ElectricBoogaloo

Just finished my second season with Marseille and won the league, Champions League and French Cup. I almost went unbeaten in the league but lost to Reims in the 31st game. First season I won the Coupe de la Ligue BKT and finished second in the league with PSG running away with it on 106 points. Also got knocked out in the semi-finals of the Europa League by Chelsea. Had a lot of ingoings and outgoings, with the main ones being selling Thauvin in January 2020 for £91m and then signing Cengiz Under for £90m to replace him. First season ins: Mario Balotelli - £19.5m Olivier Boscagli - £2m Hirving Lozano - £18m Kevin Mbabu - £15m First season outs: Jordan Amavi - £10m Gregory Sertic - £1.7m Rolando - £650k Bouna Sarr - £8.5m Kostas Mitroglou - Loan Second season ins: Andreas Periera - Free Odsonne Edouard - £18.5m Santiago Ascacibar - £40m Malang Sarr - £40.5m Andre Onana - £11.5m Jonathan Ikone - £4.5m Hakim Ziyech - £14m Cengiz Under - £90m Second season outs: Clinton Njie - £3.6m Kostas Mitroglou - £4.7 Nemanja Radonjic - £4.1m Duje Caleta-Car - £38m Florian Thauvin - £91m Luiz Gustavo - £10m Pretty much all of my signings excelled, although Ascacibar was never as consistent as Gustavo, who I only sold because he wanted to go back to Brazil. Boscagli is a funny one. Stats wise he's very average and yet was basically the best left back in the world for these two seasons. I only signed him because Amavi went right around deadline day in my first season, and Boscagli was cheap and young enough to take a punt on. Ziyech was a good piece of business in January 2020 because he ended up scoring a lot of important goals, and Ikone actually outperformed Under on the right wing. I doubt I'll play this save anymore since I've kinda done everything and want to move onto one with a bit more longevity. But it was very fun while it lasted.

I might cry. In all of my years playing FM I've never had my form drop off a cliff like this, especially not so suddenly. I've definitely been conceding more since the update, but after tinkering with my tactics I still managed to maintain my excellent form until this unexpected 10-game pile of *****. I went from leading the league to dropping down to 5th, and I'm not sure how to get out of this funk. I played the team last in the league and still only drew 2-2. I've conceded five own goals during this winless streak, and the old back post cross has become my kryptonite like it's FM 2016 all over again. Every winger, even bang average ones, glide past my fullbacks with ease, and the centre backs have no answer to crosses coming into the box.

My team's defence seems to have gone tits up as well. The yellow line signifies my results before and after the patch. So I went from conceding 5 before the patch to conceding 10 after it in only 4 games, including my first league loss to the team in 18th who scored 3 in 5 minutes at the end of the game.

Thanks for the replies guys. I will heed some of this advice if things go wrong again, but after posting this yesterday I changed my general training focus from balanced to attacking and my team just started scoring again. I've also left the defensive line on normal and the full backs on support, which seems to be working.

As the title says, I'm in my forth season with Southampton and it just feels like the AI has figured me out. In my first season I was prolific, scoring 90 goals in the league on the road to a 4th place finish. In the second season I scored slightly less, but my defence improved and I finished 5th after drawing a few too many games (with the highlight being a 6-1 win over Barcelona in the Champions League quarters finals). The third season was my best yet, notching three more points than I managed in the first season, and ending in a Europa League victory that included big wins over Bayern and Napoli in the semis and the final. My goals dropped again after only scoring 65 in the league, but my defence improved once again, and I only lost six games. Now, in the forth season, my defence is pretty much the same. I still concede far too many goals from crosses (which are normally carbon copies of each other) but that seems like a problem with the match engine rather than my tactics. Normally I would attribute this to only having full backs on the wing, with no one else to back them up, but I've still conceded loads from crosses in other saves using a flat 4-4-2. My main problem is my scoring record. I've only managed 19 in 16 games, and have lost 1-0 five times. In fact, I've lost eight times already, which is one less than I've ever lost in a single season in the league. So I'm just looking for some advice to get this team scoring again. I can still create chances, but more often that not my players either blast it wide or hit their shots tamely at the 'keeper. So I'm at a loss for what to do, especially after I used to score with ease. Here's the tactic: I usually stick the fullbacks on support and drop my defence deeper when I'm up against big teams. That has been successful for the most part (I've only lost once to Man Utd, for example, beating them pretty much every other time), but against weaker teams, especially at home, I leave them on attacking and occasionally push the defence higher as well. But otherwise that's it. The only PIs I have on are on the CMs to move into channels, and I have my back 4 closing down less.

In my third year with Leverkusen now and enjoying it as much as all the previous games I've had in the Bundesliga over the years. I created a 4-4-2 tactic full of fast, attacking, pressing football, so essentially how Schmidt sets up the team. First season went as expected in the league, finishing third. Hernandez was obviously the star man and actually ended up coming third in the Ballon D'Or. My biggest achievement was, however, my run in the Champions League. After finishing second in my group I beat Man City 5-2 on aggregate in the first knockout round. Then, somehow, I managed to smash Barcelona 5-1 at home and draw 1-1 at the Nou Camp, before eventually losing by one away goal to Juventus in a 3-3 draw on aggregate in the semi final. Second season I actually bought some players. The budget isn't huge and I only really needed some backup strikers, so I went with the Japanese duo of Muto and Okazaki. Also bought the Brazilian Jorge to compete with Wendell at left back. Needless to say it was quite the nerve-wracking season. The title came down to the final day, and after drawing 0-0 with Bayern in the penultimate match, all I needed to do was better their result to win the title. They won, but so did I, squirming to the title with a 2-1 win over Hoffenheim. I forgot to get a screenshot but Hernandez was once again the star man with 36 goals and 12 assists. Brandt also came on leaps and bounds with 18 goals and 12 assists. He made a fuss about wanting to leave at the beginning of the season - because apparently Leverkusen could never win the league - but I kept hold of him, and he eventually changed his mind and decided to stay because of how well we were doing. As soon as the season ended, however, he made a fuss about leaving again, this time because he wanted to join a team that could win the Champions League. I didn't want to lose him but when Bayern matched his £74m buyout clause I was powerless to stop him. With that money I did manage to splash £38m on Pulisic, who should hopefully serve as a more than capable replacement. I also got Batshuayi for only £6.5m, and both Havertz and Akkaynak will be getting plenty of opportunities in the first team this season.

