Subject: [NT] Bosna i Hercegovina

Afraid of what? Speak! :)

Really. Speak. I won't bite your head off. :) I'm not sure what you predicted.

I wasn't afraid of getting another screw job. I thought Austria was 1 in 1000. Apparently the odds are much different when I'm at the helm. :P

I wasn't afraid of them changing tactic. IMO when they opened up the back to generate more offense it played into our hands. If I'd seen their tactic ahead of time I probably wouldn't have changed our approach. I would have positioned the strikers more aggressively, but in all honesty they earned that cushion by playing up so many matches.

And the striker positioning wasn't that bad. We had 7 point blank chances that were saved - 5 of them clean saves. They had 4 shots - 2 by a midfielder - all from outside the 18 yard box. The winning goal was a 25 yarder from a midfielder with 3 career goals in ~130 matches.

So I would appreciate feedback, because I can't see what I'm doing wrong.

Sometimes I am so mad at the sokker and the way it is played. I know it happen in real life too but the game like this where you are clearly much better team to lose like that is just not ok! Today we beat them in every aspect but the final score. There is luck there is skill and much more things to go with but.
Other thing our strikers every time seem to be afraid to shoot, ok we got 15 shots but there were so many more chances for a clear shot but they just went strait to a defender. Wang particulary disapointed performance today maybe his position not to blame tho, Biron should have done much better decitions all alone on the left.
Nothing to wory Seca you did your best like every time but somehow I got a feeling its not the same you like 2-3 season back when we speak NT. Those matches where easy for you 3 season back.

Nothing wrong about tactic its just the game.
You see we have a better kepper and he go 2-4 and their second kepper 1-15, I am sure our strikers are much better but still they couldn`t score. They maybe better in defence but not much today about that. So it is not you Seca.

Some anecdotal.

I haven't used 3 striker sets often with my club team. That's because when 1 striker is clearly better, a 3 striker formation tends to take the play away from the focus player. That was certainly the case today, as the ball followed Biron around leaving Amado with less service then I would have liked.

I don't think Biron played badly. He drew both yellow cards on the right defender. He got 4 of 6 shots on target. Having more striking in that position didn't seem to matter - W Lav, our divine striker, had a 6 yarder from the same position Biron was shooting from and was saved.

The defense played well. Abbas Musa got beat a few times, but it didn't amount to anything directly. Dehere made some poor decisions, running with the ball a lot. This bugs me because one of the prime reasons he's in is his PM. But again, it didn't amount to anything. Fichaud kicked the ball out more then I would like.

The midfield was disappointing. Though we generated a lot of great scoring chances, there could have been more. Both Iginla and O'Hara had numerous situations where strikers were open and out-numbering defenders, but failed to find a red shirt.

Strikers - Biron already addressed. Amado didn't see enough of the ball, and made a few bad decisions when he did - passed the ball out of bounds on a 3 on 0 (minute 42), and cut to the corner flag instead of the goal post on a few occasions. Wang suffered the most from the striker positioning. He was the "high" striker in the offensive zone, but was closed down fairly quickly each time.

And then there is Parker. No saves again today. The 4 BiH shots were all from outside the 18 yard box. 2 shots on target - that's all it takes it seems. Average shot rating of "adequate". *Sigh* The opposing keeper made 7 point blank saves - 5 of them "clean" saves with no rebounds (one of the main reasons for 3 strikers is rebound goals).

I appreciate what you are saying. The comparison to 2-3 seasons ago is interesting. I don't feel "the game" has passed me by. I believe I have a good understanding of the current ME - of what it takes to be successful.

I have said this privately to a few people, but I firmly believe that luck has greater importance in this version of the Match Engine then in any previous. And not just the obvious with respect to red cards and injuries.

That midfielders with no striking to speak of are regularly beating our divine keeper from distance indicates to me the luck is far more important then striker skill or keeper skill.

With the maturity of Sokker, it's probably good luck is important. Otherwise, established club teams like my own would be completely unassailable by younger squads. But it is very frustrating to see that hours of preparation are pretty meaningless when the coin flips continually go against you.

welcome to my life in the CPL

I give up at least one of these a season, old ME, new ME, seems to make no difference

I just watched the game, unlucky is all that I can say. Many times I saw Fichaud pass the ball to Iginla who immediately passed to Biron who turned into his defender and was tackled. It would be nice to see the ME let Iginla attack down the wing, for Biron to come towards him..play the give and go, for Iginla to make a telling cross-pass from the byline and for Amado to head into the net at the far post.

Heehee. I'm usually good for one of those a season too (see week one this time round). But this is 2 dreadful beats in 8 qualifying matches. The occurrence rate is a little too high. :)

That's something I wondered about addressing in the stats. I just track passes - I don't track "good" passes. Often the pass is completed to the wrong guy who is immediately tackled ("suicide" pass in hockey).

Iginla, O'Hara and Barrera all made cross attempts. Note one was completed. Disappointing consider the ratio of players in the box was even or favoured Canada. Makes me think a dedicated winger wouldn't have made any difference.

BiH2 Stats

Here they are. Some interesting notes.

Good day passing by the defense - all 4 50% or better. Abbas Musa a career day in that regard. :) Not a great day tackling - Wagenaar and Abbas Musa in particular. Tho none of these directly resulted in a goal.

Iginla's passing definitely off. 15 of 26 completed, and many of those 15 weren't great decisions.

Amado's 5 pass attempts are too many. He's supposed to put his head down and go for goal. Part of that was the striker placement - he wasn't as far upfield as he should have been. But several times, having beaten his defender, he just made a lousy decision.
(edited)