Best ... game ... ever !!

Still managing Hamburg. Only in my 5th season. I've been playing the same game since December. Only have time for maybe 2 or 3 matches a night.

Anyhoo, it's April 2012 and my youngsters are beginning to mature into a class team. I overcame Roma in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League (0-0 at home, 2-0 away) and am drawn against ManUtd in the quarter final.

Using a modified 4-2-3-1 by Croat, I go to Old Trafford and win 4-1 (!!!!!) with my only striker, Kiessling, scoring a hat-trick.

So far so good.

But in the return leg in Hamburg, ManU start the game with a 4-2-4 (first time I've seen the AI do that) and score within 2 minutes...

I somehow manage to survive the early onslaught and go 2-1 up by half time.

Hmm...

Manchester need to score 4 without reply to win the tie, so the only way they can do that is if my team fall asleep.

I know! I'll tell them not to let their performance drop...

And then the mayhem started.

Manchester score 3 goals within 8 minutes of kickoff to lead the match 4-2. One more and they'll lead the tie on away goals. They're now attacking in wave after wave, my team have gone to pieces, and I'm finding myself shouting at the computer, frantically making tactical adjustments to stem the tide.

Of course there were 4 minutes of injury time.

Of course it turned into 5 1/2 minutes...

Somehow I hung on and went through to the next round against Real Madrid.

I'm not sure if I've ever been so stressed by a single game.

Looking into the Assistant Advice screen on my team talk, the goalie (Sergio Arias, Mexico) was "Confused, Angered, Lost confidence" by my team talk...

Sheesh! Talk about picking the wrong option at half time!

On another note, ManUtd are managed by Steve Coppell. He sold Wayne Rooney to Roma.

Still managing Hamburg. Only in my 5th season. I've been playing the same game since December. Only have time for maybe 2 or 3 matches a night.

Anyhoo, it's April 2012 and my youngsters are beginning to mature into a class team. I overcame Roma in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League (0-0 at home, 2-0 away) and am drawn against ManUtd in the quarter final.

Using a modified 4-2-3-1 by Croat, I go to Old Trafford and win 4-1 (!!!!!) with my only striker, Kiessling, scoring a hat-trick.

So far so good.

But in the return leg in Hamburg, ManU start the game with a 4-2-4 (first time I've seen the AI do that) and score within 2 minutes...

I somehow manage to survive the early onslaught and go 2-1 up by half time.

Hmm...

Manchester need to score 4 without reply to win the tie, so the only way they can do that is if my team fall asleep.

I know! I'll tell them not to let their performance drop...

And then the mayhem started.

Manchester score 3 goals within 8 minutes of kickoff to lead the match 4-2. One more and they'll lead the tie on away goals. They're now attacking in wave after wave, my team have gone to pieces, and I'm finding myself shouting at the computer, frantically making tactical adjustments to stem the tide.

Of course there were 4 minutes of injury time.

Of course it turned into 5 1/2 minutes...

Somehow I hung on and went through to the next round against Real Madrid.

I'm not sure if I've ever been so stressed by a single game.

Looking into the Assistant Advice screen on my team talk, the goalie (Sergio Arias, Mexico) was "Confused, Angered, Lost confidence" by my team talk...

Sheesh! Talk about picking the wrong option at half time!

On another note, ManUtd are managed by Steve Coppell. He sold Wayne Rooney to Roma.

im gonna tell you to put this in stories before the evil nasty posters slag you off and such like!

BEAUTIFUL!

Sounds good could you possibly post up your good youngsters i interested in buying them for my Arsenal team.

What is it with manyoo and coppell!?

It seems they appoint him almost every time!

superb story!

makes a decent change from "oh this is too hard" and "this bug, that bug"

infact its made me want to start a game with hamburg..........

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jacarsenal:

Sounds good could you possibly post up your good youngsters i interested in buying them for my Arsenal team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not in this forum I hope. Good players guide for good player naming

Hi,

my squad is normally

GK - Manuel Neuer, 26 (bought from Schalke, but I played Sergio Arias, 24, bought from Chivas, in that game)

Jerome Boateng, 23 - David, 24 (bought from Sao Paulo, he starts at Palmeiras) - <newgen, 21> - Joris Mathijsen, 32

Andreas Ottl, 27 (signed from Bayern) - Nigel de Jong, 27

Arouca, 25 (bought from Fluminense) - Toni Kroos, 22 (bought from Bayern) - Renato Augusto, 24 (bought from Flamengo)

ST - Stefan Kiessling, 28 (bought from Leverkusen)

Four other younger players are Guilherme, 23, bought from Cruzeiro, Lulinha, 22, bought from Corinthians, Guillaume Borne, 24, signed from Stade Rennais, and Macauley Chrisantus, 21, signed on a free

I have a bit of a bias for Brazilian attacking midfielders...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by route1:

What is it with manyoo and coppell!?

It seems they appoint him almost every time! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

In my save game coppell is the manager of the might Rovers (Blackburn, of course)

Don't you just love soccer?

