Summer Reclassifications – over time, we’ve moved away from the regular reclassifications of players, and worked on the “let the market sort it”. I’ve always been comfortable with the “PLM or PLA” but it is creaking, and even more so when we get more extreme ones (Phil Foden as a MID is starting to look very wrong) it perhaps needs rethinking. Additionally, with so many players coming out of academies at earlier ages, their “true position” can radically change (anyone clear where Trent Alexander Arnold will be playing in two years).
The proposed change would be that over the summer (still) I would mark the players due for reclassification, but the team that own the player would have a choice about whether to retain the player (contract unchanged) or release them and get FULL value. It’s not a win-win situation I appreciate, but it is a “no lose”.
We would flag up the players concerned in advance, so you can make your decisions at the start of the summer (i.e. the transfer window).
4-3-3 (or 4-1-2-3, or 4-2-1-3, or whatever) – when Soccer Stats started, the First Division (yep, it predated the Premier League) was pretty much 4-4-2, usually with twin strikers. Some Dalglish bloke used to drop into midfield a bit, and then a Sheringham guy did it as well, but formations weren’t very inventive. Nowadays, the core formation is usually more like a front line of three (two wide) with one holding midfielder and two others. A back four, plus an MDD, a MID, a PLM, two PLA’s and a STK are typical (don’t count anything Pepe puts out there, he has his own rules).
Wingers – the simple answer may be to get rid of this classification (at least, stop using it). All wingers would become PLA’s (unless they are really PLM’s). I may even look at defining the lineups as 4-3-3 (PLA’s would count as balance 0 up front, and STK as +1, so your overall balanced team would still be +1).
Substitutes #1 – given that teams now line up with their gameplan around substitutes having an “impact” (rather than replacing someone whose leg just fell off) we should consider increasing our substitutes to five, one of whom would have to be a defender, and one a midfielder.
I’d need to see if the software would handle this. A substitute probably would have to be the same position as the player they replace.
Substitutes #2 – perhaps we also consider giving them more chance of having their goals count (e.g. substitutes goals count half, regardless of whether the starter ahead of them scores). e.g. two substitute goals ALWAYS count as one (maybe if there’s only one substitute goal, it rounds up for a home team, and down for an away team).
Substitutes #3 – we might have to look at getting rid of Championship scorers. It’d be easier for me if we had this in place, or we may need to look at whether I can increase the size of the player list (given the limitations of the hardware, and the age of the software, this may be impossible). Or we keep the status quo, but Championship scorers can only come from the front three substitutes.
Freepoach – for some reason, there’s a degree of antipathy in Soccer Stats to poaching, which I’ve never understood. It’s very much a part of football across all levels, both with players and managers. Equally, it can be a problem if a team sign a player super cheap, and then manage to keep them cheap for a chunk of time.
In Gridstats Retro we have a concept of a free poach – once per turn you can do a poach action, up to 99k, and there’s no cost to it. It means no-one knows who did it, the team with the player have a decision to make, and it’s not exactly a critical amount of money.
Substitute Goalkeepers – we’d get rid of the goofy rule whereby if you pick one Bournemouth goalie, and they pick a different one (and you have them signed), you still get the clean sheet. It’s just way too complicated……..
Bonuses – the win and scoring bonuses for players would be increased – the game will be better if the more successful teams have players who ask for more money. I trust no-one thinks this is unrealistic!!!