Between the Lines - Build your Dream Team in 5 Easy Steps

Source: (link)
Comment: Well, this is a far more recent article from the Bottom Divisions Federation newspaper Between the Lines. I have done these 5 easy steps and you are immediately forced to think about how you want to play and what players fit in best with this tactic. Make yourself only buy those players that fit in. By example buying a 'cheap' winger that doesn't fit in your plans, you train scoring and always play 3-4-3 without a winger, is quite expensive actually. Credit to Ainvar for this nice article and BTL for making a very interesting publication.

Build your DREAM TEAM in 5 (that's V for you HT-heads) Easy Steps

While tactical choices in HT are imposed on us by our training regimens, quite a bit of flexibility in tactical choices is possible, even for traditional playmaking, scoring, defending, or winger trainers.
The sad thing is, most users build their team haphazardly, looking only at good deals for players on the transfer list or buying "standard" X main skill with Y secondary players. This, in turn, significantly limits their tactical options even more than their training type does. All of a sudden, they are forced to play essentially the same lineup, week after week, switching up only which side their offensive winger is on or where to focus their defensive strength.

But with careful planning ahead, you can dramatically increase the tactical flexibility and unpredictability of your team, without sacrificing training.

Step I Identify your two formations

Every training type has at least two viable tactics associated with it.
Scoring: 3-4-3, 4-3-3
Playmaking: 3-5-2, 4-5-1
Defense: 5-4-1, 5-3-2
Winger: 3-5-2, 4-5-1
Keeper trainers may of course play whatever tactic they wish. May I recommend 3-5-2 and 3-4-3?

Step II Choose tactics

Do you want to Counterattack? AIM? AOW? Press? Every team should have the ability to do at least two of these.
Ideally, you want one agressive tactic and one defensive tactic, so a scoring trainer could choose to be able to play AIM and CA, while a Winger trainer might work on AOW and Pressing as his strong suits.
Tactics don't have to be limited to the official tactics. You can play a "storm the middle" style, or an "overload one wing attack" or a "lots of [Head] specialists and special events" system, to name a few.

Step III Build a Dream Team

Without choosing skill levels, build a theoretical team that you would ideally like with descriptive adjectives.

Types of players:
F - Forward
DF - Defensive Forward
IM - Inner Midfielder
OIM - Offensive Inner Midfielder
DIM - Defensive Inner Midfielder
WTM - Winger Towards Middle
W - Balanced winger
OW - Offensive winger
DW/OWB - Defensive winger/Offensive wingback
WB - Wingback
CD - Central defender
OCD - Offensive central defender
(IM's towards wing are generally agreed to be useless, though a counterattacking or AOW team might want to use one. They tend to match the characteristics of WTMs or OWs. WB towards middle are just CD type players.)

Add a (p) if you want your player to have passing for tactic skill in a position that usually doesn't require it as a secondary.

At this point you should also add any specialties you consider indispensable, as well as special notes. For instance, perhaps you want all your defenders to have experience since the rest of your team is young. Or maybe you want your set piece taker to be a forward so that you get some long shots. Don't forget a captain!

From the list above, choose a set of players you would find tactically interesting.
Remember to indicate subs in important positions, or to choose your A team with enough depth. Make your player selection satisfy all your chosen tactics and formations.

Step IV Select skill and subskill levels for your dream team

This is when you start being more realistic. What players you have already fit into your grand plan? What level players will you be able to afford in the near future? What is a goal date for you to have your dream team by? Which positions do you want to purchase first? Of course, once you've got your tactically flexible dream team, you can begin upgrading it. Just make sure that player secondaries stay just as good while main skills increase, and your tactical options should remain the same as you upgrade.

Begin hunting the transfer list for perfect players. Unless you intend to hold a player for a short time and then resell him (daytrading or just as a stop gap technique for an injury or a card) don't buy a player, no matter how cheap, unless he fits into your overall plan.

Don't forget to purchase experience, set pieces, specialties, and the ability to be team captain!

Step V Reap the benefits

Now you have a flexible team, you can play various tactics, and your series mates worry about playing against you. Now is the time to learn your players inside and out, to experiment with how good your ratings can get in various situations, and to really bring your whole squad together as a well-oiled machine.

Remember to play both your formations, at least in friendlies every once in a while, so that you maintain formation experience.

***

Here's an example from my own squad.
I'm a scoring trainer.

