Frustrated beyond belief

[swede]

@Aleena,

Thanks mate, everything is helpful now.

@wwfan,

I seem to really struggle to mark properly in my own box. Frequently we loose track of the attackers and they get easy tap ins despite one of our defenders standing almost on top of him In the other end they just kick us off the ball. Loosing 2-0 to Pompey away.

[swede]

Lost 3-2 in a rather even game. Utaka 30-yarder settled the issue.

[swede]

The team has now lost confidence in me. Not really surprising considering... Laursen is considering his options and doesn't think I can hack it. He got that right! Start marking your man Martin you twat!

[Aleena]

@Aleena,

Thanks mate, everything is helpful now.

@wwfan,

I seem to really struggle to mark properly in my own box. Frequently we loose track of the attackers and they get easy tap ins despite one of our defenders standing almost on top of him In the other end they just kick us off the ball. Loosing 2-0 to Pompey away.

What mentality and creative freedom to you have on the players losing out in the box, and being outmuscled.

Could be there trying to do too much with the ball, and being caught out, as in there getting there and trying to control it, or looking for a pass, and without one being readily available they hesistate a second and BANG the opposition is in and your tackled or you lose the 50/50

[swede]

Besiktas up next, and I have now given up on making my own tactics. I have switched to the TT&F !4-4-2Standard and set up Ashley Young and Milner with free roles instead of Carew and Defoe. Might take Milner off it and give it back to Defoe, depending the performance.

[swede]

What mentality and creative freedom to you have on the players losing out in the box, and being outmuscled.

Could be there trying to do too much with the ball, and being caught out, as in there getting there and trying to control it, or looking for a pass, and without one being readily available they hesistate a second and BANG the opposition is in and your tackled or you lose the 50/50

I had them on 14 mentality (Defoe) 10 (Carew) and 5 Creative Freedom.

[Aleena]

@Aleena,

Thanks mate, everything is helpful now.

@wwfan,

I seem to really struggle to mark properly in my own box. Frequently we loose track of the attackers and they get easy tap ins despite one of our defenders standing almost on top of him In the other end they just kick us off the ball. Loosing 2-0 to Pompey away.

Besiktas up next, and I have now given up on making my own tactics. I have switched to the TT&F !4-4-2Standard and set up Ashley Young and Milner with free roles instead of Carew and Defoe. Might take Milner off it and give it back to Defoe, depending the performance.

If you find your losing being outmuscled try what i did.

Move your RM to your AM position , set the RB to attack alot.

Put 2 strong dominating midfielders in the CM positions and dont tell them to all out attack, just to control. Say Gareth Barry on the Right of CM and Reo Coaker more defensive on the Left of CM, with ashely young at LM with forward runs MIXED and Runs with ball and crossing at HIGH.

Tell your LB to forward runs mixed and more defensive then the RB.

Sure the oppositon will get a little more joy on your Right midfield, but Gareth barry will get across at times, and better to have 1 wing abit vulernable, but close the gaps in midfield and have 2 CB, 1 LM, 2 CM in the box to stop the cross and an AM outside the box for the header out. Rather then have defense splitting passes and no one to gather the rebounds.

I found having the 2 combatative midfielders really stopped the opposition strikers doing much but going for long balls, and the AM gives that extra man to shut down there own centre midfield, so the opposition ends up punting the ball upfield alot.

[swede]

If you find your losing being outmuscled try what i did.

Move your RM to your AM position , set the RB to attack alot.

Put 2 strong dominating midfielders in the CM positions and dont tell them to all out attack, just to control. Say Gareth Barry on the Right of CM and Reo Coaker more defensive on the Left of CM, with ashely young at LM with forward runs MIXED and Runs with ball and crossing at HIGH.

Tell your LB to forward runs mixed and more defensive then the RB.

