This game is making me feel like I'm an idiot.

[Seff]

Am I the only one struggling here with this years? I can't seem to do good on any team, I've started 3 games already as Schalke, Hamburg and now Nice and I've been fired twice and now in the middle of my third I've just lost 3 in a row and I can smell the sacking already.

I've played FM for years now and spent a lot of time on them and NEVER have I been fired more than once after playing as maybe 20 or so different teams on each FM. Uusally on the last ones the stats would never add up when you start these losing streaks, say you'd have 10 shots on target to their 1, but they'd have scored that 1 and you'd have missed all 10 even with the best team in the league and they were the worst. This one is completely random, some games this will happen but then the next game it'll be the opposite except they'd score 5 of their chances and I'd miss my only one. The possession and pass accuracies will chance from game to game not changing anything, I watch my matches right and the only thing I can see different between me and my opposition is that they simply have better players no matter who I have on my team.

You could say it's my tactics but how would my tactics ever decide if my 4 star striker will mess up a 1 on 1 but then their 2 star striker will go and score from 20 yards? Or the fact my midfielder will not be able to make a simple through ball in a 2v1 situation but then their midfielder will go and make a pass that takes my whole defence out of the game. I can't understand it, I've tried different formations, different tactics, tried different players, teams, training, team talks, etc etc etc but the same remains, I just can't seem to win games. I honestly don't feel like it's my tactics, my players, team talks or training but what else could be making my team just not play good?

As a few extra points;
1. I always start the season off good, first 10 games or so I'll be around my predicted place, then next 10 I lose nearly all of them and get fired.

2. Of my three saves I've had I've not managed to score one free kick yet I've conceeded quite a few.

3. Before in previous years you usually have a few consistent players and 1 or 2 stand out players even when you're doing bad, in my 3 saves I've not had one player do much better than the rest and no consistency, I'll have someone get an 8.0 then next game 5.9.

4. My wingers seem to love to do some sort of odd, low shot/cross that goes straight to the GK a lot?

5. Overload is a useless tactic, I've used it many times and have managed 0 goals but conceeded a lot from it.

Thanks for reading my semi-annoyed rant/curiosity towards if this game is harder or if I'm missing something.

[Meltdown]

Originally posted by JPChenet:

I completely agree with you. My post on the forms was closed as it's seen as complaining, but today once gain i start the game 19 games unbeaten including pre-season friendlies, then BANG I lose against the bottom club, and now have lost 6 in a row and face the sack. Now some might say the AI has worked out my tactic, but according to my closed post SI says the AI doesn't do this ("the AI doesn't master your tactic" is the quote) - so what's happened? Why should i have to change things after so many games?... If it's not broke, why fix it? The usual stuff aggrevates me, you start losing cos the oppenent starts scoring free-kicks, penalties and wonder goals, but the biggest annoyance is losing to bottom teams - and this isn't because of park the bus tactics either, indeed my tactic on this save is averaging 49% possession.

I've been playing these sort of games from the day dot and like many of my my friends am starting to get a little annoyed with the undoing of tactics in this version. It's not like i don't understand tactical play either - I've been involved in coaching at all levels and have in the past been involved with the tactical side in testing with similar games. I've also tested many tactics available to download and have yet to find a more consitent tactic than the ones I use myself, and all ultimately failing.

Now before replying please bear in mind my points; I am not after a winning tactic, but after some explanation why successful tactics start failing after 15 games or so.

I agree with this post. I have also played FM for many years, from Championship Manager 3 and this one is by far the worst for losing to bottom of the table. This happens on EVERY save. I have tried discussions and also looking up in other forums on why it happens. It rages the hell out of me. I started with Concord, 1st after 10 games, i face Wealdstone who have 2 points from 10 games, lose 5-2. I am getting to the point now where i am seriously considering buying next years game. I feel like now the guys that produce FM just think they have to do minimal upgrades and forget what people say about the bug fixes as they will buy it anyway. Dont get me wrong its a lot better than FM16, god that was awful, however you didnt lose to bottom all of the time.

[BisterMungle]

as soon as i selected Get stuck in my results improved a lot, but i get shed loads of red cards.

[Neil Brock]

Originally posted by JPChenet:

I completely agree with you. My post on the forms was closed as it's seen as complaining, but today once gain i start the game 19 games unbeaten including pre-season friendlies, then BANG I lose against the bottom club, and now have lost 6 in a row and face the sack. Now some might say the AI has worked out my tactic, but according to my closed post SI says the AI doesn't do this ("the AI doesn't master your tactic" is the quote) - so what's happened? Why should i have to change things after so many games?... If it's not broke, why fix it? The usual stuff aggrevates me, you start losing cos the oppenent starts scoring free-kicks, penalties and wonder goals, but the biggest annoyance is losing to bottom teams - and this isn't because of park the bus tactics either, indeed my tactic on this save is averaging 49% possession.

I've been playing these sort of games from the day dot and like many of my my friends am starting to get a little annoyed with the undoing of tactics in this version. It's not like i don't understand tactical play either - I've been involved in coaching at all levels and have in the past been involved with the tactical side in testing with similar games. I've also tested many tactics available to download and have yet to find a more consitent tactic than the ones I use myself, and all ultimately failing.

Now before replying please bear in mind my points; I am not after a winning tactic, but after some explanation why successful tactics start failing after 15 games or so.

The AI does not 'work out tactics'. What can sometimes change tactically is that AI teams depending on your own club's league table position and form, will look at you differently. For instance, if you're say a team like say Bournemouth in the Premier League, a large number of teams, certainly in the top 8 will look at them and consider their own team to be stronger. Because of this they're likely to play attacking formations. Mid-table sides likewise will realise they're stronger on paper and again will attack, but may take a slightly more cautious approach when they're the away team. Lower ranked Premier teams will likely play a balanced formation home and away.

Then let's say by January in your first season, Bournemouth are 5th in the table and have won impressive victories. The AI managers will look at this and realise you shouldn't be underestimated. Teams will be more likely to play a defensive counter based style when coming to play at Bournemouth and be more balanced overall.

Mid and certainly lower sides in the table will play defensively. This means a tactic you had working fine for the entire system is suddenly playing against totally different tactics than in the first half of the season. Many human managers assume that if their tactic is working there's never a need to change it, but fail to take into account the fact the AI will adapt as the season goes on. Tactics however, as said above are not individually 'worked out'.

"Why should i have to change things after so many games?... If it's not broke, why fix it?"

A manager has to realise they will need to adapt and improve their squad as time goes on. You can't just plug in a tactic, press continue and expect to win every game. The user already has a pretty large advantage over the AI when it comes to squad building (as simply the AI is never going to have as many options or be as smart as the user until we make huge technological advances in AI), but you can't expect one tactic to work against every combination of team and setup.

[Spliff]

Originally posted by morph113:

I just lost a first round cup match against an U20 team although I was favourites with 1.03 odds on win :)

this just means you have absolutely no idea how to setup your team or tactics.. sry to say

[simon_rasmussen]

This is absolutely ridiculous. In FM2016 I have the absolutely best team in the Indonesian league, the match stats for the last three games (25/13 - 3/1) lost 0-1, (33/16 - 1/0) lost 0-1 on own goal, (17/10 - 4/2) draw 2-2. I have had the absolutely best team for years and won 1 championship within the last 8 seasons. How I have managed not to be fired is almost an even bigger miracle.

I have never experienced anything like this in any of the older games, it is like playing on level impossible!