Last set of fixtures before our first "international break" of the season.
7 games on Saturday and 3 more on Sunday.
Burnley v Man Utd
Man City v Stoke
Newcastle v C Palace
QPR v Sunderland
Swansea v West Brom
West Ham v Southampton
Everton v Chelsea
Aston Villa v Hull
Tottenham v Liverpool
Leicester v Arsenal
9 points has been enough to win the first 2 weeks, so hopefully we can all start hitting double figures :)
Good luck all.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Fantasy Football
40 Teams in this year so far.
Here's the top 10 after week 1
Good starts by Ryan and Rick, I'm hoping at least one of my teams stays in contention :)
Apologies to Longy after I made an error on the FPL version, meaning we only start scoring in week 2, but as there is only 3 of us it shouldn't matter too much :)
Monday, 18 August 2014
Premier Predictions (Week 2)
Here we go with week number 2,
games over 3 days again with the first biggy of the year on Monday with Liverpool going to Man City.
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Chelsea v Leicester
C Palace v West Ham
Southampton v West Brom
Swansea v Burnley
Everton v Arsenal
Hull v Stoke
Tottenham v QPR
Sunderland v Man Utd
Man City v Liverpool
games over 3 days again with the first biggy of the year on Monday with Liverpool going to Man City.
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Chelsea v Leicester
C Palace v West Ham
Southampton v West Brom
Swansea v Burnley
Everton v Arsenal
Hull v Stoke
Tottenham v QPR
Sunderland v Man Utd
Man City v Liverpool
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Nearly There
The new Premier league season starts today, and another 9 months of footy action :)
In my opinion it's going to go much like last season, the title contenders in a league of their own, a small handful of teams who should be safe and might get a Europa league place, and the rest who will all be trying to stay up.
Man City and Chelsea look the most likely to finish as Champions with Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd fighting for the Champions league places, Everton, Tottenham and maybe Newcastle expecting a top ten finish and everyone else hoping to stay clear of the bottom 3.
Obvious choices for the bottom 3 would be Burnley, QPR and post-Pulis Palace but who knows, West ham have signed some reasonable players but will Fat Sam actually play them? 3 new strikers + Cole and Carroll (when and if he's fit) fighting for the dubious honour of playing up front alone with no support, but he might have a change of tactics??
Still chance to join the fantasy leagues (see link), thanks to all those that have joined the TFF one, but the FPL one only has 2 at the moment (me and my son, and he'll probably lose interest after a week or so) so that's not going that well.
Prediction comp open all season, hopefully those that have entered this week will see it out :)
So here we go again :)
In my opinion it's going to go much like last season, the title contenders in a league of their own, a small handful of teams who should be safe and might get a Europa league place, and the rest who will all be trying to stay up.
Man City and Chelsea look the most likely to finish as Champions with Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd fighting for the Champions league places, Everton, Tottenham and maybe Newcastle expecting a top ten finish and everyone else hoping to stay clear of the bottom 3.
Obvious choices for the bottom 3 would be Burnley, QPR and post-Pulis Palace but who knows, West ham have signed some reasonable players but will Fat Sam actually play them? 3 new strikers + Cole and Carroll (when and if he's fit) fighting for the dubious honour of playing up front alone with no support, but he might have a change of tactics??
Still chance to join the fantasy leagues (see link), thanks to all those that have joined the TFF one, but the FPL one only has 2 at the moment (me and my son, and he'll probably lose interest after a week or so) so that's not going that well.
Prediction comp open all season, hopefully those that have entered this week will see it out :)
So here we go again :)
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Premier Predictions (Week 1)
Ta Da!! Here we go again, Premier prediction time. Week 1 of about 38?
All readers welcome (anyone new, just let me know your name or alias and the team you support so I can keep track of your score in the super duper league table on the right).
Usual rules, I post the weeks fixtures, you post your Predictions in comments - just copy/paste the fixtures and add your score :)
3 Points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (Home, away, draw), 0 points if totally wrong or if the game is postponed.
The league table will be decided on -
1st Outright weekly wins,
2nd Shared wins,
3rd Total points scored.
This weeks games - 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday
Man Utd v Swansea
Leicester v Everton
QPR v Hull
Stoke v Aston Villa
West Brom v Sunderland
West Ham v Tottenham
Arsenal v C Palace
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle v Man City
Burnley v Chelsea
.. and good luck to all who take part :)
All readers welcome (anyone new, just let me know your name or alias and the team you support so I can keep track of your score in the super duper league table on the right).
Usual rules, I post the weeks fixtures, you post your Predictions in comments - just copy/paste the fixtures and add your score :)
3 Points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (Home, away, draw), 0 points if totally wrong or if the game is postponed.
The league table will be decided on -
1st Outright weekly wins,
2nd Shared wins,
3rd Total points scored.
This weeks games - 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 on Monday
Man Utd v Swansea
Leicester v Everton
QPR v Hull
Stoke v Aston Villa
West Brom v Sunderland
West Ham v Tottenham
Arsenal v C Palace
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle v Man City
Burnley v Chelsea
.. and good luck to all who take part :)
Summer Transfers 2014
This will be far from a finished list, as the transfer window doesn't close until the 1st September.
I will update it every couple of days.
Here's the transfer news so far (up to 29/09/14), lots of movement including some big fees mostly paid to Southampton.
Fees paid are a bit of a mystery this year with lots of * undisclosed fees (probably to hide them from UEFA and the tax man).
The big 5 have been the biggest spenders although most of their deals have been public. Angel Di Maria's £59.7m is the largest so far pushing Man Utd in front of Liverpool on the overall spending.
