The Hattrick season 63 thread

[UncleIan]

eSports is sports right?

This is inane and meaningless reporting in on progress of a load of us that seem to care far too much about a load of zeros and ones in the footy manager game hattrick.org

Six games in, and my first point of the season! Abandoned a defensive training formation for a 3-5-2 so went toe to toe with a team for the first time. I thought we'd have a chance, and we got a little rub of the green, you make your own luck etc. It ended up 2-2. Chance distribution was a 6-5, though HTEV said they had a 59% chance of winning, so I'll take a point all day long. Obviously 3 would have been better but...it's a start, at last, though only a little, and nearly half way through the season is it too little too late. Turns out one Saturday my opponent spent £5 million on a single midfielder on Saturday, but didn't put them in the team. Set his match orders for next Sunday half an hour after our match finished. Anger? Or just infrequent logging in? Oh, and he could partly afford it as at the tail end of last month he got £900k for a youth pull winger with a TSI of just 870. Wow!

How likely is The Great Escape then? Next two weeks is the mid season double header against the whipping boys (the other whipping boys, as it turns out), so that should be six points, plus my 1, currently 3rd to 5th are on 10, and 6th is on 6. Interestingly, next week it's 4th v 3rd, then 6th v 5th. Let's assume they take 3 points from their home matches, I'll be two points behind 6th, and 6 behind the rest, though, of course, they'll then still have to play the whipping boys, so will have 3 points in hand. Dog fight with 6th then, and we play them away on the last day of the season. Could be a dead rubber, but we'll not give up until it's impossible.

Ian

[Eastheath]

Well, the potential banana skin was avoided, and we beat 8th placed team 1-2 away to stay in 6th. A couple of our defenders are currently crocked so it was a bit makeshift at the back, plus we only edged midfield in the first half, so this one could have gone either way.
Next two games are probably our least hard (I am saying this very quietly so as not to spook ourselves) against the team in 7th, whose only points came against 8th. If we pick up points here and again in the return match against 8th, we should be in good form to hold onto 6th and maybe even push for 5th. Stranger things have happened...

[Shocksandstares]

It seems an age since I updated as to my progress (or lack of) within Hattrick, but a new site seems a good opportunity to catch up. This post may drag a bit as a result of several seasons of updates....

1st team - Gillamtasary, England, V.70
After many seasons in III, not really progressing, I decided it was time for a big rebuild. Out went a lot of my older players (keeping a couple who will become coaches in a season or two) and in came Defending trainees with a lot of playmaking and or wing skill.
My patience for defending training has been waning, so in the last few weeks I've sold off the trainees as they pop, and have about 3 more to go. I've kept 3 decent inner mids who now have decent PM and defence, and 2 decent wingers with defence. I'm buying a few defenders and then will finally buy some strikers and switch to passing training.
All this has left me in 2nd place in a league I should be cruising based on Hatstats, but I have a great defence and midfield, but no strikers, so I don't get many goals other than SP. Once I buy some strikers in a couple of weeks, I fully expect to start banging in the goals, and win the league, but not sure whether I'll win a qualifier.

2nd team - Parkdale, Canada, IV.61
My second team has also endured years of defending training, which we are only now finishing up and is sticking rigidly to a long term plan. I have high hopes for success from them. I bought a bunch of trainees 4 or 5 seasons ago and will periodically add to the squad when i need to, but they are still relatively young (23-26), so I can keep this squad together for a while yet. I currently have £4.5m in the bank.
Defending training for 4 seasons has given me a squad that is all highly skilled in defence (10 players with Supernatural or higher defence) and so I can get Mythical defence ratings with just 3-5-2 formation. I am now utterly fed up and bored with Defending training though so we have just switched to PM training to beef this area up a bit.
Two of my inner mids have World class PM, and one has Supernatural, so a couple of seasons of PM will give me a really strong midfield and combined with the decent defence I have I just need to buy a couple of strikers to give me a really strong team.
We're currently top of the league, and will win it and autopromote at which point I'll get another striker and aim for back to back promotions. It will be interesting to see if this squad can sustain a run to the premiership.

