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The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

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Eastheath
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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#83875

Postby Eastheath » September 27th, 2017, 9:58 am

I was away to the league leaders, probably the one game I was most likely to lose this season.
And so it came to pass, our 4-3-3 CA held out for 70 mins before they got their solitary goal. They had 8 chances to our 2, and 62% MF possession. 1-0 to the oppo.

The defeat leaves us in 5th, W1 D2 L1, but we now have 6 consecutive games against the two bots in the league and the team in 6th. Its effectively six PICs, before we are at home to the league leaders again, in which we hope to be a batter match for them.

Still, we are 7pts adrift of top spot, and unless the league leaders drop points (very unlikely) in the interim, we wont catch them.
Season over already? Meh

And now the salt rub....just gone out of the Cup, we eeked out a 1-1 home draw after 90 mins against a superior team that had played its 2nd XI front line. Except into ET they brought on two 1st XI forwards (trainees had already got their 90 mins) and they made it 1-2 in the end. Could have done the same myself. Meh again.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#85045

Postby UncleIan » October 2nd, 2017, 9:29 am

At home to the new league leaders yesterday, they were one of the promotees this season, so not doing too badly to say the least. They play a fairly predictable 3-5-2 in the league, so I also lined up with a 3-5-2. I figured I had a fair jump on them in terms of possession, and would be a bit behind with my attack v his defence, but probably enough possession so I was fairly confident. Not enough to PIC mind, that would have been a bold move, especially with my confidence so low after last week's losses in the cup and league.

We went 1-0 up after just two minutes, while they missed a chance, and that was it for the first half. Then I had not one but two quick events for my quick striker that lead to goals, and a penalty, then their chance got snuffed out by my keeper. Final score 4-0. I was right about the possession, 57/43%, chances were 7-3, and looking at the stats, I think anything other than a home win would have been harsh, possible, always possible, but harsh.

My opponents have now dropped down to third, on 10 points, while I'm on 12 and in second on goal difference of +10 v first place's +12. We now have two away games against 7th and 8th, while first have the new third place away, almost a shame they've taken a knock to their confidence this week, almost! Then first are at home to fifth. Then we're half way and start reversing fixtures, in theory then I should be able to get more goals in the next few weeks and go top. Hanging on to first place if it happens will be a trickier proposition.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#85106

Postby Bink333 » October 2nd, 2017, 1:12 pm

I was at home to the team in 7th, who have the lowest TSI/wages in the Prem. They'd been knocked out of the Cup this week, and have had a fair degree of success with CA tactics against me in the past, so it was a bit of a surprise to see them set up in a 3-5-2 with 49% of the ball at kick off.

I'd opted to set up to deal with a CA, with divine/utopian/divine attack ratings at kick off with an ET m/f, using 2xWBN (both quick) and no CDs at all. All outfield players were playing 'normal' in a 2-5-3. After just 23 minutes, they had a head spec full-back sent off, which increased my % of the ball (not much but significantly enough to break clear of any potential 50/50 chance split) as well as ensuring they only had one line of attack with higher than 50% against my right defence. We went on to injure one of their forwards (replaced by a non-Prem standard player), and we scored 5 goals with only one in reply. There were only 9 chances in total with no SE chances at all, and we had 6 of these, bashing out 521 hatstats against their 425.

The win moves me to 3rd on -1 GD to 2nd, and 2pts off the LS monster who won away from home (with a mythical m/f) yesterday to stay top.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#85528

Postby Ashfordian » October 3rd, 2017, 9:18 pm

Oh well, onto the cup. I'm training SP this week to give me the team flexibility so I hope this switching pays off.


The training switch did not pay off and I'm out of the cup after losing 2-1 in ET.

I set my team up as best I could but chance distribution went against me and I only got 1 chance out of 6 in the middle which I scored. They scored 2 quick SE goals, the 2nd in ET to win the game.

