Europa League? where are you?

[git2thachoppa]

Doing a Best Ever Premier League XI kinda reminds me of Championship Manager days. I remember in 01/02 once Man Utd signed Arsenal's Thierry Henry on a free transfer to create the horrifying power trip strike force of Henry and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

In typical 01/02 fashion, they couldn't score any goals.

Here's my XI:

--------------van der Sar---------------

Irwin---Rio---Adams---Cashley Cole

Beckham---Keane (not Michael)---Giggs

Ronaldo---Cantona---Henry

I think Schmeichel had his dodgy moments, particularly at his clubs after United, and Seaman especially did. But VDS was always reliable at both his clubs.

Irwin was a right-back at first (fun fact: Roy Keane also played there for at least a whole season for Man Utd) so he can go there shut up.

Beckham and Giggs are both wingers and central midfielders. See, I'm using tactics.

Roy Keane doesn't need a partner. Roy Keane doesn't want a partner. Roy Keane says you can stick a partner up your bollocks.

Ronaldo and Henry are must-haves and can play on the wing too, and then who do you put in the middle? Anyone really. Shearer, Owen, Drogba, but I put Cantona because Cantona.

[tenthreeleader]

I loved 01-02 (and still horse around with it every now and again). My very favorite thing I've ever done in any version of our game was to sign Niall Quinn for Rushden and Diamonds in 01-02. He was a bit old but he scored goals for fun.

Ah, those were the days.

[CFuller]

I signed David Beckham for Motherwell once on CM00/01. Okay, he was about 35 by then, and we were one of the strongest teams in Scotland, but still...

 

My Best Premier League XI:

P Schmeichel

G Neville / R Ferdinand / S Campbell / Cashley Cole

C Ronaldo / F Lampard / P Vieira / R Giggs

A Shearer / T Henry

 

Believe me, I did try to fit Cantona in somewhere. Unfortunately, I was firmly set on having Shearer and Henry as my two main forwards. I could've switched to a 4-3-3 and taken out Ronaldo for Cantona, but that would've left Giggs in midfield instead of out wide. I remember him much more as a left-winger than a midfielder.

It really was a tough call between Adams and Campbell in defence. I went for Sulzeer because I seem to recall him being at the top end of the PL longer than Adams. Didn't Tony have an iffy spell in the early- to mid-90s, pre-Wenger? That was slightly before my time.

I picked Vieira instead of his arch-nemesis Keane, even though I know Roy will probably want to break my leg because of this. My links to the Norway national team probably won't give me much leeway. Ah well, it was fun being able to walk while I could...

[salkster2102]

I'm going to give 2 XI's. One of who I can remember playing and how much they did for the Premier League. And then a dream Premier League Team.

Schmeichel

G Neville

Terry

Ferdinand

Cashley Cole

C Ronaldo

Lampard

Gerrard

Giggs

Shearer

Drogba

 

Dream XI

Schmeichel

G Neville

Ferdinand

Terry

Cashley Cole

Viera/Keane

Gerrard

Lampard/X Alonso (the latter being one of my favourite ever Liverpool players. Bit of bias but so underestimated how good this guy was)

C Ronaldo

Henry

Suarez

[Wisła]

Greetings. I am trying my hand at some writing to accompany a new career I've recently begun. I've read through the rules and saw nothing specific mentioning it, so thought I'd better ask before I write too much. My main character is a "bit of a card" as you say, and is a little bit sweary. Not talking a major swearathon here or anything, but part of his character [charm and personality if you will] is he says what comes into his head, often unfiltered.

Is that going to be a problem here if I wanted to start sharing my work?

[CFuller]

8 minutes ago, Wisła said:

Greetings. I am trying my hand at some writing to accompany a new career I've recently begun. I've read through the rules and saw nothing specific mentioning it, so thought I'd better ask before I write too much. My main character is a "bit of a card" as you say, and is a little bit sweary. Not talking a major swearathon here or anything, but part of his character [charm and personality if you will] is he says what comes into his head, often unfiltered.

Is that going to be a problem here if I wanted to start sharing my work?

Welcome to FMS, mate.

I asked our esteemed mod @mark wilson27 about this a few months back, when I was starting a story containing somewhat strong language. Mark's reply was something along the lines of, "you can do it within reason", but with the caveat that the forum software will automatically **** out most swear words anyway. Bear that in mind.

[mark wilson27]

19 minutes ago, Wisła said:

Greetings. I am trying my hand at some writing to accompany a new career I've recently begun. I've read through the rules and saw nothing specific mentioning it, so thought I'd better ask before I write too much. My main character is a "bit of a card" as you say, and is a little bit sweary. Not talking a major swearathon here or anything, but part of his character [charm and personality if you will] is he says what comes into his head, often unfiltered.

