Archive for August, 2007

Round 2…..

Published by
simon
at August 28th 2007 19:38 in Weekly update. 0 Comments

Its late this time due to excuse a) work. Not even a bank holiday weekend could help us catch up but here we are and at least the scores were on time. For week 3, I already have my excuse prep’d - its c) Champions League….

In premiership-land there were 2 sets of matches; the usual weekend offering and the midweek matchday during which 6 clubs (including Liverpool, Arsenal, Blackburn) did not play, hence some of the scores may be a little biased - just like my analysis….

MIDWEEK
A good tanking for Spurs? Well yes and no, they didnt play too badly but they did lose 3-1 at home to Everton which would have to be a major disappointment for most sides. Lescott & Gardner profited from each others lax marking to score while Stubbs & Osman also on target. Birmingham & Sunderland shared 4 goals eually, Portsmouth and Man Utd shared 2, while Cristiano Ronaldo & Sully Muntari shared an early bath - I mean they both got sent off!!

Fulham overcame Bolton, Man City continued their good start at home to relegation certs Derby, Wigan beat Boro 1-0 and Chelsea (& Petr Cech in particular) fought their demons in a 2-1 win at the Majedski.

THE WEEKEND
A Phil Collins theme for the weekend week, an apt reflection on exactly how out of date and substandard all this info really is

Easy (Lovers)?
For Sunderland as they come a cropper at Premiership giants Wigan, 3-0 with Heskey scoring and MoM - Keano not a happy bunny as you may understand. Also for Derby who were savaged by Martin Jol’s pearly whites (4-0) - Jenas, Malbranque (x2) and Bent picking up the goals.

Both Sides of the Story
Blackburn’s spoilers against those “bastions” (yes I said bastions) of passing football Arsenal - its not fair moaned Arsene, they kicked us off the park. Or as Sparky says, come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough. Liverpool and Chelsea also fought out out a 1-1 draw with the most questionable penalty since the last questionable Chelsea penalty - Malouda the man not fouled in the case. Rafa was upset, and understandably while Jose counted back to that Luis Garcia (non) goal.

Against All Odds
Wins on the road for West Ham at Birmingham and Middlesbrough at Fulham proves that away betting could be lucrative among the Premiership chaff. Speaking of chaff, Mido a notable scorer on his debut, only Boro could find someone lazier to replace Mark Viduka.

Take Me Home
Portsmouth are the real deal at the all-new ok slightly upgraded Fratton Park - finally a roof for the away fans to enjoy while they get stuffed. Bolton stayed dry yet leaked 3 goals, with John Utaka the main man

I Missed Again
Leaving the dullest to last - Newcastle 0 Villa 0

THE POINTS
This will soon be seen online but your top point plunderers of the week included:

GK - Kirkland (12), Carson, Hahnemann & Green (6)
DEF - Dunne (15), Richards, Garrido, Melchiot, Granqvist, Bramble (12), Gardner, Corluka, Scharner, Bikey (10)
MID - Malbranque, Smertin (15), Jenas (13) Lampard, Scholes, Osman (12), M Taylor (11), Elano, M Johnson, Hunt (10)
STR - Sibierski (17), Utaka (15), Drogba (15), Bent (12), Kanu (10)

THE TABLE
Again, weekly points will be available soon so its pretty darn hard to give commendations to those who did well. Ross COunty who finished last season so well (Manager of Month for May and hopefully drinking his coffee out of his new mug) have joined Smeggy United at the top. Diamond Geezers move into top four with Cambridge RSC member We’re Up to Our Knees in Flood Water into fifth. Donohoes Duffers are not only 6th but also top Donohoe (the real prize in the family when all is said and done), Sanford Rangers, Corbohydrates and Work Hard Play Hard make up the top ten. Oh but I’ve missed one - rovers (all lower case) - who normally find themselves in the bottom ten are breathing the fresh clean air at the summit, long may it continue.

DEVELOPMENTS
Each year we build a lovely house and then we tear it down and start again. No different this year, so there will be developments coming, we promise. I have also just ordered the funky new manager of the month mugs - the first of which will be decided next week (or this week as this is so late) and we’ll lay out all the cup information so you can see what the roadmap for the season looks like.

First Blood Indeed

Published by
simon
at August 16th 2007 21:59 in Weekly update. 0 Comments

So who would be the John Rambo’s and who would be the squeamish fainters……Before we get into what you really want to know we’ll look at the Premiership.

