getting nervous

[saintjo]

ok, week 12 is coming and im getting nervous. im first in my series. i should easily finish out the season on top and autopromote. this is where i get nervous...ill be going to div 4 for the first time.

right now i pull a nsi in the 150's. (this week was lower because i played some trainees to get them some better experience.) i was checking out the divisions i will probably promote into on hatstats and some of them have guys auto demoting and pulling 160's. im not one of those people who feel i have to win all the time, but do i have any real chance of competing for 4,5,or 6th place in these divisions?
im guessing i need to bulk up my midfield, correct? right now im running with 2 excellents and 1 formidable. im thinking i should get 2 formidable/outstanding middies to replace those excellents? anything else i might want to consider?
my strikers are excellent and outstanding (both with head)
my keeper is outstanding
my wingers are solid/solid
my defenders are anywhere between passable and outstanding. im a defender trainer so i have a wide range there.

any advice would be appreciated.
thanks

[KevinNU7]

Advice: Train something good.

[saintjo]

Advice: Train something good.
defense training has a bad reputation, but its been good to me. i still run a 3-5-2 in league matches and give up 2 training spots. im still training more guys at 100% than any other training type. so changing training types is probably not an option at the moment. plus i have learned to actually enjoy defense training.

[hhiipp]

I would try to upgrade your excellent middies to outstanding/brilliant if at all possible - remember secondaries will boost your attack/defense but a plain old brilliant pmer will have more effect on your midfield which is where you are hurting. So while secondaries are nice they aren't always affordable. If you have further cash, I'd look into purchasing a forward to help fortify your attack a little more.

If you can put up an inadequate midfield you should be able to hang around most IV series for the time being.

IV.19 is going to lose 2 FOFCers this season to autodemotion and possibly 2 more to relegation matches, maybe you can find yourself in one of those spots ;)

[KevinNU7]

If you are going to pull a midfield below passable then you should really think about having defenders with good passing so you can counterattack.

[bronconick]

Passable midfield? Oy. I foresee early season trainee sale.

[Desnudo]

You'll be able to finish at least 6th in most series 4 divisions, with a good chance at top 4, with a starting midfield of outstanding/brilliant guys and the rest of your roster as described.

[damnMikeBrown]

You should do ok. I'd think relegation zone rather than top 4, but it all depends on the series.

I'm going to be moving up to IV for the 3rd time, hopefully I'll finally stick. I was cruising hatstats last night, and found a massive range of IV series. Some of the lowest ranked ones are actually the nightmare series. Looked at one last night that had something like 5 of 8 getting 190+, 180+ with 2 walkover teams.

[finkenst]

well, i'm pulling 120->140s and i'm headed for autodemotion. iv.60 will have a walkover team next year if running bucks doesn't log in in the next 10 days or so...

I'm headed back to V.

go me.

[saintjo]

well, i'm pulling 120->140s and i'm headed for autodemotion. iv.60 will have a walkover team next year if running bucks doesn't log in in the next 10 days or so...

I'm headed back to V.

go me.

i beat the running bucks in the cup this year before he abandoned the team :) i hope that loosing to a div v team didnt push him over the edge.

thanks for everyone's advice. hopefully 2-3 of my defender sales in the next few weeks can get me some descent middies. ill probably try go with 1 brilliant/outstanding middie with no secondaries for my extra midfield slot and 1 outstanding middie with an inad secondary.

[hhiipp]

The big thing will be deciding who you can match up well against in IV once you find your series, and then to pick your battles wisely. TS management will be huge for you even with new middies.

[FrogMan]

The big thing will be deciding who you can match up well against in IV once you find your series, and then to pick your battles wisely. TS management will be huge for you even with new middies.
BINGO!!!

Take my team as an example. It's borderline division III material in Canada, averaging the 6th best ratings in my league. Yet, I've secured a qualifier with still three weeks to play, mostly by PICing many games I thought were not winnable, surprisingly winning some two of them, and drawing another. I had spotted the other two teams I thought I *HAD TO* beat and did that, beat them when I had my chance...

Best of luck!

FM

[streacer]

Another thing to consider, I don't know what your backups look like... but if you have a WTM or a decent backup middie, 4-4-2 with 3 IMs/WTM will be nice in those hard games. Heck even in the not-impossible games, going defensive is a hugely underrated tactic. Especially since you're a defender trainer you obviously have at least 4 defenders. If you think you're going to be overmatched it's actually best that you're a defense trainer and not a forward trainer or something, because defense is most valuable to the underdog.

I'd strongly recommend getting experience with 4-4-2, if you don't already use it (I mean personal experience to know what your team does with it... obviously you team doesn't need to learn it.)

Another idea would be to use an offensive CD, possibly in conjunction with 4-4-2. Either a true trainee with some stamina/PM if you got one, or you could buy a youngish defensive IM to use that way and just throw him in as the 9th trainee occassionally.

Those should be fairly inexpensive boosts if the midfield upgrade alone isn't enough. A WTM and/or OCD (could even be the same person.)

[saintjo]

Another thing to consider, I don't know what your backups look like... but if you have a WTM or a decent backup middie, 4-4-2 with 3 IMs/WTM will be nice in those hard games.
ha, funny you broughtt his up because i was thinking about formations last night to run with in hard games. that was one of them i came up with. a 4-4-2 counter attack.
i currently have 3 defenders that can pull a solid/excellent CA rating by themselves because of passing secondaries.
then pull my defender with outstanding set pieces from one of the wings as the extra center defender. he will just boost the CA rating a bit.
run with 3 inner mids and 1 offensive winger.

strong center defense. same attack ratings as normal. probably a few levels lower than my normal midfield rating. but with the CA hopefully i can get a few extra chances. and hope for some speciality events.

this is going to be my formation for when i have a low chance of winning or going against a scoring trainer with stud strikers in a 3-4-3

yes, i have way too much time on my hands to think about this stuff ;)

[KevinNU7]

Depending on how your midfield stacks up, you may want to go with only two middies and two offensive wingers when you coutner attack