All I want for Christmas is to be hobnobbing with the greats, but it is more likely I will be picking up the crumbs from the lower reaches of the table

[scousevasey]

Squad review (post tactical thoughts)

Hruska at GK is listed to be sold early, but other positions had to wait until now as some were able to fit out of position.

All of the players without a place in the depth chart at the minute are able to stay at the club, as they are all young.  Some with tags may get moved out to get more time to play and develop if there are no injuries, although they will move to the B team to avoid a bloated first team squad

Robert Koval is an issue here.  He is listed as one of out best players, and at 25 will expect to play regularly, but his attributes didn't fit our formation

He is not awful, but at his age there is a very small chance that he improves the green attributes to purple, so I will set an asking price and make him available for loan to avoid causing too much upset in the squad

All other players are either in the main squad or young enough to survive moving to the other squads.

There is work to do here but there is something to build from.  Hopefully as they get used to playing in the formation the cohesion will go up

 

Koval is one of four influential players so moving him out may cause a minor issue, but the rest of the hierarchy is built around players who will be playing regularly, so should avoid issues.  When putting the starting lineup below, Tetour, who is the current captain, will start on the bench but is capable at a range of positions and listed as a 2 in most of those, so will be versatile off the bench, but will rotate in to avoid discontent

 

The formation looks bad here as players seem to be listed out of position and that leads to all the red on the analysis, but it is highest formation we can put out based on the study of attributes earlier.

The first four friendlies should give a clear guide as to how things are working out and to see if players are settling into their positions and roles

[scousevasey]

Formation in action

Without delving into the result, this is some insight on the formation from the first friendly, against the B Team, and what is working as expected

The GK has just claimed the ball, and the team are rushing to position for the offensive play.

The IWB is very wide on the right, but that leave space for the Mezzala to find.  The RPM and HB are quite close which is a shame, but the IF is narrower than the Winger which is a positive

Possession here is with the HB, and again the IWB is very wide, with the Winger cutting inside.  This may the the overlap instruction, which I removed during the game, but could be part of the passage of play instead.

The FB is in a good position for what we are after, with the IF bringing the opposition DR inside and leaving lots of room to exploit

Here the ball is with the FB, who has come forward (these images are not all consecutive, but highlight the formation in different positions).

The IWB is filling the same space as the Mezzala which is a worry, and the Winger has cut in to arrive at the back post giving us a solid presence on the edge of the 6-yard box.

Finally this is breaking through, and about to have a shot.  Aside from the IF (10) being behind the two MCs and very central, the formation looks as expected here.

There will be minor tweaks to team instructions, but nothing major at the minute

[scousevasey]

Settling in

I added in the games against Banik Ostrava, who brought a 37 year old Milan Baros off the bench, and second game against the B team.  If he becomes a coach I might sign him to try and build up a Liverpool ex-player coaching team alongside Litmanen.

The games against Olympia and Stilon were added for me, and are a welcome boost for morale although we have performed well in the other games.

Banik, Sparta, and Ceske are all in the top division, with Toulouse in the French top division.  We scored against each of them, and led for a long time against Banik.

Partway through this run two things happened.  Firstly I moved the Mezzala from Support to Attack in an attempt to get more support for the AF who could be isolated if play from out wide and quickly.

The second was that I set up my set pieces, or at least the attacking ones.  And I am joining the @Jimbokav1971 Goalscoring GK bandwagon.

The GK is taking Direct, Direct (low chance of shot) and Indirect, but not Indirect Wide, and they all have a similar set up to this attempt from the game against Stilon

DR, DL and DM are staying back to provide cover.

DCs are both set to attack the post on their side of the field (DCR attacks the near post from the right, and far post from the left)

The STC is set to get forward, along with the opposite sided MC, with the MC from the side of the freekick standing next to the GK

The AMR and AML are set with one lurking outside the area, and one attacking from the edge of the area, with the player on the same side as the freekick attacking from the edge of the area.

That all means that if the freekick goes wrong we have the following defensive setup

DR, DM and DL all back.

MC (kick side), and AM(wide), opposite side outside the area, ready to cover any runners, and five players in the box competing for any loose balls in the area

The first game we ran this was against Ceske, where Rada GK1 scored.  There have been other chances, but nothing has come of them yet.

Currently I am happy with the formation and squad, so the next stage is the remaining friendlies

All four teams we are lined up to face are in the top division in their respective countries, with Zorya and Osijek both being in European competition.  This will be a difficult stretch.  The first aim is to get fitness up, and build familiarity with the formation and roles, but we have to avoid drops in morale.

I have currently been playing all the games mainly to avoid the Assistant Manager moving everyone to their favoured positions, and messing everything up, although he does pop up regularly with comments during the game that players are 'out of position'.

If anyone has any ideas on how to stop the Assistant moving players while I use instant result, please let me know, as I don't want to sit through every game, but I have got it set to limited highlights and 2D with high speed to help move things along.

 

[scousevasey]

End of preseason

The draw was a positive surprise as I expected to lose all four games.

Against Watford, Rada missed a penalty, but the rebound was scored by Krunert, and then after Janda had come on when the whole team were substituted he missed a penalty in the 80th minute.

Both were saved by the GK, with Janda's being softer and not rebounding out allowing the opposition keeper to claim the ball safely

 

We start with a fairly easy opening run, with four games against mid to lower table teams if the predictions are correct.  The unknown game in August is the first round of the cup, which we are expected to reach the fourth round.

October looks to be the toughest month with games against two of the top four predicted teams.  Then after the game against Prostejov we have a break with no games in December, January or February.

[scousevasey]

2019-2020 Season update 1 - July and August

A busy August with seven games, and the small size of the squad started to cause issues towards the end, as we lost our backup attackers to injury, and with the way the depth chart is set up they are all interlinked.

So Kolman Mez4 IFl1 AF1 is our starting AML(IF) but his backup was injured, so he couldn't cover STC(AF), and the backup there was injured too, so we couldn't rotate tired legs, or change things up too easily.  I went back to the squad review and added a new tag to Stanek who becomes AF3 as he was the next best AF option to give us an attacking option on the bench for the later games this month.

Rada GK1 scored twice this month, and each time he did he also managed an assist from a free kick, which is a nice bonus

 

We had three back here, and Rada does drop straight away in case of error, but he was able to produce a decent ball into the box

The first game of the season saw Coufal FB1 come off the bench to set a new Dukla record, and four days later he lost the record to Ditmar Mez2, who gets the league record too as a nice addition

 

The first two draws show how the formation is settling.  I have also remove the 'work ball into the box' instruction, as it was causing the ball to be passed around the edge of the box without much pressure, and then eventually lost as the opposition crowded the attackers out.

There was improvement over the month, and the final draw shows more

A poor performance from the attacking trident, although we are down to the bare bones here.  The worse part here is that after breaking Vlasim down they pretty much equalised straight away.

