Hattrick Hell...aka Help Me!!!

[Blade6119]

I know for a fact that many memebrs on this board play Hattrick quite regularly...i for one have just discovered this little masterpiece(ID 71724 for friendlies). But, there are things that bug me for which i cannot figure out. A few questions to begin(im sure theve been answered a million times already, but be patient and post the link or explain again):

1.My team sucks balls......had to get that off...not a question, but its a true statement.

2.My team might suck because of my lack of knowledge. I know all there is to know about soccer(or at least however much an american needs to know, and what ive picked up from my current playing of soccer for my school and Championship Manager), but Hattrick has me perplexed in some situations. One is that my team is fairly strong in all regards, except passing. I hired a great solid, popular, experienced, and a solid leader. With him i started a work regime to improve this with 95% intensity and short passes the focus. My team pretty much sucks at all formations except the standard 4-4-2. My team has talent, but after my first match coming out 7-0 in their favor, against the previously winless punching bag of our league, i decided a little help was needed. My Questions thus:

A.I set the team focus to short passes to improve my players passing rating....good idea?? bad idea??....better ideas for what my training should go towards. And i also heard you could train players individually, is this true. if so, how does this work.

B.How can i improve my rating in various formations without messing up my players confidence which is still remarkably strong.

C.I have gone out and bought some guys to bring my team to a telnt level with the league leaders, and am still praying on one more(valued at around 550,000 and ive got top bid at 165,000, and if any of you steal him....your life is over!!) Even with these talents joinig our squad, im not sure how to best utilize their talents. If somone would aid me that would be amazing. Since i have quite a lot of free time right now, ill post my players and how i have it set up right now(listed by value with highest first)

Kevin Willey
202 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: passable
Playmaking: wretched Passing: wretched
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: poor

Kevin currently fills the role as starting keeper, but the first game didn't go to well...7 goals...ouch

Moises Alba
163 000 US$, 27 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: solid Passing: inadequate
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: solid Set Pieces: poor

Moises is in my mind our star player and one of two strikers....that could change if i land my wonder boy, but right now this guy is our most formidible weapon.

Randy Torres
131 000 US$, 19 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities

Stamina: excellent Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: passable Passing: wretched
Winger: weak Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: disastrous

Randy is our other striker, annd our highest valued under-20 player...with training he could be very good, as i want a solid rating on that scoring, but i dont know how to train just him.

Vince hall
67 000 US$, 21 years, inadequate form
Has disastrous experience and disastrous leadership abilities

Stamina: wretched Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: passable Passing: inadequate
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: weak

Vince currently lines up at one of my two winger spots. not too much here, but with training like above he could be a realy solid player.

Ray Call(On transer list....60,000 if interested)
63 000 US$, 28 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: wretched

Ray has an inner midfield spot on my squad right now, but with one of my two hopeful transfers nearing the deadline, ray will no longer serve a purpose in my system. He is a nice added scoring threat.

Sherwood Goetz
54 000 US$, 23 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate
Winger: wretched Defending: passable
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: passable

Sherwood serves the left back purpose on my team, and even though his ratings arent great, he played hard in my opener and for now at least, gained some respect.

Clay Goins(On tranfer market for 45,000)
48 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and inadequate leadership abilities

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: passable Defending: weak
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

I dont see much in him that justifies this value, but the game says hes worth it....not even a sub for me.

Armand Mckinnon
35 000 US$, 28 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: wretched Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: passable
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: weak

Armand holds down my other inner mdifield spot, and i like to think he can hold his own. he did poorly in the first match, but it was very rainy, which the game said affected him greatly with none of his usual long runs. Dont know quite what to make of him, but i do like that quickness specialty.

Li Yok-Lee
35 000 US$, 23 years, inadequate form
Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities [Powerful]

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

My defensive sub at the moment, not liking him too much, but ya gotta work with what ya got...

Pio de Corral
34 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: passable
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: disastrous

One of my two central defenders...not sure how much better he is than Li Yok-Lee, but he currently is there....switched him to defence after last match with my team team captain(coming later) moving to his previous winger spot...both had bad ratings at their previous spots during match, so switched them to see if any better.

