Cool you mentioned that Rokkerr - I had thought about it myself but wasn't sure if anyone else would be interested! I've just set us up a VNA Army league on the official Fantasy Premier League
To join the league go to: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/
Click on Join a League and choose Private League. Then use this league code to join:
45952-457345
Excellent, hopefully a few people feel like joining in :)
A little stat to mull over: After last night's 1-0 home defeat to Fiorentina, Chelsea have failed to win a single pre-season game within 90 minutes and have only won via a penalty shootout...
Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread
Pedro to Man United? Januzaj to Sunderland? The Saints today signed Frenchman M'Vila on a season-long loan after midfielder Fer failed his medical.
West Ham were already struggling in the second qualifying round and now their European adventure has really come to an end. Romanian side Astra defeated the Hammers tonight after the 2-2 result in London last week. This has got to have an effect on their tough away game at Arsenal. I'm guessing a monstrous result for the Gunners and even more pressure on Bilic, lol. On Friday around noon, UEFA will hold the CL as well as Europa League draw, so then we will know the opponents of Man United, Southampton, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar in the play-offs.
FIFA have released the latest edition of their world ranking. Argentina remain in the lead, closely followed by the new number two: Belgium. England move up a spot to #8 and Netherlands look like idiots again as we fall down from 5th to 12th place.
I have ZERO knowledge about Fantasy Football, but I signed up and joined the league anyway, so this should be fun.
West Ham were already struggling in the second qualifying round and now their European adventure has really come to an end. Romanian side Astra defeated the Hammers tonight after the 2-2 result in London last week. This has got to have an effect on their tough away game at Arsenal. I'm guessing a monstrous result for the Gunners and even more pressure on Bilic, lol. On Friday around noon, UEFA will hold the CL as well as Europa League draw, so then we will know the opponents of Man United, Southampton, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar in the play-offs.
FIFA have released the latest edition of their world ranking. Argentina remain in the lead, closely followed by the new number two: Belgium. England move up a spot to #8 and Netherlands look like idiots again as we fall down from 5th to 12th place.
I have ZERO knowledge about Fantasy Football, but I signed up and joined the league anyway, so this should be fun.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
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- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
Pedro to Man United doesn't seem that outlandish to me, especially now they have taken the big loss on Di Maria (yes I am going to mention the gigantic loss after just one season due to the fact that Spurs get muddied all the time over Soldado!) and will see it as having £44m to spend rather than covering some debt. I think it's fairly well accepted that Pedro would be open to a move away from Barca in search of first team football and Barcelona would happily take a wheelbarrow full of cash for him.
I have to admit I hadn't heard anything about Januzaj to Sunderland, although again it wouldn't seem the most shocking of transfers (I assume it would be a loan move?). Yann M'Villa is a name who has been linked with the Premier League for a few years now, mostly with Arsenal but also Spurs and one or two other clubs, so it will be interesting to see him finally in the league. I believe in the past he has had a lot of off the field issues which no doubt always deterred potential suitors, especially in the Premier League where every player is under seemingly 24hour scrutiny.
As one of my least favourite clubs (I even prefer Arsenal to them!), it's a mixed emotion to see West Ham get knocked out of the Europa League in the pre-qualifying round. On the one hand, it's absolutely hilarious that the season before they move into the tax-payer funded Olympic Stadium and with a claim that they were looking to win the Europa and bring Champions League football to the new stadium, they get humiliated like this. On the other, we all know what a tortuous effect the Europa League can have on teams and so I was quite looking forward to seeing their league form struggle due to the extra travel and games.
England 8th in the world rankings...
Gert: It was my first time using that particular Fantasy Football competition last season and I soon picked up the general rules and nuances. One big thing to keep in mind is that player values will increase and decrease throughout the season. This is ruled by how many people transfer them in or out of their teams each week. I believe that if 10,000 people transfer in a player (or out) then that player's price will rise/fall by 100k. So a good tactic is to look for players who you think will rise in price, get them into your team and then build up your overall transfer fund.
The biggest feature to keep in mind is that you get one free transfer each game week. If you don't use it, it carries over into the next week meaning you can then make two. However that is the maximum you can 'hold' so be sure to make changes regularly! If you want to make more than one transfer, it will cost you 4 points per transfer, so always weigh up if you think a player will make up those points before making rash changes - unless of course you are trying to build up your transfer kitty.
Other general tips would be to remember your team is geared up to win individual points rather than be an actual team. So for instance, you'd love Matic in your real life team, but in Fantasy Football he wont get you very much. Similarly in defence, attacking full backs usually get the most points due to getting assists and the odd goal, although of course clean sheets are still the main thing to look for. But you can quite happily have 4 full backs in defence, rather an a traditional defensive line.
