Tit-bits (not what you think) Gameweek 9

English: Fernando Torres playing for Chelsea F.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tit-bits to Gameweek 9

Total goals 23 (10 of them in two matches) (6th highest of the 9 weeks). 8 clean sheets ( 3rd highest).

At the mid-point of the next Gameweek (No 10) we will have completed 25% of our Fantasy Game for 2013-14 season.
QED

Fernando's - no longer in Hideaway?

Gameweek 9: Does anyone have Torres?

Español: El Fandi, Tercio de Quites, en Corpus Christi. Feria de Granada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No change given by the top two in the Gardens.

The leader of the Allotments is now Little BLOOMING Wonders with the same wins as HelloJoAllStars but with a higher overall points  score (I wish I had something blooming in the Allotments .... or the Gardens)

Top scores: a bullish 78 for El Fandi, and Super Rams 75, Dynamos 71 and Li.....there is another team with 70.

Allotments league: the usual tricky results with 49 points scoring a win and a score of 59 losing.

Does anyone have Torres in their squad?

League tables below.

Did you see the gloves .....?

English: Brine lacrosse gloves (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Did you see the gloves on de Gea the ManU goalie? The size of those on a bear mascot's walk-in costume. And the thumbs were the size of Cumberland sausages.
They were clearly unfair. But no comments were heard on Match of the Day or in the press so far. (I do skim a lot, especially Glanville and my recorded Match of the Day)
Man U in their desire to improve their season have started with bigger gloves for the goalie. Maybe they'll end up giving him a bat.
Obviously de Gea, has not got used to the whopper gloves yet as he let in two goals but they did come in handy when he flapped away a long shot skimming off the ground. Probably the draught.
Behind for most of the match, they only just beat Stoke, 3-2!

5 more matches today,

Dynamos rev up. Gameweek 8 review.

HelloJoAllstars (or something like that) with a score in the forties managed to win her match and go top in the Allotments (above). Scores of 48 points and 46 won games - so don't give up hope in this league.

Or the other?

However, Dynamos' 62 was not enough to win in the Head to Head league.

 In the Gardens, Little grew bigger, Songs pitched lower, Slickers were stickers and Dynamos revved up. Aguero of Manchester City holed a few putts and his manager had him as captain for a round of 32.

There were 34 goals, the highest of the season so far by 5. There were only 4 clean sheets: one more than the lowest in Week 6.

(Aguero = Hole)

Where we stand after Gameweek 8

Dimitar Berbatov - biulgarian football player (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With 2 Fulham players, I was one of the few (or alone?) in having a stake in last night's final game of the week. A quick calculation showed that if Berbatov (no goals so far this season) and Reither, full back, scored 6 each and had a few assists, say half a dozen, and each got maximum bonus points  then I would be third in the league.

Crystal Palace started off and scored in very quick time.

Then Fulham got two remarkable goals - the first of which was a lifetime best (no matter how long he lives) for Kasami, a Swiss national team player. The second goal was a one in a thousand by Sidwell - who scored all of 3 last season. So it began to look like a game in which any beautiful thing could happen. I might get all those points and lie second in the table. From 15th.

Final score: C Palace 1 Fulham 4.

Will 'No Wonders' stay at the top .....in Gameweek 8?

English: Daniel Sturridge playing for England U21 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is great to see teams of some character leading the league. Little Wonders, I notice, has 3 Everton and 3 Arsenal players plus 2 Spurs. BouWow has 6 players from the Mersey teams. Si Si Songs has 3 Chelsea plus 2 more with Chelsea connections.

What do I mean by a team of character?
 I mean that there are 3 players from any one team
Plus a theme.

When you play your Wildcard you can choose a team of character or you can do it gradually with fortnightly transfers.

Which other teams of character do we have in our league?

With two more matches to play we won't know until Monday night how the table will finally look.
But with 2 Spurs players yet to register points it looks like there's No Wonder who will be at the top.

Si Si Songs also has 2 players to register points but only one Spurs player. If Sigurdsson ssscores and Soldado and Paulinho don't, then Nick might manage to stay top but it doesn't look likely from here.

Thank Hodgson: England will go to Brazil for 2014 World Cup competition

Between Gameweeks 7 and 8 England played two world cup qualifying matches and won both. The first was against Montenegro and the second was against Poland. The result means that we can watch England play on TV next summer biting our nails as usual.

We owe a lot to Roy Hodgson whose face during the match expressed the way the English supporters were feeling: worried until England scored then desperate in case Poland scored while England bombarded the Poles for a second goal.

