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Asunto: National Team U21
So with the new NT season about to start, thought it would be worth having a brief look back at the season.
Firstly here are the stats I posted at the start of the season
The current stats for the Aus U21 side.
Users: 12 (but realistically, 3 pulling, selling and training, with another 3 pulling but often getting lost in a non-training, non-playing role in their side)
Rank: 50
Rank points: 1587.30 - this always takes a hit in WC seasons
Number of players: 38
Average form: excellent
Average age: 19.9
Average value: 518 811 AU$
Total value: 19 714 800 AU$
Compared to now
The current stats for the Aus U21 side.
Users: 13 (but realistically, 3 pulling, selling and training, with another 3 pulling but often getting lost in a non-training, non-playing role in their side, although this may be starting to improve)
Rank: 54
Rank points: 1554.23
Number of players: 40
Average form: excellent
Average age: 19.9
Average value: 373 570 AU$
Total value: 14 942 800 AU$
So firstly, looking at the raw stat difference. I did mention in WCQ seasons, the rank points does take a hit, so only dropping 40 points, with a game to go, is an accomplishment in itself, especially given the group we were in.
Average age for the U21 NT side is the same, but our average value has taken a massive hit, losing about 25% value in one season.
Our rank has dropped 4 spaces which is a little frustrating, but we are in a clump of teams, so it can be pretty flexible over 10-15 places.
Results wise, we didn't get what we were after in the WCQ regarding points, but a lot of that was due to Honduras having a gun team, which despite being the in the 5th basket, managed to rate and come 3rd overall. We did however destroy their goal difference, which shows how well we performed against higher ranking teams without actually pulling in the points. We were on par with the 3rd basket team, LAtvija, who we beat in a friendly.
Friendly wise we won 4/5 against teams ranked (at the end of the season):
40 Paraguay U21 1901.36 (loss) 1-2
49 Latvija U21 1626.54 (win) 2-1
70 Pilipinas U21 985.67 (win) 1-0
56 Sakartvelo U21 (win) 1-0
57 El Salvador U21 1478.82 (win) 5-0
Remembering finished rank 54, so overall pretty good
Moving forward, we will be aiming to try and keep that 4th basket spot despite losing a lot of skill compared to the same time last season. Although we are only 6 places short of the 3rd basket, given the loss of skill, it will be a miracle if we can get there.
The plan was to go in the mini world cup, however the organizer has decided to make it an U20 MWC, which I have decided is not in our best interests to compete, one due to how quickly our skill level drops off, and two because it is a bit of a slap in the face for those who have trained players to the 21 age this season.
If anyone has any suggestions or would like a specific kind of match run, I am all ears, otherwise we shall hopefully keep progressing and training up our young guns both for the U21 NT, and in the future, the big time (which I have made sure to pass on last years 21yos so they can be followed over the coming seasons).
Firstly here are the stats I posted at the start of the season
The current stats for the Aus U21 side.
Users: 12 (but realistically, 3 pulling, selling and training, with another 3 pulling but often getting lost in a non-training, non-playing role in their side)
Rank: 50
Rank points: 1587.30 - this always takes a hit in WC seasons
Number of players: 38
Average form: excellent
Average age: 19.9
Average value: 518 811 AU$
Total value: 19 714 800 AU$
Compared to now
The current stats for the Aus U21 side.
Users: 13 (but realistically, 3 pulling, selling and training, with another 3 pulling but often getting lost in a non-training, non-playing role in their side, although this may be starting to improve)
Rank: 54
Rank points: 1554.23
Number of players: 40
Average form: excellent
Average age: 19.9
Average value: 373 570 AU$
Total value: 14 942 800 AU$
So firstly, looking at the raw stat difference. I did mention in WCQ seasons, the rank points does take a hit, so only dropping 40 points, with a game to go, is an accomplishment in itself, especially given the group we were in.
Average age for the U21 NT side is the same, but our average value has taken a massive hit, losing about 25% value in one season.
Our rank has dropped 4 spaces which is a little frustrating, but we are in a clump of teams, so it can be pretty flexible over 10-15 places.
Results wise, we didn't get what we were after in the WCQ regarding points, but a lot of that was due to Honduras having a gun team, which despite being the in the 5th basket, managed to rate and come 3rd overall. We did however destroy their goal difference, which shows how well we performed against higher ranking teams without actually pulling in the points. We were on par with the 3rd basket team, LAtvija, who we beat in a friendly.
