Goalkeeper useless

[MiddleEarth]

After both of my goalkeepers combined a staggering 26% combined in saves over the season, I've sold both of them. That of the table, I've organized three friendlies, in each of them my team had one of the central defenders between the posts. The first friendly game against a +9% opponent was won 2-1, with the DC saving 6 of the 7 shots getting a 8.4 rate. Moving forward, the second friendly against a -5% opponent, saw a clean-sheet by another central defender, he saved all 5 of the 5 shots and was voted man of the ****ing match, netting a solid 9.0. Lastly, the 3rd match simulated one of the many trolls against a -30% opponent. However, no troll this time around, as my team prevailed with 4-0, it's been a friendly match after all. But again, also the third central defender got away with a shout-out, saving 3 of 3 with a solid 7.6 rate for his job between the posts.

The team will play it's 3rd CL group match in a couple of hours. After already suffering a troll result in the first match (1 of 4 shots saved, 1-2 away defeat), this one is another important one, but the management decided to give one of the 3 available central defenders another chance to prove it's goalkeeping quality.

Moral of the story? Who the **** needs "real" goalkeepers as long as you can put a beer-bottle in between the posts and that one doing even a better job than the so called professional...

I'll keep collecting the statistics over the course of the season. As my team only plays league and CL (after getting blown away on away goals by an -32% opponent within the Cup round 2, with just 14% of combined saves by both professional goalies) it's a pretty straightforward rest of the season...

[Spartan117]

Hmm interesting. Following. ...

[dave1311]

I put players out of position all the time (not GK admittedly) and they usually get 7 and 8 ratings regardless. I therefore don’t worry about players for certain positions because it seems you do not get penalised anymore.

[pcmacdaniel]

Middle earth, by any chance do your central defenders have much better fitness than your goalie?

p.s. I understand fitness being important for a goalie makes no logical sense. But it's nordeus!

[Ursd]

It's very funking, isn't it, Middle Earth

[MiddleEarth]

With two more matches in the bag, a short resume.

CL match was won 2-0. The statistics in short:

possession: 55% - 45%
total shots: 19 - 10
shots on target 8 - 3
saves: 3 - 4

The league match was barely won by 2-1 against a -47% opponent which is sitting solid at the rock bottom of the league table. And yes, it was a home match. Hell yeah, home matches are always more difficult to win than away, at least as far as my team is concerned (more home defeats than away...), or especially knowing that Nordeus wrote/implemented an engine far from any logic...

Moving on to the stats of that league win misery;

possession: 77% - 23%
total shots: 24 - 11
shots on target: 7 - 4
saves: 2 - 4

To answer pcmacdaniel's question. The two former "professionals" had the following attributes compared to the new 3 central defenders acting as the new real Goalkeepers:

former GK.1:

fitness: 117%
strength: 95%
aggression: 122%
speed: 81%
creativity: 91%

former GK.2:

fitness: 133%
strength: 97%
aggression: 201%
speed: 85%
creativity: 73%

New GK (DC.1):

fitness: 129%
strength: 137%
aggression: 127%
speed: 127%
creativity: 96%

New GK (DC.2):

fitness: 149%
strength: 100%
aggression: 136%
speed: 142%
creativity: 87%

New GK (DC.3):

fitness: 138%
strength: 127%
aggression: 133%
speed: 125%
creativity: 89%

As cup on the cake, let's take a look at the actual GK efficiency statistics compared to the ones of the former "professionals"

former GK.1:

total matches: 6
total saves: 7
total shots on target: 17
save efficiency: 41.2%
total goals allowed: 6
goals allowed/match: 1.0
average rate: 6.8

former GK.2:

total matches: 6
total saves: 9
total shots on target: 24
save efficiency: 37.5%
total goals allowed: 8
goals allowed/match: 1.33
average rate: 6.6

New GK - DC.1:

total matches: 2
total saves: 9
total shots on target: 10
save efficiency: 90.0%
total goals allowed: 1
goals allowed/match: 0.5
average rate: 8.1

New GK - DC.2:

total matches: 2
total saves: 7
total shots on target: 9
save efficiency: 77.8%
total goals allowed: 1
goals allowed/match: 0.5
average rate: 7.6

New GK - DC.3:

total matches: 1
total saves: 3
total shots on target: 3
save efficiency: 100.0%
total goals allowed: 0
goals allowed/match: 0.0
average rate: 7.6

Next up, CL group stage 4th matchday, the return leg against the same opponent we've defeated 2-0 at home, followed by a league match against a -15% opponent currently sitting on the 6th place of the league table. Next up, central defender # 2 with it's second appearance, followed by DC # 1 with it's third match.

