How to turn bad form around?

I'm struggling at the moment to maintain good form - I'm sitting 5th in the Championship after 28 games but can't buy a win! In the last nine games I've only won one, losing five and drawing three - I've gone from top scorers in the division to struggling to find the net at all, I've gone from dominating possession home and away to barely able to muster 40% in most games, I concede from every other set piece and I'm at my wits end trying to turn it around. Every team talk seems to be no reaction or a confused/angered/demotivated, I tried a team meeting and all my players seemed to be agreeing with me that we could turn the form around and challenge for promotion, then at the end it says no players reacted well and sixteen reacted badly. I have literally no idea what to do at the moment - the top five were some way ahead but the league is now tightening up as I've lost ground on the automatic spots, and 6th/7th/8th/9th are suddenly right on my tail. To make matters worse I've got an injury crisis going on which seems to exclusively affect my creative players, and my board are putting pressure on me to go up. Has anyone got any tips for turning it all around? I've tried everything I can think of tactically but I'm coming up blanks and fear if I slip out of the play-offs I'll be sacked, which on current evidence looks inevitable.

Sounds like an exciting season is ending in drama. It is not easy to get solid advices since there are not enough informations and there are injuries but you can avoid any mind games while in a bad run and when you give your prematch team talks you can tell them to have fun. This may change something for this match as your team meeting had a negative reaction.

There was a thread a few days ago called My Fulham Team with exactly the same question. There weren't many replies though two of us do the same. Here's what I put...

"Tell you what I've done in the past. I've played a full reserve side for one league game. Now given this is an opportunity for them, at least they'll give it a go and maybe surprise you. But with the first team, set them up against some no marks (I like to choose Dawlish) that same weekend and they should rout them by 7 or 8 goals. Hey presto, morale goes up and things change for the better. "

Good advice above. I also occasionally just tell the team to go and enjoy the match. They relax and, when I see any sign of improvement, I praise them passionately for it (even if it's just 1-0 at half time) - usually gets morale up. I also try to otherwise avoid using anything other than a calm tone for most team talks - that way when they receive passionate praise or an angry dressing down, it has the desired effect.

Also a good idea to have a private chat with some of the under performing players, particularly if this includes your captain. Be as gentle as you can, and maybe boost morale by asking them to recommend a future signing before finishing the chat.

Also, if you're constantly changing tactics drastically this won't help - if you need a change, pick one and stick with it, making only little tweaks. And get them practising defending set pieces extra hard in training.

Same as the other guy, I posted this in another thread. Hope it helps.

"In my opinion, you've gotta take a risk. Get a Team Meeting organised and try and pick out the right answers to drag your teams morale up. If you have a good captain, get him to start the talking in the meeting, he'll give you a good idea where to go with your responses.

Anyone who isn't affected, try a little private chat, using their personality as a measuring stick on what sort of answers to give them. You can be a bit aggressive with jovial and determined personalites, kid gloves for the temperamental lot, you know how it is.

Is there anyone in need of a rest? Not an immediate fix, but giving your better players a few weeks off might help jadedness, under "View Club" "Allow extended Leave" your physio will recommend if a player needs a rest and for how long.

Could be your tactics, try tweaking them to fit your players a little better? If your playing a narrow game, and you have a right midfielder who has great crossing and ball skils, use him. Having a good header of the ball on set pieces, the right set piece taker and penalty takers is worth a good amount of goals to your team over a season.

Try a few mind games in an upcoming match, Ive found playing down your teams chances against a higher rep opponent, and then motivating them with a "nothing to lose" team talk could get them fired up. Check their mentality during the team talks, sometimes an individual talk when someone is down on confidence can work well, especially if its a younger player.

Drop the bad performers for a few games, and tell them so too, you might get a renewed player once he is allowed back into the first team, avoid going on hiliday if you do this though, as your AssMan doesn't pay any attention to the fact you've dropped him and will play him.

