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Old 08-14-2015, 12:30 PM   #5
Boromir88
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1420! Surviving on a low-budget

The Two Towers Network
~Boro88

The Arda Cup has returned and it's shaping up to be another competitive and exciting year. The Two Towers Network brings balanced coverage to all teams in the tournament. The topic for today though isn't going to be on the glitzy big-spenders, but being able to compete and find success on a tight budget. What are the keys to surviving on a low budget and rattling the major world powers, with deep pockets to attract top-flight talent? The challenges seems larger, and there's much less room for error, but it can be done! Without further ado here are the teams this year with the lowest budgets:

Shire-Bree United (51)
Mordor (54)
Gondor (63)
The Barrow-Downs (63)
Arnor (68)
Minas Tirith (68)
Rohan (69)
Wilderland (72)
Isengard (72)
Imladris (73)


1. Stabile Leadership

Starting at every level of the organization you need stability and confidence in your leadership. Owners need to be on the same page with their manager, managers with the team captains, and captains with the rest of the club. Too much tension and in-fighting between owners and management will trickle down to the players, and one sour apple in the locker room can torpedo a whole team. Team work is a must-have for any low-budget team, to make up for the lesser talent you need team-work. Easier said than done, when the manager is trying to build a competitive squad with limited funds, but it's that simple.

Gondor, Arnor, Minas Tirith, Rohan, and Imladris tend to exemplify this characteristic. All clubs that traditionally don't go through drastic ownership changes, and a constant coaching carousel. They play with a team-first, mistake-free focus that can translate to wins. Interestingly, Gondor tried a strategy of paying every player the same exact wage to stress the point of teamwork above individual stars. And they did find success, particularly in 2012. The problem comes in, when you find success and players outperform their contracts it's only natural to look for more money. When it comes down to it, you can't please everyone and sacrifices have to be made when you're forced to a low-budget (more on this later).

You could include Mordor as well under a "stabile organization" umbrella. It doesn't get anymore stabile than majority share-holder Sauron. And all the baddies do tend to play together when there is an enemy to go up against, but there is more of a chance for dissension than there are in the clubs mentioned above. Also practices get flat out chaotic and sloppy, because there is no "man" or "elf" enemy on the other side of the pitch to fight against, it's just orcs, and trolls, and dead-men coming to blows and starting fights. So generally they don't practice much, if at all.

An example of dysfunction and what NOT to do can bee seen in Shire-Bree United. I don't even know how they fielded a squad this year they could honestly say they were "proud" to get into this tournament and would compete in it? There are so many varying owners with different interest, different beliefs in how tactically games should be won. If their roster looks like a mess of varying parts and races (but with no true "captain" on the pitch. The best player is an anonymous Nazgul, who make solid followers but bad leaders), than just look at their ownership situation:

Breeland - 20%
Norbury Sport - 20%
Shire - 15%
Hobbiton - 15%
The Barrow-Downs Community - 15%
Elrond - 10%
Gondor's Union of Honest Workers - 5%

The principle owners Breeland and Norbury Sport believe tension has made it impossible to hold onto good talent they had in the past when they were able to have success in the tournament, like Gandalf and Aragorn. They would like to spend a bit more in at least keeping the better talent playing for The Shire-Bree United, but grumble about the stingy gentry from Hobbiton and the Shire make it difficult.

A frequent patron of the Green Dragon, and supporter of Shire-Bree, Gaffer Gamgee, pretty much told the tale of the current dysfunction within the Shire-Bree United ownership groups and their head-bumping:

"Well once Bilbo walked away from the game completely, the void was replaced by erm...more traditional...hobbits. They don't trust anyone outside their own tiny border. They say it's bad enough to put up with influence from a few strange Bucklanders, why do queer folk [The Barrow-Downs Community] and foreigners [Norbury Sport, Elrond, Gondor] have a share in their team. This is Shire-Bree United what business is it of Elrond and Gondor to have a slice? And make no mistake, these hobbits resist the foreign owners at every step."

So, you need team-work from the very top of the organization down to the players, and without it, I doubt a team on a low-budget can get past this first marker and survive. However, stabile leadership is only the first step. It actually takes finding the right talent, at the right price to truly have success on a tight-wallet.

2. At least 1 quality striker.

Plain and simple, at this level you need to score goals. I'm not saying you need the scoring powers of Curufin-Celegorm, Turin-Beleg, Miriel-Feanor-Aredhel. That's way too much money for the low-budge teams. I am saying though you can't rely solely on a tactically-sound, team-oriented defense to keep a clean sheet. Not at this level, not with the strikers in this tournament. You're going to have to score goals. Wilderland and The Barrow-Downs have probably addressed this need best with their striking partnerships of Scatha-Thranduil and Witch-King-Bombadil respectively.

