-JC-

Why don't you think Brown should play right back instead of O'Shea? I thought that's Brown's more natural position. Well, certainly more natural a right back than O'Shea at least. United are in for a tense final stretch no doubt with the defensive problems they're having!

I think this Wrestlemania is shaping up to be alright. Nothing amazing stands out though, but I'm REALLY looking forward to the ladder match. These are my predictions: Batista © vs The Undertaker (World Heavyweight Championship) There is no way that The Undertaker can lose this without a fan riot, even winning by DQ would be an awful end. Batista WILL drop the title to keep the streak alive and so 'Taker can can one last run with it round his waist. John Cena © vs 'The Heart Break Kid' Shawn Michaels (WWE Championship) This one is a little tougher to call. I'd have to go with HBK for the win though. Again, for the one last title run thing, but also Cena has had the title for far too long now. Since he won it from JBL two years ago, WM21, he's dropped it, what, once to Edge for two weeks, and again to Edge for another month or so? I think Cena works better chasing the title than defending, the crowd are much more behind him. Then again, with Cena being the top dog for the WWE's forseeable future, it may go Cena's way, with a possible title change happening at Backlash instead. 'Battle of the Billionaires' (Bobby Lashley [w/Donald Trump] vs Umaga [w/Vince McMahon]) Bobby Lashley. Enough said. He's been built up to be completely unstoppable since he tore the roof off the Elimination Chamber cage at December to Dismember, and like Cena, I can see him having a long successful run. As much as I want Umaga to win (I kinda like him, and Armando... Elejandro... Estrrrrrrrrrrrrrada rules!), there's no way that Trump would agree to be humiliated by having his head shaved. Money In The Bank Ladder Match (Edge vs Randy Orton vs Mr Kennedy vs Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy vs Finlay vs King Booker vs CM Punk, winner recieves a shot at any headline title valid for one year) This is going to be the match that steals the show. All the people in this match couldn't get a "more important" singles match, so they're out to prove why they deserved one. I'd like to see Edge win, if only for him to switch to Smackdown and have some fresh feuds after the inevitable feud with Orton, but also to keep his streak alive. Yes, Edge also has an undefeated Wrestlemania streak, and I for one would like to see him keep it. Then again, you can't really be defeated in a ladder match, you just don't win. That'll be the reason they give at least if my number one choice, Misterrrrrrrrrrrr Money In The Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaank... ... ... Baaaaaank! (aka Mr Kennedy) wins. Sooner or later, he'll have to turn face. Though if he does win, I see him switching to Raw. He's already feuded with just about everyone on Smackdown, and he's already had his ass handed to him by Lashley on several occasions. I'd love to see Kennedy vs Triple H, HBK, Cena or Edge. Hell, I'd even pop for Kennedy vs Flair. I reckon those two could put on a brilliant entertaining match. Anyway, I digress, on to... Melina © vs Ashley (Women's Championship Lumberjill Match) Ashley all the way. Ashley: "Look at me, I 'm in playboy" WWE: "Look, our top female wrestler is in playboy, that must mean that lots of the other ones do it to, come watch our show" Melina: "But I'm the only one that can wrestle in this match" London And Kendrick: "So we've held the titles for around a year now, yet our valet gets a spot at mania over us? OMGWTFBBQ?" Chris Benoit © vs MVP (United States Championship) Another tough one. I think Benoit to get the win, with MVP winning the title another time. Benoit deserves more than to lose the US title just a few years after winning the World Heavyweight Title at the same event. The New Breed vs ECW Originals It's been a back-and-forth feud so far, with each team picking up wins over the other, but I see the New Breed winning easily. Well, by cheating at least. Mind you, the way the ECW originals have been treated, I would not be surprised if they were beaten cleanly in less than 10 minutes. The Great Khali vs Kane Who wins? Who cares? Bathroom break match if ever there was one.

The clue is in the thread title. "Lost - Series 3 [Spoilers]" I just can't wait until Episode 19, that's when they continue on from the end of 13 (typical Lost, giving you a staggering "wtf" ending and then not doing anything about it for ages).

