Oct 06
Thoughts on Blackburn and the Weekend action
The good news for the other Barclays Premier League clubs is that Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves are injured and Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to find his best form. The bad news is that Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are starting to hit the high notes, Darren Fletcher and Anderson are no mugs in central midfield, Ryan Giggs continues to defy the years, Rio Ferdinand appears to be impregnable at the back and Ronaldo will start destroying the opposition, as he did so often last season, soon.
This was a glimpse of the future. For 11 minutes here, Manchester United’s forward line read Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov, the first time the fab four have been fielded together. It was short-lived but the quartet sparkled both individually and collectively, suggesting they will soon become the world’s most devastating attack.
As you would have observed by now, the theme of our victory has been fairly consistent across the board. It’s rather convenient to bring up the buzzwords — or should we say buzz-phrases, or rather, buzz-analogies?; the Berbatov-Cantona comparisons, the “mouth-watering fearsome-foursome” — all seem rather made up and artificial to me personally. I must admit, I did fall victim to use of such comparisons, but now it just looks little bigged-up, so to speak, by everyone looking to see such an array of top class talent strut their stuff, all at once, on the field.
One can’t blame them though; after all who wouldn’t want to see Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov tear the opposing defenders to bits with some mazy interplay? Of course, the question would be asked to fans of sides who are neither our title rivals nor the opposition in question. But the chances of us seeing all four at a time from the start seems a little remote. And Ferguson will have to call upon his famed man management skills to the fore to ensure we are still a team of very good artists performing in harmony — not a set of sulking soloists looking to pitch their compositions at the expense of the symphony. Poorly constructed analogy, but point conveyed, one would hope.
At the moment, at least on Saturday’s evidence, we seem to have a happy bunch. And long may that continue.
Fergie, to everyone’s surprise, chose to start Rooney. Mind games or not, it looks a good indicator of who, between Tevez and Rooney, the manager rates higher. I thought it was unfair to bench Tevez considering we could take it easy on Rooney for the moment. But then, I would hope Fergie’s not making enemies in the dressing room with his team selections. Of course, I really don’t know how many managers can command the amount of respect and ability to manage dressing room egos, in today’s football — so if Fegie can’t do it, I don’t think we can find too many who can. But that’s how it was and Tevez started on the bench for the second game in succession.
But man management aside, I do think I could question Fergie’s tactics at times. Playing Rooney out wide makes little sense to me. Considering the presence of a proper target man, the stage is set for Rooney to do his thing in the “hole”. Thankfully he did get a bit more involved in the second half as he drifted into the middle.
Wes Brown must be a relieved man, though. And his celebration, after scoring the goal, was a sign of how badly he wanted to play — always good to see the hunger, which seemed a little absent at the start of the season, return to many of the players on display on Saturday.
But the performance, on the whole, was a bit iffy, despite the scoreline. We were sublime at times, and, at other times, we gave the ball away too easily. But I could excuse that because the weather was diabolical. It was pissing rain and, perhaps, Noah’s Ark might have seen better days.
But let me reserve a significant portion of my commentary for the attacking end, which, despite all the honours won in the past two seasons, is still — amazingly so — a work in progress. Actually, scratch that — our attack is evolving again, and this time, blossoming into something exciting and equally dangerous. It’s a different beast this, than the devastating one we saw last season. Note the word, different. If our last season’s attack was built upon tactical unpredictability — in terms of defenders being able to read and mark our attack — this season’s attack adopts a more traditional and classical touch, but with a pinch of the sublime added to it.
Both, Berbatov, and Rooney (at his best), are blessed with the deftest of touches. Ronaldo is no mug either. But a significant subtext to our attack — over the past week — is the blossoming of the “pairs”.
I mentioned Ronaldo and Berbatov could link up in a way that could be mouth watering, and Saturday saw a bit of that in great evidence. Berbatov’s vision can pick a pass to an on rushing Ronaldo in counter attacks and it did lead to our second goal. But I see promise in some excellent interplay if Ronaldo hits his high strides of last season. Ronaldo and Rooney are the second pair, and their link up play has been well documented over the past season — as well as against Bolton. The second goal on Saturday served as further evidence.
