X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

[Janik]

Back to the substantive discussion, one issue with 9 x 4 is the odd numbers mean four teams each matchday without a game. They could organise friendlies against each other, OTF vs Div.1, Div.2 vs Div.3, but that does take effort and organisation.
The issue with 12-team leagues is length and dead rubbers. Either you have 3 up/down, in which case there is a big mid-table zone or 4 up/down, which just shifts the zone where sides are just marking time as know their destiny long before the end of the campaign to the top and bottom extremes of the table.

10 with 3 up-down feels like the ideal number. But of course that does rely on having a multiple of 10 players in the league to work. Which is not always possible.

[delicatemoth]

I'm in favour of 4 divisions of 9, possibly with 4-up 4-down. With two games a week I don't think the blank matchday is a problem.

[Etienne]

Unequal numbers is only really an issue where the top division(s) have more teams AND the top division(s) have an odd number of teams - say if it was 11-11-10-10 The seasons would finish 2 weeks (4 match dates) apart.

[Janik]

My official league team is through to the QFs of the Master League Cup! Whoop. It's all getting pretty serious now, though. It's almost like all the bad luck and poor performances in previous seasons (I've never taken them past R4 before despite reaching Division 1 in league play) are all being balanced out in one go. Our victims in the last 16 were the no.2 seed, i.e. last season's runner-up, Underdogs FC. They are a sometime Champions League team because of their Cup achievements.

[Etienne]

Guzman!

[Kevin S]

AFC Harford are looking at risk of zombification too, aren't they, which could see us on 35?

Incidentally this is still a very decent number. I think there were 24 in the season joined, which was fine, and even that was an expansion IIRC.

[Sean of the Shed]

That's certainly a factor but the contracting numbers on here is the main reason. We used to lose players regularly but there were new people coming along. Recruitment has basically stopped now.

I feel somewhat responsible for that. I wish I had more time for X11, and this site for that matter, and the same level of enthusiasm for that matter. I still enjoy playing X11 enough at the moment, but I don't feel the pull it used to have on me, and if the website crashed tomorrow I would likely just say "Ah well", and move on. i have had about enough of trying to run a league though, and once I update the new season for the Heineken League I may ask someone else to take over.
As for OTF it is the lack of time that gets in the way. After a day at work and a bit of relax time there seems to be very little spare time at the moment. I find time to browse the site every day, but not the time to engage in the threads so much.

[Etienne]

To be honest, even your brilliant recruitment threads were rarely getting a response the last couple of seasons. I think everyone has either already tried it or decided that it's not for them.

[Sits]

Maybe it's just the way things change over time but my experience is similar to Sean's. However the Human League is a fairly easy league to run so that's OK. I just don't engage with X11 as deeply as I used to, but I'm still fond of most of my teams and love this thread, the community we have created between us. The wider OTF is as important to me as ever.

[Etienne]

I think it's inevitable. The lack of any changes to the site means that there's not too much to think about once you've mastered the basics.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I've just noticed SDR hasn't been on Xpert Eleven this month, I hope he's ok.

It feels like the game is slowly dying a painless death in a rather mundane way.

[Sits]

SDR has been on the Mundane Thread in the last few days.

[Etienne]

SDR has posted on here multiple times, so I assume that he's (temporarily at least) just fed up with Xpert 11 rather than anything amiss.

[Janik]

We lost five OTF sides in Round 1 of this season’s X11 Ladies Cup, and another five in Round 2. Given we only started with 15 in total, let’s hope to end this pattern in Round 3. Otherwise...

