How to find opponent's players' performance ratings without VIP

One of the advantages of VIP account is that you get to see the latest lineup of other teams, and also the grades of their individual players' performance. What most managers don't know is that you can get this information from the match report although in a less user friendly manner.

Take the latest match report of the team whose information you want to know and hold the mouse pointer over the name of any player of that team, and you'll get the grade for their performance in that match. Of course, you can get the grading for any match this way, but you would most likely be interested in how the players performed in the most recent match.

The information could be useful when you aren't sure which of your opponents' players you should mark. In such cases, the performance of a player in the most recent match could be an indicator to his form and thus help you choose the player to mark.

Give your divas their favorite shirt numbers

It might seem like an insignificant little thing to do, but it's always good to check if your divas have been given their favorite shirt numbers. It's the kind of thing that you have to check once, and then you benefit from it for the rest of the season.

Divas will perform better when they are given their favorite shirt numbers, and their performance drops slightly if they aren't. (That's why they are called divas.) So, having a diva in your team isn't really a bad thing at all, because once he's given his favorite shirt, he will actually play better than others of equal skill.

I've made it a habit to assign favorite shirt numbers to all my players, whether they are diva players or not. I don't think anything has been confirmed either way about shirt numbers affecting the performance of non-diva players, and even if it did, it would matter much less than in case of divas. Nevertheless, I try to assign favorite shirt numbers to everyone in the hope that it does help.

Feature Update: Lineup and tactics page combined

Last week, the Xpert Eleven team released two feature updates that I didn't really expect to see. Neither of them affects gameplay in any way, but they are nice features anyway.

The first was the clubbing together of the tactics page with the player squad page. Now the lineup for the next match is available as a tab in the tactics page and you can no longer use the player squad page to pick players. (Although the player squad page is still available, you can't select the next lineup there.)

I feel it will help managers while setting tactics, as they won't have to go back to the player squad page in the middle of choosing tactics to check something like special qualities or form. Also, the choices you've made in the tactics tab won't be discarded when you enter the lineup tab.

The other feature update is the ability to set tactics for all upcoming matches. You can go to the "coming matches" page from the right sidebar and you'll get links to set tactics for all upcoming matches.

Other changes includes a new flash based interface for "The Game" that looks a lot better than the old Shockwave based one. It also provides some extra stats such as ball possession graph, and standings during match, etc for VIP members.

Does it make sense to use long balls with pressure?

Long balls is a tactic that weakens your midfield, while pressure makes is a tactic that strengthens your midfield. You use long balls when you want to bypass your midfield in the hope that you can evade a midfield battle against an opponent with a superior midfield. So does it make sense to use these apparently contrasting styles of play at the same time?

The answer is yes. Even though long balls bypasses your midfield, it is used when your team has possession and is attacking. Pressure comes into play when your opponent has the ball and you're defending. So when you are playing against a team with a very strong midfield, it actually makes sense to evade the midfield when you're attacking and try to strengthen the midfield when you're defending.

How often do you use long balls and pressure together? How much success have you had using this tactic against teams with vastly superior midfields?

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Playing style should complement formation

One mistake I used to do as a newbie Xpert Eleven manager was to set my playing style to offensive with an offensive formation, and to defensive with more defensive formations.

The correct playing style should be to complement playing style and formation by using a defensive style along with an offensive formation such as 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 and use an offensive style with defensive formations such as 5-4-1.

With defensive formations, your team team is likely to create fewer chances, so you should use a more offensive style to make up for that. Conversely, with more offensive formation such as 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, your team will create more chances, but also will be vulnerable in defense, so you must set a more defensive style.

One rule of thumb I usually follow is to use "cautious" playing style with 4-4-2, and set it to more offensive (or defensive) when I use formations that are more defensive (or offensive) in comparison to 4-4-2.

Do you choose playing style based on your formations? What rules do you follow when deciding what playing style to use?

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Example press release

I noticed from Google Analytics that a lot of visitors coming here from Google search were looking for example press releases and were directed to the post about press releases' impact on finances. So I decided to post one of my recent press releases in my private league to give readers an idea of what a post match press release might look like.

Liverpool thrash ManUtd Fans FC

Liverpool are now top of the table after beating ManUtd Fans FC 2-0 in the first match of the Primera División. Two of Liverpool's new signings proved their worth instantly as they scored a goal apiece to sink the home team.

Striker Vilgot Bertilsson and midfielder Kenshi Mukoda were the goalscorers, but it was their star playmaker Roy Preece who was adjudged the man of the match by the fans association for his fantastic performance. Two of Liverpool's other new signings, Yrjö Korvakoski and goalie István Rumos also played a useful part in the victory.