The league this week and I'm away against last season series winner. He has the distraction of the cup and this was fortunate for me as I doubt I would have beaten his best team. With ratings in my favour I run out 2-0 winners and move up from 5th to 3rd while my opponent drops to 7th.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#86122

Postby Eastheath » October 5th, 2017, 8:35 pm

Home game against one of the two bots in the league, 11 chances to nil, 7 goals to nil, not a lot else to say really.
Except....the runaway league leaders who beat us last week, came unstuck at home to the team that had also nicked a draw off us. Despite pulling 100 hatstats more than their oppo, they lost at home 1-2.
This sort of opens up the league again. The ex-runaway leader is now 2nd on 12 pts, we are 3rd on 8 pts and the new league leader has13 pts, they managed a draw against us earlier this season, despite our pulling 60+ better hatstats.
Next we play away to 5th, then back to backs against the other bot in 8th and then 5th again (who will be sixth by the time we play the return leg). That should keep us in touch with 1st and 2nd.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#86829

Postby UncleIan » October 9th, 2017, 10:13 am

Away to the 8th place team this week, but looking at the review ratings, I didn't think I could PIC, I was going to get lots of possession, but if they parked the bus, which they tend to do, it was a potential banana skin. I mean, chances were I'd have been fine but anything less than a win would have been embarrassing. They'd played 3-5-2 against fellow strugglers in 7th, but had played 5-3-2 and 5-4-1 against the other top teams. Figuring they'd go for this defence heavy approach I went for a 2-5-3. They lined up in a 4-4-2. This gave us 56/44% possession, while the attack v defence were similar for both of us. And both of us had one wing defence much stronger than our wing attack (what is this, netball?). Fingers crossed we didn't have one of those matches where all your chances go to be "bad" side.

All turned out ok, chances were 3 v 8. We scored twice and missed twice in the first half, while they only missed once. Second half saw us score from a free kick and that's your lot. 0-3 final score.

First were away to third (we're in second), and tuning in at halftime it was still 0-0, that would have been a handy result, but first banged in a couple unanswered in the second half. This means we're still in second place, same points as first (15), and just one behind in goal difference, and now 5 points ahead of third and fourth, who are both on 10 points.

Next week we're away again, but this time to 7th, who have an even bigger defence, and even less everywhere else. I might well go the whole hog now my defenders have plenty of playmaking and go for a 2-5-3 with two OCDs, just for the banzaii. Though I might be a little more sensible when it comes to it. Just a little.

Ian

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#86867

Postby Bink333 » October 9th, 2017, 12:09 pm

I was away to a big midfield, they posted magical at home to me in the last two seasons, when I CA'd on a 5-3-2 and lost 3-1 and 4-1.

I decided on a 3-5-2 thinking I might have a whiff of a chance if they decided to PIC as they've another big m/f to face at home next week and are out of the cup. They sent out another magical m/f... But, I had better attack vs defence than they did, and so I figured I might have a chance with superior conversion rates.

I managed 47% with a low mythical m/f. They had 5 chances to my 3, but my conversion rates which had been a tad shy of 70% going into this one provided a dreadful 33% despite 60%+ attack vs defence. They managed an even more ridiculous 80% conversion (3 goals would have been fairer than 4) and so despite my earnest shuffling of the deckchairs in the match line-up, the titanic once again went down when it hit the iceberg.

We also had some poetic irony. Early in the game on the live text feed, the commentators clocked the fact that not one of my starting 11 was aged under 30, and quipped that they were all old enough to be grandads. Then, early in the second half they had a +ve xp event for an experienced forward who scored against us. That was the only SE of the match.

I did some adding up of chances this season so far in the league, I have had 26 and only 7th placed Smedge has less (I play them in the double header ) with 25, despite my having had majority possession in 4 of the 6 games so far, and 47% and 45% in the other two. The top 4 teams have had between 40 and 50 chances so far.

The Monster LS team won again and is now 5pts clear of 2nd. 2nd-5th all have ten points and are separated on GD. I'm 5th. Time to focus on the Cup maybe?

