Can you win this match?

Hello all,

I am in the second season as manager of Portsmouth. The first season went reasonably well and I was promoted after finishing third in League Two. However, the current season I have endured miserable defeat after miserable defeat and I don't actually understand why. I will freely admit that I don't really have much of a clue about tactics in the game. The players I have seem to be quite good, though not exceptional for League One. However, I just cannot stop conceding goals. It's about an average of two a match and it is becoming really irritating.

Anyway, the problem I have at the moment is a match against Oxford. I have replayed this match over 30 times and I just can't win. The match is away and Oxford are on a 7 match unbeaten run, though still low in the table. No matter what tactics I seem to use, or players I field, I just can't do any better than a draw (1-1 on two occasions). Otherwise, Oxford win the match every single time. Usually by two goals or more and without my Portsmouth side even scoring. It does actually seem to be impossible to defeat them.

I have uploaded my save to a dropbox account. Perhaps someone could have a go at attempting to beat Oxford and see if they can - and then let me know how they managed it, and maybe any other comments on the team etc. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5jbclsp22w2fnbh/Portsmouth.fm (59mb)

Thanks.

4-5-1, attacking.

Can you send me the tactics file, or upload it somewhere?

I'll post in here later. Didn't have a proper look at the squad etc, I'll maybe have a gander tomorrow.

Thank you for your help. On my 43rd attempt, I just beat Oxford 1-0 using 4-4-2.

One question, what made you want to replay this match over and over?

The first time I lost 12-0 after having three or four players sent off. It was the final straw really.

Back to normal on the next match...

43 attempts? WTF.

I understand this is for the purpose of seeing if you could win the game but don't replay games takes the fun out of it for me!

True, but then I've found it ceased to be a fun game quite some time ago, and then things like this don't improve matters either: 2-0 up against Oldham who are the bottom club by a mile. They have a player sent off and then somehow stage a three goal comeback. As soon as they scored 1 minute after their man being sent off, I knew what was coming, but totally powerless to stop it as usual.

Nobody beats Pompey 43 times in a row!