Season 30 Week 8 processing...

Scotland

Motherwell 20 +15
Aberdeen 15 +8
Celtic 15 +7 Champions
St Johnstone 14 +14
Rangers 14 +13
Inverness 13 +2

Motherwell stay top as they continued on their great run of form but can somebody from the chasing pack emerge to challenge them this season...

Spain

Barcelona 22 +25 Champions
Real Madrid 22 +18
Real Betis 19 +22
Sevilla 14 +11
Atletico 14 +2

Good wins for the top three keep them moving along nicely and improving Sevilla join the top four but the real battle starts next week for Real Madrid as they face three tough away games at Betis, Atletico and then Barcelona, should be an interesting few weeks for the Real fans...

MLS

Cosmos 24 +21 Champions
NewYork 21 +15
Chicago 19 +20
Harrisburg 18 +16

A good win this week keeps the Cosmos on top but its still close and one bad result could be disastrous...

Transfers now...

In an attempt to get at least one win this season Sheffield Wednesday have swapped out Joselu for Prosenik of Middlesbrough and they have also signed Seb Prodl to play at CentreBack both Austrians will make their debuts next week at home to Newcastle.

Inter splashed £40millions on Giovanni Di Lorenzo then sold Michael Lang to Feyenoord for £25millions.
Botafogo spent £9millions on Lucas Ribeiro.

Charlton captured Tyrone Mings from Raith in swap deal for Lewis Dunk.
Schalke signed Maurits Kjaergaard from the non-league for £9millions.

A rare deal between Real Madrid and Barcelona sees Mikel Oyarzabal join Barcelona and Lautaro Martinez move in the opposite direction to Real Madrid.

Message from the Viking manager, "We thank everybody for their interest in our young superstar Erling Haland but we have decided to keep him for now and even turned down a £120million bid from Schalke".

Hi Paul

Could you let me know some decent feeder clubs that are available, as that seems the only way I am going to be able to get some new players and hope they sign for an English club in real life.

.Paul Hemmings wrote:

Premiership

Watford 24 +22 Champions
Charlton 15 +6
Villa 14 +7
Chelsea 13 +1

Another impressive win by Watford as they continue to tear opposition defences apart with their swift counter attacks with De Bruyne again instrumental and Kane imperious, difficult to see who can stop them repeating after they brushed aside Arsenal in what I thought would be a close game, maybe somebody will come up with a good tactical setup that negates their style, we shall see going well so far though...

Not sure what to think about this week to be honest.  A draw away to a decent Palace side isn't too bad a result but this season it is nowhere near enough.

Seriously beginning to think Phil is blackmailing Paul into his results, they are unbelievable.  To win 8 out of 8 in the Premier League is ridiculous, hats off to you Phil.
Not sure how there is such a difference between Watford and the rest but there obviously is.  Don't think it is the players as I wouldn't swap squads personally so must be the management.  Really don't know what I'm missing to be honest but falling a long way short.  Must be doing something very wrong to not get anywhere near the potential out of my players.

I know it is too early to talk about the title but for Phil; to drop 9 points when he hasn't dropped any yet, whilst also winning all my games when I am struggling to draw away is a very far off possibility.  Congrats Phil, I'm playing for second place now.

Never known such a gap in quality in the Premier League in all my years playing the game, there has always been an interesting title race. 

Shame for the game if I'm honest.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Transfers now...

Any news on Tyrone Mings?

Just looked back and my return of 15 points is a decent one compared to the last couple of seasons and I’d be more than in the title race but this year the competition has really gone. 
Hats off to Phil seems like he has cracked it with the squad he took over, got them playing to a level no one can get near!

Tom@Charlton wrote:

.Paul Hemmings wrote:

Premiership

Watford 24 +22 Champions
Charlton 15 +6
Villa 14 +7
Chelsea 13 +1

Another impressive win by Watford as they continue to tear opposition defences apart with their swift counter attacks with De Bruyne again instrumental and Kane imperious, difficult to see who can stop them repeating after they brushed aside Arsenal in what I thought would be a close game, maybe somebody will come up with a good tactical setup that negates their style, we shall see going well so far though...

