Fierce_LiNk

I predicted a 1-1 initially, which I'm tempted to stick with. I don't think we've got the energy/fitness levels to do what we did in the first 30 for the entirety of the game. We dropped off towards the end of the first half, which was quite noticeable, I thought.

Oooof, that moment when Fernandes twatted it into Martinez. No idea what he was doing there! I love the guy, but he seems to lose all footballing ability the closer he gets to our goal. Martinez has been our best player. Varane and Malacia have looked great, too. Liverpool are probably going to score a goal in the second half, so it's down to us to get another. I don't see this staying 1-0.

Ok, then let's look at all of them and rate them. (it goes without saying this is all my opinion and how I view the films, so you may think different) Iron Man - I thought this was pretty bland, tbh. It's alright, but nothing hugely special. The Incredible Hulk - It's listed as a film in the Infinity Saga, but it's completely forgettable. Should've been better than it was. Maybe gets hated on a bit too much, but it's nowt special. Iron Man 2 - Again, works better as part of a saga. Individually, I thought this film was the best out of the three Iron Man films, but it's not genre-defining as something like The Dark Knight, nor is it as great cinema as The Batman. It's alright. Thor - It's fun, brainless, without ever going beyond that. Proper bubblegum cinema that sets up the character for future films. Captain America: The First Avenger - I liked this a lot more than the Thor and Iron Man films, and he's generally the more likeable character out of that trinity of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. Enjoyed the villain. The Avengers - This is pretty shit, tbh. It only gets remembered for bringing the gang together, but it's typical Joss Whedon in the sense of lots of pointless, throw-away lines that sound great at first, but don't really make too much sense later on. Individually, it's bettered by the last two Avengers films, by far. Not even close. Iron Man 3 - This isn't great. It's another film to keep the Tony Stark story moving along, which is about all that can be said for it. Thor: The Dark World - Strong contender for the worst film in the entire Infinity Saga. It's boring, it's bland, and it's a chore to watch. Not even sure if it adds anything other than Thor and Loki have a complicated relationship. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - This was a good film, and it's part of the strongest run of films in the series. Guardians of the Galaxy - FUN. Really enjoyed this and it's memorable, it's spawned memes, the characters are likeable, the action is great and fun to watch. It's just an all-round good film that stands up on repeated watches. Avengers: Age of Ultron - Unfortunately, the idea behind it is far better than the execution. It starts off quite interesting but seems to get worse and worse as it goes. It did, however, give us an amazing trailer and great use of the Pinocchio soundtrack. It also gave us Vision, which is pretty much one of the only redeeming things about the film. You could take it out of the saga and nobody would really a shit, tbh. Ant-Man - I really liked this. The character is fun, the premise is interesting, it's a little bit different to the other films and it's just an enjoyable watch. One of the films that you could easily take out of the Saga and Marvelverse and it would stand out by itself for its own merits. Captain America: Civil War - Let's be real, this is a borderline Avengers story - and I use the term 'borderline' in a very liberal way. I enjoyed it, although that airport fight scene is overrated as hell. It's a superlong sequence that doesn't hold up on repeated viewings and...is a pretty dull sequence, tbh. The general premise of the film is good and it's a great continuation of the Captain America films. I like it and it's one of the stronger films in the series for the Captain America vs. Iron Man development. However, my point still stands...it works as part of a continuation of a saga, rather than on its own merits. Doctor Strange - Quite enjoyed this for its quirkyness. It's fun and the character is interesting. A nice introduction of the character to many. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Perhaps not as good as the first, but still very enjoyable. Spider-Man: Homecoming - I'm going to go against the grain and say that I didn't enjoy the Tom Holland Spider-Man films. The best Spider-Man film is Into The Spider-Verse, in my personal opinion. Thought Homecoming was just average and not that impressive. It's the type of film you watch with a beer or with the kids, and then you finish it, shrug, and do something else. Thor: Ragnarok - Easily EASILY the best in the Thor series and strong contender for best in the series. It's fun, it's colourful, it's silly, and it's wacky. It's out there and so it stands out. Black Panther - Really liked this. Although, they did Killmonger dirty when they suddenly realised his ideas made too much sense and we can't be siding with a villain. Great film and it's a landmark in terms of representation for black people/people of colour. Avengers: Infinity War - Loved this. However, it's loved because it is a continuation of many films leading up to a point, as well as the iconic ending with The Snappening. Ant-Man and the Wasp - Not seen it, can't comment. Captain Marvel - Not seen it, can't comment. Avengers: Endgame - Loved this, and it serves as a great ending for that entire saga. Spider-man Far From Home - Thought it was better than Homecoming, but the villain was ehhh and it's a bit too out there at times, especially the final third. I watched this for the second time with @Eenuh's sister's husband, and we basically just drank lots of beer and played Mario Kart afterwards. It's that sort of film. I haven't bothered to see anything post-Infinity Saga, because that's enough for me. ------------------- If anything, looking at the films individually actually has reinforced my idea. The films 'work' as part of a series or continuum. They're about as average as they come when you look at them individually. Very non-threatening, very easy to watch, with a few nice ideas here and there. They follow somewhat consistent storytelling, tone, ideas, character development and so forth. I do think that the 'cookie cutter' terms that get used to describe the Marvel films is spot on, although it perhaps shouldn't be as derogatory as it sounds. They serve a purpose in the same way that Saturday morning cartoons did. You watch them, you enjoy them, then you carry on with your day. They're not ones to dwell on. In 30 years time, nobody is going to be talking about the cinematography or scriptwork of, say, Ant-Man and will be using that as inspiration for their own moviemaking, or at least not to the scale of films such as The Empire Strikes Back, or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and those classics. They are absolute fine and I enjoy them, some much more than others. But, I'm under no illusions that they're earth-shattering, amazing films individually.

