So I'm pretty angry with my team right now. We had an important match against the 2nd placed team to try and extend our lead at the top to 7 points. And they blew it. We were even up 1-0 and ended up conceding two in the 2nd half to lose the game, cutting our lead to just a single point, albeit with a large margin in goal difference in my favour.
One thing that has really struck me is how many yellow cards my team seems to be getting, including one of my defenders being sent off during this crucial match. At first I thought it was because I had my tactics up to 'hard tackle', so I turned it down to normal. But no, still they make ridiculous amounts of fouls. In fact, I've had 2 players red carded in 7 games, one of them twice. So I know who the problem players are, but I can't really do anything about it. If someone in a position of power is reading this, I would suggest including an event for players recieving yellow or red cards, so that the team set up can be changed and it can adjust accordingly, just like in real life. Often if a coach sees that a player is being overly aggressive he will be taken off, and if a player is sent of a change of formation will surely take place.
Another thing that sort of annoyed me was what I suppose I see as a lack of luck. There have been two games where I've had an abundance of chances, but the other team's goal keeper makes stops. I think I've seen my goal keeper make one stop in all 7 games played.
Now to the good news, Lachlan Jones, one of my younger mid-field players has been playing great. He's scored 5 goals in 6 games and has also managed 3 assists and 3 MoM awards during that time, and at 18, he looks to be a very promising player. I've also got two attackers that I feel really complement each other, one is fast and nimble and the other has great skill with his head.
More good news, and a 3-0 win away rekindled my love for the team, with both of my strikers and a midfielder scoring in a great display. I also had a cup win earlier in the week after a 0-0 game went to penalties which I won comfortably (4-2), whether it was luck or simply a lack of quality on the part of the other team I don't know, though it was nerve racking sitting through a 0-0 draw.
I've got some (seemingly) easy matches coming up, so right now I'm looking to just scrape together some more wins in a row and keep morale high.
Speaking of morale, it is the only team attribute I have really succeeded in raising, with a +14 boost since the start of the season (probably in no small part due to my large winning streak to begin with), however, despite a small increase in teamplay (+2), attacking, which I also set to train has not improved at all, and I have in fact had decreases of -1 in every stat bar corner and -2 decreases in understanding and free kicks. Hopefully the increase in confidence and team spirit will more than make up for this loss.