Liverpool now host Friezers FC at home next Saturday in what many consider a very exciting fixture. Their last meeting ended in an emphatic 3-0 victory for Friezers, but they might find it a much more daunting task as Liverpool will be wary of their tactics this time.

Writing a press release after every match is a good idea as it helps raise your Xpert rating and also fetches 200,000 econ every week. Post match press releases are the easiest to write because you don't have to make up most of the stuff and just have to write facts.

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Teams will now have away kits

According to the latest article in the official news column in Xpert Daily, we can expect a couple of minor feature updates tomorrow, including the ability to choose an away kit and changes in the overview of wins and losses on the list of teams' played matches.

Away kits

Now managers can select an away kit for their teams, which will be displayed in the match report in cases where both teams have the same kits. I'm looking forward to this feature because some teams in my leagues have the same kits as me and the match overview page looks odd in such cases. Here's a screenshot that shows how mesy things can get when there's no away kit.

With seven yellow cards and a sending off, it was a very aggressive match. ;-) But take a look at the team kit image next to each event -- they are all the same color, so it's hard to differentiate the teams at one glance.

Overview of wins/losses

There isn't much mentioned about the changes in the teams' list of results, except that it will make it easier to get an overview of wins and losses. Hopefully this means that the winning team will be displayed in bold or something similar to make it easier to see which side won. We will have to wait till tomorrow morning to see what this update looks like.

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Getting started with Xpert Eleven

Every time I invite on of my friends to join Xpert Eleven, there's always been this one problem that bugs all of them. Nobody seems to know how to get started with a new account. Here I've written a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a new account and what to do once you have one. Hopefully this will save me the trouble of guiding each of my friends through the process in future.

1. Go to Xpert Eleven (www.xperteleven.com) and click on the "Join" link on the left. (This screenshot of the page shows where you can find the "join" link.)
   
   
   
   Alternatively, you can use this direct link to the page: http://www.xperteleven.com/registerUser.aspx (I'm not sure if it will always work, that's why I've given the image and location of link.)
   
   
2. Now you will be taken to the page where you can create a new account. Enter the required details, such as user name, password, email ID, etc in the application form.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A confirmation email will be sent to the email ID you mentioned in the form. Click on the given link to confirm your account.
   
   
4. Log in to your new account by entering the username and password in the main page. You are now ready to get your own Xpert Eleven teams. You can have one team in Xpert Eleven's international leagues called the Xpert Leagues one in a private league created by your friends.
   
   
5. We will first look at how to apply for a team in a private league. Go to the search page and enter the league ID of your friends' league. In case you don't know anyone who plays Xpert Eleven, you are welcome to join my league, whose ID is 164518. Enter this number in the LeagueID form and click search.
   
   
6. You will now be taken to the league's home page, where you can apply for a team. If there are teams in the league with vacancies, you will be allotted those teams, otherwise you will be given a new squad with random players.
   
   
7. All you have to do now is wait for the league admin to approve your application. In the meanwhile you can also apply for a team in the official league system by going to the Xpert Leagues page on the menu on the left side.
   
   

While you're waiting for that team to get approved, you can go through the rules of the game where you can learn how to play the game. I have compiled a list of Xpert Eleven resources here. You can go through the tips and tricks given in these resources too.

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Press release "econ"omics

Many managers don't realize the importance of press releases in Xpert Eleven. That's probably because they don't know that one press release every week adds 200k econ to their finances every week. Either that, or they are too lazy to type a few simple sentences after every match.

The rules are that one press release of more than 250 characters during a week (Monday to Sunday) means that the team gets a 200k econ bonus from the sponsor on Monday for the team's "media presence".

200k a week might not sound like much, but look at the numbers over a whole season. In a league with 8 teams (such as the Xpert leagues) there are 14 matches every season, which amounts to a total of 2.8 million econ, which could be spent on the skilled youngster that you were looking for but couldn't afford.

Be careful, though. Being caught writing press releases that are absolutely rubbish (such as copying a daily event mail) could result in you being docked 20-30 points from your Xpert rating. The easiest and safest way would be to write a short match summary after every match. This way, you would have a template in mind and be able to write one very quickly.

You can write as many press releases as you want, but they won't fetch you more money. However, you will get an extra Xpert rating point for each day that you write a press release on.

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How much does win bonus influence the result?

Offering a win bonus makes your players perform better in a match. The higher the win bonus you offer, the higher the improvement in performance. If your team draws the match, 1/4 of the win bonus is distributed to the players.

Win bonuses are especially effective if you have a lot of greedy players. These players are supposed to play below their standards when win bonus isn't offered and play better if there is a bonus.