Sure the oppositon will get a little more joy on your Right midfield, but Gareth barry will get across at times, and better to have 1 wing abit vulernable, but close the gaps in midfield and have 2 CB, 1 LM, 2 CM in the box to stop the cross and an AM outside the box for the header out. Rather then have defense splitting passes and no one to gather the rebounds.

I found having the 2 combatative midfielders really stopped the opposition strikers doing much but going for long balls, and the AM gives that extra man to shut down there own centre midfield, so the opposition ends up punting the ball upfield alot.

I'll give that I try if Lerner lets me. I might be out of a job soon. Just drew against Besiktas after they equalized in the 94th minute.

[swede]

The mighty Villa is a mere shadow of its former self. A humiliating 2-1 defeat away to relegation fodder Sunderland indicates that we are going down unless I get the sack. We had the upper hand most of the game, but failed to convert yet again. Gordon produced 4 world class acrobatic and reflex saves on close range efforts from Carew and Defoe. Healy sealed our fate by sezing on defensive lapses by Laursen. Is there an award for the most inept manager in FM history? I think I should run.

[speedphlux]

Oh boy, does that tread looks just like the one I was about to post or what ?!

Anyways, hello to all of you out there.

So I've picked up my copy of FM 09 3 days ago and got to it straight away. I applied the patch as I was fed up with my players being all tired in the demo and started off with my favorite Blackburn.

So far so good, but instead of respectable position in the PL, I'm rather dangerously close to the relegation zone, with only about 7 points clear from it and 10 points behind the 10th position. Reaching semi-final in the league cup didn't do me any good as I got knocked out by Tottenham. Got knocked out in 5th round of FA Cup also, this time by Everton. To sum it all up - I'm closing down my first weak season since I've started playing football managing games.

What surprises me most is that no matter how much I tweak my tactics for a particular game and for the particular players that I have in my team, somehow the match itself never changes. I preform good vs. strong teams (2-2 and 0-1 vs. Man Utd; 1-1 and 2-2 vs. Liverpool; 1-2 and 2-0 vs. Chelsea; 2-3 and 1-4 vs. Arsenal), but I'm rubbish vs. teams that are more ... more at my level of player quality. So far I've done a double (home and away win) only vs. Bolton and Fulham, but in my season, those teams are dead bottom solid. I did lost twice vs. Villa and Hull. And the humble team of Stoke City managed to draw with me twice. I've played 27 games so far from my first season in the PL. 6 wins, 7 draws and ... 13 loses. 25-37 is the goal difference.

I thought I'd stick with this season, even thou it's a fail, just so that I could make experiments with my tactics and all, but it started to seems like things go from bad to worst.

I did signed up quite a large group of players when I started my job as manager of Rovers and now, in the end of the season, there's quite a furstration in my players as well. The dressing room has gone berserk due to my poor tactics, which somehow I deny to accept that they're that poor. You see, thru out the whole season, I've been tinkering with basically every suggestion that has been posted up so far in this tread. I've went from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 to 3-4-3 to 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 to 4-3-1-2 to 4-4-2, giving each tactic about 5 games test period. Non seems to work for me and my team. The team either holds possession but does nothing with it or gives it away too cheaply and watches the game from the best seats available in the stadium. When it comes to creating chances it's a disaster. If it's not some individual effort of brilliance, I'd be lost by now. But the game seems to have other tricks up it' sleeves when it comes to killing my fun - just in case my team does starts to create chances, my forwards start to attempt to destroy the frame of the goal. You wouldn't believe it, but in one match vs. Arsenal (the one I've lost 1-4), Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy all together hitted the frame of the goal 8 times. So far in my season I've counted 36 hits on my opposition's framework. Since this is a game with a solid logical engine in it, I somehow refuse to believe that it's due to my bad luck. Luck has nothing to do with this game and with being a football manager. Not at all.

Ah, I could go on like this for a quite some time, but I'll just go back to the game and see if I get kicked out of my favorite team in the end of the season or not.

