On the verge of a winless season...

[jslmsca]

I'm on the verge of a winless season in the Irish Premier Division with Finn Harps. I've set a new division record for consecutive winless games. I'm surprised I haven't been fired yet. When I go to the confidence page, my status is "Stable" even though the "blue bar" is all the way to the left.

Mistakes and things I have learned through this misery...

1. I relied on a 34-year old striker potting 25 goals to get me promoted. I was hoping he could still be relevant but his declining skills means he has only scored six times all year.
   
2. My "retain possession", "ball control", "low tempo" tactic was ripped to shreds by every team who had superior players at their disposal.
   
3. I swear this is a bug. My DL and DR when on short passing, retain possession instructions, will, at some point during a crucial part of the match, track back toward their own goal lines and blindly cross right in front of my goal gifting a ball to the opposition striker. I've lost games on this. Giving the DL and DR a "cross less" instruction has helped somewhat but they still do it instead of simply kicking it out of bounds when in trouble.
   
4. I swear this is a bug. My goaltender will try and catch a ball wide of net and inevitably step out of bounds gifting a corner. It happens too often and also has resulted in games lost on subsequent set piece goals.
   
5. An aging DC with really low pace and acceleration is useless. I brought in one after promotion thinking that experience and mental attributes would put him in the right position 9 times out of 10 but even average strikers just blow by him.
   
6. I've literally seen my players watch the opposition go in on goal without any attempt to close them down. It seems they've given up. At the start of the season, I pressed dangerous opposition players. After getting carved open too many times, I've avoided opposition instructions since I don't think my players can walk and chew gum at the same time. They should still instinctively press when they are the last man and a striker is going in on goal.
   
7. For anyone like me who is struggling with tactics and not familiar with "football", I have to thank Cleon, the Hand of God, and others who have taken the time to post the invaluable tutorials that are stickied. Unfortunately, after reading all that, I can come up with what seems like a sound starting tactic but have difficulty seeing what needs to be done to alter things pre-match and during the game. My Assistant Manager will suggest things like "x needs to be closed down" but I know if I do that, my defensive positioning will leave holes.
   

This is easily the most frustrating season I've ever played, having played many versions of CM/FM. It's probably a combination of wrong tactics and wrong players. But as a small club, there aren't a lot of across-the-board "double digit" players wanting to sign.

[Overmars]

I sympathize. I am in a relegation battle of my own, but things can improve. With slow defenders, it would be very helpful to drop deeper and play with a lower mentality. That should eliminate any over the top passes and through balls. Your full backs might be making mistakes with the ball because they have no apparent passing outlets. I don't know what formation you are using, but try to give your full backs an outlet, or instruct them to boot it long up the field. As for opposition instructions, I almost invariably avoid using them. If you specifically man mark one player then that can change your entire team's defensive shape and leave you more vulnerable than before.