Interview Sketch - The Prof - (don't ask here plz)

[khris]

TACTICAL INTERVIEW – THE PROF
We are actually at the end of the 124thTop Eleven season and I'm sure that many of our managers who are active in the game are participating in one of the Top Eleven communities.
This is how through the almost 10 years that top eleven has been around, we have been meeting and learning from different managers who have made history with their clubs.
Today, we have managed to have a manager whom many of you know, like "The Prof", leave a free space in his agenda to attend us and thus be able to do an interview to learn more about his playing style, and why not? Know what is hidden in his mind.

So, here we go;

Khris - Let's start with the classical courtesy thanking our interviewee who is dedicating time to our readers, so it is a pleasure to be here with you, Prof.
Prof-

Khris - You finish this season getting all the points in the league, and winning a World Cup with Italy, how does this feel?
Prof -

Khris - What do you think has been the most influential factor in managing your team in recent times? lately your fans are watching you play without strikers, with a 3-1-3 (ML-MC-MC) -3 (AML-AMC-AMR) Is this a way to baffle the opponent? why this philosophy?
Prof -

Khris - pros and cons of playing from the second line in attack?
Prof -

Questions list;
Khris - Static formation, or variable according to the opponent?

Khris - Imagine that the game starts, possession against, foul against, and goal in the minute 1 '... what would The Prof do?

Khris - To a new Top Eleven player, what advice would you give him?

Khris - Is it a mutant, a factor as decisive as it seems to many? And most importantly, from when should we consider that a player is a mutant?

Khris – 50 % for attributes, or a Special Ability? And which would you chose for every single line inside your team?

Khris – What you consider a reasonable expenditure on resources for a season?



FORUMERS QUESTIONS:
SillyBQ:
What are your orders when you play hard attacking and when you play hard defending?

Usually MTM marking isn't a good idea against fast attackers but DCs in the game have speed as a grey skill.
Does MTM just give a defensive bonus and there are no situations when we should not use it in the game?
Because in reality, this shouldn't be the case.

Offside trap is good with attacking and counter is good with defensive. Do you think it applies in the game?

Narrative Writer;
Are the best orders with attacking (against equal teams) are

A. Normal tackle
B. Man to man (I do this given in high press you use it to win back ball quicker)
C. Offside on
D. Counter off
E. Short pass
F. High press

2. Are the best orders with defensive are

A. Normal/hard tackle
B. Zonal
C. Offside off.
D. Counter on
E. Long pass
F. Low press

Please clarify my confusion on when to use man to man and when to use zonal? My idea is that if the strikers are too strong than
defenders I play zonal.

Why is the normal mode so vulnerable in this game? It always seems to be the losing case. Or the orders of counter ON doesn't work well with normal?

I play 4 2 3 1.

Horcrux;
Does overall rating matters when your player's white skills are terrific?
I'm a bit worried about playing with a 90%+ AMR this season even though his white skills are very good.

Der rayan M;
Are formations counter a thing or why are you playing irregular formation?

Poseidonas;
I want to ask @Illmaestroll but it's not about tactics.
- Do you play for the challenge or for the titles ?
I mean, do you drop quality to avoid +1 lv opponents or do you accept friends from the same lv and server with strong teams ?

- Did you ever stay same season on purpose ? Why ?

[IImaestroII]

Khris - Let's start with the classical courtesy thanking our interviewee who is dedicating time to our readers, so it is a pleasure to be here with you, Prof.

Ty Khris my pleasure to be here

[IImaestroII]

Khris - You finish this season getting all the points in the league, and winning a World Cup with Italy, how does this feel?

It feels nice , finish the league unbeaten against good teams helped me to save a season where i was unlucky with cups but winning the World Cup was the best achievment for me, winning it with my style - with a different way of playing against very good managers made me really happy , cause in a way it was another confirmation that my way of playing can work against many tactics and great managers out there.

[IImaestroII]

Khris - What do you think has been the most influential factor in managing your team in recent times? lately your fans are watching you play without strikers, with a 3-1-3 (ML-MC-MC) -3 (AML-AMC-AMR) Is this a way to baffle the opponent? why this philosophy?

At the beggining when i came back playing in 2015( i had 6 months brake ) i was very inspired by Guardiola way of playing, the way he let Messi play, and the way he play football matches like " chess ". So i accepted this challenge: find a way to "replicate" it in this game. It was not simple that time, i was in a Platinum asso ( I'm actually the captain of it ) so points were needed to help the team maintain the plat grade, and i was in "study" phase that time so my results weren't good sometimes. Fortunately the captain of my asso that time was a football passionate and got very interested in my way of playing and he decided to keep me in the asso , he helped me a lot by doing friendlys , tests and more. He gave me tactical freedom, he didn't forced formations or % , so that's why when he retired and made me captain i promised him to do the same.

why this philosophy?