Is that going to be a problem here if I wanted to start sharing my work?

Exactly what CFuller said, looking forward to reading your work. At the start of your  story please ensure that put a warning regarding the tone of your character cheers

[Wisła]

Cheers guys. I tend to self-filter anyway, so you can still tell what the word was intended as, meaning "f*ck" rather than "****".

Will this be ok?

[CFuller]

Self-filtering should be fine. That's what I do in most of my stories.

[Wisła]

Sound, thanks.

My intention is to "dip my feet in the water" first, rather than start something I may not have sufficient free-time to finish. The idea is to test the waters with an initial short story, which will have the potential to become a springboard and introduction into something more complete if all goes well.

The rules seem quite streamlined, so I wondered if there is a thread anywhere with guidance as to what is expected of a short story here, minimum/maximum word-count etc.?

[salkster2102]

There isn't a rule as such that determines what is a short story or a long story. We are quite freelance here   It's all down to interpretation really at when you think a short story drags into a long story. Think of the timeframe of your story and how long it needs to be to keep the reader interested before they are tired of it. This is your story to tell none of us here are being paid for it so just do it how you want. Do it how you feel you will get the most enjoyment out of telling your story that's all anyone can ask.

[Wisła]

Ok, thanks for the advice.

Still not sure yet if it is going to be a "short" one, or if I have enough in the locker with it to just go "balls out" for the full story. Might actually be the latter in the end, just with likely not massively regular updates. I don't always get a lot of time to play, and I always play every game in full match mode, so it can take a while to get much done to write home about. But if I at least begin and share something, I figure I'll have more incentive to finish what I started, rather than possibly never starting at all.

Think I'll get the ball rolling with a "prologue" of sorts, and then see how it evolves from there.

[git2thachoppa]

M8 I can write updated sub-titles insinuating worse than swearing, so don't fret so much about rules as clearly the mods aren't anal about my Young Boys or your story.

As for how much content, I'd say write as much as you want, just don't find yourself writing more than you want for the sake of wanting more content. It should be fun and swift, not work that takes hours or days per entry unless you really really want to do that for your own benefit. I can't tell you whether anyone reads the long posts thoroughly or if they just skim those like they would a short one.

[git2thachoppa]

I keep finding incredible team names while playing FM 07. I've avoided mentioning them, as Sod's Law means I'll stop seeing the incredible names once I start writing them down, but let's test the law. (Especially as I'm now managing Young Boys.)

So the one I always remember is a team in Bolivia, who are called 'The Strongest'.

Today's team is Hong Kong 2008... they were founded in 2002.

[tenthreeleader]

We've always given people leeway on titling and story content because of the nature of the forum. I've dealt with themes like child abuse, domestic abuse, miscarriage, stalking and murder in my writing -- and it's important to my character development. As long as people aren't swearing for the fun of it, I for one am going to let the writers be writers. Content warnings, such as Wisla has provided, are actively encouraged if you're going to 'go there'. Let good taste be your guide.

I'm not going to allow erotica, for example, and I shouldn't be expected to, but if you can deal with mature themes in a mature way, I'm not only not going to infract, I'm probably going to read your writing.

[Celtic_1967]

20 hours ago, tenthreeleader said:

We've always given people leeway on titling and story content because of the nature of the forum. I've dealt with themes like child abuse, domestic abuse, miscarriage, stalking and murder in my writing -- and it's important to my character development. As long as people aren't swearing for the fun of it, I for one am going to let the writers be writers. Content warnings, such as Wisla has provided, are actively encouraged if you're going to 'go there'. Let good taste be your guide.

I'm not going to allow erotica, for example, and I shouldn't be expected to, but if you can deal with mature themes in a mature way, I'm not only not going to infract, I'm probably going to read your writing.

I did both rape and attempted suicide storylines and neither was an issue to any of the mods. Very broadminded people inhabit this section of the board.

Oh, and hi everyone!

[git2thachoppa]

1 minute ago, Celtic_1967 said:

I did both rape and attempted suicide storylines

 

Bloody hell, what was the context of that?

[Celtic_1967]

Have a read of the (incomplete) story.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/163097-Jumping-Through-Hoops

[tenthreeleader]

2 hours ago, Celtic_1967 said:

I did both rape and attempted suicide storylines and neither was an issue to any of the mods. Very broadminded people inhabit this section of the board.

Oh, and hi everyone!

Mr. Mikey! Welcome back, friend. Hope life is treating you well.

[BenArsenal]

Well blimey! Look who's back!

We'll have Terk popping by next...

[mark wilson27]

Good to see popping in Mike, hope all is well with you. So when will we see a story from you 

As for Terk popping in he's hanging back till he wins most missed FMS'er

[salkster2102]

Has he been let out of Gav's cellar?

