Horrific Start To Season With Liverpool

I just got FM12 yesterday and naturally, being a Liverpool supporter, I chose to manage Liverpool. Right now I can just about say that this is turning into one of the worst seasons that I've ever had playing any version of FM. It's really, as I describe in the thread title, horrific. I honestly don't know what could account for this. I received about a £2 million transfer budget from the board, so I didn't buy any new players and chose to stick with the players I had. I've signed a few new staff members, but it's not like they're exactly the worst coaches in the world, so I really can't understand why I'm having this abysmal run of form. I've included a few screen shots to illustrate my point. It's probably only a matter of time before I get sacked. I'm doing even worse than Roy Hodgson. Unbelievable

In the opening game of the Premier League against Norwich I was winning 1-0 then conceded a penalty and had Enrique sent off. In the game against Swansea I conceded another penalty at 1-1 and ended up losing the match. I lost Suarez, Downing and Bellamy to injury for a few weeks around the beginning of the season. The League Cup result is probably the most shocking. In the second round I led twice against Leceister City, then in extra time I had a goal disallowed for off side and ended up losing the match on penalties.

Welcome to the forum- you are best to look or post in the Liverpool thread in the Good Players and Teams forum:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/276688-FM12-Liverpool-F.C-Thread-Victory-is-upon-us

Just glad to see that somebody isn't posting that the game is too easy!!!

I'm sure you'll manage to turn the form around and get some wins in (have you tried having a team meeting to improve morale?) but I'm afraid your times as Liverpool manager may not last too long!

I would also say that your team formation is lopsided with 5 attacking players and virtually no midfield, using the 4-1-3-2 or 4-2-4 options.

I've seen your problem.......it's your tactics! AND Andy Carroll.

You play with no midfield and you haven't even set your AMs (except Kuyt) to Support roles. And you have your FBs pushing forward on attack roles also.

Starting with a new team, adjusting to a new formation, and with you being new to this year's ME, why would you go with such a gung-ho set-up? A few years down the lien when you knew exactly how to set it up in the TC, and had bought exactly the players you wanted for the job, then this formation might make sense, but at the moment it was crazy of you to attempt it.

You should always have someone playing CM, unless you have 2 DMs to compensate. Take that as a general rule of FM (and if you think about it, real-life) formations, and you'll never go wrong. Or at least never go as wrong as you have done.

This ME is great for effective ball retention and midfield build-up play, if you work with it. As it is, if facing a midfield 4-5-1, Leiva has no easy passing option bar the FBs without having to beat a man with the pass.

If you intentionally want to just heave it long to Andy Carroll, that's fine, but then you don't need so many runners for the flick-ons, and you need in midfield he can knock it back to, if he's held it up.

And theres no one bar Lucas to defend against the counter-attack.

Good luck, and I hope you turn your season around. But if you get fired, have a think about your tactics before plunging into a new game, and consider being a little more conservative.

Tbf. your formation is horrendous, your tactic (so many players on attacking role) is horrendous too. I would suggest you to post this in the Tactics & Training tips forum and I'm sure many people will help you.

Playing as Liverpool and surviving in season 2, concentrate on winning Carling Cup in season 1 to buy some time. You also need to consider sacrificing 1 or 2 squad players, managed to get

good money for Skrtel, as Kelly & Coates are more than ready to step up. Using a 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard/Adam in the hole behind Suarez.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I should try a more balanced formation. I was thinking of having Gerrard as Adam as my two central midfielders, but then that means that one of the strikers would have to be benched, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with having only one striker up front. Also, if Lucas gets injured, I'm basically screwed.

As others have said, that formation and tactic is atrocious.

For your strikers, it is usually better to have one with a support duty and one with an attack duty. I don't have the players to play Trequartista roles or complete forward roles, you may have the players but if you want to keep it simple then you can't go too far wrong with having a target man with support duty and a poacher with attack duty. Make sure your target man is tall and your poacher is fast.

You also need to make some adjustments to your formation, if you want to stick with two strikers and play an attacking formation then you can leave your wingers where they are and move Gerrard down to the MCL position and your DMC to the other MCR position. I've had success using that formation myself, just won the Championship with Forest whilst breaking the team goalscoring record that had stood since 1926/7. Also won the League Cup, beating a full strength Tottenham 3-1 in the final.

I'd reccomend putting Gerrard on a support duty, probably with the advanced playmaker role, whilst having your MCR as a ball playing midfielder with a support duty.

You can leave the fullbacks on attack if you want, I usually do unless I'm away from home and the odds are against me.

These changes should leave you with 3 players with a defend duty, 2 (or 4 if you change your fullbacks) with a support duty and 5 with an attack duty.

That should give you decent framework from which to build from. It's up to you what type of football you want to play, I went with high tempo direct passing with Forest as I had the paciest squad in the Championship, but if you have players with good technique and passing then you might want to opt for a slow tempo short passing game.

Good luck, and I hope this has been some help to you.

dude you dont need so many attacking players,you only need good wingers and a good Poacher,

if i may give some players names,buy Hulk he's amazing,specially if you develop his composure/finishing,for wingers go for James Rodriguez and Willian(retrain them as wingers),these guys were deadly for me,if you need a good defense you could also go for Otamendi as a Centre-Back and Fernando as DM,these guys will make any team world class when developed,and are pretty cheap iirc if you take in mind their ability,they can also take a first team spot from the start.

yup as others have said that formation will do you no favours, especially in what is essentially a new team. You need to look at making yourself more solid as a starting point, a few more midfielders would definitely help!!

