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The Hattrick Season 68 thread

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Donut102
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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#138970

Postby Donut102 » May 14th, 2018, 12:57 pm

Going into this week I was in 7th on 4 points, playing 6th also on 4 points. 1st was on 9 points.
No cup distractions, and a straight forward PIC 352 with a more defensive stance.
At half time we were 3-0 up, and I sent on my two future coaches for some experience training. Second half was 1-1, to give a final 4-1 score.

Up to 4th place, but still 5 points adrift of the leader. Bot next week.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#139010

Postby Bink333 » May 14th, 2018, 3:53 pm

We had a good weekend. Won 4-0 against Saudi Arabia on Friday, and then pulled off a 6-1 win over an old nemesis on Sunday.

Although I've had 3/5 as home games so far, it looks nice to be back in the top 4, briefly I'm sure, just 1pt off the leader, the current Champions of England.

Both games involved preparing to optimise attack ratings against an expected visiting CA and paid off.

England tops group 15 for the moment, but I'm expecting Friday to be the toughest game yet, away to China who have looked after TS but have no points on the board after 3 defeats, and they are low on confidence, but they've got much better players than their 0 point tag-line suggests...

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#140240

Postby Donut102 » May 21st, 2018, 6:53 am

I had a bot this week, so no surprises. I stay in 4th place.
However at the top of the table its all been shook up. 3rd beat 1st, and 6th beat 2nd. Which means I'm now only 3 points off the lead. After a poor start in the league, the competition is back on.
In the double headers, we (4th) play 1st, and 2nd play 3rd. If I can take the 6 points, I have a real shot of coming out top of the table.
Game on!

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#140261

Postby UncleIan » May 21st, 2018, 9:00 am

This week we were lying in second, three points behind first, and one point ahead of 3rd. We were away to fourth place, so a tricky fixture, fans were thinking it would be a close affair.

We lined up in what's become our standard formation, 3-5-2, two WBs, and the Bink WTM-IMTW trick on one side. First half was one of missed chances, their keeper playing a blinder, our strikers, not so much. 0-0, and a 3rd yellow of the season for one lad (aye, fiery), and a +1 to my CD, oh, they were AIM, so good job my sub wasn't too shabby. In fact, looking at the defence ratings, they went up after the forced substitution, hmm, I thought two levels of form was worth one level of skill? Ok, ratings only went up by one sub-level, but still, I should have tried that combo when setting up. No excuses with the new match orders.

Ten minutes into the second half my team went ballistic and scored twice in consecutive minutes, then we reverted to our cagey selves. Final score 0-2. A good result, though it says chances were 2-9, so I'm missing a fair few, I guess it's playing these more defensive teams.

After the match I check on the series table and it's with much surprise and wonder that I see I'm top of the table! 1st place went down 3-1 to 3rd, and I'm top on goals scored, both on 15 points and +12 goal diff. 3rd is on 14 points. It's only now that I see that the former first placed team are still in the proper cup, and look like they're taking it pretty seriously, midfields of magnificent v passable in the league. Of course, losing a match isn't best prep for the cup. No doubt once he's out the cup we'll all get steamrollered by them, so I'm pretty sure this is just a temporary elevation for the Albumen. While I'm at home to 3rd first leg of the double header, they're at home to 5th, should score a hatful, unless they get dumped out the cup and with two losses in a row have the mother of all confidence crises.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#140369

Postby Bink333 » May 21st, 2018, 2:46 pm

Friday was good.

Ended up going with a trusty 4-4-2TW away formation to China, but I went with defensive wingers on both sides, one side utilising a 3rd full-back. The ratings and 20xreplay suggested we'd lose, but that it would be possible to nick something, and in the end we nicked all three points 0-1.

With a fair bit of luck this means England is one of only 5 countries to have won 4/4 and we've got the best defensive record in the hattrick world right now, with just one goal conceded so far in Q1.

Sunday was exciting. I was away to one of the auto-promoting sides & I went with a 3-5-2 switching to 2-5-3 if not in the lead against a team that has CAd a lot. I managed to correctly pick a MM target which took some doing as he's been shuffling his IMs and Defenders aroumd all season.

My defence ratings suffered as a result, but it meant I was even in m/f, and chances were split evenly 5/5. They managed to convert all 5 of theirs, but we fluffed one, so that leaves me in 5th spot with 8 points, 4 behind the leader and 4 ahead of 8th. I'd taken the lead, but they pulled it back in the latter stages so I gave up possession to get more attacking, which probably didn't alter the result, as we both scored again.

I suppose I could have set up to go more defensive at the expense of giving up possession if in the lead, but I doubt it would have altered the end result.

