thats what they call realistic... I want my money back!!!

[Flamers]

dolph11 Then why would he want his money back

[el_magico89]

El Magico, stop playing then, simple. No one here loves you.

who has given you the right to speak in the name of everyone??? just shut the **** up when you feel disturbed dont visit this thread monkey!!!

[milnerpoint]

you complain about someones posts when they get personal, then make that post, wonderful irony.

[el_magico89]

you complain about someones posts when they get personal, then make that post, wonderful irony.

if he still continues, I am not tolerating anymore. either the mods make clear, that these kind of post are not going to be tolerated, which hasnt been done yet, even though I reported those, or I am playing the same game. just easy, dont need to be offended by idiots. if they feel, Im flaming, noone forces them to look into this thread and take part at the discussion.

[Flamers]

who has given you the right to speak in the name of everyone??? just shut the **** up when you feel disturbed dont visit this thread monkey!!!

First off if I am a monkey then I do seriously worry what you of animal you are, I am speaking on behalf of everyone so doesn't just solely hang around GD, in the rest of the forum you fill find people who have exactly the same thing happen to them but instead of say the game is broken they just accept that they themselves probably caused the problem by not being as astute as they could have been. I am viewing the thread as I feel that I should try and impart some of my knowledge onto you so you can learn that the game isn't innately against you.

[dolph11]

Good point Barside. The keepers not coming out is really annoying. On the whole the players positioning and decisions when defending are poor. You explained it better than me tho, thankfully! There are more issues, but, as you say, the ME team must surely know and will work on them.

[Kriss]

Unfortunately el-magico has a week off from the forums because with three infractions for foul language including one today he still doesn't get the message, a pity because I feel that some of the wiser heads on here could actually have helped ease his pain a bit given time.

[Cougar2010]

sry, but do you honestly want to pretend, that there isnt any problems with this game? no matter, whether it was deserved or not, whether we were favourites or not, youve conceded 6 goals, you dont expect a manager to praise his team after conceding 6 goals, unless hes managing a sunday league team and playing against a top division team.

Well for a start he isn't praising them, he is sympathising with them.

Given your AM has decent attributes I would say Villarreal were favourites prior to kickoff, you were away from home. Looking at the match stats they were lucky to score six and overall sympathise would be the team talk I would use if the general individual ratings were decent with individual talks for those with bad ratings.

TBH from what we've seen in this thread your tactical knowledge is ok, especially attacking wise but you lack understanding of defending in football and your man management skills are abysmal. I would hate to work with you in real life.

[dolph11]

You don't speak for me Flamers, I'm very astute, I just see weaknesses in the ME when defending.

[Flamers]

The ME is fine for defending for me, in 12 matches I have conceded once. I was 13th and have beaten 1st and 3rd away. Try match prep defending

[Guest]

Unfortunately el-magico has a week off from the forums because with three infractions for foul language including one today he still doesn't get the message, a pity because I feel that some of the wiser heads on here could actually have helped ease his pain a bit given time.

Damn annoying as I do think there are aspects to his problems that are evident in the game & do need discussing but I can see that is anger would get in the way of any reasoned discussion. I've been paying much more attention to the game over recent months & I am starting to build a reasonable collection of pkm's that cover some areas of concern that I have.

The ME is fine for defending for me, in 12 matches I have conceded once. I was 13th and have beaten 1st and 3rd away. Try match prep defending

I don't generally concede too many goals either, last season my side only let in 19 however I do not take a low goals against tally as an indication that the defensive side of the ME is A'OK, the flaws are there to see & if they are not affecting my side there is a good chance the other side is on the receiving end of them but folk generally don't complain when they are benefiting from bugs or flaws.

[dolph11]

Help me out then Flamers lol! I always it leave it on teamwork to be honest because when ever I tried otherwise I seemed to struggle but will try Match Prep Defending.

[Flamers]

I use a standard back 4 in my 4-4-2. I play 1 Ball Winning Mid and an Advanced Playmaker then a DLF and a full attack poacher. I use this on counter and defensive positioning. I am not expected to do well and my team is honestly worse than most of the division. But FM12 seems to play to you want it to, you can go full out attack and score 5-6 a game like I used to or you can go defensive and win by 1.

