As the title suggests, life is hectic right now and time is precious, free time that is, and as such, gaming time is rare.
Managed to squeeze in a few games late Sunday night, but progress is slow at the moment, just like our title momentum.
The last 5 matches have seen 2 defeats, a draw and 2 wins, we could have been a few points clear at the top of the league entering February, but as it is, the dropped points mean we are 3rd, still very much in it, but disappointing not to have put some wiggle room between ourselves and the chasing pack.
Dennis continues to perform well, and has attracted attention from the big clubs, I rebuffed a 65 million bid from Man Utd for him in January, and Spurs, despite their publicised interest, never came forward with an offer, no interest to sell whatever the price, his goals are essential.
We have an upcoming Carabao cup final to play, a chance to defend the cup and keep it in the trophy cabinet, a last 32 KO round match in the Europa League, an FA Cup 5th round match, and the continued league title push, Feb is a busy month and players are feeling the fatigue, rotation is essential.
I did recoup some serious finds in the Jan transfer window, selling RMF Gavilan two Real Madrid for 62.9 million, not bad seeing he was a youth player signed at 15, developed, and matured into a 84 rated player, so I had no qualms about cashing in on him, with Adama Traoré first choice in that position.
A few goals from the last session of matches, I liked the outside of the foot flick round the back of the defence in the second goal by Dennis to send Foden in for the finish, a game which we lost 2-1 in a title pack 6 pointer.
FIFAFX.com 
I’m loving the story of this Dennis character, personally, one of the strongest threads in your CM story. And the whole ‘only time for a few’ thing is just the way it goes sometimes. Long gone are the days for me, and for you it seems, of having predictable regular chunks of hours to devote to footy gaming, or even anything. Another reason why footy gaming is the ideal gaming for older gamers – it just fits in the jigsaw holes in our lives.
Faint signs of table scripting in you being still level on points despite the so-so results run? As you’ll know from recent unmentionable real-life events, your title chasing opponents are usually all too happy to gleefully take advantage of a slip-up or two…
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NG – As we all know, building an affinity for your players and seeing their story unfold is one of the key parts of any football game career mode, it makes playing all the more enjoyable, there are a few players I have this affinity for me in my squad, for different reasons, but Dennis is the standout MVP for me.
Its only due to a sudden change in life circumstances right now that gaming time is less, the cinema room renovation, and other commitments mean I just dont get those late nights on my own to play games currently.
It will be back to normal within the next few weeks, so progress will pick up.
I was actually 3 points ahead, with a game in hand, before my little baron spell, so realistically, those dropped points have seen me surrender my clear 3 point lead and the in-hand game, so not table scripting as such, plus the man utd game, if I’d won that I would have been 3 points clear on level games, but utd came off the back of a 3-0 Manchester derby win and raced into an early 2-0 lead against me, I was then chasing the game, they won 2-1, so no massaged results here either.
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Paul – please don’t edit that ‘my little baron spell’ mishap… Uncle Turf will love it.
Table scripting (in PES anyway) is about much more than simply getting you back up with the leaders. It’s also about keeping things ‘exciting’ by letting the rest catch up with you when you’re on top. The scenario you’ve encountered has left you level in points with X games to go, instead of being 9 or 12 points in the clear. Of course reality provides enough examples of that for it not to be outrageous. FIFA table scripting was certainly never a noticeable thing in my odd seasons over the years. I think in FIFA18 I’ll move CCFC into the Championship (assuming it’s still possible) and start from there, so I’ll have the chance to see.
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haha I obviously meant ‘barren’ – over to you Turf !
It certainly is possible to customise leagues in FIFA, you can create pretty mjuch your own fantasy leagues.
heres how:
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At the weekend I was destroyed 4-0 by West Ham with a front duo of Foden and Dennis, couldn’t believe it. The 2nd half was me chasing the ball hopelessly whilst they scored at will.
13 games left for you Paul, and table scripting on point. I assume you have a few 6 pointers coming, will the game be kind to you? I always get a little anxious with these games so have to ensure I’m in the right frame of mind.
I’m half way through the first season in the Premier League and doing OK after a poor start. I’m currently 12th, which is board expectations but way above where I thought I’d be after sitting bottom after 10 games. A switch back to 4-5-1 appears to have saved the season. There’s also a cautionary tale I didn’t heed from the last time by introducing too many new players in one go. Still in the FA Cup and aiming to win it this year.
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Cook – Snap! I was destroyed by West ham 3-1 in a game and Dennis scored a hat trick, I was run ragged by his pace and finishing, so tried to buy him in the january window,but he had only just joined them that summer so they wouldn’t sell.
So i scouted him for a year and eventually signed him on a bumper wage.
If I’m still in with a shout of the title with 5 games to go, then i’ll fancy my chances.
I have 4 new players coming in on free’s at the end of the season so too have to be wary of introducing too many new players and upsetting the balance of the team.
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Sounds like panto season, baron spell, old mother scripting and balls getting bigger every year…
Do you never play the mini games Paul? I reckon I could probably get by with just them and sim the rest, I’d forgotten how moreish they are. Time was a spectrum footy game wouldn’t have been that detailed, the old zx81 would have just had a keeper, a ball and your player.
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I rarely ever play the minigames before matches Turf, find them quite pointless, it doesn’t develop your player or anything, just puts you in a leaderboard with your online PSN mates, of whom I don’t have any.
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Or do you meant when training a player Turf? I enjoyed them for a while but now sim it each time. There were some games I could get top marks with any player leading to a couple of youth team players with widely unbalanced stats. Then some, like attacking scenarios or advanced defending, which I find impossible except on the lowest difficulty. I ended up pretty good at the GK training so now have two from the youth team in low 80s.
I had another fixture congestion messing up my FA Cup challenge. I dunno why EA can’t fix something so simple, damn them to hell.
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Cook – EA did fix the fixture congestion bug but you need to restart CM mode for it to take effect as it was only fixed in the last but one patch about a month ago.
I never play the training schedules either, just sim, seasons would take forever otherwise.
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I do both. I’ve tried simming in the past and the outcomes for a lowly team are shit. I’m quite good at the hard ones (except dribbling) so usually get nice boosts. I also enjoy the shooting and passing pre-match games. I’m from older times, small things entertain me – so many Spectrum games involved simply shooting from a FPS type view this is like 3d cutting edge stuff.
Has everyone got handball turned off? I haven’t used it since early 2014 when I got a rash of impossible to avoid decisions, has it improved?
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Turf – Handball is no longer an option in the game.
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