Friendly wise we won 4/5 against teams ranked (at the end of the season):
40 Paraguay U21 1901.36 (loss) 1-2
49 Latvija U21 1626.54 (win) 2-1
70 Pilipinas U21 985.67 (win) 1-0
56 Sakartvelo U21 (win) 1-0
57 El Salvador U21 1478.82 (win) 5-0
Remembering finished rank 54, so overall pretty good
Moving forward, we will be aiming to try and keep that 4th basket spot despite losing a lot of skill compared to the same time last season. Although we are only 6 places short of the 3rd basket, given the loss of skill, it will be a miracle if we can get there.
The plan was to go in the mini world cup, however the organizer has decided to make it an U20 MWC, which I have decided is not in our best interests to compete, one due to how quickly our skill level drops off, and two because it is a bit of a slap in the face for those who have trained players to the 21 age this season.
If anyone has any suggestions or would like a specific kind of match run, I am all ears, otherwise we shall hopefully keep progressing and training up our young guns both for the U21 NT, and in the future, the big time (which I have made sure to pass on last years 21yos so they can be followed over the coming seasons).
So unfortunately I have had to sign up for the U20 MWC due to how hard it is to find teams not competing in that or the actual world cup. Thankfully it is only 5 weeks in length, so the U21s will still get a majority of matches.
I am also going to try and organise a B game if I find a trusted manager with similar number of users, just to make sure we get the caps on to youth players to reduce the chance of losing them in the future.
Currently we have U21 VS U20 games against some larger nations. We will still probably get destroyed by their 20 year olds (Hayastan and Italy), but at least it will be a little more even.
I am also going to try and organise a B game if I find a trusted manager with similar number of users, just to make sure we get the caps on to youth players to reduce the chance of losing them in the future.
Currently we have U21 VS U20 games against some larger nations. We will still probably get destroyed by their 20 year olds (Hayastan and Italy), but at least it will be a little more even.
Well that is annoying, 4 players disappeared from our U21 setup. I assume what has happened is a few of the players I found post-sacking from their club, were removed by the game as they had technically had their chance on the TL after being sacked, and were not bought.
Edit: Just checked through the underage team lists and it was as expected.
To give an idea, 3 of the lost ones were Edward Mason 20yo (7th best mid for age), Oliver O'Connor 18yo (3rd best mid for age), James Ross 19yo (4th best mid, 4th best striker for age).
So whilst they are not huge losses thankfully, they were kind of all on the cusp which means with training, may have made the team just.
Will continue to give players a few minutes when I can to build NT caps so we get one shot at them on the TL. These were all players that had already had their shot, were not picked up, and were somewhere in limbo where I could search for and find them, but they had no team
(editado)
Edit: Just checked through the underage team lists and it was as expected.
To give an idea, 3 of the lost ones were Edward Mason 20yo (7th best mid for age), Oliver O'Connor 18yo (3rd best mid for age), James Ross 19yo (4th best mid, 4th best striker for age).
So whilst they are not huge losses thankfully, they were kind of all on the cusp which means with training, may have made the team just.
Will continue to give players a few minutes when I can to build NT caps so we get one shot at them on the TL. These were all players that had already had their shot, were not picked up, and were somewhere in limbo where I could search for and find them, but they had no team
(editado)
Australia vs Hayastan.
Match is currently live and I'm not watching it :( So will update after it is done.
Todays match is meant to be Australia U21 vs Hayastan U20. I have reminded the manager so hopefully he stuck to it. I think even with the age difference, they will still outrate us, but with the game being at the start of the season, it gives plenty of time to make up for any lost points if they do go in with U21 and not U20 like we said.
Update:
Great to see the manager stuck to his word. It is always hard when dealing with someone for the first time, but would certainly trust him to have another similar match in the future.
Based on the stats, the result was fair enough. We lacked finishing up front, but just before they scored their only goal, we lost our best defender in the middle of the pitch, which is where they ended up scoring from after the sub came on.
Stamina is also a bit of a problem among most of our best players, and this injury sub actually meant we were not able to sub off a mid who really needs a good subbing.
On the plus side, a 1:0 loss to hayastan is a pretty good effort even against their 20yos
(editado)
Match is currently live and I'm not watching it :( So will update after it is done.
Todays match is meant to be Australia U21 vs Hayastan U20. I have reminded the manager so hopefully he stuck to it. I think even with the age difference, they will still outrate us, but with the game being at the start of the season, it gives plenty of time to make up for any lost points if they do go in with U21 and not U20 like we said.
Update:
Great to see the manager stuck to his word. It is always hard when dealing with someone for the first time, but would certainly trust him to have another similar match in the future.
Based on the stats, the result was fair enough. We lacked finishing up front, but just before they scored their only goal, we lost our best defender in the middle of the pitch, which is where they ended up scoring from after the sub came on.
Stamina is also a bit of a problem among most of our best players, and this injury sub actually meant we were not able to sub off a mid who really needs a good subbing.
