Товариство » Hattrick Press

Against all odds: a survival guide for weak NTs

Автор GM-artod

You have just been elected NT manager of a small nation and you realize that your players are far weaker than you expected? You don't know how to compete while waiting for younger players to be trained properly? Read on.

In my first article about the Standard system (17438) I described the way most NTs play: the key players for this kind of system are properly trained players, especially wingers, defensive forwards and wing-backs. But what if the players at your disposal are far from being adequate? I will outline a few scenarios you may find in NTs where the player development process has not been handled successfully by the previous scouting teams - and how to try and snatch a few points anyway. Never stop fighting!

The following is based both on my experience with the small, but well organized, Al Kuwayt NT and the observation of other small NTs in my experience as NT manager, tactical advisor and scout.

The players

In general you may find two types of shortcomings: players not trained enough in the main skill (i.e. a winger with titanic playmaking and titanic winger, a wing-back with titanic winger and defending) - I will call them "club players" - or players not trained enough in the relevant sideskills (i.e. a winger with mythical winger and outstanding-magnificent playmaking) - I will call them "monoskills" throughout this article, although they are technically not monoskills. Some players may be overtrained in passing as well, most often midfielders and wingers - remember that on a winger, one level of wing equals 4 levels of passing, for example. Forwards with not enough scoring and a lot of passing are equally likely, but they are less of an issue. Defensive forwards are more of a problem.

You will, more often than not, be lacking players with adequate specialties. Try to have as many useful specialists as possible, but also try to have a team that can field meaningful ratings. Be prepared to compromise.

Don't settle for less than mythical playmaking for inner midfielders. You may even use a monoskilled midfielder if he has a head specialty and you don't have others. When choosing sideskills, give defending preference over passing - you will rarely have a strong central attack anyway. On the wings, you should ideally have both club and monoskilled players, both serve a different purpose. Defenders should be mostly club players with a few monoskills as well. Club players will be most useful for games you can win, monoskills will be used to minimize damage. A CA specialist - a defender with high passing, magnificent or higher - can be considered as well. Top NTs don't use these players because all of their defenders have been trained on passing and so they don't need a specialized player, but you usually don't have that luxury, so if you want to have decent CA ratings, play with one. If you can't get a good CA tactical rating (i.e. mythical with 5 defenders - top NTs have it with 4), don't even bother playing it.

Forwards will often be a serious problem. You will rarely find forwards trained in winger - or you will find "pure" forwards towards wing, with winger equal to scoring. Be prepared to field non-technical defensive forwards if the technical ones are not good enough. Also midfielders, overtrained in passing, make good emergency defensive forwards. Don't enroll too many normal forwards - you will rarely use more than one at a time.

The goals & TS management

Tactics follow from strategy, so look at the group and assess your chances. If you are inferior, but you want to try qualifying, at least for some games, be aggressive with TS and take risks. PIC at home wherever possible, normal away if it significantly increases your chances to win. You will be gambling heavily: if the dice favours you, you may even qualify, but if things turn the wrong way, you may get very few points. If you want to get as many "easy" points as possible, focus on the games you can win or draw and play very defensively in the "impossible" games.

The impossible games

In some games, i.e. if you play against a very strong team away and you have lower TS, you can't realistically aim for a win, but you must try to contain the damage. Managing confidence is key for small teams - you will hardly have higher than decent confidence, often poor, and attacking with poor confidence is very difficult, sometimes impossible.

In these games, you have 3 practical options: 4-5-1, 5-4-1 and 5-5-0. If you can have about 40% or higher possession, you can play a 4-5-1. If you get close to 50% possession, your chances to win will increase dramatically. You need to have high midfield, so you'll play with 3 normal midfielders, possibly with a midfielder towards wing if you have one with high winger. Up front, you'll play with a defensive forward. And the wings? Depending on the opponent and how he is likely to position his defence (especially if he'll leave a side open with an asymmetrical defence), you can play with any combination of "strong wing", "weak wing" and "no wing". The central defenders will be most probably towards wing - or normal if you central defence will be too low and they are trained in playmaking.

