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Agree with Tevery Best, although I definitely don't want to discourage experimentation. If you're looking for an effective cross-trained player, in general I would suggest positions that benefit from the same primary attribute. - Passing focused AM: combining with CM or LM/RM - Accuracy focused AM: combining with CF - DM; combining with CD, SW, or LD/RD What skill you get also matters some as well.
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Jan 26, 2023 18:29
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I would imagine the best 'box-to-box' midfielder would be a Control focused MF with Slide Tackle, since they'd have good mobility, could contribute defensively anywhere on the pitch, and can hold the ball up well with their Control. They'd get a second skill too so could contribute offensively with a pass skill or even with a shot skill like Cannon Shot. I generally find the universal positions to be better than spending time cross-training in multiple positions since you get access to 2 skills and don't have to spend precious specialization levels on a new position.
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Jan 26, 2023 19:31
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Vote Results It seems clear that those who are going to vote have done so. We have unanimous or nearly-so agreement on a number of points: - Youth Rivalry - Upgrade Training Grounds - Sign Zoecke, aka Kyoon Griffey Jr. - Adaptive Playing Time approach On contracts, there's a strong agreement that we should sell Average Lettuce. We will do so immediately since we can't pay for the other desired contracts without that money. The routine contracts are approved, as well as a 3-year deal for Odd Wilson. NiftyBottle was a tight vote, but there was one more vote for a 1-year extension than there was for selling him so he stays. The stadium was also close, but by a single vote the expansion there is rejected. Youth Academy upgrade failed to be approved by the same margin. In terms of coaches, the only one with a consensus is to add a single midfield coach, so we will do that, getting a 20% bonus to midfielder experience. The other four Training Grounds staff positions are held over for future consideration.  The stats aren't particularly gaudy apart from assists - which in this case largely means lightly-opposed passes from midfield after a kickoff - but as we have previously discussed his greatest ability was deterring the passing skills of opponents through the middle. Against clubs such as Burghausen I expect his absence will be noted. 7 full years of service plugging the midfield. We spent 16,504 on him during that time.  If we manage to stay up, we won't be seeing him as a competitor. I'm thinking just now it might be interesting to do an annual 'let's catch up with' feature on our former players that are still active and how they are performing for their new clubs. The choice here is basically between Koblenz for the cash and Zwickau for the Glory. I make the executive decision that we're at the point where glory is more important, so Zwickau it is. That gives us about 10:1 return on his contract expenses, not counting the Glory. After all is said and done we have 161 Glory and 78,679 Money left.  Until/unless we reach a reasonably safe position in the table, our starting formation will look something like this. AJ_Impy's location will change based on what our first opponent does, and then he'll get a class and we'll know where to put him. Subs will be BraveLittlToaster and Kyoon Griffey Jr..
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Jan 27, 2023 22:30
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 Average Lettuce, you punched well
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Jan 28, 2023 01:21
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Odd Wilson posted:
 He did his best, and as reward he shall continue in the lowest division.
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Jan 28, 2023 10:44
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Strategic Sage posted:In terms of coaches, the only one with a consensus is to add a single midfield coach, so we will do that, getting a 20% bonus to midfielder experience. The other four Training Grounds staff positions are held over for future consideration. I feel it’s not possible to achieve broad consensus on this one, so after this I’m proposing a 1 MF 1 GK 1 DF unity ticket. We will always be mortal enemies but for the sake of actually using the Training Grounds we must make peace. Strategic Sage posted:The choice here is basically between Koblenz for the cash and Zwickau for the Glory. I make the executive decision that we're at the point where glory is more important, so Zwickau it is. Whoa, we need to be prioritizing Glory more if it’s worth 4000 a pop! Youth Academy 1 is in fact very worth it if it saves us 9 Glory every six months.
