Subject: Match Day

Even without Iginla, O'Hara and Santiago can make a difference. Ortega Santiago was pretty dominant in the first half.

Absolutely. Some great crosses. Ferranti had a nice game too. Black&Oil ball movement was smooth and fluid - a pleasure to watch. :)

Interesting turtle tactic from HL Football. Caron just couldn't restrain himself for a spell in the second half. The corner kick at minute 66 was one of the more curious ones I've seen. :P

Seems being identified as a "key player" was too much stress for some - 2 of the 6 were sent off. :D

I got a chuckle from the Third Lanark AC tactic. Looked like Orian decided that Fitzpatrick was not going to be the one that beat them. :) Even though he had to run the gauntlet, Fitzpatrick did wiggle free a couple of times. Kudos to NK Duga Resa for not surrendering the safety goal - the match was quite interesting until Fitzpatrick was sent off.

A pretty comprehensive match from Snowhares. A good new look - nice to see Hiacynt finally contributing - thought he and Szerszunowicz played well off each other. Very creative use of Raimundo. Abbas Musa (uncharacteristically) caught out a few times. Stevenson showed some spark before he was sent off. Bad luck for Real Hawkes that the Hares defender who was sent off (Clayden) was on the same side as Stevenson. :S

Apocalypse won even tho only one rider was in the saddle. :/

I got a chuckle from the Third Lanark AC tactic. Looked like Orian decided that Fitzpatrick was not going to be the one that beat them. :)

lol. Fitzpatrick scored 34 goals in II.03 in only 13 games. More important, he scored 9 of the 12 goals Duga scored in the 6 games vs the top 3 (Hajduk, Bonavista, Bens 11) to clinch the title. Stop Fitz and you stop Duga Resa I figured! I toyed with playing 3 strikers and 2 high mids to overcome the deep 6-pack defense but major changes in formation for a Q game are kinda risky.

Anyone curious as to why I played 'to stay' and put my head in the CPL wringer again next season? Check the II.03 div. I would have dropped into! The top four teams are right up there and just like this season, any one could win the title. A good team could get stuck down there for ever!

The corner kick at minute 66 was one of the more curious ones I've seen. :P


Yes, quite estrange

Hiacynt did quite well, it was nice to see him finally pot a goal & hopefully his form will still be on the up & up next season! He made a nice pass to set up our first goal though. Big Bart had sooo many shots, I was a little worried at first with most of them missing the mark. But he calmed down after a nice pass from Abbas Musa & the hares were on their way. Big Carl made a few boo-boos but I think having him on the mid position was messing up his head a little. It was nice to see him land an assist though. Not sure why Alcia had the rating he did, although his one save was decent. All is all I'm pretty please with the match.

The other game I watched (but I still want to watch the other two) was TLAC & NKDR. Seca was right, Lanark was trying to keep Fitzpatrick at bay with their tactic but he did squeak through the line a couple of times. I think Laufer's tactic was a little defensive & his positioning of Zabaluev & Seeder could have been more offensive it may have caused a bit more havoc on Lanark's back line. Ruini & Murray (who's quite pacey) both had really string games.

I think Laufer's tactic was a little defensive...

This is one of Laufer's standard tactics and it was quite successful for him vs higher teams in II.03 last season. He calls it hb (hard back?!) and it's quite difficult to play against. His defensive 6-pack barely leaves the shadow of his goal posts at any time. If you load mids up front to counter the 6-pack you create a traffic jam and risk the long through balls to Fitzpatrick. It wouldn't work in RL, but it produces some results in SK. And yes, my mission on Sun was to stop the patented Fitzpatrick breakaways!

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The corner kick at minute 66 was one of the more curious ones I've seen. :P

I also had a very similar 'follow the bouncing ball' corner in my game Sun. A Ruini shot at the 50' mark landed on the bar and bounced 6 times before the corner could be taken!

I think in general the woodwork gets involved in SK more than it does in RL soccer. Maybe this is a new twist?!

I'd agree - the tactic Laufer used is well thought out, suits the team well, and is pretty effective.

The biggest problem with it is that it is NK Duga Resa's only "look". If Laufer had a two-prong formation that was used on occassion, it would become riskier stacking 4 players to ambush Fitzpatrick. :)

I believe the time change in Europe is this weekend - so we'll be out of synch for a few weeks. I expect matches will be an hour later then usual (fall back right?). :)

Thanks for the reminder, Seca.
Europe this weekend, Oct 28, and we change the week after, Nov 4. So it's only one week this time of year. I think our games start one hour earlier. So watch out for any transfer deadlines next week!

Their clocks are going back, while ours stay put. Doesn't that put the matches an hour later?

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You're right of course! They drop their clocks back but they don't drop the time of the games back so they will an hour later....I'm not thinking about this anymore this late on a Friday night!

Set your friendly lineup Orian! Us hares are not looking forward to another tough match :p

he he! How could you tell? My first squad looks like everyone else's friendly lineup!
Just hope I can give you another tough test.

Better luck this season - starting with your second match! ;)