I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it really is though so please don't let me put anyone off! If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to answer them :)
I have to admit I hadn't heard anything about Januzaj to Sunderland, although again it wouldn't seem the most shocking of transfers (I assume it would be a loan move?). Yann M'Villa is a name who has been linked with the Premier League for a few years now, mostly with Arsenal but also Spurs and one or two other clubs, so it will be interesting to see him finally in the league. I believe in the past he has had a lot of off the field issues which no doubt always deterred potential suitors, especially in the Premier League where every player is under seemingly 24hour scrutiny.
As one of my least favourite clubs (I even prefer Arsenal to them!), it's a mixed emotion to see West Ham get knocked out of the Europa League in the pre-qualifying round. On the one hand, it's absolutely hilarious that the season before they move into the tax-payer funded Olympic Stadium and with a claim that they were looking to win the Europa and bring Champions League football to the new stadium, they get humiliated like this. On the other, we all know what a tortuous effect the Europa League can have on teams and so I was quite looking forward to seeing their league form struggle due to the extra travel and games.
England 8th in the world rankings...
Gert: It was my first time using that particular Fantasy Football competition last season and I soon picked up the general rules and nuances. One big thing to keep in mind is that player values will increase and decrease throughout the season. This is ruled by how many people transfer them in or out of their teams each week. I believe that if 10,000 people transfer in a player (or out) then that player's price will rise/fall by 100k. So a good tactic is to look for players who you think will rise in price, get them into your team and then build up your overall transfer fund.
The biggest feature to keep in mind is that you get one free transfer each game week. If you don't use it, it carries over into the next week meaning you can then make two. However that is the maximum you can 'hold' so be sure to make changes regularly! If you want to make more than one transfer, it will cost you 4 points per transfer, so always weigh up if you think a player will make up those points before making rash changes - unless of course you are trying to build up your transfer kitty.
Other general tips would be to remember your team is geared up to win individual points rather than be an actual team. So for instance, you'd love Matic in your real life team, but in Fantasy Football he wont get you very much. Similarly in defence, attacking full backs usually get the most points due to getting assists and the odd goal, although of course clean sheets are still the main thing to look for. But you can quite happily have 4 full backs in defence, rather an a traditional defensive line.
I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it really is though so please don't let me put anyone off! If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to answer them :)
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AussieSteve
- Major
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- Location: Queensland, Australia
HaHa Steinar, the other United from Manchester managed to scrape home 1-0 as well against Tottenham! I don't know what to make of that result so I'll see what happens in their next game to make an assessment of their chances this season ... 
Steve, the horny voyeur down under
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rokkerr
- Army Chief of Staff "Number One"
- Posts: 12992
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- Location: London, Los Angeles and now Tampa!
- Contact:
TheBoy wrote:Cool you mentioned that Rokkerr - I had thought about it myself but wasn't sure if anyone else would be interested! I've just set us up a VNA Army league on the official Fantasy Premier League
To join the league go to: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/
Click on Join a League and choose Private League. Then use this league code to join:
45952-457345
Excellent, hopefully a few people feel like joining in :)
A little stat to mull over: After last night's 1-0 home defeat to Fiorentina, Chelsea have failed to win a single pre-season game within 90 minutes and have only won via a penalty shootout...
Having a hard time creating an account for some reason but I am excited to see this when I do get in...
wearing my cockring 24 hours a day
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
Rokkerr - It might have been because you tried to create your team whilst the game was being updated, but I can see you listed in the league on the admin page under 'players to be added after next points update'. So I think you maybe missed the first week, but will be all set for game week 2 :)
The first week of Premier League fixtures threw up some eye opening results, the biggest of which was Arsenal losing 2-0 at home to West Ham and in the process, new signing Petr Cech being at fault for both goals. We knew Arsenal are in need of a striker, but we at least thought that Cech would easily solve their long standing goalkeeping problem. I'm still pretty sure he will prove an excellent signing for them, but his performance did make you wonder about how playing behind perhaps the best defence in top league football for all these years (not to mention essentially a season out on the bench last year) may make us see him in a different light.
The other big talking point was that of Chelsea 2-2 Swansea, with Chelsea's 'keeper Courtois seeing red and conceding a penalty. The match could very well have been won by Swansea but the result further fuels the questions over Chelsea's stuttering pre-season. It's also worth mentioning that Diego Costa was picked to play, despite his injury risk. Evidently Jose had seen more than enough of Remy and Falcao to take the gamble!
I may be biased seeing as they played Spurs, but I have to say I was very unimpressed by Man United. They won via a Kyle Walker own goal (although admittedly Rooney would surely have scored anyway) but I can't really remember any other chances of note they created. Spurs in fact looked a much more cohesive team but if ever there was a game to highlight our two key areas requiring strengthening ASAP, then this was it. Dier and Bentaleb in central midfield always looked seconds from disaster and it was in fact Bentaleb the culprit for giving the ball away sloppily that directly led to United's goal. And up front, whilst looking lively and some neat passing, Chadli, Dembele and later Lamela just didn't possess the cutting edge to get us a goal.
For United, I thought Depay looked good for his first game in England. I think he will really start to shine after a handful of games. And Schweinsteiger looks like he will be invaluable even just in the dressing room if he cannot play full games regularly. Darmian also looked very assured at right back.