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Jan 28, 2023 23:40
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Pokeytax posted:I feel it’s not possible to achieve broad consensus on this one, so after this I’m proposing a 1 MF 1 GK 1 DF unity ticket. We will always be mortal enemies but for the sake of actually using the Training Grounds we must make peace. I'm in favor.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:41
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PokeyTax posted:we need to be prioritizing Glory more if it’s worth 4000 a pop! Youth Academy 1 is in fact very worth it if it saves us 9 Glory every six months. I wouldn't say 'Glory is worth X amount of Money'. The way I would put it is there's a point at which you can have so much Money that you can't use all of it. That never happens with Glory. It's more situational really IMO - I would have taken the Koblenz deal to give us enough to do the Academy upgrade if that had passed, for example. On the coaches, we're going to stick with the one midfielder for this window. I don't want to get into multiple rounds of votes and/or conditional votes based on what other people say - it's complicated enough as it is. I think it's important for people to be able to read the reports twice a year, vote once each window, and have that be the end of it. We'll have another bite at it in the winter, and people's opinions tend to shift some anyhow.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:49
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Going with Forward/Accuracy on Kyoon Griffey Jr. 7.21.30 Meppen @ Backpfeifengesichter  Dribbling is actually our best shot at scoring here. Meppen is one of those clubs that good .... but they're playing a DF in goal. Olinger has 45 defense, but that's like a true keeper with 15. It's kind of amusing seeing Dragongem fake him out, then waltz up to the mouth of the goal and just casually nudge the ball across the line. Tevery Best makes a nice tackle on their attempt to maneuver for a score, and later we had an amusing situation where their defense was so far out of position that we couldn't find anyone to use long pass against. Fat Samurai picked off a lay-off pass attempt to stop another possession, and we didn't get another good chance because the brilliant manager got us called for off-sides. I forgot they'd moved out their defenders from the back line in all the chaos.  Late in the second half, after their CD had once again left the premises to do a slide tackle and Odd Wilson got it back. Ladies and gentlemen, Cannon Shot. Requires a clear line of sight either diagonally or straight ahead, so there are three possible vectors to use it on. Key point is distance doesn't matter. We are not trying to 'bend it like Beckham' here, just blast it as hard as we can. It's good! BraveLittlToaster and Kyoon Griffey Jr. come in briefly, because why not. We start out with a 2-0 win, because of course we do. Everyone who saw that coming, raise hand. Good. Now slap yourself in the face with it for being a liar.  A couple things here. One, it seems I screwed up and selected the wrong sponsor. We are going to lose a fair bit of money this year for that reason - I didn't mean to have Electrohouse and I swear I selected the cheap one with about 1.5k per match. Apparently not. Oops. Over the course of the year that's going to cost us probably 40k from what we would have had. Not the worst thing that could happen, but it would have been nice to get it right. Main reason I put this up though was the Glory bonus for beating a 1.5-star club, and also the one for Third League. We get this extra +1 any time we win a match on top of whatever else would normally be coming our way.  It was +1 fan for having a player in the Team of the Round in Amateur League; now it's +2. There's a number of small bonuses like that, which all add up over time.
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Jan 29, 2023 17:00
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  AJ_Impy, the time has come to choose a skill to train and an advanced class. Skill - Olympic Kick, Head Play, or Layoff Pass Advanced Class - All the midfield options are still open. You've already talked about some different possibilities in the thread for class; in terms of roster balance we have one MF and another on the way, but since you're 3.5 years younger than the other midfielders it's really an open option what to do. Head Play is the weakest of the skills for midfielders I think but it still could be useful - you could take Insurrectionist's role as a heading threat after he leaves. We have nobody with Olympic Kick or Layoff Pass; a corner-taking specialist wouldn't be a bad thing, the DM role that's been suggested with Layoff Pass going to one of the MFs to cross or set up a forward in some other way, CM with Layoff Pass and enough defense to win the ball back on occasion is potentially viable. We haven't gone with a wing midfielder yet .... there are lots of options. And of course you can change up the attribute training if you don't want to stick with Passing. AJ_Impy, you are on the clock. This is one of those decisions that will shape the future of the club for a while.
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Jan 29, 2023 17:01
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Strategic Sage posted:We start out with a 2-0 win, because of course we do. We only beat Oberhausen 1-0, so scientifically, Oberhausen is better than the #4 team in Third League. The math is simple.
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Jan 29, 2023 22:10
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All right, decision time. A corner specialist gives us something we don't already have, so I'm leaning Olympic Kick. looking over the roles, I'm leaning AM. A passer/creator with a more attack-minded slant.
