Total collapse of form

In every version of FM, this seems to happen to me to a greater or lesser extent. We start well, and then have a blip in December. Sometimes we pull out of it, sometimes we don't: but in FM15 it's tending to be a total nosedive from December onwards.

From August to November, my tactics play beautifully. I keep the same basic shape all the time, but change my mentality and team instructions depending on the opponents.

So can the December-May problem really be my tactics? Has the AI cracked my system? Or is it appalling team talks, press conferences, or team selection?

The team talks usually get reasonable reactions: I tend to criticise when the team does badly, and they usually get 'fired up'. I find the press conferences dull, and veer towards the upbeat second-from-the-top answer most of the time, in a calm voice.

Team selection: I suspect I do pick fringe players more than other managers if they are in form. I went a whole season preferrring a 1.5* right back over the 3.5*, because he was getting better ratings.

Right now, I'm not sure what to change.

Before the mods come in and say it: you need to provide more info for anyone to give suggestions.

AI doesn't crack the system but they do adapt to the situations at hand. You doing better they will change their tactics. Even in game you can see the AI adjust formations, mentalities depending on the score.

tyro is correct on all levels. The AI in the game is good enough to recognise that if you beat a team 2-0 in September, then they will likely change their approach for the reverse fixture later in the year.

Had recently a second season like that. Started a new save with the same team and first season was a success.

In my case I think I was "harsh" with some of my underperforming players, considering I still don't have a very high reputation. I was sitting bottom of the table with Newcastle, after finishing the first season 6th.

Morale was green-ish for most players but for some reason they did not perform. Maybe I pushed it too far too soon considering I still have a low rep. Also had a number of players more concentrated on leaving to better teams rather than playing football.

Don't know if this is your case.

I think you do the right thing by selecting by form, not by attributes. Pretty pointless to field a striker with 20 finishing/composure if he's going to be "complacent" or "uninterested".

IDK if this would be of help. Was using a 442 with standard mentality and relatively conservative instructions. Switched to a 4141/defensive, using standard or control only at home in certain occasions. The team performed so much better, which led me to finish 5th. I can't really tell why, if it was the lower mentality that helped, the formation, etc...

I was very lucky too my players reacted always well to team talks (so often you make the right team talk and they react badly) and made the right choices when it came to dropping players/rotation.

OK: 4231. I change the roles depending on who we are playing, but one possible permutation which works from August to November (playing standard and flexible) is:-

GK: Sweeper keeper

DR: Full back attack

DCR: Central defender defend

DCL: Central defender defend

DL: Full back support

MCR: Central midfielder defend

MCL: Central midfielder support

AMR: Winger support

AMC: Advanced playmaker attack

AML: Ramdeuter

ST: Complete forward attack

Team instructions are play out of defence, exploit middle, play wider, push higher up, and work ball into box.

I went a whole season preferrring a 1.5* right back over the 3.5*, because he was getting better ratings.

Never trust the star ratings for how good a player is. It can give you an indication but, ultimately, it's down to the actual player attributes to determine how good a player is.

What sort of issues are you noting?

At first glance, it's an "OK" system, but I wonder how vulnerable your side is when an attack breaks down. You will basically have one CM staying back to cover the centre and the left side in particular could be weak.

Hah. August to November, beautiful slick passing interchanges, culminating in goals passed into the far corner from inside the box; or crossfield balls to the advanced wide players who volley home.

December to May - ineffectual tippy-tappy passes on the edge of the box with zero end product; wide players who pick the ball up and run infield before firing wide from 25 yards.

If we were rubbish in December to February, I'd think it was something to do with the pitch, maybe, but we are still rubbish when the good weather comes round again.

Our opponents don't seem to make more chances than they did previously, but a greater proportion go in, and we score vastly less.

You need to watch the game and see where the problem is. Do you push too high and have no space to exploit because the opposing team just sits back and defends? Do you work the ball too much in situations when you could go for the more " direct" approach?

Where are the opposition strikers when you are attacking?

This year looks like every AI manager is a big fan of Simeone and Mourinho and they park the bus like there's no tomorrow. And it's difficult to break down even with a patient possesion game. Not uncommon to see the opp. striker in the edge of their box when defending.