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#86887

Postby Eastheath » October 9th, 2017, 1:04 pm

Away to 5th went as expected, we won 0-6 with ratings of 172 vs 317. Nothing more to add, to be fair. Five of the six goals came from 2 of the 3 first forwards, one of which is now joint top scorer in the league.
We stay in 3rd on 11 pts, top two have 16 and 15 pts. In the upcoming head to head games 1st and 2nd play each other, while we have the bot in 8th, so hopefully the top two will play out draws while we gain some points on them. Worst result would be if one of the top two won both games. As the next four games are 'easy', have decided to sell a couple of 31 year old first teamers whilst they still have some worth, so that I can save on wages and buy younger better players before the next crucial match in 5 weeks time.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#86971

Postby Donut102 » October 9th, 2017, 4:34 pm

Not been posting much this season as I expected I would lose most of the league games, and have basically hunkered down for some training.

The cup run went to form - out of the main cup in R2, and got 4 rounds of the secondary cup before the big teams re-entered.

Other than nicking a point in week 1, the league has also gone to form - except this week.
Expecting a hiding I put out a training formation on a PIC. Hatstats were 224 v 299, and I was beaten in every area other than midfield and set pieces. It seems that was enough for the match engine to award me a 3-1 win.
That result takes me up to 5th, and I'm actually starting to believe I can avoid auto relegation. If I MOTS the return fixture in 3 weeks time I could repeat the upset, and the team I drew in week 1 is also looking like a possible 3 points in week 14.
I'll get 6 points from the bot team, and so 16 points should be enough to take a play off spot right?

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#87643

Postby UncleIan » October 12th, 2017, 11:04 am

Donut102 wrote:I'll get 6 points from the bot team, and so 16 points should be enough to take a play off spot right?


It's the hope that kills you. ;)

Just looking back a few pages of club history, I was directly demoted from 7th on 16 points twice, and a couple of times on 14 points. Three of those times on goal difference. Happy days! ;)

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#88501

Postby UncleIan » October 16th, 2017, 9:17 am

Halfway through the season already! How we doing?

This week we were away to 7th. Cakewalk right? Well they have a massive defence, but not much anywhere else, so we really really went for it, 2 x OCD, both wingers offensive, then made a striker defensive just for a bit more possession. They lined up slightly differently to normal, CA as usual, but with a 5-3-2 not 5-4-1, and had loaded one wing. While normally they have two average wings, this got them 60/40% on that wing. Mind you, even with as little defence as possible, I still had 30/70% in the other two sectors of their attack v my defence. Possession was going to be key, and we had more than an edge, 64/36%. While my attack v their defence lost out 60/40%. This was not going to be a high scoring match. First half was nothing but missed chances, but the second half saw us put away a couple of goals while they missed another counter attack. That was it, 0-2 final score. Yep, definitely right not to PIC that one!

Back to the original question...How we doing?

Pretty good actually, second in the table on goal difference, on 18 points, 1st are 4 goals ahead. Third have just slipped up with an away draw, so are way back on 11 points. I'm calling it a two horse race. Just seen the promotion table, if I was in 1st, I'd be above the autopromotion line! Fans are very happy, sponsors very happy, bank account is disgustingly healthy (9m). Yup, pretty good!

I think I'm supposed to be switching training, or selling some trainees, I can't remember, need to have a look as my IM trainees have just popped to titanic and I have three young homegrown IMs that shouldn't be loafing around, I should be making training slots available for them. Really must do something there.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#88570

Postby Bink333 » October 16th, 2017, 1:12 pm

I was at home to 6th who were on 6pts, 4pts behind me in 5th.

I was expecting a CA as they've CA'd every away fixture so far this season, so loaded up the wings (Divine+1/+2 ratings at KO - they had divine/utopian/utopian defence sectors) and went AoW on a 2-5-3. The plan was to just get as many chances as possible, and nick any SE chances with head spec numerical (4vs3) advantage and an all quick defence, at least for 73 minutes until stamina subs kicked in.

At half-time the game had had just 3 chances, all of them on my side attacks and we'd scored all 3. It made up for last week when we'd had a much better % vs defence ratio yet could only convert 1 of 3.

