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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 18, 2008 0:57:57 GMT
A win and two loses in the last three actually, but aye, a dip nevertheless.
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Post by coffers on Apr 18, 2008 8:52:58 GMT
A worrying dip in league form - lost three on the bounce? Hopefully Garraway's fetish for strikers will go away soon... I blame it on Boo, after all he was last pictured taking kate out on the town, since then the injury situation has rocketed. :checkit:
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Post by Moo on Apr 18, 2008 9:09:21 GMT
Nicely done, s1ut - decent form considering the injuries.
I read somewhere that if you have injuries to particular positions, then it's probably something to do with the intensity of the training schedules. Just might be worth a check.
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Post by Boony on Apr 18, 2008 9:28:08 GMT
A win and two loses in the last three actually, but aye, a dip nevertheless. Oh aye. I obviously couldn't read last night :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 18, 2008 12:25:05 GMT
Nicely done, s1ut - decent form considering the injuries. I read somewhere that if you have injuries to particular positions, then it's probably something to do with the intensity of the training schedules. Just might be worth a check. Aye, the game itself says that too in one of its blinding moments of clarity that roll by on pressing the Continue button ("players with high corner taking make the best corner takers" (the game desperately needs an Owl button)). Most of the injuries are happening in the game though - the AI is clearly using the opposition tactic "always tackle hard" option, combined with the AI's favoured "and don't get booked for it" option.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 20, 2008 1:57:29 GMT
November 2008 shows some solid form for us as my third tactic in two years makes us a bit more solid at the back, while giving us another option for single-forward formations for when the AI knacks all my players again. the search for solidity comes because our defence shows some problems this month and that costs us a few points - in our first game in November centre half Tom Roberts just plain stops chasing a Kidderminster forward and allows them to score an 89th minute equaliser for a 2-2. We bounce back with a nice come from behind win York, courtesy of Lee Clarke and a first goal for the club from Kileen Abhadi - a gorgeous 20 yard chip that ends up second in the goal of the month competition. We then bin another 2-1 against Torquay to end up with a draw, before completing a double over Stafford with a 2-0 home win thanks to two goals from Charles Ademeno. Ademeno had been riding the bench for a while because he'd pissed me off. After I went to bat for him with the board when the toffs were saying he was a bad buy, he rewarded me by moaning to the press when I subbed him off for the win over York. The player I bought on in his stead scored exactly 14 seconds after the switch, so he shouldn't really complain because it makes him look like an arse and because I'm not known for my rational reaction to players being twats. We also played twice in the FA Cup this month, sticking a 3-1 over Fleet in the First round, but then drawing Leeds in round two. We just weren't at the races against the big boys from Yorkshire and they went up 2-0 after half an hour and although we improved, we didn't look like scoring, leaving that the final score. The board were slightly miffed that we went out of the cup a round earlier than they wanted, but they can't exactly complain when we draw bloody Leeds. Fortunately, we've got might Alfreton Town in the FAT Rophy. As mentioned above, the biggest problem right now is our defence. Left back Marcel McKie and goalkeeper Dave Wilkinson are both excellent, but the centre backs are all slow and they do this annoying thing on the dot$ screen where they chase after the ball with a forward and then stop for a second... they're not being outpaced, they just stop running. The new 4-4-1-1 formation is designed to lie deep in an effort to prevent this, but the solution really needs to be more talent, not more positional instructions for players who lack football intelligence.
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Post by Sonic on Apr 20, 2008 3:05:13 GMT
Stu, are your defenders on defensive and close down rarely? I found that this caused them to stop, especially the foolbacks who still for me rush around trying to close everything down. I have my DC's on normal but own area for closing down. The only defensive minded players in the team is my GK. But ultimately you've hit your problem on the head, better players. Bloody hard in that division to get who you want. Even in on loan.
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Roo~!
