XpertEleven [Archive]

dor02

25 Oct 2009, 08:23 AM

If anyone is interested, people can join my friend's league on December 4. He is looking to expand his league and he may need three people for now because there are managers who don't take it seriously and will face being sacked. The league ID is 158669.

For those who don't know how to join a private league once joining Xpert Eleven, you have to go to search and type the league ID.

Here's some stuff from the website:

Xpert Eleven is a football manager game where you manage a fictitious football team. The thought behind the game is that you compete with your friends in a league that you create yourselves. A league must contain at least 6 teams and there is no upper limit. You can also have teams in more than one league.

You manage your team/teams in good times as well as bad. Your tasks consist of selecting your team and working out some cunning tactical moves.

To buy players you obviously need money. The fictitious currency in Xpert Eleven is called "econ". As in the real world a football team in Xpert Eleven is dependent on sponsors. The team needs a main sponsor and can also earn extra money by taking part in sponsorship activities. The main sponsor pays all your fixed costs like player salaries and other expenses so you do not have to worry about them. Also sponsors can provide you with extra money with which you can buy players, order form training or dirty tricks (if your league allows dirty tricks). These dirty tricks are unconventional methods you can use against your opponents in order to weaken their teams. (Read more).

A user who creates a new league becomes the league admin for that league and invites whoever he/she wants to join. The league admin has full control over his/her league. He/she can inactivate teams and make decisions such as when seasons start and end, how often games are played and other rules that apply in the league. If the league contains more than 12 teams the league admin can also decide whether to have more than one division and which league system to use. The league admin, however, does not have any advantages with regards to his/her team. Everyone plays under the same conditions.

Joining Xpert Eleven

When you register it is important that you submit correct data. The data will not be given to any third party. We use the information to gather statistics on how the site is being used.

The username must only contain letters and numbers. Your real name won't be visible to other managers in any other leagues but closed private leagues. In all other types of leagues your real name will only be visible for the league's league admin. Others will only see your username.

When you have registered you will be sent an email to the address you submitted. In this email you will find a hyperlink that you must click on to activate your user account at Xpert Eleven. You cannot log on to Xpert Eleven until you have clicked on the hyperlink to activate your user account.

Registering at Xpert Eleven does not mean that you immediately get a team. When you log on you will arrive at the lobby. Here you can either join a league to which you have been invited (read more) or you can create a league of your own and invite your friends to join it (read more). You can also choose to join an official league Xpert league if there are teams available in any of these. The Xpert leagues is our official championship and can give you a place in the Hall of fame!

Profile

You find the Xpert profile in the upper right corner in the lobby. In the Xpert profile you can see how long you have been a member at Xpert Eleven and if you are a VIP-member you also see how many days are left of your VIP-membership. You also see your Xpert rating and this is shown on applications to join a league so the league boss can see it when deciding whether to approve your application. In the Xpert profile you also see the number of teams you are allowed to have and any applications you have sent that are waiting for approval.

The Xpert rating
The Xpert rating is a measure of how active and serious you are as a manager. If you place the mouse pointer over the Xpert rating (the horizontal bar) you will see your exact rating.
The Xpert rating is based on:
1) You start with 25 points.
2) Number of days on which you have logged on during the last 3 months (maximum 75 points)
3) Number of days on which you have issued press statements of more than 150 characters in the Xpert leagues during the last 2 months. Each day is worth 1,5 points. (maximum 30 points)
4) Members recruited to the site during the past 3 months. (Max 30 points) Read more about recruitements here.
5) The number of penalty points you have been given.

Penalty points are given in the following situations:
1) A press statement that is deleted in the Xpert leagues by the league admin or a moderator. Gives -5.
2) If you leave a league (non Xpert league), you get between -6 and -24 points depending on whether you have played for a whole season or pull out during a season or before a season has started. You will get penalty points whether you resign or the administrator sacks you.
3) In addition we in the X11 team can give penalty points if a user misbehaves or breaks any rules. Between -5 and -50 points.
You keep penalty points for 3 months.

