Rescuing the Beautiful Game(FTG, Interactive)

[Brian Swartz]

First of all, if you haven't read larrymcg421's excellent dynasty ( https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=95255) then you're in the wrong darn thread. Do it now.

This is inspired by that. I'm always on the lookout for something that'll work for an interactive project; a game that allows for RP elements but doesn't make the readers & contributors do too much work. I think this should be a fun adventure with Football: Tactics & Glory, hybrid soccer and strategy game. I'll put up explanations of game concepts in the third post, and keep a running tally of participants in the second one.

Anyone who signs up will become a coach in a dubious experiment; a football club run on democratic principles. My hands are very much going to be off the reins in most aspects of this. We will succeed, or flounder, based mostly on the decisions all of you make. Make the RNG have mercy on our squad. They'll need all the help they can get. To begin with, I'll need the following information:

** Name -- What should I refer to you as(if different than your forum handle)

** Preferred Roster Assignment -- All coaches will be assigned a roughly equal number of players to handle. Choose Defense, Midfield, or Forwards, or be more specific if you wish. Accomodating everyone precisely is not guaranteed or even likely, but I'll do the best I can. Assignments will also vary as people join and leave the thread, naturally.

** Starting Nation Vote -- Five choices here. I'd like to get this going in a few days, and I don't have a great criteria for picking the starting spot. I can tell you we are going to Europe; there's 32 nations there, twice that of the American and Asia/Oceania theatres combined. Additionally, almost all of the top nations are there. Australia is close and Brazil is as strong as these, but that's about it. So choose from the following options(logos shown below), listed in alphabetical order. Choose wisely; we'll be looking at this nation, club, and logo for many years. The names and appearances of the players will also be affected.

** England(Chesterfield)
** France(Thonon Evian)
** Germany(Stuttgarter Kickers)
** Italy(Cavese)
** Spain(Cacereno)

These were chosen because they all start with the top-level Premier League at about the same competitive level: most clubs there are at 4.5 stars out of 5, with a few at 5 and a few at 4. There is some randomness to it but these elite nations will ensure that we have some serious opposition when getting to the top; being in Europe ensures the continental cups will have a varied amount of tough competition as well. The selected clubs are naturally the worst ones in the Amateur League of each nation; if you pick a powerhouse like Barcelona or Chelsea, etc. it'll just set them down to Amateur level as well so it doesn't affect the starting conditions, but I want those familiar names to be there waiting for us when we ascend. We're taking a real low-level club here.

https://i.imgur.com/9f4kv9u.png


https://i.imgur.com/16g6tlP.png


https://i.imgur.com/p6jbBdj.png


https://i.imgur.com/wiMUY2C.png


https://i.imgur.com/NIE76sv.png


Ground Rules

These are pretty much the same as always, but are worth stating so we're all on the same page. Or at least in the same library, as it were.

1. No knowledge of or familiarity with the game is required. Feel free to ask questions; I intend to explain game concepts for the uninitiated.

2. All decisions are given 48 hours, after which things will proceed. This attempts to strike a balance between allowing everyone to have a life and not have to check the forum every day to participate, and keeping events moving. I also try to put the most important stuff up earlier in the week as many aren't around on the weekends.

3. Anyone who fails to respond to three consecutive choices is removed from the game. Same reasons really as #2; these projects depend on participation, so your players will be assigned to another coach if you aren't contributing. You can have them back for the asking by signing up again at any time.

And that's it for now! We'll get going after there's been some time for some initial signups to(hopefully) percolate and we've got a choice for the starting nation & club!

[Brian Swartz]

Current Staff

DavidCorperial(Wingers preference)
larrymcg421(Forwards preference)
thehitcat(Defenders preference)

[Brian Swartz]

reserved for future info

[DavidCorperial]

Let's be unique with Cavese and I'd be interested in working with Wing players.

[larrymcg421]

Awesome idea. I'd like to work with Forwards.

[thehitcat]

Great idea, I have always been sad that I missed out on the chance to praise Boojie.

I was a left back and backup goalkeeper in younger days so I'd love to coach your defenders. If you need it to be more specific I'd be more than happy to work with the outside D, Left and Right backs.

thehitcat

[thehitcat]

Oh and I vote for the Stuttgarter Kickers (to many FCs and ACs out there we need more fun and action in our names.)

[Brian Swartz]

I'll get this started late tomorrow, if everything goes according to plan. In a perfect world, we'll get another signup before then to break the tie we have in terms of starting country. If not, RNG will choose where we begin.

[larrymcg421]

I'll throw in a vote for Stuttgart.

[Brian Swartz]

Stuttgarter it is! And ... we're off!!

Here's what I've got for the four basic beginning options. There's also cheaty stuff like infinite money, turning injuries, off, etc. but we're not touching that stuff.

** Hard Mode -- I think this will be a lot more satisfying with more difficult and therefore interesting decisions. There's no danger of being unsuccessful in the long run here; it's more a case of how challenging the journey is, and the player has a big advantadge that needs countering so I like this the best. Hard mode increases player development on the AI teams and the cost of everything(upgrades, player contracts, etc.) by 50% across the board. It also gives us nearly the worst possible roster to start out.

** Tutorial On -- This will allow me to show you 'my' backstory as the manager for a bit more flavor.

** Match Duration(48 actions) -- This is at the default recommended; there are longer options but they ultimately just make things easier and unbalance some things.

** RNG Type: Decreased -- The default settings allow any player to play horribly badly, no matter how good they are. This sets the minimum roll they can get at 30%, which I think is more sensible. It will also keep the AI teams from evening out as much; elite teams will tend to stay elite more, which should somewhat improve the standard of competition in the endgame.

https://i.imgur.com/3DnWE4h.png


The tutorial/backstory thingy starts up right away. What isn't explained here is that the National Cup is the top domestic cup, so this is a pretty high-level shindig going on. I'm a talented prodigy, it seems - the guy in blue at the lower-right of the screen, not the one with the ball. I'll get into the match tactics & mechanics stuff later. What happens here in terms of the story is that the ball is passed down to me, I move a bit closer, and then blast a shot by the keeper. It's scripted, so I can't miss. My name is Couthard, as it happens. Despite being from Germany, we're playing Bournemouth, because all football is English-centric or something. Anyway, I add another score for good measure before the half, and we're up 2-0.

It's still that way nearing the end of the match, and I'm told that 'the supporters are awed by my performance'. Aren't I just the cat's meow. As we press the attack again, one of Bournemouth's midfielders tackles me from behind, and ...

https://i.imgur.com/mXYuqEC.png


Fate deals a cruel blow. I could have really been something special, a dynamic scoring threat from the right wing the likes of which have rarely been seen. But instead, I was cut down by an arguably dirty play before I could even manifest my full abilities. A la Herb Brooks of Miracle fame, I must now attempt to do as a manager what I never got a chance to do as a player ...

The screen goes black, with only a simple line of text:

"15 Years Later".

https://i.imgur.com/IzDEL2m.png


That's a bit small with the shrinking down, but I just love the 'Unknown Contact' part. Because everyone knows in the internet age you definitely always open emails from people you don't know. Nothing bad ever comes of that. They could have at least gone full cheese and called this guy 'Chairman Cheapskate' or something. At this point we select the starting club, and a new message comes in from the same guy, now identifiying himself as the 'President of Stuttgarter Kickers'.

I'm hired on as of May 12th, 2017: he says I'm expected at their facilities in July, by which time everything will be prepared. And that's pretty much that.

Assignments

DavidCorperial -- Wing players at all levels(defense, midfield, and forwards)
larrymcg421 -- Central forwards and central midfielders
thehitcat -- Central defenders and keepers

I'll get more specific with what players, etc. you'll be responsible for in time, but for the first brief half-season I'm going to start things off myself. I also need to do some explanation-type stuff. I'm well aware that some of you know all this already, but I still want it here for lurkers and anyone who might consider joining in the future.

Club Resources

** Reputation -- The standard 0-5 star ranking system is used. Normal starts you at at 1-star, one of the better clubs in the Amateur ranks. At Hard, we're at 0 stars, the bottom of the barrel.

** Money -- The lifeblood of any aspiring sports franchise is cold, hard cash. There are no ongoing or maintenance-type expenses. Upgrading the stadium or youth facilities, as well as signing player contracts, requires cash. Sponsors, ticket sales, and selling players are our income sources. To begin with, we're flat broke; signing our current pathetic roster took everything the skinflint president was willing to contribute.

** Glory -- Personal fame of GM Clouthard, yours truly. We can use this to convince players to play past the normal retirement age, sign transfers in some cases, convince players to complete advanced training more quickly, or recruit better assistant coaches to improve how quickly our players improve their technical attributes. Guess how much of this I have as a rookie manager?? That's right, zippo zilch nada nothing.

** Fans -- Number of paying customers willing to attend home matches. This starts at 50. A smattering of family, friends, and locals who want to have front-row seats for this train wreck.

** Stadium Capacity -- If our Fans count grows beyond this, the surplus is turned away and keeps their money. That's a bad thing ... but expanding our grounds is not cheap. Right now we have a whopping 100 capacity. I imagine that's a few wooden or cheap alumimum bleachers set up on one side.

https://i.imgur.com/FYKRSbV.png


Let's just gaze fondly at the stuff we can't afford anytime soon.

[Brian Swartz]

A wall of exposition text this way comes ... world rankings as well.

Competitive Structure

Domestic league play is always divided into 5 levels:

** Premier League(4.5-star quality) -- 18 teams, 34 matches
** First League(3.5-star) -- 16 teams, 30 matches
** Second League(2.5-star) -- 14 teams, 26 matches
** Third League(1.5-star) -- 12 teams, 22 matches
** Amateur League(0.5-star) -- 8 teams, 14 matches

Top 3 promote, bottom 3 are relegated always, no playoffs for that; except of course that you can't get promoted from Premier or relegated from Amateur level.

Domestic Cups

** National Cup -- Premier and First League teams play here.
** Prestige Cup -- Second League, Third League, and Amateur teams

Continental Cups

Qualifying for these depends on placement in the Premier League(unless you somehow win the National Cup while in the First League), and how highly the nation ranks compared to the others(based on results the last five years in continental competition). Until we get to the Premier League, which will be a long time from now, we needn't concern ourselves with this. The EFA Cup is the second-tier competition here, with the European Cup pitting the top clubs from varying nations against
each other.

https://i.imgur.com/J8g5BI0.png


Here's how things stand at game start. All 32 nations will send at least four teams to the continental cups this year. It's a pretty safe bet 5-7 German clubs will participate each year. I'll be keeping brief tabs on this annually but won't spend a lot of time with it until it becomes a larger concern.

https://i.imgur.com/iahYpWy.png


Here's Germany's Premier League. There's one more team we'd have to scroll down to see, but it's not that important. Interestingly, it was high-parity generation. All 4.5-star teams except for the top two which are full 5-star ones. Usually there's a couple more elites and a few 4-star clubs as well in the mix. That matters because it affects the quality of youth players they'll get.

https://i.imgur.com/iBPbdwx.png


Here's the roster, or most of it, for FC Bayern Munchen. Presented only for comparative purposes.

https://i.imgur.com/Xoqw5fT.png


This one's 3-star Holstein Keil, top-rated club in the middle tier, Second League.

https://i.imgur.com/5vihVkc.png


Schweinfurt, a roughly typical initial Amateur League side. Doesn't take a whole lot of careful observation to determine that they really suck. But they're bloody royalty compared to us.

https://i.imgur.com/b0ckOO9.png


Here's what our merry band of misfits looks like. We should probably be called the Stuttgarter Trip-and-Fallers though, not Kickers. Collectively, we have a fraction of the athletic ability of Charlie Brown iconically flying through the air as Lucy snatches the ball away at the last instant.

https://i.imgur.com/sbVGXQ3.png


Ah yes, there's our dreck. A couple more players below the screen, but they're not important for now. The other amateur teams, like Schweinfurt are ... well, they're amateurs. It's a recreational league with electricians, plumbers, customer service professionals, etc. all thrown together due to their passion for the sport. But these guys? I think they went down to the local pub and found all the drunks who were too stupid/inebriated to really know what they were signing up for. Which doesn't say much about us, who need to whip them into shape.

https://i.imgur.com/Hrxo2BV.png


This diagram of our starting tactical position would normally show different shapes and maybe some directional arrows to indicate the responsibilities of each player. These green circles indicate that these guys have, at best, the capacity to stand in an area of the pitch and generally try to get in the way of the opposition if they come too close. Reacting to things happen further away? Not gonna happen. Coordinating efforts with the rest of the team? You're having a laugh.

Back to the previous image though ...

Class

All have a ?, meaning zero-class; they have no clue what they are doing out there. They are totally incapable of doing any advanced training for obvious reasons, and the unfortunate tool who is in goal has all of their already-pathetic attributes halved in effectiveness. They can move only the minimum of one space in any direction, with or without the ball. They probably know the difference between a soccer ball and a similarly-sized melon, but even that might be stretching it.

Attributes

** Acc(Accuracy) -- Shooting at the goal.
** Pas(Passing) -- What it sounds like.
** Def(Defense) -- Tackling and intercepting shots/passes in the vicinity.
** Ctr(Control) -- Intercepting crosses(for keepers), fighting for position on corner kicks, maintaining possession when being tackled, etc.

As indicated by the highlighted numbers, Defense is considered the primary attribute of defenders & keepers, Passing for midfielders, Accuracy for forwards. It's a little more complicated than that though -- while it's never going to be real important for a keeper or defender to have high accuracy, most attributes are useful in various places on the pitch.

Level

The technical ability, or overall attribute points, of a player is indicated their level. These range from 1-100, so we're as rubbish as it is possible to get. Three attribute points are granted each level that is gained. This is impacted by something called 'Fate'. Look at Komolong, for example. He's best at Defense, has some Control, Accuracy and Passing are non-existent. He'll tend to gain points in roughly the same proportion, so it's probably never going to be a good idea to play him in a spot where he needs to pass or shot primarily. Others, such as Ortag, have no particularly great natural strengths but are more versatile.

Players need match experience to gain levels here. How much they get depends on the level of competition, success of the team, and how much/how well they personally participated in the flow of the action. Eventually support staff will allow even unused substitutes to benefit, but for now it's play or stagnate.

Skills

Whaddya know, we don't have any. At all. Advanced training in special abilities, both active and passive, shows up here. Rather logically though, a basic competency in playing a defined position on the pitch is required first.

Contracts

We've got essentially 1-2 year deals signed and paid for with everyone, so at least we'll be able to field a team, such as it is, for a little while. The Cost is the amount of euros that we could currently sell the right to each player's services for. It's important to note that this value is changed by the interest in the player around the league, which is based on how much they've played recently. All of our players are current at Low, because nobody's ever heard of them. Medium interest players will generate 4 times the sale price, High 6 times as much. Any player, no matter how rubbish, can be improved to High interest if they play enough. If they play well, interest will increase faster.

It also cannot be overemphasized that other factors impact the price. Skills are more important than attributes in terms of a player's value(and performance); when you learn a skill their sell price will rise sharply. There is also a natural decline each year, on their birthday, based on age. Level and Specialization Level(see below) also increase it to a lesser degree.

You can't extend the contract of a player until it has less than a year left, so we couldn't do that even if we wanted to(or actually had any money to do it with). Additionally, you cannot sell or extend the contract of a player who is 34 or older. The lion's share of income, especially at the lower level, will come from selling players so it is absolutely vital that all coaches pay attention to these details.

https://i.imgur.com/FC7RCk1.png


This view allows us to choose which attribute to focus a player's improvement on. To begin with, that means one of the three attribute points they get when they level up will be guaranteed to go to whatever aspect we choose. And when I say we, I mean you -- once your probationary period is over and the lot of you take over direction of your players, this will be your responsibility. We'd also see skills here of course ... if there were any.

https://i.imgur.com/YVENhEl.png


Specialization is another name for 'figuring out what the heck to do on the pitch other than stand there navel-gazing and inspecting the landscaping'. More advanced concepts will come, but that's what it is for now. The SL, or Specialization Level, is improved when you've gained enough experience in a specific position during matches. Just being out there for an entire match gains 5 points here(less if you only play part of it); taking actions increases this amount. For example, merely moving on the pitch gives you +1, a missed shot at the goal is +2, scoring a goal is +5, etc. Similarly on the defensive side, a failed save attempt gives +3 while a successful one grants +8. A core principle in FTG is that nothing succeeds like success. The better a player plays, and also the more active/important a role they take in a match, the faster they will improve. The first level takes 70 points to achieve; nobody here starts with more than 2, which is why the bars are so short.

We'll see the later options in the future, but the first couple of SLs achieved grant the ability to play a specific position adequately for the first one, and proficiently for the second. After that there are many choices to choose from. Making those choices will be another responsibility for you as coaches.

That's enough of that for the time being; let's get to our first season!

[thehitcat]

That is a hilariously bad roster topped off with the fact that we have a Mengele on the team. I realize we're not coaching yet but you have a couple of guys on the bench in green that might be better than the starters (Blank in as a second midfielder taking out one of our 7 defenders maybe Ortag and Pfeiffer starting for Mengele...) Also if you have one more high defense guy on the bench starting him at GK in half the games just so we can build a backup probably wouldn't hurt us much.

[larrymcg421]

So my long term strategy based on what worked in my dynasty is to develop midfielders with Long Pass and FW's with either Cannon Shot or Rainbow Feint. That is a deadly combo because you can easily move the FW's next to the keeper to receive the Long Pass. I used CM's, but I think MF's are better for their felxibility. We can also train up CF's with Head Play to take advantage of GK's with low control.

Once we train our Forwards up to Amateur Forward and see their skills, we can decide on where to go from there. My initial thought is, if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

[thehitcat]

So my long term strategy based on what worked in my dynasty is to develop midfielders with Long Pass and FW's with either Cannon Shot or Rainbow Feint. That is a deadly combo because you can easily move the FW's next to the keeper to receive the Long Pass. I used CM's, but I think MF's are better for their felxibility. We can also train up CF's with Head Play to take advantage of GK's with low control.

Once we train our Forwards up to Amateur Forward and see their skills, we can decide on where to go from there. My initial thought is, if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

Works for me you are the Forwards guy :) I think the one question we should figure out is how generic we want our team to be vs unique. For instance should we be thinking about RD/LD and Sweeper or Just CD and DF for outside the box. Same with MF vs. CM, DM and RM/LM and for Forwards. I've had success with all types.

[Brian Swartz]

I did adjust the lineup a bit. Having said that …

That is a hilariously bad roster

You're not wrong. It's hideous even by Hard Mode standards. Mengele even features prominently in our first match …

if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

I've played just the first match at this point, so I'll make that switch in the next one. Won't change that much.

Blank in as a second midfielder taking out one of our 7 defenders maybe Ortag and Pfeiffer starting for Mengele...) Also if you have one more high defense guy on the bench starting him at GK in half the games

On the second part; we don't. First part; there's a method to my madness. Wasn't going to get into this quite yet but basically to get competitive* my goal is to get three key defensive positions up and running asap: goalkeeper, sweeper, defensive midfielder. I'm going to turn one of the defenders into a DM(probably just get them started on it, really). That'll turn this 7-1-2 into a 6-2-2 on it's way to a somewhat more balanced formation.

*relatively speaking

[Brian Swartz]

Competition Report

I'll present this twice a year, once at the start of each transfer window. The purpose here is to look at our team, the others in our league, and the league above and below(once we actually get a promotion) us to see how we stack up. We'll be able to see if we're getting better or worse compared to the others, and make adjustments accordingly.

These are all on a 100-point scale, with 100 being perfect/fully developed and 0 being nothing. They should be taken only as a general indicator. The 11 Starters and 7 Substitutes(at half value) are included in this; any more players than that are considered part of the Reserve Squad and not considered.

Stuttgarter

Classes -- 0
Levels -- 1
Skills -- 0

Amateur League Averages

Star Rating -- 0.5
Classes -- 34
Levels -- 11
Skills -- 1

Even by the standards of the bottom of the barrel, we really suck. You can also see that Amateur teams are in general quite low-level, have virtually no skills(for now), but there's a number of them who at least have some manner of basics down.

Third League Averages

Star Rating -- 0.88
Classes -- 59
Levels -- 17
Skills -- 5

For now, it's sufficient to note that the Third League has a better idea what it's doing than the clubs we'll be facing, but isn't setting the world on fire with high-quality football by any stretch.

This seems to be a good place to put in a couple comments about how AI clubs operate. First, their stadium and youth facilities(at least, and maybe coaching upgrades) are static. They'll never get any better. This fact is of considerable comfort considering that no matter how far ahead of us they get, we'll eventually be able to surpass them with better youth players. The issue is how painful that will be. The second point is related to the first; they operate in all other facts(transfers, resigning players, etc) the same as the player does, with the exception that they don't have to deal with a budget. They'll just buy any available player that fits what they are looking for, and keep players if they think they are useful.

Understanding these two facts can keep us from panicking when we notice that the other clubs are quickly improving(and they will). It's critical to remember that there is a limit to this. They'll eventually hit a ceiling and plateau. Our challenge is to reach a level where we can compete with that sooner rather than later.

7.15.2018 - Kickers Offenbach vs. Stuttgart Kickers

The battle of the Kickers? This is a pretty good draw, as Offenbach is among the weaker teams in the Amateur League. I won't usually do this, but I'll walk through this match in a fair bit of detail to demonstrate how things play out with the basic actions set.

https://i.imgur.com/FCERnLl.png


Our options are quite limited here, but this particular design element gives the player a major advantage in general. That's because the opponent sets their formation, and we can deploy to best take advantage of it. It can get quite interesting contemplating the best strategy, so this is both a strength and a weakness. It is what it is, but we will often be able to beat a somewhat better team because of this mechanic.

They've got lots of useless zero-class players as well, but you can also see a couple of midfielders and a forward who aren't totally so. We are always on bottom, the other team on the top; white outer borders are ours, black ones are theirs.

On our side, I've chosen a very defense-heavy formation for the purpose of putting as many players between our goal and the ball as possible. The game's mechanics generally tend(though there are definitely exceptions) toward a 5-3-2 formation in my opinion. As we're able I'll shift towards something more similar to that, but for the moment we're just trying not to be demolished. In terms of who I'm playing and not playing, I wanted to get the oldest players out there and also play a mix of ages; there's a tension between those two ideas. If we don't get some experience for the older ones then we won't be able to improve them enough to sell them before they hit the critical age. Komolong seems clearly to be the best keeper candidate we have with 'good' defense and a bit of control, though I'd have preferred it if he was a bit younger. For Offenbach, Jurgens can shoot or dribble through our defense at his leisure basically, and Vetter is a more accurate striker even. Their keeper Endres rather sucks, but unfortunately we have virtually no chance of getting the ball through to him.

https://i.imgur.com/ksjZ25R.png


There are several kinds of possible weather. I'll get to them as we run into them, but today it's hot. That's going to tire everyone out more quickly. Bruns kicks off for Offenbach. The basic match mechanic is that each team gets an allotment of actions to take(three unless you get bonus ones by using skills, which will become more and more common later), then the other team gets a set of actions, and so on. They pass it up to Jurgen, who dribbles into our defense and beats Komolong for the score. 0-1, and I literally haven't been able to do anything yet. Sigh. There goes the first six minutes of Stuttgarter football. Decidedly less than inspiring.

https://i.imgur.com/kB1SquG.png


Welp, now we get to try to do something. One option is to just kick it out of bounds. They'll have to throw it in, and this can be useful to get subs in, waste time, etc. Not something I want to do with our first action, but I'll probably make liberal use of this for a while. Also note the yellow part in the bar at the top. This is how much energy it would take to do this. In 'normal' matches I usually go through a process of deciding what to do:

** Do we have a realistic chance of scoring on this 'turn/set of actions'?
** If not, can we set things up to have a decent chance of doing so on the next set?
** If not, how do we make it less likely we'll concede a goal on the opponents turn?

For now though, it's going to be strict super-defensive play. That means we can skip the first two questions and go straight to the last one. And generally, esp. in low-level competition with few if any skills -- Offenbach has none -- the right way to go about this is getting the ball as far away from our goal as possible. Since it's a kickoff, dribbling it isn't an option. I've got to pass it to somebody. The forwards are the obvious choice.

https://i.imgur.com/moyYoS8.png


Here's one option. Marx, one of their midfielders, would try to intercept the pass since it's headed right through his zone. It would be a bit more likely to be completed than not: Hirsch is a slightly better passer than his defensive ability in this situation. He'd roll a 2 through 8, we'd roll a 3 through 9, and whoever got the higher number would 'win'(ties favor the active player, in this case Hirsch). But rather than take that risk, I'd much rather just pass it diagonally to Mengele instead of Tiel. Nobody can intercept that, and in this case it doesn't really matter to me who ends up with it.

https://i.imgur.com/5HJIWw8.png


I've got two choices here. This is the standard pass, with a range of up to 3 tiles(the dotted line shows the range for it). This will automatically succeed unless there is a defender in the two yellowish squares the line passes through, which there isn't right now. The Lofted Pass can get it further ... but is also harder to complete.

https://i.imgur.com/QfuTBPS.png


The 35 on Mengele is the range factor. This can be as high as 110 if attempting a particularly long Lofted Pass. If it's unsuccessful, the ball will end up in a random location adjacent to the target. And that's not such a bad idea for getting the ball downfield and out of danger. With a 9 from Hirsch, he would have a very low chance of successfully doing this. The lofted pass is one of those things that is not very useful at the amateur level, but moreso later on. I go for the standard pass, and see +1 MF by Hirsch. He gets a specialization point for this action. Go me.

https://i.imgur.com/IKAkL2h.png


Having really no chance of scoring, I decide to get one of our defenders a bit of experience. Scepanik here is one of the better ones. He can move anywhere there isn't a defender, one space in any direction; if he moves somewhere that we have another player, they'll just switch spots. I slide him to the right, closer to the goal.

https://i.imgur.com/EDiKktJ.png


Time for our final action. If Mengele tries to dribble towards the Offenbach goal, well ... this wouldn't be very likely to succeed. He'd get at most a 6, and the defender at least a 6. So it'd have to be perfect. Shooting from here would be even worse, a literal guaranteed fail. I could also kick it out of bounds, or move in any direction.

https://i.imgur.com/9v6lP1v.png


Or this. Holding increases the player's control until the start of our next turn. It also makes tackling them less likely to result in a foul. The idea here is that it will take more effort for Offenbach to get the ball back, and therefore make it harder for them to advance it into scoring position.

https://i.imgur.com/WTNEIv5.png


They respond by pressing. Twice. Pressing is a great way to limit what the player with the ball can do. It lowers Accuracy, Passing, and Control by 15 each, lowers the ability to use skills - not that I have any -, and makes it impossible for them to move Not that I have any. Additionally, it's cumulative with more players doing it. The defender at the top of this image then tackles Mengele and takes the ball ... but that's the end of their turn.

We have won a small moral victory. Not only did they not score, but they barely managed to get the ball back. Now what? Well, in keeping with our super-defensive approach, I try this:

https://i.imgur.com/8Bwz57Q.png


I move Tiel in position to block the easiest pass forward, and press with Mengele. They pass it down a couple times, and Jurgen tries another shot but Scepanik is in position to block it. We're now at 30 minutes, just a little more time to waste in this half. I have to use the lofted pass now since our defenders can't pass to save their life and one of their forwards is in the way. The ball gets loose, Hirsch picks it up, and they eventually recover it from him -- but not in time to do anything with it. Hirsch is able to tackle it back and get a pass through their midfield, then I move a defender who hasn't gotten any action in yet and we've made it to intermission.

https://i.imgur.com/rNWOVGi.png


It's hilarious to me that we are winning possession here. I think I want to keep Scepanik in that middle spot in front of the keeper for now, that'll make it a bit harder for them to score. Other than the first shot of theirs, we've done pretty well all things considered. Spreading around the action to other players, if possible, and doing more of the same defensive and delaying strategy is on the agenda for the second half. Normally I'd look at subbing out tired players here, but I really don't care if they fall over from sheer exhaustion. I just need the starters to get as much match experience as they can.

https://i.imgur.com/ZSjrm0o.png


We keep things bogged down in their end for a while, then at the 70-minute mark they get it up to Jurgens again here.

https://i.imgur.com/I1AeVuQ.png


With one defender pressing him, his control attribute is down low enough that we get the weak or 'Wk' indicator. That means a tackle here will be an automatic success. The reverse situation, strong, is also possible and means automatic failure. Jager makes the tackle and sends a lofted pass down the field to get the ball out.

https://i.imgur.com/SPoxlRi.png


It's enough to keep them at bay for a while, but just as time expires Vetter chimes in with this shot that beats Komolong like the rented keeper he is. It's hard to get upset about rolling a 1 when the highest your peak is a 2.

Kickers Offenbach 2, Stuttgart Kickers 0

Things will get much worse against the better teams in our league. Time to see what we've learned from this loss, the first of many.

https://i.imgur.com/rqDgVOG.png

Everyone got at least 9 XP; that's what you get for playing an entire Amateur League match and losing. It's more for a draw, and even more for winning. Again, nothing succeeds like success. The amount you gain after a match is Match XP(the 9 here) + Coaches Bonus(nothing, but it would be a % of the Match XP if we had any upgraded coaches) + Specialization XP(bonuses we can eventually select as we improve the players) + Best Player Bonuses(the Men of the Match awards on the right). Almost half of Hirsch's gain comes from that.

A couple players are now up to Level 2 and will suck slightly less now. Very slightly less.

https://i.imgur.com/JazZlw6.png


Here's the progress our guys made towards not being complete failures at the sport.

https://i.imgur.com/QAHm8m7.png


We have money now!! 32 whole euros. That's courtesy of our ever-so-generous sponsor SlideX. Normally you have a choice of sponsors at the beginning of the year, but for the first season it's just grandfathered in. If we won, we'd get more money and also some sort of glory improvement. Since it was a road match, there's naturally no ticket sales for us, and the fans have been nice enough to not start deserting yet. Don't worry, they will.

Just remember that a journey of a thousand miles ... often ends very, very badly. Or something like that.

[thehitcat]

Perfect. You're the driver of this jalopy :) We're just shouting out occasional probably contradictory instructions from the back seat. Auf die Kickers!

[Brian Swartz]

7.22.18 SG Wattenscheid 09(0-0-1, 8th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-1, 7th)

https://i.imgur.com/NqO0WAt.png


Another road match. Jerks. Wattenscheid is only team in the league that is nearly as bad as we are. It's almost like looking in a mirror. They lost their first match even worse than we did(4-0), but they had a tougher matchup. I start Pfeiffer over Tiel as requested. They are 100% zero-class drek just like us, but they have somewhat better attributes because they had better luck of the draw in their roster. Still, this is the only chance we're going to have at a result in a while. Hirsch and Mengele are still pretty tired from the first match. Weather is normal today so it won't effect them as much, but more to the point I really don't care just as I didn't in the last match. They're staying out there till they collapse.

https://i.imgur.com/8ZnGyDD.png


Let's hear it for Abruscia, who takes the ball away from one of their forwards Kresch on the first possession! We have survived the opening kickoff without conceding a goal -- or even a shot. That's a first.

https://i.imgur.com/CNDn884.png


A couple of passes later, and we're on the attacking end. I can deal with the shooting options now. Precision Shot places emphasis on aiming, lowering the defense by 20%. As you can see we'd still have a low chance of scoring here. Power Shot, the other alternative, doesn't get the defense reduction instead of the defense taking possession the shot will 'bounce off' and end up in a random nearby tile. Sometimes that means a corner kick if it gets through to the keeper. Also to note is that while Pfeiffer has 12 accuracy, he only maxes out at 6 here because there's a range penalty. Three tiles away like this it's 50%; 80% if you are within two. I elect to just hold the ball here again. The rest of the half consists of each team constantly trading possession, neither team able to retain it for long or have enough time to do anything with it once they do.

https://i.imgur.com/tEyEp28.png


To start the second half, we have the kickoff advantage and I decided to take one shot at scoring. Mengele has better control than Pfeiffer, even though he doesn't shoot as well. If, though the odds are against him, he can dribble past this defender, he'll have an action left to shoot from closer range(2 instead of 3). If not, I'll probably be reduced to playing for a scoreless draw.

It fails, both players rolling their max. They move it forward to attack, but Kresch's shot is blocked by our defensmen Jager. That actually gives me one even longer-shot try at getting an attempt on goal.

https://i.imgur.com/mtUa0VE.png


Theoretically possible we could complete this pass ... nope. Later in the match they try to shoot through our defense again. This time Jager can't get in the way, but just in front of the keeper Doringer is there to make the play. Ultimately useless passes ensure on both sides, and fulltime ensues with no further drama.

https://i.imgur.com/BoYDhq5.png


This game slays me sometimes with it's possibly uninentional hilarity. 'There weren't significant events'. That just about sums it up for this drab affair. But for our roster, this is a success. We could have shot from distance like they did, but it wouldn't have accomplished anything; the odds would have been even more against us.

We get 13 Match XP instead of the 9 we got last time for losing. Umm, progress?? 10 of 11 starters are up to level 2; Abruscia was already there after the last match.

*** Hirsch
** Jager
* Mengele

Looks like two more matches before we start having classes develop. Another 32 euros come in from our sponsor, no change in glory or fans.

Coming Up: Over the weekend I'll finish the first half of the year, get into classes a bit more as we get to them and talk a bit about the Specialization upgrades 'tree'. That'll set the stage for a whole bunch of stuff starting on Monday as ya'll will get to put in your orders for Winter Break, our first 'real' transfer window and start shaping the team the way you want it. And talk amongst yourself about how utter crap the GM's tactics are as well, that's just par for the course.

[Izulde]

Trying to resist the urge to buy this. Luckily I have Until Dawn to tide me over (and scare the crap out of me like it did repeatedly last night) to procrastinate on things.

[Brian Swartz]

You will surrender eventually. The Matrix has you.

[Brian Swartz]

So a thing happened last night; temporary power outage and I lost some of the writeups. That'll make things a little shorter and less descriptive for a few matches.