[mark wilson27]

3 minutes ago, salkster2102 said:

Has he been let out of Gav's cellar?

Doubt it, we haven't seen Gav for awhile hmmmm

[Wisła]

Cheers for the advice guys. Well, it has begun now, and I decided to go for the full story in the end. Two more chapters going up shortly.

[BenArsenal]

19 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

Doubt it, we haven't seen Gav for awhile hmmmm

He's still on Facebook. Maybe he's just busy with life and other stuff....

[mark wilson27]

Terk will still be in his dungeon lol

 

[mark wilson27]

Eight days left to vote guys and still some of your who's stories stand a chance to go through haven't voted. We don't want a repeat of the last couple of years where authors who have won an award have missed out because they didnt cast a vote

[mark wilson27]

So the Champions League Draw has taken place:

Group A: Benfica, Manchester United, Basel, CSKA Moscow

Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic

Group C: Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Qarabag

Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiakos, Sporting

Group E: Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Liverpool, Maribor

Group F: Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord

Group G: Monaco, Porto, Besiktas, RB Leipzig

Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, Apoel

 

My predictions are 

(A) Man.Utd, CSKA Moscow, Benfica, Basel

(b) Bayern, PSG, Celtic, Anderlecht

(c) Chelsea, Roma, Atletico, Qarabag

(d) Juventus, Sporting, Barcelona, Olympiakos

(e) Sevilla, Liverpool, Spartak Moscow, Maribor

(f) Feyenoord, Napoli, Man.City, Shkhtar Donetsk

(g) Porto, Besiktas, Monaco, RB Leipzig

(h) Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham , Apoel 

 

[CFuller]

This is how I see it panning out:

Group A: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, CSKA Moscow
Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Celtic, Anderlecht
Group C: Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Roma, Qarabag
Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Sporting CP, Olympiakos
Group E: Sevilla, Liverpool, Spartak Moscow, Maribor
Group F: Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk
Group G: Monaco, Porto, RB Leipzig, Besiktas
Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, APOEL

[BenArsenal]

My thoughts:

Group A

I think by and large, save for Spurs, the English teams mostly got pretty decent draws. Man Utd should fancy themselves winning this group here, especially looking at their squad and form so far. Plus they have Zlatan back too. The others will be trailing, but Benfica will probably edge out the other two.

Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, CSKA Moscow

Group B

I'd thought this group will be tougher, but nope. Poor Celtic will be in for some heavy shelling. And I'd actually think a Neymar-reinforced PSG might give Bayern a closer contest here than we might think.

Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic

Group C

I still rate Chelsea, but they really need some reinforcements. Plus they need to settle the Diego Costa issue as well. Atletico might give Chelsea a bit of a fight, but they'll probably still finish second I think. Roma could run the Spanish side close for second place, while Qarabag will be the punching bag.

Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Qarabag

Group D

Another group that I was expecting fireworks from, but sadly it was not to be. Juve and Barca will take the top two spots, and it's only a matter of who ends up in first and second. Might even go down to goal difference.

Barcelona, Juventus, Sporting CP, Olympiakos

Group E

Liverpool lucked out here. If they don't qualify from this group, then serious questions need to be asked of them. On their day they can beat anyone, especially at Anfield, and Sevilla I think aren't really the force they were when they won all those Europa Leagues.

Liverpool, Sevilla, Spartak Moscow, Maribor

Group F

Another English team that got lucky. Pep's Man City will walk this group easy. Napoli, like Sevilla, should probably have second place sewn up as well, but the other two teams might give them a scare or two along the way.

Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk

Group G

Actually, this group might be closer than we think. Monaco may have lost some big stars but they still have quality. Porto are always dangerous. Leipzig are the unknown factor and shouldn't be underestimated. And even Besiktas have some experience of their own to show the other teams a thing or two. Final standings could be tight.

Monaco, Porto, RB Leipzig, Besiktas

Group H

I think Spurs might as well give up now. They don't look comfortable at their 'new' home, and now they have to deal with facing two European giants. They'll get six points from APOEL, but that is it. Hope we don't get them in the Europa though.

Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, APOEL

[git2thachoppa]

4 hours ago, CFuller said:

This is how I see it panning out:

Group A: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, CSKA Moscow
Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Celtic, Anderlecht
Group C: Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Roma, Qarabag
Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Sporting CP, Olympiakos
Group E: Sevilla, Liverpool, Spartak Moscow, Maribor
Group F: Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk
Group G: Monaco, Porto, RB Leipzig, Besiktas
Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, APOEL

Bold predictions of the strongest two sides finishing in the top two and the weakest side finishing bottom.

[CFuller]

1 minute ago, git2thachoppa said:

Bold predictions of the strongest two sides finishing in the top two and the weakest side finishing bottom.

Talk about sticking my neck out! 

