Luis Suarez about to score another crucial goal, that’s what I signed him for, to grab goals that would help us stay in the Premier league, and that’s what he’s doing.
I’m experience a frustrating period at the moment, for every win, there’s two defeats, usually heavy ones, the quality of teams in the Premier League is a huge step up from the Championship, teams punish you, they press you, they harry you and give you very little time to decide what to do, its tough going.
In the games we have won, and nicked a 1-0, Suarez has been pivotal, either assisting or scoring, that 120k a week is proving money well spent, but he can’t do it all, Tammy Abraham has been pretty anonymous after signing for £20mil pre-season, and yet to score, Muto and Josh King have both scored a goal here and there but also failing to add much, the scoring is resting firmly with Suarez at present, never a good thing to only have one main goal threat.
Heres Suarez grabbing a well finished goal in a 1-0 win against Brighton
Jurgen Damm, last season’s top scorer and player of the season, is showing mixed form, he didn’t start that brightly, then grabbed a few goals and assists, then was poor again, so lost his place to Adama Traoré, there when he got back in the team, he started to show signs of last seasons form again, before picking up an injury.
Here Damm grabs a plate winner against Everton with a nicely slotted home solo effort
Mixed league form has been interspersed with solid cup form, reaching the Carabao Cup Quarter final, where we played host to Liverpool in an extremely tight, tense affair with Mané, Salah and Firmino always providing a threat, the game was fairly even the first half with Liverpool then dominating the second half, some desperate defending saw us heading for a penalty shoot out after 0-0 at the 90 min mark, cue 3 mins of added time, and a 94th minute finish from Fabinho inside the box after a Liverpool counter attack and we went out, harshly.
This was followed either side by 2 league defeats, 3-0 and 4-1 respectively, and with 4 matches in a short space of time, half the first team squad were fatigued, so in the last league match of the session, I fielded a much changed team for the visit of Watford, with several youth and fringe players slotting in, including promising CM player Rodriguez, signed as a 17yr old, I have had him on a training plan to develop his pace dribbling and shooting skills, he replaced team Captain, Dekouré.
Here’s how the Watford game unfolded
Watford take the lead just before half time, then Suarez turns provider and plays in another youth team promotee, Palmer, to finish neatly first time, to level the game at 1-1 in the 87th minute.
I switched to defensive and was keen to play out the draw and grab a vital point and halt our run of losses, then this happened:
A Watford attack breaks down, we counter, Rodriguez runs from midfield, the ball gets laid off, a delicate first time touch at pace whilst dribbling to touch the ball past the onrushing defender, then a first time shot with his left leg which flies into the corner for the win, those training plans paying off and a youth team player scoring the winner at home, on his debut, in the final minute, a nice moment.
Despite the run of poor form, we are still only 5 points off the top spot, in 7th, the GF column isn’t too bad, but the GA column is what’s hurting us, conceding 10 goals more than most of the teams around us.
The remainder of the season has to be focused around staying compact, and defending solidly, and grabbing what we can.
FIFAFX.com 
Some cracking goals there, the shooting looks sharp again this year on FIFA, how is the feeling generally?
The way you moved the ball through the team to lead to the opportunity for the youngster to get the winner was supernatural to watch. That little glitch Darryl reported with the one-year contracts probably won’t bother you too much with other players to take the place of Suarez.
By the looks of that table the game designers at EA know what they’re doing. I’d bet it’s a settled part of the wisdom of designing any sports game with a manager mode to keep the human player involved and interested.
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NG – Shooting is great, feels meaty and weighty and has a ton of variation.
The goal was a classic counter attack, win possession m=in midfield, shift it out wide, get behind the full backs, cross into middle, shot.
Obviously you don’t see it that much on PES as there’s no midfield to win any battles in 😉
League table scripting has to be in there for the reasons you mention, but I have seen FIFA stick very much to realism, and have in form teams leading title races, or promotion pushes, barely drop a point, it only holds your hand to an extent.
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Paul – I loved that first Suarez goal! Very Suarez esque. BTW I’ve got Tammy Abraham as well over on the other game… Never knew his first name is “Tammy”.
Looks like 7th place is right where you should be as a premier league debutant, perhaps even punching above your weight a bit? I like that the scorelines vary so wildly but make sense as is the case in pes this year as well.
Question for ya: how is the in match scripting / predetermined passage of play situation? From last year I know it’s milder in fifa than in pes but curious if you see any difference compared to fifa 18 here.
