[sterlingice]

Training
Nothing really to report this week on the training front. We're having a little form hangover from the offseason but that should be stabilizing soon, I hope. The second team is where that is most evident as there are a lot of poors and weaks there for form. I'm starting to wonder if I need that many players.

Future Training
It's back to good old fashioned playmaking training for as far as the eye can see (unless we get our form up enough to do a week of stamina training).

Form
Starters: (+1) (-3)
Entire Team: (+2) (-8)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Bush (exc) Kimber
Passable: Phelan Connors Solomon Meek Christiano Starks
Inadequate: Newsom Benito
Weak (or below): Schrader

Kimber popped back up to solid form and that's a big deal (see below)! His mini form slump in the offseason was just that. Schrader may have to play a game or two with the B Team before he's back in shape. Three out of eleven at inad/weak is a borderline crisis so there may be some lineup changes before the next game. Yes, Houben is not on the list and Solomon is on there...

Value
Starters: (+6) (-3)
Entire Team: (+7) (-10)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 7(-1)/9(-1)
Above $200K: 4(+0)/4(+0)
Above $300K: 1(-1)/1(-1)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($517K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($299K)
Milestones: Tim Kimber ($500K)

WOO! Timber is the first Hippo ever to pass $500K in value! New leader this week on the outfield this week. Starks dropped back below $300K with his form drop (to $282K), so Benito takes back the outfield lead. And yes, Houben is conspicuously absent here, as well.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 32534 (+1464)
Total Value: 3000000 (+189000)
Avg Value: 136364 (-4146)
Avg Age: 22 (-1)
Avg Form: inad (down 1 level from passable)
Avg Experience: wretched (NC)
No of players: 22 (+2)
Nationalities: 11 (+1)


Youth Pull, Week 20.02
This is a "problem" that very few people would complain about. A day ago, we picked up a new UberTrainee(TM)- more on that below. However, we just now pulled a player from our youth squad who could also serve as a new UberTrainee(TM). This week's youth pull, Thomas Little, is 18 (geezer by our trainee standards) but boasts passable playmaking, solid passing and inad set pieces and stamina! Not only that, but his value is $198K so he can't be too far from solid playmaking, excellent passing, or both! Now, decisions, decision- who to keep. BTW, no luck selling last week's pull, Soto, at $100K. I'll put him up for something like $80K in the next week or so.


Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 30
Youth Pull Grocers: 21 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 7 (+0)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+2)
Total Sold for: 590000 (+0)

Youth Pull
Thomas Little (15126966)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A controversial person who is balanced and honest.
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities.
Assessed value: 198 000 US$
Wage: 1 460 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: solid
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate


Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (No need to keep this column as I doubt it will ever move again)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: high on life (up one level from delerious)
Supporter Club: 1289 members (+13)
Supporters: high on life (N/C)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: decent (down two levels from strong)

Our team spirit went up after the PIC but went down after a purchased player so it remained the same. Not only that but how did our confidence go doing when we won both of our matches this week?


20.02 Week In Review

On the Field
We won our first ever Div IV game, 2-1, against The Champion, a minomer for a team who will likely be heading back to Div V after this season. Phelan and Cristiano scored the goals and Kimber made it stand up. Our cup game was a disappointing (well, how disappointing can a 7-1 win be) win over a computer team with a pair of goals from both Coskum Houben and Ivan Viseslav. However, we picked up 4 cards and posted some pretty bad ratings that will need to improve. This week, our win streak will probably come to an end as we play a really tough team at the 'drome.

Off the Field
Our next post (or maybe the post after that) will be all about offseason (and into early season) player movement, so be sure to check that out. See if your favorite Hippos packed their bags or if you have a new favorite Hippo.

SI