Finnegan

That is absolutely superb football

He clearly knows how important these two are to controlling a game. Just blows my mind he doesn't start with them.

1. It's not a red. 2. We've seen Fatawu do worse. Can we just not?

VAR doesn't give that any day of the week. The reaction 100% bought that? It's clumsy and it's a yellow card but that's it.

... That's not a red?

"Has he got the pace, he's up against Vestergaard" Mate, Conrad Logan has that pace.

Good job they're shit too

Our centre backs are so shit.

The commentary duo sound like a couple of amateurs from a YouTube channel with 4 followers

Oh that's definite anyway. I've resigned myself to him playing somewhere. Genuinely think if Carranza had been considered ready to start, Ayew would have been on the wing or something. Marti seems to love him. I can kinda live with him starting instead of Mavididi on current form I suppose. But he's one of the worst 9s we've ever, ever had.

Annoying timing for the international break. Please god let this be the last time Soumare and Skipp start together. And while you're at it oh Holy one, let Carranza score off the bench so Ayew never plays up front again. Jesus that's a grim lineup.

Haha the Cake Tin strikes again

Hahahahahahahaha that whole section about the header bar replacing the nav bar and how revolutionary it is. Brother, that's FM 2012 or whatever. Looks hideous but, yknow, I don't think I've ever used a vanilla FM skin, they're often awful. Also looks like absolutely nothing at all, in the slightest, has changed.

Sort of. You can actually have high morale but have your players look nervous and play poorly once the match day starts. They're happy overall within the club they just aren't coping well with pressure. It's a mechanic that's always been in the game but somewhere around 2020 onwards I feel they started really tweaking the balance for how it works. The last few versions I played (22 and 23) I found towards the end of the season, I'd always be getting players permanently nervous and bottling it as key milestones started popping up. Particularly annoys me when you're like 10 points clear at the top, 25 points clear of 5th and yet the game wants to make it a big occasion and a high pressure match because you can "secure continental competition" by mathematically qualifying for the Europa League in your next match. And it's like... February or something ffs.

I think this is a little bit of a misunderstanding that's been around FM for quite a while and ends up being reinforced by confirmation bias. The AI doesn't actually work you out, it can't, it isn't really that sophisticated. What it does is simply decide how much of a threat it thinks you are based on form and league position and adjusts it's tactical approach to playing you accordingly. So you'll spend the first few months of the season smashing it against teams that are playing with more attacking or balanced mentalities and instructions but the better you do, the more likely they are to play more conservatively and make it harder for you to beat them. There's also your player's hidden professionalism, ambition and pressure stats to consider. The better you're doing, the more expectation and the more pressure there is on you to keep up streaks and keep winning, you'll often find the performance and the body language of your players dipping in games.

"Can't stand him" is a bit over the top but I do wish someone would have a word about the dives. A couple have been really bad.

I don't feel like overrated is the right word. Not sure how to word it, more like over-profiled? I feel like the rugby world, both hardcore and casual fans, pretty much understand the level he was at and the quality he had. He was a genuinely top class winger, he would have at very least got in the squad for most (if not all) Tier 1 nations, even if he didn't start. He'd probably have started for the Lions if he'd never gone to the NFL. But the hype and the profile around him is definitely weird and doesn't match his talent. Like Gav' before him, if he wasn't Welsh, he'd never have that level of celebrity. We just get a bit over-obsessed with our star players and then it sort of seems to spread out to the rest of the rubgy world from time to time. You'd think from the profile he gets that he's on, say, Dupont's level or at very least someone like a D-Mac or a Kolbe and he isn't that, certainly not yet and probably never will be now because of that break from the sport.

JJ starting vs. Canada. It's on BBC Wales or the BBC website if you can't get it.

I don't know if that's true tbh. Last time we got promoted we still had the looming spectre of potential points deductions and two massive loss seasons. Of like 90 odd million each. If we come out of this season promoted having spent very little and having further hugely reduced the wage bill, we'll probably be in a fairly good place to spend.

I feel like you keep digging us deeper in to this hole

So, uh, a bit like Preston?

Monkey Paw moment, Derby go up and we don't.

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