Ok, this makes absolutely no sense at all

On my red star belgrade save, this bizarre results just happened.

CL Quarterfinals second leg, first leg was 0-0 in the Marakana. This leg is City of Manchester and I'm sure I will lose anyway so I invent an extreme attacking tactic on the spot-my team has no preparation in this tactic with 2 strikers and 4 attacking midfielders and 3 in the back-We win 6-2 away to one of the richest most talented teams in Europe. WTF? So next game is against Partizan AWAY, I decide to use the same tactic, the one that just murdered manchester city in their own homes-and I lose 4-1.

Um..how does this happen, that a tactic that kills one of the best teams in Europe can't even beat a mediocre Serbian League team?

And how does this happen, that Barcelona who demolished Real Madrid 5:0 not that long time ago lost to mediocre Getafe or Osasuna, using very similar tactics? Football is unpredictable and so is FM.

Why would you assume the same extreme tactic would work consistently, against wildly different opposition?

because if I can put in 6 against city in their own home while controlling the game, I assume I'd be able to do the same against a much weaker Partizan team.

Have you ever actually watched a season of football?

because if I can put in 6 against city in their own home while controlling the game, I assume I'd be able to do the same against a much weaker Partizan team.

First lesson in football management, never make assumptions.

Maybe Man City attaked alot, leaving them exposed for your tactic. While Partizan sat back and countered, and were able to soak up your attack then counter against your minimal defence?

What formation were City using? I'm guessing 4-2-3-1?

Many a season. I never seen a team destroy a much stronger team one game and then get destroyed by a much weaker team the next. Never in my 22 years of living

Many a season. I never seen a team destroy a much stronger team one game and then get destroyed by a much weaker team the next. Never in my 22 years of living

In my 65 years of living I've seen it countless times

What would be the point in football if a tactic worked against every single team

Without bothering to go further back to find more relevant examples, at the end of last season Liverpool beat Chelsea 4-1 and were all over them for the whole game.

The next game we had the same players (bar 2), in the same formation, and we lost 0-1 to Swansea and looked absolutely dreadful for the whole game.

What formation were City using? I'm guessing 4-2-3-1?

My first thought as well. All your attacking players have overloaded City's defense and the only problem is the AI City manager should have heavily punished you and a more defensive and disciplined Patizan did.

First of all, an attacking tactic against a superior team can work by catching them off guard as they expect you to defend and can't change their tactic quickly enough to counter you and can end up not knowing what to do. Whereas an inferior team will set up to defend from the off and have planned what to do against your attacking tactic. I don't think it's any more complicated than that tbh.

Secondly, on this forum 99% of people will not want to contemplate a problem with the game they love and if you had a true issue you'd be pretty lucky to bump into the 1% who would be willing to listen. Part of the reason the game has been getting worse over the years I'm sorry to say.

First lesson in football management, never make assumptions.

Let me grab a pen and paper. Got any more lessons?

Many a season. I never seen a team destroy a much stronger team one game and then get destroyed by a much weaker team the next. Never in my 22 years of living

In my 65 years of living I've seen it countless times

I think you win

Now in regards to the OP, teams do not face you the same way. City, I imagine, have a huge reputation and thus will play very attacking and aggressive at home. Meaning that when their attacks break down, they likely leave all sorts of space for your 6 attacking players to counter attack into.

You should never expect a team with a much smaller reputation, especially when they are away from home, to play anywhere near as aggressive as big European side. I'm going assume that they played a lot more defensively, clogging up all the space and frustrating your 6 attacking players and then hit you on the break to your back 3's peril.

Its football mate; look at Russia. Won their first group match 4-1 but still didn't get out of their group.

What would be the point in football if a tactic worked against every single team

Winning?

Athletic looked like the greatest team of all time against Man Utd (twice) this year.

In the league they finished 10th, so presumably had a lot of bad days.