I have given up, can someone get my team to win?

After a reasonable spell at Stranraer I took over Grimsby in the close season and I thought I'd put together a good team for league 2 but I just cannot win apart from the odd game here and there. I have tried at least 15 tactics and absolutely nothing works, and it's totally turned me off FM for the first time ever.

I have uploaded my game : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=691SFF3I

Using 6.0.2

I'm 22nd in league 2 and there are 10 games remaining, please have a go at getting this team winning games because I just can't do it. And let me know how it is done.

If I've posted this in wrong place please move.

i would mate, but i aint paying to download that mega fing, you got sommit else you could put it on (free) and i'll get em' winning the league or errr just stay up

Eh? You have to pay?

Originally posted by Jens Lehmann:

i would mate, but i aint paying to download that mega fing, you got sommit else you could put it on (free) and i'll get em' winning the league or errr just stay up

You don't need to pay, only wait 45 seconds...

I have just downloaded will report back soon.

Jens you do not have to pay to download, you just have to wait for 60 seconds and an option comes up to download for free. I do not have a megaupload account and just downloaded it for free.

This on FM 2008? Or 2006? (You say version 6.02)

Originally posted by Alurny:

This on FM 2008? Or 2006? (You say version 6.02)

WHS. What version is this? I don't have FM 2006, only FM 07 and FM08.

2008

What patch are you using, as my version 8.02 says he cannot find the database and is reverting to the default.

The best I have managed so far is 19th Pos, with 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats.

Howvere Domoraud has been a revelation scoring 10 goals in the 10 games I have played, I may try buying him on my own game with Coventry.

You know sometimes in real life, good managers can't figure out a way to get their team going and just keep losing game after game, no matter what they do.

To be honest, this is what keeps me going back to FM - how realistic it is. You shouldn't be able to always figure out a way to win. Sometimes it just doesn't happen for a long time until something clicks.

It hasn't happened all season, and I've yet to hear any success stories from the game I uploaded, sort it out for FM09.

So has anyone else given this a go? I swear there is a flaw, it is 8.0.2 by the way it only comes up as an error cause I added 1 player into the database before creating the game.

What flaw? Tons of people win loads.

Is there a specific problem? Or you just can't win games?

Mark_lcfc - a few pointers for you:

1) Consistency - changing tactic all of the time isn't going to help at all. Try to keep things tactically consistent unless you see huge flaws in your tactics.

2) Team gelling - absolutely vital to success. Too many new signings = rubbish team. Check your ass man's report.

3) Morale - team morale is probably low for your side, so you need to praise or criticise players in the media and try to improve their mood.

4) Tactics - Keep things consistent unless you find huge errors appearing that need correcting. Mentality and defensive line are two of the most absolutely crucial settings in the game. Get them right. Keep it simple - have defensive, normal and attacking mentalities and tie your defensive line to it, adjusting for the quality (pace and positioning in particular) of your defenders versus the opposition strikers.

5) Game stats - how are you conceding goals? Are you sitting too deep and thus being put under pressure? Check the action zones screen - if the opposition have a higher percentage in your half then you probably need to raise the defensive line. Or perhaps you are conceding lots of goals from breaks, i.e. a fast striker breaking through your defence to score. The DL needs to be deeper in this case. This is a huge thing to check as if you are losing badly all of the time, this could be the key. If your defensive line is too deep, you invite pressure and cannot build attacks well. Too high and everytime you lose the ball you will be giving a potential chance to the opposition.

6) Similar to above - analyse stats such as passes and headers etc. If you're giving the ball away a lot then you are putting yourself under constant pressure. Think about lowering the tempo if missing lots of chances or giving the ball away all of the time etc.

7) Keep at it - this is the fun bit! Winning all of the time is just boring.

Hope this helps.

C.

I vertually guarentee your not using opposition instructions, and are probably messing up your team talks, go into the tactics forum and look for Wolfsburgs guide to teamtalks.

Okay, got curious, downloaded it. It's past midnight so I won't play it until tomorrow evening, but looking at the first page and a couple of settings:

1) your tactic looks a bit mental. Farrows up and down everywhere.

2) you have ass man set to team talks, which is a mistake.

3) your team selection seems a bit strange. EG, Your right back is slower than I am and can't tackle. And you've transfer listed your second best MC (at least according to his stats and my first glance).

4) Morale in the team is poor. Not sure if this can be fixed before the end of the season.

I'll give it a go, though. Got me thinking now.

backpackant, it looks mental because its one of kimz tactics, not exactly a diablo in that it doesn't exploit a single flaw in the ME, just that the ME isn't entirely certain about how to handle it. When I tried it, it always seemed to result in lots of shots for me and few for the other team, but the opposition GK would usualy get the man of the match.

mark_lcfc, did you try going on holiday for a while? I set up a tactic, went on holiday, forgot about it for a while, and lo and behold it is now the day after christmas and Grimsby town is in 5th place. Finances are terrible, but they weren't in great shape to begin with, so I don't feel to bad about that.

it looks mental because its one of kimz tactics, not exactly a diablo in that it doesn't exploit a single flaw in the ME

I've not looked at those, so guess that's why I didn't recognise it.

Okay, I played through the end of the season and ended 16th:

http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimtableye9.jpg

(Changed your name for the screenies - wasn't sure if you wanted it all over the forums).

Results:

http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimresultsaf6.jpg

Difficult start but got going eventually. Especially pleasing was the 6-2 spanking of Wrexham.

I changed your training to a slightly more attacking approach but kept a degree of defensive work in there.

http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimtrainingvy4.jpg

I used my 4-3-3 tactic developed at Chelksi which needed some adapting:

http://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimtacticsap3.jpg

Team selection was another issue. The squad started with a few people with poor attributes in key positions - RB, for example was woefully slow and couldn't tackle. Lee Holmes was a revelation for me, though, cutting in off the wing, getting me a few key goals. I also took Mark Whorlow off the transfer list as his tackling was very high and his passing was adequate. As you can see from my tactics, I instigated a high degree of closing-down so this became important.

http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grimtacticsinstrgl0.jpg

I loaned in a couple of backup players but they didn't get much action except the Yeovil match where I had two suspensions and two injuries. We lost that badly, but they cost nothing so hey.

Overall I think I did okay, so your game certainly isn't against you. You just need to match the tactics to the right players, and give them appropriate instructions. I'm not a big fan of wild and crazy tactics, so tend to stick to normal ones that are tweaked slightly to suit the players' strengths (such as the Whorlow eg above).

Good luck with it. I think I'll hold onto this one and maybe play with it a bit.