The bad being that by the half way point in the season I already know I won't be claiming the invincible steam achievement.
The good being I'm still top anyway as I've not really dropped many points. 26 lovely points from 11 games.
There's been a slight drop in form and performances but I think that's largely been due to a few injuries. So my defenders have had to rotate a little bit more than I would have liked.
Still some good games and if that's the worst of it (and occasional draw and the rare loss) then I think this season is going to be a good one. If I get another 26 in the second half of the season then that would put me on a healthy, and currently record breaking, 52 points. In the last two seasons 42 and 40 have been enough for the title.
I do however know that magically projecting 26 points from my next 11 games isn't a very realistic way of going about things. We've already hit a bit a rough patch in the past few games, so what's to say it won't continue or get worse? Furthermore I'm going to have to deal with how teams react to us in the 2nd half of the season.
Up until this point I've largely been playing counter attacking. I was going to swap between control and counter depending on whether I was home or away but counter attacking was working so I just stuck with it. I think it may have been because of the poor finish last season. Clubs thought we were weaker than we actually were and have been attacking more. That won't last. I think I'm going to have to dust off the control version of the tactic for home games at the very least.
How are the team doing? Apart from table toppingly well?
I should probably explain how I've set the screen up first. My inspiration for this view format came from an article on Supports Interactive (by Cleon I think - link to follow if I can find it). This set up lets me first of all judge player performances on some key factors (rating, form, pass completion, minutes per goal, assists per 90) and manage training.
I've included pass completion, minutes per goal and assists per 90 because I think these can be quite useful indicators of performances in areas that we as players (of the game) are likely to make big mistakes in. I'm going to put on my psychology hat again and point this out: We...Humans...are crap at most things. For all the amazing things you can say about the brain and/or the mind (two very different things potentially) the most accurate and all encompassing statement you could make is that it's lazy. The brain/mind tends to take the easiest route to a solution or action, not the most accurate unless you are trying ever so hard.
I think we can see this happening in FM. When you see people moaning on forums that the AI always score in the last minute, or they have too many injuries, or they're not scoring from mistakes but the AI bloody well are then I would say that actually...what is probably happening...is selection bias. They are remembering instances of these events happening and are selectively remembering them. Your keeper fumbles a few shots and they go in? You're much more likely to remember these than all the AI fumbled shots, especially if you are already biased to think that there is a disparity. We tend to select and remember information that supports our biases. The extent to which we can do this is amazing.
So I have this information front and centre so I can tell at glance actually...who is the most prolific scorer out of my strikers. Felic might be my favourite but I don't want that bias and favouritism to blind me to the fact that actually in terms of strike rate he's only marginally better than Magnusson.
I also don't want my assumption I made that Felic is more of a creator than Magnusson to go unchecked. I can glance at the figures and see that even though Magnusson is likely to over take Felic in the goal stakes (all things being equal) Felic is still miles ahead in terms of assists and assists per 90. I could put lots of extra information in there and do the same for say defensive information. But I just don't have room. If I did I would but instead I've settled for those factors.
Pass completion is there because I like my players to retain possession. And to do that I need them to be accurate at passing. 80% is normally my key marker for this though I let it slip for players under certain circumstances. For example my central defenders. I would love it if they were masters at passing as well but I'm willing to take a hit to their accuracy if it means they're actually clearing the ball out of danger.
I still would be unhappy with less than 70% for my DC's though. For them a lower pass completion can also equate to passing the ball right back to the opposition. Maybe they hoof it deep into the oppositions half and they pick it up, maybe they fluff a pass and the striker lurking outside the box gets it. Either way it's a gift to the opposition that I want to avoid. You can see that two DC have less than 70%; Manns and Eklbad. Manns I think can be forgiven as he has only had bit parts to play so far. Ekblad doesn't have as good an excuse. Injuries permitting Eklbad will be sitting more games out.
Right...back to the season.
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