And finally Rooney and Berbatov. Much has been made about Rooney’s need for a target man to allow him some freedom in his favoured position. The pair has taken time, but are fast developing an understanding that could have already translated into several goals — but for some good goal keeping and a lack of luck. I cannot talk about yet another pair — Tevez and Berbatov, because I’ve seen precious little of that combination.
A triad (of Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo) however, could be devastating — but for most part we would attack in pairs.
But from pairs and triads, let’s talk about an individual. Dimitar Berbatov came for an inflated price — and for that I hope to hell Spuds get relegated. But we can already see what he is capable of and has done. A fully fit Louis Saha was a part of such attacking verve at the start of the 06/07 season (and even when Ruud was dropped in the tail end of the 05/06 season). Berbatov is a far fitter (fingers crossed) and a classier version of the Frenchman, and I see us getting only better from here on. As I’ve been saying for the past week or so.
Saturday made me feel happy, as Sunderland held Arsenal to a draw, but Sunday was gloomy, as City inexplicably let in three second half goals to give the dippers another sense of “self-belief” and all that motivational garbage. Watching City vs Liverpool is a strange feeling anyway. It’s like watching an ideological debate between Hitler and Osama bin Laden: you don’t know why you are watching it in the first place; you don’t know how, or whom to cheer; and even if one of them wins you really want the ground they are standing on to gobble them up.
So while my interest was piqued by their half time scoreline, I gave it a pass — partly assuming the ‘dippers will surely not win this one. I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I read about Dirk Cnut’s equaliser — I mean, how does he get time to make contact with the ball when he’s in the midst of his headless chicken routine around the pitch for a good part of the 90 minutes?
Oh well, I think I will have to get back to watching paint dry as the international break approaches. Cheerio.
Related items from Red Rants:
- United get Milan, Giggs gets new deal
- Deadline Day Looms…
- United Close Out U.S. Tour With Barcelona Rematch
- CHAMPIONEEEESSSSSS! YESSSSS!
- Some More Thoughts Ahead of the Scouse Trip
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (346)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Grognard: I completely agree with your point about editing. Customization is what gives game true re-play value. I simply dont understand why developers dont realize this. EA frustrates me more than any other software developer cause they have the ability to make the highest quality games around, but at time I feel they intentonally hold stuff back because they are lazy.
Last year they had Be-A-Pro mode wich I absolutely loved, but it was ony for one off games. They have the same exact mode in Madden football but it is over a career. Now tell me why they couldnt do that with FIFA? Also this year they had it but limit it to 4 years. WHy would they do that? I think its because they want to make sure they have features to add to next years game.
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@Gabriel: I have both a 360 and a ps3(unfortunately both are broken at the moment) but I always buy the 360 version of a game. SImply because Sony has nothing that stacks up to Xbox Live. I also am a sucker for achievmentt, at first I thought they were the dumbest idea ever but before I knew it I was jumping thru hoops trying to get 10 extra points. Its sad but im a achievment whore.
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@Grognard: groggy, i see you really love the count.
all hail berbs. 
all hail the heir to eric’s throne. 
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@johnsom33: You’ll be happy to know that this year you can play up to 4 seasons with a player in a Be a Pro mode. I too loved that feature and I think why they did so lame last year was just to test it out and see if it would be popular before they spent money and time developing the concept over four years. The reward for the player besides his team accomplishments will be to elevate himself and get international status. I know a few of the guys developing the game here at EA Canada and they are hard working blokes. What they don’t have is a producer for the game who has a wide enough vision for what the franchise is capable of offering. They are financially tied to the licenses they pay big money to FIFA and the individual leagues that they don’t seem to want gamers experimenting and creating their own players and teams. Madden, NBA 2k9 and a lot of other games offer this and they don’t seem to mind. FIFA might be lazy but i think they just don’t care. I’ve suggested it to my friends and they have brought it up to their superiors but nothing has come of it. By the way, I really let them have it over the Be a Pro mode only being one game. And 6 months ago they did tell me they were going to expand that.
