daft

32 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

That's the good thing about game pass / psn+, you can scattergun it and just hope something sticks, I downloaded around 15 games last week that I didn't even put 30 mins in to because despite the review scores they just weren't my thing

I'll have GoW and FM next month, hoping for big things from the callisto protocol and then that's me done for the year

GamePass is really cool tbh. I started Persona 5 Royal on there, but will certainly buy it now that I know I will keep playing. A great service really.

9 minutes ago, messi11 said:

Its 100% the system/tactics  for sure!

@daft Would you swap our group of players for 7th place Fulham's ?

Exactly! 

That is an insane comparison and it just shows absolute ignorance of all things team related. We tend to focus on specific points in time where the table looks a certain way and then pass judgement. This is about the trend. 

Of course part of it is tactical. Part of it is mental amongst the club as a whole and the players. Part of it is individual skill on multiple levels, from tactical to technical and everything in between. Thinking all of it is tactical is simply as ludicrous as forcing a choice between our squad and Fulhams just because they happen to sit higher up the table than us. 

Let's say Emery gets this squads tactics right, that should definitely push us upthw table some. How much? No-one knows, but even if we pip Fulham and for a while sit at 7th, that does not mean much more than that we are, at that point in time, above Fulham.

More important is the longer trend shown in performance over time, and currently that is trending downward under multiple different managers. We can still get something out of this squad, and I might be proven wrong in my suspicion (that is all I am voicing) about this squad being overrated if Emery manages to lift the performances of the team. But he needs way more that tactics to do that.

Time will tell. This squad still has it all to prove in my very humble opinion. They need to show the stuff on all levels. 

Emery is a great appointment, and if anyone can do it I believe he is the best equipped. 

12 minutes ago, picicata said:

Similar to you I'm finding a lot of games are just too long and unfocused for the amount of time I have to put into them. There are games, such as the Witcher and Red Dead 2 that I've loved what I've played but just don't have the time to finish. I've completely given up on the AC series for this very reason. Now I look for games that have a concentrated, linear story, The Last of Us, GoW etc. as they are just the right length and hold me all the way to the end. **** open world games.

I feel you both. In my case it's more that games have become so formulaic. Devs tick boxes for things that 'should be in a successful AAA game' rather than try and innovate or even noticeably iterate on established ideas. 

RDR2, The Witcher 3 and games bybthat ilk provided such a great story they did manage to hold me, but I feel few game manages to provide that sort of narrative experience that can shake my cynicism and grab me by the neck and force me to finish.

I have grown old and jaded, but so has gaming. It has established itself,  and while I  not claiming good storytelling and innovation is dead, the business is no longer the cocky, growing youth ot once was. It's now a well established market that suddenly has something to lose, and consequently winds its neck in first a bit, then noticeably. 

There are still some amazing games and series out there, but I just feel the games biz could be so much more, and definitely much more provocative than it currently is. Pushing the medium even further. 

Still, this is just and old, irrelevant man's ramblings.

10 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

By failure I mean I don't think anything is gonna change.

We'll hover around mid table at best.

Would love to share you guys optimism but I just have a bad feeling.

I have zero faith in the board and I don't see them having a plan.

If that turns out to be true, we might as well let the club fold or drop down the system until we find a place where we can at least compete and give the place to some other club. 
 

They obviously have a plan even if you can’t see it. And the fact that they approach different types of managers certainly fits with us being a club looking for identity and a true footballing philosophy. We need that last part to originate from someone that actually knows football, and I think they thought Gerrard might be able to do that, especially considering his own playing career. 
 

Yes, I agree there is great chance nothing changes, but we must realize it is not always up to what we do. On this level, small differences matter when competition is fierce, and not all clubs can make it to the top. Emery might just be more of the same, but I think his appointment speaks to us having a plan and actually wanting to succeed. 
 

He needs time from us and the board. If they sack him this time next year if we are hovering in the same position as now, I think that is more of an indication that they lack not only plan, but requisite knowledge to run a football club. Of that happens they should sell us. 

9 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

I don't think Emery is going to be successful here.

Not until we replace Purslow and Lange and get in football people.

Would love to be proven wrong.

I have felt this (minus Emery) for some time. That we at best are doomed to perpetual mediocrity due to wasting our potential on wrong managers, players and staff, with no hope of ever entering the top 6 consistently ever again. 
 

Emery currently acts as a counterpoint to this thesis as he is the best managerial appointment we have made in my lifetime. You thesis might still hold, but for my part I view this as a possible alteration point of our projected trajectory, one that COULD, if built upon be just what we need. Emery focuses a lot on analytics, and this will do us a world of good in the recruitment department. Well, it could at least. 
 

So while I do think there is a high chance we will remain the AI in this FM save that is played by the top 6 (and possibly Newcastle) players as humans, there is still hope of joining that group for us. But the window for joining that group is closing fast.

11 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Not for me. Hopefully Emery sees it that way too.

Despite what I said he’s our best CB. He’s probably not going anywhere soon. 

14 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I know you’re joking to some extent, but I think that there was an element of that approach with Gerrard. Times have changed since the days of Ron Saunders, Clough and Fergie. Players don’t respond to fear theses days. For a start off, they can earn enough to live the rest of their days inside a year, so they’re not in any fear of losing their job. I think good managers realise this, unfortunately Gerrard didn’t come close to being a good manager. 

Not only that, but in 10 minutes they’ll be on the phone asking their agent to find them a new club. It’s the players market, and if they feel hard done by, agent goes to work.

Bet he wishes he took the Newcastle job now lol

Just keep us up gaffer, lmao!

23 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

I think a lot of people are still in the denial phase.

