The true international manager experience

Just thought I'd report on my current game as England manager. My laptop is so old and slow that it takes in excess of 30 mins holidaying between international fixtures (if they're around a month apart, if they're further apart it takes even longer) so it forces a limit on how often I can play matches. I find this useful in a way because this means I can physically limit how much I play the game rather than just my willpower. If I know it will take at least half an hour before I can even pick my squad then I know there's no point in playing unless I do all the holidaying when I'm away for a while. This way I can limit myself to playing a game or two every 2-3 days and consequently I'm not as obsessed as I would normally be and the urges to play fade quite quickly. This is useful for me as I'm at uni with a thesis to write and if the option to play all the time was there it would be impossible to resist. Also it makes it a more realistic experience as you feel the sense of not having the day to day interaction a club manager does like a real international manager would have. Any thoughts?

Just had a cracking international week. Started off with a 3-0 away to San Marino (typical England score) and my strikers Andy Carroll and James Vaughan both got injured. Rooney had already missed the squad through injury and next on my list was Darren Bent, also injured, and all the other decent strikers apart from Defoe were unfit. So I thought I'd give Defoe a call up, only for him to reject the call up saying he should've been in the original squad. At this point I was looking at the player interaction to see if I could tell him I'd never pick him again (I don't like him IRL nor on the game anyway) but was disappointed to find there was no option. However the following day I get a media question asking if I would select him again. As I was annoyed with him I went for a negative response, but not the most extreme one as I didn't want to burn my bridges entirely, to which his response was to retire from international football at the ripe old age of 30!

Anyway on to my next game with a makeshift attack away to Macedonia, who had already got a draw at Wembley. Within 10 mins I'm 2-0 thanks to two 25 yard screamers from Pandev, Downing equalises with a flukey deflected shot only for another 25 yard screamer to fly in, and we're 3-1 down with 20 mins gone. A bollocking followed at half time and within 5 mins Stevie G blasts in a Stevie special. He then knocks in a cross to level the score, before Downing scores a peach of a 30 yard free kick with 15 mins to go. I anticipate Macedonia going 4-2-4 and we look to be dealing with it until in the 90th minute they equalise with another fantastic finish. I change to 4-2-4 and then in the fourth minute of injury time their defender is sent off for a two footed tackle, and Downing completely overhits the free kick and the whistle goes.

In short I see where the much vaunted 'international manager experience' SI advertised comes from, and I have to say well done SI it's been pretty realistic so far!