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Zebedee

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Let's see if I can keep this one up for a bit longer than I managed to with 09. It takes so long to process it should do. XD

I'd welcome any posts - but I'd really, really appreciate it if you didn't mention any players I should/could buy. I don't look at the editor to find out CA/PA for a reason ;)

The basic rules I follow are these:

1) No using known match engine exploits.
2) No friendly tournaments to build finances up in pre-season (honestly, BSS teams aren't going to get teams going to them in the real world, and it does make the game a little too easy).
3) Only buy players who I have scouted/have come across in game. So I won't go to Mauritius and buy up a load of players with French passports...
4) Use staff/player feedback and job centre to fill staff positions

The basic game set-up is simple. I set myself up as a Sunday League player who is unemployed. I load up the Welsh, English, French, German, Scottish, Spanish, Dutch and Italian leagues to their maximum detail. I then go on holiday til I get a job (my money is on Aberwystwyth in the Welsh league... just a funny feeling I have from trying this a couple of times already to see if anything changes...)

I'll try to keep this interesting, and I'll try to be detailed on tactics if that's of interest so you can see what I do right and what I do wrong.

Anyways... loading up the game now... wish me luck.
 
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wow, sounds interesting, mate. good luck. yours is a perfect example of fair play indeed ^^)
 
Sounds really interesting, I'll definitely be following.
 
Sounds good. Definetly following, remember lads don't give any player names ;)
 
It was tempting but I restrained myself. :p
 
sure be following, i do this challenge too. and now i'm ended in Bulgarian League. finishing 3rd season with my 2nd team (i got sacked from my 1st team). :)
 
haa good luck mate good to see you back
 
Thanks guys :)

Well as suspected/expected, Simon Williams, Welsh Sunday League footballer (English as secondary nationality) got a wonderful response from the Welsh club of Aberystwyth.

They're in the Welsh League (only the one league in Wales) and there's only the one cup competition all season.

aberystwythtown3.png


Initial thoughts on the squad broadly mirror that of my coaching staff:

aberystwythtown.png


My two central defenders are exceptional for the level in every way - they are both the wrong side of 35, and while great in the air, they are sloooooow. The backroom staff are right about the rest of the squad being a bit on the small side and a bit on the slow side too. High technical ability for the level is good, and the high concentration is interesting. What they totally neglect to mention is that my strikers have finishing ratings of between 1 and 5. This is not good.

I do have a decent wage budget for the level (2.7k per week) and 9k to spend on players if I wish. Personally, I reckon I can get by with free signings, so I changed my budget to bump up wages to 2.9k per week - that's an extra two players on full-time contracts.

They suggest three formations. 4-4-2 is an obvious one. But there's not a hope of me pulling that off successfully with my team - I've not a lot of pace on the flanks and crossing the ball into the box for my midget goal-shy strikers isn't a plan I like the sound of.

The 4-2-2-2 is a box shaped midfield. It would hold possession really well through the centre, so it does sound tempting. Problem is that the coaching staff are adamant that my fullbacks are useless - and their lack of pace means that they aren't going to get forward effectively to provide any kind of width.

So 4-3-2-1. Two attacking midfielders high up the pitch. Two wide midfielders for a bit of width. And with my team, three in midfield is a good plan. Only one up front, but if I can find just one decent striker, then I think this formation can be made to work.

The rest of the first day was just sorting the squad out (if there's any particular screenshots you'd like, please just ask, and I shall provide). Lots of players with contracts due to end at the end of the season, so a case of prioritising those I want to keep and who I can afford to leave without a contract and see how they perform. In the end, I think I offered about 10 new contracts with the rest of the squad either being youth teamers not ready for contracts or players I don't particularly rate.

The youth side has about half a dozen players the coaches reckon will make the grade for the Welsh league. Three of them are almost certain to be played regularly this season, because they are just too good to leave out. Need to make sure I look after them though as a bad injury could be expensive if it ruins any chance of me raising a bit of cash from them.

---------- Post added at 05:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 AM ----------

So onto the first friendly. Away to St.Andrews United. The match was predicted to be a close affair, with us to just shade it. No such luck heh...

standrewsutdvaberystwyt.png


standrewsutdvaberystwyt.png


I fed through what I wanted into the tactics wizard (4-3-2-1, fluid, high roaming) and to be fair to it, it did a decent job.