If you do well early in the season and the odds are in your favor the AI seems to get nasty. Then once you loose form it's difficult to pick it back up.

Yes, it's a 'park the bus' kind of thing. But I have a more direct system that I switch to with 25 minutes to go if we aren't getting the result we need, and it doesn't seem to perform much better.

Has the AI always been able to crack your tactic? I thought it was trailed as a new feature for FM15 - and I've always had this problem across almost every version of FM (more this year than ever, though).

The AI has never been able to "crack your tactic", but it has always adapted how you play and the AI improves year on year.

Your system has three Attack Duties at the top end, so they will congest an already deep and compact defensive zone.

Yes, it's a 'park the bus' kind of thing. But I have a more direct system that I switch to with 25 minutes to go if we aren't getting the result we need, and it doesn't seem to perform much better.

Has the AI always been able to crack your tactic? I thought it was trailed as a new feature for FM15 - and I've always had this problem across almost every version of FM (more this year than ever, though).

They don't "crack " it. They just adapt to your reputation and your style of play. Even in real life a high amount of teams play a very defensive game and look to counter, especially away. There are different things you can try, depending on their shape and what you see during the game. For instance, I tend to switch to counter from control, in order to draw them out ; I lose the Retain Possesion shout and use a Higher Tempo to exploit space as soon as there is one. But this doesn't always work, you need to carefully watch what is going on. Some other games I realize that I might be trying to get the ball inside the net too fast, so I add Work ball into box so that my players build more patiently. Other games I Look for overlap. Other I switch to direct passing, sometimes I use more expressive.

It all depends on exactly what is going on, there isn't a standard " to-do list" when you can't score , you just need to adapt.

As the colleagues say, every version they adapt during the game, and they change tactics (not necessarily the formation) in game very often. And you can see it in the comments (it's not a hidden evil action from the AI).

I have tried playing direct this year and it seems SI has forgotten about those of us that like to play a bit more direct, at least at "top level" it's very difficult to pull it off (maybe I don't have the right personnel). Only useful to ask your players to "play more direct" if they are passing it around way too much (but first try simply removing the "shorter passing" instruction). You can also change it for some players in the player instructions if there's a particular player that is making too many useless short passes, or use the "shoot more often" instruction for 2-3 players if you think they should take more chances (lack of shots).

As frustrating as it can be at times, I think the AI does a very good job most of the time of countering your actions, while at the same time it keeps much of the "AI manager" initial tactical plan (i.e. you can still try to find a weak area).

I'd perhaps try pulling the two wide men back a strata to sit alongside your two CMs. They will help you be more solid defensively, which is what I concentrate on in difficult spells. They may also find a little more space to operate offensively.

I have exactly the same problem.

Good form until december. Then a huge dip in form without winning games for a long time!

Your Raumdeuter, Complete Forward (Attack) & Advanced Playmaker (Attack), will all occupy relatively similar areas of the pitch. Congestion in the final third seems likely. A 4-2-3-1 is designed to press high, but it is not great at sitting back and absorbing pressure, it leaves gaps in the flanks and behind the midfield. A more conservative shape could help a lot potentially.

If your playing in england or europe i find winter really affect your players and your tactics do you take account of that? as well as you really need to rotate players make sure they dont get too tired from playing too much sometimes I let my star players have 2 weeks off ( not in the bench just off to the match squad) I did this with balotelli after playing 20 games straight and sometims get subbed off and he went back and scored 2 hatricks in a row

Having thought about it some more, I'm going to keep the raumdeuter for a bit, at least. I haven't noticed him getting in the way of anyone else. The complete forward attack and the advanced playmaker attack definitely do, though - so I'm going to see if an advanced forward has more space.

When things go badly wrong in December, I'll try pulling my wide men back.

Don't think people are getting knackered in winter - if anything, I'm prone to over-rotate.

I have exactly the same problem.

Good form until december. Then a huge dip in form without winning games for a long time!

I'm in the same boat with my LL side. Had a great first season and got promoted, then made a good start to the second season until form suddenly crashed in November. It did coincide with an injury to my best player, an MCd, but after his return 2 months later form hasn't improved much. I wouldn't mind if the board didn't have daft expectations and are threatening me with the sack. I'm not complaining about the game though - such is the life of a football manager. Just hope I survive to turn my fortunes around next season.