As the world turns

#41013 joannes3000 : #40964 Mikethemanc :
#40952 joannes3000 :
#40878 Mikethemanc :
Are you still using the tactic in your LoL guide? Any chance you could upload it? I've created an FMScout FC team and would like to use the tactic on there. Also, I would like to create you as a coach on my team. Do you accept the job offer?


Funny enough, I was going to see if there were still spots open on your FM Scout team yesterday! I think it would be fun to be a coach and I graciously accept.

I'm using a variation of what's listed in the LoL Guide. I'd be happy to upload it for you to use when I get home this afternoon.


Yeah if you could do. I downloaded one the other month and wasn't sure how to load it into the game. Any idea?


Using Windows 7, put the .tac file in the following folder:

Documents -> My Documents -> Sports Interactive -> Tactics

cheers mate!

For December, my gift to HSV was validation. Validation that they made the right choice when they hired me as manager. We faced the top three teams in the Bundesliga and we went undefeated. We beat Leverkusen 2-1 away then came home and shut out Dortmund 1-0. The against FC BAyern, we had them beaten but we got sloppy early after the restart and needed a 75th minute goal from Heiko Westermann to salvage a draw. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked by the results, as I would've been happy with 3 points. Instead we took home 7.

We bring lots of momentum with us into the new year and look to continue our run of form. I didn't realize there was such a long layoff to start the year, and it makes sense now why Bayern offered to play a friendly. We match up against Bochum (17) and Stuttgart (6). After last month's run against top competition, I want us to take home at least 4 points out of a possible 6. We are now only 3 points adrift of 6th place Stuttgart and have opened up a 10 point cushion from the drop zone.



We advanced out of the group stage of the Europa League by the skin of our teeth. That win against Galatasaray when I was only days into the job loomed large, as we finished with 9 points; 2 points clear of... Galatasaray. And while our matchup against Sion was a blowout (5-0), Tottenham did everything they could do to keep Galatasaray in the game before the final whistle blew on a 1-0 game. The football gods decided it was time to take a trip down memory lane, as our opponent in the first knockout round will be none other than one of our former La Liga opponents At. Madrid. We have a month before we face them and it will be fun to travel back to Spain for the away leg.



As expected, we routed Furth in the 3rd round of the DFB-Pokal. Our draw is significantly more difficult for the quarterfinals, however, where Bayern awaits. That's a hefty task, given that the board somehow expects us to at least get to the semifinals.



I don't know what to do with the transfer window open, so let's get crazy and analyze the team.

I feel ok with our striker pairings. Heung-Min and Tore should continue to work well off of one another as they get more games in. Berg is a bit too narrow focused as a scorer even for my tastes at poacher, but he gets the job done. Hadzic is not the force I want at trequart but while Kammlott looks better on paper, he's actually looked worse on the pitch.

Our starting center mids are great. Kovacic is a great playmaker and Kacar is a great enforcer to pair with him. Skjelbred is an able backup to Kovacic and Westermann continues to look good as a very strict defensive presence. These four guys will help drive the team when we face off against the best of the best.

I think our wide midfielders are struggling the most to grasp my 442 tactic. Wagner and Jansen have the pace and crossing ability, but both lack the dribbling. That usually isn't a problem since a lot of our focus is more toward the center of the pitch and our wing players are more secondary options. I can't help but wonder why I can't get more out of my guys, though. Maybe it will just take time. Diekmeier and Beister are a bit slower but better dribblers, so maybe they'll show me something as the season progresses.

Much like the center of the midfield, the center of our back line impresses me. Jansen (newgen) and Rajkovic are bosses in the back. Koch is a well-rounded right fullback that can get forward. And at left fullback it's a matter of picking the lesser of two evils. I keep going back and forth with Petersen (newgen) and Boilesen because neither are impressive. In fact, that decides it. If I can get some funds from the board, we're going shopping for a left fullback.

In between the sticks, Rensing is fantastic but he's starting to show his age. I also like to get Erdemir (newgen) some matches every now and then but he's definitely no heir to the throne.

Good luck with this save and in the DFB Pokal against Bayern and against Atletico Madrid.

What an interesting month. Two league games and that's it? I'm never one to sit still so we played three friendlies in the month to stay fit. Bayern threw a bunch of money at us to play a game, so we took the money and the ass kicking. A 0-3 defeat wasn't what I expected after we managed a 1-1 draw against them in league play last month. I decided to invite some of my La Liga compatriots to Hamburg afterwards. Barca came to visit and left with a 5-0 beatdown. What an interesting turn of events after we looked totally outclassed against Bayern. Then we invited Real Madrid over and while the game was exciting, it ended in a scoreless draw.

Our strong performances in those friendlies translated somewhat into our first league game of the month. We beat Bochum 2-0 but really should have scored at least two more goals had it not been for some sloppy finishing. Then in our matchup against Stuttgart we scored the only two goals of the game. One of them, however, was an own goal by Janis Jansen and we threw away a chance to steal a win against a top side that stands in our way of qualifying for European football next season.