And as for achievements, I just hate that aspect of gaming. I hate being manipulated and led around like some 6 year old being told he has to solve this puzzle or that puzzle in order to get points. I’m an older gamer and I am dishing out my hard earned money. I bloody well want everything unlocked in the game like all the extras at the Fan Shop. I don’t want to go through hoops in order to finally get the privilege of buying United’s 3rd kit. For me it’s just not right because we are paying for it. Points should be granted for legitimate landmarks like winning a season or scoring a ton of goals. And then one should be able to contact EA and actually get a legitimate prize like a t-shirt or voucher for a future game. Thats how you motivate players and treat them like mature shoppers.
Also, I have asked them to consider putting out a FIFA World Cup Classic edition. This would include all the team from all the World Cups ever played with all the stadiums and kits and bad haircuts of the day. I doubt they will ever do it but man that would be great. Man to play the 1970 and 1974 World Cups would be a dream on FIFA. I’d also like West Germany to get bloody revenge against Italy for the 1982 final which Italy won by having a Spanish ref wear Azurri blue all evening. I’m still bitter about that one. Playing the 66 tournament would also be a lot of fun. Add all the atmosphere and look by creating lens textures that kind of take you back in time. I’m surprised FIFA has not suggested this game to EA themselves. Man it would be awesome and major seller amongst hard core gamers and fans of the game’s history. Imagine playing Charlton, Eusebio, Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Mueller, Cruyff, Kempes, Rivelino, Rummenigge, Socrates, Rossi, Gazza and Lineker etc etc. My God I would never shut my box down. Add to it a proper editing tool so that we have the freedom to make valid changes and this would be the sports game of the century.
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@count berbatov: I’ll second that motion and I’ll also be the next person to compliment you on your nickname. Count Berbatov!!!! That’s just classy mate. Love it.
If I had one wish in football it would be for Berbabtov to be German. Germany is my team and I would be in 7th heaven knowing he played for United and for the German national team. No disrespect to Bulgaria but a player like that would bring the World Cup back to Germany. He is the second coming of Eric the King. Just wait until the second half of this season when he is finally in tune with all the lads and he is firing on all cylinders. Man I can’t wait. As long as he, Ronaldo and Rio stay healthy, the EPL is ours again. And the CL is once again within our grasp.
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@Grognard: Alright! Coco Milk with salad it is then!
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@Grognard: My friend never forget the Roon!
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@Grognard: I my view you are wrong mate, firstly saying its is ridiculas that players are not paid for their “sacrifice”, what sacrifice is it it represent your country, the hopes of millions on your shoulders?, that is ludicrous surely? plus they do get appearance money, and all the players are well insured if they do get injured.
Fans do not dislike international tournaments that is a falasy, fans dislike meaningless revenue raising friendlies, all football fans love major tournaments, to say players are burnt out after these competions is surely bowing down to the precious footballer, the Euro final was on the 29th of June and the first league game was 17th of August so well over a month and a half to re charge thier batteries in the sun drenched holiday destination of their choice.
To say national pride is misguided, that is your opinion and not shared by the majority, and certainly not by me. I am proud to be English, and the Spanish seemed very proud of their National side winning the Euro’s and well done to them and I hope we can win a major tournement soon.
I can understand your frustrations, just when United get into the swing of thing an International break, but that is football and it is the same for every nation, and club we just have to live with it.
I am giving what I believe a grounded view, international football unites countries, a lot of the English people will remember Euro 96, I just about remember Italy 1990, they were great times for our national side and all the country got behind the team regardless of their team.
I am a massive United fan, season ticket holder for over ten years, and 99/08 were superb years for me, but I do love England.
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Hows about a program that links Football Manager with Fifa, backroom, transfers, training etc on FM and the match engine in Fifa, allowing you to use your skills. That would be amazing.