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Jan 30, 2023 09:42
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We've tried a scoring-style AM, now for a playmaker-style one. 7.28.30 Wurzburg (1-0-0, 4th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (1-0-0, 3rd) Wurzburg also has no keeper. Did a survey of all the teams and it's more common than I thought; 4 of them don't currently have one. The majority of our opponents will though, we're just getting fortunate here at the start.  Even more amusing, they have no CDs - starting defenders are a wide midfielder, two amateur defenders, and a DF. AJ_Impy will play in defense to block off their wing forward.  Marching ShadowedFlame right into the gap is as good a way to score as any.  We try to play keep-away after Insurrectionist blocks their first try, but we don't get fortunate with ricochets from their power shots. A secondary value here for Dragongem, our tops in control, as he comes back to try to contest position on the box. They are able to pass it through to the player directly in front, and score easily from there. 1-1. Our next attempt misfires on a minimum roll, but the final possession of the half includes a clutch long pass by Odd Wilson to give us another chance, and it goes in to put us back in front. OW has to come out at the half though or we risk an injury. BraveLittlToaster comes in at goal, NiftyBottle switches to the wing defensive position, and we have the two amateurs - AJ_Impy and Fat Samurai - manning the midfield. A low-probability angled shot from distance somehow makes it through both sweeper and keeper, immediately tying the score. We go ahead immediately ... only to watch this:  That's the Toaster's max roll there, not his actual one. They score again. Insurrectionist just had two horrible efforts in a row, and 24 was the max strike from there from their wing forward; he got a 21 and then a 23. The odds are most definitely not in our favor here. Insurrectionist is motivated afterwards, but it's 3-3 at the 64-minute mark. Despite a relatively weak effort, ShadowedFlame tallies his fourth goal of the match. Wurzburg tries something different, blasting straight through the middle of our defense. Torrannor does not suffer the ball to pass. We just pass it up the pitch after that. Amusingly they stall, down a goal, on their final turn. Umm, what?  Yay, we win again!  We had four level-ups after the first match, and this time get even more. Just worth a look I think at how quickly we're progressing with Third-League wins. It'll slow down of course, but this kind of thing really helps give our development a jump-start.  Fat Samurai is now a Universal Midfielder (MF). Tevery Best is one point away from his next upgrade, so we'll get to that after the next match. 8.4.30 Backpfeifengesichter (2-0-0, 1st) @ Rostock (0-0-2, 11st) Top-ranked in the Third League; that's a rather hilarious joke. Rostock has a keeper, but a 0-star one who is slightly inferior to ours. Their forwards have roughly equal control and accuracy, but not enough of either to be a serious threat to most clubs at this level, generally in the mid-30s. As a result, they are struggling on both ends. It's close, but megane makes a tackle as they try to flank us. They slide-tackle Dragongem, then AJ_Impy intercepts a pass from his AM position. Time for a possession struggle, which Odd Wilson ends with a slide tackle. We try to draw a penalty, but the tackle attempt is 23 vs. 23 ... a narrow success for them. A failed tackle by PotatoManJack on the wing is one of those critical moments. They put in a cross from the flank, but fortunately NiftyBottle is able to knock it away ... for a corner. Despite our best efforts, the same play works as before. They pass it directly in front and score. Their CM has 51 accuracy, enough to get through even Insurrectionist though he gave it a good effort, and we don't have enough control on the roster to push out two players. Starting the second half, Dragongem holds on to the ball during his break-in but doesn't draw a penalty. He goes with a power shot to try and draw a corner, but GK Weiz keeps it in play. Our last chance is try and run up the wing with PMJ, but they slide-tackle it away and we have no way to advance the ball from our defense to get a shot in time.  This was a 'welcome back to reality' match. Objectively I think at least a draw was a fair result here, but we got a little unlucky. We weren't going to keep winning at this level anyway. Still, after three matches we are five points clear of the relegation zone. That's a fine start. When we resume, I expect a few matches to go by before our next upgrade-pause; DF Torrannor and CD megane are most likely to hit their mark next.
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Jan 30, 2023 19:33
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  I'm not sure if there's time for you to go with something other than Level 2 Training and still keep the skill training going; maybe, maybe not, depends on how involved you are in the matches the rest of the year. The Dedication and Fan Favourite trees are all open to you if the choice is to go in a different direction. Tevery Best, you are on the clock. Choose an upgrade.
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Jan 30, 2023 19:35
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I'm not looking any further to the future than this current contract, because IMO it's exceedingly likely it'll be my last, especially with an upgraded Academy. That means I can expect, at best, maybe two more SLs, not enough to get to the +sale price bonuses. Give me L2 trainable, I might be able to hit that in that time.
