Asunto: [NT]mangol - S70 coach?

Hello!

My name is Lukasz, I'm 33y old IT guy, who somehow got quite decent results in recent 4 seasons of adult NT with Nippon(Japan) NT.
If You followed Australia senior's NT, You know that we faced each other twice in last WCQ's. Since cometer was not sure if he'll have time for upcoming season, I decided to give Auustralia a shot:) I would like to try to lead more advanced NT looking from both playerbase and userbase point of view. Of course If You guys will have native candidate I'll step down from this candidature.

Fun fact of mine: One of my classmate's from elementary school played on Your A League level (in Melbourne City FC there were a Polish guy who played in season 2017-2018) :)
(editado)

Great to hear from you.

I have no idea what cometer is going to do, but I was definitely a bit disappointed none of the candidates actually spoke up.

My biggest concern is lack of NT manager leadership with the community and getting the community involved.
I know how hard it is, and sometimes it can feel like you are talking to a brick wall, but then I see from the community the commitment they have to the NT with amazing training, asking for advice, regular updates so they know they aren't wasting a training spot etc.

Half the job the NT manager has is growing and maintaining interest, especially if you have tried something and it doesn't work.

I'd like to hear how you would get the community involved and hear examples of how you have done this in the past

In my opinion there are two ways to handle that: one is forum and regular posts (but also our rivals may see those) and second one is direct messages to coaches at the beginning of season with some brief description, where their player(s) are on NT level.

During two WCQ seasons where I was leading Japan I was sending messages to coaches like:

Howdy!
For Your information - Naoto is #1 GK in NT based on skill, however his current form lowers him a little bit in this tight content for Nippon NT. With his previous coach I had an agreement he is able to play any game. However You may have different approach :) From my (Nippon NT coach) perspective upcoming matches with Australia (2023-07-29 and 2023-08-12) and match with Mexico (2023-09-02) will be the one where I may want to utilize him in NT (assuming high form). If You don't want me to use him in NT please send me a msg - I'll make a note and will not use him in official NT games (one where he may be injured). For friendly games (one that are on arcade rules - no injuries in club) I'll try to find some replacement :)
Best regards,
mangol

Hello!↵ Incoming season for NT is World Cup Qualifiers, which means in NT matches players can get extra training and have a potential of injury. In Your team there is 1 player that I keep an eye on and if situation is right, he may be called up for NT:↵ DEF↵ <playerName> - pace is his biggest weakness :(↵ ↵ If You don't want me to use him in NT at all or in specific matches please send me a message. I'll try to find some replacement for him. Also If You'll be so kind please tell me if he is in Your advanced training regime and if so, what are You training for him + which position You plan to use him:)↵ ↵ Best regards,↵ mangol

More than half of them were responding to such messages, so I get at least some feedback from them :) None of those managers disabled players skills so if there were no response I assumed that they are ok with using them in official NT's matches.

Other thing is forum/community involvement. In Japan there were basically no communication on forum, yet I was sending some updates on it. Since in peak time where were 6 accounts (not users) I was able to get a grip and exchange few messages with them. U21 work was similar, I didn't interfered with Adrian work and his approach into U21NT, but I send few suggestions towards promising players, so that he could discuss their training plans with managers.

Australia looks way different, so I know this will be challenge for me (assuming I'll be chosen). Bigger country and active community means more commitment on coach side :) And bigger expectations ;) In Japan I had a safety, that as long as I don't finish on last place I'm good. In Australia I believe that 4th place is a must, especially with current WCQ group (but it will be redrawed I guess, there are still 5-team groups).

If You have any questions feel free to ask them, either here or via sk@ :)

I appreciate the answer, thank you :)

You're welcome and (assuming it was You) Thank You for a vote :)
(editado)

Thanks for nominating, mangol. With cometer stepping away for a bit, it'll be good to have an experienced manager who's committed to not just player selection and tactics, but working with the managers to develop the squad for sustained success.

I'm interested to know, what do you think makes a good NT manager?

Good luck in the election.

We’ve (our users) put in a lot of work (especially Achmid) to get our u21 machine up and running and in many ways over performing. There is a lag effect between noticing improvements in u21s and in the senior team by we’re starting to see this in the senior side now with a lot more depth then we’ve previously had without necessarily being stronger as a first xi. I expect this will start changing in coming seasons but I was interested in understanding how will you work with Achmid if elected to continue that growth in improvement in our senior side?

On top of this how do you envisage working with our users to not only benefit the NTs but also improve our knowledge in the game at club level (especially those newer still learning the ropes) if at all?

Whilst the NT manager is primarily about the NT I personally feel it’s also a figure head or leadership role in general for that country too so I’m interested in what your thoughts on this are and if that was something you were prepared for.

Finally, there’s been some effort to improve our ranking and ratings. When arranging friendlies will you also look at opportunities to improve our ranking and being selective with these or will you be looking for friendlies just for the sake of a friendly?

