the_bully_wee

I played mine over the weekend there (can't mind when I started) and it was a bit of a sweatfest, but I would imagine I was quite early to the party and therefore the quality was a tad skewed. Managed to win 6/8 which left one dead rubber, and my two losses were a result of Mbappe/Pele loans being brought on. I've primarily been rocking the 4-4-2 and counter-attacking on folk which has been working well for me, also gives you enough out wide that you can stretch a defence if someone's packing it and you have to be more patient. It's not quite as defensively stable as I'd like though, even with both CMs set to stay back (which they seldom do, mostly due to how I play). That Correa card is annoyingly good, I've not used him myself yet but he's a more meta option than Benzema if you're toiling. It's complicated and has taken me a while to understand what's going on; their in-game guide is absolutely horrendous. Basically, you start off in Division 10 and it is a step forward/hold/step back situation for a W/D/L, however once you reach certain checkpoints *I think* you can't then take a step back from it. Winning a streak of games will give you a x2 multiplier and propel you forward two steps for each consecutive win. In each Division, there are Rank III, II and I stages which define how many coins you get with that division's pack rewards. If you win 3 games in your current division during a week, you get what they are calling "weekly rewards", while 7 wins will grant you "upgrade rewards". If you get up to Division 1 and then progress from it, you then enter the Elite Division (not got much of a clue about that) from which you're apparently unable to get relegated until the next season begins and all of the ranks reset. I'm not sure how brutal the rank reset will be each season; I'd imagine everyone will get knocked down a few divisions or something. Much of this could be very wrong but that's what I've made of it all. Yep, unfortunately the only way to get dual entitlement this year is to fork out at least 80 quid for the ultimate edition. A bit of a disgrace when there are so many people, through no fault of their own, unable to get PS5s and who will be looking to get them during the game's cycle. I'm fortunate enough to have one but all my pals are marooned on PS4, so I just bought the PS4 standard edition.

Madness. Also incredibly annoying that you can still use loan cards in friendlies (I believe), which will once again render any future objectives based there very very tedious. I've gone on a few mad win streaks and quickly shot up to Division 2 in UT, and the squads are becoming absolutely ridiculous. I've picked up a few half decent players in packs recently, and my team atm has cost about 150k all-in (most of that being IF Barella), but I've just played a guy with a 5.5m coin team including Neymar, Mbappe and Ronaldo. This is on the PS4 version as well, not even the most relevant iteration of the game. Crazy. Rather deliciously, I won 2-0.

I had this precise problem back when I got my PS5, too, with occasional lag on some other games but regular spells of absolutely crippling lag on FIFA. After trying all sorts, including the modestly successful switch of Wi-Fi band on the PS5, I ended up just buying an ethernet cable which has completely solved the problem. Any time I've used Wi-Fi with the console since, I've experienced similar issues, so I think it's something to do with the Wi-Fi receiver in the actual console. If you can work an ethernet cable in with minimal fuss (I bought a flat one and ran it under the carpets and carpet splitters from router to console), then I would recommend going for that - any connection issues or spots of lag I've had with a wired connection have been because of the router/ISP, and downloads are now comparatively rapid. After about 6 hours of play, I'm not sure what to make of this FIFA; I appreciate a slower pace and more methodical build-up, but it feels a little too 'PES' and I really don't think the general low-scoring nature of it (unless you've mastered the broken lobbed through balls and 30-yard finesse shots) will resonate well with much of the player base. I think we'll see significant early patches to raise the effectiveness of skill moves. Contrary to the above, the best players I've played against have almost exclusively utilised a deep and narrow defence with drop back, and simply picked up from the worst spell of last year's game when the best method of defending was to manually control defensive midfielders and leave a parked-bus back four untouched until absolutely necessary. When the vast majority of folk already have a full complement of 90+ pace defenders to add to that tactic, it's making for an incredibly infuriating experience, and I'm finding myself continually done on the counter because I'm trying to play on the front foot and my 75-pace centre backs are left exposed to aforementioned through balls, and extremely pacy/pricy attackers. I always try to play a narrow 4-4-2 diamond in FIFA when it's competitive, but I'm going to have to change to a wider formation to compete with the game, and my team, in their current states. In saying that, I'm really quite exhausted by UT in general nowadays given the amount of folk who very transparently spend hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds annually to pay to win.

The teams that folk have already are frightening. Third game in, using a non-rare team I put together for 6k, I came up against a guy with Sterling, Alisson and a bunch of the more OP PL starter players (Ake, Raphinha, Oxlade-Chamberlain etc). It's been a similar theme since, even just played guys with Van Dijk (200k+). What planet are these boys living on?

Clyde's highlights, complete with a reverse angle, show that Queen's Park's first goal took a deflection off Elsdon which wrong-footed Parry, before the lucky visitors were then awarded a complete nonsense penalty after some Swan Lake stuff from Doyle.