The press are happy with the performance so far

The board are satisfied, and upset with the same games I am upset with

There are a couple of extra players with influence at this point, with the hope that Koval will drop off soon.  Unfortunately he hasn't been sold or loaned out yet because he got injured during a B team game and that has lowered demand.  There was some interest before that, and he is just back to fitness.  With the transfer window closing a week into September we may be able to get a deal for him

A tough run of injuries, and while we were able to cover Kozma in July, and Janda to start August, the loss of Ayong and then Fabry has been the biggest challenge.  All other injuries have been to players who there is cover for, or has been short enough to not cause a problem

Nine matches through our season (seven games in the league mean we have played less than half the league so the table is not worth the pixels it is shown on at this stage), and nine more to go until the winter break.

Each month is quite quiet due to the international breaks throughout them, and while we have a couple of players who are being called up (usually for the U21s or U19s) it will be a good chance for players to rest up and recover from their knocks.

[scousevasey]

Autumnal joys

This update covers the run to the next international break which gives time for players to rest and recover.  With only three games in a month in September, October and November, it seemed excessive to do individual monthly updates, so I have split the run of games in two.  There is another international break in November, but that would leave one game in 2019 after the break so it is going to be lumped in with the rest of October and November

Before we delve into the results, this is a clear image of the way the formation is working.

I did number the starting 11 with 1-11, but due to injuries there are a couple of replacements here.

17, down on the bottom of the image is the DR-IWB(S) and would usually be more central, but in this instance he has been drawn wide due to the passage of play.  In most other instances he has been tucking in as expected.

7, on the ball (Hadascok) is playing as the AML-IF(A) and has moved centrally in a passing move.  The DL-FB(S), wearing 3, is now wide open on the left flank and the ball was played out to him, where he was able to cross and a goal duly followed.

The midfield trio is interesting here, with 6 (DM-HB) being quite close to 8 (MC-RPM) which may cause occasional problems, but has tended to work nicely.  The DM-HB is usually further back, and the movement of the AML-IF has moved the MC-RPM back slightly.

The tactic is not perfect, but it is something that is working as planned.  One change that may come in the summer is to change the STC role from AF to something else, possibly PF to try and bring more of the front five into play as occasionally they become isolated. We will see

Two new additions to Influential players, in Vicek and Hruska, but I would prefer Hruska to not be in this group.  He has not been playing, so to see him grow in influence is annoying.

Four from four, although we have been scraping wins.

Travnicek played more this month, with the injuries we faced (see below), and it saw Hadascok move from AMR-W to AML-IF.  Travnicek paid back the support with goals in every game of September, earning a player of the month award, and then picked up a knock ruling him out of the top of the table clash with Brno.  Because of course it did

This is the injury report for September, and then up to the game against Brno.

The important ones to note are

2/9 - Kolman, 18/9 - Fabry, 28/9 - Stanek, 28/9 Vicek, 1/10 - Travnicek, and then 5/10 - Hadascok and Koval.

That makes up our starting attacking trident in Kolman, Vicek, and Hadascok, as well as the three direct backups in the first team.  Koval is not listed on the depth charts, instead tagged as SELL due to his age and position in the squad, as I wanted to avoid him getting upset.  For the game against Brno, we started with Hadascok, Kolman, and Fabry, with Vicek unavailable due to his injury, and Travincek not fully fit due to his.  That left Ayong and Stanek on the bench but we were short of a Winger replacement, and in a moment of laziness, I didn't go back to the squad view an see who should be WingR3, instead just putting Koval on the bench in the hope he wouldn't be needed.  Then obviously Hadascok pulls his calf in the game and had to come off.

With the rate of attrition in the three attacking positions, I am going to go back and look for options to be 3rd and 4th on the depth chart at AMR-W(A) and AML-IF(A), as we have already added Stanek as AF3.

The good run of results sees us move up from second in August to first in September.  The MotM curse hit the Brno manager this month, so we need to work hard to avoid that affecting us in October and November.

The board mood has improved too, which is nice, and a positive over the first attempt at this save.  Really that is a reminder that I shouldn't get lazy in sorting the bottom of the depth chart as poor decisions led us to the position of being fired in the first stint, and the current good run is only going to be a positive if we keep it going, especially with the board aim to win the league.

After that run, we get the first glimpse of the table.  And after being in an early competition with Brno, two draws and a loss in the past four games has seen us overtake them and open up a five point gap, helped by the win over them to start October.

Vitkovice have performed well recently, and moved ahead of Brno, so we are not going to have everything our own way in the title race.

Impressively, considering the Assistant Manager tells me every game that half my team are playing out of position, and the analysis of the side in the run up to the Lisen game showing three quarters of the defence being red, we have the joint meanest defence in the league, while we come in 4th in goals scored.  I am feeling slightly sorry for Chrudim fans who despite seeing lots of goals don't have much to cheer with only two goals scored and no points.

Next up we see 14th and 3rd away from home after the international break.  That break will see a couple of injured players come back, but the key players in attack will still be out, so there is work to do in terms of the depth chart before then

November sees 7th, 4th, and 12th based on the current standings, so not the easiest run of games with two tough games against Vitkovice and Jihlava balanced with the hopefully easier games against Hradec and Prostejov.

As the only unbeaten team left, having ended Brno's run, the aim is to extend it as long as possible, hopefully seeing it reach into 2020.

Before we get there though, I am going to deepen our attacking depth chart to cover for the injuries we have at the minute.

[scousevasey]

On 27/05/2020 at 19:24, scousevasey said:

Winger-Attack

Onto the next variable position, with both left and right options available.  Originally a left sided role, if there are more right sided players then that will play into the conversation about possible change at DL.

For the Winger we will be looking for players to be same sided in terms of foot (left footer on left wing)

Spoiler

This is where the whole plan has hit the buffers.  With only three positions to go, it turns out some players have run out of space in their name as they are so useful.  Maybe my attributes are too similar.

Because I can't tag everyone, I am looking at something slightly poorer here.  There are very few purples to the left hand side of the table, which are the attributes most important to the role, so we are only listing two players here

Hadascok is WingR1, with Travincek a newly labelled player at WingR2.  Both options are right  footers, as are most of the midfield options, so the tactical change looks likely, although the next position can scupper that

IF-Attack

Really we are looking at left sided players, which means right footers as they will be cutting in.  I won't rule out a left footer for the left hand side, but it seems a switched preference is better here

Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

Hadascok steps up as one of the best options, but is our only real option on the opposite side.  He still gets the note, but it is likely that Kolman will get the first chance to start.

A few other options available with Fabry being the lowest of these due to his very poor determination (blue), Ayong showing more versatility, and Vlcek making an arrival on the lists.

All of these five players are right footed, so suit the left hand side with a 'l' in the reference.  After finishing this, I will go back and look at the DL position to be a FB role instead

AF-Attack

Hopefully we will have some options here with seven players listed as only a striker, and one who is a striker as part of multiple formations.

  Reveal hidden contents

Five players all clock in with three purple attributes here, so I have separated them out with the three who have purple finishing being listed as AF1.  They are Vlcek, Kolman and Fabry.  All three have shown up elsewhere, with Kolman likely to start at AML-IF, leaving Vlcek as the starter.

Getting the AF2 tag is Ayong, and Hadascok who has no more room in his name

Summary - Front five

A shortage of options in the three attacking positions, but we have enough to get by.  There will need to be a look at DL to plan the change of role which will help with the very busy few players who ran out of space early.