I'm so glad Lampard is injured. Not in a mean way, but it will finally give us a chance to see a midfield where people play in their natural positions. Apparently the expected line up is Downing-Hargreaves-Gerrard-Lennon (L-R obviously). And with Cashley back from suspension, I'm actually quite liking the defensive line up of Cole-Terry-Ferdinand-Richards. Just got to sort out our goalscoring problems! Guaranteed Lampard will be back asap to fuck up the system, apparently Hargreaves was going to get dropped to play a more attacking midfield (alongside Downing, Gerrard and Lennon in their respective NATURAL positions). Still, I wouldn't minded to have seen that, but against a stronger side (i.e anyone but Andorra), I would definitely prefer Hargreaves' defensive abilities in play.

I'm ashamed to admit i'm almost willing them to lose or draw to get Macca the sack. I want someone that's going to tell the team exactly what they need to hear, not "don't listen to the critisism, i think you're doing well"

Blimey, I completely forgot about Joe Cole. Maybe I just have something against Chelsea players. In FM2007, Leighton Baines plays LB and Carragher plays a central role next to Ferdinand, with Richards on the right. I must say the future of the English defence is pretty solid. By the by, on an unrelated subject, how in the blue hell is Arjen Robben only 23?! He looks like he's in his mid 30's! I only found out last week!

I have to say (admittedly with football manager 2007 experience behind the choices) that the team should be a 4-4-2 diamond attacking (Basically a 4-1-2-1-2) with the following: Up Front: Peter Crouch left side of attack and Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney or Jermaine Defoe on the right. Peter Crouch might not be a prolific goalscorer, but his ability to be a long ball target man and hold the ball up proves to be very useful to tip the ball off to more pacey players making runs from the right (Lennon, Owen, Rooney, Defoe) or centre (Gerrard). Since he doesn't shoot that often, he should be playing on the left of the front two so that he can make the passes to the more accurate right-footed players. Attacking Midfield: Gerrard. No question, he is without a doubt one of the finest central midfielders in the world. His passing, his vision and his movement are all top quality, and give him a little freedom and he can be guaranteed to make a goal scoring oppertunity. Lampard, whilst I have nothing against him, just doesn't fit into the system unless Gerrard is indisposed or covering in case of an injury to Beckham or Lennon playing on the right. Midfield (left): Not really much choice on the left. The only options are Barry, Downing and Richardson (ech!). I would choose Downing every time. Despite Barry putting in solid performances this year, I feel Downing has been a lot more consistent, has good movement and makes good crosses. His corner taking is also of a pretty good standard. Kieron Richardson proved how utterly useless he is in the U21 game against Italy. The number of free kicks, passes and recieving of the balls he fluffed was staggering. Midfield (right): I have to say that I feel Beckham's exclusion from the squad has been detrimental to the team. His set pieces and crossing ability is unrivalled still within the national squad and is sorely missed. Lennon is good, but I feel he lacks the experience. His pace and ball control are excellent, but often his crosses reach an empty box. It's a difficult toss up between the two in my book. After Euro 2008, my first choice would definitely be Lennon to build his experience for the future, but in the mean time who plays would have to be down to the opposition. Defensive Midfield: Owen Hargreaves. Still not 100% match fit after his leg injury, he's shaking off a bit of rust that's built up during his time on the sidelines. His ability in the holding midfield role is exceptional, and he keeps a cool head under pressure that allows him to take time and make the pass when the time is right. I think Tom Huddlestone is one to watch out for in the future, but until the next World Cup at least, this role is Hargreaves' Defense (left-right): Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville. Ashely Cole and Gary Neville both move forward often, Cole especially overlapping Downing very well on the wing and often making good crosses. Terry is a solid leader, and I rate Ferdinand as one of the best central defenders in the country. Neville, despite getting on a bit, is still a great player. I'd definitely place a more attack minded Micah Richards there in the near future however. So basically, ST/FC: Crouch, Owen/Rooney/Defoe AMC: Gerrard ML: Downing, MR: Beckham/Lennon DMC: Hargreaves DL: Cole, DC: Terry, Ferdinand, DR: Neville

How about a fly-on-the-wall documentary about council estate Chavs, what they get up to, why they do up shite cars instead of buying decent ones, how many shops do they steal from in a day, why they have such awful fashion sense, what's their favourite McDonald's meal and their average weekly spend, etc, etc?

Can't wait for this episode. Season 3 is FINALLY starting to pick up a little traction, and hopefully Locke, my third fave behing Sayid (1) and Hurley (2) will be able to deliver a few explanations as to why he's been such a moron recently. Seriously, why did he decide to be such an idiot in Enter 77?

