SebJan Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 This is an AI experiment/story hybrid I've been trying out for a while; thought it might make interesting reading... I've made some significant changes to the 2012 game's database and created an entirely new series of competitions in a dormant country. I've decided to do this venture as a fictional narrative but I will include some commentary notes from time to time to help amplify or illuminate something which may be unclear or needs additional explanation which might be problematic within the narrative... I'm intending to get an introduction up, followed by reviews of the seasons that have already been completed (six in total) in due course. Each season review will cover competitions, transfers, club performance and other talking points that have emerged... So here we go... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 In early 2010, FIFA's highly controversial elite club plan was ratified and voted-in by Europe's major clubs, signalling the end of more than a century of footballing heritage and orthodoxy and laying the foundations of a radical new phase in the sport's evolution. Representatives of FIFA proudly announced to the assembled world's media that for the start of the 2011/12 domestic season, a new stable of competitions would be formed, in which a collection of the globe's most prestigious, influential and powerful clubs would play. As a result, they declared, these clubs would be leaving their current nations' competitions, to be replaced in a way deemed appropriate by the respective Football Association's of those nations. Audible gasps were heard in the press room; the internet exploded with disbelief, anticipation and contempt in equal measure. To be notionally housed within New Zealand, taking advantage of soon-to-be established changes to employment law, FIFA's “One World Soccer” federation would revolutionise the sport and provide a global audience reach unprecedented in the history of sport. FIFA promised the best players, coaches, stadiums, facilities and entertainment on a weekly basis. Outraged at the selection process and incensed at the imminent damage that this new oligarchy would instil in what remained of domestic European leagues - stripped of their biggest clubs and audience-drawing stars - a group of representatives lobbied FIFA desperately to instead expand the pre-existing Champions League and leave the structure of football in tact as it had been since the 19th Century. Unmoved and undeterred, FIFA, and the cartel of elite clubs who had themselves lobbied for this breakaway move, rejected these pleas and pressed ahead with their radical plans. After an arduous period of claim, appeal and counter-claim before the Court of Arbitration for Sport,FIFA were eventually chastened into making some concession to their lofty plans. In what would transpire as one of most significant acts of this process, a new tournament was added to the roster of the “One World Soccer” federation. It was a competition that would maintain the lines of communication between the new elite and their former brethren and become one of the most enthralling and unpredictable tournaments to have ever been devised. As an additional concession, it was agreed that all clubs would honour their existing European competition commitments in 2011/12 so as to phase these competitions more smoothly into life without without their vital organs. The question was how could they survive? By September 2010, with autumnal leaves reddening and the nights drawing in, the final season of the old football world kicked into life and FIFA announced the final structure of the new federation: The FIFA World Championship would be the flagship of the new era – the holy grail and ultimate prize in football and sport where a base £42 million a year would be earned by each club in basic media rights alone (winners could expect to make upward of £70 million in television revenues and prize money, ignoring gate receipts, cup revenues, sponsors and other commercial activities). Comprised of 40 teams drawn into 4 groups, the top 2 teams from each group – after playing each rival in the group twice – would qualify for the champions playoff. Here, the top 8 teams from the season would play every team once (home and away fixtures being drawn randomly) in an intense series played across a four week period in April/May. The team finishing top of this playoff would be crowned as the champions of the world. At the other end of the spectrum, the bottom 4 teams from each of the 4 league groups would be jettisoned into a relegation playoff. Here, the 16 worst-performing sides would have to play each other once (again, home and away ties being randomly drawn) with the bottom 3 teams at the end of this mini-league suffering the indignity of relegation. But relegation to where exactly? After careful consideration, FIFA had declined an original notion to enable a complex qualification system