[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Tar-Eldar Network Television takes a look at various teams’ financial and tactical situations before assessing what moves they would make based on those two factors.

AC Beleriand

Financial situation:
AC Beleriand would be hard-pressed to keep the Eöl/Beren/Fingolfin trio while adding talent to their squad. Which of those stars they would let go depends partly on how they would reshape their squad. Alternatively, they could stand pat and give their current squad one more run at the cup.

Tactical situation:
AC Beleriand missed last year’s Arda Cup final due to a combination of two things: an inspired Arien performance and the failure of their plan B against Real Valinor. While Fëanor argued, ‘We don't really need a plan B; we just need to execute plan A perfectly,’ the fact is things don't always go according to plan on the pitch. Teams always need a plan on how to cope with going behind.

AC Beleriand’s largely-successful philosophy hinges on possession, even sacrificing attacking width to pack the middle of the pitch with four players to increase ball retention. Fëanor counted on Beren, Fingolfin, and Ecthelion’s impressive work rate to give his team attacking options down the flanks, despite the fact that they also had other duties. Against Real Valinor in the semifinals, the only time AC Beleriand had to come from behind, it was a common sight to see Fingolfin and Ecthelion so close to the Real penalty box, crossing for Beren and Fëanor as well as cutting in from the flanks to take shots themselves. But Nienna and Tilion intelligently bypassed the AC Beleriand pressing game by hoofing the ball towards Arien, Míriel, and Nerdanel whenever they recovered possession, leaving those formidable forwards with a three-on-two opportunity against the AC Beleriand centre-backs.

So what if Fëanor could find a wide midfielder who can both hug the touchline and help with the midfield battle, giving them a plan B that won’t include sending the full-backs forward? And what if he can find two of them?

Conclusion:
Fingolfin still has a year left on his contract, and Eöl has signed a new deal worth the same as last year’s. Beren, on the other hand, still hasn’t committed to the deal on the table (reportedly worth 13 million). Fëanor has shown no sign of improving his offer and is rumoured to be deep in talks with a pair of wide midfielders from the house of Finarfin. It seems that despite his talk of not needing a plan B, Fëanor has seen the wisdom of adding variety to their already-formidable attacking threats.

Nargothrond

Financial situation:
Nargothrond have already taken heavy losses last year, yet they still need to spend to improve their squad. They could let Glaurung walk, banking on Finrod and Gwindor to carry the scoring load, then use the savings on improving their defence. Unfortunately no team have made offers to Glaurung. Meanwhile, Gwindor has picked up the one-year option on his contract.

Tactical situation:
Nargothrond’s defence has famously allowed five goals against AC Beleriand, as well as four against Doriath. Bëor is a sieve at goal—he was never the best, and he got worse as time went on. The defenders in front of him were woefully disorganised, often uncoordinated in setting their offside traps and failing to cover for each other. The very first thing Nargothrond need is a vocal backline leader, either a goalkeeper or a defender, who can organise the four other defensive players.

Their midfielders, belying the results, have actually played well. Unfortunately, they have been asked to do too much, sitting in front of defence while linking up with the attack. The latter should have been Finrod’s job, but with Glaurung’s lack of form, he took up higher and more central positions to provide an additional goalscoring threat in the box—he scored half of Nargothrond’s six goals.

In short, Nargothrond is a poorly constructed team, and only the talent of Finrod, Gwindor, and the midfielders kept them within a distant shout of qualifying last year.

Conclusion:
It all starts with improving Nargothrond’s defence. A better backline would give their midfielders freedom to help on the attack, giving them goalscoring chances even if they retain an out-of-form Glaurung as centre forward. (Coincidentally, dropping Glaurung from the squad would give them cap freedom to overhaul their defence.)

Gondolin

Financial situation:
Gondolin took a minor hit last year, but not enough to force them to cut wages. However, they can't hold on to both Maeglin and Gothmog at their current price (20 million each) while improving their squad, though Gothmog is expected to leave the club anyway, perhaps returning to Angband or playing for Anfauglith. They can replace him with the wealth of talent that once called the hidden kingdom home, like Glorfindel, Tuor, or Eärendil.

Tactical situation:
Like Nargothrond, they need a backline leader to organise their poor defence. (Rog, even at his best, was never a vocal player.) They also need a better holding midfield pair than Salgant and Meleth. Salgant is a good scrapper, but he doesn't have the positional discipline to sit in front of his defence. Against Eriador he chased Arveleg all over the pitch, leaving Arassuil too much space to create Glorfindel's opener. Against AC Beleriand, he drew two yellow cards after committing cynical fouls to stop counterattacks, being out of position to contain AC Beleriand's midfield runs. And Meleth is a deep-lying playmaker, not a defensive midfielder. She lacks pace and gets overawed with direct attacks through the centre of the pitch.

Their attack is well-balanced, with Duilin providing the midfield runs, Elemmakil the width, Gothmog the powerful presence up front, and Maeglin the running into space to drag defenders out of position.

Conclusion:
There is little that needs to be changed to improve Gondolin—a backline leader and a good defensive midfielder would probably be enough to make them a possible quarterfinalist. Their major problem is finding those players. A minor problem would be dealing with the possible departure of Gothmog. Tuor, Eärendil, or even Húrin could take his place as a penalty box presence—although according to MESPN, Eärendil has already signed a new contract with the Havens.

Inter Beleriand

Financial situation:
Inter Beleriand lost 10 million last year, not a huge amount for the team’s financial backers, but still a concern. They were expected at the very least to advance from their group, which would have made them 10 million richer instead of poorer. If they wish to improve their squad, their wage bill would grow—most of their players are already on low wages, and their highly-paid players didn’t underperform enough to take huge pay cuts.

Tactical situation:
If we count Himring as their predecessor, Inter have been eliminated two years in a row on goal difference. The two situations have been eerily similar—they were beaten by the group favourite (Doriath/Eriador), drew against their rivals for qualification (Tirion/Gondolin), and defeated the weakest team in their group (SBU/Arnor) by a smaller goal difference than their rivals’. Inter’s defence has been fine, though not particularly impressive, limiting Gondolin and Eriador to two goals, so their problem might be more on the other end. It is possible that Fingon and Maedhros could not carry the scoring load on their own; they need a third goalscorer.

Conclusion:
Rumours abound that Fingon is deep in contract talks with a talented and versatile attacking midfielder looking to be reunited with his father’s old teammates. And there are whispers that along with him would join an equally versatile wide player who could play as a winger or an attacking full-back. If these rumours were true, and if they could keep Turgon and the Balrog, then they would upgrade both their offence and defence in one move, moving them from Round of Sixteen contenders to long-shot cup contenders.