Left, Left, Right, Left.

Right, Right, Left, Right.

Hang on, this is hattrick?

Well, I got this from the former Hattrick Masters winner, of which I can’t recall the name, as he posted in the Global Conference something like “As in masters no one team can afford to lose in midfield and Central Attack, its all like dancing of where we need to guess whether to attack on the left or right.” How enlightening, as it is widely believe that Central Attack contribute approximately 40% of all normal chances while the other two side contribute 25% each and Set Pieces 10%. Therefore it is understandable how Central Attack would be causing great peril for those who ignore it. In order to win or at least be competitive in midfield, therefore requires team to utilize its wingers post or at least one of them to be played as inner midfield or at least playing winger towords middle. Thus only one side attack can be utilize in addition to the upmost important central attack. In response, many team also sacrifice 1 side of their defence, that is, by playing 2 central defender to protect them from central attack.

How does this help? Well, if we match our opponents midfield, taking 10 normal chances, we will get 5 chances, of which most probably 2 to 3 will come from center, 1 to 2 from left and another 1 to 2 from right. Therefore ignoring 1 side defense will risk you of conceding 1 to 2 goals. Make sense? Maybe, if the set-up confidently allows your offence the high chance to score 2 or more goals, of which a great central attack and 1 side attack allows!

Ofcourse, AIM and AOW are supposed to modify the ratio, especially since HT announced that they have fixed the AOW’s bug, but the reduction in Central Defense (AOW) or Side Defence (AIM) make them less attractive.

I must say that I have been amazed (and still wonder) on how our former U20 coach toong managed to get most of his guesses right during his U20 matches, something I have yet able to do in the NT…

So keep them guessing…… Left or Right?

Genuine Thai Tom Yum and shrimp cake can really send me up to culinary heaven. Unfortunately Aro King’s sms brought me down to earth in a resounding thud (!)… simple read “you lost 0-2…” Remind me to bar his calls and sms whilst overseas… okok, thanks for the update bro. Like a good neighbour, Lam knew that I was on business trip and was merely keeping me updated (and ruining a perfect meal at the same time!)

The lost to Scorton Rovers was not unexpected. In a world of equals, his team was simply more equal than mine on each seven areas of ratings. Added to this was the fact that my first choice striker and set piece taker was in HT hospital and my magical playmaker was suspended from the game after accumulating 3 yellow cards, which meant that he was literally on “sale” as the game was on. Why? Well, that’s what today’s diary is going to be about.

Tālivaldis Kaktnieks was purchased at the end of last season as part of my preparation for my new series. I failed to realize however that he was close to celebrating his birthday and that his previous owner had still been training him - hence his salary increased by almost RM 200,000/week. This meant that I had surpassed my salary cap by some measure. Even more worryinng was the fact that my see-saw performance and need to periodically PIC hurt my gate receipts, compounding my financial management. Once I realized that I would be KOed from the competition, the decision to sell was easy…

You see, I am a firm believer of wage optimization. If you take the trouble to use alltid (www.alltid.org), under the “main page for” your series, on the left hand menu under sub-section “teams”, you will find an item called “Per rating”. Click on it! You will find a salary per hatstats ratings table that measures your wage efficiency. This shows how much you are paying to acquire your current ratings and needless to say, the lower your salary per rating, the better - as the table suggests.

Of course there are other important factors like the relative strength of the teams in your series and national team interests, but generally speaking, the lower your salary per rating, the better your financial growth (OK, I concede that demotion does little for growth… that’s why it’s called the economics of HT)

I am a firm supporter of wage efficiency and despite the level of competition in my series, I am committed to making this work. So in a way, getting KOed by Scorton Rovers (the rogue!) may be a good thing as I find myself back on track to grow and hopefully not get demoted!

Dear Diary,

Hahaha! I’ve never wrote a diary in my entire life. Hey but this a blog, besides I can’t let Jeff’s ‘Dear HT Diary’ post being in the first post for so long….

Yesterday, was the day of which Kota Damansara’s 7 games of unbeaten streak was broken when we fell down to our knees at DagangFC. It’s a game that one would expect that Damansara would lose, after all, midfield still plays a very important part of the game. So what would you do if you know that you would lose midfield? If you are still thinking (or dreaming) to win then playing Counter Attack appears to be the only alternative. However, if you are trying to get a draw, pressing will be a great alternative. But I really dislike playing for a draw, its like you are giving up all hope, not my style huh?

Realising that in order to train playmaking and still make some decent money, it is obvious that you need to sell your playmaker trainee at a profitable level, usually around the worldclass level, which means that most of the time my middy sucks!! (That might change much later…) Besides, I pity the U20 Malaysia of having to go through its campaign without much middy power over the last season. Patriotic thought huh. Also that my middy at that time has very little secondary, which make them a no competitor in the National Team with the likes of other players trained by PeeJayReds, AirHitam, Kickaball and KJBrite.

While I am not an expert in Counter Attack (unlike goldfries), here is what I gathered over the seasons:

Counter Attack required:

1. Great defense – Therefore your defenders have be better at high level and great goalkeeper too.
2. Defenders with passing – The counter attacking defenders, so that they can pass the ball that they won after defending to your attackers instead of clearing at row Z like English defenders normally did. :p
3. Great attack – Your striker better be good, since counter attacking chances are normally not many, only 1 to 3 per match, you really need to utilize that limited chances.
4. Less than 50% possession, or else you will only lose your middy. So do make sure that you have a high chance of a weaker midfield than your opponent, but don’t give up too much possession as well (45%-50% would be idle) .
5. Extra advantage points : Since competing against the more superior number of normal chances, having a great Set Pieces taker, specialty etc will be helpful, all little things will be needed when playing Counter Attack.
6. AND A LOTS OF LUCK So Good Luck!

Been enjoying the diary postings by mymlak of pirxy, Japan at the Winger Market & Discussion (WMD!) conference. Anyway, I thought I’d replicate it some and see how it works out… kind of like a HT blog if you would.

Well, for those who don’t know me, tis’ not surprising. My team is a minor one in Division 3 and I just promoted from series IV.33 to an awfully competitive series III.8, which at this point of time, apparently ranks among the toughest in this weight category if you may. Started by making a huge error when I purchased my new 28 year old middy… turns out his wages jumped by a third when he celebrated his birthday and blew my wage cap into another dimension.

TS has been good for me and I now sit pretty at second place… though truth be told, I have yet to meet the heavy weights like Miri Oilers and Liverpool FC. Good thing though (at least for me and my series mates), Miri Oilers appears to be turning bot for reasons I’d rather not try to discuss here…

As for my cup run, Round 5 pairs me up against Scorton Rovers, a very powerful and balanced team by the looks of it. Several injuries seem to give me hope (although my Pichai will probably miss the game) but even with what he has, he should be able to fend me off to a remaining season of friendly matches. Just thinking out aloud, I was pretty fortunate to get by punKSTERS today, despite injury and suspension to 2 key players… and definitely having home advantage helped.

At this point, reaching Round 5 while staying in the top half of my series feels like an achievement, so I will leave it at that. Looking at some of the upsets in Round 4 - BringItAwn comes to mind, I’d count my blessings and hope lightning strikes twice, maybe thrice since I have leonin to contend with on Sunday…