Leicester City sit atop the league with a thrilling 4-2 win against Sunderland. Vardy (who is now in trouble for being a tool in a casino) and Mahrez look like they have slipped instantly back into the end of last season's form that led to such a brilliant run of results. Everton huffed and puffed to a 2-2 draw against newcomers Watford and will need to improve significantly. Crystal Palace made short work of Norwich with an impressive 3-1 away victory, whilst Aston Villa sneaked a tight 1-0 away win against Bournemouth.
Southampton will probably be disappointed to only take a 2-2 draw away from Newcastle, despite needing a fairly late equaliser to claim a point. And finally Liverpool looked destined for a 0-0 draw against Stoke until Coutinho scored a brilliant winner that will be up there for goal of the month.
West Brom host Man City tonight and we might see Sergio Ageuro make a surprise start after it initially being suggested he would miss the first few games of the season in order to recover from the Copa America.
The first week of Premier League fixtures threw up some eye opening results, the biggest of which was Arsenal losing 2-0 at home to West Ham and in the process, new signing Petr Cech being at fault for both goals. We knew Arsenal are in need of a striker, but we at least thought that Cech would easily solve their long standing goalkeeping problem. I'm still pretty sure he will prove an excellent signing for them, but his performance did make you wonder about how playing behind perhaps the best defence in top league football for all these years (not to mention essentially a season out on the bench last year) may make us see him in a different light.
The other big talking point was that of Chelsea 2-2 Swansea, with Chelsea's 'keeper Courtois seeing red and conceding a penalty. The match could very well have been won by Swansea but the result further fuels the questions over Chelsea's stuttering pre-season. It's also worth mentioning that Diego Costa was picked to play, despite his injury risk. Evidently Jose had seen more than enough of Remy and Falcao to take the gamble!
I may be biased seeing as they played Spurs, but I have to say I was very unimpressed by Man United. They won via a Kyle Walker own goal (although admittedly Rooney would surely have scored anyway) but I can't really remember any other chances of note they created. Spurs in fact looked a much more cohesive team but if ever there was a game to highlight our two key areas requiring strengthening ASAP, then this was it. Dier and Bentaleb in central midfield always looked seconds from disaster and it was in fact Bentaleb the culprit for giving the ball away sloppily that directly led to United's goal. And up front, whilst looking lively and some neat passing, Chadli, Dembele and later Lamela just didn't possess the cutting edge to get us a goal.
For United, I thought Depay looked good for his first game in England. I think he will really start to shine after a handful of games. And Schweinsteiger looks like he will be invaluable even just in the dressing room if he cannot play full games regularly. Darmian also looked very assured at right back.
Leicester City sit atop the league with a thrilling 4-2 win against Sunderland. Vardy (who is now in trouble for being a tool in a casino) and Mahrez look like they have slipped instantly back into the end of last season's form that led to such a brilliant run of results. Everton huffed and puffed to a 2-2 draw against newcomers Watford and will need to improve significantly. Crystal Palace made short work of Norwich with an impressive 3-1 away victory, whilst Aston Villa sneaked a tight 1-0 away win against Bournemouth.
Southampton will probably be disappointed to only take a 2-2 draw away from Newcastle, despite needing a fairly late equaliser to claim a point. And finally Liverpool looked destined for a 0-0 draw against Stoke until Coutinho scored a brilliant winner that will be up there for goal of the month.
West Brom host Man City tonight and we might see Sergio Ageuro make a surprise start after it initially being suggested he would miss the first few games of the season in order to recover from the Copa America.
No Spanish, German or Italian football yet, so I was able to catch a lot of the English matches. Ain't it funny how the most interesting confrontation on paper often turns out to be the most boring? This new season of 380 games kicked off with Man United vs Tottenham. A dull and dreadful clash with one shot on target from the Mancunians and an own goal from Spurs' Kyle Walker. Highlights? Right back Darmian made a good impression, Romero came up with some great saves and Chris Smalling was actually really good! In the end, there's always that striker issue. Tottenham started nicely with a high defensive line and trying to put pressure on their opponent, but Spurs depend too much on Kane's brilliance, which he didn't show on Saturday by the way. Get on it, Levy, give Pocchettino more quality to work with.
The Swans and Hammers were terrific against Chelsea and Arsenal. You could see from the start that they wanted to play attacking football and it gave me a weird feeling to see both top teams struggle. Oh, and what do you say when I mention Payet, Ayew, Gomis? Good or AWESOME?! Physical and technical players straight out the French league. The Swansea and West Ham scouts have done an excellent job. Believe me, those three are good enough to play for any EPL team. Sadly, the majority of managers only want to show the world that the sky is the limit financially, rather than spending the money on the right players.
