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Congrats mistahc for Friday, hope the day goes well and you don't get too drunk lol... Just remember in your speech to mention how good the bridesmaids look, you'll get in trouble if you forget that

Not as much trouble as if you forget to say how good your wife looks !

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After the honeymoon I have a bit of time off so hopefully will get a bit of story-writing in.

If you do the honeymoon right, the first week of your time off will be spent recovering :)

Seriously, congratulations on the nuptials.

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Sorry I've not be around much guys, but finally get married on Friday.

After the honeymoon I have a bit of time off so hopefully will get a bit of story-writing in.

We moved into our new house 6 weeks ago and I have a cunning plan with the workshop in turning it into a bar I can sit and write in, which will hopefully keep me busy through the winter.

Congrats mate! :applause:

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And so another Arsenal player to join the injury list, Ozil now out for three months. :(

To be honest, I kinda understood somewhat when Wenger turned down the chance to re-sign Fabregas this summer. I mean, he wouldn't want to be sitting on the bench, but then neither would Ozil, Ramsey or Wilshire.

But now looking at our situation, it seems like having the security of more players would have been a better strategy. Especially given that a lengthy injury list has been an Arsenal hallmark for many seasons running now.

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And so another Arsenal player to join the injury list, Ozil now out for three months. :(

To be honest, I kinda understood somewhat when Wenger turned down the chance to re-sign Fabregas this summer. I mean, he wouldn't want to be sitting on the bench, but then neither would Ozil, Ramsey or Wilshire.

But now looking at our situation, it seems like having the security of more players would have been a better strategy. Especially given that a lengthy injury list has been an Arsenal hallmark for many seasons running now.

Ben (and other Arsenal fans), just out of curiousity, do you think it's a systematic problem with injuries? I've seen quite a few big players for Arsenal be out for 2-3 months over the past few seasons.

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Ben (and other Arsenal fans), just out of curiousity, do you think it's a systematic problem with injuries? I've seen quite a few big players for Arsenal be out for 2-3 months over the past few seasons.

There's got to be a problem with how Arsene Wenger trains his players. Arsene seems to focus too much on honing our players' technical ability, and doesn't focus enough on physical training or - to use a modern phrase - player conditioning. The likes of Chelsea and Manchester City are miles ahead of us in that respect.

That's Ozil, Debuchy and Giroud out with long-term injuries, and now it seems we've lost Laurent Koscielny too. This can't just be bad luck or coincidence.

To be honest, I'm really worried about what the rest of the season could bring with regards to injuries.

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Ben (and other Arsenal fans), just out of curiousity, do you think it's a systematic problem with injuries? I've seen quite a few big players for Arsenal be out for 2-3 months over the past few seasons.

Given the regularity of such occurrences I'm starting to suspect that it might be. But given that I don't exactly know the ins and outs of Arsenal's full training regime I won't jump to conclusions.

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Given the regularity of such occurrences I'm starting to suspect that it might be. But given that I don't exactly know the ins and outs of Arsenal's full training regime I won't jump to conclusions.

Given how frequently we seem to lose key players for long periods of time, it surely seems that there's some kind of underlying issue. That said, often the causes and/or types of injuries suffered seem to be completely different, so who knows, Arsenal really might just be that unlucky.

There has been some talk about training programs, maybe even the hardness of the pitch at the Emirates, but take the injuries this season for example. At the start of this season, we lost one player in every match played, both home and away, which suggests the Emirates pitch isn't the issue, and that training itself may not have been the cause, but then the types of injuries have been reasonably varied as well. Overall, our injuries thus far appear to just be of the ridiculously bad luck nature.

Gibbs - tweaked hamstring in the opening match of the season.

Arteta - suffered a rolled ankle in our Champions League qualification match iirc. Also, his most recent injury was after being rested midweek and then got injured on the weekend return.

Giroud - suffered freak broken ankle from apparently innocuous contact with the ball at the end of the Everton match.

Debuchy - gets studs caught in turf and does ankle ligament damage.

Ramsey - was rested midweek, comes back on the weekend and pulls his hamstring.

Ozil - not sure how he got injured, but apparently it just has to be knee ligament damage.

Waclott - last season obviously, but it seemed like a minor over-stretch, turns out to be busted knee ligaments.

Kos - been running with tenderness in his Achilles tendons since last season.

The club just can't seem to get a break. We even appointed a new head of fitness/conditioning (the German national team guy).

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  • 2 weeks later...
I miss Liverpool being good at the footy. I'll have to settle for this season's Hearts side clearly being the best team in the history of Scottish football.

Come on Terky, that was, like 50 years ago! I'd say it's time to stop holding onto the ancient past and move on! :p

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OZTURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRK

If you haven't seen Hearts 91st minute equaliser against Hibs today, look it up. And when you do, remember that it was scored by a centre back.

Not a bad effort, thought Jagielka's for Everton was a bit better though.

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By the way, which of the EPL managers do you think will be the next to go?

There are several possible candidates, in no particular order:

- Lambert (Aston Villa): lost 6 in a row for the first time in ages. Struggling to score goals. Form this season is generally a continuation of very poor form from the second half of last season. Generally few positives going around. Probably the most at risk.

- Poyet (Sunderland): on the end of a few hidings, also generally struggling to score goals. Has a bit more credit in the bank due to good form from end of previous season, culminating in survival, but if the thrashings continue then the pressure will continue to mount.

