RebelClown's Hattrick Weblog » Welcome
29-06-2009 Freezer
Last night's game was going to be the most important match of this season. The obvious objective was to beat FC TOMMOS to get a firmet grasp of the lead in the group. I noticed that he had suddenly played 4-5-1 in has last friendly, as opposed to his normal 3-5-2 lineup. I figured that was because he wanted to use that formation against me. That suited me fine, as I was contemplating fielding a 4-4-2 to boost midfield and wing attack ratings. I was going to PIN (Play It Normal), and because the team played at home I felt sure I was going to dominate midfield.
All went more or less according to plan. Midfield was outstanding, the highest it has been in a long time. Total HatStats was 290, very pleased with that. All in all it was the 4th best game ever according to the Hattrick statistics page. The only negative thing about it was that Matroos fielded a superb defence, and told his boys to press, which they did really well. Only 4 chances were reported (all for RebEleven), of which just one was converted. 1-0, a tiny win for one evening, a huge step towards the title! To make the joy complete, Meppeler Terror Corps suddenly lost to chopchop, and is now 5 points behind. With a 3 points lead over Tommos, and a much better GD, things are looking very good indeed. Time to put the champagne in the freezer.
22-06-2009 Back on track
A strange round in VI.280 yesterday, three of the four fixtures ended in a draw. Fortunately mine was not among them. The game against Mollenvangers was won with a nice 5-1 endresult. Sadly Jacob Rorhring had to be carried off on a stretcher during the match, and it's a serious injury: it looks like I will miss him for 5 weeks. That is without doctors, so maybe it'll be 4, or (hopefully) just 3. Anyways, the other clashes ended in draws, including Meppeler Terror Corps - FC TOMMOS. That's good news for me, RebEleven is now back at the top of the league thanks to a better goal difference. Besides, by also being unable to beat the Meppelers, Matroos's team proved that are not necessarily the better squad. Sidenote: they played away whilst I played at home, so conditions were not completely equal, with a slight advantage to them. Another consequence is that MTC is in no way out of the title race, trailing us both by only 2 points. Next week I'll have to defend my first place in a direct confrontation with Tommos, and MTC will be hoping to gain at least 1 place.
15-06-2009 Dropping
After round 3 three teams were in the lead having lost no points so far, but was going to change in round 4. I would receive Meppeler Terror Corps in the Rebel HQ, so one of us would have to stand down in the race for the title. I just thought it wouldn't be me.
In a pretty tame game I dominated midfield but somehow didn't score many goals. MTC took the lead twice, and I had to wait until the 80th minute for the final equalizer, at which point I had already given up hope. So I am a bit pleased that the team didn't lose, but I'm very dissatisfied with yesterday's game. I was better by about 60 hatstat points, and htstats shows that I got 6 chances but scored only 2.
That draw doesn't have to be decisive, but RebEleven are on the back foot now. FC TOMMOS, who I consider my main rival for the championship, of course won his match so I'm now trailing by 2 points. Next week Tommos will play the Meppel Terrorists sp I can hopefully be the laughing third, but I don't count on it. If he keeps winning all his matches, the difference between us has to come from the head-to-head clashes. Now that I'm behind, that means I'll have to gain 2 points on manager Matroos there. That translates as 1 win and 1 draw, but since it is very hard to aim for a draw in HT, it effectively means I should win both matches. A very tough assignment, so let's hope he drops some points along the way.
11-06-2009 Comeback kid?
The fourth round fixture was the first one at home, against RPFC Wolvega from neighbouring province Frisia. Reinos, the opponent's manager, tended to field his best team in the league, and a weaker side in the cup. He id field his regular strong side last Sunday, and in conjuncting with the home advantage I thought RebEleven would have a reasonable change of winning.
The match did not unfold itself as I wanted. After 5 minutes the Wolvegaers took the lead, to extend it in the 23 and 29 minutes, after which they drew back. A minute later they hammered the final nail in the coffin, the teams went for the halftime break while my boys were 4-0 down, without so much as a mention.
