St Marco

Basically i read it for the reviews of games/movies. They do sometimes features like top 100 villains etc which are quite interesting. I guess you can also read the latest news too. Seeing as games are the biggest selling entertainment product on the planet I'd imagine most people read it for news. In the same way someone would go to a football news site. Goodluck with the interview

Don't get me wrong when Barca or Madrid actually play football it can be really amazing! Barcelona are the best footballing side on the planet. But it is the attitude in Spanish football right now. To try and make a meal out of everything. Don't just accept the free-kick, try and get the man sent off. I remember reading an article about the demise of English tackling has a lot to do with how they play in Spain. They don't like being tackled. Ronaldo is perfect for that because if you remember everytime he was tackled in the PL he would throw his arms up and look at the ref like he had just been mugged! The game is physical and tackling should be encouraged. The Spanish people themselves hate it too. I remember when i was there in the summer and had a chat with a Madrid fan who said it was all Jose's fault. I don't remember him being like that here, he didn't run up to his opponent and stick his finger in the managers eye! It makes the games kinda pointless when a player is sent off so often. The league is set up to help Madrid and Barca. I didn't realise until the other day that the Spanish FA give those two the most money from the tv deals. That is what the stikes were about. They both get 140m euros. Where as Atletico (who finished 3rd) got 42m euros. And the newly promoted Granada get just 12m euros...hardly competative when the top team gets x 14 cash from the FA then what the bottom team get. In PL at least everyone gets a equal share of the cash pretty much.

Anyone else think it really is a **** league these days? Just watching the Madrid vs Levante game and they are all rolling on the floor like they been round housed by Chuck Norris or something..... People can say whatever they want about English football but the diving/play acting/trying to get each other sent of/pretend fighting etc really is awful to watch. How can you play football with all that going on?? You got to feel sorry for the refs. Anyone gets slightly tapped on the ankles and they fly over like they were run over by a truck. What a bunch of pussies.

To be fair there are loads of players who through the years have played hundreds of games for us. You could argue the case for so many people. But for me Lallana is different from those guys. He is a guy who stuck with the club when it was falling into the abyss. Would those guys have stayed at the club if it had fallen two divisions, gone into admin? Hard to say. In modern football where loyalty is non excistent not many would do that at all. Surman was adored here and he left. So many other players through the years have left us when they either wanted to progress or because things were not going so well. Lallana didn't leave. He could easily be playing in the PL now if he wanted to. The guy showed huge loyalty to the club and week in week out he gives 110%. Without Lallana we would not of got back into the Championship and i doubt we would be sitting 1st in that league (he already has 6 assist this year). In years to come if we do finally get back to the PL people will remember what Lallana did to elevate the club from a team with -10 in division three into a PL side. In my view starting at the top and staying there is not the same as staying with a club that implodes to the point where your not even getting paid on time. Dropping down the leagues, seeing your friends leave etc. It is a different time, different rules to judge players on.

I don't think it is about how many games they played as such but what they did in those games. For example Rickies goals. How many of them have been assists from Lallana? For basically the last three years Lallana has been our most influential player. He is the player who sparks the team into life with his skills. If any of our players get injured he is the one we would miss the most. He is so important to the way the side plays. Rarely does he have a **** game. In my opinion being a Saints legend is not about how many goals you scored.

Why not? He has played about 140 games, 30 odd goals, god knows how many assists. When he was out of the team last year we looked a far worse off team. Huge player for this club, our best player since Matty imo.

Think it is time! Superb player, 6th season in the first team, 11th year at the club, creates loads of goals, scores goals, great attitude, good role model to the youngsters, signed a new contract etc etc Saints legend

He comes across as a bit of a cry baby in his interviews. Like in that interview when he is asked about Hull's keeper not having much to do and if he would of liked to have seen Pompey test him a bit more. I think that was a pretty valid question. He then says basically what did their own keeper have to do and the interviewer then lists a couple of saves he made. Steve then replies whats your point thrn? Which the interviewer then again says the point is would you liked to have seen your side test their keeper a bit more. Which Steve huffs and says silly question or something like that. If i was the interviewer i'd have pointed out to him that his team had no shots on goal and had only 5 shots the entire game compared to Hull's 17 (7 on target). It was a fair question. If he only wants to be asked nice questions that make him look good then what is the point of speeking to the media after you lose? As someone mentioned above he is the total opposite of Adkins. Don't blame the Pompey fans if they are tired of him.

Would love to thrash Blackpool and our fans then start singing "Championship, your having a laugh, championship your having a laugh". Would be priceless to see his face after that! Other then that i really would like us to thrash Brighton and West Ham.

