Upgrade opinions needed!

[ibnsgirl]

The Smacky Packers are at that stage where I need to start making some upgrades to the team. Upgrading my team has been a very slow process, as I've tried to hold onto trainees until they hit some of the higher pops, but I think I see some light at the end of the training tunnel.

My question to y'all is: where should I upgrade next?

Here's the current line-up:

Midfielders: (My last 2 upgrades have been here)
23 yo mag with inad passing
22 yo out
22yo form with inad passing (actually have 2 of these)

Defenders:
20 yo form with inad passing
21 yo exc with inad passing
30yo solid with passable passing/playmaking and formidable set pieces (I play him because he's my sp guy, but I also have a 22 yo solid with inad passing)

Winger:
27 yo solid with solid playmaking

Keeper:
22 yo exc

I train forwards, so they don't really count, I guess. At any rate, I'm fine as far as that goes.

Here are my ratings from my last league game (which do not take into account my mag middie since I just bought him):

Midfield: poor (high)
Right Defence: weak (very high)
Central Defence: inadequate (high)
Left Defence: weak (very high)
Right Attack: poor (high)
Central Attack: excellent (very high)
Left Attack: inadequate (very high)


I'm in my first season back in Div. V, and there is absolutely no way (or reason I'd want) to promote. I'm pretty well set to stay in 5th or 6th place in my series.

That said, my team has some major gaps, but which is the most critical?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts/comments/feedback. Thanks in advance!

[Vince]

If you train forwards, you really need to make sure you have a good midfield. You say you just bought the Magnificent Midfielder -- who is he replacing? How much of a gap is there between the Mag guy and the old guy in ratings?

An Excellent Keeper is not very good -- it'd be pretty easy (and not too expensive) to upgrade him significantly, and really help out your defensive ratings. That being said, your defense is pretty decent already based upon those ratings -- and your midfield is atrocious, even if you add in the Magnificent guy.

I'd say these are the three areas I'd improve and in what order:

1) Midfield
2) Keeper
3) Winger*

* -- I'd do one of two things. Either buy a nice Winger whom you will play offensively so that you can overload one side of the opponent's defense, or use one of your Formidable Playmakers as a Winger Towards the Middle to up your midfield.

[Raven Hawk]

1) Midfielder
2) Midfielder
3) Defender
4) Keeper

[ibnsgirl]

Thanks, Vince and Raven Hawk!

It's embarrasing how pathetic my midfield was/is. The mag guy replaces one of the formidables since the outstanding is naked as far as secondaries. In fact, here are the specifics on all my middies:

José María Gabrich (37368665)
23 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and upright.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.

Nationality: Argentina
Total Skill Index (TSI): 15 780
Wage: 8 112 US$/week including 20% Bonus

Stamina: excellent Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: magnificent Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: inadequate


Christopher Burkett (48826751)
22 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and dishonest.
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities.

Speciality: Quick

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 4 400
Wage: 2 580 US$/week

Stamina: solid Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: outstanding Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: poor
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: poor


Bernie Murillo (46909354)
22 years, passable form, healthy
A popular guy who is fiery and honest.
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 2 940
Wage: 1 480 US$/week
Owner: The Smacky Packers

Stamina: excellent Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: formidable Passing: inadequate
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor

Daniel Ransom (59304691)
22 years, passable form, bruised, but playing
A sympathetic guy who is fiery and honest.
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Total Skill Index (TSI): 3 650
Wage: 1 680 US$/week

Stamina: solid Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: formidable Passing: inadequate
Winger: weak Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: poor


Jan Marcusson (29399361)
25 years, weak form, healthy
A sympathetic guy who is fiery and honest.
Has weak experience and solid leadership abilities.

Speciality: Powerful

Nationality: Sverige
Total Skill Index (TSI): 1 630
Wage: 840 US$/week including 20% Bonus

Stamina: excellent Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: inadequate


Davide Gabrielli (7802289)
35 years, inadequate form, healthy
A solid trainer who is neither attack nor defence-minded
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has excellent experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Speciality: Technical

Nationality: Deutschland
Total Skill Index (TSI): 290
Wage: 672 US$/week including 20% Bonus

Stamina: excellent Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: poor

Marcusson is probably going to be sold, as I just can't play him enough anymore to make any great strides in his experience.

