Regular pre match FIFA observations

Nothing like a Saturday match to prompt me to put FIFA on for a couple of hours, ad as usual some things have stuck out for me. Wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

- Noone is pretty useless. His pace is nowhere to be seen, and because of this he has massive difficulty shaking off any full back and making those dangerous runs we see in reality. He can't cross a ball to save his life, and everytime my midfield are looking for options he's always lagging way back in our own half helping no one. Smith and Cowie on the other hand on the right wing both are showing much smarter play and often beat an out of position fullback an provide plenty of space. Indeed, looking at the stats many of my goals have come from Smith beating his man and then taking the time to drop the ball right on top of a charging Maynard. Noone on the other hand has one sloppy rebounded goal to his name, but zero assists. First on my list to be replaced in January.

- Bellamy is a beast. Buckets more pace than Noone, can slot a ball through his markers legs then sprint it home very regularly. In the goalmouth he hits the ball so damn hard everytime I'm yet to see a goalkeeper stop one. Maynard has great control on the ball and is my leading striker of choice for that reason, he's the only player I've found who can dribble around a crowded penalty area safely

- the previous point therefore makes me sad the two wont play together up from this season. Joint top scorers for me this season in what may well only be a game, but still finds me disappointed in reality the pairing will never happen.

I haven't played a football game since Championship Football on the Atari 2600... Bellamy had extraordinary poise, finesse and pace even back on the Atari Console as you can clearly see from the screen shot of another wonderful meandering jinking move from the pixalated wizard Bellers on the left

I do like a good football game and have spent many an hour playing Pro Evo/FIFA but, even now, Sensible Soccer trumps them all. Now, THAT was a game.