Hattrick

[mundial]

OK, I had a passable coach with passable leadership the last two seasons, and I decided I'd rather have a solid coach, now that I understand training better. I just went for one and got a solid coach but with poor leadership. I still have a good amount of money in the bank (I got this guy on my 10th try or so). I realize that coaches are totally random and I could get a better one next try or it could take me 100 tries. But do y'all think I should be satisfied with this guy? Or keep trying?

Thanks,

Nick

[Elwood]

I'd buy a solid leader player (who's popular and nice and all) and not worry about getting a 'perfect' coach.

[mundial]

How is everyone doing in the first round of the cup? I am such a geek, excited enough to 'watch' it. We're up 2-0 after 13 minutes, but I have to admit I'm playing a computer-run team.

Nick
Mundial
IV.62

[mundial]

By the way, I won 7-0. Biggest Hattrick victory ever. My 32-year-old forward scored five. But he's not on the top scorer list. D'oh! And I drew another computer-run team next week.

Good luck to all

Nick

[Elwood]

Another comp for me next week, too. 8-0 PICing yesterday, looks to be the same. Plus my Sunday match will be a walkover, so it's been a bit of a boring start for my season.

Probably my toughest league match is week 2, though (at Day Dreamers). But week 3 league is another walkover (which means weeks 12 and 14 will be, too).

I'm seriously thinking of making a run at the Cup this season. With 2 teams giving walkovers, the lowest I can finish in II.4 is 6th. And since there are 2 league matches after the 2nd leg of the Cup final, those are 2 more opportunities to PIC before any qualification match I might end up playing (which would be at home, too). I really don't see much of a drawback to PICing every series match and as many Cup matches as I feel comfortable PICing, and playing normal in the Cup. Possibly low attendance later in the season.

Just not really sure how to play this season. But odds are I won't win the series even if I gave it my all, and if I somehow did, I'm not ready for ML just yet, anyways.

Decisions, decisions...

[mundial]

I won 7-1 over a computer team. This time, it was my 37-year-old midfielder who had the hattrick, as I rested last week's hero. Unfortunately, I lost two starters to injury, and I'm the underdog next Wednesday as I play a quality Division IV side. Even if I'm knocked out, that revenue should help me buy the winger I need to make a run at the Division IV.62 title!

How'd you others do?

Cheers,

Nick
Mundial F.C.
IV.62

[Lone Star]

Won 5-1 against an up-and-running club, as opposed to last week's abandoned club. I was worried for a bit since I was down 1-0 until the 34th minute or so, but my reserves came through in the end.

Next week I play another club just starting out. I SHOULD win handily with all reserves, but we'll see.

Panther City FC
III.1

[Footer Phooter]

I won 4-0. I'll be out after next week.

[mundial]

Well, I don't know what happened, but I won round three 5-0. I forgot to tweak my line-up, but my boys came through. Unfortunately, I lost my star midfielder towards the end of this one - d'oh! I know I should be playing reserves in my cup matches, and that I could lose my grip on first in the division as a result, but I just love that money coming in! This week is Sparta Augustow, who was in Division II until a month ago. Should be tough.

Good luck to all.

Nick
Mundial F.C.

[Elwood]

Still cruising in II.4 and the Cup. 2 of my 1st 3 series matches have been walkovers, so only 1 real match, and that was away to Day Dreamers, which I won. That's the only match I've not PIC'd all season.

Cup this Wednesday is against at team that will be abandoned, but as of this morning were still 'active'. No logins in 3 weeks, and they're gonna be easy. Playing my starters, but PICing, so I'll go into Sunday with Paradise on Earth spirit.

[mundial]

Well I crashed out yesterday, 7-0 to Sparta Augustow, a III team. It was ugly, I was missing 3 or 4 starters through injury. But I think my team will recover fast enough for me to make a real run at the division title. And I made a little cash to purchase some help at winger. Good luck on your cup runs.

Nick
Mundial F.C.
IV. 62

[Darr]

Sorry to hear you're out of the cup Mundial, looks like it's up to Indy, who's in the SWEET sixteen, to bring the cup to Bigsoccer!.. :P And his road got a little easier with the mighty giants themselves, Cyclones, upset last round. IMHO Red Star of ML has the best chance, I really don't think Wizards can hang with him...


I also want to say that I HATE all of you for telling me about this game... I've become addicted and actually look forward to staying up late Thurs nights to see what skills increase during training updates... :P Anyways enough of my little rant... Good luck to all you in your league matches this weekend, and extra good luck to Indy in the cup next week, looks like you should advance... Hope you can draw a non ML team next round in the Elite 8 :)

Darr
St.Louis United

[Darr]

I stand corrected, appears Indy is playing Panther City... Bigsoccer vs Bigsoccer... :P There can be only 1!.

[Lone Star]

I was about to say.........don't hand Indy the trophy just yet.

Panther City FC
III.1
29-3-2 in league/cup matches since last season

:-)

[Lone Star]

Oh, and we're in the Round of 32, not the Sweet 16. I got as far as the Sweet 16 last season, but I really don't see it happening for me this time around. League is priority, not the cup. I'm currently 5-0-0, and desperately want to get to Division 2. I finished 11-3-0 last season, yet still lost in the playoffs.

