1 credit to the team winning the most matches determined by penalty kicks 

 The Competition:

8 teams will compete in 10 cups (last two of S70 & all eight of S71) with each of the teams paying for one full cup & Real Madison will pick up the extra 2. In addition to the normal benefits of playing in cups, the USA Cup Series wil feature additional incentives for the participating teams. 

The Schedule:

S70, Rd. 30 SAT

USA XV-host FC Philly

S70, Rd. 30 SUN

USA XVI-host Real Madison

S71, Rd. 1, SAT

USA XVII-host Karas Hippies

S71, Rd. 1 SUN

USA XVIII-host Real Madison

S71, Rd. 10 SAT

USA XIX-host Jamaican Legends

S71, Rd. 10 SUN

USA XX-host Kilgore Trout

S71, Rd. 20 SAT

USA XXI-host Shorties my game

S71, Rd. 20 SUN

USA XXII-host Hoolahoops

S71, Rd. 30 SAT

USA XXIII-host lolitas

S71, Rd. 30 SUN

USA XXIV-host Real Madison

BONUS CREDIT COMPETITION

I will update this blog with the results from each cup & donate credits in the following fashion:

• 4 credits to the winner of the most cups. In case of a tie, credits will be split. 

1. Real Madison (6)

2. Kilgore Trout (3)

2. Karas Hippies (1)

• 2 credits to the winner of the most games. In case of a tie, h2h will determine winners.

1. Real Madison (20)

2. Kilgore Trout (17)

3. Karas Hippies (12)

4. FC Philly (6)

5. Jamaican Legends (5)

6. Shorties my game (2)

• 2 credits to the team scoring the most goals. (In matches determined by penalty kicks, the PKs will be excluded)

1. Real Madison (57)

3. Karas Hippies (28)

4. Jamaican Legends (18)

5. FC Philly (13)

• 2 credits to the team with the worst record.

1. Hoolahoops (0-10)

2. Lolitas (1-5)

3. Shorties my game (2-10)

• 1 credits to the team with the biggest loss.

1. Hoolahoops (-6)

2. Shorties my game (-5)

• 1 credits to the team with the least cards/match

1. Lolitas (0.50)

2. Kilgore Trout (0.708)

2. Real Madison (0.708)

4. Shorties my game (0.75)

5. FC Philly (0.8125)

6. Hoolahoops (0.9)

7. Karas Hippies (0.95)

8. Jamaican Legends (1.23)

• 1 credit to the team  with the most ejections. 

1. Real Madison (5)

2. Hoolahoops (3)

2. Jamaican Legends (3)

4.  Karas Hippies (2)

• 1 credit to the team with the most victories by 3 or more goals.

1. Real Madison (8)

2. Karas Hippies (4)

3. FC Philly (3)

3. Jamaican Legends (3)

5. Kilgore Trout (2)

• 1 credit to the team with the most losses by 3 or more goals.

1. Hoolahoops (7)

2. Shorties my game (4)

3. Jamaican Legends (2)

3. FC Philly (2)

3. Lolitas (2)

• 1 credit to the team with the most upsets. Defined by beating a team with a higher top 11 Q.

1. Kilgore Trout (5)

2. FC Philly (4)

3. Karas Hippies (2)

4. Jamaican Legends (1)

4. Shorties my game (1)

• 1 credit to the team with the player with the most goals. (In matches determined by Penalty Kicks, the PK goals will count for this)

20-Leroy Cote (Kilgore Trout)

13-Phillip Fitzpatrick (RM), Gene Pugh (KH)

12-Michael Roy (RM)

10-Jeffrey Rutledge (KH)

9-Jack Rodgers (RM), Jaime Torres (KT)

8-Cornel Stan (JL), Cory Rutledge (FCP)

• 1 credit to the team with the player winning MoM the most.

4-Isidor Rankovic (Kilgore Trout)

3-Matias Delgado (Real Madison)

• 1 credit to the team with the highest average performance.
• 1 credit to the team with the lowest average performance.

1. Real Madison (60.43)
2. Karas Hippies (58.0)
3. Kilgore Trout (56.58)
4. Jamaican Legends (56.23)
5. FC Philly (53.31)
6. Shorties my game (51.66)
7. Lolitas (51.33)
8. Hoolahoops (46.8)

Final Credit Count:

1. Real Madison (11 credits)
2. Hoolahoops (5 credits)
3. Kilgore Trout (3 credits)
4. Lolitas (1 credit)

What is wrong with people posting in the 70% forum?  I check the forum every round & probably half the posts don't list players @ 70% AA. What's worse, most of the people who don't list properly are veterans. WTF? Nothing irritates me more in ML than seeing a new 70% post asking for 150% of a players value from someone with 15 seasons under their belt. I'd rather see 1,000 posts from first season managers asking for 70% for their Q61 age 34 players than anyone advertising "Q 90 almost 91 A 28 4,5 stars" & then seeing an AA greater than 100% from an extreme veteran. 

/end rant

The department title is looking good as I hold a 9 point lead over second place with 7 matches to play. My team gave up its first goal in round 22 since an own goal in round 4 yielding a draw. Other than that, it's been smooth sailing. I bought a 17 year old midfielder today, Q71, I don't expect him to become a great player but I think my investment was worth it. We will see in two or three seasons how far he's come & then I will either commit to him or sell him for profit. 

Of my remaining matches two are against teams that have secured relegation--Bot & TheDreams. FC Icy & India United will remain in Division 3 with winning records & KOOLGOALRIDERS FC (the 2nd place team) & sambas who is fighting to stay above 10th. 

If I beat TheDreams, FC Icy & Sambas in my next 3 matches, & KOOLGOALRIDERS wins its 3 matches as well, a rd 27 win against KGR will secure the department for me & I will be free to play backups for more experience. 

I have begun to look to next season, as you would expect of any team, especially one with a strong probability of moving up a Division. In preparation, I have reached a tentative deal to purchase an improved midfielder, sold a lesser quality midfielder & am looking for replacements for Albu Laureniu who will likely retire after this season. Given my roster composition, it's quite likely that I see several retirements next season & that will throw a wrench in my plans. I would like to buy 2 very good youth next season but if retirements force me to replace A-squad players, so be it. 

On an interesting note, I am nearly done with my 200 friendlies this season, & will be training my players most of this week & all of next week. I'm curious to find out how beneficial training actually is versus resting (& playing friendlies). I expect to have at least 14 training rounds with all players training. This will give me 14*28 opportunities to see player gains. However, there are 3 factors I want to measure: age, attribute value & gain. Obviously the last will be a 0 or a 1. Since we know gains decrease as age & attribute value increase, I was going to experiment a little to get some percentages. Of course the sample size will be too low to really consider it accurate, but I'll post my results. If anyone wants to contribute theirs, feel free 

One of my personal hopes this season was to win 3 player awards. I was hopeful going into the season that I could pull down the best midfielder, defender & keeper. Midfield looks good, defender is a cluster of quality players at the moment but my frustration is at the keeper position. As mentioned in the last post, I haven't conceded a goal in 14 matches, I also haven't allowed a shot on goal in 9 of those 14 matches. Thus, my keeper has little opportunity to perform well. He is consistently putting up performances of 50 which is getting on my nerves but in the end, I'll take the wins.  

18 matches into the season I'm in good position to win my department.

