This game...this freaking game...

[Wwarrddy]

Every year I get the game, the inevitable happens. I'm with Aston Villa and I get relegated, the board keep me on and I set up my own tactic for in the Championship. I dominate the Champ, only losing twice all season and break all sorts of awards etc. Then in the Prem, I pretty much use the same tactic and somehow, I do extremely well and end up in Europe, top 6 finish.

However, this season, I am in deep, deep trouble. I lost 10-0 to Liverpool, using my usual defensive/counter tactic and I have been trying to use the same tactic as the last 2 years, as it worked so well. I just can't buy a win, losing games I'm favourite for at home and having a torrid time. Out of the Euro cup, out of the Carabao. Now, I'm starting to play with tactics to combat this but I know it's not going to end well and I'll end up being sacked.

What do you guys do when you hit a slump like this? I've tried team meetings etc. I swear this happens every year on this game haha.

[ImDaWeasel]

Don't do any wholesale changes to tactics, just little tweaks here and there but with the same basics, plenty of boosting individual player morale and start grinding out set pieces.

[zyfon5]

1 hour ago, Wwarrddy said:

Every year I get the game, the inevitable happens. I'm with Aston Villa and I get relegated, the board keep me on and I set up my own tactic for in the Championship. I dominate the Champ, only losing twice all season and break all sorts of awards etc. Then in the Prem, I pretty much use the same tactic and somehow, I do extremely well and end up in Europe, top 6 finish.

However, this season, I am in deep, deep trouble. I lost 10-0 to Liverpool, using my usual defensive/counter tactic and I have been trying to use the same tactic as the last 2 years, as it worked so well. I just can't buy a win, losing games I'm favourite for at home and having a torrid time. Out of the Euro cup, out of the Carabao. Now, I'm starting to play with tactics to combat this but I know it's not going to end well and I'll end up being sacked.

What do you guys do when you hit a slump like this? I've tried team meetings etc. I swear this happens every year on this game haha.

maybe post your tactics and some more info in the tactics forum? its hard to comment on anything when there is zero to little context

[Sloak]

You said you’ve played previous versions, so you probably have more experience FM experience than me, but since quarantine I’ve put in about 2K hours. I’ve been promoted a number of times, but never demoted and then promoted back, so I’m not 100% what the AI reaction is to that. If you dominated the championship to such a degree, my guess would be your tactic is significantly over agressive.
I had a very similar situation when I was promoted into the Bundesliga, my team dominated the second division, but got dominated once we started facing upper first division talent. I found this to be because when you’re dominating in the second division, chances are there’s maybe 1 or 2 teams who are near your teams ability, especially if you just got relegated. So you can get away with a very aggressive tactic as the results you’ll see won’t look like you’re being over aggressive because other teams lack the quality to expose your flaws and will just park the bus instead. 
Once you get to the first division, teams are going to treat you the way you treated second division teams, they’re going to be over aggressive, and they’ll get away with it due to superior quality.

My Bundesliga promotion ended terribly because I didn’t realize this quickly enough and also suffered massive loses early in the season. Ideally you prepare your tactic for promotion before you actually get promoted, but as it’s too late for that my opinion would be the same as one posted above: don’t make sweeping changes to the tactic, small tweaks to mentality and player roles will keep most of your tactical familiarity while transitioning your play style. 

[Wwarrddy]

54 minutes ago, zyfon5 said:

maybe post your tactics and some more info in the tactics forum? its hard to comment on anything when there is zero to little context

 

This is what I used in the Champ and the first season back in the Prem. I only use this at home now really against teams I should be beating but don't.

 

This is what I use when I'm not expected to win. I actually really dislike this tactic as it invites too much pressure onto me, it did have drop deeper for defence but I removed that for that reason.

 

 

Conceded 3 penalties in my first 4 games, too. Which is highly irritating. What is also bizarre is that I don't have a premier league game for 50 days and I'm in November?? I've only just noticed that.

[Sloak]

48 minutes ago, Wwarrddy said:

 

This is what I used in the Champ and the first season back in the Prem. I only use this at home now really against teams I should be beating but don't.

 

This is what I use when I'm not expected to win. I actually really dislike this tactic as it invites too much pressure onto me, it did have drop deeper for defence but I removed that for that reason.

 

 

Conceded 3 penalties in my first 4 games, too. Which is highly irritating. What is also bizarre is that I don't have a premier league game for 50 days and I'm in November?? I've only just noticed that.

Your primary tactic is as I predicted wayyyyyyyy too aggressive. You have a total of 4 players who take defense seriously, and one of them is your winger. I can see how this team would tear up the championship, you probably just dribbled through every team you played with an AP and Mez both on attack with the dribble more ti on. This obviously isn’t going to work when the opponents are better than you. You’re liable to commit everyone but your CB’s to the attack, completely emptying your flanks and your midfield, and even they are both Ball players meaning they have a high mentality.

A legitimate line of play with this strategy is the BPD dribbles forward into a defender Due to being BPD and being told to dribble more, has no passing options near him as everyone but the DM and the other CB are looking to get forward, and is dispossessed with 1 player behind him.
If any of your players recieve the ball, they have almost no one to pass to to retain possession, they have to boot it deep to one of the 7 players now trying to make a run. TLDR: don’t have 6 players on attack.

Your secondary tactic is better, but still has a lot of issues with balance. I do like the one CB one BPD, but I would take the fullbacks off automatic and set their roles to balance out your defense (ie, more defensive FB on the side of your more offensive midfielder). Your midfield is very dangerous with two players who are free to leave it whenever they want offensively, but the DM should help here.

My overall advice would be 1. Read the pairs and combinations guide for info on how to make a balanced tactic. 2. Get rid of dribble more, it’s going to cause your players to isolate themselves on offense, and dribble into danger on defense. If you want some players dribbling more, use individual TI’s. 
3. I believe this might solve a huge amount of your problems with little effort, which is why I’ve separated it from the rest.... Move your wings down to natural wing positions. You’ll get more from them defensively and they’ll be more involved in the attack.

 

[HUNT3R]

@Wwarrddy as mentioned in the comment your replied to, it would be best to post in the tactics forum with your tactic if you want  tactical advice.

[afced7]

9 hours ago, Wwarrddy said:

Conceded 3 penalties in my first 4 games, too. Which is highly irritating. What is also bizarre is that I don't have a premier league game for 50 days and I'm in November?? I've only just noticed that.

I assume it's 2022 in your game and that will be because of the Qatar World Cup being held in December.

[karanhsingh]

I think your team is good enough for top 10. The midfield roles seem to be the biggest issue. I would have the DM on D duty, Douglas Luiz as a CAR or a BBM if you want to be more adventurous, and Grealish AP seems fine. I'm also playing villa and he is doing really well as the AP and key attacking outlet of the side. Also maybe Esposito as CF to get him more involved in build up play. I also reckon you can push the D line up a notch as your defenders are quite pacy. 

Try to manage morale, when you get a win praise the team, praise whoever plays well etc. 

[Wwarrddy]

I think I have steadied the ship, thank you for the advice. I knew my tactic was overly attacking for the Champ but because it had worked in the prem, too, I thought I'd finally figured something out. Apparently not. I wonder how many hours I have to play to get good haha.

Yes it was the World Cup, I'd forgotten about that and it actually saved my season. I arranged 4 or 5 easy friendlies that were winnable and it shot my morale right back up. Helped that I didn't have many internationals at the tournament. Now chasing top 8.