Ansvarsfulla Divor	1 - 2	Drakaina
Dickens 61'			Petit 59', 71'

Drakaina		0 - 0	Ansvarsfulla Divor

				Crossley (sent off) 86'

Drakaina win 2-1 on aggregate


Erbil			3 - 0	As Ninfas
Besen 35', 62'
Hinton 88'
Isgren (missed pen) 84'

As Ninfas		3 - 3	Erbil
Alderin 13'			Lister 48'
Silvinho 31'			Solaun 74', 89'
Renoux 63'
Abdul-Wahab (sent off) 86'

Erbil win 6-3 on aggregate


Coxy Ladies Wulpen	1 - 4	Dalens IF
Wostijn 51'			Casey 7'
				Albertina (pen) 31', 63', 73'

Dalens IF		5 - 2	Coxy Ladies Wulpen
MacGillivray 19', 26'		Vandenbergh 33', 39'
Baptista 56', 71'		Carey (sent off) 88'
MacClintock 79'

Dalens win 9-3 on aggregate


Amazonas FC		1 - 1	Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC
Jorque 21'			Pailloux 3'

Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC	1 - 0	Amazonas FC
Azeite (pen) 37'

Kanjeng win 2-1 on aggregate


ANA S			0 - 0	Csiki Girls

Csiki Girls		2 - 0	ANA S
Smet 58'
Cabreiro (O.G.) 73'

Csiki Girls win 2-0 on aggregate

Round 3 paired Drakaina with Ansvarsfulla Divor of Division 4, i.e. a tier below The Dragons these days.
Playing away first, the Greeks found themselves somewhat on the back foot in the opening half as the hosts had 60% possession and the one chance going. However Drakaina didn’t buckle under this (really only pretty mild) pressure, despite ‘keeping star Anastasia Shkolnikova picking up a minor injury as the match approached the interval.
Drakaina manager Etienne may have delivered a rocket at half-time, as his side were transformed in the second period. They increased their possession numbers from only two-fifths to over half for the second 45 minutes (adding up to slightly less than 50% overall), added chances to the mix and also goals, Sandrine Petit stabbing home a 59th minute corner to give The Dragons the lead.
Ansvarsfulla Divor levelled just two minutes later, but Drakaina and Petit were not to be denied as she made it 2-1 on the night in the 71st minute. It leaves the Greek side in a strong position ahead of the return leg at Delphi, with their visitors having to score twice to overcome the away goals already registered.
That made Drakaina’s approach fairly straightforward; be strong at the back, nick another if we can. But first and foremost, don’t concede. Ten out of ten, for that, as Ansvarsfulla were restricted to just three shots, none of which they converted. At the other end The Dragons had their own chances, six of them in fact, but also failed to put any home.
No matter, they cruised through, particularly after the visitors Aurelia Crossley picked up her second booking of the day in the 86th minute. If Drakaina were not already assured of progressing to Round 4 [v/o: “They were”], that made it absolutely certain. Their opponents at the next stage will be Hippy Chicks of Division 2c. This first leg is at Delphi.

An all fifth-tier affair pitted Erbil against As Ninfas.
Jdsx’s side hosted the first encounter and did so with style and swagger in an open, entertaining game. A number of first half chances were created by both sides, but with the balance tipped noticeably in Erbil’s favour. As was the goal tally, Tülin Besen heading the only one of the half on 35 minutes.
Besen added a second from close range just past the hour mark as Erbil looked to build an insurmountable lead before the halfway point of the tie. It looked like they had a chance to do exactly that when referee Seymour Red awarded them an 84th minute penalty, only for Saga Isgren to blow the opportunity. “No matter” said Caroline Hinton, “I’ll just get the third myself” which is exactly what she did following an 88th minute corner.
That made them strong favourites for the return. All they needed to do was avoid falling a couple of goals behind early on. One down after 13 minutes was still OK, but when Ninfas netted a second on 31 alarm bells started to ring for the visitors.
What was needed was a change of approach; trying to defend the advantage wasn’t succeeding, so let’s get an away goal instead. Three minutes into the second period that is exactly what Harmony Lister did. And relax? Well, it did mean Ninfas now had to win on aggregate rather than merely draw. With that score standing at 2-4, this seemed a long way off. Less so when Ninfas struck again on 63 minutes to make it 3-1 on the night and 3-4 overall.
Erbil needed another goal to end these horror-film like returns from the dead, and got one when Alanza Solaun fired home after 74 minutes. That, finally, put paid to Ninfas in the tie. Their frustration about this was expressed by Farida Abdul-Wahab getting herself sent off (second yellow) after 86 minutes, Solaun taking advantage of the extra space to deny the hosts even victory on the night as she made it 3-3 with 89 on the clock.
Next up for Erbil is two matches against Division 5:12 side Venezuela, the opening match of which is in South America.