I have no idea why West Ham did so aweful in the Europa League. Kouyate, Zarate, Sakho, Ogbonna, Oxford. Seriously, all of them are great players as well. Bilic is easily gonna finish somewhere mid-table, maybe even higher. Then again, it's only gameday 1, lol. I can see Swansea achieve the same in 2015/2016 as Southampton did during last year. Leicester City were able to blow Sunderland off the pitch after crucial errors from Coates, Cattermole and Van Aanholt. Sunderland were horrible defensively yet they only had to concede 4 goals...
Chelsea were lucky to hold on to that 2-2 draw. In my opinion, it was the right call to give Courtois a red card. Arsenal were very poor with a big issue up front. Rokkerr is right when saying they need something extra on that position, but I don't see Wenger buying another forward. Giroud, Walcott, Wellbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Oxlade is an impressive list already. Not to mention the creative midfielders Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey. Petr Cech -- OMG! Let's hope for the Gunners sake this match was just an incident.
I expected more of Southampton, I expected less of Newcastle. Georginio Wijnaldum has played in the Eredivisie for 7 years, but he has never scored a header as magnificent as the one this weekend! Coutinho's goal for Liverpool was perhaps even more beautiful, though it was somewhat of a lucky shot. Stoke did not deserve to lose. I remember how I always used to go over the list of fixtures and scratch the Stoke games off my list, haha. Mark Hughes is really trying to play a different kind of football with this team and that intention alone is already appreciated, lol. I'm not even gonna analyze Liverpool's performance. It was probably even worse than Man United. No creativity, no scoring chances, but just like their red rivals, they, too, have collected the first 3 points of the new season.
The Swans and Hammers were terrific against Chelsea and Arsenal. You could see from the start that they wanted to play attacking football and it gave me a weird feeling to see both top teams struggle. Oh, and what do you say when I mention Payet, Ayew, Gomis? Good or AWESOME?! Physical and technical players straight out the French league. The Swansea and West Ham scouts have done an excellent job. Believe me, those three are good enough to play for any EPL team. Sadly, the majority of managers only want to show the world that the sky is the limit financially, rather than spending the money on the right players.
I have no idea why West Ham did so aweful in the Europa League. Kouyate, Zarate, Sakho, Ogbonna, Oxford. Seriously, all of them are great players as well. Bilic is easily gonna finish somewhere mid-table, maybe even higher. Then again, it's only gameday 1, lol. I can see Swansea achieve the same in 2015/2016 as Southampton did during last year. Leicester City were able to blow Sunderland off the pitch after crucial errors from Coates, Cattermole and Van Aanholt. Sunderland were horrible defensively yet they only had to concede 4 goals...
Chelsea were lucky to hold on to that 2-2 draw. In my opinion, it was the right call to give Courtois a red card. Arsenal were very poor with a big issue up front. Rokkerr is right when saying they need something extra on that position, but I don't see Wenger buying another forward. Giroud, Walcott, Wellbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Oxlade is an impressive list already. Not to mention the creative midfielders Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey. Petr Cech -- OMG! Let's hope for the Gunners sake this match was just an incident.
I expected more of Southampton, I expected less of Newcastle. Georginio Wijnaldum has played in the Eredivisie for 7 years, but he has never scored a header as magnificent as the one this weekend! Coutinho's goal for Liverpool was perhaps even more beautiful, though it was somewhat of a lucky shot. Stoke did not deserve to lose. I remember how I always used to go over the list of fixtures and scratch the Stoke games off my list, haha. Mark Hughes is really trying to play a different kind of football with this team and that intention alone is already appreciated, lol. I'm not even gonna analyze Liverpool's performance. It was probably even worse than Man United. No creativity, no scoring chances, but just like their red rivals, they, too, have collected the first 3 points of the new season.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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AussieSteve
- Major
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- Joined: July 27th, 2008, 5:21 pm
- Location: Queensland, Australia
Watched the highlights of Manchester City's impressive 3-0 away win over West Bromwich Albion today so they might fare better this season than last season! Maybe even win a 
Steve, the horny voyeur down under
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
City were indeed impressive, Steve. Total control from the first minute, with David Silva looking pure class. Yaya Toure happily took advantage of West Brom's curious first half tactics that seemed to almost wave the white flag from kick off. I was very disappointed by West Brom - it harkened back to the bad old days of a team playing at home against a bigger side and looking to purely shut up shop. The irony being of course that City are traditionally a bit vulnerable at the back and if a team can muster some meaningful attacks, they have a decent chance of scoring.
The one big thing that struck me about City though was that they looked like they meant business. From Kompany at the back looking fitter, Yaya and Silva in midfield and of course Sterling giving them that extra spark upfront they have been sorely missing. Ageuro too looked bright when he came on as a sub.
Gert - how are you finding the fantasy football? I may have misled about how price rises/decreases come about... I'm correct that the number of people who transfer a player in does count towards a price rise/fall, but there are a number of other factors involved. But as a rule of thumb, if a player does get transferred a lot in one week, it's a good sign a price change may take place!
I've made one transfer so far... A pretty boring one lol. I am thinking about making another for a -4 points but I'm currently thinking of letting it ride for another week.
