I got my team. Now what?

[AKnightofNi]

My team is 'I'm Not Dead Yet", #71464 in series V.110, currently in 5th place with 3 points. Scored 4, given up 12.

This is my squad:

Your 18 players

Roland Darnell
37 000 US$, 20 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Powerful]

Stamina: passable Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: inadequate
Winger: weak Defending: wretched
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: passable

Del Cash
17 000 US$, 21 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: wretched
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

Donnell Holder
8 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: disastrous

Burl Ridgeway
22 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: passable
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: poor

Herman Cuellar
41 000 US$, 23 years, poor form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: passable
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

Vernon Eldridge
12 000 US$, 24 years, inadequate form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities [Technical]

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

Jermaine Munoz
52 000 US$, 24 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: passable Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: weak
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: solid

Daniel Aardoom
180 000 US$, 25 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: disastrous

Toby Cline
10 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: inadequate

Santiago Román
31 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: wretched Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: poor

James Cavazos
17 000 US$, 26 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: wretched

Charlie Mccabe
4 000 US$, 27 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: disastrous
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: inadequate

Rich Brown
13 000 US$, 28 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: wretched Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: inadequate
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

Richard Mora
2 000 US$, 28 years, inadequate form
Has weak experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate

José Stuart
141 000 US$, 29 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: wretched Keeper: inadequate
Playmaking: wretched Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: weak

Garfield Clayton
2 000 US$, 30 years, inadequate form
Has weak experience and passable leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate

Maurice Cockrell
14 000 US$, 30 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: weak Passing: wretched
Winger: passable Defending: disastrous
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: passable

My coach is:

Michael Smith (11425888)
47 years, passable form, healthy
A poor coach who prefers a strong defensive game
A pleasant guy who is fiery and honest.
Has outstanding experience and poor leadership abilities.

Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 0 US$
Wage: 500 US$/week
Owner: I'm Not Dead Yet
Warnings: 0

I know from reading poor is not good enough to keep around, but at 10k a try, if I get an inadequate on try #1, do I quit there and save resources, or is it worth keeping on to at least passable?

What do I do now. I have read most rules and most of the sites reported here. Thanks for any input. Y'all [b]ROCK[/b].

[Airhog]

yeah I wouldnt worry too much about spending lots of cash on a coach, maybe upgrade to inad.


first things first. go read everything at this site

http://hattrickgameday.tripod.com/hattrick/id16.html

then goto here

http://www.mybestteam.tk/

follow the directions and use that lineup for your first match

then schedule a friendly for next week.

Finally you might want to buy some assistants for your team, and you probably want to upgrade your arena too.

http://hattrickgameday.tripod.com/hattrick/id45.html

you can download a program that will calculate your arena size.

Finally Download Hattrick Assistan manager.

http://www.lokesoftware.dk/osr/hattrick/ham/

this will really help you get an idea of how good your players are.

[Airhog]

Oh yeah, one other thing, take is slow, absorb the information from that hattrick site before doing anything. dont make the mistake many new players make, and go out and buy some worthless overpriced players. The only thing you must do before sunday is too set your training, and your lineup. I wouldnt buy any players until at least your first match or two is done, then you know what areas of the field need improvement.

[AKnightofNi]

Is everone but Airhog bored with Hattrick, or just tired of looking over and commenting on any more foolish Hattrick rookie team lists?

Or maybe Airhog is the top Hattrick threadkiller of all time.

(and thanks very much for the help, Sir hog

[lytic]

I always suggest an Arena build to 16000 following the arena formula... You can live or die off home games when you are new.

[BishopMVP]

I challenged your team to a friendly. If you come, I'll try not to injure any of your players.