There were 6 chances in the second half, and they had just 2 of these (including one CA chance). We finished up 4-1 winners as my pull-back made converting any more than 1/4 quite tricky. No SEs at all in that game. I had 5 chances on the flanks and 2 in the middle and had no reports of any central chances being moved to the flanks either. This supports some anecdotal evidence that having a divine+ rating at the AoW/AiM tactics seems to make them wildly ineffective (all you clearly do do is reduce your defence ratings by utilising them), but I still cling to my childish notion that they are a great 'scissors' to the CA 'paper' (pressing being the rock).

Elsewhere the LS monster was beaten 2-0 so there are now just 2pts covering the top 5 at mid-season. The 3 teams immediately ahead of me on GD all won, so I'm still in 5th spot with a +4GD. 2nd are +6... It's pretty tight.

Next week the leaders (15pts) are at home, and the 4 teams on 13pts are away, but 3 of us are away to the bottom 3 sides (now 7-9pts adrift of the top 5). Away wins are crucial this week to stay in touch with the leader. In the meantime there's 4 Prem teams left at R8 of the Cup.

My gate yesterday was pretty healthy, and tipped my bank balance over the £3m barrier, and having had a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc I decided to have looksee at the TL. I clicked on my auto-saved Forwards criteria and a good one (former French NT 33y/o) popped up with just 2 minutes to go, for about 0.5m less than his TC. So I bought him for £2.7m and have stuck him into my Cup line up.

3 of my other 4 forwards are 35 years old with World Class scoring , and although I'm using an attacking coach and although two of them have bagged the top scorer award in the Prem over the last two seasons (making them Hall of Fame eligible) they've been making me 'nervous'. My 4th forward (who I bought in the off-season) is currently the leading scorer in the Cup and he's French aged 33 as well. This means that I now own 5 strikers (3 'defensive' with PM and 2 FTWs), and they have over 1,100 goals between them.

Spookily, my oldest forward had a skill-drop to magnificent scoring this morning.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#88821

Postby Eastheath » October 17th, 2017, 11:21 am

Away to a bot, 0-10 win as expected, nothing to see here etc etc.
The win keeps us in third. I was hoping for the clash between the top 2 to be a draw, but it looked rather one sided with the home team running out 6-0 winners. If the result next week is a reverse, then there will still be something to fight for, but if last weeks winners win again, I suspect they will be uncatchable - they are 4 pts ahead and even if we beat them later on, I don't see them slipping up elsewhere.
Next three games are against 8th, 6th and 7th, before we play the league leaders again. Have sold two of my older midfielders/defenders to save on salaries (and capture some value) and will buy replacements before that big game in week 11 - if I remember!

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#90026

Postby UncleIan » October 23rd, 2017, 9:09 am

Oof, I didn't PIC away, playing 8th, and won 0-2, so I PIC'd at home...

Chances were 10-5 to me, final score 1-1. Two points dropped. Striker kicked in the whatsits so hard he was subbed after half an hour. Aye, I know how he feels.

How did the league leaders do? Thrashed 6th place 0-6 away from home. So we stay in second, but now two points behind them. We're now six points ahead of 3rd.

Next week we play 7th and we're the home team again. I mean, I thought it was an obvious PIC, but now I'm not so sure.

In other news, sold a couple of IM trainees and a winger trainee, made a hill of beans on the two IMs, but adding PM to the winger seems to have made not much difference (£300k) to the selling price. Bought another winger trainee for a huge hill of beans, probably too much. But will have £11m in the bank this time next week so should be okay for a while. :)

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#90058

Postby Eastheath » October 23rd, 2017, 11:14 am

The return leg at home to the bot in 8th resulted in a 9-0 formality, which keeps us in 3rd.
Better news came from the return leg between 1st and 2nd. The (theoretically) weaker team, having lost 6-0 away last week, pulled off a 1-0 home win this week. This means that the league is still open. 1st has 19 pts, 2nd has 18 pts, and ourselves and the team in 4th have 17 pts. The top 3 are all playing bots or week teams next, so I don't expect to see any change at the top of the table, other than on goal difference....
Our last four games will be against the others in the top 5, so its crucial we keep up the routine of PIC games until week 11, as I wont be PICing those last games!

