Subject: [NT U21] Ovcollege

I am using this thread to announce my candidacy for the U21 NT coaching vacancy. I have been an active manager and have completely changed my team to reflect the desire to field a team of US only players. I would like to the opportunity to draw from our constituiency and field the best U21 team available. Our future successes will depend on creating an adequate funnel program that will support our NT team and because our current players are aging. I believe the children are our future, I plan on teaching them well so that they can lead the way ... ;)

do you plan on using your current squads formation or do you plan on changing it up and running something different?

I would definitely change what I'm doing because we wouldn't have to run 5 in the back like my team. I have holes that require me to compensate by using an extra defender and a defensive mid. So, I literally am using 6 defenders. The U21 NT would allow me to move toward a 4 back system with more emphasis on wing play as well as looking to utilize more from our forwards than I currently have on my Scots team. I would like the opportunity to draw from a large pool of players that would allow me to be more creative because of the collective talent that we have in the US ...

I would like to agree with you, but remember that U21 team is compose by players that are still in training and most of the time they are not starters in them team and somehow they are not balanced players.

You will see players with magical defense, but not pace at all, becasue the owner train defense only, and sell it to a pace trainer. Is easier to manage a Team than the U21 NT from a skill point of view.


I will agree with you if we were talking about the USA NT team, or a U21 NT team with a large database of players like the European countries has right now. (Italy, Polska, Romania, etc etc)

I see what you are talking about ... maybe I should say that I will play to whatever strength we have, whether it is defending, midfield or strikers. I know that I am a defender trainer and that would be my preference but I do not feel that that would prevent me from creating a tactic that would serve our needs at the U21 NT level. I am ok with the fact that the U21 team would be a way to help feed into our senior NT and would like the opportunity to help develop our young players. I think that we have a foundation started by Dio-Nisio and eager to continue what has been started ...

What about scouting? So far it was based on FireSokker (more accurate, but less player) and now on DreamTeam website (more players but less accurate) . Are you going to follow players from Future Stars threads as well?

I waited few days to see who was applying for the job, and to update the database. By DATABASE i mean my FILE with all the skills from every players i've scouted. In Sokker when you are a NT coach you don't have access to player's skill. The NT database is useful, but need constant update from users, constant scouting of market to check players on sale and still, if manually update can be faked.
Dream Team Website is useful because it cut's time in scouting, meaning that i don't have to check country by country, team by team for USA players. It record player perfomances in official games, but in the case of U21 players, in most cases those players play only friendlies. The only feature that i found useful is the list of the best 20 players by VALUE, for every age and Role (ATT, MID, DEF, GK).

The use of Both System together, can help in find the best USA players.

I do have my file that i will send to YOU if you are willing to privately send me your e-mail address. It is an excel file. It does a system that i create to rate players, and every player is categorize by age and Role.

Another Thing. I agree to participate in a USA Mini World Cup next season, but after the election, they will contact the new coach to check if it still will be part of it. There's a Thread in SK international.
Friendlies: first thing to do is to look for a friendly game. You can organize friendly only week, by week. Try to look for teams that are about your strenght, There's a thread in SK international (U21 NT features), where most of the coaches will try to set up a Friendlies plan for the season. Make sure you keep track of it.

For what i think of the next u21 players: we have better Defenders than the last one, Ok MIDS (2 were first teamers in the last player batch), very poor choice of ATT, and there's nothing yet in the youngest either.
With GK, we should be allright for 3 seasons if the are keep trained

I am willing to do everything I can to search for the best possible players for our U21 NT. I know that there will be limitations to what I can research because I will not have access to the players skills unless managers send them in in a timely fashion.

On a side note ... I know that my team is not a top three team in my division but in my defense I have switched to fielding an entire USA team. Before the change in my roster, my team was competitive and had realistic aspirations to challenging for first place. I am building up to that but it is proving to be a slow process ...

You can always use the dreamteam website to narrow down your search, you still need the actual skills from the relevant players managers though.....

I wish we could see how the election is going because this is a flaw in our current voting ... I appreciate the tidbit of info about the dreamteam website ... and will use it if I am fortunate [or unfortunate ;) ] in winning ... thanks.

What do you mean by flaw?

I have been through 3 elections now and everytime I am on tenter hooks as to whether I have won. lol

It would be nice to see during the process if you were winning or losing then you could decide whether to run a smear campaign or stay above the mud-slinging ... ;)

On the other side though, you could be on the end of the mud slinging. Also it can then sway potential voters if they can see x winning but think oh Y is only 1 nehind, I'll vote for him instead. Not knowing means its down to who people think the best candidate is.

Your right ... I didn't think of it that way.

WHERE IS THE EXIT POLLING DATA? I DEMAND TO KNOW!

I guess it would also be nice to know how many blue and red states voted for me ...