Step I
3-4-3 (main) and 4-3-3

Step II
Two-prong attack
Storm the middle
Counterattack

Step III
Forwards - Trainees. Not too much passing since I don't play much AIM. But enough so they sell. [Head] if possible.
Midfield - OIM, DIM, DIM/OCD, WTM/OIM, W(quick)
Defense - CD(p), 2x WB(p), CD/OCD(p)

Step IV
I'm not going to tell you. I don't want my future opponents to know what kind of players I plan to buy. Suffice to say I set a minimum main skill level and a minimum secondary level. I plan to find a SP taker somewhere in my D, and I'm letting specialties happen randomly except the OW.

Step V
My standard setup will be 3-4-3 with a CD or OCD, two WB's, and either a WTM or a WO. This is my "two-prong" attack--central and one wing--which should keep my opponents on their toes.
Now, if I want to play 4-3-3 CA, I have my four defenders with passing and I'll play my two best form midfielders and winger.
If I want to storm the middle, I'll play my two OCD candidate players, and my OW with some playmaking as WTM.
Chances are, between the passing defenders and the OIM and WTM players, and the passing on forward trainees, that I'll also have a decent AIM. But this is a side bonus and I'm not building my team for it.

That's it! Now all I have to do is spend hours on the TL until I find my dream team for the right price.

By Ainvar

HT-Zine - AIM vs. AOW: A tactical analysis

Source: (link)
Comment: The original website (www.htzine.net) is already gone for about half a year. Though they had several interesting articles on Hattrick. Together with the previous one they are great reading and although you should always be warned for some remarks being outdated the article could improve your performance in the game.

AIM vs. AOW: A tactical analysis

What does your team need to hit your opposition down the flanks or bulldoze through the centre? Find out here in an interesting analysis of arguably the two most used of the new tactics by Ainvar of US side Powder Kegs

Before getting to the article I would just like to introduce myself, since this is my first one. I'm Ainvar, owner of the Powder Kegs in the USA. I am from Bonn, Germany, currently in Roma, Italy, but with my permanent residence in Ft. Collins, Colorado. If you enjoy the article, please sign my guestbook.

While counterattacks was, in the beginning, the most discussed new tactic in conference, it is attack in middle (AIM) and attack on wings (AOW) that actually turned out to be the most used in practice. Let's take a look at the advantages and drawbacks of these two tactics. The first thing to ask yourself when you wish to use these tactics is why. Both carry substantial defensive penalties, so they should be used only if you have particularly good strikers or wingers, or if your opponent has a noticeable defensive weak point upon which you would like to concentrate.

Assuming you want to use the tactics, the first important thing to notice about them is that they are dependent on your outfielders' passing ability. This shouldn't be a problem because the players in question all benefit from passing anyway. It is, however, important when using these tactics to have midfielders with passing, and wingers and forwards with good secondary passing. The value of strong offensive midfielders cannot be overstated when using either AIM or AOW.

Another thing to keep in mind is that in both cases, your midfield is still going to be your most important department. Unlike counterattacks and pressing, which require a completely different tactical set-up, AIM and AOW are subtle tactics which are only variations on the normal tactic. Rather than drastically altering your team to play one of these tactics, you should look at the characterstics of your team and of your training program, and apply one of these tactics if it is compatible. That said, let's get to the point...

AIM:

As was shown in Norge's World Cup draw against Svergie, but also in countless less publicized games in Hattrick, AIM, especially with a 3-4-3, has become a very powerful tactic, rivalling the dominance of a straight 3-5-2. AIM was a godsend for scoring trainers, because playing with three forwards necessarily focuses your attacks in the middle. Even before tactics, 3-4-3 was the second most popular formation after 3-5-2. Now, playing 3-4-3 AIM with two offensive midfielders and either two wings towards middle or one wing TM and one extra midfielder is a very strong tactic. Of course, playing your wing offensively or normal is also an option if your midfield is strong enough. Another viable option, for non-scoring trainers, is 3-5-2 AIM with both wings towards middle. This tactic gives a ridiculously strong midfield, and also a good attack if midfielders with high passing are used offensively. Again, the wings may of course be played normal or offensively, depending on how much midfield you can spare. AIM does not focus every attack towards the middle, after all, just a higher percentage. It is very important to have strong forwards with good secondary passing in this tactic, and an offensive coach doesn't hurt.

Finally, if a defense trainer absolutely wants to play AIM, it should be done 5-3-2 with two offensive inner mids, an extra inner midfielder, and two very strong forwards. In this case, all outfielders must have high passing, as there are only 5 of them. The midfield can be further supported by offensive central defenders. The drawback of AIM is the lowered wing defense, thus a person using this tactic should play a symmetrical back line with two defensive wingbacks, and have a strong keeper. If you are going against an opponent with strong wing attacks, think carefully before applying this tactic.