Once that is done, I will show the full names of everyone, so the depth chart is visible, and work through those players who didn't get a place on the list.  Some are young so will drop to the B team and U19s, but any who are high up in the hierarchy will need to be dealt with carefully

At AMR-Winger(Attack) we currently have

Hadascok as WingR1, and Travincek as WingR2. Originally there was some players in the midfield who are covering DR, DC, DM, and both MC roles who fit, but couldn't get the tag due to space.  As they are regularly playing anyway I am going to look to create a WingR3, who is only getting to the bench with an injury and is unlikely to make the starting line up.  When we have the intake in, and review the depth chart, some of the players who are listed in multiple positions may get freed up and get WingR added to their list

Jakab looks reasonable with four purples, but this is balanced with two blue attributes, Palacios could do a job as he has two purples, plus gold determination but he is currently out on loan, and cannot be recalled at the moment.

As this is a break glass in emergency it is a choice between Jakab and Koval.  As I am trying to boost the Determination of the squad and avoid blue attributes, the fact that Jakab has them in Determination and Dribbling, one of the most important attributes for the role, I will edit Koval to be WingR3 (SELL), and if he goes in the January window move Jakab to WingR3 unless Palacios can be recalled

At AML-Inside Forward(Attack) we are more set due to flexibility with

Hadascok, and Kolman get the IF1 tag, with Vicek, Ayong, and Fabry all getting IF2, but all five players are listed as other positions, mainly STC(AF), and due to the injuries have left us short.  So a five person depth chart is actually quite thin

The next best person is Doumbia, who is also listed as Mez4, with Koval and Soucek (a different one to the FB2) coming in next who will get IF4, again in case of emergency

With there being five players tagged at STC-Advanced Forward(Attack), I am not going to add any extra player in, so if we are short, the higher WingR and IF players will move to AF, and we will draft in on the wider positions

[scousevasey]

Autumn/Winter season

I have included the Brno result again to show the whole of October, but the update really starts with the game against Hradec Kralove.

We were poor against Vitkovice, but this was the tail of injuries affecting us, and they went top of the table after this result (only by goal difference) so it is not like we lost to minnows.  Instead we then drew with them in the shape of Viktoria Zizkov, before a poor game against Jihlava which is more forgivable as they are near the top of the table

Our win against Prostejov means we finish 2019 on a win, and led to their manager being shown the door.

Good news for the Chrudim fans who have managed to see two wins and a staggering 8 goals in the last five games.

We are also top after Vitkovice lost to 12th placed Lisen in the final game of November.  The gap is much smaller than we would like, but goal scoring is becoming a bit of a problem, as after starting the season with two or three goals being the norm, we have struggled to get past one goal.

Again I put this down to injuries, and have advertised for a Sport Scientist to try and boost our prevention of injuries.  We also have an advert out for a coach after the board agreed to add one to the ranks.  We are also getting better facilities although this will take a while to come through, and finances may make it impossible.  We will see.

Although apparently I am making too big a deal of it, as we have dealt with the 2nd lowest injury rate.  Might just be that our squad was too thin, or all the injuries came in the same position at roughly the same time

At the halfway point (ish, as we are one game past, but at the winter break), this is the squad showing everyone who has played games.

Not sorted by appearances, but by goals.  And our leader is our GK who has managed to score all of his goals from the spot (although I am struggling to see how many he has taken, as I think there have been misses).

It is not a good sign when after 16 games the following two statements are true.

1) The highest goalscorer is on 4 goals

2) That highest goalscorer is the GK** @Jimbokav1971 might disagree with this point

Still in the good books with the board, which is nice.

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

(although I am struggling to see how many he has taken, as I think there have been misses).

You basically have to create your own page. 

This is what mine looks like from the Joint Save thread. 

Appearances.
Clean sheets.
Goals.
Assists.
Shots.
Shots per 90 min.
Shot % on target.
Penalties taken.
Penalties scored. 
Penalty success ratio. 
All time career goals. 
All time career appearances.
Avg rating. 

[scousevasey]

18 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

You basically have to create your own page. 

This is what mine looks like from the Joint Save thread. 

Appearances.
Clean sheets.
Goals.
Assists.
Shots.
Shots per 90 min.
Shot % on target.
Penalties taken.
Penalties scored. 
Penalty success ratio. 
All time career goals. 
All time career appearances.
Avg rating. 

Went to make my own, and thought I would look at the Stats options in the drop down menu for one that would contain as many of these as possible

Turns out there is one, although it is not as detailed as yours above

So for Rada, as he is the only one to take a penalty so far

Perfect from the spot in competitive fixtures, with his miss, and the one from Janda coming in a friendly.  I had remembered him missing and someone else slotting in the rebound, so have been digging to find it - it was Watford

Seven shots on target from 11 shots, with most of the others hitting the wall.  Not bad

And we are yet to concede from him being caught up field, although there have been a couple of times where he has been close to being caught out, but he has been saved by a rebound off the wall going out of play.  Most of the other rebounds have fallen to the players either next to the taker, of on the edge of the area, so the set up is working well, and that is down to the detail given by @Jimbokav1971 in how he sets his free kicks up

[scousevasey]

Preparing for the intake

This is going to be interesting, as the positions are likely to mean nothing for a few players.  I will do a similar run through of the different positional criteria for the intake, but I might not post it in full detail, and I will tag every intake player with the positions they are suitable, but without a number at this stage.

They will also be set to train in one of these positions so that by the summer they are able to be added to the depth chart.

There may be a star who is ready to step in straight away, but this would require a high number of purple attributes, which I doubt we are going to get at this stage.

It looks like there will be more than one GK, so it could be a 17 player intake (I have found there are usually 16, with a 2nd grey GK for the bench in the trial game), and the local GK could be decent.

Two forwards, who could theoretically play anywhere along the front five at this stage, are part of a golden generation.  One that is so golden, that only the forwards and keepers are decent, and the rest are poor.  Maybe I need to edit the text to be 'has the potential to be a real iron pyrite generation for the club' although it doesn't have the same ring to it

[Jimbokav1971]

48 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

Went to make my own, and thought I would look at the Stats options in the drop down menu for one that would contain as many of these as possible

Turns out there is one, although it is not as detailed as yours above

So for Rada, as he is the only one to take a penalty so far

Perfect from the spot in competitive fixtures, with his miss, and the one from Janda coming in a friendly.  I had remembered him missing and someone else slotting in the rebound, so have been digging to find it - it was Watford

Seven shots on target from 11 shots, with most of the others hitting the wall.  Not bad

And we are yet to concede from him being caught up field, although there have been a couple of times where he has been close to being caught out, but he has been saved by a rebound off the wall going out of play.  Most of the other rebounds have fallen to the players either next to the taker, of on the edge of the area, so the set up is working well, and that is down to the detail given by @Jimbokav1971 in how he sets his free kicks up

If you want to be even more cautious, let the GK take 3 types of free-kick, (direct, small chance of shot and deep), but stop him taking them from wide positions. 

[scousevasey]

Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

If you want to be even more cautious, let the GK take 3 types of free-kick, (direct, small chance of shot and deep), but stop him taking them from wide positions. 

