Hattrick Season 76

[Donut102]

Div III

Away game (in 5th place) against 7th.
I'm on 14 points, 6th has 13, and 7th has 12. So between the 3 of us it's battle royale to avoid that auto relegation spot.

I decided to go 550 LS PIN. At the worst I could keep a clean sheet, getting 1 point and maintaining the status quo. At the best a win and little respite. Losing was never going to be palatable.
Final score 0-0 - which is fine.

So still in 5th on 15 points, 6th lost and is on 13, 7th also 13.

I play 2nd at home, then 3rd away - both difficult games, and I may just go for 0-0 draws as a strategy. Target 17 points.
6th has bot and then 1st - so assume will end on 16 points.
7th has 1st and 4th. 4th has a good team, but has lost the 3 games and appears to have given up/ rebuilding. So assume 7th will also finish on 16 points, but with an inferior GD.

It going to be tight, and very exciting!


Div V

3-0 win.

In 2nd place, 3 points off 1st. I can't see the leaders slipping up, but I'll keep the pressure on.

I think I've said this for the last 3 weeks - getting very dull.


Cheers
Donut

[Bink333]

England.

On Sunday I was away at the league leaders. Their manager, Khellus, is someone I've had a few beers with at a couple of the WW themed socials derived from the games within a game on non-ht England. They played 4-5-1 as expected, and shifted all their quicks onto the side I'd elected to play my (soon to be listed) South African quick defender. I went 3-5-2 with a switch to PM training this week (for the South African and my 1 we2ek left to pop ex-U20 support spec). They had 55/52% poseession, and the best attack vs defence sector (still sub 50% was my central attack. They had an unpred own goal SE (fialed) and a quick SE which my South African stopped. 10 chances to 4, and only one of my 4 was in the middle. It finished 0-0 so Khellus should win the league as he plays the league whipping boys this week. Both teams record 339 hatstats for this IV game.

The point leaves me 6th on 18. This is 3pts above 7th on the same GD and 3pts behind 2nd (Khellus is 4pts ahead). I'm at home to 5th this week. What I want is a draw. As 4th are away to 3rd, 3rd being +4GD and 3pts ahead and 4th being 3pts ahead with the same GD, a win could wreck my chances of a playoff. 7th are at home to 2nd. A win for 7th would relegate me if I lose.

Oceania

I was away to 6th and won 0-4. Before the game I bought an unpredictable 30y/o Uzbekistan Forward. It takes the wage bill to an eye-watering £370k but Laziz Kamoliddinov was £4.2m with 18Sc 13Ps 10Wg. No PM, but I'm not that fussed about PM with my CA team. It took him 14 minutes to score the opener. At kick off my central defence rating was Divine+7.25 boosted by pull back and reduced by stamina drop off, after 90 it was 2 levels below that. Wb and Wb in Wg positions were all played TM against an opponent that focuses on central defence and attack. 264 vs 389 hatstats for this game.

The win leaves us 2nd, 2 behind the leaders who played 7th this week and have 8th next week. I'm gearing up to try for promotion to III next season, with the stamina increase to go fully competitive about 16 weeks away. I'm 9pts clear of 3rd, and the leaders are 2pts adrift of the auto-promotion slots.

South Africa

I was the leader away to second this week. They've been playing CA recently, so I opted for 5-4-1 play creative, and i had 69% possession. My Unpred Nigerian GK playing as Wb picked up a knock on 23. They converted one of 3CA attempts, we converted an indirect free kick and one of 5 chances up the middle (11 chances to us in total) to win 1-2. 311 vs 292 hatstats for that one.

I was due to play all 3 of the rest of the top 4 in the last 3 weeks, and the new 2nd place, 2pts behind me are my visitors on Sunday. 2 of my 3 injured first teamers were back for last week, and the other should be fully recovered for Sunday. I'm 4pts behind the auto-promote line, and at 10% stamina (pulling sub 300 hatstats) I'm in no shape to promote, so all I really need to do is avoid defeat this week to get a playoff against a Div II side.

South Africa NT.

The elected manager was packing to move house on Friday so set his own orders rather than taking counsel (to CA). We were therefore very lucky to escape with a point away to a PIN Brunei. Jamaica were the only team in the group to win. Austria are no qualified for Q2 and dropped players and TS and they host us this week, Jamaica are 9pts, 4 places and +9GD ahead of us in 2nd spot, but it is yet possible that they could lose all 3 remaining games, and that we could win ours. Seems unlikely, but we do need to keep pushing for ranking points that count toward the inter-continental tournament that will kick off for the first time in just over 1 season's time.

Seasons greetings to you all, and may 2021 bring you more success both on and off the virtual pitch!