International players - still none. 10 years in the game and I think I've had one player get to be an international. Must do better, though a few of the current crop have a chance. One of my youth pulls (since sold) has had a game for the U20's, but that's about it.

Youth players - sold one chap for £1.5m a couple of months ago. A couple of decent prospects are now waiting to be promoted, including an excellent defender and a double solid PM/Def.

I'll try and keep future updates a little more brief and a little more regular!
S&S

[Ashfordian]

It seems like defender training is the fashion at the moment but boy is it boring and I've only been doing it for half a season

I switched to passing this week as I'm expecting a few pops and I needed to put out a competitive team in the league. As usual when you try these things the match engine kicks you in the nuts and I came away with a 1-1 away draw. With one loss already on the board I now need to finish the season with 8 consecutive wins (I got 9 before a final draw to supper promotion last season!). As the team is defence training I'm not confident I can pull this off so I am at a training crossroads where I would appreciate any Foolish input for my future training direction.

Below are the skills on my primary trainees which are going to be the backbone of the team for the future, all of which are home grown:

17.053 - Def: 9, PM: 6, Pass: 5 [Powerful]
17.054 - Def: 8, PM: 5, Pass: 3, Wing: 5
18.102 - Def: 8, PM: 3, Pass: 9
19.000 - Def: 9, PM: 4, Pass: 9 [Powerful]
19.010 - Def: 8, PM: 4, Pass: 9
19.054 - Def: 7, PM: 4, Pass: 8, Wing: 6 [Quick]
19.077 - Def: 8, PM: 4, Pass: 9, Wing: 5 [Head]

I see the training choices as follows:

- Continue Defence training for another season before switching to PM. I'll be competitive in V but not if I promote to IV, which is looking unlikely anyway. The switch to PM will mean aiming to promote to IV for season 66 (yawn!)
- Switch to PM now, write off season 63 and aim to promote into IV for season 65 and having a competitive team in season 64.

I have a couple of 24 year old titanic PM's that I can use as an CDO and DFW to boost MF ratings hence I can be quickly competitive. I can always switch to Def training in later years to add to these players so I'm leaning towards switching.

I have until the weekend to decide, does anyone have any Foolish thoughts on either option?

[OpeningBat]

FOr the first time this season, I had the rub of the green (although if I was a proper football manager I would say we deserved to win on Sunday and had been robbed previously). Away to 4th in III.16 (with me in 3rd, 3 points ahead) I opted for 3-5-2 PIN (instead of my normal 2-5-3) with my wingers playing normal to boost midfield a bit. I expected to lose midfield (which I did 54/46) but would have stronger attack and/or defence depending on what the oppo played. As it was, he went 3-5-2 AIM 100% defensive and I suspect that cost him.

When I play 2-5-3 with 2 WBs I only get Outstanding central defence ratings, but playing 3-5-2 I got WC defence ratings acroass the board and snuffed his attack on all fronts (with no reports of switching the attack to the middle). At the other end, my right side attack beat his left defence (thanks to him going AIM and weakening his side defence) and I went 0-1 up after 5 minutes. I scored a 2nd (down the middle) after 79 minutes to make the final score 0-2. Hatstats of 440 v 458 with HTMS predicting a 35% chance away win compared to 39% home win.

Elsewhere, 2nd were playing 1st and beat them 4-2 to overtake them, so now I'm still in 3rd but only 1 point behind 1st. And next week I'm at home to 1st... which will be interesting. Even more interesting is that tomorrow in the Cup, 1st play play 2nd (the same fixture as Sunday except they have now swapped places) so I'lll be able to compare and contrast performances between league and cup games and judge who may have gone PIC/PIN/MOTS and thus influence my approach to the upcoming double-header against the current leader.

OB

[UncleIan]

I have until the weekend to decide, does anyone have any Foolish thoughts on either option?

Having gone to the trouble of buying some decent looking trainees, I'd have thought you should be training them at least a couple more levels, outstanding or better. Or whatever is good enough for IV at least, and can sell the remainder and keep a few for when you change training.

