Subject: So...

"agreed. the impact of "scouting" your opponent is really over-rated. "

I strongly disagree. If your opponent plays exactly the same tactics as in the previous game you can position your players both defensively and offensively to your advantage. It becomes really important if your opponent is quite stronger than you and plays with good tactics.

The same strategy with minor tweaks can yield a completely different result.

i tend to believe that beyond huge tactical changes, like playing a with a onesided wing formation, the effect of "minor tweaks" is only visible at the highest of levels, like NT play. that being said, a manager who thinks tactical scouting is that important is the same manager who thinks tactics win matches, instead of players. i throw those managers in the same group as the ones that think they know something that everyone else doesn't because of their ability to translating real life soccer to the sim world.

good players + average tactics > average players + good tactics

I never change my tactics. I just try to have better players.

well, i still disagree

and i am still talking about small tweaks

by scouting you can see the pattern the opponent's striker run and you can position you defenders accordingly. a small change can make a big difference if you are the weaker team.

you can also position your offensive players in such a way that they have a little bit more space so that they can make some kind of a play even if the opponent's player are much better.

it does not mean that it will guarantee a win but it gives better odds to beat a stronger team.

i have seen some bad results of scouting when some managers exaggerated with the "tweaks" and the result was awful ..

you may disagree but it actually makes sense that small changes in tactics have an impact and this makes this game even more interesting.

Better players is the key for sure but it takes time to make enough money to reach the strongest teams.

I also focus on making money so that I can have better players but I also try to keep my team young which makes it a bit more difficult to have players with average grades as good as those of the strongest opponents in my league (I am climbing though:)

good players + average tactics > average players + good tactics

well...time for me to wade in with a comment...i have seen low skill teams playing strong tactcis beat high skill teams with average talent. the victories came from application of tactics. i know this works because i have trophies to prove it. all i taught my players was tactics because i did not know how to teach the finer skills. position and teamwork can make the difference in any game.

i agree that in higher levels of play the more important minor changes can be. but that makes learning tactical development all the more important at lower levels. most coaches can tell you that skill beats talent alone. and talent plus skill trumps skill by itself. tactics is the application of talent and allocation of skill. scouting is finding those areas where you need to change either that application or allocation in order to achieve better results. for that reason...i like plus and i think it has advantages for the users.
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cm, i'm not talking about someone with great plaers and poor tactics. i'm saying that as long as you have an adequate level of tactics then ability will win 99 times out of a 100. are there poor tactics? yes. and there people playing the wrong tactics for their players? yes. but creating more space for an attacker or sliding a defender to be in line with an attacker, these are minor tweaks that have VERY little effect on the game at levels below upper ML squads and the NT matches.

like i said, good players + average tactics > average players + good tactics... but bad tactics will always lose.

i don't care how good your defenders are, if they are dropping back into your goalies lap, you're going to give up a lot of goals. if we are talking about really bad tactics vs really great tactics, then it changes a lot... but how many teams outside of the US C leagues are really playing terrible tactics?

as i said before, don't get too wrapped up in the transference of real world scouting ideas to the game. real world scouting and sim scouting are completely different.

if you are a C leaguer and play against an A team in a cup or sth then probably your tactical tweaks are pointless but if you are a B leaguer and play against another B leaguer who is quite stronger the tweaks can help you.

Let's say the game was repeated 10 times.

Let's say without any changes you could win 3 out of 10 then with the tweaks (in my opinion) you could win one or two more...
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don't get too wrapped up in the transference of real world scouting ideas to the game. real world scouting and sim scouting are completely different.

absolutely no argument on that point.
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Let's say without any changes you could win 3 out of 10 then with the tweaks (in my opinion) you could win one or two more...

so what you're saying there is that your teaking of tactics creates a 10%-20% increase winning percentage for an inferior team... sorry, i was willing to give you 5%... but not 10-20... if your tactic changes create that much change in whats happening on the field i'd have to say that your base tactic has flaws. remember, your whole point is in minor tweaks. Minor. a defender might have a better defensive angle on an attacker with a tweak, but that won't give him a 20% better chance of tackling the ball from him. be reasonable. tweaks don't make solid tacklers formidable tacklers... or very good strikers outstanding ones.

i'm willing to, and have been all along, admit that slight differences in tactics, especially those done through advanced scouting, can help during a match, but i still believe the difference for most users is almost inconsequential.

but you know that if a defender attack a striker directly, the probability of taking the ball is much higher? if the same defender attacks the striker at an angle he might not be that successful...

on the offensive end, if your players are very close to the defenders you won't have to many chances to score but if your mids have more space to pass and your strikers is more open then..

well it works for me (at least sometimes) :)

You have to excuse me krepa do you have verifyable proof that your changes made after seeing how someones tactics are set, has achieved greater results? you could only prove this to me by playing a practice game against the same opponent twice, once where u had regular tactics and once where you had these modified tactics... I think you guys overanalyze those tactics. Oh yeah cause your players really are where you suggest them on that tactical editor, right? Bahhhh its like setting up the board game risk, and then playing tic tac toe on it and claiming you could tell how you set up the risk board effected the outcome. I mean come on... Their is only what, 5000 other variables that could have influenced the match to go differently this time? But your 5001 is what did it.
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you are welcome to think that is pointless

in the meantime i won my last league game against a much stronger team (4:0) :)
this team had beat me in the past (i managed to tie once 0:0) and we both played with very similar strategies.

watch it if you want

now the subject is closed as far as i am concerned:)

fine krepa im going over to your page to check, but if I find out the last match was at your home and all the loses you had were away matches I am just going to laugh my self silly.

the game i won was away :)

but do you think it matters?

I am certain away and home game matches matter yes. Check your past record. But your right I see nothing to say your wrong in the match against those dragons.