Fantasy Football Update

Here are the latest standing in the Nothing Better Than Football fantasy leagues.

FPL - Gary still with a big lead, Paul had a good week and went 2nd
TFF - Ryan and Rob fighting it out, but I'm closing up :) Overall the League isn't doing well :(

Getting really pissed off with the Telegraph website, was working fine until the beginning of October but is now unusable on Firefox, frustrating on Chrome and just about usable on Internet Explorer.
I have contacted them on several occasions, but all they are telling me is that "it's in the hands of the IT Department" I've even told them how to fix it as they are using outdated TLS version which means that a secure connection cannot be established with up to date browsers :( 
That was 3 weeks ago and now it's worse.

Premier Predictions (Week 11)

This weeks games over 3 days with 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.

Obvious big game is the early kick off on Saturday between this seasons big under-achievers Chelsea and Liverpool.
Chelsea with just 5 wins from 16 games including 8 defeats, and Liverpool with just 4 wins from 14 games (or 2 from the last 12 including a penalties win over Carlisle).
Could be Mourinho's last big stand? and it won't help that Costa went off injured tonight.
Man City should win, but all the other games on Saturday are hard to call.
Sunday sees a South Coast derby, which the Saints should win.
Monday should be an easy 3 points for Tottenham against Managerless Villa.

Chelsea v Liverpool
C Palace v Man Utd
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Stoke
Swansea v Arsenal
Watford v West Ham
West Brom v Leicester

Everton v Sunderland
Southampton v Bournemouth

Tottenham v Aston Villa

Here's an update on the full predictions table, with all the facts and figures :)

Premier Predictions (Week 10)

Week 10 already, 6 games on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.
Manchester and North East derbies on Sunday, Arsenal v Everton is the late game on Saturday and West Ham take on a bottom half team :)

Aston Villa v Swansea
Leicester v C Palace
Norwich v West Brom
Stoke v Watford
West Ham v Chelsea
Arsenal v Everton

Sunderland v Newcastle
Bournemouth v Tottenham
Man Utd v Man City
Liverpool v Southampton

Good Luck All :)

Exactly

Bayern Munich fans, finding out what really controls English Football

Injured?

I think Jose Mourinho would have had something to really complain about if this was his medical team.
Got a feeling this player might have been faking the injury before he was taken off, probably felt a bit worse after he got to the touchline :)

Howard Kendall

RIP Howard Kendall, sadly died today at the age of 69 :(

Remember him from when I was a kid as he was the youngest ever player to play in a cup final for Preston against West Ham.

Actually saw him play for Blackburn at Upton Park in about 1980 in the latter years of his playing career before he went into management.

Will probably be remembered best for being the Everton manager in the mid 80's when he took Everton to two league titles, despite city rivals Liverpool ruling the roost at the time.
Also during that period from 83 to 87 Everton were a really exciting team to watch.

Premier Predictions (Week 09)

Back again for another 4 weeks before the next International break.
The one advantage of Roy Hodgson totally ignoring West Ham players and picking reserves from his favourites is that non of them get injured playing for their country, unlike Man City who seem to have lost Aguero, Silva and Kolarov. Man United have lost 4 players with minor injuries, Newcastle have lost Tim Krul for the season, but probably good news for Chelsea as Ivanovic got injured meaning Jose wlll at last have to drop him? but hopefully he will back against West Ham the following week :)

This weeks games spread over 3 days with 8 on Saturday and 1 each on Sunday and Monday.

Tottenham v Liverpool
C Palace v West Ham
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Everton v Man Utd
Man City v Bournemouth
Southampton v Leicester
West Brom v Sunderland
Watford v Arsenal

Newcastle v Norwich
Swansea v Stoke

Euro 2016

Twenty teams now qualified for next year's European Championship, with the last 4 to be decided in November's play offs.

