CybrSlydr

Jose Gaya is pretty great as well. Grimaldo too.

Well, against all odds, we succeeded! We lost to Athletico Madrid in the first knock-out round 3-1 after finishing second in our group. We also had to play second-fiddle to Bayern for the majority of the season. They started on something like a 15 game winning streak. With 4 games left in the season, we were 3 points up. We played BMG, Hertha (in 3rd place), Hamburg and Hoffenheim. We beat BMG but lost to Hertha. We then beat Hamburg. We were 1 point up going into the final match. Hoff went up 2-0 inside of the first 7 minutes (!!!). I figured we were toast but Aubameyang and Reus scored to equalize. I didn't realize this at the time, but Bayern were up on Leverkusen 1-0 but Kampl saved my season by equalizing in the 89th minute! We then beat Leverkusen 3-2 to win the German Cup to give us the trebel - Super Cup, German Cup and First Division Title. Not bad for a first season. I got about $64m USD in transfer money and blew it all on Ter-Stegen. Just too many games where Burki just wasn't good enough. Got him for $48.5m USD and $8.5m Sign On Bonus. As mentioned above, I used a modified verison of Ozil's Saachi 4-4-2. Worked pretty well for me, though our defense could be better.

He's been splitting time for me with Schmelzer as well as playing in my central midfield. Good depth guy but replaceable.

Mid-way through November - since I had so many people injured at the beginning, I checked the "No First Window Transfers" or whatever. Bit selfish, but means I might be able to catch up by letting my players perform and garner some transfer value. Aubaumeyang is on fire with 18 goals in 16 total appearances. Goetze just came back off rehab and has made about 7 starts, splitting with Kagawa. Reus is due to finish rehab in a few days. Sven Bender is due to start rehab shortly. Dembele has been ok, as has Schurrle and Pulisic. I'm playing a 4-4-1-1 (offset AMC/ST) - it's a variation on Ozil's Saachi 4-4-2 formation. In 10 Bundesliga games, we're 8-1-1 only 2 points back of Bayern. We're currently 2nd place in our Champions League group with 6 points, 1-3-0 (R. Madrid, Besiktas and PSV).

Man, don't try and do this Dortmund save in 17.3! You start off with 7 injuries to key players and they're all of the 5-6 month or LONGER variety. Sheesh!

I'm quite sure I have the right players. It appears the problem is that while they are learning the tactic and we're at about 80% fluidity, for some reason the formation subset was stuck on awkward while everything else was accomplished or better. I think the save is bugged.

I'm really beginning to think this tactic isn't good for the Premiere League. Defense is just bad. Smalling, Rojo, Jones, Bailly, etc - we are giving up goals and can't score many. Drew Tottenham, lost to Chelsea, lost to Liverpool, drew West Brom... Only beat FC Steaua 1-0 at HOME, drew Sassuolo 0-0 away... Currently find ourselves in 7th in the Premiere League and 2nd in our Euro Cup bracket two games in. Not very pleased. I mean Jesus ****ing Christ - I just drew Spartak Moscow 1-1 and had 39% possession. 39%.

First real test of the Premiere League season playing against Spurs. Got off to a bad start. Rooney fouled Dier in the box on a corner and Kane converted. Possession wasn't nearly as good as against the lesser teams, but we still had the majority. I also decided to try playing with an AP(S) instead of T(A). Later on, Pogba wasn't playing well so I put Fabregas back in the DLP(D) spot and subbed Mata in at the AP(S) and pulled Mkhitaryan for Ibrahimovic. Little after that, we netted our only goal from Herrera. While a draw at home is disappointing, it was against Spurs and in 3 games we've not given up a goal from the run of play - and it never really looked like Spurs had much of an opportunity to score either. Oh - I also just picked up Jose Gaya and am working on getting Benjamin Henrichs.

I'm considering trying this with Ibrahimovic playing as a DLF(S) with two SS behind him. Ibra is just too good to not utilize (though I'm currently training him as a SS).

Just had a MUCH better showing vs Burnley away. Granted, two goals were scored against a 10-man team, but that's ok to me. Two clear-cut chances and four half-chances. Possession still firmly in their half in the red. Still nine shots from outside the box, but the goals came from within. See if I can get Adrien Silva's goal uploaded to YouTube - shows beautiful passing progression.

Decided to fire up my Rich United save and see what I could do with this formation. I went out and got Adrien Silva to compliment Ander Herrera as the CM(S), I also picked up Cesc Fabregas from Chelsea as added AM(C) and CM depth. Starting lineup had me with... Rooney - Mata - Mkhitaryan Herrera - Fabregas - Silva Shaw - Bailly - Jones - Valencia We played Watford in our first match of the Premiere League season and won 2-0 (though the second goal was an OG off a GK deflection). The one goal we scored was off a cross to Rooney in the box. Ended up controlling the match with 64% possession. 16 total shots with only 6 on target. 9 of those shots came from outside the box at the top. Mata (playing as a Treq) was responsible for 4 of them. We also created only two Clear-Cut Chances and zero half-chances. Possession heat-map also shows that we dominated their half of the pitch - though our possession peters out right as we get to their 18yd box. When comparing our possession heat map with the location of our shots I come to a couple conclusions. 1. Mata needs to be told to shoot less 2. Our final passes are getting into their box and finding players feet 3. I might need to consider telling them to "Work Ball Into Box" to cut down on the long shots I hesitate to tell Mata to shoot less simply because I want him shooting and being part of that offensive front - I just wish he were better at choosing when and from where to shoot - so I think I'll try the "Work Into Box" shout first. I think this is quite telling - our attacking and midfield players are nowhere near comfortable with each other yet. We win 2-0 via a single goal and gifted an OG while our "front 6" all have ratings in the mid 6's. Right now we're at about 40% Fluidity on this tactic with players like Silva and Fabregas at about 25-30% fluidity. I expect we will find more shots on goal and clear-cut chances as the team gains familiarity with the tactic.

Wait. So what you're saying is the star-ratings aren't just... over-all? So a 3-star player means they're as good as my team on average while those in the 4-5 are vastly better? How the hell have I played this game for... 5+ years and am just now finding this out?? I thought it was an over-all rating, not comparative to your team. This explains so much! Why Marco Reus and the like when I scout them come up as like...3-star or 3.5. Why these "world class" midfielders and stuff are in the 3s. Holy crap. This puts an entirely new spin on things.

Am I reading this correctly? Instead of 3 CD, you have a Right and Left Defender and a single Center Back?

This is the kind of thing I'm noticing. Like when I mentioned the dearth of talented young Italians - they're all 4-star or below. Not a single 5-star or 4.5.