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Ah, references to my favourite Red – RVN. Good to see people still don’t appreciate his talents, despite the fact that when he retires he’ll probably have one of the top 5 goalscoring records in European history. Anyway, a bit like flogging the proverbial dead-horse (buh-dun) but he is and will always remain a class act who loved United. Most dissapointing day of my fanhood when he was sold (for £12m!!!!). He’ll be up there on the Golden Boot charts for another 2 years. Sigh.
Anyway, good to see Berba starting to come good, he is lovely to watch on the ball. I’m surprised how much he drops deep, we really do play a 4-2-4 with the front men just alternating. I’ve not seen him play as a true target man at all, other than on goalkicks. If anything we seem to play with the wingers being the most forward, and the two ‘strikers’ pulling back to the 18 yard box. Seemed to work against blackburn though, but for some woeful finishing we’d have scored 5
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@Red Diablo: Make it straight milk and go buy some sugar free chocolate bars. That’s the ticket,
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@Stephen: Look mate I understand what international prestige and these tournaments mean. I enjoy them myself even though in football my allegiance and passion is for Germany and not Canada or Greece who hold my heritage and my passport rights. When Greece won in 2004 I was elated. When Germany won the WC in 1974 and 1990 I was over the moon. When Canada wins international hockey tournaments I am also over the moon. But I never lose my perspective on what those tournaments really mean. They are usually something that comes around once every four years, so yes they have meaning because they are rare. However, I don not obsess over them as a fan like I do over my two club sides Manchester United and Bayern Munich. What those clubs do or don’t do interests me and grabs my attention far more. and that will always be the case.
I don’t hate the tournaments and I as much as anybody else looks forward to them every two years. I just want the qualifying format changed so that it stops messing with and ruing the flow and momentum of domestic leagues. I won’t repeat myself on how that should be done. All I’m saying is that my solution sounds very reasonable and logical and it allows for the league to go on with only a small Christmas interruption and as it will end sooner than before, it gives international teams plenty of time to play numerous qualifiers at the end of a domestic season. Why not play the qualifiers after a season like the tournaments are played after a season?
I’m not going to debate over whether ones national team is more important than ones favorite domestic team. That’s all up to the individual and nobody is wrong here. But to allow international qualifiers and useless friendlies to delay a season and ruin the momentum and flow of all teams and leagues in all the domestic campaigns is ludicrous and it’s laughable.
Remember, I am looking at a lot of this from a North American perspective. The professional game is the one most important here and although we all care about our national sides, we still understand the necessity not to mess with things. The NHL has mad the slight concession every four years of shutting down the NHL for two weeks in order to allow the players from all the participating countries to go and play hockey in the Winter Olympics. But here’s the thing, qualifying for that tournament isn’t an issue for major clubs. And games like that don’t get in the way of a league’s schedule. Really and honestly, there are 12 to 15 nations in world football that shouldn’t even have to bother with he qualifying. Based on their past record and historical success, they should just be give the bye and therefore, they should only have to worry about playing the odd friendly. Radical thought perhaps, but domestic football should never be interrupted for this stuff. For me, it’s wrong. There will be no convincing me of international tournaments having more importance for me. They have a time and a place, but not during my team’s domestic campaigns thank you very much
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@Red Diablo: Roon who? Just joking
Yes, never forget the Roon, good point.
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@Grognard: I understand your frustrations certainly, but to say play qualifyers @ the end of the season does counter act your previous comment of fatigue with players, also other nations leagues do not run to the sheduale of our own domestic leage.
Also if there are only 12/15 nations who should not bother enter the competion and mate you are so right, Northern Ireland being one of them and they beat England a while back, and you would have not given CFR Cluj a chance against Roma and Chelsea and see what happened. You could also argue why only play the prem with United, Arsenal and Chelsea you could add Liverpool just and I say through gritted teeth to that aquasion.
Football at any level should not be eleatist as fans of smaller countries love playing the Germany’s, England’s and Spain’s of this world it also raises their countries profile and boosts their economy.