[ibnsgirl]

1) Midfielder
2) Midfielder
3) Defender
4) Keeper
Should I take this to mean that I go with a WTM with greater playmaking or just a better playmaker in general?

[sterlingice]

How much cash do you have sitting around for this little makeover? And how much of that are you looking to spend on the next set of trainees (or have they been bought?)

SI

[ibnsgirl]

Cash: Not enough to buy any truly worthwhile players. All of my questions are more for future reference and have to be implemented slowly, as my trainees never have the decency to pop in a reasonable amount of time. The magnificent middie was financed with the sale of a magnificent forward who I needed to sell because I had one too many trainees (kept a yp from a couple of weeks ago).

No, I haven't bought the next set of trainees(2), but I will probably go with your suggestion, SI, and buy 18yo excellents. So about the 1 mil range. That said, one trainee who would probably have been sold is injured. Again. And thus no training this week. :(



On a different note, I was planning on hanging onto two of my trainees until they hit world-class. For one trainee, that could be today. For the other (the injured one), I could be looking at 12 more weeks as he is only brilliant right now. Is that selling them too early?

[sterlingice]

WC's a pretty good spot to sell at. I haven't looked entirely at the prices- do transfer compares at different levels to see if it's worth raising one or two more levels. But, if this is just general advice, then, yeah, I'd do what everyone else has said- you need midfield badly. Midfield still wins a lot of games, especially at lower levels. Then, you get a lot of bang for the buck by upgrading at keeper as it helps three ratings, but I'd do that after raising midfield. Midfield will help you beat bad and ok teams. The extra defense will help beat good teams.

SI

[ibnsgirl]

Midfield will help you beat bad and ok teams. The extra defense will help beat good teams.

SI

Thanks, guys, for your comments! SI, I especially like this point that you made. I think that this is the point that several people are trying to make, but this explanation really clicks for me. I'll make my next purchases in the midfield market. Good thing I asked, since I was sure that the other areas were getting so far behind skill-wise that I would probably have started working on those before coming back to midfield.

Can I still claim "noob mistake" when I'm into my fifth season? ;)



From my scouting, it looks like comparable wc scorers are going for between 2.6-3.2 mil, while supernaturals are going for about 3.5. The only titanic I could find went for 3.8. While those higher prices are very tempting, my training program feels like it is bogging down right now, and I don't think it is worth it, for me, to train higher than wc for at least some of my trainees (1 or 2 I might take to sn).

As for the injury-prone guy, I'm tempted to sell him when he hits magnificent just because. The guy that I bought at the same time and same level as him all those seasons ago is one complete skill level above him and it will only take longer between pops the older he gets.

Not that any of this really matters. I guess I'm just thinking out loud, so to speak. Again, thanks, guys!

[MrBigglesworth]

You lost your last league game because you gave up 2 goals from a weak attack and 1 from a low poor attack. Truve also scored two goals with a weak attack. I think it would be more cost-effective to improve your defense first, then work on your wing attacks, then work on midfield. The 'midfield or bust' crowd may disagree, but you are going to have to spend an insane amount of money to ensure beating 352 teams in the midfield. You can get 3 formidable defenders for the price of one good magnificent IM.

If I were you I would play a FTW to even out attack ratings. You can lose MF and still have the advantage if you have good attacks through all three sectors.

[sterlingice]

That's true- I haven't seen what the prices for low level defenders are these days. Considering WC's can be had for low 2's, I'm guessing something like a formidable would be cheap. Still, I stand by the statement I made above- midfield will beat weaker teams almost every time.

SI

[MrBigglesworth]

...midfield will beat weaker teams almost every time.

