Need Advice

[ibnsgirl]

Hi

Need some advice regarding how to upgrade my team. I’m part of a Hattrick couple (TonyR of the SA Griffins FC being my other half), and I have really relied on his knowledge and experience. I’ve been pretty happy with the way my team, The Smacky Packers 71158, have progressed, but now I want to get some other opinions.

Right now, I’m # 2 in series VI.269, and I’m in a comfortable spot. My team should win all but two league games this season, I’m getting 28 new supporters every week, and overall I am making money. The thing is, I know that long-term I need to be moving ahead, but how? I just sold off several players for various reasons, so now my bank account is relatively high about 510k.

Right now, my team’s ratings are:
Team Attitude: Normal
Tactic: Normal
Tactic skill: (no tactic)

Midfield: poor (very low)
Right Side Defence: weak (low)
Central Defence: weak (very low)
Left Side Defence: poor (very high)
Right Side Attack: poor (very high)
Central Attack: solid (very low)
Left Side Attack: passable (very low)

My stadium is 28,000 and I sell about 18K seats on average. My best game was 26K seats.

I’m a scorer trainer, and I’m set for trainees due to some good youth pulls.
Morris Haynes TSI = 510 , 18 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities
Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: poor
Winger: weak Defending: poor
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: wretched
B-Teamer

Scottie Kazibut TSI = 120 , 27 years, weak form
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities
Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: solid
Filler

Jan Håkansson TSI = 1 740 , 19 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities
Stamina: solid Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:wretched Passing: inadequate
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: excellent Set Pieces: weak
Starter/Best Trainee almost formidable **planning to keep at least 1 more season.

Ðorđe Dimitrijević TSI = 1 310 , 19 years, solid form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities
Stamina: solid Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: inadequate
Starter **Planning to sell when he hits excellent

Marius Maxim 1 TSI = 1 090 , 19 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities
Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: excellent Set Pieces: wretched
Starter/B-teamer **planning to sell when he hits formidable

Brad Crist TSI = 350 , 18 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Unpredictable]
Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:wretched Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: weak
[B]B-teamer[/B]

Vicente Barreto TSI = 1 770 , 19 years, solid form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities
Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: excellent Set Pieces: wretched
[B]Starter or B-teamer **planning to keep at least 1 more season[/B]

For my mf,
Jan Marcusson TSI = 1 970 , 22 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and solid leadership abilities [Powerful]
Stamina: excellent Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: poor
[B]Starter/Semi-Clown[/B]

Telmo Carneiro TSI = 740 , 24 years, excellent form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Technical]
Stamina: excellent Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:passable Passing: inadequate
Winger: weak Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor
[B]#1 Sub[/B]

Roy Mayhew TSI = 1 720 , 21 years, solid form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Technical]
Stamina: excellent Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:excellent Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: disastrous
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: wretched
[B]Starter[/B]

Michael Woodward TSI = 230 , 25 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities [Powerful]
Stamina: excellent Keeper: wretched
Playmaking:inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak
Filler

Davide Gabrielli TSI = 1 210 , 32 years, solid form
Has solid experience and passable leadership abilities [Technical]
Stamina: excellent Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:excellent Passing: poor
Winger: weak Defending: disastrous
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: wretched
[B]Starter/Future Coach[/B]

For my defenders
Giordano Duarte TSI = 3 880 , 27 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities [Head]
Stamina: passable Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:passable Passing: passable
Winger: weak Defending: solid
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: excellent
[B]Starter[/B]

Duane Taylor TSI = 290 , 23 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and passable leadership abilities [Quick]
Stamina: passable Keeper: wretched
Playmaking:wretched Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: passable
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: solid
[B]Backup[/B]

Kyle Lamb TSI = 1 510 , 26 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities
Stamina: excellent Keeper: wretched
Playmaking:wretched Passing: passable
Winger: passable Defending: passable
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak
[B]Backup WB / Winger[/B]

Rex Ortega TSI = 930 , 19 years, solid form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities
Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:wretched Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: solid
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor
[B]Starter[/B]

Ergo Haab TSI = 750 , 27 years, passable form
Has weak experience and weak leadership abilities
Stamina: wretched Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: passable
Winger: poor Defending: passable
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak
[B]Starter[/B]

