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Fixture 14 The Saints enter week 14 in 5th place two points behind CC's Dragons. I am on the road against the 7th place team, while he is facing the 3rd place team on the road. I predicted we would both win, and thus I would have a qualifier. Therefore, I PICed and sat top defender Clifton Campbell and possession winger Jef Tadie who both had two yellows cards. My foe, Wisconsin Legend, is all defense and no midfield or offense. I decided to experiment with my midfield a bit and start the 3 young guys I project to be my starters by week 3 next season - Joonas Vahtramae (form PM, inad def, solid stam), Toader Popa (exc PM, inad pass, exc stam), and Ryzard Laguna (exc PM, pass pass, pass stam). Joonas and Ryzard need a bit of conditioning and they all need some experience. I decided to place Ryzard in the EIM spot behind Toader to reinforce Clark Merritt's wing attack. With Joonas playing defensive on the other side and future coach Teurvo Kaurismaki starting on the opposite wing, I wasn't going to get much offense there anyway. Match Report Wisconsin were relying on their solid ability to counter-attack. A well placed corner kick from Geoffrey Dean was followed by John Zuniga´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Wisconsin. The result now 1-0. Visitors Yki Hyypiä was alert on a play coming in from the left, making the score a tie at 1 - 1 in the 13th minute. The terraces were silenced in the 28:th minute as Saints´s Joe Lond put the guests ahead 1 - 2, following an attack from the right. The game had been on for 36 minutes when Joe Lond broke through to the right, upping the score to the home crowd´s dismay. Saints´s were up 1 - 3. Saints´s Carlos Saúl Tévez left the field after 40 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Clifton Campbell. The teams went for a half-time break at 1 - 3. Saints, bringing the final ball possession rate to 64 percent, dominated the battle. Joe Lond was, after 55 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors lead with a well placed diving header but home side keeper Dan Bolden saved. Saints had, after 62 minutes of the game, worked the left side industriously, creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but somehow didn´t achieve closure. Saints held the ball, with a clear 69 percent possession rate. Summary The match went pretty much as I hoped. I knew I wouldn't score much, but wasn't worried becuase they didn't have much of a chance at all to score. The injury to Tevez would be bad if I had ended up with a qualifier, but CC's Dragons lost 4-5 to the Los Chixi Dix, allowing me to move up to fourth. Yeah, I get 30K, no extra training, and no gate receipts for the qualifier. I also don't get to use my MOTS - I really want to know how good my ratings could be. Team Ratings Wisconsin Legend
South Bay Saints
NSI =72 At the begining of the year, I was an all midfield team. Throughout the season, I have tried to improve my all around rankings by promoting midfielders with secondaries and the by purchasing a new forward. I started last season with a passable midfield and only a 60 NSI. In this match, I added 2 levels to each offense and defensive area despite having a few key starters out. Joe Lond had 2 goals in the match to give him 10 on the season and earn him the IV.31 top scorer award. Robin Drakborn had 5 goals, good for 8th place, despite only joining the team for the final 6 matches. The Saints end the season with 40 goals scored, and 23 allowed a big improvement over last season even 30-30. Up next: FOFC Cup Finals The Saints host ausonny's Bees in for the FOFC championship. The Bees are the defending champs but had to MOTS this weekend in order to secure their series championship. The Saints have the both the home field and team spirit advantage. However, the Bees A-team put up an NSI of 90 this weekend, something I have never come close. I am looking forward to a good match, and hope to see everyone in the chat tomorrow. This season is almost over and I'll wrap up this thread after the finals on Wednesday. I am not sure what I am going to do next season with my dynasty. I feel it is a bit stale, and will be looking for ways to liven it up a bit. I will probably go back to post more frequent short updates about what the team is up to which will hopefully help promote more interaction amongst any readers I have. |
The Bees put up a 90?!? When did they get so good? Good luck in the Finals!
