England Dream Team - 4-4-2 Diamond Formation

This is my England Dream Team, playing in the 4-4-2 Diamond Formation.
My two wingbacks will get forward as often as possible - often acting as wingers, supported by Gerrard on the right and Barry on the left when needed. When my wingbacks get forward, my Defensive Midfielder, Owen Hargreaves, will stay back acting a third defender.

GK David James (Portsmouth)
DR Glen Johnson (Portsmouth)
DL Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
DC John Terry (Chelsea)
DC Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd)
DM C Owen Hargreaves (Man Utd)
MC Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
MC Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
AM C Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
ST Peter Crouch (Portsmouth)
ST Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)

My Midfield is packed with world class midfielders. Gerrard and Barry can also act as wingers, when needed. Peter Crouch is my target man and Wayne Rooney will drop off and receive the ball to feet, as well as creating chances for other team players. Glen Johnson wins the place at right back, mainly because he is so good going forward. Owen Hargreaves wins the place at DM C, just edging out Ledley King.

Submit your England XI by posting a comment below

Good wingers in FM2009

A good winger (AM R or AM L) will need to have lots or pace and good acceleration. Good dribbling, ball control and crossing are also essential attributes for wingers. With all of the above, your wingers will beat their man and cross the ball from the byline - which are harder to defend than crosses from deep. Here are a few good players I've found.

Theo Walcott (5-stars)
Theo may be a forward, but he plays better on the right wing - a position he played in his early career, for Southampton. He has lightning pace and acceleration with decent dribbling and crossing. He is likely to improve as his career in the game develops.

Nathan Dyer (4-stars)
He is a very similar player to Shaun Wright-Phillips. He is currently on loan at Swansea, but is contracted to Southampton. He is very quick and his other attributes are likely to improve over time. Sign him, if you cannot afford the price-tag of Walcott.

Good players to play as target men in fm2009

A good target men will need height and good heading ability (to win headers) and strenght to hold up the ball. Here is a list of players ideal to play as target men. These target men as perfect for knocking the ball long and high to.

Peter Crouch (5-stars)
It will be hard to sign him, only the best premier league sides will have the opportunity to. His height of 201cm makes him ideal to win headers to flick balls on to other players.

Nicola Zigic (4-stars)
This serbian is probably the tallest forward in the game. He players for Villareal and would be available for around £12 million.

Andy Carroll (3-stars)
You could probably sign this player on loan during the first season. He is a young player from Newcastle. His young age will make this player more attractive to sign and he would be available for around £5 million.

New football related blog - view from the North Stand

This is a new football blog, called View From the North Stand. It is basically, your football pictures from the view in your favourite team's stands.

Check it out and post your pics today! It is aiming to be a collection of pictures from all over the world!

http://view-from-the-north-stand.blogspot.com/

Football Manager 2010 - New Features Wishlist

Football Manager 2009 started rather disappointingly - with the problems of activating the game. Millions had bought the game, yet few could play the game for hours, felt like days!! The phone lines were dead and siga's official website was down. Eventually, when I was able to activate the game, all was forgiven! I loved it from day 2! (day 1 being the struggle to activate it)

However, this post will focus on the wishlist for new features in fm2010.

• FM2010 needs to be faster & more responsive than 2009.
• Stadium building needs to be better than just saying the capacity has increased by 3,782!
• There is only one camera view in the 3d match that I like (corner) - there needs to be more!
• A highlights package with a similar look to LMA or FIFA manager.
• Being a chairman of a club instead, or as well as, being a manager could be fun
• Press Conferences are not that good. I always send my assistant now.
• Tactics are poorer now! The arrows, indicating runs, are now more limiting.
• There are no fans in the stadium on matchday! I want fans, together with chants!
• International Managers don't have a shortlist anymore! It's easier than using the vast national pool.

The stadium expansion really does need looking into. On other games, such as LMA manager on the playstation, I used to love being a small team and developing their stadium. I was even the manager of Barnet for this reason. In the highlights, you got to see how your stadium looked and how development was progressing.

Season 5 updates

The injuries continued to mount as I began Season 5. I soon remembered why I lost motivation for the game in the first place! It is incredibly frustrating, especially as I'm doing nothing wrong. I'm not overtraining, nor under-training, my players

Pre-Season News

I have managed to sign a number of players on free transfers. Most noticeably, the below players.

Jeremie Aliadiere, Matty Ritchie, Stephen Bywater, Jordan Stewart, Richard Eckersley, Lubomir Michalik & Gylfi Sigurdsson.

I have set the target of avoiding relegation - anything more will be a bonus!