I'm out of ideas! HELP PLEASE!!

I'm half way through my first season with Man City and I can't seem to score let alone win a game. I have tried numerous formations, but ever time I get undone.

I have a class team, even Robinho has only managed 4 goals in 17 apps!!

My team is generally..

----------------------Ochoa-------------------------------

Rafinha-------Richards---------Dunne/Kompany---------Kolarov

-------------Palombo/Veloso-----Moutinho/Kuzmanovic----------

Di Maria/SWP-------------------------------------------Guardado

--------------------Robinho/Hamsik---------------------------

------------------ Adriano/Lavezzi/Jo------------------------------

Hamsik, Lavezzi and veloso have been especially awful. The tactics are set to quite attacking with quite a bit creative freedom. The tempo is slow with passing short and width quite wide. I usually play quite a high defensive line and counter attack.

I really am out of ideas, i have tried so many combinations. Any help will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks..

Take this advice as you will as ive only played 3 or 4 games in this version of FM but i to am using city and i too tried a very similar formation, with an AMC and a ST and frankly it sucked balls!

In fact i couldnt even score against my own reserves with it!!

Im not suggesting the tactic could never work but i get the sense it is difficult to get working, try playing robinho as an actual ST partnering the others up front but have him drop deep with instructions maybe that will help.

Also worth mentioning (not sure if its the same in 09) but in past versions of FM if you buy in whole new teams of people it can takes ages for them to gel together properly.

And WHOA you have basically bought a whole new teams worth of people there!! So that could also be contributing to bad performances...

The main problem is your team for a start.

Out of all of them only Dunne and Richards arnt new players, and im guessing you play Kompany instead of Dunne.

Which means, NONE OF YOUR PLAYERS KNOW EACH OTHER, hell most of them dont speak english and cant even communicate with each other.

That includes Kompany, SWP, Jo and Robinho, there all new to city.

This is a very bad thing, there all trying to adapt.

2nd problem is that with this team of people who cant communicate and havent adjusted to the EPL let alone man city, you have them playing bad tactics

Attacking football, when they dont even know what the other players are like,

with creativity

But though your trying to attack and with style, your doing it at a very slow pace, with only very short passes, over a large width where players are too far for short passing.

Not only that but your playing with a high defensive line so its easy for people to counter attack you, then your also playing counter attack football and booting the ball forward to the single outnumbered striker.

Idealy you wouldnt have any where near this amount of new players, and playing these tactics.

If your not going to restart and not sell your entire team to buy a complete team of random strangers who "might" be good, then id start by changing your tactics real quick,

play conservative football, probably 4-2-2 defensive with counter attacking, more direct passing, higher tempo, less width, much lower defensive line, with Robinho playing ST up from with a tall target an. Lower creative.

Give your people a much easier time settling into the EPL, or the bad results will make there morale worse and you will crash and burn.

Seen Tottenham in real life this season, sell a few of there usual players, bring in 3-4 new ones and try and play unrealistic football, and a team like tottenham crashes and burns to the bottom of the EPL.

Well you just did worse, you replaced an entire team.

edit. I just finished my 1st season in FM2009 with chelsea, won the EPL, Carling Cup, FA Cup and Champions LEague, but was extreamly lucky in the CL, went undefeated in League with 28 wins and 10 draws.

I also replaced some players, but had Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien, Joe Cole, Drogba, all those originals in as a spine of a team while the others settled.

Yeah gotta say regardless of tactics i too think the amount of new guys is the main issue.

And as Aleena says if you are sticking with them, give them a much more rigid and obvious tactic to use. Make sure they all know exactly what they are doing and doing what they all do best to avoid them having to make their own decisions as much as possible.

In a season or two im sure that line up will play amazing attacking football but not yet.

Personally i try to always only replace 1 or 2 main people maximum per season unless its absolutely required to do otherwise due to lack of players.

Yea im not slamming you at all, just trying to help.

Its a football manager simulation, there are thousands of calculations behind the scenes, especially when it comes to your team playing the match.

I mean each player his adaptability settings, as well as his morale, not to mention his communication,

atm your playing the game very handicapped with all those calculations against you, then your trying to play superstar globetrotters football.

The teams that play like that, say Arsenal and Barcelona, they even have really bad slumps, Arsenal havent won anything for a few years and get beaten by clubs like aston villa, and before this year, Barca were abit crap.

yet they both rely on players who have been there for YEARS or from youth as there main players.

Look at Xavi and Iniesta for example, and the fact Henry STILL hasnt settled in Barcelona.

Your just asking WAY too much from your players.

United being the perfect example

Try playing a defensive strategy with counter attack until they gel, might take even a whole season for them to "click". It's because you made whole-sale changes to your team.

Try a 4-1-4-1 formation with Veloso at DM.

Read the TT&F thread and employ a 5x5 mentality system with Veloso set as a deep-playing playmaker (again, all described excellently in the TT&F).

I tried this last night and I think im finally loving the game.

My team is -

.....................................Hart/ Sanchez

Zabaleta..........Richards...........................Dunne......................Bale

........................................Veloso

SWP.................Elano.............................Diarra......................Petrov

........................................Robinho (with freerole and alot of creativity)

Hamsik, Lavezzi and veloso have been especially awful. The tactics are set to quite attacking with quite a bit creative freedom. The tempo is slow with passing short and width quite wide. I usually play quite a high defensive line and counter attack.

HI. just a few points on your tactics from what i have learnt over the years of endless reading!!!!

1- I found a slow tempo to be employed once in control of a match with not much time to go.

2- Short passing, slow tempo with counter attack is conflicting, as for successful counters you need to play with a higher tempo

3- I have found that it is best to play mixed width setting for a short passing game, something like 10-12 as the players will be closer together, you may want 2-3 players on mixed passing, these can be your more creative players, so they can switch the play around.

I also play with an AMC, Matias Fernandez, so far he is my best player with 17 goals and 14 assists in 30 games.