Good luck to you all in not loosing your nerves

[swede]

Well, I failed to say the least. A horrible string of results followed and we descended into chaos eventually. New game, new tactics.

@wwfan,

I'll go with the 4-4-2 set that came with TT&F now. I'll mainly just redistribute the free roles and give one to Defoe (who will be FCa) and one to Carew (who will be FCd). Thing is, this whole "give it 15-20 games" attitude is logical, but I feel like there should be something I could do to improve other than narrowing the formation and avoid overcommitting players to a fast tempo attacking game. I just don't know what it is.

[wwfan]

Well, I failed to say the least. A horrible string of results followed and we descended into chaos eventually. New game, new tactics.

@wwfan,

I'll go with the 4-4-2 set that came with TT&F now. I'll mainly just redistribute the free roles and give one to Defoe (who will be FCa) and one to Carew (who will be FCd). Thing is, this whole "give it 15-20 games" attitude is logical, but I feel like there should be something I could do to improve other than narrowing the formation and avoid overcommitting players to a fast tempo attacking game. I just don't know what it is.

I'd be more likely to play them without free roles and look to give them to Milner, Agbonlahor or Ashley Young. Solidify the sets, especially attacking, by reducing CD across the board by 3-4 notches and simplify attacking by aiming all crosses at Carew (near post or far post depending on crosser) and all TBs to Defoe (set poacher instructions plus Run onto Ball TM). Play a solid MCd Defend/MCa Support central midfield and play the first twenty minutes of every home game with Standard, every away game with Defend and only change if you feel you have the upper hand.

[Hammer1000]

Well, I failed to say the least. A horrible string of results followed and we descended into chaos eventually. New game, new tactics.

@wwfan,

I'll go with the 4-4-2 set that came with TT&F now. I'll mainly just redistribute the free roles and give one to Defoe (who will be FCa) and one to Carew (who will be FCd). Thing is, this whole "give it 15-20 games" attitude is logical, but I feel like there should be something I could do to improve other than narrowing the formation and avoid overcommitting players to a fast tempo attacking game. I just don't know what it is.

Try what i said mate, use the in game default 4-4-2 standard, then just take off the individual tick players have for mentality so that its global and your away!

Its not a super tactic, but its consistent, you will see some nice build up play AND your strikers normally score now and again to!

I have'nt even changed the set piece instructions yet, which can only improve it i think? i also need to change the GK instructions as i'm been told he is giving the ball away a lot.

You will have a few games in which there is not much in the way of chances, but stick with it, dont change anything and you'll do just fine!

[swede]

I'd be more likely to play them without free roles and look to give them to Milner, Agbonlahor or Ashley Young. Solidify the sets, especially attacking, by reducing CD across the board by 3-4 notches and simplify attacking by aiming all crosses at Carew (near post or far post depending on crosser) and all TBs to Defoe (set poacher instructions plus Run onto Ball TM). Play a solid MCd Defend/MCa Support central midfield and play the first twenty minutes of every home game with Standard, every away game with Defend and only change if you feel you have the upper hand.

Indeed, I had set Young to a free role, not Carew. I will give the other to Milner however instead of Defoe. So I should use Defoe as a target man? Can I still play him as FCa? I've reduced CD by 3 for standard and defensive, and 4 for attacking. This will be interesting.

[swede]

Try what i said mate, use the in game default 4-4-2 standard, then just take off the individual tick players have for mentality so that its global and your away!

Its not a super tactic, but its consistent, you will see some nice build up play AND your strikers normally score now and again to!

I have'nt even changed the set piece instructions yet, which can only improve it i think? i also need to change the GK instructions as i'm been told he is giving the ball away a lot.

You will have a few games in which there is not much in the way of chances, but stick with it, dont change anything and you'll do just fine!

I'll set up another tactics set implementing your ideas just in case. Will let you know how it goes, but I'll mainly stick with wwfan's suggestions for now. If it fails and I get sacked, I'll try with your ideas.