In all seriousness, I am not expecting any major surprises in this season's Champions League. Indeed, I'm expecting quite a few 0-0-6 records (cough APOEL cough). The competition doesn't get all that interesting until March.

[salkster2102]

Here are my predictions:

Group A: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group B: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group C: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group D: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group E: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group F: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group G: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

Group H: Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal, Not Arsenal

 

Sorry

[CFuller]

The Champions League's overrated, anyway. You've never truly tested yourselves amongst Europe's elite until you've played BATE Borisov, 1.FC Koln and Red Star Belgrade on Thursday nights. 

[mark wilson27]

Just a quick note guys, I have updated the FMS Archives with more of your lots great stories. If any of you think I've missed any of your stories feel free to PM me and I will add them for you. 

[BenArsenal]

19 hours ago, CFuller said:

The Champions League's overrated, anyway. You've never truly tested yourselves amongst Europe's elite until you've played BATE Borisov, 1.FC Koln and Red Star Belgrade on Thursday nights. 

True. Who wants to play Bayern Munich and Barcelona when you can play Koln and BATE Borisov? 

In all seriousness though, I'm actually positive about Arsenal playing in the Europa League this season. It's a breath of fresh air (from being constantly spanked by the same old teams :x), and it's something we can absolutely win if we take it seriously. I certainly hope we do.

[mark wilson27]

Unless Bayern or Barca finish third in their group and you can guarantee you'll get them hahaha

 

[git2thachoppa]

Bring back the 5-teams-per-group-play-each-other-once format.

And the Cup Winners' Cup.

[CFuller]

I want a return to how things were in the early 2000s. Keep the Champions League as it is, but bring back the straight-knockout UEFA Cup.

[mark wilson27]

I've always said that the Champions League should be for Champions...Bring back the Cup Winners Cup and have the Europa League as a straight knockout tournament. But the problem the game is all about the money now

[tenthreeleader]

I feel like today's Liverpool-Arsenal match is almost enough to bring Terk back.

[CFuller]

(Sigh) It's times like these when I wish Tony Adams and Martin Keown would come back. And David Seaman. And Patrick Vieira. Pretty much every Arsenal player from 15-20 years ago. 

[mark wilson27]

55 minutes ago, tenthreeleader said:

I feel like today's Liverpool-Arsenal match is almost enough to bring Terk back.

He's waiting till after the voting has finished so he can win the most missed 

[tenthreeleader]

3 hours ago, CFuller said:

(Sigh) It's times like these when I wish Tony Adams and Martin Keown would come back. And David Seaman. And Patrick Vieira. Pretty much every Arsenal player from 15-20 years ago. 

The comments on Ray Parlour's Twitter feed were interesting this afternoon. 

[CFuller]

6 minutes ago, tenthreeleader said:

The comments on Ray Parlour's Twitter feed were interesting this afternoon. 

The Romford Pelé  

All I can think of right now is The IT Crowd.

"Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"

"What was Wenger thinking putting Lacazette on the bench?"

The thing about Arsenal is... there's no passion, no commitment, no hunger in the team, like there was in the early Wenger years. We need a lionheart at the back, not Rob Holding. The way we look at the moment, it's not ridiculous to predict that we'll finish no better than upper mid-table.

[tenthreeleader]

What got me about Arsenal was how awful the midfield was. Guys looked like they were giving up when they got beaten. Without Cech, Liverpool might have scored six or seven. 

[git2thachoppa]

This is why non-Arsenal fans wanted Wenger to say.

Got a manager who isn't there to win trophies and who takes 5 years to fill a problem position, but wins just enough relatively meaningless domestic trophies and CL group games to get by, with squads where one half get injured and the other half you can bully off their game.

[CFuller]

Also... why the fiddlesticks was Bellerín at LEFT wing-back when we had Kolasinac? Was it to accomodate Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right? Jeremie Aliadiere would have been better suited to playing at wing-back than Alex!

Wenger's tactics today made as much sense as that dream I once had where me, my childhood girlfriend, Kylie Minogue, Homer Simpson, and some bloke my mind made up on the spot all went to the hairdressers at the same time (please don't ask how it ended; it got really weird).

(Sigh) I could go on, but it's nearly one o'clock and I need my sleep.

[salkster2102]

15 hours ago, CFuller said:

(Sigh) It's times like these when I wish Tony Adams and Martin Keown would come back. And David Seaman. And Patrick Vieira. Pretty much every Arsenal player from 15-20 years ago. 

Careful we are supposed to be the ones that go on about history...

[BenArsenal]

Yesterday was tragic. Everything was wrong. There needs to be big changes now if we want to be any better.

Hard to believe but it felt worse than that 8-2 at Old Trafford (which coincidentally was exactly 6 years ago to the day).