Super Sports - Well, they might be eventually!

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****. I am way too indecisive for my liking. After my dismal season with my other Eastbourne story, I decided to come back to this one and see if I can spead it up a bit. Although, the gameplay itself has not speaded up, I find that if I watch the match from the tactics screen it seems to run a lot faster, so I will now continue this story.

Update:

October 2016:

Away (League) Morecombe 1-4 Eastbourne: Zamblera, Bennett, Scharf, Louw
Home (League) Eastbourne 2-0 Sheffield Wed: Barnett, Ward
Away (League) Gillingham 1-3 Eastbourne: Scharf (2), Ward
Home (League) Eastbourne 1-0 Doncaster: Javier
Away (League) Hereford 1-2 Eastbourne: Zamblera, Louw
Home (League) Eastbourne 3-1 Carlisle: Barnett, Ward, Zamblera
Away (League) Swindon 1-2 Eastbourne: Barnett, Zamblera

Having altered the tactics slightly at the start of the month (Using Clough tactics except for: Moving pace to 4 notches right of normal, Counter Attack, Use Target Man and Playmaker), I am delighted with this series of results. We are now 10 games unbeaten and are sat in 1st place in the League. Highest goals scored, 3rd best defense. I think I've finally worked out the right tactic for my team. Lets hope the run continues.

My Player Of The Month is: Moses Barnett, the Club Captain has been immense this month (except for getting sent off in the last match - moron!)
League 1 Manager Of The Month went to yours truly - somewhat overdue methinks!
League 1 Goal Of The Month went to Jamie Ward with a "Lovely individual skill from the striker as he takes on two players before scoring a powerful close range effort"
League 1 Young Player Of The Month went to John McGowan. Deserved after numerous times in 2nd and 3rd places.

The most pleasing aspect of this run of form is that Clayton (my top scorer) has been injured and the other strikers have stepped up to the plate. Not to mention the 7 goals scored by my defenders as well - we top the league in goals from corners with 10. Javier leads the charts with 12 assists in 14(2) appearances, mainly due to him now being my playmaker cos of his creativity of 16. We are dominating possession almost every time we play a match but are still struggling to convert the chances we get leading to some tense finishes. However, I am confident that as time goes on, the team will start converting. Also worth noting that this is still a pretty young team: average age is 23 and only 4 of my first team are over 25. I am really looking forward to the coming months even if the gameplay is excruciatingly slow!
 
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Congrats, nice to hear more on this thread. I think it's better than the new one you started, just for its level of epicness.
 
MavsWorld said:
Congrats, nice to hear more on this thread. I think it's better than the new one you started, just for its level of epicness.
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Thanks. Yeah, is has turned out to be a bit of an epic hasn't it? I'm impressed with myself for going on for so long with it. My boredom normally sets in after 3 seasons but I always played with big teams or editted finances to give my lower league teams mega-money. At least now, I'm not winning things all the time so I am constantly having to think of ways to improve the team which is staving off the boredom factor.

Just to be aware, this thread won't be updated so much for a while. I have just had almost 3 weeks off work and I return tomorrow. Due to the hours I work, I won't get much time to play. I reckon I can maybe a month of game time in a week in real time at most. On the positive side, I won't get bored because I'll be excited whenever I come to play.

Update:

November:

Away (FA Cup 1st Round) Port Vale 1-1 Eastbourne: Clayton. We should easily have won this one. 22 shots, only 7 on target, 60% possession. They had 4 shots, 2 on target. We score in the 1st minute, they score on 90+1: says it all really
Home (League) Eastbourne 2-0 Aldershot: Navarro, Ward
Home (FA Cup replay) Eastbourne 2-1 Port Vales: Hansen, Ward. Yet again 60% possession. 20 shots, 5 on target. They had 4 shots, one on target, scored 1 goal
Away (League) Brighton 1-1 Eastbourne: Javier
Away (League) MK Dons 1-0 Eastbourne. This result absolutely infuriated me. They had 6 shots, 2 on target, 1 goal. We had 19 shots, 2 on target, 0 goals!!!!!
Home (FA Cup 2nd Round) Eastbourne 3-0 Chester: Clayton (2), Javier. This result flattered us as we only had 6 shots on target from 22 against a BSP team

Well, asides, from the dismal goalscoring display against MK Dons, it has been a fairly good month. We are into the FA Cup 3rd Round (an away tie to Burnley) and are 2nd in the League.

My Player Of The Month has to be Hansen, my right back. He has scored 1 goal and his match ratings have all been over 7.