7.29.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. 1. FC Saarbrucken

https://i.imgur.com/lvbV0Tj.png


We were just totally screwed here. I leaned our defense to the side where their best defenders are, but their wing midfielders charged up either flank for unimpeded shots after pathetic tackling attempts by our outside defenders. They could have dribbled or shot through us as well had they felt the inkling.

https://i.imgur.com/KCgBhwC.png


Here we can see our fans, such as they are, on the lone bench that is more empty than full. There's less than a dozen here, but I figure the rest are just off somewhere disgusted at our display.

1. FC Saarbrucken 3, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

We find out just how inadequate we are compared to one of the best teams in the amateur ranks.

https://i.imgur.com/gPuzGkM.png


But get our first ticket sales, 5 euros per paying customer along with the usual 32 per-match sponsor bonus. That's the lion share of our income to date.

https://i.imgur.com/5YVKJv3.png


Here's the transfer list. It's worth noting that the players on here are typically sold for just over 10%(one-ninth, to be exact) above their fair market value(aka, what we could sell them for if at High interest). So there's a bit of a surcharge. F Gortler here, with the 15% discount, is therefore actually a good deal. He'd become the best player on the roster instantly ... but we can't even afford the cheapest guy on this list yet.


8.5.18 TSV Halvese vs. Stuttgarter Kickers

https://i.imgur.com/AAs5neW.png


I had some small hope that, due to a relatively aggressive 4-3-3 formation employed by Halvese, we might be able to get around the wing and have a shot at scoring. This hope proved unfounded.

https://i.imgur.com/O1tgY1z.png

While Pfeiffer has an excellent chance to beat the keeper here, their defenders - unlike ours - are skilled enough to have the awareness to react to his attempt. And that's exactly what happened; though he had a small chance to get it through, they cut off and intercepted the ball.

https://i.imgur.com/5RDcMDj.png


A pair of twos doesn't get you much in poker. It does little better here. This shows the standard just-shoot-through 'em 'strategy' employed by our opponents. You don't have to be smart to kick our butts.

TSV Halvese 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

We also started losing fans, a handful of them. That will happen when you lose a lot. However we did get our first position specialization:

https://i.imgur.com/bQ6rCUc.png


This is the SL upgrade 'tree'. The Specialist category has to be filled in first, partly because some of the other ones depend on what we get here. Hirsch is now an Amateur Midfielder, meaning he's more mobile; movement without the ball is doubled to two tiles. Also, he is the first of our players to be eligible to learn a skill, which comes with the Amateur class. And which I would proceed to screw up.

https://i.imgur.com/v5EPeNu.png


Here are the choices. Intercept is a passive ability that counters the other two, keeping opponents from using them. Layoff Pass allows you to 'lead' the target of a pass into a better position; they'll move one square in whatever direction you choose to receive it, without consuming an extra action. Long Pass permits a pass of up to five tiles, much more range than the three permitted by the standard Pass action.

I want to go for the quickest skill initially because of how much it increases the player's well value; that will give the coaches choices in terms of getting more income in if it is determined to be needed. And then I screwed up and selected Long Pass anyway. Since FTG is an enforced persistent autosave kind of game, I can't just reload and fix it, so we're stuck with it. There are always three choices though, and always relatively appropriate ones. Some are more useful than others, and it's another way to mold the capabilities of a player to your liking.

[Brian Swartz]

8.12.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Rot-Weiss Essen

https://i.imgur.com/4vBrX2b.png


I've got our defensive formation shifted to the right here to combat their forward on that side; wide forwards can be problematic with their 'Break-In' flank attacks. Also worth noting is their quality sweeper(the blue both-directions arrow in front of their keeper). He basically guarantees it's a waste of time to try to score.

https://i.imgur.com/zrpnU5b.png


Desperate times call for desperate measures. My own campaign is almost a decade in, and I've never pressed with a keeper in it. But it was the only way I could find to tackle the ball away from this forward, so I did it.


https://i.imgur.com/EeySaP0.png


I think it was in this match that I gave up the longest-range tally I've ever surrendered. This was four tiles out, maximum shooting range, by one of the two guys in the bottom middle. You can see how thrilled our players were about it.

https://i.imgur.com/xTOGIR3.png


They scored early and often, shooting right through our defense like it wasn't even there. This was a massacre. There was compensation with two more players getting their amateur positions:

https://i.imgur.com/tNQZwn1.png


Mengele is now an Amateur forward, meaning that motivation lasts an extra action(7 instead of 6) and missing a shot on goal doesn't stop him from taking any further actions that turn. Slide Tackle will make him more of a 'support' style of forward; he'll be able to tackle players even if they have a high Control rating with that skill. Cannon Shot is a powerful shot that is tough to stop, but you need a straight-shot to the keeper with nobody in the way, either straight on or at a diagonal. It can be tricky to get into a position to use it. Head Play is useful for competing for balls in the air(corners, lofted passes, crosses, etc.). Forwards who learn this can be dangerous to almost any defense.

It was also sometime around here that I spent a lot of time one match just moving Komolong around so he could reach the Amateur Goalkeeper class. That means a +10% boost to Control and Defence while he's in goal, instead of a -50% that zero-class players get. Effectively he's twice as good(or half as inadequate) between the pipes now.

https://i.imgur.com/jYNPXi6.png(AbrusciaAnger)

8.19.18 Alemannia Aachen(1-1-3, 5th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-4, 8th)

I emptied the bench for this one, after having played the same eleven in the last four matches. The reason for that is to have our best players rested for the next one, which is our most important match of the year. So I'm basically writing off this one to get ready for that. We don't have enough players to take all the starters out, so I'll but out the most tired ones at the half.

I gave Blank and Tiel, our best subs, as much action as I could. Meanwhile, with our defense even more sad-sack than usual, Alemmania tore through it and basically scored at will.

https://i.imgur.com/rIIBSmr.png


At the end of the game, with us already down 4-0(all goals by the same player), they fouled Tiel who was injured. Not seriously thankfully, and he'll be out for just two days. But it did give us our first free kick, which shows off a couple things. That box with the affects is visible anytime by using the Ctrl key(not Control rating) on a player.

As it shows, you get accuracy doubled on a free kick. Counteracting that, the defense can put multiple players into one square to form a 'wall' to try to block a direct score. But here, we're too far away so I set up the forwards instead. Mengele came on for Tiel, and I had him shoot. Their defender in the middle was too good though, and that was the end of things.

https://i.imgur.com/Y0tEkBP.png


Definitely a good and proper buttkicking.

Scepanik hit Level 3; getting to Level 2 were Blank, D. Muller, and Weibenfels.

*** Blank
** Tiel
* Wachter

Another 6 fans lost ... we're down to 32 now.

[Brian Swartz]

8.22.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SG Wattenscheid 09
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round

The tickets for the early rounds of the Prestige Cup, as well as the experience gained, are a whopping triple those for a normal Amateur League match. Also, we've gotten the best possible draw, against the only team we have a chance to beat. Wattenscheid has leveled up faster than us ... but none of them even have their first position specialization yet. That gives us a big advantadge. I'm confident that with Komolong's new found adequacy, we have an excellent chance at keeping them from scoring ... and a small chance of manufacturing a goal for ourselves. Another scoreless draw like our last match is the most likely, but we just might steal a win. And if we do that, we've got a good shot at moving on to the next round of the competition, which would be a major xp boon for our fledgling club -- while limiting the growth of our only real rival at this point. That's why I called this the most important match of the year. Komolong and Hirsch are still not back to their full energy complement; I may have to bring on a sub later, but we'll see how that goes.

https://i.imgur.com/HMD28s2.png


As you can see, it's raining -- our first match in that kind of weather. Passing suffers and fouls are more likely. We won't want to take any unnecessary risks. This here is the biggest hurdle on our best chance of scoring. Mengele is going to make the attempt. Pfeiffer is the better shooter, but shooting isn't the problem; it's getting close enough to do so against the 5-wide defensive line. Mengele has better control, so he has a chance, although the odds are definitely against us, of dribbling past this weakest point.

And he pulls it off!! Eureka! Rolled a 6 and only a 4 for the defender.

https://i.imgur.com/3kOdlUu.png


Our final action of the first turn of the game. He has just better than a 50-50 chance due to an open look from fairly close range against a keeper who doesn't know what he's doing. Precision here of course ...

6 vs. 7. Pretty good roll for us, and anything but a 7 would have resulted in a score but their keeper is equal to the challenge. That's bad luck for us when we needed just one more stroke of good fortune. Now we can only focus on defense ... we will probably not get another shot today as only a kickoff presents enough time to get into position.

They get it up for a shot, but Doringer blocks it away. They foul Hirsch in an attempt to get the ball back, which gives me enough time to get Mengele another shot, but this one has a defender in the way who intercepts the attempt. I put on Blank in midfield at intermission. We won't lose much there and Hirsch is gassed.

https://i.imgur.com/TfvoT7n.png


58 minutes into a still-scoreless match. After they start the second half with another long-range shot with the same results as the first one, I have Blank hold the ball at midfield ... and they foul him. This gives me a chance to try the same maneuver as before with Mengele. Incredibly, he dribbles by again ... and Sancaktar again rolls a max-7 on the save. Twice in a row we win a dribble against a superior defender and fail a shot against an inferior keeper. These chances are so few and far between for us.

They shoot again, and once again can't get through our initial line, and that's it.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, SG Wattenscheid 09 0

Either somebody scores in our third matchup on the away leg in a few weeks, or this will go to penalties.

50 XP for those who played the full match, triple what we get for a draw. Only one player who appeared(Hirsch) didn't level up.

*** Ortag
** Mengele
* Doringer

Schwarz, one of our older players, becomes our first Amateur Defender. This completes our tour through the four Amateur-level classes. And this is an important one; along with the usual skill acquisition, he can intercept shots on adjacent tiles. Those trying to fire through our line in his vicinity will find increased resistance. Reaction is his skill; Long Pass and Layoff Pass were the other choices. The others who haven't reached their amateur classifications are now getting close, we should see more progression soon.

https://i.imgur.com/Zc8G638.png


15 euros a head here, and if we'd scored either one of our two shots, we'd have gotten four Glory out of it with the bonus for winning a Cup match. Arglebargle. This nearly doubles our balance to approach 1200 euros. I could buy a player now ... but I want to let all of you decide what, if anything, to spend our cash on. We're approaching the end of your 'probationary period'. Also the draw stopped the bleeding on the fans front, at least for now.

8.26.18 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-5, 8th) vs. 1. FC Schweinfurt 05(3-2-1, 3rd)

This is our last stop on the tour of the amateur league foes. Both Hirsch and Blank are quite tired, but we run Hirsch out there anyway. We have over two weeks off after this, so he can rest then. He's getting more experience if it kills him.

https://i.imgur.com/LyR8rXY.png


Here's our setup. They have a proper defense so we have no shot to score, but on the other end we have something to build around. Schwarz is positioned in the middle of the line to intercept a long-range shot from any direction, and if their forward dribbles into his vicinity which seems likely, our next-best Scepanik, who actually is a bit better in terms of defense rating, is positioned behind him. The other forward isn't good enough to dribble into our defense. We're starting to actually be able to try some things which have a chance at stopping a half-decent amateur opponent.

https://i.imgur.com/waVVgv7.png


Big moment here, 36 minutes in. Early in the first half, Bodenheimer mixed it up with our defense. We eventually go the ball back, but he got behind us in the process and one of their midfielders later used the Long Pass skill to penetrate the formation. This is Komolong's first save ... and just barely as you can see. If they'd gone Precision instead of Power shot here they would have been more likely to score, but the AI likes to create corner opportunities and stay on the attack when they can. We dodge a bullet, and the rebound just bounces off to the other side of the box. Another attempt at the same tactic is foiled when Jager intercepts a pass at the end of the half.

All of that is put at naught though when Bodenheimer dribbles through Abruscia after the second-half kickoff, then puts a shot through everyone else. More resistance than before, but it still wasn't enough for us. Jager features prominently again, playing opposite that twirp and keeping him from getting through our defense the rest of the way.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 1

Jager and Mengele both reach Level 5.

*** Jager
** Hirsch
* Landeka

Specialization Upgrades Galore!

-- Pfeiffer(F) will learn Cannon Shot. Head Play and Slide Tackle are the longer ones.
-- Jager(D) gets Head Play. I doubt anyone tries many crosses against us at this level but he'll be ready if they do. Slide Tackle and Layoff Pass as well.
-- Abruscia(D) gets Layoff Pass. Olympic Kick(a powerful ability allowing a direct score from corner kicks, which we haven't seen yet and Head Play were the others.

** 192 more euros, 26 fans now(-6).

https://i.imgur.com/QFs7TZQ.png


With the transfer window closing, we get a look at the top activity. There were none in the Amateur League. We can laugh at the stupid amounts of money we could only dream about from the top activity in th Premier League. We're only told about our current league and the premier; First through Third aren't included in this report.

[Brian Swartz]

9.12.18 SG Wattenscheid 09 vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, 2nd Leg

Well, here we go. If we don't win this, it's the last match of the first half-season and the break will be upon us. Let's see if our luck changes from the first meeting, or a third straight scoreless match is our fate.

https://i.imgur.com/I4osz0f.png


Well that kind of sucks. Not entirely unexpected though. They've got some positions filled now including an amateur keeper. I think our window of opportunity to score against them is closed for the moment. Also, despite 17 days to do it, Hirsch is still not fully recovered. I ran him to death in that last match, and that turned out to be suboptimal.

Nobody shoots in the first half. We're able to be the aggressors more often than not and keep the ball in their end, but only had one faint hope at generating a shot. I bring on Blank at intermission for the fatigued Hirsch.

https://i.imgur.com/5ERqcnl.png


Then this early in the second. I didn't take the screenshot of the attempt, because the odds of it were low. 14 max for Pfeiffer to shoot, 25 for a defender to block it, and then the keeper behind. This all arose because we held the ball with Mengele in their end, they took it back but couldn't do anything with it, then we were able to win a dicey tackle right away to grab possession. But the bottom line is he was able to find a hole around the right end of their defense and a lucky strike for our first-ever score! Only took nine matches ...

They could get anything going. Ortag intercepted a desperation lofted pass at the end and retained it, and that was it. .

https://i.imgur.com/Vv7q8nR.png


We scored! We won!! Most importantly, we get two more Prestige Cup matches now.

https://i.imgur.com/d0wSnZq.png


Look at all that beautiful, beautiful leveling! For some of these guys it's about as much experience as they'd gotten in the rest of the season to date combined!! Additionally Ortag(Long Pass) and Doringer(Layoff Pass) both become Amateur Defenders.

** 77 Euros income -- it was an away match but we got a bit more due to the sponsor bonus for winning. Our first 4 Glory as well: 1 for winning by a goal, 3 for winning in the Prestige Cup.

The other qualifying round matchup saw Schweinfurt eliminate Offenbach 3-0.

10.10.18 Chemnitzer FC vs. Stuttgart Kickers
Prestige Cup Round of 32, First Leg

We got a month off to ponder this fate. Chemnitzer is a Second League side(1.5 stars).

https://i.imgur.com/FyVCp6H.png


You can see that they have a fair number of fully-classed players. As for us, I'm leaning the defense towards their left-most forward Klinger, due to his level 2 Cannon Shot and overall biggest threat. We couldn't score on a keeper of this quality even if their entire defensive line decided to create a highway for us, so this is merely an exercise in making it as hard for them to score as possible ... and a chance to gain more experience.

It's rainy today, which probably plays in our favor. Klinger promptly dribbles into our defense, but Doringer blocks his attempt. It's all we can do to get the ball back, and one of their other forwards is more successful with his finishing attempt. Took them 18 minutes to guarantee they would move on to the next round.

https://i.imgur.com/vRMvSJc.png


As the pummeling proceeds, here's an example of a skill in process. Here, one of their defenders uses Slide Tackle on one of our forwards. The x2 is because they have Level 2 in the skill, giving them two rolls at it. Both players start with a maximum of 10 on all skill rolls. Unless the player using the skill is fatigued(which lowers their maximum roll) or the opposing player has a skill that counters it, higher levels of skills will usually succeed. And using a skill against a player like this(as opposed to doing, say, a Long Pass with nobody in the way) doesn't cost an action. In this way you can extend your turn and have more involved, and more likely successful, counterattacks.

Their forwards had control ratings in the low 40s, which meant I basically had to press them twice to even tackle the ball back. Then I couldn't advance it, so they just took it back from my defender and blasted a shot from long range as the line was inept to get in the way most of the time.

Chemnitzer FC 4, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

An effective demonstration of the different level that Second League clubs play on. It doesn't resemble anything we've yet seen; even Saarbrucken would have gotten pummeled by these guys most likely.

Losing here though, is still twice as good as drawing a league match in terms of XP.

Pfeiffer is now Level 8; reaching Level 7 were Landeka, Doringer, Schwarz, Jager, Abruscia, Hirsch, and Mengele. Most of the lineup, in other words.

*** Hirsch
** Schwarz
* Pfeiffer

Landeka(D, Head Play) and Scepanik(D, Layoff Pass) are the last two starters to get their amateur class. And because they don't care about who we were playing, just that we lost, we lose another 9 fans.

10.31.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Chemnitzer FC
Prestige Cup, Round of 32, Second Leg

Time to take our medicine one more time. I've made one change; Landeka, one of our younger defenders, is up closer to midfield. That's because he's going to start learning his second class. After this match I'll go into the second-level classes and why I put him there -- then you'll have to decide if you want to leave him in that spot, or go with another approach. This is my final match on the reins of that stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/hA2FuXn.png


Oh look we 'held' them to one fewer tally this time. That's good right? A mere 7-0 aggregate defeat. We, uh, managed one tackle. That's the positive here.

Level 8 for Hirsch; Level 7 for Komolong and Scepanik.

*** Hirsch
** Doringer
* Schwarz

287 Euros ... and we lose 2 more fans. It'd be more, but we're now down to 15, the floor beyond which it can't drop further. Those are rabid boosters and/or family members who feel too guilty not to attend occasionally. We have more players on the team than paying customers. Yep, that's a thing.

The President notes that "You fought as best you could. But our footballers still have not enough experience to carry out your tactical objectives." An understatement worthy of a trophy, sir.

[Brian Swartz]

Winter Break

The next three months pass uneventfully. I hope you're well-rested, because there's a lot to do. Players need your direction and instructions. We've got a new transfer list, and some funding in case there are any transactions you wish to have done. And, as happens twice a year at the beginning of each transfer window, we also have a new player from the 'youth academy'. I think what that means is the 'staff member who we connived into getting plastered enough to sign up their kid'. Much like 'stadium' clearly means 'rented space in a public park', with the volleyball net/closthesline thing at one end, and bikes and clothes strewn all over at the other.

Classes

We've already met the first bit here, but just for review:

Zero-class(?) -- All the players started out here at Level 1. Can move 1 tile with or without the ball. -50% to all attributes when in goal. Equally poor in any role, understanding only the basic rules of the game. Cannot do any skill training.

All of our starters have now progressed to an Amateur Class. All of these can learn one Level 1 skill.

Amateur Goaleeper(G) -- +10% to Control and Defence when in goal. Can learn one Level 1 skill. There's no reason to ever play them anywhere but in goal.
Amateur Defender(D) -- Can intercept shots on adjacent tiles.
Amateur Midfielder(M) -- Can move twice as far without the ball(2 tiles)
Amateur Forward(F) -- Motivation lasts one action longer(7). Can still take actions if any are left following a failed shot attempt.

The Amateur Classes are all helpful and an important step. Goalkeepr and Defender ones are particularly essential. Going to the next level though, things get more interesting. There are two types of advanced classes:

Univeral -- Universal classes allow a player to learn two different skills eventually. They can operate with equal effectiveness anywhere on the pitch, unless they are a goalkeeper. This versatility comes with the limitations that they are not as good at a specific role, and can never be crosstrained. No matter where they are, their specialization gains will always be in the same universal class.

Specialized -- All amateur classes other than keepers will have a choice in how they develop further. The specialized classes can only learn one skill and have a limited area on the pitch in which they can operate, but within that role they have powerful strengths.

UNIVERSAL CLASSES

Goalkeeper(GK) -- +50% Control and Defence when in goal. All keepers will eventually become this, there is no branching off for them.

Universal Defender(DF) -- They can intercept not only shots but also passes on adjacent tiles.

Universal Midfielder(MF) -- Can move 2 tiles with the ball; before they could only move 2 without it.

Universal Forward(FW) -- Movement without the ball increased to 2 tiles, and Control is 30% higher during the opponent's turn, giving them a better chance to retain possession.

SPECIALIZED CLASSES

There are a lot more of these. This diagram is quite useful:

https://i.imgur.com/1IO7XCf.png


In order to gain more specialization experience in their class, they must stay in these areas. They can still sometimes operate outside of them with no ill effects, but upgrading the SL will be affected. For example, a LD can go anywhere up and down the left wing and still retain their LD abilities. If they move into the middle or right-side sections though, they will not be as effective. If they wander forward, they'll be gaining LM or LF experience instead of LD. This is helpful for cross-training, but there will be times you don't want that.

Sweeper(SW) - Whenever the ball is on the defensive side of the field, the sweeper will automatically move to match it without costing an action. This enables them to block any shot on goal that's not at close range.

Central Defender(CD) -- Tackles any player who comes into an adjacent tile automatically. However, they lose the Amateur Defender's ability to intercept shots on adjacent tiles. Their role is to try to prevent physical penetration of the defensive line.

Full Back(LD/RD) -- Reduces the maximum role for skills by adjacent players by 5, limiting the use of them significantly in their vicinity. Can move 3 tiles with/without the ball on the flanks.

Defending Midfielder(DM) -- Intercepts any passes within 2 tiles; 100% bonus on intercepting any that go through the tile they are on; +1 level of intercept talent(counters Long Pass/Layoff Pass)

Central Midfielder(CM) -- +20% to passing; Pressing does not cost an action.

Wing Midfielder(LM/RM) -- Pressing does not cost an action; can move 4 tiles with/without the ball on the flank. The most mobile class in the game.

Attacking Midfielder(AM) -- 60% penalty to defence for opponents intercepting their passes. That makes an AM ideal for penetrating a defensive formation in that fashion to set up forwards closer to the goal. Also, the range penalty for shooting from distance is halved, which makes them the best option for sniper duty. Finally, they can do the False Kick, which can pull a defender out of position towards them.

Central Forward(CF) -- Automatically moves one tile closer to the goal if there is space in the defensive line, without costing an action. Also gains +1 level of Head Play talent, for battling in the air for the ball including scoring via headers.

Wing Forward(LF/RF) -- From the deep corners on their respective flanks, uses the Break-In maneuver which doesn't cost an action. That allows them to get into the box next to the keeper, and any automatic tackles are given a 50% penalty. This will wreak havoc on any defense without a properly positioned fullback. They also can move 2 tiles with/without the ball.

[Brian Swartz]

I think the one question we should figure out is how generic we want our team to be vs unique. For instance should we be thinking about RD/LD and Sweeper or Just CD and DF for outside the box. Same with MF vs. CM, DM and RM/LM and for Forwards. I've had success with all types.

This question is now going to become quite important. Mostly it's going to be up to you all, but you'll have to co-ordinate your thoughts to a degree. For example, in dividing up players, how many we give to our winger coach DavidCorperial is going to partly depend on how many wingers you want to actually play. When I get the Winter Break Briefings up you'll have an opportunity to try and come up with some sort of coherent approach.

[Brian Swartz]

Scoring Methods: Problem-Solving and Squad-Building

FTG is essentially a fairly elaborate problem-solving exercise. It was designed to allow for many viable solutions and tactics. Here are the main ways of scoring:

** Accuracy. Just beating the keeper/defense with shooting ability. The simplest, most basic, and common at our current level. It's less useful the further you go up the pyramid, but never gets completely sidelined.

** Crosses & Headers. This involves a wing player(usually a midfielder) crossing from an advanced flank position to a CF in the middle.

** Olympic Kick. You've got to be able to get a corner kick first, which is best done via long-range Power Shots. Than any player with this ability can be a major scoring threat.

** Cannon Shot. Depending on the defensive formation, it can be trivial or very difficult to get in the right position for this.

** Rainbow Feint. A player with this skill lobs the ball over the player in front of them, whether defender or keeper.

** Flank Attack. Break-in + dribbling for a wing forward with high control can be devastating.

** Counters None of these techniques is invincible. Defenders with high-level Head Play or Keepers with Playing Out can counter the Header and Olympic Kick variants. A high-level keeper will be very resistant to just using Accuracy. Cannon Shot(Strong Goalkeeper) and Rainbow Feint(Reaction) also have defensive abilities which can cancel them out.

Because of the two-skill limit, no keeper can be strong against all types of threats. Both having a defense which can cover for whatever weaknesses there are, and an attacking strategy to take advantage of what is found in the opposition, require a skilled, versatile, and deep roster. That takes a lot of time though, and is expensive; the more players we have, the more contracts we need to pay for. And there's only so much playing time to go around in order to develop these players. Deciding how much effort to put into making the stars as good as possible, and how much to put into tactical flexibility and developing the standouts of the future is a huge part of your job. I've got some tools for you now - they're not so much the Craftsman Professional type as the 'some guy read a third-hand account of a half-arsed YouTube tutorial on how to make a primitive stone axe and gave it a whirl' type - but they are what we have and it's up to you now to make of them what you will.

[larrymcg421]

Did you pick a skill for Mengele or anyone else yet? I usually like picking the shortest skill, unless it's Throw In, which I never pick. Mengele is young enough to maybe make it worthwhile to spend 2 years on Cannon Shot, but going with Slide Tackle would be the quickest way to make him more valuable for sale purposes.

The advantage of going with MF's for midfielders is that David and I can share some of those players.

My first time playing through, I always went up the 30%/70% specialization tree, but I've since learned that the skill tree is a much faster path to profitability. Once they hit a lvl 2 skill, they explode in value.

As for glory upgrades, I had great success with the defensive coach upgrades and still think thats the way to go because:

1) Defender attributes are still important at high levels, moreso than for the other positions.

2) We're running more defenders than any other position.

In my own personal run at hard mode, I've had success ignoring the scout upgrades and just buying the global lists whenever I needed someone.

[Brian Swartz]

I've got skills for all of them actually. With exception of the screw-up on Hirsch, I went with the quickest one for the reason you mention of having the option of selling them. Later on I imagine it'll be more important to be concerned with having specific skills for specific positions.

As far as the other stuff:

1). We aren't there yet

2) What you're talking about is a viable way that can be quite successful. I would counter though that it's just that: one viable way. There are others. I don't think it's necessarily the case that defender attributes are more important than those of other positions, for example; there's no law saying we have to play more defenders than other positions indefinitely; etc. We could still go that route of course, I'm just trying to keep options open for everybody when there's more than one way to skin the cat here.

[larrymcg421]

Oh I agree that there are multiple ways to go about it. I was just throwing my 2 cents in. Happy to go with the consensus.

[Brian Swartz]

2018/19 Winter Break Briefings

The next series of post will walk us through the info dump and required decisions for the transfer window. I think this will work best with a bunch of decisions being made at that time, in most cases enough to cover the next half-year, and then minimal contributions needed while I play out what happens as a result.

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

Valuation* -- 18.7k(+18.2k)
Star Ranking -- 0(--)
Classes -- 38(+38)
Levels -- 6(+5)
Skills -- 0(--)

* This is the total asset value of our club. It includes the investment made in the Stadium and Youth Academy(currently zilch) and the total value of all players, if they were sold at High interest at their current abilities. It was just over 500 euros at the beginning of the season, so the difference between the value of our players then and now is that now they have some.

Basically we've made major progress. We're almost as good as the rest of the league was at the starter of the season. We don't have any skills yet, but there hasn't been time and we're learning a bunch of them now.

Amateur League

Star Ranking -- 0.5(--)
Classes -- 45(+11)
Levels -- 13(+2)
Skills -- 5(+4)

The skill development is what is the most concerning here. We're now the only club in the league that doesn't have any, which is going to make our lives more difficult until we start getting some of that training finished up. In the other categories we've made significant headway.

Third League

Star Ranking -- 0.96(+0.08)
Classes -- 64(+5)
Levels -- 19(+2)
Skills -- 8(+3)

Modest gains across the board here.

https://i.imgur.com/FfBuVpp.png


So far Germany has not lived up to it's billing this season. It's not going to get any better, at least in 2018/19. There were two clubs who made it to the group stage of the European Cup; FC Bayern Munchen and RB Leipzig. Neither advanced to the knockout rounds. Leipzig had a postive goal differential but was too drawish, while Bayern just isn't as good as they are cracked up to be, sitting midtable in the Premier League. At this rate, they won't be playing in any continental competition next season.

I also noticed with bemusement that Chemnitzer FC, who knocked us out of the Prestige Cup, is actually sitting dead last in the Second League and was quickly knocked out in the next round. No Amateur League side got through the round of 32, though Rot-Weiss Essen was close; after identical 2-1 scores each way in their matchup they lost on penalties ... 10-9.

Club Resources

** Money -- 1,176
** Glory -- 4
** Stadium Capacity -- 100
** Fans -- 15

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

Here's where I'll put everything you need to know about your players, organized by coach.

https://i.imgur.com/D9M8G1p.png


https://i.imgur.com/HEGfPBn.png


Fetscher is our first youth pull, which will always come at the beginning of each transfer window. The rest are the guys we started with. Then the rest of the information, by coach. Here's an example:

G Komolong
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 9d, 114)
SL: GK(57/120), GK(forced)
Playing Time: Starter

The screenshots give age, attributes, birthdate, remaining contract, and value. Then this stuff here, to avoid putting a whole bunch more screens up, is:

** Interest from other clubs in buying the player. That'll let you know if they are at peak selling price or not, so you can gauge the actual value better.
** Attribute Focus so you can change what attribute is being focused on for level-ups.
** Training -- this gives whatever skill is being trained, how much time is left, and the last number there is the glory required to 'buy' it sooner.
** SL -- Specialization Level progress. I'm not going to put tiny random bits in there if somebody has 2 points of AM and they never play there or whatever, but their primary position and any others they have a significant amount in will be shown. Also, what the next SL upgrade is going to be. In this case there isn't a choice in the matter, but there will be soon.
** Playing Time -- This one needs explanation because it's not actually a game setting. Rather, it's a selection from a series of player 'roles' that I've come up with based on how we might want to use players, so I know who to play and how much.

Playing Time Roles

** Starter -- Plays any time we need to put our best foot forward.
** Rotation -- A position where multiple players may start, depending on what the best tactical situation is for matching up with the opponent.
** Emergency Backup -- A sub that we aren't trying to get more playing time in order to develop; he's just here to provide quality if a starter is injured, tired, suspended, etc. Most often a veteran player where the starter is better, but it might also just be a younger one being kept around in case of need.
** Regular Backup -- Unlike the Emergency Backup they'll be in the mix for regular playing time more often. Most common version of this is probably someone who is younger and not as good as the starter, being groomed for the future but not ready to be the man yet.
** Prospect -- A player who isn't good enough to contribute yet, but is young enough that there's the potential for that to happen. Prospects will play in garbage-time, blowout situations, or other cases when the result doesn't particularly matter(i.e., we've confirmed our place in the league table this season and we're just trying to develop players for the next year).
** Showcase -- A player we want to sell, but it's worth investing playing time in them enough to get interest maxed out. They'll play just enough to reach High Interest(or medium if you specify).
** Dead Weight -- We're waiting for the right time to sell this player. If there are any other options, they aren't going to see the pitch during a game. It's not worth taking playing time away from others to get their price up, we don't have any use for them and just want them gone.

By using these(any suggestions on them are welcomed, I'm hoping every possibility is covered here) it should be doable to have a relatively quick-n-dirty way to give instructions on how much to play various guys.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/U9MqmoS.png


Forgot to include this a couple posts up. Pretty clear what's going to happen here; at least Essen and Saarbrucken are going to promote. Three more in the middle, and then the drek at the bottom including us. Due to our win over them in the Cup, we actually surpassed Wattenscheid by a bit; their starters are at Level 6-7, ours at Level 7-8. We might have a chance at beating them or Offenbach now, but for the most part we'll have to use our newfound abilities to try and scrape together draws once in a while against the better teams. It's still a near-impossibility to conceive of us scoring on them for the time being.

[Brian Swartz]

PLAYER ASSIGNMENTS

I tried to do this as evenly and sensibly as possible. Feel free to switch or 'trade' guys among yourselves if you want to; I'll need the approval of both coaches involved to do that. Except for our youth pull I put everyone at Starter or Regular Backup but feel free to change all of that around. I'm going to need to know what Specialization Upgrade(for now that's just the position you want them trained in) for all players at a minimum here.

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

D Ortag
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Long Pass(7m 10d, 74)
SL: LD(17/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Abruscia
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(7m 23d, 78)
SL: RD(20/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Blank
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(53/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tiel
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(35/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tunjic
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(6/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Preiss
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Control
Training: None
SL: M(9/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

D Landeka
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Head Play(1y 1m 7d, 133)
SL: DM(16/120), ??
Playing Time: Starter

M Hirsch
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: Long Pass(2y 3m 2d, 271)
SL: CM(72/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

F Pfeiffer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Cannon Shot(11m 23d, 118)
SL: CF(59/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

F Mengele
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Slide Tackle(11m 9d, 114)
SL: CF(66/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Wachter
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(8/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

? Fetscher
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: None, ?
Playing Time: Prospect

? Muller D.
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(8/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

G Komolong
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 9d, 114)
SL: GK(57/120), GK(forced)
Playing Time: Starter

D Doringer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(8m 9d, 84)
SL: SW(37/120), ??
Playing Time: Starter

D Scepanik
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(10m 7d, 103)
SL: CD(14/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Schwarz
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 19d, 117)
SL: CD(47/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Jager
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Head Play(8m 23d, 88)
SL: CD(25/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Weibenfels
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: None
SL: D(5/70), G(2/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions & Priorities

A couple of ground rules. When it comes to managing your players(attributes, playing time, training, specialization), each coach has absolute authority. You can do whatever you want. Train that raw rookie in nothing but accuracy and throw him in goal for every Cup match? Play no midfielders in the middle so we have to kick off from the defensive line? Start three sweepers and nobody in front of them so we can have five forwards? Whatever idea comes into that head of yours, we can do - so long as you are willing to put up with the wrath of your fellow coaches if it backfires.

