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Asunto: National Team
Uruguay went down 3 - 0 to Croatia, although with a slightly better defensive tactic and a little more luck when shooting at the Croatian keeper, the scoreline might have been a bit different. The only result we didn't want from that game was Uruguay winning. As a result of that not happening, we're now still 2 points clear of Croatia and a comfortable 7 points ahead of Uruguay. Looks like a 3rd place spot is in our control, but then we've also got to be among the best 4 3rd placed teams to qualify. At this stage we're still in the hunt for top spot, although I think Brazil are leagues ahead of the other teams in this group just from the way they've played so far.
Will be an interesting clash next week for sure.
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Will be an interesting clash next week for sure.
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Well, I have to admit I haven't discovered the little secrets of the new ME so far :(
I liked Byers' long shot goal, good to know that he can make some instead of wildly shooting from there in my games.
Haha my league game was a real pleasure to watch.
'2nd Willis on the wing, makes a cross and...Maras scores it!
'4th Willis taking up the freekick, a cross...Maras scores again!
2 goals by Maras, 5 assists from Willis.
Andy has now 79 official assists + 35 NT assists. That makes it 114 assists!
'2nd Willis on the wing, makes a cross and...Maras scores it!
'4th Willis taking up the freekick, a cross...Maras scores again!
2 goals by Maras, 5 assists from Willis.
Andy has now 79 official assists + 35 NT assists. That makes it 114 assists!
There were few factors.
nr. 1
nr. 2
nr. 3
If I'd have won any of these games, I would've been in 2nd right now. But I'm soooooo lucky in this season :)
luck nr. 1
luck nr. 2
nr. 1
nr. 2
nr. 3
If I'd have won any of these games, I would've been in 2nd right now. But I'm soooooo lucky in this season :)
luck nr. 1
luck nr. 2
Thats just your weakness coming to fruition. Once you convince yourself you aren't weak, you can then convince your team and then they will play better!
Or just get a better keeper =D
Or just get a better keeper =D
Well we've got Brazil tomorrow. Look forward to a really tough game and our hardest game by far. Still deciding on what I'll go in with tomorrow, although we've still got a full selection to select from and not too many form problems. These next two rounds against Brazil we have no pressure on us as ultimately we're not expected to win and we've already got a point against Croatia who I'm confident we can do just as well against them next time. That means these next two rounds we just have to try and take what we can and try and grab an upset and really boost us into world cup qualifying contention.
I'm particularly edgy about the Brazil midfield supplying a lot of ball. That's been the driving force for their team this season, topped off by some nice finishing from their strikers. That's the main concern but if we can get a fair share of ball in the right areas we could go alright. We're a much stronger team then many take us credit for, a lot stronger then when I first took over so these are the challenges we need to start really testing where we stand and how far we've come. We showed we could match Croatia and we came away with a draw which could have ended either way really. Now we need to take a step up again and perform well against a quality side, although not without their weaknesses ;). I've picked up on a few and I intend to target them and the result could be interesting.
Brazil dominated and totally destroyed Uruguay, watching that game was a lesson why you never leave a 3 man defense open for easy attacks. The defense from Uruguay was not really that great, large gaps in between defenders. We'll not do that, with Brazil's midfield you'll be chasing balls out of the net all game. Passing lanes will be important to cut out so their midfield has to work harder to set up chances. I have no doubts Brazil will attack on one or both wings, they've done it for a fair few matches now, would be surprised if they suddenly changed. This could cause us some issues stretching from side to side and that's another thing I'll need to be careful about when finalizing a tactic and I'll be closely monitoring.
The trick to whether we can win the game ultimately comes down to whether we can restrict the passing options of their midfield players and if we can get enough of the ball in the right areas. I'm not expecting to keep them goal less but with a bit of luck and the right tactical placement we might have a chance of getting a result. Strikers better be on their games though, we can't afford to be sloppy like the past fortnight.
That's enough rambling from myself, I've got a few ideas up my sleeve, still deciding what card to play but will sleep on it :).