Most players in - Hull 12, Leicester 11, Liverpool 11, Swansea 10, West Brom 10
Most players out - Chelsea 37, Tottenham 25, Liverpool 24, C Palace 22, Man Utd 22, Southampton 22
Most Money Paid * - Man Utd £150m, Liverpool £116.8m, Chelsea £90.9m, Arsenal £77m, Southampton £57.9m, Man City £51.5m
Most Money in * - Southampton £96.5m, Chelsea £77.5m, Liverpool £75m, Man Utd £26.5m, Man City £24m, Tottenham £18m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arsenal
In: 9 (£77m)
Alexis Sánchez, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Elias Chatzitheodoridis, Hugo Keto, Ben Sheaf, Georgios Spanoudakis, Danny Welbeck
Out: 16 (£17.5m)
Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou, Thomas Eisfeld, Zak Ansah, Lukasz Fabianski, Zachari Fagan, Bacary Sagna, Chuks Aneke, Wellington Silva (Loan), Benik Afobe (Loan), Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Nicklas Bendtner, Daniel Boateng, Chu-Young Park, Leander Siemann, Jon Toral (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aston Villa
In: 7 (£0m)
Joe Cole, Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson, Aly Cissokho, Tom Cleverley (Loan)
Out: 19 (£0.25m)
Jordan Bowery, Marc Albrighton, Nicklas Helenius (Loan), Yacouba Sylla (Loan), Jed Steer (Loan), Nathan Delfouneso, Antonio Luna (Loan), Samir Carruthers, Daniel Johnson (Loan), Aidan Grant, Andras Stieber, Aleksander Tonev (Loan), Janoi Donacien (Loan), Joe Bennett (Loan), Gary Gardner (Loan), Karim El Ahmadi, Michael Drennan (Loan), Chris Herd (Loan), Callum Robinson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burnley
In: 8 (£4.5m)
Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell, Michael Kightly, Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Matt Taylor, Michael Keane (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), George Boyd
Out: 15 (£0m)
David Edgar, Joseph Mills, Junior Stanislas, Chris Baird, Kyle Brownhill, Alex Coleman, Luke Conlan, Jack Errington, Micah Evans, Luke Gallagher, Nick Liversedge, Archie Love, Brian Stock, Keith Treacy, Luke O'Neill (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chelsea
In: 6 (£90.9m)
Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis, Mario Pasalic, Didier Drogba, Loic Remy
Out: 37 (£77.5m)
David Luiz, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, Patrick van Aanholt, Ashley Cole, Sam Hutchinson, Frank Lampard, Tomas Kalas (Loan), Wallace (Loan), Thorgan Hazard (Loan), Bertrand Traore (Loan), Lucas Piazon (Loan), Cristián Cuevas (Loan), Mario Pasalic (Loan), Oriol Romeu (Loan), John Swift (Loan), Gael Kakuta (Loan), Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Kenneth Omeruo (Loan), Billy Clifford, Samuel Eto'o, Henrique Hilario, Milan Lalkovic, Adam Nditi, Daniel Pappoe, Jhon Pírez, Mark Schwarzer, Christian Atsu (Loan), Victor Moses (Loan), Josh McEachran (Loan), Marko Marin (Loan), George Saville, Fernando Torres (Loan), Marco van Ginkel (Loan), Patrick Bamford (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), Jamal Blackman (Loan),
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crystal Palace
In: 8 (£7.9m)
Fraizer Campbell, Chris Kettings, Brede Hangeland, Martin Kelly, Wilfried Zaha (Loan), James McArthur, Zeki Fryers, Andrew Johnson
Out: 22 (£1.4m)
Jose Campana, Neil Alexander, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Dean Moxey, Aaron Wilbraham, Jonathan Parr, Ross Fitzsimons, Osman Sow, Alex Wynter (Loan), Kwesi Appiah (Loan), Jack Hunt (Loan), Lewis Price (Loan), Stephen Dobbie (Loan), Danny Gabbidon, Ibra Sekajja, Quade Taylor, Derek Tieku, Tom King, Alistair Gordon, Jonny Williams (Loan), Jerome Binnom Williams (Loan), Owen Garvan (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everton
In: 7 (£33m)
Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry, Brendan Galloway, Muhamed Besic, Christian Atsu (Loan), Samuel Eto'o, David Henen (Loan)
Out: 8 (£0m)
Magaye Gueye, John Lundstram (Loan), Matthew Kennedy (Loan), Mason Springthorpe, Ibou Touray, Apostolos Vellios, Hallam Hope (Loan), Shane Duffy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hull City
In: 12 (£33.9m)
Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire, Tom Ince, Karim Rossi, Michael Dawson, Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mohamed Diame, Gaston Ramirez (Loan), Abel Hernandez, Brian Lenihan
Out: 15 (£15m)
Shane Long, Matty Fryatt, Paul McElroy, Conor Henderson, Cameron Stewart, Jack Barlow, Mark Oxley (Loan), Conor Townsend (Loan), Joe Dudgeon (Loan), Nick Proschwitz, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Koren, Paul Dudgeon, Eldin Jakupovic, George Boyd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leicester City
In: 11 (£10m)
Leonardo Ulloa, Matthew Upson, Marc Albrighton, Jack Barmby, Louis Rowley, Ben Hamer, Esteban Cambiasso, Kris Scott, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Danny Simpson
Out: 21 (£0m)
Lloyd Dyer, George Taft, Zak Whitbread, Neil Danns, Ben Frempah, Paul Gallagher (Loan), Martyn Waghorn, Sean St Ledger, Kieran Kennedy, Adam Dawson, Jak McCourt, Marcel Barrington, Jacob Blyth, Michael Cain, Harry Panayiotou, James Pearson, Alie Sesay, Adam Smith, Marko Futacs, Conrad Logan (Loan), Ryan Watson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liverpool
In: 11 (£116.8m)
Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Divock Origi, Emre Can, Rickie Lambert, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Javier Manquillo (Loan), Mario Balotelli
Out: 24 (£75m)
Luis Suarez, Divock Origi (Loan), Villyan Bijev, Jakub Sokolik, Luis Alberto (Loan), Iago Aspas (Loan), Andre Wisdom (Loan), Conor Coady, Pepe Reina, Brad Smith (Loan), Yalany Baio, Yusuf Mersin, Craig Roddan, Stephen Sama, Martin Kelly, Michael Ngoo, Joao Carlos Teixeira (Loan), Tiago Ilori (Loan), Jack Robinson, Jordon Ibe (Loan), Daniel Agger, Krisztian Adorjan, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester City
In: 7 (£51.5m)
Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando, Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Bruno Zuculini, Frank Lampard (Loan), Bruno Zuculini
Out: 20 (£24m)
Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell, Gareth Barry, Costel Pantilimon, Joleon Lescott, Alex Henshall, Ellis Plummer, Marcos Lopes (Loan), Reece Wabara, Thomas Agyiri, Kieran Kennedy, George Swan, Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely, Greg Leigh (Loan), Jason Denayer (Loan), Devante Cole (Loan),Emyr Huws, Micah Richards (Loan), Alvaro Negredo (Loan), John Guidetti (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester United