[dolph11]

Mine is difficult at the minute as emulating Brazil with a team predicted to finish bottom after winning promotion is tough. Not enough creative players for the tactic but still playing some beautiful stuff and 3rd in the league. Would just be better if I could eradicate the mistakes. Might drop one of my centre mids to def mid, still as a deep lying playmaker, to add a bit of cover.

[Flamers]

Also Closing Down is key to anything I do. I have it set to Always, always

[dolph11]

Don't you find players being pulled out of position easily and leaving gaps for the opposition to exploit?

[Flamers]

Personally, no. I play so deep that they can't really exploit a gap because there isn't one.

[BiggusD]

sry, but do you honestly want to pretend, that there isnt any problems with this game? no matter, whether it was deserved or not, whether we were favourites or not, youve conceded 6 goals, you dont expect a manager to praise his team after conceding 6 goals, unless hes managing a sunday league team and playing against a top division team. these were the stats

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villarreal deserved it, even though 2 goals were from direct freekicks, but still, I know when to complain about a loss and when not and this was clearly awfull.

this previous screenshot just shows, that this whole morale, player interaction and team talk stuff is just rigged and definately needs a hotfix in order to solve that problem. in fm 11, I never experienced something like that neither in fm 10. but in fm 12, even when I lose by 6 or 7 goals, my manager honestly wants me to praise the team. I have a french ass manager wit 17 man management 15 motivation and determination discipline all very good 14+

After that first loss which was in the OP, you are clearly now in very poor form (shown by playing well but losing unluckily, then playing badly and losing deservedly like the above). Your assistant tries to pick up the pieces of morale and confidence still lying around in tatters, by saying things that aren't necessarily true but in this situation needs to be said.

Your job as a manager is not to tell your players the truth. Your job is to manage the team, and if you praise wins and criticizise losses you are not doing your job - you're not making a difference. The correct team talk in that situation is probably to sympathize or say nothing. The worst thing you can do is to angrily be displeased; that won't make a difference to anyone.

[Graham206]

After reading this thread I listened to Harry Redknapp give a post-match interview after a match where Spurs had dominated with more possession, shots and chances but failed to win, and his response was to shrug his shoulders and say, "that's how it goes sometimes." Which seems to me the correct response when, once in a while, you dominate a match but lose. Old 'Arry would probably have used the "sympathise" team talk option after that match, and consoled himself with the thought that other times the opposition can dominate and you can sneak a win. (The match against Fulham earlier this season springs to mind.)

An odd match turning out against the run of play is to be expected but if you're getting the type of results Liverpool have been getting, where they've regularly dominating in terms of possession, shots and chances but failing to win, then "it's your tactics," seems to come into play and maybe it is time to change your approach.

[dolph11]

I agree Graham, but, there are still flaws with defending on the game.

[Wiitastic]

not another 1 of these threads, I tried to hold off from posting in here but I can't anymore.

The lad is managing Betis, top 4 of the league, was never going to trouble Barcelona or RMadrid so what is this kids problem ? he is useless with player Management ? lets have a word with Kenny Dalglish about how Liverpool are travelling.

Oh wait, that wont work, just as frustrating as this kid is going with Betis

Sorry son, just got to take the good with the bad.

On the other side of the fence, I rock with team talks

[av3ry]

If your struggling with set pieces, buy taller defender

I'll post up a mugging at the Bernabeu...

19 shots at goal with 9 on target compared to their 3 with 2 on target and them winning 2-1. Crazy stuff

[snoozelight]

The game is not perfect to me but it does the job well enough to keep me entertain.

Personally, it feels like the OP cant win in matches and comes out to rant about the game as oppose to refining his tactics/team talks etc etc, like all good managers do. If you support any underachieving clubs irl, perhaps having 5CCC and losing a match is not as unlikely as it seems. Been supporting my club for the last ten years and we can easily have 5CCC while the opp has 1 with the score ending 0-1. Sad but true.