He's been pretty amazing for me playing in central midfield.

They move back in 2016. I can't really be bothered with this game any more. My tactic has completely stopped working even though I would have been 2nd in the league after 15 games if it wasn't for the 10-point deduction. Now my defence can't do anything right, and there's too much dumb stuff happening in the ME, it's driving me mad. I went from losing 3 games after 15 to losing 8 after 22, and from a +14 goal difference to +2 (I've conceded 40 already!) Here's an example of how pretty much all of my games are going recently. http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/705106203941409650/8AC66ABF19BF7290BFBF8FAE0738D1D63E8C650A/ They were 4-0 up after 20 minutes from their first 4 shots. It's been like this every game, I dominate matches but they score with almost every shot on target, normally because they've managed to just ghost through my players (literally, at times). I've tried to be super defensive with my tactic to try and shore things up but nothing has worked, the outcome is always the same. I'm just going to stop because it's too frustrating.

My defensive woes with Coventry have gotten worse, mainly because it seems like the opposition scores with every shot on target in every match. I usually always have more shots and more clear cut chances but end up losing because the two shots they managed to get on target went in. Really frustrating, especially the amount of times I have someone clean through on goal and a defender always manages to get in a last ditch tackle from behind that somehow always get the ball. Tactic has come unstuck after working so well earlier in the season. Guess I need to try and find something that works if the ME doesn't make me throw my PC through the window first!

Took the plunge and attempted the Coventry challenge. Luckily enough I survived administration only losing two players (one of whom was loaned back to me for the season). New owners were nice enough to pump a fair amount of money into the team, and they also gave me a £3m transfer budget which is more than enough in League One. Squad is very thin so I beefed up a few areas with some signings. The focus was on youth anyway and I tried to keep it that way with my transfers. One of my best young players (Conor Thomas) did want a move to a bigger club and was placed on the transfer list but no one came in for him and he recently asked to be taken off it. That has kinda made me regret signing Jed Wallace but I won't complain about that extra depth. http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/705106203839981412/723B3C8299E4DD990EED0CC818D41F31D7F8D3AC/ So far in the league, so good. If it wasn't for the 10-point deduction I would be top. The goalscoring prowess in the team has been great, although the defence could do with some work. Tinkered with my tactics a tad after the ridiculous double whammy of a 4-4 draw with Stevenage and 5-4 loss to Portsmouth in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Seems to be an improvement there. http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/705106203840056703/561B64995312FCF75B0C7E234DA9A9DA2BFAA45F/ I've been unfortunate with injuries so far (lost Luke Freeman for 5 months after he made a fantastic start as a goalscoring wideman) but it hasn't disrupted my form too much yet. Having a lot of fun with this one so far.

Trying this with Dortmund (because who better, eh?). Only one game in but I'm loving it so far. I think these screenshots speak for themselves: http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/721993905160625228/4247B30E8F9FC8D1C0F35A38A4DFADE9749D9350/ http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/721993905160625228/4247B30E8F9FC8D1C0F35A38A4DFADE9749D9350/ Only four weeks into pre-season training and it can do that! Holding Bayern to only 5 shots and 69% passing. Should only get better once the fluidity goes up.

I have experimented with many different teams, trying out various tactics to try and find something that works. So far, no luck. I'm really not sure what to do and playing FM 2014 is just a completely frustrating experience at the moment. My latest save is with Man United, and my first using this guide (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/366111-How-to-Play-FM14-A-Twelve-Step-Guide) as a point of reference. It's the first time I actually feel like I understand what everything means but I'm still pulling my hair out. Here's my tactic: http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/721993905151189522/03D48B58FCD8FE713819D46D8ECCCE86800FFF39/ The idea was to be strong defensively, holding the team's shape and being hard to break down. Then we would build from the back, maintaining possession or countering when the opportunity arises. At home this has mostly worked. Away from home I still dominate possession and have the majority of chances, but I've been unable to score and always lose to the odd goal. Here's my recent results: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/721993905151203775/9CC220BA5EBEB1E56B4C75D263FD00450E540DD9/ See, fine at home, awful away. That game against Reading was ridiculous. 3-0 up after half an hour and then they scored from two penalties and two direct free kicks. I'm really not sure what I can change, though. So far the team plays exactly the same away as it does at home, they just can't score and always let in the one goal. I also can't get my strikers playing well at all, especially Van Persie who should probably be my best player. Rooney was fine the first few games but has since adopted RVP's abysmal form no matter where I play him. He was great the first few games in that shadow striker role but that's stopped now, and he's worse when I've switched to a 4-4-2 and tried playing him as a false nine. I have no idea how to play RVP, I've tried trequartista, false nine, deep-lying forward, advanced forward, but he's awful everywhere. Other than the advanced forward role I've put him on support since I want him involved in the build up and don't want him isolated. http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/721993905151210585/B7FC1933B2CD0BFC0C0CDD402F8D407974DB2A61/ Any advice would be appreciated!

Tried signing him first season on my Cardiff save but they want £33m for him!