it. can someone help?

it happens with whole bunch of other teams as well.

I always have a mid-season wobble with every team I've been and almost every season.. Feb-April, any time between then. A start of season wobble is a bit more of a worry.

It happens to me in almost every team I play as in nearly every save I have. The best advice I have is for you to improve squad depth and to rotate players more as they get jaded, but that can be difficult as I learned in my Blackpool save where I'm into my foruth season and my team is slowly becoming deeper. It may help to do some tactical fiddling or pay close attention to what your team is doing wrong in matches then see if you can work on those areas in the match preparation screen.

In my first season it was absolutely deplorable- my Blackpool side started the season very well and in mid-season we were around the top of mid table and in the hunt for a Europa League spot. As soon as 2011 hit, we stopped winning- in 2011 of my first season my team only won three matches, the last of which was at home against Birmingham in February. The last point my team got was a 1-1 draw at home against West Ham sometime in March. It was the most frustrating time I've ever had in any save and nearly gave up, but luckily our early-season form was good enough (and the lower teams bad enough) that we stayed clear of relegation.

I'm playing well as long as possesion goes average of 58-60% and also shots , but i miss a lot. As you suggested i do rotations, that doesn't help. 6 strikers miss every tap in? 6 yard rebounds in front of an empty goal? penalties ? How come?

I'm putting the attacking movement preparation focus, nothing helps!!!!!

How can my strikers hit target in early season and then always come february they begin to miss. Every game. All the after match comments:

inter strike lucky

arsenal go down to hard working wigan...

everytime : the opposite side: "...were carved open..."

etc.

and again i loose..

Has someone got anything else to suggest?

thanks to all btw.

Modify tactics , make sure the players you select have good morale.

what mentality do you start with? eg playing birmingham i would be attacking or control, but playing teams like inter would require a diff approach. always worth checking match odds and weather as well. if odds favour you go for it tell players expect a result, if odds are against you or evens try more standard/defensive approach.

also im guessing your prob trying to emulate the football they play irl into the game with short passing etc? if so pitches in england are going to be in poor nick going into feb to the end of season and the weather will most likely be wet/windy so need t be more direct or if frozen pitches play more through the middle

hope this helps you mate

If you want keep good performances up then be strict with players. Use you existing formation/tactic but adjust it slightly as I'm sure the AI adapts to human tactics. Rotate players and as the AM to pick the team on the team on the day. If they slack in training then tell them to improve. If your a top-flight team then their huge saleries should be worth it.

Use match prep and remember to use attacking etc to keep players in their best form.

If in the pre-match my team are getting complacent I just tell them I expect a win and maybe drop a couple of players. A lot of my strikers were ***** at finishing so I got in Hulk and Bojan both who can actually put chances away. Even Aguero misses most one on ones.

If in the pre-match my team are getting complacent I just tell them I expect a win and maybe drop a couple of players. A lot of my strikers were ***** at finishing so I got in Hulk and Bojan both who can actually put chances away. Even Aguero misses most one on ones.

Hulk is great, though very hard to buy from PORTO . I tried looking for strikers with high concentration and composure... Paloschi seems to do the job, but still whole bunch of one on one opportunities goes begging. Also i do play wth Arsenal with attacking mentality, doesn't help.

Complacent in a pre-match? What do you mean?

thx to all.

Hulk is great, though very hard to buy from PORTO . I tried looking for strikers with high concentration and composure... Paloschi seems to do the job, but still whole bunch of one on one opportunities goes begging. Also i do play wth Arsenal with attacking mentality, doesn't help.

Complacent in a pre-match? What do you mean?

thx to all.

means check your ass man feedback and note any players with complacency and give them a boot up the arse!!

I'm having a bit of a slump in February/March as well, although I know mine is down to my small, young squad not being able to quite cope with the number of games they are playing. Hopefully over the summer I can add a few players to the squad to relieve the pressure on the first team.

It happens to me in almost every team I play as in nearly every save I have. The best advice I have is for you to improve squad depth and to rotate players more as they get jaded, but that can be difficult as I learned in my Blackpool save where I'm into my foruth season and my team is slowly becoming deeper. It may help to do some tactical fiddling or pay close attention to what your team is doing wrong in matches then see if you can work on those areas in the match preparation screen.

In my first season it was absolutely deplorable- my Blackpool side started the season very well and in mid-season we were around the top of mid table and in the hunt for a Europa League spot. As soon as 2011 hit, we stopped winning- in 2011 of my first season my team only won three matches, the last of which was at home against Birmingham in February. The last point my team got was a 1-1 draw at home against West Ham sometime in March. It was the most frustrating time I've ever had in any save and nearly gave up, but luckily our early-season form was good enough (and the lower teams bad enough) that we stayed clear of relegation.

thats realistic look at blackpool in real life had a good start no dropping off same happened with hull and some other promoted team they have a good start in prem then drop off

Burnley too.

Reading managed 1 safe season then all went to pot.

I think it's as simple as the EPL teams don't pay a whole lot of attention to the newly promoted sides. There are many examples of teams doing well in season 1, but then falling away.

Newcastle will finish higher this season than next season.

Whenever I have noticed a drop in performance for certain key players and it is mid-late season and they have played a lot of games I tend to give them a week off training this helps lots with their Jadedness. Often though not always I see a pick up in performance after this. It obviously helps if you choose a week either without a game or with a home game against someone a bit poor for their rest week.

i usually start a season poorly. i think its because i tend to rotate too much at first.

generally have a blib halfway through the season and to fix it i play the players who have been performing the best