My first and current save, am on Drolsden for the last 10 years and we are in the BPL finally after one too many heartbreaking playoffs. The target is to win the league in 3yrs time. I dont see the need to exploit the corner bug to defeat the AI. If you the "human" cant find a way to beat the AI, i feel sad for you.

If you really think that this is unrealistic go manage a real football team and see it for yourself.

[Flohrinho]

The game is not perfect to me but it does the job well enough to keep me entertain.

Personally, it feels like the OP cant win in matches and comes out to rant about the game as oppose to refining his tactics/team talks etc etc, like all good managers do. If you support any underachieving clubs irl, perhaps having 5CCC and losing a match is not as unlikely as it seems. Been supporting my club for the last ten years and we can easily have 5CCC while the opp has 1 with the score ending 0-1. Sad but true.

My first and current save, am on Drolsden for the last 10 years and we are in the BPL finally after one too many heartbreaking playoffs. The target is to win the league in 3yrs time. I dont see the need to exploit the corner bug to defeat the AI. If you the "human" cant find a way to beat the AI, i feel sad for you.

If you really think that this is unrealistic go manage a real football team and see it for yourself.

I really don't think El_Magicos tactical capabilities are at question here. His tactic last season was pretty much one of the most dominating tactics in FM11 and a lot of people loved it. I think what he struggles with is the concept that it's not as easy anymore to create a P&P tactic that is capable of dominating ever other team even with weaker teams like it was possible in FM 11.3.

It's a shift that many people that were used to seeing their strikers score 80 goals per season and demolish the league with freshly promoted sites are struggling with the fact that this doesn't seam to possible anymore since either the weight of what wins you games has shifted away from tactics and more towards player management and motivation or that the ME just has gotten better at avoiding game exploiting mechanics that all of those "uber-tactics" some way or another did employ.

Most of those people like El_Magico don't want the game to be realistic they want to be able to make good tactics and get a default win through it. I think this is where really the most frustration for players like him come from.

[aderow]

Help me out then Flamers lol! I always it leave it on teamwork to be honest because when ever I tried otherwise I seemed to struggle but will try Match Prep Defending.

There's a really good thread about brazilian tactics over in the tactics forum. You should check it out.

[The Welsh Lad]

sry, but do you honestly want to pretend, that there isnt any problems with this game? no matter, whether it was deserved or not, whether we were favourites or not, youve conceded 6 goals, you dont expect a manager to praise his team after conceding 6 goals, unless hes managing a sunday league team and playing against a top division team. these were the stats

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villarreal deserved it, even though 2 goals were from direct freekicks, but still, I know when to complain about a loss and when not and this was clearly awfull.

this previous screenshot just shows, that this whole morale, player interaction and team talk stuff is just rigged and definately needs a hotfix in order to solve that problem. in fm 11, I never experienced something like that neither in fm 10. but in fm 12, even when I lose by 6 or 7 goals, my manager honestly wants me to praise the team. I have a french ass manager wit 17 man management 15 motivation and determination discipline all very good 14+

What Cougar was trying to get at, with his previous post is that the game has to be put into context. i.e. were you favourites to win the match, was a draw most likely or were you favourites to lose if so then how much were the odds against you. If Acrington Stanley came up against a fully fit Man Utd side, they would be vastly ranked unfavourites to win the match so losing 6-1 and having a suggestion of saying you sympathise with them is an ideal situation because you sympathise with the players because they weren't expected to get a result.

EDIT: should really look at the page numbers got to the end of page 1 and thought it was the end. Didn't know he got banned for a week what a waste of a post.

[dolph11]

Cheers Aderow, not too bad going forward with it, just weak in defence, and the flaws in the game definitely do not help! Will go and check it out.

[wwfan]

Nobody is going to say the ME is perfect, and there are some areas of defending that obviously need work. However, it is not impossible to defend and I rarely have a season in which I concede over a goal a game. In 11.3 (which isn't much different from the current ME), I conceded single figures in a full EPL season. His commentary suggests the following:

The OP is clearly overachieving with a weaker team. I'd suggest the core reason for his not winning close stat matches are his players aren't good enough to convert the chances he's creating, or defend the chances against particularly well, especially set pieces. The weaker side is invariably going to lose such close stat games.

