.verse - Comments

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#288137 Contract Query
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
#288136 Contract Query
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
I factored in most of those situations into the equation, none really played a part in being a definitive factor from what I could see at face value. Of course, it's understandable to see those points playing some part in the decision process generally speaking, but not to the extent that has been witnessed this time around. The difference between me entering contract talks and going back would have one the matter of days, not so much weeks. Which is what baffles me. If he was without a club for awhile I can fully understand far reduced terms from the time of his initial release and the dropping down of divisions. This would have to be the extreme side of the coin.

I'd consider this something that does need to be looked into. Somewhat feels like the AI gets an unfair advantage being able to hustle such deals, particularly when it comes to picking up a still fairly reputable striker; (even if just by name), in a division he's still clearly too good for. A more reasonable balance needs to be struck.
#288106 Contract Query
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
How does a player (w/ agent) determine what contract to request and who they sign for?

The reason I ask is because in my current game (FMC), I looked into signing Fernando Torres (32 years old) with my newly promoted Sunderland side after he was released by Chelsea. When entering contact discussions with his agent his wage requests were around the £50k pw mark with signing/agent fees between the £500k-£1m mark. Seeing this, I had to withdraw my interest because I simply couldn't afford to bring him on board in a rotational capacity. However, a little time passes and I play my first few pre-season games and return to take a look to see if he was still unsigned, after I getting my budget adjusted a little. Turns out he signed for Parma in Serie B on a contact worth £4.2k with no bonus - just a promotion increase and relegation wage decrease clause. How the hell does that work?

I've noticed similar in previous games and but never quite to this drastic extent. Obviously, not every player moves for money, but I feel in this case the difference between the original demands, and to what he signed for, a touch beyond comprehensible. More so when he's dropped down a playing division in the process.

Surely something that should be looked at going forward?
#286083 The Italian Football Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Serie A seems so boring these days.

I looked on ESPN earlier and after a half hour all eight games were still 0-0.

Has it gotten ridiculously defensive the last few years?

No.

The league has somewhat evened out quality wise and there isn't a gulf between the top sides and the rest like there once was. Because of this there can be a bit of a struggle for sides to be broken down effectively. Most games tend to feature sides unable to score more than 1-2 goals a game, blowouts are less frequent. There's only been one scoreless game thus far and that was the Capri-Inter game just recently.
#286082 Capital One Cup 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Nah thats just your imagination, it was all Van Gaal's fault Falcao was shit. He's great now he's at Chelsea, just ask verse.

Well, he's played a whole 73 minutes of league football so far for Chelsea and has the 1 goal. While played near enough the full 90 this evening and was unlucky to have had two chances cleared off the line in the first half, while blazing a good chance over the bar in the second. His link play was solid though, while his movement still looked good and got himself into good areas, which on another day he could have ended with a couple to his name.

A little difficult to form much of an opinion based on what is effectively not even 2 full games of football at the club.

But of course, you know that right...

Anyway, Kenedy and RLC looked excellent. RLC has so much class and really hoping he can break into the side on a more regular basis. Somewhat of a hybrid of Lampard/Gerrard and a touch of Viera with his physique.
#285859 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Gabriel won his appeal.

Bit of a joke really.

Not sure how you can kick out at a player, which was seen by the ref and then have your card revoked. But go on and ban Costa for slapping his arms into Koscielny, which wasn't deemed bookable by any of the officials at the time. Both should have either been banned or had the whole thing tossed out and ruled free to play. I suppose there'll be no action either for Gabriel failing to leave the field of play?

I genuinely don't care that Costa has been banned, he was lucky to not have been sent off originally, but the decision making at the FA and their continuously bending over to the media agenda needs to change.

I suppose the FA are still getting around to viewing Naismiths kick out at Ivanovic the other week...

There is absolutely no consistency with the FA and that's the annoying part.
#285413 Old Trafford Lounge
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Nice to see Hector 'He's not that sort of player' Moreno send another guy off on a stretcher today.

Bitter much?

His tackle on Shaw wasn't horrid. Shaw was incredibly unlucky that Moreno's trailing leg caught the leg Shaw had planted. Had Shaw's foot not been planted in the ground he could have ridden the challenge in the usual way which would have likely meant no injury.

You want to see a bad tackle, go watch Tevez's one where he snapped the guys shin. That was awful.
#285301 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
You just know Bobber and Verse will be on here later to defend Costa.

What's to defend?

Costa needs to focus more on the game at hand than all the other bullshit he gets involved in.

