There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. We have to recognise the truth and face up to facts. PES was lacking this year and EA stepped up their game with an all-new football sim. I played the UEFA2008 demo this morning and it was sublime. If only it had club teams! I played it immediately after a few games on FIFA08, and believe me, you really notice the gameplay tweaks. The shooting on UEFA is tons better. You’ve probably thought about getting FIFA08 as well for the sake of the club play in manager mode etc. (it’s got to be <£20 by now? pre-owned?) but try the demo first to see if you can stand the slower gameplay and slightly wonkier shooting.

Pre-March I’d played hundreds of games on FIFA08 but drifted away from it because the PSP/PS2 version of PES2008 came along and grabbed me with its classic PES gameplay. I’ll primarily be playing PES2008 for the next few months, but I’ve decided to play FIFA at least a few times a week as well. Even with its problems it’s still a great game - easily better than next-gen PES2008 IMO, and on a par with the current-gen one in terms of immersion and enjoyment.

You have turned me into a 4-3-3 player by the way! I was always 4-4-2 with two side midlfielders/wingers, but after reading the weblog months ago, I tried 4-3-3 and realised it suited my play more!

I tried to go back to Pro Evo online tonight and was turned off in two matches. UEFA is ten times the game next gen PES is, minus club teams and all. There is really no comparison after 3 days of FIFA.

Regarding the pronunciation of the final ‘r’ in ’sooner’, I’d say that most English-speakers would not pronounce it with a final ‘r’. Most would say soon-UH, not soon-URR. E.g., the ‘r’ sound in ’sooner’ is the same as the ‘a’ sound at the end of ‘America’ (a-meh-rick-UH).

That final ‘UH’ sound is known as a schwa in the International Pronunciation guide thing. It’s a schwa that comes at the end of a word like sooner for most English-speakers. Only in parts of North America and some parts of Ireland and Scotland would they roll the final ‘r’ and make it into soon-URR. Even then it’d only be very, very slight and almost indistinguishable, really, from the non-rolled ‘r’.

This whole area is one of my interests - I once considered teaching English overseas and took an ESOL course where I had to learn all this stuff and I’ve kept an interest in it ever since.

As for the pun-of-a-title, I found it rather amusing. However, it is just the inhabitants of the England, Australia and N.Zealand who would pronounce it with that final ” r “.

GL for the remainder of season 2016.