Jack McGill
33 000 US$, 29 years, inadequate form
Has weak experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: poor Passing: inadequate
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: solid

My right back right now...another guy im considering switching Li Yok with before the friendly on tuesday....against a talented Brazilian squad, so i look to just see how some changes work out...not expecting a win.

Martin Saldana
31 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: poor

Martin is my sub at striker...only good thing about him is the passable scoring....yah

Houston Quick
23 000 US$, 20 years, inadequate form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: poor Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: inadequate
Winger: weak Defending: weak
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: weak

The only thing i like about him is is last name is also his specialty....my backup midfielder....ok

Clarence Smith
21 000 US$, 28 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and passable leadership abilities

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: weak Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: solid

Current team captain, but i really think he shouldn't be on the pitch at all....got a 1/2 star last game....moved to right winger, but i think houston or martin might be better choices.

Jeff Vinson
19 000 US$, 22 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and passable leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: solid

My current winger sub, prob. the worst of all my subs. Enough said.

Lei Cheuk-Man
17 000 US$, 24 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: disastrous
Winger: weak Defending: passable
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: disastrous

My other starting central back isnt to fancy, but has a passable in defense....another shaky point.

Bruce Post
15 000 US$, 24 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: poor
Playmaking: disastrous Passing: disastrous
Winger: wretched Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: weak

My back up keeper.....brough in just for that duty....hes a cheap nobody.

I have two other players lower in value, but both on market and lack any kind of soccertalent, so ill just skip them. the big steal on the market just went off 500,000 in bids, so i drop out nicely....
Still have a bid for a defender with solid defence rating, a passable winger/scorer to repalce hall, and another passable winger/scorer with passable playmaking too....would like to only land first and second as third is a little pricey, but they all have spots they could fill.

Off this, my starting line-up looks like this right now
GK=Kevin Willey
RB=Jack McGill
CB1=Lei Cheuk-Man
CB2=Pio de Corral
LB=Sherwood Goetz
RW=Clarence Smith(Team Captain)
IM1=Ray Call
IM2=Armand Mckinnon
LW=Vince Hall
S1=Moises Alba
S2=Randy Torres

Set Pieces: Randy Torres

With Subs:
Li Yok-Lee
Houston Quick
Matrin Saldana
Jeff Vinson
GK Bruce post


Afterthoughts:
As you can see, i have some talent like Alba, but im not sure how to "properly deploy them on the field of battle."

If there is a way to train individually...it would help as ui think torres could be a great player with the right training, and that last tranfer prospect is 19 as well....

Please help with my situation in any way you can!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read such a long post if you did....if you just skipped it to go to some other thread, i would have too...

Blade6119

[NevStar]

Looking over your game, I can explain why you lost in one line:

Midfield: disastrous

As you've probably read already, the most important outfield position is inner midfield. A good first start is to take your 2 or 3 best players with the best sum of playmaking & stamina & position them as inner midfielders.

Torres definately has the skills to be your marquee IM (move Call to forward to replace him). If you're unable to land a midfielder in the transfer market, I'd seriously consider moving Alba to midfield also.

Passing is not as important a skill for midfielders as playmaking/stamina (unless they're attacking midfielders, then they may be nearly equal). A good place to read on the various skills & how each affects every position is ABC of Tactics.

With regards to formation experience, just use your friendlies to train in new formations. Good luck, I'll be rooting for you.

[Poli]

Trying to number my response in order to your numbering.

1. I'm pretty sure all our teams sucked when we first started. Have hope. We all sucked. Hattrick didn't punish you...well maybe I should say they punished us all.

