• Liverpool (me)
• Blackburn (colleague 2)
• Manchester United (colleague 3)
• Barcelona (colleague 4)

Manchester United came first, Liverpool came second, Blackburn came third and Barcelona came last. Manchester United and Liverpool made it to the cup final where Manchester United beat Liverpool. Not to worry though because i said i want to use a team i’m good with and that’s Barcelona. So in league 6 i used Barcelona.

We have played league 6 and it’s the last league, we are giving Fifa 08 a break for now. League 6 looked like this:

• Barcelona (me)
• Chelsea (colleague 2)
• Manchester United (colleague 3)
• Arsenal (colleague 4)

What an interesting league this was. The two best players (me and colleague 3) drew against the two worst players in our first games. However, we won against the worse players in the rest of our games. Now then, the hardest part is playing potentially the best player, colleague 3. The first game Manchester United beat Barcelona with a lucky injury time goal. BUT i’m glad to say Barcelona THRASHED Manchester United in second time around by not 1-0, not 2-0 but 3-0! This gave me the lead and won on goal difference by 3 goals.

So the competition has ended and altogether i won: £55 which isn’t bad at all. All i can say is that i were the best at Fifa 08 and no one could come close to me apart from colleague 3 who i tactically outclassed him in our last game.

What’s happening next is we are switching game to Project Gotham Racing 4. The colleagues have the advantage over me because it’s on the Xbox 360, they all own one and i don’t, i prefer the PS3.

We’ll have to see what happens.

League 4

Well, i didn’t win this league like i said i would, but i came second which i’m happy about.

• Hamburg SV (me)
• Chelsea (colleague 1)
• Sporting Lisbon (colleague 2)
• Barcelona (colleague 3)

Chelsea finished top, Hamburg second, Sporting Lisbon third and Barcelona fourth. The cup was a different story. I got knocked out in the first round and so did Sporting Lisbon. Guess who won the cup? Yes that’s right the colleague who has never won anything won the cup!

I have a few excuses to why i didn’t win the league or cup – i didn’t have a 5 star team so i didn’t have the pace of strength like Chelsea and Barcelona do.

We agreed that whoever comes top has to pick a 4 star team, second 4 and half star team, third and fourth 5 star teams. This makes it fair.

Anyway, i warned all colleagues that in league 5 i will be using a 4 and a half star team and i choose Liverpool.

League 5

League 5 will be an interesting one. It currently looks like this:

• Liverpool (me)
• Blackburn (colleague 2)
• Manchester United (colleague 3)
• Barcelona (colleague 4)

I’ve played a game and beat Blackburn 3-0.  Blackburn (colleague 2) gave me some stick when he beat me in the previous league and i just warned him that i used the wrong team – 4 stars! I thrashed Blackburn – enough said. Carrying on, Manchester United beat Barcelona 3-0, which leaves us joint first.

I might be able to win this league, i think i will struggle against Manchester United – Anything can happen in football.

League 3

• Italy (me)
• England (colleague 1)
• France (colleague 2)
• Brazil (colleague 3)

France won the league this time, Italy came second, England came 3rd and Brazil came last. While i lost the league i thought i would be giving colleague 2 £5. We all proceeded with the cup, and Italy won the cup so i didn’t have to give any money out because if you win the cup you don’t have to pay, you keep the £5 you put in the pot.

League 4

We started league 4, we said that the top 2 players in the last league (me and colleague 2) would be 4 star teams and the other rubbish players would be 5 star teams. League 4 looks like this…

• Hamburg SV (me)
• Chelsea (colleague 1)
• Sporting Lisbon (colleague 2)
• Barcelona (colleague 3)

So far we have all played twice. So i lost to Chelsea and beat Sporting Lisbon (the best player next to me). Sporting Lisbon has lost 1 and won 1 and Barcelona has lost both games. Chelsea have won both games up to now. So that leaves Chelsea top, Hamburg SV in second, Lisbon in 3rd and Barcelona last.

