What is it that happens in February?

Played almost two seasons now and I've been dominating the league before the winter break and sometime after it but come February I barely win at home and can hardly get a draw away!! My tactics are the same and my players show the same fitness as they did before Christmas but it's very, very difficult to get any sort of consistency in the team's performances.

Anyone else seen similar development and have any ideas how to counter it?

Thanks in advance!

just one of things, i get a strange thing that conecentration drops, i find myself resting more players during the second half of the season, and brining players back from injuries takes a fair few games, and then theyg et injured when trying to get them back to full fitness.

Seen it time and time again in a couple of saves. Come Jan/Feb the form drops drastically. It's been said it maybe the other teams adapting to how you're playing or possibly playing counter when you're the favourite whereas beforehand they'd be offensive, etc.

I can't find the post, but I'm pretty sure I remember Cleon posting something in the tactics forum about how pre-season conditioning training can help stop this from occurring. I can't find the post right now or I'd link it.

Yes, pre-season conditioning does help quite a bit in keeping down the injuries and fatigue. Also, and this is an obvious one, but as you progress through the game and upgrade your teams, the so called "mid-season slump" will diminish more and more. I'm 6 seasons into my game and I haven't seen a slump for about 3 seasons and I play the same tactics every game.

I don't have those problems in specific months, but I always have problems with periods of defeats that you can't avoid.

For example just now I've ragequitted my Torino save (I haven't done that in FM since 09 version i guess).

I was on like ~30 games without defaeat streak (25+ wins).

And then it happens.

It's late April, I've scored around 130 goals in all competitions so far.

First comes home game vs Bologna, who's sitting in 17th place. They beat me 0-1. I think, it's ok it happens.

Then comes 2nd game against Chievo, away. It finishes 0-0 (I had 16 shots on target).

I knew what was coming after that game.

3rd game against Fiorentina at home. 1-1 draw, I scored from penalty in 85th minute.

And then, the grand finale. 1/2 CL against Milan (they have 1 of 5 wins in last 5 games).

60th minute, 6-0 for Milan.

All of my players had at least very good morale, and 97% condition at the start of the match.

I haven't conceded more than 2 goals in one game for like a year and I had like 3.2 goals per game.

And then string of 4 games like this happens. Yea, right.

They can't make good AI that can be a worthy opponent so they decide to sabotage you every once in a while.

I'm taking a rest until fm13 comes out.

Whine over.

I had to lash out somewhere, lol.

I don't have those problems in specific months, but I always have problems with periods of defeats that you can't avoid.

For example just now I've ragequitted my Torino save (I haven't done that in FM since 09 version i guess).

I was on like ~30 games without defaeat streak (25+ wins).

And then it happens.

It's late April, I've scored around 130 goals in all competitions so far.

First comes home game vs Bologna, who's sitting in 17th place. They beat me 0-1. I think, it's ok it happens.

Then comes 2nd game against Chievo, away. It finishes 0-0 (I had 16 shots on target).

I knew what was coming after that game.

3rd game against Fiorentina at home. 1-1 draw, I scored from penalty in 85th minute.

And then, the grand finale. 1/2 CL against Milan (they have 1 of 5 wins in last 5 games).

60th minute, 6-0 for Milan.

All of my players had at least very good morale, and 97% condition at the start of the match.

I haven't conceded more than 2 goals in one game for like a year and I had like 3.2 goals per game.

And then string of 4 games like this happens. Yea, right.

They can't make good AI that can be a worthy opponent so they decide to sabotage you every once in a while.

I'm taking a rest until fm13 comes out.

Whine over.

I had to lash out somewhere, lol.

Maybe it's your team talks/press conferences? Did you ever declare your team as favourites to be winning the league? It might cause doubts within the team and are less concentrated.

This seems to happen an awful lot in holiday mode.

I like to buy the players then leave it to the assistant to play the games for the season. Yet almost everytime there is a slump from about half way. A seriously bad slump!

If you play a short passing game then around Novemeber/Feb times it is a lot wetter than normal (especially in England) so this could also be a reason as the ball won't pass around as well as it does in dryer conditions.

I do play with short passing and I play in Germany so that would be similar conditions I guess. Is the game really that sophisticated though? I wouldn't really be surprised if it is but I haven't seen this behavior that obvious in earlier versions of the game.