The missed tackles are an obviously core weakness in his tactic, which will be costing him. It is not a rigged stat, but something he is / isn't doing tactically. Until he can fix that, he's always going to be vulnerable.

I suspect that he's managed to overachieve previously through having a good set piece routine and the AI having terrible routines. Now the playing field is more level, the flaws in the rest of his tactic are becoming apparent. However, despite these flaws, he is still significantly overachieving, so I don't know what all the fuss is about. It seems like he has still developed a tactic that challenges the ME and will get good results. He just needs to realise that a good tactic isn't enough in itself and that he needs good players, and squad, media and man management strategies as well.

Despite this, his tactical thinking is very one dimensional. Playing 'wide' or playing 'narrow', setting tackling to 'heavy' or 'light' is not really helpful. He needs to think about which shape he wants to the team to play, how he wants to attack and how he wants to defend, and whether the has the players to do that. He also need to sort out his defensive set pieces.

He needs to stop thinking the ME or AI is out to get him. Until he can do this, he'll never learn how to adapt to match situations, close out matches, sort out his tackling problem, or stop conceding soft goals. Once you recognize the fault is of your own making, you have a chance of fixing it.

He needs to sort out his man-management. The sympathise option is a useful one for helping your team come to terms with an undeservedly heavy loss. The 6-1 against Villareal, statistically, was 3-4 goals better than they deserved. So, the team was unlucky. There's no reason for kicking your team when it is down. Save the anger for matches they should have won yet managed to lose through over-confidence or unprofessionalism.

[dolph11]

It's not out to get him, but, the defending on the game is very poor. Forget goals conceded, I was going through a great spell of not conceding goals but the defending was still awful. Also, I reckon I must concede around 70% of goals from Set-Pieces. Do I get taller defenders and risk losing pace? It's not just that, it's the reaction of my defenders that gets me. It depends how you look at things I guess, everybody is different. The game loses me, it really does! Still, not gonna knock it as it takes up all of my spare time!

[wwfan]

It's not out to get him, but, the defending on the game is very poor. Forget goals conceded, I was going through a great spell of not conceding goals but the defending was still awful. Also, I reckon I must concede around 70% of goals from Set-Pieces. Do I get taller defenders and risk losing pace? It's not just that, it's the reaction of my defenders that gets me. It depends how you look at things I guess, everybody is different. The game loses me, it really does! Still, not gonna knock it as it takes up all of my spare time!

The tall v quick defenders is a trade off and a question that many real life managers must ask themselves. The answer must include the tactics you employ. If you are worried about conceding from set pieces, you need to work out how to concede as few as possible and how to defend the ones you do concede as best you possibly can. In previous MEs, they were not threatening enough as the AI routines were so poor. Now it is a level playing field, you have to work out some strategies to cope.

[BiggusD]

It's not out to get him, but, the defending on the game is very poor. Forget goals conceded, I was going through a great spell of not conceding goals but the defending was still awful. Also, I reckon I must concede around 70% of goals from Set-Pieces. Do I get taller defenders and risk losing pace? It's not just that, it's the reaction of my defenders that gets me. It depends how you look at things I guess, everybody is different. The game loses me, it really does! Still, not gonna knock it as it takes up all of my spare time!

If your defending is good in open play, most conceded goals will necessarily be from set pieces.

Here's how I set up my defending corners:

Set your centrebacks to mark tall players

Set your sidebacks to mark small players, or if they are a more defensive type, tall players instead

Defensive midfielders or otherwise your most physical midfielder(s): man mark. Less physical midfielders: mark small player

Wingers: far and near posts

Biggest striker: Go back

Fastest striker: edge of area

The principle is: the more players on mark tall player, the better. Always marked posts, always max 2 on Go Back - preferably 1, always one on edge of area. Leaving players forward won't result in more counterattacks - rather the opposite. Full backs are much better at defending than wingers, so they should mark players instead of the posts. The one or two guys on Go Back duty will often lurk around in the area and if only one of them is doing that it is very often he who heads the ball away. More than two and that "effect" disappears.

