yep.
and appart from visible stats and rankings, there are also stats, rankings and skills for players that only the manager can see, or even can not see, that add to the team's performance overall, or for each player individually.
Learning to find out about which things help, will also help with understanding what happens, or could have happened...
I'm sure that if you put up 10 players, and would ask me which I'd pick for a particualr game and tactic, I'd probably pick an other one then 7 out of 10 people who don't have as much insight and just go for the one that 'looks' the best player.
I'm sure Joe as at the same level as I am there, with some details that might change in our oppinions, but the bigs lines will be agreed on by both of us.
And Joe, no I will not put Sammy in third place, it's too risky. If my opponent crunches, he won't get playing time. 1 minute isn't much, but I made a commitment to myself he REALY is going for 100%, so actually I only have 1 option, just put him as starting player...
Hopefully the comming weeks will be easier

They are not your friends; they dispise you. I am the only one you can count on. Trust me.