I do play with short passing and I play in Germany so that would be similar conditions I guess. Is the game really that sophisticated though? I wouldn't really be surprised if it is but I haven't seen this behavior that obvious in earlier versions of the game.

It's been this sophisticated for a number of years.

If you play a short passing game then around Novemeber/Feb times it is a lot wetter than normal (especially in England) so this could also be a reason as the ball won't pass around as well as it does in dryer conditions.

That would be a valid explanation in the lower leagues but given that pitch conditions remain at a high standard in the Premier League but the same post Christmas drop off can be experienced across all divisions & also in countries with a more stable/warmer climate I remain unconvinced about how much impact pitch conditions have on the success or lack thereof when playing a precise possession style.

Yes, pre-season conditioning does help quite a bit in keeping down the injuries and fatigue. Also, and this is an obvious one, but as you progress through the game and upgrade your teams, the so called "mid-season slump" will diminish more and more. I'm 6 seasons into my game and I haven't seen a slump for about 3 seasons and I play the same tactics every game.

Move every single player into the conditioning schedule?! Holy crap. Sounds so tedious -_-

But if it helps reduce fatigue and injuries, and negates the mid-season slump, I guess its well worth the time...

FM tedious? NEVER!!!

Move every single player into the conditioning schedule?! Holy crap. Sounds so tedious -_-

But if it helps reduce fatigue and injuries, and negates the mid-season slump, I guess its well worth the time...

What? How is it tedious? At the start of pre-season, create a simple Pre season schedule(I have Stamina/Aerobic and tactics reasonably high, and the rest a couple of notches), and then you simply mass-lump every outfield player into that schedule. It literally takes less than 30 seconds. Then as the season get's underway I move them back into their categories, or individual training schedules.

and FWIW, i rarely get any injuries, let alone serious ones. I prefer having smaller squads aswell, so fitness is key for me. Add into that adequate rest periods.

select them all, right click, training, conditioning. simples.

To get around it you need to have regular team meetings when you are on good form. Tell your players that they're doing well and to keep up the good work. Then, occasionally - if you're on a good winning run - set the post match talk as "don't get complacent". You can also have chat's with players... if their form is like 7.6+ over 5 games tell them their form is good and you hope it continues.

I say this because I had exactly the same problem as you - but since I've been following these rules I've won league after league and cup after cup.

Yeah, it's the moving them all back that takes time though. I have individual training regimes for all of my best players and young prospects, as I'm sure others do.

It would be great if they implemented an option that would move players to conditioning for 1/2/3 weeks and then back to what they were on before (like resting).

dsqd don't look at it as a bad thing, I actually use that time to check all my schedules for those players, compare where they are at now to where they were twelve months ago, and update the schedules as needed. Of course not everyone wants to take that much time, but hey... it's a silver lining.

In the Bundesliga as Dortmund, we won every single of our first half season games. 17 games 17 wins for the winter break. After we came back we didn't play that great, made so many defensive mistakes and I believe one of the biggest factors was the player bonus morale boost had worn off. I set all comps to high bonuses and having quite a few ambitious players they got a morale boost for half a season (never saw morale go off Very good and was mostly on Superb). You could put that down to constantly winning, but they still had the 'PR' relating to "Pleased that his efforts may be rewarded by high win bonus" for 6 months.

I ended up putting some old school veterns on, eg. 35yr old Srna, and it seemed to do the trick. Our defensive line stood up and the errors disappeared and we went on to win the title. Maybe a downfall of having a young first 11?

Amazingly it ended Dortmund 89pts, Bayern 83pts, they made a real push of it.

Also, as stated above, conditioning schedules can help with this and maintaining good morale, while weeding out over-confidence/cockiness.

Unreal. Just holidayed two seasons with the AssMan in charge.

Season one, just about stayed up but lost 11 of last 12 games.

Second season lost 14 of last 15 games.

AssMen are utterly useless and seriously need fixing.

IRL, how many assmen would be able to keep the team going. What is stupid is you expecting the AI assman to keep results on the straight and narrow.

IRL, how many assmen would be able to keep the team going. What is stupid is you expecting the AI assman to keep results on the straight and narrow.

Yeh - because Roberto di Matteo did a terrible job...

d'oh!

Yeh - because Roberto di Matteo did a terrible job...

d'oh!

You can hardly compare that. Its a little bit different isnt it.

An if you do want to compare that, Terry Connor did a brilliant job...

D'oh!