[Ashfordian]

I have until the weekend to decide, does anyone have any Foolish thoughts on either option?

Having gone to the trouble of buying some decent looking trainees, I'd have thought you should be training them at least a couple more levels, outstanding or better. Or whatever is good enough for IV at least, and can sell the remainder and keep a few for when you change training.

Liking the way you have matured your forum name

They are all out of the YA and there is no plan to sell any of them. I personally prefer HG to specs if I had to choose one hence I am going about developing these players. Although training priority will be given to the spec'd players.

I am looking at developing these players to be the all-round IM's that are now required to be successful in the game. They do not have PM skills to be competitive in IV hence the reason for changing now, scrapping this seasons aims and going back to improving their defending later when I have consolidated my position in IV and their skills are up to magnificent or higher.

Unfortunately the youngest two are about 3 weeks to old to be in with a good chance of the U20 otherwise it would be 4 seasons of boring defence training.

[UncleIan]

Liking the way you have matured your forum name

A little more work anonymous shall we say. I think it looks a bit like "Unclean" but what can you do?

Unfortunately the youngest two are about 3 weeks to old to be in with a good chance of the U20 otherwise it would be 4 seasons of boring defence training.

Lucky escape. I mean, you wouldn't want to change your youth training for a season then your senior team training for four seasons just to see them sit on the bench and not get a cap or anything would you?

[Ashfordian]

Liking the way you have matured your forum name

A little more work anonymous shall we say. I think it looks a bit like "Unclean" but what can you do?

I hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out. Now it is all I see

Unfortunately the youngest two are about 3 weeks to old to be in with a good chance of the U20 otherwise it would be 4 seasons of boring defence training.

Lucky escape. I mean, you wouldn't want to change your youth training for a season then your senior team training for four seasons just to see them sit on the bench and not get a cap or anything would you?

I know what you mean but how do you know where they will be in 4 seasons without trying. And it does force a structured training plan on your team. A shame you came up with GK's although they must be worth a fair chunk which will massively improve your team.

I suspect the hardest part for you is where to go next unless you have built the forward planning into your defence training plan?

[UncleIan]

I know what you mean but how do you know where they will be in 4 seasons without trying. And it does force a structured training plan on your team. A shame you came up with GK's although they must be worth a fair chunk which will massively improve your team.

Both about 3.5-4 mill. transfer prices seem to be going a bit bonkers at the moment.

I suspect the hardest part for you is where to go next unless you have built the forward planning into your defence training plan?

Not a clue! I guess I should carry on with defender training until my trainees are decent, but...I'd rather be scoring training again if I'm honest, though passing training was nice and flexible, so maybe go that way.

[UncleIan]

Halfway through the season then! How we getting on?

Last night saw me away to the whipping boy, so a training 5-3-2 in place, but no confidence, so I PINd, a bit unnecessary, but my coach only has poor leadership now, so not an awful lot of point in a PIC, and if I hadn't won, that would have been it, game over, pack bags, and mentally head for a lower division. We ran out 0-7 winners. I was watching it live on a PC, and actually used the league chat feature, nice. Admittedly, mostly to beg for a goal, as we didn't score our first until 38 minutes, and scored another before half time to settle the nerves.

Elsewhere 5th sneaked a win away to 6th, while 3rd and 4th played out a 0-0 draw, and 2nd got a slightly lucky 1-1 at home to 1st.

So yes, halfway, and how am I getting on? 7th in the league, which isn't great, but at least I'm only two points behind 6th, and 7 points behind 4th and 5th. I think overtaking all three of those is optimistic to say the least, but now I've abandoned worrying about training too much, and can switch back to 3-5-2 when needed, I reckon I can give my two home matches against 3rd and 5th a good go. It might well all come down to the final match of the season away to 6th, loser gets auto-demoted. Plenty of time for a few twists and turns before then.