from across leagues in Europe that would feed into promotion to the new World Championship, but they bowed reluctantly to pressure from a group of influential clubs to create a qualification league for the World Championship (FIFA having originally intended to have no relegation for the original 40 elite clubs). What emerged as a result of longevous negotiation and planning was the FIFA Challenge League – an 8-team league which would have 3 promotion places feeding into the World Championship. Teams in this division would play one-another 4 times throughout the course of the season with the top 3 performers automatically being promoted. As a result of its heated and contentious discussions with the Football Associations of the major European leagues, an accompanying cup competition was devised as form of appeasement. Although bitterly opposed to this initially, a FIFA spokesman in 2015 commented that the inception of this tournament would be seen as a sporting, diplomatic and commercial “master-stroke” in years to come, such has been its success. The Copa Al Sur Du Mondo (or Copa Sur) was born: a colossal 128-team cup competition which spans the entire football season and dominates entire months in its early stages. Initially, 16 groups of 8 teams are drawn from across European league competitions – these teams supplementing the 40 teams drawn from the World Championship. Included in this are all teams from the English Premier League, La Liga of Spain, the German Bundesliga. France's Ligue 1 and Serie A of Italy. Teams in these groups play each other twice (a total of 14 matches) with the top 4 teams qualifying for an unseeded draw to the first knock-out round. Hereafter, the cup proceeds as a succession of two-legged ties up until a one-legged show-piece final held at Wembley Stadium . It was through this tournament that a much-needed financial lifeline was provided for the remaining European clubs, with significant incentives available for match-victories and qualification for later rounds (in addition to bountiful financial rewards along the way, the winner of the final receives £10 million. Overall, a winning club can win a maximum of just over £20 million in prize money). Tying the World Championship to the Copa Sur was the Series Mondial, a club award that pitted the winners of the World Championship against the Copa Sur, comparing their all-time* match record versus one-another and awarding the prize to the leader of the two; a 'best-of-the-best' accolade carrying less significance than the major two competitions but one still offering ranking points and bragging rights for the victor. *Since the beginning of the World Championship In reluctantly establishing the Challenge League as a feeder competition to the World Championship, FIFA had subsequently refused to admit Challenge League teams to enter the Copa Sur, suggesting that qualification for this should be earned through promotion to the top division. As an alternative – and in further contrition to the F.A's of ostracised European nations, the L'Association Trophee was inaugurated. This competition was intended as a Copa Sur 'lite' – following the same type of ethos and structure on a smaller scale. Here, 36 teams (8 groups of 4 teams with the top two from each group qualifying for the first knock-out phase) were drawn from the Challenge League as well as the top 8 teams from the Scottish Premier League, the top 6 teams from the Portuguese top division and the top 5 teams from the Belgian Pro League and the Dutch Eredivisie respectively. As a new method of creating a tally of successes in these competitions, FIFA established the 'FIFA Club Hall of Fame'. Simply, this is a points-scoring system for recording the attainment of clubs throughout a season – adding these to previous points won and creating an 'all time' leader-board for clubs and managers. (Some critics argued that this system was devised as a means of potentially underperformed 'big' clubs being able to collect points for less-than stellar campaigns, although the relative weightings of points has demonstrated over the years that there is no substitute for collecting silverware). The points system works as follows: World Championship win = 20 Copa Sur win = 18 Copa Sur R/U = 14 World Championship R/U = 14 World Championship 3rd = 10 World Championship 4th = 8 World Championship 5th = 6 World Championship 6th = 5 World Championship 7th = 4 World Championship 8th = 2 Series Mondial win = 5 Series Mondial R/U = 2 Challenge League win = 3 Challenge League R/U = 1 Challenge League 3rd = 1 L'Association win = 2 L'Association R/U = 1 Finally, the teams taking part. Subject of speculation, indignation and endless analysis, claim and counter-claim (even to this day), the methodology of FIFA's club selection (or 'Invitation' as they preferred to term it) has been shrouded in secrecy, with sporadic cry of foul play and skulduggery emanating from a raft of agents, former players, club administrators