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Jan 30, 2023 23:36
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8.11.2030 Backpfeifengesichter (2-0-1, 5th) @ Aspach (2-0-1, 3rd) Our foe today is the only 2-star club in the Third League. This should be 'fun'.  Here's what the 'best', at least in theory looks like. A couple of points to note: - Mostly 1-star players. It's not like they're swimming in highly-gifted talent. - Check out those attribute numbers, and remember we have exactly one player in the 40s and another half-dozen in the 30s, mostly low 30s, for their peak attribute. Having said all that, it's not hopeless. If we get lucky and draw a penalty or two, combined with them playing a defensive 6-2-2 ... who knows. We aren't scoring conventionally against GK Wentz's 67 defense, or with Rainbow Feint (L2 Reaction), or with Cannon Shot (L2 Strong Goalkeeper). Go for a corner and cross? Sure. But 47 Control will give him considerable resistance even there. Oh, and CD Buchleitner's L3 Head Play would have a thing or two to say about that. This is what pain looks like. Dragongem is tired and will sit till the second half. Subs will depend a lot on how this plays out. They test megane who passes as he usually does, albeit on a crap roll by both players; 18 to beat a 16. Lots of action for PMJ up the flank, and he held his own. An errant lofted pass was taken by Tevery Best, and he held off the following attempt to tackle as they desperately tried to score at the end. We got nothing going either. Dragongem on for Kyoon Griffey Jr., who got a half of play in. The next kickoff is crucial. The break-in needs to survive a little better than a coin-flip roll, then if that works a similar one will determine if we draw a foul. Bad effort by them on the first; break-in succeeds. Bad effort by us on the second; they tackle the ball away. Ahh well. With fatigue setting in we scramble our players to try and defend the rest of the way.  It's not quite enough. Pretty good effort by Insurrectionist and NiftyBottle. They're just too good, and held the ball on the flank with us powerless to do anything about the turn before, allowing them enough actions to easily move their forward into position. Holding Aspach to a 1-0 score that was nearly a draw is really as much as we can expect. Possession was nearly even, and I think it was Fat Samurai's first go-round as our Man of the Match. Pressed a bit, got a couple of solid passes in, nothing spectacular but solid. 8.18.30 Backpfeifengesichter (2-0-2, 5th) @ Erfurt (0-2-2, 11th) It's hot, we have dual wing forwards to deal with, and both Dragongem & Odd Wilson are moderately fatigued; we can get perhaps one useful half out of each. Both of them will sit the first half, and we may bring them out afterwards depending on how it's going.  This green-shirt defender is the weak spot in Erfurt's defense, preventing their DFs from intercepting the shot. Not great odds of scoring, but with Odd Wilson on the bench going for a corner-cross play won't work; we don't have anyone else with high enough passing to pull it off. A poor effort by their keeper, and we just barely get it in! Tevery Best is beaten on the other end, but Torrannor blocks the shot anyway. A lot of back-and-forth the rest of the half, but the lead is preserved. Odd Wilson in for BLT - I think we're going to need him. AJ_Impy can play a half at the wing defense spot. Going defensive here, so Dragongem stays on the bench. They switch to a stupid-looking 4-4-2, so I'm able to move AJ_Impy back up the AM slot. Tevery Best fouls their wing forward from behind as he tries to maneuver for a cross. Dangerous free-kick ensues. We hold them to an angled shot, best we could hope for; and they score fairly easily anyway. 1-1. After we predictably miss, they try for another crossing play, but Tevery Best intercepts the long pass, and we're able to run out the clock.  Not entirely sure how I feel about this one. I think we're a bit fortunate to get a draw. 8.25.30 Lotte (1-1-3, 9th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (2-1-2, 5th) It's hot again. We don't have the depth to handle this kind of weather. Normal starters are back out there, we'll just need to make sure we don't over-use anyone.  DM Husserl has 50 defense. That's a problem. We'll go lofted to try and bypass him. It works, but they win the tackle on the break-in by a tied roll. They try to hold it on Odd Wilson's side. Not a great plan. He sets up ShadowedFlame with a long pass, as their defender gives almost no effort on the play, and we get the lead! Now it's conserve energy and stay ahead time. So far so good at intermission. BLT in for OW, Kyoon Griffey Jr. in for Shadowed Flame. He can blast idiotic shots as much as he wants, so the starters stay fresh. Or FW Frauenfelder can waltz past Tevery Best and blast a tying goal through. I mean, that works too. I have no idea how, but Fat Samurai connects with a lofted pass, so we try another break-in. Nope, easily tackled away, and after a scramble in defense Insurrectionist has to block a shot. Still quite a bit of time left; I don't know if we can hold on to this draw. We hold it on the flank with PMJ, and lacking any other good options they gratuitously foul, then bring in their subs. With their defense out of position, we happen to be set up for a cannon shot by Dragongem, and megane tackles the ball away on their final attacking play.  