Looks like my U-20 goalie will sit on the bench for another game or two, in fact, England are doing so badly once qualifying for the next round looks impossible I'd guess they'd all get dropped to give the next generation more experience. So close, so close. Ho hum.

Ian

[Eastheath]

We had a comfortable (in the end) 4-1 home win (our first home points of the season) on a PIN against the team in 7th, with hatstats 325 vs 287. Only downside is a +3 to one of my three main IMs, which makes the return leg much less comfortable.

The win leaves us in 4th, W3 D1 L3, and a repeat of the same in the second half would be more than I had originally hoped for.
I am breaking even over the fortnight periods, so in no rush to sell my strikers and promote trainees to the first team. They're not quite ready yet, anyway.

I do however have an old defence and some oldies in midfield (30+), so the cheque book will have to come out in time for next season.

Meantime, we are away next week, with a weakened midfield. Even so, we should still edge it and hope to pick up another 3 pts. Fingers crossed for that one...

[Ashfordian]

Halfway through the season then! How we getting on?

Why does Hattrick make some difficult games easy but then make what seem like easy games hard?

Had a game against a manager-less team that I thought could pose some problems, particular with my switch to PM training of my HG trainees. My 3 IM's had 1xInadequate and 2xWeak for their Playmaking abilities. Fortunately I could pad out the MF with an OCD, WTM and DFW and play PIN.

Came away as 6-2 winners, chances were 7-5 and Hatstats 291 v 234 and recorded a Formidable (vl) midfield.

The return leg away next week should be easier as the team should turn into a BOT at some point.

I'm still 2nd, 2 points behind 1st, level on points with 3rd but only +1 in GD other them. I can stumble to a top 3 finish from here but think I still have a chance of the winning the series. This will be decided by the away game against 3rd in W11 and home game against 1st in W12.

In other news, PM training has started after 7 passing pops last week. Let's see how this goes but all trainees are starting their PM training with between Poor & Passable PM so initial skill-ups should be quick.

An order has been placed which will see the stadium capacity go over 50,000 and with over £4m in the bank things are healthy with the team.

We just need to do the basics now and start progressing up the league pyramid system

[Ashfordian]

Not seen one of these for a while but as I changed training to PM this week I thought I would record what occurred.

I had 6 PM pops, 5 from the 100% slots and 1 from the 50% winger slot. All but one of the trainees that I am focussed on increased a level. OK, they were starting from a low base.

Poor > Weak = 1
Weak > Inad = 4
Inad > Pass = 1

A good training update all round

[Eastheath]

game week 8
the return game went according to plan (or more presicely, as hoped) and we won the away leg 1-3, helped by one of their midfielders getting sent off and one of their wingers being subbed due to injury. I'm not complaining. They won on hatstats 299 v289 but we edged midfield.
We are now in the heady heights of 4th (W4 D1 L3), and next week we play at home against the team in 8th, the last of our 'easier games'. After that we have to scrap for points, try to keep the GD down (had a 2-8 and 0-4 drubbing already), and get ourselves over the finish line of avoiding qualifiers or relegation. I think we are clear of relegation to be honest, but dont want another qualifier, as weve been fortunate last two times and our luck in the draw will eventually run out!
nice weather down south today.....

[UncleIan]

This week we were at home to the whipping boy, a training 5-3-2, a PIC, and still 6-0. Only fly in the ointment were two +1 injuries to defenders. Good job I'm not worried about training that much eh?

Better news was 6th place lost, so I sneak out of the auto-relegation zone, one point ahead of them. Of course, they still have the whipping boy to play, and are at home when we meet (week 14), hopefully that will be a dead rubber in my favour, but it could easily be the other way round, or an auto-relegation decider. I'm hoping a few teams can do me a favour and kick them while they're down, while I can get some home wins in.

Even better news was my U20 goalie went up to solid form, and has excellent stamina, as opposed to the other guy, passable form, solid stamina, enough to give him the edge, and he got his first England cap. Woo hoo! Sadly, they lost 3-2 to Bulgaria, but hey, a cap is a cap is a cap, can't take it away. Here's to a few more!