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I'm particularly edgy about the Brazil midfield supplying a lot of ball. That's been the driving force for their team this season, topped off by some nice finishing from their strikers. That's the main concern but if we can get a fair share of ball in the right areas we could go alright. We're a much stronger team then many take us credit for, a lot stronger then when I first took over so these are the challenges we need to start really testing where we stand and how far we've come. We showed we could match Croatia and we came away with a draw which could have ended either way really. Now we need to take a step up again and perform well against a quality side, although not without their weaknesses ;). I've picked up on a few and I intend to target them and the result could be interesting.
Brazil dominated and totally destroyed Uruguay, watching that game was a lesson why you never leave a 3 man defense open for easy attacks. The defense from Uruguay was not really that great, large gaps in between defenders. We'll not do that, with Brazil's midfield you'll be chasing balls out of the net all game. Passing lanes will be important to cut out so their midfield has to work harder to set up chances. I have no doubts Brazil will attack on one or both wings, they've done it for a fair few matches now, would be surprised if they suddenly changed. This could cause us some issues stretching from side to side and that's another thing I'll need to be careful about when finalizing a tactic and I'll be closely monitoring.
The trick to whether we can win the game ultimately comes down to whether we can restrict the passing options of their midfield players and if we can get enough of the ball in the right areas. I'm not expecting to keep them goal less but with a bit of luck and the right tactical placement we might have a chance of getting a result. Strikers better be on their games though, we can't afford to be sloppy like the past fortnight.
That's enough rambling from myself, I've got a few ideas up my sleeve, still deciding what card to play but will sleep on it :).
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Ok have gone in with a decision I've been pondering about. Was tossing up between a safer and a slightly riskier option by my standards at least so we'll see. I went with my gut feeling and it really was a difficult decision to make. Spent around an hour fiddling through all potential attacks both from our side and the potential attacks from Brazil, so I think I've fine tuned the tactic. There was another possibility which would have seen us in a different frame of mind. I guess I've gone in with the perception that we're not expected to win, we've got a 2nd crack at Brazil in a fortnight, so if this doesn't work (I have reasons why it might not work, but I'll keep them to myself atm) I can re-assess and try the other option next time. Once again I can't see how we'll win simply by defending, has been my approach and view since I got Achmid on board and I did a bit of watching of general NT matches and came to the conclusion, defending often reduces the score but doesn't very often win matches (unless you're Turkey).
Tweaks have been done right up until I started typing this post, I'm still not 100% convinced but regardless of what I chose I'd never be 100% convinced in a game where they could potentially rip us to shreds whatever I decide to do. Have tried a few things from weaknesses I've picked up from their previous tactics this season, as well as try to reduce the strength that they've shown.
I'm hoping we're able to pull off something special today, but we'll wait and see what happens, I'm very nervous, particularly as I'm not sure I've chosen the correct option but I'm sure we'll put up a fight anyway :).
Tweaks have been done right up until I started typing this post, I'm still not 100% convinced but regardless of what I chose I'd never be 100% convinced in a game where they could potentially rip us to shreds whatever I decide to do. Have tried a few things from weaknesses I've picked up from their previous tactics this season, as well as try to reduce the strength that they've shown.
I'm hoping we're able to pull off something special today, but we'll wait and see what happens, I'm very nervous, particularly as I'm not sure I've chosen the correct option but I'm sure we'll put up a fight anyway :).
LOL. Do I need to say more. Haven't even seen the report yet.
Edit: We keep the unofficial world ranking title as well.
Didn't actually think we'd concede 4 goals but there were a few issues that occurred with the tactic which shouldn't have happened. I'm wondering whether or not some of the changes I made late actually saved and processed because defenders didn't close down the space and that allowed through balls to their striker. Similarly our midfield should have been a bit more defensive then that, I didn't have a massive gap of half the field free in the tactic last I checked. Anyway we got a draw I suppose I can't complain, hard to say if we deserved it or not, we could have even potentially stolen that game with all the crosses Willis had that had a 50-50 chance with Hirons/Storey and their defender but the defender won the header almost everytime.