The one big thing that struck me about City though was that they looked like they meant business. From Kompany at the back looking fitter, Yaya and Silva in midfield and of course Sterling giving them that extra spark upfront they have been sorely missing. Ageuro too looked bright when he came on as a sub.
Gert - how are you finding the fantasy football? I may have misled about how price rises/decreases come about... I'm correct that the number of people who transfer a player in does count towards a price rise/fall, but there are a number of other factors involved. But as a rule of thumb, if a player does get transferred a lot in one week, it's a good sign a price change may take place!
I've made one transfer so far... A pretty boring one lol. I am thinking about making another for a -4 points but I'm currently thinking of letting it ride for another week.
It was a walk in the park for Man City. Let's see if they can beat Chelsea on Sunday....
As for the fantasy football, I'm totally digging it! My 24 points may be less than the average, but I'm not unhappy with that score for a first time. Gonna change tactics, so I can play all my forwards. I did use that one free transfer as well, but that's it for now. I don't see the need to make another one. You can really score a lot of points with the right knowledge and some luck. I saw that over 3 million people in total are playing. Wow! Already looking forward to next weekend.
Barcelona and Sevilla face each other tonight in the UEFA Super Cup match in friggin Tbilisi, lol. Neymar is out for two weeks because of mumps.
David De Gea is now expected to stay at Man United. They will only sell for a world record fee for a goalkeeper OR if they can have Sergio Ramos in return. To me, this sounds like the Mancunians are putting pressure on Real to start taking action.
As for the fantasy football, I'm totally digging it! My 24 points may be less than the average, but I'm not unhappy with that score for a first time. Gonna change tactics, so I can play all my forwards. I did use that one free transfer as well, but that's it for now. I don't see the need to make another one. You can really score a lot of points with the right knowledge and some luck. I saw that over 3 million people in total are playing. Wow! Already looking forward to next weekend.
Barcelona and Sevilla face each other tonight in the UEFA Super Cup match in friggin Tbilisi, lol. Neymar is out for two weeks because of mumps.
David De Gea is now expected to stay at Man United. They will only sell for a world record fee for a goalkeeper OR if they can have Sergio Ramos in return. To me, this sounds like the Mancunians are putting pressure on Real to start taking action.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
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I'm quite curious to see the result of City v Chelsea. We all know the standard Mourinho tactics of playing away to a league rival is to park the bus (but deny doing so) and walk away with a 0-0 draw. But City certainly won't sit back and if they really go at what has so far been a stuttering Chelsea team, it could be a surprise result.
Speaking of Chelsea, we have a quite bizarre story taking place right now. Eva Caneiro, the worlds sexiest doctor in football, has fallen foul of Jose Mourinho for an incident during the closing minutes of Chelsea's game vs Swansea last weekend. It's also an excuse to post some pictures ;)
The incident in question began with Eden Hazard hitting the floor and remaining there. Assuming the player to be genuinely injured and not being an asshat purely trying to waste time, the referee waved on Eva and her assistant to issue treatment. This of course meant that once taken care of, Hazard would need to leave the pitch and thus Chelsea to play with 9 men for the remaining few minutes. Jose then proceeded to fire a volley of fury towards lovely Eva insisting she should have avoided going on to the pitch (which comically means Mourinho is admitting Hazard went down under false pretenses) and in the ensuing war of words, has banished her from future games and left her employment at Chelsea under threat.
This whole situation is very curious, not least because Caneiro is a very popular figure, not only because she is sexy but also well liked by the players and respected by her peers. Meaning that we could see a first (although maybe Pep came close with the Bayern doctor!) where the fans of club are more in support of a member of the medical staff than the manager - and when that manager is Mourinho, well you can only imagine the permutations! Oh ok then, one more picture ;)
Pedro looks like it is gathering steam after his reaction to the Super Cup...
Roberto Soldado is on his way to Villareal. It hasn't been officially announced by either club, but who needs official confirmation when you've got Erik Lamela on Twitter wishing his friend all the best at his new club lol! His Tweet was quickly deleted but I think it's safe to say Soldado's Spurs nightmare is finally over. Now, if Lamela could let us know that Adebayor has gone too...
Gert and Rokkerr, a little heads up about this week's fantasy football: Because of the Aston Villa v Manchester United match on Friday night, you need to have your team set up by 18:45 GMT on Friday. Normally it's 11:30 on a Saturday morning, so just a warning not to get caught out.
