Season 23 Week 5 processing...

Tom@Charlton wrote:

Sounds quite realistic to me.

Average players pumping the ball forward to no one in particular, creating no chances all game?

I watched Lincoln do that for years!!!

I know they are unmanaged but Lincoln are Banstead's closest rivals down here and are still quite good from the time they were managed.

Would definitely be where I would try and rebuild my career if the Charlton job got too big and the board decided to go for a new man.

If they'd have me!!

Okay i'm happy with that now. Ive rerun the 4 lower divisions in england, Banstead ended up winning 2-1 which is much more realistic than 5-0.

I'm going finished off and then send out email turns, thanks.

Tom@Charlton wrote:

Would definitely be where I would try and rebuild my career if the Charlton job got too big and the board decided to go for a new man.

If they'd have me!!

The Charlton board wont let you go just cos youve had a slice of bad luck, losing both your AM and BW was very bad luck, and that certainly contributed to the defeat this week. I know you'll learn from your mistakes and only get better in the top flight where its never easy, sometimes the smallest thing can make the difference between getting a point away from home, which is always good at this level.

Thanks Paul.

You're absolutely right about the finer detail. Having spent the last three years in the lower leagues playing the majority of games against weaker unmanaged and reality sides, I have certainly noticed the difference coming into the Premier League.

I prefer the blissful ignorance of the lower leagues Tom!

Gutted!! I'm in London overnight tonight and Leicester overnight tomorrow, I have my email turn (thanks Paul) but have only brought the frikkin iPad!!! Can't open it... Gutted, how frustrating.

I'll have to get drunk now instead to pass the time!

Rich@Leicester wrote:

I prefer the blissful ignorance of the lower leagues Tom!

This is dedication to grass roots football. The playoff loss was actually just showing a love for the game!!!! I applaud you sir.

Ive sent out all the email turns now, let me know if you dont get it.

bbiab going to do the printing now.

Rich@Leicester wrote:

Gutted!! I'm in London overnight tonight and Leicester overnight tomorrow, I have my email turn (thanks Paul) but have only brought the frikkin iPad!!! Can't open it... Gutted, how frustrating.

I'll have to get drunk now instead to pass the time!

Are you on gmail mate? If not you can setup an account and send to Gmail and then using the web version will be able to open it on your ipad.

Just had a brief look at my match report and seems that by man marking both of Will's wingers I never managed to get the ball out my half with Podolski constantly pulled out of position and losing the ball - a total of 0 chances created vs 20 for Fulham - major tactical error - I think back to FAS for me - oops!

Next up an easy game, oh no wait Arsenal!

Hi Paul,

Have read further in my turn and wondering if there is a problem at all with the MIX tactic? In Plymouth's league game, Lyon 's reserve game and in the friendlies (with both Lyon and Plymouth) played MIX and all that seemed to happen was the midfielders passing between each other - see below? When I have looked at Lyon's league game in more detail a similar thing seemed to happen, although to a lesser extent with everything being passed inside to the PM (unlike usually where the WH's tend to run with the ball and cross).

All my friendlies (and Plymouth's league game) ended with 0 shots and 0 chances and I don't think I got out of my half in any of these games but managed to keep the ball amazingly well- for example, against City in my reserve game for example had 93% of possession and in Lyon's reserves I had 85% of possession!

LEAGUE:

MERTESACKER who passes out to WILSHERE who
passes outside to CABAYE ,having dropped off MILNER, then on the right side of
defence, who holds the ball then PODOLSKI ,having dropped off VALENCIA, then
who checks back and passes inside to WILSHERE at the centre of defence, who
passes outside to CABAYE ,having drifted away from MILNER, then on the right
side of defence, who holds the ball then PODOLSKI

FRIENDLIES

MERTESACKER who has plenty of time to find WILSHERE who passes outside to
PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE who slides it inside to WILSHERE who
passes the ball outside to PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE who decides
to pass inside to WILSHERE who plays an easy ball out to PODOLSKI who holds
the ball then CABAYE who passes quickly inside to WILSHERE who passes the ball
outside to PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE

LODEIRO who passes it short to THIAGO who knocks the ball
short to MARIN who holds the ball then NETO who plays it to THIAGO who plays
an easy ball out to WILLIAN who holds the ball then NETO who passes inside to
THIAGO who passes outside to WILLIAN who holds the ball then NETO who knocks a
toe poke inside to THIAGO who passes outside to WILLIAN

Not at all trying to change the result of any of the games but thought worth flagging up in case of a problem with the system and the MIX tactic, esp as I play this at Lyon full time!

Thanks

Ben

no email turn received

received now

Ben@Plymouth wrote:

Hi Paul,

Have read further in my turn and wondering if there is a problem at all with the MIX tactic? In Plymouth's league game, Lyon 's reserve game and in the friendlies (with both Lyon and Plymouth) played MIX and all that seemed to happen was the midfielders passing between each other - see below? When I have looked at Lyon's league game in more detail a similar thing seemed to happen, although to a lesser extent with everything being passed inside to the PM (unlike usually where the WH's tend to run with the ball and cross).

All my friendlies (and Plymouth's league game) ended with 0 shots and 0 chances and I don't think I got out of my half in any of these games but managed to keep the ball amazingly well- for example, against City in my reserve game for example had 93% of possession and in Lyon's reserves I had 85% of possession!

LEAGUE:

MERTESACKER who passes out to WILSHERE who
passes outside to CABAYE ,having dropped off MILNER, then on the right side of
defence, who holds the ball then PODOLSKI ,having dropped off VALENCIA, then
who checks back and passes inside to WILSHERE at the centre of defence, who
passes outside to CABAYE ,having drifted away from MILNER, then on the right
side of defence, who holds the ball then PODOLSKI

FRIENDLIES

MERTESACKER who has plenty of time to find WILSHERE who passes outside to
PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE who slides it inside to WILSHERE who
passes the ball outside to PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE who decides
to pass inside to WILSHERE who plays an easy ball out to PODOLSKI who holds
the ball then CABAYE who passes quickly inside to WILSHERE who passes the ball
outside to PODOLSKI who holds the ball then CABAYE

LODEIRO who passes it short to THIAGO who knocks the ball
short to MARIN who holds the ball then NETO who plays it to THIAGO who plays
an easy ball out to WILLIAN who holds the ball then NETO who passes inside to
THIAGO who passes outside to WILLIAN who holds the ball then NETO who knocks a
toe poke inside to THIAGO who passes outside to WILLIAN

Not at all trying to change the result of any of the games but thought worth flagging up in case of a problem with the system and the MIX tactic, esp as I play this at Lyon full time!

Thanks

Ben

Plymouth :-
This seems a bit extreme but it is what happens sometimes when you are better than the opposition and dont give your playmaker anybody to pass to who can go forward. man-markers do justman-marking they dont go forward they become ball winners for the man they are marking and your pm wont often if at all pass back to the BW so all that happened is what happened. Had you not told your dynamos to manmark it would have been more effective as that would have allowed them the chance to develop the play by getting forward. as it was the ball just kept going sideways or backwards.

Lyon :-
just read thru their match report and it seems like Marin & Willian didnt want to get to the goalline and cross, as you say they just kept passing it back inside to Lodeiro. It may just be one of those games, but I'll run a few practice games and see whats going on.

Thanks for looking into this Paul, much appreciated! I thought that's what the problem with the Plymouth game was, although appreciate you looking into Lyon's performance. Any thoughts regarding the friendlies or reserve games where literally the ball kept being passed around by the middle 3 btw?

Thanks

Ben

right Ive looked at the MIX and there was a bit of a problem...

The first time the player in possession wanted to get forward the system let him get forward, if that player then wanted to get forward again, on the same possession, the system was only allowing him to go forward 50% of the time. So your LH and RH were moving forward but not moving forward again and getting into a crossing position, hence the pass back into the PM.