He isn't taking the wide ones at the minute, mainly because this save failed once before in the first season.  We are doing better currently (much better), but I want to make sure I don't get fired.  And I don't trust my players to defend while the GK trots back to the area

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, scousevasey said:

He isn't taking the wide ones at the minute, mainly because this save failed once before in the first season.  We are doing better currently (much better), but I want to make sure I don't get fired.  And I don't trust my players to defend while the GK trots back to the area

That's the problem with taking them in the wide areas, (at least with a SW(a) duty), he makes no effort to go back if we retain possession. Seeing try to play as an orthadox winger and go by people is pretty decent though. 

[scousevasey]

44 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's the problem with taking them in the wide areas, (at least with a SW(a) duty), he makes no effort to go back if we retain possession. Seeing try to play as an orthadox winger and go by people is pretty decent though. 

I would have to update the attributes I look for in at GK to include crossing and dribbling then

[scousevasey]

Scouting

The aim of the save is that I succeed with youth only, and have my scouts searching the Czech footballing landscape mainly so we have detail on players we will face.  There is also an assignment to scout the next opponent, but the wider scouting gives a second report on players, and is not focused right on when we are due to face them.

So I have been clicking through the scout reports that appear mainly considering which random nationalities appear in them when one jumped out at me

That is correct.  Mart Poom is recommending Markus Poom, and there is a lot of admiration between them.  Unfortunately at the minute we can't see much about Markus as he needs scouting, but we can see Mart's profile as he is our GK coach

Lo and behold, his admiration stems from being a proud father.  It is tempting to break the youth rule to sign young Markus.  I will wait to see what the scout reports say so we get a clearer picture.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, scousevasey said:

I would have to update the attributes I look for in at GK to include crossing and dribbling then

Nope. Just morale. 

[scousevasey]

16 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Nope. Just morale. 

Even for when he is hanging out on the wing as a SK(a) after passing a free kick?

 

I have seen Morale is key for penalty taking, but I was talking about keeping him as an offensive player after free kicks

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

Even for when he is hanging out on the wing as a SK(a) after passing a free kick?

 

I have seen Morale is key for penalty taking, but I was talking about keeping him as an offensive player after free kicks

Nah. It happens so infrequently that it's not worth worrying about. All you have to do is find the best GK and keep him happy. 

[scousevasey]

The winter break and transfer window

This has been an interesting run. with a couple of sales, and developments

First up we lost Tetour, due to him having a release clause for teams in a higher division.  Originally I hoped that he would hold on until we are promoted which would obviously negate the clause.  When the media mentioned that Banik Ostrava were interested, I went to offer him a new contract, but his agent had capped a standard release clause for £500k.  I couldn't persuade him to get rid of his agent, so he then left when Banik came in for him.  This was a bit of a foregone conclusion as his value was $425k so they didn't have to stretch too far to avoid renegotiation.

While he wasn't officially a starter he was our captain and very influental.  Rada gets the promotion from VC to Captain, with Kosik DC4 HB3 getting the VC role due to his personality with an eye on mentoring when we have the intake come through.

Next up was Hruska, who I was looking to move on as he wanted to be Backup GK, and future starter, but Janda is a better option.  The 50% sell on is useful here as he is only 25, so it is likely that he will move again, especially as Zlin are rock bottom of the top division.

Our third sale of the window was a youngster who isn't in the depth chart.  While selling a 16 year old in a youth save is not the standard way of operating, our squad is young, with lots of teenagers in and around the main squad.  While the hope is that he would develop, his value was $66k, and we have managed to get some decent clauses into the sale.

First up we are guaranteed £150k, with £75k having arrived already and the rest coming in annual installments over the next three years.

While he might not start for Viktoria Plzen now, or for a few years there are two options with the other clauses.  One, he eventually earns them.  Two, the board negotiate a buy out, where we get some of the money back, especially if Plzen are buying in other options.

We also have a 50% resale fee attached, so even if Coufal is moved before achieving the other clauses we are set to benefit.  And if he doesn't make it and is released at the end of his first contract, Plzen will still be paying us due to the installments.

Unfortunately the sale of Coufal may backfire in a different way, as our starting GK is upset we sold a youth product.  Bearing in mind Rada is 34, and unlikely to be around when Coufal would have made the starting lineup I can't see why he is so worried, but he wouldn't back down and now his morale is only Fairly Good.  I will keep an eye out to see if this affects his penalty taking.

That was it for transfer moves, but we were prominent in terms of Second Division moves, although the fees involve are nothing compared to those at the top of the First Division

Not the best run of friendlies, but we faced some tough teams.  Hopefully there won't be too many negative repercussions for the league resumption

This takes us to the end of the season.  March looks relatively friendly, with May being quite tough, so we need to perform well in March and April to stay on track to achieve the aims of the board

[scousevasey]

March 2020 - a tough run

Three games and life was not good.

Despite the win against Trinec, we struggled, and I am starting to think that teams are backing off too much against us.  Rada managed to put aside his unhappiness about the sale of Coufal to score in the first game, and managed an assist this month too, but we have struggled to make an impact

Against Varnsdorf we went down 1-0 and then had our DL sent of for two yellows.  I moved the HB to DL to ensure we still had an attacking threat, so if we continue to struggle, a move to 4-2-3-1 may be in order, although that would require anothe squad review, and the intake is due soon so we may get quality reinforcements

That means we fall down to 2nd although everyone is taking points off each other, so the one point gap can be overcome.

There are still a few players who aren't fully fit after the winter break, despite us playing the six friendlies, and the loss of Tetour has left us slightly undermanned.

April is a busy month with six games against teams spread throughout the table.  We need to pick up a win early to boost morale and set us up for May where we face our title rivals

 

[scousevasey]

Intake time!

This is the first intake, and a chance to see if the future is bright, as well as the first time I have delved into positions of youth players with much gusto

The HoYD sees a golden generation, and I can honestly say this is the best intake in this version of the save.

Starting with the basics.  I have labelled the intake at the start of their names to allow their positions to come later.  And in this view they are sorted by position.

The first thing that jumps out is there is lots of purple and even one gold in terms of determination. There are no out and out starters according to the star system, but we are not using this as our guide, but are going to delve into the key attributes for the roles we use

A couple of dual nationals, with 20i Fassbender being a Kiwi-German.  I assume he has come through as Mike Vitie is set as a New Zealander.  It will be interesting to see if the high determination helps overcome the relatively poor (9th ranked) opinion from the staff

Positional attribute views

To avoid too many screenshots cluttering up the post, each positional overview will be linked as a list below, with a few stand out players being highlighted.

GK(d), IWB(s), DC(d), FB(s), HB(d), Mez(s), RPM(s), Wing(a), IF(a), AF(a)

From looking at these overviews a couple of players jump out, handily split between the front and back fives.  I will give the detail of those that stand out if there is someone who warrants being named, although each player will get a positional tag to focus their development around

GK - Both players are decent for where we are and being so young, with 20g Novotny coming in slightly behind due to his blue anticipation.

Back five

20e Frydek could be a star in this intake.  The only blue attribute in the back five lists for him is his ability to cross as a FB.  With two gold attributes at HB he will move to the main squad with a chance to play there early

20m Drahos comes in strongly, and is going to spend time developing as a DC.  With a little bit of work he will be pushing to start in the near future.

