Trying to stop end of season slump

I am currently managing Real Sociedad in my first season with 10 league games remaining...

I was expected to finish in the top half,but as of now i'm challenging for between 4th and 6th and a chance to play in europe next season...i am also in the Spanish Cup Final so as you can see i am having a great season so far...

But the dreaded end of season slump has kicked in and i'm struggling to draw games never mind win them,my attractive pass and move high pressure football has vanished and i am now on a 6 game winless run (3 draws and 3 defeats),and i can't score more than one goal per game now..

I should be happy that i have had a good opening season,but after having a chance of champions league qualification and winning silverware in the cup final i am now worried i will finish with nothing and finish around 10th..

I am asking for any advice to try and stop the rot and give my players the kick up the rear and get us over the finish line..

Thanks in advance for any help.

I play at completely the other end of the spectrum, non league in England. So my thoughts might not apply to a team your size. I have no idea. However, last season I was expected to finish mid table, and similar to you, with 10 games to go I was top...by 20 points...and in a cup final. Then I had a run of four games in 6 against teams 15th or below, and 2 from 4th to 10th. And we really, really struggled. Because we were doing so well, my players had become complacent. A few assertive or aggressive team talks, being more demanding and challenging, and we picked right back up. It might be a similar situation for you. Also, I've never had much success in the game but have heard a lot about teams tightening up when they realise how good you actually are...or at least how well your team is playing. I've just had it happen to me for the first time, and the only way to describe it is brutal...admittedly I've messed up the tactics and need to rework them, but I've gone from winning to the exact scenario you describe overnight. So check your team talk reports, check your tactics, watch games to see how teams are playing against you, see if you can see something new, and maybe even check the fitness of your team and the level of training. I had to lower my training towards the end of last season because we had a run of a lot of games with very little time between them at the end of the season, thanks to games in hand because of the cup.

Thanks for the advice,i'll drop the training and see if that indeed does help,i'll try to be more demanding too and see if it wakes them up..

As for watching games my players are being more wasteful with chances,kinda rushing them whereas a few games ago they were much more composed...i've been playing Carlos Vela as an IF coming in onto his left foot,and he's not a regular scorer but does chip in with assists...but he's becoming more wasteful...i can't really tell if it's complacency,pressure or maybe he is getting tired

I wouldn't be able to either, mate....and in fact I'm in EXACTLY the same situation. My IF hit 23 last season, and in the first 5 has barely had a sniff. I've done some very stupid things with my tactics, like having him 'roam'...he now ends up so far from the goal he's almost a fifth defender at times! Or it could be that he's up against better players. I simply don't know. Adjusting my tactics might help. As for the training....I wouldn't just do that, I'd make sure they were tired first, or that you have a run of a lot of games....too little training might well lower their performance, and you definitely don't need that!

I have just realised too that going more demanding might too be a dumb idea...my next 2 games are Sevilla away and Barcelona at home...i could now be 8 games without a win and finishing around 10th will be a disaster after such a good season so far..

Looking at my players their fitness levels look fine so i'm starting to think it's either complacency or being under pressure of not expecting to be so high up the league...

My winless run has come against lower end of the league teams such as Las Palmas,Celta Vigo etc where complacency may have played a huge part...now i'm playing two huge teams i'll look to see if performances improve with us not expecting to win.

I've just played the game away vs Sevilla

They are challenging me for the top 6 also...i dropped my usually high line deeper and stopped any creativity they had...i was dominating the game in every department...winning 1-0...and of course they go and score in the 93rd minute and once again i frustratingly draw yet again...7 games without a win now...this is just pathetic

Ouch. Yeah, it's horrible when this game bites you like that. Again, I'm not the best, by a long way, person to talk to about this...head over to Tactics and Training and see what they can tell you.

Will do cheers,it's beyond a joke and ruining the fun of my game.

Tell me about it. I just stopped winning, and I can't start again. I realised I'd made some serious tactical errors, reverted to a very successful tactic...then proceeded to lose 5 of the next 7, having previously lost 5 in 53. Final straw was a team winning 93% of tackles and 91% of headers, completely nullifying any attack through the middle, from the side, direct or worked into the box...I didn't get a shot until the 38th minute, a shot on target didn't come till the 73rd. By which time I was 4-0, having only conceded 5 shots.

The archetypal rage-quit enducing mind blow of a typical FM game lol. Oh btw they were 11th, I was top!

The OP has created a thread in the Tactics forum, so will close this one.