Always, always have a "Park Bus in front of goal" tactic to defend your leads in the last 10 or 15 minutes. I go with a flat back 4, anchorman, 4 midfielders and a striker. Defensive mentality obviouslyl, hardly any forward runs etc. Whack counter attack on and long ball to your flanks for clearence. Also, I have an ultimate "go for broke" tactic Ive saved when im a goal down, make sure you have some versatile players on your bench, I cannot stress enough to people how useful it is to train players to play in other positions, obviously be sensible with it, don't be trying to make Balotelli a Centreback lol. But if you have a right winger, and his left foot isn't too bad, then it'd be rude not to train him to play on the left wing wouldn't it?

*EDIT*

Oh, I'd recommend not training a player in another position until after he hits the age of 24, which is roughly when he stops developing quickly. Might be just me, Ive never heard anyone say it affects their development, but new position training takes up 10% of their schedule time. So its likely it does.

Just a few suggestions, you may have already tried these, apologies if you have."

I create a brand new tactic, usually with an opposite game of my normal tactic.

For example, I usually play a 4-2-3-1 controlling/attacking tactic. If I every hit a rut like that, or even think I'm entering one (a couple draws or lack of scoring), I switch to a 7-2-1 or 4-3-3 counter/defending tactic. Squeak out some wins and get that morale back up.

At the beginning of matches, I tell the whole team to relax, calmly. And then tell the defense and midfielders, assertively, that I have faith in them.

Try giving the players a rest in training to think about how they have performed. Less time with that determined task master of a coach might make them more relaxed. Plus they come back fitter. I do this a lot in the winter months as the players sometimes get jaded. Bad weather sometimes causes more direct football, which has more running tiring the players.

I made a thread myself about a similar issue and there was some advise in it:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/310638-What-is-it-that-happens-in-February

In my current season I've tried to rotate my players more since the beginning of the season and it's looking good for me so far. I guess though that expanding the squad to allow for rotation is a lot easier when playing as Bayern Munich like I do than to do it in a mid-table Championship team like you do but maybe settling for a couple of below par players might just be the answer.

Good luck!

Yes what happens when you are in bad form is that everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Injury crises, violent two-feet tackles every game, complete loss of proper decision making on the pitch and the opponents succeeding with amazing stuff all the time. It doesn't mean you are doing something wrong, just that you are in bad form. How to turn it around? Some good advice in this thread.

1. Go easier on the team talks. Lie until you go mouldy green and your nose falls off. Your job as a manager is -not- to praise wins and criticise defeats, so you need to let off the pressure to win and to support them. Pre-match and at half-time, avoid assertive tones and For the Fans/Expect a Win team talks. Calm - impress me, calm - good luck and if you're a huge underdog calm - no pressure not only lets you avoid nervous players, but you may also avoid a complete breakdown if the opposition scores first. Post-match it is pointless criticising a defeat because this will further reduce morale afterwards even though you get green arrows as a response. Tell them that they were unlucky, that they played well (if stats are okay but you lost anyways) and there were some positives for sure or, again if you were a huge underdog, that noone expected you to win anyways. Of course if you get a result, even a draw, praise them regardless of performance.

2. Criticising poor last match performances in private chats is a risky business. I have much more success criticising poor form, telling him calmly to pick himself up the next couple of matches. An av.r of 6.50 seems to be poor enough to get a positive response from most players, and the most professional ones often react well to critique of better performances than that - I even got away with a 6.90 av.r last 5 once, but his overall rating was like 7.50 so it is perhaps tied to that.

3. How long is it since your striker last scored? 4 matches or more? Is he missing sitters by shooting too early and too weakly? Is he hitting the post when it is easier to score? Tell him calmly that there is no pressure (pre-match). I very often see them ending a goal-drought in its infancy that way. If that doesn't work it is actually better using someone else even though the difference in quality is huge, I often see him scoring again after a period of bench-warming.

Great advice from BiggusD, especially the third part. Never be afraid to drop a misfiring striker even for a player significantly weaker.

have a Team Meeting. I find a productive Team Meeting does wonders for the players performances.

