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Back Again....

Written by Matt-

The Cup Holders, and Prem runners up from last season, Vince Hilaire's Afro's manager Matt- is back in the hot seat for a 4th time this week, as he prepares to face Premiership Champions, and former Cup winners h00ligans.

Last time we spoke was shortly before last season's cup final (19013). You went on to win the Cup but were runner up in the Prem, to your opponent in this season's Cup Final, h00ligans. Obviously, you are going to tell us that this season the league means everything, and you are going to PIC this cup final, but could you please give our readers just a flavour of what is involved in the plate spinning involved to keep you competitive on both fronts, at this late stage in the season, when the two of you are just 2 of 4 teams (separated by 2pts with 2 to play) that could win this season's Premership?

It's very difficult trying to compete on both fronts. I think that it takes excellent TS management to stand a chance of winning both, that’s probably the most important aspect. The league is my priority but of course I'd love to win the cup and be the first team to retain it since 2005. This will be my 18th game at a neutral ground in the cup and I haven't lost once so far. I think having the depth of squad that I have helps when trying to compete in both competitions. I have a spare player for every position (GK, WB, CB, NIM, IMTW, WG, QDF) so I can cover bad form pretty well and take some risky PIC’s. As an example my best inner is in poor form at the minute but I have a player similar to him who can do a job. Hooligans are a great side so it will be a good game. Whatever happens in the cup final we will have won 7 of the last 6 titles between us and potentially 8 of the last 9 if one of us wins the league. In a way I'm glad we've both peaked at the same time as the competition has been fierce because of it. HCK have improved a lot this season so I expect them to win something soon too. England is pretty strong at the minute.

I’ll 100% be MOTS in this final though. I wasn’t on a MOTS last season and I have still never MOTS a semi-final despite appearing in 3 of them (I have MOTS a QF though). This game looks like a complete coin toss, defunked will have more midfield and I’ll have more attack. It just depends who gets the luck on the night. I hope it’s not decided by a red card or injury for either team.

You had a dismal run in the Masters this season. As the strongest team in England on paper right now, is this a reflection of the heightened coin-toss involved between top teams under the current match engine, and how much do you think this will change under the new ME next season?

Dismal is a bit harsh! I'm not going to claim a coin toss for that defeat, he had an amazing team and was a lot better than me (540563060). I can’t get anywhere near 600 Hatstats and he can get 582 on a normal (I top out at 545 on a PIN). I just think I was slightly unlucky to get someone that good so early.

The Premier League is regularly ranked in the top 10 in the world (we're 7th this week) but like in real life I think the top teams in the Masters are a little bit better than us. I got to the last 16 the season before so with some luck one of us could go far I guess. The other leagues tend to have bigger traders/hoarders so it's difficult to compete with them. If you can dominate a small league you can also push your wage bill to silly levels (even more silly than my £400k!). I think I have more chances of success in the Masters with my second team in Jordan than in England.

There's a lot of coin tosses in the Premier League at the minute and I expect that to get worse with the changes. I don't think reducing the amount of goals, increasing ratings and having the huge pull back system is going to do anything but result in more strange score lines. If you look at Red this season, I have no idea how he is bottom. He's been ridiculously unlucky. I think that ratings are too high at the minute.

Last time we spoke about the NT. You made a comment "I think Ash is a really nice guy but off the pitch we’re still a million miles from being optimal and it’s worse than when he took over in my very humble opinion", but he's taken us to the 3rd round for the first time in a very long time. What do you think of the campaign, and after admitting you'd be tempted to run last season, can we get an exclusive here on your intentions to run in the coming election?

He has done a good job on the pitch. Just kept it simple and things tend to fall into place. The one thing I hate is being unpredictable just to show you're unpredictable, just play the odds. Fetts has done a great job with the U20's too (I'm not sure why there hasn't been more interest in his campaign). That team isn't great and he has us up there. I'd love to be the England NT manager, if I could win an election, but the next campaign is very unlikely. I'm in South Africa for all of November so I wouldn't be able to give it the time that it deserves. I've never managed a medium/large NT side so to do it with England would be my priority. I don't think we have the scouting setup in place to cover a manager not being as active as we would like in the first four weeks so it's probably best to rule myself out of this election. I would also want to stand for 2-3 terms as I think I could give us a decent chance of a medal with that platform. We both know that HT England isn't too keen on that approach though. I still think there's a hell of lot that we could do much better off the pitch.

You lucky sod, how did you manage to wangle having such a long stint in SA, where will you be staying, and what will you be doing/seeing whilst you are there?