20a Verner is well suited to be our IWB if he can improve his passing, so will get a joint focus, while 20p Benes will go into the mix at DL, although start quite low in the depth chart at this point

Front five

20b Rehak is the best in this area of the pitch with consistent green attributes boosted by three purple ones for all five positions.  He will be tagged with all of the front three positions, and tasked to improve his finishing, but he will move to the main squad early, helping his development while easing our issues that were there earlier in the season

At the two MC positions there is a weakness in all of the other options, with 20p Benes being the best option.  It is a similar story with the three attacking positions, with everyone having at least one blue attribute, so there is work to do on the training pitch.

Summary

As is regularly highlighted in other threads, the original rankings are a waste of time.  The top two players are 'e' and 'b' which is quite positive, but the next three best players on arrival are 'a', 'm', and 'p' which means the top five players are numbers 1, 2, 5, 13, and 16.  The full range of tags shows how little the staff actually know.

I have added to each player which attribute needs to be the first focus for them, and will look to set their training once they sign after the trial game

[scousevasey]

April 2020 (plus a little bit more)

The game against Pardubice was the fourth game of the month.  In the previous game our starting HB picked up a suspension for accumulating yellow cards, and with Tetour having been sold it meant Ayong started the game and 20e Frydek took up a spot on the bench.  In the same game 20b Rehak was on the bench, and they have both appeared throughout the month

Nearly perfect.  But not quite

The short turn around between Sokolov and Brno cost us.  There were a couple of players who were still struggling after the Lisen game, so we put in place some minor rotation, including a first start for 20e Frydek, but we were undone by Sokolov, who are sat in third in the table.

We did manage to beat Brno in a close game with two late goals only two days later so the rotation kind of worked, but not to perfection

And a good run from Bitkovice means that the loss cost us top spot.

Sokolov are six points behind us, so seven from the top of the table but with only four games left have probably got too much to do.  Brno are mathematically still in the title picture but they need to be perfect and for everyone else to drop pretty much every point

So it looks like a two horse race for the title, and two horse race for the final promotion playoff place.

At the other end of the table Chrudim are struggling and need to make up 9 points and 21 goals in only four games, while Hradec Kralove need a decent run to avoid the drop.  Varnsdorf in 12th are probably safe, but might want to pick up a couple of points to make sure.

The media have kept Sokolov in the title race, and they have the best run of fixtures.  Excitingly for the neutral, they face Brno in the penultimate game with only a three gap between them currently, so the final playoff place might come down to that game.

The big game for the title is on the 13th, as Vitkovice come to visit.  As much as it is a must win game, we also need to perform in the other games, and we have the toughest run of games.

[scousevasey]

Four games to go

I wasn't going to milk the run in, but the first game of the final four gave two exciting moments.

https://i.gyazo.com/4ed11c50f165e434a31b9ffcf622c033.mp4

This might be a contender for my goal of the season, and set the tone in our game against lowly Hradec Kralove

While we were dominating Slavoj Vysehrad were able to defeat Vitkovice meaning we climb above them and take control of the title race

We are also the first team to qualify for the playoffs, meaning we are guaranteed top three.  The board want us to top the table, so we now have three games to reach that goal

A two point lead, and the advantage in terms of goal difference.  That means a draw against Vitkovice give us the ability to draw one of the other two games and still be able to win the title.

A win in the next game against Vitkovice would give us a five point lead, with two games left, and with the goal difference advantage it would mean that a draw secures the title.

But we do have the harder run in after we face them

[scousevasey]

Three games to go

We blew our chance.

The game was even in terms of stats, and the player stats show we had more chances, but they took theirs.  We didn't.

So we are one point behind, with two games to go.

We need a favour from another team, and to perform ourselves, otherwise we are at risk of being overtaken by Sokolov.

In the two biggest games in the run in, against the other top three sides, we have lost.  Not the form of champions, but we still have a chance

[scousevasey]

Penultimate game
We played first, in the early kick off

And we did our job, taking the lead, even if only because Vitkovice hadn't played, but pressure can do funny things

But they come through and beat Usti, meaning they hold the advantage going into the final games

It is still a one point gap.  But we are still only three clear of Sokolov, meaning if we gamble and lose, we could drop to third, especially as the GD swing in a loss for us and win for Sokolov would see them hold the advantage

It remains to be seen how the board will see things, but we are performing better than ever

 

Interestingly the final fixtures don't have the same kick off time.  They are all on the same day, but there is room for some shady dealing.  If only...

Sokolov play first, so we will know if we need a result to stay 2nd or not (as worst case scenario)

We start at 5pm, with Vitkovice not joining the fun until an hour later.  So just as we start the 2nd half.  That means there will be a nervous wait in the changing rooms after we finish to see what is happening

[scousevasey]

Final day

First up comes Sokolov

So we need a point to claim 2nd, while still wanting to win

A poor first half cost us as we went down, and Jihlava dropped deeper denying us chances.

As we were losing, Vitkovice took the lead, meaning our result was meaningless in the title race at this point, unless Pardubice could score twice. 

With our draw, we could still win the title if Vitkovice won

And Pardubice could only mirror our game, scoring with a bit of time left on the clock, but couldn't get a winner

So we finish the league schedule in 2nd, in a very close race with only two points covering the top three.

But the season is not over, as we qualify for the playoff, and the First Division haven't finished all their games yet, so we have a bit of time to rest and recover

[scousevasey]

The season extension

The board are not best pleased, so the playoff will be important.

It will be two legged, with the first leg at home.

Karvina were second bottom of the relegation group, which is the bottom six teams after the first 30 games, after which they play the other teams in the group once.  Their last five games, so the ones in the relegation group were four losses before a final day draw.  Hopefully we can capitalise on that

[scousevasey]

Death or glory!

The playoffs start with an oddity

This was the pre-tie team meeting, but all of the options were about avoiding relegation.  It must be a quirk of the playoff officially being part of the First Division, but it made it difficult to find the right response

After a cagey first leg, where Karvina struggled to apply pressure, and the poor run of results left them with negative body language, we pulled away in the second leg.

That means we are going up to the First Division

Which leaves space for a few oddities from the season.  To avoid a huge list of screenshots these will be grouped in topical spoilers

Records

Spoiler

 

A club record of nine goals is not good.  Neither is nine assists.  There will be a full squad review, but there may need to be a tactical change too

This is slightly less worrying, as a good team can share out the star performances.  But Hasek was on loan from Bohemians, so he won't be back, and clearly will be a big loss

Despite challenging for the title throughout the season we only manage four players in the team of the year.

Board News

Spoiler

So the fans are happy, but as we were expected to go up by winning the league, are the board?

They are.  But the short message is not glowing with confidence.

Another quirk here, as according to board we achieved the aim of going up by winning the league, but also added a new aim for the playoffs.

Fight bravely against relegation

Well we were at no risk of that, but we achieved it again

Finance and Facilities

These are tied together due to the fact we were losing money

Spoiler

There is not a lot of money at the bottom end of Czech football

But the board are expanding the seating capacity, so that we fit the league requirements.  Bearing in mind that Dukla were only relegated a season ago (real life), it should already meet the requirements, but it is what it is

And the youth facilities avoid the chop, so we should see improvements soon. 