My 2nd team's defence training at 5% stamina will be stopped in 4-5 weeks time, with a switch to SP lined up before a return to GK. It's a bit touch and go on managing the finances, as the wages I'm running at 5% (£180k per week) as a mid-table iV side in Oceania have taken their toll, so I'll be releasing one of the 5 GK I've been training.

The 1st thing on the shopping list will be an unpredictable defender with some passing, to become my back up GK trainee when the SP training ends.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#141113

Postby Eastheath » May 25th, 2018, 12:02 am

Been AWOL a little while, thanks to a busy work/travel schedule.

We won three more Carey Cup games to reach round 5 before finally bowing out on penalties 4-5 - guess who forgot to set penalty takers. Meh.

Back in the league, its played six won six, top of the league by 3 pts. The back to backs are against the team in 4th, which if navigated correctly will put me on course for promotion. I had to bring a goalie in as cover for injuries last few games, which worked a treat. Eventually sold him on for more than he cost, which made up for the reduced % income due to selling quickly. Also brought in another midfielder to cover for injuries in an ageing IM pack.

Happy where we are at, at this stage of the season.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#142007

Postby Donut102 » May 29th, 2018, 6:00 am

In the first of the double headers it was 4th (me) v 1st. I fretted all week about my two playmakers who were out of form. Should I play them? set conditional subs? etc. I must have changed team orders ten time.

In the end I just played them straight.

And won 7-0. :D

Puts me in 2nd, with a massive goal difference advantage over the rest of the league.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#142019

Postby UncleIan » May 29th, 2018, 8:38 am

Halfway already?

We lined up for a home match against third place, I reckoned I'd have the edge in midfield, but be struggling against their defence, while their attack was none too shabby, so I couldn't go banzaii. A pretty standard 3-5-2 but with a double Bink IMTW-WTM combo. The first half was a dour affair, one missed chance from my bunch. After a good talking to at half time, we went out and scored a couple in fairly short order, while managing to keep a clean sheet. 2-0 final score. Chances were 7-2, so anything but a win would have been a bit of a travesty.

Second place went out the main cup this week, and also went on a goal spree in the league, 7-0, no cup hangover for them! This means they go back into first on goal difference while I slip down to second, we're both on 18 points, while third is on 14, and 5th on 8.

Obviously, in the return fixture, I need to somehow get a result away to third, a point would do, to keep up pressure on first place, though, realistically, they are a bit of a class apart, I mean, midfield we can go toe to toe, but in a 3-5-2 at the weekend they got divine-utopian-divine across the back, seems a bit excessive to me!

Just noticed my stadium nearly sold out again, with just a few seats under cover available. I seem to get bigger crowds than I used to. Seeing as it's been cloudy every single home match this season, just wondering whether I need another expansion.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#143429

Postby UncleIan » June 4th, 2018, 9:22 am

The return fixture, away to third, we chalked up a 2-0 win at home, so I knew this was going to be tight. In the end, went for a press to try and get a point, rather than live in fairy land and go for all three. As I suspected, they edged midfield, and their relative defence was stronger than my attack. Things were pretty even in the first half, we successfully pressed, and got a penalty, and went in 1-1. Sadly they managed to sneak a goal in the second half, final score 2-1. Chances 8-6, so a coin flip really. Can't win 'em all. On balance, a draw would have felt a bit lucky on my part.

First carried on their winning ways, while we hang on to second by a point, they're three ahead, and a +8 goal diff. I need to start handing out a pasting or two so that the last week home game against first isn't a dead rubber.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#144456

Postby Donut102 » June 8th, 2018, 11:01 am

Won 5-0, with 4 other teams in the league all being held to 1-1 draws/

Which means I take 1st place in the league :D on goal difference of +26 vs 2nd place on +6.

Bot bashing this week, which more goals.

After a shaky start to the league (due to focus on the cup), I'm in a great place to take the title. So of course I'll screw up somewhere....

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#144459

Postby Bink333 » June 8th, 2018, 11:28 am

My double header was against the team that lost to me in the Cup final a couple of seasons back. Their counter attack won in my home leg, not helped by my chance distribution going all up the middle (6 of 8 normal chances) when I'd loaded up the flank attack ratings. I put out a competitive m/f in the away leg, and man marked their forward successfully, but subbed him for an old OCD in the second half on a conditional 'if behind' order.

We equalised 1-1 in the 81st minute, and then their conditional orders kicked in before a flurry of chances were converted and they won 5-2.

The double loss drops me to 7th, a point behind 6th.