AOW:

What AIM did for scoring trainers, AOW did for winger trainers, and then some. Many successful teams are running AOW with offensive wingers and, in many cases, offensive wingbacks as well. The best tactics for AOW are the ones which can be played with two wingers and two offensive midfielders, namely 4-5-1, 3-5-2, and, to a lesser extent, 4-4-2. The most popular AOW tactic is 4-5-1. Having two central defenders helps mitigate the central defense loss caused by AOW, and a second forward is not needed since the attacks will be focused on the wings. Defenders with strong playmaking may be used offensively to support your midfield, as well. Setting the forward to defensive is not recommended as you will still have some attacks in the middle.

Just as in AIM it is important to have offensive midfielders, since they contribute substantially to your wing attacks. Whether to play your wingbacks offensively or not depends on the situation, and on your keeper. Teams with a strong keeper or a defensive coach (or both) can probably spare the offensive wingbacks. This is especially the case if they are actually wingers-in-training, with higher winger values than defensive values. Teams wishing to use 3-5-2 with AOW should think carefully as to why, since in many cases it is better to just play it normal and not take the central defense hit. However, with a strong central defender, it is certainly a viable option, and the second forward will help for those attacks that don’t go to the wing. The main strength of AOW is that very strong wingers are easier to train and cheaper to buy than other positions, thus it is actually quite easy to get a relatively strong wing attack. AOW can obviously be used by non-winger trainers as well. For midfield trainers, the aforementioned 4-5-1 and 3-5-2 are the obvious choices, while defense trainers should probably use a 5-4-1. In the latter case, there are few players contributing their passing in the outfield, so the ones that do play should have it even higher. With this choice, the wingbacks really should be set offensively, and if the wing defense suffers too much, one or two central defenders can always be set towards wing.

Here's a quick summary of the above discussion. Note how for each tactic, there is an option for midfield and defense trainers. Scoring trainers should use AIM over AOW, and winger trainers should use AOW over AIM. * denotes my recommended formation for this tactic.

AIM:

Scoring trainers:

* 3-4-3 with three IM's and one wing TM (or with two IM's and two wings TM.) In both cases, two offensive midfielders.
Midfield trainers:
3-5-2 with any combination of wingers TM, normal, or offensive, depending.
Again, two offensive midfielders, and strong forwards.
Defense trainers:
5-3-2 with two offensive and one extra mid, and strong passing forwards.

AOW:

Winger or midfield trainers:

* 4-5-1 (or 3-5-2) with offensive wingers, midfielders, and possibly wingbacks.
Defense trainers:
5-4-1 with offensive wingers, midfielders, and wingbacks, and possibly central defenders towards wing or offensive, depending.

Posted by HomaridII

HT-Zine - Special Events: The Big Unknown

Source: (link)
Comment: The original website (www.htzine.net) is already gone for about half a year. Though they had several interesting articles on Hattrick. Together with the next one they are great reading and although you should always be warned for some remarks being outdated the article could improve your performance in the game.

Special Events: The Big Unknown

This is a very good article that everyone should read, written by my good friend Simon, better known as Elgard from the Canadian Community. Its his first ever article on htzine so take it easy on him guys.

Recently I was discussing goal special events with a few friends, and was amazed at how little people seem to know about this very important, albeit often overlooked part of Hattrick. As a result I decided to write this article to give people a little more insight into what one of my friends aptly described as, “What makes and breaks upsets.” And it really is true, special events are at the root of many wins by a team with seemingly weaker ratings.

There are 8 types of goal special events. Be sure not to confuse specialties with goal special events. In fact powerful players do not have a special event associated with them, and head players are only indirectly linked to a special event. I’ll now go into more detail about each type of special event.

Unpredictable special events are one of the better known of the bunch. It’s that “Johan Johansson somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Steve Stevenson” message. They can be only caused by players with the “Unpredictable” specialty. On the other hand there’s also the “A lunatic dribble by Magnus Magnusson, in front of the own keeper…” event. While most people are aware that these exist, a less known fact is that while anyone can cause a positive unpredictable event, only inner midfielders and defenders can cause negative unpredictable events. And an even less known fact is that the likelihood of a positive unpredictable event depends on the player’s passing and scoring skills while the likelihood of a negative unpredictable event depends on the quality (or rather the lack of) the player’s defending.