To be continued...

[Vernie83]

Very very interesting post indeed

[MiddleEarth]

Here we're again, four matches later...

The first matchup saw the team winning it's CL return leg by 5-0 with impressive stats for both, offense and defense.
Between the posts, another stellar performance by DC.3. He's saved all three shots fired by the opponent.

On the same day, the team had a hard home match against a though league opponent (-7.8%). That one
ended in a narrow 1-0 win, which could’ve been expressed in a much higher margin, but our offense failed
to convert numerous good scoring opportunities. DC.1 had it's second clean sheet, but he saw just one shot
the entire match, but I'm convinced one of the team's former GK wouldn't have save that one, though...

Match #3 since the last update was another league match, however, it was against a god-damn tanker from
one of the many islands of Indonesia. Hence, the 12-0 home win shouldn't be weighted that much. Nothing
to do for DC.2 this time around, as just one shot had been fired, most likely by one of the left defenders from
the opponents illegal 1GK-9DL-1DMC formation...

The last match took place this early morning, with the management still in it's deep beauty sleep. Although,
it was clear that no intervention would be needed against yet another easy league opponent, lacking almost 42% in quality
compared to the manager's brave eleven. 6-0 the final verdict, in a one-sided affair on foreign soil.
Our hero this time, was DC.3, not a single god-damn shot on his goal, he could've also remained in bed...

In around three and half hours, the team will face a real test, while contesting the 5th matchday within the CL group stage
against the actual leader of the pack. Despite the fact that a knock-out berth has been already secured, motivation shouldn't
come short, as a win to nil, or by two or more goals would secure the first place within the group, and a much, much
preferable knock-out draw afterwards. On top of that, mister Troll has already taken it's victim in game one, which has
been lost despite outplaying and out-shooting the opponent, but former GK.2, simply didn't had his day, as Nordeus would say,
saving a misery of 1 of 3 shots facing his net, resulting in a 1-2 away loss...

The actual stats are included as screen shot from a Libreoffice calc-sheet I've created to keep track of this story...



to be continued...

[MiddleEarth]

Time to update the stats and figures...

In the meantime, the team has played four more matches. The big CL clash for the first group place was just a big clash on paper. With the manager doing his tactical work ahead of the crucial matchup, the team did their homework as good and steam-rolled over their opponents sending them home with a 4-0. Especially the defense was stellar, as the opponent did not manage to fire a single shot on goal. All other relevant statistics also pointed in just one direction.

With the first place in reach before the last CL group match, it was time to get back to league business. A home match against the 6th placed league team, just about 20% lower in quality. The same formation as within the CL group match before was used. At half-time, the team already had a comfortable 3-0 lead, but the manager was not prepared for what he should witness in the second half of the game... Within the first 23 opening minutes of the 2nd half, the team added six more goals to their account, before closing the deal with two further goals in the dying minutes of the game. An impressive 11-0 home win was the surprising result at the end.

The last two great performances gave the team another boost in confidence ahead of the last CL group stage match. The quality difference of roughly 32% raised the troll alarm for the management and led the same choose an offensive line-up to make sure to score at least one more than the opponent to avoid another troll at the false moment. After a highly expected 1-0 lead after 25 minutes, the inferior hosts equalizer just two minutes later. That fact raised code troll red... However, the team reacted in style, adding 3 more goals right before half-time to make things clear after 45 minutes of play. A controlled offense in the 2nd half led to just one more goal to seal the group win and another nice 5-1 away win...

Half an hour ago, it was time to face the 8th placed league team on foreign soil. The hosts, once again exactly 34% lower in quality couldn't expect any points or gifts. Once again, a pretty straightforward 3-0 half-time lead, but similar to the previous league match, the offensive inferno which followed in the 2nd half was another positive surprise for the management. The team's best striker added a hat-trick, to push it's season high of goals to 26, netting 5 goals alone in this match for a comfortable 9-0 away win. However, that performance wasn't good enough to claim the man-of-the-****ing-match award, as the midfielder team mate who had scored "just" 3 goals, also got a 10.0 rating and somehow was voted for MOM?!?! I'll never understand that engine...

Once again, the statistical overview as screenshot before the next update after another league match, and most likely the first leg of the CL 1/8 Finals Knockout-Phase, before heading to our fierce league and long-time rivals to battle out the first league place (both at the top with 10W-1D-0L each, +57, +54 GD) in an much expected away clash of the giants. That should also be the final test to prove our - "who the **** needs a GK anymore, if you can have a beer bottle between the posts" theory.

[Vernie83]

Great job man. So, in the end it seems the GK are really useless....