The first half was a bit tight, as I didn't want to go all out attacking on them and caught on the counter with the two lumps at the back not having any pace. Retained the ball, but nothing really happened - little width and the cause not helped by one of my AMCs getting clobbered quite early (didn't want to substitute him as it didn't look too bad - no injury report after the match, so I guessed right). Second half, I was a little bit more attacking and gradually ramped up the pressure until I was full out attacking. Created a couple of really, really excellent chances. Only to see them totally squandered due to my reserve forward players just not being good enough. I did give away a good chance too - caught on the break a few times. My keeper seems excellent for the level and he did have a good game so I might have got a bit lucky not to concede.

The post-match report summed the game up quite well for a change:


simonwilliams.png
 
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gut luck dude ... as you played in welsh league, i think you could have many options for player than me (on Bulgarian league) ... (6)
 
Yeah, Bulgarian does sound like a tough one to get out of. I remember trying to play a career game and randomly got a South Korean team. Horrid, horrid time trying to get a job after that one :D

Anyways, Mr.Hoddle put in a call and asked would I like to play his academy side, maybe have a look at the players, perhaps even buy one. Bit short notice, players still tired, but why not? Might find a bargain... of course, I didn't actually check his squad before accepting the offer of a friendly did I? Oh no.. £200k strikers? Yes please, can I pay in installments of £10 a month....?

We were predicted to get absolutely stuffed. So considering the fitness levels of the players, and the gulf in ability, I was quite pleased with the performance.

aberystwythvghacademy.png


That said, GH Academy did have the better of the first 10 minutes - they created two good chances then. One from a corner, another from a through ball. The problem was that one of their strikers was going deep - and I don't have a deep-lying midfielder, so my cumbersome DC goes out and the striker can then play the ball into the gap my DC leaves by going out.

Decided I couldn't be bothered to tinker to fix this, so used the shout to 'push up' or whatever the exact wording was. Worked nicely but they caught my left-back napping and got a good ball into the box. Their striker got in front of my DC and I was one down. They dominated the rest of the half, and I concentrated on trying to keep the score respectable, figuring I could try to do something at halftime.

Went for the control approach at half-time to see if I could keep the ball a bit better. Worked a treat and I started to cut them open. Still had problems with finishing, but it's always nice when one of their players hacks someone down in the box. By the end of the match, my team was well on top and the wingers were putting tasty crosses into the box; just need that finisher to put the chances away.

aberystwythvghacademy2.png


They outclassed us totally in the first half, but I do think a draw was a fair result based on our second half performance.

simonwilliams2.png


Got a team's worth of players in on trial now. Mainly fullbacks and central midfielders. I'll see if I can grab three or four of them (I'll probably cancel a few of the N/Cs to free up room on the wage bill) and then I'll focus on getting that striker.
 
nice approach man ... i believe that many of them on GH Academy will suit to your team ... (6)
 
Really enjoying this. A bit different to other stories.
 
After the challenge of the GH Academy, it was back up to Scotland for a match against Newtongrange. Predictions were for a tight match, and it's important to keep the bookies happy...

newtongrangevaberystwyt.png


newtongrangevaberystwyt.png


It was a very tight game, and with so many players on trial in the team, it wasn't surprising that despite marginally shading the match, we didn't create too much. I left it very late on before trying to get the goal, and didn't leave enough time to do that, so I'm not going to complain about the lack of good chances created.

No idea what the post-match report is on about - Newtongrange was favoured to win by the bookies, and a draw with perhaps us shading it by worldsoccer.com...

simonwilliams3.png


Got a couple of fullbacks and some cover for central midfield now from the trials - and a couple of the best performers in the Newtongrange match were triallists too. Really, really need a decent striker - at least someone with some kind of ability to finish, whether in the air or on the ground. Just not a lot out there - AM can't find any for loan, and none are coming up via scouting just yet. But that's the most vital position to fill for me now as I don't think I'm going to get regular goal-scoring AMCs at this level who aren't also rated as FC.
 
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22 attendance o;). Anyway a first win would be nice!!
 
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