All in all I am fairly happy with how the team are playing at the moment. They are dominating almost every match they play, creating lots of chances, but, worryingly, not turning them into shots on target. They are going to have to start doing it soon or I feel we will struggle in the second half of the season. I am not going to change the tactics cos they are working pretty well. Thats it for now.
 
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Rollsie said:
hope you can make it back to the Championship mate :)
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Thanks. Me too. Currently we are on course to do that so..... Also, I feel I am better prepared for the Championship this time and have a stronger squad (providing I can keep hold of my best players of course - I have a lot of bigger clubs sniffing around them and they have been for some time. Luckily, Clayton and McGowan signed contracts with £5Million release clauses: relegation, non-promotion, minimum fee so if they do go, It will be for some serious cash)
 
I know you can make it to the championship and stay there this time!
 
Time for another update:

December:

Home (League) Eastbourne 5-3 Rochdale: Scharf, Sheppard, Ward, Williams (2). I have mixed emotions about this one. I am delighted with the attacking display: 16 shots, 11 on target, 5 goals. What disappointed me was they had 3 shots on target and scored 3 goals
Home (League) Eastbourne 1-1 Blackpool: Norwood. Another inept display from my strikers with 16 shots, 2 on target and not a single clear cut chance.
Away (League) Kettering 0-1 Eastbourne: Barnett
Home (League) Eastbourne 1-0 Accrington: Clayton
Away (League) Hartlepool 3-3 Eastbourne: Zamblera, Scharf, Clayton. A thriller which left me p****d off as they equalised with the last kick of the match from a 35 yard shot. Really not happy at all.

My Player Of The Month was: Scharf who got 2 goals in three appearances. Was injured for 2 of the games but played very well when he did play. He's my best player this season so far.

Again, the lack of a cutting edge in front of goal is worrying me. Recently, we are dropping points as we are conceding too many goals. I am persevering in the hopes that the players will turn it around. Presently we are 2nd in the League and therefore in an automatic promotion spot and 5 points above the leading play-off place. This is likely to change, though, if the players don't start being more clinical in front of goal. I know they have the ability to do it but just don't for some reason. maybe it is my tactics but I wouldn't have a clue how to rectify it.

I will now put up a few screenshots for you plus my tactics in case anyone can see something I can change to increase my goals without sacrificing my generally good defense:

My top scorer and target man, and generally plays well:

View attachment 4786

My Right Back, Hansen, who is turning into a good player:

View attachment 4787

Javier, my playmaker, is improving all the time and is the linchpin for the side:

View attachment 4788

Scharf, despite, his stats, is my best central defender and also gets the odd goals as well:

View attachment 4789

I play a standard 4-4-2 formation:

View attachment 4790

These are my team instructions, adapted from the Brian Clough model:

View attachment 4791

Individual instructions:

Clayton as a target man
Javier as playmaker and has creative freedom set to 5 notches above team's setting
Both centre halves with tight marking
Goalkeeper set to "defender collect"
Both centre halves and striker with best heading set to Mark/Challenge Keeper on set pieces.

If anyone can give me advice on improving my goalscoring, please do so. I would be eternally thankful cos this has been such a promising season, I don't want it to fizzle out.

League Table:

View attachment 4792

League Progress:

View attachment 4793
 
I understand iy's not the creation the problem, I mean, the ball gets to your players doesn't it? So it's purely a striker problem, maybe try the TTF way, with one slighlty behind the other, switching them, give them creatibe freedom. I've been amazed, I assumed that with players of this level giving creative freedom would result in a disaster and was all the opposite, my strikers were deadly before and they're even more now (I'm in l2 at the mo). Maybe train them to place thir balls?
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try next time I play. You're right, there's no problem with supply, and possession isn't a problem either as I get anywhere from 51% to almost 70% against almost every team.
 