Pos   Team Manager Actions Last 5 MP W D L GF GA GD Pts 1   Real Madison skellygreen DWWWW 18 16 2 0 39 3 +36 50 2   KOOLGOALRIDERS FC goalriders 4 DWDWW 18 12 6 0 41 5 +36 42 3   Kings Eagles moneymike   WWLWW 18 12 3 3 31 13 +18 39 4   AberScun AberScun 3 DLWLW 18 10 3 5 25 17 +8 33 5 Irish Warriors Fast10   WWDLW 18 9 3 6 28 19 +9 30 6 India United bunty 16 DWLWW 18 8 4 6 31 21 +10 28 7 Omaha Jays CorncoastFootballers 4 LWDWL 18 8 4 6 28 18 +10 28 8 FC Icy Nelsan 4 WLWLL 18 8 4 6 20 17 +3 28 9   FC Hood FC Hood   DLWLW 18 8 4 6 18 17 +1 28 10   sambas Reds evil 13 WLDWW 18 8 2 8 22 22 0 26 11   Melbourne Knights Arabett   DWWWL 18 6 3 9 11 19 -8 21 12   Emerycat FC emerycat   LLWLL 18 6 1 11 18 24 -6 19 13   Kotoko FC Lordras   DLLLL 18 5 1 12 12 33 -21 16 14   Warrenton AFC samu3l   LWLWL 18 3 4 11 11 32 -21 13 15   TheDreams N9H9D   LLLLL 18 1 2 15 7 37 -30 5 16   Bot36475 Bot-manager   DLLLL 18 0 2 16 2 47 -45 2

I played 9 of my first 15 matches on the road & won all 9 of those. Both draws have come, disappointingly, at home. Nonetheless, I hold an 8 point advantage over 2nd place & a 17 point advantage on the playoff mark. What's more, of the 3 goals I've conceded in the league, 2 have been own goals & I haven't conceded a goal in the league for 14 matches. 

REVIEWING MY SEASON GOALS: 

These are taken from the Season 69 Preview post, for reference: 

Season 69 Goals:

1. Win my department -- so far so good. A further discussion is in the next segment of this post. 

2. Have all players 20 & under gain 4Q -- I should have qualified that this was for outfielders only. Either way, both keepers have gained +2. Two of my three defenders should get +4Q easily including 20 year old Angel Browning which would bring him up to Q83. All of my midfielders look to be on track for a +3Q gain minimum & I think 3 of the 4 will get the fourth. Both attackers have gained +2Q already & one is one the verge of another. This was a rather ambitious goal, but I'm doing fairly well. 

3. Turn a profit of at least $25.000.000 -- I don't know if I will hit this mark or not. I've been working on trying to grab an attacker or keeper around Q86, age 30-32 & if I can do this, I'll likely fail this goal without selling a player or two. But I'm ok with that because the player purchase is really an advancement on next season which will allow me to fill in whatever gaps remain after retirements. 

4. Improve my team stats by a total of 66 (excluding morale) -- at the moment I'm sitting at +41 so I feel confident I can hit this mark. 

THE LAST 12 MATCHES

 7 of my last 12 matches are at home. 6 of the matches are against teams vying to avoid relegation. 2 of the teams are almost mathematically eliminated from even reaching the relegation playoffs. The real matches of interest come in rounds 27 & 29. Rd 27 will likely see the top two teams in the department in what would be KOOLGOALRIDERS FC (hopefully) last ditched effort to take control of the department--that is if KGR FC doesn't stumble along the way. I only managed a draw in round 12 at home. Similarly, in rd 29 I'll take a trip to India United, who I also pulled down a draw against at home the first go-around. 

My next 3 matches should be easy as all three teams are below 10th place. A trip to Omaha & back home for Irish Warriors & then home for thee easy matches plus the bot in round 28 will lock up the department. Now it's a matter of avoiding injuries. 

A QUICK SEASON 70 PREVIEW

In all likelihood, I'm losing one starting defender (Q83), one starting midfielder (Q78) & a starting striker (Q80). Angel Browning will step in & likely be just as good as the retiring defender, Armando Calhoun is the same quality as the retiring midfielder & Jack Rodgers can capably step in for retiring attacker Alistair Thomas. There's a chance a second defender retires & my keeper is age 37 though I may be purchasing a better one anyway. My starting team quality is about 82.5 at the moment & with the expected retirements I'm looking to drop just a hair thanks to backups that have developed well. Promotion to Division 2 will give me quite the challenge next season. So I'll certainly be looking to use the money I have to up the quality of my midfield & hopefully finding a quality, veteran striker. 

Good luck to all the last 12 matches!

We are one week into Season 69 & I haven't lost yet! 

Team Performance

Within the department I'm 9-0, beating last seasons second place finisher on the road in the opener, the 2nd highest Q team on the road. I pulled down home wins against the 3rd highest Q team & 3 teams I held larger quality advantages over. I'm very pleased with my team performance in the league, especially on the road which was a big problem last season. Last year I took time to upgrade my travel accommodations so I think thats helped quite a bit. So far in the league I've only scored 19 goals but allowed just 3. I'm 2nd in goals scored & 2nd in goals allowed. However, I've scored twice on myself. 

In the League Cup I have won both my matches & things look good for a third victory against a team that doesn't check in very often. 

I played in an 8 team cup & a 16 team cup last weekend. I won the 8 team tournament & finished 2nd in the 16 team tournament. 

Individual Performance

I'm on the verge of buying my third player & have seen very good gains so far this season. I'm +20Q & +112 atts with 58 friendlies played. A few players are very close to gaining another Q & expect to see that happen over the weekend. All of my youth, save a 22 y.o. (not really a youth) have gained a Q this season which is obviously my main desire. 

The Week Ahead

This weekend I have an 8 & 16 team cup. I plan to win both, or at least make the finals. This isn't much of a stretch since I host credit free cups for USA teams to develop my youth faster. My league matches this week I finish off the first go around with the league & will be focused on my round 12 match against KOOLGOALRIDERS FC who is one of the 2 teams that have the 3rd highest Q (78) in the department. This match is at home & comes after a League Cup match. KOOL FC is still in the LC as well so I'll have to decide how I want to handle this from a personnel standpoint. Rd 16 is against the team that finished 2nd last season & 17 is against the other Q78 team on the road. After those matches I'll have a very good idea of how my team stands in terms of promotion. 

I plan to play the same number of friendlies next week & will have a good idea of how big my individual gains will be. I want to finish my 200 friendlies as quick as possible so I can focus on team stat gains. Which brings me to my big question: do team stats gain faster the less players rest during training? I've been keeping records & it seems this is the case but I'm wondering if it's coincidence or if there's merit to that. 

First things first, I'm going to try to keep a regular blog schedule which means one or two entries per week depending on how frequently I have something to say. At least once a week I will have an update on how my season is going & try to post at least two strategy post per season. 

Season 69 Goals:

1. Win my department 

2. Have all players 20 & under gain 4Q

3. Turn a profit of at least $25.000.000

4. Improve my team stats by a total of 66 (excluding morale)

I'm going to play 200 friendlies at home this season to help achieve those goals. 

I can buy one more player & am looking for a striker but can't afford one at the moment so I will either have to sacrifice quality or forgo this addition which I think is pretty necessary. 

 Brunswick has not been active over the last two seasons & I'm expecting this team to become a bot soon. Too bad I'm playing them now while they are Q81. With wins over Irish Warrior & a draw against Frozil on the road already this season, Brunswick poses a challenge for sure. However, after this match my schedule will get significantly easier & I always play well at home. 

His roster  (this doesn't format right so each stat header is shifted to the left one):

