Career Vibe Super Series: A Mini H2H Tournament

[Taff]

1 hour ago, FuddledFox said:

Do you get extra points from Betty for a quick completion??

Quote of the Century!!!! 

[FuddledFox]

 

H2H Update: FuddledFox 

Having been asked to step in and replace the hibernating Dutch panda (do pandas hibernate? Dutch one's clearly do) I have to admit I was a little nervous. As we have seen in the recent Vibe Rankings I am all the way down in 20th place following some poor performances in the Olympics and my lack of attention span when it comes to my career posts. I was being thrown in with 3 of the top 4 players on Vibe so its a little like San Marino getting put into the World Cup at the last minute and in a group with Germany (@BatiGoal), Portugal (@samhardy) and Argentina (@Taff). I was absolutely determined that I wasn't going to embarrass myself too badly and perhaps try and push Taff close in the Semi Finals.

I'm sure you have all read the first post and know how this works

Transfers

Unlike Bati and Taff I wasn't able to sell Dybala in the first transfer window despite offering him at ever decreasing discounts. This meant I started the season with 21 players and not my preferred 23. I had some money left for January and after I sold Dybala to PSG for £44m I was able to buy Jose Gimenez and a very expensive, injury prone and generally disappointing Gabriel Jesus. PSG got a real bargain getting Dybala for £44m but I didnt have a great deal of room to negotiate as no other clubs where interested and their opening bid was £35m so I did push them up a little but they wouldn't go higher.

Outs 

Spoiler

Just to prove I wasn't tempted to use Dybala.

Ins

Spoiler

The break down of nationalities and their most used positions.

Group A

Russia: Victor Vasin (CB)

Saudi Arabia: None

Egypt: Ahmed Elmohamady (RB)

Uruguay: Jose Gimenez (CB)

Group B

Portugal: Ricardo Pereira (RB)

Spain: Asier Illarramendi (DMC)

Morocco: Hakim Ziyech (CM/AMC)

Iran: None

Group C

France: Sebastien Haller (ST)

Australia: None

Peru: None

Denmark: Daniel Wass (DMC/MC)

Group D

Argentina: Jose Maria Basanta (CB)

Iceland: Hannes Halldorsson (sub GK)

Croatia: Lovre Kalinic (GK)

Nigeria: Ola Aina (RB/LB)

Group E

Brazil: Gabriel Jesus (ST)

Switzerland: Breel Embolo (ST)

Costa Rica: Oscar Duarte (CB)

Serbia: Dusan Tadic (CM/AMC)

Group F

Germany: Christian Gunter (LB)

Mexico: None

Sweden:None

Korea Republic: Ja-Cheol Koo (CM)

Group G

Belgium: Nacer Chadli (CM/AMC)

Panama: None

Tunisia: None

England: Tammy Abraham (ST)

Group H

Poland: Piotr Zielinski (CM)

Senegal: Cheikhou Kouyate (CB/DMC)

Columbia: Jhon Cordoba (ST)

Japan: 

The Season

We started with a comfortable win in the Super Cup v Lazio. It was great to see the lads gelling early on.

Spoiler

 

In the league we started well but we did lose early into the season away to Roma. In fact Roma were a bogey team for us this season.

Spoiler

On Thursday morning Taff posted his results and at just about the same time I had got to November and was struggling a little bit and drawing too many games.

Spoiler

I knew we were going to need to up our game if I was going to get near or beat Taffs score of 48 wins.

We managed to win the league comfortably with a decent number of league games remaining.

Spoiler

This was a worry because once the league is won complacency can creep in and I still needed more wins.

The cups where going to prove crucial if I was going to win my semi final as winning just league games wouldn't be enough even if I had had a perfect season which as you saw I didn't.

We lifted the Italian Cup with a 2-0 win over Lazio.

Spoiler

 In the Champions League we had a tough group which also featured Manchester City but I'm not going to show how I did in the group stage to try and build some suspense. We did get through the group but did we win the group? Did we lose twice to City? I'm not going to tell you. Remember you know I lost at least 1 league game (maybe more) and had a number of draws (maybe we had more) as well. Taff had 2 lose's and 7 draws so I could have got through the group as runners up and won the final but 2 loses to City may have scuppered my whole campaign.

What ever happened in the group we did get to the final and we played and beat Atletico Madrid 2-1.

Spoiler

So just like BG and Taff I did the treble but was it enough to beat my friend from the wrong side of the border and claim a place in the final?

Well i will tell you but first here are the stats.

Spoiler

Finally its time to reveal my score. Drum roll please.

Spoiler

I DID IT!!!! 

The cup final win against Lazio was my 49th win and when the final whistle went the scenes in my sitting room where pretty much this which is dangerous as its a small room and the fire was lit.

Honestly though I surprised myself with just how well we did. I went into this thinking I had an OK chance of getting to the final as we all had the same squad to sell and a limited pool of players to buy and I also had a tried and tested tactic to go with, although that went out the window after a few games and I made a few adjustments, but I was taking on an Olympic Gold and Silver medal winner and a perennial leaderboard botherer. 