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#1 – Thanks mate. That’s the joy of having a player with 90 finishing, you can take pop shots from anywhere and know you always stand a chance.
His pace isn’t quite there anymore but isn’t really needed, I tend to play him more in the hole as a fake 9.
Definitely punching above my weight, I’ve still got several big teams to face yet, points against the weaker and mid table teams will be crucial, I’d be happy to finish inside the top 12.
To answer your question about match scripting, in all serious honesty, I don’t notice it at all.
I’m not saying there is none, of course there is, it’s just done so well that it’s subtle, and unlike past experience with PES, I’ve never felt cheated or like the result was predetermined.
Any goals I have conceded have been as a result of my lack of concentration leading to loose marking, not tracking runs or just being outdone by better players.
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Paul – fair enough and echoes what I felt on fifa 17 and 18 regarding scripting. Good to know!
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#1 – EA have really pushed out the ‘realistic simulation’ boat this year, think you mentioned you’ve has the odd game or two? Well when you get really stuck in, the magic shows, and check out the OS sliders, they really do elevate the game play even more.
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Great to see you’re still in a good place with FIFA 19, Paul. It’s also good to see your second stint in the Premier League looks like panning out differently from your first. You must be desperate for Suarez to avoid one of those shoulder injuries FIFA’s CM often throws up.
I must say, that glimpse of the Amex in your clip there reminds me why I’m usually drawn to FIFA and all it’s real world rendering at some point in the gaming year. It’ll be summer 2019 at the earliest this time.
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Shed – The stadiums are fantastic, makes every match feel different, especially on broadcast cam as the camera angles vary to match the real life angles.
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Paul – I did have a few games yes. Fifa 18 really pulled in me as well – eventually – and it looks like fifa 19 will do the same. Sliders I will definitely be keeping an eye on as I know they can make a huge difference. Not done with pes yet though!
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#1 – Had an amazing session last night on FIFA 19 – The realism of it astounds me.
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Walking through Cex the other day I saw a groaning shelf full of RDR2 games, which just goes to show that there’s no correlation between a game’s quality and the amount of preowned copies available soon after its release. Some people just buy games like that to look out of curiosity and then trade in when they realise they haven’t got 200 hours to spare. Anyway, the amount of FIFA19s on the shelf were about 4 copies, all now at 40 quid, so it’s coming down slowly. The download codes must be around the 20 quid mark now. Like Shed I’ll also be a summer 2019 player I think.
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NG – doesn’t necessarily mean that the amount of traded in copies is a correlation to the games quality.
Most people I knew who bought RDR2 on day one, played it solidly, for hours, every day, and finished the storyline. There’s only 200 hours in it if you literally explore every single thing there is to explore in the game, such bas stopping to try and capture and skin a croc on the way to a village, or go fishing at a lake, or hold up saloons etc, to play through the game in a normal way, would require much less time.
Someone I know bought RDR2 on release day, played it to death, and traded it in 8 days later, but rates it as the best game he’s ever played.
Can only imagine the people who have traded it were either a) overwhelmed by its size or b) expected something faster paced GTA style, or c) finished it and have no interest in the soon to be released RDR2 online element.
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Paul – that’s what I said, that there’s no correlation. Just making a general observation in passing after the poor launch state of No Man’s Sky a few years ago saw shitloads of copies on Cex shelves a week or two later.
I was in Cex again yesterday (good place for cheap second-hand tech – got a lovely Apple Magic Trackpad in there a few months ago for my iMac). Currently an entire shelf of FIFA19s and half a shelf of PES2019s. Again no correlations can be made, so no need to tell me that this reflects the disparity in initial sales! Fewer people have ever even heard of PES as the years go by, much less buy/trade.
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NG – I find it strange that PES is now 19.99 in most places and they just released the Lite version, which is pretty much the entire game minus the ML Mode, like you have to pay a premium for the ML mode, when its the worst feature of the game. strange.
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Not played much at all this week and no matches during mid week. Nothing wrong with the game but life got in the way. A combination of a work party, brexit, leadership challenge and a poorly dog was the cause of this. Got back on it this weekend. Mixed start to the new season as I am 7th having won 3, drawn 1 and lost 3. We are getting to the difficult part now as it is going to be hard taking a lower team beyond top 7 at best, such is the quality of the top 6 teams.
Paul – thankfully it is possible to extend a players contract when he is signed on a one year deal. You have to wait for a window ato the end of the season when the fixtures have finished and before the new one begins. At this point you can renew the contract.
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Same position Darryl. Always a busy time of the year, and thanks for the heads up on the one year contracts.
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