Palace Casuals

Palace Casuals (a hypothetical team loosely based on Crystal Palace)

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Season 22, Level 21 - established 30/09/2013 16:47.

Have fully upgraded facilities so getting 260,000 crowds for each home game and am able to apply all spare cash to getting players in...

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When I followed the instructions here: http://forum.topeleven.com/top-eleve...erver-you.html, it looks like I'm on Server 215...

What have you learned from last season?
Rest players every now and again - have more backups for each position so can rotate squad more...

Where did you place last season?
Second in the League - very disappointing end to the season as was in lead until a defeat against second placed team reduced lead to goals scored then got trolled last game of season by vastly inferior team...
Went out in Semi-Finals of Champions League in a very good couple of matches with an equally-matched opponent, just him and me in attendance.
Preliminary Round exit (again!) in the Cup, higher level opponent, ave quality -5 mine, poor home defeat in 1st leg, couldn't attend 2nd Leg and the team managed a draw!!

What's your current level?
21

What's your budget for this season?
One purchase of 176 tokens and about $250M, plus whatever is realised in sales.

Who do you want to replace?
Some of the peripheral players from last season as they will be 3* and low rating 4*, getting old and will not train up quickly.

What are your goals for this season?
To get past the early rounds in the Cup - nearly always get trolled or come up against higher level opponents early on and lose out...
At least QF in Champions League, and top 3 in League.

Good luck fellow managers!
...from me too...

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A little bit of transfer activity released 4 players and acquired a new Goalkeeper, left-sided defender (DL/DC) and left and right utility players (DML/ML/AML, DMR/MR/AMR).

1st leg of Cup Preliminary Round saw the Casuals at home to Ibrahim FC from Germany. Match was only 10 minutes old when the first in-game decision had to be made when Attacking Midfielder Anders Graf was tackled and ended up needing attention for an ankle injury - formation changed from 4-3(w)-1-2 to 4-4-2 and Central Midfielder Nataniel Silva Lima brought into the fray. Tackles were obviously flying in from all quarters as three yellow cards were issued in quick succession by the ref, one to Ibrahim FC and two to the Casuals, left Midfielder Anders Tikhiy and central Midfielder Jackson Babou Noubi being the recipients. The second resulted in the first goal, a free kick scored directly by Ibrahim's McFadden. The rest of the first half was a struggle as the midfield tried to cope with the reshuffle and the weight of two yellow cards.

A decision to replace the wide players early in the second half - Omar Hansen and Johan Shaqiri making their Casuals debuts - steadied the ship and more meaningful attacks were happening. However, the ref was to deal the Casuals one potentially fatal blow, as Babou Noubi was punished for a seemingly innocuous shirt-pulling incident and his match ended early. However, not all was lost as four minutes after being reduced to 10 men last-term's top scorer Catalin Neagu equalised with a spectacular shot. Ibrahim FC resumed the lead soon after when Baker beat Palace custodian Mihaita Dragut with a header from a Bulla corner. Last action of the match was a first goal from debutant Hansen, hitting a piledriver in from the left wing to level the scores at the final whistle.

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Shock news! Palace Casuals have broken their Preliminary Round hoodoo...


Second leg game saw the new nucleus of the league team blooded, 'keeper Zoltan Bieder, left-sided defender Freddie Jones and utility midfielders and subs from the 1st leg Hansen and Shaqiri introduced instead of Dragut, Tikihy, Haubner and the injured attacking midfielder Graf; Silva Lima gets his chance in place of the suspended Babou Noubi, Domanski moving from defence to the defensive midfielder slot.

A largely forgettable first half saw two defence-heavy teams slug it out without end result, apart from a couple of bookings for two home players.

A half-time switch replacing Domanski with second midfielder Tzanakakis, moving the two wide midfielders to advanced positions and adding an attacking slant saw two quick goals for the Casuals soon after the restart, last year's Player-of-the-Season Anurak Arma bending a free-kick past the static home custodian and debutant defender Jones arriving in the box in time to head in a cross from right-winger Shaqiri. Arma then put in a Man-of-the-Match performance in helping the defence thwart any retaliation by the home side, and Palace ran out 2-0 winners, taking the tie 4-2 on aggregate. The only blot on the copy book was a booking for striker Andres Ramos for a clumsy tackle.

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Off the field, a bit of rummaging around in the transfer markets has failed to unearth a suitable central midfielder so it looks like the existing trio will need to bear the responsibility. A watch will need to be put on the performance of Babou Noubi, who faded badly at the end of last season and has, at the same time, lost a little self-discipline...

Current squad:

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So the League fixture computer has compiled the leagues and spat out the fixture list...

Palace Casuals, on paper, are the third strongest in this league, which include a new friend made last season and whom I have caught up with (*), and three of last year's opposition (**). The League Champions last season are there, so the Casuals look forward to a degree of revenge against a team which inflicted their first double defeat for several seasons.

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The league's potential whipping boys and Troll team have been identified...

