Today is Cup Match Day 3. It was inevitable that after two rounds against virtual teams, round three invariably throws me something to chew on. In this case, a Perakian opponent from division four with a peculiar moniker – Pengkalan Jumping Beans. Pengkalan, if you must know, is located in the outskirts of Ipoh. While PJB would probably call that home, the term “jumping beans” leapfrogs my sensibilities and I can only speculate that he is a taugey farmer living next to a railway track.

But I digress. PJB is a monster defensive trainer with ratings that reach world class. Having played the game since 2004, PJB easily clinched his series title last season. The chink in PJB’s armor is a weak offence and a moderate midfield. I need to make possession count.

A check on the weather shows it is overcast. Good for my powerful players. My concern is speedy Konstantin Arps if it rains. I have chosen my best SP defenders for this game, which really isn’t much. Better to beware of the indirect free kick lest I get kicked in the teeth.

Omigosh! I forgot to set my penalty takers. A quick check shows that I have an hour to go. Best not to take chances from this stage on – that’s if I get beyond round 3. Losing would take away a lot of joy in the game and everyone wants to do as well as Accidental Mel last season. Better yet, if we can match the exploits of Jeffrey Piranha and climax with Piala in hand! What a guy – bet he knows this Pengkalan Jumping Beans… all these Ipoh folks… sigh…

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…

Nooooo!!! This is not about Euro 2008. This is the continuation of “My Story”, back due to popular demand.

So this is Part VI??

Agency Cost is an economic concept on the cost incurred by an organization that is associated with problems such as divergent management-shareholder objectives and information asymmetry. In any organization it is very likely that there are divergent or difference between the objectives and motivations of its members, and htmy was not an exception.

Hattrick is a great game as such that people can play it in many ways, some can attempt to horde as much cash as possible, while patiently make the kill, while others might attempt to use as much as possible, its current resources to win. Some might place the interest on the nation first, while others their own club. I strongly believe there is no right or wrong way of playing a game, as you should be able to play it as you like, and attempt to achieve what you are enjoying.

The difference in goal, therefore lead to the divergent. In order to be efficient, local user who pull a potential U20 youth were requested to put the player on sale during off-peak time. The reason is simple, as this will allowed TBs less competition from foreign users to bid for the player. The cost, well, the player will be sell at a lower price, hence the original owner of the player gets less money. A small conflict? Well, big battles normally arise from a small misunderstanding!

So intense was the battle, for those who remember it, htmy lose many of its dedicated users….. and we have yet to recover.