In saying that, Gabriel was stupid enough to get sucked right in. A lack of experience there.
#284757 2015/16 Champions League
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Good win by Juve. Besides Sterlings chances everything was fairly comfortable to deal with.
#284234 FM16 Discussion Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
It doesn't take much, if any more time than it took before. The game just used to have very limited amount of leagues and a lot smaller database back in the days, which made it run faster. You can still do that, but you obviously prefer the more realistic FM world with a bigger database and the cost of that is the longer loading times, which indeed means that playing more than couple of seasons will take quite a bit of time. In my current save that I started as an unemployed manager I have spent 12 days, 7 hours and 34 minutes and I'm in december 2021 (started in december 2014). So that's nearly 2 days for a season, but I'm also playing with like 100 divisions and with the Huge database. And I just break 1500 hours mark today and I'm now at 1506 hours total, which is really sad, especially since I didn't play the game nearly at all for around 2 months or so.

I'm well aware of all that, I've been playing the game since CM 00/01. I understand how it all works. The game these days still takes far longer to progress through than it previously did. Not just because of database sizes etc, but because of how intricate everything also is now. Features like press conferences and the interactive portions, etc. That's not to say there aren't ways to get through the games quicker, FMC is a good option for that (and one I tend to use now). The downside is that it's slightly too arcade-like in areas.

For those who study/work full time etc. That's where it takes too long. The casual player has somewhat been forgotten about, which was the point I was mainly making and produced the comparison to it being a full-time job.
#284027 FM16 Discussion Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
As I've gotten older the inclination to buy the game has dwindled over the years. A lot of that has to do with the direction the game has taken and a lot of what made CM/FM so appealing has been somewhat lost in the bright lights of flashy graphics and tedious gimmicky changes. SI have lost that balance between an engrossing simulator and a fun hassle free (besides when your team is in a slump) experience which was had in the earlier days.

To play the game these days is more or less a full time job, more so if you wish to actually progress through a few years. I missed a few of the versions prior to FM15 because the appeal just wasn't there. I gave FM15 a chance and while I did start a few games and got through a couple of seasons, I still found myself not as engrossed as I would normally be. Classic mode was certainly appealing to myself, and it's been the only mode I tend to play, so it's good to see a more simplified option once more. However, it still has that arcade like feel with the content purchase and whatnot. I'm curious to see what changes are had with the newly named Touch mode which has come in to replace Classic mode. But will it be enough to warrant me spending money on the game initially? Unlikely. Unfortunately, my laptop doesn't have a CD-ROM drive so I'm unable to revert back to some of the older releases to relive. But I feel SI should look back on their roots a little more and realise what made the game what it was. I think a little bit of that has been lost as the franchise has grown.
#284026 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
There isn't a great deal between Moyes and LvG. The change between the two has more or less been a lateral one. In ways, LvG has probably disappointed given the massive money he's spent since joining for little to no real improvement being had.

One thing I'm actually curious to see is what happens when he goes. The side he's built is one that is quite specific for a formation he wants. I don't see a back 3 being used once he leaves, which will mean player roles and positions will change once more, possibly not suiting a few players he's brought in. Will be interesting.
#283837 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Strange comments.

Just an attempt to cover his own arse early if Martial fails to deliver initial performances that justify the fee paid.

LVG looking out for LVG.
#281952 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Hector and Djilobodji are Mourinho's Sidwell and Pizarro for this season, a parting gift to his loyal fans before he resigns.

Hector remains at Reading for the season and Papy will be a short term 4th option because we couldn't get someone like a Varane/Stones. Dare say we'll be back in for Stones during January or next summer. Was really no point in signing another first choice CB if the club really wants Stones as much as it appears they do.

Fairly disappointing transfer window though. Really could have used another quality all-round CM.
#281950 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Do Chelsea really need to have 30 or so players out on loan?

Surely that's a sign of just hoarding players for no real gain.

We use the loan market as a revenue stream in ways. Sign players when they catch the eye, if they progress well they will hopefully end up in the first team. If not, then they'll have been able to showcase their abilities to a wider audience hopefully meaning more interest/higher transfer fee received.

In ways, it's quite an Italian approach. Minus the ability to co-own players.
#281919 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
God, I love how angry you get over someone disagreeing with you on an internet forum.

I've never, ever, seen someone lose their cool so quickly.

I'm not even angry, I just find your constant nitpicking to be rather pathetic.

As you were though.
#281913 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Moses has joined West Ham on loan. Somewhat annoyed by this because he was about our only decent player over pre-season.
#281912 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
No I bought it up because they've both played most of their careers on the wing and have identical strike rates.