[swede]

Only a friendly, but we beat Stoke in our first game 2-0. We looked very comfortable and Defoe had an aura of confidence about him which I never saw in my last game. They never threatened and the solidity in our game was plain to see. Encouraging, because I think this was the best performance I've seen from Villa in both games. We'll see how it goes from here on in.

[Mitja]

What about tempo? I'm trying to keep my teams shape and I'll focus on getting the lads through the gelling period by following wwfan's tips on playing a little more conservative. How does tempo fit in? I want to get away from the extremely slow and sluggish play I experienced in my previous save, but I don't want us to throw away balls in a hurry.

you need to adapt your tempo to the league you play in. it would be useless to play slow brasilian style in PL. same goes for some other instructions as well. you don't see many PL sides to time waste from beggining. if you experience sluggish and very slow play it's down to time wasting slider. use rarely TW in all 3 basic tactics. have it on notch 1 for attacking, notch 3 for standard and notch 6 for defensive tactics. you won't throw awey balls if you're not playing on very very high mentality/tempo.

keep things simple at first, use your standard tactics, keep creative freedom to low amounts. passing style is very important now. in standard tatcic with unbalanced team, players at the back shouldn't play risky balls, keep possesion upfront. one thing i noticed is having too many players on TTB mixed or often will lead to many missed passes and defensive errors on small pitches like brittish. have all the players with avarage passing stats on TTB rarely at first.

[ltdamn]

I just can't figure it out. I've read TT&F, I've read rashidi1's excellent posts, but I just can't find a working tactic. I consistently loose possession against equal or slightly lesser opponents (playing as Villa). My players seem slow and sluggish and often gets muscled off the ball or tackled off the pitch while trying to pick a pass. When the opponent has the ball, my lads are slow to close down and give them much time on the ball and find ways around my defenders. I've tried various own tactics as well as the TT&F ones, but I just cant't work it out. I usually find a few formations that work (in previous iterations of the series, but now nothing seems to work. My opponents seem to get a free run outside our area and consequently I loose a lot unless I'm facing a really poor side.

I'm playing with Villa as well (always start as them right from the CM days) and I am having the exact same problem. Cannot win a game in the PL to save my life, regardless of who I play or how I play them, but for some strange reason Euro form has been great.

My main bug with the tactics over the last 3 or so years is that you can't just ask the players to play how you want anymore. There seems to only be a certain and very specific type of formation, attitude etc that you can use for each set of players you have and in turn against each team you come up against. For me, it really ruins the fun of finding players and tweaking my tactics when I know that I am just slowly and inexorably being pushed towards whichever particular style the engine has determined is the most effective. In the end, I will probably just resort to using someone elses tactic just to keep my job, which isn't really encouraging creativity.

And as brilliant as the tactic guides on here are (bravo guys, KUTGW), it's a shame that new players would have to find their way here, read through multiple pages and hope to be able to translate that into something in-game.

The rest of this years edition has been so much fun I really want to overlook this, but it's hard.

[swede]

you need to adapt your tempo to the league you play in. it would be useless to play slow brasilian style in PL. same goes for some other instructions as well. you don't see many PL sides to time waste from beggining. if you experience sluggish and very slow play it's down to time wasting slider. use rarely TW in all 3 basic tactics. have it on notch 1 for attacking, notch 3 for standard and notch 6 for defensive tactics. you won't throw awey balls if you're not playing on very very high mentality/tempo.

keep things simple at first, use your standard tactics, keep creative freedom to low amounts. passing style is very important now. in standard tatcic with unbalanced team, players at the back shouldn't play risky balls, keep possesion upfront. one thing i noticed is having too many players on TTB mixed or often will lead to many missed passes and defensive errors on small pitches like brittish. have all the players with avarage passing stats on TTB rarely at first.

Thanks mate! The TW slider is now the first one I drop low at the beginning. Good shout.