Coxy Ladies Wulpen were trying to punch up two levels when they took on Dalens IF of Division 3.
And in the first leg they were doing so without the input of manager Janik, who somehow clean forgot to pick a side. That proved a rather costly error against an opponent in no mood to look at gift horses in bizarre ways. The visitors were two ahead at half-time and but for a referees whistle it could have been three.
Aurelie Wostijn pulled one back for Wulpen on 51 minutes, but that proved a false dawn as Dalens struck twice more to moreorless finish the tie off already; The Waders will have to score at least four in the return to have any hope of staying in the competition!
Whilst that was beyond any realistic ambition, getting a positive result from the return leg to aid form seemed plausible. However Dalens were having nothing of it, picking a strong team that were soon two up on the evening. Laetitia Vandenbergh pulled one back on 33 minutes with Coxy Ladies first shot of the evening, which was very much against the run of play. It sparked a brief change in the pattern though, and Vandenbergh’s equaliser six minutes later made more contextual sense.
Would that be the prelude to The Waders winning the second leg, at least? Err, no. In fact it was Dalens who upped their game after the break, impressive for a side already well in command of the tie. They added three more goals to move 5-2 ahead, and it could have been more, particularly after human powder keg Zara Carey talked her way into the seventh red card of her career on 88 minutes. Carey had been primed to blow nearly all match following a 14th minute booking, but would that stop her continually debating with the referee? Well, what do you think...

A second all-fifth tier tie pitted Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC against Amazonas FC.
The first leg was in Setúbal and it didn’t take SeanoftheShed’s charges long to get the away goal the manager had demanded, Adèle Pailloux firing in from range in just the 3rd minute. Amazonas equalised on 21 minutes, and from that point the game went cagey with only a handful more chances being created at either end.
Few chances and no goals, leaving leg one to finish all square. That was a resulted that suited both sides in the circumstances of The Sea Spirits scoring so early, though the away goal does mean Kanjeng are slight but clear favourites to win the tie. They did have to negotiate the stick-or-twist question for the match at Merapi-Kraton-South Sea though, as one goal conceded immediately wiped out both the aggregate advantage and the away goal bonus.
It meant that the first Sea Spirits strike of the second game change the situation by less than a normal goal. There was, however, still some value in Leila Azeite’s 37th minute penalty. Whilst it did change the overall situation of the tie, which went from Kanjeng winning narrowly to Kanjeng winning narrowly, it did add a bit of insurance as one goal from Amazonas would mean extra-time as opposed to elimination.
Not that the visitors were showing many signs of getting that strike as the Indonesians restricted them to just two shots all match. Neither produced a goal, allowing the home crowd to gradually be less on edge, though the one goal aggregate lead (and eventually win) was always too close for some to bear.
The more fretful Sea Goddess fans will hope for something a little more clear cut when their side takes on Fair Maidens of FISO of Division 2b in Round 4. Merapi-Kraton-South Sea will be the venue for the second leg of this.

[Janik]

Our final clash is all sixth-tier, Csiki Girls taking on ANA S (sic).
The first match saw Csiki Girls away from home comforts as they looked to put themselves in a strong position in the tie. Ad hoc’s side’s attempts to do that saw them hold more of the ball in both first and second halves, but be marginally out-shot in both periods as well. In fact, it needed a strong performance from Csiki’s ‘keeper and Man-of-the-Match, Emma Laude, who turned in a grade-17 showing (one mark off her best ever) to keep the scoresheet blank as ANA S had some very promising situations.
As for the chances at the other end, well, not much, meaning we can all reconvene at A kertem next week without any preconceptions as to who will win. We were still without definitive info at half-time of the return, as the sides remained locked at stalemate.
What was needed was a breakthrough to spark life in to the tie. We got it after 58 minutes, Floriane Smet rising to head home Trudy Woozley’s cross. That got the crowd excited for a few minutes, but then Chavela Cabreiro put through her own net to give the Csiki’s a cushion they never looked remotely like giving up.
Csiki Girls have never been beyond Round 4 in their history, nor in the pre-history as other franchises. The team standing in Ad Hoc and co’s way will be Mulheres do Sobral, who ply their trade in Division 5:23. The A kertem crowd will have to wait until the return leg for their chance to see the tie.