According to you though that strike rate means that Martial is shit (because, as everyone knows, if you don't bang in a goal a game when you're 17 then you're shit), so the same must be true for Pedro, who doesn't even have the excuse of being young. I'm just applying you're logic, no need to be so angry about it.

JFC pull yourself together. I didn't say he was shit or even a bad player.

Literally all I posted was his goals per game ratio with a sarcastic "potent" at the end. Given United's need for a striker and this deal happening. Now here you are getting all antsy about it all. To the point where you had to go out of your way to drag Pedro and Chelsea into the whole argument to validate whatever point your trying to make, that wasn't really needed to be made in the first place, as some form of justification that it's an excellent deal or something, idk.

Clearly someone has pissed in your cereal this morning.
#281901 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
What's Pedro's excuse for a similar record?

He's a 19 year old who's played most of his games on the wing so far, even Ronaldo's record wasn't too dissimilar to that.

Not sure what Pedro has to do with this, I must have hit a nerve. More so when one is a winger come striker, and the other is a winger.

But just to humour you (La Liga only);

09/10 - 22(12) - 12 goals 3 assists.
10/11 - 24(9) - 13 goals 7 assists.
11/12 - 20(9) - 5 goals 5 assists.
12/13 - 23(5) - 7 goals 6 assists.
13/14 - 28(9) - 15 goals 8 assists.
14/15 - 15(20) - 6 goals 6 assists.

For a player that has arguably had some of the words best players in front of him over the years, he's still managed impressive numbers. I know it still probably pains you that he's joined Chelsea (which would explain why you brought him up to begin with), while your club has gone and spunked what could eventually be near £50m by reports on a 19 year old kid to play upfront. While he may go on and be a good signing in time (he'd want to be for that money), at this point in time, there's a few raised eyebrows to be had.

Again, no idea what Pedro has to do with mentioning Martial's strike rate. As you were though.
#281658 The Italian Football Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Dreadful game. We were on the back foot from the get go. No midfield control whatsoever, couldn't keep the ball when we finally did get possession and didn't deserve anything. Only came into the game once Pereyra came on in midfield and gave us some much needed drive.

Naturally, I expected the side to struggle a bit early on because our approach is going to be overhauled given the loss of Pirlo and Vidal. However, that could take a while going by what's been served up so far.
#281651 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Has a 1 on 4 record apparently. Potent.

Edit: DM article headline says 1-5 record. Even better.
#281197 2015/16 Champions League
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
It's obviously not the hardest group we could have gotten but we've got 3 very decent teams all of fairly similar standard including the best team in pot 4.

We should be fine, but its definitely not a cake walk.

All things considered it's still a easy group (on paper). United also have to travel fuck all, the second least out of all all the PL sides.

Even though Chelsea got a fairly good group, I'd still have preferred to see one that required far less travelling. Someone put up elsewhere it's about 9,184 miles, nearly double everyone else's travel requirements. Could become a bit of an issue with the PL games sandwiched in between.
#280839 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
You sold a player who is about to break the British record transfer fee (or at least come close to it) less than 2 years later for 15m. In the process you indirectly strengthened a direct rival. It's not a terrible fee, obviously, but players of KdB's potential have been going for a lot more than that for a very long time.

All this because Mourinho doesn't have the patience for anything other than a quick fix. Sometimes young players don't set the world alight straight away, and sometimes they're wildly inconsistent. It's a frustration that United fans know well and something we experienced with Ronaldo and are now experiencing again with Januzaj.

Everyone knew De Bruyne was talented, had you been inclined to you could easily have given him a proper run of first team games (by Mourinho's own admission you weren't going to win the title that year anyway, so there seems no better time).

It's clearly a balls up, whether it costs you more than just financially remains to be seen.

Did nothing I just said compute with you? We sold a player WHO WANTED OUT because he WASN'T HAPPY about NOT BEING GUARANTEED A FIRST TEAM SPOT. Who also had a POOR ATTITUDE in training. What more do you expect? He was given a chance initially. We were aware he was talented (hence why we signed him to begin with) but he didn't wish to stay and fight for a first team place. Just like Lukaku didn't wish to stay and fight for a spot. He could have been an absolute flop at Wolfsburg and it would be a non-issue. Obviously, he's done well in Germany in a side where he was guaranteed a regular position and had little competition for a place. That's football.