[Mike J]

My main bug with the tactics over the last 3 or so years is that you can't just ask the players to play how you want anymore. There seems to only be a certain and very specific type of formation, attitude etc that you can use for each set of players you have and in turn against each team you come up against. For me, it really ruins the fun of finding players and tweaking my tactics when I know that I am just slowly and inexorably being pushed towards whichever particular style the engine has determined is the most effective. In the end, I will probably just resort to using someone elses tactic just to keep my job, which isn't really encouraging creativity.

And as brilliant as the tactic guides on here are (bravo guys, KUTGW), it's a shame that new players would have to find their way here, read through multiple pages and hope to be able to translate that into something in-game.

The rest of this years edition has been so much fun I really want to overlook this, but it's hard.

I agree. There are a number of problems for me which persist even though I'm now going into the second half of the season and results are starting to pick up slightly (I even won an away game last night!).

Firstly, this whole player gelling and squad confidence thing seems to have been overdone, especially when you consider it will likely be a factor in almost everyone's game when they first start. Having almost every new game start with a dull, monotonous grind isn't a great idea, IMO.

Secondly, the feeling of disconnection from the players is getting worse every year. It's a direct result of the ambiguity of the sliders and particularly their interaction with one another. Related to this is the number of stupid incidents the 3D match engine generates because it's not quite up to the required standard yet. I don't care how bad your tactics are, no competent player stands around waiting to be tackled by the player he can see coming from 20 yards away. Yes, he might be on short passing, low CF instructions with few options in front of him but at some point common sense should take over.

As I said before, the utter lack of useful feedback makes things worse. For example, we are told that keeping it tight and limiting your attacking play for the first 15 games is the best idea. We're told that narrow mentality ranges is the best way to go. We're told that squads will take time to gel and this can have serious adverse effects on the team. We're told a dozen different things to consider. And who tells us this? A group of people who've been developing the TT&F for months. More importantly, what doesn't tell us this? The game itself. That's poor design.

[wwfan]

As I said before, the utter lack of useful feedback makes things worse. For example, we are told that keeping it tight and limiting your attacking play for the first 15 games is the best idea. We're told that narrow mentality ranges is the best way to go. We're told that squads will take time to gel and this can have serious adverse effects on the team. We're told a dozen different things to consider. And who tells us this? A group of people who've been developing the TT&F for months. More importantly, what doesn't tell us this? The game itself. That's poor design.

It's been a common theme in testing. I'd suggest you start a thread (probably in this forum) outlining exactly where you find feedback lacking and give suggestions as to how you might improve it. Be aware, there will need to be a certain level of ambiguity in the game or it becomes click and win. However, there are a significant number of people who think things are too ambiguous and that greater (or more obvious) feedback is required.

[swede]

Things feel a lot better now I must say. Results wise the new save haven't been extremely good. I lost the away leg against Rosenborg 3-2 but went through anyway thanks to a 1-0 win at home. We look much more composed and Defoe is thriving in his role as a target man. Much more so than in my previous save where he struggled to get on the end of Carew's flick-ons. He has scored some spectacular goals, and Agbonlahor is almost as deadly in the same role. The stats have improved drmatically though, and we have outshot and out possessed the opposition in every game so far. We really should have won away to Rosenborg after hitting the crossbar twice and forcing their keeper to make some amazing saves. I have higher hopes for this PL season than in the previous save. We look much better and should be able to grind out a few results. I'll be back.

[swede]

It's been a common theme in testing. I'd suggest you start a thread (probably in this forum) outlining exactly where you find feedback lacking and give suggestions as to how you might improve it. Be aware, there will need to be a certain level of ambiguity in the game or it becomes click and win. However, there are a significant number of people who think things are too ambiguous and that greater (or more obvious) feedback is required.

A thread about this would be very welcome and I'd be happy to contribute with some constructive criticism. I do feel there are some quite serious issues with the way we are forced to communicate with the team. I do agree, however, that the game can't be designed around a "click and win"-approach.