There hasn't been a routine match yet this year. They all feel like tense struggles. Still, it feels great to get another W. Coach level 11 arrives. In keeping with my mindset of late, I pocket 26 Glory for us. Insurrectionist's latest upgrade takes the 5% sponsor bonus. Unless he's sold first, his next one will be able to snag the first of the transfer fee boosts.  I must grudgingly admit that both of the other deals make sense. Selling a 1-star CF to a lower league - Jena is a Second League club - and selling a 2-star upwards. Both of them make the competition tougher for us though.  First serious look at the table for this year. Fourth place is deceiving. We're not a threat to promote, and meanwhile there's lots of clubs between us and relegation; but only four points. It's be nice to get BLT more time in goal, but that's the only real playing-time concern; and I don't think we can afford it just yet unless we want to compromise our odds of staying in the Third League. Every match result still changes our fortunes pretty drastically.  Also there's the fact that we are going into our next match with four players having significant fatigue issues. If the hot weather could just stay away for about the next month, that'd be super-great. 9.1.30 Backpfeifengesichter (3-1-2, 4th) @ Burghausen (2-0-4, 9th) At the moment, Burghausen is also entertaining thoughts of avoiding relegation; they're right on the bubble. Dragongem and Odd Wilson will sit the first half in a wait-and-see approach. Another dribble past Tevery Best, another blocked shot, this one by Torrannor. Another compromised defensive setup to try to deal with for the rest of the half. PMJ gets some work on the flank preventing any serious problems, AJ_Impy wins a possession battle in midfield, and then ...  Question here is if ShadowedFlame can get the ball past Blenker. Waigel is a DF masquerading as a keeper. This time the odds are in our favor. And then theirs, as they equalize immediately. *sigh* Subs in, KGJ and Fat Samurai out. Time for that all-important second-half break-in.  They miss the tackle, no penalty, and Dragongem dribbles for the score. Insurrectionist blocks the shot after yet another missed Tevery Best tackle; to be fair, I'd pick on the weak link too, and he's doing best. That was close to tying it up again. But only close. Insurrectionist has to win the ball back temporarily, but when Odd Wilson holds off two tackle tries in midfield it's over. Another 2-1 win, this one with almost 60% possession. Dragongem earns top honors. 9.8.30 Backpfeifengesichter (4-1-2, 4th) @ Krefeld (2-3-2, 7th)  I'm sticking with the plan of keeping Odd Wilson and Dragongem on the bench for road matches, as they are still the ones who are the most in need of rest. Since we are 7 points clear of relegation and facing a couple of decent but unimpressive forwards with no obvious crossing threats, I'm putting BraveLittlToaster in goal for this one. As has been the case more often than not this year, the strength of Krefeld is in their defenders. A narrow success by Tevery Best prevents a shot initially. They get it back down with a Layoff Pass - pathetic try by megane there, must have been a minimal roll - but Torrannor makes the block. We're not even trying to score here, just in 'don't lose' mode. Another nice pass by our opponents, and BLT narrowly makes a save. We get a point-blank shot by ShadowedFlame at the end that we don't deserve; PMJ's long pass went through a 2-star defender at quite low odds. But it was saved anyway. Subs in at the half again. This time PMJ will sit, he did a lot there. We draw a penalty and score it - been a while since we got one of those. Got another one later, but they guessed right and stopped it. Then AJ_Impy gets over-aggressive on a tackle, injures one of their midfielders for over a month, gets a yellow card, they long-pass it through our defense (Torrannor), and get a shot from point-blank range. Disaster. Until they botch the shot, rolling a seven, and we make the save. Yep. Knew we had it in the bag all along. Wasn't worried for a moment that we would throw away a win with a late concession. Tevery Best earns MoM. He just keeps plugging away. megane and Torrannor both hit their latest upgrades.  I still don't buy that we're a serious promotion threat, but it has to be said that we've won 5 of 8 matches in our Third League debut and it appears we can hang with anyone besides Aspach ... somehow. Our last three before the break are against a promotion club, a mid-table club, and a relegation club as things currently sit. If we keep this up, we'll have some unexpected decisions to deal with over the winter. Whispers of back-to-back promotions have begun, and we're over 200 fans. I don't want to get carried away, but we can't ignore what's sitting in front of us.
