If you register for free, you will be able to post threads, vote on polls and lots more. If you have problems with the registration or logging in, please contact the administrator.
We're 15 seasons into the game, it's our first season in Europe, having finished 5th in the EPL and qualifying for the 1st round of the Uefa Cup.
We disposed of Rosenborg to qualify for the Group Stages.
Backing up a bit, we haven't won any cups, we didn't try for any, but now we're in the top tier it's time to open up and try for silverware, including the innocuous League Cup.
Here's the rub. We've done well in the Uefa Cup, winning 4 out of four against Sparta Prague, Besiktas, GAK and Xanthi, we've done okay in the League Cup, just about to play in the Quarter Final against Villa, but we now have 8 players out injured, 3 of them long-term, including a cruciate ligament, and we have all our first choice strikers in that injury list, all 4 of them.
We're currently 12th in the EPL, more than half the team are unhappy at our current position, and if I see one more game report that shows we totally outplayed the opposition, out-shooting them and having the lion's share of possession, yet "Hinckley left to rue the chances they missed" I will happily eject the PC from the living room window.
I know teams have bad spells, where they play well but endeavour to lose, but not when they're whacking European and Cup opponents and then losing by the odd goal in matches they've dominated in more than 75% of their games.
Question:
Did all your players get injured in cup games?
For me, the evidence is circumstantial. There's no way of knowing whether your form would be any different with or without cups. I suspect that your dislike for cups is colouring your view of the available evidence
What I've noticed is that this season is almost identical to the previous game I played when I reached the EPL, the first season I qualified for Europe, the second I was relegated.
I'm not relegated yet, and Hearts have offered me the job from 3rd place in the 2nd Division so I'll probably take that and won't find out how it finishes.
I reckon I'm level-headed enough to make a reasoned observation concerning such events without my judgement being clouded by personal bias, btw.
Does the fact that it mirrors your prior save indicate something other than your fortune in the cups?
As you know, Ian, I just don't buy that all cups suck arse all the time. Sometimes, sure, but I simply don't see this blanket suckage that is dogma around here. Is our different perception of the cups in part due to our different opinion of (and therefore strategy for) cups in general?
In the previous seasons I played my usual tactics for playing cups, ie played reserves, youths and no-hopers, and this season I played First Team squad members and the injuries occur equally in the former and the latter games.
The big difference being injuries that occur in the previous seasons don't matter, but when you play First Teamers they most certainly do.
I honestly can't understand how injuries and lack of fitness dont affect your (and others) Clubs.
In the previous seasons I played my usual tactics for playing cups, ie played reserves, youths and no-hopers, and this season I played First Team squad members and the injuries occur equally in the former and the latter games.
The big difference being injuries that occur in the previous seasons don't matter, but when you play First Teamers they most certainly do.
I honestly can't understand how injuries and lack of fitness dont affect your (and others) Clubs.
Are your tactics more stressful, for want of a better word, than mine? I don't see huge numbers of injuries in general, and can usually rotate my squad enough that fitness only becomes an issue when there's major fixture pile-ups (which is one reason why the Vans Suck Arse Trophy™ sucks arse as that's all it is good for).
I don't use the same tactics all the time, I don't have a super-tactic that does me all the time, I adjust tactics around specific skills (or lack) that my players have.
I'd understand if that was the case, that the AI got to "know", so to speak, how I was going to play, but it can't as I don't know from game to game.
It's a true head-scratcher. I lose players regularly through playing cups, either through injury or lack of fitness.
I meant general style. Without wishing to take this into a tactical discussion, I never play any of the tactical options you might expect to have a higher risk of injuries. I don't have that many match injuries that cause missed games in general (most of mine occur in training).
I do find too many cup ties (like group stages of Euro cups combined with the EPL schedule for example) does take it out of the players, but the normal cups afford me a chance to get the fringe players some playing time where apropos, and I don't really notice a detrimental effect.
When Cups REALLY Suck Ass. 
Linear Mode