[Hammer1000]

swede - Here are my results with the tactic i'm using (all Demo)

West Ham - Played 12 Won 7 Drew 5 (i counted 13 before, but it was 12)

Liverpool - Played 16 Won 12 Drew 2 Lost 2 (the two defeats were with putting back up players in for CL already qualified and C Cup)

Man City - Played 8 Won 6 Drew 2

If you get stuck give it a go!

[swede]

swede - Here are my results with the tactic i'm using (all Demo)

West Ham - Played 12 Won 7 Drew 5 (i counted 13 before, but it was 12)

Liverpool - Played 16 Won 12 Drew 2 Lost 2 (the two defeats were with putting back up players in for CL already qualified and C Cup)

Man City - Played 8 Won 6 Drew 2

If you get stuck give it a go!

Will do! Next game is Kalmar FF away in the first leg of the UEFA Cup 2n rnd qual's. Then it is Everton at home for the first game of the PL season. Two wins and I will certainly be off to a better start than in my last save. Just played Porto at home in the last friendly and won 1-0 after having slightly less possession than them, but overall we looked more threatening and had more shots. Should have been 2-0 to be honest.

[Mike J]

A thread about this would be very welcome and I'd be happy to contribute with some constructive criticism. I do feel there are some quite serious issues with the way we are forced to communicate with the team. I do agree, however, that the game can't be designed around a "click and win"-approach.

Feedback problems thread

Have a look at that. Hopefully it remains constructive.

[Cassian]

I would appreciate very much, if some one could give me the TT&F's excel data sheet but with .xls (office 03 or xp) not .xlsx (office 07)

[arfaern]

I would appreciate very much, if some one could give me the TT&F's excel data sheet but with .xls (office 03 or xp) not .xlsx (office 07)

It seams that can't be done since some of the formulas used in Office 2007 are not compatible with Office 2003.

You can perhaps try to download the Office Excel 2007 viewer for free from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1cd6acf9-ce06-4e1c-8dcf-f33f669dbc3a&DisplayLang=en

[Pozzati]

Already given up. Went well for a long time, but at the end of the season, everything just collapsed. With Man Utd I was leading PL and walked through the CL. Then the last 8 games of the PL I managed 2 points. Crashed out of the CL in the quarter final against Werder Bremen with a 10-2 aggregate. Been playing CM/FM regularly since CM 93, but this isn't for me.

[swede]

Ok, here we go. First game of the season at home to Everton. Very even game and I employed the !4-4-2Standard tactic modified as per wwfan's instructions. Ended up 1-1 after a gaffe by Friedel. I'm wondering a bit about how to react to certain things I see in the ME. At one point Luke Young went after a high cross ball launched diagonally towards the right corner flag. He wasn't under any pressure but the ball hit him in the ass(!) and bounced several meters upfield to an Everton player who suddenly found himself in lots of space. He didn't score, and Young went on to get man of the match but I was a bit confused. Was it jut a quirk in the physics engine or is it a sign of some other issue?

Another example is how my players seem to mess up easy passes. They sometimes hit passes behind the receiver who has started a good run, and the addressee has to stop, turn around, get the ball under control before starting a new run. That gives the opposition time to regroup.

[swede]

Loosing 2-1 to Wigan away. We're being outplayed.

[swede]

Lost 3-1 and I had to revert to the Defensive tactic just to cope during the last 20 minutes or so. They had 13 shots to our 2 and generally outplayed us in all areas of the pitch. We just couldn't deal with them, and Scharner was amazing. Did my defenders over several times and should have scored a hat trick.

[swede]

Loosing 1-0 at home to Kalmar FF now. Switched from Standard to Attack after their goal.