It came a few minutes before the final whistle when Gerrard in a scene I will never forget shrugged off two defenders to reach for the contact to score the goal that made England top of the group and put us in Brazil.

Hodgson's face now showed the joy of a man who had just found out he was not going to be hanged for something he didn't do. A kind of joy but hey...!

In London on Tuesday (the day of the match with Poland at Wembley) it was impossible to get hold of an electrician, a plumber, a locksmith, a joiner or a builder. They were all at the match shouting for Poland.

Other odd facts

1. Poland's goalkeeper was Arsenal's 'Chesney' - a good-old cockney name spelt 'Szczensy'.

2. Montenegro, England's penultimate opponent has a population the size of Bristol.

3. 'Penultimate' is not the last man to take a penalty in a shoot-out.

Related articles

•  England's World Cup Place Roy Hodgson's Proudest Moment

Christiano Ronaldo cares ......

Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read the story of a fan who ran on to the pitch during a pre-season tournament in Florida as told in the International New York Times. (Click the link)

There is a free offer to sample this great newspaper at the moment - so the link may expire soon.

The article reprints a letter from Ronaldo to the Florida law authorities. I don't suppose Ronaldo (Real Madrid and formerly Man United) wrote the letter himself but his concern for the young immigrant fan is commendable.

The writing in this paper is easy to follow even on complex issues. And the breadth of coverage is breathtaking.

(And they are not paying me anything and I did write this myself)

Whippersnapper!

Welsh footballer Ryan Giggs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sunderland v Man U, Saturday 5 October, 2013
The Scarlet Pimpernel - I first saw him play against Crystal Palace (on TV) for about 20 minutes at the end of the match and he looked impressive. And apparently he came on as a sub in the Community Shield - unrecalled by me.

At 18 years old I expected that he would be a bit part player for a long time. Not a good prospect for a Fantasy League squad.

But now?
Man U manager, Moyes, chose him to start against Sunderland and 'the boy' (professional Premier terminology) scored twice. 'Man of the Match' status was reached against a magnificent fighting Sunderland who went into the lead early on but were eventually overtaken with 2 goals from the 'boy' Pimpernel.
Is Januzaj the new Giggs? He did not stay out on the left, as he did when I saw him against CP. Instead he played quite deep and central like Giggs has done during his last few years but unlike Giggs - he did not pass even once to Persie. And Persie plays for Floculante as well as Man U!

So is Januzaj now a very cheap prospect for FL?

 I've brought him in to Flocante Furies. He had better start passing the ball to Van P.

Related articles

• REPORT: Sunderland 1-2 Manchester United

Si for yourself who is in the lead!

 Top of the compost heap this  morning and there for at least two weeks is Si Si Songs managed by Nick. There are no Premier League matches for a fortnight so I hope it doesn't get too smelly up there, Nick!

The Chelsea "rejects" Lukaku and Sturridge plus 3 players from the Chelsea team account for one third of his leading squad. I wonder which team he supports?

There were 13 home goals and 13 away goals and 5 clean sheets.  Our new leader had three of the goals and one clean sheet in a total of 51 points for the week. So now you know what it takes to get around 50 points.

And guess who is top of the Allotments league with three wins? And Joanne second, also with 3 wins. Lucky devils!

Related articles

• Romelu Lukaku reveals he ASKED to leave Chelsea and tells fans to stop criticising Jose Mourinho
• Chelsea's Mourinho feels it's important to adapt your own style

El Ojo keeps his EYE on the ball - prelude to Gameweek 7

English: Thanks for the mention, Mike,bonny lad!Photo of retired footballer Alan Shearer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To bury RVP or not to....that is the question.....or to put it another way ....to employ a precious wildcard or not ....that is an even bigger question. I keep saying to myself...hold your nerve....but all that happens is the gap gets wider......

 I now find we have in our midst a Sports Journalist, one who is being advised by a Mr Shearer & one who has the entire Irish Footballing Pundit machine at her finger tips......what chance do we poor mortals have Mr Head Planter.

 I think we are seeing a new brand of football that the continentals are adopting much faster than we are. All starting with Barcelona. Arsenal are the only UK team so far that appear to be on the lower rungs of the adoption process. It's very much the one touch passing movement which require  constant mobility to be in a position to receive the nudge. I was watching Swansea last night who try to play a passing game but each time they received the ball they first of all trapped it & then passed. That takes twice as long as a one touch diversion.

I'm rather glad Man City's millions do not produce a welded team....what a woeful game they produced against Bayern who have taken to the one touch pass like a duck to water....absolutely taking the beautiful game to another level. Our pundits are always banging on about how the Premier League is the best in the world.....as we say in Spain...Basura!

