So, my gutty little NAC Breda take on big, bad Chelsea in the Champions League (this is an update from last week’s post regarding my EA FIFA gaming).
In the first leg I go to Stamford bridge and fall behind 1-0, only to fight back to take a 2-1 lead. In the second half they get the equaliser, but I’m feeling pretty good about the draw and two away goals. I played a 4-3-1-2 formation and for the most part it worked.
In the second leg I figure I’ll play a bit more conservative and go with a 4-5-1. Disaster. A header and a PK and I’m down 0-2 at home.
Throw in the towel? Not my boys. We claw back and it’s 2-2 after thirty minutes. Now, a 3-3 is no good for me so I’ve pretty much got to win it now (dutch team, PKs? No thanks.)
Well Chelsea grab an early one in the second half, Cech is great in goal, I put one off the post and a late set piece header finishes me off, 6-4 on aggregate.
Damn you Chelsea!
You’ve really got to be aggressive against these guys. In the second game my shooting was inaccurate, but if you can put shots on target you’ve got a chance against them.
12 Responses to “Chelsea Advance in Europe - Barely (Video Game)”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:19 am
GLORIOUS VIDEO GAME!
This is why our some arsenal’s “fans” are always full of praise and respect for these bastard russians while giving dayly venonous and disrespectfull stick to the team they “support”.
Wenger, Henry, Viera, Arsenal it’s just like a video game.
Football is video game, isn’t it ?
The virtual football mentality is becoming a huge problem in professional football.
Yes there’s money in it, just look at the number of armchair managers, but when you look at closely to Inter, OM or PSG situations you are scared.
Things are changing dangerously for the game on the pitch.
Armchairs footballers are ruthless. Most of them have lost all their humanity.
In their real footballers are less worthy than the latest version software they are waiting for.
Look at in milan players now fear for their life because their own fans. Can you believe it ?
Yes it’s not because there’s VIDEO game, but here’s a fact: Video game take away from human, most perceptions of the real sense of the word game when it’s applied to human being.
I don’t hate VIDEO GAME.
I hate the fact of using VIDEO GAME as the basic ingredients of NEGATIVITY.
NEGATIVITY lead to nothing.
These fans think the players are “guilty”.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:36 am
Wow dude, that’s some philosophy! Kinda like we’re all in the Matrix or something…. or at least football is… whoa.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:41 am
No we are not in Matrix or something….
Don’t worry. It’s just a detail.
Cocaine’s far more dangerous.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:43 am
Rick, sorry to hear of your loss to Chelsea… you used my 4-3-1-2 in the first leg! Good one! And you got the result!
4-5-1 in the second… that was always going to be tough. Again I would think that is a really stagnant formation as it’s hard to get the interplay between the midfielders and the attacker(s). The thing I love about 4-3-1-2 is that the CDM usually acts more like a stopper so it’s fairly defensive, while you can quickly go on the counter by passing to your LCM or RCM or CAM. The only thing it’s vulnerable to is wing play, since your formation is very focused in the middle of the park. To me, it seems the CPU usually does not perform wing manuevers very well, so that’s my prefered trade off. I use 4-3-1-2 in every match.
I played Chelsea with my Arsenal team again last night… EPL match. I beat them this time, and I really tore them apart through the middle. I got lucky there because usually I like to play it in from the wing against Chelsea, but in this game they didn’t have enough to break up my runs through the center of the park.
April 17th, 2005 at 11:50 am
By the way Rick, you’ll have to keep us up to date on your exploits… are you in the second season on the game? 2005-2006? Let us know how you end the season and if you decide to change clubs next year.
Big tip… if you want to manage the Arsenal sooner, make sure you have them selected as “Your Favorite Team” in your settings… the chances increase greatly that you will be offered a managerial contract earlier than otherwise.
I managed Rangers for three seasons, then managed Roma for one, then I got offered by Arsenal so I have been there ever since. The year is now 2013 and I’ve won two EPL titles, two Champions League trophies, and a smattering of FA Cup, Carling Cup, and Community Shields.
My only remaining original Gunners are Ashley Cole and Jose Antonio Reyes! I’m not as sure as Paul that video games are reality because JAR is the top rated striker in the world at this point… and he’s still at Arsenal (?!)
