I take it that Julian Green's value just had a couple of million added to it? Dammit, we were linked with him a few weeks ago...
I take it that Julian Green's value just had a couple of million added to it? Dammit, we were linked with him a few weeks ago...
Belgium still remind me of a newbie playing Football Manager: yes, you can fit all the best players into the starting xi, but that doesn't mean it will work in real life.
Only you would equate Football Manager with real life.
Only you would equate Football Manager with real life.

Football Manager IS real life SD!![]()
This guy agrees!
[video=youtube;prJ7lyX9J64]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prJ7lyX9J64[/video]
Anyone else feel like punching Danny Murphy in the balls because of his commentary? Its like he picked his big talking points before the game and stuck to them no matter what was actually happening. Including saying a number of times:
1 - Hazard is lazy he never tracks back......thats the first time he's tracked back
2 - That is Fellaini's first contribution of the entire game
3 - Banging on repeatedly about substitutions and how Wilmots, who has done pretty well with subs so far, needs to do X, Y, Z.
SHUT UP YOU PLUM!
I know, most fans think it's acceptable to base their opinion on a potential transfer on how good they are on FIFA...
I thought he was one of the better pundits, but he was completely destroyed by Garth Crooks on the radio the other day (admittedly now I think about it, it might have been Danny Mills), when "Danny" was saying that everyone else has better technical players than England and Garth was referring to the many players at the WC who failed to make it in England or were playing in the championship. Anyway, I have never gone with this England has got worse players argument, because top premier league clubs simply wouldn't play them if they weren't any good, the PL clubs do not select based on sentimentality! If there were better foreign alternatives they would play them. No, I firmly believe that there are good England players that simply cannot, or are unable for whatever reason, to reproduce their club form for England.
I haven't played the modern incarnations of these games (I think I finished on Football Manager 2001 or something equally frigthening), but does a player have a diving rating? Or a rating for the ref to be intimiated by the crowd / home manager? If not how can the game claim to be realistic, since players cheating or refs bottling decisions seems to decide the results of so many games!
Having pondered this for a while (slow day at work.... staring out the window at the sun drenched rooftops), I've come to the conclusion that English players are good wingmen (in the fighter pilot sense, not Arron Lennon sense) but not good enough to be the 'Top Gun'. The likes of Gerrard, Lampard, Milner, Sturridge, etc all shine for their club but are rarely the "Star" man. They support and play well alongside the few top class players but can't do it themselves. Take Sturridge. Had an excellent season for Liverpool, a good player but has Suarez to take that pressure off him. Suarez (for all his being a nasty, petty, cheating cannibal) is one of the few world class players that can turn/win games on his own and Sturridge has that safety cushion, if you like, there. Maybe it's a mental thing. Then put all these 'wing men' into one team (England) and they all look a little lost. I suppose Rooney is the exception but then he just seems to try and do everything when he plays for England rather than concentrating on his own role.