That's part of the reason I feel like we could get something. We're awful at the moment, but it also looks like a semi-decent time to play Liverpool. Ask me in an hour, and the prediction will change again. Both teams need the win tbh, a draw doesn't really help either.

Nervous for tonight's game. I really can't call it. I've changed my prediction on this about 8 times. On the one hand, we are godawful to watch at the moment and can barely string passes together. On the other, form can sometimes go out of the window in these types of games. But then again, we don't really look like we've got enough players right now who can raise their game and turn it on to make it a feisty encounter. But also, Liverpool are still feeling their way into this season, too. Tempted to say it'll be a draw. We badly need to get a goal and create good chances of our own. It'll look a bit rubbish if we go three games with our only goal being an own goal. 1-1, I think. There's even a small part of me that thinks that we can even narrowly sneak this 1-0 or 2-1. I really can't call it. I'm also being overly optimistic...There's also a major part of me that thinks we'll get thumped 4 or 5-0 again.

Crazy day for football, and a very interesting start to this season. It's a hard to predict the results. I would've had Chelsea and City down to win their games and maybe for West Ham to get something, too. West Ham are going under the radar a little, but they're looking pretty bad. Similar story with Leicester, too. Watching Wolves' game yesterday, I thought they generally played well, but lacked a striker or somebody up front to put the chances away. The running theme with the bottom 5 of Everton, Wolves, Leicester, United, and West Ham is that all of these teams look like they find it very difficult to score goals.

You're saying all this now and Arsenal fans are loving Arteta. Let's see how this season goes for you and what they think of him if he gets another 5th-8th place finish. Arsenal fans will love him if they think it's all going somewhere. Ironically, these were the fans who got on Wenger's back for 'just' achieving top 4. Things look good for you at the moment, with the Jesus signing and Saliba particularly looking great. But, the jury is still very much out. I still wouldn't put it past United to end up finishing above Arsenal this season. United fans are pissed and tired of how the last decade has largely gone. But, we've finally got the right type of manager in place in Ten Hag, who wants to play progressive, attacking football. The players are a huge problem and there are so many that need replacing, because the recruitment and strategy has been shoddy. There are still too many gaps that need filling over the team and we are nowhere close to challenging for the league yet, but there is optimism that things are reaching a point where they have to change, especially with talk of the Glazers finally selling up and fucking off. But, despite all of this, the vast majority of fans are definitely not looking at Arsenal and wishing we could trade places with them and their situation. Arsenal may be improving gradually with their situation, but they're still very far away, too.