Name	Q	Kp	Tk	Pa	Sh	He	Sp	St	Pe	Fit		Avg	MP	Gls	Ass	Fls	Age
	Dustin Walton	81	93	42	62	35	51	82	68	74	100		56	3	3	0	0	24
	Benjamin Nixon	75	77	26	42	40	39	94	69	73	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Daniel Hamrin	74	80	44	63	54	48	66	64	77	100		0	0	0	0	0	41
	Lawrence Camacho	72	77	39	50	46	45	65	60	80	100		0	0	0	0	0	18
	Gary Owens	71	85	33	71	33	38	65	57	61	100		62	1	0	0	0	38
	Alfredo Nicodemo	84	36	87	76	52	58	94	89	67	100		80	3	0	0	0	30
	Marc Garner	79	32	84	68	81	67	82	81	74	98		55	3	0	0	1	32
	Harold Moon	78	35	84	80	46	62	74	76	53	100		55	3	0	0	1	33
	Michael Savage	74	29	87	59	36	46	78	73	54	100		0	0	0	0	0	25
	Joe Sherman	74	38	89	57	51	59	77	66	66	77		50	1	0	0	0	23
	Ray Castaneda	72	33	75	62	33	83	78	62	53	100		0	0	0	0	0	29
	Sergio Mccoy	72	33	78	60	44	62	71	80	76	100		0	0	0	0	0	19
	Marc Olsen	72	39	82	65	46	57	78	60	76	100		0	0	0	0	0	17
	Valdas Brickus	87	37	84	92	84	63	88	82	57	100		53	3	0	2	0	37
	Amadeusz Szwarc	84	41	75	93	74	77	80	89	57	99		69	3	0	2	0	30
	Donald Mcdaniel	83	34	74	93	71	53	86	74	53	85		57	3	0	0	0	34
	Bernard Murray	77	34	64	89	77	48	72	64	63	64		43	3	0	0	0	36
	Arnold Buchanan	74	32	54	91	66	55	66	77	66	91		61	3	2	0	0	27
	Vincent Sawyer	72	36	62	90	62	56	64	59	50	100		0	0	0	0	0	26
	Douglas Stein	72	26	55	86	59	46	75	70	67	100		0	0	0	0	0	21
	Ken Knapp	71	26	79	81	61	62	68	45	40	100		50	1	0	0	0	35
	Ronnie Snow	71	33	47	84	62	64	73	77	70	100		0	0	0	0	0	22
	Shlomi Azulay	70	25	74	75	60	48	71	58	46	100		0	0	0	0	0	30
	Perfect Potencjal Rooney	84	43	74	78	90	88	80	69	76	100		65	3	2	0	0	35
	Francis Odonnell	80	40	36	61	97	83	73	45	61	86		44	3	0	0	0	30
	Enrique Woods	71	29	29	55	81	76	64	59	60	100		0	0	0	0	0	20
	Cody Johns	68	28	35	84	67	70	62	47	66	100		0	0	0	0	0	31

Brunswick plays 3-5-2 mixed attacking but has just 1 star for attacking, defending, throw-in, free kick, corner, penalty & understanding. I'll be playing 4-3-3 longball. His defenders have speeds of 94, 82 & 75 while my attackers have speeds of 74, 84 & 84. I think there's a fair chance I am able to do well with a longball strategy. My defense will lineup with Qs of 83, 80, 76 & 75 & they are much faster than his attackers. 

Expecting a victory here in a match where Brunswick controls the ball for the majority of the time. I don't think there will be a lot of scoring either as my team has played rather stout defense thus far, as has my opponents. That said, I have never beaten or even managed a draw against Brunswick! I am 0-0-4 so here's to breaking that streak in Round 4!

This is a new idea I had for my blog where every few rounds I will update my general opinion towards my team & the future. I'll try to start with a reminder of where I left off & move forward from there. This could also serve as a quick update for you about my team progress if you don't have time to read all of my other super interesting blog posts 

REMINDER: Before the season started, I thought I could win the Department & at least finish >3rd.

UPDATE

Going 1-0-1 in my first 2 games is fine. I can still take a loss at the highest Q team in the department & beat the 2nd highest Q team at home to start off 2-1-1 which is what I initially hoped for.  Not much more to report except that Irish Warriors lost their first 2 matches against higher Q teams but that had to be a major blow for IW's chances of taking the department. That said, IW came from behind last season to finish in the playoffs. No big upsets so far. 

My team has progressed a bit slower than I was hoping this year. So far I've got a high intensity camp, 2 cups & 14 friendlies played (most cup & friendlies with my youth) & +5Q, +40 att. This is roughly on par with last season's rate of gain (in terms of friendlies & camps) but I was expecting more from a team with much more youth & therefore more room to gain. I think I can win the department still & go into Division 2 with a Q80 keeper, 1 Q80 defender & 1 Q79 defender, 1 Q80 midfielder & 2 Q80 attackers. I figure Q80 avg is what's going to be necessary to avoid relegation. 

This leaves me with 2 goals for this season--

1. Win the Department. 

2. Save money to buy veteran Q>80 next season. 

FC Wheeling is the best team in the department, Q-wise & this match is on the road for me so I fully expect to take a loss but believe I can draw. Simply put, neither team is going to have very many shots. He plays 4-4-2 longball normal with 2 keepers, 4 defenders (though he's giving up 4 Q by playing a 20 y.o. instead of a vet), 2 midfielders & 3 attackers. It would be tough to get the win, but we'll see what happens. 

MY OFFENSE

His defense is better than my offense, that said, I'll be glad to get 3 or 4 shots on goal & 1 in. 

MIDFIELD

I should be able to control the ball here given his lineup.

MY DEFENSE

His attackers are good & fast. I'm going to need a very good performance from my keeper & defenders for this match to go well. That said, my speedy midfield & defenders (relative to FC Wheeling's attackers & midfielders) should be to my advantage given his longball style. 

EXPECTATIONS

I expect a draw, but will be ok with a loss. Beating the best Q team in the department on the road in round 3 will give me a huge leg up on the department race, albeit early. 

Less time for blogging today but this match is winnable. It's at home, my team is better & that's all I have time for right now. Ugg!! Next week I'll be on DST as well so my schedule will fit in better with ML/this blog.  

 tpromeo is a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. The team was inactive the last two seasons before logging in just hours ago to select a team sponsor. Will the team actively participate in S68? 

For now it doesn't matter. I've drawn a tough schedule & it starts on the road against tpromeo. My opponent:

Name	Q	Kp	Tk	Pa	Sh	He	Sp	St	Pe	Fit		Avg	MP	Gls	Ass	Fls	Age
	Kirk Sandoval	79	88	40	61	47	46	79	72	76	100		0	0	0	0	0	26
	Peter Allen	71	83	31	51	35	40	77	54	64	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Manuel Gay	71	83	37	51	41	47	79	51	64	100		0	0	0	0	0	23
	Sergio Dickson	82	39	85	84	44	68	82	83	62	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Curtis Buck	79	29	84	84	50	49	83	76	67	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Roy Dale	79	34	88	72	49	56	88	70	77	100		0	0	0	0	0	29
	Costica Lacatus	73	38	83	65	49	57	73	70	61	100		0	0	0	0	0	27
	Gene Bishop	71	37	79	66	43	60	61	77	58	100		0	0	0	0	0	22
	Jamie Pitts	70	40	79	47	49	59	69	79	75	100		0	0	0	0	0	30
	Donald Sexton	70	27	72	65	46	58	79	66	80	100		0	0	0	0	0	19
	William Terry	70	30	77	55	49	56	81	66	82	100		0	0	0	0	0	18
	Kjetil Engelstad	80	34	74	86	71	74	82	86	74	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Gilbert Bailey	78	34	67	82	84	55	76	74	53	100		0	0	0	0	0	30
	Herman Huffman	76	37	68	94	57	56	63	83	69	100		0	0	0	0	0	28
	Neil Todd	76	33	67	82	60	60	89	77	79	100		0	0	0	0	0	24
	Harold Orr	72	37	56	89	54	49	69	75	60	100		0	0	0	0	0	27
	Jose Boyle	71	30	59	76	65	64	74	79	63	100		0	0	0	0	0	21
	Bernard Brooks	69	28	56	77	65	58	71	71	55	100		0	0	0	0	0	36
	Shawn Todd	69	32	56	80	67	50	61	70	56	100		0	0	0	0	0	17
	Daryl Burks	68	34	60	86	48	53	57	73	50	100		0	0	0	0	0	31
	Joe Ferguson	68	39	51	80	60	63	74	57	57	98		0	0	0	0	0	20
	Parsa Mahmoodi	80	35	49	47	90	81	82	70	73	80		0	0	0	0	0	24
	Tom Erik Fimreite	77	28	45	57	79	79	77	63	80	100		0	0	0	0	0	35
	Joachim Kicinski	75	38	48	50	85	77	76	69	63	100		0	0	0	0	0	35
	Javier Blake	69	37	30	51	72	61	91	55	57	100		0	0	0	0	0	27

MY OFFENSE

Assuming I'm facing 3-4-3 (yielding the best Q), I face a stiff defense with a Q79 keeper & 82, 79, 79 defenders. I'll be using 3 attackers Q 77, 78 & 79. I don't think I'll have the advantage on offense. His defenders are experienced veterans so I suspect they will be able to keep my attackers in check. 

