Age Of The Lariat

The WWE Universe mode will probably get me to buy this game after I didn't even bother playing last years. It sounds like the story mode from Smackdown 2 with elements of SYM and HCTP thrown in, and SD2 was my favourite story mode from any WWE game. I spent ages as a kid creating stables and getting a giddy thrill when you'd get a "Now Loading" screen to indicate an incoming cut-scene (which the random cutscene feature in SVR2011 sounds exactly like) as I hoped it'd be one of my stable hanging out or beating someone up. I mean, 9 times out of 10 it was "HARDCORE HOLLY HAS ARRIVED AT THE ARENA", but the 1 time when it was my created stable doing a Nexus-style beatdown was worth it.

TheWho87's pic pack is really comprehensive and of good quality. You can find a link to it and to his Photobucket (useful for adding new pics or any missing pics to your existing PICS folder) in his sig. I've been using his pictures for ages, and would highly recommend it. (Incidentally, keep up the good work TheWho. Thanks)

It's good to have the season start again. Norwich vs Watford was a fun watch last night. I've rated Danny Graham as a player for some time now and he shone. Norwich don't fill me with fear. I'm venturing up to Scunthorpe on Saturday to watch our first home game against them, and I'm considering it one of our must-win games if we want to survive. I was very surprised we beat Reading away today 2-1. Our first opening day away win for 10 years. It's too early to change my "we will definitely get relegated" belief, but we do have immense team spirit which will carry us to some good results this year. Derby vs Leeds kicks off on BBC1 in 10 mins in case anyone didn't know. Should be a decent watch.

That's true. Lee Turnbull is our chief scout responsible for unearthing gems and Nigel Adkins' positive man-management helps to get the best out of players (Beckford being the prime example. Loaned to us by Leeds after a dire loan spell at Carlisle, scored goals for us, played with confidence, and now look where he is) but Hooper and Hayes were the reason we survived last year, given our useless defence. I'd have been fine with losing Hooper if Hayes hadn't have gone to Preston, since Hayes set up around 75% of Hoops' goals, and would work with any Hooper replacement in a similar way. We've bought Dagnall from Rochdale who did well in League Two last year, and Bobby Grant from Accrington, so hopefully those two will be next in our long line of amazing strikers. If our defence improves we have a chance of survival but won't score as many goals as last year when we were the 7th highest scorers in the division if I recall correctly. I'm pleased Sharp went to you rather than Leeds (as was rumoured), but will seethe in jealousy if Keogh joins you too (as is rumoured) and you reunite those two! You've also signed George Friend, who impressed me when he was on loan to us last season. I'll be hoping you can do a Blackpool next year.

We (Scunthorpe) appear to have finally sold Gary Hooper to Celtic for around 2 to 2.4 million. I'm sad to see him go as this pretty much means we'll get relegated from the Championship this season. It'll be interesting to see how well he does at Celtic though. He may play in the Emirates Cup this weekend.

It does feel a bit surreal to think it'll be over tomorrow. I suppose you get used to it after a solid month of football. I'm torn when it comes to tomorrow's final. I usually pick a few other teams than England to support, to make it interesting when we've been eliminated, and chose Holland and Ivory Coast this year, so I'm backing Holland, but if they play anti-football and park the bus and prevail over Spain's lovely football it will feel hollow. I just hope it's a great game.

That was much much better from England. In the first half, our passing and movement was brilliant and we should have scored more than the one we got. Terry was a rock at the back, typified by his hilarious salmon-style attempt at blocking a shot with his head. Can't fault any of the back four. Milner showed shades of Beckham with his wing-play, and Defoe was dangerous. I was again disappointed by Lampard and Rooney, though the pass that the former put through for the latter was a touch of quality, and Rooney should have scored. I'm still not hopeful for our chances against Germany (if indeed they do top their group), but today we played well, and at least showed glimpses of quality and potential.

I thought we played much better in the second half. We actually managed to keep the ball, and get Rooney into the game rather than bypassing him with long balls like in the first half. Still, wasn't a brilliant performance, but some positive signs there. Lennon and Johnson were dangerous down the right flank, Heskey was good at doing his job even though he should've scored the one on one. In future, if we can keep the ball and work openings like we did in the second half, we should be ok. It's never exactly fun watching England is it?

Robert Green... fucking hell. We were doing well until then as well, looking dangerous in the final third and defending decently, restricting them to long shots and half-chance headers. We looked dangerous in the final third when we got the ball down. I may not be a fan of how we forgo keeping possession in favour of direct long balls, but it was working and Heskey was doing well. Gerrard's been brilliant. Optimism: intact. Faith in Green: none.

