Ok, I'm impressed - over at the fantasy league, Rich M has broken 100 points in one gameweek to claw his way back up to the top
Ah, going into week 7 of the fantasy league season, and I am doing..mediocre, to say the least - unfortunate, but seasons are not won by Christmas as they say
As you can see, I'm languishing down in 5th - a whole 52 points off the pace, and beaten last week by everyone except Dan (heh) and Rich - although I must say, had the frigging website not reset my goalkeeper I would've got an extra 7 points - lesson learned: triple check your team! - I just wanted people to know that I do have some sense...just no computer skills it would seem
Meanwhile, Trench Town Rockers remain top - bloody Torres
So this week I thought I'd update you on my team - up front I am rather happy, Defoe with Burnley, Bolton, Pompey and Stoke to play next, and Bent is proving bloody good value, even if he has got United and Liverpool after Wolves this week
In midfield I have finally shipped Mr. Reliable, Phil Neville, for someone who might actually do something - Barry, he's not bad value at 7.9 and is getting many bonus points, hopefully strengthening my midfield - which has basically been Lampard and SWP, I am keeping faith in Cahill for now, Everton seem to be coming back into it
But at the back I'm looking rather dodge - my linchpin, Carragher, is doing nothing as Liverpool are shipping goals - they've already conceded a third of what they did last season, despite playing Villa, Bolton and West Ham - maybe they'll turn a corner, obviously with a home game against Hull this week I've decided to wait for now, but it's not good right now
Then I have too much interest placed in Fulham - they don't look as solid as last year and I really shouldn't have Hughes, this is further compounded by Bramble, my favourite bench-warmer, having a nasty few games coming up, and likewise Collins at Villa has pretty much the same problem
So yeah, that needs some work - obviously it's still very early, and consistency is far less important right now - it's all about the occasional assist or goal, but for an expensive defender Cole was the best choice in hindsight, Johnson I still think is overpriced and Vermaelen is riding on his three goals - Arsenal's defence is still pathetic, so he's useless across the season - while United have only offered up Evra as remotely useful, due to injury and few clean sheets
Amazingly, for consistency in defence we should be looking at Stoke's Faye Ab or Ryan Shawcross right now (although maybe not this week) and Roger Johnson at Birmingham, rather than the traditional Vidics and Lescotts, it'll probably settle down eventually - but for the mid-term it's looking good for the prudent investor
But then, why listen to me? There's a reason I'm in fifth...
Firstly, I want to say "Thanks" to Tarquin for setting up the mini-league, and I feel an excellent choice in using the Premier Leagues own format. I had not previously used played this version before.
Secondly, thanks to those who joined in... we will be updating the blog regularly with every ones progress.
Here is how things stand after week 1:
The exotic sounding Damian De Leon and Sylvie Martel Rouquet lead the charts. Damian's front line of Rooney and Drogba securing a bumper haul, whilst Sylvie's selection of Ryan Shawcross earned 15pts alone.
Well that's the opening weekend of the Premier League out of the way, and not a bad start I must say - personally I think it's because Middlesbrough aren't there any more
Not a single draw, a game with seven goals, and City starting impressively
The same can't be said for my fantasy team - a mediocre 36 points, while Damian tops the league with 62 thanks to his choice of Rooney and Drogba, but don't worry - one of my other teams did just fine with Fabregas
But we might as well be thinking Everton will finish bottom - it's only the first week and it really does depend who gets lucky, give it a few weeks and it will settle - a great first week is always beneficial, but it has little bearing on the season, although Bobby Zamora can of course be relied upon for his trademark 'off the back and in'.....
The big winners this week were:
Drogba, with his brace
SWP, Ireland and Adebayor provided for City
Darren Bent produced a result for those wily enough to pick Sunderland's new front man
The Fulham defence held up
Delap got an assist, Shawcross got 15 pts
Upson rewarded players with a goal, while Cole got an assist
At Arsenal even Denilson scored - Fabregas returned two goals and two assists, the two centrebacks produced a goal each, Eduardo got on the score sheet and RVP got 2 assists - a bloody good week for the Arsenal fans
Meanwhile Rooney provided a goal, and the cheap United back four got the clean sheet
In the final game Stevie G delivered a good 7 points with a penalty, while most of Spurs' points went to their defenders, only Modric picking up anything useful out of the popular players
Alright dear readers, last time I will go on about fantasy footie - you've got til 11am tomorrow morning to get your team in, unsurprisingly the site is experiencing heavy traffic the friday afternoon before...I just about got my teams fixed up
Footie Banter League: 576876-127049
There is also a tipping league available in the same game, the code for that is FC32D-AEO
Here are my tips:
Chelsea 3-0 Hull
Expect the obvious here, Hull look ropey and are unlikely to provide any threat away like they did a year ago
Villa 1-0 Wigan
Difficult to predict, the teams have changed considerably since May, I expect a stodgy, low-scoring affair
Blackburn 1-1 City
Mark Hughes returns to Ewood Park, but I doubt his team will have gelled much yet, and Big Sam will no doubt hold his ground - long ball anyone?