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Team News
GM Masked announced the transfer of this weeks youth pull to Mars Martians for $50,000. Mars is a US Div 5 squad in V.6 who has been around awhile, but doesn't appear to have a particularly strong team. I have no idea what they train. Luke Kenny (25794290) 17 years, passable form, healthy A pleasant guy who is balanced and honest. Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Kenny was the first 17yo pull since week 3 for the Saints. I sold a 17yo passable defender in week 2 for 79K. |
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When Ausonny said that he thought he could get a 90 in his final league match on the road with a MOTS, I thought he was overly optimistic. Hopefully he will not suprise me again today. He was the 6th seed in the cup at the outset (I was 16) so his team has been quite strong for awhile. He should not have much trouble if he can jump to div 4 next season. |
FOFC Cup Championship
Much to my suprise, the Saints hosted the Bees in the FOFC Cup Championship game. A favorable league schedule with a walkover in week 13 and a weak opponent this week combined with homefield advantage has allowed me to play a mix of A and B teamers in the semifinals and now the finals. Since I had to prepare for a possible qualifer, I PIC on Sunday and entered the match today with delirious team spirit. Ausonny had to burn a MOTS to win his league, so I have a sizable advantage in team spirit. Playing at home I expected to have a sizable advantage at midfield. Jef Tadie and Clifton Campbell both sat on Sunday since they had two yellows, so they will see action today. I decided to start Joe Lond at forward even though he played on Sunday. His form remains at inadequate so I hope playing him twice might help tomorrow, and Tony Spicer is not fully healed from the rough treatment he received from the North County Raiders. He is up to bruised, but I didn't want to risk a long term injury. Match Report In the 10:th minute Beess Huub Lenters received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Jef Tadié gave his Saints the lead with 1 - 0, as he successfully challenged both the guests central defenders, then placed the ball unreachably at the goaltenders right post. In the game's 18:th minute Bees´s Eddie Walter limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. The bicycle kick from Myles Bloom would have been the Goal of the Year, had it not hit the posts. Saints put themselves up 2 - 0 when Myles Bloom broke through on the right, leaving the entire defensive box behind him. The structure of the game started to change as Saints decided to pull back and meet their opponents in the defensive zone. With 32 minutes played Clifton Campbell could have brought this one home for Saints, had his hooked ball gone in, but it went just a bit too high. The teams went for a half-time break at 2 - 0. Saints held the ball, with a clear 72 percent possession rate. Saints were given a penalty in the 51st, neatly put away by Zvonko Andric. 3 - 0 for the home side. 57 minutes into the game Toni Schemmann had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Zachary Keller. Saints, bringing the final ball possession rate to 80 percent, dominated the battle. Team Ratings
NSI 67 We had equivalent attacks, but his defense was much better. However, due to my huge possession advantage I got enough chances to get a few through, and kept him from getting a chance to exploit his advantage against my defense. SOUTH BAY SAINTS - FOFC CUP V CHAMPIONS
Up Next - training and two big pops are expected! |
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Congratz on the FOFC Cup championship :)
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Congrats, Masked :)
SI |
Congrats on the win!
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Congrats! Hope to get one of these one day. :)
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They are the Champions !
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Congratulations to Masked, his team deserved the win they got last night. As he said, the timing didn't work out for us, if I hadn't stupidly dropped a game earlier in the year to a team I had no business losing to, I could have maybe put up more of a fight tonight, but alas, it was not to be.
Good luck next year! |
Thanks everyone!
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Training
Well tonights updates caps a great week for the Saints - a youth pull that sold, a win in league play, the cup, and now the teams first outstanding player! Eber Basoa Rivas 504 000 US$, 21 years, passable form Has poor experience and solid leadership abilities
Eber was the second trainee bought coming one day the first, Dani Mario Araujo. Eber has been a starter ever since, until this season when his form got stuck on inadequate while others were solid or better. Since he is soon to be 22 and only is at outsanding he will be sold to finance a new keeper. Toader Popa 353 000 US$, 19 years, passable form Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Technical]
Toader started for most of the season despite having only the 4th best PM on the team. I like the boost in offense he provides as well as the 13 of 15 weeks in solid or better form this season. He will remain on the team for at least two more seasons. Form sucked this week +2/-5, but it's the offseason. Just in case I haven't bottomed out, I will train stamina next week to ensure that it can only improve next season. |
Rivas went on the market this morning for $1.5M. If he sells, some team in Spain who got there team a little over a week ago (2/9/04) is going to be very happy to get 75K in mother club money.