In: 7 (£150m)
Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Vanja Milinkovic, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, Radamel Falcao
Out: 22 (£26.5m)
Alexander Buttner, Patrice Evra, Bebe, Jack Barmby, Feredrico Macheda, Nemanja Vidic, Louis Rowley, Rio Ferdinand, Vanja Milinkovic (Loan), Sam Byrne, Ryan Giggs, Jack Rudge, Angelo Henriquez (Loan), Nani (Loan), Wilfried Zaha (Loan), Danny Welbeck, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Michael Keane (Loan), Javier Hernandez (Loan), Tom Cleverley (Loan), Shinji Kagawa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newcastle United
In: 9 (£30.8m)
Rémy Cabella, Emmanuel Riviere, Siem de Jong, Daryl Janmaat, Ayoze Perez, Jack Colback, Facundo Ferreyra (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles, Karl Darlow
Out: 18 (£12m)
Mathieu Debuchy, James Tavernier, Dan Gosling, Jonathan Mitchell, Conor Newton, Romain Amalfitano, Sylvain Marveaux (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles (Loan), Karl Darlow (Loan), Adam Campbell (Loan), Shola Ameobi, Steven Logan, Brandon Miele, Jonathan Mitchell, Michael Richardson, Freddie Woodman (Loan), Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mapou Yanga Mbiwa (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Queens Park Rangers
In: 9 (£28.5m)
Steven Caulker, Jordan Mutch, Mauricio Isla (Loan), Rio Ferdinand, Leroy Fer, Jack Robinson, Alex McCarthy, Niko Kranjcar (Loan), Sandro
Out: 19 (£10.5m)
Yossi Benayoun, Tom Hitchcock, Aaron Hughes, Esteban Granero, Gary O'Neil, Mo Shariff, Angelo Balanta, Hogan Ephraim, Andrew Johnson, Stéphane Mbia, Luke Young, Joe Lumley (Loan), Julio Cesar, Jack Robinson (Loan), Dylan Carreiro, Danny Simpson, Andrew Johnson, Loic Remy, Michael Petrasso (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southampton
In: 9 (£57.9m)
Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle, Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Saphir Taider (Loan), Florin Gardos, Shane Long, Sadio Mane, Toby Alderweireld (Loan)
Out: 22 (£96.5m)
Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers, Rickie Lambert, Dani Osvaldo (Loan), Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Danny Fox, Andy Robinson, Lee Barnard, Matt Young, Jonathan Forte, Jordan Turnbull (Loan), Joe Curtis, Guily Do Prado, Andreas Sony, Billy Sharp, Artur Boruc (Loan), Jack Stephens (Loan), Jos Hooiveld (Loan), Gaston Ramirez (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stoke City
In: 7 (£3m)
Bojan Krkic, Dionatan Teixeira, Mame Biram Diouf, Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell, Victor Moses (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)
Out: 15 (£0m)
Michael Kightly, Jordan Keane, Ed Sanders, Karim Rossi, James Alabi (Loan), Juan Agudelo, Lucas Dawson, Matthew Etherington, Kevin Gomez-Nieto, Ben Heneghan, Jordan Richardson, Jamie Ness (Loan), Cameron Jerome, Ryan Shotton (Loan), Brek Shea (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunderland
In: 9 (£10m)
Jack Rodwell, Patrick van Aanholt, Jordi Gómez, Billy Jones, Costel Pantilimon, Santiago Vergini (Loan), Will Buckley, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Ricardo Alvarez (Loan)
Out: 19 (£2.1m)
Ignacio Scocco, Phil Bardsley, Jack Colback, Craig Gardner, Billy Knott, John Egan, Kieren Westwood, Louis Laing, Reece Noble, Jordan Pickford (Loan)El-Hadji Ba (Loan), Carlos Cuéllar, Andrea Dossena, Jordan Laidler, Alejandro Rodriguez Gorrin, Oscar Ustari, David Vaughan, Jordan Watson, Scott Harrison (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swansea City
In: 10 (£5.5m)
Jefferson Montero, Marvin Emnes, Stephen Kingsley, Lukasz Fabianski, Bafétimbi Gomis, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Federico Fernandez, James Demetriou, Modu Barrow, Giancarlo Gallifuoco
Out: 16 (£15.7m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Gwion Edwards, Alejandro Pozuelo, Thomas Atyeo, Daniel Alfei (Loan), Michu (Loan), Chico Flores, Leroy Lita, Jernade Meade, David Ngog, Darnel Situ, Jose Canas, Alex Bray (Loan), Kris Scott, Alan Tate (Loan)
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Tottenham Hotspur
In: 6 (£19m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Eric Dier, DeAndre Yedlin, Federico Fazio, Benjamin Stambouli
Out: 25 (£18m)
Jake Livermore, Heurelho Gomes, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Darren McQueen, Gylfi Sigurdsson , Grant Hall (Loan) , Alex Pritchard (Loan), Kenny McEvoy (Loan), Iago Falque, Shaquile Coulthirst (Loan), Jordan Archer (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Cameron Lancaster, Roman Michael-Percil, Jonathan Miles, DeAndre Yedlin (Loan), Michael Dawson, Ryan Fredericks (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Sandro, Jonathan Obika, Cameron Lancaster, Lewis Holtby (Loan), Zeki Fryers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Bromwich Albion
In: 10 (£11.5m)
Brown Ideye, Sebastien Pocognoli, Craig Gardner, Joleon Lescott, Chris Baird, Andre Wisdom (Loan), Cristian Gamboa, Jason Davidson, Georgios Samaras, Sebastian Blanco
Out: 10 (£2m)
George Thorne, Billy Jones, Liam Ridgewell, Steven Reid, Cameron Gayle, Donervon Daniels (Loan), Scott Allan, Zoltan Gera, Diego Lugano, Nicolas Anelka
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Ham United
In: 9 (£22.75m)
Enner Valencia, Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Mauro Zarate, Diego Poyet, Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Diafra Sakho, Morgan Amalfitano, Alex Song (Loan)
Out: 16 (£3.5m)
Ben Sheaf, Joe Cole, Matt Taylor, Stephen Henderson, Robert Girdlestone, Raphael Spiegel (Loan), George Moncur (Loan), Jack Collison, Alou Diarra, Callum Driver, George McCartney, Jordan Spence, Ravel Morrison (Loan), Sean Maguire (Loan), Matthias Fanimo (Loan), Mohamed Diame--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will update it every couple of days.
Here's the transfer news so far (up to 29/09/14), lots of movement including some big fees mostly paid to Southampton.
Fees paid are a bit of a mystery this year with lots of * undisclosed fees (probably to hide them from UEFA and the tax man).
The big 5 have been the biggest spenders although most of their deals have been public. Angel Di Maria's £59.7m is the largest so far pushing Man Utd in front of Liverpool on the overall spending.