Originally posted by AKnightofNi
Roland Darnell
37 000 US$, 20 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Powerful]

Stamina: passable Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: wretched Passing: inadequate
Winger: weak Defending: wretched
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: passable

good forward. start him

Del Cash
17 000 US$, 21 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: wretched
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

not much here

Donnell Holder
8 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has disastrous experience and poor leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: wretched Defending: weak
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: disastrous

not much

Burl Ridgeway
22 000 US$, 22 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: passable
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: poor

decent defender

Herman Cuellar
41 000 US$, 23 years, poor form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities [Unpredictable]

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: passable
Winger: passable Defending: poor
Scoring: weak Set Pieces: passable

would be a good winger with some stamina training and better form

Vernon Eldridge
12 000 US$, 24 years, inadequate form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities [Technical]

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

with better stamina you could play him at IM and not kill your team

Jermaine Munoz
52 000 US$, 24 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and poor leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: passable Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: weak
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: solid

solid wingback, especially with the SP bonus

Daniel Aardoom
180 000 US$, 25 years, passable form
Has wretched experience and wretched leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: poor
Winger: passable Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: disastrous

easily your best player, but IMO I don't like versatile players. He could be good at IM, W, WB or F, but at any of these positions you could get an equal player for less

Toby Cline
10 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: poor
Winger: poor Defending: poor
Scoring: inadequate Set Pieces: inadequate

not good

Santiago Román
31 000 US$, 25 years, weak form
Has wretched experience and inadequate leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: wretched Passing: poor
Winger: wretched Defending: inadequate
Scoring: passable Set Pieces: poor

passable scoring is good. stamina doesn't really matter for forwards

James Cavazos
17 000 US$, 26 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and weak leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: inadequate Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: wretched

not good

Charlie Mccabe
4 000 US$, 27 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and inadequate leadership abilities

Stamina: weak Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: weak Passing: disastrous
Winger: poor Defending: weak
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: inadequate

fire him now

Rich Brown
13 000 US$, 28 years, inadequate form
Has wretched experience and weak leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: wretched Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: inadequate Passing: wretched
Winger: poor Defending: inadequate
Scoring: wretched Set Pieces: weak

not any good with wretched stamina, but his age means he wouldn't sell. might want to keep him around until you know what you're doing.

Richard Mora
2 000 US$, 28 years, inadequate form
Has weak experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: poor Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: poor Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate

fire now

José Stuart
141 000 US$, 29 years, passable form
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities

Stamina: wretched Keeper: inadequate
Playmaking: wretched Passing: disastrous
Winger: disastrous Defending: disastrous
Scoring: disastrous Set Pieces: weak

a solid start at keeper. he is actually borderline passable/inadequate so there is no need to go out and buy a passable GK

Garfield Clayton
2 000 US$, 30 years, inadequate form
Has weak experience and passable leadership abilities [Quick]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: disastrous
Playmaking: poor Passing: weak
Winger: wretched Defending: wretched
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate

fire him now

Maurice Cockrell
14 000 US$, 30 years, inadequate form
Has poor experience and passable leadership abilities [Head]

Stamina: inadequate Keeper: wretched
Playmaking: weak Passing: wretched
Winger: passable Defending: disastrous
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: passable

decent wing for now

My coach is:

Michael Smith (11425888)
47 years, passable form, healthy
A poor coach who prefers a strong defensive game
A pleasant guy who is fiery and honest.
Has outstanding experience and poor leadership abilities.

I know from reading poor is not good enough to keep around, but at 10k a try, if I get an inadequate on try #1, do I quit there and save resources, or is it worth keeping on to at least passable?

i suggest stopping at the first one you get inadequate or better. that is what I did when I got my team. of course, last night I fired him and on my second try got a solid coach :p


For a starting lineup, I suggest running a 3-5-2:

GK: Stuart
CD: Ridgeway
WB: Munoz, Brown
IM: Eldridge, Aardoom, Holder
W: Cuellar, Cockrell
F: Darnell, Roman

Brown and Holder need to be replaced ASAP. For training go stamina and general for the next couple weeks. I suggest selling Aardoom and picking up 2 good Inner Mids with the money you can make from him, but that is your decision. Also, a backup GK (inad) would be a good addition. Don't pay more than 20,000 for one.

[AKnightofNi]

Is a backup keeper a precaution for injury in friendlies? How often do keepers get hurt?

If I have about 500 supporters, wouldn't 16,000 seat stadium be a waste and take up lots of cash, or do supporters rise fast and it will soon be worthwhile investment?