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#90060

Postby Bink333 » October 23rd, 2017, 11:19 am

I can never have a hill of beans, there's just too much erosion around these parts.

My second half of the double header was away to 6th. They're out of the Cup, and I'm still in it (last 16 tomorrow). I needed to get a PIC in the bank, and needed to pick up something away from home.

The fixture list this week had our monster LS team in 1st (15pts) vs 2nd (13pts), with the other 3 teams on 13pts all away from home to the teams in 6th-8th (also separated by 2pts - 6-4-4). For all 4 of the chasing teams, this then was something of a make or break week. Losing, with the prospect of being 5pts adrift with 6 to play against a team that seems unstoppable at home, as well as having won 2 of 4 away games (only failing against the two best midfields in the Prem), would pretty much be curtains on any title challenge.

So, what to do.

Opting for a PIC with 3xOCD 2xDF and 2xWTM would optimise my m/f but only just about match the m/f they'd produced at home a fortnight ago. Not only that but in week 3 they CA'd at home, and a 3-5-2 with all attack and defence options set to boost m/f would make us more vulnerable than usual to a CA strategy. I had to cover off the midfield though, and set my subs to bolster attack if behind and defence if not behind ("playing for a draw Bink?" I asked myself) as well as switching my older PM heavy forwards from defence to normal when they were subbed for stamina deficiency.

It was just too risky setting up to deal with the CA from the off....

At kick-off they'd opted for a 4-4-2 CA. They'd also set one CDTW (covering off the perceived thread from my side attacks as we'd demonstrated last week). They also had one WTM and one DF, so had 41% of the ball at kick off, to help with chance allocation.

At half time they were 2-1 up courtesy of a normal chance up the middle and an indirect free kick We'd had 3 chances to the right flank (the one they'd bolstered defence against with the CDTW) and scored our one through the middle. Elsewhere, The team in 2nd had capitulated on a press with a PIC m/f and were 3-0 down. Last season's Champions were 2-2 away to 7th despite a m/f disadvantage with 48%. Last season's runners up were 2-1 down with 49% on a CA against 8th who'd tried to CA at home.

After 57 minutes we pulled it back to 2-2 having converted a left sided attack, but 6 minutes later I was concerned because my GK had taken a knock and was replaced by my wing-back (who was due to sub a CD to make us more defensive if we were not behind. We were not behind). Then on 72 my double forward substitution kicked in, boosting my central attack ratings to just about 50/50 with their central defence. 4 minutes later a central attack resulted in them converting a counter-attack on our failed effort to go 3-2 up. A minute later we replied with a left sided attack and back to 3-3.

Up until this point, we'd not had an SE chance between us over the last 169 minutes of football, and at last it came, and we were the lucky recipient of a quick SE duly converted to take the lead 3-4. That how is stayed and we had 11 chances (taking the season total to 44 - looks like the ME was saving them all up for this game) to their 4.

Elsewhere the scoreline hadn't changed in 1st vs 2nd, but last years champions had been beaten 5-4 despite having more of the ball for much of the second half and having only had 4 chances all game, whilst last season's runners up had made a come back from 3-1 down and had picked up a point for a 3-3 draw.

By the end of the match I also had bookmarked 4 (popular/sympathetic) GKs within my paltry budget (thanks to the big spend last week on a striker) with a 6* best (My Wb managed 4*). At this morning's update my GK moved back to bruised but training. With another daily update tonight and another tomorrow morning, I'm prepared to risk him playing on Tuesday, and if he gets injured for longer on Tuesday at least I'll have a bigger kitty to bring in cover.

My Cup oppo had two +1 injuries yesterday, a quick winger and their HDF and one of these, the winger, is also back in training this morning. They also have an IM suspended, although he looks to be the one that they'd normally have had on the bench as cover.