April 17th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
Good stuff. Yes, in retrospect I should have kept with 4-3-1-2. I’m in season three right now. Here’s my big dlilemma: If I move to another team in the off-season, and they are playing in Europe, will that be erased when I become the new manager, or does that carry over? Should I stick it out in Holland for another year, or jump to a crummy team in Italy, Spain, Germany? Is it easier to jump to Arsenal from another EPL team?
April 17th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
Actually I think after u spent a longer time to play the game, you can beat every team even if you adapt a 1-1-8 Formation with video game!
April 18th, 2005 at 3:25 am
in my experience, i started with dunfermline in the spl. i won the scottish cup the first year and came in second to celtic in the league. i was then offered the chance to move up at the end of the year, and i chose celtic. i won the treble with them and once again chose region 1, where my beloved arsenal was among the selections prior to season 3. of course, i chose them and now my “ARSENE WENGER” is finally home. as for the champions league, i distinctly remember arsenal being in the last eight during my run to glory the season before. but now they must qualify, so i guess they didn’t finish in the top two. all that’s about to change though……..
April 18th, 2005 at 8:47 am
Ok, finished year three trophyless, coming in second in Holland (too many simulation game losses at the end). So, I’ve moved to La Liga where I will be managing Real Sociedad.
April 18th, 2005 at 9:45 am
Rick, I have to say I’m thoroughly disappointed. I had high, high hopes for Breda this season and feel that you failed to motivate them enough, allowing for disunity and sub-par performances.
Here’s what I’ve read about Breda:
Your promising right-sided midfielder has been seen in Grand-Theft Auto San Andreas cruising around to clubs with CJ and running into anything and everything. NOT the kind of player we need.
Your captain has been lured to Winning Eleven, citing more REAListic gameplay.
Your reliance on simulation in some of the lesser competitions has cost you points and silverware.
Your over-priced, left-sided striker wants back to FIFA 2004 saying that the new version is too violent.
And finally, failure to buy a brand new controller has cost you your title, resulting in fan, player and board wariness over your decidedly mid-table frugality and fiscal conservatism.
It is of my opinion that, if your management style doesn’t change to mirror that of your supporters, you can expect the same disappointment at Sociedad.
April 18th, 2005 at 10:25 am
Rick, my experience is that European qualification stays with the club, even if you are the new coach.
April 18th, 2005 at 10:39 am
Rick, how are you distributing your managerial points?
Here are my tips…
First get your fitness coach up to two or three stars. This is essential to keep your best players on the pitch in every game. Ultimately you’ll want to get this up to six or seven.
Once you have two or so stars in fitness, get each of your position coaches to one point each. If not, players 28 years and over will tend to lose attribute points over time.
Don’t plow a bunch of points into position coaches early! It’s really hard to bring up player attributes! Just put at least one star in each position to avoid deterioration.
Your next top priority is FINANCE. You will want to get Finance to five stars ultimately. You can do this over a few years, but before you get to five stars any transfers you make will be at a loss. Finally when you get to five and six stars, the transfer sums tilt in your favor and you can actually make profits. However, don’t go more than six stars as right now in my game (2013) I have more money than I can throw around… 130,000 euros to be exact, and I’ve got a squad of great players so I don’t need the money anymore.
Finance is really the most important area, but you have to settle those other areas first.
Medical (injury coach) is the most worthless. I have had only one serious injury to my squad in 8 seasons… I have only one star in Medical and will add no more.
Scouting… I thought scouting would affect the quality of my youth players brought in when a player retires… I was wrong. Don’t put much into scouting… when searching for a new transfer target, just use the scores on the left of the screen that show their abilities in attack, midfield, and defense. If he is a striker, his overall rating will equal his “attack” rating. If a defender, his overall ranking will equal his “defense” ranking. You get it. So just don’t plow much into Scouting… you’ll thank me later.
Ideally you want to get to this situation….
Finance - Six stars
Fitness - Six or seven stars
Medical - One star
Scouting - Up to you, I like to get enough in so I can see the “Pace,” “Shot Power,” “Shot Accuracy,” and “Marking” ratings… then quit putting into scouting.
Then once you’ve done that, you should start maximizing your positions, and do that by which positions have young players (players seem to develop until they are 25, then they seem to stop) or a position that has players over 30 who will retire soon.
That’s what I can tell you after 8 seasons.