Double challenge

[Narf]

Tomorrow I'm playing 2 crucial matches, an hour apart and on top of that I'll be on the road and I've suffered 3 injuries to key players in 3 days. Obviously, this comes at the worst possible moment in the season and I'll need a miracle to pull it off, especially the second, but I have to deal with it somehow.

This is my team:


(the ML/AML player will recover in time)

League comes first, and I'm playing against this team:



... and this was our first match:



They are second in the league, but just 2 points behind me, so the match is a title winner unless one of us makes another mistake. The problem is, his 4-3W-2AMC-1 formation is almost immortal - I have not seen anybody posting a hint here on how to beat it and I've searched a lot, there are just 2 or 3 occurences of somebody suggesting to use it.

And the bigger problem is - all of his players constantly get marks of 8 and 9 and this team went through the first half of the season undefeated, while being 8 skill points weaker than me. His first defeat came only after he suffered 4 injuries in 1 match (which he won easily anyway, btw) and that's probably only because he never attended his matches until the very last one. I was thinking this was an abandoned team until that point and that might just have been the case, as he has bought some reinforcements since and is now close to me in quality, which only makes the task harder. The only positive thing about this match is that I know he won't change tactics, because he never has.

I would think of playing 3N-2DMC-3W-1-1, but as you can see - I only have 1 DMC and that player just happens to be my third usable DC, so I have a double problem and I'm not willing to go into a bid war for another 2 players and at the end of the season it would be a waste anyway.

He will obviously go through the middle and I would love to use 3 DCs and a DMC, but I can't do that either, so my defense is down to either one of these:

-------DMC-------
DL--DC---DC--DR

or

-------------------
---DC--DC--DC---

... or playing my DL as DC, being out of position - I've only done this with substitutions and I don't know of the possible drawbacks if I start a match like that. So, I'm thinking of one of the following:

3N-5-2 flat
3N-4-1(AMC)-2
4-5-1 flat
4-3N-2(AML/AMR)-1
4-1(DMC)-4-1
4-1(DMC)-3W-2
4-1(DMC)-3W-1(AMC)-1
4-1(DMC)-3N-1(AMC)-1

... and of course I could play 4-5-1 V-style or 4-4-2, but I've only used V-style on 2 occasions and I lost both and since I lost the first match using 4-4-2, I guess it's not feasible either.

Which one do you think would do the job? And which what arrows and instructions?

Seriosly, I'm watching some people who ask moronic questions here on the forums, yet they win trophies easily and with 10-point gaps in their leagues, while I'm a 3rd level manager and this is my first realistic chance of a trophy. If I can't pull this one off - I'm done, I'll just have to quit. It's not worth all the bull**** that I've suffered and seen in this game if I can't win a trophy while pretty much everybody does in their first 2 seasons. Please, help me out guys!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Second one is for the CL and is pretty much mission impossible ... seriously, look at this ****:



I played Defensive mentality, Down both flanks, Own half, Normal, Long, Zonal, Force counter-attacks and no offside trap. Red arrows on MR,ML and blue on DCs & DMs and as you can see - I have a counter for every single one of his players that are in my half, and we're matching in quality:



I was hoping for a 0:1 win and was sure that he wouldn't score, let alone more than 1 goal. Yet, the game engine decided that, I **** you not - the opposite team should get 20 counter-attacks and me - just 2. My MCs and DCs got ratings of 4 and 5 and all of the 3 goals were scored until the 30th minute when I changed to 3-5-2 flat and hard attacking ... I thought my tactic was ingenious and it turned out to be suicidal - I'll buy a beer to anybody who gives me a reasonable explanation of any (sane) football logics behind that. Unlucky for sure, but 3:0 is way too much of just luck for him.

I'm not as optimistic as Real Madrid were tonight - I don't think that I can turn this one around, but I still want to give my best shot at beating this guy. He'll be playing either 4-4-2 Classic or again 4-4-1-1 (which was his 10 mins pre-match counter to my 4-4-2). Any ideas would be really welcome.

[Oz1905]

You wrote way to much…

your chances are very slim just enjoy yourself and the game and look forward to the next season.

[Narf]

There is no next season if I don't win a trophy.

[Narf]

Just so you know - I won the first one 1:0 and got a 2:2 draw in the second for the CL, I was almost starting to believe that I could get it into extra time, but he scored 2 goals after the 80th minute even though he had a red card for most of the match.