FOR FOOT’S SAKE
Wayne’s only gone and broke his foot again and with him goes a country’s hopes in an already floundering campaign. Man Utd didnt fare much better managing only a goalless draw against a Reading side absolutely stuffed by the fixture computer (Man U away, then Chelsea home!). They’ll just have to play tevez, or Nani, or Anderson or someone else who cost £10m+. Aye its grim up north right enough.

OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Man City, yes Sven shows that he CAN put together a bunch of overpaid misfits and get a result. And a good one at that, at should-have-been-in-the-championship side West Ham. Newcastle, as big Sam slams wee Sam. Everton expect to beat Wigan, in fact everyone should expect to beat Wigan. Liverpool with a lorra lorra luck from Laursen, and a lorra lorra class from Stevie G - Villa didnt look any better than last year despite the start of Randy’s spending. Arsenal who gave away the customary first goal at the Emirates through some quite awful Lehmann goalkeeping, yet recovered at the death.

RIGHT AT THE FOOT OF THE TABLE
Spurs, oh dear - they actually lost at Sunderland two years ago so it wasn’t an outrageous surprise that they tripped up here. Too many strikers, not enough fit defenders and not enough creative midfielders makes for a recipe for disaster. Middlesbrough will survive this season and surprise some of the big sides, but they will also lose when they really shouldn’t, like at home to Blackburn

ONLY FIVE FOOT TALL
Billy Davies is a wee guy, and an annoying wee guy at that, but at least his Derby team picked up a point at home to Portsmouth.

THE FIRST WEEK
Leading the way are Smeggy United with the Bain Brothers (Colin and Chris) in hot pursuit. Chris only wants to beat Colin, metaphorically I assume, well he’s not far off doing that. 2 teams in the top ten from Andrew Galloway (the team formerly known as Jack bauer), with Annihilators, Dude Where’s My Shoes, Work Hard Play Hard and Dr Oy’s 11 making uop the top ten (oops dont forget Shamu’s Killer Whales).

And what of last years champ? 122nd, rest easy everyone else for now - only just ahead of our 3 late teams who have been kind enough to give up all of the points they could have got in the first week. And rightly so. Good news for A Team Less Ordinary and Whats That? A Place Near Kathmandu who really are morally bottom but escape the humiliation.

In depth analysis? Pah I’m off to my scratcher. Its a start, not a great one mind but a start nonetheless. Onwards and upwards, thats the gemme……….

Transfers Now Available

Published by
iain
at August 13th 2007 21:20 in Site News. 0 Comments

Who’d have bet on one of the most popular players getting injured on the first day, just to make my life that bit more difficult!?

Fear not, thanks to several cups of Nescafe’s finest, transfers are now available, so you can get rid of said crocked scouser before the midweek games.

Go to your team page, and you should see “11 transfers remaining” - click that and you’ll get to the shopping page as before.

If anything goes wrong, just let me know ( iain [dot] mullan [at] gmail [dot] com )

Iain

Welcome to All Managers

Published by
simon
at August 13th 2007 13:03 in Weekly update. 0 Comments

So, you got your team in and now you’re thinking what’s next…

First off a very warm welcome to all our new managers out there, I hope we, in some small way, add to your enjoyment of the Premiership this season. A big hello also to all our continuing and returning managers and an equally warm welcome.

ENOUGH OF YOUR WELCOME GUFF……WHAT IS NEXT?
After the rush to register your teams (we must apologise for the lack of notice this year), its now business as usual. And in this case business as usual means a weekly update of player points and the league table as well as some commentary on the Premiership, the world of football and anything else we fancy (within the bounds of good taste, natch).

Wednesday is the night for the updates usually - unless my day job, website gremlins, acute addiction to watching football or lazy-itis kicks in, in which case it shall be Thursday night.

AND APART FROM THE WEEKLY UPDATE?
Manager of the month awards, cup competitions, 2nd half of the year prizes and new for this year - the Super 16s.

AND WHAT ABOUT MY STAKE MONEY
Cash to myself or Iain should you happen to see us in next few weeks, otherwise we’ll enable the Paypal link soon, hoping to have it all collected by end of Sept instead of my usual march/April begging bowl approach.

DO I NEED TO DO ANYTHING?
Aye! Get rid of Wayne Rooney or Kevin Davies as they are both out for weeks!!! Transfers will be available from Tuesday morning.

Help!

Published by
iain
at August 10th 2007 11:58 in Weekly update. 0 Comments

If you’re having any problems registering/logging in/picking a team, email iain.mullan@gmail.com and I’ll get it sorted out right away. As usual there’s a last minute rush of people trying to get teams in. 83 and counting - we’re still trying to beat that 136 from last year so don’t forget to tell your friends, or if you’ve told them already - give em another nudge!

Good luck!

Iain

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