SI
I agree, I am just generally in favor of more balanced teams than most at FOFC and thought I would share a different viewpoint (my team is too heavy on defense right now I think, but that is because I am holding onto trainees to make a run next season). Beating good teams is what you strive for though, and you don't even need a MF against some good teams ;) :

Communist Grass Killers
Player rating and team formation
Team Attitude: Play it Cool
Tactic: Counter-attacks
Tactic skill: world class

Midfield: disastrous (very low)
Right Defence: excellent (very low)
Central Defence: outstanding (very low)
Left Defence: excellent (low)
Right Attack: passable (very low)
Central Attack: passable (low)
Left Attack: inadequate (very high)


GreenHornets FC
Player rating and team formation
Team Attitude: (Hidden)
Tactic: Pressing
Tactic skill: weak

Midfield: passable (high)
Right Defence: inadequate (low)
Central Defence: inadequate (very high)
Left Defence: inadequate (low)
Right Attack: weak (very high)
Central Attack: weak (high)
Left Attack: weak (low)

Communist Grass Killers - GreenHornets FC 2 - 0

[ibnsgirl]

I haven't been updating my own upgrade thread, but I did want to mention my latest purchase: a mythical!!! :)


At least he is mythical in set pieces anyway. ;)

Jerome Bagley (50016254)
22 years, passable form, healthy
A pleasant guy who is balanced and righteous.
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities.

Stamina: passable Goalkeeping: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: poor
Winger: weak Defending: outstanding
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: mythical


As far as my team goes, I picked up a brillant midfielder and Jerome since last posting. Jerome, obviously, will be my sp guy, replacing my soon-to-be 31 yo wb.

Unfortunately, my stay in V was short, so season 29 will get used for more upgrading also.

[daedalus]

Nice buy. I like that one a lot. He has plenty of years left as well.

[Hobbes-]

That's true- I haven't seen what the prices for low level defenders are these days. Considering WC's can be had for low 2's, I'm guessing something like a formidable would be cheap. Still, I stand by the statement I made above- midfield will beat weaker teams almost every time.

SI
Barebones kit to defenders with very little secondaries:

Excellent: ~300-600k
Formid: ~800k
Outstanding: ~1mil
Brilliant: ~1.3-1.6
Magnif: ~1.7-2

Of course with adding secondaries all goes crazy :)

Defenders are fk'in cheap :)

EDIT: this is purchasing younger defenders with little/no experience.

[MikeVick7]

Barebones kit to defenders with very little secondaries:

Excellent: ~300-600k
Formid: ~800k
Outstanding: ~1mil
Brilliant: ~1.3-1.6
Magnif: ~1.7-2

Of course with adding secondaries all goes crazy :)

Defenders are fk'in cheap :)

EDIT: this is purchasing younger defenders with little/no experience.
Yes, I will be looking to buy a brill to mag defender in the next week or so and I also noticed those same low prices while looking last night.

[Tellistto]

As far as my team goes, I picked up a brillant midfielder and Jerome since last posting. Jerome, obviously, will be my sp guy, replacing my soon-to-be 31 yo wb.

Unfortunately, my stay in V was short, so season 29 will get used for more upgrading also.

Sorry to hear that you didn't manage to stay in V. I managed to squeek through into fourth in my IV series. I ended up selling two of my trainees, and bought an ET middie in the early part of the season which aided me quite a bit. Then I bought a mythical middie two weeks ago to further improve my midfield for next season. I'm quite happy with how things went, and think that my team is pretty solid IV team now.

I was really thinking I'd get outclassed my first season, but my series went a little bit nuts as one team played well below their ability all season to get a qualifier, and another one sold off their midfield and became cupcakes.

Tell

[ibnsgirl]

Sorry to hear that you didn't manage to stay in V. I managed to squeek through into fourth in my IV series. I ended up selling two of my trainees, and bought an ET middie in the early part of the season which aided me quite a bit. Then I bought a mythical middie two weeks ago to further improve my midfield for next season. I'm quite happy with how things went, and think that my team is pretty solid IV team now.