I have to wait now to see if I will play BG or Sam in the final. Whoever I take on I will be the underdog in the final but I will give it my best shot.

Commiserations to Taff who set a very good score for me to beat. 

Thank you for reading.

[samhardy]

Didn't expect that one! What a performance @FuddledFox

[BatiGoal]

Well done, Fox. You've been asked to step in for a reason and you delivered. Congrats on making it to the final. 

At this point there are no underdogs mate, I'm not falling for those mental traps 

[Taff]

Well done @FuddledFox the better man won, those draws really did me in and I'm man enough to admit you played better, well done and now it's over to @samhardy to see who lines up in the final and who I will have to play to try and clinch at least a Bronze medal, now if you'll excuse me I hear the missus calling.......

[BatiGoal]

Maybe I need to borrow a couple of your gifs later on 

[Taff]

When you said Betty got you some Jack Daniels was it more like this

 

Or is it more "BATI DOESN'T SHARE HIS JD!!!!!"

[BatiGoal]

13 minutes ago, Taff said:

 

 

[Taff]

1 minute ago, BatiGoal said:

Yeah I wouldn't mind waking up to her on my Birthday, so you guys have until next May to find me one

[FuddledFox]

Thanks lads.

Not a whiskey man myself but I think she could change my mind?

Have a great birthday @BatiGoal I hope you enjoy your JD.

[BatiGoal]

Thanks Fox

[Taff]

Well done again dude, I hope you kick ass in the Final, you deserve to be higher up the rankings and this will help

[BatiGoal]

3 minutes ago, Taff said:

Well done again dude, I hope you kick ass in the Final, you deserve to be higher up the rankings and this will help

Good that you mention that. No time to get slacking now being on top. Regardless what happens here I need to keep the performance up and post / complete challenges all year round to maintain my spot. I can sense the hyenas lurking in the bushes.. 

[Taff]

We're coming for that #1 spot

But it might take us a while!!!

[PriZe]

Wooop wooop nice one foxy!!!  No more hidding those skills as manager @FuddledFox! Beating @Taff is a hard job and a harder fixture then @samhardy had against @BatiGoal.

Good luck in the final! 

 

Spoiler

Sam turned in to silent Jay, so congrats  @BatiGoal

 

[BatiGoal]

3 hours ago, PriZe said:

Wooop wooop nice one foxy!!!  No more hidding those skills as manager @FuddledFox! Beating @Taff is a hard job and a harder fixture then @samhardy had against @BatiGoal.

Good luck in the final! 

  Reveal hidden contents

Sam turned in to silent Jay, so congrats  @BatiGoal

 

No worries, give the man all the time he needs, praying to the FMM Gods for miracles is a time-consuming task. 

[samhardy]

I'm en route to the match currently, my update will 100% be tomorrow!

[Ashez]

Finally been able to catch up, three elite seasons there lads! Sam has some work to do while Foxy pulled a wonder season out his bushy tail! 

[samhardy]

H2H Results - Sam

We've already seen Foxy defeat Taff and earn his place in the final so now it's time to see who will be joining him there between myself and BG. The first thing to do as I'm sure you all know by now is to have a look at the transfers and what squad I have assembled.

In:

Spoiler

The first thing that will jump out to the eagle-eyed is the fact that I did a Taff and accidentally bought two French players in Matuidi and Payet. It turned out to be a costly mistake as I could only get £10M back for the latter. Overall though a decent squad was assembled.

Out:

Spoiler

Nothing too out there to see here.

Here's a break down of the nations in the groups they are in at the World Cup 2018.

Group A

Russia - Ilja Kutepov (DC)

Saudi Arabia - Faysal Algarni (MC)

Egypt - N/A

Uruguay - Lucas Torreira (MC)

Group B

Portugal - Raphael Guerreiro (DL)

Spain - Pablo Morgado (AMC)

Morocco - Hakim Ziyech (AMC)

Iran - N/A

Group C

France - Blaise Matuidi (MC)

Australia - Tim Cahill (AMC)

Peru - Sergio Galeano (AMC)

Denmark - Justin Shaibu (ST)

Group D

Argentina - Erik Lamela (AMC)

Iceland - N/A

Croatia - Marcelo Brozovic (MC)

Nigeria - Wilfred Ndidi (MC)

Group E

Brazil - Marquinhos (DC)

Switzerland - Yann Sommer (GK)

Costa Rica - N/A 

Serbia - N/A

Group F

Germany - Joshua Kimmich (DR)

Mexico - N/A

Sweden - Kristoffer Nordfeit (GK)

Korea - N/A

Group G

Belgium - Christian Benteke (ST)

Tunisia - N/A

Panama - Roderick Miller (DL)

England - Peter Crouch (ST)

Group H

Poland - Piotr Zielinski (MC)

Senegal - N/A

Colombia - N/A

Japan - N/A

The Season:

Spoiler

A great league campaign. Couldn't have asked for much more but those three draws could be costly considering how well my opponent did overall with his 54 wins.