Manager skill
If you have a team in an Xpert league your skills as a manager will be graded every competitive game your team are playing. The manager skill is based on your performance as a manager in competitive matches 6 months back. If you coach your team well you will get a higher manager skill. The manager skill value is based on the same values that the coach of the round in the Xpert eleven is based on. The manager skill in the Xpert Ladies is also based on competitive games 6 months back.

Assigned team quota
The assigned team quota states the number of leagues you can join. The leagues are divided into 3 different categories; Xpert leagues, private leagues and own leagues. Xpert leagues are the official leagues which make up the official championship here at Xpert Eleven. Private leagues are leagues that are created by any member here at Xpert Eleven and where you are not the league boss. Own leagues are private leagues where you yourself are the league boss.

Everyone has the right to join one Xpert league and one private league.

To be allowed to create your own private league you must have been registered for 2 days and also have an Xpert rating over 25. The Xpert rating is shown in the lobby and if you place the mouse pointer over the horizontal bar that shows your Xpert rating you will get information on your exact rating.

To be allowed to create an additional private league you must have been a member for at least 4 months and have an Xpert rating of at least 75

To join a second private league where someone else is the league boss you must have been a member for at least 2 months and have an Xpert rating of at least 95.

To join a third private league where someone else is the league boss you must have been a member for at least 6 months and have an Xpert rating of at least 115.

The maximum number of private leagues you can join where someone else is the league boss is 3. VIP-members always have access to full team quota regardless of Xpert rating and how long they have been members.

Important Hours

We run different updates and simulations at certain hours. The schedule for these is as follows. Note that the time schedule is according to the time zone CET (GMT+1). That means if you for example are in England you have to subtract an hour from the scheduled time.

Every hour and half hour
Matches played
Xpert teams with inactive managers are released

01.00 am
Watch list mails is sent
Outcomes of biddings are decided

02.00 am
Sponsorship bonuses are handed out (Tuesdays only)
League rating updates

03.00 am
Unexpected events are simulated
Youth team talents are sent out

04.00 am
Dirty tricks
Form training

05.00 am
Completion of cup tournaments
Cup draws
Season updates
Pre-season updates (Players who are about to retire will report this 3 weeks before the season ends)
Various clearing up functions
06.00 am
Xpert rating updates

League

A league in Xpert Eleven consists of at least 6 teams. There are no limits to how large a league can be. The bigger the league the more divisions and series it will contain. If the league has 12 teams or more it can have several divisions. If there are 18 teams or more you can use a pyramid system where the top division has one series, the division below that has two and the next four and so on. Teams are then promoted and relegated from one division to another at the end of a season. The number of relegated teams is decided by the league admin.

If the league admin is a VIP member at Xpert Eleven he will also be able to create a season with the CL-system (like champions league).

The grouping of teams
In the first season of a league the grouping of teams into the different series is done by lottery when the league admin starts the season. If the number of teams vary from one season to another a promotion place might not always lead to promotion. What happens is that all the teams are ranked at the end of a season and then a new grouping is done based on this new ranking. A team in a promotion place in the second division will rank higher than a team in a relegation place in the first division. This means that even matches involving teams from the middle of the league can prove to be important for the future. Read more about the grouping of teams here.

The fixtures
The teams in a series play each other twice, which means every team plays the other teams home and away. The position of teams in a series is decided as follows:
1. Points.
2. Goal difference.
3. Goals scored.
4 Wins.
If all the above are equal the position is decided on the league table based on away games only.

Prize money
When a season comes to an end some prize money will of course be paid out. In Xpert Eleven the prize money is the same in every division. Because the cost of playing in a lower division is as high as in a higher division we feel that the prize money should be the same.

