forameus

But seriously, lucky as f**k and that's all it is. Just a pity I was on the companion app so didn't get a walk out. Saw the flash and assumed I'd got FUTMAS or something since I'd never seen it before. Maldini though...ooft. Not sure what to do about him now. He's one of the most expensive cards in the game, could pull in close to 3m for him and basically be set for the rest of the game (or at least a few months before I start to piss it away and hit a market crash). But I played him in my WL games last night and he is just so good. Had him on 18 but he seems that much better here. Could sell him and spend 600k on a shitty icon in the hope I can upgrade in a later SBC. First world problems, and I fully expect the "you're a pure ****" to rain down EDIT: Looking at reddit, the drop rate for that SBC seems to be really high. Probably no more than usual, but wouldn't be surprised if they're kicking it up before slamming it back down once they've hooked a few fish.

I'm not really a big fan of bringing religion into football, but is there any chance of us becoming big Mormons? Might mean we can send Storey out on some missionary work to some hellhole to get him the f**k away from the team. Got to be honest, if Caldwell is sticking to "his" playing style, then I'm not really seeing much difference between him and Archibald.

Managed to get a few hours last night to batter through a few more WL games. Think I ended up playing about 16, managed to get 8 wins by about 11 last night with the final one on penalties. Gets me a (shite) red player from player picks and a few packs, so not too bad for a few hours work. I'd already done Gomez's FUTMAS SBC, and saw Callejon. Very tempted, even though it'd be expensive, it'd be an upgrade on the one I had. Still, running low on coins, so I guess I'll just do the other FUTMAS SBC first while I think about it

There's going to be the usual absolute fury towards EA, but you have to hand it to them on things like this. They're not afraid to make universally unpopular decisions while sitting on their enormous throne of money. Ha...just saw the requirements. Even just concentrating on squad ratings, that's an 85, 2 86's and an 87. Fucking lol. Looks like a very good card, but is it really going to be worth the near 800k you need to spend to get him? If you're in the rarified air of having that kind of coin you could probably pick up an icon that would perform just as well.

Thinking outside the box a bit, but maybe an online only game in the mould of GTAO/RDRO? To their credit, every time they get a throbbing stauner for microtransaction money, they ally it with a meticulously detailed single player game, but I do wonder what they could produce if they concentrated their entire efforts on an online only world.

Next one will likely be GTA6 in about a million years. Financially they'll still be making a killing off of GTA Online, and Red Dead Online will probably go the same way. Amazing what a bit of good faith can do for you when you're probably selling just as predatory microtransactions as companies like EA.

Even Belotti's NIF is brilliant, and that's something ridiculous like 1.2k. I've got his IF now, find it far better than either Immobile or Mertens IF. Imagine that'll be it for me unless they release any further IFs until TOTY/TOTS comes out.

I think I finally "get" this game, much in the same way it took me quite a while to get into the Witcher. Spoilers below for end of chapter 3 start of 4.

Yeah...I wouldn't. I found that I had a lot of players sitting in the club that I could use to knock off a lot of the really expensive options, so I maybe ended up doing it for around 150k or something. Better than the 350k+ it wanted from scratch. Have to say, not impressed with the card at all. Him being a ST really doesn't fit him at all, and I've moved away from using an AMC, so I can't really use him that way either. I've shoehorned him into a 3-4-1-2, but suspect he'll get relegated to super sub for the weekend. At least that way I can put him out on the wing where he belongs and let me have someone with upper body strength in the middle.

To be honest, he's made one sub appearance and that's it. Not even a particularly long one. I only really did him because I wanted the packs, and after packing Robertson I have the intention of ending up with a decent Scottish/Premiership side at some point. When you've already got Belotti, Insigne and Dzeko as Serie A options, and Gignac off the bench, he isn't getting much of a sniff.

Be interesting to see how long they stick with it. We all know the abuse Hello Games got with NMS, but at least they've stuck by the game and ended up releasing updates that turned it into something markedly better. They kind of had to though, not sure Bethesda will care as much.

I'm trying to avoid doing SBCs for players I have no intentions of using. I've done the Premiership SBC twice to get Morelos and Tierney as I can see myself using them as subs. Laporte...not so much. Hopefully saving what I have in my club for something Serie A related, or at least someone I can link in. Talking of League SBCs, finishing Serie A for a second time got me gold - TOTGS Jordi Alba and Handanovic basically paid for the entire lot when I packed them. Not too much out of the Premiership one unfortunately - Silver Player packs have potential, but I got absolute shite out of them.

Had a decent run of it last night on Rivals with what seems like a pretty settled team. Absolutely loving the James Forrest IF card, haven't played with any player who seems as quick or as agile on the ball. Usually bring him on at half-time for Suso and watch as he absolutely tears up their left back. Belotti continues to be an incredibly cheap and incredibly good option up front. Had a few glorious comebacks too. One guy was 2-0 up (undeserved) and started pissing about trying to waste time. Passing it about his defence, holding on with the keeper. Intercepted one pass, got a goal back, then brought on Forrest on one side and SBC Tierney on the other. Tide well and truly turned, got it back to 2-2, and he started getting a bit erratic. 3-2 on the hour mark, shushes brought out (only fair) and an immediate rage quit. Beautiful. Only beaten by the guy who was 3-1 down, but brought it back to 4-3. Shush all the way around the pitch in a terrific display of hubris. Hit back almost immediately, then got two in the final 4 minutes. I usually skip all celebrations and replays, just makes them all the sweeter when you fire them back.