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Musings on the near future of the Saints
Assuming Rivas sells, I will have about $2.3M. I will probably throw wingback Carlos Saul Tevez (solid def, pass wing) on the market for about 250K once his health improves to bruised, which would give me about $2.5M to works with. Team needs (in a rough order) 1) Keeper - current GK, Joseph Lassiter, is solid and I am looking for an outstanding keeper. Projected cost $2.5M 2) Coach - I have a passable coach with inadequate leadership, and the team can no longer hold even one level of TS during the week. I was at POE after Sunday's match and have dropped all the way to satisfied today. Teuvo Kaurismaki has passable experience and passable leadership. He has not gained any experience since December. At this point all I can do is wait. Projected cost: $800K 3) Wingback - assuming Tevez sells. I will replace him with a solid defender. Inadequate winger would be nice, but I always play my wingbacks defensive, so I feel I am just wasting money buying anyone with significant winger skill. I would like to get someone with inadequate experience who would be a potential candidate for a future coach so I don't ever find myself in the predicament I am in now. Projected cost: $100K 4) IM trainees - I will probably not buy anyone until week 2 next season, since I wouldn't be able to train them the first week. I will be selling another outstanding Im in about 3 weeks, so I will need two. I want one 17yo passable PM with inadequate or passable passing. For the second spot I am considering an 18yo excellent in order to better space out my IMs, but I haven't decided yet. Since I have never pulled a player that I can train, I figure I'm due and will get one early next season. There are no logical flaws in my argument. Projected cost: 600K 5) Stadium expansion - My arena sits 32K and it sold out only once early in the season. I would like to go to about 46K. Three of my first 4 games are on the road, so I will hold off expansion until my week 5 home match. Projected cost: 300K 6) Winger - Still have not replaced the spot Charles Montgomery vacated several weeks ago. I like having the flexibility to throw a 3-4-3 out occassionally though. Since I train PM, a young player with inad PM is ideal. I'll target a formidable winger, but might settle for an excellant if finances are tight. Projected costs: 700K Total projected expenditures (1-4): $4M (5-6): $1M Expected Income (next 3 weeks): $4.125M Current Balance: 800K Rivas: 1.5M Araujo: 1.5M Tevez: 225K Roughly I have enough money to meet the first four needs. My home match in week 2 can pay for the stadium expansion, but I will need a decent youth pull to finance the winger. I have a decent shot at winning my series next season. There are five teams that are roughly equal. The Saints are the second best (very tight though). I play the other 4 in weeks 1-4, with three games on the road. If I come out of that stretch in first or second place, I have a great chance to win the series. The middle 6 weeks are all probable PIC wins (2 autopromotes, NSI ~ 60, and the walkover), followed by 3 out of 4 at home to end the season. I will not be able to get enough points to autopromote, which is a very good thing. Therefore, I would like to get the new keeper before the start of the season, and will therefore delay the coach upgrade a few weeks (not like I really have a choice, f%$!ing experience). The current guys inadequate experience will be okay during the cup. I wish IM transfer prices weren't so bad. |
Crappy pull of the week
This is not my worst pull ever (unfortunately) Rob Royal (26405478)  22 years, passable form, healthy A nasty fellow who is calm and righteous.Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Economy Picked up 30K for finishing in fourth place, and 47,040 in season ticket renewals. |
Team Update
Eber Basoa Rivas (Excellent stamina, outstanding PM) failed to get any bids for $1.5M. He is back up for $1.45M. Playmaking training sucks. |
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I'm confused... |
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Nearly a year ago, I bought Eber Basoa Rivas from some team in Spain for 8K. That team was replaced a few weeks ago. However, I think that the mother club money is tied to the team ID (well in essence) and not to the owner. Since the ID doesn't change, the new team will get the mother club money from the Rivas who came from the earlier team with that ID. I may be wrong, but I recall hearing about some FOFC GM who got a large sum from some player that didn't originally come from their team. |
GM Ramblings