And they will be the last ones for quite a while as we are close to the red.

The pressure will be on for a decent finish in the league so we can avoid losing too much money

Elsewhere in the playoffs Sokolov earned a 2-1 lead after the first leg, but let it slip in the second leg, consigning them to another fight to get promoted.  As their manager won the manager of the year award, and they were predicted in 6th, they might struggle to get promotion

There are a couple of quirks with the league structure of the First Division, which I will explore in the season preview, but this is the standings from this year

Spoiler

There are different parts going in, and it all relies on those stages.  This table is the end of the first stage for context, hence why Karvina faced the drop after their poor run in

And proof that Sokolov won't join us.

Brno, who were tagged as title favourites, sacked their manager due to finishing 4th, and quite a way back with a very poor end to the season

As the season ticks over into the next one, I will review the squad performance, and discuss possible tactical changes

[scousevasey]

End of Season 1

The first aim was to not get fired.  That was  achieved, and although we went up, the board were not best pleased with it only being 2nd.

These are all the players who started 10 or more games, and the small number (13) of them shows the lack of squad depth we have.  There were the couple of sales in January which are missing from here, and I took this after Hasek left at the end of the loan deal. 

With only three of these players getting an average rating above 7 we were not the best side across the board

This is the rest of the pain squad, and it doesn't say much for Kropik and Piroch that they were the last tagged players for their positions (there were 2 FB1s and 2 FB2s), and the intake players are well ahead of them with 20e Frydek getting a start, while 20b Rehak only managed to appear from the bench.

When sorted by goals scored, this is the list of all those who scored five goals or more.

Four players, is not a good thing which highlights the need for a tactical change for next season.

Hasek played 32 games which is a the second most of all players, and was a key player at RPM as there were not too many options, with the others all being highly suited elsewhere, whereas Hasek was a depth option elsewhere.

I told them we should spend the money elsewhere, and after a bit of back and forward, we managed to get the board to agree

So alongside the planned building works that have now started, we are setting ourselves up for a good future pipeline.  The board are also letting us send our scouts throughout Europe.  It won't change the aims of getting the best knowledge of Czech football that we can manage, but it is nice that they are happy to back us in that regard.

The club are still well regarded, and claim a bit of money from sponsors, and the board are not expecting miracles next season

The plan for the cup hasn't changed, but it is not a priority for me.  I would rather focus on the league campaign than devote too much energy elsewhere.

Handily we are not expected to stay up, as our fight could end badly.  By this metric, I think if we go straight down I will be fired.  If I am in the relegation playoff and lose I could be fired.  But in other saves (my geographical adventure), the Dukla board run through managers.  The key will not to drop too far during the season, and to keep the board happy by showing some fight.  They still want us to play attacking football so that will be interesting.

Having checked the club vision for that information, I noted the following

The board want us to sign players to sell.  I don't know if selling youth products allows this to be achieved, and there have been a run of bids on some of the intake players already, so most have signed a professional contract to try and deter this.

In terms of transfers, i did make one error.  I had set it to confirm all transfers, but the staff managed to sign a free player without me getting notification until it was confirmed.  So I am now in full transfer control across the board but we have one new player

Novak has been tagged to sell or loan out, with the aim being that he won't play for us at any point.  Hopefully any loan deal can bring in some money, but he doesn't look the best, so if we can get an early sale I will be happy, and on the way to pleasing the board.

So we are in a reasonable position, but need to work out the league system, and decide on a tactical switch to give us the best chance to stay up.  This will probably involve a tweak of mentality and well as moving at least one player, and changing roles to balance this out

[scousevasey]

Season Preview

As we have moved up a league, we have new rules to contend with

 

There is not a huge amount expected of us this season, but hopefully we can surprise a few teams, and that Ceske struggle again.

In the first stage of the league, everyone plays home and away giving us 30 games to aim for 10, and to miss out on the relegation face off.

The top six face off for the title, with 4th having an odd extra game with the European Places group.  Looking in detail at the rules of all the sections, one of the European places could go to the cup, which explains why 5th is not in the European places final.

7th-10th play off in a four team knockout run, with the winner of that making that European Places final against 4th.  So in theory we could have 1st-3rd, and 10th make Europe through the league with the other team coming via the cup.

At the other end of the table the bottom six play off to avoid the drop, or the relegation playoff.  As our opponent last year finished the first stage quite high and then failed to pick up points in the final stage, it could all be to play for during this time, so even if we finish bottom of the first stage we may have a chance.

The best part of this is that it is entirely possible for the teams finishing 10th and 11th in the first stage to be tied on points, then have one make Europe and one get relegated.  Which would be amazing.

 

Because we are expected to face the drop and struggle there are tactical decisions to be made, and while there are lots of options there isn't an easy answer.  So the ideas being weighed up currently

1) Stick with the current formation, but drop to Balanced or Cautious, and try to be defensively sound, hitting teams on the break

2) Move the DM-HB to be an AMC.  This would require a change in roles for the MC pairing, and a decision about the AMC role.  It seems counter intuitive, as we look to defend, but it would give the STC more support, and the MC roles can cover for the loss of the HB.

3) Change to have two strikers together, again to avoid the isolation that occurred previously, but I have no ideas how the rest of the formation would play out

4) Move to a common formation we faced last year with 2DMs and 1MC (flipped from what we have currently) giving more security but possibly conceding ground in the middle of the pitch.

5) Similar to point (2), but go to a 4-2-3-1 DM formation, making sure we have the defensive stability

 

Whatever change is made, will require a consideration of roles, and a full squad review in terms of suitability and planning a depth chart.  But it will require more thought before a decision

[scousevasey]

On 11/06/2020 at 18:51, scousevasey said:

Because we are expected to face the drop and struggle there are tactical decisions to be made, and while there are lots of options there isn't an easy answer.  So the ideas being weighed up currently

1) Stick with the current formation, but drop to Balanced or Cautious, and try to be defensively sound, hitting teams on the break

2) Move the DM-HB to be an AMC.  This would require a change in roles for the MC pairing, and a decision about the AMC role.  It seems counter intuitive, as we look to defend, but it would give the STC more support, and the MC roles can cover for the loss of the HB.

3) Change to have two strikers together, again to avoid the isolation that occurred previously, but I have no ideas how the rest of the formation would play out

4) Move to a common formation we faced last year with 2DMs and 1MC (flipped from what we have currently) giving more security but possibly conceding ground in the middle of the pitch.

5) Similar to point (2), but go to a 4-2-3-1 DM formation, making sure we have the defensive stability

After a couple of days away from the save, due to a combination of real life and thinking about tactics this is the current though process

Due to a series of clicking through the offseason to get to the season change, and not needing to consider any transfers we are rather close to the new season, with only a handful of friendlies between the current point and the start of the season.

That means a huge tactical change will probably destabilise the team.

