Subject: [NT] Seca

Greetings.

They call me Seca. I’m a 35 year old math teacher living in Ontario Canada. I’m interested in the job as New Zealand NT manager. :)

I’ve been playing Sokker for 7 successful seasons, winning my division each time. I’ve also won the last two Canadian Cups. The past 3 seasons I have successfully managed Canada’s team, another of Sokker’s tiny nations. During my tenure, the Canadian team has done well, climbing 8 places in the World rankings and giving good performances in competitions.

Why New Zealand?

I have no RL connection with the country. My interest is because of your Sokker community. I started lurking in your forum when New Zealand and Canada were in the same Qualifying group, and have really enjoyed the banter. There are some very colourful personalities - I almost always get a chuckle when I stop by.

What do I bring to the team?

Experience - two World Cups and one Qualifying Round as an NT manager.

Communication - active would be an understatement. Check the Sokker Canada forum to get a sense of my communication habits.

Preparation - I’ve never spent less then 2 hours prepping for an NT match. Normal routine involves watching multiple opponent matches, making notes about tactics and personnel. I also watch club games of the opposing manager looking for tactical tendencies. I regularly scout key opponent players at their clubs to help deduce their skills (I’ve watched many an 11 Wise Men match trying to figure out what Bodger’s got under the hood).

What do you have the other guys don’t?

Aside from what I said above, I think I have a different approach. My tactics start by looking at what my players do well, and evolve from that into a formation. This is particularly useful when you are a small nation with limited resources. I’ve had the sense this was also Bballmaster2's approach. But with some other former NZ managers, I’ve got the feeling the tactic comes first, and then the players are jammed into it. This approach inevitably asks players to do things they can’t - causing the team problems, and making the players look bad.

Why the delay in stepping forward?

Three reasons.
First, I wanted to allow some time for qualified New Zealand managers to announce their intentions for the job.
Secondly, I wanted to be sure a quality manager was taking over for me in Canada.
Third, I’m a little concerned that NZ and Canada could end up in the same group. Could be seen as a conflict of interest. Thought I’d wait until after the groups were drawn (so I’m jumping the gun a little in this regard).

If you have a question I haven't already asked myself, please post. :)

I must say, this was a very unexpected surprise! We are most definitely spoilt for choice of coach this season!

I'll have to think of a bit to get some questions to ask you, but i have to say first that I have watched a few of your matches also and you are a bloody great manager!

PS: What skills do you think Bodger has atm from your deductions? :P

Thanks for the complimentary reply. :) I'll look forward to any questions you have (particularly if they involve math).

I'm at work right now, and my Sokker notes are at home. I'll post my Bodger assessment when I get home.

My best guess. Sometimes I'm pretty close, other times I'm way off. Looks like the last update I made was after the second Canada-NZ Q-match.

If I'm too close to the mark, let me know & I'll delete the post. ;)

Johnny Bodger
10-10-06
- quickness and good decisions suggest high PM

Stamina 11 (formid)
Pace 13+ (incred or better)
Technique 10-11 (excellent-formid)
Passing 3 (poor)
Defender 5-7 (average-good)
PM 9+ (VG or better)
Strike 14+ (Brill or better)

I watched the latest Australia-NZ game, and would estimate his pace is brilliant-magical now.

thats very interesting :) i can tell you that Stamina is bang on, and only one other prediction is correct, but they are close-ish

Edit: keep in mind fr the aus-nz game, he was in formid form and is now VG :(
(edited)

Stamina was a gimme. :P And close-ish doesn't sound all that close.

Hopefully I haven't insulted him. :)

maaaybe a little bit by the passing aspect :P (53rd minute)

and lets not forget the wonderful match against Germany :D (28th, 59th)

Ok i've just looked at the time different between us and seen that you are 19 hours behind us, in daylight savings/non daylight savings time. This will soon change to 7 hours when daylight savings stuff happens again. Do you feel this would hinder your ability to communicate?

Also, you mentioned you are a math(s) teacher, i'm just wondering what age group you teach to and whether you feel that your knowledge of the younger generation will let you manipulate us to your ideals using some kind of algorithm? ;D

I'm also interested to know what type of player you train/currently train in your own league team? I'm a believer that what a person trains is the position they are best at with tactics. Do you believe this also?