Thanks for the input, lytic and BishopMVP.
(Bishop, I was too slow with the challenge accept cuz you already have one. I don't log onto Hattrick that much. At least not yet.)

[Vince]

I would say that only with 500 supporters, a Stadium expansion is a little premature. As far as injuries go, I don't think that the hattrick engine differentiates between positions...the injuries are randomly distributed as far as I know (that could be wrong though...I'm far from a Hattrick expert).

If you're going to go with a backup, though, then you're probably only going to play him in friendlies (which mean absolutely nothing unless you are training keepers) or the FOFC Cup (which is unofficial, and also means absolutely nothing except for bragging rights here), so you don't need a really good keeper as a backup...Weak or Inadequate is fine.

I'd say you probably want to get a passable keeper, but as Bishop said, the keeper you have is valued pretty high...if you train keeper for a week or three, you'll probably see him 'pop' to Passable in keeper. As you have probably noticed, there is no substitute for experience, but you can be sure to find many tricks to the trade here.

[Eilim]

I actually went with a single keeper for about 8 weeks of playing. It was mainly part of my "Be a cheap ass bastard and avoid debt like the plague" strategy. You can almost always pick up an inadequate keeper in the 5k range rather quickly if your willing to hop through all the markets.

Going with the single keeper you get the side benefit of the form on him rising quickly and staying up there. I only have two now because I actually had my first keeper injury the other week, picked up a cheap inadequate replacement and then happened to pull a passable keeper in my youth pull. Ended up making a quick 10k selling off the replacement. Yet to decide if I'll sell off my former starter.

-Eilim

[lytic]

If you plan on winning, I expanded to 16k and was selling out in like 5-6 weeks. You will gain about 30 supporters a week in the beginning. I started with 492 and I just hit 1400 now. My arena is @ 35000.
7000 to 16000 right away, then to 25000 the season after my first full one, then to 35000 after that season. Next one will probably be 50k... in a season or 2.
You don't want to do small build because it costs $30k just to even build. So buiding bigger now will help you and you will make your investment back before the end of the season. I see people with small arenas end up progressive slower since they aren't bringing in the full potential income.
As for a backup keeper... get at least an inad, they are super cheap now. When I started they went for like $25k, but now they go for less than $10k.

[PilotMan]

Originally posted by Vince
I would say that only with 500 supporters, a Stadium expansion is a little premature.

I couldn't disagree more. Mine is at 14150, and I get about 71000 for home games. You need money to do anything, and you need that source of income. It will eat up a lot of your initial 300000 but it will be worth it.

[BishopMVP]

Sorry about the friendly; I power-challenged some Swedish teams to Cup Rules at my place and I didn't think any of them would accept but one did.

As for the stadium, 16,000 may be a little excessive. I started 7 weeks ago, have won every game but 2 since (1 my Cup Game last week) and even though I am up to 720 supporters, I only had 17,000 show up for that Cup game (threatening clouds may have played a part). But you should definitely expand to at least 12k. Depending on how much you want to go into debt early on, between 12-16 thousand is a good size expansion. Make sure to use the formula (62.5/25/10/2.5.) There is a website with an arenasizer that will do this for you.

It seems your league has some decent teams, but no great teams. With a little work, you should be at least the 4th best team in the series by the end of the year, and able to challenge for promotion by next year.

The backup keeper is really just a precaution against injury, but I've taken the view that for such an important position, I don't want to risk losing a game because my keeper is injured and the backup is wretched when you can pick up a backup for 5-10k. Of course, since it is better to promote keepers with a terrible Youth Squad, you can just whatever guy is promoted and stick him in as a backup for now.

One more thing. Increase YS spending to 20,000 NOW if you haven't yet. This will pay off long-term.

[AKnightofNi]

Thanks very much to you all. Much appreciated.

(I put YS to 20k...thanks)

[RonnieDobbs]

I was pissed that the first thing I did was expand my stadium to 16,400. My first two game had attendences of 4051 and 3057. :( I was angry.

Then, I got my team turned around, and today I lighting cigars with the 80K I got from the game. For a team starting out, like me, that is a huge amount of money. Go for it, just build a good team that can get some wins as well.