Ian

[Ashfordian]

Despite the team not having a human manager, it did not turn bot during the week . This caused me a problem as I would struggle to match their home MF rating without losing or changing training.

However, they were low on TC having had 2 heavy defeats, a GK in weak form and stamina of every player at best of passable. They mitigate this slightly by subbing all 3 IM's at half time however the rest of the team still suffers.

Based on the above I took a risk that they would miss their chances and I would score mine as I lined up with a training 2-5-3 formation on a PIN. Possession was 56/44 to them, chances were 6-2 to them but the result was 1-2 to me. Hatstats were 243 v 271

The risk worked, I got a difficult win and maintained training. However despite winning I drop to 3rd as 2nd overtake me on GD from playing a BOT

Next week is home against a defence heavy team with no attack. I'll win as long as I can break them down but will like drop further behind 2nd in GD as they are playing the weakest human team in the series.

[OpeningBat]

Last week Ionly managed a 2-2 draw at home to 1st place (I was in 3rd, 1 point behind) despite Hatstats of 439 v 394 and HTMS giving me a 68% chance on winning (13% chance of a draw). Hrumph!

Yesterday, I lost 2-1 away to the same team despite Hatstats of 425 v 459 and HTMS giving me a 71% chance of winning and only 11% chance of losing. Talk about feeling hard done by. I'm still in 3rd place but now 5 points behind the leader (who I play at home last match of the season).

Elsewhere, one of my TDFs has been called up to the NT team and made his debut in a competitive fixture on Friday night. England lost 4-3 and my chap was not mentioned in dispatches. England play again tonight against Austria (kick-off in 37 minutes), so I'm hoping he'll get another outing.

OB

[UncleIan]

Yesterday was a must win home match for me, at home to the slightly undeserving second place, I decided to once again stuff training and go toe to toe with them, and lined up in a nicely balanced 3-5-2. It was pretty even match up, I shaded possession 53/47%, and everywhere else it was not more than 5% off even stevens. Halftime it was 1-1, but my current best striker picked up a +2, his replacement was fairly tasty still, but not ideal. Towards the end of the game we managed to bang in a couple more, but they pulled one back on 88 minutes for a nervous finale. Managed to hold on though for a 3-2 win. Get in!

7th won against 5th, so now I'm on 10 points, while 7th is on 9, and 5th on 11 (and 4th on 14). Pretty tight stuff.

Looking at the remaining fixtures, week 13 I'm at home to 5th, and week 14 away to 7th. Those are the crucial ties, but looking at their other matches, I think I need to somehow get something, preferably 3 points off next weeks away game to 4th, as the two weeks after that are against 2nd and 1st, no chance. Maybe a MOTS followed by a couple of PICs, or a CA might do the business, it'd be unexpected anyway, not done it for a while. The world's my oyster at the moment as far as formations, 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 4-4-2, and 3-5-2 are all formidable or outstanding, and 3-4-3 is still solid, mind you, with the striker injury, that last one is out, as one of my other strikers has been sat on wretched form since week 4. Much to ponder.

Meanwhile, my England U20 goalie played another game for his country, and only let in two goals this week.

Ian

[Eastheath]

We're definately the 6th best team in our league but a lucky win and a draw against 'better teams' means we were in 4th before yesterdays game at home to 8th, who hadnt got a point all season, despite their mammoth defence.
So, after 30 mins they had two chances and scored them both. By half time we had had three chances and missed them all, so 0-2 down at break.
We had gone AIM, yet two of the three were wing attacks. Our midfield ratings were much better, as was our central attack.
To make things more interesting, they had two players injured and substituted, while we had one of our frustrated strikers sent off.

The match engine eventually came to its senses in the second half. We ran out 3-2 winners, scoring 3 from 4 more chances (including three down the middle).
So we have held on to that 4th spot, and sit on 16 pts, with 5th on 11pts and 6th on 10 pts. Our 'easy' games are done, just the tricky stuff now.
Next week away to 3rd, I think we will be PIC Press and Pray!