Terrible Season

Well my worst season ever is complete. Lost my last 3 games (2 of them troll inflicted defeats) and finished 8th. The 3 teams behind me all had a superb late run and overtook me. My strikers been crap all season.
I have never finished outside the top 4 till now and won 10 Leagues out of 12.
This is the same squad which won me the League easily last season and the CL.
I would welcome any tips as to how to approach next season ? Squad clear out ? I feel like sacking all the under performers right now (but I'll stay off the game for today till my anger subsides).
Has anyone else had such a fall from grace ? If I'd known this season would be so poor I'd have tanked.


FC Loella. Server 121. Level 13
10 League Titles
2 Champions Leagues

what can i say? i am no expert. but 1st of all: i guess it's in the mechanics of the game, that winning teams got bad times. i am playing since two month and i read such posts nearly every day.
2nd. how can people give you advices if they don't know what you did?
did you watch your matches? which formation did you use. who got more stars on the field. were your team motivated and full condition? did they perform 5 or 8? there are so many facts that involves the result. you find enough advices in that forum. if you need special advices, you should ask more specific.

greets Baby:D

Yeah.... i also experienced same thing as you.. Last season i won the leage with perfect 26-0-0 score and +110 GD
This time also i didnt make any great changes except adding 2-3 new players to my starting XI and in first half of the season i was at 10th position , then i changed some orders and tactics and bought some more new players and replaced them with under-performing players in starting XI and atlast i managed to secure 4th position , finally !! I was fearing worst of getting below 7th pos. , but thanks to late wins (Won 4 out of last 5 matches and drew 1 )
Overall i finished fourth with just 14wins (compared to last season's 26)
Hope it would not be the same next season also :/

P.S :- i also experienced a lot of injuries this season( big ones 5days+) compared to last season ( 500% more)
In first half of the season , i had like 1 injury per match or my best player would get his second yellow card just before some imp. match and he is banned for 1 match :(
Though last seven matches i had only 2 injuries (small ones)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BabyGoth

what can i say? i am no expert. but 1st of all: i guess it's in the mechanics of the game, that winning teams got bad times. i am playing since two month and i read such posts nearly every day.
2nd. how can people give you advices if they don't know what you did?
did you watch your matches? which formation did you use. who got more stars on the field. were your team motivated and full condition? did they perform 5 or 8? there are so many facts that involves the result. you find enough advices in that forum. if you need special advices, you should ask more specific.

greets Baby:D

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Watched all my matches. Ratings mostly 7-8. Team always on 99% for everything. I use 4-4-2 (always have). Use defensive counter attacking against stronger teams and normal against teams around my level. All players are 5 star with a few scouts and one 7 star.
The team were ok in the CL as I got to semi-final but collapsed from a 2-1 away win to a 1-4 defeat at home in the 2nd leg.
My point is that I had the same squad last season and bossed it in both comps. I was unbeaten in the League as well.
I just wondered if anyone had been in the same situation and how they dealt with it.
I would say 10 League titles out of 12 means I have been doing ok up till now ! My team and tactics haven't just gone bad !


FC Loella. Server 121. Level 13
10 League Titles
2 Champions Leagues

ok. i would say the problem is your formation. if you got good opponents they check your league history, see you play always 4-4-2 and they just see that and counter you. the second thing is. i don't know how match-making works. maybe you had a good season so you get good opponents this seasons. last thing i could imagine. you bought strong players but slow trainers. you enemy bought weaker players that improved well and so they came out strong late in season so you lose now.

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I use 4-4-2 (always have)

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ok, maybe this could be the answer in your problem.
After lv2-3 I stopped playing 4-4-2 only and I watched my opponents, their formations and if I could use a good counter formation.
Of course this is the more balance formation but your team was too predictable using the same in every game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BabyGoth

ok. i would say the problem is your formation. if you got good opponents they check your league history, see you play always 4-4-2 and they just see that and counter you. the second thing is. i don't know how match-making works. maybe you had a good season so you get good opponents this seasons. last thing i could imagine. you bought strong players but slow trainers. you enemy bought weaker players that improved well and so they came out strong late in season so you lose now.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikolgiorgos

ok, maybe this could be the answer in your problem.
After lv2-3 I stopped playing 4-4-2 only and I watched my opponents, their formations and if I could use a good counter formation.
Of course this is the more balance formation but your team was too predictable using the same in every game.

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Could you briefly advise the general counter formation for 4-4-2? I also adopted this for 16 seasons because this is easy to manage and avoid illegal formation (but now this point is meaningless). Instead of changing formation & players for different opponents, I tend to ensure the players on field are in good form & good condition and avoid them playing out of natural positions.

Anyway, as dave1311's team is good for many seasons and my teams are not bad, I still believe teams playing with 4-4-2 can be competitive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cookizzz

Could you briefly advise the general counter formation for 4-4-2? I also adopted this for 16 seasons because this is easy to manage and avoid illegal formation (but now this point is meaningless). Instead of changing formation & players for different opponents, I tend to ensure the players on field are in good form & good condition and avoid them playing out of natural positions.

Anyway, as dave1311's team is good for many seasons and my teams are not bad, I still believe teams playing with 4-4-2 can be competitive.

