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X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

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    X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

    Good luck in the final Etienne.

    In another edition of the Zeugmabus I've managed to beat the league leaders which gives VA a shot at the title. The top two play each other in the penultimate round next Tuesday.

    So I'm thinking what kind of kit I'd like designed in return. Winky thing.

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      X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

      Hahah, least I could do I suppose! Thanks AE, much appreciated. It's been the weirdest of seasons – our title push has been much more accidental even than Vita Mortis'. After promotion last time I was hoping to avoid going straight back down, consolidating if I could, but we lost our best player to retirement in the close season and thus have had virtually the definition of a skeleton crew at the back all season. The retiree, Keldo Ironcaster, was our freekick-taker too, the latest in a line of more or less expensive veterans bought in to do this job for a few seasons each throughout the club's history – but this time we couldn't afford to replace him, and haven't even had a good defensive youth through from the academy, meaning my defence has consisted of the same three players all season, one of them a 35-year-old journeyman who's been there since the old Brythonnic League days and the other two are 24- and 22-year-olds who are barely getting good. The younger of those was carried off in our last match and missed today's as a result – which by great good fortune was against the rebuilding bottom side, so we still won.

      All told we've staggered along all season just trying to hold an XI together and develop some way towards top-flight stability, knowing full well that this level is only going to get harder over the next few seasons as the big sides from more recent mergers make their way inexorably toward the top division. So the championship was the last thing on my mind – yet along the way everyone else appears to have slipped up often enough for us to have blundered into the title race. I've been vaguely annoyed with myself for the past several weeks, as it's become ever more apparent that had I focused on a title crack from the start we could well have won it.
      Now, somehow, with two games left the gap is down to a point and we're still in with a chance to do so – but we have virtually no money left, loads of players on downward form and an away decider against Shurnway Knights coming up on Tuesday at a ground where they're 8-0-0 17-2 this season. So I very much suspect I'm still going to be kicking myself come this time next week!

      Meanwhile, no sooner had I opened up that vacancy by inactivating the AWOL manager, than I find I've got an application in from MortalJoe. Fantastic. Come on board Joe, you're very welcome indeed.

      Edit: Oh, and your first game next Tuesday is a chance to wreck Sean's Fourth Division title bid. You would make Sits very happy if you do, I'm sure...

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        X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

        We've now had someone kindly take temporary charge of the Mystics through the season update, which means we can start the new season, but having put the recruitment post up in the Human League I'll wait until tomorrow to run the season update to see if we can de-zombiefy a bit more.

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          X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

          Ridiculous start to the new Heineken season for the Legacy - 0-0 with 20 minutes to go but we're on top when we have one sent off, another injured 10 minutes later with all our subs used.

          Inevitably, we conceded a late goal with only 9 men and lost 1-0.

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            X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

            As it stands, unless we get a new OTF team today, we will have 4 divisions of 11, and unfortunately (according to my basic calculations) none of the third placed teams will go up. All other promotions and relegations would be honoured.

            If we get one more team, then we should maintain the same structure as last season and all promotions will happen.

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              X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

              Are you after a full time manager or just a stand in to get the season up and running?

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                X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                I've got a stand in to get us up and running. This is for a full time manager.

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                  X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                  Fair enough.

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                    X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                    One more bump of the recruitment thread? Yeah I'll go and do one. The more the better.

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                      X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                      OK, I'll wait until tomorrow morning.

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                        X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                        Sparrowhawk who manages Prudhoe Town in The Human League has taken on Thoxtoxeter Seconds. I think that means all promotions will be honoured. But we can still take a couple more teams without disrupting stuff as they can replace zombies.

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                          X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                          That's good news I hope, I'm not worried about my promotion but the future of the league. Hopefully we'll see Foxy back at some point.

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                            X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                            Well Sparrowhawk seems like a decent chap.

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                              X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                              I'm sure you all remember as clearly as I do the following brief exchange from back when the thread was titled Durkan's Departure:
                              SouthdownRebel wrote: Tobermory's next opponent in the Xpert Zone is Taras Mihai. Their squad comprises:

                              1 x 16/2 FW with RvP
                              1 x 29/14 GK
                              1 x 20/7 MF with FK

                              And then...

                              10 x 20/7 with RvP in every other position.

                              I suspect OCD.
                              Kevchenko wrote: Tighten the wings.
                              (For those who aren't familiar with our alternate naming system for special qualities, RvP = heading ability)

                              Well, I've just realised that Tobermory's opponents for the mid-season double header are the Team Formerly Known as Taras Mihai. They're now SKT T1, but under the same manager and with much the same squad - one 35/14 GK and the rest of the players all 29 with heading, except for one player who is a free kick specialist (also 29).

