I'm clearly not cut out for the big time.

In versions of yester-year I would quickly become one of the most decorated managers around but in previous versions of Football Manager, I just plain suck!

I started a league with Manchester United, installed (what I thought was) a decent pre-season training regime and set individual player and team tactics, which I thought made sense.

Pre-season friendlies loomed and I just about did enough to win against truly awful teams. At the end of each match the fans appreciation for the performances were less than impressive.

I drew in the charity shield with Portsmouth 2-2 and lost 13-12 on penalties. I managed to win my first game of the season against Man City 2-0 but then I played Stoke and Hull and drew 0-0 and lost 1-0 respectively.

To make matters worse is I don't create any chances, despite trying to take advice using the assistant manager comments/recommendations. In previous versions I created too many chances and barely scored any.

I already feel after only eight matches in charge I am going to be sacked as the board don't seem too impressed with my managerial prowess so far!

I know there are probably a million threads of this nature but FM Pros please lend a hand.

I would suggest that your first port of call is the Tactics Forum, the guys in there are probably better at giving this kind of advice than the majority of us GD crawlers

What tactic are you using? this will be the main problem, because although myself i am no tactical genius i have found some success with using various guides. http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=17211. Have a look at this guide and then part 2. briefly explains tactics and then gives you more of an idea how to implement them. hope it works for you.

What tactic are you using? this will be the main problem, because although myself i am no tactical genius i have found some success with using various guides. http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=17211. Have a look at this guide and then part 2. briefly explains tactics and then gives you more of an idea how to implement them. hope it works for you.

I use the pre-set 4-4-2 tactic with the two wingers making forward runs (by this I mean having arrows pointing forward), one central midfielder pushing forward and the other holding back.

I tend to play:

GK Van Der Sar

DR Rafael/Brown, set as neither attacking or defensive, making forward runs and run with the ball. Direct Passing and hard tackling.

DL Evra, set as neither attacking or defensive, making forward runs and run with the ball. Direct Passing and hard tackling.

DC Vidic, set as very defensive, man marking, hard tackling and direct passing.

DC Ferdinand, set as fairly defensive, man marking, hard tackling and direct passing.

MR Nani, forward runs, try long shots, run with the ball, mixed passing and set as a fairly attacking mentality.

ML Ronaldo, forward runs, try long shots, run with the ball, mixed passing and set as a fairly attacking mentality. Playmaker.

MC Anderson, mixed passing, forward runs, run with the ball, try long shots, free role, try through balls and set as fairly attaking mentality.

MC Carrick/Hargreaves, set as fairly defensive mentality, mixed passing, tackling hard, hold up ball and try through balls.

CF- Rooney/Tevez, attacking mentality, short passing, run with ball

CF Berbartov, Very attacking mentality, target man, shot passing, hold up ball.

I set individual tactics using my fairly competent knowledge of football tactics and I still seem to get outplayed by the opposition, even when it is Stoke or Hull. Rory Delap was running rings around Carrick and Anderson!

Am I kidding myself or have I got these tactics seriously wrong as they seem like they should do the trick to me!?!?!

right, well i had a lot of success with a 4-4-2 actic with chelsea. i will explain my tactic to you see if you get any success with it.

keep the formation you have, and keep the set instructions for players and make sure you set all of them specific attacking or defensive settings.

On team instruction set mentality to normal, creative freedom leave in the middle or lower(leave this for indiv tactics), set passing to either mixed or direct and then tempo to quick, time wasting to low, tackling to normal and then keep your defensive line deep or normal. counter attack and target i usually play but with no playmaker.

give it a try, you have nothing to lose by the sound of it?

right, well i had a lot of success with a 4-4-2 actic with chelsea. i will explain my tactic to you see if you get any success with it.

keep the formation you have, and keep the set instructions for players and make sure you set all of them specific attacking or defensive settings.

On team instruction set mentality to normal, creative freedom leave in the middle or lower(leave this for indiv tactics), set passing to either mixed or direct and then tempo to quick, time wasting to low, tackling to normal and then keep your defensive line deep or normal. counter attack and target i usually play but with no playmaker.

give it a try, you have nothing to lose by the sound of it?

Cheers, I will try it out. All I have to lose is more games and my job so I'm sure it won't hurt to put your tactics into practice!

and one more thing try putting ronaldo on the right and nani on the left. although they are both right footed i would rather put ronaldo in the role where he can be used most effectively.

and let me know how you get on!

and one more thing try putting ronaldo on the right and nani on the left. although they are both right footed i would rather put ronaldo in the role where he can be used most effectively.

and let me know how you get on!

Cheers for your help but your approach was hit and miss. I seem to be drawing lots of games, going a goal or two up and not killing the game off- ultimately ending with me conceeding goals late on.

I am at a loss, I clearly am not cut out for the Tactical versions of FM and from reading alot of post on here I am not alone. I used to be decent at versions previous to 2007 but as the game gets more complex I get worse.

Sometimes I just think that tactics shouldn't play that bigger part, if you have your team set out with general instructions you should still do well. I understand that in football there are often upsets but I remember in the last version I started a Man Utd league, brought in World Class players (on top of the class they already have) and despite what ever I tried, simple tactics or complex ones I ended up 14th in the league......no surprise I got sacked several times!