The prize money is as follows:

Position:
1st place 1 000 000 econ
2nd place 500 000 econ
3rd place 250 000 econ

Top goalscorer:
250 000 econ

Most assists:
250 000 econ

Most points (goals + assists) :
250 000 econ

Most nominations to the Xperteleven all star team:
500 000 econ

If number of goals, assists and points(goals+assists) are equal the winner will be the player with most nominations to the all star team and if the winner still cannot be decided the player with most nominations as captain of the all star team wins.

The league info
The information about the league you can find by clicking the menu alternative "League info" in the right hand menu. There, amongst other things, you will see who the league admin is, how many teams there are in the league, when it was created, when the current season started, when the current season ends, which days of the week matches are played, what time of day matches are played etc. Some of this information is not available until a season has started.

The season
As soon as the league admin has got everyone he/she wants to register a team in the league he/she will start a new season. A season lasts for about two days after all the matches in a league have been played. Some series may contain one more team than others do which means that some teams might have a period without any matches towards the end of a season. When the season ends a season update takes place that will affects the league, the teams and the players. The season update is always carried out at 05.00 am the day after the season end date shown on the league info page. When this update has been done the league admin can start a new season immediately if he/she wants to. It is always the league admin who starts a new season. There is no end to a league, it can continue for as long as the league admin and the members want it to.

Starting Line-Up

To select your lineup for a specific match you can choose match among the coming matches listed when you clicked "Coming matches" in the team menu. Click on the edit icon to the right of the match you want to select your lineup and tactics for. You can also click on "Next match" in the team menu if you want to select lineup and tactics for your next match.

The page contain 3 tabs (Currently saved, lineup and tactics). Above the tabs you will find information about the match you are selecting lineup and tactics for. The first tab will show you what lineup and tactics that will be used if nothing is changed. Click on the tab "Lineup" to select your lineup.

On this page you will see your players and their most important qualities. In the drop down menu to the far right you can choose what position the player will play in. If the player is not chosen you can either use him/her as a substitute or leave him/her out of the team altogether. As a substitute the player can replace anyone in his/her position should they get injured during the game. He/she can also be substituted into another position if you do not have a player on the bench that prefers the position of the injured player. If you leave a player out of the team he/she will remain a spectator during the whole match whatever happens.

A maximum of 11 players is allowed on the pitch of which one must be a goalkeeper. There is only room for 5 players on the substitutes' bench so the rest of the squad must be left out of the team. You are not allowed to use any extreme team formations such as choosing all 10 outfield players as attackers. The team must use one of the following formations:

4-5-1 (4 defenders, 5 midfielders, 1 attacker)
4-4-2 (4 defenders, 4 midfielders, 2 attackers)
4-3-3 (4 defenders, 3 midfielders, 3 attackers)
4-2-4 (4 defenders, 2 midfielders, 4 attackers)
5-4-1 (5 defenders, 4 midfielders, 1 attacker)
5-3-2 (5 defenders, 3 midfielders, 2 attackers)
5-2-3 (5 defenders, 2 midfielders, 3 attackers)
3-5-2 (3 defenders, 5 midfielders, 2 attackers)
3-4-3 (3 defenders, 4 midfielders, 3 attackers)

When you have selected the lineup you press the button "Save match orders" or you can switch to the tactics tab and select your tactics. Please note that "Save match orders" will save both the lineup and tactics at the same time. When you push "Save match orders" "Currently saved" will be displayed.

If you happen to select a formation that is not allowed you will be informed of this and nothing will been saved. If you do not have enough players in the team you will still be able to save the team line-up as long as you have selected a goalkeeper. If you at the start of the match have less than 10 players in the line-up you will lose the game on WO (0-5).

The team line-up you select will apply for the specific match only unless you select the option "Save as default lineup". If a player you have selected for the starting line-up gets injured before the match a substitute will replace that player in the game. The players that you have left out of the team will not be eligible to play in the game whatever happens.

Another important thing to notice is that squad on this page will be displayed injuries, suspensions, training and absence based on the date of the specific match. This means for example that if a player is injured at the moment but will be fit by the time the specific match is played then that player will appear without any injury in the squad on this page.