Quick special events are also quite well known. An example is “John Johnson got left behind when Belmac´s Jamie Jameson made a sudden pull forward…” Just as with the previous special event, while almost everyone is aware of the existence of this event, not everyone knows that the possibility of it happening can be completely eliminated by playing a quick defender opposite the quick wingers or forwards (only wingers and forwards can score on a quick event). Having quality defensemen can also reduce the chance of the event occurring, but that’s kind of obvious.

Technical special events are the last of the special events directly related to specialties. It’s the classic “In the 33rd minute, technical Hakan Hakanson scored 2 - 0 having completely made Per Persson look like a fool”. The occurrence of this event is relatively limited due to the fact that it can only be triggered by a winger or forward who furthermore must be playing against a head specialist. Technical events only create chances, which must be finished off by someone else.

Wing special events are probably the least known type of special event. The usual reaction I get when I tell people about this event is, “What? Winger special events?” Everyone has probably seen one, but didn’t realize that in fact they were seeing a special event. It is the little line that says “Rob Robinson was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the enemy box…” Winger events can quite logically be only caused by a winger. The chance of this event happening depends on how good the player’s winger skill is; so don’t wonder why your solid winger isn’t getting any of these. Just like the technical event, this event only creates a chance that must then be finished off by another player.

Next up is the Long Shot event. This is fairly straightforward and most people are aware of how it works. Everyone has probably seen the “Andy Anderson found a gap in the home sides central defense scoring with a long shot” message pop up. The higher your player’s scoring and set pieces are the better chance he has to score on this event. Any player can score off a long shot, but due to their scoring skills your forwards are probably the ones most likely to. That is also why I consider set pieces to be more valuable on forwards than on other players.

The Corner special event consists of more than one part. An example of a corner event is “A well placed corner kick from Matt Mattson was followed by Jack Jackson’s hard but accurate header”. I do not know how a corner is triggered; the rules don’t mention it and I’ve never noticed any pattern as to how they happen. However once a corner is triggered it consists of two parts. First your set piece taker must have sufficient set pieces to take a “good” kick, and then the receiving player must have sufficient scoring to put the ball in the net, just like with technical and winger events. However the number of head specialists also indirectly figures into the equation here. The rules state: The higher the number of Head specialists in your team, and the lower the number of head specialists among your opponents, the better your chances to score. Having no head specialists at all will make you very weak at defending against corners and very weak at scoring on your own corners. So while it does not matter if the player scoring on a corner has head or not, the number of head specialists on your team and the opposing team modifies your overall chance of a successful corner.

Experience special events have nothing to do with team experience, and have just as good a chance of happening in the 5th minute of a league game as in the 108th minute in overtime of a cup match. While you don’t see the “Jonas Jonasson son has over the years acquired a talent for predicting the movements of the enemy defense and this almost resulted in a goal...” event too often, the “Seemingly due to lack of experience, Bjorn needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area” is relatively common. Wingers and forwards can score using their experience if it is high enough. On the flipside inexperienced defenders and inners can give the opponent a chance to score.

Tiredness special events are the final type of special event. They are the “Ronald Ronaldo wasn’t fit enough for a full game made several mistakes out of sheer tiredness” events. These have become relatively known lately, mainly during the discussions about stamina worth in players other than inners (and others that you want to affect the midfield). People have generally come to the conclusion that while stamina in defenders may be relatively helpful, it is totally useless in offensive players (forwards and offensive wingers). That is not entirely true. Yes, it is correct that tired defenders may cause a defensive blunder during the latter stages of a game, but the rules state that: Unless the opposing attacker is also too tired, this may create a chance for the opponent. So essentially it is just as important to have decent stamina in forwards as it is in defenders.

Phew, so much for the summing up of the individual special event types. Goal special are the most underestimated part of Hattrick. A team well groomed to produce the highest possible number of special events and give up as few as possible can win many a game with seemingly weaker match ratings. Just to finish off my article I’ll write a little summary of what to look for and what to avoid when you’re buying that next reinforcement for your team.

Look for wingers and forwards with the unpredictable specialty
Avoid inner midfielders and defenders with the unpredictable specialty.
Look for the quick specialty in any player.
Look for technical wingers and forwards.
Look for players with good set pieces and scoring (finally a use for those midfielders with solid scoring and solid set pieces).
Look for inner midfielders, wingers and forwards with head specialty.
Avoid defenders with head specialty. Although they too could contribute to your corner taking so it’s up to you if you want to take the risk of a technical goal against you.
Look for experienced players.
Look for players with good stamina.


This article was written by Elgard, a member of the Canadian HT community