How to underestimate your opponent lesson ONE!

[Philip L. Willis]

Hello again, as to continue with this 'No one gives a damn' of me getting knocked out of the CL, Me being the best team (on Paper!) and maybe the worst manager out of the 32 teams in my Champions league competition.
Strangely enough I still have a slim chance as the other two teams drew! Very strange....



My match up will be against a team, again strangely enough in my League competition, she is good, very good!



The match is less than 2 and a half a hours away, I will watch and hopefully many of my friends will too! [Note to oneself: Watch all their games right after this posting].
Every Possesion % points count! I am away.



I have played her twice, once in the CL: drew (0-0) at home, and once in the League (round 5): I won (0-1) away.



She is a plop-drop manager, she doesn't watch her game, but she plays a mean Narrow Diamond, I have played 4-5-1 V against her Diamond twice with mixed results. I know a good diamond when I see one, I am a ND manager! Her back line D's are solid, the AMC and her DMC are the best players on her team. The backbone of a Narrow Diamond is the center pieces, "Through the Middle"!

I out class her on every front, and my V should destroy her, but that has not been the case.



Will play a 4-5-1 V once again, but with minor changes, I'm putting 2 new scouts DL/DR that have been for nearly a week in training on my "B" team, and mixing it up with my old reliable DCs.
Nope, sorry ONE MAJOR change in tactics, I will up arrow these 2 babies, I never red my wing backs with 4-5-1V! We shall see if the classic motivate 4-5-1V lives up to it's reputation?



Well, I will like it or not report back on the results. Please understand I am not here to show of my managerial skills, no one shows off by lets you see how stupid he played. I am going this, just to document my down fall, what not to do, and encourage new managers to continue to play your best game even when the odds are against you. Go down fighting, lots and lots of managers give up once they do not win everything, do not get promoted or get trolled.

Track history and probability says I will be knocked out. Veteran managers reading this may know what I am all about, just sharing the fun of playing this game, the time spent getting a better team, learn more from others and improving yourself, the mental game that goes on! Yep, I said mental...LOL!

[Philip L. Willis]

Hello again, as to continue with this 'No one gives a damn' of me getting knocked out of the CL, Me being the best team (on Paper!) and maybe the worst manager out of the 32 teams in my Champions league competition.
Strangely enough I still have a slim chance as the other two teams drew! Very strange....



My match up will be against a team, again strangely enough in my League competition, she is good, very good!



The match is less than 2 and a half a hours away, I will watch and hopefully many of my friends will too! [Note to oneself: Watch all their games right after this posting].
Every Possesion % points count! I am away.



I have played her twice, once in the CL: drew (0-0) at home, and once in the League (round 5): I won (0-1) away.



She is a plop-drop manager, she doesn't watch her game, but she plays a mean Narrow Diamond, I have played 4-5-1 V against her Diamond twice with mixed results. I know a good diamond when I see one, I am a ND manager! Her back line D's are solid, the AMC and her DMC are the best players on her team. The backbone of a Narrow Diamond is the center pieces, "Through the Middle"!

I out class her on every front, and my V should destroy her, but that has not been the case.



Will play a 4-5-1 V once again, but with minor changes, I'm putting 2 new scouts DL/DR that have been for nearly a week in training on my "B" team, and mixing it up with my old reliable DCs.
Nope, sorry ONE MAJOR change in tactics, I will up arrow these 2 babies, I never red my wing backs with 4-5-1V! We shall see if the classic motivate 4-5-1V lives up to it's reputation?



Well, I will like it or not report back on the results. Please understand I am not here to show of my managerial skills, no one shows off by lets you see how stupid he played. I am going this, just to document my down fall, what not to do, and encourage new managers to continue to play your best game even when the odds are against you. Go down fighting, lots and lots of managers give up once they do not win everything, do not get promoted or get trolled.

Track history and probability says I will be knocked out. Veteran managers reading this may know what I am all about, just sharing the fun of playing this game, the time spent getting a better team, learn more from others and improving yourself, the mental game that goes on! Yep, I said mental...LOL!

Well, I won. Not bad for an away game!



The table still looks very grim. I was hoping that the other game in the table would be a drawn, but rethinking the whole thing my chances are better if one team won, which was what happened.



If you were to ask me what gave me the edge? I could say my stars, the head on my ST, my counter formation, the arrows on my DL/CR. Of course all those things mattered, but I going to give the win to the 17 managers that supported me, the 17 includes myself that is, and one Benoit that supported the other side, who is Benoit? The manager that is on top of my CL table. A last "intrigue"!

I will face him next at home the last game of the CL group standing. Wonder what he was thinking? The possession % only goes up to 15%, no matter how many managers you have rooting for you, but I'm sure it will scare the bejesus out of someone that have never seen 17 managers on the other side. Nice to have friends!

Well it doesn't matter, even if I win the next game, my fate will be in the hands of the other game's managers. C'est la vie!







P.S. Thanks to the 16 managers on my side!

[Mr. Marco]

Well, you played attacking mentality with forcing counterattacks??!!
I'm not surprised that this doesnt work^^
Those two settings don't fit with each other at all...

[Philip L. Willis]

I know it's long-winded and a pain in the butt to read, but actually it worked. Maybe you missed the point of this thread completely somewhere?

[Mr. Marco]

Haha no I didn't^^

[Catalin Joel]

There is now sense in this game at all... sometimes you ca easily lose against 1 weaker opponent with **** tactic and 1 injured/redcard player. You need to get over it, since is nothing you can actually do.

[ninjaa]

That amount of support would definitely scare me if I was against you. lol

Good luck in the last round of group stage.

[Philip L. Willis]

It's interesting to me how many Voodoo Managers we see, the higher up the more we see. Almost for sure tomorrows game against our intriguing friend Benoit, will be the last CL game of the season for me. He will more than likely put this formation up, last time we meet he played it, changing from this to 4-5-1V and back through out the game.



So I decided to show the following just to give him a thrill. Will I play it, of course not, but he doesn't know that!



Here is a quiz, what will Phil play against Benoit at the start of tomorrows' game? Sorry no prize, just the satisfaction of figuring out the quiz!

*TIP: The starting lineup 11 is set in stone, none of the subs will start!

I hopefully will win this game, I am at home, I will also need the other two teams to draw, or for the team at the bottom of the table to win. I'm going to root for her.

[Philip L. Willis]

Well boys and girls, it's what you have been wait for. The end to the lesson on "How to underestimate your opponent" lesson ONE!

A very fitting end to the lesson, as I was crushed at home 1-4 with an 60% possession advantage.



After a few rounds of Peek-a-Boo formations between him and I, prior to the game with me showing, 4-5-1V, Narrow Diamond, Crazy and Park Da Bus, and him giving me a look see with asymmetric 4-5-1V and then a regular V. We both ended up starting with the below.



Noticing I was exposed in the middle, LOL....., I changed out a ST and replace him with a DMC, playing a 4-5-1V, toooo late, 2 goals down by 30'! We both kept formation until the end. The after-thought was I should have Narrow Diamond him once I say his 4-1-3W-2.

After-thoughts have a placebo affect, so you won't hit your head against the wall. Make the decision, keep to it, OK kids.



Goalie had 2 saves but was out gunned, how? I DONT KNOW! midfield was beyond bad. Note: All starters top condition and morale every game!



Well it turns out it didn't matter if I'd won or lost, as the other CL game determined my fate. As the bottom of the table team lost to the 2nd place team. I was out.

But the real lesson about this game was FORMATION! FORMATION! FORMATION!

Bye kids see you next time!

[Gintaras Račas]

Hexagon seems to work terribly bad this season.