I think my 3 main concerns from this game from watching the game:
1) Defense didn't close in the gaps like they have been past games, they rather stood there waited for the ball to go through and the striker to gather it before chasing, by then was too late. That will be looked at, thought I had it right after spending a long time fixing this and even tweaking it a fraction more in the last 10-15min before the game.
2) Midfield was far too offensive around the middle of midfield in particular. Should have been dropped back a complete square, that may have even helped prevent the through balls Brasil got quite often, as the midfield was almost meant to sit on the defense but looked like they were sitting in behind the strikers. Timpano excluded ofcourse.
3) Outside defender didn't push across fast enough to cover the winger. I did a lot of work pushing across the defenders into that last square when its in either of the last 2 columns in the tactic, might have needed to push them out right onto the edge of the editor, instead of halfway in the 1st column.
They were the 3 main negatives I picked up from a first viewing.
Offensively we got through their defense from long passes a few times, didn't score or get a shot off from any of them though, we were always tackled before we'd shoot the ball.
Willis was inspirational, guess him being in magical form helped whilst Ando had a strong game considering the amount of times he was left to fight it out with the opposition.
Strikers efficiency was quite good. We missed a few I thought we should have hit but on the whole 4/9 isn't that bad. Hirons with 2/3 (where did that come from? They weren't long ranged strikes either)
Baveas looked a little quiet out there today, Broxton was a bit better.
Overall a little disappointed by the first 2 negatives, but we got the draw and it's another point towards qualification. We should be ahead of Croatia at the halfway mark unless they score a truckload :).
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Edit: We keep the unofficial world ranking title as well.
Didn't actually think we'd concede 4 goals but there were a few issues that occurred with the tactic which shouldn't have happened. I'm wondering whether or not some of the changes I made late actually saved and processed because defenders didn't close down the space and that allowed through balls to their striker. Similarly our midfield should have been a bit more defensive then that, I didn't have a massive gap of half the field free in the tactic last I checked. Anyway we got a draw I suppose I can't complain, hard to say if we deserved it or not, we could have even potentially stolen that game with all the crosses Willis had that had a 50-50 chance with Hirons/Storey and their defender but the defender won the header almost everytime.
I think my 3 main concerns from this game from watching the game:
1) Defense didn't close in the gaps like they have been past games, they rather stood there waited for the ball to go through and the striker to gather it before chasing, by then was too late. That will be looked at, thought I had it right after spending a long time fixing this and even tweaking it a fraction more in the last 10-15min before the game.
2) Midfield was far too offensive around the middle of midfield in particular. Should have been dropped back a complete square, that may have even helped prevent the through balls Brasil got quite often, as the midfield was almost meant to sit on the defense but looked like they were sitting in behind the strikers. Timpano excluded ofcourse.
3) Outside defender didn't push across fast enough to cover the winger. I did a lot of work pushing across the defenders into that last square when its in either of the last 2 columns in the tactic, might have needed to push them out right onto the edge of the editor, instead of halfway in the 1st column.
They were the 3 main negatives I picked up from a first viewing.
Offensively we got through their defense from long passes a few times, didn't score or get a shot off from any of them though, we were always tackled before we'd shoot the ball.
Willis was inspirational, guess him being in magical form helped whilst Ando had a strong game considering the amount of times he was left to fight it out with the opposition.
Strikers efficiency was quite good. We missed a few I thought we should have hit but on the whole 4/9 isn't that bad. Hirons with 2/3 (where did that come from? They weren't long ranged strikes either)
Baveas looked a little quiet out there today, Broxton was a bit better.
Overall a little disappointed by the first 2 negatives, but we got the draw and it's another point towards qualification. We should be ahead of Croatia at the halfway mark unless they score a truckload :).