Round 4 draw - first listed teams home in opening leg

Drakaina			vs	Hippy Chicks (2c)
Venezuela (5:12)		vs	Erbil
Fair Maidens of FISO (2b)	vs	Kanjeng Ratu Kidul WFC	
Mulheres do Sobral (5:23)	vs	Csiki Girls

[jdsx]

Another Guzman from me for the write-up Janik! Top class as always.
This morning, one of my teams has notification of a 17/6 YA graduate... a defender with all-round and headers. Slightly unfortunately it's for my only team which has some cash in the bank.... Do I keep or sell??

[Etienne]

If early in the season keep, if midway through the season maybe keep, if high form, if late in the season or low form sell.
I tend to sell players like that more than some others on here though.
If it's an official team I'd be more keen to sell because they can see he is a genuine 17/6. If it's a private league, buyers will assume it's probably a 16/4 who has just doubled so may bid a bit lower.

[jdsx]

Ah thanks, Etienne. That makes sense. It's my team in the MLX, so private league. Half way through the league season, but played 10 (inc cup games) and 6 league matches to go (now out of cup). Form (and AF) is on 8, so DV only on 2....mmmm decisions decisions....! Had only received a 17/4 defender from the YA two days earlier, so certainly wasn't expecting anyone else so soon!
Might just sell the 17/4 and play the 17/6 in all my remaining matches and see what happens ;-)

[Kevin S]

Six MLX games can yield pretty good match experience IIRC.

[Etienne]

The other plus about MLX is the transfer deadline is so late, that you can see how the development is going and sell later than you would in other leagues. However, if you did decide to sell, Sarkanyok might well be in with a bid.

[Janik]

17 year-olds gain more per game than older players; six games seems enough to preserve with. But give him 90 minutes of all of them, if at all you can! Also, if you can only get his DV up to 12/13 and he doesn't jump, he will still be an 18/6, which is a good development path. And it may be he is actually an 18.3/6, in which case a good season next season for him would give a very good chance of a double to 19/8. Which is, once again, back to an exceptional player in the making.

My advice, then: keep and sell the 17/4

[Etienne]

See my feeling is that someone buying a 17/6 is expecting them to be a 20/10 and the price will reflect that. If you can only get him to 12/13 DV then you are looking at 20/9 instead.* Still a very fine player but less valuable. So the moneyball approach would be to sell. But like i say, other factors are more important for other people - keeping him guarantees you a fine player in the future (which 12m + doesn't) but with 12m + I'd expect to be able to buy 2 very my nearly as fine players.

*Basically with a 17-18 year old I'd expect them at 22 to be 1 skill bar better for each year +1. With a 16/17 year old I'd expect them to be 1 skill better +2 at 22. One season with a dv of 12 would bring that down at least a skill bar and probably 1.5

[jdsx]

Thanks guys. Interesting discussion. I reckon if I can get him up to 15DV this season he should be a 18/7 next season, at the same level (i.e. he should go up 1.0). Then I'd hope(/pray) for a double jump either the next season or (more likely) the one after that, so he would be a (optimistic) 19/9 or a (more likely) 20/10.
If it looks like I can't get him beyond 12/13 DV this year, I'll probably sell before the deadline, as I think a DJ would be unlikely in the next couple of years....
We'll see...!

[SouthdownRebel]

SDR has posted on here multiple times, so I assume that he's (temporarily at least) just fed up with Xpert 11 rather than anything amiss.

Thanks guys, I'm fine. As Etienne surmises, my enthusiasm for the game has completely dissipated of late and doesn't feel like it's coming back. A busy workload isn't helping but, ultimately, the game is being allowed to die by its owners and because of that it's getting harder to enjoy.

I've decided to bow out permanently, with my apologies to those of you running leagues that I'm a member of. I also need to hand off MLX to someone willing to step in - ideally somebody here. Please shout if you want it, if not I'll open it up to the rest of the league at the weekend.

[Kevin S]

:-(
But totally understood