I've not done much better with England over the last fortnight, caught on the hop underestimated how strong a midfield Cameroon could produce on a PIN (Mythical - helped by a late call up to a Divine and a powerful (rain) in decent form), and just had a bad day at the office in Kenya, losing a game that the ratings suggested we should have won comfortably. We had 5 chances from majority possession (57%), and Kenya had 6 down the flanks alone, which I'd left undefended not expecting them to get more than 2-3 chances in total.

The two losses drop us to 2nd behind Romania who we host this evening. They are the strongest team in the group, and they and Denmark have posted 500+ hatstats in every game so far this season, the only National Teams to do so this Q1.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#144475

Postby Eastheath » June 8th, 2018, 12:29 pm

Our back to back games went as well as could be expected, #1 against #4, we won 3-0 and 0-4, which keeps us in #1 and they drop to #6.
Hadn't appreciated that #2 and #3 were in the back to backs against each other, with #3 coming out on tops to become #2. The bonus for me was that the gap between #1 and #2 has consequently widened to 5 pts, we have 24pts and #2 has 19pts.

We play away to the team now in #2 in week 11, with a bot next and away to a mid-table team in week 10. Final game will be home to #3.
Not counting chickens yet, been here too many times before, but we are doing ok at the moment. Need to keep an eye out on yellow/red cards and injuries, especially for the big games week 11 and 14.

Good luck to England in both Hattrick and that other football competition....

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#144934

Postby UncleIan » June 11th, 2018, 11:49 am

Bink333 wrote:The two losses drop us to 2nd behind Romania who we host this evening. They are the strongest team in the group, and they and Denmark have posted 500+ hatstats in every game so far this season, the only National Teams to do so this Q1.


Unlucky Bink, and Latvia, they always used to be strong, is that still the case? Have the forums got the pitchforks out yet?

We were at home to 5th, but I didn't want to take any chances, having lost last week, so we went for a PIN and a double WTM-IMTW combo, and cruised to a 5-0 victory, with a hattrick for a striker that picked up a small calf injury, playing through the pain, good work.

Oh, and it rained, again. Every home match this season has been under threatening skies, or raining. My last sunny home match was in January!

First humped third, also by 5 goals, so we're 3 points them behind in 2nd, and +8 goal diff adrift. Our final match against them, when we're at home, could well be a dead rubber by then, let's hope not though. Now 4 points ahead of 3rd. Two tricky away games to negotiate next, to 6th and 5th, seeing as 5th is on 10 points, and 7th on 9, they aren't going to be taking it easy at all.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#145443

Postby Bink333 » June 13th, 2018, 2:01 pm

Well I managed to pick up a win on Sunday, at home on a PIC gambling they'd CA. It could easily have been a draw had we not converted a mid-thirty percentile chance (meaning a bit closer to a 1 in 5 conversion rate) to convert one up the middle. The result helped me get out of the auto-relegation spots and up to 5th, albeit 2pts behind 7th whom I play this Sunday, away in Devon.

If you have free wifi and are bored, I was interviewed a week ago, so if you search for Bink286 on utube you can now find my 20 minute 'chat' with a former Israeli Champion Uncle Mish.

On Friday we played Romania, and I set up to see of any potential m/f grab, with what I thought were subs to switch to 2-5-3 to deal with any CA attempt if Plan A wasn't working. Plan A wasn't working but my subs orders blew up in my face. My error, which drops England to 3rd on the table at the midway point behind Cameroon and Romania.

Latvia this week.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#146087

Postby Eastheath » June 16th, 2018, 1:34 pm

It was a home game against a bot, with the inevitable 9-0 yawn as a result.
We stay 5 pts ahead in 1st place, and the next game is away to #4, which should be an opportunity to keep that gap at the top.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#146435

Postby Donut102 » June 18th, 2018, 12:49 pm

1st (me) v 2nd away from home this week. Went 253 AIM, and won comfortably 6-2. In hindsight I probably didn't need the AIM order.

Next week I play 4th, who are just 4 points behind me. I lost against them at home earlier in the season, when they played a well judged (and unexpected) 541 CA.
I'm expecting the see similar tactics this time round, as even with home advantage I don't think they can match my midfield.
To counter their CA order I'm planning to use the Tactical Assistant to go 20% offensive, and use my best defender to man mark their sole striker in a 253 AIM set up.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#146548

Postby Eastheath » June 18th, 2018, 9:44 pm

A 1-3 away win against the #4 team keeps me in 1st place, 10 wins out of 10, and all set up for the big game next week away to #2, who are 5 pts behind us and the biggest threat we have. They will win midfield, so we will just have to plan around that....

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#146599

Postby UncleIan » June 19th, 2018, 9:37 am

All change at Albumen Towers!

