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Interview for cup R6

Written by kachiuz

An interview with the man behind The Mighty Phoenix, who knocked out Premiership side Apostrophe Now last week, managed by the current England NT manager.

You acquired your second team, The Mighty Phoenix on 06/05/13 almost exactly 5 years ago, and first started your Lithuanian team in December 2006. You have spent 3 seasons in the Lithuanian top division, and your primary club has reached the Lithuanian Cup semi-finals once before. What made you decide to set up your second team in England?

Setting up a team in England was a no brainer for me, as I already hadbeen living in the UK for 3 years, when this feature to introduce 2nd teams was implemented.

The Mighty Phoenix, prior to this season, had never progressed further than R2 in the Cup, but here you are, through to R6 after knocking out Apostrophe Now, an English Premiership team managed by the England NT manager. You must be delighted?

Of course I am!

Both of my teams were left in a kind of vegetative state for many seasons. For my primary team this was because its players got old and I had no real enthusiasm to rebuild. My second team was still going through the building process, and it still is. So, when I had the chance to play against a Premier League club, I did spent some time preparing for the match and tried to squeeze the max out of my squad, plus I knew I had an advantage, because I had never before revealed the full potential of my team and you can't get a better opponent or opportunity to test your guns than against a Premier League team! I'm glad it paid off!

Your manager page tells us that you are a Manchester United fan. United have finished 2nd in the Prem this season, and are in the Cup final. Which United players have been the stars for you this season, and which ones have been a bit of a disappointment?

Oh my page reveals that? Well it is true! The first club football games I started to watch was back in 1999, and that year was special (more on why that year was special will be revealed in the following answer)!

If I had to name players, I think I could manage to name more names from that old squad then from the current one! Shame on me, I know! :D

Despite this, for this years Champions League Finals I'll be all for supporting Liverpool!

What's your favourite alchoholic beverage and where/what is your favourite venue to go for a few drinks?

Beer. The trouble with working night-shifts is that I don't get out in the evening to have a drink very often, so I only get to drink when I'm on my holidays. Coincidentally, that's what I'm doing right now, I'm back in Lithuania, where there are many different varieties of beer to choose from. There's a weekend approaching, and for those not aware there is a basketball Euroleague finals taking place this weekend (Euroleague for basketball it's kinda what UEFA Champions League is for football), and a Lithuanian team is participating in it, so this weekend might end up with me completely drenched! I must also mention that the last time a Lithuanian team reach finals was back in 1999.. ;)

See I told you! 1999 was a special year!

You've decided to build a long shots focused side here in England, please tell us a little bit about this decision and have you any tips for managers thinking of following your example?

I built my first LS team back in Lithuania when LS tactics where introduced. Before that, I'd tried to build a balanced team with competitive rankings, but never got past the third division. I would end up loosing to teams who would boost one side of their attack and I just couldn't defend against it. That's when I decided to go for a highly defensive tactic. I sold all my players apart from my GK, brought in 6 midfielders and trained them in striking for about 3 seasons, then added 4 defenders to the squad, together with several scrub defensive strikers and trained SP for the rest of the time. With that team I managed to get promoted to the Lithuanian Top division, but never won the Cup nor the Top league. As my first LS team was built in just 3-4 seasons it had it's faults, so I decided to give it another go to build a better one here in England.

As for tips, there are many! My favorite thing about this tactic is that you don't have to stick to stereotype defensive tactics like 550, or 451. I also try to train formations like 352 and 253 as it grants me a freedom of maneuver in case of injury, cards or if I'm playing against another LS team, I have an opportunity to divert all my resources to midfield, as it's all about that ball control! Just don't tell Shakhtar Donuts about it ok? :)

Please tell us how your significant other (partner/spouse etc) feels about your interest in this game and a little bit about your other interests?

Practically no one in my family knows about HT. I got introduced to it by my room-mate at university 11 or 12 years ago.. Damn time flies! For the past several years I would only log in to check Forums and that was about it.

As for my other interests, in my spare time I'm self-teaching myself coding/web development, as I want to quit working the night shifts.

Please provide us a link to utube or vimeo to one of your favourite of all time tunes, and perhaps to something recent as well?

Warning! I've been a metal fan for years!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1KPqet74EI) It's a Swedish progressive death metal band. If your not into heavy guitar riffs and growling vocals then it's definitely not for you! The best way to describe it: it's like Led Zeppelin on steroids ;)

And if I have to pick a recent pop artist that would be.. Dua Lipa! ;)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2qgadSvNyU)