Plankton
*Bubblebeam*
Posts: 7
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Post by Roo~! on Apr 20, 2008 6:49:42 GMT
I've actually found that a flat, four-man midfield basically never works. Or well, at least I've never gotten it to do well for me, which isn't saying much. Try maybe giving a defensively minded midfielder an arrow pointing backwards so he'll attempt to cover the defence when your opponents are on the attack (particularly seeing as you're playing deep), if you're not doing so already? Or maybe a 4-1-3-1-1 with a DMC and three MCs with the outer two being told to make runs down the flanks? Fun stuff anyway, never really thought about adding my own team into the game.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 20, 2008 12:44:09 GMT
Stu, are your defenders on defensive and close down rarely? I found that this caused them to stop, especially the foolbacks who still for me rush around trying to close everything down. I have my DC's on normal but own area for closing down. The only defensive minded players in the team is my GK. But ultimately you've hit your problem on the head, better players. Bloody hard in that division to get who you want. Even in on loan. My Center Halves in the 4-4-1-1 are set to close down only in their own area, but I've seen this behaviour in all of my formations, with a range of individual instructions. The AI plays a long ball over the top. The DC and the FC turn to chase it, the DC is slowly being overtaken by the FC because of pace, which is fair enough, but then the DC just stops running and then starts again. If it was caused by a player with "don't close down" suddenly finding himself right next to a player, then that would be stupid, but at least I could do something about it. Sadly my keeper's weakness is rushing out, so he doesn't sweep up unless I play a really deep line. My second best goalie comes out a bit more, but he's nowhere near the keeper of the starter.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 20, 2008 12:53:46 GMT
I've actually found that a flat, four-man midfield basically never works. Or well, at least I've never gotten it to do well for me, which isn't saying much. Try maybe giving a defensively minded midfielder an arrow pointing backwards so he'll attempt to cover the defence when your opponents are on the attack (particularly seeing as you're playing deep), if you're not doing so already? Or maybe a 4-1-3-1-1 with a DMC and three MCs with the outer two being told to make runs down the flanks? Fun stuff anyway, never really thought about adding my own team into the game. My 4-1-2-2-1 and 4-4-2 systems both use a DM, while this new 4-4-1-1 doesn't, but I've really been playing with individual and, (new for me) asymmetrical instructions. The easiest example of this is at MC, where one guy gets lots of forward runs and an attacking mentality, while the other guy gets no forward runs, no closing down, no creative license, zonal marking and no tight marking, leaving him to loiter in midfield, even without the arrow. I then have the more attacking MC set up a loose man-marking job on one opposition MC, meaning that the defensive minded player isn't left trying to fill a gap against two attackers. The asymmetry then extends out to the wingers and fullbacks, with the FB on the attacking side given mixed forward runs behind a winger on Often, while the defensive side FB gets no runs behind a winger on mixed. The FB with no forward runs also gets to be the "surprise" passer - most of the backline and midfield are set to slowly build through short and mixed passing and then RB is set to no creative freedom, long passing, try lots of through balls, which means the other guys hopefully draw the opposition up and then when the ball switches to the right, the Fullback will instantly look to a long through ball over the top to Rob Dale. It gets Dale through 1-on-1 with the keeper quite a lot, so it's a shame his composure is only 8.
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Post by Boony on Apr 20, 2008 22:26:43 GMT
Nice stuff, s1ut. Good to see the thought you're putting into the tactics - have one of these :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 21, 2008 2:23:13 GMT
December 2008 and Chirstmas is a time for good will to all men, so you wouldn't want to annoy someone at this time by actually winning, would you? So, because I'm a nice guy, we draw all of our league games this month. Our first 0-0 of the season starts things off against Exeter, then we do our usual of binning a 2-1 against Grays to finish 2-2, thanks to the DC-who-stops-running fun. Our final league game is one we should win, but we leak an early goal and then struggle to break down Forest Green, before Rob Dale finally salvages the point with a blaster from the edge of the area. In the cups we advance in the two we're still in, clubbing Alfreton Town 4-1 in the FAT, thanks to braces from Rob Dale and Lee Clarke and then slaying our nemesis Weymouth in the Setanta Trophy, (whatever the hell that is), thanks again to Dale who scored on 18 minutes and our defence who then held Weymouth out for 72 minutes. For an idea of how much we were under the cosh against Weymouth; we had four shots during the game, Weymouth had 22. Sanctuary Keeper David Wilkinson earns the MoM award. I should watch where I rest my mouse pointer when taking screenshots. No one cares about Exeter anyway.
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Post by coffers on Apr 21, 2008 8:37:17 GMT
Torquay care about Exeter, they are local rivals, Torquay want them relegated.
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Post by Boony on Apr 21, 2008 8:47:04 GMT
In a month of draws, it's a nice touch that the mouse pointer says "Games Drawn".
For those who are arithmetically challenged, and give much of a shit, Exeter have drawn 8 and lost 8, as well as the 10 they've won. This is, of course, asssuming they haven't had any points docked for badness...
Good progress in the cups, dude. KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 21, 2008 14:09:00 GMT
Cups are for girls though, clearly. Although I might be changing my mind shortly.
