How to stop Man City?

They won 22 out of 25 games and their unbeaten run looks like will never end. I know they are strong (they added Hamsik), but is there anything I can slow them down a little bit? (I am already 9 points behind them) For example - mind games? Does it distract their team morale a little bit? Anyone had any success on this or have any other suggestions? Please share!!

I've had a little success with mind games.

Try and put a little pressure on them by praising their upcoming opponents.

ie. If they are next to play Wolves away, perhaps tell the Wolves manager about your faith in him to avoid relegation.

Worth a try!

But generally - they cannot be stopped. They cannot be bargained with...

They aren't so unstoppable in my current game. Started a new save, nearing the end the 2nd season they are really struggling and I just thrashed them 5-0. 32 games played W17 D5 L10 currently sitting in 6th, 8pts behind Chelsea in 5th. They also only finished 4th in the opening season.

Mind games could work a little but like SWaRFeGa says it is best before they play a match.

They are not so great in my game. First season finished 5th in the league and I beat them both ways. Corrently struggling in 5th again in the 2nd season.

Okay, mine isn't on a standard database, but the teams haven't been altered so they should still be higher.

cant really help, theyve never been a threat in my save, liverpool/spurs the usual culripts. though this season may be different :/

mancini got sacked in the first season in my game. they ended up finishing 7th. second season their up to about 2nd in December but no one team is running away with the title.

Not sure how to stop them over the course of a season, but when facing them, I've marked Silva out of the game with hard tackles, which made him frustrated and he got sent off. I then maximized full advantage but man marking the opposing fullbacks / wingbacks. Beat them easily, 3-0.

I've never seen them dominate on FM12. They can win a season, sure, but any of the top 6 can win a season in this game.

They're poo in my game. In three seasons, the highest they've finished is 5th. Tottenham are the current champions.

Yeah besides the first season when Tottenham won, Liverpool are all-conquering in mine. Man City finished 2nd in each of the first 3 seasons. Now Mourinho's taken over, and looking to extend their proud tradition of being almost-rans.

I'd quite like to see an unbeatable force like that in one of my saves, sometimes saves become a bit too much of a breeze.

I nearly turned them over with Swansea winning 2-1 until the 88th minute when Caulker my defender decided to hit the ball into his own net........ (original players from the first season)

I play a 4231 with two MC and AML/R if Man City are using the same formation as they are in my save a 4231 with 3 AMC`s then I found this tactic extremely effective to neutralize most of the threat from them

defensive line about 75% of the way up about 14 clicks this squashes thier AMC`s into a smaller operating space.

set my wide players AML/R to man mark tight 100% closing down their fullbacks, this should stop their fullbacks being able to overlap and your wingers will back track and help out defensively and stop your fullbacks being double teamed.

S.Aqureo or however you spell his name he can be devastating in the AMC central role so get your defensive MC to man mark him tight.

I dominated them with a championship promoted side near enough.

How you can get other teams to beat them though is beyond me though.

Finally I managed to stop their run. I attended their game and they lost 0-2 to Newcastle (7th place). Not sure if it is coincidence but I will keep attending their game to put some pressure on them as long as I can

Manc have very average results.

Hover around in top 6. Wolves and Spurs are the better one (Ingame). 1 of them will always be in top 4. Unreal..

In my Nottingham Forest game, they're currently sitting in 7th place, won 4, drew 5 and lost 2. They've added Danny (Zenit) for £16m, Darijo Srna (Shakhtar) for £15.5m and Saul (At. Madrid) for £1.4m to their squad, whilst letting Aleksandar Kolarov go on loan to Inter. In the Champion's League they've played 4, won 1, drew 1 and lost 2, sitting in 3rd, behind Marseille and Real.

In my Nottingham Forest game they're currently sitting in 7th place after 11 games, won 4, drew 5 and lost 2. They've added Danny (Zenit) for £16m, Darijo Srna (Shakhtar) for £15.5m and Saul (At. Madrid) for £1.4m to their squad, whilst letting Aleksandar Kolarov go on loan to Inter. In the Champions League they've played 4, won 1, drew 1 and lost 2, sitting in 3rd, behind Marseille and Real.

They do okay in my save but nothing amazing. They haven't won the league yet and keep getting dumped out of Europe early on.

They always seem to finish 5th or 6th on my current game.

if only anybody can stop us in real life

My way of stopping Man City was to be Man United with a flat 442 lol

Played them in League, League Cup and Community and won every game so far.

Not Man City, but Sheffield Utd are already 14 points ahead of second place in League 1 after 20 games. Of the top 7 scorers in League 1, 4 of them are from Sheffield.

How to stop City?

Use 3 CD's and no backs

Use 2 DM's to help coping with the city OM. 1 should be set to defensive playmaker

Use 1 CM set to advanced playmaker

Use 2 Wingers (Could maybe use 1 extra BWM or BTB and an OM(who plays troughballs) if you lack wingers)

Use 2 Strikers, 1 CF and 1 Poacher

Play narrow, but exploit the flanks if you use wingers(tick the "wide play" box and set it to just inside the "wide"-area for both wingers and the DM who is defensive playmaker)

Managed to beat City 1-0 at etihad stadium with Stoke using something like this(don't remember if it was 100% like this, but it at least was very similar). However at home I only managed to snatch a lucky 0-0 result : )

City will dominate possession but struggle to score. Count on counter-attacks to score;)

And if you're looking to beat them on the PL-table; use mindgames. I tend to have must luck with saying that the next game will be tough for City. (on my ManUtd-save, City have never won the title (only I and Arsenal have..)

on my united save they are a nucence it is either a 1-0 win or a 1-1 draw for me (bar the 2-0 when they sent heart forward) but have never been anywhere near the title first season liverpool were second, next season were tottenham

Against the narrow 4-2-3-1, I recommend 4-4-1-1.

Have your full backs mark their wider AMCs. Have your winger mark their full backs and make sure they track them. Consider having your more defensive MC mark their AMCc (or you can leave him to the centre backs). Look to counter attack at pace.