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Great result, was a tense ending as Brazil took the lead, only for an equalizer to be scored a few minutes later.
Looks like we have a slight cushion for qualifying for the World Cup, probably still holding onto second place in Group I on GD.
Another bad thing - Nikas is out for 3 weeks.
Looks like we have a slight cushion for qualifying for the World Cup, probably still holding onto second place in Group I on GD.
Another bad thing - Nikas is out for 3 weeks.
Yeah Nikas is out, but Howarth is getting back in form, so it's kind of a trade I suppose.
I was really upset when they got that 3rd goal I think where it bounced off the post, seemed to have an eternity to pick up the ball but we didn't and they slotted it.
When Hirons got that break when I think it was 2-2 or 3-3 (I can't remember now, so many moments where it was level) and got tackled and Timpano got the ball, I think we should have done a bit better than the play we produced.
A few times you'd hope for Willis to beat that last tackle and the ball would go out of play rather than forward where we would have then had a really good shot at scoring.
Just some minor things. Then the 4th goal they scored I thought we'd lost it, then Storey gets the header and Byers nailed it. Then I was just hoping we wouldn't cough up a 5th goal right near the end as it would have been heartbreaking stuff.
Who said draws were boring :p.
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I was really upset when they got that 3rd goal I think where it bounced off the post, seemed to have an eternity to pick up the ball but we didn't and they slotted it.
When Hirons got that break when I think it was 2-2 or 3-3 (I can't remember now, so many moments where it was level) and got tackled and Timpano got the ball, I think we should have done a bit better than the play we produced.
A few times you'd hope for Willis to beat that last tackle and the ball would go out of play rather than forward where we would have then had a really good shot at scoring.
Just some minor things. Then the 4th goal they scored I thought we'd lost it, then Storey gets the header and Byers nailed it. Then I was just hoping we wouldn't cough up a 5th goal right near the end as it would have been heartbreaking stuff.
Who said draws were boring :p.
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That's my kind of Sokker.
Great tactic taking it up to them. Your reasoning is perfectly sound. Makes little difference if we go down by 5 goals or one.
Whichever goal they got after their cross/strike from the wing hit the post was bollocks, but they were a bit unlucky not to have done better in some other areas.
We looked fantastic on the counter often breaking down to a 3-on-3, with Willis getting quality crosses in (before being covered, or after beating his man). I'm also with you on those 50/50 crosses that their defender constantly won, Hirons didn't win one until the ~70th minute, just before he got subbed.
Great tactic taking it up to them. Your reasoning is perfectly sound. Makes little difference if we go down by 5 goals or one.
Whichever goal they got after their cross/strike from the wing hit the post was bollocks, but they were a bit unlucky not to have done better in some other areas.
We looked fantastic on the counter often breaking down to a 3-on-3, with Willis getting quality crosses in (before being covered, or after beating his man). I'm also with you on those 50/50 crosses that their defender constantly won, Hirons didn't win one until the ~70th minute, just before he got subbed.
I just thought I would mention, I had absolutely nothing to do with this great tactic from cometer this week. I know I normally get involved for the big games, but life had its issues, and all credit should definitely be directed at cometer.
Nice draw (win in our eyes) mate
Nice draw (win in our eyes) mate
Might make a notice anyway to give people plenty of time, we take on Canada in week 8 in an U21 game.
I can already think of the starting pair of strikers, the goalkeepers and a few of the defenders/midfielders but there are still plenty of spots available, so if you have any of the players that pass the requirements on the NT page (haven't been updated since last season, but are still the same anyway) for U21's then your player may be in with a shot.
Particularly interested in hunting down midfielders as we're a bit short in that department atm.
I can already think of the starting pair of strikers, the goalkeepers and a few of the defenders/midfielders but there are still plenty of spots available, so if you have any of the players that pass the requirements on the NT page (haven't been updated since last season, but are still the same anyway) for U21's then your player may be in with a shot.
Particularly interested in hunting down midfielders as we're a bit short in that department atm.