Reflection Time!

It is now midway through the season and this brings several things to mind in every manager. First of all and maybe the most important thing is, the season standings. No matter what position you are in you have thoughts going through your mind. I will go into that in more detail later in the article. Another couple thoughts might be finances, Team Spirit and possibly even the cups....

As far as the standing go, many different thoughts cross each managers mind at this point in the season. This is a time to reflect on the past seven matches because at this point your club has played every team in your series once. So this is a great opportunity to work on your teams weaknesses to prepare for the next time you play each team to give you a better shot at beating that team that barely got the win or maybe a way to better improve your odds of not having such a close win but rather make it a blow out!

Another important aspect is that now you have seen each team play each other. This provides an excellent opportunity to see how other teams may have beaten the teams that beat your club. You can see how different formations and strategies may have succeeded or failed. There is a lot of information available right now and this is a crucial time in the season to figure out how you will prepare for the next half of the season. A lot of teams are in close races battling for each and every point possible to either win their series, place in the money, or avoid relegation!

The next point some managers might be focusing on would be the finances of their club. Some teams have been stock-piling their earnings all season long to purchase a player that can provide them the skill to make a run at the title. Or maybe one manager wants to add on the clubs stadium to allow more fans the opportunity to watch their beloved team compete. Others may be saving all their money for seasons to come or maybe a manager spends all his/her money they earn each week in hopes to make a profit from buying and selling players. There are many concerns when it comes to finances and this is the dead heat of the season where every penny counts!

Team Spirit is another concern for some managers at this time. Some managers like myself may have used Match of the Season to compete with the stronger clubs in their series while using Play it Cool against some of the weaker clubs. I find this strategy to usually leave me with a "Composed" level of team spirit. But, maybe other managers have had to use a drastic amount of PIC or MOTS so far. In that case their teams maybe be splendidly happy like "paradise on earth" or they could be very upset "like the cold war." These are just some examples to think about when managing Team Spirit throughout the season. There is still time to make some adjustments for an end of the season run for the title or maybe to fight to avoid relegation.

Lastly I will talk about the Cups briefly. I say "briefly" because this is a whole differently subject on it's own but I am just going to hit up how it might be effecting teams at this point in the season. This can be a tricky time for some managers.

Like a majority of managers, you may find yourself reminiscing of the cup days and playing friendlies by now. I myself and in that boat but it was a fun ride! But on the more challenging end of things stands the teams that are still in the Cups. These managers face many more challenges than the teams that have exited the Cup Season. These managers are worrying about what players to play in their cup games as opposed to their league matches. They will eventually (if not already) face the choice of giving the Cup or League more attention. Each manager will be analyzing the chances of making a significant cup run or maybe thinking they should go ahead and aim for that title or avoid relegation. This choice will vary from manager to manager. It will be more of a personal opinion as to how they want to proceed and neither way in my opinion is incorrect. The main struggle here would be training and what players play each position and for how long. I have only touched on the challenges that these managers face but maybe this topic can be the subject of a future article by myself or anyone else interested in writing it.

Finally I hope this article has sparked some thoughts to you all about where we are in the current season and what is to come. There are many moving parts, decisions to be made and weaknesses to correct. The season is well under way and every point, dollar and decision can make all of the difference in the world! Good luck my fellow Hattrickers, improve upon this season!

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