Hosts - France
Group Winners - Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Spain
Runners Up - Albania, Croatia, Iceland, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Wales    
Best 3rd Place - Turkey

Play Offs - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine

So far so good for the Brits with England and Northern Ireland winning their groups and Wales finishing as Runners Up, the Republic will have to wait and see who they get in the Play offs.
Holland have missed out but the rest of the big names are there, so it should be tough.

Football Presenters

In England we get Match of the Day with Gary Lineker, Mark Lawrenson, Alan Shearer and Martin Keown.
Spanish speakers in the USA get República Deportiva with a slightly better looking presentation team :)

Fantasy Football

Here are the blog league standings so far.

FPL - Gary is flying at the moment with his 133 points this week which must be one of the best scores of anyone? I thought my 94 would have taken me to the top but didn't expect that.
So glad I told him how to play this game last season :(

TFF - Ryan leads and I've finally got a team in the top 5, overall the league has dropped badly.
The new scoring rules will affect the leagues with fewer players as you need 5 different players to have really good scores, where in previous years a couple of good players could carry the league.

That Was Quick

Had just finished my sack race post and turned on the telly to hear that Rodgers won.

Think it's a shame as I thought he was doing a brilliant job .. hehe :)
I wonder who'll be next through the revolving door of unreal expectation?
Probably too early to get Gerrard back, which means either going for one of the many failed English managers available or going foreign.
I guess Jurgen Klopp will be top of the list?
Dortmund had a poor season under Klopp last season, but up until today they were flying without him in the German league.
Maybe Big Fat Sam, he should keep them up :)

Sack Race

So Dick Advocaat walks before he was pushed, who will be the first Premier manager to get the bullet?
Obvious candidates are McClaren, Sherwood, Mourinho and Rodgers.
I think Steve McClaren will be given till Christmas although it seems the players don't want to play for him.
Sherwood hasn't really improved Villa, reaching the Cup Final probably bought him some time but I reckon his days are numbered.
Mourinho seems to be bored with Chelsea and is probably trying to engineer a move out of the door? the mainstays of the Chelsea team have either gone or got too old and most of his signings just haven't worked.
Brendan Rodgers still seems out of his depth at Liverpool, I'm sure he would be brilliant at a smaller club with less expectation but most Liverpool fans still believe they are a top 4 side?

Probably doesn't help Chelsea that they have to play a disabled player at the back?

Premier Predictions (Week 08)

7 Games Saturday and 3 on Sunday, before another International break.
Sunday's games look the best and a few years ago would have been the clashes of the season before the Billionaires moved in.

So do I carry on predicting away defeats for the Hammers? so far 100% wrong I'm glad to say :)

C Palace v West Brom
Aston Villa v Stoke
Bournemouth v Watford
Man City v Newcastle
Norwich v Leicester
Sunderland v West Ham
Chelsea v Southampton

Everton v Liverpool
Arsenal v Man Utd
Swansea v Tottenham

Premier Predictions (Week 07)

Games are spread over 3 days this week with 8 on Saturday and one each on Sunday and Monday.
Man Utd and Chelsea look like they have the easiest games this week, Arsenal and Man City have tricky ones and might come unstuck?

Tottenham v Man City
Leicester v Arsenal
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Man Utd v Sunderland
Southampton v Swansea
Stoke v Bournemouth
West Ham v Norwich
Newcastle v Chelsea
Watford v C Palace
West Brom v Everton

Good Luck All :)

Tables

Here is the full table from the Predictions Competition so far ..

and here are the standings in the blog Fantasy Football competitions

FPL - Longy leads the way, but all still close enough to challenge (sadly only 4 of us this season)
TFF - Rob leads narrowly from Ryan, early leader John slipping down a bit.
League up to 808th with 32 teams.
I do have 2 teams that could have been leading but didn't put them in this league, so personally playing catch up here. Got my teams spread over 20 different leagues so a lot of checking to do :)

Premier Predictions (Week 06)

7 Games Saturday and 3 on Sunday.
A few frosty handshakes this week?
The big game this week is Saturday evening 1st v 5th can the Hammers ruin City's 100% record?

Chelsea v Arsenal
Aston Villa v West Brom
Bournemouth v Sunderland
Newcastle v Watford
Stoke v Leicester
Swansea v Everton
Man City v West Ham

Tottenham v C Palace
Liverpool v Norwich
Southampton v Man Utd

Good Luck All :)

Hungry For .....

Premier Predictions (Week 05)

Premier League back for 4 weeks till the next Internationals, and a few good looking games this week. 7 On Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 Monday.
The early game might see a frosty handshake between Martinez and Mourinho over the Stones transfer, and a chance for Lukaku to impress his old boss.
Man City's 100% record will be under pressure at the ever improving Palace.
The late game on Saturday is not as big as it used to be, but Rodgers will be hoping for a win here to forget their last game.
Monday night will be interesting to see if West Ham can show a bit of away form at Upton park?

Everton v Chelsea
Arsenal v Stoke
C Palace v Man City
Norwich v Bournemouth
Watford v Swansea
West Brom v Southampton
Man Utd v Liverpool
Sunderland v Tottenham
Leicester v Aston Villa
West Ham v Newcastle

Good Luck All :)

Summer Transfers 2015-16

Transfer window shut, time to put up the list of all the ins and outs of the Premier League teams since the finish of last season.

Money spent - £835m
Money received - £425m
Biggest spenders - Man City £140.7m, Man Utd £97.7m, Liverpool £84.3m
Biggest Sellers - Man Utd £70.8m, Liverpool £61.7m, Tottenham £50.7m
Biggest Profit - Southampton £1.7m, Tottenham £0.3m
Biggest defecit - Man City £91.6m, Newcastle £45.7m, Watford £30.3m
Most players in - Watford 15, Aston Villa 13, Bournemouth 12, West Ham 12
Most players out - Chelsea 39, Man City 32, Liverpool 30

 ------------------------------------------------------------
Biggest Transfers In

Kevin de Bruyne [Wolfsburg - Man City] £52.5m
Raheem Sterling    [Liverpool - Man City] £43.7m
Anthony Martial [Monaco - Man United] £35m
Christian Benteke [Aston Villa - Liverpool] £32.5m
Nicolas Otamendi [Valencia - Man City] £29.4m
Roberto Firmino [Hoffenheim - Liverpool] £29m
Morgan Schneiderlin [Southampton - Man United] £24.5m
Heung Min Son [Bayer Leverkusen - Tottenham] £21m
Memphis Depay [PSV Eindhoven - Man United] £19.2m
Pedro [Barcelona - Chelsea] £18.9m
Georginio Wijnaldum [PSV Eindhoven - Newcastle] £14.5m
Baba Rahman [FC Augsburg - Chelsea] £14m
Aleksandar Mitrovic [Anderlecht - Newcastle] £13m
Florian Thauvin [Marseille - Newcastle] £12.85m
Matteo Darmian [Torino - Man United] £12.6m
Nathaniel Clyne [Southampton - Liverpool] £12.5m
Xherdan Shaqiri [Inter Milan - Stoke] £12m
Salomon Rondon [Zenit St P - West Brom] £12m
Toby Alderweireld [Atletico Madrid - Tottenham] £11.2m
Virgil van Dijk [Celtic - Southampton] £11m
Dimitri Payet [Marseille - West Ham] £10.5m
Yohan Cabaye [Paris St G - C Palace] £10m
Clinton N'Jie [Lyon - Tottenham] £9.87m
Petr Cech [Chelsea - Arsenal] £9.8m
Ramiro Funes Mori [River Plate - Everton] £9.03m
Chancel Mbemba [Anderlecht - Newcastle] £8.4m
Jordy Clasie [Feyenoord - Southampton] £8.4m
Jordan Ayew [Lorient - Aston Villa] £8.4m
Fabian Delph [Aston Villa - Man City] £8m
Jeremain Lens [Dynamo Kiev - Sunderland] £8m
James Chester [Hull - West Brom] £8m
Tyrone Mings [Ipswich - Bournemouth] £8m
Asmir Begovic [Stoke - Chelsea] £8m
Angelo Ogbonna [Juventus - West Ham] £7.7m
Shinji Okazaki [Mainz - Leicester] £7.7m
Jordan Amavi [Nice - Aston Villa] £7.7m
Fabio Borini [Liverpool - Sunderland] £7.49m
Ricardo Alvarez    [Inter Milan - Sunderland] £7.3m
Adama Traore [Barcelona - Aston Villa] £7m
Robbie Brady [Hull - Norwich] £7m
Max Gradel [Saint Etienne - Bournemouth] £7m
Connor Wickham [Sunderland - C Palace] £7m
Jordan Veretout [Nantes - Aston Villa] £6.93m
Michail Antonio [Nottingham Forest - West Ham] £6.65m
Bastian Schweinsteiger [Bayern Munich - Man United] £12.6m
Idrissa Gueye [Lille - Aston Villa] £6.3m
Robert Kenedy [Fluminense - Chelsea] £6.23m
Etienne Capoue [Tottenham - Watford] £6.2m
Danny Ings [Burnley - Liverpool] £6m
Jose Jurado [Spartak Moscow - Watford] £6m
Rudy Gestede [Blackburn - Aston Villa] £5.95m
Jonny Evans [Man United - West Brom] £5.81m
Obbi Oulare [Club Brugge - Watford] £5.76m
Joselu [Hannover - Stoke] £5.7m
Bradley Johnson [Norwich - Derby] £5.67m
N'Golo Kante [Caen - Leicester] £5.6m
Oriol Romeu [Chelsea - Southampton] £5m
Juanmi [Malaga - Southampton] £5m
 ------------------------------------------------------------
Biggest Transfers Out