(being a ***** and the devil's advocate here:) yeah, but don't foregt to check where you get the possession, soemtimes it's like 40per cent in the midfield, but I assume you've taken that into consideration, honestly a little bit of creative freedom never hurted anybody, certainly not me, try to make your wings a lil bit more attacking, you'll bang a few that way too.

edit: don't listen to me, you've been there for much more time than I-
 
Update:

January:

Home (League) Eastbourne 2-3 Bristol City: Javier, Crawford. We should easily have won this game but, again, finishing lets us down.
Away (League) Scunthorpe 1-1 Eastbourne: Zamblera. Blah, blah, blah....finishing...shoulda won etc
Away (League) Bradford 0-4 Eastbourne: Norwood, Louw, Hutton, Clayton. Completely unexpected as we don't normally do well against Bradford. Finishing was clinical. Wahoo!
Home (League) Eastbourne 2-0 Southampton: Clayton, Javier. Another team we normally struggle against, was, unsurprisingly, delighted with this result.
Away (League) Cambridge 2-2 Eastbourne: Clayton (2). Evenly matched contest, disappointed not to win
Home (League) Eastbourne 3-0 Morecombe: Clayton, Ward (2)

Well, not a good start to the month but the lads have turned it around and got some fantastic results.

My Player Of The Month is: John Clayton with 4 goals and some very good performances.

The downside is that Javier is currently injured. Having said that, he was injured in the Southampton game and will be back in a week, so we haven't missed him too much. Currently 2nd in the League, so in an automatic promotion place. However, only 2 points above the 3rd placed team so we have to keep on winning.

Didn't manage to bring in any players in the transfer window. I tried for a few loans but they didn't want to join the club. Also tried to sign Michael Tonge on a free to add some more creativity but, inexplicably, he decided to join Bohemians on £1k a week less (and you wonder why I haven't done better in this game? This is why - players prefer to join lesser known teams for less money rather than join my team!)
 
Players do make some weird choices. I've offerred double before and been turned down.
 
A player called simplice Zola rejected me all year, he still doesn't have a club, he'd rather stay on the dole than play for Basingstoke in League 1 lol
 
Update:

February:

Away (League) Colchester 0-3 Eastbourne: Clayton, Zamblera, Small
Home (League) Eastbourne 4-1 Plymouth: Ward (2), Hutton, Spence
Away (League) Sheff Wed 1-1 Eastbourne: Clayton
Home (League) Eastbourne 0-0 Gillingham
Away (League) Doncaster 2-2 Eastbourne: Madden (OG), Crawford

Well, the month started well but fizzled out with the three draws. On the positive side we were unbeaten this month and are unbeaten in 10 matches since losing to Bristol City at the beginning of January.

My Player Of The Month was: Darius Hansen, my ever dependable and improving Right Back who was also runner up in the League 1 Young Player Of The Month.

Overall I am happy with the team. Although we have had a few games which we should have won, we have not lost them and these odd points could be vital. It keeps the points tally ticking over and, luckily, the teams around me haven't capitalised on my team's sticky patch. We remain in 2nd place in the League and are slowly catching the leaders Bristol City who are on a poor run of form at the moment. Javier has now returned to the team although he hasn't started performing again yet. My back up to Javier has been playing well and I have some hard decisions to make.

March:

Home (League) Eastbourne 2-0 Hereford: Ward, Spence. Finally, we have ended our winless run. Woohoo!!!:D
Away (League) Carlisle 0-1 Eastbourne: Clayton. Javier is injured again so my decision about whether to play him has been solved.
Home (League) Eastbourne 2-0 Swindon: Navarro, Clayton
Away (League) Aldershot 1-1 Eastbourne: Clayton
Home (League) Eastbourne 3-0 MK Dons: Clayton, Navarro, Zamblera

Another good run of results keeps up the unbeaten run which now stands at 15 games. This is almost a new record for the club - currently tied with an unbeaten run we had way back in the first season - one more win or draw and we have a new club record. The players are grinding out results and keeping the pressure on the other teams.

My Player Of The Month is: John Clayton with 4 goals this month. His stats for the season are currently: Played 39(2) Scored 25 Assists 9 MOM 8 Ave Rating 7.12

I managed to get runner up in the League 1 Manager Of The Month award. The other exciting news is that I have managed to secure Kris Boyd from Rangers on a pre-contract. He is 33 now but was still performing to a high level for Rangers until last season (this season he has hardly played so didn't perform well). I feel that he will be a very good addition to the team and his experience will help us in the Championship (provided we don't fall apart and not get promoted):

View attachment 4893

View attachment 4894

We are still in 2nd place in the League, so fingers crossed we will get automatic promotion. Now we enter the final stage of the season. Wish me luck. :D
 
Thanks. I'm midway through April now and still in 2nd, so hopefully we will go up
 
Any tips for surviving my first season in League 2? ;) not sure if i need to overhaul my tactics or just get a few more better players in at the moment. Four games into the new season and ive won 1 drawn 2 and lost 1, also got beaten 3-1 in the league cup though that was by a league 1 side.
 
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