MIDFIELD

If I'm up against his best 4 that's Q 76, 76, 78 & 80 against my 4 Q 74, 76, 76 & 78. Again, I've got the Q disadvantage but not by  much. Since it looks like trpomeo was unable to hold a training camp (based on login activity) I think I'll hold at least a +16 morale advantage. 

MY DEFENSE

Likely  up against Q 75, 77 & 80, I'll field defenders Q 75, 76 & 79 with a keeper Q 80. Again, a marginal advantage for tpromeo across the board but I think my defenders should be able to keep them in check. 

MY EXPECTATIONS

I'm counting on my morale advantage to be a deciding factor & tilt what I think should be a draw into a victory for Real Madison. That said, I'm completely realistic & based on last season, I'm expecting my team to get slaughtered in the midfield, tpromeo will control the ball for most of the game & it will come down to whether or not I can execute on the offensive side of the field & score twice. 

This will be my 5th season (though my first season was only a couple matches) & my third in USA 3/10. After initially battling my way to avoid relegation in S66, I finished a disappointing 5th place last season. Season 68 I'm going for it all! The department looks winnable for me so I'm really going to make a push to win this season. 

YOUTH

My team has young players at all outfield positions & I'll be working hard to train them in friendlies & cups. I'm looking for some moderate gains from my 3 young defenders to bring them to Q75-76 by the end of the season. My midfield has is lacking direction to an extent at the moment with Duane Holmes Q78, age 21 is my best midfielder right now & behind him I've got two lesser youngsters & my new 17 year old, Mario Reeves, Q68. I haven't played any matches so I don't have a gauge on his prospects. However, I've got 3 young midfielders to develop plus Holmes. My attackers are still young & good but also unproductive. Last season Alistair Thomas racked up a team high 20 goals but he is now 35. Philip Fitzpatrick is Q78, age 24 & Michael Roy is Q77, age 22. Behind them I have a Q75, 21 year old as well, so there is a lot of depth to train at each position. 

REGULARS

Obviously this is the focus of any team trying to win their department. My regulars for S68 haven't quite coalesced yet as I am likely going to purchase two or three veterans. The question is, where & how good? 

Keepers

I've got a keeper who has played consistently for me over the last two seasons since I purchased him. He's given up one goal per game with performance 52 each season. I'm on the lookout for a better keeper (mine is Q76, age 33). My backup is worse than crap so this is an area I'm looking to improve. I just don't know how much I'm willing to invest at this point. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'll be alright if I hold steady this season but a slightly better keeper would help. On the other hand, a young keeper would be nice for some future stability & a backup I'm excited about playing in friendlies & cups. 

Defenders

I'm weak at defender with just two defenders above Q75. However, Sammy Goots is 28, Q79 & Angel Browning is 19, Q76. I'll be looking to get a Q82+ defender. 

Midfielders

3 players above 75 at midfield who did a good job of controlling the ball last season. I sacked my Q80, age 37 midfielder at the end of last season & will need a replacement for him, so that will probably be one of my purchases this season.

Attackers

I've already mentioned all of my attackers but this is definitely the strength of my team. 

DEPARTMENT 10

Five new teams are in the department this year & at least two of the returning teams should turn into bots this season. I currently have the 4th highest team Q, fwiw, but two of the teams above me are the soon to be bots. I think I can win, but my team needs to come out of the gates running. My first two matches are against the teams that finished 2nd & 3rd in the department last season followed by a road match with a Q83 team that was relegated from Division 2 & a home match with Q81 soon-bot. 

If I come out strong, I'll be in a pretty strong position but it sure would be nice to have a couple easier matches early to build my team morale. 

Cheers to the new season!

There's a 17 yo midfielder I have scouted very highly that I can buy for a low cost. But it will be at least 4 good seasons before he's ready to play on my team.

Should I,

A: Sign the low quality, high star midfielder & hope he gains quickly for profit/play. Doing this now means team stat loss though!

B: Pass & sign veterans in S68

C: Wait & see if I can still get him at the same price next season.

Opinions?

Season 67 ended in a disappointing fashion for me & Real Madison. The final table looks like this:

Admittedly, I lost my last match (which was inconsequential) & finished 5th instead of 4th. 

So what went wrong? Well, that's the question I've been asking myself for the last 2 weeks. I've boiled it down to three key failures on my part:

1. My team was not adequately prepared to play on the road. Although I increased my team morale to >80 by the first Wednesday of the season (something I consider a good mark--am I wrong?), my team failed to win a road match until round 16--against a team that turned bot. In fact, Emerycat FC--relegation candidate--was the only team I beat on the road all season. I'll be making an effort to change this for next season. I may be taking the Coach Bus upgrade after the 10/26 AM training. I don't know how much this will help, but going 5-5-5 on the road with 4 bots is not going to cut it. 

2. I failed to adequately adapt my team in league matches.  Based on the best overall Q, I should have been playing 3-4-3 or 3-3-4. Later in the season I began employing a 4-4-2 setup after seeing my team perform better & gain more in friendlies using this set-up. I'm now looking at which setups give my team the best performances in friendlies & will hopefully be able to better utilize my team in the future. Anyone have any suggestions on what might be the best setup for my team going forward?

3. I did not improve my team stats as effectively as I should have. I am sitting at +8 non-morale attributes this season. I spent too much time & money trying to improve my high stats--attacking/defending--& not enough on bringing up some lower team stats which *seem* to gain quicker. 

QUICK SEASON 68 PREVIEW 

I fully expect to win the department next season. I've set a budget & know how much I can spend on player acquisitions & will make more of an effort to improve my team stats & play friendlies early in the season. After the season change, I'll post a more in-depth Season 68 Preview. 

FINAL COMMENT:

I've brought a few friends into ML & will be hosting regular *FREE* cups of 8-16 teams. If you would like to be invited & can be counted on to abide by maximum lineup Q that is set, please send me a message & I'll put you on the invite list!

They don't matter. I'm not getting relegated & not getting promoted. 

Ok, moving on. The rest of the season is about training. I've already bought 3 players this season & fully intend on maxing out on friendlies to build up my young players. I want to see at least 1 more Q gain from each of the following youth listed by name, age & Q:

DEF:

Sammy Goots         27     79

Angel Browning      18      76

N. Abutbul                 17      72

J. Humphrey             17      71

If each gains 2 Q I'm going to have a very improved team next season & I have 100+ friendlies to play & credits to burn.

MID:

Duane Holmes      20     78

Thomas Muller       17     70

I have some mid-20 yo players that could gain as well. But I'm counting on Holmes & Muller being big time players within 2 seasons. Holmes is almost there already but Muller needs a bit more workout. 

ATT:

All,   I have young, good (Q>75) attackers & I want to get Fitzpatrick (78) up to Q80 & Roy (76) up to at least 79 by seasons end. Then with 75Q, age 20 Jack Rodgers as my 4th best attacker, I can sell him, for the right price. 

If all goes well, I'm hoping to have a defense featuring my top 2 defenders avg Q >80 & a 3rd above 75 with 2 young defenders coming on strong. 

My midfield should feature 4 Q>75 with at least 1 Q80.

My attackers should be able to have 3 with near or greater than 80--with spare players.

This leaves me with an older (32, Q 77) gk. I want to buy a better,  younger one but have already bought 3 this season. So a question I pose to my readers: do I buy the 4th player, take the hit this season if I can get a good value kp, or wait until next season & possibly settle for another veteran to come in?

Not much time for blogging on a Friday afternoon, but I've got Berrykush & FC Hood

Brunswick has gone into a draw tailspin leaving me just 8 points behind the inactive Q81 squad (highest in department). Irish Warriors is also pretty inactive so I'm expecting both teams to trail off & soon. Hopefully Kings Eagles, Gladiators & tpromeo can hand them losses. 

Round 18 is a rather boring one for the department. I've got muttballs who plays 3-3-4 continental. I think this bodes quite well for me. Aside from the individual player/position matchups, if I'm up against 3 middies trying to play continental with 3 midfielders better than my opponents best, I ought to be able to win time of possession in this match. 

Round 19 is against inactive, injured LyThong FC. With 7 currently injured players, Lythong should fall in the standings like a box of rocks. There shouldn't be any problem winning this match. 

Both of these rounds should be straight-forward wins in the department for the top teams. We'll see!

