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Team sheets are a list of players that are selected from a
team roster. Notepad is one of the more useful text editors to prepare your team
sheet and save it as a .txt file. If you wish to play in an ESMS league like the
PBESL, you must understand how to make a team sheet. It is simple, but does
require some explaining.
Below is a template
for a team sheet.
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[Team
name]
/* The name of your roster, without the ".txt" extension
[Tactic]
/* A single character specifying your starting tactic
[Pos]
[Name]
/* Here the other 10 starting players are listed,
[Pos]
[Name]
/* instead of [Pos] is written the position, which is
[Pos]
[Name]
/* either a DF, MF or FW, and the player's name
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
/* These are the 5 subs for the game, again their
[Pos]
[Name]
/* position and name are stated
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
[Pos]
[Name]
PK:
[Player name] /* The primary PK taker. Must be one of the 16!
A manager must apply a starting tactic to their team, which
is a single letter on the second line of the sheet.
Below is a listing of tactics used in the ESMS program:
| D (defensive) | Large attention to defending but will not create many chances. |
| C (counter-attack) | A defensive tactic but midfielders and forwards will be prepared to make a quick break when they get the ball. |
| N (normal) | The best balance between defence and attack. |
| L (long-ball) | The least skilful of all tactics, the defence pass the ball immediately to the attack, ignoring the midfielders, so this tactic is highly unpredictable. |
| P (passing) | Lead-up play will include many sets of passes, creating a slow but hopefully efficient build-up play … an attacking tactic but not as attacking as the Attacking tactic. |
| A (attacking) | This tactic is basically an all-out attack, which will
have no regard for defending their goal. |
Every tactic, for exception of the Normal tactic, has
bonuses against some of the other tactics. The “Bonuses vs.” column shows
which tactic the particular tactic will have, and “Bonus Type” will
demonstrate which area the tactic will have an advantage.
| Tactic | Bonuses vs. |
Bonus type |
| Normal (N) | None | |
| Defensive (D) | Long Ball | Defense |
| Attacking (A) | Defensive | Attack |
| Cnt. Attack (C) | Passing & Attacking | Attack & Midfield |
| Long Ball (L) | Attacking & Cnt. Attack | Defense & Attack |
| Passing (P) | Long Ball | Defense |
The bonuses
“tree” may appear complicated at first, but there is an enormous benefit
from predicting correctly which tactic your opponent will use. If you are not
sure what tactic your opponent will use, the Normal tactic will be the more
effective as no other tactic has bonuses against it.
TEAM
FORMATIONS
There are no
pre-defined formations in the ESMS program. However, the limits mentioned in the
rules apply for the PBESL – 1 goalkeeper, 3-5 defenders, 3-5 midfielders and
1-3 forwards in the starting eleven. You must also allocate a penalty-kick taker
that is one of the sixteen players selected. The formation that a manager will
pick is often decided by the players at his disposal. A manager that has a lack
of depth or quality in the forward department will tend to move towards a
formation that contains less forwards than most other teams. Formations and
tactics should be closely linked to compliment each other. In other words, the
tactics employed should pretty much mirror the formation used by the team at a
particular time. Eg. For a 3-4-3 formation, it would be prudent to associate
this formation with an Attacking tactic. The most common tactic by all is 4-4-2,
as it can fit well with just about any tactic.
Here is an example of a 4-4-2 formation playing passing.
int
GK
F_Toldo
PK:
C_Vieri
Here is an example
of a 5-3-2 formation playing defensive:
int
GK
F_Toldo
K A_Fontana
PK:
C_Vieri
These are examples
of how team sheets would look like in your .txt file that you send to the league
administrator’s e-mail for your matches. This is only a basic team sheet, as
this does not cover team instructions.
Team instructions
are the orders you place into your team sheet to modify your team during the
match and make decisions that could potentially swing the match your way. These
orders are placed at the bottom of the team sheet, with one line left between
the penalty kick taker and the first order.
There are three
conditions that the ESMS will use to execute an order, and two types of commands
are used by ESMS to understand what is supposed to happen when the conditions
are met.
One important thing
to remember is that when you place orders, players are referred to by their
numbers, not by their names. The number of the player is simply his position in
the lineup of sixteen on the team sheet. The starting goalkeeper will always be
number 1. In a typical 4-4-2 formation, defenders will be numbers 2-5;
midfielders will be 6-9, and forwards 10-11. The substitutes are similarly named
from 12-16, in the order that they appear on the team sheet.
There are three
types of orders available:
TACTIC:
Condition – [New Tactic]
With a single
letter, this is the order to change the team’s tactic from its previous
tactic. For example, TACTIC D will switch the team tactic to defensive when the
condition becomes true. A manager can include up to 15 conditions on tactic
changes.
CHANGEPOS:
Condition – [PlayerNumber] [NewPosition]
This will tell ESMS
to change a player to a new position after the order. The player number comes
first, followed by the position in its two-character abbreviation, eg. GK, DF,
MF or FW. An example of such an order is CHANGEPOS 4 FW which will move player
number 4 to the position of forward when the condition becomes true. Be careful
that such a change of position does not break the rules regarding too many
players in a particular position, or not enough. A manager can include up to 15
conditions on position changes.
SUB:
Condition – [Player.OutNumber] [Player.InNumber] [Player.InPosition]
This will tell ESMS
to substitute one player for another during the course of the match, and also
the position of which the newly arrived player will play in. The players, as in
all orders, are referred to by their numbers, and numbered according to their
order in the team sheet. For example, SUB 8 14 MF will replace player number 8
with player number 14, and player number 14 will play in midfield. Managers must
remember that there can only be three substitutions during a match, and players
who have been replaced cannot return to the field.
CONDITIONALS
Now the conditions
will be explained. The conditions come immediately after the order in the same
line of the order you wish to implement.
IF MIN = [Minute]
If the game reached
the specified minute, the order will be executed. For example: SUB 10 16 FW IF
MIN = 62 will substitute player 10 for player 16 in the 62nd minute
of the match.
IF SCORE = [Margin]
The margin argument
can only be a single number, which stands for the margin of the score between
you and your opponent. 1 is leading by one goal; -2 is losing by two goals. For
example: TACTIC A IF SCORE = -1 means that the team will change tactic to
Attacking if the team ever goes a goal down during the match.
IF MIN
[Sign] [Minute] SCORE [Sign] [Margin]
This conditions is
the most complicated and powerful in the game, and the easiest to get wrong, as
I’ve experienced while playing practise games with ESMS. This order can
execute an order based on both the minute and score during the game. The sign
argument can be one of three signs: