Football Manager too complicated!

[kenpet]

I am about to give up. I thought I had figured out about tactics in this game after promoting my local team from second highest division to the highest division in this country. My local team are newly promoted to the second highest division IRL, so I was pretty proud of myself. (I live in Norway btw). Did an OK second season and finished at 9th place in the highest division. But in the 3 next seasons I ended mid-table, even though I bought some pretty decent players, so I gave up because I couldn't finish higher.

I then started a save with Aston Villa and finished mid-table in the first season. Pretty good concedering how they finished this year in real life. In the second season we also finished mid-table. in the third season I bought some world class players, but somehow we play much worse than we did in the 2 first seasons, and we are 13th now.

I try to read guides and learn about tactics from FM forums, but it's still too complicated for me. I try to make logical instructions in my tactic, but it just won't work and I really don't know why it works. I just want to enjoy this game and be successful with my own tactics, but it's just too hard! I don't wanna download other tactics because I don't get the same good feeling by winning with downloaded tactics.

How do I make a style which suits my players? I seem to do a great first season, but in the second season we perform the same as the first season, or we perform worse than the first season. Also the roles & duties confuses me so much, even though I have read some guides about them.

[Neil Brock]

Sometimes when you change something (like in your case personnel with Villa in the 3rd season) things you've been doing particularly well in one formation and system won't work quite so well with different players. Not to mention it'll always take a bit of time for the players to adapt to the system, country and other players.

Some of our tactical 'gurus' suggest when making a new tactic or big tactical changes to watch a couple of matches with the 'full match' environment. This way you can see exactly how your tactical instructions are translating to the match itself. What's working and what isn't. You can increase the speed and perhaps even watch in 2D so you can see things from a birds eye perspective.

Don't over-complicate it yourself. Keep it simple with your team and build slowly. Don't dive straight in and expect the team to play fluid football passing it around the opposition with ease - likewise when bringing in new players don't expect them to fit in seamlessly.

[GylfiAsCharged]

If you're finding the game too complex it might be worth playing the FM Touch game mode? It is generally simplified and streamlined, and you don't have to wait for players to gain familiarity with new tactics which could help you find your feet quicker in that sense.

[herne79]

You can always start a new thread in the Tactics, Training and Strategy Forum to ask people there how you may be able to improve your system.

http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/18-Tactics-amp-Training-Discussion

Just give us lots of detail about your tactical system and the issues you are having. Someone may be able to offer suggestions on how to improve things.

[LEEMOD]

If you're finding the game too complex it might be worth playing the FM Touch game mode? It is generally simplified and streamlined, and you don't have to wait for players to gain familiarity with new tactics which could help you find your feet quicker in that sense.

If it had the same skin & huge database I would do.

Why are the skins so poor on FMT?

[Neil Brock]

If it had the same skin & huge database I would do.

Why are the skins so poor on FMT?

Why do you consider the skin poor? Have you tried checking out the Skinning Hideout to find something more appropriate for your tastes?

[LEEMOD]

Yeah, I found some ace ones for the full game but why can't those skins be used on FMT?

I know FMT is the watered down version but why can't you keep the same skin?

[YKW]

I am about to give up. I thought I had figured out about tactics in this game after promoting my local team from second highest division to the highest division in this country. My local team are newly promoted to the second highest division IRL, so I was pretty proud of myself. (I live in Norway btw). Did an OK second season and finished at 9th place in the highest division. But in the 3 next seasons I ended mid-table, even though I bought some pretty decent players, so I gave up because I couldn't finish higher.

I then started a save with Aston Villa and finished mid-table in the first season. Pretty good concedering how they finished this year in real life. In the second season we also finished mid-table. in the third season I bought some world class players, but somehow we play much worse than we did in the 2 first seasons, and we are 13th now.

It sounds to me like you are a victim of your own success. When you finish in good placings with your teams it makes other teams take you more seriously - e.g. they will be less attacking and more focused on keeping their shape defensively.

In your early seasons you have a team that people aren't afraid of. For example your newly promoted team in Norway, and Aston Villa who are one of the worst Prem teams. If you think about it logically, very, very few teams in the league are going to be defensively focused when you play them. Teams of Arsenal's level will always come out to attack you, midtable teams like Everton will attack you, and most probably the teams that got promoted with you will try and have a go as well. This means that you will have played the majority of your games against teams who left the pitch more open, meaning more space and time for your players and possibility of higher quality chances with few defenders nearby.

You finish mid-table with Villa, and 9th (out of 16?) with your Norwegian team, which are both pretty solid mid-table finishes.

As a result of these very impressive finishes your reputation will rise. People no longer think that your team is a pushover. If you add to this that you have signed some world class players then some teams may even fear your attacking threat. What this means is that an increased number of teams will be looking to play defensively against you, and be looking to maintain their shape to avoid being beaten. You might see less 4-4-2's and more 4-1-4-1's for example, along with a more cautious mentality or selection of roles. Breaking down a stubborn defense and creating quality chances is very hard, and a totally different challenge compared to what you have encountered so far.

You might find it useful to start a quick game as Man City, who will be coming up against a lot of defensive opponents, and then try to get used to different ways of breaking this down.

I'm struggling in exactly the same way, as my tactic has become less effective as I have evolved into one of the league's strongest teams. I have a huge amount of possession and loads of shots but very few, if any, good chances. I haven't managed a top team on this version yet, so I can't really offer you any specific tips, but there are some things that I have found promising.

Firstly I've found that doing something counter-intuitive usually makes sense in the end. For example, when coming up against very defensive teams my instinct is to go more attacking, push higher up and try and close them down more in order to monopolise possession. But actually I have found some success by dropping deeper and/or closing down less and tackling hard. The theory behind this would be that it draws the opponent out and also mean that I win the ball closer to my own goal, with more space ahead to play into.

Secondly you can do a Moyes. This would be relying on brute force rather than guile to unlock a tough defense, mainly by playing with a lot of width and crossing it in to the box a lot.

Basically I just think you have learned how to play against bigger teams, but now you need to learn how to play against smaller teams. Sorry I can't give you anything more specific to work with in terms of advice, but I'm still trying to learn this also.