Seriously beginning to think Phil is blackmailing Paul into his results, they are unbelievable.  To win 8 out of 8 in the Premier League is ridiculous, hats off to you Phil.
Not sure how there is such a difference between Watford and the rest but there obviously is.  Don't think it is the players as I wouldn't swap squads personally so must be the management.  Really don't know what I'm missing to be honest but falling a long way short.  Must be doing something very wrong to not get anywhere near the potential out of my squad 

Not blackmailed Paul, sorry to disappoint.

I agree Tom, you probs do have the best squad in the league no doubt. However, its evident looking outside in you have too many STAR players sitting on the bench. Salah, Mane as rotations ? I learnt last season, even if 1 player is unhappy for a extended time it affects the squad. Even STAR players wont be happy being paid 150k. Hence why I sold Tripper, Clyne, Kovacic - didnt help my squad depth but certainly balanced the squad. 

Also what is your WB CB EC bonus? Goal? Clean sheet? Assist? Do you use your Next game bonus? 

If you read the rule book that was sent out at beginning of season it has lots of interesting information in it.

Lol, I sense a tone of sarcasm in your post! I meant no disrespect to you at all sorry, you have done a sterling job since taking over Jamie’s squad. The league table says it all. 

Appreciate the pointers but all my bonuses are at the right amounts, next game bonu used every week to combat complacency, all buildings fully equipped to help training/morale, left footers playing left centre back etc etc I am fully aware of the rule book thanks. 

Sounds like you aren’t aware but there aren’t STAR players anymore, that was scrapped. There are attitude 1 players like Salah and Mane but paying them 150k does make them attitude 2, and they are quite happy with their current playing time as it is.

Thanks for the input though.

Watford have made a good start but of the top clubs they've only played Charlton away from home, still have to play away at Man City, Plymouth, Villa and Chelsea and then at home to Charlton last game of the season, so plenty of points still to be won or lost. You can't judge the season after just eight games.

Coaching now...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Watford have made a good start but of the top clubs they've only played Charlton away from home, still have to play away at Man City, Plymouth, Villa and Chelsea and then at home to Charlton last game of the season, so plenty of points still to be won or lost. You can't judge the season after just eight games.

With all due respect Paul, I appreciate it is week 8, but that is nearly half way through the season.  It isn't just the results so far it's the performances more than anything.  Watford aren't really being troubled in the hardest league in the game.  Charlton and the other chasers are struggling to put two wins together, to drop 9 points from here (having won 8 out of 8 comfortably, scoring 23 and conceding just 2!) whilst one of the chasers maintains a 100% record for the rest of the season, would be astonishing but really isn't going to happen.  I know it would be good for the game for there to be the potential of a title chase but it will be sadly missing this year.  Unless Phil sells De Bruyne and Kane in a tactical breakdown of course.

Never known there to be such a yawning chasm between the top side and all the others in all my years playing the game and I include some top top sides and managers in that!  Great for Phil of course but disappointing for the game as a whole, in my opinion.  I always look forward to the run-in, especially the Premier League as you never know which way it will go but not this year!

Honestly at a loss as to why there is such a gap between myself and Phil's results.  There must be something quite important I am missing or not doing but I honestly don't know what it is.

Is there something really obvious, don't tell me what it is as I want to try and work it out but you must be able to see something that isn't right with my squad?  Just confirmation that there is something I can do would be some solace!!

Tbh, I’ve suffered from the same inconsistency over the past few seasons - probably as I haven’t had the time to focus as much as I would want. I do understand Tom’s point, however I reckon that Pochettino was asking himself the same thing before he got fired. Pep the same atm. Where as Klopp is over the moon.

That’s the beauty of this game in that you can really see the similarities to real life!

Paul - have transferred some money so should be in you account today.

Thought about this some more and can only come to the conclusion that as my players are of a very good quality, infrastructure of the club is setup behind the scenes, players are all happy and get on, round pegs are in round holes, it can only be the FAS formation that just isn't as effective as it used to be.  It seems too easy to stop/score against. Too one dimensional.  My only other options with the players I've got are wingers or PEP but they are even more attacking and wouldn't work either at the top level.

Phil reminded me of this which is interesting :

"My original design philosophy when I designed and built the match AI was based on the premise that I am an avid Manchester City fan and I enjoy watching games in which both teams try to outscore each other in order to win. This is the way City have always played ( except under a certain Italian ) and so the attacking players mostly get the benefit of any matchups that result in a skill equality, that means defenders have to be better than attackers in order to stop them ( not just as good as ). So when you get to the top end attackers with skill levels at 9 and top end defenders with skill levels at 9 the system will weight successes in favour of the attackers.