Speaking of Chelsea, we have a quite bizarre story taking place right now. Eva Caneiro, the worlds sexiest doctor in football, has fallen foul of Jose Mourinho for an incident during the closing minutes of Chelsea's game vs Swansea last weekend. It's also an excuse to post some pictures ;)
- eva-carneiro-shared-photo-565371522.jpg (28.65 KiB) Viewed 94 times
- eva-carneiro-chelsea-injuries_sm.jpg (196.38 KiB) Viewed 94 times
This whole situation is very curious, not least because Caneiro is a very popular figure, not only because she is sexy but also well liked by the players and respected by her peers. Meaning that we could see a first (although maybe Pep came close with the Bayern doctor!) where the fans of club are more in support of a member of the medical staff than the manager - and when that manager is Mourinho, well you can only imagine the permutations! Oh ok then, one more picture ;)
- BvwYuz8IMAA8q4d.jpg (49.44 KiB) Viewed 94 times
Roberto Soldado is on his way to Villareal. It hasn't been officially announced by either club, but who needs official confirmation when you've got Erik Lamela on Twitter wishing his friend all the best at his new club lol! His Tweet was quickly deleted but I think it's safe to say Soldado's Spurs nightmare is finally over. Now, if Lamela could let us know that Adebayor has gone too...
Gert and Rokkerr, a little heads up about this week's fantasy football: Because of the Aston Villa v Manchester United match on Friday night, you need to have your team set up by 18:45 GMT on Friday. Normally it's 11:30 on a Saturday morning, so just a warning not to get caught out.
The 40th annual UEFA Super Cup turned out to be the most historical one so far. I'm still trying to catch my breath, lol. What a fan-tas-tic match! Sublime free kicks, a marvelous Messi and a surreal scoreline. Blaugranas dominated the first half and went up 4-1 in the 52nd minute. Sevilla fought like lions, found Barca's weak spot and came back to 4-4, but Barcelona defeated Sevila 5-4 after extra time! The winning goal came from Pedro in the 115th minute. It was probably his last appearance for the club as today's newspapers in Spain are saying he will be joining Manchester United for an estimated transfer fee of €35m.
Mourinho would have loved seeing Carneiro stall time if Chelsea had been in the lead. However, things didn't go as planned, they needed a goal, which is why I'm not sure if Hazard was actually faking an injury. He wanted to win too, right?! Carneiro is important for Chelsea, she's good at her job and she did what any team doctor would do when the referee is allowing treatment on the pitch. There's a reason behind everything that Mourinho does. Let's not forget he axed Casillas at Real Madrid, who was very popular too. It's sad, cause he really is a tactical genius. In this case, I think he should apologize. It's not even surprising anymore to see Mourinho causing controversy in the week right before a big game....
Bayern Munich vs Hamburger SV tomorrow night should be a good start of the Bundesliga given the results over the last few years: 8-0, 9-2, 5-0.
Mourinho would have loved seeing Carneiro stall time if Chelsea had been in the lead. However, things didn't go as planned, they needed a goal, which is why I'm not sure if Hazard was actually faking an injury. He wanted to win too, right?! Carneiro is important for Chelsea, she's good at her job and she did what any team doctor would do when the referee is allowing treatment on the pitch. There's a reason behind everything that Mourinho does. Let's not forget he axed Casillas at Real Madrid, who was very popular too. It's sad, cause he really is a tactical genius. In this case, I think he should apologize. It's not even surprising anymore to see Mourinho causing controversy in the week right before a big game....
Bayern Munich vs Hamburger SV tomorrow night should be a good start of the Bundesliga given the results over the last few years: 8-0, 9-2, 5-0.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
A light blue whirlwind started furiously in Sunday's 4pm clash. Man City put Chelsea with their back against the wall. Sergio Aguero had already gotten 3 scoring chances until he finally broke the ice in the 32nd minute. The Citizens are determined to claim another title with Hart, Kompany, Toure and Aguero standing out so far. Chelsea looked as if they had no idea what to do. They lacked depth as Hazard, Willian and Fabregas could not come up with any ideas to launch Costa, who was too busy verbally attacking his opponents. The medical staff had a busy afternoon with wounded soldiers Cahill and Costa both suffering a head injury. Jose Mourinho said in his post match interview that he felt Chelsea dominated the second half (huh?) and he called 3-0 a "fake result". It's time for Mourinho to stop looking for excuses. His team failed, he is responsible. Although Chelsea have lost this battle, they have not lost the war.
We have often criticized Man United throughout last year, mainly because of their terrible defense. Surprisingly, that problem seems to be solved with Darmian as right back and making Blind a centre back. Chris Smalling is smiling and looks reborn, while Shaw is finally hundred percent fit and showing his defensive as well as attacking qualities. I admit to still dozing off for a few minutes whenever I watch Man United play, but they have undoubtedly improved defensively with 6 points and 2 clean sheets after the first two weeks. The only thing missing is a striker.... Pedro? Thomas Muller?
I mostly enjoyed Southampton vs Everton. I think Roberto Martinez is one of the best managers and this team really has potential. Did you see the first goal? The Saints got a corner and 17 seconds later it was 1-0 for Everton via a fabulous Italian-ish counter attack starring Barkley, Kone and Lukaku. I saw Swansea's match right after as well. Another excellent performance by Gomis and Ayew! Quite funny to see Montero drive Newcastle's right back Janmaat completely crazy, haha. Crystal Palace deserve a mention too with Ward, Puncheon, Cabaye, Zaha, Wickham and I'm a fan of Alan Pardew. Referee Lee Mason sucked big time as there were several wrong calls. Coquelin. for example, should have received a red card. The second half may have gone a different way then. Wouldn't Yohan Cabaye have been a perfect signing for Tottenham? Leicester City remain top of the table...