Again good luck for the election but so far you’re the only one to actually post anything.

I'm interested to know, what do you think makes a good NT manager?

With all due respect, I don't consider myself good coach. Hell, even mediocre wouldn't be a decent description. Based on some comments I received towards my run as Nippon's NT coach I was lucky. But usually one can be lucky once or twice ;)

Yet let's take a falling star in adult NT's - Mexico, team that twice I faced in WCQ, alongside Australia. During S66 Mexico was in 2nd pot, S68 was 3rd pot.

Under this link one can check results of those competitions. For those who like screenshots one is below :)


Does it mean I outsmarted their coach with tactics? Maybe. I know that in such matches, match engine usually uses some sort of handicap towards weaker teams. On the other side I used three different tactics, while Espaniol used 2 and a half (changed winger).

But to not only brag about my luck, there were also matches that should be close competition, which I lost heavily. Take as example this match: Cymru - Nippon 8:0. Most important thing after such matches is deep analyze of not only tactics I used but also tactics opponent was using. Next matches went much better during that season :)

I expect this will start changing in coming seasons but I was interested in understanding how will you work with Achmid if elected to continue that growth in improvement in our senior side?

Everything will depend if Australia will be long term project (which mean some local coach would like to take NT). During first week (with all the honest) I don't expect nearly any communication. First week when taking new team will be spend on getting playerbase known, recreating players DB (assuming situation from Japan, where I had ~30 players in first team, but found out few first team players). During next weeks I would assume, that we would have some discussion about plans towards NT (like which coaches from Australia train 21y+ players, which of those recently promoted had nice talent and so on). But in the end it will not be only a discussion between me (assuming I'll win) and achmid. Other coaches also will be involved, especially those who have Youth School :)

On top of this how do you envisage working with our users to not only benefit the NTs but also improve our knowledge in the game at club level (especially those newer still learning the ropes) if at all?

This is a tricky question. I can easily explain my approach in Polish 5th league, how I train/what coach/player wages are and so on. But in much smaller country as Australia this may not be applicable on that level (sponsorship money during first season may be way different). But in long run such approach will result in similar results - getting shittone of money that one can spend to get promoted to higher league level. Of course if there will be some questions like "What You think I should train player XYZ" I will give my opinion. But it will also requires that other person will follow this suggestion ;)

Whilst the NT manager is primarily about the NT I personally feel it’s also a figure head or leadership role in general for that country too so I’m interested in what your thoughts on this are and if that was something you were prepared for.

While in sokker this may be something new to me, in real life I got used to taking lead roles in my projects. And this means not only using my own experience, but also listening to others/their needs and situation. Let's go back to previous question to explain that in more details. Let's say there is a promising Youth with talent ~3.5. I can give my opinion based on my team coaches, but I don't know if their manager have similar team. Also there will be teams that player in CC, something that I'll most likely never accomplish. This is an experience that one need to take advantage from :)

When arranging friendlies will you also look at opportunities to improve our ranking and being selective with these or will you be looking for friendlies just for the sake of a friendly?

There are some NT's that were pumped in ranking while their had their golden generation are now in decline. I believe it will be beneficial to play against such teams. In Japan I was usually trying to arrange better opponents (outside of Asia/MWC tournaments) or friendlies with coaches that I know I may learn something. So from Australia perspective I'll be targeting teams that are on verge of 3rd and 4th bracket
(editado)

Given your willingness to communicate, I think the election is likely a done and dusted deal.

In regards to the last point about selecting NTs to gain ranking points, good points can certainly be gained from fading higher points teams, but so can arranging matches with lower ranked teams that are abnormally high for their team strength.

As someone who brought the team rank of the U21s from a low of 62 up to 30 (and consistently 30-35), it's definitely something I have experience with.
Our U21s have been quite strong for a while, so I feel this should have filtered through a fair bit to the seniors, so do expect we will have an improvement in ranking, but you are also in a world cup qualification season, which can make it quite hard to go up in rankings.

Good luck with the team this season. I will be more active again once my exam is over (even if I am about to go on to nights straight after the exam).

I look forward to working with you. And I'm sure cometer has a database probably updated to within a month (which is fairly updated for seniors, compared to juniors where it would be well out of date).

Now that there are 2 votes I feel more confident in that :)

As I said earlier, first week will be most time consuming since NT coach will have to get accustomed to new reality with players and freshly drawn WCQ group.

As for DB, I'll try to use Sokker Asistente for that (like I was doing it in Japan). With one simple click I was getting weekly updates of all players I kept track of (both senior and U21). Since I've got ~100 players it wasn't that time and resources consuming. If SA will not be able to handle it, I'll reuse my old scripts :) Sky is a limit after API became public

No problem. I do have a spreadsheet myself if you end up needing it but if you don’t that’s fine too. Just let me know later if you require anything from myself.