Most players in - Hull 12, Leicester 11, Liverpool 11, Swansea 10, West Brom 10
Most players out - Chelsea 37, Tottenham 25, Liverpool 24, C Palace 22, Man Utd 22, Southampton 22
Most Money Paid * - Man Utd £150m, Liverpool £116.8m, Chelsea £90.9m, Arsenal £77m, Southampton £57.9m, Man City £51.5m
Most Money in * - Southampton £96.5m, Chelsea £77.5m, Liverpool £75m, Man Utd £26.5m, Man City £24m, Tottenham £18m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arsenal
In: 9 (£77m)
Alexis Sánchez, Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, David Ospina, Elias Chatzitheodoridis, Hugo Keto, Ben Sheaf, Georgios Spanoudakis, Danny Welbeck
Out: 16 (£17.5m)
Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou, Thomas Eisfeld, Zak Ansah, Lukasz Fabianski, Zachari Fagan, Bacary Sagna, Chuks Aneke, Wellington Silva (Loan), Benik Afobe (Loan), Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Nicklas Bendtner, Daniel Boateng, Chu-Young Park, Leander Siemann, Jon Toral (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aston Villa
In: 7 (£0m)
Joe Cole, Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson, Aly Cissokho, Tom Cleverley (Loan)
Out: 19 (£0.25m)
Jordan Bowery, Marc Albrighton, Nicklas Helenius (Loan), Yacouba Sylla (Loan), Jed Steer (Loan), Nathan Delfouneso, Antonio Luna (Loan), Samir Carruthers, Daniel Johnson (Loan), Aidan Grant, Andras Stieber, Aleksander Tonev (Loan), Janoi Donacien (Loan), Joe Bennett (Loan), Gary Gardner (Loan), Karim El Ahmadi, Michael Drennan (Loan), Chris Herd (Loan), Callum Robinson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burnley
In: 8 (£4.5m)
Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell, Michael Kightly, Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Matt Taylor, Michael Keane (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), George Boyd
Out: 15 (£0m)
David Edgar, Joseph Mills, Junior Stanislas, Chris Baird, Kyle Brownhill, Alex Coleman, Luke Conlan, Jack Errington, Micah Evans, Luke Gallagher, Nick Liversedge, Archie Love, Brian Stock, Keith Treacy, Luke O'Neill (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chelsea
In: 6 (£90.9m)
Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis, Mario Pasalic, Didier Drogba, Loic Remy
Out: 37 (£77.5m)
David Luiz, Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba, Patrick van Aanholt, Ashley Cole, Sam Hutchinson, Frank Lampard, Tomas Kalas (Loan), Wallace (Loan), Thorgan Hazard (Loan), Bertrand Traore (Loan), Lucas Piazon (Loan), Cristián Cuevas (Loan), Mario Pasalic (Loan), Oriol Romeu (Loan), John Swift (Loan), Gael Kakuta (Loan), Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Kenneth Omeruo (Loan), Billy Clifford, Samuel Eto'o, Henrique Hilario, Milan Lalkovic, Adam Nditi, Daniel Pappoe, Jhon Pírez, Mark Schwarzer, Christian Atsu (Loan), Victor Moses (Loan), Josh McEachran (Loan), Marko Marin (Loan), George Saville, Fernando Torres (Loan), Marco van Ginkel (Loan), Patrick Bamford (Loan), Nathaniel Chalobah (Loan), Jamal Blackman (Loan),
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crystal Palace
In: 8 (£7.9m)
Fraizer Campbell, Chris Kettings, Brede Hangeland, Martin Kelly, Wilfried Zaha (Loan), James McArthur, Zeki Fryers, Andrew Johnson
Out: 22 (£1.4m)
Jose Campana, Neil Alexander, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Dean Moxey, Aaron Wilbraham, Jonathan Parr, Ross Fitzsimons, Osman Sow, Alex Wynter (Loan), Kwesi Appiah (Loan), Jack Hunt (Loan), Lewis Price (Loan), Stephen Dobbie (Loan), Danny Gabbidon, Ibra Sekajja, Quade Taylor, Derek Tieku, Tom King, Alistair Gordon, Jonny Williams (Loan), Jerome Binnom Williams (Loan), Owen Garvan (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everton
In: 7 (£33m)
Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry, Brendan Galloway, Muhamed Besic, Christian Atsu (Loan), Samuel Eto'o, David Henen (Loan)
Out: 8 (£0m)
Magaye Gueye, John Lundstram (Loan), Matthew Kennedy (Loan), Mason Springthorpe, Ibou Touray, Apostolos Vellios, Hallam Hope (Loan), Shane Duffy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hull City
In: 12 (£33.9m)
Jake Livermore, Robert Snodgrass, Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire, Tom Ince, Karim Rossi, Michael Dawson, Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mohamed Diame, Gaston Ramirez (Loan), Abel Hernandez, Brian Lenihan
Out: 15 (£15m)
Shane Long, Matty Fryatt, Paul McElroy, Conor Henderson, Cameron Stewart, Jack Barlow, Mark Oxley (Loan), Conor Townsend (Loan), Joe Dudgeon (Loan), Nick Proschwitz, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Koren, Paul Dudgeon, Eldin Jakupovic, George Boyd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leicester City
In: 11 (£10m)
Leonardo Ulloa, Matthew Upson, Marc Albrighton, Jack Barmby, Louis Rowley, Ben Hamer, Esteban Cambiasso, Kris Scott, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Danny Simpson
Out: 21 (£0m)
Lloyd Dyer, George Taft, Zak Whitbread, Neil Danns, Ben Frempah, Paul Gallagher (Loan), Martyn Waghorn, Sean St Ledger, Kieran Kennedy, Adam Dawson, Jak McCourt, Marcel Barrington, Jacob Blyth, Michael Cain, Harry Panayiotou, James Pearson, Alie Sesay, Adam Smith, Marko Futacs, Conrad Logan (Loan), Ryan Watson (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liverpool
In: 11 (£116.8m)
Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Divock Origi, Emre Can, Rickie Lambert, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Javier Manquillo (Loan), Mario Balotelli
Out: 24 (£75m)
Luis Suarez, Divock Origi (Loan), Villyan Bijev, Jakub Sokolik, Luis Alberto (Loan), Iago Aspas (Loan), Andre Wisdom (Loan), Conor Coady, Pepe Reina, Brad Smith (Loan), Yalany Baio, Yusuf Mersin, Craig Roddan, Stephen Sama, Martin Kelly, Michael Ngoo, Joao Carlos Teixeira (Loan), Tiago Ilori (Loan), Jack Robinson, Jordon Ibe (Loan), Daniel Agger, Krisztian Adorjan, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester City
In: 7 (£51.5m)
Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando, Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Bruno Zuculini, Frank Lampard (Loan), Bruno Zuculini
Out: 20 (£24m)
Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell, Gareth Barry, Costel Pantilimon, Joleon Lescott, Alex Henshall, Ellis Plummer, Marcos Lopes (Loan), Reece Wabara, Thomas Agyiri, Kieran Kennedy, George Swan, Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely, Greg Leigh (Loan), Jason Denayer (Loan), Devante Cole (Loan),Emyr Huws, Micah Richards (Loan), Alvaro Negredo (Loan), John Guidetti (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manchester United
In: 7 (£150m)
Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Vanja Milinkovic, Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind, Radamel Falcao
Out: 22 (£26.5m)
Alexander Buttner, Patrice Evra, Bebe, Jack Barmby, Feredrico Macheda, Nemanja Vidic, Louis Rowley, Rio Ferdinand, Vanja Milinkovic (Loan), Sam Byrne, Ryan Giggs, Jack Rudge, Angelo Henriquez (Loan), Nani (Loan), Wilfried Zaha (Loan), Danny Welbeck, Tom Lawrence, Nick Powell (Loan), Michael Keane (Loan), Javier Hernandez (Loan), Tom Cleverley (Loan), Shinji Kagawa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newcastle United
In: 9 (£30.8m)
Rémy Cabella, Emmanuel Riviere, Siem de Jong, Daryl Janmaat, Ayoze Perez, Jack Colback, Facundo Ferreyra (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles, Karl Darlow
Out: 18 (£12m)
Mathieu Debuchy, James Tavernier, Dan Gosling, Jonathan Mitchell, Conor Newton, Romain Amalfitano, Sylvain Marveaux (Loan), Jamaal Lascelles (Loan), Karl Darlow (Loan), Adam Campbell (Loan), Shola Ameobi, Steven Logan, Brandon Miele, Jonathan Mitchell, Michael Richardson, Freddie Woodman (Loan), Hatem Ben Arfa (Loan), Mapou Yanga Mbiwa (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Queens Park Rangers
In: 9 (£28.5m)
Steven Caulker, Jordan Mutch, Mauricio Isla (Loan), Rio Ferdinand, Leroy Fer, Jack Robinson, Alex McCarthy, Niko Kranjcar (Loan), Sandro
Out: 19 (£10.5m)
Yossi Benayoun, Tom Hitchcock, Aaron Hughes, Esteban Granero, Gary O'Neil, Mo Shariff, Angelo Balanta, Hogan Ephraim, Andrew Johnson, Stéphane Mbia, Luke Young, Joe Lumley (Loan), Julio Cesar, Jack Robinson (Loan), Dylan Carreiro, Danny Simpson, Andrew Johnson, Loic Remy, Michael Petrasso (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southampton
In: 9 (£57.9m)
Dusan Tadic, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle, Ryan Bertrand (Loan), Saphir Taider (Loan), Florin Gardos, Shane Long, Sadio Mane, Toby Alderweireld (Loan)
Out: 22 (£96.5m)
Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers, Rickie Lambert, Dani Osvaldo (Loan), Tom Leggett, Isaac Nehemie, Danny Fox, Andy Robinson, Lee Barnard, Matt Young, Jonathan Forte, Jordan Turnbull (Loan), Joe Curtis, Guily Do Prado, Andreas Sony, Billy Sharp, Artur Boruc (Loan), Jack Stephens (Loan), Jos Hooiveld (Loan), Gaston Ramirez (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stoke City
In: 7 (£3m)
Bojan Krkic, Dionatan Teixeira, Mame Biram Diouf, Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell, Victor Moses (Loan), Oussama Assaidi (Loan)
Out: 15 (£0m)
Michael Kightly, Jordan Keane, Ed Sanders, Karim Rossi, James Alabi (Loan), Juan Agudelo, Lucas Dawson, Matthew Etherington, Kevin Gomez-Nieto, Ben Heneghan, Jordan Richardson, Jamie Ness (Loan), Cameron Jerome, Ryan Shotton (Loan), Brek Shea (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunderland
In: 9 (£10m)
Jack Rodwell, Patrick van Aanholt, Jordi Gómez, Billy Jones, Costel Pantilimon, Santiago Vergini (Loan), Will Buckley, Sebastian Coates (Loan), Ricardo Alvarez (Loan)
Out: 19 (£2.1m)
Ignacio Scocco, Phil Bardsley, Jack Colback, Craig Gardner, Billy Knott, John Egan, Kieren Westwood, Louis Laing, Reece Noble, Jordan Pickford (Loan)El-Hadji Ba (Loan), Carlos Cuéllar, Andrea Dossena, Jordan Laidler, Alejandro Rodriguez Gorrin, Oscar Ustari, David Vaughan, Jordan Watson, Scott Harrison (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swansea City
In: 10 (£5.5m)
Jefferson Montero, Marvin Emnes, Stephen Kingsley, Lukasz Fabianski, Bafétimbi Gomis, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Federico Fernandez, James Demetriou, Modu Barrow, Giancarlo Gallifuoco
Out: 16 (£15.7m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Gwion Edwards, Alejandro Pozuelo, Thomas Atyeo, Daniel Alfei (Loan), Michu (Loan), Chico Flores, Leroy Lita, Jernade Meade, David Ngog, Darnel Situ, Jose Canas, Alex Bray (Loan), Kris Scott, Alan Tate (Loan)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tottenham Hotspur
In: 6 (£19m)
Ben Davies, Michel Vorm, Eric Dier, DeAndre Yedlin, Federico Fazio, Benjamin Stambouli
Out: 25 (£18m)
Jake Livermore, Heurelho Gomes, Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart, Darren McQueen, Gylfi Sigurdsson , Grant Hall (Loan) , Alex Pritchard (Loan), Kenny McEvoy (Loan), Iago Falque, Shaquile Coulthirst (Loan), Jordan Archer (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Cameron Lancaster, Roman Michael-Percil, Jonathan Miles, DeAndre Yedlin (Loan), Michael Dawson, Ryan Fredericks (Loan), Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Sandro, Jonathan Obika, Cameron Lancaster, Lewis Holtby (Loan), Zeki Fryers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Bromwich Albion
In: 10 (£11.5m)
Brown Ideye, Sebastien Pocognoli, Craig Gardner, Joleon Lescott, Chris Baird, Andre Wisdom (Loan), Cristian Gamboa, Jason Davidson, Georgios Samaras, Sebastian Blanco
Out: 10 (£2m)
George Thorne, Billy Jones, Liam Ridgewell, Steven Reid, Cameron Gayle, Donervon Daniels (Loan), Scott Allan, Zoltan Gera, Diego Lugano, Nicolas Anelka
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Ham United
In: 9 (£22.75m)
Enner Valencia, Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Mauro Zarate, Diego Poyet, Carl Jenkinson (Loan), Diafra Sakho, Morgan Amalfitano, Alex Song (Loan)
Out: 16 (£3.5m)
Ben Sheaf, Joe Cole, Matt Taylor, Stephen Henderson, Robert Girdlestone, Raphael Spiegel (Loan), George Moncur (Loan), Jack Collison, Alou Diarra, Callum Driver, George McCartney, Jordan Spence, Ravel Morrison (Loan), Sean Maguire (Loan), Matthias Fanimo (Loan), Mohamed Diame--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fantasy Football 2014/15
Although this didn't really take off last year, I'll give it another go :)
I've set up leagues for Nothing Better Than Football "NBTF"
in the Premier league game and the Telegraph game.