So there will be a multi-pronged approach, linked to the points above (and numbered in the same way)

1) This is the first thing we will do, although it will probably require a slight chance in player mentalities too to avoid a disconnect.  I am going to consider adding in a BBM to see what improvements we can see from using that role, so will need to look at player suitability

2) Set this up as tactic two, and work out where the star of the intake 20e Frydek fits without being a HB.  This will require a consideration of AMC roles, what I am after, and a depth chart deliberation

3) Ignore this idea at the minute

4) This would improve us defensively, but mean we are weaker going forward, and too many draws will doom us eventually

5) Again ignoring this as it would leave a gap in the middle of the pitch, either drawing the DMs too far forward and leaving them exposed, or just ceding the midfield and leaving us overrun.

 

Next steps

a) Review all the depth chart conversations - we had too many players who were listed with 3-5 positions but no actual depth when injuries hit

b) Add in depth chart views for MC-BBM and AMC-role tbc

c) Set up the 4-2-3-1 formation to be trained in the background

d) Change the mentality on the current 4-3-3 formation to prepare for the new season

e) Play the friendlies to see if things work

[scousevasey]

On 25/05/2020 at 20:33, scousevasey said:

Attribute requirements

This is going to utilise the attributes highlighted on the player profile when roles are selected, and use these as a start point to decide how I am going to sort the players.

But I also want to keep the number of attributes that I am using to sort the players down to 10 if possible otherwise I am basically comparing the whole player and not important attributes.

For each position, I have taken a screenshot of the highlighted attributes for a random player at the position, focusing on the chosen role, and duty for that.  This is linked to in the naming of the duty, although the attributes are listed in the post too.

Goalkeeper - defend

Eventually I may want to move to a sweeper keeper as we have a higher line of engagement but for now we are starting with the GK-D role

Key attributes - Aerial reach, Command of area, Communication, Handling, Kicking, Reflexes, Concentration, Positioning, Agility

Important attributes - One on ones, Throwing, Anticipation, Decisions

Chosen for sorting -  Command of area, Communication, Handling, Reflexes, Concentration, Positioning, Agility, Anticipation, Decisions, Determination

I have dropped Aerial reach as I think being in the right place and making the right decisions are more important.  I would rather the GK makes every save look easy because they are ready for the shot, than they have to perform acrobatics and leap high to get the ball.  While this affects their ability to come and claim a corner, if they are tall enough and can jump the fact they can use their hands should mean they can claim the ball.

I also dropped Kicking from the list as this is more for distribution, and while I haven't told the GK how to distribute the ball, we are looking to play out of defence and the Back 5 should always offer a decent option for the GK

With the points from the post above, we are aiming complete parts b-d in this post, with a slight adjustment in terms of roles shown

BBM

I have created a listing for this role as it may be put into the 4-3-3 formation as one of the MC pairing to allow a bit more security in terms of defence this season.  It has not been implemented yet, but is an option.

Key attributes - Passing, Tackling, Off the ball, Work rate, Teamwork, Stamina

Important attributes - Dribbling, Finishing, First touch, Long shots, Technique, Aggression, Anticipation, Composure, Decisions, Positioning, Acceleration, Balance, Pace, Strength

Chosen for sorting - Passing, Teamwork, Workrate, Stamina, Off the ball, Anticipation, Composure, Positioning, Acceleration, Determination

These attributes are chosen with the aim that the BBM has the ability to get up and down the pitch combining Teamwork, Work rate, Stamina, Positioning and Acceleration, with the attributes of Passing, Off the ball, Anticipation and Composure being key in ensuring they can read the game and provide a link between the attacking and defensive units.

If placed in the team this role would act as a 6th defensive player/5th attacking player to bridge the middle of the park as best as possible

 

BWM

I have created a listing for this position as when creating the 4-2-3-1 I was wary of leaving the defence overloaded, but managing the MC roles is not my strong suit.  The aim here is to give more options knowing who is suitable.

Key attributes - Tackling, Aggression, Anticipation, Bravery, Teamwork, Work rate, 

Important attributes - Marking, Concentration, Positioning, Agility, Pace, Stamina, Strength

Chosen for sorting - Tackling, Anticipation, Teamwork, Work rate, Concentration, Positioning, Pace, Stamina, Strength, Determination

As the main job of this role will be to sweep up in midfield, breaking down any attacks and securing possession the focus is on being in the right place at the right time.  While this role often ends up collecting bookings the idea is to ignore the aggressive side of the role, and instead use a combination of good positioning and reading of the game to shut down any attacking play, while being strong and defensively sound enough to step into challenges when needed.

 

Shadow Striker

Chosen for the 4-2-3-1 to try and boost the number of threats in the box, and currently paired with the AF role from the 4-3-3 to avoid too many judgements and complications.  As this basically replaces the HB at DM, it will be paired with a BWM to keep the idea of front and back fives.

Key attributes - Dribbling, Finishing, First touch, Anticipation, Composure, Off the ball, Acceleration

Important attributes - Passing, Technique, Concentration, Decisions, Work rate, Agility, Balance, Pace, Stamina

Chosen for sorting - Finishing, Dribbling, First touch, Composure, Anticipation, Passing, Technique, Acceleration, Decisions, Determination

This role will mix between creating chances and scoring chances, so there are attributes built around both to ensure the player can do both, and made a difference as planned.

 

In terms of tactical changes, the 4-3-3 formation used last season has stayed the same apart from moving the mentality to Balanced from Attacking.  There have been no other adjustments at this point, mainly to see what works, by it is possible that either one or both MC role will change in the near future.

The second formation has been created to develop in training

As always I am not too sure about the MC roles, but the idea here is that the players in the back 4 have the same roles (I have just noticed the GK has changed so will edit this to GK-d), as do the attacking trident from the previous formation.

The BWM is on the opposite side to the IWB meaning they shouldn't compete for space, and the RPM is still on the side of the Winger for a similar reason.  The SS should push forward leaving space for the RPM and IF to cut into in theory.

 

Stage (a) will take place in the next post, although this will hopefully be laid out differently this time around to make it easier to see overlap and to make sure a position is well covered

[scousevasey]

2020-2021 Depth Chart

Slightly different this year, partially to do with the new roles, but also to highlight some of the challenges and changes.

First up, Krunert could well be our starter at five or six roles.  He will be vital to our hopes this season

Secondly we have a bit of a change in defence as players age or develop, and a bit of a logjam in midfield.

At GK there is no change, although with two keepers arriving in the intake it means that Stovicek is now surplus to requirements and will be moved on if possible

At DR (IWB), Krunert first shows his head.  He was joint IWB1 last season with Dancak, but I think he wont be listed there this year as he will focus on the MC roles.

At DC, Kosik who was first choice last year drops down the pecking order, but is able to step up at DR and HB if required.  He is likely to see time at DR as Kovernikov and Krunert won't be playing there often so will shift his training to that position

At DL (FB), Podany returns from loan but at 31 may not be around much longer. Coufal ousts Preisler who is dropping down the order slightly.

All three defensive players listed to be released have blue levels of determination, with the aim of boosting the squad average.

At DM (HB) there is not much change with Holik taking the starting berth, and 20e Frydek being the main backup, and I will look to get him onto the pitch as often as possible to aid his development.

With the two new MC roles (BBM and BWM), Krunert shows his value, as does Holik, and the fact they can easily swap role makes any tactical changes easier.  It is good to see 20e Frydek appear again, in the role that replaces his HB role, meaning he will not fall by the wayside

With the two older MC roles (Mez and RPM),  there is again issues at RPM, with the first two backup options being starter quality elsewhere, but the loan of Palacios last season has seen him come back to challenge for a place in the team

The two wide attacking roles don't see much change, with the addition of 20b Rehak, and the inclusion of Koval being the main differences this season.