When it comes to spending the 'corporate' resources though, things will be a little more restricted. I'm open to suggestions on the guidelines, but for now:

** Anything that spends more than 25% of our glory or money must be approved by majority vote
** Same for selling a starter who hasn't reached their prime yet, extending a player past age 34, not selling a player who has reached that mandatory sell age.
** I'll automatically sell anyone you choose not to renew when their contract runs out. It's worth remembering that if you sell someone with a couple years left on their contract you get none of that investment back; if you just let their contract expire you get nothing from them either.


Extensions

We have three eligible players right now. All have 7 months left so we could wait until the next transfer window to do it. Player demands increase as their abilities and value grow, so if you know what you plan to do with them locking them in early is cheaper. On the other hand, waiting gives you more flexibility in case someone better comes along. It can also be a good idea to extend them just before they finish learning a skill, so you get the cheaper rate before the cost soars.

https://i.imgur.com/paX4ghX.png


https://i.imgur.com/ysx3Peb.png


https://i.imgur.com/eQ1Ee8i.png


Upgrades

We can't afford any, but the status of these will usually be updated in the transfer window. These fall under the mentioned 25% rule and will usually need majority approval.

https://i.imgur.com/sCrF9Od.png


Here's our personal transfer list. The global one gives additional players, and costs 37.5k. So we can forget about that for now. See anyone you like? If so, this is the time to buy them.

General Playing Time

This vote will tune the team overall in terms of how hard we want to push for results vs. developing the youth and depth.

** Best XI: Put our best team on the pitch every match. Every year will start out this way for the first handful of matches at least. Cup matches will also be handled in this manner. There comes a point in most seasons though where we need to decide what our realistic aims for the year. At that time we will consider changing this approach.

** Mixed: Top players will play the majority of the time, but reserves will be sprinkled in regularly in 'spot starter' roles to give a modest chance for them to develop while still trying to produce fairly strong results in competitive matches.

** Rotation: Playing time is shared roughly evenly between the top players and the developing ones(Rotation, Regular Backup, and Prospect roles) in an attempt to boost the depth and overall strength of the roster. This puts improving for the future ahead of current results.

I should mention here that there are times when even if you can promote to the next league up, it doesn't mean you should. Doing it too quickly will often mean a big losing streak, getting relegated back down ... and this time with the loss of a bunch of the fanbase and ticket sales. Going from Amateur to Third League is the biggest jump, with double the xp per match and 50% more of them, so effectively tripling how much we can improve. We'll want to do that as soon as possible, but it can still be a net negative if we aren't ready for it.

Ok then, time for me to step aside and all of you to take over. Fire away with what you want done; anytime between now and the middle of next week is plenty soon enough.

[DavidCorperial]

From what I'm familiar with on the game, 32 is the last real selling age so I'd say extend all 3 to 32 as much as you can and sell them at top value my them. I'd also absolutely buy Maslanka as at that price, age, and atributes he could be a good attacking minded midfielder.

[Brian Swartz]

Close. It's 33 actually for the last selling age.

[DavidCorperial]

I've heard that value drops heavily from ages 32 to 33, or am I misunderstanding on that?

[thehitcat]

I agree on extending Mengele and Ortag. I'd personally sell Preiss because to me he's deadweight and taking up space on the bench plus if we don't play him he won't be worth what we spent to extend him.

My vote on how we play currently is Rotational with maybe best XI for cup games where the XP is worth it. We need to get all these guys XP and skills so we can ship them out for a couple players that might be worth a damn.

As for the transfer list Zeitz looks like a hell of a DM at this level. If we could afford him (and we wanted to play a DM) I'd be interested.

[thehitcat]

Other thoughts, we're currently training Doringer as a Sweeper. I've liked and used Sweepers in a couple of playthroughs that said having a sweeper means that you don't have an offside line and specifically for DavidCorperial if we use a Sweeper and two CD/DF in the box unless we stick with 5+ defenders which I know larrymcg421 did to great effect but I never have, he loses one of his two LD/RD fullback options...I guess for now we keep training him there but then make the decision when he'd pick a class. But I'd like to hear from everyone on what they would like on D.

[thehitcat]

Finally far be it for me to turn down the Defense coach as it would help my players first and most but I prefer to start by maxing out my bench coach so that all of the players whether they play or not are getting XP as though they did play. I feel like this along with a Rotational strategy, at first, really helps you bring the entire team forward. Also I believe that the Bench coach is the quickest to max (least amout of glory.) When it comes to transfer lists if I use them I prefer to extend the age of the players available over extending the length of the list. For the most part I'd rather buy 22 year old guys that need some seasoning over 28 year old players I need to sell in 4 seasons.

[Brian Swartz]

I've heard that value drops heavily from ages 32 to 33, or am I misunderstanding on that?

You aren't wrong, but it starts before that. It drops every single year, regardless. It's more and more of an issue the better a player is, and less of one for low-level players like ours. Example: Schwarz(32) and Jager(28) are both level 7 Defenders. Schwarz is worth 1350, Jager 1700 right now with both at High interest. Age is the difference there. Right now though, any player who plays regularly is going to gain enough value to outpace the age decline. That won't be the case once we start getting players up to, say, level 25-30 or so. Sometime around then value starts peaking earlier unless they are getting more skills or something. The better they get, the earlier their value peaks.

We absolutely can still stop at 32 if you want, I'm just trying to explain the mechanic.

I believe that the Bench coach is the quickest to max (least amout of glory.)

They're all the same price. 15 Glory for the first upgrade, and we have 4 right now. Hopefully we'll have to decide this in the next window.

Current Transactions

** Preiss is David Corperial's player so if he wants him extended, that being as cheap as it is, that's what's going to happen. If we're going to sell him at 32, that'd be the 1-year deal for 15 euros

** Maslanka signing is the same way, cheap enough not to need everyone's vote.

** We don't have nearly enough money to do everything else. 1767 to start and it's 1040 to sign Zeitz, 896 for the max extension on Mengele, 528 for a 2-year deal with Ortag. Combind with Preiss and Maslanka that's 2636, 869 more than we have. So we'll need to decide whether it's worth waiting on one of the extensions, selling a player, whatever but not all of those things can happen at once right now.

[thehitcat]

Training updates for a couple of the defenders.

Please move the following 3 players Skill Focus from Defense to Control.
Doringer, Jager and Weibenfels. I'd like to get them all into double digits in Control before swapping back over to Defense.

[thehitcat]

What does everyone think about selling Landeka and then turning most of that fee into Zeitz. Here are their key attributes and age.

Pos Name Acc Pas Def Ctl Lvl Age Skill Value Interest Focus Specialization Lvl
D Landeka 4 12 18 4 7 27 Head Play(1y 1m 7d, 133) 1190 Avg Def DM 16/120
? Zeitz 5 12 11 16 9 26 None 1070 ? ? None

We'd actually come out 120 ahead and it would mean we'd have the money we needed for all three extensions and Maslanka 1596 Euros from our current balance plus 120.

I'll let everyone weigh in

[larrymcg421]

I agree with the above suggestion. Zeitz looks very promising and a DM at this level is pretty powerful since MF/CM's at this level are not very good at the lofted pass.

I like the rotational style until we get everyone training a skill. Once that happens, I think we should stick with our best XI.

[Brian Swartz]

Ok then good stuff. That takes care of most of it. I don't yet know what we want done with the Specialization Upgrades(SL). Other than Zeitz, after we buy him, I don't know what we want in terms of what position to train everyone into. I.e., DF/CD/RD/LD for the defenders, do we want all of the midfielders to go MF, FW/CF for the forwards, is Doringer going to be SW or not, what DavidCorperial wants to do with his wing guys(LM/RM, RF/LF).

[thehitcat]

Right forgot to say that in my training bit about the defenders. Keep training their specialization the way we are now. When Jager and Schwarz are ready to choose make them both CDs, and Scepanik should be a DF. I'll hold off on Weibenfels until he becomes at least a D (or in case of an injury to Komolong a G) and then gets a Skill started and we'll wait on Doringer to hear if DavidCorperial and larrymcg421 want to play with a sweeper, if yes he becomes and SW if no he becomes a DF like Scepanik. None of these things should hold us up until we have to choose for Doringer.

[DavidCorperial]

I'm fine with either position so I'll defer.

[larrymcg421]

Mengele - CF. He's a terrible accuracy, so we might as well give him one level of head play talent to be useful there.
Pfeiffer - FW.
Wachter - FW, but I'm not sure it's worth it to get him trained up, unless Mengele or Pfeiffer are tired.
Fetscher - MF
Muller - MF

[Brian Swartz]

Any preference on Hirsch?

[larrymcg421]

Right forgot to say that in my training bit about the defenders. Keep training their specialization the way we are now. When Jager and Schwarz are ready to choose make them both CDs, and Scepanik should be a DF. I'll hold off on Weibenfels until he becomes at least a D (or in case of an injury to Komolong a G) and then gets a Skill started and we'll wait on Doringer to hear if DavidCorperial and larrymcg421 want to play with a sweeper, if yes he becomes and SW if no he becomes a DF like Scepanik. None of these things should hold us up until we have to choose for Doringer.

I've usually played a flat back 5 without a Sweeper because it limits AI movement and makes it harder to get a one on one with the Keeper. But I've also had issues stopping Cannon Shot, which the Sweeper is very effective against. Since your the defensive coach, I'm fine with whatever you think is best.

[Brian Swartz]

I started off working on a Sweeper because if we get a decent one it makes teams work a little harder than 'just shoot through the whole defense'. Even if our line gets disrupted, a shot has to get through both sweeper and keeper to score. Also Cannon Shot as mentioned. Once we get to the point where that's not regularly happening anymore though, I definitely think it's a case where as larry mentioned, it's all up to what you want to make yourself vulnerable to. Nothing's perfect. People recommend all kinds of weird things like just stacking 6 CDs in the box so nobody can use nutmeg, rainbow feint, or headers. Even then though, it only leaves four players for midfield/forwards and high-accuracy forwards or penalties from wing forwards breaking in.

So yeah, definitely whatever our defensive coach wants there.

[thehitcat]

I like the sweeper for low levels for the reasons Brian and larrymcg421 lay out above. One more man to get in front of the shot. By the time we're getting in youth that are all RD/LD Doringer will most likely have aged out and we can have a discussion about wingbacks vs. depth in defense vs. high line etc. So let's keep training him on the way back line as an SW.

[Brian Swartz]

I'll keep this open for a couple more days unless we're all set before then; let's call it Thursday night. What's left:

** Position training for Hirsch
** Position training for DavidCorperial's subs
** Any other changes people might wish to make, it looks like we're set on the transactions and team PT approach.

[DavidCorperial]

Tiel as a FW, Blank as a WM either side is fine, Preiss as a AM, and Tunjic as a MF

[larrymcg421]

MF for Hirsch.

[Brian Swartz]

Ok then we're set! Thanks everybody. We'll streamline the process as we go, and it's also one of those things where it'll get easier as we get the roster formed up more and more. There'll be pretty frequent 'interruptions' right now for picking skills and whatnot. I also wanted to say that I'm excited about where this goes, as the lot of you have made some decisions already that are definitely not what I would have done. Of course, that's a big part of the fun.

Transactions

** 3-year extension for F Mengele; 896
** 2-year extension for D Ortag: 528
** 1-year extension for Preiss: 15
** D Landeka is sold for 1190, to Wattenscheid. That's not a surprise; they buy players based on need and they're the club is most need of our drek. I'm going to measure the careers of players in two dimensions: profitability and achievement. We spent nothing on Landeka and he played in all 11 matches, with 1 tackle. He was one of the defenders who played more a positioning, supporting role than doing things to get himself in the stats. But he is the first to leave the club. Anytime someone does, they deserve to be honored with this:

https://i.imgur.com/wyQsiAo.png


https://i.imgur.com/1rCLufj.png


Looks kinda sad, but he always looks that way. I'll try to keep up with our former charges from time to time and see how they're getting on with their new clubs. But the Stuttgarter Kickers are moving on from this guy.

** ? Maslanka signed for 157
** ? Zietz signed for 1040

That leaves a balance of 321 euros. DavidCorperial, I could use a position for Maslanka when you're ready. I'll make him an amateur mid for now since it seems obvious to put him somewhere in that area. Zeitz is going for DM as everyone discussed. The new transfer list:

https://i.imgur.com/VupTQK4.png


Both players were replaced with guys we can't afford(unless we wanted to sell someone else of course). We had 18 players to start the year; now we have 20, with 3 in and 1 out. Here's the latest team photo as we start the second half of the 2018/19 season:

https://i.imgur.com/zlwA3zz.png

[DavidCorperial]

Maslanka looks like an AM to be, unless someone sees something different.

[thehitcat]

Works for me! Ready to get the new season started with our Sky Blues :)

[Brian Swartz]

New Alignment

Per the voting, we're going with a rotation approach to develop the entire roster including the bench, until the backups get an amateur position so they can train up a skill, or until the end of the year, whichever comes first. In order to do this, I had to shift to 'only' running 5 defenders. We don't have a backup keeper so Komolong is always going to be playing, and only one reserve defender. Even by keeping an extra one out, they'll still get more playing time than the positions further upfield.

We'll end up with a 5-3-2 sometimes, and a 5-4-1 at others, to spread things out.

2.3.2019 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-6, 8th) vs. Kickers Offenbach(1-1-5, 6th)

The schedule is the exact opposite of the first half of the year, so we'll begin with consecutive home matches against the weakest competition. If we're going to get any results at all, it's probably going to be now.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Weibenfels
M Blank/Tunjic/Muller D/Zeitz
F Mengele

Mengele could make no progress against their 5-across defensive line. Offenbach deployed three forwards, two of whom actually deserved the name. Most of the first-half action was in midfield, and they got off one shot which Schwarz deflected away. His awareness came in handy at the second-half kickoff, when raw Weibenfels was beaten by one of their attackers -- another blocked shot to the credit of the man handling the center of our line resulted. Then Muller D successfully held the ball for quite some while, and they were unable to extract it.

We were outshot 2-0, 52-48 in possession although we did better in the second half. Tackles were even at 3-all. Fans would leave wondering when the actual match was going to start, since they spent an hour and a half watching almost nothing happen ... but any non-loss is tantamount to a victory for us.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, Kickers Offenbach 0

*** Muller D.
** Zeitz
* Schwarz

Levels to Ortag(8), Schwarz(8), Blank(5), Muller D(3), and Tunjic(2)

Balance: 419(+107)
Glory: 4(--)
Fans: 15(--)


2.10.2019 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-6, 8th) vs. SG Wattenscheid 09(1-1-6, 7th)

The only team we've beaten(Prestige Cup), and they're actually worse than us in goal differential, but they are still ahead in the league to due a lucky 1-0 win early in the year against(I think) Offenbach ... the only league goal either of us has scored. As before, the chances are high that those numbers don't increase.

G Komolong
D Abruscia/Doringer/Schwarz/Jager/Weibenfels
M Preiss/Hirsch/Fetscher
F Tiel/Pfeiffer

We tried to attack the recently-departed Landeka, weak link in their defense, but he quickly dispossessed Pfeiffer. Then a failed tackle by Hirsch required Schwarz to make yet another interception of a shot attempt. He's having quite a stretch here! Then at the end of the first half, Tiel is fouled by their defense and we get a free kick attempt by Pfeiffer:

https://i.imgur.com/AoGIEVg.png


It's hard to defend all possibilities from this distance, so they are spread out which makes this nearly a coin-flip proposition. It was close, but he puts the kick past everyone and under the crossbar(the keeper wasn't quite good enough to get there). Our second goal, both by the same player against the same team, and first tally in the Amateur league! Maslanka comes on for Hirsch, who has been kept very busy in midfield, at the half.

Doringer isn't a full sweeper yet but he blocks a shot early in the second half. Then Jager gets in on the act later. Their attackers are just as inept as ours, and lack my brilliant managing leadership. After that, a whole lot of nothing happens.

https://i.imgur.com/ZMeyVEs.png


I know we beat these guys not long ago already, but it's still our first league victory and worth remembering for that reason. That foul late in the first half giving us the opening is the reason why. They beat us on everything ... except the scoreboard itself.

*** Pfeiffer
** Hirsch
* Schwarz

Level-ups for Pfeiffer(9), Doringer(8), Jager(8), Weibenfels(3), Tiel(3), Maslanka(3), Fetscher(2), and Preiss(2).

Balance: 580(+152) -- We get the extra 45 for the win again from the sponsors.
Glory: 5(+1)
Fans: 15(--)

We're out of last place now, but the last five matches of the year will once again be against decidedly superior opposition.

[thehitcat]

:banana: :banana: WOOT!! WINNING !! :banana: :banana:

[Brian Swartz]

2.17.19 1. FC Saarbrucken(7-1-1, 2nd) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-2-6, 7th)

Saarbrucken is the stingiest team in the amateur ranks with only four goals surrendered. Only RWE has scored more than they have. And they flattened us 3-0 on our rented patch of grass in the first meeting, the start of a four-match stretch in which we would lose by at least two goals each time out, 12-0 overall. A reasonable goal here then is merely to make things closer.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Doringer/Scepanik/Weibenfels
M Tunjic/Maslanska/Hirsch/Fetscher
F Wachter

Obviously not going to score with this lineup, but that would be the case no matter who we ran out there. They waltzed right into our defense after the opening kickoff, and FW Schmidt, their best, blasted a shot past Doringer and Komolong. Barely, but still a bit depressing. Loss guaranteed before we touch the ball. It did get better though, as Scepanik blocked a second attempt on which they didn't have time to get into closer range. Two tries from distance in the second half were intercepted as well.

1. FC Saarbrucken 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

That is better. Not good, but better. Outshot 4-0 and tackled 6-1.

Levels for Komolong(8) and Wachter(2) -- he saw a lot of action as the only guy up front.

*** Tunjic
** Doringer
* Scepanik

Balance: 612(+32)
Glory: 5(--)
Fans: 15(--)

Also, Offenbach beat Wattenscheid 2-1, getting revenge for the earlier defeat. That basically means it's very likely we end the season 7th, unless we manage to steal another win somewhere and I'm not holding my breath for that.

2.24.2019 Stuttgarter Kickers(1-2-7, 7th) vs. TSV Halvese(4-1-5, 4th)

This is one we just might have a small chance of scoring in, but the only guy who can really do it is Pfeiffer. Halvese has a slightly negative goal differential, but they have a fairly threatening attack to us on paper, deploying three forwards with accuracy in the 30s for this encounter. 2-0 was the score last time.

https://i.imgur.com/b6HY41h.png


Here's a simple but important pre-match tactic opportunity. Startsev is their best defender, and they're playing a fairly aggressive 4-3-3. Combining those two facts, I position Pfeiffer on the other side so he can flank their line and get a shot from decent range where only their weaker defenders and unimpressive keeper can intercept it.

https://i.imgur.com/3VUbEhe.png


As you can see here, the odds are still quite low; they have three guys moving to intercept and they pool their abilities. It's at -40%(precision shot is 20%, having to move to intercept another 20%) but with a trio of them it's still probably more than enough. But there's a chance ...

They easily make the play, and then Zeitz misses a tossup tackle in midfield, with Komolong throwing in an utter crap effort on a shot he should have stopped shortly afterwards. On the ensuing kickoff though, Pfeiffer gets just as lucky if not moreso; he rolls a 16, defenders and keeper each get a 15, and we tie it up! First match we've had with both teams scoring. Unfortunately they march back down and score again. Scepanik blocks a longer-range attempt before the half, but their forwards just shoot too well for our defense right now.

Doringer blocks a weaker try to start the second, then against all odds Muller D retains possession in midfield. We still need another lucky strike to get even again though, and that doesn't happen for us.

https://i.imgur.com/D5Smxgk.png


Even though we lost, this was definitely the most interesting match we've had so far for my money. There was basically a 'puncher's chance' here; no question their superior finishing made them the better team(their slide-tackling midfielder was also a pain), but there were things we could try to give ourselves an opportunity for fortune to smile down on us. Didn't work out, but it's still a heck of a lot better than the usual 'how many goals will we lose by' deal.

Levels for Abruscia(8) and Preiss(3).

*** Muller D
** Pfeiffer
* Zeitz(did have a successful tackle later in the match)

Balance: 719(+107)
Glory: 5(--)
Fans: 15(--)

The transfer window closed a few days after this match. Nobody's gone on sale and nobody's bought any of those players to make new ones pop up, we don't have any contracts to extend so there was nothing to do here.

https://i.imgur.com/C7q8vcM.png


Nobody else made any changes. We're either tilting at windmills, throwing euros around in a foohardy attempt to gain traction -- or else we're the visionary brainchild in the early stages of building a powerhouse that will eventually escape this lowly rec league.

[Brian Swartz]

3.3.2019 Rot-Weiss Essen(9-1-1, 1st) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-2-8, 7th)

RWE as I'm calling them for short is the best team in the league and headed for promotion and probably the title. Their players aren't as high-level as Saarbrucken's are, but they make up for it with more skills. As a result, they lead the Amateur ranks in goals scored and it isn't close; better than two per match. We're going to lose, and we're not going to enjoy it. 4-0 last time.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Doringer/Scepanik/Weibenfels
M Blank/Maslanka/Hirsch
F Tiel/Mengele

Komolong got us off to a good start by saving their first attempt. He's been overdue, and nearly let it in. Doringer made a tackle on their wing forward shortly afterwards, so he took it back and lofted a cross that was headed easily in for the score past Komolong. Only so much we can do. At the end of the half, another save on a long-range power shot, and as they usually do this one went out for a corner kick -- our first look at those.

https://i.imgur.com/0gQZ0PQ.png


They've moved two forwards into the box to try and receive the pass. This is the most basic, typical setup although they can do other things as well. This is one of those places where control is crucial. We have three actions to counter this, usually by having defenders contest them for those spaces.

https://i.imgur.com/sD8AUpf.png


The closest guy is the most important usually, because even if I don't get the other one out of the way(highly likely here), if I can get rid of the closer one than it gives me another player to try and intercept the pass. Now the fight for position ensues(each defender rolls seperately),

https://i.imgur.com/Pu1kNgh.png


We fail completely, as expected. The defender closest to the guy taking the corner for RWE is Scepanik; I positioned him there in case of this eventuality. The pass now has to go through him ... which it does. But hey, I tried. Nothing has gone right and they're almost certain to score ... but the attempt is very poorly struck(14 on a max of 40, so the minimum was 13 ... hideously bad roll) and another save for Komolong. That was sheer dumb luck and nothing else.

To start the second half, they take it the entire length of the pitch, aided by their Long Pass SW, and blast one through from long range. I suppose we deserved that. That means more practice for Tiel in bouncing power shots off their defenders. They don't execute as well after that, with Hirsch making a midfield tackle and Mengele intercepting a pass attempt. He even gets off a shot that technically had a chance to score ... if everything literally went perfectly. Naturally it didn't, but they don't threaten again.

Rot-Weiss Essen 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Half of what they scored last time.

Levels for Hirsch(9) and Mengele(8)

*** Mengele
** Hirsch
* Komolong

Komolong reaches his next SL: he's the first to get to Level 2, and is now a full GK! That means a 50% boost to control and defence while in goal, up from 10% before. He actually knows what the heck he is doing out there on the pitch, and can make the most of his technical abilities. Wonders never cease.

https://i.imgur.com/8yGE0rO.png


This thing happens whenever you fully specialize a player in their position(SL 2). It's called a group bonus, which gives some extra xp to level up; he skips 9 entirely and is now at 10!

https://i.imgur.com/Fh5JgLl.png


It's also time to take a closer look at this, and decide what he's going for next. With specialists there is also a Utility section to crosstrain to an other position, but universalists including keepers don't get that option. He will never gain specialization xp in anything other than GK now. Options here:

** Talent -- The next tree to the right is Talent, and the top one there will allow him to train his first skill up to Level 3(right now it's capped at 1). The other three upgrades in the Talent section can't be accessed yet, you have to follow the path indicated by the connecting lines.
Further options here include a second skill and reducing the time to learn them.

** Dedication -- The tree on the right. We can choose to get 30% more XP from each match; this is particularly good for young players or those we want to keep around for a while in general as they'll improve faster. Alternatively, there is the choice for 2 Attribute Points in Focus. With that, only one point will be assigned according to fate at each level-up; right now it's 1 determined by focus and 2 by fate so this gives a lot more control over how a player develops.

** Fan Favorite -- This tree, below Specialist, is for those times when perhaps we might consider it to be more important for a player to be marketable than it is to make them better on the field. We can select 0.5% fan increase after each match they play in(regardless of the score), or a 5% increase in sponsor payouts, which only takes effect at the start of a new season. Further options increase the player's sale value.

? Blank also gets a SL upgrade; he's now an amateur midfielder(M).

** Balance: 751(+32)
** Glory: 5(--)
** Fans: 15(--)

There are only two matches left in the season, but we must pause here for at least one decision to be made.

[Brian Swartz]

Coach DavidCorperial, consider yourself pinged.

You are hereby informed that a player in your charge, M Blank, is now eligible for skill training. His options:

https://i.imgur.com/x0cYSaV.png


** Throwing In is generally considered the least useful skill. It has it's value though; increasing the distance you can throw in from the touchline. The ball will go out of play there once in a while, although it's not super-common, as wing play for counterattacks and whatnot increases, which it will in coming years. A player with Throwing In adds tactical flexibility in these circumstances.

** Rainbow Feint allows you to lob the ball over a player's head and catch it 'behind them' -- actually right where they are, but you get by them and they switch places with you. This is most often useful for penetrating the defensive line as a forward, or scoring against a keeper. It is countered by the Reaction skill which can render it useless but it might be the single most powerful scoring ability for low-level teams.

** Olympic Kick is used only on corners, but allows OP ability to score directly from them instead of passing to another player. It's countered by Playing Out, a keeper skill, or defenders properly positioned with Head Play. If an opponent doesn't have those though, it can make corners devastating.

If you get a second skill in the future for Blank, it will be chosen whatever one you don't choose here.

DavidCorperial, you are now on the clock and Stuttgarter awaits your decision on your player's training. thehitcat, you can hold forth on the next SL for Komolong whenever you like -- anytime between now and the end of the next transfer window is fine as it'll take him quite some while to reach it.

[DavidCorperial]

Let's go with Rainbow Feint

[thehitcat]

Komolong will train in Talent when we get to that point :)

[Brian Swartz]

3.10.2019 Stuttgarter Kickers(1-2-9, 8th) vs. Alemannia Aachen(4-2-6, 5th)

Based on our 4-0 loss in the first meeting, equaling our worst of the year, you'd think we'd want to park the bus here. However, they're in a 4-3-3 and it's similar to the Talvese match -- we could potentially have a small chance of scoring. The finale will be against Schweinfurt, who has a much better keeper, so this is the one to go for a result in.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Absruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager
M Tunjic/Fetscher
F Pfeiffer/Wachter/Tiel

Their sweeper, Pluntke was actually a bigger threat than their keeper. He blocked Pfeiffer's first attempt, shortly after the opening kickoff. One of their midfielders used the Nutmeg skill to poke the ball through our legs, then tried a long-range shot that had no chance. At the end the half, a long-range shot went through three defenders, and Komolong could only knock it out for a corner. We got one of their forwards out of the box ... but they passed it through us to the other one, Mickel. None of them are as accurate as the RWE guys though, and Komolong made the save.

Doringer got in the way of their first shot in the second half, and we were looking good for a possible draw. Another try a while later nearly got by Komolong, and then Doringer had to stop their final desperate try from long distance.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, Alemannia Aachen 0

This is a huge improvement from the rout in the first meeting, and the best team we've yet managed to keep from scoring.

Levels -- Scepanik(8), Tunjic(3), Fetscher(3)

*** Komolong -- Three saves here. He's starting to rack them up.
** Tunjic
* Doringer

Balance: 858(+107)
Glory: 9(+4) -- all from the 'Strong Opponent's bonus', for which we have to at least draw. The more highly-rated the opponent is, the better we do here; AA is at 0.5 stars.
Fans: 15(--)

3.17.2019 1. FC Schweinfurt 05(9-3-1, 3rd) vs Stuttgarter Kickers(1-3-9, 8th)

Saarbrucken hasn't done as well lately; Schweinfurt now leads the Amateur ranks with only five concessions all year. We're last in scoring. You do the math. They've long since clinched promotion so they're just playing to get 2nd and the additional rewards that go with that(money, glory). We're going to finish last unless we win(hahaha). So I'm looking for another draw if we can get it, keep it close if we can't.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Doringer/Schwarz/Jager
M Preiss/Muller D/Zeitz/Hirsch
F Mengele

It was rainy for this one, which in general should favor us. Who knows, maybe we can them to foul us but it'll at least make it a bit tougher for them to advance the ball. Doringer got an interception right off the bat as we shifted the defense away from the weakest of their three forwards, and they took the bait. Then their top scorer Bodenheimer, who scored the lone tally in our earlier meeting, beat Abruscia on the right wing to set up a cannon shot. Thankfully he misfired on the attempt. They just kept after it though. A second similar try was out for a corner, but Abruscia did something intelligent, intercepting a weak pass into the box to thwart that threat. Jager got into the act with a deflection to end a very busy half. Bodenheimer was gassed by this point, and I hoped we'd been careful enough to weather the storm.

Maslanka came on for Hirsch just to equalize playing time between the two. Mengele tried a pipe-dream of an angled shot that was easily gobbeld up by their keeper, and the defensive efforts continued. Muller D pressed them into inactivity for a while on the right midfield wing, and then they missed another, fatigued cannon shot. One final attempt went no better for them, merely adding to Komolong's save count which is rising dramatically.

1. FC Schweinfurt 05 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Another impressive draw. The fans won't think so, but it really was a job well done given the talent gap. They had us under pressure for most of the game but we didn't crack. 6-1 in shots, 25-75 in possession.

Nobody leveled up :(

*** Komolong - obvious choice is obvious.
** Doringer - A couple blocks and passes in the box.
* Abruscia - main contribution was failing to defend Bodenheimer's dribbles repeatedly, but there was that one key interception

Doringer is now a full sweeper! He'll move with the ball(getting free specialization points every time he does) and make getting those cannon shots and long-range power shots through a lot more difficult. He's up to level 10 now.

Muller D is now an amateur midfielder! That means I'll need a skill pick for him before ending the season.

Balance: 890(+32)
Glory: 13(+4) - strong opponent bonus just as before. Starting to punch above our weight now.
Fans: 15(--)

Next up, we'll traverse the spring in silence aside from gleaning whatever rewards we've earned this year(heh), and get set for a new year. In other words, it's time for all of you to earn your positions and non-pay while I go to the corner and mumble to myself.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/LoFvjrr.png


larrymcg421, this one's for you! As soon as you pick a skill here, I'll start working on the end-of-season stuff.

[thehitcat]

2 pts in our last two games is a good total considering our team full of plumbers and dentists. Nice job navigating the end of the season.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks! Here's hoping it carries over into next year.

[larrymcg421]

Rainbow Feint

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/56OWgJO.png


A harsh but accurate assessment.

https://i.imgur.com/lvihqRo.png


We get a bit of glory here for players ranking in the Top 10 in the league in key statistics. Not much of it, as you can see. Tackles, Goals, and Assists tend to go to the better teams, Saves to the worst ones as the good teams tend not to give up a lot of shots that reach the goal. Over half of Komolong's saves came in those final two matches.

https://i.imgur.com/YmpHbis.png


Then we need to select a sponsor. I can't put this up to a vote, because there's no way to save from this screen. If I exit out of the game, when I come back in there will just be a different random selection. So you can all yell at me if you don't like what I pick, and I'll try to keep the thoughts in mind for the next year.

Here I'm going with Captain Willy. A bit of guaranteed money -- I don't see us making many of the other objectives. As you might imagine, sponsor money increases drastically as you move up the pyramid. This deal is very similar to what we had last year(32 per match, 45 per victory). Unless we think we can score a lot or win the league(let me have some of what you're smoking, if you think so) this will be the best deal for us.

[Brian Swartz]

By the way, I forgot to take a shot of the final standings but we did much better in the second half as noted. 0-1-6, 0 scored and 16 allowed compared to 1-3-3, 2 scored and 5 allowed. Our 4 draws tied for the most in the Amateur ranks. So Stuttgarter sucked … but we certainly improved as the year progressed.

[Brian Swartz]

2019/20 Offseason

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

Valuation - 27.4k(+8.7k)
Star Ranking - 0(--)
Classes - 45(+7)
Levels - 7(+1)
Skills - 0(--)

We don't have any skills yet, though by winter break some of our current players will finally get there. The financial value of our roster continues to rise though we have no facility improvements yet, and and the general ineptitude is steadily being addressed though again progress was slower in the second half of the year for sure. No Cup matches, and the fact that the more you gain, the longer it takes to make further improvements are the main culprits there.

Amateur League

Star Ranking - 0.43(-0.07)
Classes - 64(+19)
Levels - 12(-1)
Skills - 7(+2)

Some of the clubs lost some star ranking over the end-season flip. Not sure what that's about ... I'm not totally firm on how that's calculated. In any case, almost half of our opponents are new ones as three promote to and three relegate from Third League.

A mixed bag overall but in general the level of competition continues to improve, and we definitely have not caught up with it yet.

Third League

Star Ranking - 1.13(+.17)
Classes - 86(+21)
Levels - 19(--)
Skills - 11(+3)

Fairly similar progression has been seen here. Almost all the teams nearly have a full roster of class-specialized players. Skills run the gamut on the other hand, with some teams having very few and others having multiple players with two or even three levels in one of them. Looking at the teams that promoted, I think Schweinfurt goes right back down, while Rot-Weiss Essen should stay up. By most measures they are actually above-average even for the Third League, but they are weak at keeper and defense so they could give up some cheap goals. Saarbrucken could go either way really.

https://i.imgur.com/X3XJbhA.png


Top three are the new competition for us. Do try to curb your shock that we are still slated last.

https://i.imgur.com/9NyKpyS.png


We didn't get to see how things ended up last year, since the Amateur season was so short. Still had a couple of German teams going in the EFA, the secondary continental cup. And Bayern had bounced back from a bad start and was third in the PL, so they seemed to have figured things out. Leipzig is ranked above them right now though, which comports with them doing the best of any German side in international competition. Spain was clearly the deepest nation last year, while Germany tied for 8th with France in terms of results. Wasn't enough to drop us in the European rankings yet, but clearly we're hoping that's not a sign of things to come.