                              They currently sit two points ahead of us in 2nd and I've just made it my mission for the season to ensure they don't get promoted and have to face their entire squad turning 30 at the next CR outside of the top flight. The only thing in their favour is they aren't one of CPI's mega boosted cheats, but it's close enough.

                              However, this team is also a great indicator of how little attention most managers pay to their opponents. I bought the tactics reports for his last four matches and find that he never varies his approach. But, while three out of four opponents correctly defended against 3-5-2, none man-marked the midfielder he always uses as playmaker. None used tighten the wings and, quite staggeringly, two chose to tighten the centre!!

                              I went back a fifth game and found that our own BillBones did use tighten the wings, so well done there Bill. A shame the Artisans went down to an injury time goal.

                              So, fully confident I can set my team up perfectly to counter his tactic (singular) I have one quandary. He uses cautious at all times, home and away. Given the strength of the squad, do I play it safe, or do I do what Gaza Strip Club did and play attacking? They were unlucky to draw 1-1 given they had 7 chances to 1 against.

                              We have Hugh Cango (S2, H2) as ref, so I also have to decide whether to go all-in and use Bruise...tempting, but perhaps better to rely on a larger win bonus instead.

                              Edit: In fact, he's not even setting subs, so I can only assume he's relying on a default tactic. Doesn't deserve to get promotion, which is where they are currently heading. Maybe I should go with bruise and a big win bonus!

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                                X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                Definitely Bruise.

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                                  X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                  Kick lumps out of him is mho.

                                  In the OTF the Zeugmabus is back in the top flight, I've had a look at the stats and we're rated an average of 8th so I think we all know what's coming. Perhaps.

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                                    X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                    A new season means a new title.

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                                      X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                      Nice.

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                                        X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                        +1 here on the thread name.

                                        Also, it's a yes to bruise. I looked at SKT's 24 goals in 10 games, looked at my team with 2 bruisers in the back 4, channeled my inner Osvaldo Zubeldía and reached the appropriate tactical conclusion. Thanks to those above for the validation.

                                        I think I'll also take the chance and play offensive against his cautious - on the reasoning that I've got the entire tactics setup to counter what he's doing and can therefore take the game to them.

                                        Now, to plot Hornville's [strike]unstoppable march to the OTF title[/strike] [strike]final day relegation heartbreak[/strike] inevitable plummet to the wooden spoon.

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                                          X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                          There's no reason not to use bruise, same as with cheating. It's just one of the options you have to affect the game. If it gives you an advantage, then use it*.

                                          *In real life, these tactics are for arseholes, which is where the squeamishness comes from, I think. They're fair game in X11, where the only real cheating is going outside the rules of the game (multiple boosts, running extra teams, transfer market manipulation etc).

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                                            X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                            Thanks Gawpus. To be honest, I was more worried about the increased odds of one of my players going thundering into a full blooded challenge and (due of course to the warming fug of whisky) snapping his own leg in half having caught his studs in the turf. All moral qualms about use of bruise went out of the window when I saw who the opponent was...

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                                              X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                              Yeah, that's a fair reason to be wary. If your squad's good enough to do without it then that's a consideration. If you need/want every advantage you can get though...

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                                                X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                                That's exactly my reasoning for not using it. I've virtually given up on Bruise ever since I realised you're as likely to be a victim of your own aggression as the opponent is. Good luck though SdR, whatever tactic you go with.

                                                Sean of the Shed wrote: A new season means a new title.
                                                Thanks Sean, I'm honoured. It doesn't feel like you've really won the league until you see that title go up with your own team's custom pun, I reckon. Course, it's been the kiss of death to the last two first-time winners recently, but we'll see how we go.

                                                Speaking of seasonal traditions, is there going to be a questionnaire?

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                                                  X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                                  The denouement of the MLX season tonight. So, for the benefit of any who want to find out in the traditional fashion, I'll use a precautionary...

                                                  [spoiler]Commiserations to Etienne, after a narrow loss to Gotham City in the Grand Final. A tough opponent, I'm not surprised that Rmy has managed to win some major silverware.

                                                  However, we did have OTF success elsewhere. Wiblflibl's Demolition Dogs won the MLX Trophy final 3-2 over Hompesch Strikers and HO's Corsaires Malouins took the MLX Vase with a 2-0 win over Tuvalu Turtles. Well played both.[/spoiler]

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                                                    X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

                                                    Pre-change report DVs for Pulau Pinang:



                                                    All pretty good apart from Ezequiel Gago. Sadly he was hampered by a long term injury early i the season and never quite got back on track.

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