The AMC (SS) adds more question marks as three of the four players listed are starters elsewhere, meaning the change to the 4-2-3-1 is not an easy move, although there is a bit of flexibility with the backups not all being the same, allowing someone like Kolman to move inside, or Vicek to drop back without too many issues developing.

Using the same colour coding as the attributes shows the plan for the season

Gold (or orange) is the starters, with only DL(FB) and ST(AP) having two players listed as I don't know how Podany will slot into the team, and the performance from last season showing Vicek is theoretically better, and Fabry has low Determination, but Fabry managed to score at a better rate.  DC does have two listed, but we play with two DCs, so it is needed.

The players in purple will get the '2' tag as priority backups.

Those not tagged in early slots are because the are used in other positions, with the aim of not weakening two positions at once if we can avoid it.  Hadascok as RPM2 is an exception here but that is due to the depth we have at AMR(W) that allows a bit more movement.

Anyone shown but not coloured will get a '3' tag, and the development players will get a '4' tag in case in case of injury to give us a bit more depth

This is the current first team squad view, and we may have a handful too many players, but as was seen last season when injuries hit there needs to be some availability.

Any player with a 3 tag not used elsewhere will be made available to the B team to keep their match fitness up.

What is really nice to see is that there is only one player with a blue determination and we now have five players who reach the 'gold standard' in this attribute

[scousevasey]

2020-2021 Season Opening

Four friendlies, which is all we could arrange as the season starts for us on Monday 13th July, and we are one of the last teams to kick off on opening weekend.

Wins in all four, and we were able to rotate everyone in the main squad to build fitness.  There is pretty much two full 11s in the squad with a hand full of extras around which means keeping everyone fit will be a challenge and we will need to utilise the lower squads to get that game time.

It does mean we are well set for the season though.  In every friendly the team set off with the 4-3-3 formation from last season, but set to Balanced as the only change.  The Dobrovice game was quite nice as there were three GK goals, two from penalties but there was a free kick scored too, and then Janda scored and created the two goals against Zittau.

This is the order of the first run through of fixtures.  15 games before the end of October, although any extra cup games may change things.  This is because the league first stage ends in April to allow time for the extra stage to take place.  The start of the season seems very early, and we will have eight league games played by the end of August.

When it comes to next season there will need to be better planning about friendlies with some being classed as in the previous season.

Transfer wise, Novak is the only player signed and I am still trying to offload him.

Everyone in the B team is listed for loan at a minimum, but only Le Van Dai has gone so far, and 20c Hovorka was nabbed by Sigma Olomouc, a fellow top division side

I doubt we will see all of the incentives, but as we did have 7 (seven) GKs at the club, losing one, and trying to get rid of another is not a huge problem.  We will only play one per game, there won't be a GK on the bench unless we are in a dire position around injuries, and need to find time to develop some of the younger options

[scousevasey]

First game in the big leagues

I won't update after every game, but after the tactical notes, and updated depth chart it was time to see if we fit in the top division.

First up a trip away to face Mlada Boleslav, who the media predict to be in 6th at the end of the season.

Going down early was tough, but nothing changed tactically as all of our shots in the first 30 minutes hit the target, and it was fairly even.

It stayed fairly even throughout the game, but we managed to hit them on the counter a couple of times, and once they were behind soak up the pressure.

The change to Balanced saw the two MCs holding back a bit more, meaning it was not quite a front and back five throughout, but the formation worked well as it did last season, and the mentality change worked nicely.  The front three combined well to set up attacks shown by Hadascock scoring twice from AMR, before moving to RPM after Krunert picked up a knock.

 

Possession overall was fairly even, and our positional map is skewed by Hadascok moving from AMR to MC.

Allied with the passing map it shows that there were no players isolated, and while it looks like Rada went long to Holik, him being the HB saw him drop to the edge of the box to collect possession regularly.  Lots of short passes, and consistently moving sideways or forwards to find space to exploit

Looking at the deeper stats it shows how close the game was, with Mlada managing to get three CCCs but only hitting the target twice.  Ideally we wouldn't concede that many chances, but the players recovered to put pressure on the Mlada players which made the difference

What stands out in the analysis is that for every player had notes about their performance, there were only two negative comments.  I am not sure why the two DCs didn't get any comments, but it was a very strong performance first up.

The rest of July sees us face two other teams predicted in the top half of the table, so a further chance to see how we fit in terms of quality

[scousevasey]

July 2020

After the excitement of the opening day things got progressively worse.  But the results don't tell the whole story

We went down very early against Sigma, with Ditmar opening the game with a foul, picking up the booking, then the free kick lofting into the box and being put away.  After that we controlled the majority of the chances but it was an even game and can view the loss as unlucky

Against Banik we were outclassed, and only managed to achieve our shots when after 60 minutes we moved from Balanced to Positive, although they picked us apart near the end for a second goal

This result highlights our challenge.  It was a close game, and when we went 2-0 down a change in mentality to Attacking gave us chances, but left us vulnerable.

Our strikers are not quite good enough, which is costing us

[scousevasey]

August at Dulk-VAR Prague

The press in the Czech Republic are enjoying the pun games through August after a few interesting games

Pribam had the ball in the net three times to open the month, and VAR ruled two out, as well as being called on to give the penalty which Rada converted to secure the draw

Slavia Prague managed to go one better than Pribam and had the ball in the net four times, but again VAR stepped up twice, although we couldn't manage to salvage anything

The final two matches of August were less exciting, although Slovan Liberec were top at the time of our game, so to claim a point is useful

The FA cup game originally slated for the 25th moved to the 1st September, and I rotated heavily for this game, with Rada getting to play due to Janda being out injured, and Kovernikov playing at DC due to backup Kozma being out.  Both injuries are fractures and long term

Chrudim were a team we faced last season, but were relegated while we were promoted.  So the fully rotated team should have had enough to beat them.

A mistake occured when I was making the substitutions, where I went to remove Koval and replace him with Hadascok, but instead chose Krunert.  While Krunert is able to play pretty much everywhere, it meant I couldn't find him when I was making another sub, so ended up with a double Mez rated pairing in midfield and Krunert on the left.

Once we reached extra time, Hadascok came on, and Krunert was able to move to MC, but we were not able to score, and failed during penalties.

 

The board won't be happy, and I am not pleased, but this game was on the Tuesday after a Saturday league game, and the squad is not deep enough yet for two games a week.

That all leaves us in the mix for the relegation group, unsurprisingly, with the loss to Slovacko being the worst one as they were tied on points with us going into the game, although they were strong favourites.

A quarter of the way through the first league stage, and life is not going to be easy.

The positives are that we don't have the worst goal difference, and Vitkovice who came up with us are also struggling, but we are not doing well

As there is an International window after the FA Cup game, it may be time to try out the secondary formation

With games against two top teams sandwiching a trip to Vitkovice September looks like a difficult and important month, with us facing some more tough games in October, although with the position the club is in currently there are no easy games.