Average age
You can see the average age of the players in the line-up on the player squad page. This is shown for both the defence (goalkeeper and defenders) and the offence (midfielders and forwards) but also for all the players in the line-up (reserves are not included). The average age should be at least 26 years for the team to be able to perform 100%. If the average age is less than 26 years then the team/team part will perform poorer than if the average age was 26 years or more. The lower the average age is the bigger the performance reduction will be. It has no additional effect on the team if the average age is over 26 years. As long as the average age on the selected players in the team/team part is over 26 years the team/team part will perform 100%.

Note that it is the performance of the team/team part that is affected if the average age is less than 26 years. The players' individual performances are not affected by the average age. This means that the reduction of the performance viewed in a bigger picture will not be as big as the figures in the examples below. But the players' grades after the match will be affected by the team's/team part's performance. How big the performance reduction will be depends on how much lower the average age is in the team/team part.

If one team part has an average age higher than the other the one with the less average age will gain a little age and the other will lose some age. This means that if you have a team part, for example the defence with an average age over 26 years it will compensate the lack of age in the other team part to some extension but there will still be some reduction on the "young" team part's performance. Important to think of is that it is only the players that are on the field that counts. Players on the bench does not count. If there are substitutions during the match the average age will be recalculated so the average age is always counted on the players that actually are on the field.

When you have selected you lineup you can go on to select your tactics. Read more about this here.

Tactics

You can set tactics specifically for all scheduled matches. This is done on the same page where you select your lineup. You find this page by either click on "Next match" in the team menu or the edit icon show to the right of each coming match list on the coming matches page. When entering the page the information under the currently saved tab will be displayed. Information about the match you are setting match orders for is displayed above the tabs. If no match is scheduled no information will be displayed but you will be able to save a default lineup and tactics.

To set the tactics for the specific match you must click on the tactics tab. The lineup shown under the tactics tab will be the currently saved lineup for that specific match.

Every team has a standard set of tactics which are used if no other tactics have been chosen. On the tactics page you see the team you have selected and if you place the mouse pointer over a player's name you get information about that player. You see which position he/she prefers to play in and his/her skill level and current form. The skill level and form are shown with numbers, for example 4 is the same as 4 skillboxes etc. If you want to change your selected team you go to the squad page.

The tactics you choose are for the next match. You get information about the next match in the square below the square showing the selected team. There is shown amongst other things the team you are playing against, the time of the match and who the referee will be. As well as the name of the referee you see his/her S- and H- values where the S-value represents his/her skill level and the H-value how hard he/she is. It is not easy to try to cheat when the referee is highly skilled and such referees are also better at judging offsides than those less skilled. If a referee has a high H-value it means he/she is very strict and will not tolerate the slightest offence.

Style of play:
When you choose your tactics you first have to choose your style of play which determines how the team will behave when they have the ball. If you choose to play defensive the team will take few risks and will try to keep hold of the ball when they get it. Defensive play has the disadvantage of not creating so many scoring opportunities but hopefully neither will your opponents. If you choose to play offensive the whole team will go forward and you will probably create a fair number of scoring opportunities but the disadvantage is that your defence will not be so tight which will give your opponents more scoring opportunities also.

Offensive strategy
This tactical option lets you decide how the team will behave in the last third of the pitch. The alternatives you can choose between are:

1) Varied
The team plays as it usually does and will try to attack on the wings, with through balls and long range shots. This tactic thus means the team will play a regular game.

2) Through plays
If you choose this strategy the team will try to hit more through balls. This can be a good tactic if you have fast attackers and your opponent's defenders are not so fast and their goalkeeper is not very good against a lone attacker who has broken away from the defence.

3) Wing plays
If you use this strategy your team will try playing down the wings and cross the ball in towards the penalty area. This tactic can be good if your attackers are good headers of the ball and your opponent's goalkeeper is no good at catching high balls.