We also won the other three trophies fairly comfortably:

So on paper it looks like an almost flawless season but that's not what matters. To win this match-up it would mean I would have to have won every single Champions League/ Coppa Italia game as a result of the 3 league draws. Could I do that or was it too much to ask?

Spoiler

Sadly a draw against Atletico in the group stage and a first leg loss away at Manchester City mean we fall two wins short...

This means that BG will take on FFox in the final whilst myself and Taff will battle it out for the bronze medal.

Stats:

Spoiler

Semi-Final results

BatiGoal 54-52 samhardy

Taff 48-51 FuddledFox

[FuddledFox]

Great effort mate and only luck of the draw that you didn't make the final.

So my first Vibe final will be against @BatiGoal! Top plays bottom but as we saw with West Ham yesterday shocks can happen.

[veerus]

That feeling when you can beat everyone in the field except one person and you're matched up against that person... 

[PriZe]

Wow another close one between @samhardy and @BatiGoal Congrats bati! Is this the beginning of a succesful Vibe year for you? We will see!

good luck @FuddledFox in the final! May the best animal win

[BatiGoal]

Could this be my year? 

Thanks guys. Could've gone either way at this point which makes these challenges fun to watch and play. 

Cheers to a good final, Fox 

[Taff]

Unlucky @samhardy, but BG had a season that was always going to be very very hard to beat, but if it makes you feel any better you now get to wipe the floor with your favourite Welshman

[Taff]

                                                        

 

Vibe Super Series: A Mini H2H Tournament

World War Vibe

 

So the time has come for the Final of this Mini H2H tournament (along with the 3^rd/4^th place game) to take place.

We have two games left with @BatiGoal and @FuddledFox fighting it out in the Final, and @samhardy and @Taffbattling for the Bronze medal

 

We all agreed that we didn’t want another challenge which required an entire rebuild of the squad, so we brain stormed and we agreed on an idea I pitched a few months back

World War Vibe!!!!

The idea is a simple one, take three strikers and score the most amount of goals with them to beat your opponent

Here’s the twist, we have split each of the pairs into the Axis and Allies, with the highest scorer from the last round choosing which they want to be

 

The player who will represent the Axis will pick one striker from Germany, Italy and Japan

The player who will represent the Allies will pick one striker from England, France and America

Then the two will use their three chosen strikers at the same club and who ever scores the most goals with their chosen three wins

 

Twist number two is that any player of the opponent’s three nationalities must be sold or demoted:

I.E. The Axis team can’t have any English, French or American players in their squad and Vice Versa

 

So a fairly simple idea, but the choice of club could have a positive or negative affect on one of the players depending on the player’s nationality

As the overall highest scorer in the first round @BatiGoalwas given the choice of picking the club we would all be using, and he had decided to head to Spain as a sort of Neutral territory, and he selected

                                                     

                                                Atletico Madrid

 Next up we had to decide who would play as the Axis Powers and who would Play as the Allied Nations, and once again we decided that the highest scorer in the previous rounds would pick for their respective games

So the Final will see Vibe’s #1 Ranked Manager @BatiGoaltake on Vibe’s very own Shakespearean Fox @FuddledFox, and as the highest scorer in the first round between the two BG chose to go with the Axis Powers and will be left to pick a three man strike partnership of German, Italian and Japanese players, while Foxy will chose his three from the Allied Nations using a partnership of English, French and American strikers

 

In the 3^rd/4^th place game we see everyone’s favourite Vibe Hooligan @samhardy go up against Vibe’s favourite Handsome, Talented, Welsh Dragon riding Bunny…. Me.  As the highest scorer of the two in the previous round Sam had the choice of who to represent and he has chosen to represent the Allies which leave myself to take the Axis

 

This will be a single season event and the player who scores the most goals with their three chosen players win’s their respective games and moves up (or down) the new Vibe ranking system

 

So with all that out of the way………

 

One Two Three Four I Declare a Vibe War

[BatiGoal]

Cracking idea for a challenge, Taff. This too should be posted as a separate challenge once this H2H comes to its conclusion. 

I want to say I'm confident but I gotta be careful with that sneaky Fox. Will need to deliver big again to come out as the winner. 

Cheers lads, to an entertaining final showdown! 

Edited December 13, 2017 by BatiGoal

[Taff]

Glad people like the idea, quite handy for a H2H (could make it a TT) to stretch it out

[BatiGoal]

I've been busy running a few ideas as well as a brand new upcoming career of mine, but I made a start with my Atletico team and am atm looking for a killer Axis team to get me the win. 

Tho I could really use the support from my massive fanbase right now

[FuddledFox]

Great looking challenge and I'm looking forward to going H2H with BG. The feeling of looking forward to something has the same symptoms as being terrified.....right!?!

[leenffc]

I really like the idea of this world war challenge, Good luck to all! Will look forward to the updates!