Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Rescuing the Beautiful Game(FTG, Interactive)

Brian Swartz · 10-05-2018, 11:00 PM

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 ...

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.

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).

10-05-2018, 11:00 PM	#194
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	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 ... 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. 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). Last edited by Brian Swartz : 10-05-2018 at 11:03 PM.