Club Resources

** Balance - 890(-286)
** Glory - 16(+12)
** Fans - 15(--)
** Stadium Capacity - 100(--)

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

https://i.imgur.com/GA3TmW4.png


https://i.imgur.com/LxTxepb.png


Jedin is our new youth. Due to his accuracy he's assigned to larrymcg421 for some manner of future forward duty, unless the coaching staff would prefer something else be done.

Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

D Ortag
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Long Pass(2m 12d, 24)
SL: LD(44/120), LD?
Playing Time: Starter

D Abruscia
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(2m 25d, 29)
SL: RD(69/120), RD?
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: Rainbow Feint(1y 7m 3d, 191)
SL: None, WM(either side)
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tiel
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(64/70), FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tunjic
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(47/70), MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Preiss
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Control
Training: None
SL: M(29/70), AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Maslanka
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(41/70), AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

M Hirsch
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: Long Pass(1y 10m 4d, 222)
SL: CM(117/120), DM(16/120), MF
Playing Time: Starter

F Pfeiffer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Cannon Shot(6m 25d, 69)
SL: CF(99/120), FW
Playing Time: Starter

F Mengele
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Slide Tackle(6m 11d, 64)
SL: CF(114/120), CF
Playing Time: Starter

? Wachter
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(41/70), FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

? Fetscher
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(50/70), MF
Playing Time: Prospect

M Muller D.
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: None, MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Zeitz
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: None
SL: M(63/70), DM
Playing Time: Starter

? Jedin
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: None, F, ??
Playing Time: Prospect


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

G Komolong
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(6m 11d, 64)
SL: GK(68/170), Talent
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(3m 11d, 34)
SL: NA, ??
Playing Time: Starter

D Scepanik
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(5m 9d, 54)
SL: CD(66/120), DF
Playing Time: Starter

D Schwarz
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(6m 21d, 68)
SL: CD(93/120), CD
Playing Time: Starter

D Jager
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Control until it reaches 10, then Defense
Training: Head Play(3m 25d, 39)
SL: CD(54/120), CD
Playing Time: Starter

? Weibenfels
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: None
SL: D(34/70), D
Playing Time: Regular Backup

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/7KvRagl.png


Don't know why I didn't do this before. Serves as a place though to point out the 'Utility Player' tree. Doringer can never be a universalist(i.e., DF), but he could be trained in another specialist role such as CD, LD, RD, or even a forward or whatever if you wanted to. There's three slots for such utility spots, or you can pick any of the others instead. So ihatenames, we'll need a selection here.

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions

This is going to get complicated and a bit troublesome now. We don't have a lot of cash, but we have a bunch of players eligible for extensions. Half of the current roster, in fact. Agreement between the coaching staff is going to be really necessary here. Two things I would remiss if I didn't mention again:

** We don't have to extend any of these players; we can punt on that choice for one more transfer window.

** A number of players are currently finishing up skill training. They'll be worth a lot more to sell when that's done ... but will also be a lot more expensive to extend.

Contract Extensions

Rather than posts screens for all of them, I'll list them and the price for extending 1, 2, or 3 years.

** GK Komolong - 338, 777, 1317
** SW Doringer - same as Komolong. Note that age doesn't affect the price of contracts, just what we'd get for selling them.
** D Scepanik - 266, 612, 1037
** D Schwarz - same as Scepanik
** D Jager - same also
** ? Zeitz - 302, 695, 1176
** M Hirsch - same as Zeitz
** F Pfeiffer - same also
** M Blank - 159, 366, 621
** ? Maslanka - 87, 201, 341
** ? Fetscher - same as Maslanka

That's ... a lot of contract decisions to make and juggle. But wait, there's more ...

https://i.imgur.com/jNfa1jZ.png


We can buy any of these players if we want as well.

https://i.imgur.com/yQJk2pK.png


We have just enough glory(+1) to convince another coach or scout to join us, or we could save it for other purposes. Remember the price of all of these will go up if we purchase one, not just the selected category. The stadium/youth ones are not listed because even if we did a fire sale, we still couldn't afford them(the game won't let you sell players below the minimum 11 to field a team).

General Playing Time

Right now we're going with Rotation until players get their amateur class and can train a skill. It's undecided what we'll do after that, with Best XI for Cup matches. We can change this approach, or leave it be.

Stuttgarter Coaches, you must now discuss what to do with all of this heading into the new season. Don't forget to check the listed roles for your players and make any adjustments you deem appropriate. The financial decisions in particular that are made in the next year or two will shape the club for many seasons to come. What say you all?

[DavidCorperial]

At this point, I would say don't sell any players until they finish their skill, as no one expires prior to the winter window, no decisions are needed on player sales. We should absolutely buy a coach, either bench or defenders in my opinion. My players are still good for now.

[thehitcat]

I agree with DavidCorperial that we shouldn't sell anyone yet while we are building toward skills. I agree we should buy a coach and I agree with DC again that it doesn't matter to me if its Defense or Bench. I'll let larrymcg421 weigh in if he has an obvious preference or if not we'll rely on you oh fearless leader. :)

As for extensions I have a question for those of you who have spent more time studying this than I, do player extensions get more expensive once they have a skill? If so we should extend as many players as possible in this window (even sniping one or two right before the window closes if the money comes in from a a home match or even gasp a win or two.) I'll vote to extend Komolong for a season (no backup) and Doringer who is still relatively young and is probably along with D. Muller our most valuable field player at present. I'd also vote to extend last year's youth Fetscher for as long as possible. The youth pulls are the guys who will be worth something so long as we give them playing time and build talent.

I don't see anyone on the transfer list that I'm overly enamored of. I guess if we had alot of leftover cash, we don't, I'd see what I could make out of Schulte or Weidlich who are young enough to train into a more valuable asset but do we have the time to get them the work they need? I don't see it. We'll sell and buy a little more in December as we'll have some guys we don't extend who are worth a bit more than the damn all they are at present.

I like keeping the playing time with Rotational for league matches and Best XI for the cup to maximize our experience. That said I have one caveat that I'd like the other coaches to consider. Always play our youth pulls unless they are tired and need to get swapped out. Getting these guys trained up is important both to our bottom line when we decide to sell them and for our eventual progress. We aren't winning much anyway at this level so lets give them run outs all the time. Fetscher and Jedin should be in our XI until tired and we should rotate around them. What do the other coaches think?

Just for my guys I want them trained first in an additional talent, to get their value higher. Currently true for Komolong and should be for Doringer.

Whew that's enough for now :).

[thehitcat]

One additional bit about extensions. We purchased Maslanka and Zeitz in the last window. I'd put them right behind Fetscher as players to extend for at least a season though we're probably waiting until December for them.

[Brian Swartz]

do player extensions get more expensive once they have a skill?

Yes. Extension price is directly based on their value. It doesn't increase as fast as value(meaning the better a player is, the more profitable they are), but once skills come in the cost of extending players will be considerably higher.

[larrymcg421]

Definitely want to renew Zeitz when we get a chance. For Pfeiffer, will he learn his skill before his contract is up or will we still have the option of renewing without a skill in the next window?

[thehitcat]

Pfeiffer learns his skill in just under 7 months so yes he'll be skilled up before we have a decision to make but it'll probably happen during the winter breaks so if we decide to extend him at that point he'll cost more than now.

[Brian Swartz]

I think we'll just barely run out of time with Pfeiffer. 6 months 25 days left to train and it's 7 months(exactly) until the next transfer window.

[larrymcg421]

At Pfeiffer's age, I'm tempted to just sell him once he learns his skill and use the roster spot to build up Jedin for the future. The question is how much pain are we willing to endure for the possible long-term benefit.

[Brian Swartz]

Here's what I have right now:

** 1-year extension for Komolong if nobody objects(333)
** 1-year extension for Doringer if nobody objects(333)
** 3-year extension for Fetscher once the money comes in for it(341)

That would take care of what we can do with current funds.

** Defense coach upgrade, unless larrymcg421 changes his vote on those
** No new signings or player sales
** Input needed from larrymcg421 and DavidCorperial on whether we should give the youth pulls extra playing time at the expense of older players
** Generally continuing the Rotation approach to get everyone training a skill
** Renewing Zeitz, Maslanska is a priority but we're going to wait on it till Winter Break.

[DavidCorperial]

I would say, rookies should be in the rotation without going crazy blooding them.

[larrymcg421]

I definitely want Jedin in as much as possible (and all cup games) to be ready for when Pfeiffer leaves.

I like the defense upgrade. We can alternate between that and the bench coach, since they'll complement each other (the defense bonus will help defenders on the bench).

Agreed on everything else.

[Brian Swartz]

Looks like the plan is set then. Defense coach, Fetscher will be Just Another Guy in the rotation for now, and Jedin will play any time he's fresh. Pfeiffer will play only when he needs to in order to maintain High interest(for maximum winter sale pricing).

It's my turn again now. Onwards!

[Brian Swartz]

7.21 SG Wattenscheid 09 vs. Stuttgarter Kickers

Landeka is still here, and has become a CD. He's still the weak spot in their defense though, which really isn't much better than it was.

G Komolong
D Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Doringer
M Blank/Preiss/Maslanka/Fetscher
F Jedin/Tiel

This lineup is the most aggressive one we've yet played, in terms of only having four defenders. Wattenscheid has no forward with higher accuracy than 21, or control above 12. If they get any corners, we'll rely on Schwarz to get position in the box. They do have one with cannon shot, which is why Doringer is out there. I'll still need to go with five defenders most of the time until we get some more specializiations in, but this gives us the chance to get another player out there in other positions where playing time is more scarce. We don't really have much chance of scoring without Pfeiffer out there, so we're playing for a draw here.

Turns out the guy I thought had Cannon Shot actually had Rainbow Feint ... I misread the symbol. It didn't matter much though. If we'd had a full set of defenders out there it wouldn't have changed anything, because we'd need a CD(for the auto-tackling assistance) to aid in things. He used it twice on one possession to first get through our defense, and then score on Komolong. Without a CD or a player with the Reaction skill -- which Komolong will have by Winter Break -- there's not a whole lot you can do but shake their hand and say good job. And that was that. Late in the first half they scored; tried it again in the second half but Scepanik would have none of it. Doringer blocked their only other attempt, and we just didn't have the personnel out there to have any scoring threat.

SG Wattenscheid 09 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Not the way I'd hoped to start the year.

Levels for Tiel(4) and Jedin(2).

*** Fetscher
** Preiss
* Maslanka

** Balance - 244(+30). Still need more for Fetscher's contract extension, but we'll get it.
** Glory - 1(--)
** Fans - 15(--)

Tiel is now an Amateur Forward(F). Skill choice:

https://i.imgur.com/9hZqSHR.png


We're going to see a lot of these decisions coming up as players become eligible for their first skill training. This one is for DavidCorperial. I don't think we've talked about the Nutmeg skill before, but it lets you dribble the ball through the opponents legs and get a square or two behind them. You can move further with it than Rainbow Feint(2-3 squares instead of just 1), but you can't score with Nutmeg. Beneficial for midfielders and forwards. I'm pretty sure we've covered the others, but feel free to ask questions as always.

[DavidCorperial]

Let's go with Head Play.

[Brian Swartz]

7.28 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-1, 7th) vs. Energie Cottbus(1-0-0, 3rd)

This is one of our new recently-relegated and not particularly happy about foes. Two of the three won their first match which is not at all surprising. EC is coming at us with a 5-2-3 ... and one of the back line isn't even an amateur defender yet. I'm not saying we're going to score because that almost certainly won't happen, but there is a weakness there. Keeper's too good for us to really have a real threat though. There three forwards are in the 30s for accuracy, one has cannon shot and another has nutmeg. So I think we can stop them, but we'll definitely want to deploy a full defense and even then it's not assured.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Weibenfels
M Muller D/Zeitz
F Jedin/Wachter

We'd be better off with Doringer in there, but that's always going to be the case -- everyone's gotta sit sometime.

https://i.imgur.com/80ObI7Y.png


On their first possession, they tried to take it up the left wing. Abruscia made a risky tackle attempt here. We didn't have time to get anyone there to press; if we don't tackle they'll probably get a decent shot, same as if we fail. In retrospect I might have been better having Muller D, the closest midfielder, come back and press … but it's one of those choices that could go badly either way. He failed(with what their player is named the jokes write themselves here), they passed it through our defense and scored on a cannon shot. The rest of the half went better, and they got a corner early in the second for another attempt right in front, but Komolong made the save on that one. A key tackle by Schwarz got possession back in time for us to clear it to midfield. Right now he's our best in that kind of situation at 22 defense.

And then a lob pass went over our defense, missed the target ... but went to another of their forwards, who scored on an angled shot that Komolong should have stopped, but didn't. Our luck at keeping the ball out of the goal is decidedly crap early on in this season.

Energie Cottbus 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

68% possession against, 3-1 tackles, the corner kick, 5-0 shots ... not a whole lot went our way. So pretty much I worked on getting activity to Jedin and Zeitz.

Levels for Schwarz(9), Muller D(4), and Wachter(3).

*** Muller D
** Schwarz
* Abruscia

Zeitz is now an Amateur Midfielder(M). So it's time for another choice. Coach larrymcg421, this one's for you ...

https://i.imgur.com/RFRloca.png

[Brian Swartz]

Forgot to mention, 105 euros from that match; 75 from ticket sales and the usual sponsor 30. That matters because it gave us enough to extend Fetscher's contract before he levels up and gets more expensive. Max 3-year deal, which concludes the requested activity on that front. And we have a whole 8 euros in the bank. We can afford to go to the movies … by ourselves … if we go to an early show and don't want any popcorn or soda.

[larrymcg421]

Definitely Slide Tackle.

[Brian Swartz]

8.4 TSV Halvese(1-0-1, 4th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-2, 8th)

Halvese has two forwards with Cannon Shot, and a third with enough control(21) to dribble through our defensive line potentially. They also look the most vulnerable to us scoring ...

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Doringer/Weibenfels
M Tunjic/Hirsch
F Pfeiffer/Jedin

So there's a long-shot chance we might be able to get a tally out of Pfeiffer.

Schwarz and Doringer each blocked a shot in the first half as they quickly penetrated the center of our defensive line(Weibenfels) but never managed to get a shot through to the goal. It was scary as they were able to get a couple forwards quickly into the box, limiting Doringer's movement, but lacking any particularly good passers they couldn't take advantage.

In the second half we got Pfeiffer a shot but their defenders intercepted and that was that. One of their forwards dribbled through Weibenfels again, this time beating Doringer and a poor save effort by Komolong. He's really been stinking it up overall this year and it cost us a point today.

TSV Halvese 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Level-up only for Weibenfels(4).

Hirsch is now a Universal Midfielder(MF), and Schwarz a Central Defender(CD). That's our first for both of those classes. Both players get a 2-level boost to Level 11 now.

Balance: 38(+30)


4.11 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-3, 7th) vs. Alemannia Aachen(1-0-2, 6th)

We're actually just below-average in terms of goals allowed, and frankly three of the four have been unfortunate concessions; at least one if not two of them should have been stopped. Our defense is ok, but we have a very small chance of scoring or none at all so there's just zero margin for error on the back line. AA has the worst keeper in the league but a decent sweeper, so it's unlikely that trend changes. Dribbling into the teeth of our defense like Halvese did is their main threat with three forwards once again, but they don't have quite as much accuracy. I can see them scoring against us, but we definitely have a chance to hold them out.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Jager/Doringer/Weibenfels
M Hirsch
F Jedin/Mengele/Tiel

Mengele sees his first action of the year, the last player to get out there.

https://i.imgur.com/67j0ESa.png


This is what masquerades as a 'great chance' for this team. It's actually our best opportunity to score of the year. It's easily blocked by their sweeper, and later in the half they dribble past Absruscia, shooting through the rest of our defense and scoring. It's the third 17 Komolong has rolled, which is well below-average for him. I don't know what his problem is right now, and he only needed a 19 to stop that one. Doringer blocks a couple shots in the second half to keep it from getting any worse.

Alemannia Aachen 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

At least the second match we deserved to get a draw out of I think. 68% possession against, and we did well most of the time. But it only takes one lapse ...

Jedin(3) is the only level-up.

*** Doringer
** Hirsch
* Ortag

Mengele is our first Central Forward(CF), and moves up to Level 10.

** Balance: 143(+105)

[Brian Swartz]

8.18 Kickers Offenbach(0-0-4, 8th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-4, 7th)

You might think we'd want to play our best here to finally get a point at least. But you'd be wrong ... we have a Cup match in a few days, with the same opponent, at home. So here we just want to keep our best players as fresh as possible for that one.

G Komolong
D Abruscia/Schwarz/Jager/Doringer
M Blank/Maslanka/Tunjic/Muller D
F Jedin/Wachter

I'll probably make some subs later on to keep the important players fresh. That's why we're playing a minimal defensive line. Against three forwards that's probably trouble for this match ... Offenbach has scored a couple times this year and probably should have more, their main problem is they've given up nine goals, more than twice as many as we have.

Our first rain match of the year. They dribble past Abruscia on the wing but Doringer makes the play. So far he's been our best defensive option this year. Jager got a long shot blocked later, and a late lofted pass in desperation was off the mark. So far so good. Weibenfels on for Doringer at the half made us weaker for sure, but he was already fairly tired. Everyone else looked okish.

Midway through the second half, they got it in the box to Vetter who had nearly a coin-flip chance, but for once Komolong made a great effort and easily made the save.

https://i.imgur.com/sDUVtoI.png


Still outplayed, but we finally get a result. I tried to spread around the action to different players as much as I could to keep anyone from getting too worn out for the next match.

Levels; Jager(9), Abruscia(9), Tunjic(4), Maslanka(4).

*** Doringer
** Jager
* Komolong

** Balance: 173(+30)
** Glory: 5(+4) -- Another strong opponent bonus. When the last-place team gives you that, you know you suck.

Abruscia is now a Fullback(RD), our first of those, and reaches Level 11. Three levels from one match, not bad! Specialization upgrades also for Tunjic(M) and Jedin(F). We'll pause here for skill training decisions again;

https://i.imgur.com/ViS2mJG.png


https://i.imgur.com/ioVvPW2.png


DavidCorperial has the skill choice for Tunjic, larrymcg421 for Jedin. After that, it's on to the critical Cup match.

[larrymcg421]

Cannon Shot for Jedin.

[DavidCorperial]

I'll go with Nutmeg, sorry for the delay, power outage earlier today.

[Brian Swartz]

No problem. 7 hours is not a 'late response' by any stretch. And I was at work the whole time anyway.

[Brian Swartz]

It won't always be this heavy, but 16 of our 21 players are currently training a skill. It is the first for all of them.

The local rain has not abated as we set to take the field for what will once again be our most important match of the year. We're going all-out for the win here, as that would give us a better chance of closing it out in the return leg and getting a couple more matches in the next round.

8.21 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Kickers Offenbach
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round

https://i.imgur.com/TCM50Vi.png


I hemmed and hawed about one starting position. Initially I was going to go with the usual 6-2-2, but I I realized that we might not need to do that. It looks like we have a hole on the left side of the defense, but I think it only looks like it. Jurgens would have to dribble in there, and if he did, Schwarz, the CD and 'up-arrow' in the middle of the line will have a good chance of making the tackle and taking possession away. Jurgens isn't a CF so he won't automatically penetrate the line. So I think they'll have a pretty hard time taking advantage of this. By sitting Scepanik, who at 32 is getting a bit long in the tooth(that's why he's out, not Jager) I can get young Fetscher in for some prime midfield experience.

I'm going to feel really stupid if this backfires, but neither of their forwards have enough dribbling(control) ability that I am worried about them just taking it through us with Schwarz there in the middle. From his position he'll tackle anyone who tries coming into the box.

On the offensive end, they are playing six back there but I still think Pfeiffer has a decent chance of scoring for us. On that our chances of victory hang. We do have a few players who are a bit tired, so we may need to make some subs later.

https://i.imgur.com/ntHQs1J.png


The opening kickoff results in this. Hirsch to Pfeiffer, who angles past their line, and the question is whether he can get it by their reacting defenders. If so, he's got a fairly good chance of beating the keeper Endres. Couldn't get it through here. They play very cautiously, like they are going for a draw; holding possession in midfield, than a bit further forward in midfield. Zeitz misses a near-even chance at a tackle, and they maneuver to their top forward Vetter, who shoots through the line ... but Doringer is there to deflect the attempt away. Hirsch holds it at midfield, they try to tackle twice and fail, but no fouls either. The first half ends scoreless.

Muller D comes in for Hirsch; I think the others can finish the match but he was severely winded. They start by trying to dribble by Abruscia but he makes the play; we hold it with Pfeiffer on the attack, who survives one tackle attempt but not the second.

https://i.imgur.com/gM83x8G.png


Zeitz plays a critical role, coming forward to contest for possession in midfield and basically the ball is traded back and forth for the rest of the second half. Then this, on the final turn with time at 86 minutes. We have good odds here, he's got the Aggressive Tackle on since he just had the ball taken away. If he makes the play he can try to pass to Pfeiffer and we might get a last-second chance to win. If he fails it's almost certainly a red-card suspension. The odds are good enough that I decide to go for it. He makes the play but they're in too good a position to get the ball forward for a decent shot, and the game ends.

https://i.imgur.com/j9yyUPG.png


This is the first game where I've seen someone play defensively against us. I think they might have been trying to provoke a foul, and with as many tackle attempts as there were in this game I'm actually kind of surprised neither side was called for one. Either way it was a very even match, and if anything we had the better of it. Bottom line is that it all comes down to the away leg now.

Levels - Komolong(11), Doringer(11), Zeitz(10), Pfeiffer(10), Ortag(9), Muller D(5), Fetscher(4), Jedin(4). Fetscher and Jedin actually gain more than a level from this match; i.e. they are closer to level 5 now than there were to level 4 before it started.

*** Zeitz
** Doringer
* Hirsch

Pfeiffer becomes our first Universal Forward(FW), jumping to Level 12. He may not be with us long but that will help his sale price. And it might help him have a better chance of scoring in the rematch ... Fetscher is now an amateur midfielder(M).

** Balance: 428(+255) -- 225 is from the 3x normal ticket prices.
** Glory: 9(+4) -- same bonus as last time.

4 more Glory and 110 more sponsor bonus would have been ours if we'd managed to get a goal here. *sigh*

Halvese beat Wattenscheid 4-1 in the first leg of the other matchup, so you can pretty much mark that one down as over.

https://i.imgur.com/Dem1Ns2.png


larrymcg421, who presently has a monopoly on our youth pulls(all two of them), is up to make this decision.

[larrymcg421]

Slide Tackle for sure. It will be nice having two midfielders with that skill.

[Brian Swartz]

8.25 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-4, 7th) vs. SV Waldhof Mannheim(3-0-2, 3rd)

Zeitz, Hirsch, and Fetscher were all automatically ruled out of this one due to fatigue from our Cup match against Offenbach four days prior. Our last two league matches before the winter break are both against clubs that were relegated from the Third League last year, and are currently in line to get promoted back up.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Jager/Doringer/Weibenfels
M Preiss/Maslanka
F Jedin/Mengele

Unsurprisingly, Waldhof Mannheim is deploying an aggressive 4-3-3, so we'll play defensively to match. They have an excellent DM that they aren't even playing here, and another CM out with a suspension.

They slowly took it down the left wing in the first half, going for a crossing play. Doringer was able to intercept the pass, and it was the only time anyone came close to scoring. Then, for the first time, Weibenfels did something useful. They tried to dribble right at him to start the second half and he took the ball away. Lost it back immediately, but that left them no time to score. Preiss was busy running all over the place in midfield, and in frustration for us keeping them at bay they tried a long lofted pass out of their defense -- Jager intercepted it, his second significant play of the half.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, SV Waldhof Mannheim 0

Our second draw in a row, and other than that one cross, nothing even dangerous happened. We actually took the only shot of the game, an impossible one by Jedin. 62% possession against, and we lost tackles 5-3, but the defense held fairly easily.

Levels - Preiss(4) is the only one.

*** Jager
** Preiss
* Maslanka

** Balance: 533(+105)
** Glory: 13(+4)

Offenbach beat Wattenscheid 1-0, so we still slip to last place.

Weibenfels(D), Maslanka(M), and Preiss(M) all hit their amateur classes after this match. This leaves only one player left who hasn't(Wachter).

https://i.imgur.com/3iBqtPT.png


https://i.imgur.com/XmRPCg5.png


https://i.imgur.com/KTGyhRB.png


Is it just me, or is Preiss particularly dumb-looking? Just seems to be staring thoughtfully and intently at nothing whatsoever. Anyway, DavidCorperial is up for the skill choices on Maslanka & Preiss; thehitcat gets a turn here with Weibenfels as well. One league match and at least one Cup match remain on this side of the winter break, but we're almost there.

[thehitcat]

We'll do Layoff Pass for Weibenfels and yes Preiss has little piggy eyes :)

[DavidCorperial]

Agree on Preiss, but don't forget the stupid buzzed line right next to the Mohawk, the ultra short hair on the side is fine, but that, just no.


Shortest training for both of them, Preiss to get something and Maslanka because it's a solid choice.

[Brian Swartz]

The transfer window closed, though for us it's almost time for it to open again in terms of matches. That will not be the case in higher leagues -- if we, you know, ever actually reach them. The only transfer was one I didn't even know was possible; Alemannia Aachen bought a 27-year-old LD from a Third-League side for 8k and change. I'm guessing that must have been from the global list. He's not fantastic by any stretch, but it still counts as bad news for us, making the competition in the Amateur League tougher.

9.1 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-4, 8th) vs. FSV Frankfurt(4-1-1, 2nd)

Frankfurt is one of the two clearly elite clubs this year, tied for the lead with a +8 in goal differential. All three of their forwards have the Nutmeg skill, and two of them are in the high-30s for accuracy. CF Kader has 21 Control as well, which makes him a particularly big threat. They're playing a 5-2-3, with a wide midfielder as a crossing possibility.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Doringer/Weibenfels
M Tunjic/Fetscher
F Jedin/Wachter

Jedin actually managed to hold off two tackle attempts on our first turn, though he lost on the third. Still, that let us keep the ball away from our goal for a bit longer. They missed a couple of slide tackles at midfield later in the half, and could only manage one weak long-range shot that was easily deflected away by Scepanik. Couldn't ask for a better first 45 minutes; we even held a good lead in possession if you can believe that nonsense.


They went to Kader to start the second, and he dribbled it right at Schwarz, then fired a shot which Komolong barely saved. And I do mean barely ... a 26 roll when the shot was a 25. There's a bullet dodged. They tried a long lofted pass, which the teams are doing more often now. I'm not sure why, it's such a low-percentage play ... if they really think that's their best chance to score against us it's a big compliment to our defensive improvement. In any case. Weibenfels intercepted this one. Abruscia stopped a nutmeg attempt on the wing and that was it -- they never attempted to set up a cross.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, FSV Frankfurt 0

We just shut out the top-scoring team(10 goals in 6 previous matches) in the league! A couple of impressive draws close out the first half of the year, just like we finished the end of last season.

2-0 in shots, 7-3 in tackles, but we won possession with 55%. That one save early in the second half was clearly the pivotal moment.

Levels -- Weibenfels(5), Fetscher(5), Jedin(5)

*** Fetscher
** Ortag
* Komolong

Fetscher was involved in a lot of midfield play, but I don't know what's going on with Ortag here. He made one pass. Few players were less important to the outcome of this match.

** Balance: 638(+105)
** Glory: 21(+8) -- Double the 'strong opponent' bonus here, as Frankfurt is considered a full 1-star club.

Wachter came within a single point of hitting his specialization target(69/70, +16 this match). That lets me move on, but it's actually quite annoying because those don't 'overflow' -- he'll only be able to gain 1 point no matter what he does in the next match he plays.

9.11 Kickers Offenbach vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, Second Leg

A few of our players are close to their first skill. Some are real close. As in Ortag will learn Long Pass tomorrow. I thought about buying a skill or two early with Glory due to the importance of this match, but decided against it. Passing for our fullbacks, head play for Jager were basically the options there. I don't think any of those are going to move the needle much in terms of our chance of winning this.

https://i.imgur.com/yNfVmGg.png


We're playing nearly the same 5-3-2 as the first match. Fetscher's a bit fatigued still despite a 10-day rest since the Frankfurt draw. Might sit him in the second half. The reason for showing this is it's a defensive formation I've never seen before -- and it's stupid. That green zero-class defender in their back line actually helps us, because it keeps their other players from deflecting shots going through that square(since someone is already there, can't have two players in the same spot). Their keeper Endres has improved a bit, but so did Pfeiffer. He'll move over to that side to set up, and overall I think we have a decent chance at getting a win here.

They start out with Jurgens challenging Schwarz -- he fails, but it messes up our line. I just pass the ball out and retreat him, not wanting to give them a weakness to attack. They get a shot a bit later with Vetter from just outside the box, but Doringer intercepts with a good effort. Nothing much happens the rest of the half, and everyone looks good to continue - Fetscher didn't end up doing much.

https://i.imgur.com/v2dVCyY.png


The chance I've been waiting for, at the second-half kickoff. It's been a long time since I've seen a favorable goal-scoring opportunity ... and it will probably be a long time until we see one again. Pfeiffer rolls a 20, neither of the defenders get anywhere close to that, and at the 52-minute mark we lead 1-0! Another shot intercepted by Doringer ends any thought they had of equalizing.

https://i.imgur.com/RayzoUS.png


We've done it again! For the second year in a row we find a way to sneak through the first round of the Prestige Cup.

There were a few levels gained; Schwarz(13), Komolong(12), Doringer(12), Abruscia(12), Hirsch(12), Ortag(11), Jager(11), Zeitz(11), Fetscher(8), Jedin(6).

Only Pfeiffer, the guy who won it for us, didn't level up.

*** Fetscher
** Schwarz
* Pfeiffer

Doringer deserved to be on this list.

** Balance: 668(+30)
** Glory: 35(+14) -- 1 for goal differential, 3 for Prestige Cup win, 10 for Strong Opponent bonus. We got almost as much glory for this victory as we did all of last season combined.

https://i.imgur.com/Ddi8sAn.png


And, at least for the moment, we gain our first half a star for the club! This doesn't help us in any way that I know of - we'd actually be better off staying in the weeds. But it's still a nice achievement.

[thehitcat]

Nice last three games for the lads. 2 draws in the league including holding the hottest scoring team nil-nil and then a win in the cup which gets us more delicious XP for the boys and probably another half a star of a coach in Glory.

[Brian Swartz]

10.9 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SV Wehen Wiesbaden
Prestige Cup Round of 32, First Leg

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Doringer
M Hirsch/Zeitz
F Jedin/Wachter

They've got players in the 50s for their primary attributes at all positions, including keeper. Our only chance is to somehow stop them from scoring and get a draw, advance on penalties if we get two of them. And it's not much of a chance, but that's what we're playing for. Once again it's merely getting here that is the victory. I'm throwing Wachter out there for a half to get his SL so he can start skill-training during winter break, and a full defensive 6-2-2 formation because the more bodies back there to get in their way, the better. Last year's foray against a Second League foe was lost 7-0 on aggregate. Honestly the only realistic goal here is to reduce how many goals we give up.

Midway through the first half they manage to set up a cross ... they get to the header and I figured it was a score, but it was pushed wide of the net and we get a goal kick out of it. First time I've ever seen that. A long shot through our line at the end was blocked by Doringer, and we'd survived the first half scoreless. That's more than I expected.

I put Mengele on for Wachter at intermission.

https://i.imgur.com/Uk2nXaM.png


They go for the cross again. They connect again. They miss wide AGAIN - this time to the top side of the goal. Unreal. The ball is really bouncing our way in this one - or else that forward sucks, same one who hit the first missed opportunity. I doubt that though -- he's a CF with Head Play(level 1, but still). A third attempt shortly afterwards misfired on the pass. We get it up towards midfield ... and they foul Zeitz from behind. He'll be out almost 2 months. Assclowns! It's a really good thing break is coming up, or I'd be even more ticked. Blank comes on as the sub. Jager intercepts a last-second pass as they try to set up another cross, and that's it. I'm really surprised they didn't try to shoot through us more, or dribble through with multiple 50+ control forwards.

https://i.imgur.com/YemO6xN.png


Any non-loss against a team of this caliber is huge. It would be much more so if we can somehow do it again and get to a shootout ...

Levels -- Scepanik(9), Jedin(7), Wachter(4)

*** Hirsch

Forgot to note the other two.

Wachter is now an amateur forward(F) as expected. SL upgrades also for some others. Komolong now has Talent, so he can improve his skill as high as level 3. He'll start upgrading as soon as he finishes the first level of Reaction. Scepanik is now a Universal Defender(DF), and Jager a central defender(CD). That'll make our defense much more flexible and resilient, and it's our first DF to date. Scepanik jumps to level 11, Jager to 13.

** Balance: 923(+255)
** Glory: 47(+12) -- All of it from the biggest opponent bonus we've gotten yet.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/Xm71D2B.png

larrymcg421, it's time to get our last unskilled player something to train on. After that, I assume we get drummed out of the Prestige Cup and move on to winter break, unless we somewhow manage to get stupid-lucky again.

[Brian Swartz]

Nice last three games for the lads. 2 draws in the league including holding the hottest scoring team nil-nil and then a win in the cup which gets us more delicious XP for the boys and probably another half a star of a coach in Glory.

Indeed. The future of the Stuttgarter franchise looks decidedly brighter than it did after the first few matches of this season.

[larrymcg421]

Nutmeg. And we should make him a FW.

