Turning Round Poor Form?

Hi Guys,

Just wondered if someone could help me.

I play FM Classic as its the only mode my brother will play when we do network games.

Now i love the speed of the games, we can get through a season a night however, me and my brother both suffer from the same problem, occasionally we'll go on really bad runs of games and there seems to be no way to change our fortunes unless we get lucky.

So my question is, is there any way to increase your teams morale when you're on a poor run of games and also is there anyway to ensure your players guard against complaceny as losing to underdogs appears to be commonplace without team talks and pre-match press conferences in classic.

Cheers,

Simon

Good question, that is the only case of me missing a feature from the full game, that is being able to meet my team to give them a motivational talk.

It might be horrifically arcadey for some peoples taste but how about the idea of a bar that fills very slowly (about once every 2 seasons) as you win matches in a row (combos), if your rep increases, if you beat bigger teams you really shouldn't have or maybe just experience points over time - once this bar is full you can call a team meeting and use all your experience to inspire the team again.

Maybe, even how full the bar was was the chance of it being successful - otherwise you'd lose the dressing room and the failure would get leaked to the press making your job untenable

I've found a friendly against a non league side, with a few regular first teamers in, does wonders for their confidence, provided you win! It does run a risk of injuries though and is harder to schedule in leagues where there are many mid week and weekend fixtures. However, that approach has worked well for me so far. Plus as Lucas says playing conservatively and trying to nab a few draws to turn things around.

I've had my assistant coach tell me the team's really looking good with learning their tactics, the preview of the game says the opponents are up against the wall and doomed because my team's overwhelmingly favored to win, and then I'll lose 4-1 using the same tactics that just gave me a 3-game winning streak. I don't think the game appreciates how badly my team really sucks.

Could be a number of reasons for this:

Are you changing your tactics in any way to go more attacking because of the advice?

Are your players of a determined nature, are they consistent?

Player morale - are there any players in your XI that are a bit lower on morale to the rest of the starting 11?

Fitness - are there any players not at peak fitness for the fixture?

Put simply, you might have won 3 games on the trot.

Your players might then feel confident, maybe overly so.

Instead of playing a balanced game, you go attacking against a weak team.

There are one or two players in your starting eleven that are not 100% fit for the fixture, or have slightly lower morale than others in their position in the squad.

The opposing team, playing defensively can sniff out chances and your team might be having an off day or trying to win "in style", before doing the business of getting in front first.

...just some ideas, mind.

yes, it's probably all of the above-mentioned causes. I will also point out that if I let my assistant coach pick the line-up pre-game, they put LB as an AMF-C and puts a striker in the middle of the defense, so maybe I shouldn't pay too much attention to him. I think he's trying to get me fired.