FIFA 13 Retail Impressions

I increased my all-time international record to 4-3-5, and rewarded the Ecuador FA for re-signing me, by going 2-0-0 for the first time in my career on an international break after a 3-2 win over South Africa.

After falling behind in the 9th minute, I got goals from Jefferson Montero (13'), Jose Rojas (71'), and Felipe Caicedo (80') before South Africa closed the match with a goal in the 90th minute.

Now it's back to the Championship League with a trip to 19th place Huddersfield.

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I made the difficult decision to start going with Andrea Branzani over Kevin Doyle. Branzani is just 20 years old and he is a great prospect up front. His OVR is now 76, as opposed to the 31-year-old Doyle's 75.

That said, I'll have to re-think that strategy as Doyle came off the bench at 88' and scored the equalizer at 90' in a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield. I do have to work Branzani in more - perhaps Elkeson should go back to CAM and Branzani should be paired with Doyle up front - as I can't risk pissing the youngster off. However, Doyle has 25 goals on the season, including 23 in the league so I can't keep him off the pitch.

For the record, this match was a second consecutive offensive nightmare for Wolves as we, again, managed just 5 shots.

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I decided to move Elkeson back to CAM to get Andrea Branzani on the pitch and, despite losing Kevin Doyle in the 6th minute (more on that later), Wolves got the offense going again.

We hosted Millwall and outshot them 16-9, earning a 2-1 win. Adam Hammill opened the scoring in the 37th minute and Branzani added the eventual difference-maker on a beautiful power-header at 73', before Millwall scored at 80' to tighten things up for the final ten minutes.

Doyle, who suffered a knee sprain, is expected to miss about a month which means he could miss the remainder of the season. He will likely lose out on the Golden Boot as his lead is only one goal over Brighton & Hove's Craig Mackail-Smith who has 22 goals to Doyle's 23.

The win has Wolves in ninth in the table, 7 points behind the clubs ranked 4-6. For Millwall, the loss leaves them in 22nd - 5 points from safety.

Next up is a trip to Reading, on just 2 days rest. The Royals are seventh in the table, 6 points clear of Wolves. A loss at Reading would do major damage to any promotion chances the Wanderers still have, with just 7 matches remaining.

The clubs played to a 2-2 draw in a September match at Wolverhampton.

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Andrea Branzani showed, for the second straight match, that he will be an aerial threat for years to come as he powered in a header off a corner at 38'. At 6'6", the 20-year-old Italian Striker already has great speed and finishing skills. When he masters his skills in the air - look out.

Unfortunately, his goal only drew Wolves level as we played to a 1-1 decision with Reading.

Wolves remain in ninth place, seven points out of a playoff spot while Reading remain in seventh.

The Wanderers will host Hull City next. The Tigers are currently 8 points behind Wolverhampton, in thirteenth place. Wolves won, in late August, 3-1 at Hull in the league only to be eliminated on the same ground, just 3 days later, from the Capital One Cup on September 2 in a 1-0 loss.

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Jamie O'Hara bounced a header from the left post, at 9 yards out, into the right corner of the net at 40' and Simon Mignolet kept a clean sheet as Wolves held on for a 1-nil win over Hull City.

Despite being outshot (10-9), having fewer on target (2-1), and possessing the ball less (47%) than the Tigers, Wolverhampton squeezed out the result to keep their promotion playoff hours alive.

Wolves are currently ninth in the table, and are 6 points behind sixth placed Reading. Hull City has dropped to thirteenth, 11 points behind the Wanderers.

Up next, Wolves host Blackburn who have moved past slumping Cardiff City into second and a promotion spot. In their only previous meeting, Blackburn got a 4-2 home result just before Christmas.

With their fourth match in just 11 days, Wolves will likely go with a different side than usual, due to fatigue, and could feature 20-year-old defensive midfielder Danny Mantom who just completed a season long loan assignment with Brighton & Hove. Mantom had 3 goals and 5 clean sheets in 16 appearances with the Albion this year.

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Tough loss against Blackburn. Wolves conceded the only goal of the match at 61', in a 1-0 defeat.

Wolverhampton, with a side full of substitutes, played well enough to grrr the result but ultimately a lack of finishing, fatigue, and 3 injuries on the rain-soaked pitch did them in.

Roger Johnson and Georg Margreitter will miss 3 weeks with knee sprains.

The loss makes Wolves promotion playoff hopes all the more perilous. With just 4 match days remaining, Wolverhampton is still sitting ninth in the table and now trails sixth-placed Reading by 8 points. Blackburn maintains a 2-point lead on Cardiff City for second place and a guaranteed promotion spot.

