Getting Consistency

Currently still in my first season with Brighton and the season is drawing to a close. I am sitting mid-table which is not a bad effort although my achievements in the cups were appalling, winning just one game, and that was in the League Cup. The thing my season has stunk of, and perhaps previous games also, is an overwhelming lack of consistency. I have played FM/CM since 97/98 and have had this problem forever, and probably explains why I end up quitting my games after just six months (game time!).

My last two fixtures demonstrates my problem perfect. After trouncing high flying Notts Forest at their place 3-0, I lose miserably at home to relegation battles Swindon Town. My tactics were similar, although I was a little more attacking at home. The problem is, I never looked like scoring vs. Swindon Town although their 3 goals probably flattered them a little... My problems have been exacerbated by having three useless 'keepers between the sticks at different stages of the season.

I do not rotate my team much, mainly due to have useless backup players. I'm starting to think my problems may be down to fatigue. Do you guys rest players during a season? Do you rotate to freshen up? How do you keep winning towards the end of the season? The longer a season goes on, the less I seem to win! Help, I need to win something other than the Champs League with Chelsea on FM08 before the new one comes out!!!

I never rest players. Occasionally I rotate, but only if I have too many players I want to put out on the pitch at once. Otherwise I send the same players out week after week if they are performing. If they aren't performing then I drop them, but this is very definitely not to give them a rest, it's just because they are not doing enough.

As for how I keep winning towards the end of the season, I didn't at Hibs, which is why we threw away the chance to finish above one or both of the Old Firm. At Werder Bremen we tend to finish the season very well normally, but I don't do anything special for that.

i literally have a home formation (3 variations) and tactics set, and away formations. try to match your tactics to the opposition pitch dimensions, or better still, go for the standard pitch dimensions when choosing at the start of the season. theoretically, if you can develop/use a tactics at home on the standard set-up, your players should adapt more easily to away pitch dimensions if they are similar or the same as your home pitch.

it's not as cut and dry as i make it sound, i'm not exactly in desparate need of improved training facilities and better players, tbh you won't find a formation that works straight away, even if you download someone elses tactic. give it time and you might stumble on a winning formula.

if all else fails, check the Tactics forum.

I used to have home and away preset tactics with 8.01beta but have now moved to 8.02 and stick to one tactic, a 442 which I modify just after the team speech, taking into account the opposition, whether i'm at home or away and the personnel i have at my disposal on the day. I'm on my first season up in the EPL and I'm having a tough time against the bigger teams (having shipped at least 3 goals to each of the big 4, including a more or less reserve Man U team). Against the smaller teams, I'm having a great time, 6-2 against Fulham, 4-1 against Villa away, 2-0 against Derby (my arch rivals, which pleased the Forest fans no end).

I suppose my players are not at the right level yet to compete against more experienced players. I have an average team age of 21.

Pablo, there's a couple things I think about in response to your post.

First, it may be that your team-talks are in the "High risk, high reward" category. In other words, when you get them right, your team rocks the world .. but when you get them "wrong", its really costing your team (either too much pressure, or not enough pressure, resulting in poor performances.) Similarly, your media-handling may be yielding the same thing. I'd suggest a read of the "Communication and Psychological Warfare" article and "Wolfsong's Guide to Team-Talks" in the Tactics and Training Tips forum if you want to gain some insight to the psyche of your "dots".

Second, "Consistency" actually is a hidden attribute for players in the game. It may just be that you have a bunch of players with low Consistency. Some games they're "on" and other games they aren't .. and there wasn't going to be much of anything you could do to impact that. If you have a Scout or Coach with "20" for "JCA", he might be able to call this out for you in the Scout Report / Coach Report for those players.

Third, tactically, that home match against Swindon requires a very different tactical approach: they probably came out in a bunker defense, sitting back to defend, and then hitting you on the Counter-Attack. If you had any form of Long or Direct passing, even Mixed passing, your players were probably hitting it into double-coverage often enough that you rarely got possession in their half. What you want, for that specific thing (e.g., what a weak team does on the road, or what most teams do in the final ten minutes with a one-goal lead) is a "Patient Build-up" tactic. Short passing. Slow tempo. No more than Mixed Through Balls. When watching this on Extended or Full highlights, you should see your players working it around the perimeter, just like you see real teams do.

Fourth thing you might look at is your Captain. Is he strong in the areas like: Determination, Work Rate, Team Work, and Composure? If he has high Influence but is low in those other attributes, he may not actually be helping. Likewise, if he has a very low hidden "Consistency" rating, he may only be showing up for every other match .. and the team is taking its cues from him.

Fifth thing you might look at is your rotation policy. Personally, I don't try to get every player to start every match. I'll tend to sit them out entirely after a "6" and "Disappointing" team-talk .. essentially giving their alternate a chance to prove himself, and I think that gives the first-choice player more motivation when he comes back. It also helps keep fresh legs in the lineup, and that really can be important.

Lastly, training may be an issue. I tend to have two different versions of each of my prerferred training schedules. One I think of as "Medium" and one as "Light" (Heavy would be pre-season), but these don't correspond to the word displayed on the training schedule itself. During Summer, Fall, and Spring, in most areas, I use my "Medium" training schedule. However, when the team is experiencing massive fixture congestion, or nasty pitch conditions .. (England: December, January, February) .. then I downgrade my starting XI to the "Light" training schedule, though I may keep my Reserves and fringe players on "Medium". The idea is, I'm going to be working the players hard on the pitch, I don't need to work them hard in training right then as well.