Rescuing the Beautiful Game(FTG, Interactive)

[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]

Originally Posted by thehitcat

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.








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.




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)








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.




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.




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.




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:








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 [b]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. 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.

[thehitcat]

Degner will go for DF and the Layoff pass.

[Brian Swartz]

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.




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.




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.




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.




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]

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.




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.




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



















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:




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







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




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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by thehitcat

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?

Originally Posted by thehitcat

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]

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.




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.




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.




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 ...




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 ...







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).

[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.




Also, since the transfer window has now closed, we have the results there;




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.




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.




7th place for the second year in a row.




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.




It was actually a worse year than last by final position; same in the league and one round earlier in the Cup.




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.




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)




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.




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.