Panther City FC
III.1
It's my 5th season in III.1!!!!!!!! :-(

[mundial]

Hey I was curious whether you more successful guys ever train general.

Pasted this in the conferences, and I think Indy actually weighed in a bit, but check this out:

OK, while I was still in the cup (I got knocked out in round 4), I was only alternating part of my squad, so some of my players never saw the pitch. I expected their form to drop a bit, and it did. The same week I got knocked out, I trained stamina, and again expected my form to dip a little bit, which it did.

Since I got knocked out, I have been playing everyone who is healthy every week, and expected my team form to reverse course and start going up. My coach is solid, I have 7 assistants and 2 gk coaches, and I train at 100%. Yet I am continuing to see more decreases in form than increases. Does it just take a long time for form to correct itself, or is something wrong? I was tempted to train form last week, but just figured that form was going to take care of itself and not to give up another week's worth of training (I think I need my team to improve before I make a true run at the series title).

Just curious if you two (Indy and Panther) got where you are with or without occasionally trainin general.

Thanks,

Nick

[Elwood]

Hey, good luck on Wednesday, Lonestar. It's gonna be interesting. First-time matches against 'older' teams are always interesting. Good to see you doing well in the league, too. Ya look to be on track to auto-promote (though it's early, of course). This is easily my most exciting match of this short season so far, as my series is pretty dull. I get the impression none of us in II.4 want to promote, unless rob's heroes does. In my 3 competitive matches so far, I've not really tried much and am 3-0-0 (5-0-0 overall).

As for general, I've only trained it twice in all my Hattrick time. Once was in season 15 (I think), when Onion won my series. I PIC'd all series matches, and was looking for a Cup run. Trained General once I started facing II teams. Beat Titans, Redfish (then ML) and Day Dreamers (then ML), but after 3 weeks of general, my forwards weren't improving, so I moved back to scoring. Promptly lost 3-1 to Slashers (then and now ML).

The other time was at the very beginning of the next season. At the end of that season, I acquired 3 new inners/wings, and they had pretty bad stamina. Trained 4 weeks of stamina, and form was simply TERRIBLE. I trained either 1 or 2 weeks of general (not 100% sure) right after stamina, and then moved right back to scoring. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was just 1 week of general, as I bought a forward just before that season's 1st Cup match and trained scoring that Friday.

I'd only train general to counter lengthy stamina training (like, at most, 1 week of general for 2 weeks of stamina), or right before a VERY important match, like you win it, you either win the series (or are 99% sure of it), or you assure yourself of NOT demoting. Also I could see general being useful in an attempt at a Cup run, but having done that once, I don't think I'll do it again. Of course that has something to do with being in II and not getting home matches til VERY late. The season I did it I was seeded low, and each round meant another home sellout. I ended up with 4 home matches that Cup run. I still think those weeks were worth it, as that cash helped me really upgrade (and upgrading is kind of a domino affect, you upgrade one spot, you can sell your former starter, use that cash and a home match to upgrade somewhere else, etc).

As for form correcting itself, it usually does, but not always. Some guys seem stuck perpetually at solid or higher (had a guy solid ALL of last seaosn without ever training general), while some guys fluctuate wildly. Even had one guy drop all the way down to poor (3), when I play him weekly (and he's a scoring trainee), and he was passable 15 weeks straight, then jumped to solid. Three weeks after being solid he was poor. Also, training general doesn't assure form going up. Some guys still will go down, and odds are they're gonna be inner mids :P

[Steve_R]

I'm still in the Cup and I'm still on Bigsoccer.

[Lone Star]

Well, Indy beat the snot out of me in the Round of 32, 5-1. The game stars and team ratings were a lot closer then the final scoreline shows, but he still deserved to win.

Unfortunately, Indy Racing Athletic and Lineboys United both fell in the Sweet 16, so I guess BigSoccer's USA Cup run has come to an end. It was good while it lasted.

As for me, it's back to youth training and focusing on winning III.1. Not only winning III.1, but also getting promoted to Division 2. 17 months in Division 3 is long enough for me. Shoot, you'd think the $6,000,000 I've spent on new players the past season and a half would start paying off one of these days.

Panther City FC
III.1

[Elwood]

Yup. CrazyCoCo took out my lone central defender with a cheap tackle, then proceeded to tie me up at 2, before winning on PKs after extra time. Strange, only ONE PK was made (CoCo's first) of the 10 taken.

But by the ratings I had the better team. Shame, really. Now it looks like I'll have to burden ML with a non 3-5-2 formation next season ;-)

Well, maybe. Beat Rob's Heroes yesterday to tie Day Dreamers on points at 21 for II.4 lead, but he's got me on GD. But he's played 3 WO matches to my 2, and I have him at home later this season (right after a WO match, myself, in week 13, and week 14 is a WO match for me, too, so I'm seeing a MOTS in week 13 for sure).

Cool thing is I've gotten a supernatural midfield 2 matches in a row without MOTSing, and also with only 4 mids. And I'm probably going to upgrade one of those mids today, though another one of them is injured (listed as 4 weeks right now). Might have to play a few weeks without a decent player at winger. Hope that doesn't hurt me too much.

Anyways, really hope you get promoted, LoneStar. You (and a couple others in III.1) really DO deserve it. I'm gonna do my best to make ML for next season. I kinda want to see how un-fun losing can be ;-)