FC Croft (UK)

[casper™]

Champions League 1/4 Final 1st Leg Result

I struggled to find a formation that I thought would counter this one so decided to play safe.

Attachment 10958

39 - 61 Possesion

First Goal didn't come until 40' - Haughton assisted bt Reed
Shocking equaliser 43'
But regained the lead 49' Haughton again assisted by Barnes

I decided to change to 4-5-1V in the 2nd half but didnt make any impression at all until!
Penalty 71' shocking miss from Reed left the game ending 1-2 Final score

Shot efficiency only 20%. Work needed in the return leg I think?

Well done, great win and You move on in the CL.

[Croft Original]

Moral Theory No2 starts Sunday

Kick Off 13:41 GMT. Updates available from 18:00 GMT

I wanted to use today's match, but due to a suspension for Price who was a key figure in theory No1 I decided to wait until Sunday.

This is the match



He will be starting with 4-3N-1-2 which he has done all season
I am countering with Butterfly, this is the first time I will have used this since season 2 cup match where we got it all wrong & lost 0-2 but won the second leg 5-1 & went on to win the cup that season.
I know the usual counters for the opponents line up are 4-5-1V & 4-3N-2W-1, but I have something to prove with 2 or 3 players which I described in theory No1.

[Croft Original]

Well after yesterday's disappointing 2-2 draw we got back to winning ways with an great win today.


Great performance from Meadows

We just need to secure a win in our next league match to qualify for CL next season.

[Croft Original]

Champions League 1/4 Final 1st Leg Result

I struggled to find a formation that I thought would counter this one so decided to play safe.

Attachment 10958

39 - 61 Possesion

First Goal didn't come until 40' - Haughton assisted bt Reed
Shocking equaliser 43'
But regained the lead 49' Haughton again assisted by Barnes

I decided to change to 4-5-1V in the 2nd half but didnt make any impression at all until!
Penalty 71' shocking miss from Reed left the game ending 1-2 Final score

Shot efficiency only 20%. Work needed in the return leg I think?

Champions League 1/4 Final 2nd Leg Result

After finding the oppositions weaknesses in the first leg we could play with more confidence in the return leg.



71 - 29 Possession

it took 26' before the deadlock was broken.
Kerr with a fantastic strike just outside the box
61' sees Ninh Binh reduced to 10 men after a second bookable offence
61' Barnes makes a fantastic run down the left & crosses first time to find Piatek jumping high above the defence to make it 2-0
Chambers comes on to replace Reed to swamp the midfield & leave piatek as the lone striker
72' cambers makes it 3-0 & the team are already looking forward to the semi's
90' Barnes rounds of a great match to make it 4-0

Shot efficiency was still only 33% but an an all-round performance from Piatek earned the forward the MOTM

Xa Vang takes his Ninh Binh back to Vietnam with their tale between their legs.

A special thanks goes to Andrea The manager of Dream Team FC who supported me the whole match, sadly she is no longer in the competition after being beaten by my next opponent Cazzuti FC.

[Croft Original]

Moral Theory No2

Good result to start with as this formation was a disaster when I used it last. The goal scored by the opponent was a "double corner" & we all know about them.



Anyway explanations. Remember this is not a debate just my take on the moral of my players

Banks Rating of 8 with a slight increase, despite letting the troll goal in 3 saves out of 5 shots probably deserved the 8 rating.
Sawatram Rating of 8 no change.
Duffy rating of 7 with a slight decrease, I played Duffy instead of Clarke because Clarke's form has dropped in the last 3 games so a rest was needed. Although Duffy got 7 rating with a decrease I was pleased as I think his best role is DMC.
Cumbers Rating of 7 with a slight decrease. Cumbers is a consistent performer with a rating of 7 or 8 every match, so no concerns here
Price Rating of 7 no change (as I mentioned in Theory No1 this may be his position) and he is about a 7 rating player.
Lee Rating of 7 no change, another who is about a 7 rating player
Haughton Rating of 9 & MOTM with no increase, but to be fair his moral was full before the game. This young player has started to pick his game up a bit since he has learned his new skill in free kick taking & because of this I let him take the penalties for this match. No surprise there then a hat-trick 2 free Kicks & a penalty & to top all that a 4th on 89'. I think I have a star in the making at just 19.
Sánchez Rating of 7 no change
Blair So we played him in what I think is his natural position he managed to score a goal, but still with a rating of 8 decreased in moral although only slightly. I think he is just a worrier.
Chambers was brought into this game due to the formation & I believe his natural position is AMC so the rating of 7 & the slight decrease was understandable.
Reed I usually use Meadows as a lone striker, but decided to play Reed, well 1 assist & 1 goal & a rating of 8 was a good performance, again no rating increase due to being full at start of game.