So the updated league table has me up to 2nd 2pts ahead of 3rd (last season's runners up) and 2pts behind the leaders whom I've yet to play at home. If I can beat them in that fixture as well as losing away to last season's champions (as expected), then it will be a case of my not slipping up anywhere else and hoping that they do in order for me to think about winning the title. It can only be a game-by-game approach, and I'll definitely be needing plenty of luck.

The Cup has a similar feel. with 4 Prem teams left in it, I might have half a chance if we all made it through to the last 4 as I'd fancy my chances if last season's Champions met the current leaders in the semis. However, we've got tomorrow's games to get through to the last 8, which is the furthest I've taken the current squad - 2 seasons ago when all 8 Prem sides made the last 8.

Fingers crossed.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#90681

Postby Ashfordian » October 25th, 2017, 5:08 pm

Week 6: 4-0 Home win against the bottom team
Week 7: 3-2 Away win against the team in 4th
Week 8: 3-2 Home win in the return leg of the double header

When you write the results like the above it looks an easy 3 games. That was definitely not the case!

Week 6:

I could not match their attack with my defence ratings at the start so went with the defend with possession option. Averaged 61% possession over the match and chances were 10-2 in my favour so a 4-0 win felt a fair result. This game is going to be much more difficult in week 9 when I'm away.


Week 7:

This team had been quietly going about their business and they were only 2 pts behind me which I had not realised until I scouted them for our game. I could not be sure to beat their MF rating so went with a 5-3-2 'soft CA' where I try to get a good amount of possession as well as trying to CA their attacks with a magical CA rating. At the start they had 56% possession so this tactic started as I planned. The match engine did make this interesting by giving a red card to my defender after 59 minutes. Another notable ME contribution was the tech v head goal it gave to them! Fortunately I had lined up perfectly with my strong wing against their weakest side defence from where I scored 2 goals from 2 chances. I missed my only CA chance though!


Week 8:

The return match of the double header at home. MF possession was comfortable at 62% with a 3-5-2 formation but player form was restricting my team flexibility. I missed a penalty and free kick before going 1-0 up. They scored a head spec goal to level and then went 2-1 up after 65 minutes. At this point I felt the game was lost but I managed to 2 goals to win 3-2 late in the game when their keepers low stamina really started to have an effect.

Overall, I am happy to get 9pts from the 3 games and now sit 2nd in the table on 17pts, 3pts behind 1st who were the other auto-promoted team for this season.

So how am I doing?

Better than expected. I secretly hoped to be in with a chance of the title but realistically predicted 3rd for me so I am ahead of my expectations. 3rd lost to a freak result this week so are now 3pts behind with last seasons winners in 4th, 4pts behind. I am safe from relegation which was always my first target.

PM training is running at glacial speed now all trainees are at least Brilliant PM. I have £9m in the bank and no plans to spend it until I switch training when said trainees reach Titanic. This is approach is starting to expose the weakness in the player roster as I'm struggling with my current skill levels on defenders, wingers and strikers for series IV but any purchases would be sub-optimal until I switch training.

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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#91692

Postby Eastheath » October 30th, 2017, 8:31 am

Week 9 and the three top teams all played the bottom 3, we were at home to the non bot, and won 5-0. The others racked up 9-0 and 10-0 wins.
So its no change in the league positions, the leader has 22 pts (GD +37), second has 21 pts (GD +44)and we have 20 pts (GD +40) in third.

Next week we are away to one of the two bots, after which its the sharp end of the season, where we play 2nd, 1st, 4th and 5th in succession. There will be no PICing in those games, so we need to be running optimally as we hit those last four games. The team in 2nd pulls the best stats, so its the game in a fortnight that might be the decider, although the team in 1st is well placed to take advantage of any slip ups.

Getting quite interesting now...