I do understand your point certainly and we will have to agree to disagree I suppose, but give me a break about North American sports you guys call Baseball the World series and its only North Americans who play in it!!
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@Grognard: Thats the thing.M not happy to know its a 4 year career. not only should it be 10-15 years, but that feature should have been in LAST YEARS game. I could be wrong but I just dont see how it would cost more for them to implement it. Like I said, they already had it developed in John Madden Football(its called Superstar mode). so unless The FIFA developers are barred from the Madden developers I dont see why they couldnt do it.
I have been a huge fan of EA games since the early 90′s, but I have noticed that in the last 5-8 years they have seriously took their foot off the pedal and have done the bare minimum to keep your business. Fifa has been a different story because they have been playing catch up to Konami for so long. Do you remember the first 2 FIFA games for the 360, “Road to the world cup” and then the world cup game? They were shocking, the fact they had the ball to even release a qualifyng game is downright diabolical. Then they revamped the engine for FIFA 07, atleast that was their reasoning for only having 4 leagues. Maybe its true, I have no reason to know for sure but the fact remains that fifa 07 for the orginal xbox was far superior to the 360 version.
EA got away with this because at the time they had no competion for 360 consumers so they rolled out half assed products because footie starved fans like me were desperate. This hurts me so bad because like I said before I have seen what EA is capable of when they go all guns blazing. I am just sick and tired of them leaving out features just so they can add them next year if they cant think of anything else to add.
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@Stephen: The reason you play qualifiers at the end of the season is because due to no interruptions, the seasons end sooner thus giving international teams a bigger window to play those games and still give the player 2 months off. It’s a win win scenario.
If great players demand and want to play for their nation then they will just have to play a longer campaign. But they do that anyway every 2 years when they rush off to train with their sides for the Euros and the World Cup. My solution is to shorten the length of a domestic season by eliminating international breaks and then throw those days at the end. It makes so much sense I am shocked that it has never been considered before.
As for clubs who should automatically be entered, it’s based on history, winning percentage and pedigree. Why should Germany interrupt their domestic campaign so that it’s national side play countries like Malta, Andorra or San Marino? It’s stupid and completely unnecessary. Minnows should have to go through a special qualifying tier just in order to qualify for the qualifiers for crying out loud. Germany, Holland, England, Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, are eight nations who definitely have earned a free ride to the tourneys every time it’s played. One could also argue for countries like Russia, Croatia, Czech Rep, Sweden, Uruguay, Mexico, Portugal and Poland. Countries who have a history of success at big tournaments. Sorry to the Pacific Rim, Africa and others but the countries I have mentioned have succeeded at these tournaments by qualifying for them many times over, by winning tourney’s in many cases or by finishing in the top 8 on a consistent basis. OK, so you still want them to have to qualify? Let them get a bye the first year of qualifying and let the other teams in their region go through a first round of qualifying groups just to see which teams face the big 8. In Europe the top 8 get a first group pass. When their qualifying begins, there are only 3 team in each group and therefore they will have to play no more than 6 games to qualify. We’ll use 2012 EUROS as an example. Qualifiers can be played for this tournament involving the big 8 or 16 at the end of the 2010/11 season 6 games over 3 to 4 weeks in May and early June. Then the players will have all of June, July and some of August to rest while the rest of the footballing world has most of May, June, July and some of August.
Come on mate it works and it allows all parties to be happy and content without interrupting domestic leagues that matter. Nothing should interrupt or delay the play in leagues like England, Scotland, Holland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. In South America the Brazilian and Argentine leagues should not be screwed over. The only delay for all is 3 weeks at Christmas.