Surprised by Milner and Heskey's inclusions over Joe Cole and Crouch. I'm going for a 2-1 England win, or 1-1 draw. I think USA will score first and shock us into action, causing us to actually play. Also, upon unpacking food shopping today I notice that the oranges I bought contained a pack of Match World Cup trading cards as a promotional giveaway. So I open them out of curiosity, and get Pele, Beckham, Gago, Ochoa, Bendtner, Anelka and Park-Chu-Young. Out of those 7, one was shiny. It was Nicklas Bendtner...

I'd fancy South Korea against Argentina after today's games. I think there's a good chance of an upset there, or at least a draw.

Enyeama - Football Manager great and pretty good in real life too. Argentina look decent but I wouldn't back their defence against any quality team. Nigeria could've equalised a few times if they'd been more composed and clinical in the final third.

Loved Hansen talking to Adebayor like that. I'm going for France in this one, via a moment of individual magic from Gourcuff or Ribery. 1-0. Really don't like those vuvuzelas. They were blaring them during the national anthems in this match, which is just disrespectful, and when SA scored that brilliant goal earlier, you could just hear buzzing not cheering. I know it's a bit silly to be irritated by them, but they're going to be loud and distracting in all 64 games it seems. They didn't mar a great opening game earlier though. Really enjoyed the second half, and was willing SA to win by the end, even though I originally favoured Mexico purely on the basis that their fans didn't blow horns all match.

Seconding this request please. Rapidshare/Mediafire/Sendspace are all fine. http://www.mediafire.com/?kkkz2bmxt4k

Same on my games. They always do well in the first season, then drop to about 7th/8th the next few seasons, and let go of their promising youngsters like Obertan, Macheda, Welbeck, Rafael and Fabio, and usually buy Rossi and put him on the wing. Liverpool always implode too, and Benitez always makes weird, sub-par signings like Nigel Reo-Coker and John Fleck. They usually drop to midtable by season three but it's still hard to get Torress off them. Anyway, started a Villarreal game with the 10.3 patch with a few transfer edits I made. Finished the first season in 3rd with 70 points. Barca won with 93 points, Madrid on 85. Bought Di Maria for 8 million, and he was great, notching 10 goals and 20 assists in 45 appearances. Nilmar was surprisingly great too, scoring 34 and setting up 15 in 45 appearances. Rossi got 19 goals and 18 assists in 33 games. My attack was brilliant, only a few behind Madrid and Barca. My defence also was the third best in the league, but quite a way behind Barca and Madrid. I had an end of season slump after Rossi got injured from February til the last game of the season, and Cazorla and Cani got annoyed that I wouldn't sell them to Madrid. Got knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by Madrid, and the Europa League by Roma in the Semi-Final. Bought Guarin as backup in January with good success and managed to get a disgruntled Jovetic on loan from Jan til June and he was decent, if not spectacular. I've signed Botia on a free transfer as backup in defence, and Riquelme also on a free for next season, and will have Altidore back from Hull. Not renewing the contracts of Javi Venta and Pires. I'm still fine-tuning my tactics. Has anyone got any tips for the Spanish League in general? Most teams play 4-2-3-1 but I have no striker capable of playing 4-5-1 which would be the natural counter to that. I mostly use 4-4-2 with Rossi as a Deep Lying Forward, Nilmar as Poacher, but switch to 4-2-3-1 with Rossi just behind Nilmar if the front two seem isolated or I feel I can exploit the space between opposition defence and midfield. I try not to cross as Nilmar and Rossi are midgets, so Di Maria and Cazorla are set to Normal and Cut Inside respectively and have Much creative freedom, Direct passing to play through balls. It's the defence I want help on though. How does everyone order their back four? Any preferences on Zonal or Man Marking? Gonzalo Rodriguez disappointed me, with an average ratng of 6.65, so I tried him as Cover in a Cover/Stopper combo for a few months, but it didn't seem to do much. My marking is set to Zonal for full backs (both Automatic), Man for centre backs, and Closing Down as Own Half for all. Line is Normal, either smack in the middle if I want to counter attack away from home, or the last notch on Normal before it gets to Push Up if I feel I can dominate at home.

Benjani and Sylvinho won't be missed by City, but Petrov is a brilliant player, and I'm a little surprised at that, even though it was obvious that Mancini didn't favour him. I suppose his age counts against him too.