February is going to be a little bit busier with three games on tap. We match up against Wolfsburg (4), Freiburg (15), and Koln (9). I want us to bring home at least 5 points out of 9. We are 2 points from 6th place Schalke and have a 14 point cushion from the drop zone. With just under half of the season remaining our goal of a top 6 finish is well within reach. A top 3 finish and Champions League football is still quite a distance away (9 points) but I suppose anything can happen if we get hot down the stretch.



We'll be playing our matchup with At. Madrid toward the end of this month in the Europa League. And I must admit I feel better about my chances after the two results against Barca and Real Madrid. I'm hoping for a good showing and like my chances of advancing to the next round.



No updates from the DFB Pokal, other than we will be facing Bayern early this coming month to see who advances to the semifinals.



No megadeals were conducted before the closing of the transfer window. In fact, the only new faces joining us are two left fullbacks we picked up on the cheap - Jop van der Linden for 20k and Joseph Djo Kipoy on a free. I brought these two guys on board after FSV Frankfurt offered to loan out Benedikt Peterson and his 11.25k p/w wages. van der Linden and Kipoy combined make 7900 p/w. We're also bringing in a newgen prospect at right fullback, Jaguare from Internacional. My 20 PA lead scout gives him a 3.5 potential rating so I figure he's worth the 2m bid.

Good work mate!
How are Granada getting on now without The Messiah at the helm?

#41604 Mikethemanc : Good work mate!
How are Granada getting on now without The Messiah at the helm?

I think Granada may have already forgotten about me with Guardiola leading the squad, lol. I'll post some screenies, but last I checked, Granada was cruising through CL play. One thing I will do going forward is I will keep my previous league loaded so I can have a more detailed look at how the old team is doing.

We weren't bad, but we certainly weren't good in February as we managed a 2-1-1 record. Things got off to a promising start with a 3-2 away win against Werder Bremen. Then we came home and dominated Wolfsburg everywhere but the scoreboard. We limited them to 7 shots, won the possession battle 62/38, and lost 0-1. We stormed back into form with a 3-0 win over Freiburg, then once again had a strange game against Koln that ended in a 1-1 draw.

We find ourselves in 7th place with 11 games to go. We trail 3rd place Leverkusen by 7 points and we trail 6th place Werder Bremen by one goal scored. In March we match up against Schalke (9), Frankfurt (11), Gladbach (5!), and Hertha BSC (16). I want us to bring home at least 9 points out of 12. With the final stretch of games upon us, we really need to finish strong if we are to even contend for a Champions League spot. A Europa League spot, on the other hand, seems like all but guaranteed unless we have a colossal meltdown to finish out the season.



Our run in the Europa League continues after securing a 3-1 aggregate victory over At. Madrid. Our tour of Spain will continue in the 2nd Knockout Round as we are set to face Villarreal.



In what qualfies as one of our biggest scalps of the season, we managed to upend FC Bayern in the quarterfinals of the DFB Pokal. We took an early lead thanks to a 20th minute goal by Marcus Berg and our defense played exceptionally well to secure the 1-0 win. We will face Schalke in the semifinals toward the end of this month.



With Son Heung-Min back in action after missing 3 weeks due to a twisted ankle, we look to be at full strength going into the final months of the season. Hopefully everyone can hold up for the stretch run! And in looking back at Heung-Min's injury history, we may just look to offload him if the right opportunities present themselves. He is certainly living up to his injury proneness.

may i see mateo kovacic atributes?

cheers mate, good luck winning that league to bayern :p

We got back to our winning ways in March, putting together a perfect 3-0 record in league play. We had a very uplifting 3-1 win against Schalke but then made things overly difficult for ourselves. We left it to an 85th minute goal to put away Frankfurt. And we must have really enjoyed that nail-biter because we didn't secure the game-winner against Gladbach until the 85 minute, either. Our game against Hertha BSC due to cup play.

Our 3 game winning streak has propelled us into 4th place! Unfortunately, we are still 8 points behind Leverkusen; although we do have a game in hand. We lead Wolfsburg by 1 point. April is going to be one hell of a run, with 7 of our final 8 league games on tap. We match up against Hannover (15), Kaiserslautern (12), Hoffenheim (18), Nurnberg (14), Hertha BSC (13), Leverkusen (3), and Dortmund (1). I want us to bring home at least 16 points out of 21, hopefully with us winning the first 5 in a row to put pressure on Leverkusen and Dortmund at the end of the month.



We dispatched our second straight La Liga team, beating Villarreal by a 4-2 aggregate score. We had a very strong away leg that saw us take a 2-2 score back home, and villarreal could not cope with our more attacking mindset in front of our fans. Our opponent in the quarterfinals is a familiar face - Stuttgart - and we got things started off quite well with a 2-1 away leg victory. If we can put away Stuttgart we will face the winner of the Celtic v Spartak Moscow game, with Spartak Moscow leading 2-0.