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We also have at least one far-eastern based team in the league, so a few of the fixture times may be a bit early...

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An early morning for the first day of the League season saw a little rummaging amongst the new Scout lists and unearthed this player:

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Which means that one of the weaker defenders was offered to the market, and despite his advanced years and middling quality was snapped up for a tidy sum ($84.1M):

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...and a later look-see resulted in another midfield purchase:

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Muscroft and McCaul will form the backbone of the Midfield in League Games, and will have assisting roles in the two knockout competitions.

As a reward for his stellar performance last season and his performances in the two cup ties this term, Anurak Arma has been handed the Captain's armband for this season, however he was powerless to prevent the laissez-faire from the team overall in the two Day 3 matches.

The first League game saw the visiting manager arrive with a couple of friends, and the home manager having to cope with dodgy mobile reception in the area he was working... From what was observed, Palace Casuals appeared to be stricken with some zombie curse, sleepwalking to a 1-1 draw courtesy of a goal by Andres Ramos from a cross from Omar Hansen. Federico Gorosito, a former Casuals player now plying his trade for the opposition, returned to haunt his former colleagues with the equaliser, with an assist from Luis Suarez. Despite a rash of late substitutions, neither side could break the deadlock.

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A home defeat in the first Champions League game has the Casuals management team having a rethink on the policy of putting a 'Second XI' team in the Group stage and early knockout rounds, something which has been relatively successful in recent seasons. A 52nd minute goal by Guiseppe Bertozzi was enough to give Aviron Bayonnais a 1-0 win over the struggling Casuals, who despite more possession, shots on target and successful passes, just weren't good enough on the night.

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On logging in this morning, was informed that the Scout has found new players, so another DC with 'Aerial Defender' SA was found and bought before anyone else could get their hands on him...

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A player with 'Aerial Defender' SA to work alongside Freddie Jones and/or Anurak Arma in central defence - with the visit to last year's League Champions this evening a little experimentation in formation will be attempted, and hopefully a favourable result will ensue...

In the Cup Qualifying Round 1st Leg match this morning, Casuals earned a hard-fought draw with Level 22 outfit Hoyerswerda eV, and got an away goal as well. All the action took place in the later minutes of each half. The last five minutes of the first half saw the home side take the lead through Man-of-the-Match Roland Gabriel, knocking in a corner from Mikael Kader, but with half-time looming, Nataniel Silva Lima equalised with a fantastic solo strike for the Casuals.

Despite a couple of second half substitutions, the visitors couldn't eke out another goal and the score at full time remained 1-1. Ten minutes from the end of the game, Palace defender Freddy Jones was penalised for a shirt-pulling incident which resulted in home goal scorer Gabriel claiming injury.

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The poor performances of Babou Noubi and Onur Haubner continue to worry the Management and it looks like both of them will need an extended rest or transfer out.

Round 2 of the League, and Palace Casuals had a visit to the Champions of their Level 20 League, and came away with a resounding 5-2 victory. Starting with a 3N-2W-3N-1-2 formation, an open first half saw 5 goals between the sides and a 3-2 lead for the Casuals at the break. Striker Catalin Neagu opened the scoring with a solo strike before Tsatsos equalised for Sajete Boys. Ramos (header from a double corner by Hansen) and McCaul gave the visitors a 3-1 lead, but Gram-Jensen reduced the arrears for the home side. Some substitutions after the break saw Palace reshuffle to a classic 4-4-2 formation and increase their lead through a Hansen penalty and another header, this time by Neagu from a Shaqiri cross. McCaul spoilt the Fair Play award after picking up a late tackle booking late in the game.

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Day 5 dawned with a mid-morning League match and a mid-afternoon Champions League match looming.

In the League match, bottom-placed team Dennie FC were the visitors and were sent back home with a resounding clip round the ear in the shape of a 5-0 demolition by the rampant Casuals. Omar Hansen led the scoring charge with a well-taken hat-trick, including one Penalty, and Freddie Jones and Catalin Neagu weighed in with one apiece. Downside was the injuries suffered by two of the Palace strike force, first Andres Ramos and then Claude Pinto suffering from the over-zealous attentions of Dennie's Djalma de Souza, who was yellow-carded for each incident and thus made the visitors task a lot more difficult, being sent for an early bath in the 23rd minute.

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I think we might be in danger of peaking too soon...

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The magic sponge worked overtime in the period between today's matches and Pinto was judged fit to play just in time to lead the line in the away Champions League tie against ROMA.

Playing 4-4-1-1 with Andreas Graf in the shadow striker's spot, Palace Casuals got off to a flyer and were two up in the first 8 minutes, Andrey Tikhiy stepping up to the plate with a Penalty strike and an assist as Pinto put his injury woes behind him with a bullet header past the desperately poor home keeper. Freddy Jones added a third goal six minutes before half-time, and the Casuals eased off in the second half to cruise to an unexpectedly easy win.

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The Palace Casuals goal machine rolls on through another two matches, winning another Cup round match and extending their lead at the top of the League.

