8.12.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Rot-Weiss Essen
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
(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.
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.
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.