A strong wing is a wing where you play with a monoskilled offensive winger and a normal wing-back. If the side attack is still too low, you can switch the defensive forward with a normal forward if you are attacking on 2 sides or a forward towards wing if you are - most likely - attacking on a single side.
A weak wing is a wing where you play with a club normal winger and a normal wing-back. It will not be a strong attack side, but if the opponent is not defending strongly, you can still score on this side. On the other hand, in the "no wing" option you'll play with a midfielder as winger towards middle and with a defensive wing-back. The winger towards middle is a very underpowered order, so in general the "weak wing" gives you a decent side attack at very little cost (don't forget: the defensive forward boosts both sides anyway). But on the other hand, if you are going to face divine defences, you can get more out of a slightly higher midfield contribution than by boosting a side attack from weak to excellent. If the situation is really desperate, you may even play with no wingers whatsoever and only care about midfield and defence. Be sure to have a good set pieces taker.

5-4-1 is similar to 4-5-1. You either switch a midfielder with a defender and play with 2 midfielders towards wing (club wingers are useful in this role), two offensive wingers, a defensive forward and CA, or you play with 3 midfielders, one offensive winger, one forward towards wing and CA. The wing-back is normal if that side has a winger, else defensive. Side central defenders play towards wing. The defensive wing-back or the central defender are the ideal spots for the CA specialist. The two-sided 5-4-1 needs more club players (2 proper wing-backs, club wingers to be used as IMTWs and a defensive forward), while the one-sided 5-4-1 is more suited to monoskilled players, very, very low confidence or vastly superior teams.

5-5-0 is a sort of last resort. You have lower attack than in a two-sided 5-4-1 and lower midfield than in 4-5-1. It has sense only if you don't have a sufficient defence with 4-5-1, you're not going to have a significant midfield anyway with 4-5-1 and you don't have a good enough CA rating to play 5-4-1. Be sure to use all the Head specialists you've got, even if monoskilled. 2 wingers towards middle, 2 defensive wing-backs, 2 central defenders towards wing.

The games you can win

OK, this is the fun part of the competition. These will be usually home games and you will most likely play against a team who will PIC. I mean, all stronger teams will PIC against you 95% of the time. In choosing your line-up, you should answer 2 questions: will I have a strong enough midfield? Will I have a significant attack compared to my opponent's defence? The answer mostly depends on your confidence, defensive forwards and wingers. If you have decent confidence, good club wingers and good defensive forwards, you can play with the "standard system" 3-5-2 (2 defensive forwards and 2 offensive wingers) and perhaps even switch a defender for a normal forward. Midfielders towards wing are also an option if you can afford the loss in midfield (less likely).

And what if you can't have meaningful ratings with the standard system? Your confidence may be too low, for example, or you don't have wingers with enough playmaking. You have 2 options.

The first option is a one-sided 3-5-2, with a strong wing (see above), a weak wing (or no wing) on the other side, a defensive forward and a forward towards wing on the side of the offensive winger up front. In defence, a normal wing-back on the side of the offensive winger and a central defender. On the other side, a normal wing-back should be paired with a normal wing and a defensive wing-back with a winger towards middle. You may overload the strong wing with a midfielder towards wing as well - you can use a club winger in that position.

The second option, especially useful if your defence is too low in the above 3-5-2 or if you need to overload a side attack even further, is to play 2-5-3. You will overload one wing completely - let's take the right wing, for example. You'll play with a normal right wing-back, with a right central defender towards wing, with a right offensive winger, the forward on the right will be towards wing (or normal if you can have a significant central attack). On the left, you'll play with a winger towards middle (most likely) or a normal wing. Your 3 forwards will be a normal forward in the right slot, a defensive forward in the left slot and in the central slot you can play either with another normal forward if your midfield is high enough (in this case the forward in the right slot will be normal as well) or with another defensive forward if you need more midfield (in this case the forward in the right slot will be playing towards wing).

The set pieces taker

You should most definitely have a set pieces taker. Weak NTs may have goalkeepers against whom your player can actually score and if you have enough Head specialists, you can always score on a corner. Every little bit helps. But who should be your set pieces taker? Most guides suggest using a defender. It's a good choice, but personally I prefer midfielders. If you're unlucky, your set pieces taker will be a monoskilled player and I personally find monoskilled midfielders more useful than monoskilled defenders. On the other hand, if having set pieces means sacrificing primary skill, the loss is much easier to bear on defenders. But everyone has his own preference and in the end, you play with what you have. Forwards are the least practical set pieces takers. I would have at least another set pieces taker in another position if possible.

The most important thing

Have fun! Hattrick is about competing, so never give up, but as Sun Tzu's Art of War says, fight only the battles you can win - and minimize losses when you can't.