I’m confident i will win this league again, i’m currently £45 up, i plan to stretch that to £60 and go on to win the cup.

If i don’t win the league, i might take the money and run.

At half time, what the hell did the Bolton manager say to his team? I was sat near the goals at the home end rather than the away end, and couldn’t see any of the action due to it being at the other end of the pitch in the first half. So my head was also looking right, and the same thing happened in the second half, no action at my end!

Bolton played really poor in the second half, ok they did hit the crossbar, and missed an open goal, and they should have won easily. Lisbon managed to get an away goal which is bad news for Bolton, and they hit the crossbar.

The Bolton fans tried to start a mexican wave but didn’t get very far, but they were singing practically all through the game which was good to witness. 

There is still hope for Bolton’s dream to come true, all they need to do is score and not let Lisbon get a goal. If they do get through to the quarter finals, i’m hoping to attend the home game. Let’s hope Bolton win!

Burnley vs Watford feedback

Me and my friends were sat in the away stand cheering for Watford because, although i don’t support Watford, my two friends do, and they asked me if i wanted to go to the match and i thought yes, why not.

Burnleys Stadium, Turf Moor was better than i expected, i was expecting a very old grotty stadium with no roof, but to my surprise this wasn’t the case. The home stands in Turf Moor aren’t too bad and they look up to date, however the away stand is shockingly horrible. It had a roof which was a good thing because it started raining, but the seat were awful. We had to sit on old school wooden seats that weren’t very comfy at all. I took a photo of the seats:

Anyway, the match was fairly decent, with plenty of goals to see (ended 2-2) and both teams started to get rough with each other.

Watford started off very well, dominating and keeping possession for the first 30 minutes, but started to lose concentration and Burnley was on a constant attack.

We saw the first goal after 20 minutes. We waited until the 75th minute before Burnley equalized making it 1-1. 10 Minutes later Watford scored a nice goal, a shot going into the top corner and lastly 3 minutes after that goal Burnley equalized finishing the game to a draw.

I couldn’t get any photos during the game because the Watford fans were very lively and giving plenty of support for their team. They were constantly standing up and blocking my view making it difficult to take any good snaps.

I’m looking forwards to seeing Bolton take on Sporting Lisbon on Thursday the 6th March, it should be a good game and i’ll post the feedback on this blog, so stay tuned!

Graphics - 8/10

In the past this is what Fifa has been about, great graphics, beating many other football games in the graphics department. Fifa 08 has again blown me away with its high detailed graphics, some players look like themselves, stadiums are what you expect them to be and lifelike, shadows have improved massively. The crowd looks ok’ish until up close and this is where it lets the graphics down, while this doesn’t affect gameplay, you probably won’t notice the crowd half the time. There is room for improvement for example, some players don’t look like they do in real life and as I’ve just said, and the crowd could be a lot better.

Sound and Music - 8/10

Music in the Fifa franchise has always been top notch and has always had the advantage over other football games. Here you will be listening to top soundtracks such as Ali In The Jungle, Young Folks and Monster. There are more than 50 tracks in Fifa 08.

Martin Tyler and Andy Gray control the commentary as always in Fifa games. Nothing’s changed here, they still do and it’s even better and the execution is excellent. There are a few bugs with the commentary because you will have a freekick from the half way line or at an awkward angle and Martin Tyler will say something like “Freekick here, and he’s in shooting range” when your clearly not. Another example is when you hit the post and he tells you, you hit the bar. These small bugs can be fixed and hopefully will be in Fifa 09.

Crowd chants are a pleasure to listen to and there is nothing wrong here. The stadium announcer can get annoying, especially when he announces that someone has lost a set of car keys…etc. Other than that the sound and music is top notch.