Overall a good performance from the team, this also means another Champions League place next season. With that in mind I have a match tomorrow against a wide diamond formation so I will be doing two things trialling a new formation & also watching a few players from the past 2 tests.
Updates on tomorrows pre-match formation will be tonight I am playing the bottom of the league & they have only managed 0-3-17 this season so I'm expecting the TROLL's to arrive.

Thanks for reading.

[Croft Original]

Champions League Semi-Final 1st leg Preview



I will treat this opponent with respect as he has had some good results while getting to this point, but he has a definite weakness which I will try to exploit.

His team is lacking AML&R he also only has 3 wide players a DML/ML which he prefers to use in ML, a MR & a ML which is his second choice. With this in mind I think this will be his starting 11



I will be planning to use 4-5-1V to overcome his lack of width & also counter his AMC. Very much predictable but I have the final in sight. I expect Cataloyna to reach the final in the other semi.

[Croft Original]

Moral Theory No3 Starts Monday Night

Kick Off 18:23 GMT. Updates available from 21:00 GMT



This is the team that is bottom of the league & does not have an active manager with stats 0-3-17. He has 7 players with special abilities in his squad but due to the squad size he may not have them in their correct positions, all this said he should have won a game this season. The game below was a typical thrashing by another non managed team.



The object of the exorcise tomorrow is to try out Hexagon for the first time Vs wide diamond & also use it as a moral theory. I should win the game by the same margin if not more but we must watch out for the trolls.

[Croft Original]

Champions League Semi-Final 1st leg Preview



I will treat this opponent with respect as he has had some good results while getting to this point, but he has a definite weakness which I will try to exploit.

His team is lacking AML&R he also only has 3 wide players a DML/ML which he prefers to use in ML, a MR & a ML which is his second choice. With this in mind I think this will be his starting 11



I will be planning to use 4-5-1V to overcome his lack of width & also counter his AMC. Very much predictable but I have the final in sight. I expect Cataloyna to reach the final in the other semi.

Champions League Semi-Final 1st leg Result

Well the team have just landed in my private jet, no I was not flying I hav'nt had enough lessons . We took in the sights in Rome & then got down to business. Everything went according to plan, so very pleased. I just hope a 3 goal cushion will be enough in the home leg.


Possession was 47 - 53
Goals from:
Haughton
Chambers
Kerr
I had to make a last minute change to the line up, Blair was on a right downer after the flight over, maybe it was due to the long talk we had regarding his future at the club. His replacement was a fine young lad who came up from the academy by the name of Ince. The only down side in the result was that Haughton pick up an injury which could see him out for the rest of the season, but the way he has been playing I think we will have to pay the extra ££ and send him to a specialist which should make him available for the return leg.

[Pasq]

Good luck mate!

[Croft Original]

Moral Theory No3

Well I have a lot to talk about in this match so I will begin with some of the things I noticed that was odd.

As you can see from the picture above my opponent played 4 players OOP, but didn't need to (I know that the manager is probably inactive but the system should at least try to create a team that is realistic. Only 1 player should have been OOP) well thats cleared the oppositions team up, we played a bunch of misfits with a goalkeeper who prefers to read the Leddy News on the bench

On to the match its self.



Well I think the troll was present but we didn't panic & waited out the storm. Here are some interesting stats:
Possession 20-80 expected because of the GK.
19 Shots only 8 on target
50% Efficiency
1 shot saved by the Opponents non GK (typical inconsistent stats from the NGE) Not complaining honnest

Right on to the reason why I am writing this thread, "the moral" (remember we are using Hexagon formation never used before)

Schmeichel Rating 7 slight decrease
Gibson Rating 6 slight decrease - his form hasn't been any higher than 7 in his past 5 games so this was expected. I put it down to usually playing 3 central defenders in most of my games so he is usually on the bench.
Duffy Rating 6 significant decrease due to playing in his less favoured position. (described in Theory 2)
Cumbers Rating 7 no change
Sawatram Rating 6 slight decrease - normally plays in CD but in the absence of Clarke had to fill the DR position.
Kerr Rating 8 slight decrease - not sure about this as he scored a goal, maybe the formation wasn't to his liking.
Bullock Rating 8 slight increase - Yellow card MOTM & a goal along with the result & formation was probably right.
Chambers Rating 7 no change
Blair Rating 6 slight increase - well what a lad this one is, he plays against a ML who is actually a DR gets a 6 rating which is shocking & to cap it all he was pleased about it. Well he won't be happy after today he is heading for the Tranny Market.
Piatek Rating 8 slight decrease - well this one was a shock having scored 2 goals, maybe just the formation.
Reed Rating 7 no change.

Well the things I have learned from this are:
1. Don't play Hexagon again
2. What you see is not always true (4 OOP's)
3. Should I have won this match by 10 goals? Yes
4. Will I have a MR/AMR less tomorrow? Yes

Hope you have enjoyed Theory No3. I plan to do a final theory for this season in the next couple of days I will post a reminder soon.