Yeah, there's probably a lot more to it, but it doesn't look good at all. Surely a suspension is on the way while it's investigated, and if he's found to have done any of what it looks like, he's well and truly done. Perhaps turn out for the lower league side in a few years, but he'll be done at this level for a long time.

Yeah, unless there's a massive climbdown and it turns out everyone's made it all up, Quitongo is absolutely gone, and can have no complaints. Shame, as he's looked like the sort of player we needed in the spells I've seen him (albeit limited). With Storer though...f**k it, what could go wrong? We're now very light up top, get him tried. Tell him if he gets sent off again the SAS will come back.

Welcome to the modern gaming world. If you're not being overly effusive or overly critical, to the point of becoming a seething mess, you're not doing it right.

I think pack weight has been slightly higher this time around, I'm not buying that it's purely luck. I've managed to get Pogba twice, and he's basically kept me afloat with the near million coins that brought in. Plenty of other big pulls too, only really missing an Icon, which is obviously massively rare. After the arse collapsed out of my team post-WL exploits, and I had to play a ridiculous number of games to keep at Elite 1 in Rivals, I've decided that the IF players just aren't worth the extra. 88 Immobile, 87 Pjanic and 88 Koulibaly all out the door, netting me about 450k. Keeping Szczczczczceznee (he seems worth it) and Suso (bae). Won't really miss Pjanic and will pick up regular Koulibaly to fill that gap, but who should I get to replace Immobile? Playing a 3-4-2-1 with Insigne and Suso playing close to him, and currently have Dzeko CL as a backup (as well as Gignac as a supersub). Thought of just having Mertens and Immobile NIF and rotate around, maybe even Higuain and Belotti too. Save myself for when the really big cards come out.

My memory of Osbourne was from his return when he was with...I want to say St Mirren? He went into a 50/50 with the Osman, who essentially replaced him, with all the force of two buildings hitting each other. He came off worst and went off injured. To be fair to Archibald, his signings weren't uniformly terrible, but his choice of forwards was consistently dreadful. He could've signed players he sold for 10 million a piece, but it still wouldn't change that he signed Ade Azeez and Matthias Fucking Pogba.

Thought I'd get a kicking on player picks for only getting Silver 2, and so it proved. Got some 80 rated Serie A player that isn't even close to good enough to bother any of the players I already had. Triffic. Nothing much from the packs either, but at least it fires a few more mid-rated Golds into the club for SBCs. Rivals rewards were not much better. Managed Elite 1 in Division 6 and took the untradeable packs. Started off great with a 90 rated Courtois, who will be great for SBCs. Got absolutely f**k all in the other 5 packs though.

Probably because he was lying to himself, and what he really wanted to say was that he'd love to pump him. Was shite though. I imagine we'd just be a different kind of shite. I think Caldwell has us playing slightly better, but more to the level where we're getting back to the point of "playing-quite-well-but-still-losing" rather than just losing. It's not going to stop the short-sightedness you usually get though, because if you sack someone who deserves to be sacked, and the next guy isn't much better, then obviously the first guy wasn't quite as bad as he (obviously) was. Or something.

It would be to his credit if that were the case. "Here Gary, we should do some kind of team-building exercise, really bring the squad together?" "Eh? f**k off. I'm going to get the SAS in to kick f**k out of them" That article a few pages back was gold. It was like a dundeebarry skit come to life.

I always used Insigne's base card, because it was a fraction of his CL one, but after feeling flush and realising there wasn't really another option at LW/LF, I splashed out. It's hard to tell if there's a massive difference between them, but he definitely seems that wee bit better. I think they're a nice to have at this stage to hold value in your club. The highly rated ones will likely always be valuable unless there's a super crash, so it's nice to have a player you can probably punt for coins and roll back to the base card in a pinch. If you're short on coins though, I don't think you'll really lose much using the base. The real value will be in the low-rated CL players, as there's always going to be SBCs that need them. Actually, I just checked what actual difference there is to stats between the cards. I know they add one to every face stat, but there really isn't too much difference even on the base attributes. Insigne has one more on a smattering of stats, and nothing that really changes any of the weaknesses he has. Think I might get rid, go back to the 88

I've been told the beta will get wiped, so not too bothered about doing much in it. Will get back onto the single player tonight after spending the weekend with FIFA - the gaming equivalent of repeatedly jamming your thumbs in a doorframe.

Not sure if he's still available to do, but if you've got a Serie A team, Kevin Prince Boateng is a pretty good option. Sitting him in beside UL SMS, keeping IF Pjanic out of the team at the moment. Quite a big outlay for him, but worth it if you've got a few high-rated players sitting in your club.

I've never watched any of the weekly shows, just getting updates from Bleacher Report and then various podcasts. There really is no need to watch them given they always do pretty good promo videos before matches on PPV. The clips WWE put up on Youtube are enough to get the feel for any segments that are actually worth watching after the fact.