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Jan 31, 2023 19:53
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  Level 2 Trainable would allow beginning L2 Slide Tackle training right away. Another XP boost is possible as well as the Fan Favourite tree. megane choose your path if you please.   L2 Slide Tackle is about to finish here. Second Skill Trainable would allow that third skill level to be taken in one of the other two skills; otherwhise we'll commence L3 Slide Tackle training as soon as it's ready. Dedication and Fan Favourite upgrade trees are of course also possibilities. Torrannor, you are on the clock as well. A pretty significant moment here for our defense, as these are a couple of cornerstones in the central part of the high line.
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Jan 31, 2023 19:53
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 Really big season for our Punchable Faces thus far! Not only promoting after years of the amateur league, we're out here kicking tail! And balls! If only we had a good way to keep our dudes from getting so worn out all the time. Nevertheless, we shall have to prescribe more prepackaged lunch snack meals as a bandage fix in the meantime.
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Jan 31, 2023 20:30
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That's a strong case for avoiding relegation. We have three games left before the season break and decent odds of picking up three points from them, so it's not unreasonable to expect we'll be going into the break 5-6 points above the relegation zone. That's hardly an impossible lead to blow, and our stupendous luck is bound to change (how long can you expect me to not gently caress up, y'know), but I'd give it a 60% chance we're staying in the Third League this season. 70% if we win one more before the break.
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Jan 31, 2023 21:08
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Let’s go with Level 2 Skill. Always Be Sliding.
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Jan 31, 2023 21:37
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Odd Wilson posted:If only we had a good way to keep our dudes from getting so worn out all the time. The first upgrade in the Stamina tree doubles halftime energy recovery if you played the entire first half. That's the only option there really is other than 'don't play as much' or 'don't take as many actions when you do'. Ultimately, having quality depth matters. Tevery Best posted:That's hardly an impossible lead to blow, and our stupendous luck is bound to change (how long can you expect me to not gently caress up, y'know), but I'd give it a 60% chance we're staying in the Third League this season. 70% if we win one more before the break. I'll suggest it's higher than that. A little math: The teams fighting to avoid relegation right now have 7 points from 8 matches. Extrapolate that over a 22-match season and you can expect them to hit 19 points, maybe 20. Could be a little more than that but also could be a little less. Anything in the low-20s is very likely to be enough to stay up, so say 6 more points than our current 16. We could win nothing and draw half, lose half for the rest of the year and very likely make it. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jan 31, 2023 |
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Jan 31, 2023 21:45
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Tevery Best posted:I'd give it a 60% chance we're staying in the Third League this season. 70% if we win one more before the break. I agree. If we win another one, we’ve got a 30% chance of going up to Second League.  Really interesting to see a one-star player grind up to level 39 and stay competitive in this league, and watching quality coaching get us consistent wins and boost us far, far beyond our deserts. Second League isn’t such a step up in rewards that it’s worth setting the club on fire to get there, but it’s bonkers we’re even thinking about thinking about it.
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Jan 31, 2023 22:50
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I said it before: In Sage I trust.
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Feb 1, 2023 02:37
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That Krefeld player had it coming. Any penalty for cumulative yellows?
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Feb 1, 2023 05:53
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Second skill trainable seems like the best choice for keeping our options open.
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Feb 1, 2023 06:21
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AJ_Impy posted:That Krefeld player had it coming. Any penalty for cumulative yellows? A second yellow will result in a one-match suspension. It's tracked per competition, so if you have one in the league and one in the Prestige Cup, there's no suspension. If you get a suspension in the league but the next match is a Cup match, you don't serve the suspension until the next league match. Etc.
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Feb 1, 2023 06:42
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ShadowedFlames posted:I said it before: The manager with a current lifetime record (in this LP) of 32-41-71 with a goal differential of -134 is gratified by your support. Of course, that at least is improving. 
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Feb 1, 2023 06:45
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Strategic Sage posted:The manager with a current lifetime record (in this LP) of 32-41-71 with a goal differential of -134 is gratified by your support. That's (barely) more than 50% of not-losses! Good results.
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Feb 1, 2023 07:49
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Strategic Sage posted:The manager with a current lifetime record (in this LP) of 32-41-71 with a goal differential of -134 is gratified by your support. Should've been hired instead of dyche
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Feb 1, 2023 10:25
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Thanks for moving my dude ahead without my input, forward is what I would have chosen. Gratified to see my punchable getting playing time already!