I rarely concede from set pieces with this strategy.

[dolph11]

I think that with set-pieces being evened out the way they are, more tactical though should possibly go into them. I still think the teamtalks have a big impact but I like the challenge. Just seems a bit of a lottery at times.

[dolph11]

Thanks Biggus, had something quite similar but will give that a try, wasn't utilising my Full-Backs in marking situations. To be honest, like I said earlier, trying to emulate Brazil's 4-2-2-2 tactic with a poor Serie 'C' team so it's a struggle anyway. Had to revert to 4-1-1-2-2, using an Anchor Man (Dunga-esque) instead of the 2 centre-mids to help the defence out, his job is simply to cover the wing-backs and play the ball short and simple when he wins it back!

[CityAndColour]

I tend to take the stats with a grain of salt. Sometimes they reflect the game, however there have been plenty of times I'll dominate the key highlights, yet I'll get to half time and only have had 2-3 shots, or I'll play poorly and at the end of the game I've somehow had 15 shots and 55% possession. You know if you've been unlucky simply by watching the game.

That said, unless we hit the post 400 times, the opposition scored a hat-trick of 40 yarders and the keeper got a 10 rating, I can't ever see a situation where we lose 0-6 and I say "unlucky boys".

[Flohrinho]

So I made a little test after again having a game where the opposition just scored some unbelievable goals while I couldn't finish for squat. I put all my non home grown players on the transfer list and into the reserve.

I stopped giving any team talks, send my ass. manager to the press conferences and only made subs if someone got injured.

First game beating Manchester United 2-0 the team I lost 3-0 to before with my first team full of really good players.

The last two games of the season I beat Hannover and Werder Bremen 4-0 with ease.

Last game of the season I dominated Bayern in the cup final from start to finish but lost in the penalty shoot out.

Since it didn't happen without screenshots here they are. http://imageshack.us/g/696/borussiadortmundsquadpl.png/

I think my original first eleven couldn't have done a better job which is pretty "fishy" to say the least isn't it?

This didn't really help calm down any suspicions I had that a lot in this game is just "smoke and mirrors".

I know the apologetics will find an explanation for this as well since you can always twist everything in a way that it looks plausible the only thing this did for me is actually increase my concerns that all you do in this game doesn't really have as much impact as some on here want to believe.

[hugo_rune]

I know the apologetics will find an explanation for this as well since you can always twist everything in a way that it looks plausible the only thing this did for me is actually increase my concerns that all you do in this game doesn't really have as much impact as some on here want to believe.

I don't think I'm apologising or twisting anything when I say that my experience bears no similarity to yours. If I play better quality players, I perform better on the pitch. If my tactics are consistent with my selected players and the match situations, I get better results. If I motivate my players in a measured and consistent fashion, they respond better. This does not feel like 'smoke and mirrors' to me.

[Graham206]

So I made a little test after again having a game where the opposition just scored some unbelievable goals while I couldn't finish for squat. I put all my non home grown players on the transfer list and into the reserve.

I stopped giving any team talks, send my ass. manager to the press conferences and only made subs if someone got injured.

First game beating Manchester United 2-0 the team I lost 3-0 to before with my first team full of really good players.

The last two games of the season I beat Hannover and Werder Bremen 4-0 with ease.

Last game of the season I dominated Bayern in the cup final from start to finish but lost in the penalty shoot out.

Since it didn't happen without screenshots here they are. http://imageshack.us/g/696/borussiadortmundsquadpl.png/

I think my original first eleven couldn't have done a better job which is pretty "fishy" to say the least isn't it?

This didn't really help calm down any suspicions I had that a lot in this game is just "smoke and mirrors".

I know the apologetics will find an explanation for this as well since you can always twist everything in a way that it looks plausible the only thing this did for me is actually increase my concerns that all you do in this game doesn't really have as much impact as some on here want to believe.