I don't rely too much on win bonuses. I offer 50k for matches that might be close, and nothing if I'm runaway favorite to win. But that's mainly because I'm a financially poor manager and have very little money left after transfers and training.



Some stats

I calculated the percentage of points dropped by two of my teams depending on which team offered win bonus. The figures may not be very accurate since I used data from only 56 matches. Anyway, here are the percentages of points dropped by my team for different cases:

• 9% when I offered win bonus and my opponent didn't. (10w-0d-1L)
  
• 83% when my opponent offered win bonus and I didn't. (1w-0d-8L)
  
• 59% when both offered win bonus. (4w-4d-5L)
  
• 57% when neither offered win bonus. (8w-3d-10L)
  

These figures don't take into account the amount offered as win bonus (there's no way I can find how much my opponents offered) or the tactics, but it does show a general trend. The matches where I offered bonus were ones that I considered were going to be close affairs, and I lost only one of those matches out of 11 when my opponent didn't offer a bonus, and the win-draw-lose ratio was pretty even when both offered a bonus.

Do you rely much on win bonuses or do you prefer spending that money on training? Have you seen a considerable improvement in the performance of your players (especially greedy ones) when there is a win bonus?

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Ideal squad size

When you are given a new team in Xpert Eleven, your squad consists of 18 players (2GK-6D-6MF-4F). The maximum number of players you can have is 20, and the minimum is 13. So what is the ideal squad size if you are looking to develop a great team?

Having too many players makes it difficult to maintain average form. It costs too much to keep training all the players. But having too small a squad means that an unlucky run with injuries and red cards might leave your team vulnerable.

I usually try to keep a squad of 17. 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards along with a couple of very young players is ideal in my opinion.

Sometimes you might need an extra high skill older player in case you don't have skilled players at certain positions, but having more than 18 players will be a nightmare. (In fact, having 18 players is enough trouble.)

If you have skilled players between 24 and 28, you might even be able to reduce the squad size to 16. Fewer players, and you might be especially vulnerable when you're hit by injuries and bans. Don't keep too few players if you have fragile players who might be out with injuries for long stretches, and unsportsmanlike or tough players who might pick up too many bookings and get themselves banned.



How many players do you have in your teams and how many players at each position? Have you ever played with a squad of 15 or fewer? If so, did you have a serious injury/ban crisis?

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The Average Age Rule

The average age of your team has an effect on the performance in a match. According to the Xpert Eleven rules page, your team performs at 100% only if the average age of the players is 26 or higher. The performance of the team gets worse as the average age decreases.

I looked around in the forums and found that the relation between the average age and performance is a linear function for age below 26. To find how much the performance level will be for a particular average age, you have to multiply the average age by 3.846 (that's 100/26). For example, if your team's average age is 22, the performance level will be (22*100/26) = 84.6%.

This graph shows the performance levels of the team for different values of average age:



Having young players is a good thing, but having too many of them will bring down your team's average age and cause a drop in performance. Always keep a few good older players in the squad to make sure you have a high enough average age.

Is the average age of your team above 26? Have you noticed a dip in performance whenever you play a younger team?

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Aggression vs Injury Risk

In my previous post, I mentioned that you should always keep an eye on the referee's strictness levels before deciding to play aggressive. However, that doesn't mean that you have to always play aggressively when a lenient referee is in charge. The more aggressive you play, the higher is the risk that one of your players gets injured.

I found the following figures from Leftblank's strategy guide, The Art of Xpert Eleven. C, N and B on the leftmost column indicate your aggression settings (careful, normal or bruise) and those on the horizontal row on top indicate your opponent's settings. The numbers show the percentage chance that any of your players will not get injured for the given settings. (The figures with the question marks are only guesses, and not confirmed.)

	C	N	B
C	95	60 (?)	85
N	60 (?)	80	60 (?)
B	80	60 (?)	40

This shows that playing bruise has the highest likelihood of causing injuries, not to mention that your players might also get booked and concede free kicks. I usually avoid using bruise settings even for very lenient referees. I prefer playing normal aggression for lenient referees (H = 1 to 3) and careful for others.

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Where are all the young goalkeepers?

I recently came across this interesting discussion in the Xpert Eleven forums regarding the minimum age of goalkeepers. You can easily find outfield players who are 16 years old, but there are no 16 year old goalkeepers.

Apparently, this is because the average age of retirement for goalkeepers in Xpert Eleven is one year more than that for outfield players and increasing minimum age for goalies makes up for the extra year they play.

This higher age of retirement reflects the situation in real world football. You just have to look at Portsmouth's (and England's) David James and Man United's (and Holland's) van der Sar -- both aged 38 -- to know that goalkeepers retire later than outfield players.