and owners throughout the past six years. Whilst much of the roster could be easily predicted, there remain some questions about others chosen, but these have been questions skilfully prodded into impotence by FIFA officials who have cited “global opportunities”, “the World Game” and “Enabling the Growth of the Sport” with relentless consistency and assuredness. Whatever the truth of the matter, the following is a list of clubs who began the 2011/12 season in hitherto experienced surrounds: World Championship: (In no order other than their initial league groupings) FC Bayern (Germany) Man Utd (England) Arsenal (England) Ajax (Holland) Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) Lyon (France) PSG (France) Zenit (Russia) New York Red Bulls (USA) Al-Ain (UAE) Liverpool (England) Chelsea (England) Tottenham (England) Inter (Italy) Porto (Portugal) Aston Villa (England) Valencia (Spain) Boca (Argentina) Celtic (Scotland) Sydney FC (Australia) Man City (England) Real Madrid (Spain) Newcastle (England) Marseille (France) Juventus (Italy) Corinthians (Brazil) Leverkusen (Germany) Santos (Brazil) Anderlecht (Belgium) Okayama FC (Japan) Barcelona (Spain) AC Milan (Italy) Atl. Madrid (Spain) Dortmund (Germany) PSV (Holland) Sevilla (Spain) Roma (Italy) Benfica (Portugal) Monaco (Monte Carlo) Shenhua (China) Challenge League: Asante Kotoko (Ghana) IFK (Sweden) Colo Colo (Chile) America (Mexico) Los Angeles (USA) Sporting (Portugal) Galatasaray (Turkey) River (Argentina) So the scene was set. The competitions drawn up. The teams enlisted. But a galaxy of tantalising questions waited impatiently to be answered: How would clubs fare with this new format? Would supports follow their clubs with the same vigour they had in the past? Would the old guard dominate anew or was a fresh world order to emerge? What would become of the 'old' world of football? What would the Champions Cup look like without it's old custodians? Would European football become a serf to the World Championship's master? Who would rise? Who would fall? When giant confronted giant face-to-face, who would reign victorious? Since Association Football sprung to life in its current form more than one hundred years ago, the behemoths of the game have remained mysterious foes to each-other, gazing through the heavy fog of European competition – only catching the briefest glimpses of their foe's sharp teeth, retreating after a short bloody skirmish; back to their own islands, back to their local rivalries and timeless blood feuds... But no longer. The unknowns were about to become the well-know. The stranger would become the uninvited guest. The fog has cleared. The hunt is afoot. In 2011, the Goliaths of the sport were cast into the pit to do battle. Now there were no avenues of escape. No respite, no more daring flashes of sword or meek utterance of threat... New Rivalries would be born. New contenders would arm themselves. The strong, the brave and the powerful were about the clash. A storm was brewing... The age of football's Hegemony had begun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark wilson27 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Welcome to FMS SebJan, this looks like a very interesting concept and Im looking forward to seeing how this pans out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Cool, cheers. Here's a bit of info on the two league competitions and their rules: World Championship: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WorldChampRulesscreen_zps9f02d4dc.jpg Challenge League: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/ChallengeLeagueRulesscreen_zpsc7ba029f.jpg Season One review will be coming up shortly... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenthreeleader Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 You've done quite a bit of work and put a lot of thought into this. Looking forward to seeing it in application! Now I need to remind you about the house rules and pictures. You can link to them but not post them. Once that gets fixed you're good to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Sorted the pics; sorry about that... Thanks, I initially set it up just to play but I thought it might make an interesting story and an examination of how the AI in the game responds to some quite drastic changes... What would the owners of these clubs do when their teams didn't all win the league straight away being just one of many... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenthreeleader Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I think it's going to be a lot of fun to follow. Now I'll get out of your way and let you get to work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Season Summary - 2011/12: Welcome to the official review of the 2011/12 FIFA One World Soccer season. As the curtain rose on the new competition, football fans stretching across the world eagerly awaited the thrills and spills that were on offer… Summer Transfer Window Roundup With a unilateral transfer embargo imposed on all clubs for Summer 2011, there was little activity to speak of. Boca signed experienced midfielder Boudewijn Zenden who was a free agent, whilst Portuguese International Maniche made a move to the USA and New York, he also being out of contract. With no transfers, clubs would be left to utilise their existing squads until the summer of 2012 when the first transfer window would open. World Championship The first season of the World Championship provided relatively few shocks during the group phase as the big names competed for the top places at the table. In group A, Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munchen - led by Mario Gomez’s 12 goals - raced away to win the group comfortably, finishing 9 points ahead of Louis Van Gaal’s Man Utd who claimed the runner-up spot and a place in the champions playoff. With Nemanja Vidic departed for Inter, Phil Jones was impressive at the heart of Man Utd’s defence, garnering an average rating of 7.32. PSG's star squad was left embarrassed, finishing in 7th place and gaining the dubious distinction of an early trip into the relegation playoff as a result. Perhaps predictably, New York and Al-Ain were cut adrift at the bottom, amassing a combined total of only 9 points and 30 goals between them. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCgpA201112_zpsdd787c73.jpg There was a similar story in group B where a Luis Suarez-led Liverpool (17 goals and 5 assists) cruised to 1st place, ten points ahead of runners-up Chelsea, who pipped an impressive Tottenham by 2 points to outdo their London rivals. Inter Milan were the big losers in this group, only managing 4th place. Group B was a much tighter affair at the bottom with Valencia, Boca, Celtic and Sydney FC qualifying for the relegation playoff. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCgpB201112_zpse8045b78.jpg Manuel Pellegrini's Man City won group C, with Real Madrid coming in as runners-up ahead of an impressive Newcastle United who finished 6 points behind the Spanish outfit. Newcastle were buoyed by Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba who contributed 20 of their 33 goals. Continuing an early theme of the season, Juventus were less than impressive, only managing a 5th place finish, joining fellow Italian's Inter Milan in mediocrity. Okayama were hugely outclassed at the foot of the table, collecting only 3 points – a 3-2 win over Leverkusen in November. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCgpC201112_zps4d1b173f.jpg Group D was close at the summit, with Barcelona winning with 41 points – the lowest of any group winner this season. AC Milan squeezed ahead of Atl. Madrid on goal difference to clinch the runner-up spot, striker Pato leading the way for the Italians with a 12-goal haul. At the bottom, big spenders Monaco were utterly humiliated, finishing 9th - only minnows Shenhua sitting below them, themselves collecting a paltry single point throughout the campaign. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCgpD201112_zps82135051.jpg Given the quality of some of the clubs competing in the inaugural event (and with no transfer window available beforehand to strengthen squads), the relegation playoff was a largely predicable affair. At the end of a relentless 15 match run-in, Okayama, Sydney and Shenhua waved goodbye to the World Championship; how long would it be before they returned? Despite being out-of-their depth, New York and Al-Ain survived by virtue of being not as bad as their non-European rivals and survived for a further season, keenly aware that they would need serious reinforcements. Fortunately, they both had the money to do so. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCrelplayoff201112_zps335ce7d7.jpg And so to the champions playoff: the design of this phase of the season (a single game versus other teams), its nature (being played in a compressed time-frame) and the presence of 5 of the 8 finalists still being involved in their final European Champions' League campaign (Man Utd, Man City, Barcelona, Bayern and AC Milan were all in the quarter finals when the playoffs began) meant that this was set to be a turbulent run-in. AC Milan evidently suffered the most with this hectic schedule, finishing bottom of the mini-league without a single point. In the end, Luis Enrique's Barcelona were mercurial in their acquisition of the first World Championship, winning 5 of their 7 playoff games and scoring 17 goals in the process. Considering they were facing the best of the best, this was some feat. Louis Van Gaal delighted Man Utd supporters by delivering a runner-up spot from a squad who in the eyes of some critics, were in need of a serious overhaul. Likewise, Brendan Rogers' feat of landing his young Liverpool squad in in 5th place was a remarkable success, whilst Jose Mourinho will perhaps have been left smarting by rounding out the season as 6th place finishers. It definitely was a case of 'must do better' for Pep Guardiola and Bayern though, as the German side finished the playoffs with only 5 points and a 7th place finish. Not enough for this golden generation of players. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/WCChampPlayoff201112_zps0ba0ceaa.jpg Season Stats: World Player of the Year Lionel Messi Golden Boot Lukas Podolski - 21 (Arsenal) Highest Average Rating Juan Mata - 7.89 (Man Utd) Most Assists Xavi - 15 (Barcelona) Copa Sur The marathon cup kicked into life for the first time with the group phase which ran through the Autumn; rounding off at the end of January. Amongst the early casualties when the dust settled were Dynamo Kyiv, Zenit (enduring an appalling first season after being dragged into the WC relegation playoff as well), Valencia, Porto, Roma, Ajax, Monaco (suffering further embarrassment), PSG and Benfica – all of whom had their interest terminated at the first hurdle. In the 2nd round, Juventus were dumped out by German side Kaiserslautern, whilst AC Milan were eliminated by Italian side Chievo. Bayern eliminated Man City 4-2 on aggregate in the blockbuster tie of the round, whilst Tottenham were another team bitterly disappointed by being exited by Blackburn Rovers 4-1 on aggregate. Round 3 was where the pressures of handling the dual workload of European 'legacy' games began to take its toll and the shocks came thick and fast. To begin, Chelsea were knocked out on penalties by Marseille after a 2-2 aggregate score. Perhaps not a huge shock but not what Mourinho and Chelsea chief Abramovich would have anticipated. The footballing world was stunned as Barcelona went out 7-1 on aggregate to German outfit Koln, a humbling which included a 3-0 reverse at a packed Camp Nou for a much-changed and fatigued Barca side. Further drama was to follow as Man Utd packed their bags – beaten on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate tie with Italians Genoa. Liverpool then joined their North-West rivals; beaten comfortably 4-0 by Chievo who claimed their 2nd major scalp of the tournament. In the big match-up of the round, Real Madrid ended Bayern's run with a 4-1 win overall. It had been a cruel series of draws for the Germans that left boss Guardiola simmering with discontent. With major names stumbling – 5 WC sides exiting in total - the cup was draw was opening up. Could a team from Europe shatter the illusion of the new footballing oligarchy by stealing the Copa Sur in its first year? In round 4, Stade Rennais led the charge of the French teams, taking advantage of a continued kind draw; this time despatching Italy's Atalanta 4-1 on aggregate after eliminating Spanish minnows Grenada in round 3. PSV progressed, beating Lazio easily, whilst Arsenal continued their steady progress by eliminating Genoa 2-1 and perhaps compensating for missing out on the World Championship playoffs later in the season with a long cup run. Both Real and Athletico Madrid progressed comfortably, but as the quarter finals loomed, there was a distinct absence of the big names. 50% of the teams who made it to the last 8 would be from outside the World Championship, and in PSV there was a side who, with respect to them, may not have been anticipated to be making waves so late in the tournament. So it was onto the final rounds and the quarter finals where Atl. Madrid extended their run at the expense of Arsenal. A 1-0 win for Arsenal in Spain left the tie poised, but in the return Atleti put 3 past the hosts with only 1 in reply. Atl. Marched on and Arsenal's season began its slide into obscurity. Stade Rennais faced a much sterner test in World Championship side PSV than they had all tournament but confounded the odds as they edged the tie 4-3 on aggregate. Another WC team fell then and an upset was beginning to look a possibility. Koln, the conquerors of Barcelona and Marseille, had their dreams ended by a ruthless Real Madrid who overturned a bizarre 2-0 defeat at the Bernabeu to win 3-0 in Germany on a humid evening and progress to the semis. In a high-scoring tie, Toulouse of France dispatched Villareal 7-3 across the two legs to book their ticket. 4 teams remaining; the two Madrid enemies left from the WC. What could the Semi Final draw possibly conjure? Predictably, the two Madrid teams locked horns in the first semi-final. In truth, what could have been an epic was a non-contest as Real edged a 2-1 win at home in a tetchy match before heading across town and hammering their neighbours 4-0 in their own backyard several days later. Atletico had run out of steam and rivals Real proceed to the final thanks to the goals of Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema. Their successful charge was made more pleasing after they had lost Cristiano Ronaldo to a broken leg in October, an injury that would have more sustained impacts than anyone could have imagined. Continuing a bizarre pattern of the latter stages of the cup, Stade Rennais and Toulouse both contrived