Okay, not quite all change, but I've been training passing, and my expensive wingers had jumped up a satisfying number of levels, and were in danger of overtaking their primary skill in places. Also I still have two old strikers that were basically wasted training slots. Bought two wingers and a striker, sold three wingers. Have switched to set pieces training this week as I realised if I'm not playing my old lags up front, the only player with any SP (apart from my godlike genius of a goalie) was my 4th best defender. Not ideal when I normally play 3-5-2. After all this action I have ended up with 6 million in the bank again. Might need another striker trainee.

I had a tricky away match, especially as all the transfer action had unsettled things a little. We were playing 6th, and looked like we were losing midfield by a little, or a lot, depending on tactics. They were very probably going to press, as that's what they do most weeks. I decided to switch to a 4-5-1 just to shake things up a bit, not played it for a while but was still at solid for it so I figured it would be okay, and a PIC CA, not done that for a while either. My defenders are in decent form, my strikers, not so much, that was my reckoning. First half, our organisation dropped, we fluffed two chances, and they saved another, two of them CAs, while my opponents successfully pressed. 0-0 halftime. So far so tedious. Second half, a yellow card, two more pressed away chances, and they score with a free kick, oh, and our organisation dropped again. 1-0 final score, but still not exactly a riveting read.

What went well: No injuries, no cards
What went wrong: Yeah, thinking about it, a CA against a press is not great logic is it? Less chances they have, the less likely we are to get a CA.
Even better if: Maybe a PIC Press Pray would have at least resulted in one point.

Luckily for my second place in the league, 3rd contrived to only draw with 8th, who picked up their first point of the season. Looking at the ratings, I reckon I got MOTSd by them a few weeks back, and they're still PICing to make up for it. So 3rd are three points behind me, and -14 goal diff behind. 4th lost to 1st, and are 8 points behind. That win for 1st takes them six point ahead of me, and +13 goal diff, and looking at the fixtures, it's only a matter of when not if they are crowned league champions.

Next week we're away again, to 5th. Guess I'd better try getting back to winning ways.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#147828

Postby Donut102 » June 25th, 2018, 9:17 am

Next week I play 4th, who are just 4 points behind me. I lost against them at home earlier in the season, when they played a well judged (and unexpected) 541 CA.
I'm expecting the see similar tactics this time round, as even with home advantage I don't think they can match my midfield.
To counter their CA order I'm planning to use the Tactical Assistant to go 20% offensive, and use my best defender to man mark their sole striker in a 253 AIM set up.


You've got to love this game when your plans come together. They tried the same tactic again, delivering a Divine central defence. My man marking killed off their ability to score goals, and my Titanic central attack was enough to knock 2 goals in.

That win now leaves me 6 points clear of 2nd, 3rd and 4th who are all on 19 points, with 5th on 18 points. Those teams will continue to take points of each other, and a win next week will all but clinch the title due to massive goal difference advantage I have over my rivals.

Next week I have 7th at home. Another big defensive team, usually playing 532. One of my titanic scorers picked up his third yellow this week, so will need to play a more rounded attack rather than just AIM. So its 253 with 2 x IMTW.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 68 thread

#147833

Postby UncleIan » June 25th, 2018, 9:46 am

Two away matches in a row. Urgh! This one also looked tricky. They seemed to play AOW all the time but their central attack was okay. Looked like I was going to edge midfield, and it was all pretty 50/50 looking at their pretty static lineup for previous home matches. Sure enough, that was exactly how it panned out. I went for a pretty standard 3-5-2 though I don't have the players for any Bink tricks of IMTW-WTM anymore, two offensive wingers, and offensive CD, and a WB man marking their winger.

Despite things being even, it was a pretty exciting match, we went 0-2 up, then in three minutes towards the end of the first half they scored three times to go in at the break 3-2 down. We also had a striker go off injured. Second half we levelled it up, they went ahead again, and finally we banged another goal in, 4-4 final score. Chances were 6-8. I'd have taken a draw before the match. The defender that was man marking managed to score a hattrick, the guy he was marking scored a brace, not sure what to make of that!

1st place marches on. They're now 4 points clear of the auto-promotion line on 30 points, 8 points ahead of me on 22. Definitely game over on that front. I guess we'll both be MOTSing last game just for the hell of it. Behind me 3rd lost this week away to 4th, so they're 4 points behind me, 5th 8 points behind. Only three games left so things will start to get mathematically impossible very soon.

Next week at home to 8th. Even that doesn't look like a cakewalk. I think they've woken up, midfield is strong but defence is terrible, we should have enough to get past them.


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