On the plus side, a 1:0 loss to hayastan is a pretty good effort even against their 20yos
(editado)
Training updates -
Collina - pace vg (9), pm excellent (10)
Agius - stam good (7), pace solid (8)
Last - striker weak (4)
Franklin - pace unsat (2)
Couple of randoms in there...happy with Collina getting 2 pops.
Oh, & Patterson, 18yo GK - 2 pops this week - stam good (7), pace unsat (2) .....keeping is vg (9)
Collina - pace vg (9), pm excellent (10)
Agius - stam good (7), pace solid (8)
Last - striker weak (4)
Franklin - pace unsat (2)
Couple of randoms in there...happy with Collina getting 2 pops.
Oh, & Patterson, 18yo GK - 2 pops this week - stam good (7), pace unsat (2) .....keeping is vg (9)
Australia vs Lëtzebuerg
Today we had a good 3-0 win with an effective tactic and our strikers finally deciding they could do some finishing.
We also managed to blood a few new players, which will be the goal every game this season, in an attempt to prevent players going bot without one final chance for us to bid on them and save them for re-selling.
Today we had a good 3-0 win with an effective tactic and our strikers finally deciding they could do some finishing.
We also managed to blood a few new players, which will be the goal every game this season, in an attempt to prevent players going bot without one final chance for us to bid on them and save them for re-selling.
This week we play our first week in the u20 Mini World Cup.
Unfortunately, we have drawn one of the hard nations - Lietuva - which has twice as many users as us and their squad is twice the average value.
I can't see us coming away with a win, and it is a knockout comp so we will be back to playing U21 games (which is what I'd prefer to do anyway to reward those training for the NT), but it is a great way to get a bunch of caps out of the way in one hit.
I also have a lot of decent matchups for us in the weeks I didn't think we would make it too, so it is better for the team if we do lose first round, although I will still be setting a lineup to get the win.
Unfortunately, we have drawn one of the hard nations - Lietuva - which has twice as many users as us and their squad is twice the average value.
I can't see us coming away with a win, and it is a knockout comp so we will be back to playing U21 games (which is what I'd prefer to do anyway to reward those training for the NT), but it is a great way to get a bunch of caps out of the way in one hit.
I also have a lot of decent matchups for us in the weeks I didn't think we would make it too, so it is better for the team if we do lose first round, although I will still be setting a lineup to get the win.
With a little bit of an insight in to what next season holds, there will be 5 debutantes playing this week.
The 2 not getting subbed will all be on debut should someone get injured.
I was hoping we would be blooding a few more juniors but it isn't so.
Next week (if I can find a reasonable match), I will try to sub on the new team, Triggers, youth players, just in case he goes bot again. There are a few reasonable players there, although by the time he goes bot, they may be useless (I'm hoping he logs back in and trains them instead).
The 2 not getting subbed will all be on debut should someone get injured.
I was hoping we would be blooding a few more juniors but it isn't so.
Next week (if I can find a reasonable match), I will try to sub on the new team, Triggers, youth players, just in case he goes bot again. There are a few reasonable players there, although by the time he goes bot, they may be useless (I'm hoping he logs back in and trains them instead).
Some more pops this week...
Last - to 12 pace
Collina - to 8 stam, 8 tech
Agius - to 9 pace, 2 pm
Franklin - to 3 pace
Patterson (gk) - to 3 pace
Good week with training as had another pace pop in snr squad, with a further tech, passing & pm pop.
(editado)
Last - to 12 pace
Collina - to 8 stam, 8 tech
Agius - to 9 pace, 2 pm
Franklin - to 3 pace
Patterson (gk) - to 3 pace
Good week with training as had another pace pop in snr squad, with a further tech, passing & pm pop.
(editado)
Had a nice little win against Ireland, although the tactic didn't hold up how I would have liked.
We were also meant to use 3 substitutions which didn't occur so will need to take a look at why they didn't happen. All 3 are part of bot teams likely to be replaced should new users join, so wanted to give them the safety net.
We were also meant to use 3 substitutions which didn't occur so will need to take a look at why they didn't happen. All 3 are part of bot teams likely to be replaced should new users join, so wanted to give them the safety net.
Training pops for my Aus U21s -
Last 20yo - def 10
Collina 20yo - def 12
Franklin 18yo - def 7
Agius 18yo - def 5
Let me know if you need full skill sets...will try to access db over weekend.
Last 20yo - def 10
Collina 20yo - def 12
Franklin 18yo - def 7
Agius 18yo - def 5
Let me know if you need full skill sets...will try to access db over weekend.
Had two youths bought by pbi3 just so he could fire after they were bought
Looks like they've been hit with the OCD stick, if transfer activity & the fact there are 84 players in the squad are anything to go by. :)