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Feb 1, 2023 10:56
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You're up next again, so you'll have another bite at the apple.
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Feb 1, 2023 19:11
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9.15.30 Schwerin (2-1-5, 10th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (5-1-2, 3rd) Schwerin is another entry in the 'we don't need no stinking keeper' pool.  Talk about crowding the box on defense. My goal here is to use Dragongem to hopefully get us an early lead, then bring on Kyoon Griffey Jr and get him some rest. Fat Samurai is the midfielder in need of most rest, and he's also off with NiftyBottle on the wing defense spot. As long as our position in the league is secure, protocol indicates keeping BraveLittlToaster in goal. CD Schact - Level 2 Throwing In, you don't often see that - makes the tackle on the break-in attempt to start out. He has 50 defense, so reasonable if low odds of it. They hold it on the wing, I run Odd Wilson over there to slide-tackle it, but then can't find any defender to long-pass against, so they take it back. After their CF dribbles around Tevery Best like a rented turnstile, DF Torrannor intercepts the shot. Still a couple turns left. The midfield is emptied out with all the flank action, so AJ_Impy holds it there. Their LF has L2 Slide Tackle, but is already tired and fails, committing a yellow. It's a free kick for us!  Two choices for Odd Wilson here. Door #1 is a long-pass, a little over even odds of succeeding, after which Dragongem will very likely score. Door #2 is better odds on the pass, but worse on the shot as ShadowedFlame will have to go through Schact to get to the keeper. If he tries to feint him to get closer, a neighboring CD will almost certainly take the ball away. After a bit of considering I take Door #1. OW hits it expertly, 5 vs. 3 on the roll, and Dragongem dribbles it past the keeper. megane tackles them on the kickoff, ending the half. Odd Wilson and Dragongem definitely need a break, so both subs are in and we'll try to hold the lead. We stop them initially, and they've changed their defense so there's only one defender blocking a straight-on shot from ShadowedFlame. He beats the odds and gets it through, plus they only have one credible attacker now and our defense will focus on him. That really should do it. We try a run up the flank with PMJ later, but he needs to Long Pass through a 1-star defender and is too tired to make that happen. A 2-0 win though keeps the train a-rolling. 9.22.30 Offenbach (6-1-2, 2nd) @ Backpfeifengesichter (6-1-2, 3rd) Offenbach is the highest-scoring club in the Third League so far, 18 in 9 matches so two scores an outing. They have a low defensive line of all CDs, so break-in is once again indicated. On the other end, it is CF Heumann, who owns 60 accuracy and L3 Nutmeg, who is far and away the biggest threat. Hopefully Insurrectionist will handle both issues. We should be able to keep him away from any close shots at least initially, as control is quite low. NiftyBottle will sit this one out, and ShadowedFlame initially as well since I don't see any good way for him to score here. CD Korner - 59 defense - rolls low on the tackle after the break-in. So does Dragongem, and they beat us 11-10. They try to hold it on PotatoManJack's wing, which is pretty much always a mistake. He gets it to Dragongem right in front, although he's tired after doing it. GK Quint has L2 Strong Goalkeeper, so cannon shot's no good. Best chance is a power shot for a corner; 20 vs. 58 roll. A 20 on the shot. A 17 on the save. He scores directly, by accident! And predictably goes nuts. I would too. NiftyBottle in for PMJ, who just needs to sit. ShadowedFlame for Dragongem to spread the energy around. If I keep leaving myself with no subs, we'll eventually get caught if someone gets injured and can't be replaced - we'll just be short a player. On the other hand, I still think this is best, because it keeps us a lot less likely to get somebody hurt in the first place. Heumann attacks megane directly. 7 vs. 30-something on the roll. You know they are desperate if they are trying that ... or are they? It's a ploy to get him into the box, and it works. Torrannor puts up a stop sign against their long-pass attempt however, and nothing serious develops after that. A nice tackle on basically a coin-flip chance by AJ_Impy is a nice moment. We are able to set up a corner right at the end. Chance to add to our margin. The usual play is on, and ...  We are unstoppable!! Ok, no we're not, in any way, shape, or form. But we really feel like it at the moment. We just shut out the most dangerous club in the Third League, seizing sole possession of second place at worst, one match shy of mid-season. And we looked awfully good doing it, this was a well-oiled machine, not a fluke. Meanwhile Dragongem just keeps piling up MoM awards, even when he's only playing half of the match. 