I would suggest a good long read of the tactics forum on here, lots of fantastic advice available.

With the right tactics, that formation can do wonders! Took Ajax to the Eredivisie titel and semi-final in the Champions League with it. Still it's pretty risky and you concede a lot.

Wow, you actually haven't been sacked? I really suggest changing your formation. If you really want 2 strikers, do a 4-2-2-2 with 2 CM, preferably BWM and DLP so you at least have some mid field for your forwards/wingers to pass to if they are stuck.

At the risk of merely echoing what others have said... it looks like a combination of bad luck and bad -- or at least seriously unbalanced -- tactics.

First of all, over a 10 game period, a couple of unlucky games (like the ones you describe against Norwich and Swansea) make a disproportionate difference. Wins in those games would put you mid-table. More to the point, a couple of unlucky results like that can cause morale to tank, and unless you manage it well, with team meetings and team talks, it can spiral out of control pretty badly.

But those tactics look horribly unbalanced to me. Unless you're playing a very direct long ball game, I don't see how you get the ball from your defense to your strikers, since there's no one playing that creator role in midfield. In fact, I can't see where your chances are going to come from in this system. Two strikers both set to attack is, as others have mentioned, an unorthodox approach -- it's one I might use in the last 5 minutes if I really need a goal, but I can't see if being effective for a full 90.

I'd have Carroll, Gerrard and Downing set to support, along with Kuyt and the two FBs, and I'd maybe think about putting Gerrard and Lucas side by side in CM spots, with Lucas as a ball-winner and Gerrard as a playmaker (I'd also set Gerrard to make a lot of forward runs from that position). My guess is that would create twice as many chances and result in at least a 50% increase in goals, while staying pretty solid at the back.

Also, based on what you said about the sendings-off, I'd be interested in what level of tackling you have.

Agree about the tackling, you're dicing with death if you have hard tackling across the board for a full 90 minutes.

I usually only have my DMC or ball winning midfielder set to hard, and if he gets a yellow early on I'll change it to normal or even easy mid game.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I changed up my formation quite considerably and I've seen a dramatic turn in fortune, although there's still a lot that can be improved. I changed to a 4-2-2-2 formation with Adam and Gerrard in central midfield, and relegated Lucas to the bench. I've set my fullbacks to automatic, and all my midfielders are on support roles, while my strikers are both on attack. My team instructions remain unchanged, and these are: philosophy - fluid, strategy - control, passing style - more direct, creative freedom - more expressive, closing down - press more, default for the rest, a normal defensive line, wide width, quick tempo, mixed focus passing, and yes to counter attack. I sold Lucas during the January transfer window as I was no longer using him, and bought Neven Subotic.

My results since I've posted this thread are (Premier League unless otherwise specified):

Liverpool 1 - 0 Wigan

Q.P.R. 2 - 2 Liverpool

Liverpool 2 - 0 Stoke

Liverpool 3 - 2 Arsenal

Bolton 2 - Liverpool 0

Newcastle 2 - 0 Liverpool

Everton 1 - 5 Liverpool

Fullham 1 - 1 Liverpool

Liverpool 1 - 1 West Brom

Liverpool 2 - 0 Manchester City

Liverpool 2 - 0 Norwich City

Nottingham Forrest 0 - 0 Liverpool (FA Cup Third Round)

Stoke 0 - 0 Liverpool

Liverpool 2 - 0 Nottingham Forest (FA Cup Third Round Replay)

Liverpool 1 - 0 Swansea

Liverpool 1 - 0 Brighton (FA Cup Fourth Round)

Tottenham 2 - 1 Liverpool

Liverpool 1 - 1 Blackburn

Right now the table's looking like this:

But things might get worse as I've got Gerrard suspended for the next Premier League game (for a sending off against Blackburn), Agger, Coates, Kuyt and Carroll are all injured.

Okay, so I just got sacked at the end of the season. Ended up in fifth place, although I won the FA Cup as consolation.

If you want a plug and play tactic, Mr hough Swarm Tactic works very well with liverpool.

If you are playing Carroll and Carragher, then that's your problem.

Don't get at all the criticism for the formation, that seems perfectly good to me, I've used it before to great success, with Liverpool no less. I think the reason he's losing is bad luck and perhaps team talks, the formation is not the problem.

I play Carroll on the right in my tactics. He seems to work better there.

manage a team like manchester united !

manage a team like manchester united !

thats not a team.

manage a team like manchester united !

He's a Liverpool supporter :confused:

Why would he want to manage United for?

If you are playing Carroll and Carragher, then that's your problem.

Rubbish, I have done several saves and have yet to fail with Carroll although he is not prolific he still scores with the right tactics. If he stays fit and the team is performing he is good for 20 goals a season, I think people give up too easy on him, you just have to get the tactics right or download a good one. Carragher is still a Consistant performer although I play Coates and Agger which seems to be a perfect partnership, but Carragher plays well with either.