El Ojo (the bottom muck scraper)**

**Mike is near the bottom of the League

Joe Hart's problem

There has been much discussion in the press about Joe Hart's sudden decline in reliability as a goalie. "He has been letting a few soft ones in" as they say. In the mid-week match for example (mentioned in the previous blog) he let in 3 goals. A few months ago he would probably have saved 2 out of 3 of those shots.

The problem is called 'Fatal Infallibility', first discovered in Italy. (This is more than just Hart Failure)

It happens like this: a goalkeeper, like Joe Hart, who is known to be highly competent, plays for his country and is praised as No 1 arrives at a state when he knows he can do it automatically. It is easy. He has saved shots from all angles for seasons. He knows that he can deal with most balls that come his way.

"Nobody gets one past me", he thinks. It's all so easy he can do it in his sleep. And everybody tells him so. And then what happens? Mentally he 'goes to sleep'. He stops being even a little bit scared that he will not perform well. It will just happen, as it always does.

At this point his performance declines because his mind is no longer pushing him to the levels where he used to go - when he was the best in England, and Everybody Said So!

And if my theory is correct then 'Fatal Infallibility' can also happen to former winners of the Tiger Balm Gardens league. Perhaps it already has.

Related articles

• Joe Hart's image problem is one even the famed goalkeepers' union can't fix
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• Analyzing Joe Hart's Struggles for Manchester City and England

Checking up on Van Persie

The two Manchester Premier League clubs played Wednesday evening. Man U drew, and during the interview after the match their Scottish manager used the marvellous Scots word for 'going to' - which is 'goanee' as in the sentence "I thought we were goanee score." (And he was right - they did score, but not enough)

In the other match Man City were playing a system called 'Tactical Fiasco' explained, incidentally, in my book 'The Art of Kick and Rush' (1935) Price 2/6d. Their opponents Bayern Music played magnificently. The result: City lost at home, 3-1.

Manager Pellegrini, after the match, I think said, "bbbllllaaa I tink bbbblllllaaat  I tink bbblllaaa I tink bbblllaaa".

Oh, and Van Persie had a shot over the bar, but he could be on target by Gameweek 7.

Note: the football matches referred to above were two Champions League Group matches played on Wednesday 2/10/13 with the following results: 

Shaktar Donetsk 1 v Manchester United 1

Manchester City 1 v Bayern Munich 3

Related articles

Robin Van Persie saying "Is that the Floculante Furies manager?"(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Tiger Balm Allotments, 2nd Week Table

What to do in your Allotment?

Get rid of some of the worn-out plants left over from last year. (Van Persie?)?

Encourage strong-looking new growth. (Brady of Hull?)

Break up the heavy lumps, plant some new stuff, spread manure. (Considering a Wildcard?)

Gameweek 6: Little Wonder, no wonder!

With Little Wonders staying at the head of the Gardens' league totalling 345 points, and with the highest score of the week from Si Si Songs at 66 raising Nick to 2nd spot along with the Boucher Wow Eleven  - we finish Gameweek 6.

The name 'Little Wonders' suggests surprise and pride. Next season I suggest Toni renames her team 'No Wonder' as her success is no longer any kind of surprise.  Well done, again, dear manager!

One reason for the number of low scores in our league was that not many defenders earned the 4 points for a clean sheet. Only three teams kept one. There were however 29 goals scored, the same as last week, when there were however 6 clean sheets. (More washing this week than last, then?)
So for a change Baines did not get any points as he failed with his free kicks and got a yellow card.

But Lukaku, also of Everton, had an assist and a bonus added to his two goals (16 points) (3+3+8+2)
And if you had Lukaku as captain (as Nick did) then he scored 32 points - my whole team had only three points more!

I recently wrote about my experiences at Craven Cottage you may recall. And how I almost ended in the river. I was pleased to read that this ground now has seats. An over enthusiastic Cardiff supporter used them in different parts of the ground on Saturday last: when the newly-promoted Cardiff City defeated Fulham 2-1

from the Telegraph

Sarah Brookes, spokeswoman for Fulham FC, said: "Mr Kinnock was located in the home stand on Saturday and caused some angry responses when he and his family celebrated the Cardiff City goal.

"He was relocated in The Putney End, the away Stand, where there were a number of spare seats.

If you would like to read more follow the link at the end of the piece. (Related Articles)


The Allotments league table is not yet ready on our  FPL site but I did notice that Essex is getting no warmer with the luck. Nigel's team would have beaten any of 14 of us  - but was unfortunately drawn against the week's highest score.

Related articles

• Ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock escorted from seat among home fans at Craven Cottage as Cardiff score against Fulham