I've yet to really grasp how to get the most out of a team meeting. I usually just say something in a Passionate tone and end the meeting there and then, not getting any of my players to say anything because I haven't seen how that makes a difference.

More on topic, I find that just keeping the pressure off especially in big games can help prevent these slumps from happening. If necessary, play a more defensive style and hope to nick a goal on the counter but the advice above will be infinitely better than anything else that I can come up with so with what has already been said, you should be good to go

What tactic are you currently using? Can u post a screenshot?

Thanks for all the advice - I organised a friendly in a spare week against some no-mark opposition to boost morale with the eventual thrashing, and I've started taking all pressure off at every opportunity. I can't get my head around the team meeting, if I say we're playing well then the players react that I'm being complacent, if I say we can pick up our form they complain I'm putting too much pressure on - so I've given up on that altogether. I fluked a couple of 1-0 wins (including one against my fierce rivals which boosted morale!) and have now won seven out of the last eight to push back up to third, a couple of points adrift of the automatic spots with nine games to go.

I had been keeping mostly the same formation, either a 4231 or flat 442, but went with a 451 to try and negate a particularly good AMC for an opposing side, and it seemed to make me more solid, so I've continued with it. With my quick wingers and powerful striker that I threw £2m at on deadline day (panic buy which seems to be paying off!), I've become far more dangerous on the counter - hammering Reading 6-0 at home in a must-win game (they're 4th) and Birmingham 4-1 away (2nd) so it does all seem to have turned around! Cheers everybody.

Seems like tactical changes helped a lot. As for team meetings i can't think anything better than assertive tone when calling one

Thanks for all the advice - I organised a friendly in a spare week against some no-mark opposition to boost morale with the eventual thrashing, and I've started taking all pressure off at every opportunity. I can't get my head around the team meeting, if I say we're playing well then the players react that I'm being complacent, if I say we can pick up our form they complain I'm putting too much pressure on - so I've given up on that altogether. I fluked a couple of 1-0 wins (including one against my fierce rivals which boosted morale!) and have now won seven out of the last eight to push back up to third, a couple of points adrift of the automatic spots with nine games to go.

I had been keeping mostly the same formation, either a 4231 or flat 442, but went with a 451 to try and negate a particularly good AMC for an opposing side, and it seemed to make me more solid, so I've continued with it. With my quick wingers and powerful striker that I threw £2m at on deadline day (panic buy which seems to be paying off!), I've become far more dangerous on the counter - hammering Reading 6-0 at home in a must-win game (they're 4th) and Birmingham 4-1 away (2nd) so it does all seem to have turned around! Cheers everybody.

I think that team meetings should only ever be used as a last resort, when you have nothing to lose by failing to raise morale. If the whole team has poor or worse morale, the morale gadget in-match tells you several players are playing without confidence, and you have not won in 4 or more matches, telling them that you have faith in their ability to turn it around should get you positive reactions from several players (but I suppose trying this the first season or when your reputation is lower than theirs is more risky and less beneficial than when everyone adores you). I then usually ask the captain to say something, and if he is respected enough the team often reacts well to his words as well. Asking the room after that, some prominent first-teamers usually adds to the sentiment and further boosts morale. Curiously, I have had negative reactions from telling them that was what I wanted to hear, so if you're happy with how things went ending the meeting without saying anything more (before the automated closing statements) could be a good idea.

I've yet to really grasp how to get the most out of a team meeting. I usually just say something in a Passionate tone and end the meeting there and then, not getting any of my players to say anything because I haven't seen how that makes a difference.

i tend to say something, then ask the captain, then ask the room.

after the captain agrees with what i've said (which generally happens) alot of other players morale goes up. I then ask the room and they try to rally-the-troops too.

i see it as a good way to raise morale and get out of the downward spiral of poor results - poor morale -poor results etc.

I might be a little late to the party here, but I can confirm that this advice actually does work. Sadly, I was too late to save my career at Derby, and had to move on to Mansfield United.