If you would like to join either, here are the details -
Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html
League name: Nothing Better Than Football
Code to join this league: 5969-597595
The Premier league runs it's own game "Fantasy Premier League" and it is free to play.
You choose a squad of 15 players in your budget, then pick a starting XI for each game, transfers are available during the season - 1 is free, anymore cost you points, wildcards are available twice a season to let you ship out several players at once if half your squad get sold to Real Madrid in January.
You can only have one team each, but you can put it in multiple leagues.
(I've updated this due to cock up on my part (oops) starts in week 2 now)
-----------
Telegraph Fantasy Football 2014/15
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
League name: NBTF
PIN: 8072532
The Telegraph game tends to be the most popular amongst Fantasy football managers as you can tinker away all season with 30 transfers allowed and make changes to your team right up till the first kick-off of the day. You can have as many teams as you like, the first team is free but if you want more you can upgrade by paying a fee, the more teams you have the cheaper it is.
Many different cash prizes if your good enough.
(if you decide to join, I'll limit it to 5 teams per person max
The Premier league game is open to everyone worldwide (as there are no cash prizes), sadly the Telegraph game is UK residents only :(
I've set up leagues for Nothing Better Than Football "NBTF"
in the Premier league game and the Telegraph game.
If you would like to join either, here are the details -
Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html
League name: Nothing Better Than Football
Code to join this league: 5969-597595
The Premier league runs it's own game "Fantasy Premier League" and it is free to play.
You choose a squad of 15 players in your budget, then pick a starting XI for each game, transfers are available during the season - 1 is free, anymore cost you points, wildcards are available twice a season to let you ship out several players at once if half your squad get sold to Real Madrid in January.
You can only have one team each, but you can put it in multiple leagues.
(I've updated this due to cock up on my part (oops) starts in week 2 now)
-----------
Telegraph Fantasy Football 2014/15
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
League name: NBTF
PIN: 8072532
The Telegraph game tends to be the most popular amongst Fantasy football managers as you can tinker away all season with 30 transfers allowed and make changes to your team right up till the first kick-off of the day. You can have as many teams as you like, the first team is free but if you want more you can upgrade by paying a fee, the more teams you have the cheaper it is.
Many different cash prizes if your good enough.
(if you decide to join, I'll limit it to 5 teams per person max
The Premier league game is open to everyone worldwide (as there are no cash prizes), sadly the Telegraph game is UK residents only :(
Thursday, 7 August 2014
World Wide Webb
Pick any from this list to explain the latest diabolical reffing decision.
He's Blind
He's F***ing useless
He's a Liverpool fan
He's a Chelsea fan
The lino gave it
The 4th Official gave it
He was looking at something else
He doesn't speak the language
She's a woman
New Season
Greetings all :)
The new Premier season is only 10 days away and it's time to get fired up after the short break.
Of course the new season actually started during the World cup so there hasn't really been a summer break, Celtic are already out of the Champions league along with several other British teams.
Hull will play their second Europa league game tonight hoping to at least make it to the regular season and get a few Sunday kick offs.
The lower leagues kick off tomorrow night with Blackburn v Cardiff, and the rest start on Saturday.
Interesting that the footie authorities have come out big against betting by footballers but allow the leagues to be sponsored by Skybet?
My local side Southend open with a glamour trip to Accrington Stanley (who are they?) at least all the new signings will get a chance to meet each other :)
On Sunday the first big game takes place with the Charity Shield game between Arsenal and Man City, although it's now known as the Ronald McDonald Community Shield (fries with that?) not sure if the money goes to charity anymore? probably not.
Predictions competition will be back in the next few days, plus an invite to join the NBTF Fantasy football leagues for anyone who's interested.
I'm currently compiling a list of the Premier league in's and out's to see who's been splashing the cash and to see if certain teams still have enough players left?
.. quick joke - The Premier league have announced they will be using vanishing spray this season after a successful trial at Southampton football club :)
The new Premier season is only 10 days away and it's time to get fired up after the short break.
Of course the new season actually started during the World cup so there hasn't really been a summer break, Celtic are already out of the Champions league along with several other British teams.
Hull will play their second Europa league game tonight hoping to at least make it to the regular season and get a few Sunday kick offs.
The lower leagues kick off tomorrow night with Blackburn v Cardiff, and the rest start on Saturday.
Interesting that the footie authorities have come out big against betting by footballers but allow the leagues to be sponsored by Skybet?
My local side Southend open with a glamour trip to Accrington Stanley (who are they?) at least all the new signings will get a chance to meet each other :)
On Sunday the first big game takes place with the Charity Shield game between Arsenal and Man City, although it's now known as the Ronald McDonald Community Shield (fries with that?) not sure if the money goes to charity anymore? probably not.
Predictions competition will be back in the next few days, plus an invite to join the NBTF Fantasy football leagues for anyone who's interested.
I'm currently compiling a list of the Premier league in's and out's to see who's been splashing the cash and to see if certain teams still have enough players left?
.. quick joke - The Premier league have announced they will be using vanishing spray this season after a successful trial at Southampton football club :)
Monday, 7 July 2014
World Cup Predictions (Part 6) SF+3rd+F
4 More games to go, here's the semi final line up.
Brazil v Germany
Argentina v Holland
3rd Place play off - Brazil v Holland
Final - Germany v Argentina
Post when you like before kick off's :)
* updated
Update - The Final Table :)
Brazil v Germany
Argentina v Holland
3rd Place play off - Brazil v Holland
Final - Germany v Argentina
Post when you like before kick off's :)
* updated
Update - The Final Table :)
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
World Cup Predictions (Part 5) QF
Quarter Finals start Friday :)
These look harder to predict than the last round :(
Germany France has a bit of history and assuming France drop Giroud could be a tight match.
The in form team Colombia face the stuttering home team, if Neymar is fit and the ref plays ball Brazil might get through?
Argentina were lucky to get through against the dull Swiss team and I expect a similar game against the Belgians, who still don't know their best first XI.
The Nether Nether Hollandaise Dutch should have enough to finally beat the over performing Costa Rican's but you nether know :)
France v Germany
Brazil v Colombia
Argentina v Belgium
Netherlands v Costa Rica
Good luck all :)
These look harder to predict than the last round :(
Germany France has a bit of history and assuming France drop Giroud could be a tight match.
The in form team Colombia face the stuttering home team, if Neymar is fit and the ref plays ball Brazil might get through?
Argentina were lucky to get through against the dull Swiss team and I expect a similar game against the Belgians, who still don't know their best first XI.