What was the skill/age of the best goalkeeper you ever received from your youth system? And what was the age of the oldest goalkeeper to play for your teams?

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How much do referees influence the game?

One aspect of tactics that many Xpert Eleven managers often neglect is the referee attributes. A bad referee could win the game for your opponents. (Ask any Chelsea fan and they will tell you how Mike Riley defeated them in their match against Liverpool recently.) This fact about football in general also applies to Xpert Eleven.

Referees in Xpert Eleven have two attributes which have values ranging from 1 to 9. You should always keep an eye on the referee's attributes before deciding to play offside or cheats in the tactics page.

• Skill (S) : The higher the S-value of the referee, the better he is able to judge fouls and off-sides accurately.
  
  
• Hardness (H) : The hardness or the H-value of the referee shows how strict he is. A referee with high H-value is more likely to book players than a referee with a lower value.
  

Aggression, offside traps and cheating should always be decided based on referee's attributes. Here are a few pointers on what to do based on the referee's skill and strictness:

• Use cheat for low skill referees. (S = 1 to 3)
  
• Use offside traps for skilled referees. (S = 7 to 9)
  
• Use "bruise" aggression if referee is lenient. (H = 1 to 3)
  
• Use "normal" aggression if referee's strictness is medium. (H = 4 to 7)
  
• Use "careful" aggression if referee is strict. (H = 7 to 9)
  

Remember that your aggression settings could also cause injuries to your players if you play bruise. Set it to "careful" regardless of referee strictness if you don't want to risk too many injuries.

What tactics do you use for different referees? Do you play "bruise" for lenient referees or are you a "careful" player?

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Tools: Xpert Eleven Secretary

I recently came across this website that provides some tools to help you with your Xpert Eleven teams. The site has been up for only around three days now, and there are 4 tools available, as of now:

• Change report calculator. This tool guesses the change report for your players based on the age and average form. You will have to enter the values manually, though. The tool doesn't look very reliable right now for older players, but it does give you an idea about what to expect at the season update.
  
  
• Change report saver. You can archive your old change reports on the XES site by using this tool. You can either enter the values manually or upload the html file of the change report page. This tool could prove really useful if you want to track the growth of your players.
  
  
• Match Experience Calculator. This tool gives you the maximum and minimum match experience that a player can gain if you enter the number of matches remaining. I'm not sure about the accuracy of this tool either
  
  
• Transfer Calculator. This tool gives you the price at which a player will be listed in the transfer market if you enter the price you've asked for the player. It also works the other way round, ie. you get to know how much the other team gets for a player based on the price shown in the transfer market. This tool is also available for direct transfers.
  

The major drawback of the site is that you have to enter all the data manually into the site because the Xpert Eleven crew do not allow other websites to collect user passwords.

Those who play the browser based strategy game Tribal Wars know how useful tools like TWStats could be to the game. Something like TWStats isn't available for Xpert Eleven right now and this website could develop into something useful for X-11 managers.

Do you think that tools like these are required for Xpert Eleven? What tools do you think could be useful for Xpert managers?

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How do I decide when a player needs training?

Here are a few simple rules I use to decide whether or not a particular player needs training:

• If a player has form below 13 he needs to train. Period.
  
• If a player has form 13 with downward trend, it's a good idea to train him.
  
• If a player has form 14 with steep downward trend (red arrow), train him if he's an important player.
  
• If you have a player has a low average form, train him if he's in you long term plans for the quad.
  
• If a player is retiring at the end of the season and he's not skilled enough to be needed in this season's matches, don't bother with training him.
  

Every Xpert Eleven manager has his own opinion about when to train his players. Some would be more stingy on their training expenditure, so as to save enough for new players whereas some, on the other hand, are more generous, preferring to develop their players' skill through training. It all depends on what you believe to be a better option for your team.

I myself don't always follow these pointers exactly, preferring to relax these rules depending on the team, the stage in the season and the average form of the player concerned (especially if it's the second half of the season).

How do you decide when a player needs training?

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Xpert Eleven Resources

Here I have compiled a list of guides, tools and other resources that could help you in your quest to become the best manager on Xpert eleven.

Guides

• Official Xpert Eleven Guide. The first place you should refer is obviously the game's standard rules page on the Xpert Eleven site. It's an excellent place to start for any beginner.
  
  
• The Art of Xpert Eleven - Strategy Guide. Outside of the official manual, Leftblank's strategy guide is the best guide for the game out there. (some might say it's even better) Go ahead and start reading this manual (download here) the moment you've finished reading the official guide.
  

Tools

• Xpert Eleven Secretary. his website provides some tools that could help you with managing your Xpert Eleven teams.
  

Blogs

• How to Xpert Eleven
• Xpert Eleven - The Complete Guide

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