The Bundesliga can be best described as a "Bayern vs the rest" league. Guardiola had his team fully prepared, although Hamburger SV had only traveled down south to defend. Der Rekordmeister played at 80% and it was enough to blow them away. Five beautiful goals and newbie Douglas Costa looking absolutely superb! Rivals Borussia Dortmund had a relaxing evening against Borussia M'Gladbach. The combination of Kagawa, Reus, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang up front equals a lethal quartet. I think it was the right time for Klopp to go and for the club to appoint a new manager. Thomas Tuchel seems to have brought a new dimension to Dortmund's game. Other title candidates Wolfsburg and Schalke won as well.
Barcelona got trashed in the Spanish Super Cup with particularly the centres Bartra and Vermaelen looking aweful. On the brink of disaster from the very first minute and this humiliating 4-0 defeat was breaking news all around the world. The funny thing is both Enrique and some players mentioned afterwards that they feel confident of being able to turn this around in the second leg on Monday and score at least 5 goals. Oh, and the Primera Division starts next week with Athletic Bilbao vs Barca on matchday 1, so then it will be the third time in 9 days that both teams face each other.
Ajax and Feyenoord are leading in the Dutch league. PSG have the maximum score in France with 2 wins, 3 goals scored and none conceded.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
You ended up with a highly respectable 40 points Rokkerr! And Tim Howard even got you 8 points coming off the bench as automatic sub for De Gea! Btw, automatic subs work when a player in your first 11 does not play a single minute, which then means the first eligible player on your bench automatically is subbed in. So it's worthwhile putting your subs into a preference order too, just in case!
I thought I was in for a total shocker with my defence and 2 points from 4 players certainly took their toll! But I got lucky with Mahrez having another cracker and that the officials were awful in the Liverpool v Bournemouth match to allow Benteke's goal to stand. It's great that we have all got off to good starts :)
Gert has pretty much cleared up all the weekend action, so I'll go back to mentioning the Monday night game. The week before the season started, we had a lot of coverage about the new refined offside laws with lots of video examples and explanations to let everyone be clear on the rules. Sadly, it seems that the officials at Anfield were on holiday that week, as a textbook perfect example of what is now a clear offside decision took place as Liverpool scored the only goal of the night. Bournemouth also had a goal disallowed that had it been in the opposite penalty area, the cynic inside me suggests would have seen the ref pointing to the centre circle rather than for a push.
I would also like to mention Manchester City as I thought their performance against Chelsea was brilliant. We're seeing a new City this year already and Sterling is definitely proving a key part of this. He isn't getting into the meat of the action, but his constant threat of pace is allowing Silva and Kolarov to link up with and around him with so much more space. And with Aguero looking pin point sharp, our early season predictions of another Chelsea title may be already looking precarious.
On the other side of Manchester, Gert mentions Pedro and Muller. Well it's looking like Pedro has 'done a Willian' and travelling to the UK on the promise of signing for United, only to be whisked away by Chelsea to sign for them instead. United in the meantime appear to have launched a massive £60m bid for Muller. What do you think Gert, will they get him and are Bayern likely to be making out like bandits or will they feel robbed themselves?
I thought I was in for a total shocker with my defence and 2 points from 4 players certainly took their toll! But I got lucky with Mahrez having another cracker and that the officials were awful in the Liverpool v Bournemouth match to allow Benteke's goal to stand. It's great that we have all got off to good starts :)
Gert has pretty much cleared up all the weekend action, so I'll go back to mentioning the Monday night game. The week before the season started, we had a lot of coverage about the new refined offside laws with lots of video examples and explanations to let everyone be clear on the rules. Sadly, it seems that the officials at Anfield were on holiday that week, as a textbook perfect example of what is now a clear offside decision took place as Liverpool scored the only goal of the night. Bournemouth also had a goal disallowed that had it been in the opposite penalty area, the cynic inside me suggests would have seen the ref pointing to the centre circle rather than for a push.
I would also like to mention Manchester City as I thought their performance against Chelsea was brilliant. We're seeing a new City this year already and Sterling is definitely proving a key part of this. He isn't getting into the meat of the action, but his constant threat of pace is allowing Silva and Kolarov to link up with and around him with so much more space. And with Aguero looking pin point sharp, our early season predictions of another Chelsea title may be already looking precarious.
On the other side of Manchester, Gert mentions Pedro and Muller. Well it's looking like Pedro has 'done a Willian' and travelling to the UK on the promise of signing for United, only to be whisked away by Chelsea to sign for them instead. United in the meantime appear to have launched a massive £60m bid for Muller. What do you think Gert, will they get him and are Bayern likely to be making out like bandits or will they feel robbed themselves?