I watched many football matches and what i saw is that one of the most important things is controlling the space, move the opposition team,"destroy" their defensive shape in order to create space where you want is a key to win matches

[IImaestroII]

Khris - pros and cons of playing from the second line in attack?

Ok before i explain the pro & cons i have to explain my way of playing

- The "overload theory".

When i started to play strikerless during a lot of tests, friendlys, by swapping-changing positions/formations i saw that the game allow movements of a player if this have a space ( for example a DR will go up if there is not a winger in his flank ) so i did a test one day and i noticed that if you play with a ML and AML (or MR and AMR )and leave the ST spot free the ML go up and the AML cut inside occupying the ST "free" spot becaming a sort of a stricker. So this opened a world for me and i started to work on it.

These are some examples of the movements i saw my team doing during the matches against varoius formations :







So the aim is to use these overloads to move the oppostition players out of position in order to create space to exploit.

Pros :
- having always 1v1 during attacking phase that are enough to create difficulties for the opposition team( especially if your team is stronger )

- having a +1 man in defensive phase ( like you can see in the animations ) and all the players cme back defend ( ST's dont came back to defend ) so the
opposition team will have more difficulties to score

- Dominate possession : You will always have a " free" man in the field and this give the team always a "passing solution" to escape the opposition team
pressing ( my average seasonal poss% is around 70 , in difficult matches from 60 to 65 )

Cons

- Experience is needed : In order to play in this way you always need to adapt your formation according to the opposition and sometimes when the other
manager is watching you need to change fast during the match. This require fast thinking . You need to have in mind the formations that are needed to
counter a new formation that the oppo can use.

[IImaestroII]

Khris - Static formation, or variable according to the opponent?

When they ask me what formation you use ? i always say " i have no formation " , i always adapt. When i started the game my aim was to find a " Universal " formation that can be good against all other formations, but at the end i realise that there is no perfect formation. Of course you can find a formation that is good vs many but every formation have pros and cons. Is up to the manager to find a suitable formation for every match that have more pros than cons. I believe that this is one of the reasons why that some managers get trolled in some matches even if they are stronger, 1 day you can you meet a weaker team have a formation that is " effective" against yours and this is where a tactical change/ formation change can save your day.

[IImaestroII]

Khris - Imagine that the game starts, possession against, foul against, and goal in the minute 1 '... what would The Prof do?

I experienced this sometimes and the advice i give is : Always maintain the calm. You need to focus and try to find why your team is not performing like you want. Is not easy especially when you are under pressure during important matches. Always take a bit of time and think then make changes.

One way to avoid this is doing a "pre-match" planning , by asking your self some questions like :

-What i will do if my team take a red card ?
-What if he change formation ? ( assuming that you watched some of his matches so you know what formation he is going to use )
-Who will be my sub in case my best player get injured ?
- and etc..

[IImaestroII]

Khris - To a new Top Eleven player, what advice would you give him?

This is a hard question, the game evolved during the years so giving an advice is not easy. Some request i saw mostly from new players are :
- formation?
- How to train players?
- How to win titles ?


Regarding formation , like i said before , always adapt according to your oppo.

Regarding the players training the forum , Fb groups and also YT are full of guides about building "well-trained " players, is like a culture.

Winning titles: In Italy we say " ci sono mille modi per arrivare a Roma " - there are many ways to arrive to rome and of course there are many ways to win titles, some are easier and some are more difficult , my advice is to choose the one that let you enjoy the game,having fun is the main purpose of a game

[IImaestroII]

Khris - Is it a mutant, a factor as decisive as it seems to many? And most importantly, from when should we consider that a player is a mutant?

Old school mutants



players with 400+ white skills ( back then you can find also players with 1000 lol ) are no longer present in this game cause of some Nordeus moves in the past ( 340 limit , no more gk training exploit and no more MOTM in friendlys ) and these where really game changers, they could score from any posistion ( even from midfield ).

Todays mutants players deserve to be called well-trained players and from my experience yes they can make the difference but in some matches their perfonmance can be " nerfed" due to the new engine configuration that make the life harder for the stronger teams against the weaker sides.

[IImaestroII]

Khris – 50 % for attributes, or a Special Ability? And which would you chose for every single line inside your team?

I usually always go for attributes cause i consider them more stable, Special ability is a boost for attributes but get triggered in certain moments and certain scenarios. I will always prefer a MC with 200 passing than a MC with 150 passing + Playmaker SA.

For the defensive line - 1 defensive wall and 1 aerial defender are a must

For the midfield line - DMC - playmaker sa
- MC - playmaker sa
- ML,ML - playmeaker sa or dribbler sa

For the attacking line - AMC,AMR,AML - shadow striker sa ( i usually give 1 of them a playmaker sa, he will be the assist man in front ) or free kick specialist
- ST - 1 on 1 finishing or Free kick specialist