Squad Full This Week

Thank you everyone for responding on time. The squad is now full.

Despite being so, I would still like to invite the following players to respond to playmaker even if they are not playing to prevent being deleted from the notification system all together.

• Clarence (has not responded to playmaker invites for 3/3 games so far this season, pls note)
• Seng Yew

The buddies of these 2 players please take note.

I'm sorry but in order to ensure sufficient playing time for every player and yet maintain our competitiveness, this week's lineup will not automatically include them.

Jersey Issue

Response to feedback: Confusing jersey.

In future, red will be the home colour. So if playmaker indicates that you are wearing red, please bring the striped tee. Otherwise, we will don the white jersey.

Anyway, the turnout today was exceedingly good. But in future, please try to avoid last minute response on Friday because we may have asked guest players to come in by then.

The performance in the 1st half was good, but I wished we had sustained it in the dying minutes of the 2nd half. We have a decent scoreline, but we deserved more.

For those who missed the match,

Barry, the birthday boy, did very well and grabbed a goal. (the next up and coming star of Mavericks has been in blistering form so far this season.)

Darran didn't let expectations down by scoring a goal on familiar grounds when he bagged 4 goals in the same venue last season.

Nobody celebrated Kee Siang's opening because we are just too used to him scoring. Kee Siang, please don't feel sad.

The way we conceded the goal was unforgivable. Such cases should be kept to the minimum. Our defence is getting slightly generous lately. We have already let in 3 goals in 2 matches, and 2 goals came from open play.

Glimpses of recovery? Possibly. But it's too early to say. Let's continue to work hard and not be content with just 3 points. I would love to tell referees that last season's meagre performance was just "an accident". Again, let the legs do the talking.

Squad Full

For those who did not respond to playmaker but indicated that they are not coming, I have manually overridden the system for this time only.

But we now have enough players for the match. Thanks guys!

Total Squad: 15 + 2 guest

Expected strength for 1st half: 15+2
Expected strength for 2nd half: 14+1


Khai + Khai's friend + Wei Long (1st half)
Oreo (2nd half)

Did not Respond

Pls remind the following players (in bold) to respond, or update playmaker on their status if they are overseas/unavailable this week.

The following players (name in normal font), please contact your buddies (names in bold), if you don't already know who your buddies are, refer to the list below.

Kee Siang - > Jiun Wei
Seng Yew - > Chris + Desmond
Alex - > Leon
Darran - > Clarence
Weijie - > Randy

NEW URL Link

The previous game url is no longer valid as the original fixture was deleted.

According to the footballopod technical support, D2D deleted the fixture on Monday and then re-created the fixture. I discovered the error and duly informed him in the evening. Error was fixed by Tuesday after I received several email from him on the updates.

The good news is that the fixtures for the next few weeks were also created. I did not make the announcement since the technical support guy has migrated the responses to the new fixture. Although there were minor hiccups here and there in the playmaker, the technical team of footballopod has provided great support so far, so cheerios to them.

On the other hand, I am glad that players like Alex and Barry have been helping to check whether their teammates responded.

So far, 10 players have not responded. Please remind your buddies to do so. Those who have successfully responded need not respond again, but if you are not able to do so, please contact me immediately.


For the new game URL, please click here. (working link)

New Buddy System: noe buddy tells me!

Short Description

The new buddy system works in such a way,

• if you are in the same row, 2 or 3 of you are in the same buddy group.



• By default, the first point of communication should be the person highlighted in blue. If he is unavailable, default backup will be chosen by alphabetical order of his first name.

• For example, if Alex is unavailable, Chuan Ji will be the next liasion. So if Alex is going overseas, he informs Chuan Ji, and Chuan Ji informs Chao Xing that he will replace Alex for the week. Any message Chao Xing wants to pass down to the team via sms, he will now message Chuan Ji instead of Alex)

Objectives: noE buddy tells me!

Once in awhile, we get the problem of a communication breakdown especially during a last minute issue (e.g. match cancellation due to poor pitch conditions). And what happened to Wei Long, Randy and Vik before was that "Nobody tells me!!!" and they ended up at the venue even though the match was cancelled.