Hello! I remember you from the Cube-Europe days. I often wonder how Tim is doing these days and how the originals are getting on. Glad to hear that all is well!

I completely disagree with that second part. United badly need a quality defensive midfielder, and they've bought arguably the best one on the planet. Fernandinho was about 28 when he signed for City. Makele was 30. Thiago Alcantara was 29 (I think). Nothing wrong with paying for a well established player, especially in a position that's crucial. This is a brilliant signing and nobody will turn away from the possibility of having Casemiro in their team. If Arsenal were signing him, we'd be calling them a top 4 certainty. United have definitely had flops, but Arsenal's 'route' hasn't really led them to the success that you think it has. You've still blown £72million on Pepe, who isn't even getting games these days. Your team isn't largely made up of academy or youth products. Saka qualifies in that regard, maybe Saliba and Martinelli (not sure you can count them), but all of the rest have been bought over the last few years. It's actually not that dissimilar to United's situation, as McTominay and Rashford have regularly been getting games and are from our academy system. Elanga, too. So, yes, United have spent much more, but the reality is that both approaches aren't as wildly different as you think. Let's look at Arsenal's league finishes. 2021-22: 5th 2020-21: 8th 2019-20: 8th 2018-19: 5th 2017-18: 6th 2016-17: 5th 2015-16: 2nd 2014-15: 3rd One could easily look at those league finishes and suggest that Arsenal's strategy has taken them backwards. They've done well with the FA Cup wins, but have largely been on the fringes. I don't really see how you can say that United should adopt a similar strategy to Arsenal's, because they've done fuck all too, bar the FA Cups. Even that 2nd place finish, they were largely out of the race as that was between Leicester and Spurs.

Ancelotti has confirmed in a press conference that Casemiro is leaving. Oh man, please don't let us ruin this guy!

Completely agree that the genre choice is not necessarily one I'd pick. It's very off-putting. There's more they could have done to at least balance the game and make it a bit more rewarding every time you die. There's too much punishment and very little going the other way. You've summed up my thoughts with your second paragraph. I made several runs today and gained absolutely nothing. There's too much potential for wasted runs in this game and the gameplay loop encourages players to give far too much time towards each loop. It gets repetitive too quickly. Dying over and over isn't fun unless it's leading up to something or it has some sort of worth, like you unlock a path or get to a new area. But, this game doesn't have that. I would totally keep the 'world changing after every death' element, but more has to carry over in between each run, thus leading to shorter runs. It's an utter shame, because I want to get to the next areas and find out where the story goes. I love everything about the game bar this one element, which unfortunately is turning out to be too big to ignore.

(the gods of Wikipedia call it a roguelike) I don't necessarily dislike those games and will never outright choose not to play a game because it belongs to a certain genre or style. I played this because the sci-fi elements seemed interesting and I loved the premise behind it. I'd rather give it a go and give it a chance, rather than dismissing it outright. The first few hours I spent with the game were fantastic and I had a blast with the gunplay and soaking in the atmosphere. But...there's only a certain amount of times you can keep dying repeatedly without progress being made before some of the nicer elements lose its sparkle. It's a shame, because I think it's totally the wrong choice and hinders its accessibility to a wider audience. At least scale it up and make the initial first area a bit more forgiving, to ease players into it gently or at least allow 'some' progress to be made. Ultimately, I think time is precious. If I'm going to have x amount of hours available to me, I'm using that time for something useful. The game just feels quite insulting to that, because you could spend hours and hours and get nowhere, due to how the game is designed. Can't be fucked with that.

