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And I love it to bits but it does make you do some other quite strange things and, unsurprisingly for a game that's nearing its 20th birthday, has not aged all that well in a few respects. But yes, if you want a pirate game that doesn't suffer from also being a Ubisoft game and are happy to do a bit of fiddling to get it working properly on a modern system, you'd struggle to do much better than good old Sid.

Black Flag is the best in the series because it's the least like an Assassin's Creed game. When it plays like a big budget remake of Sid Meier's Pirates it's good, then it remembers its Assassin's Creed obligations and has you climb towers to paint the map with pointless collectibles/tail some **** at a slow walking pace for five minutes/traipse around a sterile lab environment in the modern day sections etc.

For a lot of our fans the most important thing about a manager is whether or not they can imagine going for a pint with them

I didn't think it was a foul either but the thing for me is, even if it was, there is absolutely no way a penalty is a proportionate punishment. I'm biased because I don't like penalties at all but there are so many minor incidents like the one last night, or really unavoidable "deliberate" handballs where the defender just gets the ball blasted at them, where I think it's insane that because it's taken place inside the box the outcome is essentially an 80% chance of a goal. Obviously I have no idea what the alternative would be and for situations like DOGSO then it's fair enough.

Second half was pretty rank and massively fortunate with the penalty but first half was the best we've been by a mile and maybe you can afford to be a moments team when you have as many players capable of producing those moments as we do. We have a chance which is not something I thought watching the first four games

I love Hummel in a way that is probably quite unhealthy

Structurally and mechanically it is very similar. The combat is still broadly about patience, dodging and stamina management, and you still progress through the game by navigating labyrinthine dungeons full of tossers and then fighting against one big tosser as many times as it takes for you to learn their attack patterns. If you fundamentally don't enjoy Souls combat or level design then I think the odds are fairly good that you might not enjoy this either. And of course, all of the classic From Software idiosyncrasies are present and correct, like lore that is doled out almost exclusively through item descriptions and cryptic dialogue followed by weird laughter, or side quests/entire areas of the game that you'll unknowingly lock yourself out of because you didn't attack an illusory wall in some hidden corner of the map and peform a specific series of emotes while disconnected from the internet and Mercury is in retrograde etc. Where I think it differs and is a lot more accessible is that, while the problems the game presents you with are as challenging as usual if not moreso, it also gives you a much wider range of tools with which to solve them. Magic is very strong and versatile, there are NPC spirits you can summon and upgrade to help with tough encounters, stealth is a viable approach in a way it isn't really in other From games apart from Sekiro and you have a horse which allows you to bypass and/or trivialise a lot of fights. And although the combat is broadly quite familiar, there are things like jump attacks, guard counters (block an attack and immediately respond with an extra strong one of your own) and certain special weapon abilities that if used smartly can basically bend most of the enemies in the game over your knee. Most importantly, the fact it's open world means if you run into something on the main path you can't handle or is obviously meant for a higher level character, you can just turn around and do something else rather than just slamming your head into the brick wall until either it breaks or you do - there are a couple of pretty bruising encounters early on that are intended to demonstrate that exact thing. Go somewhere different for a bit - and there is no shortage of alternate paths, caves, catacombs, ruins and so on to explore - then come back later stronger and wiser for the levels and loot you acquired. It is definitely not for everyone and there's no way to say this without sounding like some zen weirdo but I think the Souls games cease to be really "difficult" if you just change how you think about dying in them. Cycles of death and rebirth are baked into the lore and I think there is a reason the message displayed is "You Died" rather than "You Failed" or "Game Over" - dying is not a fail state but something your character is expected to experience as part of their journey, just as you are expected to experience it as part of the process of mastering the game. All of which is to say - you might like it, you might not

I'm not sure it is a great deal like saying that but regardless, as I think is the case for pretty much every Leicester fan I have very little idea how good Kristiansen is or will become - I can nonetheless see the train of thought that might see Juve being interested in him as a makeweight. What I'm not saying is that I think he is definitely good enough for Juve because I don't, in the same way that I don't think KDH is definitely good enough for Chelsea and yet there he is, presumably in part because he has just enjoyed a good season under the manager they have appointed.

