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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