Surely sometimes it should be easy enough to take a United team to West Brom or Stoke and say Edwin, Rafael, Rio, Nemanja, Patrice, Cristiano, Michael, Anderson, Ryan, Wayne and Dimi go out there be creative (slide creative freedom notch to full) and win this match for the fans. Instead you end up getting pummelled by lesser players that run you ragged!

I have a Reading league too and in a pre-season friendly I put out my best XI against a team called Didcot (or something similiar, at best a team I have never heard of) I went 3-1 up and lost 4-3 against a bunch of nobodies!

Olrion, what reputation did you give yourself as a manager when you started the game? If you left it on automatic then maybe the team morale is low because of the appointment of an unknown manager. If morale is low then it will take much longer for the team to gel and start performing consistantly.

The best advice I can give is to download a 442 tactic that has been well received; one of Knaps usually. Play with a 'big' team and you should do OK. That will let you at least enjoy the game until your confidence improves and you'll also be tweaking and learning as you go along, until you can your tactics your own.

Thing is, why should the OP or anybody have to download a tactic to achieve success? Or have to read a 50 gajillion word document on how to implement them? Over the years the tactic system has become more and more clouded and i think its time now for SI to maybe include a tactics tutorial in the game.

Thing is, why should the OP or anybody have to download a tactic to achieve success? Or have to read a 50 gajillion word document on how to implement them? Over the years the tactic system has become more and more clouded and i think its time now for SI to maybe include a tactics tutorial in the game.

He shouldn't have to, you're right. But we can go on for days about why we shouldn't/should have to read so much about tactics, although it wouldn't get us anywhere in the present time with the game. I was just trying to offer the relevant help that he asked for.

tbf i did start on international experience so the players would have trusted me a lot more, i have to say the tactic worked well for me. only a couple games i cudnt kill off.

Olrion, what reputation did you give yourself as a manager when you started the game? If you left it on automatic then maybe the team morale is low because of the appointment of an unknown manager. If morale is low then it will take much longer for the team to gel and start performing consistantly.

Does that really make such a big difference. I started the game as an unknown manager and I have to admit it does say in my assistants comment before games 'that the players are struggling to motivate themselves to play for you'.

Maybe I will start over as a former internation and see how that pans out.

He shouldn't have to, you're right. But we can go on for days about why we shouldn't/should have to read so much about tactics, although it wouldn't get us anywhere in the present time with the game. I was just trying to offer the relevant help that he asked for.

Cheers buddy, your help is much appreciated. I will start again with a 4-4-2 formation and assign myself as a former pro on the managerial options.

At the start it's difficult, the squad isn't sure of you and if you have new signings then they take to gel. Persevere!

It is deinifitely all about getting the players to trust your ability. Without and ex-international status it is very hard to have a top four squad give you any respect.

Also, i have found that no matter what a mangers past experience is, the first 10 games are a struggle as the players seem to be getting used to the new tactics. During this period it would appear that constantly tweaking the tacts can just pro-long this process.

i have found that no matter what a mangers past experience is, the first 10 games are a struggle as the players seem to be getting used to the new tactics. During this period it would appear that constantly tweaking the tacts can just pro-long this process.

Sound advice ....

Hi,

As so many above, I'm not a tactics wizard either. I'm doing alright though and have a couple of tips to offer perhaps. They seem to help me at least.

1. Resist the temptation to wholesale buy in the first year unless you are going to write that year off performance wise. For some of the teams with lower expectations you can afford a very mediocre year and then I buy a lot of players to my liking. For a team like Man United this is not really an option. So buy one or two key players if you must but not much more. The team is, after all, already very good.

2. Pre-season tours of small countries are a great way to tank match fitness, confidence, experience and decent scores in one go! I like to tour Andorra, Luxembourg, etc. and play against four local teams. You always win and even a relatively poor result such as 3-0 won't get your fans booing. Make sure to get a wholly different team on at half time though, to prevent injuries, etc. It is also a good place to have a look at your tactics, players, etc. I find some players just play better together even when their individual stats don't seem to indicate this. The downside of these tours is that they don't give you real money (really bad for poor teams)and you can pick up an injury or two.

3. Play a tactic you like in real life and feel you understand. Personally I am not a big fan of 442-type systems. (Although there are many variants.) Therefore I hardly ever play it. I just don't seem to be getting the balance right when I do, so I opt for more defensive systems. Nothing wrong with that, at least the fans don't complain too much for me!

Just my two cents. Hope you enjoy the game!

2. Pre-season tours of small countries are a great way to tank match fitness, confidence, experience and decent scores in one go! I like to tour Andorra, Luxembourg, etc. and play against four local teams. You always win and even a relatively poor result such as 3-0 won't get your fans booing. Make sure to get a wholly different team on at half time though, to prevent injuries, etc. It is also a good place to have a look at your tactics, players, etc. I find some players just play better together even when their individual stats don't seem to indicate this. The downside of these tours is that they don't give you real money (really bad for poor teams)and you can pick up an injury or two.

It's great advice but in my book to tank is a bad thing!!