I was really thinking I'd get outclassed my first season, but my series went a little bit nuts as one team played well below their ability all season to get a qualifier, and another one sold off their midfield and became cupcakes.

Tell

My series was absolutely crazy. Almost every week, there was at least one game where the team expected to win either lost or tied.

I won four games and tied four games, so I was not completely out-classed. There were only 2 games where I lost by more than 1 goal. In fact, it was a nail-biter right up until the end as to whether I could pull out a qual spot. I ended up 12 points out of first, but I was 3rd on gd. For a comparison, the other VI promotee was fully expected to demote (I think he even said something to that effect), and he ended up in fourth.

Probably the worst part about all of this is that it looks like I am demoting into an all-bot series. Even PICing every game, I should end up around +100 gd next season, putting me into one of the hardest Div V's in season 30. The good news is that my team will be that much better (expect to see a pm, winger, and keeper upgrade).

Death to bots!

[MrBigglesworth]

My series was absolutely crazy. Almost every week, there was at least one game where the team expected to win either lost or tied.

I won four games and tied four games, so I was not completely out-classed. There were only 2 games where I lost by more than 1 goal. In fact, it was a nail-biter right up until the end as to whether I could pull out a qual spot. I ended up 12 points out of first, but I was 3rd on gd. For a comparison, the other VI promotee was fully expected to demote (I think he even said something to that effect), and he ended up in fourth.

Probably the worst part about all of this is that it looks like I am demoting into an all-bot series. Even PICing every game, I should end up around +100 gd next season, putting me into one of the hardest Div V's in season 30. The good news is that my team will be that much better (expect to see a pm, winger, and keeper upgrade).

Death to bots!
Jan V. Boklind is killing you. He can't be adding all that much to MF, I think you would be much better off with an offensive winger or an IM with some better skills.

[Tellistto]

Wow, auto demoting with 16 points is just crazy. You had to be one of the highest ranked demotees around, and depending on how many qualifiers are lost, you might end up right back in V next season with the botification cleanup. Never know what might happen with that going on this off season.

My next upgrade is a stud winger, then an okay defender, and after that I'll look to upgrade midfield once more. I could end up in III in a couple of seasons if I do things right. It's just all about getting the money for said players.

Tell

[ibnsgirl]

Jan V. Boklind is killing you. He can't be adding all that much to MF, I think you would be much better off with an offensive winger or an IM with some better skills.

I fully agree that he sucks. So many areas of my team need upgrading, though, that it was a matter of priorities. My training program is only just now starting to really produce results (don't even get me started on the subject of Dorde), so money's been tight.

Anyway, now that my immediate defender crisis is over (2 guys about to get too old and one of those being my sp guy), I will probably go for one more pm upgrade before the new winger.

[ibnsgirl]

Wow, auto demoting with 16 points is just crazy. You had to be one of the highest ranked demotees around, and depending on how many qualifiers are lost, you might end up right back in V next season with the botification cleanup. Never know what might happen with that going on this off season.

My next upgrade is a stud winger, then an okay defender, and after that I'll look to upgrade midfield once more. I could end up in III in a couple of seasons if I do things right. It's just all about getting the money for said players.

Tell
Second highest demotee. A team named duelingmonkeys had 19 pts.
That would truly be nice to squeak back into V again! :)

I hear you about the money. Especially when a team is at your level, it isn't just a matter of plunking $1mil on readily accessible players. It's a tad more expensive...

[MikeVick7]

Barebones kit to defenders with very little secondaries:

Excellent: ~300-600k
Formid: ~800k
Outstanding: ~1mil
Brilliant: ~1.3-1.6
Magnif: ~1.7-2

Of course with adding secondaries all goes crazy :)

Defenders are fk'in cheap :)

EDIT: this is purchasing younger defenders with little/no experience.

Just an update to Hobbes' list. I just bought a 20yr old Brilliant defender with wretched experience for $1.1 mill. And a like-defender that was up for sale just 10 mins earlier was set for $1.3 and didn't even sell.

I love buying players in the off-season. :)