Pedro is a so-so signing, lol. You can compare him with Man City's Jesús Navas. It could mean Mourinho is gonna play 4-3-3 with Hazard - Costa - Pedro. They should have invested in a real striker, cause that position is gonna be a problem if Costa gets injured. Chelsea don't mind paying €30m though as they spent the same amount on Augsburg's left back Baba Rahman earlier this week. That's a lot of money in a few days....
Louis van Gaal was the one who gave Thomas Muller a chance at Bayern Munich. I consider Muller an attacking midfielder or winger rather than a striker like Costa, Giroud, Aguero. It would definitely not solve Man United's problem up front and therefore I can't image them actually buying the German. The Bild says Muller himself wants to stay in Munich. I read they have also made a bid for Southampton's Mané? C'mon, he's not good enough for the Red Devils. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the last 11 days of the transfer window. Memphis Depay was the big man in the CL qualifying game on Tuesday against Club Brugge with two goals and an assist.
Sergio Ramos used Man United to get a better deal in Spain. The defender has signed a contract extension until 2020!
More transfers:
Louis van Gaal was the one who gave Thomas Muller a chance at Bayern Munich. I consider Muller an attacking midfielder or winger rather than a striker like Costa, Giroud, Aguero. It would definitely not solve Man United's problem up front and therefore I can't image them actually buying the German. The Bild says Muller himself wants to stay in Munich. I read they have also made a bid for Southampton's Mané? C'mon, he's not good enough for the Red Devils. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the last 11 days of the transfer window. Memphis Depay was the big man in the CL qualifying game on Tuesday against Club Brugge with two goals and an assist.
Sergio Ramos used Man United to get a better deal in Spain. The defender has signed a contract extension until 2020!
More transfers:
- Mateo Kovacic: Inter ~~> Real Madrid (€35m)
- Nicolas Otamendi: Valencia ~~> Mancester City (€45m)
- Gokhan Inler: Napoli ~~> Leicester City
- Alex Sandro: Porto ~~> Juventus (€26m)
- Florian Thauvin: Marseille ~~> Newcastle
- Remy Cabella: Newcastle ~~> Marseille
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
Let Ed Woodward help you! It's quite extraordinary really when you think about it, especially with the amount of cash United have been throwing around, the number of players who have chosen other clubs over them or at least used them to get better contracts. The latest two already mentioned by Gert, Pedro and Otamendi who were both heavily linked with the red side of Manchester.
It shows how times have changed in a fairly short period of time. Times were that if United and Alex Ferguson wanted a player, then they got that player because they had no competition. Then Abramovic rocked up and starting turning players heads, and now with City flush, that no longer happens.
As for if Pedro can cut it in the Premier League, I'm a little skeptical. He looks a pretty weak player to me and as we all know, the Premier League is the toughest most physical top league in Europe. I'll give him credit for not being happy at playing just a bit part at Barcelona and chancing his arm elsewhere and I think Chelsea made more sense for him than Man U. But put it this way, at 9.5m in the Fantasy League, I'll be waiting a few weeks before I think about putting him in ;)
This coming weekend's fixtures look a little dull to me, with Monday night offering the biggest game - Arsenal v Liverpool. I'm pretty concerned about Spurs' chances away at Leicester. We've been playing well, but the front three of Leicester - Vardy, Okazaki and Mahrez is full of pace and brimming with energy. Exactly the sort of players we struggle with! To think we could go three games without a victory is very real to me.
One game I expect goals is Sunderland v Swansea. Sunderland have looked amazingly bad in defence (what was I thinking putting Kaboul in my team!) and Swansea have been looking really impressive. Chelsea will look to get that first win against West Brom, who I have been rather underwhelmed by so far. Everton v Man City could be a great game too, with both teams full of confidence.
It shows how times have changed in a fairly short period of time. Times were that if United and Alex Ferguson wanted a player, then they got that player because they had no competition. Then Abramovic rocked up and starting turning players heads, and now with City flush, that no longer happens.
As for if Pedro can cut it in the Premier League, I'm a little skeptical. He looks a pretty weak player to me and as we all know, the Premier League is the toughest most physical top league in Europe. I'll give him credit for not being happy at playing just a bit part at Barcelona and chancing his arm elsewhere and I think Chelsea made more sense for him than Man U. But put it this way, at 9.5m in the Fantasy League, I'll be waiting a few weeks before I think about putting him in ;)
This coming weekend's fixtures look a little dull to me, with Monday night offering the biggest game - Arsenal v Liverpool. I'm pretty concerned about Spurs' chances away at Leicester. We've been playing well, but the front three of Leicester - Vardy, Okazaki and Mahrez is full of pace and brimming with energy. Exactly the sort of players we struggle with! To think we could go three games without a victory is very real to me.
One game I expect goals is Sunderland v Swansea. Sunderland have looked amazingly bad in defence (what was I thinking putting Kaboul in my team!) and Swansea have been looking really impressive. Chelsea will look to get that first win against West Brom, who I have been rather underwhelmed by so far. Everton v Man City could be a great game too, with both teams full of confidence.
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