9.29.30 Backpfeifengesichter (7-1-2, 2nd) @ Munich-Old (4-3-3, 5th)  We'll finish up the first round of league matchups against ... whatever this is. Stout keeper, but the defense isn't quite as strong as some other teams and they have a DM with low defense, paired with a CD starting in midfield because reasons. That attacking line is worrisome though. They have enough good options that I don't see a super-effective of defending against it. I expect them to dribble closer at some point, and for us to face some challenging shots. Odd Wilson and Kyoon Griffey Jr. sit for this after some deliberation. They go to the wing, and beat the tackle by megane by one number - 22 vs. 23. However, BLT actually is able to knock the cross out for a corner. Nice play there by him! We bring all our best people back to defend, including Dragongem to contest the box. We fail to push either attacker out, but Insurrectionist saves the day - where have we heard that before? - by intercepting the pass. And it was a good pass, he was just even better in getting in the way. 41 vs. 46 is quality stuff.  That leads to this silly-looking situation. They have the ball, but it's our turn, only 10 minutes gone in the half. megane is nearby, and his slide tackle comes in handy. We try to gradually work a play to get the ball to ShadowedFlame in the box, but Fat Samurai can't hold them off in midfield quite long enough. A missed interception on a pass by Torrannor, they feint Insurrectionist .... but can't get by BLT even with level 2! That's two unlikely saves by him in one half!! Might as well test our luck. An unlikely Long Pass by PMJ - 4 vs. 6 roll - makes it's way through to ShadowedFlame, who feints himself for the goal and scores. Make no mistake about it, this halftime lead is nonsense. We should be trailing 1-0, not ahead by that count. We aren't giving it back though. No thank you. Subs are in once again to preserve energy; we're now in a 4-3-3 as PMJ is off. Our luck runs out as well. Break-in comes to nothing, and Odd Wilson botches what should have been an easy slide tackle, handing Munich-Old a quick DFK. Which they quickly botch with a lofted pass that goes straight to megane. Another break-in fails also. Dragongem's had a long string of those going against him way more often than he should, but given everything else that's been going right for us it's hard to complain. They're unable to get anything going, and we finish off another win 1-0. megane is named man of the match. We've still got the Prestige Cup coming up, but first we will pause for Kyoon Griffey Jr. to consider his skill development and advanced class decisions. He's just become an Amateur Forward (F).  Yep. We just casually walked in to the Third League, said 'nice tier you've got here, we'll take it', and took possession of first place after the first half of the year. That's a thing that just happened, against all probability. Since the draw with Erfurt, we have won six in a row - four by a single goal.
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Feb 1, 2023 19:12
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  We need a skill to train, and an advanced class here. Skill - Nutmeg, Rainbow Feint, or Cannon Shot Advanced Class - Anything AM or in the forward range. With a focus on Accuracy, CF and FW are the main options. CF naturally fits with Head Play, but that's not a possibility here. Could go that direction anyway with limited heading as you do still get the first level in it, and combine it with another skill, probably Rainbow Feint would be the best. Alternatively, FW with two of the skills and just intending to replace ShadowedFlame in that role whenever we decide to cash out on him. All of the skills have use, Nutmeg is of course fastest but also the least valuable - if we go that route it's probably best to even out the attributes a little more and go with something closer to even on Accuracy and Control. The Rainbow Feint + Cannon Shot combo would make it difficult to prevent scoring when you get into close position by the keeper. Kyoon Griffey Jr., you are on the clock again; which direction do you choose?
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Feb 1, 2023 19:19
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 I mean, the easiest way to correct the problem with our sponsor would be to win the Prestige Cup. Maybe we should simply do that. Pokeytax fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 19:39
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Hell yeah, chew on that, Third League! Seems like some of these losers should go back to the amateur league
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Feb 1, 2023 20:11
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I’ll go generic FW and do Rainbow Feint for now with the idea of doing that and Cannon Shot
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Feb 1, 2023 20:13
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What the hell is happening? How is this possible?! Congrats, I think we've achieved our main goal of not being relegated immediately!
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Feb 1, 2023 20:14
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Backpfeifengesichter is #1! Backpfeifengesichter is #1! 
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Feb 1, 2023 20:35
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I genuinely have no idea how we got here, but I'm here for it.
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Feb 1, 2023 20:48
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ShadowedFlames posted:I said it before:  Edit to add: admittedly, topping the league at this juncture was certainly not on my bingo card.
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Feb 1, 2023 21:49
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