Newcastle will replace one of the top 4 clubs and it's gonna happen very soon.

I have just accepted it at this point.

Today I am convinced. I mean I knew it would happen, but not quite as fast as it looks. I say that considering they still maintain form despite injuries. 
 

Granted, they have to show they can bounce back after things turn against them in terms of results, because sooner or later that will happen.

Bright future for sure, and they seem to be set to take a place I had hoped we could take in due time.

The amount of shit I have gotten for even suggesting we might be overestimating this squad… Still, the jury is out. Indications are we need some work, even with Carlos and Kamala back, but more patience is needed for now. 

4 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

'Top 10 squad.'

You're all in dreamland

 

As has been my suspicion for quite some time. However, Emery might get quite bit more out of these lads. Worrying about all these injuries though. I fear Martinez might be out a while, and sometimes people just don’t return to normal after concussions. Thankfully it didn’t look like he went unconscious, which is good. I just hope he didn’t fracture his scull, because that was a hard knock.

I told you this would happen.

I’m not faulting Young for that, it’s just impossible to keep hands close there. Bang on penalty, but really just random bad luck. 

That might actually be more than just a concussion. I truly hope he’s ok.

21 minutes ago, messi11 said:

Every game is winnable in the PL. Even a poor Gerrard Villa side can get a point against Man City and should of beaten Chelsea.
If we had a better manager we would of beat Leeds, Forrest and Chelsea in our recent run, Even if we was that little 5% better

Being best of the bad bunch will get you a midtable place because there are so many bad teams this season.
Brighton haven't won a game since Potter left. Can Fulham and Newcastle keep up this consentience form?

No reason why this Villa team can keep picking up points and moving up the table. 



 

I definitely think we can, but 7th is too ambitious. I don't think we are even close to be able to compete for that. I predict a bit of a humbling tomorrow, that will probably brings us back to earth a bit. I also predict a bit of a rough start for our new manager as he tries to get his ideas across, feels out the squad and implement his coaching methods. 

These predictions might fall way short of the mark, but we are on a bit of a high now after the sacking of Gerrard, the amazing reaction against Brentford and the appointment of one of the most successful manages in our recent history, and we tend to let the pendulum swing wildly between utter pessimism and pure optimism. We should do well to temper ourselves a bit, if nothing else for our own mental health. For that reason I say 7th isn't just too ambitious, it's somewhat insane to even suggest it currently.   Then again, I've been here a while now, and we are all utterly nuts. 

27 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

I struggle to get interested in starting with top teams, and rarely even do a Villa start tbh. My regular first solo game has been, like you've done, start with little/no experience/badges and unemployed with about as many leagues loaded as laptop can handle, then see where I end up. Then the plan is normally to move up the leagues as quickly as possible and end up at Villa at some point down the line. Few games back I did Distillery in NI third tier to Premier League (with Newcastle) in 6th season. Could have moved to Prem in 5th season but rejected job as Villa (in Championship) came up, then Villa rejected me lol.

Having said that, struggled to get into any solo game on fm22 and mostly played online. Planning for a day one, 3 team online start in League Two with Swindon, Bradford and Wimbledon to see who can get back to PL first.

Remembered you asked this back in fm22 thread @daft and never replied. So, basically it's the latter. You don't have to be online, but if the game is live and being progressed and you are not online then your assistant will take over, so better to schedule times when all players can be online at same time. Exceptions to this might be if all agree to progress game through a period without games, eg in summer, international breaks, etc. Or in transfer window we've had occassions where host will load game just for one or two players to do transfer prep without progressing the game.

Thank you! Wil have to try some day. FM23 will be on GamePass, so I'll probably give it a shake once it's out there.

15 hours ago, hogso said:

Enjoy! I would suggest that you don't feel too much pressure in doing as many social links and side activities as possible, just go with the flow and spend time with / do things you like doing. 

With a slight exception - Ryuji has a really good skill which unlocks when levelling up his social links.

An absolutely bonkers game! Only about 3 hours in so I haven't really been let put to do stuff on my own initiative, which is good since there's a lot of stuff to absorb lol

Just started both Victoria 3 and Persona 5 Royal on PC. Persona is my first in the series, and after a few hours I am **** hooked! Art style, music, story, it just appeals to me massively. And I am essentially in the tutorial still. 

Victoria 3 looks very promising, but as with all paradox games, it will get better with time. 

3 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I guess Emery failed at arsenal in a similar way that Smith failed at Villa.

That is, he didn't fail. 

I mean, it depends I suppose. The Arsenal squad back then was a bit all over the place, wasn't it? I think it's hard to judge him too harshly in either direction based on his spell there.

For us, he will bring meticulousness and tactical awareness and skill at a level we have never had in a manager. 

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how our current squad takes to his intensity. I remember one of his ex-players that loved him, but he just couldn't take a fourth year under him lol.

Personally I like that style of manager. Details oriented, passionate and open to chopping and changing and ALWAYS demanding 100% of everyone. For some, ut can be taxing though. Personally I think this is just what we need. 

6 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

Woudl be absolutely fine with Danjuma
 

 

Obligatory crap show reel music feel free to mute.

lol, I accidentally watched someone playing 10 years of Emery's Villa in Fifa 23 and this was one of his first signings.

We won 7 or so trophies btw. 

Who?

3 hours ago, HeyAnty said:

I’ll be interested to see how Emery manages him.  Yes he’s probably our best defender but he can lack concentration at times imo.  Hopefully Emery can sort this out.

Comes across as a bit arrogant in his play sometimes? Like the mistake against Chelsea. Don't get me wrong, he takes responsibility as he did then bu apologizing, but appearance wise in his play.