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@Stephen: It’s the World Series because it’s been called that since the 19th century when nobody else played it. And still today, America is the king of baseball and will always be because of it’s infrastructure and heritage. Some countries like Japan, the Dominican Republic and Cuba are decent but they can’t hold a candle to the US. Hell, most of those countries best players play in the US for money. I’m still Canadian and hockey is our game here. Canada loves big international tournaments but hates exhibition games or friendlies. They just don’t tolerate distractions to the NHL. The Olympics or an epic Russia vs Canada series is the exception. Or at least Russia vs Canada was the exception during the Cold War because both countries hated each other in hockey. Their was blood spilled. No football tournament will ever or everh has had the meotion and the political tension and stress that the 1972 Canada vs Soviet Union Summit Series had. 8 games, 4 in Canada and 4 in Russia. Canada won the series 4 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie in dramatic style with 30 seconds to go in Moscow’s Luzniki Arena against corrupt refs and Soviet officials who stacked the deck against Canada by forcing them to play under incredibly unfair conditions and with corrupt referees to boot. To this day, that series had more to do for bringing all Canadians together and establishing Canadian pride than two world wars and confederation ever did. Every Canadian who lived through those 4 weeks remembers it with fondness and great pride and those players especially Paul Henderson and Phil Esposito are looked at as icons and gods by Canadians for winning the series, saving our pride and defeating the communists. Man, nothing even comes close to it on a national scale. It was total war and Canada was surrounded but still fought and won. Man it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Only the epic 3 game series in the 1987 Canada Cup even comes close to that moment. Nothing has ever since. Internationals only mean something when their are rivalries build on the pitch or through politics or wars. Germany vs Andorra is just a colossal waste of time and money, don’t you think. Now England vs Germany or Germany vs Russia, now those are rivalries were watching.
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@johnsom33: EA Cnada are in Burnaby and EA US is in California but they get a company called Tiberion to make the Madden game in Florida. Totally different teams at work here. It would cost more because people have to be hired or put on the team to develop the Be A Pro feature an this requires design and programming which will offer more options and length to that component. Trust me, I used to be an IT Recruiter and so I know how much that extra little effort would have cost in manpower and time allocated. They saw best to test the waters last year and if gamers enjoyed it then they would feel more safe about putting the the money and manpower resources forward for the following year. There is very little risk taking in the gaming industry. My best friend worked fro a gaming company called radical Entertainment for three years and he still has nightmares about that time in his life. It’s hard work and long hours and they still never get everything done because of deadlines.
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I’ve been playing FIFA 09 for the past three days and it is awesome. But the fouls in this one are awful but really go unpunished. I’ve lost Nani, Carrick, Scholes and Ronaldo to injuries. But I’ve bought Messi so no problem.
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@johnsom33: Although I do agree that at times EA has sat back and been lazy I’d have to say that is no longer the problem. I think their games in all markets have dramatically improved over the past two years. Nobody is going to convince me that FIFA 07 and 08 were not good games. Sure they were not perfect but each one improved significantly over it’s predecessor and completely annihilated it’s competitor the once proud PES. PES is the one that has gone backwards. It’s play is worse than when it was on the original XBOX and the graphics are only improved in players faces. Players are all 7 feet tall and the clothing looks plastic and ridiculous. The play is still crap and the editing tool, the one great item that kept me coming back on the old system is now a shadow of it’s former self. A total joke. Since Peter Moore left Microsoft to take over EA Sports, he has delivered a different attitude to EA. He wants them to push the envelope and to not get slack and complacent. I think that is showing up in this year’s EA Sports games that have been released. Meanwhile I am almost sure Konami and that fat out of shape and useless producer for PES Seabass will once again deliver a piece of crap but with a few more licensed teams. Big whoopie! I’d prefer no licensed teams and a free engaging game that allowed me to create and do what I want. If EA owns the rights to FIFA, then the alternative is a game where you design and create the players, the teams and the game play. That is what Konami should be concentrating on. SPORE for football. Spore for those that do not know is a new gaming experience that allows you to create a world and all those things living in it. Why not do something similar for football?
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I’m a little concerned about this brewing controversy online over Tevez and his agent apparently being upset over the fact United have not presented them with that long term contract they promised him. And you know something, now that Berbatov is here and is a hit, I doubt if they ever will. Lets face Carlos Tevez is a great player but he is not going to supplant Rooney or Berbatov and he will grow increasingly frustrated over his time on the bench. Unless he himself goes on a goal scoring run I don’t think Fergie and Gill will offer him that deal. I think they realize that perhaps carrying such a great player as a sub is only a recipe for trouble and dissension. You;ll either see him offered a contract or he will be left to go which would then free that money up for United to pursue players they really need like an attacking midfielder, winger and rumors are circulating right now about a January swap for Wilson Palacios. Personally I think we can do better than him but apparently he is on Fergie’s radar so lets wait and see what happens.
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@Grognard:
, you know me Grog, Patriotic Englishman with every bone in my body, come on England. Now that Gerrard and Lampard are being given another chance to play together though, I think the chemistry of the team that played so well in Croatia will be damaged. What’s the contunual obsession with these two players, who have never really played well together for England. Maybe they will surprise us this time – NOT 
.
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@Grognard: Fair point on EA testing out the reception to be a pro, but surely it cant be difficult to extend it longer than 4 years. what is the logic behind that?
@Stephen: Baseball is huge in Central America and it is also widely played in Asia. But I do cringe when I hear things like World Series, or World champion Boston Celtics. Even if they are the best team in the world it is mickey mouse to declare yourself world champions. I would like to see more international club games in Baseball and Basketball.
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@Grognard: I know this is out of place on this site, but is Hockey financially sound at the moment? The interest in the NHL from the states is dwindling. The Stanley cup had horrible rating last year.
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@Craig Mc: No manager seems to have the guts to cal upon only one of them. Capello seems happy to shaft Michael Owen all the time though, I for one don’t get it.
If I had to pick one of the two I would pick Gerrard for his flexibility and for his free kicks. I also just despise Frank Lampard. When he scores and kisses that fucking putrid ring of his it just makes my stomach sick. Many United fans hate Gerrard but I have said many times in the past, I think he is a quality player and can do more for England. Don’t worry, I still hate him and Liverpool.
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@johnsom33: I think they limit it to 4 years because it truly becomes unrealistic after that as players retire, and new young players that FIFA aren’t even aware of show up. For examplae, the Twins were not in the game two years ago and Fabio was missing last year as was Possebon. Can you imagine the real players we will want in the game in two years time? 4 years gives a gamer enough time to have fun before FIFA 2010 Comes out. Then we will have a bunch of new 16 and 17 year olds to draft and build with. And by then, more an more players will shave retired.
And you cringing over teams calling themselves world champions in America is a proble you will have to get over. Why? Because they are world champions. No other team in the world could go through the same schedule and then beat them for the trophy. So deal with it. There are sports where the Us and Canada are the kings of, bottom line. Soccer is not one of them. But until foreign teams come into the US and beat Americans in football, basketball and baseball, they will have to shutup. Canada is king in hockey but in that sport the disparity isn’t great. The Czechs, Russians, Finns and Swedes all give Canada a battle. It’s not easy being king.
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@johnsom33: The NHL has been around for 100 year and it will continue to be. What they need to do is house cleaning. Their stupid idea to expand to tropical and warm weather cities in the US has been a major mistake. Hockey is a cold weather sport like downhill skiing. It has no business in Florida, North or South Carolina, Georgia, Arizona or California. The sooner they realize that the sooner the league can downsize to 16 teams. 8 in Canada and 8 in the US. This would create border rivalries as well, the product would not be so watered down. Now that would be hockey Utopia
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@Grognard: Grog, apart from when England beat Germany 5-1, Gerrard has never done all that well for England. He just can’t seem to replicate his L’Pool, CL form to the International team. Not on a consistent level anyway. I dislike Lampard as much as you do, but like you say, England Managers are going to play both or one of these two players. Also I agree about Michael Owen, when he is fit, and plays for his country, he hardly ever lets us down. Problem is, Grog he very easily gets injured, and England find themselves a man down in the squad when they have finalised it, and tournaments begin, and then nothing can be done about it, it’s too late. I feel for Barry though is he is the one left out for Lamps’Gerro, because he has done ok for England.