Nice work. Nice read, nice story...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by alexander he,s daguydamac:

im gonna tell you to put this in stories before the evil nasty posters slag you off and such like! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Err.. I'm not sure I'd agree with that distinction. Not to slag you off and such like!

This was perfect for what it was - and I think DCIS had it in the right forum.

If he were going to post it in FM Stories, it would have belonged in the "FMS Anecdotes thread", which had fallen to the second page and become locked due to disuse. I'll ask an FMS mod to unlock it, in case anybody does want it.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DontCallItSoccer:

I know! I'll tell them not to let their performance drop...

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"><snip></pre>

Looking into the Assistant Advice screen on my team talk, the goalie (Sergio Arias, Mexico) was "Confused, Angered, Lost confidence" by my team talk...

Sheesh! Talk about picking the wrong option at half time! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is one of the things that I dislike most about the team talk system.

Sometimes it just feels like a minefield - and all you can pray is that you don't step on one of the mines.

In this case, what's wrong - in concept - with the manager coming out and saying something like:

"Right, lads, don't let your performance drop."

or

"Just another 45 minutes - don't let your performance drop now!"

in this situation?

I just can't see a player becoming that upset - Angered, Confused, and Lost Confidence? - by the instruction "Don't let your performance drop."

It seems like an unemotional, unconfusing statement which wouldn't play into my confidence if I heard it given to me.

I don't mind a team-talk system in which some of the team talk options are high-risk, high-reward items: raging at my players, for example, is an obvious one.

But "Don't let your performance drop?"

Seems pretty straightforward to me.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Uncle_Sam:

Don't you just love soccer? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, I surely do. I love soccer. That's why I love to play Worldwide Soccer Manager.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Amaroq:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DontCallItSoccer:

I know! I'll tell them not to let their performance drop...

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"><snip></pre>

Looking into the Assistant Advice screen on my team talk, the goalie (Sergio Arias, Mexico) was "Confused, Angered, Lost confidence" by my team talk...

Sheesh! Talk about picking the wrong option at half time! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is one of the things that I dislike most about the team talk system.

Sometimes it just feels like a minefield - and all you can pray is that you don't step on one of the mines.

In this case, what's wrong - in concept - with the manager coming out and saying something like:

"Right, lads, don't let your performance drop."

or

"Just another 45 minutes - don't let your performance drop now!"

in this situation?

I just can't see a player becoming that upset - Angered, Confused, and Lost Confidence? - by the instruction "Don't let your performance drop."

It seems like an unemotional, unconfusing statement which wouldn't play into my confidence if I heard it given to me.

I don't mind a team-talk system in which some of the team talk options are high-risk, high-reward items: raging at my players, for example, is an obvious one.

But "Don't let your performance drop?"

Seems pretty straightforward to me. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought so, too, at first. But my understanding is that it is interpreted in the game as something like "If I don't remind you idiots, you'll go out there with your thumbs up your a$$es and blow this lead, so don't do that!" And, if you put it that way, it seems pretty understandable that players would not typically like it.

I rarely use "don't let your performance drop". In fact, I usually only use it when I've had a string of matches where leads have been blown.

Right. And that's my problem with it.

"I thought so too, but that's not what the game means by it."

That's not good game design - that's a way to frustrate your users.

I want the ambiguity in my gaming experience to come from not knowing what the right thing to do to straighten my team out is ... not from having my inputs not have the impact that they say they do on the tin.

I've been working on Team-Talks: Time for a revamp? for a while, and just posted it today. If you want to chat team-talks, lets do it there, and let DCIS have his thread back.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">and let DCIS have his thread back. Big Grin </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Amaroq :blush:

I have read Wolfsong's guide to team talks, so generally I don't mess it up, but in this particular case, it being a 2-leg tie, I'm wondering if the strong reaction was actually to the aggregate score (6-2 at half time of the 2nd leg), rather than the more slender 2-1 of the match itself.

The reason I say that is that in the semi-final against Real Madrid I was 1-0 up from the away leg (pats himself on back... ) and leading 1-0 at home in the second leg.

Normally I would say "Encourage" when leading by a single goal, but that option wasn't available, which makes me wonder if the half time team talk option were again based on the aggregate score (2-0).

I didn't use "Don't let your performance drop", by the way

Meeting Arsenal in the final...

Oh, and I read your Team-Talks: Time for a revamp? post. I couldn't agree more!!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Uncle_Sam:

Don't you just love soccer? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes. I do love football.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DontCallItSoccer:

I have read Wolfsong's guide to team talks, so generally I don't mess it up, but in this particular case, it being a 2-leg tie, I'm wondering if the strong reaction was actually to the aggregate score (6-2 at half time of the 2nd leg), rather than the more slender 2-1 of the match itself. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That does seem like a reasonable question conclusion from your experience(s).

Its another spot where its very tough to tell - that minefield problem again! - because, hypothetically, if I won the first leg 4-0 and am losing the second led 0-2 .. I might reasonably want to shake the lads up for being too complacent and/or criticise their performance to date. If they're thinking "My god, we're 4-2 up at half-time, what more does he want", that's a real problem...

I might raise it in the bugs forum.

Raised it here.

Not sure if it will be answered/addressed, but worth a shot.