Put in silly data you get silly output. Just like another thread where someone was playing all their players out of position. If you try to get odd results you can.

[themadsheep2001]

Put in silly data you get silly output. Just like another thread where someone was playing all their players out of position. If you try to get odd results you can.

+1.

Also the fact that you refer to people who disagree with you as apologetics, sounds like you have already decided to ignore any debate on it

wwfan summed it very well, its a shame that magico got himself banned, as that could have helped him out a lot

[Svenc]

I stopped giving any team talks, send my ass. manager to the press conferences and only made subs if someone got injured.

By the way: Contrary to popular belief, which has it that you'd have to do talks yourself in order to get results, this is just not the case. Often times believed by players who blame every hiccup on the fact that they got a couple of red arrows in the team talk screen and lose or draw the following game. The effect on the outcome is reportedly small, and the talks haven't turned into a mini game of collecting green arrows or anything just because there are now green and red arrows displayed. Both bad and good reactions are an integral part of the system (sometimes you can't please everyone), and to truly upset your players, which the AI does too, as it is meant to behave like a human manager would (equally prone to the odd error), you'd have to say the outright stupid.

Also, when a story leaks about how you have upset a couple of your players, you are likely to be asked whether you would consider bringing in someone else in to do your talks. This, equally to questions touching on how you're going to approach your new job, aren't put into the game acting as flavour. FM has allowed, and still allows, many styles of football management. I can only repeat that ever since the last patch it has become more important to make in-game decisions rather than riding on a wave of endlessly "superb" morale boost as it was previously. Seeing as how the OP's relegation contender team is actually performing, and how he's being merely upset about the odd case in which he didn't get a result, contrary to the title, I don't know what this thread is about now.

Realism it ain't. If I had found a way to make Betis Sevilla and any other mediocre side performing this way, I'd either stop it or probably stop playing the game. This is almost always likely done by long-term experiments with excessive slider tweaking and eventually finding settings that would find holes in the engine - or settings the AI wouldn't be able to cope with. I know this is widely considered as putting up a "tactics", but in the truest sense of the word, this has little to do with tactical tinkering, proper in-game decision making and coming up with a sound, consistent plan for each opposition. I'm going out on a roll here and argue that quite a few who have put up "super tactics" throughout the years cared little about actual football tactics whilst doing so, and that most of those super tactics were discovered by brute force, trial&error, by throwing all kinds of crap towards the engine and seeing what eventually sticks. Of course anyone is entitled to play the game in whichever ways he wishes to play it, just saying.

[wwfan]

Sums up 99% of the rant threads. They are always from people who significantly overachieve. All is dandy until they lose a few close or 'unfair' games. Then ...

[Carmi88]

Best defence is a good offence I'm clueless at defencive tactics, just outscore the other team

[heathxxx]

not only once, it happens so often, I could really cry, that Ive spent almost 30 pounds on such a ridiculously rigged game... taking me hours to create tactics and then getting beaten so often in these kind of games makes me just frustrating and I have the feeling, that someone is kidding me...

everyone was complaining about too many goals from set pieces, especially from corners. almost in every tactic, which was uploaded in this forum, the center backs finished the season with at least 20 goals. so what did SI do??? right, they didnt fixed this ****** problem, instead make the AI even much stronger from set pieces. Ive created 5 ccc, dominated the opposition, they had 10 shots from distance and 2 of their 3 goals coming from corners and one from an absurd own goal. it really takes the joy out of me. since the new patch, I never managed to score more goals from corners in a season then the opposition, because I am using mixed settings. do I really need to exploit the match engine and the game in general in order to have success and fun??? what does SI want us to do?

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Game is certainly broken.

Ike Uche would never score two goals for Granada!

[shirajzl]

I really don't think El_Magicos tactical capabilities are at question here. His tactic last season was pretty much one of the most dominating tactics in FM11 and a lot of people loved it. I think what he struggles with is the concept that it's not as easy anymore to create a P&P tactic that is capable of dominating ever other team even with weaker teams like it was possible in FM 11.3.