This was happening because the system hadnt recorded the correct stamina for your players, there was an buffer overflow problem and some of the stamina was over-written with rubbish. The overflow problem was caused by my new Matchup Report which I havent told you about until now.

Ive fixed the overflow problem and am looking at the details now to see if it is now working okay.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

right Ive looked at the MIX and there was a bit of a problem...

The first time the player in possession wanted to get forward the system let him get forward, if that player then wanted to get forward again, on the same possession, the system was only allowing him to go forward 50% of the time. So your LH and RH were moving forward but not moving forward again and getting into a crossing position, hence the pass back into the PM.

This was happening because the system hadnt recorded the correct stamina for your players, there was an buffer overflow problem and some of the stamina was over-written with rubbish. The overflow problem was caused by my new Matchup Report which I havent told you about until now.

Ive fixed the overflow problem and am looking at the details now to see if it is now working okay.

Thanks for looking into this Paul, is this the reason for the strange friendly and reserve games results as well?

Interesting regarding the new matchup report - whats the difference?

Yes your MIX tactic was definitely compromised slightly this week which resulted in few chances being created so I have rerun the Bordeaux Lyon league game and it ended 2- 0 to Lyon and I am sending you the new match report.

The bug also affected the Watford Newcastle game quite badly so I have rerun that as well and that ended up Watford 0 Newcastle 1 ... same result as the original game but a fairer result.

The bug did not affect Chelsea in their game so I did not rerun that game.

Apologies for that just one of those things i'm afraid that happen occasionally with computer systems. New match reports on the way.

This bug may have also affected any non first team games as well if your team played MIX but unfortunately I cannot rerun non first team games.

Thanks Paul much appreciated!

Out of interest, and I stress I am not looking to change the Plymouth result, for future tactical planning would the Fulham/Plymouth result have stayed the same given the explanation above regarding man marking?

If a player has a better man-marking skill than the guy he is marking then he will still get forward when he can, he knows when to leave off marking and when to stay marking. But if his man marking skill is less than or equal to that of the guy he is marking then he does not take the chance and just man marks.

Valencia 9MM Milner 8MM Podolski 8MM Cabaye 8MM so neither of your guys would have left off their marking duties.

Just to check that was the case I ran 2 practice matches and the scores were Fulham 2 Plymouth 0 on both occasions with fulham creating 9 chances to your 0 chances.

I will send you one of those match reports just so you can double check.

Another problem you had was that even when Cabaye did leave his marking duties ( sometimes players just do that depending on how clever they are at following commands ) he didnt want to get forward being a more defensive minded player so even in those situations he just passed back or sideways.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

If a player has a better man-marking skill than the guy he is marking then he will still get forward when he can, he knows when to leave off marking and when to stay marking. But if his man marking skill is less than or equal to that of the guy he is marking then he does not take the chance and just man marks.

Valencia 9MM Milner 8MM Podolski 8MM Cabaye 8MM so neither of your guys would have left off their marking duties.

Just to check that was the case I ran 2 practice matches and the scores were Fulham 2 Plymouth 0 on both occasions with fulham creating 9 chances to your 0 chances.

I will send you one of those match reports just so you can double check.

Thanks for looking into this Paul, no need to send the reports tbh. As I thought a major error on my part.

Very useful thoughts though on how MM works - some useful things to ponder as the teams get closer in quality - and just when I thought I was understanding the game a bit more lol.

As you say 1 (or in this case 2) tactical changes can make a huge difference on the result of the game entirely!

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Another problem you had was that even when Cabaye did leave his marking duties ( sometimes players just do that depending on how clever they are at following commands ) he didnt want to get forward being a more defensive minded player so even in those situations he just passed back or sideways.

Yeah I see what you mean, interesting to see how Wilshire performed at PM too (given that I thought he might consider lumping the ball up to Rooney or Robinho) but in this case he decided against it.