to lose their home legs – Toulouse going down at the Stadium Municipal 3-0 and Stade Rennais losing 2-0 in Rennes a week later. The net result for Stade Rennais was a 3-2 aggregate win that saw the provincial French club progress to the final of the world's biggest club competition in an unpredictable and at time bizarre first season. So on a warm May night in London beneath the floodlights, over 90,000 supporters packed Wembley Stadium for the first Copa Sur Final. After nine months and with one hundred and twenty six clubs falling away, Stade Rennais of Ligue 1 and Real Madrid of the World Championship met in a thrilling final. In the end a late goal won the match for Rennais, taking the scoreline to 4-3 and breaking the hearts of the Spanish supporters and to the disbelief of the hardy band of supporters who had made the journey from North West France. Stade Rennais; one of the forgotten, one of the ostracised and abandoned, had spoiled the party in the most monumental of ways. Wearily, the team climbed the long staircase to the royal box and heaved the giant trophy into the moist night sky. The key question was whether this was a one off or not? Would the elite clubs bounce back in 2012/13 or would the rebellion continue!? Series Mondial Copa Sur winners Stade Rennais are ineligible for this as they are from outside the WC. Real Madrid are matched against Barcelona in their stead. Barcelona gain a notional victory as a result of their 3-0 win against Madrid in the WC playoff phase. At such an early stage this competition yields little of significance and will become a more substantial barometer in future years. Barcelona take the points and move on. Challenge League Much like its parent competition the World Championship, the Challenge League was largely predictable in its final outcome in this opening year. Sporting Lisbon headed the final table with 51 points – a haul they shared with 2nd place River who were impressive under boss Matias Almeyda. Playing a small role for the team (19 games and 4 goals) was young striker Daniel Villalva, a player who would have a big future. For their part, Sporting and manager Ricardo Sa Pinto would never look back and establish themselves in the senior division. Chilean Diego Rubio helped their cause along with 10 goals in the campaign. Los Angeles had a surprisingly strong season and finished only 4 points behind 3rd-placed Galatasaray, fired on by veteran Robbie Keane who notched 18 goals in 24 appearances. Their strong showing under Bruce Arena would be continued the following season, only Arena wouldn't be around to lead the charge. In the basement, Ghanaians Asante Kotoko struggled to compete and, barring IFK, were cut adrift from the pack above by the end of the campaign. Much brighter things were ahead for the Swedish club though. They wouldn't be propping up the table for too much longer. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/sebjanuszewski/Challengeleaguetable201112_zps5621a58e.jpg L'Association Trophee Despite their progress in the league, Los Angeles fell victim at the group stages of the L'A, as did Colo Colo and beleaguered Asante Kotoko. With 5 of the 8 Challenge League clubs moving into the first round knockout, the draw was wide open. River fell to Dutch side Groningen 3-1 across two legs whilst Porto went down 4-2 on aggregate to ADO Den Haag. Dutch football was making its mark with FC Twente dispatching Roda JC 7-3. Galatasaray eliminated Aberdeen whilst Rangers consoled themselves at being overlooked for a WC place by hammering America 5-0 over the tie, including a 4-0 demolition of the hosts in the legendary Azteca stadium on a sultry night in Mexico City before over 50,000 locals. IFK's cup ended meekly with a 2-1 aggregate exit to Gent of Belgium. Galatasaray were the last Challenge League club standing as the quarter finals were drawn. Assuming this burden consummately, they calmly edges past Steve McLaren's FC Twente with a 2-1 victory in Holland and a 1-1 draw in the fiery Sami Yen stadium. Rangers thumped Genk 5-2, tearing the Belgians apart at Ibrox with a bristling 5-1 win on a slick pitch. AZ Akmaar continued their affair with the cup – one which would long outlast this campaign – despatching ADO Den Haag, whilst Groningen continued Holland's ascendancy with a cool 3-2 victory over Gent. The semi-finals pitted AZ against Galatasaray, with Rangers squaring-off against Groningen. In the first leg in Istanbul, Galatasaray gained the advantage by sneaking a 1-0 win in front of a partisan crowd. The return leg a week later proved to be a classic, with the Turkish side eventually winning the match 4-3, thus securing passage to the final with a 5-3 aggregate victory. Rangers once more emphasises their superiority, despatching Groningen 6-2 on aggregate. After the Dutch outfit had caused an upset, winning 2-1 at Ibrox in heavy rain, Rangers more than returned the favour in the reverse fixture, despatching their hosts 5-0 and continuing their remarkable season of impressive away wins around the world. Steven Naismith had been particularly impressive, notching 6 goals en route from midfield. The final took place in its designated venue, the magnificent Yokohama Stadium, Japan. A crowd of more than 70,000 were in attendance as a dominant Galatasaray team, led by the goal-scoring exploits of Milan Baros and Didier Drogba, convincingly beat Rangers 3-0 to claim the first L’Association Cup and put their mark in the record books. Analysis of the Season to Follow... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 2011/12 Season Analysis Tactics Notebook: At World Champions Barcelona, Luis Enrique was successful in utilising a style and system of play favoured by Pep Guardiola when he managed largely the same playing group at the club – a 4-3-3 system with aggressive full-backs and a midfield trio of Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi – who was the season's most prolific provider of goals. Up front, a marauding front trio scored the goals – Neymar scored 17 in 21 games, Sanchez 11 from 20 and Messi 14 from 20, although Messi was utilised in wide position for large parts of the season, chipping in with 7 assists. Variants of this system were adopted by several teams in the league with Man Utd being similarly adept at using it: Wayne Rooney scored 13 and assisted 13 in 21 games playing in the central striker's role whilst Juan Mata achieved 14 assists and a league-best average rating of 7.89 from 19 games as a wide left-sided attacker. Pep Guardiola found it harder going using the 4-3-3 system he refined at Barcelona – lacking a 'Messi' to make it click? Brendan Rodgers built Liverpool’s around a 4-3-3 system, but this was often more recognisable as a 4-5-1, with Rodgers’ team built around a solid defensive triangle of Agger, Sakho/Skrtel and Lucas as a deep-lying midfielder. Shipping only 8 goals during the group phase of the World Championship allowed Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez’s goals to be weighted valuably. Club Spotlight: Galatasaray had a superb 2011/12, gaining promotion to the World Championship at the first opportunity and winning L’Association Trophee after a brutally efficient cup run which culminated in a clinical overhaul of an impressive Rangers in the final. Coach Fatih Terim will look to evolve his squad in the summer in order to add the depth needed to compete on two new fronts. A significant aspect of Terim’s plans have been built around the mobile, physical presence of Baros and Drogba up-front and Brazilian Gilberto in midfield. With these players aging, Terim needs to look for younger replacements. Selcuk Inan is a dynamic midfielder who has impressed (9 assists and 3 goals in league and cup at an average rating of 7.28), and at 26 is a player to build the side around. Player Profile: Lukas Podolski’s stunning individual season was marginalised by the mediocrity of Arsenal’s campaign – missing out on the WC playoffs and being eliminated in the quarter finals of the Copa Sur. Playing in the central forward’s role in a 4-3-3 formation, Podolski was the focal point for Arsenal’s attacking moves and his stats for the season stand up against any of his stellar rivals: WC: played 17, goals 21, assists 4, MOM 7, Average rating 7.87 Copa Sur: played 17, goals 18, assists 1, MOM 3, Average rating 7.45 With 40 goals in 38 games, Podolski is the in-form striker in world football and Arsene Wenger’s task in 12/13 is to strengthen the Arsenal side to support his attacking talents. If he doesn’t, there will be no shortage of suitors for the German. Rising Stars Nedad Krsticic (Sampdoria): The 20 year-old attacking midfielder had an impressive season in Serie B, assisting 7 goals and scoring 3 in only 13 games at an average of 7.71. The Serbian player looks destined for big things and a move to a WC club could be imminent. A strong presence, 6ft tall with explosive pace and stamina, he can operate centrally on one the left side of the pitch. 'The Revolving Door': The Managers PSG’s poor season was punished by the club’s impatient owners who jettisoned manager Andre Villas-Boas after only six months in charge. Jorge Jesus of Benfica took charge in December but did little to arrest the fortunes of the team. Benfica secured the services of Rafa Benitez, the European Cup winning manager somewhat of a coup for the Lisbon club. Marco Van Basten was sacked by Roma chief Thomas DiBenedetto in December, replaced by Luciano Spalletti who left Zenit. Van Basten found new work immediately, filling Spalletti’s former seat in the Zenit dugout. This exchange reflected the dearth of available managerial talent at this mid-season stage. Elsewhere, New York dispensed with the services of Hans Backe at the end of March despite the team lacking any genuine quality in its playing squad; Vitezslav Lavicka took charge in his place, leaving Sydney FC who hired Dortmund Assistant Manager Zejko Buvac as their new boss. Talking Points and Things to Watch Out for Next Season: 1. Deep pocketed clubs. There are a number of teams who have cash to burn and squads that are need of urgent attention. With only a single transfer window per year during the summer, clubs like Al-Ain, New York and Los Angeles need to move swiftly or they may be cut adrift. Likewise, cash-rich clubs Man City, PSG and Monaco will want to use the summer as an opportunity to flex their financial muscles. 