team just flops and 2nd half misery

[NeoRocky]

Hey,

My team is according to fm scout the best in the league (CCC) but i cannot seem to get them promoted whatever I try. I have been at this for 3 seasons and whilst occupying 4th for most of the season my team just suddenly stops playing and now with 2 games left i am 7th and almost certainly wont make the playoffs again.

I have been using the tactics from sexy football thread and also the controversial 2-3-0-2-3 tactic. Both are effective for periods of 4/5 games in a row but then will fail substantially - i.e. I suddenly get battered 5-0. For this reason i keep switching between the two tactics every 4 games or so to try keep the opponants guessing. I just cannot get the players to perform it seems. My strikers seem to be perfect for the roles but they fail to hit the back of the net in substantial fashion, my top 3 scorers include my 2 CBs with 9 and 10 goals each which makes me think that the tactics only work because of the dodgy corner bug.

The main issues i have is that I dominate games in the first half and go in at half time 1-0 up or somehow drawing with 15 shots on goal to their 2. Then the second half starts and the opposition are suddenly transformed despite no formation changes, they go mental and have 15 shots to my 1 and they are happily able to put at least a couple of chances away. I have read up as much as possible about team talks but dont seem to be able to get the balance right.

The other main one is getting strikers scoring. They just dont want to. They go on runs of 1000minutes without scoring. I am clueless it feels in how to approach getting these players sorted. I put a couple into reserves to get them scoring and suddenly they get 5 goals a match but cannot replicate in the first team.

Its all very frustrating as i get to semi of a cup every season beating premiership teams on the way- last two seasons inc Spurs/arsenal/middlesborough/leeds/everton/hull. So the tactics and team clearly can cut it at the top but seemingly not at this level. Any advice would be appreciated!!!!

[harrop4]

For your tactics I would keep the same formation but have different mentalities, tempo, width, def line, time wasting etc. for home and away games (more cautious away).

As for your strikers not scoring I can only recommend looking through the Tactical Theorems and Frameworks '09 on the forum, it gives you the settings for different kinds of strikers that seems to work quite well (for me anyway).

Your main problem imo seems to be the teamtalks, in these games were you play well in the 1st half but rubbish in the 2nd half do you say "pleased" for your teamtalk? if so don't, in my experience saying you are pleased for the half time teamtalk means your team will not show up for the 2nd half, it is better imo to not say anything (I normally say nothing if we are winning, sympathise or you can win if drawing and disappointed if losing).

I hope these help you.