The Nether Nether Hollandaise Dutch should have enough to finally beat the over performing Costa Rican's but you nether know :)
France v Germany
Brazil v Colombia
Argentina v Belgium
Netherlands v Costa Rica
Good luck all :)
Saturday, 28 June 2014
Continental
Africa - 5 teams, 2 into 2nd round, 0-2 into Q/F
Asia 4 teams, 0 into 2nd round
Central/North America - 4 teams, 3 into 2nd round, 0-3 into Q/F
Europe - 13 teams, 6 into 2nd round, 0-6 into Q/F
South America - 6 teams, 5 into 2nd round, 2/3 into Q/F, 1/2 into S/F
If the favoured teams get through the semi finals should be
Brazil v Germany, Argentina v Holland with an all South American final?
Although a Greece v Algeria final is still possible, but I'm guessing the quality of players like Messi and Neymar and the dodgy refereeing at this tournament makes that very unlikely:)
Asia 4 teams, 0 into 2nd round
Central/North America - 4 teams, 3 into 2nd round, 0-3 into Q/F
Europe - 13 teams, 6 into 2nd round, 0-6 into Q/F
South America - 6 teams, 5 into 2nd round, 2/3 into Q/F, 1/2 into S/F
If the favoured teams get through the semi finals should be
Brazil v Germany, Argentina v Holland with an all South American final?
Although a Greece v Algeria final is still possible, but I'm guessing the quality of players like Messi and Neymar and the dodgy refereeing at this tournament makes that very unlikely:)
Friday, 27 June 2014
World Cup Predictions (Part 4)
Still close in the table (and those still playing are doing better than the BBC man).
Here we go with the Second round, or Round of 16, or Eighth finals whatever it's called?
Four of the five South American teams meet on Saturday and no European team is guaranteed a quarter final space, so hopefully some good games to come :)
Brazil v Chile
Colombia v Uruguay
Netherlands v Mexico
Costa Rica v Greece
France v Nigeria
Germany v Algeria
Argentina v Switzerland
Belgium v USA
Good luck all :)
Here we go with the Second round, or Round of 16, or Eighth finals whatever it's called?
Four of the five South American teams meet on Saturday and no European team is guaranteed a quarter final space, so hopefully some good games to come :)
Brazil v Chile
Colombia v Uruguay
Netherlands v Mexico
Costa Rica v Greece
France v Nigeria
Germany v Algeria
Argentina v Switzerland
Belgium v USA
Good luck all :)
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
England v Costa Rica
A more typical England performance today, some good chances missed, a lot of misplaced passes and nobody looking comfortable with the ball at their feet.
Sturridge should have got a penalty but missed several good chances, Shaw and Lallana looked good and most of the others did OK.
Smalling was lucky he didn't have to face a top striker so came out unscathed, Jones had a safe game, Barkley was a bit of a disappointment, Lampard showed why he should think of retiring, Wilshere still doesn't look fit, and Milner was anonymous as usual.
Sterling, Rooney and Slippy came on late but we managed to hang on.
My Ratings - Foster 6, Jones 6, Shaw 7, Smalling 5, Cahill 6, Milner 4, Lampard 5, Barkley 5, Lallana 6, Sturridge 7. Subs - Sterling 4, Rooney 5, Gerrard 2
All the headlines will be about Mr Bitey's latest Italian meal, and he should get a long ban or at least not be allowed to play without a muzzle.
A bit disappointed with Chiellini who looks like an old style Italian defender, who you would have expected to solve the Suarez problem by removing his front teeth with his fist?
Sturridge should have got a penalty but missed several good chances, Shaw and Lallana looked good and most of the others did OK.
Smalling was lucky he didn't have to face a top striker so came out unscathed, Jones had a safe game, Barkley was a bit of a disappointment, Lampard showed why he should think of retiring, Wilshere still doesn't look fit, and Milner was anonymous as usual.
Sterling, Rooney and Slippy came on late but we managed to hang on.
My Ratings - Foster 6, Jones 6, Shaw 7, Smalling 5, Cahill 6, Milner 4, Lampard 5, Barkley 5, Lallana 6, Sturridge 7. Subs - Sterling 4, Rooney 5, Gerrard 2
All the headlines will be about Mr Bitey's latest Italian meal, and he should get a long ban or at least not be allowed to play without a muzzle.A bit disappointed with Chiellini who looks like an old style Italian defender, who you would have expected to solve the Suarez problem by removing his front teeth with his fist?
Saturday, 21 June 2014
World Cup Predictions (Part 3)
For those still playing here's the 3rd matches in the group stages which start on Monday.
Maybe teams like England and Spain will go out with a bang or a whimper?
The last 16 matches kick off next Saturday and we will know the teams on Thursday night so I'll post that one then.
I've added the Beeb's resident predictor to the table so it would be great if we could all beat him :)
Maybe one of us will then get a big contract to spout drivel every week and post their predictions to the nation, although I suppose we'd have to pretend we used to play for Liverpool :(
Enough drivel, here's the matches
Australia v Spain
Netherlands v Chile
Cameroon v Brazil
Croatia v Mexico
Costa Rica v England
Italy v Uruguay
Greece v Ivory Coast
Japan v Colombia
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Iran
Nigeria v Argentina
Ecuador v France
Honduras v Switzerland
Portugal v Ghana
USA v Germany
Algeria v Russia
South Korea v Belgium
Maybe teams like England and Spain will go out with a bang or a whimper?
The last 16 matches kick off next Saturday and we will know the teams on Thursday night so I'll post that one then.
I've added the Beeb's resident predictor to the table so it would be great if we could all beat him :)
Maybe one of us will then get a big contract to spout drivel every week and post their predictions to the nation, although I suppose we'd have to pretend we used to play for Liverpool :(
Enough drivel, here's the matches
Australia v Spain
Netherlands v Chile
Cameroon v Brazil
Croatia v Mexico
Costa Rica v England
Italy v Uruguay
Greece v Ivory Coast
Japan v Colombia
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Iran
Nigeria v Argentina
Ecuador v France
Honduras v Switzerland
Portugal v Ghana
USA v Germany
Algeria v Russia
South Korea v Belgium
Friday, 20 June 2014
Shattered Dreams
The thing that comes to mind after the defeat last night is that we all pretend to want skillful and attacking football, but at the end of the day there is only one thing that matters ... winning.
If we had managed just 2 shots on target like Uruguay last night and been totally outplayed for 90 minutes but ended up winning these 2 games, the press, pundits and public would all have criticised our playing style but in 20, 30, 40 years time we would look back and say "what a great year it was" if we managed to get to the semi's or Final.
In 66 we narrowly beat France and Mexico and drew with the Uruguayans in the group stage, had one goal victories against the 10 men of Argentina and Portugal in the semi's and required extra time and 2 dodgy goals in the final to win (if the crowd were on the pitch the game should have been stopped), but we all bang on about that great team till this day.
In 90 we scraped draws against Ireland and Holland and beat the mighty Egyptians 1-0 to get through the group, needed a last minute winner to beat Belgium after being outplayed, scraped through against Cameroon with 2 penalties then lost to Germany.