2. I have less knowledge about soccer than you do. Aside from reading a book about it in 1987 and playing FIFA 2002 a little, I'm really unsure of how the game is played.

a. I don't train passing, but others do at times. It would probably help in your ball control, but I prefer to focus on one of three things: Playmaking, scoring, and defense. Maybe passing, stamina, and form some. You can't train players individually, but you can make sure that you place ample enough players to get training. For example, I train 5 scorers a week. If I ran a 442, I would only train 4. To decide what and who to train, pick your better and younger players, decide what collectively they are best at, and train that skill. If it is say, defending, you would be best off playing something with 5 defenders (5-4-1 for example)...which would optimally give you 10 players for training!

b. Train the formations you want to implement in friendlies. It shouldn't wreck their confidence and you'll be able to use your new formations in just a few weeks.

c. I'd actually like to know who and what you played where...I'll try and find that out in a bit on hattrick. I typically use mybestteam.tk to decide where to play players but just a few notes: You say you're playing a passable scorer/weak playmaker at mid but a passable scorer/playmaker at striker. Why not swap these two and have two passable players at each spot. The way I see it, you have a passable at forward, and a weak at mid. You should focus your energy to the middle and then outward, IMO.
BTW, I read your entire post

[mrushh]

I was told/taught that midfield is the key (for ball possession leading to scoring chances for you and less for them). The first thing I see on your squad is 3 of your 4 midfieldrs are awful. There are many better Hattrickers than me, but that is what I notice. Playmaking is the key skill for midfield players, and 3 of yours suck at it.

[Airhog]

1. I would reccomend getting Hattrick Assistant manager. Even if you can only save 30 days worth of stats, dont worry about the stats, it makes it tons easier to decide who too play.

2. Midfield is the key, but even more important is your Keeper. Find one rated above inadequate, and you'll do much better.

3. Dont waste all your money on the transfer market. You dont wish to rise too soon, and you have no shot up moving to the higher league. Spend that transfer money on upgrading your youth squad. When its maxed out, then you can sell young players, to buy good players. If your young players suck ass, and they will for a month or two, just fire them. I havent tested it yet, but it might be easier to get better pulls at keeper.

4. Form can make a difference. players with great form will outperform players of the same skill or slightly better.

5. I always build my lineup for a match starting with inner midfield, then wingers, then scorers then my defense. Although if you have a great player at a position, play him there, unless you really need him for the midfield.

6. Use HAM to figure your arena size and expand it if you would like.

7. Look towards next season instead of next week

[bbor]

This is my 2nd Hattie season...and i STILL suck.

[HornedFrog Purple]

7. Look towards next season instead of next week

I am looking forward to 2007. I am about to complete my 3rd season in division 5

This is a good site that explains pretty much everything about hattrick:

http://www.databased.at/hattrick/index.asp

[mrushh]

Also, imho, you should sell ALL players over 26 years old worth anything. Like Airhog said, you won't be moving up, anyway, and the Hattrick guide says players can start to deteriorate around age 27. Sell them now while they are worth more, and save the money to upgrade later.

[PilotMan]

When I first took over my team I trained nothing but stamina.

My theory was that my team had to be effective throughout the entire 90 minutes. And also train the best formation for my team based on the ability levels of my players.

After a couple of weeks my formation and stamina were resonably developed and I was able to keep games close in the first half, then score, sometimes repeatedly and take control of the secod half.

Without really knowing the engine that well. I would attribute this to the stamina training and targed formation training.

7 straight league wins...still in the hunt for the FOFC Cup.

[Blade6119]

i threw some more players on transfer following mrushh's advice, including Alba...if anyone wants they are officially on tranfer now.

Thanks for all the great responses....if anyone else has any help left in them, more is always appreciated.

To Airhog, my starting keeper is rated passable....not sure where your #2 coming from...

My new starting lineup looks like this with changes still pending( i used the HAM to help me decide)...
I'm looking to run a 5-4-1 Normal(my coach likes defense, so for now, i do too)
Gk=Kevin Willey
RB=Amand mckinnon
CB1=Lei Cheuk-Man
CB2=Sherwood Goetz
CB3=Pio de Corral
LB=Ray Call
RW=Li Yok-Lee
IM1=Vince Hall
IM2=Randy Torres
LW=Houston Quick
S1=Moises Alba

[daedalus]

For what it's worth, I've read that scoring and passing are the two ratings that are important for forwards and it's worked out that way with my team. My passable passing/inadequate scoring forward have consistently been better than my passable scoring/poor passing. Mileage possibly varying and all that.