[Eastheath]

So, we were at home to the team that had tripped up the league leaders last week, nevertheless with some careful planning we grabbed a 2-0 win. The league leaders won 1-4 away, and so we find ourselves facing each other in the decider on Sunday. We are on equal points (36 pts) but they have the GD advantage at +7, and they are at home, which means we have to win, while they only need to win or draw.
This wont be easy, we are evenly matched, so we will need more than a bit of luck to turn the tables. Still, its a better predicament than we had two weeks ago - we actually have a chance.

Merry Xmas fellow lemon fools. Best wishes for a safe and healthy 2021...

[ChiliMonster]

I was away to the team in 7th. PIN and won 2-8, which confirms my autopromotion.

I am the second highest Div IV league leader in terms of points and Goal Difference as things stand.

My 17.0y solid scoring youth pull was bought for £250K by AFC Gorleston, owned by benno337, the Current England U20 Manager, though looking at his recent transfer history, he has bought a few young English players in recent months and then seemingly left them to rot with no matches or training. I hope that fate doesn't befall my lad, though he hasn't played in the 9 days since his transfer. Seems odd behaviour for the national U20 coach!

I'm home to the team now in sixth for the final game of the season. I picked up two bookings last week which leave my first choice CD and the league's top scorer both suspended. I also have an injured forward, so that leaves me with just one natural forward to field. I could play 4-5-1, but I think I'll play 3-5-2 with an IM playing as a defensive forward. I'll be MOTS so should get about 80% possession.

Merry Christmas!

Kevster

[Eastheath]

We got the luck we needed, beating the league leaders away 1-4 despite losing a top defender to injury - fortunately I had set a substitution to go from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 by switching a winger for a defender if we were in the lead after 60 mins, which we fortunately were.
If it hadn't been for their fluke defeat a couple of weeks ago, they would still have promoted even with this result, pipping us on GD. For once I'm not complaining about the match engine...
So its autopromotion on 39pts and its back to series IV for the umpteenth time. I don't seen to make it last more than 3 seasons before dropping back.
Happy New Year!

[Bink333]

England

Set up at home with a 5-5-0 press - I have formation xp because this I use for training in an attempt to get 120 minutes training in friendlies. It worked and I got a 0-0. 7th won, so finished a point behind me in 6th, and they had identical GD before kickoff, so finished with better. I also finished 6th behind the leader. training passing with a weakened team in the league during the early rounds of the Cup certainly had an impact on my finishing position.

My South African high waged defender popped his passing and PM and I sold him for about £800k profit, which was pretty much wiped out by his wages. An hour later I bought a rounded head spec wing-back/winger (total skills Def+OM+Wg+Ps=50) with the proceeds (as I'd gone over £10m). The plan is to train scoring next season and then wing, and with the new rules coming in during 2021 to devalue the market in xp training on solid leadership players, I'd rather have a depreciating asset playing than illiquid assets in the bank. The scoring training will be to finish off my hg ex-U20 support spec player before selling him to someone who can add def & PM and hopefully take him to the NT. I'd love to keep him but the spec trigger on primary of ET may not be enough to out-muscle the teams at the sharp end of the Pyramid, and it would waste his U20 xp if he doesn't end up in the NT.

TS is a bit of a mess after a MoTs (and TS hits on both the sale and purchase) but I'm hopeful I can win the qualifyer.

PNF Lyons finished 2nd on the series top scorers list with 8, one behind the winner.
We had the 2nd best max ratings (& stars) in the league, but were 7th on average (on both) due to the early rounds of the Cup being sub-optimized

Oceania

Went 5-3-2CA and despite an injury to my new forward on 40 and to my hg Oceania quick Wb on 79 (minor knocks for both) we won 5-1 to finish 2nd, 2pts behind the leader who didn't drop points against any of the bottom 3 in their last 3 games. Defence at KO was 22/24/23 and closer to 17/18/18 at 90 thanks to the stamina drop off, even with pull-back.

Next season's objective will be to win and promote. Our league winner has a winnable qualifier, even with the away disadvantage.

My top scorer was my seasonn long forward with 6, joint 6th, and 6 behind the winners.
In the final week, 8 of the 11 in a 4-4-2 "team of the week" were my players.
We recorded the highest ratings (419 hatstats) and average ratings in the league, highest stars and 2nd (by half a star) on average to the winners.

South Africa

At home for the final game, as with my English team, I opted for a 5-5-0 press on MoTs. This was against the team in 2nd, 2pts behind. We had a 25th minute injury to a Wb, but secured the 0-0 result and the playoff spot I was hoping for. I had a huge slice of luck to win the playoff to get promoted into this league, and I'll need to repeat that to have any chance to promote to II on Sunday. I'm certainly not good enough yet, the team is still too young.

