25/03/2009

Yeah...My 9 Day Vacation Lasted About 12 Hours

I know I said I'd only blog on Sundays, but I feel that this is a necessary rant. Consider it a manager's madness over a supposedly "overpowered" tactic that immediately let him down. This blog is written to the song of "The End" by The Doors.

If you look to the right of the site, you'll see me saying I'm taking a 9 day sabatical (the length of my holiday time), but whoops, I'm back on Miller after just 12 hours and such. My plans to take a break went tits up as soon as I turned on the computer. The addiction came over me and now I'm updating the client.

Now then, what to do with my 4-3-3 that can seemingly shoot 29 times and not score while opponents can shoot 4-8 times and score at least once. I could just continue limping along, see my team shoot many times and not hit the target at all while my opponents take several well-placed shots and kick me up and down the pitch. I could slow the tempo down and watch as we lose the possession battle repeatedly, while agonizing about why we can't seem to keep the game out of the goalkeeper's face.

Let's just say I've officially gone insane. The wacky meter is now beyond repair. We're gonna need a new Tommy!

22/03/2009

Red Devils USA - The Descent into Madness

This being my first post to the Miller Beta blog, I would like to thank Mr. Rik Stewart for giving me the opportunity to join the blogging team. I'll try not to let you and the rest of the blogger down, but I can't guarantee that, since FML may have contributed to my increasing alcoholism. :P (Just kidding)

Anyway, to something you guys want to read. If you've seen my own blog, you will see that I had done a tactical test with a custom-made 4-3-1-2. Well, everything started out great, going 4-3-2 (W-L-D) in a 10 match test against the AI. I had my first chance to see how it works against human players, and to my shock, it was a 2-0 success over Cheadle Town FC. The good wins continued over AI opposition, including back to back top 100 victories in the "I am Graeme Kelly and You are Not" league.

After a defeat to Bradford city 2-1, we began our run of 14 games unbeaten, which included 10 wins and 4 draws, the most prestigeous another win over top 50 side FK DAC 1904 2-1, rallying from a late 1st half goal to grab a win. After taking 2 wins and 2 draws off of Biccehs Team of WIN, we were finally halted by a game Weyford Vale FC 2-1. We failed to get revenge, falling 2-1 in a return bout at the Black Hole. That started my current harsh run of form. We lost 3 of 4 after those two matches before somehow managing to beat Club Athletico Boca Juniors 2-1. Since then, 5 straight losses, including a 3-0 frustration-based Abandonment against Kornjace. In my rage, I decided not to play anymore matches until I could get my hands on a team that wouldn't fold up and die as soon as the whistle is blown.

Against my better judgement, I agreed to play a match against FC Potter in the Double Your Money + comp. A 2-1 loss condemned me to defeat for the 3rd straight in 3 matches in that competition, basically killing any chance of me finishing in the top 5 and cashing. $25,000 down the tubes, couldn't be any happier to make a donation. *SARCASM!*

This time, I mean what I say and I say what I mean: No more matches unless my AI's playing until I can sell most of my players and have a core to base a tactic around. Nobody is vulnerable to the Red Devils USA firesale. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up being sold to Blitzkrieg for $1.

What helps my cause, however, is that I somehow won BOTH the Biggest Mover and Newcomer Biggest Mover of the past week award, netting me a cool $200,000 ($100,000 for each. That should keep the creditors off my back for a little while. We're also still trying to bring in a few players on the cheap in the auction and free agent market, with a slight focus towards youth. Of course, with no judging potential skill anytime soon, this youth movement may very well be hit and miss, mostly miss.

That's it for part 1 of my descent into madness. Next time, will I have figured out the secret to getting a hint of consistency? Will I somehow have gotten my hands on the famous mod_cheat.exe? Will I shave another 10 years off my life thanks to having the only team that can't beat themselves in a match? You'll just have to wait until next Sunday like the rest of us! :P