Wolves will get a full week off to recharge before hosting fourth-placed Brighton & Hove, whom they trail by 12 points.

The clubs have met twice this season with the Albion taking a 3-0 August decision in league play and a 2-1 result, at Wolves, in the FA Cup.

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Wolves dominated Brighton & Hove on Tuesday evening virtually from start to finish in the third meeting between the clubs this season. Following a pair of prior setbacks to the Albion, one of which eliminated Wolverhampton from the FA Cup, the Wanderers outshot (16-7), out possessed (52%), out tackled (21-16), and generally outhustled the opposition for the full 90.

Christophe Berra (26') and Andrea Branzani (63') finished 2 of Wolves 5 corners with brilliant headers to provide the scoring as Dominic Kinnear's club continue to improve their aerial game.

Ezequiel Munoz drew a straight red card in the area at 86 minutes and was sent off but Simon Mignolet preserved the clean sheet just moments later by snatching the ensuing penalty attempt for a 2-nil decision.

With the win, Wolves remain 8 points behind sixth-place side, Derby County. With just three league matches remaining, Wolverhampton's promotion chances are all but gone. The Albion remain in fourth position and a guaranteed promotion, a playoff spot, and missing the playoff all remain possibilities for them.

Munoz will now serve a one match ban from the FA when Wolves travel to Barnsley on Saturday at 3:00 PM. The two sides drew in their previous match in August, 1-1. Barnsley are sitting eighteenth in the table.

With Roger Johnson and Georg Margreitter already out with injury, the loss of Munoz will put Kinnear's club three men down on the back line.

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I think I'm going to switch things up next season and start a recap thread where I'll just post some tidbits from my career like I've been doing for the last several matches. Now that my slider work is long finished, I had gotten bored with just posting stats which is why I started doing this.

Not sure who is interested, but I'm doing it anyway. :)

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As an aside, I've currently played 181 matches on FIFA 13. That puts me on pace for about 540 before 14 drops. Iirc, I played about 560 on 12. :D

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

Not sure who is interested, but I'm doing it anyway. :)

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I've been reading!

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Originally Posted by JBHuskers

I've been reading!

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Good enough for me. Hell, I'd do it even if no one read, just for posterity. :)

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

Good enough for me. Hell, I'd do it even if no one read, just for posterity. :)

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If I ever get consistent in my season play, I'd do the same. I'm around 36 games into year one.

Another dominate performance on Saturday afternoon as Wolverhampton made quick work of Barnsley, 4-1.

Andrea Branzani scored a bookend brace opening things with a goal on the first shot of the match at 4' and capping the scoring at 68' with his second. In between, Elkeson ended a much-publicized 8-game drought as Kinnear sent him to the spot and he converted at 8'. Jamie O'Hara netted Wolves third goal at 40' as the Wanderers were never truly threatened on the afternoon.

21-year-old Left Back, Kevin Flood made his debut with Wolves coming on for Kieran Gibbs in the 75th minute.

Wolves will hit the road again on Tuesday as they visit 11th place Nottingham Forest. A November meeting between the sides went to Wolves, 4-1.

Wolverhampton still cling to hope of gaining a spot in the promotion playoff. They currently sit in ninth, but trail sixth place Derby County by 5 points, with 2 matches remaining.

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Tuesday night brought a third straight dominating performance by Wolverhampton as they won, 3-0, at Forest.

Wolves possessed the ball for 58% of the match and limited the opposition to just 1 shot on target making Simon Mignolet's clean sheet a fairly easy effort. Forest committed 8 fouls and were booked 3 times.

Andrea Branzani converted from the spot at 4', Elkeson scored his first non-penalty goal in ten matches at 44', and Jack Sampson headed in the capper at 73' as Wolves cruised to the easy three points.

Unfortunately for Kinnear's side, even with the recent run of form, Wolves have been eliminated from promotion playoff contention as they trail sixth place Derby County by 5 points going into Saturday's season finale against Bristol City.

In the finale, Kinnear is expected to play his youth and field a squad of reserves. Additionally, Kinnear has stated that Kevin Doyle will return to the team and will feature in the starting XI.

Doyle still leads the npower Championship League with 23 goals, despite making just 29 league appearances. The 31-year-old Irish international has been with Wolves since 2009 and will try to win the league's Golden Boot in front of the home supporters. The match could be Doyle's last with the club as rumors persist that he will be sold in the Summer window, with the club continuing its youth movement.