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Gerrard needs to be given a specific role and stop being moved around. Once he knows where he will always be and what is expected of him, I think he is better than both Barry and Lampard. And England need Hargo as bad as we do and maybe even more so. And don’t remind me about that 5-1 defeat to England again or will have to take out my Craig Voodoo doll and my sewing needles. Deutschland uber alles mate.
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@Grognard: I’ve been preaching the same thing about the NHL for the last two years. Totally agree no warm weather Hockey teams. If you can’t play it outside in the winter in your city, you don’t deserve a team. And the best part is the All Star game could be USA vs Canada, that would be awesome. Not to mention the fact that less teams means the average players get lost, and the quality goes back up.
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Whats all this talk about baselball, Madden and NHL? Seriously, have I gone to the wrong site? This is RedRants?
Enlighten me please.
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ello there, ive been away playing fifa lol, the be a pro:seasons is immense. the MM is the same thing really, thats a let down, aand they have taken out the kit numbers editor, so i have aguero playing with number 2 lol.
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@Wheezy: An ideal league would be 8 Canadian teams (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton and Montreal) and 8 US teams (NY Rangers, NY Islanders, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Colorado and Minnesota). I’d be open to a couple of more US teams from cold weather cities but overall, I think this setup would work, set up rivalries and survive due to the fact that these cities are all hockey towns. I’d even consider giving Saskatchewan and Quebec City franchises and make it ten and ten. Just get the Hell out of cities with beaches and palm trees. It disgusts me.
Sorry to the rest of you for the hockey talk. 
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@RedDevilEddy: It’s a boring time mate and we are just trying to keep the blog breathing and on life support until something meaningful happens. Blame it on the ludicrous and useless international break. And talking FIFA 08 or 09 is never boring to those who are obsessed with it.
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@dan(u-ol): You have got to be kidding me. They have no kit number editor? Are you sure? Jesus, that pisses me off. See this is the kind of shit that just pisses me off. That’s somebody at EA not doing his job or dropping the ball. No excuse for omitting such an important feature.
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fuck me, this is boring!
United > than any international team
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@Grognard: He is not kiddin Grog. I bought Richards and Benzema, Richards is 13 and Benzema 2!
WTF, like?
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Seriously, this is boring as hell! Shit, theres nothing to do. No news, no info, no action. The recent news are: “Ronaldo can play in CM”!
I CAN PLAY IN CM! Okey, I play in a CDM, but whatever…
OOOOOH, when is this international break gonna be over?!
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Morning y’all aint this boring or what. nothing to talk about
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@RedDevilEddy: ea did it again. that sucks man, you cant edit the kit numbers?! that is sick.
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Okay guys found this article its kind of old news really but one wonders if that sought of action really takes place. will it force a change at the top or what
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Okay guys found this Article. its really old news but if UEFA do wake up one day and actually implement it then will be in trouble. Will it push the Glazers to clear there debt? I wanna know you thoughts on it
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why are my comments on moderation
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@Grognard: Couldn’t agree more, except that you forgot a little hockey town by the name of Pittsburg…
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yep I’ve got Aguero as no.2 as well but I can’t seem to fit him in. You get crappy money when you try to sell Berbatov and I want Ibrahimovic!
don’t really like be a pro because their whole match rating system is rubbish. Xbox live is amazing though. I’ve done pretty well so far and have a 20-2 record. Inter are immense in it
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Who doesm the FIFA 09 commentary this year? Is it still Derek Rae and that twat Andy Gray?
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If you want something to comment on, I’m running a series of articles assessing the season so far over on my blog.
Also, Danny Simpson gave an interview today saying that he’s not given up hope of a place in the United side, despite the emergence of Rafael. Fighting talk, but I don’t know how likely that is…
Which is a shame in a way, because he’s always looked good and seems to be doing well at Blackburn.
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@Wheezy: Martin Tyler and Andy Gray.
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