Right, so...I've played a few more sessions with this and I've got a lot to say. Firstly, this game gets top marks for its atmosphere, gunplay, music, sound, graphics, and for having an interesting premise. It's brilliant science fiction and it makes me think that this is sort of what Ridley Scott should have been aiming for with Prometheus instead of attaching the Alien 'lore' to it. There's a great idea here. It feels very next level in many ways and futuristic, especially with the adaptive triggers on the controller. Genuinely blown away by all of those aspects. Unfortunately, I've given up on the game as the gameplay 'loop' is too big a barrier for me to see past or work beyond. It's just too damn demoralising to play. I've seen posts from @Sheikah saying that this shouldn't have been a roguelike and he is 100% spot on with that. This is the only reason why I am putting the game down and won't revisit it. It's probably one of the most frustrating games I've played for a very long time...because I actually really like it. When I'm playing it, and in the midst of a fight, it's all rather fun. Then, you die...and you have to do it all over again, from the beginning. It's a shit design choice. In lots of ways, it's rather insulting to a person's time. In theory, you could spend 3 or 4 hours playing this game, dying repeatedly, without actually making further progress with the narrative or progressing through the game toward its final conclusion. That doesn't sit right with me morally. When you also look further into that roguelike design, it actually doesn't stand up to scrutiny either. One example is that I picked up the Atropian Blade and died shortly afterwards. Initially, I was quite annoyed, thinking that I would have to start from scratch and work my way back to the blade in order to then make further progress, as these are the rules established so far in the game. You die, you lose everything, you start over. But, for some unknown reason, you get to keep that weapon. You get to keep some of those suit upgrades, but not others...which either isn't explained at the early stage of the game or is never explained. It's a tedious thing that unfortunately pulls one out of the experience and just reminds you that it's a game. If the game really wants to stick to its core roguelike principle of "you die, you lose everything", then you truly should lose everything. But you don't, you get to keep the blade and some of the upgrades. Just not any of the other stuff that could be useful to you at the early stages to keep you playing the game, but hey ho. If I can keep the blade, why can't I keep all of it?! Why can't I keep that weapon that I died with, but I get to keep the blade? I've mentioned earlier about the game being insulting to a person's time and I'm going to revisit that part one more time. The game forces you to start from scratch and busily avoid not dying. You shoot lots of shit to stay alive to get stronger so that you can stay alive for longer. But, unfortunately, you have to play for a significant amount of time for that to really benefit you when making progress through the game. You can't sit down for 10, 20 or even 30 minutes after work or before going out somewhere, because the game doesn't work that way. The game wants you to sit for hours and hours, doing the same thing over and over, so you can make tiny baby steps. If you make one mistake or get to a really difficult section, it's just too bad, you've got to do it all over again, with the added bonus of the entire map changing. Unfortunately, it's a terrible design choice and has completely put me off the game. Ironically, for all of the talk of the SoulsBorne games being 'difficult', at least the game design there seems fair. You die, but every time you play the game, you make progress of some kind, whether that's the ability to upgrade your weapon, or collect souls or echoes to help you become a stronger character. It's an infinitely more rewarding game than Returnal and is far, far more respectful to your time. Gutted that they've attached such a terrible design choice to what is an excellent game. Or rather, the individual components are excellent, wrapped up in a very demoralising, frustrating, and painful loop. Meh. Huge disappointment.

Yeah, it's a fun show to watch. I really enjoyed Season 4 and it's probably my favourite season along the first one. The show has assembled a nice collection of side characters, rather than just relying on Eleven. I'd even go as far as to say that she's one of my lesser favourite characters, overall. I'm a big fan of how they organised season 4 with the longer episodes. It did feel like we were watching a collection of shorter films. The fourth episode is a highlight and is most likely my personal favourite of the entire show. It's a masterpiece.

What a blast from the past. Go on then.

Got a few days until the next round of fixtures. Saturday Tottenham Hotspur vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (probably 2-0 Spurs) Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa (Maybe 1-1 in this game) Everton vs. Nottingham Forest (0-0) Fulham vs. Brentford (2-1 Fulham) Leicester City vs. Southampton (1-1) AFC Bournemouth vs. Arsenal (1-2 to Arsenal) Sunday Leeds United vs. Chelsea (Think Leeds will win this 1-0) West Ham United vs. Brighton & Hove Albion (2-1 West Ham) Newcastle United vs. Manchester City (0-3 to City) Monday Manchester United vs. Liverpool (Think we'll lose this 0-2)

Speaking of points, don't forget to sign up to the Fantasy Football everyone. League code is in the opening post. I was sure Liverpool were going to win that game, but the sending off played a huge part. You look at Liverpool's bench and there doesn't seem to be too many attacking options. I do think that more teams will fancy being able to get something now and the games were generally be tighter. For those front three options, they've got Salah, Diaz, Jota, Nunez, and Firmino, so I guess it's pretty good when they're all fit and available. Could probably do with getting one more in for cover, or promoting one from youth.

Oh man, the refs properly did Chelsea over in that game. 100% should've been a red card for the hair pulling at the end. Also, questionable offside for the first Spurs goal. The fight scenes between Tuchel and Conte were magnificent.

What a finish. It was incredible. I've misjudged this one. Chelsea are all over Spurs like ketchup on my chips. Plastered all over the place. Be surprised if they lose this one now. Spurs just can't get the ball off them.

Huge game on right now. I'm going for a 1-2 victory for Spurs. I look at the Chelsea team and I don't see a huge amount of goals there. They play very efficient football, but I can't see them getting more than 1 past Spurs.

The transfer window has been all over the place. Whilst I see why we've gone for the signings that we've had, it's madness how we've not got in more players for that central midfield position, and also up front. I think it's a case of the club giving too many chances to the same players, hoping that a new manager will come in and improve them. The truth is that there are too many players in the squad with limited footballing ability, many who would struggle to get into other Premier League sides. We've become a club who either stop, hinder, or slow down players' development. I look at someone like Sancho, who was a very exciting prospect in the Bundesliga, but hasn't got going at United. Shaw gives the same tired act over and over again and is very limited. Rashford had an abysmal season last year and hasn't turned up. You can say the same thing about the rest of the team. We've sunk to the level of the least able members of the squad, rather than bringing them up to the level of a team going for the top 4. Too many poor footballers. Too many players underperformed last year and expected to be shipped out, only to still be here, still waiting to be sold or moved on. It's a deadly mix of lack of hunger, lack of ability, an unwillingness or inability to learn new training methods, all whilst picking up tons of money in huge wages. Need at least 4 other players and we could do with having a serious look at some of the younger players. If you were to look at the entire first 11 who have started both games, they're all replaceable.

That performance....fucking hell. The first half was brutal. De Gea was a -1/10, an absolute liability. I have no idea what he was doing for the first goal and he was pure thick as shit for the second. Really, really idiotic things to do. As a team, we completely gave up after the first goal. Awful performance. Terrible way to follow up the loss at Brighton with an even worse performance. Just...shit. Only redeeming quality was Malacia looked quite handy when he came on in the second half. Need to bring in new players urgently. We're giving the same players chance after chance and with nothing to show for it. Luke Shaw is one example. We've accepted shit for far too long. Brentford were unlucky not to score more. They pissed all over us. Well done to them, but fuck our lot.

Yeah, I've been told to play this, but just haven't done it yet. Will give it a blast this weekend.

Started this the other night. What a game. It's wicked. Looks great, sounds terrific, and feels so awesome to play. We haven't had the PS5 for too long, and I've only really been playing PS4 games on it thus far. Booted up Returnal and thought that the shoulder buttons of the controller felt weird. The L2 trigger felt stuck or stiff. Either that, or the R2 trigger felt loose. I hadn't felt it on the other games I had been playing recently (Miles Morales, hnggggg), so had a bit of concern that we had broken the controller already. Ladies and gentleman, this guy has only just discovered the adaptive triggers. Feels like I'm playing a game in 3022.

Could potentially be a high scoring weekend, with some great games lined up. Saturday Aston Villa vs. Everton Arsenal vs. Leicester City Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Newcastle United Manchester City vs. AFC Bournemouth Southampton vs. Leeds United Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Fulham Brentford vs. Manchester United Sunday Nottingham Forest vs. West Ham United Chelsea vs. Tottenham Hotspur Monday Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace I'm expecting us to get a win against Brentford. Think we'll put in a better shift this week and win 0-2.