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Initially, upon reading the article below, I thought that they were saying that the FIFA franchise sold 12 million copies in the calendar year of 2012 (between FIFA 12 & 13 during the year).

No.

I later found an article that stated that FIFA 13 sold 7.4 million copies in the first 4 weeks since it's release in late September. Therefore, obviously, 12 million is the number of sales, to date, of FIFA 13. In, basically, 4 months.

Wow!

http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-13-hits-12m-sales/

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Smooth, I got clarification tonight that you cannot get international job offers if you are holding an international job.

Thought I'd pass that along, in case you want to resign from your position with India next time you fire the game up.

That said, I'm going to stick with Ecuador for awhile now that I've gotten to World Cup Qualifying. If it starts going badly (Group Stage is eighteen matches over 25 months), I may resign.

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

Smooth, I got clarification tonight that you cannot get international job offers if you are holding an international job.

Thought I'd pass that along, in case you want to resign from your position with India next time you fire the game up.

That said, I'm going to stick with Ecuador for awhile now that I've gotten to World Cup Qualifying. If it starts going badly (Group Stage is eighteen matches over 25 months), I may resign.

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Damn, thanks for letting me know that. I'll have to leave India then. I'm not going to be doing anything with them anytime soon, and I'll probably end up fired before then, so may as well leave and try and get a new job offer sooner from someone else.

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Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes

Damn, thanks for letting me know that. I'll have to leave India then. I'm not going to be doing anything with them anytime soon, and I'll probably end up fired before then, so may as well leave and try and get a new job offer sooner from someone else.

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:up:

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Well I've played this game for a good bit now and its pretty solid but still too offensive friendly IMHO. I've also ran into a number of glitches while playing including a player of mine getting injured in injury time then once the game ends it will not let me exit out to continue my career.

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Originally Posted by CLW

Well I've played this game for a good bit now and its pretty solid but still too offensive friendly IMHO. I've also ran into a number of glitches while playing including a player of mine getting injured in injury time then once the game ends it will not let me exit out to continue my career.

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I've seen that twice in first half stoppage time. I forwarded it to EA, fwiw.

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man this game locks up a TON. paused it to take the dogs outside. when i returned its just the field with the camera moving all around and no button i push does anything.

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Originally Posted by CLW

man this game locks up a TON. paused it to take the dogs outside. when i returned its just the field with the camera moving all around and no button i push does anything.

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Hmm. I've only seen it twice, like I described above. :dunno:

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Steeler, do you look at or use age at all when deciding whether to sell a player? For me, I've been generally looking at selling off a player once he gets to 29 or 30, and starts showing signs of regression in his ratings, opting for someone between 18 and 24 within 5-7 points OVR below him. Just seeing what methods you use in deciding when it's time to cut a player loose and make some money off of him on the transfer market.

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Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes

Steeler, do you look at or use age at all when deciding whether to sell a player? For me, I've been generally looking at selling off a player once he gets to 29 or 30, and starts showing signs of regression in his ratings, opting for someone between 18 and 24 within 5-7 points OVR below him. Just seeing what methods you use in deciding when it's time to cut a player loose and make some money off of him on the transfer market.

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I'm always looking for players that are under 25 too. Additionally, when they hit 30 I won't give them more than a series of 1-year contracts (makes it easy to get out of). If they are 30ish and not playing (or not playing much), I look to sell them.

I don't sell young players, unless they will never play or will never reach the ability I need them at. The only way I sell a good young player is if my counter is met. I never counter for less than 2x the player's value. If they pay that, fine.

Additionally, when buying, I look for players from England first - so there's not a chance they become unsettled at Wolves.

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

I'm always looking for players that are under 25 too. Additionally, when they hit 30 I won't give them more than a series of 1-year contracts (makes it easy to get out of). If they are 30ish and not playing (or not playing much), I look to sell them.

I don't sell young players, unless they will never play or will never reach the ability I need them at. The only way I sell a good young player is if my counter is met. I never counter for less than 2x the player's value. If they pay that, fine.

Additionally, when buying, I look for players from England first - so there's not a chance they become unsettled at Wolves.

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Nice, good stuff there. Yeah, I generally start putting players on my transfer list around 30, looking to move them while still with a couple years left and while still playing well, trying to get as much money for them as I can. Two seasons ago I went on a massive fire sell where I sent something like 6 or 7 players who were routinely at the bottom of my subs list or sitting in the reserves out the door during both transfer periods, making a huge chunk of change in the process, then bringing in 3 or 4 younger and much higher OVR players to replace them.

While I don't stick to just Netherlands, I do try to limit my players to Europe, specifically nearby countries to keep them happy and from becoming unsettled. I'm going through that problem with one player right now.