I regularly go out with several groups of friends, probabily 2 or 3 times a week, and more often than not end up legless. But that all depends on where we go and who I'm with. I prefer staying in quiet pubs so you can actually have a sociable covnersation with the people you're with. In Happy Hour at the campus bar, 3-7 fridays, it's £1.20 a pint. It could be a fantastic social occasion were it not for the fact that you can barely hear the person next to you because of the loud music. You look across the bar, and everyone is sitting around tables trying to shout at each other, and there's a DJ in the corner acting like he's the best thing since sliced bread. Truth is, nobody actually wants the music, or there would be people dancing.

Sorry, my bad. I frequently read other forums that trust it, I wasn't fully aware of it's stature in this forum. Still, extrapolating the current sales, it's still an easily believable figure. I'm more excited by the sales per month stats though. ~1.25 million units per month is absolutely staggering considering the average GameCube sales must have been around 200-300k. Obviously sales will drop off soon enough, but even with it's (at the time) record breaking sales, the GC didn't sustain such a rate for this long did it?

I can't imagine more than a 1-3% failure rate, whatever the media are saying. I believe that's a case of the people who 360's have failed being able to be more vocal over the various channels of the internet, and being more angry over the fact that it's a costly piece of equipment that's failed rather than something cheaper. I know I'm a hell of a lot more angry if one of my graphics cards or my CPU fails in my PC rather than something cheaper like a DVD drive or hard drive. Then again, 1-3% is still 100,000-300,000 units, so maybe you have a point.

Yeah, that's understandable. As I said, I believe NexGen to be a fairly reputable source, but it does at least give a reasonable overview on the current state of the market. Sorry again that I couldn't quote any more sources on this. Edit: Nintendo and other sources have already confirmed corssing the 4m mark almost a month ago as far as I remember (new posts coming too quickly for me to find the link, but I'll try in a minute or two), so at that rate of sales, is 5m too unreasonable? Remember, the production isn't really much of an issue since the Wii isn't composed of anything that hasn't been around for a while (blue laser diodes, I'm looking at you) Edit 2: http://games.techwhack.com/803/nintendo-wii-idc/ http://www.playfuls.com/news_06302_Wii_Outsells_Xbox_360_and_PS3_in_US_Sony_Still_Not_Worried.html http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=11497

I just happened to note my forum sig, which is updated by NexGen Wars ( http://nexgenwars.com/ ). They seem to be a fairly reputable site, so I thought I'd post it here. The Wii's sales at the time of writing are 5,001,908, the PS3 is at 1,590,269 and the Xbox 360 is at a grand total of 10,734,947. That puts the current pecking order at Xbox 360 10,734,947 sales, 62.0% market share, 14 months availability (776,782/month average sales) Wii 5,001,908 sales, 28.9% market share, 4 months availability (1,250,477/month average sales) PS3 1,590,269 sales, 9.2% market share, 4 months availability (397,567/month average sales) Before you say it, the percentages are rounded to 1dp, so that's why there's a total of 100.1% of the next gen market :-p That monthly average is pretty impressive! Bear in mind that PS3 has been hit by production problems and hasn't seen a worldwide release and the Xbox 360 has had a year head start on the market for the average sales to be a bit lower than the hype of a new, cheaper and more available (at launch) machine. Looks like the Wii has made a sizeable dent in the total sales of next-gen consoles already! Still, I can only see the Xbox 360's sales increasing as more and more quality titles roll out, and the PS3 will soon be making a large jump with the European and Australian launch while the Wii's stream of titles has slowed as of late (yes, I know SSX, Sonic and Excite Truck, but please can we have more must-haves!?) Anyhow, I hope I've posted this in the right place. I know I've also only quoted one source, but I can't really find another decent source that gathers sales info. Hope that's alright.

I'm feeling you on that one! My housemate complained that I woke him up when I was watching the Sky Sports 1 latest scores thing and the scoreline came up as 1-1, I was gutted since we apparently dominated the first half but didn't convert any of the chances! I actually like his column! It's one hell of a lot better than Owen Hargreaves' anyway. Where is "* Everyone will love Didier Drogba for winning the Golden Boot and forget the fact he is a diving prick" ? By the by, did anyone see Robben's somewhat shady performances in the FA Cup? He dived twice at least, and the referee played on. Why did he not recieve a card for repeatedly diving? I'm beginning to wonder if he's teaching the entire Chelsea team diving lessons given some of the acting I saw in that game.