Will they be adding more financial options this year? For example say you are at a club with a loan that runs out in the year 3 billion, will you have the option to pay this loan off ahead of time if you have the money? Not sure if it is just me but i like trying to get the financial side of the club right (maybe that is just the business analyst in me!). So when i see the club has a loan that will take a huge chunk out of your monthly earnings it does **** me off. Surely there should be options to pay it back quicker if your club is making a lot of money? Another thing i messed about in fm11 with some of the big clubs i.e Barca. I wanted to see if i could make them bankrupt by buying players like Pullis for £50m! When it got down to £0 basically the chairman lent the club £200m......so again i go and buy some more players. Same thing happened again, chairman gave £200m to Barca.....in real life obviously that is unrealistic. Barca are losing money, last year they lost 83m euros. They have a debt of 532m euros. Their exec said in july the club can't continue to lose money. Especially with the new rules coming in. Surely no club should have unlimited money in the game? That is sort of like a god mode.

I played both. There is actually a new demo for PES 2012 just released as the first one was bug city. Personally i prefered Fifa to PES again this year. I actually thought the opposite about the AI in PES. I felt it was pretty bad in places. Especially the keepers (which will be fixed they say on Pes gaming). For me PES looks far better then Fifa. The players look more realistic. The pitches look better, the crowd look better. Presentation is better. Sounds are slightly better etc But in terms of football it is 2nd best again. The thing that bugs me the most is the scripted things (on rails). Because of this you know what will happen. The ball doesn't feel like a seperate entity, it sticks to the player. The animations are still robot like and looks like they are skating. PES 12 is miles better then last years there is no doubt about that. But Fifa is still ahead of it. But not by much. The gap has deffinatly closed. I think both games this year are worthy of buying. Competition is good for us as means we get better games.

100% agree about the being more fluid thing. But for some reason i think i actually prefer it. The whole clunky thing was at times annoying. Was very robot like at times. The game used to be a start stop kind of game. Filled with mini cut scenes i.e when ball goes out for a throw. Those animations made the game take a lot longer then it should. Making them a lot quicker means you spend more time actually playing. With things like quick throws now it also gives you more choice. Before you wait for the cut scene and then it loads up with you with the ball and all the players magically going into their positions. Like say you were attacking and it was you and a team mate up against 3 defenders. The ball goes out for a throw to you. Before it would cut and all their players would be behind the ball. Now it is fluid meaning a guy can grab the ball and quick throw it while players are still coming back into position. It is the same with corners and free kicks. You have the option to do it fast. Or if there are no good options wait until everyone gets into position. I think that is a lot more realistic then previous footie games. There are a lot of things i don't like with the game but i know the more i play it the things will grow on me. It is the same with a few previous fifa's. At first you don't like it then it becomes good and you can't go back to the previous years game! The difficulty (on experienced settings) is once again very difficult. Defending has totally changed. Each player seems to have more of a brain then in games gone by. The tactical defending thing is pretty interesting. Eventually when i get used to it i know it will be good. There are a lot of little touches put in the game that make it more realistic but at the same time make it more difficult. Like the jostling and ability to now grab players with the B button. The new physics engine has also made it so you have loads of different ways to foul people. The standing tackle has basically gone, it is now more of a "put a foot in" tackle which means you can clip a player if you do it from a bad angle. All in all thus far i like it. I like the way the game looks and plays in regards to football. However i think it is time EA started work on the graphics in terms of the players and stadiums. It could be so much better. Especially the crowds. I don't think they have changed that for years and it shows. It isn't bad but they should look at the NBA 2k games to see how you can do a stadium/crowds. If they could get it like that then it would just be amazing. Also glad they changed the shooting system. In the last couple of versions it has been way too baloony. Has a lot more weight to it now.

The demand for the demo took live down apparently. Hopefully be fixed by time i get home! Can get the pc version no trouble. Think ps3 version is out tomorrow with pes 12.

This is a full match from the demo that will be released tomorrow Other then the fact the people playing it suck i think it looks pretty good. The whole thing seems a lot more fluid. Annoying cut scenes seem to have been toned down too. The new dribble/physics system looks a lot better. Can see how feints and changing direction quickly will make it more realistic. The new engine (impact engine) looks cool. Also the first review came out from Games Master who gave it a 94% score

Thought he was alright but felt he could of done a bit better too. The first goal he could of stuck a leg out or something to try and stop the pass going across the box. Fox lost his marker who then had an easy tap in. Fox was to blame for that one imo. Their 2nd goal though he and Fonte were caught ball watching and a simple through ball caught them both out. They both should of done a lot better with the tracking there. I felt Jos also gave the ball away a bit too easily at times. Think there was a bit near the end where he was caught on the ball and had to conceed a corner. Overall though he did what was needed and after a few games of playing alongside Fonte he could do alright. But he has to improve as does Fox.

There are some rumblings that the open beta (basically online demo) will start this thursday. However if you didn't pre-order from Origin you will have to wait 2 days.... If it isn't this thursday then you would think it would be by the end of the following week as would then only have a month until it's release. Not much time for bug killing!

I could be wrong but it is all down to the stats of the players. So technically because Barca have better players their overall rating would be higher then Saints which would make a difference. In years before when playing online most people would play the top teams. Because if you played as Barca and played against say Luton you would have a huge advantage. This year EA are doing something different where if you play as your fav club you earn your club points which go into a promotion/relegation style league format. In theory this will make people want to play as their fav team as it helps them out. Also the demo will be out a week today.