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But u need to be more flexible..dont just stick only on 442C ...Coz many formation can counter 4-4-2 C easily especially with the teams higher quality,bro...our teams can beat the 4-4-2C very very easily...

Some of the examples...

My level 14.. Dangbros United:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...09a83767873a1e
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...05&oe=55120C0B

Or my Level 13: Tuan DM FC

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...19&oe=54FBC3D2
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...16aca5ac81c312

Dave- in the same boat as you. I won my league and the CL last season. As of Thursday I had not lost in a week, was preparing for the CL final and was in 3rd place in my league. Two losses later 2!- I am the CL runner up and in 5th place so won't qualify for the CL next season. Maybe I need a therapist!?

I am still pondering what to do but trying to approach things analytically, will be investing big $$$ in a new MR and aggressively training my existing players. I also need to understand tactics better because my gameplan for the CL final was misconceived and probably lost me a winnable game. So don't tear things up - you have a good team- stay the course and make intelligent squad improvements.

Btw, I feel like I can beat the 4-4-2 mostly, I think it is a vulnerable formation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cookizzz

Could you briefly advise the general counter formation for 4-4-2? I also adopted this for 16 seasons because this is easy to manage and avoid illegal formation (but now this point is meaningless). e.

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Draw an "X" in the middle of the DC/DMC/MC formation. An AMC with very good shooting is a valuable commodity.

Ok, I saw saw the post of BabyGoth later. I wrote mine and sent it after when I saw that we were talking about the same thing :D
I have the site open but I watch it from time to time.
I 'm not an expert in formations, just give you some examples.
Last season semi finals in CH.L. . Playing against a guy who always played 4-4-2, 1/2 star less than me. First game out, 4-5-1V, draw 1-1, second leg I played 4-1-2-1-2 ND, through the middle. When my ST and then my AMC scored, he realized that he accepted many attacks from the center, subbed his DL with a DMC but it was too late.
Also when I face an oppo playing ND or 4-3N-3 I 'm using 3DC-1DMC. There is no reason using DL/DR.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brian Dang

But u need to be more flexible..dont just stick only on 442C ...Coz many formation can counter 4-4-2 C easily especially with the teams higher quality,bro...our teams can beat the 4-4-2C very very easily...

Some of the examples...

My level 14.. Dangbros United:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...09a83767873a1e
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...05&oe=55120C0B

Or my Level 13: Tuan DM FC

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...19&oe=54FBC3D2
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...16aca5ac81c312

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My 4-4-2 is not too rigid. In general, I will make some in-match changes if I found the opponent is vulnerable in some positions. Well, usually I will be more attractive in wing position if the opponent is weak there. But I seldom attack through the middle because I usually do not intentionally employ AMC (though my L16 have 2 at this moment).

In this season, I often face the formation that you showed above. But the opponents are usually weaker than my teams. Actually, I consider this formation is weak in wings. So I usually move one of the AR/ML to AR/AML. Sometimes I even set to attack on both flanks. For defense, I think my 4 defenders is generally sufficient in most cases. Anyway, I monitor the statistics. If the opponent control the match and have more shots, I may try to substitute a midfielder/striker with DMC or even an extra DC.

I don't pay too much attention on counter formation before because I think any counter formation which is considered favorable against mine has their vulnerable area. I start with 4-4-2 because it is balance. In fact, my team is usually conservative, defensive minded. It will be slowly turned to more attractive only if I found it clearly control the match, or it really need more goals.

Anyway, thanks for your advice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jult52

Draw an "X" in the middle of the DC/DMC/MC formation. An AMC with very good shooting is a valuable commodity.

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I agree that my team has concern on AMC of the opponent. If the opponent is clearly stronger than my team, sometimes I will use a DMC to replace one of my MC and set the tactic to hard defense. But in general, I start with 4-4-2. If the AMC is really very active, I may firstly set one of the MC backward, and next consider to add a DMC.

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nikolgiorgos

Ok, I saw saw the post of BabyGoth later. I wrote mine and sent it after when I saw that we were talking about the same thing :D
I have the site open but I watch it from time to time.
I 'm not an expert in formations, just give you some examples.
Last season semi finals in CH.L. . Playing against a guy who always played 4-4-2, 1/2 star less than me. First game out, 4-5-1V, draw 1-1, second leg I played 4-1-2-1-2 ND, through the middle. When my ST and then my AMC scored, he realized that he accepted many attacks from the center, subbed his DL with a DMC but it was too late.
Also when I face an oppo playing ND or 4-3N-3 i 'm using 3D-1DMC. There is no reason using DL/DR.

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I do feel that DR or DL is wasted if the opponent has no ML/AML/MR/AMR. But I am defensive minded and do not feel comfortable to start without DR/DL unless the opponent also has no AMC and only have a ST. I usually make necessary changes in matches. Even in matches, I seldom alter my defenders, unless I notice that a defender is very inactive and opponent score a lot.

Guys, this is all very useful advice and exactly what I was looking for. I guess my 4-4-2 is quite rigid and predictable. I do occasionally bring on an AMC and go 4-3-1-2 and I do change tactics during a game too. Many thanks for all the constructive comments here.


FC Loella. Server 121. Level 13
10 League Titles
2 Champions Leagues