So, it was all over. I have this hunch that when the match report says a team will start to defend their lead, they will always win that match. Surely that is the case if they score one more. However, the second half started as a reverse of the first. Only the Rebels were mentioned, scoring 3 goals and raising my blood pressure. Could it be true? One more and the game would be drawn, and go to extra time (or even a penalty shootout). Anything is possible then. Alas, no. 10 minutes before time Chad Forgan scored the decider, already 10 chances had been talked about, so that was the end.
Still, a 3-5 loss is much better than the incredible beating it looked like in the first half hour I was going to get. With 235 vs 241 HatStats I was not even that much worse, I figure it was midfield that decided. Haven't I sung that song before?
08-06-2009 Back from the bush
Back from a great holiday in Zambia, I have not thought about Hattrick for 2 weeks, not even used the internet. So I logged in yesterday to see how my team had done during my absence, with absolutely no clue what to expect. My main worry was that they would have lost the second round round game, because that would mean I played only one game last week, thus losing training. Fortunately this was not so. Not only did they beat RFC Rapiditas with a whopping 7-0, they also beat the next opponent. I cannot claim any involvement in the game against KingBee, which resulted in a narrow 1-0 victory after the sending off of Oyenhausen. That would never have happened if I was there! ;) So that means a fourth round fixture this Wednesday, at least one leg better than last season.
The goings on in the league were equally smooth. FC ChopChop, not incapable of beating RebEleven, as proved in the past, was send back with a clear 5-0. To be fair, beenie's boys now couple the highest salary in the competition to the lowest ratings, I have no idea have he manages to do that. Talking of low ratings, the following opponent, Di_Tomasso, is competing with the choppers for the worst team of the season award. In that respect the 3-1 win was a bit meagre, but at least there were no points dropped, which has occurred previously on one occasion.
Finally, yesterday newcomer ~The Viper's~ was set aside with 4-0, a solid win against a respectable opponent. So the Rebels have led the VI.280 from the start, as intented. To be fair, the squad has not been really tested yet, as all matches so far were of the category 'should win', but hey, you still need to do it. A clear division is already taken place in the table: Meppeler Terror Corps and other promotee FC TOMMOS have also won the first 3 games and are waiting for me to slip up. The rest is already far behind.
22-05-2009 Holiday
Of on holiday for 2 weeks, so I've just all the match orders for 5 (more or less) games. First up is chopchop, who is really confusing me. Not only does he not log in for a month at a time, but he scored only 114 hatstats in the first cup round. That resulted in a 10-0 win, the highest of anyone in our league, so maybe he's a genius? He did better than RebEleven, but I'm still very pleased with the 7-0 win against FC the Gier. Only tiny blemish is a yellow card for Konijn.
Next week RFC Rapiditas will be the opponent in the second round, a Groningen derby. I hope to win that one because I need a third round, I won't have the opportunity to arrange a friendly for that week whilst on safari in Zambia. It's going to be tougher than the first round, obviously. Judging by their initial lineup of about 185 stats, I should be the favourtie, but they could give me a bloody nose. I'll read all about it when I get back, for now it's time to forget about Hattrick for a while. :)
19-05-2009 All is quiet
All is quiet on new season's day. Nothing changes etcetera. Not much to report really. More fans are running away. Freddy got injured but has been nursed back to health. Got my first cup opponent, FC the Gier, but it's a bit, so not much interesting I can say about it.
The new league entrants look pretty tough. ~The Viper's~, who won their VII league, are probably good enough to stay in this season. The main debutant is FC TOMMOS, who for some reason ended in second place. If they can repeat their performance they look set to be one of the best teams in the league. There will be no weak teams, so it's going to be a close contest where anything is possible. I have a bit of handicap in that I will be away on holiday for 2 weeks without access to internet, but thankfully the new fixtures have appeared, so I can set the match orders beforehand. My first opponent, fc chopchop, again hasn't logged in for a long while, which made me wonder if he was finally going to turn into an ownerless team. That is, until 2 days ago, when he logged in again. Odd behaviour.