However, it's also about not OVERspending to get your proven goal-scorers, because a complete squad needs to be sound defensively to succeed as well, and you can see how teams on a tight budget start losing hope. Wilderland has 40% of their budget tied up in their two quality strikers. I'm guessing, despite being worthy goal-scorers that's too much cost for 2 offensive players, when they've pretty much neglected the mid-field and are relying on some untested defenders and a warg to keep other teams off the board. The Witch-King and Bombadil cost 22 million for the pair, which can arguably produce just as many goals as Scatha-Thranduil, but at 6 million less. So, The Barrow-Downs gets props there, as well as putting a defense together organized around the Barrow-Wight and another DownerWight and DownerWolf. I'm not too worried about the weaker mid-field, because Bombadil when his head is in the game, can hold possession all on his own, and the Witch-King who always has his head in the game is capable of holding the ball upfront on his own as well.

I also like the look of Arnor's pair of strikers, Elendil and Araphor. On his own, Elendil is a pretty major disappointment, but with help he's a tall target. And Araphor, well, I have no idea how it happens, but Araphor is known for late-game big time goals when his team needs a result. To get both of them for a total of 17 million is a reasonable price for a low-budget team.

The other low-budget teams (Shire-Bree, Mordor Gondor, Minas Tirith, Rohan, Isengard, and Imladris) fail to meet this criteria of having a proven goal-scorer. They all have the capability of getting a goal now and then to probably justify their salary, but that's not enough. Not nearly good enough. Rohan and Isengard just fail miserably when it comes to who they've trusted to provide the bulk of their scoring...Helm and Quickbeam respectively. They'll have issues scoring in this tournament for sure.

3. 1 quality Central Defender.

You can get by on an organized defensive effort, against some of the Arda teams that will lead to wins, but against most in this tournament you'll need 1 lockdown central defender. Capable of captaining the defense and shutting down the opponents best striker. I'm not talking about stopping the Miriel's, Feanor's or Turin's. Most don't have their pretty much unstoppable goal-scoring ability when they have it around the goal. I'm talking about the tier below them...Gothmog, Maedhros, Fingon, Scatha, Earendil, Ar Pharazon, Durin's Bane...just to name a few. They're all capable of going on a tear in a game against poor defenses, but they can be shut out of a match with a quality defender.

Imladris addressed this criteria the best with 2 wise signings in Celeborn and Arwen. Celeborn's foresight paired with Arwen's athleticism and footwork are good defenders for a good price. Arnor's also got a similar pair (but of lesser quality than Imladris) with Malbeth and a defense Nazgul. TTN also likes Radagast for Isengard, who has actually contained some of the most potent scorers (while playing for Mirkwood in 2009).

4. Stay on the Straight Road

This kind of ties into Point #1, but instead of consistency from an organizational level, this is talking about consistency from a tactical and roster-building level. Know the tactics you want to play, that make the most of your squad's strengths and downplay its weaknesses. You don't have the money to fill every need on the team, but with 1 quality striker, and 1 quality defender, you can fill a roster with decent team-driven players at a cheap price. As long as there is stabile leadership that gets everyone on the same page and same goals, then you truly have a low-budget squad that can survive against the big spenders.

Arnor knows what it wants to do tactically. Play a possession defense and win games late when the opponent has worn down or maybe lost just a little bit of effort and focus. And they know if they play their game that way, with a little bit of luck, they can be successful. Imladris also won't stray from the tactics they know best. Build an attack from the defense first. They have the lockdown defenders to do it, I'm just not convinced in their striking pair of Elladan & Elrohir, particularly when you look at their mid-field too.

Gondor and Minas Tirith had the interesting strategy of paying everyone the same salary and they were successful that year. But as mentioned previously, once people get a touch of success on a low-budget side you can't please everyone. You have to choose do I pay more to Eldacar and Anarion, because without their goal-scoring we don't win? But then you can't afford to keep your best defender, Cirion. So, Gondor is banking on playing mistake-free defense, but without a quality central defender, it won't matter when they athletically just can't run, nor have the strength to hold off most attacks.

Wilderland and the Barrow-Downs are going to try to flat outscore their opponents. And that's where the owners invested the money on the teams. If they stick to those tactics they may shake up the groups and cause problems. If they try to play a Gondor-style game, they will fail and fail miserably. Rohan looks to me, to be in a rebuilding/unsure where to go state, and that doesn't bode well. They should get out and run on the open plains with their athletic youngsters and horses...but they're not organized in a formation to suggest that's the style they're going to play this year. There is good, young talent on the team, but it looks to be a case of they're not organized to play best to those strengths.

I will conclude this article by saying, teams that are forced to contend on a lower-budget, whatever Shire-Bree United did this year...DO THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE! Unfortunately that team just looks like a dysfunctional mess in the ownership, and it's reflected into a roster of random parts and pieces. They have no bonafide captain to bring it all together. And I have no clue what tactics they are trying to employ to win matches...unless if it's their intention to be a disorganized jumble of players just running around and trying to shoot from everywhere on the field, no matter how far away or hopeless of a position they're in to shoot!
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