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Post by Boony on Apr 21, 2008 14:33:58 GMT
Cups are not for girls. That's sooooo 2003. Cups are now for poofs who can't win the league. Or CANFPWCWTL (pr. can-fup-wuk-wurtle)
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 21, 2008 14:41:16 GMT
I spend January 2009 phoning my board and leaving rude messages on their answerphones, asking for cash. The tight financial controls I've run this season have seen the club nose out of the red for the first time ever and we sit now with a balance of £130,243, after I engineered a profit of £369,781 this season, by consistently running almost £2,000 a week under our wage budget. They keep turning me down and are now refusing to return my calls, regardless of how many colourful adjectives I leave on their voicemail. As a result, we sign only one player in the transfer window - DLC/WBL Matt Briggs who comes on loan to the end of the season from Fulham's reserves. Amusingly, LSC Lille Metropole offer me Antony Mescarte on loan to the end of the season for nothing, but the second I accept the offer ES Wasquehal jump in with a loan offer and for some reason Mescarte doesn't want to leave the sights of France for the sites of Slough. I've been playing friendlies against Lille each off-season and praising their manager a bit when they win in the hopes of building a relationship where I get to borrow their players now and eventually I can use them as a feeder when I turn Sanctuary into the giants of Europe. Anyway... we do play some games this month, with various levels and subjects of rapage going on. First off we run into Rushden and Diamonds who beat us 3-0 at The Gazebo earlier in the year and here they're 3-0 up after just 19 minutes. We swap things around and stablise the game, but still end up losing 4-1, drawing my board to return my call for the first time in January, to call me a useless canute. Rightback Craig Duxbury has a nightmare game giving up two penalties, one of which is saved and he and centrebacks Tom Roberts and Ben Martin all pick up yellows. The two DCs will now both miss the next league game with suspension. Looking for a way to bring the board back onside, I remember how much they enjoyed the earlier 7-3 win, so I smash Hyde into the ground 6-3 in the FAT Rophy 2nd Round, thanks to a hattrick from Rob Dale, a brace from Chuck Ademeno and a goal from Lee Clarke. Clarke pulls his hamstring in the game and will miss a month. Following the 6-3 the goals continue to pour in as we come back from 2-0 and 3-2 behind to draw 3-3 at home with Hinckley with credit going to an Ademeno hattrick for our three goals and a defence patched together to cover for suspensions for their three. We should really be beating Hinckley and these draws are slowly starving our playoff hopes of oxygen, but I did only say midtable this year after all and that was considered a stretch. After the game I get my next section of free wallpaper with which to redecorate my office, in the shape of my second written warning from the FA, for claiming we should have had a penalty that was turned down. That option is a total crap-shoot and here the news bit says the "general consensus" was that it was a penalty, but when I complain I'm told the video shows the ref was right. General consensus wankers, getting me into trouble. The board moan at me, for a change. Thankfully the following saturday we go to Ebbsfleet and stick a 3-0 on them to end a run of five Blue Square Premier games without a win. QPR loanee Chris Arthur scores one of the sweetest goals I've seen with this team as he collects the ball in midfield, runs past two tacklers, slides the ball off to Ademeno and continues his run to get the return ball just inside the box, round the keeper and tap home. Ademeno gets himself on the scoresheet cleaning up after a Junior Harvey shot is saved and Rob Dale won't be denied - the 6'7" forward heading in from a corner. That leaves us to play one more game in January as we face Chester in the third round of the FAT. When AMRLC Chris Arthur is injured in the fourth minute it screws my formation as he's a very athletic player at the point in my midfield and offers some cover to the exposed DM. Without him, Chester pour all over us sending in shot after shot on reserve keeper Jamie Waite who starts most of our cup games. Waite does brilliantly though, turning aside a rake of shots and showing safe hands on corners and we reach the break scoreless, despite the visitor's supremecy. At the break I switch some things around, putting right back John Kyriacou on specific man marking in the hope that he won't get pulled to the middle and then "triangled" around into the gap behind him and that works, snuffing out the left side of Chester's attack that was causing us so much trouble. They're still dominating, but at least we're getting some possession now... On 66 minutes a rare chance falls to Robert Dale and he doesn't disappoint, firing across the keeper for 1-0! Chester kick off, lose the ball to Stefan Oakes, who hits long to Dale - the 6'7" forward leaps, flicks the ball on and Medi Elito sprints through to slot home for 2-0. Later, Dale makes it 3-0 and we're through to the next round comfortably. After the game, Chester's manager calls me Mr Lucky McLuckerton and he may have a point. But I still tell him to stop being a moany bitch. I'm definitely happy with how things are going, but I'm also definitely not quite good enough. Still, I had to spend three seasons in the conference with St Ablans... Kudos to Halifax for scoring only 31 goals in 29 games and still being fourth.
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Post by coffers on Apr 21, 2008 15:11:48 GMT
Kudos to Stu for keeping us reach of the play-off spots. :thumb:
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Post by Boony on Apr 21, 2008 15:32:49 GMT
It's all down to the "fitness" "training"...
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Post by Sonic on Apr 22, 2008 4:38:28 GMT
Naw, it's the good scouting by one of the scouts. how else are these 'good' players coming in?
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Post by coffers on Apr 22, 2008 8:12:44 GMT
Actually it's all down to Kate. She's keeping me occupied and diverting my attention away from interfering with footballing matters. :checkit:
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Post by Sonic on Apr 22, 2008 9:48:59 GMT
Bostords. I knew there was a reason to get me away from the club.
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Post by Moo on Apr 24, 2008 10:09:26 GMT
I must be on strike or something, if we're still up that end of the table. KUTBTPLW! (Breaking The Picket Line)
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Post by Sonic on Apr 24, 2008 11:01:37 GMT
Is there anything I can bring you back Moo from my travels to keep you performing to these excellent levels?
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 26, 2008 16:16:17 GMT
I must be on strike or something, if we're still up that end of the table. KUTBTPLW! (Breaking The Picket Line) I think you're about to come back to work...
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