4) Long shots
This can be a good tactic if you have players who are good at shooting from outside the penalty area and the opponent's goalkeeper does not position him/herself well.

Defensive strategy
This choice of tactics lets you decide how your defenders defend the area around the penalty box. The alternatives you can choose between are:

1) Normal
Everything is as usual and you leave no more space on the wings than in the middle.

2) Tighten the wings
If you think your opponent is going to try to play a lot down the wings it can be good to make sure your defenders concentrate on defending the wings thereby preventing the opponents from crossing the ball in. This means that your central defence will be weaker and make you more vulnerable against through balls and breakaways.

3) Tighten the centre
If you think your opponent will use through plays or go for long shots it can be a good idea to concentrate on defending the centre. This means your defence will be weaker on the wings and you will be more vulnerable against a team attacking down the wings.

Defend against formation
You are able to prepare your team for how your opponent will play. If you think your opponent will play 4-4-2 you will be able to choose to prepare your team for that by selecting that formation in a dropdown list on the tactics page. The tactical option is possible to save within the default tactics.

If your opponent uses that formation this will have a negative effect on your opponent’s ability to create chances. How much effect it will have depends on how accustomed your opponent is to playing with that formation. That is determined by the formations used by your opponent the last 3 matches (including friendlies). The more matches (out of the past 3 matches) the opponent has played with a certain formation, the better he will be at playing that formation.

In other words this means that if the opponent uses a formation that he has used before and you didn’t prepare for that formation then your opponent will get a boost in his ability to create chances.

If you choose to prepare your team for a formation that the opponent won't use, then your opponent will always get a small positive extra effect on their ability to create chances. If you choose not to prepare your team for any formation then your opponent won't get any extra positive effect other than the experience they have on their formation used in the match.

Aggression:
By aggression we mean how aggressively your players behave on the pitch. You can tell them to play hard and they will then tackle hard and some times even brutally. Your team will perform a little better and if you are lucky perhaps your opponent's best player will be injured. The disadvantage is that your players will more likely get booked or even sent off and also your opponent will probably get more freekicks and perhaps penalties. It is also tiring playing this hard so your team will lose some steam towards the end of each half. If you instead tell your players to play carefully they will not tackle very hard but the team will perform slightly worse than usual. The advantages are that your team will not be giving away so many freekicks or penalties or get any unnecessary yellow or red cards. Furthermore playing a careful game will lower the risk slightly of your players getting injured since they will not tackle so hard while playing hard increases the risks of injuries. When you choose how aggressively your team is going to play you should check who the referee will be. If the referee is hard (a high H-value) you should avoid playing to agressively, you might even want to tell your players to play carefully to avoid being sent off or giving away to many freekicks or even penalties. In friendly games you cannot choose aggression, everyone plays carefully.

Team captain:
The player you choose as team captain should be the most respected player in the team. He/she should have his heart in the club, be amongst the most skilled and preferably a leader type. Look at the players visual skill level, you can ignore his/her form. When choosing the captain you can subtract 3 from the skill level if a player has not got his/her heart in the club and you can add 2 if a player is a leader type. If you still have 2 evenly matched players it is best to choose the leader type. A leader will perform at his/her best as team captain and get the whole team behind him/her. To choose a player who is not respected by the others is bad for the team. Note however that chosing a captain is the least important of all the tactical choices.

The team captain will also step forward and take care of freekicks and penalties if no player is designated for these tasks or if the designated player for some reason isn't available.

Playmaker:
If you have a good midfielder it might be a good idea to choose him/her as a playmaker and let most of the play go through him/her. His/her skill will then carry more weight than that of the other midfielders and give the team more attacking power. There is though a risk that the opponents choose to mark him/her closely and in that case the playmaker's skill will carry less weight than that of the other midfielders.