My top scorer recorded 6 league goals for 7th place, 5 behind the winner.
The only player that makes the top 11 in the league is my GK. Wickham is 22/64 with 12Def just popped, 15GK, 16SP. He's a bit special.
My team was ranked 4th on max rating/stars and 4th for the average ratings/stars stats.
Winning the league had as much to do with hiring a form coach for the season, at the request of the Oceanian U20 manager, for a player that was transferred out within a fortnight. The form coach will not be renewed for next season.

I have just over 2 seasons left of planned defence training, which will take Wickham to supernatural, before switching back to GK. I have an idea that I can get him to Divine+1 GK barring any serious injury, although I'll also need to up his set pieces somewhere. My other GK trainee has more defending and less GK and is a bit older, but I'm hopeful I can get him to the Nigerian NT as well.

South Africa NT

We beat Austria last week, which I'm delighted about, even if it was a lucky one. We can't qualify now because Jamaica got a point in their game, but we will push on to try and get as many points as possible for the ranking of the Inter Continental Cup which starts in just over a season for the NT.

I'm lined up to become U21 assistant manager for England in the first ever inter continental Cup, if Jack gets elected. Nice lad Jack, I met him at an Edinburgh social. Socials have been off the calendar thanks to Covid, but as soon as it is safe to do so again, I'm keen to have another!

Happy New Year to all, hattrick has been the only thing that kept me sane in 2020, I'm very grateful for it, as a refuge!

[ChiliMonster]

We won 8-0 at home, meaning we finish with the following:

Team Pld W D L GF GA ± Pts
Kevster's 14 13 0 1 66 9 57 39

Only Malin United (who also knocked me out of the George Carey Cup this season) finished with higher points/GD in Div IV this season. I'll be autopromoting to I don't know where yet. Is there a predictor for this somewhere?

My Power Rating (whatever that means) is now 988. I also got the league top scorer bonus.

I took advantage of the current offer and upgraded to Platinum Supporter and also paid for an additional team for the first time. I chose Vietnam (due to my wife's origins) as the Country and immediately wondered if this was a bit dumb as there are only 220-something active teams; finding a domestic friendly might not be so easy, for example. I'm starting in Div VI with only one other active team currently, who are also new. I'm going to assume their owner is less experienced so I can spend this season training and trading and still promote to Div V straight away. Can someone point me to current guidance for new managers? I'm thinking about optimal Coach, Staff/assistants, stadium, that kind of thing. I've already bought three young MFs who are playing their first match right now (international friendly), bless them. I've spent £120K on these three, yet trying to be careful. I had an immediate notification that we would be receiving £316,667 prize money for finishing second last season, so I'm guessing I was fortuitous in signing up just in time for this and am relying on it coming through, though I'm not spending it til it's in the bank. I will want to buy an older Def and a Fw next (Excellent primary/formid at a push) with some secondary, as well as some cheaper young IMs to train purely for trading.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Kevster

[Bink333]

The cash injection is good news, & always fun starting a fresh project!

When I opened my team in South Africa, I spent money on stadium building and having a YA with 2 scouts.

And nothing else (some £667 trainees maybe), a passable coach will do at low stamina... I did buy a mythical xp inadequate leader 'playable' oldie to have as a a future excellent coach but only after my YA revealed I had a good one coming through.

If you use your experience to win you games, and train the players hard, you'll quickly increase fans and they will start to increase the gate receipts. Once the stadium is generating a decent revenue stream, you can increase to 3 YA scouts and and think about buying players to complement your retained youth pulls, and players for non training positions (or for secondary training).

[ChiliMonster]

Cheers Bink. I've already rushed ahead and spent more than my £200K starting funds mostly on IM trainees and listed about 7 of my starting squad for sale. I suspect only a couple will sell. I'm relying on the second-place prize money to come through or I could be in trouble. I will also have my first financial update in a couple of hours which will give me an idea of initial sponsor income, for example, to let me know what my weekly balance will be (without league games).

I did get one level 3 assistant caoch for the first training update, for which I set stamina at 67% to give the non-playing players this week some benefit. Once I know what the regular finances will be, I'll look into another assistant coach. I had assumed it would be too early to consider a Youth Academy, but if and when I get the prize money, I'll possibly do that. Or invest in a solid coach?

Correction to before, I'm in Div V not VI. And there are now seven active managers. The others are all new, though some appear to have some previous experience either 2, 5 or 15 years ago. Only one other managed to squeeze a friendly in last week and most don't have two friendlies scheduled for the next 7 days yet, so I hope to be able to outwit these guys with my experience.

In fact, I found the whole thing so exciting that I thought I'd get another team again, this time in England. I was prepared to pay another licence but no fee has been requested. Is that right - is the 49 or whatever I paid enpough for two additional teams?