Lots! Cape Town, Hermanus, Kruger Park (well a safari lodge next to it), Plett (http://www.plett-tourism.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/adventure-biking-2.jpg), Rorkes Drift and Franschhoek (http://www.capevillacollection.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/11/Franschhoek.jpg). It's a late honeymoon, I got married in July. We'll be doing whale watching (http://www.creationwines.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Jumping-Whale.jpg), shark diving, Robben Island (http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/thumbs/site_0916_0001-750-0-20061214141952.jpg), a safari or five and drinking and eating very well I imagine. Can't wait! I'll also try and catch some cricket in Cape Town if possible. I think it's three and half weeks, the missus has booked the lot and I'm just turning up to be honest.

We read on the forums (16820522.73). This Occam's Razor approach to calculating team strength by summation of skill-sets by position is a handy guide for any manager. With the addition of scoring to non IMTW PMs would you regard this tertiary on IMs as an either scoring or wing revision, and could you please elaborate a little to our readers why this simple method for evaluating team strength is so effective, despite discounting home-grown bonus, loyalty and experience?

You don’t seem a fan of that measurement. It's not that effective, it's just a very simple guideline on team strength that isn't particularly well thought out. Also sometimes having a slightly lower level of overall skill but more primary is a smarter move, particularly with inners. I've moved those levels of skill up from 456 to 461 and I think I've topped out now. If I win the double I'll happily share all the skills in HT England if there's an interest for it. I don't see scoring as a big thing, like wing on defensive forwards it's a 4th skill for me. Nice to have but I'm not particularly fussed, the other 3 skills are much more important for me. I won’t be paying any premium for an inner with scoring.

On the contrary, I'm a huge fan of Occam's Razor. I'm just irked that the Wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor) hasn't itself been shaved more tbh. One could argue that managers could do worse than to add up the core skills of the players they are considering buying, bearing how many playable seasons they have left in them, and how much experience they can draw upon, in order to establish some sort of value for money calculation. You mention not paying a premium for scoring on an IM, so what sort of player would you consider paying over the odds for?

Difficult question. I pay over transfer compare pretty much every time I buy a player so it's difficult to know if I'm getting a good deal or not. The transfer compare tool isn't great as it doesn't include some key elements (spec being the big one). I have a lot of thing that I demand; the right speciality (only 1 of my 16 outfield players has the wrong spec), some SP, a certain level of experience and the right skills (main and secondary skills). If they have the lot then I'll happily pay over the TC. There's a guy on the list right now who is about 20% over TC and I'm tempted to bid. I paid way too much for my Greek winger but he was probably the best transfer I made as he boosted one wing by a couple of levels. Winning brings in so much money these days that over paying isn't a huge issue if I can just keep on winning.....that's the difficult bit though!

In our previous discussion you highlighted Imaginary Madrid as a team to watch, and this season you met them in the cup again, and again punting them out (three weeks ago (541020786)). There’s a few teams that have caused Prem sides a headache this season, you must be keeping a watchful eye on a few others as well?

Imaginary Madrid are still my tip (from below II) to reach the Premier League. I'd also love Si (951892) to get promoted if possible. He was my mentor back in the day and the U20 manager before me so it would be good to play in a competitive game. I've been hoping that he can sneak over the auto promotion line. I'd also like Anders to get promoted if possible as we've followed similar re-building plans. I only have a few seasons left so he needs to get a move on. I'm not so keen on M.K.S. Odra Wodzislaw (953783) getting promoted as they look ridiculously strong.

Last time we spoke you said you'd been using 30-32% stamina last season, hiked up from 20% in our previous interview (avoiding the use of the word 'claim' this time), and suggested you might be using 35% this term. Has this panned out as expected, and please could you explain to our readers why such a increased percentage is necessary for you now?

I've been using 34% after reading these posts: (16862052.11) (16862052.16). I need to have such high stamina to keep my players in excellent stamina, if you look at the minute by minute ratings in my semi-final you can see that I pretty much won that game because of my better stamina.

Have you found any great music so far in 2015 that you'd like to share with us?

I'm officially old. I don't really listen to new stuff anymore. I like London Grammar (https://vimeo.com/71084497) and that's probably the most recent stuff that I've been into.

Crystal Palace have gone from strength to strength this season, with Pardew genuinely disappointed not to get results against established top teams in the Prem. Where do you think Palace will end up this season, and who are your favourite additions to the club since last season?

If we would have kept Glenn Murray (http://www.just-football.com/soccer-blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Glenn-Murray-Palace.jpg) I genuinely thought we could break into the top 6. Now that he's gone and we have one injury prone striker that actually fits our system we're struggling to score. If we can get Wickham fit then maybe top 8 but I'd happily take anything from 9th down to 15th. Lest just get the 40 points! The best signing is an obvious one, Yohan Cabaye. He's the best footballer I've seen down there since Lombardo. I didn't realise how good he was defensively until he signed for us, he's a complete midfielder and really should be playing at a higher level. We're very lucky to have him in the red and blue. I can't understand why someone like Tottenham didn't come in for him as he's a lot better than what they have.