[Brian Swartz]

10.30 SV Wehen Wiesbaden vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup Round of 32, Second Leg

https://i.imgur.com/flYQC5E.png


With Zeitz out and them playing a similar formation(different defensive arrangement, but who cares), this is what I am going with. It's an extreme 7-2-1, with the goal of doing everything possible to keep their wing forward from doing anything. That's why Weibenfels is starting instead of someone better in place of Zeitz. Blank starts as our wing midfielder opposite theirs. Both of these are moves just to get in their way and make things as difficult as possible. I'll put some subs in if they score, but any chance of preventing that and getting into a shootout is worth it IMO.

Also worth noting: I've now got Jager directly across from their CF -- he's learned Head Play now, and SW Doringer has Layoff Pass, so two new skills came in. Our two CDs are next to each other so that if their Nutmeg forward, the one on our left-middle, tries to go through the line the other one will attempt a tackle. He's the one forward who has low control on their team so it has a good chance of succeeding.

They start by going up the wing with LF Gereke, who just gets by Abruscia then shoots, but Doringer blocks it. So far so good. They try to go with the Nutmeg maneuver a while later in the half, but Schwarz surprisingly stops them(level 2 skills usually succeed), then their CF fouls him. That's it for the first half, and I stick with the same lineup.

They try a long lofted pass intercepted by Schwarz, then miss a slide tackle on Blank which means it takes longer for them to get possession. I can feel it -- we're close to holding them out again. A desperation long shot from the wing is stopped by Ortag, and they get a bit closer for a final attempt, a power shot where they were clearly going for would have likely been a fatal corner. Komolong makes the save and keeps it in play, and time is called.

https://i.imgur.com/8U3hXXg.png


Here's our first penalty shootout, which is one of the legitimate gripes about the game. The developer's argument is that real-life shootouts tend to be quite random in the results, which isn't wrong -- but they aren't totally random. This is. You have three options to choose from in where to defend, and the shooter has the same three. Unless they chose they same as you do, it's a score -- doesn't matter what the attributes are. The randomness doesn't even bother me as much as the sheer pointlessness does, although making it like pretty much everything else is, an attribute comparison with an innately high chance of scoring would make more sense. I'm a big proponent of the Meier Maxim that a game is a series of interesting decisions. Well there's nothing interesting(or even boring and marginally useful) about this decision. There's absolutely no way to make a better or worse call here.

I've won a couple and lost a couple in my personal play. Chances are we'll roughly split how many these go our way and how many don't. It would be monstrous for Stuttgarter to get yet another pair of Prestige Cup matches. I select the top option every time as is my pattern -- but again it's irrelevant and arbitrary. As it happens, we get insanely fortunate here, even moreso than the first match. They shoot to that side four times in a row. We score three of four, and nobody bothers with the final shooter as it's over by then.

https://i.imgur.com/rNNXSOx.png


Unreal. We have absolutely no business moving on and don't deserve this in the slightest. But I'm still gonna take it. Naturally all of our shots here are from the shootout. I've never had an opponent take 7 in one match, penalties or otherwhise, and not score.

Naturally most of the squad levels up: Schwarz(14), Doringer(13), Ortag(13), Abruscia(13), Hirsch(13), Jedin(8), Weibenfels(7), Blank(7)

*** Ortag
** Schwarz
* Hirsch

Ortag gives us a matching pair of Fullbacks(LD for him). That vaults him to level 15.

** Balance: 953(+30)
** Glory: 85(+38!!) -- We get 5 for a 3-goal difference, which we absolutely don't deserve because shootouts shouldn't count for that but they do. 3 for it being Prestige Cup, and a massive 30 for beating a much stronger opponent.

Winter Break will have to wait a bit.

[thehitcat]

Amazing result! Well done on the shootout even if it is arbitrary, I mean that's what shootouts are unless you're England.

[Brian Swartz]

11.17 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SC Fortuna Koln
Prestige Cup, Round of 16, First Leg

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Doringer/Weibenfels
M Hirsch
F Jedin/Pfeiffer

Fortuna Koln is a Third-League club. They field a very similar formation but more aggressive; 4-3-3, and they aren't quite as good as our last opponent. I'm going with a similar formation, except putting Pfeiffer in to start. He has a small possibility of scoring so I want to take that chance, and ensure he keeps his value up.

Pfeiffer can't get his shot through against their defense, and they start a counterattack in the rain. Midway through the half, they nearly score on a straight-on shot that only rolled 15. Barely got through our defenders and almost Komolong, who rolls a 17 and pushes it out for a corner. We have nobody who can contest them for possession, and they pass it right in front despite our best efforts, where a Cannon Shot beats us for the score. There was literally nothing we could do about that -- it's the kind of thing that should have ended our run in the last round. We try to equalize but their keeper easily saves the attempt ... and then kicks it out of bounds. A couple of pointless throw-ins later the half is over.

No reason not to put in some subs at this point. Fetscher, Muller D, and Tiel come on for Pfeiffer, Weibenfels, and Hirsch. Hirsch is tired, and the others just to spread playing time around. Their winger marches into the gap on the flank where Weibenfels was, blasting an angled shot past both Doringer and Komolong easily. Whatevs.

I actually forgot to bring in Muller for Hirsch even after planning to. I only notice this because they foul Jedin from behind -- a minor injury for him which will only last a day. We end up with Tiel taking a free-kick which has no chance of doing anything, but is out for a corner. Our first of those, and we haven't a single player with better than 15 control on the pitch. It's a hilariously bad joke of an attempt that literally has no chance to succeed, and then it's over.

SC Fortuna Koln 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

The dream is now over. We have one more match in which to accept our medicine from these guys. Tackles and shots weren't actually much different, but quality sure was and they had 71% possession.

Levels for Scepanik(12) and Jedin(9)

*** Hirsch
** Fetscher - not bad for a youngster playing only a half
* Doringer

Doringer has reached SL 3, and grabs Talent as instructed. He becomes the first player to begin training his Level 2 skill.

** Balance: 1208(+255)

12.25 SC Fortuna Koln vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup, Round of 16, Second Leg

Over a month between matches, and they have us play on Christmas Day. That's just ridiculous.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Absruscia/Scepanik/Schwarz/Jager/Doringer
M Hirsch/Zeitz
F Jedin/Tiel

Zeitz is healthy again and Scepanik has learned Layoff Pass. Aside from that, Tiel is out there just to get some playing time as he hasn't had much this year; a couple matches in the first half of the league and then a few minutes at the end of the last one. No point in playing Pfeiffer IMO, since while we might get one goal that'd be the most we'd get, and it wouldn't be enough with a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.

The weather's better today -- and so's the defense. Doringer blocks their first attempt from the far wing, then Schwarz intercepts a long lofted-pass attempt, retaining possession against a tackle try by one of their forwards. Ortag uses his newfound mobility to sprint up the near flank, and after one more shot is stopped by our sweeper the first half ends with no score. Doringer blocks two more shots to keep things tight, but one of them was necessary because of a bad pass he made that resulted in a turnover. They foul Hirsch at the end but we can make nothing of it.

SC Fortuna Koln 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

As good a result as we really could have asked for. Still lose 2-0 on aggregate, but we were outshot 5-1 and out-tackled 4-1 without conceding.

Levels - Schwarz(15), Doringer(14), Jager(14), Abruscia(14), Hirsch(14), Zeitz(12), Tiel(5)

*** Doringer
** Scepanik
* Hirsch

** Balance: 1238(+30)
** Glory: 93(+8)

We get the same message from the club President as last year; you fought as best you could blah blah blah. I think 'incredible run to reach the Round of 16' would have been more appropriate. He's a hard man to impress.

And with that, Winter Break has finally arrived.

[Brian Swartz]

2019/20 Winter Break

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

Valuation - 337k(+310k)
Star Ranking - 0.5(+0.5)
Classes - 76(+31)
Levels - 12(+5)
Skills - 13(+13)

We may not have gotten much done in the league so far this year, but in every other respect it's been a completely brilliant first half of the season.

Club Resources

Balance: 1,238 euros
Glory: 93
Fans: 15(--)
Stadium Capacity: 100(--)

Amateur League

Star Ranking - 0.71(+0.28)
Classes - 65(+1)
Levels - 13(+1)
Skills - 10(+3)

In general we appear to have completely caught up to the pack. Which begs the question ... now what??

https://i.imgur.com/ohcEq9b.png


It looks like the three who came down are going right back up, but Havelse has a chance to throw a wrench in the works. Despite the poor start to the year, Stuttgarter is still an above-average club defensively -- but we just can't score. Ultimatley we're going to be stirring the ashes until we find a way to get the ball in the net once in a while.

Third League

Star Ranking - 1.29(+0.16)
Classes - 86(--)
Levels - 22(+3)
Skills - 16(+5)

Still improving, but parity isn't as much of a thing here as it is in the Amateur ranks. The gap between the best and worst teams is considerable. The teams promoted last year haven't totally gone according to plan. Saarbrucken is 4th, but 4 points out of a promotion spot so they're not far away from consecutive promotions but it doesn't look like it'll happen. They are tied for the lead in fewest goals allowed, but are scoring less than one per match themselves so it's definitely a case of needing more offense. Oh, and most of their goals have been scored by a young CF named Jedin. So that could be an interesting matchup in the future. Rot-Weiss Essen also looks to stay up, but right now they are just 9th, three points above the relegation zone and far from safe. Only -1 in goal differential though so they've gotten a bit unlucky. They're among the best at this level in terms of skills, but are lagging behind in the levels & attributes of their players. I wouldn't be surprised to see them move up to mid-table by year's end, but they're in a dangerous position at the moment. And Schweinfurt .. well, we'll be seeing them again next year. 4 goals scored, 22 allowed, by far the worst on both counts and they've managed just 3 points in 11 matches -- everyone else has at least 11 points. The worst in the Third League by far and they'll be sent back down to try again.

https://i.imgur.com/e3MtTdZ.png


What a difference a year makes. Germany isn't as good as they've looked so far, as some of the clubs have just scraped through. We've got three in the knockout rounds of each cup. Along with Leipzig and Bayern Munchen, the European Cup also features Borussia Dortmund who got a narrow win over AC Milan 5-4 in the Second Qualifying Round, then won in the next round on away goals, and in group play narrowly got through in a competitive group. We look poised to surpass third-ranked Italy by the time the year is over, and to date we've been the top-performing country in the world.

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

I'm changing this up a bit, putting some more information in screenshots to hopefully make things easier. Let me know if there's anything that isn't clear.

https://i.imgur.com/sG7v4zQ.png


https://i.imgur.com/cd5cuVl.png


https://i.imgur.com/aC3agc2.png


https://i.imgur.com/Nd3di7m.png


https://i.imgur.com/2RTokVC.png


https://i.imgur.com/qHQaZoc.png


Neageli is our youth, assigned to thehitcat for now. You can always switch players around between yourselves if you prefer. The RNG has been kind to us in giving us one prospect in each area so far. It will not always be so kind.


Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

LD Ortag
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

RD Abruscia
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
SL: LM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

F Tiel
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Tunjic
Interest: Low
SL: MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Preiss
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Maslanka
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

MF Hirsch
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

FW Pfeiffer
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Showcase

CF Mengele
Interest: Average
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

F Wachter
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

M Fetscher
Interest: Average
SL: MF
Playing Time: Prospect

M Muller D.
Interest: Low
SL: MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Zeitz
Interest: Low
SL: DM
Playing Time: Starter

F Jedin
Interest: Average
SL: FW
Playing Time: Starter


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

GK Komolong
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

DF Scepanik
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

CD Schwarz
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

CD Jager
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

D Weibenfels
Interest: Low
SL: ??
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Neageli
Interest: Low
SL: ??
Playing Time: Prospect

[Brian Swartz]

Specialization Briefing

A number of players have achieved their specialization targets and now need to set new ones for their next upgrade. Unless of course you plan on selling them, in which case it's moot. By coach, here are the ones that need instructions:

DavidCorperial - Ortag, Abruscia
larrymcg421 - Hirsch, Pfeiffer, Mengele
thehitcat - All of them :)

The players that don't have all of their classes yet, I just need that info. I think that's just Weibenfels and Neageli. Most of them have their classes and I need to know where to go from there. Their trees look like this:

https://i.imgur.com/gqN8jeX.png


No utility section available if they are universalists. These players can pick Talent(upgrade first skill further), XP Boost or Attribute Focus from the Dedication section, Fans or Sponsor bonus from the Fan Favorite section. Specialists can also choose to crosstrain to a new position.

https://i.imgur.com/biRAFWJ.png


Komolong and Doringer already have their first talent upgrade, so they are looking at this. They can take any of the Dedication or Fan Favorite upgrades, or they can choose to move forward in the Talent tree by increasing the limit on their skills(second skill for universalists, max out the first one for specialists) or by training skills faster, the 30% training bonus on the right. Doringer could also go with the cross-training option if preferred.

[Brian Swartz]

Upgrades

https://i.imgur.com/CCiz0ie.png


We haven't done a darn thing here. While they still aren't cheap, it is possible to get the money to throw into these now if we want to sell enough players for it. By the way, if anyone is contemplating a fire sale, the only rule on that is the game won't allow us to sell players if we only have 11 on the roster -- we have to be able to field a full squad. I doubt we'd really want to go to that extreme, but just in case that's where the limit is.

https://i.imgur.com/LBMlT5s.png


We have enough glory for two upgrades here, should we choose to go that route. 93 right now, it would be 30 for the first one and probably 45 for the second one.

Contract Extensions

16 of 22 players are eligible right now. We're virtually forced to sell players in order to keep the rest of the ones we currently have. How many to sell, how many extensions to make, all of that is very much up in the air.

We do have a tentative sell order on Pfeiffer, but larrymcg421 can confirm or remove that at his discretion. We begin at 1238 euros here.

1-month Deals

These players all have 29 days left on their contracts as of now, which is why that's listed in red on the roster screens. We either extend them, or I'll be forced to sell them when their contracts are up. We must choose one way or the other -- if not we lose them for nothing and as manager I will insist on at least getting something for their services.

** CD Schwarz - 516, 1188, 2013
** CD Jager - 480, 1104, 1872
** MF Hirsch - same as Jager
** DF Scepanik - 410, 942, 1598
** M Zeitz - same as Scepanik
** FW Pfeiffer - same as Scepanik
** M Blank - 230, 528, 896
** M Maslanka - 123, 284, 480

Note: Zeitz's value is bugged. He was mentioned as a priority re-signee anyway, but the match before he got injured, his value inexplicably dropped to zero. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we can extend him for free, we just can't sell him for anything. A weird bug that I haven't seen before. I have no idea whether it will eventually work itself out or not, he's upgraded levels since and that didn't shake anything loose.

7-month Deals

These are the ones we can punt on if we choose. They'll hang around till the end of the year unless we sell them.

** RD Abruscia - 480, 1104, 1872
** F Jedin - 302, 695, 1176
** D Weibenfels - 230, 428, 896
** M Muller D - 159, 366, 621
** F Tiel - same as Muller D
** M Tunjic - 123, 284, 480
** M Preiss - same as Tunjic
** F Wachter - same as Tunjic

https://i.imgur.com/VD6vur2.png


Here's the available players in the current transfer window.

Coaches, it's now time for you to do your thing. Who should we buy, sell, extend? Do we need any upgrades? Attend to your individual player responsibilities, and hold forth on whether we want to stay at Rotation or switch up our team playing time approach. Any changes to our general formation can also be discussed. I'll be here if any questions arise.

[DavidCorperial]

I would do a pair of coaching upgrades to either defense or bench or one each, talent for both and selling as many players at the window as we can afford to.

[larrymcg421]

I'd say definitely sell Pfeiffer. Jedin has almost caught up to him anyways.

Hirsch - When is his birthday? If there's a chance we can sell him after he learns his skill, but before he turns 34, then we can wait. If not, we should just sell him now.

Mengele - Definitely the skill branch. Let's level that Slide Tackle up to lvl 2 and make a ton of money off of him.

Jedin - Just want to reiterate that he should be a FW when you get the choice.

Jedin and Zeitz should be renewed for 3 years. I would sell Jager unless THC objects. We should upgrade the Youth Academy at least once.

[Brian Swartz]

Hirsch's birthday is in the shots, but it's 9.19. We can wait for his skill and then sell him a year and a half from now, when he'll be like 33 and 10 months or something at the end of the season. That would mean a 2-year deal for 1,104. If approved, we would still need a new specialization instruction for him.

Pfeiffer is sold for 25k+. Naturally it's Wattenscheid again who picks him up.

https://i.imgur.com/fq0qH1d.png


https://i.imgur.com/ZHZ0VSO.png


He's not just the leading goalscorer in club history -- he's the only goalscorer in club history.

[Brian Swartz]

That leaves us with 26.7k in the bank and 21 remaining players. Barring other instructions, Mengele takes his place in the starting lineup. We're rich!! For the moment.

** Jedin extended: 3 years, 1176
** Zeitz extended: 3 years, 1598

Balance after those expenditures is a hair under 24k.

** Probably Hirsch extension for 1104.
** Proposed sale of Jager for 34.3k more.
** Proposed youth academy upgrade(21k)
** Proposed coaching upgrades(2 defense or 1 defense/1 bench)

None of the those four are approved yet. Up to the lot of you who else, if anyone, we can afford to sell. Also looking for thehitcat to hold forth on his player instructions, thoughts on playing time/formation, etc. No rush of course, just updating with where we are.

[larrymcg421]

Oh duh, it was right there. My bad.

So yeah I would renew him for the 2 years and train him up on the Dedication tree.

[thehitcat]

Funny I was thinking of extending Jager for the full 3 years and selling my two 33 year olds Scepanik and Schwarz for just north of 20K combined. I'd also like to extend Weibenfels for 3 years as well with the plan to push him to DF when he gets there. Naegeli will move to D and the DF as well also I'd like to swap his training to Control from Defense until he hits double digits in control then back to D.

I'd like all of my guys to do the Talent Tree first. Once they have extended to the first Talent (2 or 3) I'd like them to do the 30% bonus to learning their next talent. That should absolutely cover us through the second half of the season.

I'd like to upgrade the Youth Academy as well. Spend our money there to help us get better pulls. As for coaching upgrades I don't like to spread it around. Once I choose where I'm putting my points I prefer to finish that category before starting the next. That said I'm OK with being outvoted if both DC and larry would prefer to split the glory.

I like the rotation plan and have no problem with you picking our lineup on a game by game basis.

Finally if we have some money left over and DavidCorperial and/or larrymcg421 is interested there are to my mind two interesting candidates for them on the transfer list. Ibrahimaj could be an excellent AM/LM/RM/FW type with excellent Accuracy and Passing. And all three of us could fight over Schluter who could be a good LD/RD/DF/CD/DM/CM type with good initial Defense and Passing.

[Brian Swartz]

Oh duh, it was right there. My bad.

No problem, there's a lot of info to sort through. Here's where we are now as the decisions are starting to take some good shape:

** Schwarz and Scepanik are thehitcat's players, so it's your choice to make. We'll sell those two.
** Jager's deal would be 1872, cheap enough that we don't need majority approval. Weibenfels is less, 896.
** One Youth Academy upgrade will get purchased, we've got enough votes for that now.
** We'll buy Schluter, again cheap enough that we don't need to put that up to a further vote.

That'll put us at about 17k cash left. Remaining items:

** M Maslanka and M Blank need to be either sold or extended. All suggestions are good but it's up to DavidCorperial whether he thinks they are worth keeping around.
** That may play into whether we want to buy Ibrahimaj -- he'd be in the area of DavidCorperial/larrymcg421 so the two of you should hold forth on that.
** Input needed from larrymcg421 as the deciding vote on what we do with our glory.
** One vote for continuing Rotation is in. We'll continue that along with the somewhat flexible and varied tactical approach unless there is contrary opinion.
** Group decision on what to do with Schluter, since according to the suggested positions by the hitcat he could fit into any of the three coaches' spots.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/YGQWhRz.png


https://i.imgur.com/p0AUa1z.png


At the moment, Schwarz is #2 in tackles behind Doringer(you get a tackle for intercepting a shot as well as an actual tackle, apparently).

https://i.imgur.com/6wINS4F.png


https://i.imgur.com/I6QvGNG.png


Scepanik got off to a good start in our first year, but was soon eclipsed by the other defenders. Still a solid piece of our back line of course.

Schwarz went to Offenbach, Scepanik to Wattenscheid. We'll have arrived when some of the better amateur clubs want our players, but so far we're merely selling them to other bad teams.

https://i.imgur.com/2bvtQWt.png


Here's the transfer list with one new name on it, replacing Schluter who is now with us.

The next youth academy upgrade will cost 40.5k; we have 18.7k left at the moment with the confirmed transactions enacted. Our next youth pull will be level 1-5 instead of automatically being a level 1; 1-10 is the range for the next upgrade.

[DavidCorperial]

I would renew Blank and Maslanka because they both have low interest and are only 27.

[Brian Swartz]

Both done for 1376 total. We have 17.3k now in the bank.

[thehitcat]

I'd like to buy Schulte as a Defender and immediately put him on CTL. He's another body and with Rotation we should be able to get him a talent and sell him for a profit in 5 seasons.

[thehitcat]

I was looking at the guys that we can extend and all of them are decisions we can hold off on until the next window. My thinking is to extend them now with the thought of selling them in the next window or two as they will never be cheaper to extend than they are right now and all but one of them are working on talents. Obviously I have too much time on my hands and I'm more than happy to keep my damn opinions to myself if you guys prefer. :)

larrymcg421 you have Wachter and D. Muller who are both 31 and both working on first talents. Muller will hit his talent before the next window so if you don't want him we can just hang on and sell him for 10K in the summer. But for 366 we might get him a second talent level and be able to sell him as a 33 yr old for 3 times that amount. Wachter is more cut and dried you have to extend him to see his Talent value blossom but you could just do it for 1 year if you think he won't see the field much.

DavidCorperial you have 3 guys and Abruscia who I'll get to in a second. Tiel Tunjic and Preiss are all in the same boat as D. Muller above in that they won't hit their first Talent until after their current contract expires. For Preiss and Tiel who are 32 now I'd extend them for 1 year and look to sell them as soon as they got their talent's which for Preiss should be before the end of the Summer Window and Tiel will be next winter. Tunjic is only 28 and with the other two gone in the next two windows should get at least a little more playing time. I'd probably reup him for the full 3 and see if I could get multiple levels of talent completed before having another decision to make down the road. Finally Abruscia, I'd extend him for at least 2 (and if it was me all 3 years) with the thought of selling him in one of the windows in Season 5.

OK sorry I'll go back to my hole. :)

[larrymcg421]

I agree with THC on maxing out the defense coach before going elsewhere. I also agree with his thoughts on Wachter and Muller.

[Brian Swartz]

Schulte purchased. Two defense coach upgrades bought, we're at 1.5 stars with a 70% xp boost there. For now we're not going to buy Ibrahimaj as neither coach has indicated an interest in him. 1-year extension for Wachter signed.

larrymcg421, I'm not sure which thought you are agreeing with on Muller ... selling him in the next window or doing a 2-year extension to sell at age 33?

** Unless someone else expresses an opinion, Schluter will start off as a defender(due to thehitcat's suggested position list) and hopefully we'll have an idea what to do with him by next transfer window. He's sort of in limbo right now.

I'll start proceeding with the second half of the year tomorrow.


https://i.imgur.com/1nFSU2l.png

[thehitcat]

I'd like to buy Degner as a Defender and put him right on Control. I'd stop buying guys but the new one is always worth it for at least a resale.

[Brian Swartz]

Up to you how many you buy at that price. Done … and here's your new list. This time the replacement is a bit different.

https://i.imgur.com/w6WbdX6.png

[thehitcat]

And we need a goalie but not at that price :) Thanks Brian.

[thehitcat]

Since Schluter is starting as a Defender I'd like to put him on Control until he hits double digits my normal plan. With his passing I assume he'll eventually move outside for Ortag or Abruscia but we need to get him to D first.

[larrymcg421]

Hang on to Muller and sell him in the next window.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/rBKymwZ.png


Here's the obligatory team photo. In the end result we grew one to 22 players. If you take the AI teams as 'normal' - a dangerous thing to do - that's pretty much the standard amount. We can take solace in the fact that none of the newcomers have the stupid haircut that Preiss, Jager, and Ortag are sporting.

** Out: Pfeiffer, Schwarz, Scepanik
** In: Neageli(youth), Degner, Schulte, Schluter. I'm going to get those last two mixed up for sure.

There are many questions about this defense now with so many young and untrained players back there. We still have some stalwarts; Jager is solid, Doringer and Komolong, the fullbacks; but it definitely may take a step back for now. Stuttgarter got younger, invested in their coaching and the youth facilities. Instead of going down to the local pub for youth sign-ups, they apparently now have broadened their search to the entire city.

3 of the over-30 crowd were jettisoned, and we still have seven left. A number of players will be seen more in the second half of the year as they were left on the bench for extra matches during Prestige Cup play and are owed some extra PT. Weibenfels, Tiel, guys like that.

[Brian Swartz]

** Note: It would appear that roster strength has something to do with the star rating. We lost our half-star and are back down to zero, while doing nothing but transferring out players. Either that or it's bugged(just as likely).

2.2 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-3-4, 7th) vs. SC Wattenscheid 09(2-0-5, 6th)

They come out in a 6-2-2 arrangement, featuring former Stuttgarter regulars Landeka, Scepanik, and Pfeiffer as their new top forward.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Doringer/Weibenfels/Neageli/Degner
M Preiss/Tujic
M Jedin/Tiel/Mengele

Jedin is good enough to take low-percentage shots now against this quality of foe. It was blocked away, but he's definitely the future scoring option here. Dias, the Wattenscheid forward who scored on us in the season opener, got through our defense with back-to-back Rainbow Feints ... but he couldn't get away with that against Komolong now that he's got Reaction. He's not a good shooter and his try was blocked out for a corner. Weibenfels controlled the pass into the box - it totally messed up our defensive structure, but they would not get another chance in the half. Another weak shot attempt for us and that was it.

Pfeiffer attacked our defense at the second half kickoff. Weibenfels was there again to make the tackle, but it messed up our structure and he got a close-range cannon shot later. Thankfully Komolong was up to the task on a weak attempt, but that could have gone either way.

https://i.imgur.com/LXfeLx0.png


First time using Mengele's slide tackle here. We had Tiel hold the ball on the last turn; they pressed twice and then tackled it away with their final action. 86 minutes into a scoreless match, it's the last chance to make something happen although I don't see us scoring regardless. He rolled a 2 vs. a 7 anyway, so that was that.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, SG Wattenscheid 09 0

Obviously we'd prefer a win but realistically this isn't bad. Stats were nearly identical each way, but they definitely had the best scoring chance.

Levels -- Komolong(14) was the only one

*** Tunjic
** Komolong
* Ortag. He ... uh, fought for control on a corner(lost though) and made a completely routine pass.

Jedin is now a universal forward(FW). He jumps up to level 11 and 32 accuracy.

** Balance: 16k(+105). Our match-day income is now absurdly irrelevant compared to what we are getting from selling players these days.
** Glory: 22(+4). Which we wouldn't have gotten without losing that half-star of club reputation. Thanks!

2.9 Energie Cottbus(7-1-0, 1st) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-4, 7th)

We move past Offenbach, who lost, on goal differential. This one will of course be tougher against the dominating leaders of the Amateur League. They beat us 2-0 the first time out, and deploy a 4-3-3 here.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Jager/Doringer/Weibenfels/Schluter
M Maslanka/Muller D
F Jedin/Tiel

Six defenders might not be enough to stop them, but it's the only way I see us having any real chance to. This is one of those where I'll put on another midfielder for balance and experience's sake if we fall behind early, but I don't want to give up before the match has even started. I thought about playing Zeitz, but frankly their midfielders are good enough passers that he'd be irrelevant.

They start off by attacking the middle of the line. Jager makes the play but once again we are out of position now. Ortag's long pass skill works for us on the counter, as we are able to get the ball up to Jedin in position for a decent shot. That's something we couldn't do previously. Their keeper makes the save. I reposition our defense as best I can; they get a shot from just outside the box, and Komolong knocks it out for a corner. One of their forwards, Stolle is too good for us to move him out of position, and their corner-taker is too good a passer to keep the ball from getting to him. A bad effort this time by Komolong and they score on a cannon shot. We made them work for it is the best we can say. Fortunate in the last match, not this time.

Preiss on for Doringer at the half since we're losing this match anyway. After Jedin's third failed shot of the day they try to run it out wide, first on the near flank and then on the far one. Abruscia and then Ortag are good enough to take the ball back in both cases, and there's only 10 minutes left when they shoot through the line and Komolong gets some more business, keeping the rebound in play this time. Jager intercepts their last-second lofted pass after we run it up the wing, and that's it.

Energie Cottbus 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

A quality showing under the circumstances. One goal on the road is better than two at home.

Levels -- Tiel(6)

*** Ortag
** Abruscia
* Muller D - his usual quiet but reasonably useful game, a couple passes, pressed a bit.

** Balance: 16k(+30)

... and we're back up to a half-star of reputation because who knows why. Best guess; we're right at the threshold between nothing and the half-star, and we keep flipping back over it at the slightest provocation. I've seen that happen before.

[Brian Swartz]

2.16 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-5, 7th) vs. TSV Havelse(5-0-4, 4th)

We lost 1-0 on the road in the first match. This could be double-edged because I think both clubs have a chance to score here.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Doringer/Weibenfels/Schulte/Degner
M Blank/Tunjic/Preiss
F Jedin/Wachter

The optimism didn't last long. One of their forwards blasted a shot that just got past both Doringer and Komolong[/b], quite a fine one relative to his ability, and we trailed halfway through the first half. Jedin had a couple of tries that didn't get through their defense. We got a third chance at it when they foolishly fouled Tunjic at midfield just before the half; Fetscher came in for him.

https://i.imgur.com/vrER0YJ.png


Out of that we were able to get Jedin the best look yet, nearly a 50-50 proposition. Their keeper narrowly made the save(17 on a 16 attempt), so we still were behind 1-0 with one shot for them that barely went in, one for us that barely didn't.

They went to Deppe again to start the second half but he couldn't get anything going. They were a man down now due to the red card, so that could help us. We worked it up the left side with Blank, then up for a shot on the next turn but it didn't make it through. Weibenfels intercepted their next pass, and Preiss tried to hold it in midfield for one final attacking move. They took it away from though and we couldn't get off a shot.

https://i.imgur.com/gHzkjU0.png


This is a tough one -- I think we deserved better in this.

Levels - Weibenfels(8) and Tunjic(5)

*** Tunjic
** Preiss
* Fetscher

Apparently it was our midfield that got everyone's attention.

** Balance: 16.1k(+105)

2.23 Alemannia Aachen(4-0-6, 5th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-6, 7th)

Once again we try to avenge a narrow 1-0 loss earlier in the year.

G Komolong
D Ortag/Weibenfels/Neageli/Schulte/Schluter
M Zeitz/Maslanka/Muller D.
F Jedin/Mengele

Ortag gets the call again to deal with their RF, but aside from that we've got a lot of guys out there on defense who don't know what they are doing. I'm hoping Zeitz can help plug the middle here ...

... or they could just score on a cross before we so much as touch the ball. Yep. Jedin had a decent chance to equalize, but their SW Pluntke, the bane of our existence in previous matches, rose to the occasion and made the play. Schulte blocked a shot later, and Muller D held up against a failed slide tackle. They shifted their defense to cut us off, so Mengele got a rare shot attempt which was stopped by their defensive line.

The RNG bloody hates us. For the second match in a row, Jedin rolls a 16 on a shot in which he needs a 17 to score. Seriously, we can't even get one of those? Another shot picked off by Schulte, but it gets him out of position and they move in behind him - Komolong blocks it out for a corner. They clear us out of the box but he makes a clean save on one of their unimpressive forwards. We miss a long-range attempt that had no chance, and it's over.

Alemannia Aachen 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

'Random Amateur Foe 1, Stuttgarter 0' might as well be. At worst, we deserved one draw from this pair of matches. I'm feeling crap about these results but our back line has too many makeshift parts and we need to get our scoring going in order to make up for it.

Levels - Neageli(2)

*** Muller D
** Schulte
* Komolong

** Balance: 16.2k(+30)

https://i.imgur.com/pPiQ5JF.png


The transfer window closes. Six out of seven Amateur moves, aside from #2 here, involved our club.

[Brian Swartz]

3.1 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-7, 7th) vs. Kickers Offenbach(1-1-9, 8th)

Here's what we need to break our losing streak. They come out in a defensive 6-2-2, with all of their best players on the right(our left) of the formation. That includes Schwarz, their best defender.

G Komolong
D Abruscia/Jager/Weibenfels/Doringer/Schulte
M Blank/Tunjic
F Jedin/Tiel/Wachter

Jedin gets to their weak side right away, takes a shot with probably a 60% chance ... and misfires, their keeper gets an easy save. *Sigh* No problem, cause they try to take up the near flank, Abruscia points out why that's a bad idea, they foul him, so we get another chance. Doesn't even get by the defender. *Slams head on desk*. They only get one long-range shot, easily stopped by Doringer, so there's that.

Fetscher in for the over-worked Tunjic at intermission. They get themselves a corner right away, and of course we lose both easily-matched battles in the box. A close-range cannon shot is at least not executed properly, but it's just out for another corner. I swear, if we lose at home to the worst team in the league ... this time we win both and Jager makes the interception. We've got a lot of work to do to get another shot on goal now though. Abruscia steps up again, coming up to midfield to make a 50-50 tackle on the guy who was holding it there, maintaining possession, then setting up Jedin who finally converts one! Easily in this case, but boy did he take his freaking time. With just six minutes left we take the lead, and another Komolong save later it's over.

https://i.imgur.com/jnZ6pwb.png


First goal ever by not-Pfeiffer!

Levels - Doringer(15), Schulte(6), Wachter(5)

*** Komolong
** Abruscia
* Doringer

Jedin gets his first-ever tally and not even a mention. ROFL.