2. The reaction of the underperformers. PSG moved swiftly (or indeed hastily) to end Villas-Boas’ tenure at Parc Des Princes, but will other clubs be inclined to follow suit next season? Arsenal, Juventus, Inter and Dortmund were all clubs who failed to leave any mark on the tapestry of the season and it will be interesting to see what actions they take to address this. Will investment be the answer of a change of direction at the helm? 3. Tactical innovation. With so many teams packed with outstanding playing talent, it will be fascinating to see if the ‘hidden’ aspects of the game come to the fore. Without the ability to dominate opponents week-in and week-out through sheer presence of world-class talent (for rivals also possess such players), clubs will need to look more closely at how to outwit and out manoeuvre the opposition through strategy, tactics and game-plans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebJan Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 So at the end of season One, a quick bit of background to this story/experiment for those interested: Using the pre-game editor, I launched New Zealand as nation and created a entirely new national structure which includes all of the competitions featured so far. In order to give this new 'nation' the required International clout, I gave the new competitions huge reputations (200 for the WC, 190 for the Copa Sur and 170 for the Challenge league and L'A Trophee). To further intensify this, I reduced all of the reputations of the former major competitions (how could the European Champions League be 5-star without its key participants?). To replace the clubs I 'stole' from the domestic leagues, I bumped up lower league teams, and in turn bumped teams below them up, etc etc (very laborious work!) I made some tweaks to the setups of some of the 'smaller' clubs I moved into the new leagues - some of these to add some future interest (I won't mention these so as to not spoil any surprises later) and some just to make clubs vaguely competitive in the short-term (Shenhua, Okayama and Asante Koyoko needing some solid finances and improved facilities). All clubs were given a reserve team as well (Clubs with established 'B' teams kept these additionally - I thought it would interesting to see if this gave any advantage) In order to facilitate an exciting transfer system, I basically removed all barriers in New Zealand (making work permits instant and predicated on a future player value of £50!). I also opted for a single transfer window running through July 1st to September 1st; I thought it would be good to have clubs build squads and then committed to these for the season, with no mid-term break for clubs to poach players or strengthen. Also stipulated a maximum squad size of 26, which had to include 3 'homegrown' players. Just to make things more interesting I set-up a 4-substitute per game system. As you may have noticed, I updated squads with most of the key player/manager changes as of about May 2014, but I've planted a raft of fictional elements in the game to see if and when these have an impact (Tottenham's manager Magistretti being the most notable early example of this). This project took a few weeks to put together, doing bits in and around work; the key challenges were setting up the competitions so they did not clash with Internationals and other competitions and generally just making sure that everything looked and 'worked' the way I wanted it to (the game has a tendency to interpret things slightly differently when beginning, so I kept starting a career, checking, going back to the editor, restarting, ad nausea until I was happy.) Secondly, ensuring that the reputation 'weights' were how they needed to be took some tinkering. Without this, I knew that the AI would eventually just ignore the new leagues and cups and players would drift back to the higher rep leagues (or so I imagined). So I played with a few scenarios until I got what I thought was okay (this included prize money also; I didn't want too much or too little cash in the system - I got a taste of managing fiscal policy here, trying to avoid inflation or deflation! Again, this would never be perfect but I'm happy with the balance that exists.) Anyway, just a few notes for anyone wandering what all this is and how it was created. Feel free to ping any questions etc to me... Season 2 will follow in the near future Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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