Grounded Wingman

Isn't this Man City's highest ever Premier League finish too? Fickle, fickle fans. But it's all about the trajectory of the results though, isn't it? I expect I'll see Garry Cook's mug on my television, spouting more drivel about a sacked manager, soon enough.

Football: Liverpool - my main team. I have followed them since I was 8 and my gran came back from a holiday in Spain and gave me a Liverpool shirt (I've never asked her why she bought an English club shirt and not a Spanish one). St Johnstone - born in Perth, lived close to Perth for 30 years. Saints are my home town team and I was a season ticket holder for a number of years (it's not as if I could afford to go to Anfield every other week). Norwich - Since I moved last year they are my local team. Barcelona - the history, the style, the deal with UNICEF. Pure class. Tennis: For years it was Pat Rafter. These days it's Andy Murray. Snooker: Back in the 80's it was Cliff Thorburn. Now it's John Higgins. For US Sport I don't really follow much, but have 2 teams I have a soft spot for thanks to EA Sports games in the 90's. The first is Phoenix Suns from NBA Live (Charles Barkley), and I remember Hakeem Olajuwon from Houston Rockets too. The other is Kansas City Chiefs from John Madden.

My football game playing history is as follows: Atari XE - Emlyn Hughes Soccer, which was awesome. There was also a built in game just called Soccer, which was ridiculously addictive but a turn was done in stages (I remember my brother telling me that the players turned like a London bus). I had a few football games on my ZX Spectrum but the only one that I really loved was Footballer of the Year. You played as 1 player and didn't play a full game, you just got 1 to 4 chances (decided at random apparently) to score with 2 defenders coming at you and a keeper in the sticks. I also remember a game called Soccer Sixes - six a side and Steve Nicol was legendary. My Atari ST was where I formed my love for Championship Manager (now Football Manager) including CM Italia. My brother was more of a Premier Manager fan because he liked sorting the sponsorship, ticket prices etc. I also remember being vilified because I preferred Kick Off 2 to Sensible Soccer, but Sensi was too easy to play. I remember making a bet with one of my friends that I could turn the TV screen off and still beat the computer. Final score was 8-3 to me. Player Manager was a spin off of Kick Off 2, where you performed a managerial role and could also play as either just yourself (player manager) or the whole team. Final Whistle was a super little add on to Kick Off 2 as well - bringing in European teams and competitions. Console wise I remember Libero Grande, Euro 96 (where it was incredibly difficult to score) and Worldwide Soccer on the Sega Saturn, as well as your FIFA's and Pro Evo's.

Didn't Babel have a talk with Benitez about what he needed to do to get in the team? My guess is that Rafa's answer was not "Just bitch and whine on a Spanish radio program".

I think the Premier League rules state that all the club's prior games that season are voided if they goes to the wall, so it'll be results based on the 19 teams in the league. The Premier League won't fund Portsmouth for 2 reasons. 1. It sets a dangerous precedent and every club would be wanting them to pony up and cover debts. 2. It is an incredibly egotistical, arrogant and self-righteous group. It would be tantamount to admitting they made mistakes in how they set up and conduct the "fit and proper persons" test and the other regulations they have. I can't imagine perfect Premier League admitting they have made mistakes. Surely Portsmouth can't get a takeover through in a week (I thought any prospective owners would need 2 weeks due diligence anyway) so I reckon it's either liquidation or administration for them.

To get your tackle success rate up you should probably go to easy tackling - that way players will only go in when they feel they are certain to win the ball. If you have a few players on hard tackling (especially in midfield) then it stands to reason that they will lose out a decent amount of the the time in 50/50's and they will also be going in for tackles where the opposition are favourite to win the ball.

I think you need to click on the team name drop down, and team options/team settings at the bottom is where you set can ask your assistant to take charge of friendlies.

Should? Nobody should be top 4. You have to earn it and Man City have earned nothing. Plus, shouldn't Hughes get the blame for the piss poor defence? He spent £40M on Toure and Lescott - neither of whom were ever any fan-dabi-dozi shakes defensively, and let Richard Dunne leave - who has been superb at Villa.