Gameplay – 8/10

This is where the Fifa franchise has always lacked, in the gameplay department. In previous Fifa games, the gameplay hasn’t kept up with its rivals, and the gameplay department is where it needed working on the most. 2008 is the year where Fifa comes to life. I was pleased to see that the game plays far better than any other football i’ve played. Fifa 08 runs at a smooth 60fps with no drop in frame rate, and that’s a good thing because you can expect to play a fluid game of football.

Shooting is far better in Fifa 08, utilizing a power bar, how high and powerful the shot is depends on how long you pressed the shoot button for. Much better than the old classic tap the shoot button and it’s a goal, you have to actually aim the shot too. Passing is accurate but through balls could have a little work on them because most of the time they don’t get through, and the opposition intercepts the ball.

Skill moves are an addition this year; they look really good when executed well. Skill moves are useless online and 9 times out of 10 you won’t use them because you always get tackled after using them, unless your some sort of world class player who’s mastered every skill.

There is always room for improvement, and some parts of the Fifa gameplay i wasn’t happy about. These include; sluggish controls, there will be parts in the game where you constantly tap the pass button or the shoot button and the player doesn’t respond, or takes time to respond. For example, the ball is in the box and every player is fighting for the ball, it seems as though no one can get the ball and the controls don’t respond at all and this is very frustration if you’re trying to score, it’s as if there is some major lag, and this is playing the game offline.

Another thing i don’t like is when the ball runs free and you’re the first person to reach the ball, you will wonder why the hell he kicked it down the field without your command. This is because you had already pressed the button before you reached the ball, there is no indicator telling you this. You have to cancel out the shot using the shoulder button but this takes too long, there should be a quicker way of doing this.

You will probably play through a few seasons at first to get used to the game before taking it online. In terms of online, this is where you will spend most of your time. There are a few issues online such as lag and bug exploiters. You will need to find a person with a good connection in order to have a fast, lag free game.

One annoying thing is when the opposition kicks off they immediately shoot from the half way line to try and lob the keeper because he’s off his line. I haven’t had this done to me yet but i’ve seen videos. This needs to be fixed.

Fifa 08′s gameplay is very strong and i expect it to get even stronger next year.

Replayability – 9/10

Replayability is outstanding, there are hundreds of challenges to complete, and unlimited season mode and of course online. You will be coming back for more and more.

Take a look at the recent Fifa tournaments i’ve had at work, click here.

Overall – 8.2/10

I’m giving it an 8.2/10 because there are many bugs to be fixed and this spoils the gameplay, especially online.

People have always said Pro Evolution is better than Fifa, and i’ve agreed with them, but this year, i don’t agree with them and they don’t agree with themselves anymore. These people have switched over to Fifa and dumped Pro Evo because the Fifa gameplay is now so much better equipped with next generation graphics.

EA has dominated this year, and the gameplay has been the best ever yet in Fifa 08. If you’re a football fan and like playing football games, i would highly recommend you buy this game.

Bolton beat Madrid 1-0, and to be honest it was a lucky goal. In the first half Bolton was all over Madrid, had a good few shots, and the Bolton keeper made a fantastic save keep out a header that was heading in the top corner.

There was a bust up between Diouf and Simao after Diouf went in hard.

In the 2nd half, Madrid started to play the ball alot better, passing it around and creating chances. Aguero came on as a substitute but got sent off 12 minutes later for spitting on a Bolton player. As soon as that happened Diouf netted the goal.

I was surprised at how packed the stadium was, there was an attendance of 26,650 or something like that. Alot of spanish came to the match to give their team support and i was sat right next to them.

If Bolton win at Madrids home land, then i may perhaps watch Bolton play whoever they play at home again.

I’m hoping that Bolton win, but i think Madrid might just snatch the game. I’m hoping that there is some atmosphere tonight, i doubt there will be since it is valentines day.

Anyway, Happy Valentines day everyone! I hope you have a nice romantic day/evening. I probably won’t be blogging much today because i’ll be busy watching the match and spending some quality time with my girlfriend after the match.