What is the point of those horns? Like, who goes to a match, brings a horn, and just blows it all game? Pointless. It's even worse and more annoying than the people I see at Scunthorpe who are fellow Scunthorpe fans who turn up in Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool/Man Utd shirts and spend all match checking for updates on their games on their phone and telling their mates when there's a goal.

Hope that's to your liking. The hair did indeed make it difficult. I'm sure someone can do a better job though.

I hope the Joe Cole to Arsenal rumour is true, as he's great to watch and Arsenal are the Premiership team I favour. Where would he play in Wenger's system? If his best position is behind a striker, as suggested in this threat, and doesn't fit that role for Chelsea, then how will he fit that role at Arsenal, given that Wenger's lined up with a 4-3-3 more often than not. I can only assume he takes the Arshavin/Nasri role on the left when Arshavin isn't fit, with Nasri playing in centre mid, or the Walcott/Eboue role on the right.

I really thought Chopra's goal would be the start of a comfortable Cardiff win but Adam's magical free-kick restored faith and I'm delighted Blackpool won, in a really entertaining game. I went to Blackpool vs Scunny in November, and Blackpool looked awful in the first-half as we went 1-0 up. They got a lucky equaliser, then our goalkeeper got sent off and Adam scored from the resulting free-kick. They went on to win 4-1 and played well, but I'd never have thought on that day that they'd be in the Premiership next season. I'm thrilled for them and Holloway. It restores my faith in football that a small club got so far with team spirit and positive managing, and sets a benchmark that we (Scunny), and clubs like Doncaster and Swansea could potentially emulate.

That's the thought I had in my mind. It seemed like he was fighting tentatively, perhaps wary of Shogun's power from the last fight, and trying to protect his hand and leg from being damaged again. You could see this in the way he switched stances and took Shogun down twice so he didn't have to stand up with him.

Watching this unfold on Soccer Saturday is excellent entertainment. I'm hoping Leeds come up as Elland Road away is a quality away day, though I have a soft spot for Millwall as their fans were surprisingly friendly and complimentary after we beat them in the League One playoff final last year.

Goalkeepers Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green Defenders Glen Johnson, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines Midfielders Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott, Steven Gerrard, James Milner, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Joe Cole Forwards Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent I've excluded Heskey, Upson and Carrick as I feel they've had below-par seasons. I think the WC has arrived too soon to take Hargreaves, Roger Johnson or Adam Johnson. I'd start with: James, Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole Lampard, Barry Lennon, Gerrard, Cole Rooney My reasoning behind this is that the goalkeeper and back four are experienced, and would be a safe option for the group stages. I'd be inclined to give Hart a go in the final group stage match, if qualification is assured by then. Lampard and Barry always work well together I feel. Lennon is the best right-wing option we have, so should start. Gerrard and Cole's positions are less secure, as Gerrard has been below-par, but should start in the group stages due to experience. Joe Cole has had a strong end of season, but if he doesn't impress in group stages then could be replaced. I'd be inclined to give Milner the last half hour of group stage matches to impress, coming on as sub for either Gerrard or Cole. Rooney has the maturity and discipline to play up front on his own, and he and Gerrard have shown good chemistry and link-up play before. If it doesn't work out with Rooney as a loan striker, then Crouch fills that role, and Rooney can play off him in place of Gerrard or Cole, with Gerrard going over to the left if Cole is the one replaced. Bent and Defoe are there as options from the bench if we need a 4-4-2 to chase a goal. I believe those two can play alongside either Crouch or Rooney to good effect. Walcott is there as a last resort subersub, to bring on in the last 15-20 mins if chasing a goal. He's not had a good season, but I've included him on the strength of Croatia away alone. Overall, I'm confident about our chances with whatever squad Capello picks. I think this year we will finally get past the quarter finals, and in Rooney, we have the best striker in the world at the moment. I used to loathe Rooney and think he was overrated, didn't score enough goals, tried to do the job of midfielders for them, had a poor temper etc. but this season he's been a revelation and our World Cup hopes rest on him, largely.

Really pleased Spurs got the win they deserved, and it's good for England that the likes of Defoe, Lennon, Dawson, Huddlestone and Crouch get Champions League experience next season - should they navigate the prelims obviously. They were the better team in every aspect tonight.

Spurs-City has been a really good game so far. I feel Spurs are unlucky to still be drawing, with Crouch hitting the woodwork, Bale's near miss, and King's goal disallowed. Tevez is looking dangerous though and I can see him scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory as Spurs struggle to find the decisive moment.