Our scalp of FC Bayern in the previous round of the DFB Pokalmust have motivated the team. How else can I explain a 6-0 demolition of Schalke in the semifinals? This was one of those clinical beatdowns that my 442 has been known to produce. 59% possession is pretty good, but holy shit look at the shots/on target figures! We put Schalke on their back foot from the onset and just kept pushing. We will face Hannover in the finals who had a thrilling game end 5-4 on penalties. We will need to stay motivated against what is currently the 15th placed team in the league, but I'm hoping that we can bring home this trophy to mark my first season with HSV.





We will need to make a decision on Son Heung-Min. He is a wonderful talent but you can tell that his lack of games put a damper on his overall productivity. Not just his goal tally, but his average rating as well. And you can really see just how lost he is at times on the pitch.

#42010 Sporting_23 : may i see mateo kovacic atributes?

cheers mate, good luck winning that league to bayern :p

Here you go, mate:

thanks mate

Remember my first season at Granada when we did the improbable and qualified for the Champions League? We may very well do it again in my first season at HSV! We ended up playing only five games instead of seven in April because of scheduling issues, but we managed another clean sweep. In fact, we didn't allow a single goal to league opponents while scoring 14 goals of our own. Our biggest win was an emphatic 4-0 home victory against Leverkusen that put us within striking distance of 3rd place.

With 3 games left we pretty much have destiny in our hands. Leverkusen has one game remaining against 13th place Nurnberg. Assuming they win, we will need another undefeated month to try and overtake them on the last day by goal differential. And while we'd certainly be up for the challenge, I'd much rather they lose or draw because our run-in will be much harder. Our final three games pit us against Dortmund (2), Hertha BSC (15), and FC Bayern (1).

We've already secured at least a return trip to the Europa League, so the only aim is to bring home at least 7 points or the full 9 points to try and book a trip to the Champions League.



In the Europa league we saw off Stuttgart after a scoreless second leg led to a 2-1 aggregate win. That leg was fully dominated by us but we simply couldn't finish. That advanced us to the semifinals against Spartak Moscow. We took full advantage of having the home leg first, taking a lopsided 5-1 victory on our trip to Russia. The away leg ended in a 1-1 draw and we are onto the finals against... Liverpool. We will be firm underdogs in the final match but anything can certainly happen in a one match environment. And while we didn't beat a bunch of pushover teams on our way, Liverpool will clearly be our toughest test.



No news to report regarding the DFB Pokal. We're set to play Hannover on the 15th, which is the last scheduled match of the season, and I'm hoping we have enough motivation when the game arrives. In the seven days prior to that match we will have played FC Bayern for a possible spot in the Champions League and will have played Liverpool in the finals of the Europa League.

Competitions

Bundesliga



Champions League - n/a

Europa League



DFB Pokal



Transfers



First Team





Summary

Have you all downloaded the vanilla 442 tactic yet? It's the tactic we used this season to do the double. I'd say I wasn't sure what to do for an encore next season but I already have my sights set. For all the we accomplished this season, I know we can do more simply because I haven't worked the roster to my liking yet. I want to get better wide midfielders to help open up the offense more. We relied entirely too much on our strikers with nobody else netting home double digit goals other than Heung-Min, Tore, and Berg. We could also do for better depth overall, which will be needed in order to sustain these deep cup runs. I also want to improve on our training regimen. We have top notch facilities but only average a 3 star coaching rating.

Second and third place in the league standings were still up in the air going into the last day. And as we were demolishing a crowned and unmotivated Bayern team I was watching the scoreboard to see how Dortmund and Leverkusen were doing. At one point both teams were losing and we would have finished 2nd! Dortmund relied on two goals in the second half to win, however, and to secure second place. Our three goal outburst against Bayern pushed our goal differential to six more than Leverkusen and they would have to overcome that in order to overtake us for 3rd. Leverkusen could only manage one goal, however, and they ended up conceding the game-tying goal in extra time. So as the dust settled on a busy final day, we were left standing in 3rd place with a spot booked in next year's Champions League.

The team took the good form that saw us beat Bayern 3-1 into the finals of the Europa League where we met Liverpool. And in our biggest stage thus far, our team stepped up to the task. Gokhan Tore fired us to a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute. Then it was the defense and sound ball movement that saw out the rest of the game. We ended up allowing only 7 shots (2 on target) and thoroughly frustrated Liverpool. So much so, that they were booked a whopping six times in the final 30 minutes, with Christopher Samba getting a straight red card in the process. Was I a bit surprised to take home the Europa League trophy in my first season? A little bit, yet. But we played strongly throughout and proved that when we are playing our brand of football, we are a handful to deal with.

The final game of our season was to decide the DFB Pokal. And after playing Bayern and Liverpool, my biggest
concern was a lack of motivation against Hannover. Instead, we came out firing on all cylinders. Son Heung-Min netted home the opening goal in the 21st minute. Then strike partner Carsten Kammlott doubled the lead in the 24th. Heung-Min then hit for his brace in the 42nd minute and the game was effectively over. Hannover did little to threaten in the second half and the only goal they managed to score was in their own net in the 66th minute. We brought home our second trophy of the season on the strength of a dominating 4-0 performance.

what a great finish to the season 11 wins in a row!!!!! I reckon in 2 seasons you can give the UCL a real shot

What happened to this story? Would hate to see it disbanded completely.