I really hope someone can help me...

[Magicz]

I'm managing Spurs in the 10/11 season and we qualified for the Euro Cup (Europa League irl) finishing sixth and coming second in the FA Cup.

I personally think that our success was due to not having many games last season but now my fixtures are really congested. For example, my next few games are;
Wolfsburg on thursday, West Ham on saturday and then Middlesbrough on tuesday. In the Euro,Prem and Carling respectively.
I have played six games in the league winning once and drawing five. Albeit the draws were against Villa (1-1) City (0-0) Liverpool (2-2) Bolton (1-1) and Everton (1-1). I beat Middlesbrough 3-0. I think that my inability to win games comes from tiredness. How can I help this?

Btw I have tried rotating the squad a bit but players complain about a lack of harmony

[StevoRobbo]

For a start shouldnt the West Ham game be on the Sunday if your playing in Europe on the Thursday?

Also its the second season and after doing well in the first, and probably using the same tactics, teams are playing differently against you. Try shaking up your tactics a bit.

[SWaRFeGa]

You don't need the Carling.

If you have players that are NOT registered for Euro games, then try to play them in your league game beforehand. This helps keep players a little fresher.

[Magicz]

For a start shouldnt the West Ham game be on the Sunday if your playing in Europe on the Thursday?

Also its the second season and after doing well in the first, and probably using the same tactics, teams are playing differently against you. Try shaking up your tactics a bit.

Actually yeah sorry :P. It should be sunday and it is. Cheers for the tactics tip. I usually play 4-4-2 with high wingers (so it's a sort of 4-2-4) against the teams below me and a narrow 4-5-1 against the Chelsea's and United's of the league

[StevoRobbo]

Actually yeah sorry :P. It should be sunday and it is. Cheers for the tactics tip. I usually play 4-4-2 with high wingers (so it's a sort of 4-2-4) against the teams below me and a narrow 4-5-1 against the Chelsea's and United's of the league

Dont change your tactics too drasticly because then you will have the problem of your players needing to adjust to the tactic. Sometimes even something that wouldnt seem important like droping your wingers back into a flat 4-4-2 will do the trick.

[Magicz]

Dont change your tactics too drasticly because then you will have the problem of your players needing to adjust to the tactic. Sometimes even something that wouldnt seem important like droping your wingers back into a flat 4-4-2 will do the trick.

Awesome. Will try it. Should I keep the same instructions?

[StevoRobbo]

Awesome. Will try it. Should I keep the same instructions?

I dont see why not. Like I say, something as little as moving a player backwards or forwards a spot can make a big difference for some reason. Your team may play exactly the same way but due to you bringing your wingers back, the ME will probably read that as a change even though nothing really has and it will benefit you.

[afced7]

I'm managing Spurs in the 10/11 season and we qualified for the Euro Cup (Europa League irl) finishing sixth and coming second in the FA Cup.

I personally think that our success was due to not having many games last season but now my fixtures are really congested. For example, my next few games are;
Wolfsburg on thursday, West Ham on saturday and then Middlesbrough on tuesday. In the Euro,Prem and Carling respectively.
I have played six games in the league winning once and drawing five. Albeit the draws were against Villa (1-1) City (0-0) Liverpool (2-2) Bolton (1-1) and Everton (1-1). I beat Middlesbrough 3-0. I think that my inability to win games comes from tiredness. How can I help this?

Btw I have tried rotating the squad a bit but players complain about a lack of harmony

It's the conundrum of every successful manager. Redknapp is probably having exactly the same problem as you. Except the Carling Cup bit.

[Johnjo]

Yep sounds like fatigue is kicking in, you need to rotate your squad more. Try to mix and match your teams, i.e play your strongest team in the big games but only half your first team in the weaker games or if you have too put a couple of key guys on and sub them off early, or do a mick mcarthy and play your weak team aginst the big guys, up to you realy lol. The squad rotation realy helps to get players firing too because there is more pressure on them to do well or they might get dropped, Goalkeepers and defenders can usualy play a few games in a row as they don't burn much stamina but wingers especialy will need to be rotated.

Quite a few draws you have there, the AI loves hitting you with late goals, I usualy come up with a tactic that i can switch to that eats up time a bit more (lower the tempo, Up the time wasting mainly) and use as many subs as i can one at a time. I think it has somthing to do with team talks as well, every time i go on a patch of bad form it seems to come back to one team talk i gave when i told the players a home draw against a weaker was good enough....could be all in my head though. Good Luck.

P.S The lack of harmony isn't because of squad rotation....it's because a few of your players are upset about somthing else and the others like to get in on the act...winning a few games will solve the problem pretty quick though.

[Edinton]

Maybe look to reduce the amount of physical training your players are doing as well when in the middle of busy periods, they certainly won't need as much fitness work if they're playing 2-3 games a week...

[pezza1]

If you did well in the first season (and i think your league finish is slightly above first season expextations for Spurs) then more teams are going to play more negatively against you. In games where you are heavy favourites they will play deeper and narrower so you may have to adjust your tactics. Going all out attacking will press your players high up the pitch right up against their deeper, packed defence. Maybe dropping your own team deeper will allow your more creative players the space to make openings for your attackers. Also concentrating your play out wide may exploit the space left by the defence being too narrow.

I find working on these principles worked for my Derby team which were pre-season favourites for the league last season. My creative mid-field players had a ball when i dropped them a little deeper and they threading balls through teams defences left, right and centre. When that didnt work I got the ball wide and fired balls into the box for my taller strikers to get on the end of.

Hope this helps a little. I rarely manage at Prem level so this might be a bit simplistic.

[IMT]

Also go into your training schedules and give your first teamers a days rest or two.

[Magicz]

Cheers lads. Appreciate the help. Think I'm gonna do what Harry did against Arsenal and play the kids against Boro. The Carling doesn't matter that much

[Magicz]

Did pretty much everything that you guys said. My results:Wolfsburg 2-0 win. King and Pavlyuchenko. West Ham 3-1 win. Crouch hat trick. Middlesbrough 4-3 win. I played some reserves like a 16 year old striker and a 17 year old centre back. Jonjo Shelvey (wonderkid) scored a hat-trick before Robbie Keane grabbed an 82nd minute winner . Then drew 1-1 with Manchester United at home. Crouch equalised after Berbatov put them ahead.