We've reached the halfway point in the season & I'm quite disappointed with the way my team results. Though my team has played well, the results are less than desirable. Five teams in my department have played better than mine has (based on avg performance) & 4 teams have a better Q than mine. Here are the midway standings:

Pos   Team Manager Actions Last 5 MP W D L GF GA GD Pts 1   tpromeo tpromeo   WLWDW 15 11 3 1 32 4 +28 36 2   Gladiators Maestro101 6 WWLWW 15 11 2 2 25 9 +16 35 3   brunswick blue devils acanary   WWDWD 15 9 5 1 18 4 +14 32 4   Irish Warriors Fast10   LWWWD 15 9 4 2 24 7 +17 31 5   Kings Eagles moneymike   LDDDW 15 7 6 2 16 4 +12 27 6 LyThong FC Ly Thong   WLWLW 15 6 5 4 17 13 +4 23 7 Real Madison skellygreen LWDDD 15 5 7 3 18 12 +6 22 8 Emerycat FC emerycat   DLLWD 15 5 5 5 14 11 +3 20 9 FC Hood FC Hood 19 DWDDL 15 5 5 5 11 14 -3 20 10   sambas Reds evil 3 WLDDD 15 4 6 5 14 10 +4 18 11   Berrykush FC AuroraKush   LDDLD 15 4 5 6 8 11 -3 17 12   FC Allegheny RotoWizard   WWDLL 15 4 2 9 9 17 -8 14 13 muttballs mottmachine 9 DLWWW 15 3 4 8 10 20 -10 13 14 LABUAN UNITED Abg kelol   DWDLL 15 3 2 10 7 23 -16 11 15   India United bunty 15 LLLDL 15 2 3 10 12 22 -10 9 16   CA-bot 170363 Bot-manager   LLLLL 15 0 0 15 1 55 -54 0

With 22 points & 10 points out of playoff qualification, I'm going to need a swing of luck to reach that critical mark. I just sold my backup keeper, Karl Calhoun to finance future camps or potentially to pick up a youngster next season. I was glad to get rid of him at the price I did because his performance history has been abysmal & gains terribly slow. He's too  slow & can't pass to save his life. Too many times he would turn the ball over after making a save before one of my players would even touch the ball. That just can't happen. 

My last three matches (as you can see above) have resulted in draws & I'm now up against an injured LABUAN UNITED team that I should easily beat. It's a road match but there is no excuse for anything but a victory. Round 17 is against Irish Warriors which will be a tough match & am important one for me. I lost in Round 2 @ Irish Warriors & am hoping for the W at home this time around. IW is banged up with several players currently sitting with very low fitness. His keeper is at 86 & IW hasn't been online in at least 7 days. I'm hoping this bodes well for me but so far, it hasn't. 

I've been fooling around with a 3-5-2 mixed formation in friendlies with some success, but haven't committed to moving towards it. In league matches I've experimented with hard tackles against some of the better teams. I used hard tackles against tpromeo & not only scored the first goal of the season against tpromeo, but also pulled down the only victory against the department leader. However, against a much worse brunswick team, hard tackles didn't seem to make a bit of difference as my team was generally  too slow to get to the ball in that match. 

I'll try to get back on in a few hours & post results from Round 16 against LABUAN UNITED. In the meantime, any thoughts on the formation you might use with my team?

Real Madison

Round 14 pits me against relegation candidate, India United. This is a match I should win. We split our season series last year but my team has improved much more rapidly than his since then. This should be a low scoring affair but I should come out ahead. 

Round 15 features a sambas team I should be able to defeat as well. Sambas is another relegation candidate, though less of a chance than India United. I am expecting a second win in this match.  

 After settling for a draw & a loss I'm pretty upset. The team I lost to had 2 players that were injured (fitness well below 60) & both got to play. I've got a pending request with support but I think that's pretty bullshit that a team that hasn't logged in all season has injured players playing while I'm prohibited from doing so. Hopefully it's a bug that gets corrected & no one else gets the shaft. So far, that's my only complaint about the new simulator & my comment is **** that! Unfair. 

Nothing to do but move on though. Looking @ Rd 12 I draw the best team in the department who hasn't yielded a goal this season. As well, this team hasn't signed on all season. One injury but I'm sure he'll get to play. I'm expecting a loss. 

Rd 13 on the other hand is against the currently 4th place Kings Eagles. It's a road game & I've changed my opinion on my team. I don't know what to do to get better results but I'm expecting a draw, at best. 

That's all I can write today. Too pissed off that inactive teams get to play players with fitness below 60 & win. 

 Department Table:

Pos		Team	Manager		Actions	Last 5	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1		tpromeo	tpromeo			WWWWW	9	8	1	0	26	0	+26	25
2		brunswick blue devils	acanary			DWWWL	9	6	2	1	15	4	+11	20
3		Irish Warriors	Fast10			WWWDW	9	6	2	1	15	5	+10	20
4		Gladiators	Maestro101	3		DLWWW	9	6	2	1	17	8	+9	20
5		Kings Eagles	moneymike	11		WLWDW	9	5	3	1	13	3	+10	18
6		Real Madison	skellygreen			WDLDW	9	4	3	2	14	10	+4	15
7		LyThong FC	Ly Thong			WDWDD	9	3	5	1	11	10	+1	14
8		Berrykush FC	AuroraKush			LWLWL	9	4	1	4	8	8	0	13
9		FC Hood	FC Hood			LDWWW	9	4	1	4	8	9	-1	13
10		Emerycat FC	emerycat			WLLDD	9	3	3	3	11	8	+3	12
11		sambas	Reds evil			WDWLL	9	3	3	3	7	6	+1	12
12		FC Allegheny	RotoWizard			LWLLL	9	2	0	7	7	12	-5	6
13		LABUAN UNITED	Abg kelol			LWLLL	9	2	0	7	5	19	-14	6
14		India United	bunty	19		LLLLD	9	1	2	6	7	15	-8	5
15		muttballs	mottmachine	2		LLLDD	9	0	2	7	1	17	-16	2
16		CA-bot 170363	Bot-manager			LLLLL	9	0	0	9	1	32	-31	0

Looking at the table after 9 matches I think I'm in a good position. I've tied some games I shouldn't have but with 6 matches to play before the halfway point, I should be able to go 4-1-1 giving me 28 pts at the halfway point & likely in the top 4. Irish Warriors has 3 tough matches before the halfway point, Gladiators has 2 & Kings Eagles, coming off a victory over Brunswick, has to deal with tpromeo, a league cup match, Berrykush (Q78) & myself. The top 2 teams have not been active at all this season. Brunswick has 2 major injuries & tpromeo is about due to be 'botted' since I don't believe he logged in last season or this season & based on his team history, I'm guessing he didn't log in the season prior either. 

My matches today are against FC Allegheny & Brunswick. I expect two wins here as Allegheny hasn't logged in all season & will be missing 3 players for a total Q drop of 7. With 2 defenders out, I'll be upping my pressure & trying to get Alistair Thomas some goals as he needs to make hay while he can & win the award for most department goals scored. 

Brunswick has taken 2 major injuries resulting in a total Q drop of 14. He'll be missing a middie & an attacker so I'll look to capitalize on that by using an extra midfielder & trying to play a possession game against a team that will still be much better than me. Still, it's a road game so I should temper my excitement a bit. 

In other league matches today, tpromeo plays brunswick & Kings Eagles plays Lythong. I think that will be a litmus test for both squads as we turn the page on the first third of the season. KE plays 3 teams with higher Q than him before the halfway point so taking care of business today is going to be important. Same can be said of Lythong who has 4 matches against higher Q teams before the midway point. 

During the second matches today Kings Eagles plays trpomeo & Gladiators takes on Irish Warriors. Very exciting as all of the top 6 will be playing each other. As of now it will be:

1 v 5, 2 v 6, 3 v 4. 

Very exciting day indeed in USA 3/10

Well, it's been a while since I updated this since I took a camping trip for 2 weeks. Season 66 turned out as expected. I avoided relegation & improved my team significantly. The first week of S67 was quite exciting for Real Madison. 

