Laivasse

Feels like we've played better since the game was obviously over and the pressure lifted. Common sense would suggest that's because Everton took their foot off the pedal, but it's not that - we've suddenly developed close control, technique and confidence all over the pitch (although the passing is not there and we're a man short). We are a weird club.

Agreed. Baker's put in some great blocks in the 2nd half but he was shocking at FB in the first. If we are forced to play these kids, it might be better having Baker at CB over Clark... Clark's suspension will probably make that a reality next game.

I said only KEA deserves credit for his performance but I forgot about Herd, he looked good until he went off...

Look at the swerve on that bastard. KEA is the only player to come out of this game with any credit IMO since he's looked assured in possession the whole time. Looks like he decided that if you need a job done properly you need to do it yourself...

Weimann on for Bannan, I think. No Ireland today, then... hope that doesn't mean another manager is going to treat Ireland like he pissed in the coffee machine.

Jelavic went down easy but Clark made it too obvious. He is always a liability at CB but I can't blame him personally for not being good enough. We let two first team CBs go and got one in, in a situation where the defence already needed strengthening so even Clark's crappiness being shown up is not really Clark's fault. But Lichaj on for Herd... Lambert has thrown in the towel on this one.

Holman on for Fonz is the only change. Not good enough. Why is Bannan still on the pitch?

Not that I expect it to make any difference, but get Bannan and Fonz off. Get Ireland on in an advanced role, bring Holman on the wing and move Herd central to where Bannan was. At least do something. We are innately shit but we're also set up shit right now.

Bollocks. We've already been torn to bits.

That sums up N'zog. Fantastic 70 yard dribble, straight into a brick wall. Still you have to ask questions about who was showing or shouting for it after he did that work.

Shocking game for Given. TBF though, Fellaini should have left him no chance anyway. Our fullback positions may as well be empty and Clark just can't handle Fellaini (although I have my doubts Clark can ahndle anyone in the Prem). Open the damn chequebook, Lerner.

Not a sniff in 25 minutes. Bannan looks lost and has had zero impact. Herd is tackling excellently but what's he doing out wide? Why Ireland hasn't started I'll never know... Many frustrations.

Shite. Ridiculous defending. He had all the space in teh world.

Onowaiz. I definitely liked FFII a ton more than FFI. You really need your retro 8-bit goggles on to be able to enjoy either, though. Also, while that price is nuts, I think we'll be seeing more of this sort of thing as some games fade into antiquity. I remember reading some interesting articles about how certain old games are getting lost to the mists of time. Seems like that should apply less to such a well reproduced title as FFII, but then I guess the US NES version was never officially released so you get serious bragging rights if you're a collector.

I picked up this game after cancelling another preorder and I'm delighted I did so. Hong Kong looks fantastic, the story is solid, it's pretty addictive and the combat is deeply satisfying. Like leemond, though, I have a feeling the story can be rushed through pretty quickly so I'm hanging back and spreading myself over a bunch of side activities. Also there are some teething problems with the PC version they need to sort out, mostly down to dodgy camera while driving. I haven't found much use for guns yet. In fact of all the game mechanics, the gunplay alone feels kind of janky. I've found a couple of guns in lockboxes but finding them didn't end well for me. When I found the second one I thought it would be a great idea to massacre one of the unarmed hacking-site gangs with it - that just made everything way harder than it had to be, since the police started on me for the very first time outside of a mission or hijack. I had to run off, come back and reattempt it bare handed. TBH that suits me fine because I'm having way too much fun beating the crap out of triads with my bare hands, in ridiculously brutal ways.

They were mainly from Lowton I think. Fullbacks are our problem.

Clark's just not good enough. It was partly his silly fouls that broke our possession flow in the first place, then failing to win properly in the air for the FK cost us the goal. Assuming he will improve significantly, he's still a liability until that happens. We need more good defenders badly.

KEA and Ireland are looking good. We're having problems getting the ball off of Diame whenever he has it, though.

In the course of reading up on this I found some comparison screens for you console guys. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=487361 360 seems to have much nicer visuals but I'm not used to console comparisons. PC version looks very slick indeed, however, with an official Hi Res texture pack available as free DLC.

€50 for me in Ireland :/ Also I'm waiting on a preorder cancellation from greenmangaming before I buy anything new. BTW giantbomb's quick look on the PC version made it look pretty appealing.

The handheld counterpart to this was released on Nintendo DS (but not a 3D game, just straight DS) quite a long while ago, although that may have been import only. I heard from a guy who said it was great - blown away by the art style even on DS, and also said that the 'Wizard's Companion' book was a fantastic addition.

This one looks kind of derivative, but also kind of entertaining and I hear the PC port is supposed to be really good. Once it drops in price a little I'll probably start eyeing it up more seriously.

Hell no! Well,what train should I/we get ? Buying Amazon gift cards sounds like a good idear.I will check it out. @ Juju.Thanks for that info as well. Iwill check out what you suggest as well.I am definately going to check out that CEX store in Tottenham and I intend to take a look at PC Plus in Oxford St. Steam is no good to me because the sort of games I like are not on steam.Here is a list of my top 5 games ( in no particular order ) Panzer Corps Close Combat:The Longest Day Steel Panthers The Blitzkrieg series Civilization 1 and 4 So, now you can see why I am after older games and also you should be able to see why Steam is not suitable. Have you tried Good Old Games?

In London, Tottenham Court Road Computer Exchange used to be your best bet - I don't know if it is any more since I've been away for years. They even used to have a retro gaming section in the basement. I never visited the one in Brum. Almost all my PC gaming buys nowadays are digital downloads or ordered through Amazon for physical copies. EDIT: changed the link, the store I was thinking of with the cool basement was the Rathbone Place store.

The narrow attacking style is best suited for us at the moment. None of our wingers except for Albrighton play all that wide and Albrighton seems to have lost the ability to beat fullbacks anyway. We're also lacking a physical presence to win long balls or crosses into the box. Feeding Bent, Holman and N'Zog through the centre with ground balls from Ireland and KEA would seem to be our best bet. The biggest problem is at the back and to a lesser extent at DM. If Vlaar gets injured I don't think we have a single defender who's much good at all, which is doubly worrying because without quality FBs in particular we will ship a lot of goals this season and may also struggle to make the narrow attack work.