** Balance: 16.4k(+215)
** Glory: 33(+11)

[thehitcat]

Woot!! I know all 15 of our fans serenaded the Offenbach gaffer with "You're gonna be sacked in the Morning" for the entire last 6 minutes :)

[thehitcat]

Quick note, I'll be fully out of pocket until sometime later on Sunday.

[Brian Swartz]

LOL! That would be quite the scene.

Have fun with whatever you're doing.

[Brian Swartz]

3.8 SV Waldhof Mannheim(7-2-3, 3rd) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-4-7, 7th)

Wattenscheid won their last match so we seem to be stuck in 7th despite the victory, while these guys are two points up on Havelse for that final promotion spot with two matches left. We're spoilers here potentially.

G Komolong
D Jager/Weibenfels/Neageli/Schluter/Degner
M Tunjic/Preiss/Zeitz
F Jedin/Mengele

Weibenfels is just a man possessed lately. He won a close tackle and got fouled right off the bat, neutralizing their opening kickoff. Then it was time for a slightly more advanced tactic:

https://i.imgur.com/gExo4dE.png


That's a CD, not a sweeper, in front of the keeper. Our only chance of getting a decent shot, which their keeper will probably stop anyway but that's beside the point, is to pull him out of position with Mengele here. The hope is that he'll stay out of position and we can get the ball up to Jedin, the upper forward, later. A stupid lofted pass then goes way too long, and it's off Komolong for a corner -- which among other things screws up that whole idea since when the ball goes out of play everyone's positions reset. These guys aren't being nice ... they foul Zeitz shortly afterwards, and a long-shot chance doesn't materialize when Mengele misses a slide tackle in the box at the end of the half.

But hey, we're not behind! Maslanka and Fetscher come in for Preiss and Zeitz, who have really seen a lot of action trying to hold things together. A shot from wide of our line is saved by Komolong, and I'm generally feeling good about our chances. They try again with the same results ... and then foul Fetscher, giving us a free-kick at midfield late in the contest. We had a chance to work it to Jedin, but they intercept the pass. He never touched the ball once in this game :(.

SV Waldhof Mannheim 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

One of the more interesting, well-played draws I've seen, our second against these guys. All their fouling got them nowhere.

Levels - Degner(9), Preiss(5), Naegeli(3)

*** Zeitz(not bad for only a half)
** Jager
* Tunjic

** Balance: 16.4k(+30)
** Glory: 41(+8)

3.15 FSV Frankfurt(9-3-1, 2nd) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-5-7, 7th)

We can still finish anywhere from 6th to 8th this year. Frankfurt though is locked into the #2 spot. And we have our half a star back, for whatever that's worth(less glory from good results, basically).

G Komolong
D Ortag/Abruscia/Jager/Weibenfels/Schluter
M Tunjic/Preiss/Zeitz
F Jedin/Tiel

Under pressure right away, we watched an early shot sail through the line and an unimpressive save by Komolong in which he just barely got there. Then a weird and decidedly uncomfortable sequence in which Lindner, one of their forwards, kept retaking possession in our box at the end of their turn. This happened twice before Komolong had to deflect another shot. Really racking up the stats today but he hasn't surrended any corners yet. Then Abruscia had to survive a slide tackling attempt before finally running forward with it to set up a lame long-range shot through their line at the end of the half. Mark it down ... we're not scoring against these guys. It's only happened four times all year.

Doringer in for Abruscia at the half. Midway through, they decided fouling Zeitz was a good idea, and we actually got a shot for Jedin. Which their keeper Pirson saved easily. There were no threats to my surprise, and we preserve another draw.

FSV Frankfurt 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

If I ever figure out why we do so much better at the end of each half-season than the end, I'll let you know. We played the #2 and #3 teams in the Amateur League dead-even this year.

Levels - Ortag(16), Weibenfels(9), Schluter(8)

*** Zeitz
** Komolong
* Jager

** Balance: 16.4k(+30)
** Glory: 45(+4)

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/yzIqYbI.png


Found out that I could look at the final stuff just before choosing a sponsor. Don't know why I didn't notice that before. So we'll do that here. 1 goal scored, 3 allowed in the second half of the year. I'm surprised by that and it's the best we've done to date. Led the league in draws for the second straight season, and tied for third in goals conceded! Still looks like we're really going to have something here once(if?) we start scoring with more regularity. Also, here's to finishing not-last!!

As expected, the same three who came down go back up. Havelse's bid to change that comes up just short, courtesy of a defense that was far too leaky.

https://i.imgur.com/ZRp5MNR.png


Schweinfurt just didn't have what it takes, obviously. Saarbrucken had a terrible second half, but still stays up on the strength of a good start. Opposite for RWE, who found their groove and seems a strong candidate to stay in the Third League.

https://i.imgur.com/mACoxz2.png


Germany did indeed finish pretty well, though they are only 2nd this year behind the mighty Spaniards who clearly are setting the bar right now. We did indeed surpass Italy for #3 in the world, and have our sights set on merry England next. Leipzig made the European Cup semifinals, a heck of a showing, where they lost to Real Madrid, badly. It was an all-Spain final with Real Madrid and Sevilla, showing their nation's strength. In the EFA, FC Koln got the furthest for Germany, reaching the quarterfinals; Spain didn't win that one but Barcelona dumped Koln 3-1. So we were best in the not-Spain category, though most of our clubs were knocked out pretty quickly when the going got tough in the knockout rounds. Looks to me like we're better than we showed last year, but not as good as it looked from this season.

https://i.imgur.com/V8uyGw8.png


I'll take that - it's much less insulting than what they said about us last year. We're apparently actually viewed as a half-decent Amateur League club now. That's definitely progress.

https://i.imgur.com/gsCb5GG.png


Komolong's strong finish tied him for the Amateur lead in saves. Also, the more porous, younger defensive line helped him to that point by giving him plenty of opportunities. Doringer was #1 in tackles in the Prestige Cup at the time we were knocked out.

https://i.imgur.com/8MAENSA.png


This is frankly a crap selection. The choice is between the first and third options, but I go with Sporty. I'm not convinced we'll score enough to make King's Menu more valuable. In the end it probably doesn't matter all that much, given the small amount of the bonuses and the unlikelihood of us getting most of them.

[Brian Swartz]

2020 Offseason

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

** Valuation - 343k(+6k)
** Star Rating - 0.5(--)
** Classes - 78(+2)
** Levels - 11(-1)
** Skills - 10(-3)

Overall roster strength took a small step backwards with the sales we made at mid-season. In general, we stagnated in the short-term in order to invest in the future.

Amateur League

** Star Rating - 0.86(+0.15)
** Classes - 77(+12)
** Levels - 16(+6)
** Skills - 14(+4)

Now we're back to being a little behind the curve, partly due to the teams that were imported from Third League for this season.

Third League

** Star Rating - 1.25(-0.04)
** Classes - 88(+2)
** Levels - 22(--)
** Skills - 18(+2)

The best teams at this level are still getting considerably better, but the bottom half aren't moving as much. The gap is growing, and I'd be surprised if at least two of those who just promoted again don't get sent right back down.

https://i.imgur.com/VBZfGOk.png


SC Paderborn and 1860 Munchen look like sure-fire promoters. The interesting part is whether Halvese can mount a challenge to Schweinfurt, after narrowly missing last year. The order has changed a bit at the bottom, but it's the same cast of characters once more.

https://i.imgur.com/ng555wy.png


Combine the past two years and Germany has just edged England by half a point. There were some interesting encounters between the top teams in each nation last year as well. That could be a budding rivalry. We shouldn't get too comfortable at #3 either -- Italy appears to be in decline but they're close enough that it would only take one good year for them to surpass us again.

https://i.imgur.com/w58doBe.png


This is worth looking at every few years, and since it's the beginning of a new decade I decided to put it up.

https://i.imgur.com/06ou5ol.png


The Trophy Room, or lack of trophies room I should say. There's room on those pedestals for nine of them; five for the domestic leagues if we finish in the Top 3 of any of them, and four for the Cups. I'll try to remember to update this when we win something ... eventually. For now, perhaps the stark reminder of our complete lack of accomplishments to date can serve as motivational material.

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details


https://i.imgur.com/VvYlldr.png


https://i.imgur.com/uVfxHKG.png


https://i.imgur.com/9z8oetc.png


https://i.imgur.com/emBVNSd.png


https://i.imgur.com/v7hshRH.png


https://i.imgur.com/ozELx0w.png


** Pitzen hasn't been assigned to a coach yet. I'd like DavidCorperial and larrymcg421 to decide what to do with our latest youth, who comes in as our best yet at level 3. He would seem to be some kind of midfielder most likely but it's up to the two of you where he goes.

** I've transferred Schluter to DavidCorperial for now, due to the suggestion that he has a fullback future.


Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

LD Ortag
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

RD Abruscia
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
SL: LM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

F Tiel
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Tunjic
Interest: Average
SL: MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Preiss
Interest: Average
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Maslanka
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Schluter
Interest: Low
SL: D, ??
Playing Time: Regular Backup


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

MF Hirsch
Interest: Average
SL: Dedication?
Playing Time: Starter

CF Mengele
Interest: Average
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

F Wachter
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

M Fetscher
Interest: Average
SL: MF
Playing Time: Prospect

M Muller D.
Interest: Low
SL: MF
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Zeitz
Interest: Average
SL: DM
Playing Time: Starter

F Jedin
Interest: High
SL: FW
Playing Time: Starter


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

GK Komolong
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

CD Jager
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

D Weibenfels
Interest: Average
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Starter

? Neageli
Interest: Low
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Prospect

? Schulte
Interest: Low
SL: D
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Degner
Interest: Low
SL: D
Playing Time: Regular Backup

[Brian Swartz]

Specialization Briefing

We had only one SL gain in the second half of last year, so there isn't much here. I do have one unresolved question though. MF Hirsch was selected for Dedication next. I don't know if that means the Attribute Focus or XP Boost branch -- I'll need a call on that from larrymcg421.

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions

Club Resources

** Balance -- 16.4k
** Glory -- 56
** Fans -- 15
** Stadium Size -- 100

Upgrades

https://i.imgur.com/LlX8VsR.png


https://i.imgur.com/TFpQN8S.png


Unless we sell more players we won't have enough for either stadium or youth this off-season. We're just 4 Glory short of our next coach upgrade. Current instructions are to keep going on the Defense coach until they are maxed out. We can do that as soon as we get any more Glory in, or save it for now.

8-month contracts

These are the players newly-eligible for extensions, which we can do now or put off until Winter Break.

** Komolong - 480, 1104, 1872
** Doringer - 516, 1188, 2013
** Naegeli - 87, 201, 341
** Schluter - 266, 612, 1037
** Schulte - 195, 449, 761
** Degner - 302, 695, 1176

2-month contracts

This is the 'extend now or sell' list.

** Abruscia - 480, 1104, 1872
** Tunjic - 159, 366, 621
** Muller D - same as Tunjic
** Preiss - same
** Tiel - 195, 449, 761

Not as many as last time for sure. We have a sell order on Muller D already. The manager notes that he was at Average interest until the final match of last season, then dropped to low. If we get him a match or two at the start of this year, we can boost him back up and get a few more thousand euros from him. Up to larrymcg421 whether we think it's worth that or not.

Transfers

https://i.imgur.com/jCc2oCX.png


Should we wish to splurge for it, the global list is 37.5k.

General Playing Time

We continue to stick on Rotation, but can switch to Mixed or Best XI at any time if the coaches prefer.

Two years are in the books. How many more will we spend in the Amateur League? Coaches, make your instructions known.

[larrymcg421]

Hirsch - Go up the XP boost branch.

Muller - I'll trust your instincts on the financial part. If you think it's worth the extra $$, then give him a few games.

Pitzen - I think his decent control makes him a good Winger candidate, so DavidCorperial can have him if he wants.

[thehitcat]

OK I'm asking the three of you to vote. There are three options with Komolong and I need help deciding which one. Please each of you choose one, if we end up with a tie I'll break it but I feel like you guys need to help me with this decision because it probably ties strongly to how quickly we exit the Amateur ranks.

Option 1 - Sell Komolong now he's worth 60K and he won't get his next skill level while we are still able to sell him so he's at or close to his maximum value. That said we have no backup GK so we'd throw Degner in there and he'd learn on the fly.

Option 2 - Sign Komolong for a year and sell him next summer when he's worth less than now, at a guess 30k, but we have this year to try to a) get out of the Amateur league if we think we're close and b) another window to buy an actual trained backup keeper.

Option 3 - Sign Komolong for 3 years and ride him until he retires. We won't get anything for him but he's probably our best bet to help us get out of the Amateur league in goal over the next 3 seasons.

Thanks

[larrymcg421]

I say Option 3, mainly because we still have the option of selling him at 33 if a good youngster does come along, and we're not out too much money based on the difference of 1 yr and 3 yrs.

[Brian Swartz]

Option 1 - Sell Komolong now he's worth 60K and he won't get his next skill level while we are still able to sell him

Good question here, and I'm not voting; I implement decisions in this project, rather than make them. I'm curious what the others think though. It may change the calculus a bit to note that this actually isn't true. He just turned 32(literally five days ago in the game) so we can sell him after he upgrades his skill during Winter Break a year and a half from now.

[DavidCorperial]

Only Abruscia should be sold, some are getting their skill after their contracts expire so should be renewed, up to you on length.

[Brian Swartz]

So far …

** Komolong ??
** Abruscia and Muller D are sold, we'll get about 42k for them combined. I think Muller will only take one match, two at most to get there.
** Tiel extended 1 year for 195
** Tunjic extended 3 years for 621
** Preiss extended 1 year for 159
** No coach or facility upgrades as of yet
** Pitzen tentatively transferred to DavidCorperial as a wing midfielder


That would all end up with us having an estimated almost 58k in funds.

[thehitcat]

Komolong Plan D, thanks for the update Brian. We'll sign him for a year and then look to sell him in Winter a year and a half from now with his second skill level and 2 months left on his contract.

We're shooting the balloon on my 8 month players. All 4 of them, Doringer, Naegeli, Schulte and Degner are getting the full 3 year deals. Total payout for my 5 contracts is $4771.

That takes care of my guys. I'm still in for Rotation to get everyone experience and skills.

Also I think DC and Lmcg should look hard at Ziereis on the transfer list. That guy looks like a good striker for us, not to mention a good sale in 4-6 years.

[thehitcat]

Oh and I like the idea of buying the next level in Youth Pulls with most of our remaining cash, but it's something we can do at any time and don't need to do in the offseason. For example if we're having a better than expected first half of the season I suggest we buy the stadium upgrade in case we go up. If we're having a not very good half season I'd suggest we buy the Youth upgrade before the Winter break to potentially get a better player in that window. No coach move yet we're a couple glory short.

[Brian Swartz]

Any further instructions that you want accounted for by the start of play this year should be made Wednesday -- I'll be starting up the next set of matches after that. The mentioned contract extensions have been entered, except Muller D since we're waiting on that a bit. We have 40.6k in the account, pending that sale.


https://i.imgur.com/IERNrpL.png


https://i.imgur.com/E1bHlFO.png


Naturally he went to the newly-crowned armpit of the Amateur League, Kickers Offenbach. Abruscia was a productive if flawed fullback -- for some reason he liked working on shooting, but was never in a position to be any threat the opponents' goal.

[Brian Swartz]

2020/21 Season Outlook

Our third season begins. Rotation of playing time continues, with the exception of keeper(where Komolong is the only authorized player) and forward(where instructions are set that Jedin always plays unless overly fatigued). Personnel levels(i.e., a relative glut of midfielders) dictate that we will want to try to play as much 4-4-2 as possible, though a 5-3-2 will still be in vogue much of the time due to matchups. Part of this is because opposing teams will probably still feel comfortable going with aggressive, 3-forward formations to press for the win; if we start to succeed more as a scoring threat I imagine they'll play more defensively. This has already happened to a small degree as the more vigilant observers will have noticed, but we've haven't seen a major shift yet.

You may have also noticed that Zeitz lost the zero-value bug, but passed it on to Tiel. He managed to shed it as soon as I advanced the game towards our first match of the year. Hoping it's gone for good *fingers crossed* but I think we'll just have to try to work around that as best we can. I also wanted to mention that we now have 13 players under contract for two years or more. The needed extensions shouldn't be nearly as heavy for a while.

7.19 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Kickers Offenbach

A good chance to excise the tradition of slow starts. Offenbach is still a fan of the 6-2-2, with Abruscia and Schwarz featured. Also notable is that they have a zero-class keeper, Sperl, with a whopping 13 defense(effectively 7 with the penalty). He'll be virtually invisible. If we can get the ball through to him, we're scoring basically. They must have had their previous guy retire or were compelled to sell him. They still aren't a non-threat, with one forward possessing the cannon shot ability and the other a CF with nutmeg and decent accuracy.

G - Komolong
D - Weibenfels/Neageli/Schulte/Degner/Doringer
M - Muller D/Blank/Maslanka
F - Jedin/Wachter


I added Doringer because I didn't think we had much chance of stopping them with three zero-class noobs out there otherwhise. Another case where the five at the back was nearly forced on us. Muller will get a half to try and boost his interest back up.

Jedin's slump continued in our first possession of the season. Their amateur defender hit his max 15 roll on intercepting the shot; Jedin had a 26 max ... and rolled an 8. If I do my math right, that was the absolutely minimum. He can't shoot any worse than that. WTG. They brought it down the near wing, and we don't have anyone out that way ... it's where Abruscia used to be. A cross was met by Vetter, and Offenbach takes the lead at 24 minutes. Super. Fortunately Jedin decided not to be a complete tool again, and equalized immediately. Vetter shot through Doringer and Komolong to score immediately for them ... Jedin struck back once more ... and our just-extended sweeper decided it was time to stop them for once at the first-half buzzer.

https://i.imgur.com/nYTz2RD.png


That's the most offense I've seen in a match of ours, ever. And it's only halftime. Muller D comes off for Tunjic. They tried the same angled-shot maneuver but Doringer got another block. Now Vetter was able to move into the box though ... some midfield maneuvering led to them trying the other side, where Schulte made a key tackle to prevent any further threats. We tried to advance it but Abruscia was in the way, then looked to feed a Layoff Pass into the box. Degner got in the way of that one. Down to our final possession, we could only get a fairly low-probability, longer-range shot by Jedin ... which was blocked away.

Stuttgarter Kickers 2, Kickers Offenbach 2

Our highest-scoring draw ever. We really need to be beating these guys, and we should have probably had a 3-1 victory here. We'll get a lot better once the more inexperienced defenders get classed up. But it was sure entertaining!

Levels - Schulte(7), Tunjic(6)

*** Jedin - simultaneously set the franchise mark for goals in a game(2) and earned criticism for that lame first attempt.
** Muller D
* Naegeli

Komolong, whose bad save attempt on their second goal is the biggest reason we lost, was the first to hit SL4. He gets the 30% training time reduction, which will save about 5 months and will make it possible to sell him before the end of the first transfer window next year with his talent upgrade, if that option is chosen … oh, and he's now worth 93.2k.

** Balance: 40.7k(+75) -- left 110 in the sponsor's pocket for not winning this one.
** Glory: 60(+4)


https://i.imgur.com/Jm8rVrP.png


https://i.imgur.com/WjbLIlG.png


An effective part-timer departs. His passes to Jedin in the first half against Offenbach were plenty to get his selling price back up. It increased more than I expected actually. Off he goes to Offenbach, and our balance rises to 56.2k.

https://i.imgur.com/1kCbjP1.png


Now that all the current roster transactions have been cleared, we can gaze in awe, or cringe at as the case may be, the players who comprise the Stuttgarter roster for this season. There are 21 right now.

[Brian Swartz]

7.26 SC Paderborn 07(1-0-0, 1st) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-0, 4th)

Paderborn beat Schweinfurt, who was up in the Third League with them last year, mind, 5-0 in their opener. Their keeper and forwards have mid-50s attributes. In other words, they are scoring, and we're not. They'll play a 4-4-2, mostly because they don't need another attacker.

G - Komolong
D - Jager/Weibenfels/Neageli/Schulte/Degner
M - Zeitz/Fetscher/Preiss
F - Jedin/Mengele

The RNG was in full control of the elective spots in this lineup. I'm starting with five defenders but will yank one of them if they score early. It's just on the off-chance that we might be able to hold them to a scoreless draw. Jager is good enough to have a chance to handle any penetrations of our formation, but they may well just decide to shoot through us.

Their initial shot was poor, barely getting through Naegeli and even a considerably bad effort by Komolong easily stopped it. Due to their pretty good DM, Fetscher was compelled to just hold it at midfield. That was enough to keep things in limbo for a while -- another shot through the line was handled by a good effort from our keeper. Zeitz provoked a foul later, and we ended the first half still scoreless. Well whaddya know ... can we keep it up?

Weibenfels and then Jager both got in the way of second-half shot attempts, while a couple of lucky bounces(lofted pass and power shot both deflecting right to our forwards) helped make things difficult on Paderborn's attacking efforts.

https://i.imgur.com/iKQDpcj.png


Mengele's slide tackle ability succeeded for the first time, getting him this. Which would be great if he had any way to take advantage of it. It's literally impossible for him to score here, even from point-blank range ... so we go Power Shot and hope for a corner. Not because we can score off it(we can't), but because it'll waste more time. That doesn't happen, but it bounces into clear territory and they don't even both trying to advance it.

SC Paderborn 07 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

That is one heck of a draw.

Levels - Jager(15), Fetscher(9), Naegeli(4)

*** Komolong - obvious choice.
** Jager
* Schulte

Well-deserved honors for the defenders as well.

** Glory - 72(+12). We get no money for the first match ever, because of the different sponsor conditions this season.


4.2 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-0, 6th) vs. SG Wattenscheid 09(0-0-2)

Once again we face the 6-2-2. This one forms a literal wall around the keeper, with former Stuttgarter regulars Landeka and Scepanik playing a key role on each wing. There's no good way to get close. We can either try to shoot through the wall or try to pull someone out of position. The first option isn't a good one because their keeper is good enough that he'll probably stop any shot from that range. Their forwards are Dias, the rainbow-feinting guy who scored on us last year but we're ready for that now, and a certain FW Pfeiffer with level 2 Cannon Shot.

G - Komolong
D - Ortag/Doringer/Schluter/Jager
M - Blank/Tunjic/Maslanka/Pitzen
F - Jedin/Tiel

Since it was time to put most of our better defenders out there, I go only with four here. More bodies wouldn't improve it much I don't think. The defense depends on stopping Pfeiffer from getting off a cannon shot. He likely scores if he does, but it's the only way they have a good shot of doing it. Doringer should get in the way of a lot of those potential opportunities. Tiel will try to play the role of offensive decoy, while the midfield does ... something useful, I hope.

The match started perfectly. We got the maneuver we wanted to get one of their defenders out of position, and then Ortag stopped Dias's feint attempt. His Long Pass attempt was intercepted though, and at the end of the half they got Doringer out of position and Pfeiffer made us pay with a cannon shot at the buzzer. That one's partly on me as I didn't see the danger until it was too late, though I might not have been able to prevent the score anyway.

A red-card on Dias for fouling Tunjic helped early in the second. The disruption maneuver was set up again, and Tunjic held the ball in midfield. Two failed attempts to take it from him allowed us time to set Jedin up for a shot at the end, but it was still a low-probability effort and their defense intercepted.

SG Wattenscheid 09 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Second year in a row we've been dealt our first early-season loss by these dorks. Could have almost certainly gotten a draw with a more conservative lineup, but I think the tactics at the end of the first half were the real cause. For the first time, I feel I owe the club an apology for a defeat. I've got to take a significant amount of the heat for this one.

Levels - Blank(8), Pitzen(4)

*** Doringer
** Tunjic
* Pitzen

Good match for our midfielders. An early tackle gave our newbie a fine start to his career.

** Balance - 56.3k(+75)

[Brian Swartz]

8.9 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-1, 7th) vs. Alemannia Aachen(2-0-1, 3rd)

Paderborn bizarrely had another draw in their next match and dropped to 4th, while these guys and Havelse have themselves in promotion position early on. This is a big match for us as a dry run; we've not done well historically against AA and they will be our Prestige Cup foe for the qualifying round in a week and a half.

https://i.imgur.com/IOGawb6.png


Obviously we'll play a more experienced group in the cup, but I hope they go with this approach there. Convenient gap between the two high defenders for Jedin to get in and try to fire a shot past their sweeper. Pluntke has been trouble for us in the past, but if we get it through him the keeper is still an amateur. Their primary threat is from RF Muller, so Ortag was mandatory this match to try and block him off. Our defensive formation is quite dumb-looking, but their skill-deprived and low-accuracy forwards in the middle should not be a problem. Only reason I have five defenders out there is because of who they are(the noob patrol).

Pluntke blocked our first attempt, and one thing you may have noticed is their skilled defenders who can start counter-attacks well. They took it down the open flank, and a long shot out that way resulted in a corner. They got a man free in the box against our weak defenders ... and the shot was blocked out for another corner. This could go on for a while. It didn't though, because they scored on a crap save attempt by Komolong on the next one(17 out of 40-something). Sigh. Jedin struck back for us immediately - it's so nice to finally be able to not have to be perfect on defense now that he's a legit threat some of the time. AA maneuvered for another corner. Pretty clear they are going to keep riding that horse. We stopped them this time though - but their midfielders are good enough to just pass it through our defense, including Ortag. A combination of horrible luck passing it out of defense and another bad effort on their next corner let them score again before the half.

We played for an equalizing score in the second, but most of it was spent trading possession in midfield. A desperate long-range shot had a sliver of a chance at the end but was easily intercepted.

Alemannia Aachen 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 1

Not the result I was looking for, but we do have a shot at beating these guys in the Cup, I'm convinced of it. A better performance from Komolong and this was a draw.

Levels - Jedin(12), Mengele(11)

*** Komolong
** Hirsch
* Naegeli

** Balance: 56.4k(+75)

8.16 TSV 1860 Munchen(3-1-0, 1st) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-2, 7th)

Time for our annual 'who gives a crap' match before the Cup interrupts, and this time it's against the only unbeaten club in the Amateur League.

G - Komolong
D - Degner/Naegeli/Schluter/Schulte
M - Preiss/Maslanka/Blank/Pitzen
F - Wachter/Tiel

Komolong narrowly made an early save with a solid effort, and a L2 slide tackle on Pitzen at midfield failed. I'm amazed at how often these 'suicide squad' rosters will defy the odds - at least for a time. Near the end of the first half they dribbled through Schluter and scored on a cannon shot, so that was the extent of the resistance. Keep-away was successful enough to hold them out the rest of the way.

TSV 1860 Munchen 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

A third straight loss but I actually feel the best about this one under the circumstances.

Levels - Komolong(15)

*** Pitzen
** Schluter
* Maslanka

No resource gains whatsoever. A new 'first'.

[Brian Swartz]

8.19 Alemannia Aachen vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, First Leg

We begin on the road this time, and they haul out the same 5-2-3 formation. Why not, when it worked the first time ... except they're going to find it a lot harder to get corner opportunities this time.

G - Komolong
D - Ortag/Jager/Doringer/Weibenfels/Naegeli/Schulte
M - Zeitz/Hirsch/Fetscher
F - Jedin

Our first time going with a 6-3-1 this season, but we won't be helped by any additional forwards in this matchup. Fetscher is in there due to his youth and a decent mid option to get in the way of theirs.

Alemannia goes for the corner play anyway, and their shot gets through Doringer though Komolong easily knocks it aside. We have a slight edge at both spots, Ortag intercepts the kick and then possession gets traded around a lot. Eventually a yellow is handed out to Schulte, a rare foul on us but it wasn't a blatant one. The end result of all that was another save and failed corner kick. Under pressure for the entire half pretty much, we didn't crack.

Second-half kickoff was our chance, as is often the case on the road. Our only fatigued player was Ortag but we have nobody to put on for him so he'll have to muddle through. Jedin split their defense as before, but Pluntke made a fine interception on a decent shot attempt. After their latest haul down the near flank, Weibenfels moved out to make the tackle following a bit of deliberation on my part. It worked out as he made the play, then survived a tackle attempt. They got more aggressive, and earned themselves a red card for their trouble. A free-kick deep in our end ... 80 minutes off the clock. There wasn't time for anything but a desperation loft downfield. It didn't connect, so we positioned for defense and Doringer knocked aside their last-ditch shot from range.

Alemannia Aachen 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

We'll have a chance to win it at home. I think our chances are about even of doing so, assuming the same matchups.

Levels - Zeitz(13), Weibenfels(10), Schulte(8), Naegeli(6)

Didn't note the star awards. We do have some business to attend to now though.

Zeitz has become our first Defensive Midfielder(DM). This is not a small thing. He gets 100% defence against passes going through his tile, intercepts all passes within 2 tiles, and +1 level to the Intercept talent(counters Layoff Pass & Long Pass). His defense attribute isn't high enough to get a lot of pass interceptions in adjacent areas, but even so he will make it more difficult on the opponent to get the ball to their central forwards.

Zeitz is up to level 15 now.

Schulte and Naegeli are now Amateur Defenders(D). That'll make them significantly more valuable and shore up our flexibility on the back line.

** Glory - 76(+4)

[Brian Swartz]

We pause now for some decisions. Need a SL choice for Zeitz, but that can wait until Winter Break(unless we want to cross-train him on a new position). That's for larrymcg421.

Most of this is for thehitcat. Schulte will eventually need his second class; Neageli and Weibenfels are already instructed to go DF but I don't have one for him yet. More immediately though, we're looking at skill training options our two recently-amateurized defenders:

https://i.imgur.com/QKsCxtQ.png


https://i.imgur.com/eo9Noeu.png



Once we have those we can proceed forward. Two more Amateur League matches left in the first half of this year, and at least one more Cup match(more if we win, of course).

[Brian Swartz]

I also just realized that I don't have a new SL choice for FW Jedin, and he'll be needing that soon. Can't see any others that were missed. That's another one for larrymcg421. Jedin is at SL2 so he's fully classed but doesn't have anything from the Talent, Dedication, or Fan Favorite trees yet.

[larrymcg421]

Dedication for Jedin and Talent for Zeitz

[thehitcat]

Schulte will go for Head Play and CD. Naegeli Reaction and DF.

[Brian Swartz]

8.23 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-3, 7th) vs. TSV Havelse(3-1-1, 3rd)

Havelse is another example of the weird results this year; they lead the Amateur League with only two goals conceded, despite not really having the personnel for such success. They're playing a 4-3-3, with CF Kyereh[b] and his L2 Cannon Shot the biggest threat. All three forwards can score if we aren't careful though.

G - Komolong
D - Jager/Doringer/Neageli/Schluter/Degner
M - Tunjic/Preiss
F - Jedin/Mengele/Tiel

We actually got a shot on each of our first two turns. [b]Jedin's attempt was intercepted by their defense to nobody's surprise, and then they held it in their own box which was a weird thing. Mengele's slide tackle got him an attempt which their keeper easily saved. Late in the half they finally managed to maneuver for a corner kick, and it was another situation where our defenders lacked the skill to push them out of the box. One point-blank cannon shot was knocked out for another attempt. Both Jager and Doringer got the motivation boost after that, and they were successful this time ... one long-range prayer was not answered, and the half arrived.

After Doringer blocked their initial try of the second half, we held it at the other end with Mengele. Eventually M Merkens came back with a slide tackle attempt ... resulting in our CF lying on the pitch in a unnaturally twisted, mangled heap. He'll be out almost five months. Thanks, asshats! Fetscher is his replacement. Once again we couldn't penetrate their defense with the resulting free kick, and we held at the other end against their final attempt.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, TSV Havelse 0

66% possession for them, 81% in the first half.

Levels - Doringer(16), Degner(10)

*** Doringer
** Tunjic
* Komolong

Tunjic now reaches MF, bumping him up to Level 8 and giving him nearly a 50% increase in his passing.

** Balance: 56.4k(+75)
** Glory: 84(+8)

8.30 FC Schweinfurt 05(2-1-3, 5th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-3-3, 7th)

Our first match with these guys in close to two years, and they are really struggling more than warranted in surrendering two goals per match. D Weibenfels completed Layoff Pass training a couple days before this. Schweinfurt comes out in a 5-2-3. One of their forwards weirdly has level-2 nutmeg but we don't care because his accuracy is absolutely abysmal. Another is a good enough shooter to be a threat, and a third has rainbow feint which isn't a problem at level 1. I think our chances of keeping them from scoring are good here, so I chance going with only four defenders.

G - Komolong
D - Ortag/Doringer/Weibenfels/Degner
M - Blank/Tunjic/Hirsch/Maslanka
F - Jedin/Wachter

Hirsch intercepted the opening kickoff, and a battle for possession at midfield ensured. Schweinfurt eventually prevailed, getting a corner kick midway through the half. It failed horribly due to both their attackers having single-digit control. We never got the ball across the midline, which is pretty embarassing, but they never really threatened either.

Fetscher on at half for Hirsch, who was really overworked. We finally got a shot to start things off, but their keeper Eiban is pretty good and it had only a small chance of going in. Realistically we'd need to get Jedin at point-blank range and we don't really have a good way of doing that -- it was a bad try anyway and a hilariously easy save(9 to 45 roll or something like that). 70 minutes in they had another terrible corner kick, we never got anything going again and that was that.

FC Schweinfurt 05 0, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Once again we are the masters of the scoreless draw. Out-shot 3-1, possession 61% against, 5-3 tackles against.

Levels - none

*** Komolong
** Degner
* Fetscher

Weibenfels is now a DF, boosting him to Level 12. Degner becomes a D(amateur defender) also.

No resource gains. It says a lot about how far they've fallen(and we are half-star again as well) that we get no strong opponent bonus here. Everyone can rest up for a couple weeks, when the Prestige Cup resumes.

[Brian Swartz]

thehitcat, you are up again right away here. Your fault for buying all these guys :P.

https://i.imgur.com/PhaCe7C.png

[thehitcat]

Degner will go for DF and the Layoff pass.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/ByKu3LO.png


Mostly us again, but 1860 Munchen throws it's money around buying up a Third-League player.