But what if you have a designated buddy in the team and at the same time, we all make a little extra Effort to help coordinate a message relay system in conjunction with our existing communication channels. I believe we can improve the communication among the team better. Now, don't worry, know that your buddy will ensure that you are kept informed of the updates. Hopefully, not just the pun on words, but when we "noE buddy tells me" now and we are not some blur cock standing around asking, "Eh, who's supposed to pass this message to whom?" or "Eh how come I receive the same message 3 times from 3 different people."

Having discussed and experimented a little with 9 members of the team prior to this post, I am formally suggesting this system to the entire team. The buddy system will help in the following (but not limited to) ways:

• for last minute issues (e.g. cancellations, injuries due to morning soccer)



• attendance issues (e.g. has your buddy updated his attendance via playmaker? It it that your buddy can/can't play in a match at the 11th hour? But please note that it is not the sole responsibility of the names highlighted in blue to make sure you update your attendance timely. Each of you should be reminding one another.)



• concerns (while I will prefer you come to me personally, but if you are shy, feedback to your buddies and they will relay to me)

• Keep your buddy updated about team affairs and the team updated about your buddy's commitment levels (2-way communication, if I have to step in to ask sth like, "how come this person is mia?" when instead the team should be informed proactively, something is wrong somewhere already. So please please update proactively.)



• more communication between your buddies (well it's part of my wishlist)

Appreciation

Appreciated the efforts of several players who initially couldn't come but still made their way down to help out the depleted team yesterday.

Players who were involved in company tournament

Jake
Wei Long (aka Alfred)
Khai

Others
Seng Yew

Fixtures OUT

People, fixtures are out. Please check your email! Btw, those who have already collected the new nike jersey, please bring it. Bring your black adidas jersey as well. They will serve as a backup in case Clement forgets to bring (*touch wood).

For those who have not paid for the new jerseys, Alex wishes to gently remind you to bring money this Saturday. We still owe Jiun Wei money for the jerseys.







Expected attendance: 14
Current attendance: 12 + 1 players



Did not Respond to Playmaker

Jiun Wei
Clarence
Shi Jie


*Pls avoid using this channel to post attendance as it will be very messy. In the event you need to check venue/attendance, links are available in the email.

If you will not be able to make it for a certain period of time and will not be able to check your email, please also inform me so I will temporarily stop sending match invites. Please check your email by Tuesday unless otherwise stated.

Slight Changes to New Season

Match Fees: $10 (Due to increased expenditure of the team)
Early Bird Rebates: $2 (tentatively set @ 2.45pm to be in time for briefing and warm-up)

Match fees is to be collected on arrival to save Alex the trouble of asking each person after match. (If you are late, please pass to Alex after match)

Expectations:

Promotion or at least pose a strong contention. (Top 2 finish)

Transfer Policy:

Free to bring in any new addition to challenge the regulars for places. Preferably younger blood. Please rise up to the challenge.

House-keeping:

Compulsory to update attendance asap via playmaker. Match invites for the week's fixture will be sent out on Monday evening, please check by Tuesday morning unless otherwise stated.

Players who fail to respond will not be automatically considered as a starter and if the squad limit is reached, the others will get the priority. (This is to be fair to those who dutifully update their attendance every week.)

Jersey:

Be proud of your new jersey. Cherish and keep it in good condition.

Response to Season Delay Request

I'm afraid we don't have sufficient grounds to delay the start of the league. And we should never ever think of postponing matches/league start as an option. I hope everyone will understand and look at another angle. The league does not consist of our team alone.

There was more than sufficient time for our side to prepare for the next season but the collective team decision to take a break (by a majority not turning up for friendlies) was adhered to.

And I don't think I want to re-emphasize the importance of pre-season matches and everyone has a part with helping with attendance, not just based on the organisers. I appreciate the efforts of a few to help bring in friends to help make up the numbers, but unfortunately attendance is still not good enough to make the friendly matches effective.

I understand that some may feel aggrieved since you wanted to play,

Even if we delay and arrange friendly on 9th Oct,
Will we get at least 14 regulars? I am not offering an option here, but if we think objectively, the chances are low.

We may likely struggle in the beginning of the campaign as most of the competitive edge seem to have died out on some players. But we have a point to prove, that mediocrity is not enough for a team that took years to assemble.