Angel Di Maria [Man United - Paris St G] £44.3m
Alvaro Negredo [Man City - Valencia] £21m
Roberto Soldado [Tottenham - Villarreal] £11.2m
Filipe Luis [Chelsea - Athletico Madrid] £11.2m
Paulinho [Tottenham - Guangzhou Evergrande] £9.8m
Javier Hernandez [Man United - Bayer Leverkusen] £8.4m
Rony Lopes [Man City - Monaco] £8.4m
Steven Nzonzi [Stoke - Sevilla] £7m
Matija Nastasic [Man City - Schalke] £6.7m
Benjamin Stambouli [Tottenham - Paris St G] £6m
Thorgan Hazard [Chelsea - Borrusia Monchengladbach] £5.6m
Stewart Downing [West Ham - Middlesbrough] £5.5m
 ------------------------------------------------------------

One Day To Go

One day left in the craziest money go round seen in the Premier league's history.
Possibly a few mega deals to go through tomorrow?
Man City are the big spenders so far. thanks to 3 mega deals.
Man Utd started the transfer window spending but now seem to be balancing the books and are currently in profit (unless any of the reported deals actually go through).
Arsenal are still struggling to open their wallet (maybe they should just buy some extra doctors and physio's for their fragile players?),
Everton are probably broke and won't have long to spend the Stones money if they finally give in, and with Chelsea's current form they might be blowing some serious money tomorrow?
Every player West Ham have been linked with has gone elsewhere so I would be surprised if we get anyone.
Newcastle and Sunderland have spent big this window but at the moment it doesn't appear to have helped.
Same can be said of Liverpool, Villa and Tottenham.

Figures below from more accurate European sources rather than sensationalist newspaper figures which seem to be way off the truth sometimes, a couple of undisclosed fees to add when I find the info.

Money spent - £748m
Money received - £404m
Biggest spenders - Man City £140.7m, Liverpool £83.5m, Man Utd £60.6m
Biggest Sellers - Man Utd £69.4m, Liverpool £61.5m, Man City £49.1m
Biggest Profit - Southampton £11.6, Man Utd £8.8m
Biggest defecit - Man City £91.5m, Newcastle £46.2m, West Brom £27.2m
Most players in - Watford 11, Aston Villa 10, Stoke 10
Most players out - Chelsea 35, Man City 29, Liverpool 28