9.16 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Alemannia Aachen
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, Second Leg

Tied 0-0 after the first matchup, it's time to decide who moves on. So far we've been able to get by this round every year, but this is a tough qualifying-round draw and that streak could come to an end. We have several players within weeks if not days of getting another skill added, but once again none of them look to be game-changers for us.

G - Komolong
D - Doringer/Schluter/Jager/Weibenfels/Ortag/Degner
M - Zeitz/Hirsch/Fetscher
F - Jedin

I'm surprised to see Aachen go with a 6-2-2 here. I thought they'd be more aggressive, pressing for victory. The still have RF Muller out there on the wing, which more or less compels me to go with six at the back in order to really be secure. Our formation is basically the same but with more competent defenders as last time. Despite them throwing a lot of bodies at the back line, it won't stop us from a getting a decent shot.

https://i.imgur.com/UQ27nE2.png


Here it is, first turn of the match. Maybe a 1 in 3 or 2 out of 5 proposition. Fortune smiles on us, and Jedin scores!! I think that's his first cup tally. Now we just need to hold them out. Muller goes right at Ortag who takes it away. Then Zeitz is whistled for a foul in midfield, a questionable call but he's not carded. They get nothing significant out of it, and it's no trouble to keep things as they are the rest of the half.

45 minutes from victory, Tunjic is on for Fetscher, for fresh-legs purposes. They test Ortag again, and he passes again. I think they are trying to set up a cross there, but we're positioned well against it. We play conservatively, not wanting to risk giving up anything cheap, and the rest of the match is thankfully boring.

https://i.imgur.com/KRhUUj9.png


We snap the Pluntke Curse, having never beaten Aachen before as he'd blocked several goal-scoring attempts. I really don't know how we keep pulling this off, but another pair of juicy Cup matches are coming up now, as we advance to the next round! Komolong never saw the ball, a rarity in our matches.

Levels - Ortag(18), Jager(16), Komolong(16), Hirsch(15), Jedin(13), Weibenfels(13), Degner(11), Schluter(10). 9 of the 12 players who appeared leveled up.

*** Ortag
** Jedin
* Hirsch

SL3 for both Jedin & Hirsch, each grabbing to Dedication(+30% xp boost) option.

** Balance: 56.8k(+335) - 225 tickets, 110 for the home victory bonus as our sponsor finally has to pay out something
** Glory: 88(+4) - surprised we got no strong opponent bonus here against a 1-star club. That's weird.

Wattenscheid sneaks by Offenbach 3-2 on aggregate in the other matchup.

[Brian Swartz]

10.7 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SGS Grobaspach
Prestige Cup, Round of 32, First Leg

Fetscher(Slide Tackle) and Preiss(Head Play) both get their skill training done before this match. As for Grobaspach, they are a 2-star Second League club, but are not doing well there currently in 12th(top relegation spot). They play a 4-3-3, and we don't have to worry about scoring here; their GK has 56 defense, 70 for the SW. Things aren't much better for us on the other end, with FW Kastner capable of just bombing it through our line with his low-70s accuracy, while LF Aschauer has L2 cannon shot, and we have no RD to oppose him with.

This ... could be painful.

https://i.imgur.com/4zcZwvn.png


I go with this, playing Fetscher instead of Hirsch due to his recently-acquired Slide Tackle and the fact that he's the future. This is about as absurdly defensive as we can get. I'd like to get more diverse playing time here, but unless they score early this at least allows us to put up maximum resistance.

Jedin's opening shot actually had a chance to score. A 5% chance, if that, but still a chance. Their sweeper intercepted and they tried to pass it into the box(Long Pass from midfield) but Weibenfels made the play. Our first-ever completed lofted pass from Fetscher up to Jedin let us keep the ball in their end, but this time their passing got through our line, and despite a decent effort from Komolong, Kastner still scored midway through the first half. Ahh well. I boot it out of bounds and bring on Pitzen and Schulte, resting Zeitz and Ortag. It's play-the-youngsters time.

They dribble right into the teeth to start the second, getting by Jager and then shooting by everyone else. Komolong almost got that one, but not quite. He actually saved one later on another long-pass-through-the-line maneuver, but it was just out for a corner. Aschauer has as much control as all of our defenders(all seven of them out there right now) COMBINED. His cannon shot missed, but bounced right back to him. Double-pressed and tackled with Komolong ... who is called for the penalty.

https://i.imgur.com/NTizOvF.png


Been a while since we had one like this. We literally don't belong on the same pitch as these guys. All the luck and tactics in the world don't matter in this kind of matchup.

Levels - Doringer(17), Degner(12), Schulte(9), Naegeli(7)

*** Fetscher
** Weibenfels
* Pitzen

Heh. Never thought I'd see those three as our top performers in a match. Hard to argue with it though.

Fetscher has hit MF, and Level 12 now. Doringer reaches SL4, taking the 30% training time reduction which will save him a couple months on the current skill but more time later. He becomes our first player to hit six-digit value.

** Balance: 57.0k(+225)


11.4 SGS Grobaspach vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup, Round of 32, Second Leg

Wachter(Nutmeg), Zeitz(Slide Tackle), and Tunjic(Nutmeg) all complete skill training. Since this match is basically a formality, the Rotation order holds and it's pure 'who's next for playing time' in choosing this lineup - other than the two automatic selections, of course.

G - Komolong
D - Ortag/Weibenfels/Schulte/Schluter
M - Blank/Preiss/Maslanka/Pitzen
F - Jedin/Tiel

They're probably going to really run up the score against this lineup, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. Only thing that costs us compared to a 1-0 loss is fans ... and we don't have any fans to lose.

4' -- They predictably start with Kastner, but Komolong actually makes the save. Huh.
30' -- After Pitzen made about his fifth straight low-odds interception earlier in the half, his luck finally runs out. They get it back up to Kastner, who barely scores(44 to 40 roll). Good try guys.
36 ' -- Jedin's first try of the day is blocked by SW Leist. That happened four or five times the first time around. It'll happen again before today's over.

Fetscher on for the tired Pitzen at half.

60' -- Kastner on the doorstep, another just-enough score(57 to 55). Despite the score, Komolong is really playing well today.
74' -- Jedin actually gets it by Leist, so GK Broll is forced to make a save.
90' -- They finish it off with an Aschauer cannon-shot. A low-chance tackle by Weibenfels on the previous turn succeeded, but they just used their L2 slide tackle forward to take the ball back.

SBS Grobaspach 3, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Same score, different day.

Levels - Weibenfels(14), Jedin(14), Schluter(11), Tiel(7), Preiss(6), Maslanka(6)

*** Pitzen - LOL. Dude is just the luckiest SOB I've ever seen.
** Fetscher
* Weibenfels - second place in the luck department

President says 'you fought as best you could' blah blah blah. And Schluter is now an amateur defender(D).

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/vb0yiRV.png


This one's for DavidCorperial. I also need to know what his next position/class should be. Once I have Schluter's skill choice in, I'll move on to Winter Break.

[DavidCorperial]

Slide Tackle and play him on one of the 2 sides I guess.

[Brian Swartz]

As a side note before I get working on the Winter Break stuff, three players - Maslanka, Blank, and Tiel - finished their skill-training. That means we currently have just over a third of the roster(8 of 22) still working on a skill. This will constantly ebb and flow as time goes on of course, but it's a nice boost to the capabilities(and perhaps equally important, financial value) of our players.

[Brian Swartz]

PSA: I'm behind on a couple things right now so next update will be delayed. Probably just going to be an empty week for this project, and I'll get the Winter Break info and decisions up more towards the weekend unless I can get it to sooner than expected.

[thehitcat]

Totally cool Brian. Real life sadly takes precedence. It's why I can't truly dive into my War against the Chosen in XCOM. :( That said I love where it's been going so far.

[Brian Swartz]

2020 Winter Break

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

** Valuation - 514k(+171k)
** Star Rating - 0.5(--)
** Classes - 86(+8)
** Levels - 13(+2)
** Skills - 16(+6)

Changed the way I did the valuation a bit. Turns out the sell value is a little more dynamic than I thought for players, so I'm just using their current listed value here. Even with that, we're worth over a half-million now! Also the squad is overall better than ever.

Amateur League

** Star Rating - 1.0(+0.14)
** Classes - 77(--)
** Levels - 17(+1)
** Skills - 17(+3)

It took longer than the higher leagues, but we're seeing a widening rift between the good and bad teams now. Stuttgarter has moved back up to the middle of that continuum.

Third League

** Star Rating - 1.33(+0.08)
** Classes - 87(-1)
** Levels - 23(+1)
** Skills - 19(+1)

It's clear from looking at both leagues that we've reached the point where roster turnover is starting. That is, they've started losing some of the older players that they began with. As a result, the rate of improvement in the level of competition has decreased, though it's still increasing overall.

https://i.imgur.com/m2tRyWg.png


After a wild - at least by our standards - start to the season, we've settled into our usual rhythm. Lowest-scoring club and one of the better defensive ones, leading to being winless but lots of draws. If Schweinfurt, who has too good of players to be conceding two goals a match, doesn't pick it up quickly then we're going to have a new club promoting this season.

Individual Leaders

** Goals - Jedin(3), T-8th
** Assists - Nobody
** Tackles - Doringer(7), T-5th. Leader has 9 so it's a tight race there.
** Saves - Komolong(14), 1st. Second-best has 9, so he's looking good to be the top save guy in the league again.

https://i.imgur.com/GJ61HeB.png


Germany has pulled away from Italy, and so far this year it's paper-thin among the top three. England, with only one team out so far, is looking strong to end Spain's run of being the best every season. Italy/Russia/France are clumping up a bit as a second trio.

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

https://i.imgur.com/kyk3q5I.png


https://i.imgur.com/PFoTmJi.png


https://i.imgur.com/14mXC7Q.png


https://i.imgur.com/3vLvjgW.png


https://i.imgur.com/hzmdxB5.png


https://i.imgur.com/WgOh3gJ.png


Munster is our latest acquisition, making us younger at the forward spot.


Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

LD Ortag
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
SL: LM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

F Tiel
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup

MF Tunjic
Interest: Average
SL: ??
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Preiss
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Maslanka
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

D Schluter
Interest: Average
SL: ??
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Pitzen
Interest: Low
SL: M, RM/LM??
Playing Time: Prospect


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

MF Hirsch
Interest: Average
SL: Dedication(XP Boost)
Playing Time: Starter

CF Mengele
Interest: Low
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

F Wachter
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

MF Fetscher
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Prospect

DM Zeitz
Interest: Average
SL: DM, ?
Playing Time: Starter

FW Jedin
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

? Munster
Interest: Low
SL: F, ??
Playing Time: Prospect


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

GK Komolong
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

CD Jager
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

DF Weibenfels
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

D Neageli
Interest: Average
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Prospect

D Schulte
Interest: Average
SL: CD, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Degner
Interest: Average
SL: D, DF, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

[Brian Swartz]

Specialization Briefing

A few things to be sorted here. We've got a few players who hit their second class and need to pick a new SL. As a reminder, here's what that looks like:

https://i.imgur.com/ukbhbLb.png


With no utility option for the MFs and other universals. Players who need this are Tunjic(DavidCorperial) along with Fetscher, Zeitz, and Jedin(larrymcg421).

Also need a second class for D Schluter(DavidCorperial); if we stick with defense that would mean DF, RD, or LD ... otherwhise he can still get moved somewhere else if you want. ? Munster(larrymcg421) will default to forward(F) but I could use his second class also.

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions

Club Resources

** Balance - 57k
** Glory - 88
** Fans - 15
** Stadium Capacity - 100

Upgrades

https://i.imgur.com/LlX8VsR.png


https://i.imgur.com/TFpQN8S.png


These remain unchanged from last time, in which a youth facility upgrade was proposed but failed to garner the necessary support.

7-month Contracts

** LD Ortag(623, 1433, 2429)
** M Preiss(195, 449, 761)
** F Tiel(230, 528, 896)
** F Wachter(159, 366, 621)
** ? Pitzen(same as Wachter)

1-month Contracts

We only have one player requiring an immediate decision this time around.

** D Schluter(374, 860, 1458)

Transfers

https://i.imgur.com/niF6KHI.png


The global list remains available for 37.5k.

General Playing Time

Setting remains at Rotation, with Komolong/Jedin the only permanent starters. May be changed at any time with the appropriate votes.

Stuttgarter Coaches, I hope you enjoyed the time off because you need to get crackin' now. There's stuff to do!

[DavidCorperial]

My 3 on 7 months can be moved if desired, or held onto for now. Schluter can be placed on either side, whichever you prefer. Tunjic should go for a second skill level.

[thehitcat]

Since I'm not doing anything with my guys I've decided to butt in on areas that I don't have any say over, so take this all with a grain of salt.

DC: I agree that dumping Tunjic and Preiss is fine (although if we wanted to play the game we did with D Muller and get them to AVG usage they might be worth a bit more in this window or next.)
Of your other 2 7 month players, personally I'd hang onto Ortag and extend him for the year it will take to get him to 33 as his value should essentially stay the same unless you are thinking of getting him out of the way now to bed in some other players. Finally I'd also keep Pitzen, he's still 17 and could really become something (or at least be worth a lot.) I'd resign him for the max period and start using him like we're using Fetscher especially as Hirsch has reached his sell by date.
Sounds like you want to keep Schluter, no reason not to give him the max to lock him in and build up his value especially as Ortag is gone either now or soon.

LMCG421: I might ask Brian to give Hirsch games to see if you can get him to High Interest before the end of this window and then sell him. Not sure if he'll still be available to sell in the Summer.

I suggest we use our Glory to upgrade our Defender Coach again. I'm leaning away from using our money on the Youth upgrade and potentially toward buying Karger (after our sales) who could be a second true threat up front next to Jedin once his ban expires and give us a legit pair of goal threats for this level and even maybe next as they get more experience.

In fact if we buy Karger I am thinking about moving my vote away from pure rotation at more spots than just GK and MF. I think we'd be nailed on at GK(Komolong), SW(Doringer), LD(if we keep Ortag), CD(Jager), DM(Zeitz), MF(Fetscher), CF(Karger) and FW(Jedin). Beyond that I'd recommend "gaming the system" for guys we're going to sell (Preiss, Tiel, Hirsch, Wachter), getting our youth candidates as much time as possible (Naegeli, Pitzen, Munster) and lastly working in players in our middle age group 27-30 (Weibefels, Degner, Schulte, Schluter, Blank, Tunjic, Maslanka, Mengele.)

[larrymcg421]

Jedin - Dedication
Zeitz - Talent
Fetscher - Talent
Munster - CF

My only reservation on Karger is his CF position, which doesn't match well with his skill. But he's still extremely talented and at only 26 would be a good pickup if we can afford him.

[Brian Swartz]

My 3 on 7 months can be moved if desired, or held onto for now. Schluter can be placed on either side, whichever you prefer. Tunjic should go for a second skill level.

Your decisions to make here, not mine, so it doesn't matter what I prefer :). With Schluter, even if I knew what side you wanted I'd still need to know specifically what class since their abilities are different(RD/LD have different strengths/weaknesses compared to DF) and how long you want him extended for. Tunjic will go for Talent as requested.

[DavidCorperial]

thehitcat's suggestions are good and put Schluter on the right.

[Brian Swartz]

give Hirsch games to see if you can get him to High Interest before the end of this window and then sell him. Not sure if he'll still be available to sell in the Summer.

He will still be available to sell in the summer. However, I'm 90% sure(won't know until I actually get interest up and sell them) that Tiel and Preiss won't bring us enough money to purchase Karger. So that's a question for larrymcg421 - do I work on selling Hirsch as well in order to make that work, or do we cancel the transfer of Karger?

I am thinking about moving my vote away from pure rotation at more spots than just GK and MF.

Something to think about if we do this; that would be 8 of 11 starting positions locked down. I'm not sure from the way you phrased if this is what you have in mind, but the 27-30 age players would only be emergency depth under that scenario and basically wouldn't play. Youth would have minimal time, and we'd need to decide at least one window ahead of time who we would sell in the next one(that's what the individual playing time that we really haven't been using is for), as opposed to not deciding that until it's time to actually sell them. All of that is very possible and it would definitely allow us to get better short-term results, but food for thought there.

[Brian Swartz]

I'll move forward starting tomorrow night. What we have right now:

** Sell Tiel and Preiss once I get them to Average interest
** Maintain Rotation unless we get Karger(unlikely), in which case we'll move to the 8-starter approach thehitcat outlined
** Individual instructions for SL upgrades as requested, RD for Schluter
** 1-year extension for Ortag(623)
** 3-year extension for Schluter(1458)
** 3-year extension for Pitzen(621)
** punt on Wachter
** wait to sell Hirsch until the off-season.
** Defense Coach Upgrade

That'll leave us with 54k and change in cash before selling the two players, and 28 Glory.

[thehitcat]

Question for larrymcg421 you seemed lukewarm on Karger. My feeling is that it's worth selling Hirsch in this window in order to sign Karger but you'd be the one using him so my question... Do you think it's worth selling Hirsch this window in order to have the money to purchase Karger or should we wait?

My suggestion was to treat Hirsch like Tiel and Preiss play him in the games during this window to try to get his interest up to, in his case High, and then sell him and use the money for Karger. I like Karger enough that I'd sell early on Hirsch (before he got to high interest) if another team showed interest in Karger or if we reached the end of the window and Hirsch was still at average interest. I think Karger helps us out a ton allowing us to turn some of those nil-nil ties to 1-0.

[Brian Swartz]

FYI, the original plan(from last year) was to wait because Hirsch will have his level 2 skill by the off-season, which will greatly increase his price. larrymcg421 can chime in if he wants but that is a potential downside of selling him early. I'll just point out here that buying Karger and keeping Hirsch is possible -- we'd just have to find someone else to sell to raise the money.

[thehitcat]

Yeah good point Brian my bad. I'm fine with selling Weibenfels to raise the cash. I want to play Naegeli more anyway. Let's keep Hirsch to up his value and make the money this way.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/myoj5gW.png


https://i.imgur.com/5IK92vJ.png


Let's say good-bye to another Kicker. He seemed to be someone blessed with good fortune, playing above his abilities more often than not. He had a pretty good distribution of technical attributes, enough variety to make him able to contribute in multiple ways. Weibenfels departs in his prime to play for Wattenscheid. He'll help them but isn't a game-changer by any stretch.

https://i.imgur.com/4tzTuPG.png


That gives us enough money for this guy and about 13k to spare. Unfortunately he's afflicted with Stupid Hairstyle Disease(SHD for short). As you can see, he's been a productive player for Munchen and immediately becomes our highest-level asset by a healthy margin. They have a younger player, CF Worns(44 accuracy, L2 Cannon Shot) that they are running their offense through now and my best guess as to why they are willing to part with Karger is that they want to develop him, he's plenty good enough to get them back up to the Third League, and definitely has a brighter future being four years younger. Having said that, we just bought the most accurate finisher in the Amateur ranks by a significant margin -- only one other player is above 50. Interestingly enough, former Kicker Pfeiffer, at 43, is in the Top 5 on that list.

Bottom line: this was a major investment that needs to pay off with major dividends, but there's no good reason to expect it not to. The manager will be taking a lot of heat if we continue to have trouble scoring.

https://i.imgur.com/DI90e5x.png


There's the new list. After making the other ordered transactions, we're at a hair under 10k cash with 22 players on the roster; working our way to 20 with the two intended sales, at which point a new team photo will be forthcoming.

https://i.imgur.com/kZOFx46.png


Here's the Stuttgarter lineup until we're ready to sell Tiel/Preiss and/or Karger's suspension is over. 7 mandatory starters and three Showcase players(Tiel, Preiss, Hirsch) leaves no room for anyone else barring injury, since Neageli as our only youth defender gets the other spot This 4-4-2 is aggressive and it'll be a challenge to keep up our defensive standards, but right now this is about getting a decent return for our outgoing vets and establishing a more regular lineup.

[Brian Swartz]

2.7 Kickers Offenbach(1-1-5, 8th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-3, 6th

Obviously a big match for us with the three-way tie at the bottom of the table after the first half of the year. They manage to come up with a 6-2-2 that looks particularly vulnerable to getting scoring chances though; RD, LD, CD in front of the keeper and just amateur defenders or zero-class in the front line so there's room to maneuver outside the box. They try to attack the strength of our line with their CF, but Jager takes it away. This is followed by a ton of possession-trading, most of it in the attacking third so I'm pretty much good with it. Finally we get the initiative but are blocked off, so Hirsch does a coin-flip lofted pass to Jedin that doesn't quite connect. It bounces free here ...

https://i.imgur.com/FN4lWft.png


I've never seen a shot worth taking from this far out, but his shooting improvement, their poor keeper(who is actually just an amateur defender, ack!), and the unfortunate positioning of the Offenbach attempt make this worth trying at the first-half horn. The snow by the way has already helped us, stopping a long pass by them from working. The shot is stopped by their first defender who gets a nearly-max roll though. We start with the ball in the second half, and get a better, closer attempt ... poor effort and another near-max defensive roll are just barely enough to stop it. That was at least a 75-80% chance of success, but our young forward misses it. He's done that a disturbing amount.

A foul later gets us another chance, and Zeitz barely gets the pass through. Jedin makes good on this attempt, giving us the winner at 88 minutes!

Stuttgarter Kickers 1, Kickers Offenbach 0

Should have been easier with the team we had out there, but we got the win -- our first of the season in the league.

** Levels -- Neageli(8)

*** Jedin
** Zeitz
* Fetscher

** Glory - 29(+1)

Hirsch is up to High after this match so we can phase him out some. Per the lineup directions that means playing youngsters Pitzen and Munster more.

2.14 Stuttgarter Kickers(1-4-3, 6th) vs. SC Paderborn 07(3-5-0, 2nd)

With a top keeper and a good DM, it's tough to get the ball forward on these guys, and even tougher to do anything with it if you do. Only one real scoring threat, but he's good enough that they don't need a second one.

We totally fail to get the ball to Jedin early. Lofted pass failed. Starting him out wide to make the intercept harder failed. A pointless long shot is blocked by Naegeli and a Zeitz slide tackle negates another rush. Against all probability they don't even threaten to score in the first half, with Komolong making an easy save to end it.

They keep attacking the weak part of our defense, allowing van der Biezen, #2 scorer in the league with 54 accuracy to be shut out. That is, until their other forward wins a coin-flip tackle attempt on Naegeli, then hits a cross to Mr. Wonderful. That was pretty much the only thing that happened worth mentioning.

SC Paderborn 07 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

** Levels - Jager(17), Preiss(7), Pitzen(6), Munster(4). I split time between the two youths.

*** Naegeli - he was all over the place, but lost the ball on the match-deciding play.
** Zeitz
* Doringer

** Balance - 10.1k(+75)

[thehitcat]

I'm excited to see what Karger can do for us. He's coming off suspension after one more game. It'll be nice to have a bonafide threat up top for us.

[Brian Swartz]

2.21 SG Wattenscheid 09(2-2-5, 5th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-4-4, 7th)

A win here in the final game of Karger's suspension could move us up to 5th. Wattenscheid is better than their record would indicate. We'll need to spend a possession disrupting their line to get any kind of viable scoring chance, and their forwards are quality. Dias now has L2 Rainbow Feint, while Pfeiffer has L2 Cannon Shot. Meanwhile Neageli wore himself out last match and needs to sit so Degner will replace him, and Hirsch is down to Average so he goes back out there. He'll probably be yo-yoing in and out of the lineup during these final matches of his Stuttgarter career.

Two long-range power shots from Pfeiffer accomplished nothing, which is better than I thought we'd do on that end. Delaying actions from Hirsch and Zeitz were effective in midfield, and a decoy by Tiel created an opening but we couldn't exploit it. Second half I was forced to take out Zeitz for Pitzen -- overworked DMs are a common thing and he'd ranged all over the field in the first half, including a couple of missed interceptions.

Another successful decoy disruption, but then they went to Dias this time. He rainbow-feinted his way past Jager, then Doringer, then Komolong. We had the odds in our favor on that last one as his Reaction skill limited the effect, but got unlucky and they go ahead at 62 minutes. He did it again later, but was too tired to convert again and knew it, so they just got a corner out of it which went nowhere. We were never able to get a quality shot on goal.

SG Wattenscheid 09 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Wattenscheid is no longer the armpit of the Amateur League. They've got a quality squad, and you can argue three of the best five(Pfeiffer, Landeka, Weibenfels) are exports of ours.

Levels - None

*** Doringer
** Zeitz
* Komolong

Komolong, Ortag, and Jager all reached their next SL in a rash of defensive upgrades. Talent boosts for all. Ortag won't get his next skill before he turns 34 and passes the sell-by date .... unless we choose to use glory to get it more quickly, or he were to get a training time reduction by then.

Hirsch is back to High, so he can sit. Preiss hits Average interest, so it's time to watch another player ride off into the sunset ...

https://i.imgur.com/qvJIf3g.png


https://i.imgur.com/37F6RuO.png


Preiss was here. He was most definitely here. He almost, but not quite, became our first AM. Can't really say much else about him, except that like pretty much everyone, he looked less ridiculous from the straight-on camera angle like this. Because they're dumb, Wattenscheid was willing to part with 5.2k for his services.

Tiel is still at Low, so we'll have to go with a 3-forward look as Karger joins the lineup until he's ready to be sold. This window ends at the start of our next match, so his sale will have to be post-poned till the off-season.


2.28 Alemannia Aachen(4-3-3, 4th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(1-4-5, 7th)

I go into this one expecting a high-scoring match. Doringer at least needs the day off due to fatigue, while Jedin and Ortag aren't quite 100% either but will still play. Meanwhile for us, it's not tough getting into scoring position against these guys, as they continue to rely on SW Pluntke. We'd already become an even match for him, and now we have an ace in the hole.

Komolong blocks a quick shot out for a corner, and Ortag intercepts the result of that. Fairly close between our defenders and their attackers but we won the battle for position in that case. A good play by Zeitz relieves the pressure on our shaky defense, and they foul him. We can't get it in position for a shot, but I'm happy with 65% possession in the first half for sure.

Karger does his job, taking advantage of the opening in the middle of their defense to score at the start of the second half. We really don't have a good way to counterattack effectively at the moment; Ortag has the Long Pass ability but it's a bit risky to use that as turnovers are costly out of defense, and our midfielders are much better as defenders or possession guys than they are at getting the ball upfield quickly. That seems to be a bigger challenge right now than scoring will be once we are in position. After another routine save on our end, a surprise interception by Pitzen led to a pipe-dream shot from distance by Jedin ... which somehow went in as time expired! He had a max roll of 19, while their defenders had a 46 in blocking it. Rolled an 18 for the shot, but that still left them with at least a 90% chance of being able to stop it so this was sheer, blind, stupid, dumb luck.

https://i.imgur.com/7JrFvAz.png


I don't think Aachen is as good as they've looked so far this year and they have a pretty weak group of forwards, but at the same time this was one heck of a way to start the Karger Era.

** Levels - Ortag(19), Schulte(10), Naegeli(9), Tiel(8)

*** Komolong
** Ortag
* Jedin

** Glory - 42(+13)

Pitzen is now an amateur midfielder(M).

[Brian Swartz]

So now we have another couple of player decisions to make for Pitzen. DavidCorperial, this is for you. We need a position for him; suggestion was made to make him a winger which would mean either RM or LM but you don't have to follow that, could go MF as well or even move him further up or down the pitch if you want. Also needs a skill.

https://i.imgur.com/jBLJJZm.png


Also, since the transfer window has now closed, we have the results there;

https://i.imgur.com/gLQ85f2.png


Preiss was also on this list, making six in total. For once we weren't the only big spender, but the other two(Munchen and Paderborn) are getting promoted. Munchen looks to be doing a fire sale, saving up cash for ... purchases next year perhaps? Wanting to save on salary? Whatever it is, they pull in nearly a quarter-million in fees here.

https://i.imgur.com/sB9XOtg.png


That means this is our official roster for the second half of 2020-21. In order to keep their sell value up, we're basically going to alternate Hirsch and Tiel for the last three matches; I'll probably have to play both of them in the finale. That basically takes playing time away from Pitzen and Munster, but I'll probably just sub them in at halftime since we don't really lose anything by doing that. So they'll still be playing most, just not all of the time. Fatigue will still be an issue now and then, but going forward(esp. after we sell those two), we'll look like this for the moment:

G - Komolong
D - Doringer/Naegeli/Ortag/Jager
M - Zeitz/Fetscher/Pitzen
F - Jedin/Karger/Munster

Everybody else is basically emergency depth. A fairly aggressive 4-3-3 is fitting if you are a team aiming for promotion. Obviously that's not going to happen this year ... but it may not be out of the question for 21-22, depending on what the coaches have to say in the offseason naturally.

[DavidCorperial]

RM and Layoff Pass

[Brian Swartz]

3.7 Stuttgarter Kickers(2-4-5, 6th) vs. TSV 1860 Munchen(8-2-1, 1st)

Munchen has more goals(28) than any other two teams combined. Ortag and Jedin sit for rest, while Blank gets a rare match to oppose their winger on that side.

They get a low-odds interception of Fetscher's opening kickoff, which I definitely could have done without, but Degner manages to get in the way of their first shot. Benyamina tries again on their next possession, and this attempt from the far-side angle goes through him and Komolong on a poor reaction from our keeper. A somewhat unlucky concession there to put us behind. We get a similar attempt for Karger, which is nearly good enough but not quite. Their GK Hillier is skilled to the point where he's the only one who has a chance of scoring, and it's a long-shot even then. A Zeitz slide tackle gets us another try, but Fetscher's lofted pass is off the mark and we can't get off the attempt.

Pitzen for Fetscher to start the second half. Doringer, then Degner again, block off their initial shot attempts. Hirsch loses the ball at midfield, then after dueling slide-tackles, they connect on a lofted pass to CW Worns. Doringer can't get over in time and his L2 cannon shot finds the net. We get Karger another try, this one faring worse than the first.

TSV 1860 Munchen 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Have I said these guys are really good yet, even with all the players they sold?

** Levels - Zeitz(16)

*** Zeitz
** Degner
* Doringer

Can't argue at all with these. Our midfielders passed badly and Komolong whiffed on both save chances.

** Balance - 15.4k(+75)

3.14 TSV Havelse(5-4-3, 3rd) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(2-4-6, 7th)

Havelse is three points ahead of Aachen for the final promotion spot with two to play and wants to lock that down with a win here. We can finish as high as 5th yet. They have a trio of decent but unspectacular cannon-shotting CFs. Stopping them all will be tough but we have our best defensive unit out there and I think we'll score in this one. Could go either way but I like our chances.

Didn't take long for their CFs to make mincemeat of our formation. Doringer blocked the first shot, then Komolong knocked a point-blank cannon attempt out for a corner after Zeitz missed a slide-tackle on the far wing. We split the battles for position, and they got it through to Undav who just hit his try well enough to get it by us for the first tally. Karger's attempt was intercepted by their defense and that was that.

He tried again, badly, at the second-half kickoff and it didn't look good for us being able to equalize after that. They had trouble passing it out though, and Zeitz got it back for us at midfield, then his pass was just good enough to get through. Karger rainbow-feinted his way into the box, and hit another not-great try from there ... but it was just enough to beat their keeper, tying the match at 68 minutes! Doringer blocked their next try, the only one they would get.

TSV Havelse 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 1

Our first draw in the second half of the season, and one that neither club will be satisfied with. Probably the proper result though.

** Levels - none

*** Karger
** Doringer
* Ortag

** Glory - 46(+4)

[Brian Swartz]

3.21 Stuttgarter Kickers(2-5-6, 7th) vs. FC Schweinfurt 05(3-4-6, 6th)

A miserable year for Schweinfurt comes to an end. Havelse's draw clinched the final spot for them as Aachen lost, while we can still finish as high as 5th if we win here in our finale and Wattenscheid loses. Anything but a victory and it's 7th for us. Tiel and Hirsch will both start and likely get yanked early in what will be their final matches as Kickers, to ensure they can fetch a decent price.

On the matchup, they have three forwards but one is a L3 nutmeg who can't shoot, neither of the others have skills we care about. Schulte on for the fatigued Ortag. He's displaying the problem with old players here; they just don't recover energy as quickly. One of the most giving teams in the league, they are playing a five-wide high defensive line with two spaced CDs in it. Our only good chance at beating that is with Karger rainbow-feinting past one of them, but that can't happen after a kickoff and our counterattacking is weak. I wouldn't be shocked to see a scoreless match here.

They easily block Karger's early long-range try, long-pass it into the box, and Komolong stands there like the house by the side of the road as Fendler blasts a shot easily past him. We could not possibly have started off any worse. Then another forward dribbles through our defense and gets them a corner, then gets two point-blank shots off that as the first one bounces right back to him. Komolong trying to redeem himself with three saves in the final minutes of the half ... or just pad his stats to stay on top of the honors for year-end?

Munster and Pitzen come on for Tiel and Hirsch, who get some polite applause for both disgusted family members who are watching this. Then we get our break as they foul Karger, who was holding the ball to try and provoke something. We take the subtle approach and have try to feint his way into the box, but that backfires. Nothing else gave us an even or better chance of scoring. Odds-wise it was as good as anything we had and probably the best option, but it didn't work. A last-ditch try from distance by Jedin didn't get the job done either.

FC Schweinfurt 05 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Well that kind of sucked. Schweinfurt's been one of those clubs all year that I think should be better than they are, and I can't figure out how to beat them even though everybody else seems to know how to do it.

** Levels - Komolong(17)

*** Fetscher
** Komolong
* Jager

Tiel gets his FW upgrade in his final match, which means he'll be worth a bit more.