- Redknapp (QPR): generally struggling and not looking particularly cohesive. While he's a generally popular manager (not sure why), he gives off the vibe that he doesn't really want to be at the club anymore.

- Pardew (Newcastle): got a few good results recently so probably lifted a bit of the pressure, but a lot of negative groundswell still amongst the fans due to horrid end to the previous season and unconvincing start to the current one. Another decent run of results will probably keep him safe, but if they do anymore runs like the end of last season his time may run out.

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I think Harry Redknapp is running out of time, both at QPR and as a Premier League manager. Based on what I've seen of QPR so far, they aren't cohesive, stable or defensively strong enough to stay in the PL. Redknapp's shown himself to be tactically out-of-date, and his signing of Rio Ferdinand has been a major bust so far.

Also, he's 67 years old now, and he's had heart and knee problems in the past. I don't think it'd do his health much good if he stayed in such a stressful environment for very long.

Paul Lambert will probably get a bit more time at Aston Villa. You've got to remember that he's working with a tight budget and a young-ish squad, and that there's still uncertainty over the ownership. Randy Lerner's been trying to sell up for some time, and I doubt he'll sack Lambert before he finds a new owner who can make his or her own decision about the manager.

That said, Villa's scoring problem is pretty embarrassing. I read last night that Weimann had scored 3 goals and Agbonlahor 2 this season, but that's it. Two-and-half months into the season, and only two Aston Villa players have scored. Not good.

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Jesus, throwing away a 3 goal lead. I thought those days were over for Arsenal. Clearly not.

That was a rather bizarre night. I didn't know which was worse - us losing a 3-0 lead against Anderlecht, or Liverpool not even trying to win against Real Madrid.

On another topic, I've been playing the FM15 demo today. I'm impressed so far, but the transition from FM13 to sliderless FM15 (I didn't play FM14) is proving more difficult than I'd anticipated.

It started well enough, as my Millwall team won 6-0 against a bunch of French amateurs. Since then, though, I haven't been able to get my strikers to score, my defenders to defend, or my midfielders to pass. In my most recent game against Vitesse, we had a pass completion rate of about 60% (it was 50% at half-time) and lost 2-1.

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I'm impressed by the teams pushing England's Premier League teams in this round's matches. I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, it will begin to translate to the kinds of players they bring into their squads. Maybe, just maybe, they can stop funneling the millions into buying superstars and start pouring that money into developing them instead...?

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Anyone getting FM15?

Before today's hotfix, I would have said 'unlikely' to that question. Now, I'm feeling much more positive. The crossing/defending/goalkeeping issues seem to have been sorted out to some extent.

I went back to my Millwall demo save today, and won twice in a row without conceding - this from a team who hitherto had as strong a defence as Manchester United's. ;)

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I've got FM15, but I'm not sure I like it. The vagueness of the scouting may be realistic but I just find it annoying at the mo. Also I'm not a fan of the interface, but I guess there will be skins available to at least partially get round that.

And don't get me started on the tactics screen. Why fix something that wasn't broke ?

I will persevere for a bit, and I may well get over my annoyances, but I have to ask, is this my punishment for not playing FM14 much ????????

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And don't get me started on the tactics screen. Why fix something that wasn't broke ?

My thoughts exactly. I can't get my head around that change. At first glance, the pitch looks less cluttered, but setting roles and duties has become more complicated.

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Does Bayern Munich still dominate the Bundesliga or did you find ways of creating a new dynasty?

My Hannover are the dominant force, currently 24 consecutive Bundesliga titles, although FC Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke and Wolfsburg are always trying to knock us off our perch.

Did any German club file for bankruptcy, insolvency, or get docked points for going into administration?

No, I've not seen that happen in FM12 so far, copper.

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I wondered about that docking points with the German clubs. I've not recalled a German club get docked points in my 08 games either, but I'm usually playing in the English Leagues. I'll have to keep looking out for that with the future games I play involving German clubs.

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I couldn't get in FM13 or FM14 and I haven't got FM15, instead I am still cruising along with FM12, currently playing as Hannover in the 2044/45 season. :)

Me too.

I don't seem to have as much time these days to get involved with an FM save now.

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I've been playing FM 15 now for the past week, and I really do like it. I skipped over 13 and 14 a little bit and stuck with 12, but this one makes me want to move forwards. It plays well and it plays properly.

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How does Malky Mackay end up at Wigan and how do they go through something like 19-20 applicants in less than 24 hours? I'm not against Malky Mackay, but I'm still trying to figure out why it's been so long since the accusations of some kind of improper conduct were levied against him by his former boss and the matter is still not settled. In essence, why do managers have months to wait and still have matters unresolved, but players get stuff pushed through the Governing Bodies so much faster?

Also, why is it so hard to find follow up articles about Moyes' hiring at Real Sociedad on the same sites that wanted to advertise the questionable hiring in the first place? It seems weird to me, but I'm not one to really understand the media lately when it comes to what they choose to cover in the world of footy.

Any help/insight would be appreciated.

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OK everybody ! pay attention !

Apropos of not much, and largely because it seems so quiet round here at the mo... Can we have a rollcall ?

so if you are reading this, please sign your name, and we can see if this community is still, well, a community.

Obviously I'm here, that's Chesterfan2......

who's next ?

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Well im mark wilson27... I know I haven't been on much, well not in the story writing aspect. Sorting a new story now but will be awhile before I put it on the board..Have to admit though it has been pretty dead in here.

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