the_eristic

Our only midfielder that seemed genuinely committed to making something happen, even though he was stuck out wide. Surprised he was substituted, I would've taken N'Zogbia off instead.

Only to lower leagues, I think.

Villa Park is in PES, just unlicensed under the name "Rose Park". You can change the name yourself in Edit or just download a patch or option file with a fully accurate version. I very much dig the passing (turn pass assistance off or at least on low, otherwise passes are actually too precise and fast) and AI movement in this version of the demo, but haven't been able to get tackling and defending as consistent as I'd like. The general improvements in positioning compensate somewhat, but from time to time, it goes a bit screwy and just lets the attackers waltz by. Tons more animations and responses to various situations are a plus, as is no blackout before throw-ins. Keepers are still a bit rubbish and prone to parrying, though they are faster off their line and have much improved distribution. Game speed is too fast and arcade-like on 0, but if you lower it, while the player movements become more natural, the ball becomes ponderous. Defensive catchup scripting is gone, but now every AI player has the ball on a string, ridiculous control and precision dribbling from all of them, even central defenders, so one annoying AI buff traded for another (which, tbf, is a hallmark of PES). The next demo should be a more complete build, and just about everybody in the PES community has bitched about the same stuff, so hopefully they'll try to address as much as they can before it is released. I'm somewhat excited about the allegedly more simulation-style aspects of the long term game modes this year, so if the next demo improves on this one, I might actually buy 2012 at release, which I haven't done in a while!

I take it you didn't see him when he broke into Inter's first team a few seasons back. Aside from his youth showing from time to time, he was excellent, especially going forward. He dropped out of the side due to doing his knee a couple times and never really got back in after Mourinho left, then went out on loan to a lousy side as part of a deal to snag their left back. He hasn't hit the heights he did in his first season, but he's only 20 and was good enough to be picked by Jose for Inter Freakin' Milan when he was a teenager, so it's fair to say he's a serious prospect. Why do people on football forums always assume nobody actually watches football and must get their info and form their opinions from a video game?

How did the Barcodes manage to buy Santon? They're nothing special, and he's one of the most promising young fullbacks in the game, some injury issues aside. Maicon, Chivu and co are either hitting or passing 30, can't see why Inter would sell so cheaply instead of just loaning him out again.

Amen brother! Well, Heskey did attack a midfielder last season against Sunderland, so perhaps Eck got a touch confused.

Will be sorely disappointed if he goes. :^/

They are going to be ridiculously annoying to play against on the next Pro Evo. :^| I actually can't believe it's taken so long for Arda Turan to leave Gala. Seems like he's been a hot property for years now, and had a fantastic Euro08, from what I can recall.

A little sickening if they've gone for that little. Both brilliant players we could seriously use, and while Porto may have CL, the draw of this league might worked in our favor. Neither should be on massive wages, either. Replace Ireland with Defour, NRC with Mangala, Petrov with Makoun, sexy. Mangala can cover left back and central defense, too.

No connection from back to front, and finding ourselves exposed out wide, get a third real midfielder on, along with Albrighton to occupy a fullback!

Weird, I recently started a new Master League on PES and was bidding for him, but Chelsea came in at the last minute and stole him from me. COINCIDENCE? Yes.

Weird, I recently started a new Master League on PES and was bidding for him, but Chelsea came in at the last minute and stole him from me. COINCIDENCE?

Bannan looked best to me coming inside and linking with the rest of the central mids, less effective when he stayed wide. Maybe we don't need to play with two out-and-out wingers?

Where is the pressure? I cannot abide players standing off the opposition in the attacking third, allowing them to carry the ball out of defense unchallenged.

Doesn't matter if it's a friendly, this non-football is depressing.

I'm unsure about JK. Don't know enough about him as a manager. Bradley actually had a pretty decent record, seemed to be great at instilling a strong team spirit and work ethic, but only played attractive football by accident, and could never get the defense sorted in those games which presented us a real opportunity to step up, such as the Confed Cup final, WC against Ghana and the most recent Gold Cup final, though he was "forced" to play Jonathan Borstein, which is essentially losing by default.

Tight hamstring, precautionary sub according to the OS text.

Need to see him behind an actual defensive line, not one filled with kids and Curtis Davies.

it is 1 of his main assets, he has a great football brain that cannot be taught Really? For me he moves so littles it makes him look lazy. Imo, his actual movement is excellent, but his work rate is poor, so the game sometimes passes him by when he's not being directly supplied. If we had an attacking midfielder with the passing range and vision to push him, put him through on goal, he could be quite dangerous.

Nobody can ever be held accountable for defensive shortcomings when forced to play alongside Jonathan Bornstein.

Haven't seen the game yet, but: ACK! Bornstein?!? No **** wonder.

You have to take into account the sheer size of the USA and Canada. Houston and Dallas, for instance, are 250 miles away from each other, while Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids are a good 500+! Also, since the sport isn't as big here, there's rarely the financial potential to motivate MLS to permit two franchises in the same general area, so the fans have to make do with whoever happens to be closest.

Fantastic goal in the Seattle/Vancouver derby last night.

maybe he's flown out all the candidates and he is going to set them a challenge and then one of them will be hired in the boardroom Yeah, it's the judges homes bit so he can pick his final 3. Nope.

Saw The Flaming Lips at The Tabernacle here in Atlanta Thursday night. Quite an experience, especially since they played The Soft Bulletin in its entirety! Also, Sean Lennon's new band opened and was surprisingly excellent.