UncleIan
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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#91703

Postby UncleIan » October 30th, 2017, 9:04 am

I was at home to the team in 7th that had been scudding along in 8th for most of the season. They have a tight four way battle going on down there, the bottom half of the table separated by three points. But hey, we won 0-3 away from home on a PIN, so it's an obvious PIC right? Obvious. I knew they'd got very defensive, so a 2-5-3 banzaii was called for. My favourite. We had 59% possession, but my attack against their defense was only 40/60%, and same vice versa, but I had lots of ball, and that's how this game usually works. Keep the ball, score goals. We scored after 17 minutes, and then missed a free kick, 1-0 half time. Hmm, still, as they fade away, we'll score a hatful I'm sure. 70 minutes, and we miss another opportunity. We finally secure the points with another goal in the 86th minute. Though if their counter attack two minutes later had succeeded, that would have made the final few minutes a little nervous. 2-0 final score. Chances...10-1. Hmmm. Still, it's a win.

I noticed this morning that it was another near full house. And found a new thing, stadium usage. And mine appears to show a sea of red and orange circles. As I'll probably be in this league for another season, and doing okay I hope, might be time to get the builders in. I can afford it for sure.

Anyway, back to the league, first was at home to fourth, and also made heavy weather of putting away their chances (8-1) with another 2-0 final score. I'm two points behind them, and -10 in goal difference. Next week we're away to fourth, and then at home to first. Tricky couple of weeks in store.

On the training front, two wingers popped to outstanding PM, so I reckon it's time for a refresh there, as they're both 23. I tried getting some high skilled wingers that I can train in PM, but got outbid on both. Curse you Sunday deadlines!

Oh yes, Albumen Young Eggs, wrap up another series win with two games to spare. :)

Bink333
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Re: The Hattrick Season 66 Thread

#91734

Postby Bink333 » October 30th, 2017, 11:23 am

I was at home to 5th (2pts behind me). They are a midfield heavy team, like me, with not much defence, and had pushed the boat out (looks like a probable week 7 MoTs) in week 6&7 to get two back to back home wins against myself and the LS monsters. The clue was in their PIC & press last week, and I set up accordingly, perhaps putting more into m/f than I needed to (mythical vs magnificent) . They pressed and so it was another game of few chances (3 normal and 7 in all) and whilst my conversion rate was 100% on normal chances, it was a pretty dismal 25% on "other chances" which included free-kicks both direct and indirect. I suppose this might have had a better return had I played my number 1 set piece taker, but he was on two yellows and I wanted him to be available for tomorrow's Cup quarter-final.

They had one normal chance and converted it without too much trouble, as my 3-5-2 had included 3xOCD and their attack ratings (like mine) swamped the respective defence ratings.

So, this 3-1 win was sufficient to keep me in 2nd as the leaders won away (with plenty of luck having less m/f but being awarded 6 chances to the home side's 3), and the reigning champions won at home to go 3rd, three points behind me.

It seems very likely that it will be one of the three of us that takes the title, and with yesterday's results, the odds weigh heavily in favour of the leaders who are the only one of the three of us who now have 3 home games from the remaining 5 fixtures, as well as having an away game to 8th in week 13, which they seem likely to win. The only place they could consider it likely to drop points then would be away to me in week 11, which is two days before the Cup Final or, at a stretch (if Red threw everything at it), at home to last season's Champions in week 12.

So, if I won that game, and next week's away game vs 8th, I'd still have away games to last season's runner up and then against last season's Champions in weeks 12&13 (the fortnight after the Cup Final).

Last season's Champions could win the title, if I beat the LS monster in week 11 and they beat them away from home in week 12 (the week after the Cup final), and win all their other games, including at home to me in week 13 as mentioned already.

So, to summarise. I can win the title if I win the remaining 5 league games, and I can win the Cup if I win 3 consecutive games over the next 3 Tuesdays. If I lose one of the Cup games I'm oot. If I lose one of the league games I'm oot unless the team in front of me lose two and the team behind me also lose/draw one (or they don't and I manage to somehow beat them on GD (currently I'm +7 and they are +8)

Just to make it interesting, last season's Champions are also still in the Cup last 8, and if I win tomorrow I'm pretty sure I can't be drawn against them for the semi. I've a pretty tough fixture tomorrow though, Future Intent knocked out our own Rockingham Arms last week...


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