This does result in lots of goals and few clean sheets which is what I wanted.

But i'm happy to switch the system over so the defenders get the advantage but it means there will be a lot less goals scored. It does have to be one way or the other, attack or defence there is no inbetween, the system has to make a decision one way or the other."


I like this and am all for more goals etc but ironically is it not rewarding more negative formations?  If the attack doesn't need help but the defence does, then a more defensive sewtup will surely produce better results? For example Phil's CAT?  To concede only 2 goals in 8 games whilst still outscoring all other sides in the league is very impressive in the current setup.  6 out of 8 clean sheets when they are few and far between is testament to a negative formation?  

Are the benefits of FAS not really being shown as attackers don't require the extra help, more defensive formations still continue to rattle in the goals at the top level.

The irony obviously being, in order to produce more goals and make the games more entertaining (which I enjoy more than 0-0 draws all the time) it is rewarding more negative formations?

Am I wrong?

Tom@Charlton wrote:

 For example Phil's CAT?  To concede only 2 goals in 8 games whilst still outscoring all other sides in the league is very impressive in the current setup.  6 out of 8 clean sheets when they are few and far between is testament to a negative formation?  

Mark plays CAT too...... 

With all due respect to Mark and his Newcastle squad, I'm sure he'd admit it isn't quite at the same level your squad is.  I'm talking players at the top level.

Although saying that, do you remember Marks result last week?

4-1 against Man City.

Andy, what are you currently playing?  I know you have been changing recently but have also noticed your results have been suffering?  What do Bayern and Gladbach play?

Printing now and then I'll send out the email turns...

Tom@Charlton wrote:

Andy, what are you currently playing?  I know you have been changing recently but have also noticed your results have been suffering?  What do Bayern and Gladbach play?

This week Bayern played WingBacks and Gladbach played WingHalves.

Thanks Paul, any thoughts on this?

Tom@Charlton wrote:

Thanks Paul, any thoughts on this?

When I get time I'll read through it all properly but atm I'm still processing game one.

I toyed with PEP at the start of the season, having trained up to pretty much 999.
My initial league game was a 9-0 win, so I thought, 'good choice!'...
But it has been pretty dire since.
Perhaps, you need to play a 'new' tactic in 'live' games (not just FRs to get to 999)?
That makes sense, although a headsup would be nice.
However, I decided to change back to FAP to see if I could recapture my winning ways and stay in the lge chase. My change constituted 'disruption', so that didn't help v  Gladbach.
This week, I stayed with FAP v Bayern. FAP normally does well v WBKs (possibly pinning the WBKs?), but I was 'away' and Bayern have a much better team than last season - so I lost. I can live with that.
If you play a pressing game against CAT, CAT has a big advantage! You're pressing high, and when you lose possession they counter-attack - classic.
Trying to decide whether to retry PEP this season - as I'm pretty much out of the lge running...despite winning every lge match last season!
I suspect 'winning' breeds 'winning' - so if you're on a bad run, it's tougher.
I feel your frustration! You have better players all over the pitch, so you feel they should be winning their own battles and producing a result.
Even the little changes, like playing an AM v TM, or BW v PM or CC v CF, and making use of fresh DYs with WD in FAS, don't seem to help - although, perhaps they do? Thing is, when you lose, and you can't think of anything you've done wrong - that's where the frustration comes from!
Maybe certain players are more effective if using a tactic they like? Be nice to know if Paul gives players a favourite tactic or 2? Perhaps Phil has hit a 'perfect storm' of great players playing a tactic they like with winning ways....
My problems are of my own making. I changed tactic, moved on players, started losing and finding it tough to recover...
Must admit, I think the system should be a lot more lenient when teams change tactic if they are trained up in it. If they're 999, then surely they're well capable? That would also mean that you can bluff and double-bluff your opponents. For instance, if I thought Phil was going to play CAT against me, I would definitely NOT play FAP! But then, he might guess that to be the case, and play something that would be good against whatever tactic he thinks I will play.
Anyway, I daren't do any of this really, because of the 'disruption' factor.
Andy.