[swede]

I lost 2-1 against Kalmar(!!!!!) after a clear offside goal was allowed. The FA stayed silent when I slammed the ref in the press (I usually don't do that but I was mightily ****ed off. We had 14 shots (7 on target, 1 clear cut) and the had 4 (2 on target, 2 clear cut). Friedel won't be playing any more games for me unless all my other keepers are dead or looses the use of both their arms in a horrible accident. In fact, I'll put Harewood in goal before him from now on. The bald bastard is useless. I will up the tempo a biut on the standard tactics, because my ass man is saying my players are used a quicker tempo, so I'll see if that helps, because this clearly isn't working. Man Utd away next, so defensive tactics and hope for a single digit defeat.

In my last save Lerner was patient because we managed to get into the UEFA Cup Group stages. We are now out of the UEFA, so I think he might kick me out rather soon if this goes on. Will probably play a 5-5-0 in my next Villa save...

[KevinYesComps]

Thanks for starting this thread Swede. Like you I am playing with the Villa and the game was driving me mad. But having taken on board what you said about reducing time wasting and increasing tempo I have my players moving about in a realistic way. I also adjusted my tactics to reflect Wwfan’s advice regarding playing in a conservative fashion until the squad gell and taking the pressure off the squad whilst the new players settle in. The first few games were a bit shaky but now, 7 games into the EPL season I’m lying 2nd and have qualified for the group stages of the Euro Cup. This has been achieved despite Caerew, Milner and Gabby getting injured in the same match and being out for 2, 2 and 4 weeks respectively.

I use a 442 at home and a451 away.

[swede]

Thanks for starting this thread Swede. Like you I am playing with the Villa and the game was driving me mad. But having taken on board what you said about reducing time wasting and increasing tempo I have my players moving about in a realistic way. I also adjusted my tactics to reflect Wwfan’s advice regarding playing in a conservative fashion until the squad gell and taking the pressure off the squad whilst the new players settle in. The first few games were a bit shaky but now, 7 games into the EPL season I’m lying 2nd and have qualified for the group stages of the Euro Cup. This has been achieved despite Caerew, Milner and Gabby getting injured in the same match and being out for 2, 2 and 4 weeks respectively.

I use a 442 at home and a451 away.

That is very encouraging to hear. At least that confirms that it is the moron behind the screen and not the game that is the cause of Villas demise.

[swede]

We got tonked 5-1. Berbatov hat-trick. We won the possession 56-44 but they kept shooting from kinds of angles. Our defence just couldn't hold them off. Next, Fulham at home. If we can't turn it around in this game we're doomed.

[swede]

Yay, a win! 2-0 at home to Fulham.

[Aleena]

Well i finished my season.

I won the EPL by 9 points i think.

Won the Carling Cop early.

Won the Champions League, but really didnt deserve to. Struggled to beat real madrid in the 2nd leg of the final, got beat 2-1, and won 2-2 on away goals, got really lucky with my goal and Cech saved about 10.

In the final played Arsenal and pretty much played them off the park and won 2-0, but could easily have been 3 or 4.

Played Blackburn in the FA cup final and won, very very barely.

So i picked up 4 trophies, yay.

I usualy never upload tactics or anything, but ill take some screenshots and upload the tactic to this thread, maybe theres 1 or 2 things you can borrow from it that will help.

This was with Chelsea however, so im not saying this was a Sunderland type conquer the world, but some of my tactic must have been on to clean the board of trophies, undefeated in the league also.

On a side note, my players Gelled alot better from around mid season on, what was originaly struggles to get 6.5 or higher, saw most players finished games 7.5 or so at the end of the season fairly easily.

Morale was also incredibly high all season, mainly because unbeaten i would assume, but i did all the pre match media, telling my players they were great and such, i never did ANGRY in teamtalks, very rarely disappointed.

Mostly team talks were "No pressure" or "for the fans", with the occasional "i expect a win"

And something that seemed to work miracles, was individual instructions. Whenever i told Drogba that i "expected a performance" he seemed to deliver. And if i could say "prove a point" or "you can make a difference", players like Drogba, Essien or Terry seemed to put in god like performances.

Drogba scored something like 36 goals in 46 appearances and around 18 assists, he really carried the team at times.