** Balance - 15.4k(+75)

As we head towards the end-season stuff, Doringer gets his level-2 skill finished off and Hirsch his only level-1 ability. For our sweeper, that puts him over the 200k mark in value(queue greed dollar-signs). Hirsch only increased by a few thousand ... it seems nothing helps you much when you are 33.

https://i.imgur.com/mRmufzs.png


7th place for the second year in a row.

https://i.imgur.com/YvTxPyY.png


VfB Stuttgart, a real club from our home city that doesn't rent/borrow/steal a small part of a public park for their matches, takes home the EFA trophy. Some irrelevant group from Turkey wins the European Cup. Spain still gets the top marks for this year but we're a close second and make up more ground on England. The pack behind condenses well behind us, as Portugal and Turkey notably have their best seasons to date.

https://i.imgur.com/GgPxkZF.png


It was actually a worse year than last by final position; same in the league and one round earlier in the Cup.

https://i.imgur.com/VBIysEs.png


Look at all those guys though! Note that we only get credit for Karger's goals with us, and of course Komolong is the one really bringing home the bacon as the top save guy for the second year in a row.

https://i.imgur.com/QHT7pso.png


Trans Ether seems the obvious choice here.

[thehitcat]

Good call on Trans Ether. Excited to see what we can do this season despite Karger's pedestrian finish to the season.

[Brian Swartz]

I have every confidence in Stuttgarter's ability to continue to flounder. Erhm, I mean …

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

** Valuation - 777k(+263k)
** Star Rating - 0.5(--)
** Classes - 79(-7)
** Levels - 14(+1)
** Skills - 16(--)

Not a whole lot of change here between the players we lost, playing the youth more, etc. Except of course for the financial boost.

Amateur League

** Star Rating - 0.86(-0.14)
** Classes - 84(+7)
** Levels - 16(-1)
** Skills - 18(+1)

With Havelse promoting, there are only four clubs left who have never been above this level. The other three are Alemannia Aachen, Offenbach, and Wattenscheid. I think the three teams that promoted are better than those that came down ... the same ones that went up the previous year.

Third League

** Star Rating - 1.46(+0.13)
** Classes - 88(+1)
** Levels - 24(+1)
** Skills - 24(+5)

https://i.imgur.com/ymCUE4k.png


Not quite the same three actually, after I checked their history. Cottbus and Frankfurt both relegated in the first year, promoted second year, and then relegated again. So they are yo-yoing. Viktoria Koln has never been above 8th in the Third League but this is the first time they've fallen to our level.

https://i.imgur.com/TiiiYje.png


Wow, look at all the movement here! If we even play even with England this year, we'll pull ahead of them. And Germany has more clubs in international play than anyone else.

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

https://i.imgur.com/llNNxdu.png


https://i.imgur.com/K4imL7U.png


The circle on the right by Komolong indicates he is eligible to train a second skill. Of course, he can't do that till he finishes the current training session.


https://i.imgur.com/wudc2vq.png


https://i.imgur.com/8UZSQGk.png


https://i.imgur.com/BwyVQkQ.png


https://i.imgur.com/EH55jv3.png



Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

LD Ortag
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
SL: LM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

MF Tunjic
Interest: Average
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Maslanka
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

D Schluter
Interest: Low
SL: RD
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Pitzen
Interest: Average
SL: RM
Playing Time: Starter


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

CF Mengele
Interest: Low
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

F Wachter
Interest: Low
SL: FW
Playing Time: Regular Backup

MF Fetscher
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

DM Zeitz
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

FW Jedin
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

CF Karger
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

? Munster
Interest: Low
SL: F, CF
Playing Time: Starter


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

GK Komolong
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

CD Jager
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

D Neageli
Interest: Average
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Prospect

D Schulte
Interest: Average
SL: CD, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

D Degner
Interest: Average
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Dieing
Interest: Low
SL: ??
Playing Time: Prospect

I'm Dieing to know what thehitcat wants to do with our new youth.

[Brian Swartz]

Specialization Briefing

** DavidCorperial - LD Ortag

https://i.imgur.com/8tU7eo7.png


Ortag has his Talent upgrade, and this next choice will almost certainly be his final one unless we keep him past the sell age. Talent(up to L3 talent or 30% training time reduction); Dedication(+30% xp, Attribute focus up to 2); Fan Favorite(+0.5% fans after each match, +5% sponsor payments); or Utility Player for training into a new position are the current options.

** larrymcg421 - FW Jedin had the +30% xp boost from Dedication. What's next?

** thehitcat -- GK Komolong has both Talent upgrades to max out his skill ceiling and the 30% traning time reduction; SW Doringer has the L2 Talent upgrade and 30% training time reduction; ?? Dieing needs a position to play and, if you wish, playing time instructions.

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions

Club Resources

** Balance - 15.4k
** Glory - 59
** Fans - 15
** Stadium Capacity - 100

Upgrades

https://i.imgur.com/LlX8VsR.png


https://i.imgur.com/OH63MJh.png


8-month Contracts

** GK Komolong - 588; 1,353; 2,294
** CF Karger - 10,857; 24,972; 42,344
** ? Munster - 123; 284; 480

2-month Contracts

** F Wachter - 159; 366; 621

Tiel and Hirsch are not listed because we have standing sell orders for them. If confirmed, those sales will bring in almost 56k, giving us a little over 70k to use as we see fit.

Transfers

https://i.imgur.com/VmVobgs.png


One player on this list is worth more than our entire club.

General Playing Time

Last winter break we switched from Rotation to a more consistent starting lineup:

GK Komolong
SW Doringer
LD Ortag
CD Jager
DM Zeitz
MF Fetscher
CF Karger
FW Jedin

Youth players get as much playing time as possible(right now that'd be Naegeli, Munster, Pitzen, and new acquisition Dieing rotating). The other mid-aged players are emergency only.

If we keep this setup, I'll need to know which players(if any) we want to put on Showcase(to increase their value for selling).

As ever, discuss and ask any questions you may have. Stuttgarter Kickers enter their fourth year still very much looking for respectability.

[thehitcat]

Man would I like to have seen a GK pop up for sale. We either sell Komolong this window or next or keep him until he retires. For now I'm not going to extend him as I'll get one more chance at the Winter Break. My gut is that he's nothing special and that we should look to replace him with anything other than a cardboard cutout at the first opportunity. **None of my business alert**Ortag is in a similar aging position but you could (at DC's request)sell him today and buy the RD on the list, make 40+K and have a similar quality defender who was 4 years younger. In fact I might recommend that to DavidCorperial and it's not just because we'd get another crack at a GK appearing :).

I'm unsure what to do with Dieing other than make further puns off of his name. He's not a Doringer replacement as his Control is awful. I guess I'll start there, I want his focus on CTR until he hits double digits then back to DEF. I'm leaning to him becoming a long term replacement for Jager. So let's look to get him his D and see what skills he has available. My preference is to give him playing time ahead of Schulte and Degner if one of the Starters is tired because with just a few levels he should be better than they are presently with the potential for much more growth.

Doringer is easy for me. Take the talent upgrade to unlock that third skill level and see if we can get his value over 300K :)

I'm not showcasing any of my players yet at least until my backups get their skills to level 1. Oh and I'm still onboard with selling Hirsch and Tiel. We need that money for Karger's contract.

[DavidCorperial]

I admit that move to sell Ortag and replace with Erwin-Druppel is an interesting idea.

[larrymcg421]

Talent tree for Jedin so we can get him a lvl 2 skill.

[Brian Swartz]

Ok, so here's what we've got:

** No upgrades as of yet
** Sell Hirsch and Tiel
** Wachter also gets sold at his current price unless somebody tells me differently(larrymcg421)
** Punting on Komolong's contract for now
** Also punting on Karger/Munster for the moment(larrymcg421)
** The sell-Ortag, buy Erwig-Druppel plan is proposed but not approved. I'm interpreting DavidCorperial's comment to mean that he's on the fence. Since it has the approval of another coach, I can pull the trigger on it at any time but would need a clear affirmative vote to do so.
** No changes to the team approach outlined; instructions noted for Jedin, Dieing, and Doringer.
** Need new SL for Ortag IF we don't sell him, and we need that for Komolong as well.

A couple more days yet to decide as I probably don't get back to this till Friday evening.

[thehitcat]

So can Komolong go for the 70% Skill reduction in the Talent pool? If so I'll do that. If not I'll just do XP+30%. Also He should keep building his current skill though I don't know that he'll reach it before we pop him.

[Brian Swartz]

Yep, 70% training time reduction it is.

[Brian Swartz]

Let's sell some players, shall we? In inverse order of their value:

https://i.imgur.com/8JaBGey.png


https://i.imgur.com/0Fb2GAl.png


Much like Preiss, I can't really say much about him because he didn't really do much other than fill a spot. He's gone to Offenbach.

https://i.imgur.com/BPclDMB.png


https://i.imgur.com/eCBjZLb.png


A serviceable backup until we brought in some better talent at forward, and there wasn't much left for him. Wattenscheid gives us the money here.

https://i.imgur.com/R4gqRWu.png


https://i.imgur.com/nSPMwML.png


Hirsch we'll miss a little more. Our top midfielder initially, he was given match honors nine times and was a regular with a good, versatile set of abilities for the position. Time marches on though, and his main value to us now is his fee. Offenbach coughs it up, and we have 73.8k now.

This takes us down to a leaner 19-man roster.

[Brian Swartz]

7.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. FC Viktoria Koln

Karger's first attempt of the year is a bad one, but even if it had been better their keeper probably would have stopped it. They moved it up slowly, taking multiple turns but we couldn't get it back. A slide-tackle by Zeitz misfired and was our only real chance. They moved it into the box for one of their CFs, and Komolong knocked it out for a corner at the 36-minute mark. Ortag intercepted the attempt, and we moved back the other way but Fetscher's lofted pass was off-target and the half ended.

71% possession for VK, but they got only one shot out of it. Strange sequence to begin the second half. Doringer intercepted a shot and Jager tried to clear it. His lofted pass was headed right back to him ... but he'd used up his action for the turn so he couldn't do anything with it. Eventually VK recovered possession, but Naegeli was all over their next attempt. We moved it up to Pitzen on the right wing, and an exchange of possessions ensued. An interception by Jager gave us one final shot but we couldn't get in position on the counter.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, FC Viktoria Koln 0

Possession was back to nearly equal by the end.

Levels - Jedin(15), Fetscher(13), Naegeli(10), Pitzen(7)

*** Naegeli
** Ortag
* Komolong

** Balance - 73.9k(+102)
** Glory - 63(+4)

7.25 FSV Frankfurt(1-0-0, 1st) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-0, 5th)

Ahead of this match, Jedin finished L1 Cannon Shot training. That will potentially give us a way to get him in the action more, possibly get some long-range threat going on in the right circumstances. It's another option at least. A narrow 3-2 scorefest over Energie Cottbus was Frankfurt's first match. Their defense looks tough - we'll try to manufacture something but they've got a good keeper(51 Def) and a couple of solid CDs.

We rolled our defense to the left, so FW Stauber went to our right, blasted one past Doringer and a subpar save attempt by Komolong. Wasn't a great shot(24 roll) but we weren't ready for it. Karger was whistled for a foul as we tried to set something up, Zeitz whiffed again on a tackle attempt, and we were fortunate to hold them out after a corner led to a point-blank scoring attempt.

A possession battle was on the offing in the second half, and Komolong had to stop another shot that got through Doringer who has done nothing today. Stauber struck again a few minutes before the end, and that was that.

FSV Frankfurt 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

Doringer was just flat-out useless today. Somebody administer the smelling salts.

Levels - Doringer(18). And he's the only guy who levels up. Heh.

*** Fetscher
** Komolong
* Ortag

Fetscher was very active, and gets his Talent SL upgrade. He'll start working on L2 Slide Tackle now.

** Balance -- +27, as the sponsor bonus money trickles in.

Komolong hits L2 Reaction as well now.

[Brian Swartz]

8.1 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-1, 5th) vs. Energie Cottbus(0-0-2, 6th)

Schluter plays in place of the fatigued Ortag here. A definite weak spot on the left side of their defense allowed Karger to dribble into position, giving him a slightly positive chance of scoring ... but his try was very poorly struck and easily saved with a quick reaction by their keeper. Their attack was most unimpressive, including an extremely low-probability lofted pass. A desperation shot late was blocked by Schluter, but we weren't able to manage anything vaguely resembling a counterattack.

Tunjic and Blank in for Fetscher/Zeitz, both of whom are exhausted at the half on a hot day. They got a corner early, which was trouble as FW Stolle has L2 cannon shot and high control. They got it to him but Komolong was able to make the play, surprisingly. A couple interceptions by a worn-out Doringer later, and a last-ditch lofted pass by Blank failed to hit the mark. Another scoreless match.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, Energie Cottbus 0

Only 27% possession, so I suppose we should be grateful.

** Levels - Munster(5)

*** Komolong
** Doringer
* Zeitz

** Balance - 72k(+104)
** Glory - 67(+4)

8.8 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-2-1, 6th) vs. 1. FC Schweinfurt 05(3-0-0, 1st)

After last year's debacle, Schweinfurt is the only club left with a perfect record this season, despite playing basically the same players.

https://i.imgur.com/luLpawc.png


Due to fatigue from the heat in the last match, we've got a number of regular starters sitting for this one. Komolong would be as well if he had a backup. Note the wall of three CDs they have playing deep ... that basically means we can't get close without dealing with them. A long-range effort from Karger was quite low-odds and not nearly good enough to start. Then they tried moving up the far wing, Ortag took it back, and they fouled and injured him. On comes Schulte. Lots of the reserve defenders getting action today. Later, on a perfectly normal slide tackle, Zeitz was red-carded. He'll miss the next three matches ... including the start of the Prestige Cup. Oh super. They get a shot out of it which was easily saved.

Mengele in for the over-worked Karger at intermission. They kept firing away in the second half, as we were basically crippled by having nobody in midfield with a chance to fight for possession effectively anymore. It was 10-on-10 sloppiness, and Komolong had three saves to go with an offsides call against Schweinfurt.

https://i.imgur.com/tTOt6vR.png


We're the only team they've played and didn't beat yet. On the other hand, we're also scoreless through four matches. Given that nobody has yet scored on one of last year's most hospitable defenses, it's hard to feel too bad about this result.

** Levels - Dieing(3)

*** Komolong
** Schulte
* Jager

** Balance - 74.1k(+102)
** Glory - 71(+4)

[Brian Swartz]

8.15 Kickers Offenbach() vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-3-1, 6th)

Offenbach doesn't have a proper keeper, literally starting an amateur defender in goal. They compensate for this with a 5-wide high defensive line. I think our best option, barring a counterattack, is to just shoot through them. Meanwhile with Zeitz suspended, Dieing is our new starter in a 5-2-3 ... which Offenbach also plays. Today there's also Schluter on for the exhausted Ortag. I'll be using substitutes liberally here as we've got short rest and then our Cup opener.

Komolong saves their first attempt, but they long-pass it through our line and Vetter bangs a point-blank chance home against a poor effort this time. On the other hand ...

https://i.imgur.com/R4rLEFG.png


We really ought to be able to do something with this. Or he could just roll a freaking 10 and not even get it through their line, then get a foul on Fetscher who's handed a yellow card trying to get it back. Superb. Vetter again from close after the free-kick, but we get the save to keep it only 1-0 at half.

Tunjic and Degner come on, Naegeli and Fetscher sit. Really need Karger to score here so we can play for a draw. He rolls an 11. Really dude? Really?? There's a 15% chance of you rolling that low, and you did it twice in a row. Odds on that are a little over 2%. Which is still going to happen sometimes, but this really wasn't at all the time for it. Long-pass through everybody and a cannon-shot score puts us away. Karger finally gets one back for us at 78 minutes, but it requires a shockingly unlikely interception by Dieing on a corner kick to keep the final from being even worse.

Kickers Offenbach 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 1

I suppose we did score, but we should have scored twice and had a draw at minimum.

** Levels - Jager(18), Tunjic(9)

*** Karger
** Tunjic
* Komolong - when you're MoM-honored and you gave up two goals, you know it was a bad day.

** Balance - 74.1k(+27)

8.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Alemannia Aachen
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, First Leg

Same guys as last year, and we've got hot weather which means our next amateur match pretty much nobody who plays today will be able to move for. But this is more important.

https://i.imgur.com/UBNH35D.png


Six defenders but no CDs for Aachen -- the way their fullbacks are positioned there's basically no chance for a cannon shot from Jedin. I'll just need to go for the angled try from Karger and hope he can get it through SW Pluntke -- they still have an unimpressive amateur keeper.

Starts off great as Karger hits a near-perfect shot following the opening kickoff, easily giving us the lead. That's a start on atoning for your royal screw-up a few days ago. Doringer blocks their first shot, and all I want to do is keep clearing the ball and not overwork anybody. No such luck with Naegeli, who makes a tackle and blocks a couple of long-range shots, but we retain the lead easily.

Four players quite tired already; I bring on Mengele, Schluter, and Schulte as fresh-legs for Neageli, Ortag, and Karger. Fetscher will just have to deal. Doringer makes another stop, Mengele gets a rare shot attempt after utilizing his slide tackle but it doesn't go, and Aachen weirdly plays defensively most of the finish while trailing.

Stuttgarter Kickers 1, Alemannia Aachen 0

As long as we can hold in the road match, another qualifying win is ours!

** Levels - Naegeli(12), Schluter(12), Schulte(11), Pitzen(8), Dieing(7), Munster(7)

*** Naegeli
** Karger
* Ortag

Naegeli made it an even bigger day for himself by reaching DF status, and boosting up to level 14.

** Balance - 74.5k(+357) - biggest payday in a while. Both sponsor bonuses and 225 in ticket sales
** Glory - 85(+14)

[Brian Swartz]

8.22 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-3-2, 6th) vs. SG Wattenscheid 09(0-1-4, 8th)

Sitting for rest here are Ortag, Fetscher, Pitzen, and Naegeli. And Zeitz is still out injured, so basically half the normal starters. Meanwhile, ex-Stuttgarter cast-offs ... err, I mean Wattenscheid ... had a 6-2-2 formation that'll make it fairly tough on us to score while having L2 rainbow feint Dias and L2 cannon shot Pfeiffer to threaten us with. Yeah, I don't like playing these guys.

We get Karger a coin-flip chance at scoring on an angled try, and he chokes. Shocker there! They try and run it up the near flank, and after Schluter whiffs on the tackle, Komolong and Doringer stand around taking pictures while Pfeiffer blasts one by with relative ease. Sigh. An immediate equalizer by Karger at 28 minutes breathes some life into our game, and Doringer makes a play on Dias to keep it even.

Despite some fatigue, staying with who we have seems best. Komolong gets a save against Dias to start things off. After an exceptionally dumb sequence in which they blast back-to-back power shots that we deflect right back to them(literally anywhere else would have been better), this one ends in a draw.

Stuttgarter Kickers 1, SG Wattescheid 09 1

These guys have beaten us each of the past couple years once if I recall, so at least that didn't happen again.

** Levels - Doringer(19), Jedin(16)

*** Doringer
** Karger
* Schluter - moved around a bit and missed a tackle. Umm, yay??

** Balance - 74.6k(+102)

8.29 Alemannia Aachen(3-0-3, 3rd) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-4-2, 7th)

I don't know what's up with the weather, but it's hot again for this one. Standard starters sans Ortag here ... I play Schluter on the 'wrong' side to oppose their RF. Aachen goes a bit more aggressive this time out. We do get Zeitz back at least, and I'm hoping for at least a draw with the plan to sub a few players out at the half so we have guys who can move for the second leg of the Cup.

RF Muller nearly scores right away, but Komolong narrowly manages to deflect the try away. After a nice midfield interception by Fetscher, Jedin splits their defensive formation and gets a rare goal ... they had Karger pretty well covered and it was low odds to get it to him. Remarkable -- an actual counter-attack goal! They wanted to play keep-away which was fine with me ... I moved around a few players who don't get in the action much to get them spec XP and called it a half.

Degner, Ortag, and Dieing in at the half. Our defense is still going to be tired even with a long layoff, but I can do what I can here. Karger got in the act with a shot that was just barely good enough, followed by a lazy, just-passable save from Komolong. We're not often up two goals, and are fortunate to be here. That ended with a bad pass out of defense by Degner, as Muller scored after the turnover. He should have gotten it through, but I also shouldn't have taken the chance. Karger scored again, but then Muller hit another, and Jedin missed. Our defense held them out, but this was hairier then it needed to be.

Stuttgarter Kickers 3, Alemannia Aachen 2

Who says we can't score? Oh, everybody else we've played? K, point taken.

** Levels - Jager(19), Fetscher(14), Schluter(13), Pitzen(9), Dieing(8).

That's a nice collection of gains for a mere league match!

*** Karger
** Fetscher
* Jedin

Karger gets his talent upgrade, and starts work on Rainbow Feint L2.

** Balance - 74.6k(+27)
** Glory - 96(+11)

[Brian Swartz]

Degner completes Layoff Pass training, and the transfer window closes.

https://i.imgur.com/6Cetyrn.png


Once again we steal the show, this time with our sales.

9.15 Alemannia Aachen vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup, Qualifying Round, Second Leg

I'm stunned to see everyone fully rested except for Komolong, who is close. Yep, the keeper is tired. That's what hot weather and a moderately porous defense will do for you. But he's still at like 95%. All we need here is a draw, or to score and lose by no more than one. Aachen decided they didn't like the results of the last match, and are going with six defenders here to keep us from splitting them and shooting through their sweeper.

Ok, we'll go back to going wide, and angle-shooting through your sweeper. First though we need to defend. They go to Muller again, and Doringer makes the play. I try to hold it with Zeitz and succeed, then realize I've positioned us wrong on the attack. Jedin gets the try which still has a fairly good probability, but he can't convert. They try a long lofted pass, the last option of the desperate. It fails, Jager makes a tackle to get it back, and the first half ends scoreless.

The manager then wipes the egg of his face and reorganizes his lineup to get his star the scoring attempt at the second-half kickoff. Nobody comes close to Karger's shot, then Zeitz makes a very rare interecption - he almost always misses due to relatively low defense - and even more amazingly, he hangs onto the ball. Gets it up to Karger again ... another virtuoso strike!(both were at least 40 out of 46 possible, with a minimum of like 14 -- he ate his Wheaties today). They go on the attack, Komolong makes a save, they get it back ... and then in the span of a few minutes, it was Naegeli Time. The young DF ...

** Blocked a shot
** Intercepted a corner kick
** Blocked another shot as time expired.

Dude was getting it DONE.

https://i.imgur.com/9X90zuG.png


This is worth a screen. After just squeaking by qualifying in previous years, we easily handle Aachen 3-0 aggregate, with three wins in as many matches against them this season. That just doesn't happen with Stuttgarter teams.

** Levels - Karger(28), Ortag(20), Komolong(18), Naegeli(15), Munster(8)

*** Karger
** Naegeli
* Zeitz

For once I fully agree with these choices.

Munster gets his Amateur Forward license, so we'll stop for his skills choice here. Zeitz also gets his first Talent boost, and will progress with L2 Slide Tackle training post haste.

https://i.imgur.com/qXAupah.png


Do not adjust your sets. This result is not the fault of your reception. We have fans. Like actual fans, not guilt-ridden relatives of players and staff type fans. Now, I expect they will go away after we get plugged in the next round of the Prestige Cup, but this is the first time in years that Stuttgarter locals, at least a few of them, have been interested in watching our next match.

What will we do with the pressure of nearly two dozen spectators?!?

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/Q9dgmZV.png


I think he looks works than Preiss, which shouldn't be metaphysically possible. In any case, step right up here larrymcg421. Munster has been tagged as a CF-in-training. What should he learn?

[larrymcg421]

Head Play for Munster to double up the bonus he'll already get for being a CF.

[Brian Swartz]

10.6 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SGS Grobaspach
Prestige Cup Round of 32, First Leg

A number of their players have primary attributes in the 70s. This is going to be ugly. Schluter starts in place of Ortag, to attempt to deal with their LF.

Karger has no trouble getting in position, but his strike is easily saved. We muck them up for a bit as they advance down the near wing; Zeitz makes a slide tackle to get possession back, but eventually they work it star forward Kastner(79 Accuracy) and he easily blasts a score from the wing.

A block by Doringer starts off the second half, but eventually they get a corner. We'd need a forklift to get their guys out of the box, but Komolong makes an unlikely save ... so they take a corner from the other side. Again we get the stop, eventually recovery, and a nice interception by Zeitz ensures they don't get another try.

SGS Grobaspach 1, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

That was stunningly respectable ... I expect the second leg to be worse.

** Levels - Doringer(20), Zeitz(17), Naegeli(16), Munster(9)

*** Komolong
** Zeitz
* Fetscher

Doringer unlocks his L3 talent, and starts working on that.

** Balance - 75k(+327) -- Those five extra fans were worth 75 euros. Let's see if they stick around after we get smacked.


11.3 SGS Grobaspach vs. Stuttgarter Kickers

Lots of rain for the rematch. We get another break early as Kastner's first offering isn't quite good enough to beat a fine save by Komolong. I try a defensive strategy aimed at provoking a foul on the slippery pitch, but it doesn't work and with three minutes left in the half they blast a tally through our defense. Ah well. Karger nearly, but not quite, equalized for us(40 roll vs. 42).

His attempt to open the second half wasn't nearly as good, and that pretty much did it for our chances of getting a result, slim as they were. Despite best efforts they marched down the far wing and pounded another shot easily past everyone at the 68-minute mark. Turned over the ensuing kickoff just for good measure, and it took good defensive plays by both Jager and Doringer to prevent another score.

SGB Grobaspach 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

3-0 aggregate, but that should have been 4-5 conceded.

Levels - Jager(20), Jedin(17), Fetscher(15)

*** Fetscher - I can't think of one compelling thing he did positively, and he's responsible for a key bad pass that resulted in a midfield turnover. What the .. ??
** Doringer
* Jedin

Komolong gets the 70% training speed discount.

** Balance - 75k(+27)
** Fans - 15(-5)

No big shocker there. Fans like consistent results, so we'll have to get another good run if we want to earn then back.

[thehitcat]

Hello my fellow coaches. I am going to be travelling starting tonight and will be unavailable until I return home on Saturday the 27th. This is the window to sell Komolong so let's do that and buy us a new keeper. Also I want to extend Dieing for the full 3 years this winter. Other than that I rely on you to keep us on the (if you squint) upward trajectory we are currently on. :)

[Brian Swartz]

Heads up; it's your player and I'll absolutely sell him if you want. But there's no keeper to be had. In fact the transfer list flat-out sucks. Thought I'd throw that out there in case you want to splurge for the global list(37.5k) in hopes of something better of whatever. I'll accept whatever your orders are of course(though if you want to keep him past sell age one of the other coaches will need to concur).

[thehitcat]

shoot what about our junior player? any chance he has good DEF and CTR?

[Brian Swartz]

I'll have the rest of the stuff up eventually but Heigel is the newbie: level 3, age 19, 3 Acc, 9 Pas, 6 Def, 8 Ctrl. We can go that way if people want with him. My suggestion was going be a midfielder of some type given the versatility, but that was purely to put him somewhere like I normally do with the youths. Only player on the current roster still eligible at all is Dieing, just to cover all the bases. And transfer list:


https://i.imgur.com/Pm1TYoM.png

[thehitcat]

Pleh wonder if it's worth spending 280 Euro to buy Schleusener and Wallauer just to see who/what replaces them. other than that we could buy Liebenthal and put him between the sticks, or put Heigel there neither would be good though Heigel might grow into somebody...

I guess I vote to buy the two cheapies on the list to see who pops in for them. Then if still no GK. I'd vote to buy the global list if we have the cash.

Beyond that you guys will need to decide if we have to keep Komolong or use Heigel or even Liebenthal for a half season...

[Brian Swartz]

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

** Valuation - 1.06M(+285k)
** Star Rating - 1.0(+0.5)
** Classes - 83(+4)
** Levels - 16(+2)
** Skills - 21(+5)

Up to a club value of a million euros. My how far we've come! Overall the roster is looking stronger as well - but we figure to lose at least one of our better players in this window, and perhaps more.

Amateur League

** Star Rating - 0.93(+0.07)
** Classes - 84(--)
** Levels - 17(+1)
** Skills - 21(+3)

We're just the slightest hair below-average now here.

Third League

** Star Rating - 1.46(--)
** Classes - 88(--)
** Levels - 25(+1)
** Skills - 27(+3)

Things continue to level out overall. Rot-Weiss Essen and SV Waldhof Mannheim look like they're going to relegate after staying up last year, while TSV Havelse celebrates finally promoting to Third League by sitting in last and looking every bit the part of an overmatched club.

https://i.imgur.com/JF5RYBj.png


It's pretty obvious than Schweinfurt and Frankfurt are going to promote ... but who's going to get that third spot? The other six clubs literally all still have a shot at it, including us. Keep that in mind during the Winter Break ... we definitely need to decide whether we want to make a run at this or not.

https://i.imgur.com/AWML4r1.png


Germany appears to be a near-sure thing to take over the #2 spot from England by the start of the next season. As of now, we have the most clubs left in continental competition as well.

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

https://i.imgur.com/AtED78K.png


https://i.imgur.com/eEYWknj.png


https://i.imgur.com/yC4fOBB.png


https://i.imgur.com/plXTa8B.png


https://i.imgur.com/SeaHucx.png


https://i.imgur.com/lS4cmzF.png


Player Assignments

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

LD Ortag
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

M Blank
Interest: Low
SL: LM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

MF Tunjic
Interest: Average
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Maslanka
Interest: Low
SL: AM
Playing Time: Regular Backup

D Schluter
Interest: Average
SL: RD
Playing Time: Regular Backup

M Pitzen
Interest: High
SL: RM
Playing Time: Starter


larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

CF Mengele
Interest: Low
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

MF Fetscher
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

DM Zeitz
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

FW Jedin
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

CF Karger
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Starter

F Munster
Interest: Average
SL: CF
Playing Time: Starter

? Heigel
Interest: Low
SL: ??
Playing Time: Prospect


thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

GK Komolong
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

SW Doringer
Interest: High
SL: More Talent
Playing Time: Starter

CD Jager
Interest: High
SL: ??
Playing Time: Starter

DF Neageli
Interest: High
SL: Talent
Playing Time: Prospect

D Schulte
Interest: Low
SL: CD, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

D Degner
Interest: Low
SL: DF, Talent
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Dieing
Interest: Low
SL: D
Playing Time: Prospect

I ended up throwing Heigel to larrymcg421 just because, based on our current lineup, I thought perhaps he might want a youth backup to Zeitz. Another winger(to replace Blank), backup for Fetscher, etc. are also possible so feel free to chime in if you want to do something else with him coaches. Also updated our value in the previous post; I hadn't added in our current cash on hand by mistake, and that put us over 1 million euros!

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions

Club Resources

** Balance - 75k
** Glory - 112
** Fans - 15
** Stadium Capacity - 100

Upgrades

https://i.imgur.com/LlX8VsR.png


https://i.imgur.com/OH63MJh.png


Same as last time. We have the resources to invest here if we choose to.


7-month Contracts

** LD Ortag - 1421, 3269, 5541*
** CF Mengele - 374, 860, 1458
** ? Dieing - 266, 612, 1037

* Ortag will be sold unless the coaches specifically vote otherwhise, because he's reached the maximum sell age and will turn 34 before the end of the year. I'll wait until just before the transfer window closes unless told otherwhise. D Schluter is next in line to receive his playing time as our only other fullback.

1-month Contracts

** GK Komolong - 623, 1433, 2429
** CF Karger - 14.6k, 33.5k, 56.9k
** F Munster - 302, 695, 1176

Komolong is of course the big question as we still have no backup for him. We can punt a bit if desired; we have four more matches until his contract runs out.

Transfers

https://i.imgur.com/Pm1TYoM.png


I am rejecting for reasons of cheese the vote to buy a couple cheapies here just to see who pops up. If you want to buy anyone for depth or to sell or whatever that's fine, but if we want more choices, that's what the scouting upgrades and global list are for. We have a vote for the global list to check on a GK replacement, but it will need a second in order to pass.

General Playing Time

We've been putting our best foot forward with marginally improved results, and will continue to do so unless Rotation or Mixed approaches are preferred.

Stuttgarter Coaches, time to step up for a critical choice. We have a legitimate, but objectively long-shot chance to promote this year. If we don't go for it, who knows when the next chance will come -- but if we keep Komolong we throw away a considerable fee. What do we do if we lose him though? The global list proposal is out there and we have a few players needing attention in terms of their contract. Also the option of punting for a few matches can be done; we'd be able to see where we sit with three to play if that route was chosen. Still would need to decide now on the global list though, because that takes a week to be generated. And don't forget to consider whether we want to invest in any upgrades.

What say you all?

[thehitcat]

Hi Gents I'm back.

I'd still like to sell Komolong but we'd be throwing potentially every game after we sold him until a new keeper becomes available or we train someone up to adequacy. So I'd like to hear from the other coaches. If you think we can promote this year and want to go for it then we'll keep him and sign him for the full three seasons. If you think he's not worth it we can sell him, use some of the money to open the global list and keep our cash and glory tight hoping we find someone worth it on that list.

I'll hold the rest of my recommendations until everyone weighs in on Komolong.

[Brian Swartz]

Seems pretty clear that isn't going to happen.

I'm officially abandoning this dynasty due to lack of interest/participation. I'll take some of the blame for that as well; I'm sure I could have done better in clarity, how I presented things, etc. Bottom lineis that if we aren't going to have interest in discussing even critical points like this in the franchise, then what we've got here is a single-player dynasty masquerading as something else. It's too much work for me to continue on that basis.

No hard feelings, I thought we'd have more people who would want to participate in this but clearly I was wrong about that. Thanks for those who did join and made contributions.

[larrymcg421]

Sorry about that. I had typed up a response to your most recent question, but didn't realize it never got sent until I saw this latest update. I was going to say we should sell Komolong. I can do a more thorough post in the morning.

[thehitcat]

well shit. Sad it's going cuz I had fun. Thanks for kicking it off Brian :)

[DavidCorperial]

I enjoyed it, but it was tough in certain ways to really coach like this so am sorry to see this go.

[Brian Swartz]

Sorry about that. I had typed up a response to your most recent question, but didn't realize it never got sent until I saw this latest update. I was going to say we should sell Komolong. I can do a more thorough post in the morning.

Thanks for the offer and thoughts. I've felt this coming for a couple of season though - I think DC was right here. It just didn't click interaction-wise for whatever reasons.