Soccer Thread

[Matthew Jones]

Does anyone know of any sites which are informative about soccer strategy, etc.? I enjoy watching soccer casually but I'm not well-versed at all regarding the different formations, substitution methods, team management, etc.

[MetSox17]

I'm sure one of these guys could help you with that, but i'd just recommend watching a little more often, and watching quality teams/players is obviously the best way to learn, as they're the ones that execute best. If you understand the basic concepts, with a little more watching experience you'll be right on the ball.

[Gay Ork Wang]

zonalmarking is the best of the best

[Rob S]

Zonal marking is fantastic, but probably a bit too much for him at this stage. Honestly, I would read the wiki entry on soccer formations.

[SuperPacker]

I don't think i've ever read anything about soccer tactics. Just watch high quality games and you'll pick it up pretty quickly.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by Matthew Jones

Does anyone know of any sites which are informative about soccer strategy, etc.? I enjoy watching soccer casually but I'm not well-versed at all regarding the different formations, substitution methods, team management, etc.

ZonalMarking.net is a great place to start.

[djp]

Or play Football Manager.. a month of playing that game and I learned more about soccer formations/strategy/positional duties than the rest of my life combined.

ps: I'm Liverpool, in my third season :)

pss: Anyone else play this game? I'm so addicted it's not funny. I installed it on my work computer and play during down times.

[Matthew Jones]

Originally Posted by djp

Or play Football Manager.. a month of playing that game and I learned more about soccer formations/strategy/positional duties than the rest of my life combined.

ps: I'm Liverpool, in my third season :)

pss: Anyone else play this game? I'm so addicted it's not funny. I installed it on my work computer and play during down times.

Good call. Do you have any tips?

[SuperPacker]

Originally Posted by djp

Or play Football Manager.. a month of playing that game and I learned more about soccer formations/strategy/positional duties than the rest of my life combined.

ps: I'm Liverpool, in my third season :)

pss: Anyone else play this game? I'm so addicted it's not funny. I installed it on my work computer and play during down times.

This is a great idea! Not only is it the most addictive game of all time, you will learn a ton about the players and tactics of soccer.

So much fun!

EDIT: Yep, it's unbelievably addictive!

[SuperPacker]

PSG signing Thiago Silva for 30/40 mill, or whatever it was, is a big statement. Kinda disappointed Man City didn't sign him, though.

[djp]

Originally Posted by Matthew Jones

Good call. Do you have any tips?

I would start with a pretty good team if you've never played it before. Man City or Barcelona are the two easiest teams to play with in the game. Bayern Munich is also pretty easy, they've got an unreal amount of young talent

Don't play all your best players every game. Use your lesser reputable competitions (such as Carling Cup in England) to play your younger players who need first team action and to keep your players fresh.

Adjust the training schedules so that they are heavy in aerobic/tactics/strength while you are playing your friendlies, then adjust as the season starts.

As far as assigning players to roles, just go through the different player roles, they do a good job of explaining them and telling you which attributes correlate to which role, etc.

PS, it's on sale right now on Steam for $18, normally $30

[SuperPacker]

Try to keep you team settled eg. Don't argue with your players, compliment them when they do well etc etc. That's one of the main things IMO.

[Cigaro]

My English friend played the absolute **** out of that game. I've played a little bit, but couldn't necessarily get all the way into it. I've been considering giving it another try, however.

Any opinion on footballfollower.com?

[thefalconer]

2016 napoli. seriously once you get past the learning curve, that game kills so much time.

[Verloren]

I got to 2019 QPR before my game got corrupted. :/ Slaughtered the EPL the past few seasons, and got labeled as overachievers every single season.

[thefalconer]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...ve-for-Carroll

lol? toon fans want this?

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by thefalconer

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...ve-for-Carroll

lol? toon fans want this?

I don't see why they would. Looks like no ones going to be taking Ba from them and Carroll won't unseat Cisse for the starting spot, and any minutes that aren't Cisse's up there need to go to Ba.

Anyway, any thoughts on these potential germany national team lineups? I really hate Gomez.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by thefalconer

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...ve-for-Carroll

lol? toon fans want this?

I would love it as long as he takes reduced wages. He is still incredibly young and talented. With the Europa League, we need all the cover we can get. Add in AFCON (which could steal Papis and Ba for a month), Ba's dodgy knee and the release clause, and the fact that Newcastle are, well, Newcastle and will likely have trouble holding on to Cisse if he has a great year and it's a no brainer. I would love to have Andy back.

Not to mention Cisse and Andy would be a great partnership imo. Carrol's most overlooked trait is his tremendous ability on knockdowns.....instinctive finishers can kill it playing with Andy. Hell, Kevin Nolan tore it up, Cisse would just have a field day.

[Rob S]

Carroll fee rumored to be £13M after a year on loan. That would be cracking business for the Toon.

[prock]

So I just bought Football Manager and there isn't a CD key in my validation email.

[Rob S]

The Carroll mess gets even better. Newcastle gets something like 20% of any fee if Liverpool sells him. I'm sure that will be built into the deal, but still hysterical.

[Gay Ork Wang]

Why would you take out Badstuber? Badstuber and Boateng were fine!

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

Why would you take out Badstuber? Badstuber and Boateng were fine!

Because Badstuber's too god damn slow for us to beat the very best, so if we develop a real fullback (come on Jantschke/Jung/that new kid Bayern bought from Koeln) I'd much rather see Boateng move inside and take Badstuber's place. We'd be a lot less susceptible to counterattacks and between Hummels and Boateng our CBs would still be very strong on the ball, so it's not like we desperately need Badstuber's ability to launch it out of the back.

[Gay Ork Wang]

Badstuber has been a lot better than Boateng last season. A lot better.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

Badstuber has been a lot better than Boateng last season. A lot better.

He was more consistent. But Boateng had a really strong run early in the season. Plus both are still young and developing, with Jerome having the superior upside. Our CB pairing is going to need to grow together so I'd rather give Boateng n Hummels that chance.