I have one winger
Dave Barger 5 TSI = 160 , 27 years, passable form
Has poor experience and wretched leadership abilities
Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking:wretched Passing: inadequate
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate
[B]Starter (when healthy)[/B]

2 keepers
Denver Mccormick TSI = 2 790 , 21 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities
Stamina: poor Keeper: passable
Playmaking:disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: disastrous
[B]Former Starter, now backup[/B]

Cory Smith TSI = 3 070 , 20 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and disastrous leadership abilities
Stamina: poor Keeper: solid
Playmaking:disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: wretched
[B]New Starter[/B]

I usually run a 3-4-3, and have two other players that will sell.

From there, what are y’all’s thoughts on whether I should get a formid midfielder to replace the coach prospect, an excellent defender to boost my ratings, keep the money for a stadium upgrade? I know that converting a player to coach is a big chunk of change, but I should have a trainee available by then that can finance that. Just trying to get some opinions on what I should focus on next. Your help is appreciated.

[hhiipp]

Just a thought - if you buy a middie to replace one of your current guys have you considered selling one of your younger guys and keeping your coach as a starting middie for the time being? That way you won't be broke and it might potentially let you buy a better midfielder, knowing that you have 130-175k coming in.

Also if you're worried about your defense have you thought about buying a new keeper, you may have to wait a few more weeks to get something in the formidable range but instead of boosting 1 side of your D you can effectively increase all 3.

Something to think about I guess, it really all boils down to if you feel you need more possession right now or if you're allowing too many goals. Obviously both areas need improvement but it's up to you which one needs it more immediately.

[akickku]

Train long term is my suggestion. Buy 17 year olds and train them until they are 20-22. I think I made 22 million last season from selling my 6 strikers from my original training program. Training doesn't become profitable until the oustanding to world class range. You get a lot more cash for you time then you do training guys from solid to excellent or excellent to formidable. I'd suggest anytime you sell a trainee, replace him with a 17 year old passable at a bare minimum. Train the guy until he's 20 and he'll be around world class in skill level.

[ibnsgirl]

Thanks to both of y'all for your thoughts!
hhiipp: if I went with a keeper, would formid be enough to boost my overall defense enough? *this coming from someone who just got a solid keeper*

akickku: I understand where you are coming from completely. As this is only my second season in ht, my plan was to stagger training, so to speak. I would keep 2-3 trainees until they hit at least world class. the others would go earlier to buy better 17yo trainees and then keep them until world class, etc. I am somewhat behind since 1 trainee took 19 weeks to pop from passable to solid. hmm... keeping the trainees i have longer... more to think about.

[daedalus]

The idea of staggering trainees is a good one. Especially once you've gotten enough seed money to have strong trainees. There's nothing wrong with the set of trainees you have now with a new team. But I don't know that I would recommend keeping them them as the type of long term trainees that akickku was talking about. They would, however, make good current trainees who can fund the next set. Once you sell them off, as akickku said, I would do a hard search for a 17 or 18 year old passable or a solid (depending on time of season) with decent secondaries (if possible). If you can get a header specialist then you'll be mighty happy in due time.

The only caveat is that, buying these better trainees will make it tougher for you to upgrade for now. But, heck, if you can sit pretty at 2nd for now while you're bringing the team up to speed, you're doing alright.

If you are training scoring, you should not be "usually" playing 3-4-3. You should *always* be playing 3-4-3. The only question you should ever have is 2 or 3 inner midfielders (in my opinion, generally 3, unless you're playing a really bad team or robot team). You should also start looking into a winger with playmaking. Don't bother with pure wingers (high winger, high passing, no playmaking) anymore. Scoring trainers and 3-4-3 teams cannot afford pure wingers.

My thoughts about future focus would be toward getting your park upgraded before the fee hike kicks in, make sure you have a solid coach and one or two coach-trainee(s) on hand, upgrade your trainees, make sure your staff is appropriately decked out (full complement of coaches and spokespersons then however may physios that you feel comfortable with). Then start upgrading the roster, starting at midfielders and goalkeeper.

But, uhh, my brain works strange and I don't always agree with everybody else. :D