What next, you'll start blaming a side like Burnley for only selling a clearly talented John Stones for £3m to Everton when Everton could now be selling him for excess of £30m? Or any other transfer where a player is sold to another club for a small fee, before that club eventually sells said player on again for considerably more to someone else.

If KdB had more fight in him and a better attitude (see Zouma) then he'd quite possibly would have been a regular fixture for us now. Instead, he took the easy route out. It has absolutely nothing to do with Mourinho being impatient or not giving him a shot. In the end we doubled our money at the time when his career could have gone either way.
#280810 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
It's a pretty bad fuck up on Chelsea's part however you wish to paint it.

Mourinho by this point had made his mind up on Mata. Most normal clubs would have just given De Bruyne the game time that he needed. Instead you signed Willian for £30m and let De Bruyne leave for a cut price fee.

Not quite as bad a fuck up as Fergie/Pogba but its entirely similar.

Eh, not really. We let go of a player who 1) wasn't good enough at the time to displace those in front of him on a regular basis. 2) was not willing to tough it out and earn a position, opposed to just being given one as some form of entitlement. Which he was told when Mourinho came back, despite being reassured he would be apart of the first team (which he was), there were no guarantees. This didn't sit well with KdB and he had a sook before requesting to leave. The club made more than double the money we originally signed him for and was good business. No point keeping a player who wanted out, and by all reports was not putting in much effort with training and showed a poor attitude on top.

FWIW. - He started the first 2 games of the season vs Hull and Man Utd, came off the bench vs Fulham and then started the COC games vs Swindon and Arsenal. Came off the bench in three CL games vs Schalke, Basel and Steaua and then started against Sunderland in the next COC match. He hardly shone in any of those games either. Maybe if he had of, he'd have more ground to stand on for a regular spot, but he didn't and opted to take his toys elsewhere.

The KdB of 2013/14 was not worth nearly £60m, nor is the current one tbf. I'll be very interested to see what happens if he gets dropped and has to actually fight for a start, something he's not had to do at Wolfburg.
#280798 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
£60M is fucking ridiculous.

I guess i can't really comment as I've not seen him play, but £60M for a player who couldn't get into Chelsea's first team. Really? I don't know what happened with him at Chelsea but that much money is a massive risk.

Granted he's had a brilliant season in the Bundesliga, but after failing once in English football, will he settle in and do well this time?

He wanted first team reassurance. He wanted to play week in, week out, something that Mourinho couldn't offer. Thus, KdB didn't wish to fight for a position and requested to leave.

£109m for Sterling and KdB.
ONE HUNDRED AND NINE MILLION POUNDS.

Allow your mind to process that.
#280638 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Stones has handed in a transfer request to push through a Chelsea move apparently. Also talk of pushing a deal through for Pogba.

If both are had, that's a damn fine transfer window.
#280263 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
I don't think so. The season where he got 15 goals and something stupid like 16 assists in 27 games was incredible. Considering he was surrounded by shit most of the time it was a magnificent feat and you only have to look at him then compared to now to see that he's far more limited as a player now than he was back then. Maybe to do with the system he's currently in, or maybe that was his peak.

He was the perfect number 10 then and could win a game at any point, I reckon if you put him back there he wouldn't perform as anywhere near as well he done then.

Playing him at #10 these days wouldn't work with the way that Mourinho likes his front players to press.

His issues stem from a combination of a lack of athleticism to effectively play a CM role which requires work both ways. The other is that we play a 4231 which simply doesn't suit some of our players. Playing with 2x CM's just highlights Fabregas's weaknesses further because Matic isn't a true holding player either and can often find himself caught upfield. We'd be a lot more organised in midfield if we switched back to the old 433 system. This gives us that extra CM body that can provide that extra run and cover to help off-set what Cesc lacks. Ideally, Fabregas suit work best working in a similar way that Pilro has played. Sitting deeper, two more mobile players alongside and this allows Cesc the ability to control play and utilise his passing ability.

As long as we continue to play with the 4321 and use 2x CM's expect Fabregas's athletic short comings to remain exposed and exploited.
#280189 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
Pedro, you little beauty.

Ivanovic has been absolute muck so far, surely 3 horrid games on the trot is enough to see Azpi moved to RB and Baba come in on the left. It's actually painful watching him being skinned and burned for pace regularly.
#279830 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871
verse is probably furiously photoshopping him into the above team as we speak.

I'll leave that for the original artist to do. I don't wish to infringe on their fine artistic piece of excellence like that.
#279685 Transfer Rumours 2015/16
.verse
14 years ago
2 years ago
871