[sterlingice]

GK: Willey - Duh
WB: Call - Inad/inad def/winger combo isn't great but it's not bad. Possibly play him offensive to take advantage of that scoring and make sure to play tricks like alternating which side he plays on so teams don't wise up
DEF:Goetz- Passable defender slides into the middle perfectly
DEF:Corral - See previous note
WB:Mckinnon - Pass/inad makes this guy your best wingback. His only downside is his age
WING: Goins - Not thrilling but the second best winger option you have. He's like a poor man's Hall- passable wing but his periphery stats are one step lower
MID: See below
MID: Torres - Passable playmaking and excellent stamina will wear out the other team. Good periphery stats (scoring, defense) makes him your all around guy
WING: Hall - Again, passable wing and good periphery stats make him a nice player
FO: Alba - solid scoring, inad passing makes this an easy call. He's your big gun
FO Smith - well, this hurts. He's old and can't pass very well. Replace him when you get a chance

LEFT OUT
Lee - Nothing but a sub; Might be able to get a few bucks for him but not much. Wingers just aren't in high demand (but that's good- see below)
McGill- Old, backup forward (inad/inad) but not of much use. Once your team improves, he'll probably be shown the retirement door
Saldana - Unfortunately his passing is dreadful and you need both passing and scoring for a forward
Quick - Good name, bad player. He's young so you might be able to grab a couple of bucks for him
Vinson - Fire him and put him out of his misery
Man - Not a bad backup middle defender. A little old to be a trainee, tho. If you can get him up to soild defense, however, selling him will net you some good scratch
Post - Find a young backup weak goalie for 1K or a young backup inad goalie for 20K and send him on his merry way

Ok, I can't agree with these guys more on a lot of things. mybestteam is your best friend- it looks like you had some guys playing out of position and that doesn't play to your teams strengths. Your team isn't too bad and with some tweaks, you could be winning in no time.

TO DO LIST (either cheap fixes or necessary changes)
1. If you have the cash, you need a hammer in the middle opposite Torres. If you have the bucks, get a solid playmaker with pretty good stamina, passing, defense, and scoring. If you want to just keep it simple and cheaper- look for solid playmaking, passable stamina, and inad passing.
1A. Also, you might want to consider a 4-4-2 for now. You have a pretty competent defense but you're still a good midfielder away from competing much. If you play a 3-5-2, you're two guys away and two solid middies cost mucho dinero. Instead, play Smith at your other forward until you can land one that's at least passable scoring and inad passing.
2. Get a solid winger! You can get a youngish solid winger with inad for passing and scoring for between 20K and 30K if you scour the wires long enough. Goins will be a distant memory.
3. You need another wingback (and they don't come cheap. Try to get a passable/passable (def/wing) to replace Call since he's old and, frankly, not that good.
4. Youth. Youth. Youth. Like everyone else, pump that youth squad contribution up to $20K as much as you can afford it. Also get 2 goaltending coaches and 8 assistants to max your training. Then start searching the global transfer market for cheap guys who are 17-19 and inadequite or passable in their primary skills. They're out there- just check my thread, I found 2 tonight.
5. Decide where you want to train. A 4-4-2 trains 8 defenders a week but that may not be the direction you want to go in. If you want to work towards a 3-5-2 or 4-5-1, playmaking trains 6 a week plus 4 wingers to a lesser extent. This, of course, assumes you play one squad for fixtures and another complete squad for friendlies/cup matches. Choose which you want and then go bust your arse on the transfer list looking for trainees for these guys pronto. Don't train anything else unless your team really needs it- playmaking, scoring (which would require you to run a 3-4-3), and defense are what really determines your team's worth, the other stuff is gravy that separates the good from the best.
6. How are your financials? If you are close to your initial $300K, try to only spend about $150K of that and save the rest for stadium renovations once your team gets on a roll. Don't get too far into debt- this seems to be the Waterloo for most teams. If you go into debt, you will have to start selling off good players to pay interest, decreasing youth squad funds (I'm guilty), paring back the coaching staff, and other such nonsense so just don't do it unless you absolutely have to (i.e. maybe $100K to play for part of stadium renovations).
7. Listen to Airhog and ardent. They know what they are talking about and have better advice than I could give (hell, I echoed about half of what they said). Not a bad piece of advice in the whole lot of what they said.

SI