Considering the market for outstanding playmakers right now, I am thinking about changing some of the plans I outlined above. Selling Rivas and Araujo (outstanding PM)at this time will not net me enough money to buy an outstanding keeper and new trainees. Therefore I would be sitting on a large pile of cash with no where to really spend it. That cash is better utilized if I leave it invested in players (esp ones that are being trained) - inflation and the training will net far more in the long run than interest. So hear is what I am thinking If Rivas sells for 1.45M (netting about 1.3M), I will buy a formidable keeper. I will continue to train Araujo (form +8) until he reaches brilliant PM in the second half of the season. As for a new trainee, I will hopefully pull one in the first 3 weeks. In the meantime, I will give one of my wingers the 6th full training spot. After the insane week 1 and 2 prices begin to drop (and I have repleanished my funds) I will spend 2-300K on a new trainee. There is no point buying anyone next week because I couldn't train him anyway. If Rivas does not sell, I'll keep him and train him to brilliant PM and try to sell Araujo when he pops early next season to buy the form. keeper. Hopefully market prices will be better then, and trainee prices will be a bit more reasonable. Both Rivas and Araujo will be 22 next season. Since they have a fairly high PM skill currently continue to train them isn't particularly wasteful. (I would never train a 22 yo solid or excellent.) Since they are my best playmakers, keeping this around should ensure that I have one of the best midfields in my series. The better midfield will offset the better defense the keeper would have given me. |
Breaking news
Rivas sold for 1.45M netting the Saints 1.305M. Things fattens my account to $2.143M. I could go for an outstanding keeper as bargains can be found for about $2.25M; however, I am reluctant to spend all my cash now since I need to upgrade my coach. I am going to closely watch one guy that ends tomorrow. |
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I don't think that's how it works, but I could very well be wrong. Anybody else know? |
im pretty sure thats not how it works either..... but like Vex said, i could be wrong also.
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My conjecture is based soley on a vaguely remembered post that may (or may not have) been written about a year ago.
For this one time, questioning the credibility of the source is not unreasonable. |
End of season wrap up
Part 1: Series IV.31
Apparently the WYSIWYG editor does not interact well with Mozilla - the table would not format properly. Series IV.31 finished close to my early season projections but took a strange route to get there. The first half of the season was dominated by Number Munchers and the Saints and we entered our week 7 and 8 head to head matches in first place. I lost both and started a steady fall down the table. Munchers was primed to secure auto-promotion, but suddenly quit. On December 30, he bought a player for about 2.7M (HT value > 1M) and never logged in again - not even to put the player in his lineup. So after defeating me twice, his team weakened rapidly with no management and gave everyone else easy wins. Munchers's line-up has been reset and will be a walkover next season. On the other end of the table, CC's Dragons spent some time in the auto-demotion spot during the first half of the season before a very impressive run in the second half. Los Chixi Dix overacheived all season and rode several early season upsets to an unlikely third place finish. They made one big late season move to bring in a 1.5M forward, but he has yet to make a big impact due to poor form. Along with the Saints, Dragons and Los Chixi saw the biggest improvements in their teams this season. All three teams are pretty evenly matched and have active managers so this could be the start of a several season long rivalry. Terps logs in infrequently but has been around far longer than anyone else in the series. He never schedules friendlies or buys or sells any players. His team is anchored by three million dollar midfielders. He pulled off a big upset in his qualifier and will be pounded next season in division III. Thunderchickens impressive NSI is due to a very strong attack. He has no midfield and thus was rarely ever able to use his titanic attacks. Wisconsin Legend was not ready for division 4. He has a very good defense, but no attack, and a worse midfield than Thunderchickens. His team did not improve much this season, so he may not be heading back to division IV for awhile. Overall the division was not as tough as last season principly due to the presence of a walkover. IV.31 consistently ranked as one of the tougher series with a walkover on Hatstats though. |
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I have a few problems with Mozilla, but anything that's in pure HTML which I make in Dreamweaver. Also, when I cut and paste stuff, I cut and paste it out of IE (I have Mozilla, Opera, and IE on my comp).
SI |
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