Can't wait until we play them this season. Going to be a totally different story. They were a prem team and we were a third division team rebuilding from the **** we suffered the years before. This time around we are on the up and they are on the way down. I hope he films the games this year as i will love it, really love it if we thrash them!

With the squad we got and the money we have spent adding to it this summer (Ridder 500k - Fox 1.8m - Cork £1m ish) we should be higher rather then lower. I think we have a top 6 team by far and expect us to be in the playoffs. In terms of improving in the window though i think we have slipped down quite a bit, as Nick mentions above Brighton have added some quality to their side as have West Ham and Leicester. If we had got Gorkks we would of had a very strong side and maybe could of competed for the 2 auto slots. But who knows maybe we will get in someone on loan that could make a difference.

Don't get me wrong i am proud of coming from England (although sometimes you have to wonder why considering it is now totally fooked) and will always want them to win. But i think in terms of football levels it is now below club level. If Barcelona were put into the World Cup they would destroy every team. Most of the champ league teams would. The European Championships and the World Cup are now below The Champions League and Premier League. If you google it your see a lot of top players and managers say the same thing. It is nice to see England win but in all honesty win or lose does anyone give a ****? If Saints lose we feel ****ed off. The national team has been a joke for so long that people no longer care. The whole "die for England" i.e Pearce persona has long gone. Just a bunch of spoiled bastards who make loads of money and cheat on their wife and kids. Don't see many of them playing with passion anymore. The fact these clubs play twice a week means they get to know each other and get to know how each other plays. Playing one game every month or so will not bring that unity. I was wrong though it is not a friendly game. But when these games are played needs to be looked at. As it is clear just on here most dislike national games. That might be for many reasons. But mine is as i said i think club level is far more important now.

Not sure if it is just me but i really dislike the international breaks now. If the riots had not happened we would of had 2 England friendlies in the first 5 games of the season (only 3 in PL). That was one of the great things about L1 was we still played every weekend. I just don't see the point of them anymore. Can you really learn anything from the games? I think a better system would be to have a mini break in winter maybe 2 weeks and play 3 games then. And then after the season finishes have another 3 games. You would learn so much more by playing in a group of games closer together then spread out once every month or two. Most of the time now players look for a reason to drop out of the National side for friendlies anyway. Just seems like a waste of time to me.

You forgot this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Bignall Seems we have all forgotten him really. But he was an Adkins signing here never the less. Also just to add in our last game only one of the team was an Adkins signing. He is getting the best out of the squad he inherited. That was the job he was brought into do, not to re-build. Sure some of the deals look a bit crazy when compared to previous deals i.e £1.8m for Fox when we got Fonte and Rickie for that pretty much. But sure they will come good in the end!

The thing is people forget that he was picked in the team of the year after a good season with us. That year he did not moan and complain. He seemed to work with Pardew. For me it seems more about a dispute between Adkins and Puncheon. None of us really know what has happened or what he has said. If he thinks he is too good to be here and is un-professional which leads to fractures is the team spirit then he should be gone. But plenty of players have done similar things in the past and redeemed themselves on the pitch. If he can stand up and say he made a mistake, say sorry to the club,players and fans then he should be given a chance. He did well in the pl last year and did well when he went out on loan. He is a good player. If he however can't change his attitude then we are better off without him.

Guly was actually brought in by Pardew. He signed the permanent deal under Adkins but there were rumours it was part of the orgional loan i.e had the option to buy. So can't really use Guly. Cork on the other hand you can. But we all knew what he was like from being here before. The thing is without trying to sound negative if there has been a weakness so far for Adkins you would have to say it was his own signings. I don't think that is harsh i think that is fair. If you look at the last game we played only 1 of the players was an Adkins signing (Cork). The players he has brought in have not really set the world alight beyond Cork. N'Guessen was gash, Stephens was not very good, Nicholas Bignall well what the hell happened to that guy? Forte seemed to be in the right place at the right time sometimes but very hit or miss, Chaplow in my opinion did the best from the bunch brought in. However he did fade towards the end of the season and has started this one not too well. If we have got Fontaine and for the rumoured £1m then that would take our spending this summer to (Cork = £800k, Fox = £1.8m, Fontaine = £1m and whatever De Ridder cost) around £4m. Pardew put the entire squad together for around that. And other then Cork the other two in my opinion don't improve the position too far from what we already have. Deffinatly not in a going from Patterson to Lambert kind of way. It is an improvement but it is a lot of money. Personally i think it would be harsh to judge the guys until they have played but they have to show they are worth that cash. If they show they ae worth it in the same way Fonte and Lambert have then we will have a very good side! BUT i also think that if your going to spend £1m+ on a player then they will have to be pretty damn good!

Interesting read really. Have no reason to doubt what he is saying. If it is true that Lowe told him he could have more money (which he rejected) then that just shows the guy had no clue about finances. Makes you wonder how much cash he wasted while he was here. Also makes you think how lucky we have been in getting ML and Cortese.....