HELP: Defeated in Denmark

[David_H1997]

I figured this was the best place to turn since I've totally lost the plot in my current FM save 

I'm in my 7th season as a manger (2022/2023) and I've just taken over at Vendsyssel FF in the Danish Second Division. I took over in September so I didn't get a chance to start building my own squad which is a small part of the problem that I'm having.

As the title suggests, I'm really, really struggling in Denmark. I've played 5 games. My record? 

Played: 5
Won: 0
Drawn: 1
Lost: 4
Goals Scored: 1 (A penalty)
Goals Conceded: 7

No matter what I try, nothing seems to work. 

Match Summaries

Game 1: Started 4-4-2, ended up with 32% possession, 60% pass completion and 1 shot, which was off target. 2-0 defeat.
Game 2: 4-3-3 Wide, a formation I've had a fair amount of luck with at my previous club. We played slightly better, had an even share of the ball, still didn't keep the ball as well as I would have liked, but ended up still losing 2-0, although it was a more competitive game,
Game 3: Stuck with the same 4-3-3 Wide formation. As above really, an even game, I think I had 60+% possession although both teams had the same amount of chances, I just couldn't convert them. Ended up in a 0-0 draw, but it was more encouraging, especially as this side were top of the league with a record of P: 7 W: 5 D: 2
Game 4: Again, trying to build on something that had shown good signs, but also not wanting to be out of the game too early, I changed it up slightly and I went 4-5-1 wide but kept the same instructions. This side were second in the league and were heavy favourites. Evenly matched in terms of possession and passes completed, they probably just edged it in the second half and so they did deserve to win, but we lost 1-0. I wouldn't have minded but I was getting frustrated at this point - Just one draw from my opening 4 games.
Game 5: A team towards the bottom (Although with only 8 teams in the league, half of the league are towards the bottom, myself included). I really thought this was my chance to go for it and get a win. I held a team meeting, morale shot up. We concede an early goal. 1-0 down. Then, in a rare highlight and an even rarer event, we got into the opposition penalty area; my player was fouled and we had a penalty. Finally, I thought, this could be a turning point. We scored. Yep, we actually scored a real goal. Back in the game and with a chance to get some more points on the board, I thought. That was until my central midfielder, already on a booking, decided to get sent off with 20 minutes to play. This was, in fairness, my fault. I was playing him as an Automatic CM, with a team instruction of Get Stuck In turned on. I thought we still had a chance, so didn't change the shape - Again, a mistake on my part. 4-2-3 Wide was effectively what we were now playing. I conceded in the last 15 minutes and slumped in my seat. I give up, I thought to myself.

My Setup

I'm actually at work so don't have my laptop with my to give my fully accurate setup, but this is what I do remember for sure.

Team Mentality: Standard.
Team Shape: I played a couple of games in Fluid as I wanted my Wingers to help cover in midfield and also stop my striker being so isolated, but for the 5th game I dropped it to Flexible as the team were more familiar with it so I thought it was worth a try. 

I'm not using Player Instructions currently.

Team Instructions:
Tempo: Normal
Width: Balanced
Defensive Line: Normal
Closing Down: Sometimes
Tackling Style: Get Stuck In

Passing: Play Out of Defence, with either Short Passing on, OR Mixed + Retain Possession
Attack: Work Ball Into Box

More In-Depth Analysis

I did also take a second look after the games at all of the goals I conceded and sco.., Oh, yeah, I didn't score any... Anyway I took a look at the goals conceded to see if there was an alarming weakness - Not really.

Game 1: 1st goal was in the 44th minute. They took a short free kick, played some neat passes on the edge of my box and their winger found himself in lots of space on the right hand corner of the box. Took a shot from 20ish yards and scored. The second goal was again from the right hand side. A throw-in came in, the receiver passed it back to the throw-in taker who played an aimless cross into my box, and my young left back (On his debut as a substitute) headed into my own goal. So a little unlucky with this one.

Game 2: This goal game down my left hand side. We had the ball in a dangerous area but took too long to make a pass. We lost the ball, didn't get a challenge in (Hence why I put Get Stuck In on after looking at this) and we got hit on the counter. Long ball forward, cross to the back post, tap in. Goal 2, again an unlucky one. The had the ball on the edge of my area but we had enough number to deal with them, so I thought the highlight would be us counter attacking. Instead, their midfielder hit a low, driven shot from about 23 yards out, my keeper and 2 defenders got in each others way, it bounced off one of the two defenders and deflected into the back of the net. I think the keeper would have saved it otherwise. 

Game 4: This was again a very unlucky goal. Their player was driving forwards, my midfielder sprinted after him and put in a slide tackle from behind on the half way line. He won the ball, but in the process put the ball straight past both of my centre backs and into the path of their striker who got onto the ball on the edge of the area and scored a 1-on-1 with my keeper. 

I'm totally at a loss with what to do now. I'm not in a transfer window, and I'm not getting any luck at all. Has anybody got any advice? Have you managed to be successful in Denmark? Any tips are appreciated, and I will try them out when I get home from work.

For what it's worth, the team went out of the cup before I took over, and the league expectation is to win the league, I think - But it's certainly to get promoted as a minimum. I'm currently 7th out of 8 teams.

 

[Egecann]

Try counter with flexible/structured and play more direct. Since its the second division of Denmark i can guess your players especially defenders aren't that good enough. So your major concern has to be to not concede. Don't lose if you can't win is the motto here Big man-little man usually works in lower leagues but it depends on your players of course. I don't have any idea of the league or your players at all but i hope it helps.

[Marc.Foster050]

Bit early to say you've been defeated after 5 games! Although it is demoralising you have gone into a new team that as you say aren't your players and asked them to play 3 different systems in 5 games! They probably don't have a clue what they are doing!

I have come to quite like picking up a team at the end of a window. Means you are forced to use the players already there. The amount of times this has happened to me and I've ended up keeping players I otherwise would of replaced as they have won me over. Not knowing your team the only advice that can be given is really look at the report for your team. Where do you have players in abundance. Do you have the players capable of playing your system of keeping the ball? Pick a system and make it as simple as you can then tweak it from there until you get to a way of playing you are happy with. Always seems harder starting after the season starts as your team is adapting in competitive games so can be frustrating but just be patient instead of changing drastically every other game.

[David_H1997]

@Marc.Foster050 I do intend on sticking with the 4-3-3- wide system. I only changed it to a 4-5-1 once as the other team were something like 1/7 favourites so I thought packing the midfield gave me a better chance. I'm determined to find something that works but I don't generally have the time (And when I do, I can lack the patience) to analyse the squad and find out what sort of system is best suited. I've arranged a transfer to happen in the next window but it's only a prospect player, not somebody who will improve us instantly.

[Overmars]

You may have been the victim of a rotten string of bad luck. It's hard to say. If you can post a screenshot of your formation, team instruction, and player duties then that would help with the tactical analysis.