The Cup Qualifying Round 2nd Leg match saw the Casuals host Hoyerswerda eV and qualifying for the next round after a stunning 5-1 win over their Level 22 opponents from Germany. The first chance of the match came in the first minute after the visitors' Zejdler pick up the quickest booking of the season for a foul on Claude Pinto and the Palace striker picked himself up to head in the resulting Anders Graf free kick. The goal provider turned scorer later on in the half, turning in a Andrey Tikhiy cross. Half-time was reached with the home side 2-1 up after Hoyerswerda pulled one back through Melona. In the second half, Pinto helped winger Johan Shaqiri extend Palace's lead before some substitutions stiffened up the defence and replaced some tired legs in midfield, Anurak Arma and Stergios Tzanakakis replacing Sebastian Domanski and Nataniel Silva Lima. Tzanakakis turned in a Man-of-the-Match performance in the remainder of the match, running rampage through the visitors defence, scoring one goal and winning the penalty that Tikhiy converted for the fifth goal. Palace Casuals now progress to the Play-off Round, a rare event...

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In the League Round 4, Palace Casuals visited Stahladler FC and after a difficult first half, came away with an impressive 5-0 victory. In an evenly-matched first half, Palace had three clear chances and scored with two of them, Claude Pinto breaking through the defence to set up Catalin Neagu with the easiest of tap-ins and Neagu then crossing for Jack McCaul to head in past the home 'keeper. The second half turned into a war of attrition with neither side giving way until the 74th minute when Pinto scored a dramatic solo goal. The Casuals manager then made a triple substitution and formation change that seemed to change little until the last five minutes, when Pinto added a second solo goal and Omar Hansen copied him to complete the scoring. McCaul picked up a booking which, along with one received in a previous match, means that he will miss the next League game through suspension.

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Another busy day for the Casuals, with a Champions League group match and a league game, both at home. To honour Top Eleven's 5th Birthday the club chose to use the black free premium jersey for both of these games.

Owing to his league suspension, midfielder Jack McCaul was one of the first team players chosen to be one of the better quality players rostered to assist the Second XI in the Champions League Round 3 match against FC CRVENA ZVEZDA. The first half was complete deadlock as the teams, lying 1st and 2nd in the group, cancelled each other out. A stiff talking to at half time saw the home side come out with more purpose and McCaul showed potential leadership qualities with a cracking opening goal in the 53rd minute. Thus encouraged, Claude Pinto continued his fine form since recovery from recent injury by doubling the lead soon after, and made it a brace late on as Casuals recorded a 3-0 victory. Recent star player Stergios Tzanakakis suffered an injury in the final minutes and will miss three days.

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League Round 5: For the evening league game, the Suppellettile FC manager was a no show, but no less than 8 'friends' showed up, threatening to overwhelm the home support. In spite of this, Palace managed to eke out a win, assisted by some poor performances by the visiting forward players. Claude Pinto continued his rich vein of goal-scoring form with the opening goal, assisted by senior strike partner Catalin Neagu. Neagu was to add his own name to the score sheet with the second goal, and the Casuals went in at half-time 2-0 to the good. Shadow striker Andreas Graf added a third goal just past the hour mark, and the home side eased to a 3-0 win to maintain their clear lead at the top of the table.

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With all the euphoria about the previous few days spectacular successes, a mediocre day had to come - and this time it's mostly the management's fault!!

The morning Round 6 League game involved a trip to xhxcx FC in Malaysia, and only a half-time reshuffle broke a very defence heavy game and the Casuals escaped with a 1-0 win. Having tried 4-4-1-1 against 4-4-2 in the cup recently, the management tried it again today, but the first half was dominated by the respective defences and half time was reached with the match scoreless. Two half-time substitutions changed the visitors to a 3N-4-1-2 formation and this bore fruit within 5 minutes, Omar Hansen opening the scoring with one of his trademark solo goals. And there the scoring ended. Later in the half, Andreas Graf picked up his second injury of the season when he pulled up clutching his hamstring, later to be diagnosed as a groin strain (don't you love the Injury mechanics in this game?), and is sidelined for 3 days.

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Jackson Babou Noubi was pulled out of a few days rest and given a free run in midfield for the second half, but again turned in a poor performance so was transfer-listed on the team's return to base, and eventually departed for pastures new, the club receiving $87M.

Onward in the Cup! Erm... no. The Playoff Round 1st Leg was at home against Fikikrki FC and here the management have to hold their hands up and say they got the team completely wrong, sending out the boys to do a man's work. Against a team only slightly below in quality, the Second XI (plus a couple of first teamers) were hopelessly outclassed and only making the maximum substitutions just after the hour mark stopped the game being a rout. The visitors scored twice in the first period to make the half-time score 0-2, but were prevented from adding to the total by some dogged defending by the home side. That being said, the forward line, including Andres Ramos returned from injury, came up against a goalkeeper and defence that were on top form. Lessons have been learnt and the 2nd Leg is a chance to put things right.

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