Your thought about jumping the gun has angered the Sokker gods and placed Canada in our group (again). Do you feel that you would be able to play against them better if you became NT coach because you know what their skills are like or do you think that knowing their skills could be used against you?

Just a taste of things to come :)

Nice ;) hehehehe

Seca: I need los of calculus help.

Barhilo : You did a freaking scholarship calculus paper! Genius.. so I'm sure u can help me :D

I don't perceive the time difference as a problem. Most personal NT communication isn't that time sensitive. I do watch all games live (much to my wife's displeasure), so pre and post-game forum posts would be timely.

I teach 13-18 year olds. Things I've learned from the younger generation (who Sean White is, the importance of wearing a belt) probably aren't helpful from a manipulation stand-point. And my mind-control algorithm (how did you hear about that?) is at least a year from completion.

I train strikers, though this doesn't necessarily mean striking. Currently I am in the middle of a stretch of technique. The 2 strikers Canada is likely to feature in qualifying (Amado & Giacomi) were both trained by me. I have a younger lad (Wang) who got a number of U21 caps, and a just turned 19 year old (Biron) who is a sure-fire NT player someday.

I'm a believer that what a person trains is the position they are best at with tactics.
I'm not convinced of that. If one part of your team is very strong, it's possible for you to succeed without optimal tactics in that spot. The place where you are weak is where (I think) you learn the most, as you see weaknesses exposed, and have to figure out ways to cover them up.

Do you feel that you would be able to play against them better if you became NT coach because you know what their skills are like or do you think that knowing their skills could be used against you?

It can only be seen as an advantage to have an idea of the opposition's player skills. How big an advantage is debatable. One would need to have players available who can expose the known weaknesses.

And though I am still a passionate, invested fan of the Canadian team, rest assured I would play them extremly tough. :)

Re: Bodger

Nice! Passing is something I find hard to discern on a striker. Unless they are used as the FK taker, or positioned wide it can be hard to pick up. (I realise Bodger was the FK taker in the Germany game, but he wasn't being used that way back when I was making notes on him).

If passing is an asset, he certainly has more tactical versatility. I've seen you drop him back into an OM-type role (last Fiery Tigers match for example). Having someone that can play this will be more important with the updated ME. This game makes me think that "Target man" style tactics might be useful with the updated ME, where they really weren't in seasons past. Bodger might look pretty good in the #11 spot.

Edit: fix tag
(edited)

Couple other questions that should probably be asked.

How would you describe your management style. "Lone Ranger"? "Consensus Builder"?

Somewhere in between. With the Canadian side, I had an "Inner Circle" (composed of Canadian managers who expressed an interest in NT affairs) that I bounced tactical ideas off for feedback before each match. I wasn't really looking for consensus, but hoped that explaining my thought process to others, any errors or flaws in logic would be pointed out. I was pleased with how it worked - promoted a sense of community and accomplishment.

What are your thoughts about the ME modifications currently being tested?

They are significant. I've watched over 30 matches with the modifications, and the probabilities have discernably changed. Tactics that were optimized for last season's ME will not be as effective. I feel fortunate to have had 7 extra games (as an NT coach) with the modifications in place. I've been able to try some things. Not all of them have worked, but I certainly feel I have a better sense of what will be effective.

I do think the changes are good for the long term, but right now I have the impression match results are a little more random then in previous MEs.

concerning a couple of the ME changes, do you think that strikers are better or worse?

When I first read the changes, I thought the value of the striking skill would increase. But from what I have seen so far, I think it has been diminished.

IMO striking skill was never critical for 1 on 1s with the keeper. Getting a good roll of the dice seems more important then who is actually shooting. The example I like to point to was in one of the Canada - NZ games from qualifying two seasons ago. Canada had a divine form - divine striker come in all alone and miss the net. Later in the match, a hopeless form - tragic striking midfielder had essentially the same opportunity and scored.

Where striking has been more important is in the 15-35 yard range. In the past, it took a pretty deft hand to score from out there, and this is where master strikers shone. The change to make it easier to score from distance has been noticeable - there are alot more goals being scored from this range. But many of the goals are being scored by pretty mediocre shooters.

Don't get me wrong, striking is definitely an asset. But I don't believe the modified ME values it sufficiently.

I should add that as a striker trainer, I have a definite bias in this issue. :)

same here, i have to say that striking is now, more than ever, more random than skill