Immensely satisfying coming back later in the game and teaching that big golden bellend a lesson

He seemed Bologna quality who finished three points behind them so I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that they'd be interested in him as an alternative to Cambiaso - who also spent a season on loan at Bologna prior to breaking through at Juve - particularly given they've appointed Motta

Glad you enjoyed, it's a masterpiece. Official cross-platform mod support coming in September so if you find yourself hankering after a second playthrough you should be able to do so with more classes, spells, equipment etc.

Aside from maybe a couple of Champions League games this tournament is the first I've actually watched Olmo and he looks outrageous

It's given as a foul and Madders' resulting free kick sneaks in at the far post, deceiving Danny Ward

Set piece coach being confirmed is great news, particularly one as well regarded as Hughes appears to be. If he was a Brentford target as reported then I think that bodes well as they seem to take that sort of stuff very seriously.

I literally did not say it's OK, I said that's why people do it. If you want to invent and dismiss arguments I haven't made then by all means crack on, I was merely trying to explain to someone from a country where it is far easier to legally access sports why it is that we get so many people asking for streams.

As I believe I've explained to you previously, people ask for illegal streams because in this country even if you spend thousands of pounds annually on TV subscriptions there is no legal way to watch the vast majority of games unless you physically attend them, not because they are immoral thieves

I would imagine so yes, best of luck to them

Yes? I know you love to play the contrarian but nobody has suggested otherwise I don't think. It was stated that Bournemouth's owner has improved them and those are some examples...

Got another year left at Forest according to the Telegraph

While I can understand that point of view, I think it's easy for him to say as someone in charge of Real Madrid. It's fine telling Modric, Kroos, Vini Jr., Bellingham etc. just go out there and express yourselves lads, or for him to eschew a defined tactical identity in favour of being more flexible/adaptable, because they are supremely gifted and intelligent footballers who can do basically anything. Most teams and players I think benefit from having a clear plan to follow, and I've also heard it argued (can't remember who it was, mind) that this is why although Ancelotti is obviously a phenomenal manager, he has had relatively little success domestically compared to other managers because his methods apply better to knockout tournaments than they do to league campaigns.

I will be intrigued to see what's going to happen with Ricardo and Winks, who I think you could make a reasonable case for being two of our best players but who thrived last season in pretty specialised roles as part of a team that dominated possession every week. If we do end up in a 3-4-3 or similar then that strikes me as being bad news for both of them because I'm not convinced Ricardo is physically capable of getting up and down the flank these days (and maybe Justin isn't either) and similarly, is Winks mobile or athletic enough for a midfield two given we're likely to be without the ball most of the time? I could see the two of them in midfield together with someone more combative - whether that's a new signing along the lines of Florentino Luis or we can get Wilf to sign up and return to his old ball-winning ways - but then you're either sacking the wingers off or it's a back four. The former I think is obviously a bad idea considering we've got Mavididi, Fatawu and now also Reid, and if the latter then not only would the Okoli signing seem a bit unnecessary, you also have to wonder where that leaves Vestergaard and Coady who I think would really struggle unless in the middle of a three. **** knows.

On pitch - highest ever top-flight points total and joint-second best league finish (pretty remarkable given they went nine winless at the start of the season and didn't win a game until late October) while playing very good football, Iraola a manager of the season nominee and has signed a new contract, invested in promising young talents like Kerkez, Scott and Zabarnyi, if they lose someone like Solanke or Kerkez they will make a huge profit in the process Off pitch - new training ground in development ready for use early next year, plans for a new stadium with potentially double the capacity of the current one, academy upgraded to Cat 2 status

Yeah there are some very average players who've managed double figures over the last few seasons - Solanke, Mateta, Wood, Jackson, Hwang, Morris, Adebayo, Rodrigo, Almiron, Awoniyi, Pukki, Antonio, Dennis. It certainly shouldn't be beyond either our current strikers to match that sort of output or our recruitment team to find someone who can within our budget.

You can't seriously be telling me you're not keen to see us complete more great value deals for players who Know The League like Perez, Vestergaard and Ward