[KevinYesComps]

Sorry to hear that swede. I just beat Everton away 4-3 and Bolton at home 3-1. Against Bolton we had 10 shots to 3 but lost on possession 47 to 53. In fact looking back through the stats I'm loosing in most areas but getting more clear cut chances than the opposition. It seems like success leads to success.

[swede]

Bleedin' hell, now we lost away to Spurs despite it being an even game. Guzan gaffed for one of them and Davies messed up the other and we k´just couldn't convert despite having a few really good chances.

[swede]

Two straight league wins! In between them we also won against QPR in the league Cup. That game saw us launch some 14 shots to their 1. We had 69% of the possession so we really were poor in the last third. Beat Blackburn at home 1-0, and the managed to scrape a 1-0 win against West Ham away. We're now 9th in the league on 10 points. Sunderland at home next and that will be the last game for today. All these games I played the !4-4-2Defensive set up as wwfan recommended. It seems I was slightly to optimistic earlier playing the Standard even though the mentality setting for that tactic is Normal. Lets hope for three moore points against Sunderland. I do have a little problem with that though. Defoe is my only striker not injured. Carew, Harewood and Gabby are all out with long term injuries. Carew might return on a week if all goes well, but I hate to have to deal with this now when we have managed to scrape a few wins.

[Mitja]

are you watching your matches on full-mode swede?

[swede]

are you watching your matches on full-mode swede?

i did at the beginning of my last save, now I use Extended since there is no way I would get any matches played otherwise.

[GarrySmutts]

Does anyone else have problems with there strikers actually scoring goals I play a few systems normally 451 with wingers well forward I'm chelsea and lampard cant stop scoring but Anelka was really bad couldnt hit a barn door in a gale and so was most strikers I've brought in but not only do they not score but they are always playing really poorly I've even went to a 442 and both strikers are poor and 4411 I've signed Huntlaer and he's also playing really bad and not scoring. I'm still top of the league with 2/3rds of the season gone and in the semi final of the league cup and unbeaten in about 20 games so I'am doing well but the strikers thing is baffling me. Is it a problem in the game or am I just missing something? Please help me anyone

[swede]

Does anyone else have problems with there strikers actually scoring goals I play a few systems normally 451 with wingers well forward I'm chelsea and lampard cant stop scoring but Anelka was really bad couldnt hit a barn door in a gale and so was most strikers I've brought in but not only do they not score but they are always playing really poorly I've even went to a 442 and both strikers are poor and 4411 I've signed Huntlaer and he's also playing really bad and not scoring. I'm still top of the league with 2/3rds of the season gone and in the semi final of the league cup and unbeaten in about 20 games so I'am doing well but the strikers thing is baffling me. Is it a problem in the game or am I just missing something? Please help me anyone

I have had to rotate my strikers due to injury, but Agbonlahor and Defoe have scored a combined total of 5 goals in 7 games. They've had lots of good chances though.

[Mitja]

many experience problems with strikers not scoring. especially FCas (strikers with forward runs set to often..).

i don't think you'll find the answer right now. imo it's got to do with (too high) mentality and creative freedom.

maybe you could start a new thread?

[Mitja]

many experience problems with strikers not scoring. especially FCas (strikers with forward runs set to often..).

i don't think you'll find the answer right now. imo it's got to do with (too high) mentality and creative freedom.

maybe you could start a new thread?

[Mitja]

I have had to rotate my strikers due to injury, but Agbonlahor and Defoe have scored a combined total of 5 goals in 7 games. They've had lots of good chances though.

what mentality setup and CF are you using?

[swede]

what mentality setup and CF are you using?

7 for the FCd and 12 for the FCa. I just won my 3rd straight leagie game! 2-1 against Sunderlan. Now 8th with 13 points, and Sunderland are 4th with 15 so I still have the top 5 within reach despite the poor start. The lads are adapting! We might not score many, but as long as we are winning.