Expected a great deal more from Queen's today, who were even more sterile than I expected. A squad which should be serving up far better than the fayre on offer this afternoon, though admittedly I think the game was probably one which suited Clyde in the same fashion the Falkirk games did a couple of seasons ago. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, so maybe Willie will have to reach down the back of the couch for another million to add to the budget come January. That was the first game I was able to make since the Dumbarton fiasco and I have to say, the difference the midfield make-up made was night and day. It'll be hard for Gomis and, to an even greater extent, Nicoll, to get back in if Kennedy and Splaine can maintain performances like that. Cuddihy was absolutely outstanding once we gained a foothold in the game, and we should be doing everything we can to commit him to a longer contract as soon as possible. Most of what was good about us today in our build-up came through his bursts forward and feeding of Cunningham's excellent runs into the right channel. That was the first I've seen of Elsdon and, although clearly very meat and potatoes in his style, he looks a massive upgrade on both Page and Rumsby. I thought Balatoni did a lot of stuff well, and was a big presence in QP's box, but is horrifically slow this weather. It was a fairly impressive debut from Deveney, but his recruitment reflects poorly on Livingstone. Robert Jones simply shouldn't be starting games for us, but that's not any new wisdom. All in all, I went along with very low hopes and was pleasantly surprised by how the afternoon went. It's given me a much-needed bit of cautious optimism for the season, but raised the same frustrations again; we've signed so many jobbers, yet are only a few decent quality players off a solid first XI. If our recruitment was better we could be doing, and playing, so much better.

And so return The Spiders to Broadwood; the happiest of hunting grounds for the itinerant Southsiders over the past decade or so. Of course, the Queen's Park which travels to Cumbernauld next week is not the same Queen's Park that we were used to; for all they have the same mute(ant) fans, the same dichromatic hooped shirts and the same cute little Flagge Deutchlands armband, the club's members famously voted to sell its rich history down the river in return for some coolant capitalist's promised millions. The home side come into this - as with almost every game over the past year or thereabouts - in utter disarray, with a risibly abysmal squad which is at times incapable of enacting some of football's most elementary principles. On the other hand, the visitors - though goal-shy in the main - have put their financial doping to good use with the pocket-burning assembly of a squad which should have more than enough about it to achieve its second successive league title this term. This party expects a very comfortable away victory in the style of the real Queen's Park (RIP) at Broadwood, and I expect that few will back against such an outcome. However ugly it gets on the park, at least Clyde and their fans will rightly claim the moral high-ground come 5pm next Saturday, comforted by the knowledge that their club is a storied and sustainable one.

Probably the last time we weren't an absolute bin fire, I imagine

Good lord.

Montrose and East Fife are also teams perennially in that same budgetary bracket and yet both have enjoyed fairly stable, good-quality squads in the main over the last half a decade. It was made abundantly clear that Lennon and Moore identify players of their own accord alongside the recommendations put to them by Diamond, and that Lennon has complete agency over whoever we sign. Recruitment has been a massive facet of management from the year dot and this whirlwind around Lennon's abysmal record there isn't anything new; Alloa fans told us similar stories, we saw a few warning signs in the L2 times and then the last three seasons of recruitment have been shocking in the main. The sad fact of the matter is that DL alone won't get the best out of a budget, whether it's a poor one as it is just now or a better one which would improve the quality of the squad slightly. Other part time managers manage just fine with the same - or a lower - level of support, so I'm not really sure what the ultimate issue is. He has to be doing far better, or perhaps more responsibility has to be given to Diamond in terms of negotiating with identified targets.

The year is 2035. Danny Lennon hands Scott Rumsby his 500th consecutive start, but the veteran centre-back concedes an early penalty in this West of Scotland Conference encounter vs Ardeer Thistle.

"Accountability doesn't lie with me" When are Stirling going to chase this chancer?

Now, now, HD, we've got plenty of those.

Kieran McGrath being shipped oot on loan to Berwick. That one went well.

Just been woken up by an email notification with EA sending me a Pro Clubs beta code (on PS5). Any of you esteemed gentlemen also have one and fancy buddying up for a few games?

Ideally, they'll put even the slightest hint of effort into Pro Clubs or at least return some of the more entertaining elements they've stripped from it over the years, but I won't hold my breath. Unfortunately, every resource EA has will be allocated towards making UT even more of a cesspit or adding more to Volta (who on earth is even playing that?). With the exception of a few ridiculous skill moves, this year's was one of the least flawed gameplay-wise in recent years, so hopefully they can iron things out further. In recent years they've seemed to always want a couple of skill moves to be hilariously OP at any one time, though.

It's probably the same as the bulk of business we do and has come through word of mouth or an agent flaunting a player to any club that'll listen. Hopefully he's some use but our signing history and the testimonies of Inverness fans aren't exactly filling me with optimism on this one.

Old Firm levels of whataboutery there, Michael. Who's yer big team?

QP allowing this kind of prose to appear, unfettered, in their programme is a massive stain on a club seeking to establish itself in the local community and grow its fanbase going forward, in what is growingly a very young and progressive area. A real shame.

Post-match interview bingo; - competed well for long spells - got into areas where we identified we could hurt Montrose - lacked that final pass - dealt with their threats very well - conceded poor goals, which isn't like us - excited to get back on the training pitch to work on what we didn't do well today

Relegate us on the spot.

Having recently become utterly obsessed with a YouTube upload of the 2003/04 season intro to Football Focus, I've ended up in the rabbit hole of the recommended videos below it and just came across this effort. You may all have seen it already, but I thought I'd fire it in here in any case:

From my view at that side of the stand, it looked at least equally as blatant a trip as the one Balatoni committed for the free kick on the edge of the area not long before. Was actually a bit surprised there wasn't a booking issued to MacLean(?), given both players tripped someone with no attempt to play the ball.