Also, I would like to add that the board is a bunch of damn idiots! LB Georgiy Schennikov (88 OVR, 27 years old) wants to leave. I transfer listed him, I've been countering back and forth with Chelsea and they accepted my counter of $40 million. Two days later, I get a message saying that the board sold Schennikov to FC Barcelona for $16.5 million? REALLY? Who the hell would willingly sell a player for $23.5 million less than an offer that had already been agreed on between teams and the buying team was working on a contract with the player?

Well, after refusing to give up such a talented player like Schennikov for only $16.5 million (what a goddamn joke) all because the board wanted to move him as quickly as possible, I reloaded my career a couple times trying to work out a deal with Chelsea to still get at least $36.5 million out of them, and still complete the deal before the board, but Sunday would come, we'd play our match, and the board would always sell him for $20 million or less. Ultimately, I had to say fuck it, give up and accept Chelsea's counter of $34.5 million that I had on the table when I had last saved, just so they could start talking contract with him and get him moved before the board got the in way. It pisses me off losing $5.5 million out of that deal, when Chelsea had agreed to $40 million before, but it's better than freaking $16.5 million at least.

I like that the board will sell a player, if you don't. But I agree that, if you have a deal in the works they should wait for it to resolve itself.

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Originally Posted by steelerfan

I like that the board will sell a player, if you don't. But I agree that, if you have a deal in the works they should wait for it to resolve itself.

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Yeah, I mean I have no problem with the board taking things into their own hands if I don't act. But I transfer-listed Schennikov THE day he said he wanted to transfer out and I knew I had no chance to keep him and was working to get the best deal I could for him.

I had been counter-offering back and forth with Chelsea for 4 or 5 days trying to get the best price I could, and when I finally get the deal done and Chelsea is talking with the player to work out a contract, the board decides to stick their nose in and sell him for a pathetic price and completely undercut my potential profit by over $20 million.

That is something they need to fix for FIFA 14. I realize the board wanted to get him out as soon as possible, I was doing my best to do exactly that, but I had one hell of a sweet deal for him ($40 million), no one in their right mind would undercut that deal and offload him for $16.5 million just because they would have to otherwise wait one or two days longer for the deal with Chelsea to be completed. Any board member or GM that would piss away over $20 million just to move a player a day or two sooner, would have his ass kicked to the curb.

And something is now officially messed up. I can't go into my shortlist anymore. I click on View Shortlist, it locks up the button (everything else still scrolls or moves, briefly) and then my entire system locks up after 5-10 seconds. I've had to completely restart my 360 3 times now. So great, there goes any access to the my shortlist. Fantastic.

Try adding a player to your shortlist.

If that doesn't work, add a player, then save, then reload it and try.

If that fails, try an auto-save file.

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Alright, I got back into FIFA after spending the last few days playing Sleeping Dogs. For whatever reason, I can now get into my shortlist, despite not making any changes to it, so that's good. Issue averted there.

I've just hit and passed the deadline for the July/August transfer window in my new season. I've gone on a fire sale this year. Traded away Luciano Narsingh (90 OVR RW) for $45.5 million to Real Madrid, Sergio Busquets (88 OVR CDM) for $20.5 million to Manchester City, Kevin Strootman (85 OVR CM) for $15 million to Manchester United and Mathias Jorgenson (82 OVR CB) for $13 million to Valencia, giving me four of the top 6 Top Deals of the transfer window.

Add in five players recently signed from my youth squad in the lower 60s and upper 50s in OVR sent away on season loans, and my transfer budget has become $100,175,000 million richer in the past two months. I started with a transfer budget of $46 million, I'm currently up to $149,406,999 and $885,500 to be used for new wages.

I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna go on a buying spree in the January/February transfer window or not. I'm actually still in good shape as far as my starters and reserves.

Busquets had been on my list of people to get rid of this transfer window for a year now, since he's currently 31 years old. Narsingh was headed out the door eventually, as he wanted transferred out and the board gave me full power in the decision of either selling him off or keeping him through the end of his contract. I couldn't get rid of him in time in the previous January/February window, but was able to get the job done this time.

Strootman was another on my list of players to try and get rid of, he's a good player and only 29 years old, but he was pretty much regularly on the substitutes list, so he got sent away when I got a good deal. And Jorgensen was actually one of my starters on the defensive line, but Valencia offered a good amount for him, I was able to get them to spend a couple million extra through counter offers, and I have a 25 year old player who is 78 OVR, who is more than ready to step in as a starter.