Bolton 1-0 Sunderland
Can Steve Bruce inspire the Black Cats to a win over toughies Bolton? I doubt it
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham
Can Fulham actually start with an away win this year? Probably their best chance against a threadbare Pompey side
Stoke 2-0 Burnley
No matter the hype round Burnley, I still expect Stoke to provide a tough resistance at home, at least against the lower sides
Wolves 1-0 West Ham
A false dawn for Wolves perhaps?
Everton 1-1 Arsenal
May be a good opportunity for Arsenal to get this out of the way early, but I don't think they'll be quite good enough to beat a solid Everton side
United 2-0 Birmingham
Stick to what you know - a rather fortunate time to be playing a newly promoted side at home when half your back four are missing, you never know, there could be an upset...
Tottenham 0-1 Liverpool
Tottenham still look weak at the back, although Bassong has just been drafted in, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a golden opportunity to take three points from the Lane, Gerrard is a doubt though
P.S. For reading my ramblings this far I will give you a present - head to Beat Victor and you can challenge Victor Chandler on the outcome of four Premier League games - you beat him you win a fiver, you beat everyone you get 500 quid! It's completely free and you don't need to set up a gambling account or deposit money (but you will if you win the free bets) - I'm not kidding here, VC are probably the most generous gambling website I know, I've won over a hundred quid off them in the last year or two, just for free!
Here we have Lawro's video verdict (please don't be a regular feature) on the Premier League
What caught my eye was Lawro said he was right about Stoke - I'm certain he said Stoke would be rock bottom, now he claims he was right about them staying up...wonder if I can find testimony to his claim
He definitely got everything else wrong tho...
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Remember the fantasy footie code is: 576876-127049
Tipping is: FC32D-AEO
Entries for Fantasy Premier League need to be in a week from now, I'm not surprised take-up has been slow - it always explodes on the Thursday and Friday before - not even a million players yet
The pundit has tips, which frankly could have been better
But anyway, I thought I'd post my team which I finally sorted out this morning
---------------------------Schwarzer----------------------
Carragher----Ferdinand------Hangeland-----Hughes-----Bramble
Gerrard------Arteta---------Mascherano-------Modric---------Neville
Owen---------------------Defoe---------------Doyle
2nd keeper: Hart
Footie Banter League: 576876-127049
(oh, and you can still get into Super 6 by 3pm today)
Following up on the news that fantasy football is back for the 09/10 season, and as we all eagerly anticipate something to watch other than cricket, I am happy to announce the formation of the Football Banter Fantasy football league at fantasy premier league
The league number is: 576876-127049
It's open to all and is completely free - you've got til August 15th to get your team in, I know I'm a bit early so I've just done an auto-pick for now (the Yak and Jo currently up front...) - but I thought it was better to tell people earlier than later, and feel free to invite people with that code
The league is a 'classic' format, where your team scores points and whoever gets the most points over a season wins - the alternative is a 'head-to-head' format, which they introduced last year, where 20 teams play 'matches' against each other across the season, I don't like this format as it is mostly based on luck, as you have absolutely no control over how many points you concede - but if people want to play one of those as well then I'll set one of those up too
I have also set up a 'I know the score' tipping competition for us - It's a pretty decent tipping system, you can use the same account to log in to that as well - just follow the link when you're there
The code for tipping is FC32D-AEO
Good luck
I don't know how Dan feels about this but the Premier League Fantasy Football game is back! Yay
For those that don't know, this is the official game and it's pretty good - it's also free, which means the prizes aren't as good, but frankly I've played things like the Telegraph and the Sun ones and they're rubbish
I therefore propose a Footie Banter league, I'll be looking to sort it out by the start of August, but you can set your team up any time between now and the start of the season, obviously watch out for the transfers up til then