Freekick taker:
In the scrolling list you choose the player you want to take the freekicks. If you do not choose someone particular then the team captain will take care of the freekicks. A good taker of freekicks should have a lot of routine. Routine is not as important for freekicks as when taking penalties but you should not choose a teenager for this task. Furthermore the more skilled a player is and the better his/her form is the better he/she will be at taking freekicks. When choosing the freekick taker you should also take in account if the player has the special quality for freekicks or if he/she has the special quality of great power in his shots. Read more about those special qualities in the section about special qualities.

Penalty taker:
In the scrolling list you choose the player you want to take the penalties. If you do not choose someone particular then the team captain will take care of the penalties. When taking penalties routine is very important. A penalty taker should also be quite skilled and in good form. If the team is playing a decisive cup match you will see checkboxes in front of every player's name on the tactics page. Check those players you want to take the penalties in case there is a penalty shoot-out. If you check more than 5 players only the five uppermost players will be selected. If you have chosen a player to take penalties during regular match time he/she will take the first penalty.

Closely mark:
If your opponent happens to have a top class player who might dominate the match it can be a good idea to mark him/her closely. The closely marked player will not get as much space as he/she is used to and will therefore create less scoring opportunities and score less goals. Your players will also tackle him/her a bit harder increasing the probability of him/her being injured but this increase is very small. The probability of injuries in your opponent's team as a whole does not increase. The disadvantage with this tactic is of course that the other players in the opposing team will have more space and will perform slightly better than usual. If the player you were going to closely mark does not play everything will be as normal.

Win bonus:
You can motivate your players to perform better by promising bonus money for winning. The more money you promise the better they will perform in the match. You must have enough money to cover it at the start of the match or the effect will be the opposite. The sum is a lump sum which is paid out to the whole team so you do not pay each player individually the stated amount. If the team wins the whole sum is paid out and if they draw only a quarter of the sum is paid out. If the team loses nothing is paid out. In cup matches played over 2 legs the money in the second leg is paid out only if you advance. Bonus money is not included in the standard tactics.

Substitute slightly injured:
You are able to choose if you want players that gets slightly injured during the match to continue to play or not. This option is a simple Yes/No-choice where No is the default. Using a slightly injured player involves the risk of the player getting another injury which in that case would lead to a severe injury. A slightly injured player is completely fit and healthy within 4 days.

Long balls:
If you choose to play long balls you will lessen the importance of the midfield for you and your opponent. This tactic can be useful when your opponents's midfield is very strong. If you yourself are playing with a lot of midfielders you should avoid this tactic.

Pressure:
By putting pressure on the holder of the ball you will strengthen your midfield which should increase your possession of the ball. Your opponent will also have difficulty in finding opportunities to shoot from outside the penalty area. In other word this tactic can be good if you think your opponent will try a lot of shots from outside the penalty area but the disadvantage is that your players will get tired towards the end of each half especially in the second half because they will be chasing the player with the ball.

Offside traps:
If you tell your defenders to use offside traps they will leave the opponents in offside positions most of the time but when they fail your opponents will break away from the defence and have a good chance of scoring. When the referee is not very skilled (low S-value) he is not very good at judging offsides and if he is not very hard (low H-value) he might allow some offsides you think are obvious. Playing with offside traps will make it harder for your opponents to create scoring opportunities but the chances they have will instead be more dangerous.

Cheating:
To tell your players to cheat and try to gain advantages means that you practically are telling them to dive, pull the opponent's shirts and generally act unsportsmanly. You can gain from this tactic if you use it in a match with the "right" type of referee. A low skilled (low S-value) referee has difficulty in judging what is cheating and what is not and if he/she is hard as well you can get freekicks and even penalties by cheating or perhaps get one of your opponent's players sent off. Your defence will also be able to perform a bit better when they can pull the shirts of the opponent's players. But be very careful of using this tactic in a match with a skilled referee ecspecially if he also is hard in his judgements because then you might give away a lot of freekicks and even penalties and also risk having your own players sent off.

When you have chosen your tactics you press the "Save tactics" button to save them. If you check "Save as default" they will be saved as the new standard.