Expectations < Difficulty/ Performance

I've done a quick search to see if this has been brought up before so sorry if this has already been asked - but anyway here goes:

Does the board expectation at the beginning of the season affect the performance of your team and the difficulty of the opponent?

I'm asking this because I'm at 2018 in the game (having managed Farsley Celtic and Crystal Palace very succesfully) and curently in charge of Athletico Madrid - I took over mid-season and easily managed to achieve promotion for the club from the spanish second division back into the top tier. In my first full season the boards only hope was to finish around mid-table but instead I easily managed to place in 7th with european qualification come the end of the year.

Now here comes my problem! At the start of the following season I felt confident that I could compete for the top slot so I had no hesitation in bumping up the boards expectations to that of title contenders. With only a few additions to the squad, spending only a fraction of the allocated transfer funds, pre-season went well. But come the start of the season I found myself rooted to the bottom of the table, losing against teams whom I had previously thrashed with ease! This went on for ten games or so up until my sacking after a 3-0 hamering by Murcia. Strangley though, with the board having limited expectations, I had no trouble getting results in the UEFA cup , winning games by huge margins and topping my group at the time of my sacking.

So heres what I'm thinking - did the expectation of challenging for the title either ramp up the games difficulty in the league or make my players and tactics that much poorer? At the same time did the boards lack of ambition with the european competition make it easier to compete?

i don't think your pre-season goals affect the game difficulty. it only affects you boards tolerance. if you are not in need of money, keep your targets as low as possible. with that board and fans are easier to satisfy...

No, it only affects your board's confidence which is a broken feature. There are alot of factors why your team may play poor.

Also, have you never heard of 'second season syndrome'? Basically, much like with Reading they over perform in their first year but by the time the second year comes around, teams are much more knowledgeable about them, so if you don't change things around - your are likely to have more problems.

I'd been thinking about 'second season syndrome' , but seeing as i was performing badly in the league whilst putting out amazing performances in europe I started to wonder if it was something else. Im considering digging out some of my back up saves to see if there are any around about the time of the start of the season - maybe see how things would turn out with the same players but a different expectation

I'd been thinking about 'second season syndrome' , but seeing as i was performing badly in the league whilst putting out amazing performances in europe I started to wonder if it was something else. Im considering digging out some of my back up saves to see if there are any around about the time of the start of the season - maybe see how things would turn out with the same players but a different expectation

That to me tells me that it is second season syndrome. Those in Europe won't know as much about you as those in the league.

No, it only affects your board's confidence which is a broken feature. There are alot of factors why your team may play poor.

Also, have you never heard of 'second season syndrome'? Basically, much like with Reading they over perform in their first year but by the time the second year comes around, teams are much more knowledgeable about them, so if you don't change things around - your are likely to have more problems.

this very much seems like the case. it is about awareness. a recently promoted team is likely to be a relegation candidate. if somehow they achieve more the next season their opponents will be more cautious. if in game AI is able to insert that kind of awareness, then good job SI

Spanish league is probably much more of a challenge than the UEFA cup, especially the early rounds and group stages.

Your expectations have no effect whatsoever on diffuclty as regards the performances of other teams (or your own) though. I often have a disappointing season after one of success and can't put my finger on why, especially when I have kept all my best players from the previous season and supposedly added quality to my squad!

this very much seems like the case. it is about awareness. a recently promoted team is likely to be a relegation candidate. if somehow they achieve more the next season their opponents will be more cautious. if in game AI is able to insert that kind of awareness, then good job SI

This is very trivially implemented currently by use of club reputation. Club reputation is used for far too much in my opinion and this effect can be a bit over the top, but I guess it is one way of doing things.

This is very trivially implemented currently by use of club reputation. Club reputation is used for far too much in my opinion and this effect can be a bit over the top, but I guess it is one way of doing things.

i honestly do not know how much a team's reputation increases with specific achievements so i cannot comment on this. but AI probably uses this for its own consideration for the opponent strength, sounds sensible.

As far as I'm aware the AI bases most things on reputation and as far as your club's strength is concerned it takes no notice whatsoever of how good or not your players are. High club reputation => a good club in the eyes of the AI even if it is a team full of donkeys.

Anyone remember Ipswich?.......

It is a very common thing in FM.

As your team first promote your team reputation is very low therefore every team will play very offensively against you. [**Even your team have far better players than theirs!] This will leave their defense full of gaps which will result in being beaten easily by you.

Now, in the second season your team reputation have been updated and all the teams which you "trash" easily now treat the match very seriously against you. They will play much more defensively or applying counter attacking tactic. Therefore you will find yourself much harder to beat this team, even you are using the same team and same tactic.