Well, come on, it's not as if Rage maintaining their career is as difficult as being picked off the street and doing karaoke for 4 months.

I thought I'd fix this for you, as everyone knows there is only 2 Andy Goram's (greatest football chant ever!!!!)

Mancini isn't the answer. His success was handed to him at Inter because of the match fixing scandal, and I don't see that he brings anything other than being a more high profile global name for attracting players. Worrying times at Liverpool, I'm guessing it'll be a quiet January in the transfer market, but Rafa is bulletproof - it would cost Harry and Lloyd £20M+ to get rid of him and his staff, which I doubt they can afford.

Like the German arguement.. he's up against Casillas. I know, but this is a discussion about the best footballer who was never a regular for his country. It doesn't say that they had to be deserving of a place in the team.

Fernando Redondo, Alan Hansen and Steve Nicol all got less than 30 caps for their countries. Hansen is especially weird, given that he was arguably the best centre back in Britain for a number of years. Theo Snelders - who was awesome for years at Aberdeen in the late 80's/early 90's only got 1 cap for Holland and Pepe Reina, who is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, has only got 19 caps for Spain.

FC Portsmouth of Portsmouth.

The best CV in football belongs to Alex Ferguson - decades of success at both Aberdeen and Man Utd. Current players who have represented the most big clubs is a difficult question. Figo would have been in with a shout before retiring. A lot of the Ajax team from the early 90's have been round the grounds with 3 or 4 big teams too.

If your girlfriend kept saying she was going to marry you (back when she was still hot), then fucked off with a Spanish bloke for a year, then started dating a fat Geordie and really let herself go, before going out with the guy you don't like.

Pfft, so much ignorance about the awesomeness of the mighty Saints of Perth. 1: St Johnstone 2: Celtic 3: Rangers 4: Aberdeen 5: Hibs 6: Hearts 7: Dundee Utd 8: Motherwell 9: Hamilton 10: Kilmarnock 11: St Mirren 12: Falkirk Hopefully McInnes stays as I'm fed up of losing managers to better things. In all seriousness I'd expect Saints to be flirting with getting into the top 6, rather than worrying about relegation. I fancy Celtic to topple Rangers, especially if they balls up the Chamions League qualifiers and can concentrate on the SPL from September. Hearts finally have a decent man in charge, so he'll be sacked by September. Will be interested to see how McGhee and Hughes do, and how United replace Zaluska. Good season ahead I reckon.

I didn't know you were Scottish

When do the home-grown regulations come in? I would think that Liverpool are a bit short on that front (from the first team squad I think it's only Gerrard, Carragher and, in a year, Insua), which will mean more English developed players will need to be signed, unless there are players waiting to come through the ranks.

There full team will be more like: Casillas Ramos Garay Pepe New Left Back New Central Midfielder Ronaldo Kaka Sneijer/Robben/Van der Vaart Villa Huntelaar I would reckon Raul will still be a first teamer, unless Perez and/or Pellegrini wants to get lynched by Madrid fans.

Remember folks, this guy is a professional. He shouldn't be wearing white then.

That's a bit overkill on the striker front, considering it'll only be 1 up front unless Benitez either changes system or reverts to heavy rotation. One decent striker, who is happy to play backup, is a must, any more and there is danger of another Robbie Keane situation. Having said that, it's catch 22. If the only striker signed is Tuncay, and Torres gets injured then we are fucked. If a big name striker signs and doesn't play he'll be crying about it (and being 'misquoted') within a few months. Somebody said the me the other day that they'd love to see Owen back, and then they spat the dummy when I said that Owen is a little shit and I'd rather have Crouch back.

The big plus for Valencia is that Villa and Silva have both said that they are happy to stay (as has Albiol). This gives the club a bit of negotiating strength because if the players don't spit the dummy then the club can pretty much still name their price, regardless of their financial situation.

"For the good old American life. For the money, for the glory and for the fun.....mostly for the money" Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit

"I am your father" - James Earl Jones/Dave Prowse - Empire Strikes Back.