But I admit to saying what a great competition that was.
In 82 we played some fine football winning all 3 group games and holding the Germans and Spanish in the 2nd group and going out of the tournament without losing a game despite missing our 2 best players (Keegan and Brooking) for all but the last half hour. But nobody ever brings that year up because we came home early.
Even if we had bored our way to 2 goalless draws this time, the World cup would still be alive for me and I would be watching every match, but with us virtually out the thought of sitting through Honduras v Ecuador and Nigeria v Bosnia has lost all the appeal and I'll be avoiding the box for the majority of games from now on :(
If we had managed just 2 shots on target like Uruguay last night and been totally outplayed for 90 minutes but ended up winning these 2 games, the press, pundits and public would all have criticised our playing style but in 20, 30, 40 years time we would look back and say "what a great year it was" if we managed to get to the semi's or Final.
In 66 we narrowly beat France and Mexico and drew with the Uruguayans in the group stage, had one goal victories against the 10 men of Argentina and Portugal in the semi's and required extra time and 2 dodgy goals in the final to win (if the crowd were on the pitch the game should have been stopped), but we all bang on about that great team till this day.
In 90 we scraped draws against Ireland and Holland and beat the mighty Egyptians 1-0 to get through the group, needed a last minute winner to beat Belgium after being outplayed, scraped through against Cameroon with 2 penalties then lost to Germany.
But I admit to saying what a great competition that was.
In 82 we played some fine football winning all 3 group games and holding the Germans and Spanish in the 2nd group and going out of the tournament without losing a game despite missing our 2 best players (Keegan and Brooking) for all but the last half hour. But nobody ever brings that year up because we came home early.
Even if we had bored our way to 2 goalless draws this time, the World cup would still be alive for me and I would be watching every match, but with us virtually out the thought of sitting through Honduras v Ecuador and Nigeria v Bosnia has lost all the appeal and I'll be avoiding the box for the majority of games from now on :(
Thursday, 19 June 2014
England v Uruguay
Bollocks!!
We played reasonably well again, but the same result :(
Suarez took his chances and we didn't, Rooney played well and was unlucky not to have grabbed more than his one goal, but star turns from the first game Sterling and Sturridge were well shackled.
Gerrard played better than the first game but spoiled it with the assist for Suarez's 2nd goal, Cahill was impressive at the back but Jagielka looked shaky.
It might have been different if the Uruguayan ref had sent off Godin in the first half as he should have done but despite not getting anything from the officials we should have been able to get a draw at least.
We're not out yet but it will need a miracle to stay in now :(
My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 7, Baines 6, Jagielka 4, Cahill 8, Gerrard 6, Henderson 5, Wellbeck 5, Sterling 5, Rooney 8, Sturridge 7. Subs - Barkley 4, Lallana 5, Lambert 0
We played reasonably well again, but the same result :(
Suarez took his chances and we didn't, Rooney played well and was unlucky not to have grabbed more than his one goal, but star turns from the first game Sterling and Sturridge were well shackled.
Gerrard played better than the first game but spoiled it with the assist for Suarez's 2nd goal, Cahill was impressive at the back but Jagielka looked shaky.
It might have been different if the Uruguayan ref had sent off Godin in the first half as he should have done but despite not getting anything from the officials we should have been able to get a draw at least.
We're not out yet but it will need a miracle to stay in now :(
My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 7, Baines 6, Jagielka 4, Cahill 8, Gerrard 6, Henderson 5, Wellbeck 5, Sterling 5, Rooney 8, Sturridge 7. Subs - Barkley 4, Lallana 5, Lambert 0
Sunday, 15 June 2014
England v Italy
Mixed emotions from that one? absolutely gutted we lost but it was probably one of the best England performances in years, there was hardly any of the usual long balls to nobody, and the usual going backwards every time we get in a good position.
Hopefully the "no fear" attitude will continue in the next match which is now a must win game.
Also hoping Gerrard puts country before club by taking out Suarez with one of his trademark leg breaking challenges :)
My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 5, Baines 5, Jagielka 6, Cahill 7, Gerrard 4, Henderson 6, Wellbeck 7, Sterling 8, Rooney 5, Sturridge 8. Subs - Barkley 6, Wilshere 4, Lallana 7
Hopefully the "no fear" attitude will continue in the next match which is now a must win game.
Also hoping Gerrard puts country before club by taking out Suarez with one of his trademark leg breaking challenges :)
My Ratings - Hart 5, Johnson 5, Baines 5, Jagielka 6, Cahill 7, Gerrard 4, Henderson 6, Wellbeck 7, Sterling 8, Rooney 5, Sturridge 8. Subs - Barkley 6, Wilshere 4, Lallana 7
Saturday, 14 June 2014
World Cup Predictions (Part 2)
Second matches start on Tuesday with the Brazil v Mexico game, not sure if the extra Brazilian Refereeinho will be playing :)
Brazil v Mexico
Australia v Netherlands
Spain v Chile
Cameroon v Croatia
Colombia v Ivory Coast
Uruguay v England
Japan v Greece
Italy v Costa Rica
Switzerland v France
Honduras v Ecuador
Argentina v Iran
Germany v Ghana
Nigeria v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belgium v Russia
South Korea v Algeria
USA v Portugal
Brazil v Mexico
Australia v Netherlands
Spain v Chile
Cameroon v Croatia
Colombia v Ivory Coast
Uruguay v England
Japan v Greece
Italy v Costa Rica
Switzerland v France
Honduras v Ecuador
Argentina v Iran
Germany v Ghana
Nigeria v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belgium v Russia
South Korea v Algeria
USA v Portugal
Friday, 13 June 2014
World Cup So Far
Brazil made a nightmare start with the own goal but went on to win thanks to a dodgy keeper and a even dodgier referee, Fred's dive wasn't even a good dive but the Japanese official fell for it.
I don't think Cameroon have the big money to buy a ref but he seemed to hate the Mexicans disallowing 2 good goals in the first half and allowing 2 red card tackles from Cameroon to go unpunished while only booking a Mexican after the Cameroon player ran into him.
Luckily the Mexicans finally scored one he couldn't rule out.
The tournament took a real upturn with the Spain Holland game, things didn't look good when Sneijder missed a sitter and Diego Costa bought a penalty for Spain to give them the lead, but Van Persie's stunning header brought them back level, the rain started falling in the second half and Arjen Robben tore the Spanish apart. 5-1 didn't flatter Holland who should have scored even more.
Ramos is one of the world's great full backs but was out of his depth at centre back and Casillias looks a bit past it now and should step down. Torres came on and managed to miss a chance that was easier to score which will be familiar to Chelsea fans :)
Chile looked capable of running up a cricket score at the start but Australia came back well and were a bit unlucky to lose.
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