This time in England, Div VI. I made the decision at 6:45pm yesterday, i.e. 75 minutes before training. So I got my squad, bought 7 trainees in an hour and set stamina to 100% in time for the training update, so all got 50% stamina training. Again, there are 6 other new managers in the league. This time, though, I don't have the prize money bonus. I still have about £32K of the initial funds left. Once I know the regular finances, I'll make other decisions.

Starting with only 100 fans and a 12000-seater stadium, I didn't reckon I'll need to expand it just yet, though the Vietnam team did get 18 new supporters in a single update (i've only got 2 a week in Div IV this season when winning all the time).

Cheers,

Kevster

[Donut102]

Apologies for being absent over the Christmas break. Happy New Year to you all.

Div III

I play 2nd at home, then 3rd away - both difficult games, and I may just go for 0-0 draws as a strategy. Target 17 points.
6th has bot and then 1st - so assume will end on 16 points.
7th has 1st and 4th. 4th has a good team, but has lost the 3 games and appears to have given up/ rebuilding. So assume 7th will also finish on 16 points, but with an inferior GD.

It going to be tight, and very exciting!

Yeah....that didn't work. Failed to secure a point from either game.

End result is that I finished in 7th and auto-demoted. Given that I conceded fewer goals than any other team in the league, it was a little annoying.

Just had a look at the Div IV I've been dropped into - and any hopes I had of bouncing straight back are dashed immediately.

I do have 2 good YA trainees that will promote in Feb/ March timeframe. Some of my players are getting a little long in the tooth, and I might just pause and focus on training for a while.

Div V

In 2nd place, 3 points off 1st. I can't see the leaders slipping up, but I'll keep the pressure on.

Yeah...that didn't work either. I slipped up (actually I was beaten by a better team), and finished in 2nd, 6 points adrift. The league champion failed to promote, and he beat me twice last season - so it's going to be another mid-table finish next season I think.


Cheers
Donut

[Eastheath]

So, promotion takes me up to series IV, and to paraphrase a famous movie line, of all the bars in all the world I have to walk into Bink's.....
I'm one of the two weakest in this league, so this might be a short stay! Bink has a good chance of promoting, so if you want me to try and mess up some of your rivals, just let me know...

[Bink333]

I had assumed it would be too early to consider a Youth Academy, but if and when I get the prize money, I'll possibly do that. Or invest in a solid coach?

I'd buy an old player to convert in 16 weeks rather than go straight to solid coach. It is worth waiting.

Youth Academy definitely worth activating with 2 scouts.

Correction to before, I'm in Div V not VI. And there are now seven active managers. The others are all new, though some appear to have some previous experience either 2, 5 or 15 years ago. Only one other managed to squeeze a friendly in last week and most don't have two friendlies scheduled for the next 7 days yet, so I hope to be able to outwit these guys with my experience.

Similar to how I arrived in South Africa. 2 of us survived the season, and then moved together to a more active series, and invited others who were alone with bots. I promoted out of that eventually, and the other team has just promoted into my III series.

In fact, I found the whole thing so exciting that I thought I'd get another team again, this time in England. I was prepared to pay another licence but no fee has been requested. Is that right - is the 49 or whatever I paid enpough for two additional teams?

I don't know. Best to check in the shop as to what it says about the additional club licence expiry date. You may have had an unused golden ticket or something, which is what helped me start my 3rd team.

This time in England, Div VI. I made the decision at 6:45pm yesterday, i.e. 75 minutes before training. So I got my squad, bought 7 trainees in an hour and set stamina to 100% in time for the training update, so all got 50% stamina training. Again, there are 6 other new managers in the league. This time, though, I don't have the prize money bonus. I still have about £32K of the initial funds left. Once I know the regular finances, I'll make other decisions.

LOL - excellent work!

[ChiliMonster]

Cheers Bink!

I'd buy an old player to convert in 16 weeks rather than go straight to solid coach. It is worth waiting.

I've already invested in a solid coach for the Vietnam team. I don't have the same funds for the second English team, so I'll take this approach for that one.

Similar to how I arrived in South Africa. 2 of us survived the season, and then moved together to a more active series, and invited others who were alone with bots. I promoted out of that eventually, and the other team has just promoted into my III series.

While my second and third teams are in leagues each with seven new teams in total, I can see already that is some cases there have been no logins since the assignment, or very little activity, so suspect that it will quickly become apparent that there will be 2 or 3 active teams only.

Best to check in the shop as to what it says about the additional club licence expiry date. You may have had an unused golden ticket or something, which is what helped me start my 3rd team.

Supporter Platinum and "Extra Club Licence" (note: singular) valid to 29 Dec 21. I did find a golden ticket for Hattrick International, but that says it expired in April 2019 and states that it can no longer be used. I'm happy to pay for an extra licence - is that what you others with 3 teams do? I just don't want to lose a team after a season's effort without the chance to keep it.

Season 77 in England has just started. New thread?

Cheers, Kevster