First, my youth program promoted Julian Humphrey a Q69 defender who's gained pretty well this season. Scouted @ 3 stars, I'm not optimistic about him turning into a superstar but if I can get him up to Q73 by the end of the season I'll be happy. 

Second, I bought 3 players. Thomas Muller, a Q66 Mid with 4 stars has gained 2 Q already & 11 atts. He was bought as an unsigned 17 yo. I also bought 17 yo defender Netanel Abutbul @ Q69. Little gains so far as my initial scouting report was way off target. Still holding some hope for some gains on him this season. Finally, I bought 37 yo middfielder Bill Molyngton. I'm quite happy with my purchases as I think they allow me to freely play friendlies with significant players designed for player gains. 

Third, I initially thought my team was going to be 5-8 in the department but now believe I have an outside chance @ a playoff position. The plan is simple. Hard tackles against the good, inactive opponents. Normal or soft tackles against actives/poor teams. Cups every weekend & small training camps as well. Although I wanted to end the season with about 20M banked for player purchases, I think banking that money is not as important as getting my younger players into matches. 

Upcoming week:

I have a 16 team cup I'm playing in on Sunday, camp & a match against a worse team & a better--but injured team--Monday. I want 2 wins. Then I have a tough stretch coming into the halfway point. 

Updates should come as regular as last season now. 

Finally, I have 3 stated goals for the season:

1. Do not get relegated. 

2. Win 2 player awards. I think Alistair Thomas will be in contention for top attacker  & maybe top scorer. Otherwise, I'm looking at top youth. 

3. End the season with a bank account around 10M. This will put me at 12+ to start S69 & I need the money to buy some players. Molyngton will be sacked. I don't expect any other retirements. Replacing him won't be too difficult but I'm focused on expanding my roster. I want to have 2 quality teams next season. 

High Apple Pie In The Sky Hope

1. Win yo award. 

2. Promotion. This will be tough as Gladiators is active & tough & I have a bit of competition. 

Updates to expect:

At least once a day outlining my upcoming matches & strategies. 

Detailed postings of my cups & league matches. 

300 more att gains & reach 200 friendlies. 

Berrykush FC is one of the better teams in the league:

I previously lost to B. FC 3-0 at home. Going on the road I'm not too confident however, it is against a manager who hasn't been online in over 7 days. He plays 4-3-3 with his starting line-up all Q75 or greater. I don't think I will be able to control the ball at any point on the field so I'm going to load up offense by switching pressure to attacking & using longball tactics. I'm hoping this will give me some hope of scoring but I'm expecting a 3-0 loss again. 

Coming after the match: a preview of my chase to avoid relegation: 8 games for 10th

EDIT: 21:42. Berrykush FC has an injured player at midfield that will require them to play a Q72 middie instead of 80. Woo-hoo. I think I'll try using continental & see if I can maintain possession with a man up & his quality diminished. 

As noted in the last entry, TheDreams is a team I expect to beat. He has a weak team but has performed well. I should hold an advantage at each position & this is an important match for Real Madison in the standings. I am expecting at least a 2-0 win with Michael Roy scoring & taking home MOM. 

I was away for an extended weekend so I didn't blog about these games.  A win, two draws & a loss have boosted my teams morale & I might have a chance to avoid relegation with a good stretch over my next 2 games. 

League Match #20 is against India United who I lost to earlier in the season at home on a IU goal in the 83rd. My team has improved since then adding Roberto Sambado. My next match is against TheDreams, a team I beat on the road earlier this season. 

Right now the department table is: 

So if I can get 3 points from India & Dreams I think I'll be sitting in 12th place. From there I can re-evaluate what I need to do. 

As for my match with India United, I'm hoping for a 0-0 draw but looking for a 1-0 win. His team is tired

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          FIT

Name		Q	Kp Tk	Pa	Sh	He	Sp	St	Pe	Fit		Avg	MP	Gls	Ass	Fls	Age
	Walter Faerber	75	80	46	58	33	48	75	58	78	100		50	13	17	0	0	30
	Narsimha Kurian	71	82	42	55	47	43	55	48	80	91		50	14	7	0	0	18
	Gaurav Ankola	76	29	81	68	43	60	78	78	73	86		52	19	0	0	1	22
	Parindra Gavarasana	75	36	88	51	44	53	80	80	78	86		49	18	0	0	3	23
	Sujit Shastri	75	36	85	64	46	61	66	81	58	92		54	19	0	2	1	22
	Prem Sethi	72	35	79	63	45	60	73	74	69	93		50	19	0	0	1	22
	Sandeep Ponnekanti	67	27	83	44	34	53	59	75	63	100		50	1	0	0	0	34
	Padmanabh Visvanathan	67	36	79	58	46	57	60	66	67	100		0	0	0	0	0	33
	Matsendra Saidullah	76	43	71	87	62	57	77	70	72	91		55	19	1	6	0	24
	Amitava Nihar	70	34	60	70	69	65	85	59	52	100		51	19	1	1	2	27
	Dayanand Subbarao	70	43	55	80	58	59	81	57	73	90		51	16	0	1	0	29
	Nandakishor Lalit	70	34	67	75	66	53	71	66	57	87		51	15	2	1	2	17
	Natraj Kasturirangan	69	29	50	83	53	51	74	73	77	95		50	15	0	2	1	21
	Gangadutt Mangalampally	67	34	62	73	56	59	67	74	56	100		0	0	0	0	0	31
	Geet Biswas	77	37	38	47	87	77	83	59	66	83		52	19	8	0	1	23
	Jaysukh Nitin	74	36	32	53	80	72	72	61	74	87		43	15	1	0	0	19
	Badrinath Katka	71	37	38	50	76	79	60	53	72	100		48	10	1	0	0	26
	Ibhanan Vajpayee	69	37	35	42	82	63	62	56	68	100		46	2	0	0	0	21

His defense will be tired or weaker than my offense. Either way, I should hold a big time advantage on the offensive side of things. 

His midfield is not well rested either & I should be able to control the ball in the pretty easily.

His offense is strong but again, with fitness 83 & 87, will he be using his regular squad or backups? Either way my squad holds the numeric advantage. 

Name	Q	Kp	Tk	Pa	Sh	He	Sp	St	Pe	Fit		Avg	MP	Gls	Ass	Fls	Age
	Thomas Gullifer	76	76	40	59	51	41	79	74	79	96		52	17	22	0	0	31
	Karl Calhoun	70	80	40	44	49	46	67	52	74	95		48	2	3	0	0	24
	Michael Myers	63	76	34	48	35	44	47	69	61	99		57	1	0	0	0	23
	Sammy Goots	76	30	75	76	41	54	84	83	72	97		53	18	0	0	0	26
	Angel Browning	74	38	81	54	49	64	78	80	74	94		48	18	0	0	3	17
	Muntasir al-Ash'ari	73	41	83	58	40	63	81	65	61	95		53	18	0	0	2	29
	Alecu Iorgu	71	38	77	68	39	53	71	73	51	91		50	10	0	0	0	34
	Misaheun Jegal	71	32	75	59	37	59	74	80	76	93		50	9	0	0	0	33
	Ian Hamilton	68	25	74	67	43	52	65	70	68	98		52	2	0	0	0	25
	Roberto Sambado	76	47	65	84	74	54	77	68	67	93		51	17	1	0	1	32
	Duane Holmes	74	34	55	86	58	71	84	80	53	93		49	17	0	1	0	19
	Armando Calhoun	73	36	62	80	72	66	75	69	68	89		51	17	0	3	1	25
	Mash'al al-Hijazi	72	32	64	83	67	70	75	53	59	92		49	18	1	0	0	32
	Clifton Warren	72	31	57	86	65	64	67	74	50	90		51	6	0	1	0	24
	Ross Lloyd	69	40	61	80	64	57	65	60	60	90		43	3	0	0	0	28
	Derek Charles	68	37	52	76	55	69	77	81	63	94		50	8	1	0	0	18
	Henry Riddle	65	30	49	73	60	64	74	62	65	96		54	2	0	0	0	30
	Philip Fitzpatrick	76	33	40	51	78	76	82	56	76	96		42	16	2	1	1	22
	Michael Roy	74	46	33	56	69	82	82	59	75	92		53	16	3	1	2	20
	Jack Rodgers	73	38	33	45	75	81	75	56	75	93		44	16	0	0	0	19
	Walter Gates	67	42	42	52	75	68	74	68	52	94		52	5	0	0	0	23

What formation should I use?