It's a shift that many people that were used to seeing their strikers score 80 goals per season and demolish the league with freshly promoted sites are struggling with the fact that this doesn't seam to possible anymore since either the weight of what wins you games has shifted away from tactics and more towards player management and motivation or that the ME just has gotten better at avoiding game exploiting mechanics that all of those "uber-tactics" some way or another did employ.

Most of those people like El_Magico don't want the game to be realistic they want to be able to make good tactics and get a default win through it. I think this is where really the most frustration for players like him come from.

This. I came here just to write this. People still try to play FM like it was CM 01/02. They try to make a tactic that will overachieve no matter what players you have, and that's exactly what SI guys have been fighting against all these years. If you take a look around, many people still have this old-school view on the game which is the cause of frustration.

[scott MUFC]

but do tactics mean anything really?

you can reload the game 2-3 times and get 3-0 defeats and 3-0 wins without touching anything tactially, so randomness does play a part.

if you want to overachieve get the players in to do so.

best defence is meh, half the time the best defenders randomly do nothing

[shirajzl]

but do tactics mean anything really?

you can reload the game 2-3 times and get 3-0 defeats and 3-0 wins without touching anything tactially, so randomness does play a part.

if you want to overachieve get the players in to do so.

best defence is meh, half the time the best defenders randomly do nothing

That's the thing, you see. Randomness has always played a part, but in the older versions of the game a really good tactic could make a stark difference regardless of the players you have. You could just use the same tactic with any team on any level and massively overachieve every time.

[Graham206]

randomness does play a part.

What you are trying to do is to change your odds of winning. Better players, better tactics, better morale all increase your chances of winning. That doesn't mean that sometimes luck will not go against you, like drawing four or five bad cards in a row playing cards. But if you do things right you might win a particular match 6 times out of ten, draw twice and lose twice. With less good players and tactics you might win against the same opposition twice out of ten, draw once and lose seven times. If the game is to have any resemblance to real football the best team won't win every time - see Man Utd 2 Blackburn 3 - but they should win most times.

[MrPompey]

I've turned my club around with the following

Home Matches - In most cases play attacking

Away Matches - In most cases play counter. If I go a goal up then I pack out the midfield to kill the game

Always praise wins, with losses be calm and say unlucky, at halftime get aggressive and say they were rubbish if a goal down

Team has shouts Retain possession and work ball into box

Keep a consistent team and don't ticker too much, dont keep changing tactics in match, keep morale up

Dont buy players for the sake of it, really have a look at your tactics and make few purchases but good ones (ala Fergie)

Read the BBC News article about the Wigan manager Martinez......he confirms how important morale is......

FM whether hard or easy in this respect does appear to match current realtime football

If I have a criticism at the moment its the amount of times I hit the woodwork. I have no player on longshots either

Success takes time....

[Guest avine]

There is something wrong in terms of fm knowledge from OP to be said.

I cant believe that anyone who understands fm tactics can play pes,fifa,fifamanager and enjoy because in fact you can not play football or apply any tactics in childish MEs.

Beside that, you can't treat tactics as a race to find a winning formula against any oppoment, because you'll end up making all the Uches and Nilmars or even 91' scorers the heroes in the AI's football world.

Either focus more in tactics or pick only top clubs like Real and Barca for spain for the moment.

Its what you actually posted here, were you are surrounded by good players, or in other forums, it didnt mean you were supposed to get laughed off

[MrPompey]

the very new, well developed player interaction made by SI xD

THUMBS UP GUYS! YOU REALLY DID A GOOD WORK...

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so I shall praise my team after such a performance??? wtf is going wrong with team talks???

Do you think slamming them will help the confidence or trying to build them up will help them play better

Come on man, use your noodle

[macca72]

I think that for some reason the game got in his head a little bit. For those of you that don't know, el_magico created a very good tactic for 11.3 (one that wasn't reliant on set pieces to score goals), was very well thought through and very effective.

I have used it in FM12 for one of my saves, and in all honesty, have had nothing but massive success from day 1. I think if he comes back and takes a deep breath, hopefully he'll realise it was just a bad run.