Portugalians sits in 3rd place with a record of 9-4-1. Up against a Q80 opponent I am not expecting much from my team, so I played them a bit hard in friendlies & saw nice gains. I averaged 2.25 att/friendly so that was worth it in my opinion. 

Portugalians has been active through the season but it seems he's playing 4-3-3 mixed exclusively so I'm going to mix things up & take the tactics advice & play 4-5-1 continental. This doesn't look too bad for me matching up the lines. 

My Offense:       I don't match up well here. Although this is the strength of my team, he has a keeper Q85 & all four defenders Q77-79. So limiting my offense is ok. 

Midfield:             Here's my best chance to control the match. His middies are Q 82, 82 & 81. While mine are much worse individually, there are 5 above 71 with comparable passing stats to his big boys. 

My Defense:     Need a big day from my defense to get a draw but I doubt that will happen. He's got a Q 82, 79 & 73 attackers but two of his midfielders have scored 5 times each. My defense stacks up with Q 76, 73, 73, 71 & a keeper @ 75. 

Prediction: 5-0 loss. 1 shot, not on target. MOM: Zachary Marshall

Aberscun hasn't been online in 50 hours so I'm assuming his tactics are pretty set--as usual. Currently, Aberscun is 8th at 4-5-4 with -1 goal differential. He plays 4-3-3 mixed & I'm playing 3-4-3 continental. 

His 2nd best midfielder (Q80) is out so I want to really emphasize that midfield play. My prediction is a 1-1 tie. MOM Tom Gullifer in goal. 

 Damn it! I hit the wrong button & lost the post. Here's the essence: Ecomoda hasn't been on all season & doesn't score. His formation calls for me to play 3-4-3 longball & I added a middie Q76 age 32. He gets 1 or 2 shots per game at most. I'm predicting a 2-0 win with Michael Roy as MOM. 

FC Hood  is 1-4-4 & sitting in 11th place at the moment. Their win came over TheDreams, my lone win as well. I'm up against a 5-3-2 mixed defending style team that only gets about 3-4 shots per game. I'm going to play 3-6-1 continental attacking for this game. However, in the case of my team going down by 2, I've set an event to switch to a 3-4-3 formation. 

I played in two cups over the weekend & scheduled a camp but of course, it wasn't enough to bring everyone back up to 100 fitness. FC Hood is playing @ 99-100 fitness across the board. So while the formation drops my Q a bit, I'm going to be playing an overall more rested team & with a better tactical matchup. During my camp I gained 8 morale points so again, I'm hoping that's a benefit for me. 

I predict a tie 0-0. 

Limited time on Friday to update the blog but as you can guess, I lost  #9 vs Q87. Montreal Manic is leading the department so I'm not too concerned about the loss. I am however becoming more & more concerned about my offense failing to get off any shots in league matches. I'm doing fine in friendlies & cups but good lord, you'd think I could get more than 3 shots off in 2 games. 

 trpomeo is 4 wins, 0 draws & 3 losses. He plays 3-4-3 continental so I'll be playing 4-3-3 longball. Playing regular lineup which is fitness 98 or above after LC match. tpromeo has a better team than me & I expect to lose the battle while I'm on offense & will need to capitalize on set plays while again, he'll hold an advantage while he's on offense. 

Prediction: 3-0 loss. 

MOM: Roy Dale

Selanne FC has not been online in more than 7 days. That said, I'm still up against a Q77 team with performance of 53. Still, this is a match I think I can win. Both teams are fully (98+) rested but his second best midfielder is injured. Selanne FC is 3-2-2 in league matches & plays 3-5-2 continental. He gets a lot of shots off. Most games are around 10 or greater. 4-3-3 longball is recommended against this tactic & I'm using that with pressure defensive. I have confidence in my offense that they Fitzpatrick , Roy & Rodgers will be able to get enough shots off to make it alright. 

Prediction: 3-2 victory for Real Madison. 

MOM: Phillip FItzpatrick 

 Berrykush FC comes into this match with 4 wins, 2 draws & no ties. I'm expecting to get beat bad. Up against a Q78 team, I'm going to get some other players action today & look for some gains. 

GAME LINK

lost 3-0; onto the league cup!

TheDreams & I share a common record with 4 losses & a draw. The matchup will be interesting as both teams need to get their season moving & are coming off League Cup wins. He plays 4-4-2 mixed so I'll go with 3-4-3 continental. Duane Holmes had a rough league cup match as his fitness dropped to 94. I don't know about playing him @ Q74 or use a Q68 18 year old Derek Charles. 

TheDreams doesn't get a lot of shots off & usually gives up plenty more than it takes. 

Angel Browning still hasn't received a SINGLE attribute point. If he gets one in keeping today, it will be par for the course.

Prediction: 4-1 win for Real Madrid. Michael Roy wins MOM & Duane Holmes comes through with a big game. 

Barcelona Everton FC  has advanced through the league cup with 1-0 & 2-0 victories over a team that hasn't been on in a week & a bot. B.E. FC hasn't been on in over 7 days either so I'm going for victory here. His team features Ken Farley a Q76 19 y.o. attacker. Outside of that his team is 70 or less. He uses 4-4-2 mixed attacking & should be very vulnerable in the midfield. I'll be using 3-4-3 continental as tactics. 

Prediction: 4-0 victory for Real Madison. 

GAME LINK

4-1 win!!!! Close on my prediction. 

India United comes into this match 1-1- 2 against my 0-1-3. Both teams are Q73. IU has performed @ 51 while I'm @ 50. IU has played 4-4-2 in each match with the first two being mixed & the last two being continental. I'll go 4-3-3 longball. It's a well rested, top heavy team in terms of talent. My team won't be completely rested but everyone will be >96. 

This has to be the match my offense breaks out! Once again, I'm predicting a win. I'm hoping for an Angel Browning attribute point. I'll settle for a draw. I might lose my mind if Real Madrid can't manage a point. 

 Once again, my opponent FC Allegheny, hasn't been seen in over 7 days so I'm not expecting any tactical changes & I am expecting a victory. 

He's playing 4-5-1 continental & has a Q80 striker with an avg performance of 70 & 4 goals. Shutting him down & keeping him off the ball will be key for my defenders. However, his lineup has only 3 mids & 3 attackers so there's another advantage for my team. He has picked up one draw & two loss. 

My formation will be 3-3-4 longball. I expect a win & 2 goals. Back with the game link later. 

Warrenton AFC has not checked in for over seven days so I'm thinking this is a good sign for me. However, he's drawn in both of his matches this season.  

His tactics have been 5-3-2 mixed attacking. I think this is a good matchup for my defense. His top strikers are Q69 & 67 with avg performances of 36 & 37. My defense, on the other hand, boasts 5 (4 starting) defenders >Q70 & a keeper Q75. All have performed near 50. 

My midfield is better than his at 73-73-72 vs 71-71-68. Both sides have performed very well this season. Should be interesting to see if my players can live up to their abilities & control the ball in the midfield. 

His defenders range from Q61-69. My 3 strikers are 74-73-73. His keeper is Q72. This could be a nice game for my team to score some goals & get the ball rolling offensively. Team stats are dropping rapidly this season & that needs to change. 

 Kings Eagles took a 2-1 loss in their first league match so we're both looking for our first win this season. KE played 4-3-3 mixed last match & although tactics suggests using 4-5-1, I'm going 4-3-3 again. For the early season I am going to keep putting my best team on the field & at the moment that's 4-3-3. I've made a change from last match at defender substituting Alecu Iorgu in place of Muntasir al-Ash'ari. al-Ash'ari will come in after 60 minutes though. 

His defense should have some weaknesses in it & I'm hoping to score at least two goals & get the win.

I'm also getting concerned about my 17 yo Angel Browning (Q73) who has gained no attributes through 2 cups, a training camp, 11 friendlies & a league game. His performances have been pretty good, usually ranging in the upper 50s or lower 60s. 

Game link comment to come!

My opponent  looks to have a very good offense. I'm guessing he plays 3-3-4 & won't be using longball tactics. I'll be playing 4-3-3. Although it doesn't give me the best tactical matchup, it fields my best team in terms of Q. I think my offense will be better than his defense but his offense is better than my defense as well--especially if he plays 3-3-4. 

I'm expecting to win & hoping to see big some attribute gains. 

My fitness is really low going into a small tournament. Just looking to make some money, hopefully play two games. The money bonus would pay for a better training camp this weekend. Link to cup & results. 

Anything I write about cups/league game tactics or predictions are written before the match but won't be published until after for obvious reasons. You can take me at my word on this one because I'm sure A lot of you will see my immediate mistakes.   

Went a bit overboard on the friendlies. 13 played & here's my gains:

Gk

Thomas Gullifer

74

 

 

76

 

39

 

57

 

48

 

41

 

78

 

74

 

76

 

 

+0

 

86

 

31

 

Gk

Karl Calhoun

69

 

 

79

 

40

 

44

 

49

 

44

 

67

+1

52

 

71

 

 

+1

 

82

 

24

 

Gk

Michael Myers

62

 

 

73

 

33

 

48

 

35

 

43

 

47

 

69

 

61

 

 

+0

 

100

 

23

 

Def

Sammy Goots

75

 

 

30

 

75

 

72

 

40

 

54

 

82

 

80

 

70

 

 

+0

 

83

 

26

 

Def

Angel Browning

73

 

 

38

 

80

 

53

 

46

 

62

 

75

 

80

 

74

 

 

+0

 

81

 

17

 

Def

 

Muntasir al-Ash'ari

72

 

 

39

 

82

 

58

 

39

 

63

 

79

 

65

 

59

 

 

+0

 

79

 

29

 

Def

Alecu Iorgu

71

 

 

38

 

77

 

68

 

39

 

52

 

71

 

73

 

51

+1

 

+1

 

82

 

34

 

Def

Misaheun Jegal

71

 

 

32

 

75

 

59

 

37

 

57

 

74

 

79

 

76

 

 

+0

 

82

 

33

 

Def

 

Ian Hamilton

67

 

 

25

 

72

 

67

 

42

 

52

 

63

 

70

 

68

 

 

+0

 

78

 

25

 

Mid

Duane Holmes

73

 

 

32

 

55

 

84

 

56

 

71

 

82

 

77

 

53

 

 

+0

 

79

 

19

 

Mid

 

Mash'al al-Hijazi

72

 

 

31

 

64

 

82

 

66

 

70

 

73

 

53

 

58

 

 

+0

 

79

 

32

 

Mid

Armando Calhoun

72

+1

 

35

 

60

+1

79

 

70

+1

65

 

73

 

67

+1

68

 

 

+3

 

81

 

25

 

Mid

Clifton Warren

70

 

 

31

 

57

+1

82

 

61

 

63

 

67

 

73

 

50

 

 

+1

 

81

 

24

 

Mid

 

Derek Charles

68

+1

 

37

 

51

 

75

 

54

+1

68

+2

77

 

80

 

62

 

 

+3

 

62

 

18

 

Mid

Ross Lloyd

67

 

 

40

 

61

 

77

 

62

 

57

 

63

 

59

+1

60

 

 

+1

 

87

 

28

 

Mid

Henry Riddle

65

 

 

30

 

49

 

71

 

59

 

64

 

74

 

62

 

64

 

 

+0

 

91

 

30

 

Att

Philip Fitzpatrick

74

 

 

33

 

39

 

49

 

76

 

72

 

81

 

56

 

76

 

 

+0

 

90

 

22

 

Att

Michael Roy

73

 

 

42

+1

30

 

54

 

68

 

82

 

82

 

56

 

75

 

 

+1

 

88

 

20

 

Att

Jack Rodgers

73

 

 

38

 

33

 

44

+2

75

 

80

 

74

 

56

+1

75

 

 

+3

 

81

 

19

 

Att

Walter Gates

66

 

 

41

+1

41

+1

50

 

75

+1

67

 

74

 

65

 

49

 

 

+3

 

85

 

23

 

I have 1 cup coming up with weekend, only 8 teams & a camp booked. 

So far the gains have been less than desirable. Although Armando Calhoun's improvement has been good & important for my team, youngsters Duane Holmes has seen no improvement & Derek Charles suffered an injury. On the positive site, I couldn't be happier with Jack Rodgers improving his passing & stamina. Although they aren't main attributes I've seen too many times Jack Rodgers has stopped attacks dead with cold passes. Walter Gates improvement has been very good. The shooting att makes him a bit more viable. I doubt he'll amount to much but the guy consistently puts up good numbers in friendlies & his limited league games. Last season in 14 games he posted a 58 average performance. 

Small cup coming up this weekend, training camp & game 1. Then the next post. 

 Real Madison  has 2 new players already for season 66. First, my wonderful youth program produced a Q73 defender Angel Browning which is just what the manager ordered. My defenders are a bit on the old side so I was going to be looking for one on the transfer market but getting Browning will be a big help. However, I need to decide how I'm going handle my formations more now that I have options. Tactics will be very important. Last season I didn't have much flexibility in formation without taking a big hit in  Q. Walter Gates played in about half the league matches with a nice performance last season but @ Q66, I'm giving up a lot playing a 4th attacker instead of 70+ midfielder or defender. Now I've got plenty of flexibility to play different formations. 

The second player we've welcomed is Thomas Gullifer, a Q74 goalie. I'm hoping to use him & get good performances from the vet while training my younger keeper to the mid 70s this season. 

Looking forward to the weekend cups & the start of the season. Booked my first camp of the season to get my morale up. Goal #1 is to not get relegated!

Duane Holmes has won the Golden Statuette with a performance of 63 in 29 matches. Holmes is the bedrock of my midfield & at 18 years old, I am excited about his future. He racked up 8 MOM awards & put up 26 assists. Looking forward to his & 17 year old Derek Charles improving & providing a solid midfield for many seasons. 

The award, of course, comes with 3 credits which is good because I've been waiting for a credit to begin construction on upgrading capacity to 20k. 

 Season 66 is my second full season @ ML. I won USA 4/38 in season 65. I lost my last game & muttballs tied leaving us tied but I won the tie break on goal differential. So now I'm moving up to USA 3/10. I don't expect to win the department or even qualify for the playoffs. I will not be relegated though!

I have 4 goals for season 66:

#1: Do not get relegated. 

I'll obviously be rocking the friendlies & plan to purchase some credits to play extra friendlies. I need to get my team stats improved. 

#2: Profit $10M.

This is a big one. I pulled down 5M this season winning my department. So pulling down a 10M profit season is going to be difficult but I plan to play cups every weekend & move far. I finally realized the potential value in rd 30 earning >$3M profit playing 2 cups & advancing by altering my roster. BTW, this sucks for an American because @ 5 AM on Saturday I'm not in a good mood to change my roster    Finally, I plan to make some money after I upgrade my stadium capacity again. Right now I can make about a half million bucks per regular home game. That's 7.5M, plus sponsorship money & cup money. I don't know if I'll be in the market for a new player but I really want my youth to be a defender. 

#3: Manage my team better.

Last season I made several mistakes. I don't want to make them again. 

-Top players fitness 98+ every league match

-Max out open challenges, particularly for my youngsters & my young regulars. I didn't do a good enough job of managing this last season & ended up with several league matches where I had to play a regular @ fit 93 or so or a much lower Q player.

-Cups, cups cups, cups, cups. I have to make sure I manage my $/credits/fitness to advance in cups to earn more money & train my players better. This will pay for the necessary camps EVERY week.

-Get my team stats all above 75. This is an area I have neglected but am determined to improve this season.

#4: Be more active on the forums & recruit.

ML is awesome. By the end of the season you better recognize my name on the forums & I better have brought in a few people into ML that I can count on for some friendlies & personal cups. I want to get some buds in that can join my cups, I can win/advance far while playing my younger players & they can play their regulars. 

Alright, expect regular updates on my season! My next post will be upon player awards or fixture release.