Saturday, 30 August 2008
Arsenal v Newcastle
Bolton v West Brom
Everton v Portsmouth
Hull v Wigan
Man Utd v Fulham — postponed due to Super Cup
Middlesbrough v Stoke
West Ham v Blackburn
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Aston Villa v Liverpool
Chelsea v Tottenham
Sunderland v Man City

There are some interesting clashes this weekend.

Arsenal take on Newcastle at the emirates and it could be a more even contest than most would imagine. Colliccini and Gutierrez are looking very good for the Toon. As are Walcott and Nasri for the Gunners, certainly players for your watch list if not your team.

Villa take on Liverpool on Sunday in what should be a great game, I’m still waiting on the Keane/Torres partnership to gel, if it does they will be a great force in the premiership. Villa are not to be taken lightly however, under the leadership of Martin O’Neill they have gone from strength to strength. Players to watch are Ashley Young, Abonglahor and John Carew. For the Pool Ryan Babel and the talismanic duo Torres and Gerrard.

My Team

Captain of the week
I’m going to have to go with the mercurial Deco(£9.3 million). Chelsea have a superb record against spurs and they remain unbeaten at home for nearly 4 years! I hope he can continue to play as he has.

Buy of the week
I brought in Bosingwa (£6.1 million) this week, the Chelsea fullback has looked a great attacking force down Chelsea’s right flank, hopefully he will provide plenty of assists and clean sheets this year for me.

Players to buy
Vincent Kompany : Heralded as a great defender since some sublime performance in the champions league while at Belgian side Anderlecht in his teens. He has pace, power and is tipped for greatness. He should form a formidable partnership alongside Richard Dunne at the heart of the man City defence.

Stephen Ireland/Shaun Wright-Phillips : I’m not sure which of these two will start on the right for City, but both are excellent players and will earn a lot of points if they play.

Brede Hangeland : Acquired from Norwegian side Rosenburg in Jan 2008, he is keeping clean sheets in the centre of the Fulham defence.

Michal Arteta : The Everton midfielder is looking back to his best after last seasons injury problems, definitely worth a look.

Gamble of the week
Peter Crouch : The long striker has had poor service in his first two games against top 4 opposition, but he should start to get a few more chances in coming weeks.

Good Luck Everyone!!

What do you think?

This was my team …

Points : 66

I had Hangeland come in off the bench as Agger had not played again.

My decision to bring in Deco last week and make him captain paid off too!
I think Deco could be one of the buys of the season if he can keep his current form up, he plays exceptional football and his class is there for all to see.

I shall post my new team and my suggestions in a separate post…

Oh and our current league leader is : Lukes Men managed by Luke Demelis with a very respectable 140 points overall! Luke is a very respectable 965th overall at the moment.

Well done to Luke, but there is a long, long way to go yet…keep up the good work!

How did you do?

I didn’t do as well as I would have liked but it’s only the first week.

Here is my team…

Points : 40

My real problem was Ballack (My Captain!!) getting injured, Bale and Agger not playing and none of my strikers scoring.

I think the team as a whole is solid for the season coming, but Liverpools rotation policy has not helped me at all.

Oh and Deco is my new captain now. He ran the game and had incredible control.

Chelsea looked very good, I know it was only one game but they showed incredible style and control.

How did you do?

This season I should have the time to keep it maintained.

The League code for all you budding fantasy footballists is : 346755-75203

Hope to see some of the old faces about the place and hopefully some new ones too!

Dave Joyce is still top of the league, the fantastic week that young at Watford had helped with that, keeping Dave just ahead of Aya Kamiki who is a close second.

Last game week I didn’t do too well and only got 38 points, mostly due to having Andy Johnson as captain.
This is my team for this week.

So we will look at some of the players who have done well during the International week.

Captain of the week

Christiano Ronaldo In incredible form lately very consistent this season so far, worth a shot for me.

Buy of the week

Christiano Ronaldo Scored two for portugal at the weekend and has been in sensational form for Manchester United this season. A really good alternative to the dissapointing Steven Gerrard for only £0.1 million more.

Players to Buy

Leighton Baines Looked really good for the England U-21’s scored a cracker and setup one for Walcott in the return leg against Germany last night. A very good young player who has played every minute for his club so far this season and at £4.3 million is good value for money. A word of warning though Wigan are playing Man United this weekend and the likelyhood of a cleansheet is slim.

The French Trio Thierry Henry, Louis Saha and Nicholas Anelka all scored this evening. Henry is coming back to full fitness, Anelka needed the match and Saha is scoring regularly for both club and country. Any of the three are good buys, I do expect Anelka to get back to top form very soon.

Milan Baros scored twice at the weekend and got another good run out tonight. With Luke Moore out until at least christmas expect Baros to take his place.

Richard Dunne scored on saturday but despite Irelands dismall performance I expect him to be in top form against Sheffield United.

Robin Van Persie Arsene Wenger seems to have gotten RVP’s temper under control and has molded him into a fine player who contributes goals and assists to Arsenel a good player to think about.

Gamble of the week

Theo Walcott a bit of a gamble this one, played brilliantly over both legs against Germany. He may get his chance this weekend, but a gamble.

This Weeks upcoming games

Saturday, 14 October 2006
Arsenal v Watford, 15:00
Aston Villa v Tottenham, 15:00
Liverpool v Blackburn, 15:00
Man City v Sheff Utd, 15:00
Middlesbrough v Everton, 15:00
Portsmouth v West Ham, 15:00
Reading v Chelsea, 17:15
Wigan v Man Utd, 12:45
Sunday, 15 October 2006
Newcastle v Bolton, 16:00
Monday, 16 October 2006
Fulham v Charlton, 20:00

Have a good gameweek!

I made my change for the next game week already, I brought in Scharner for Wayne Bridge.

I doubt Bridge will get much first team football while Ashley Cole is fit, so I took my £0.2million profit(after the 50% sell on tax) and hope to make a couple of quid on Scharner. He has always been a goal scoring threat and plays in midfield alot too. If he can follow up this weekends brace with another solid performance, he will rise in value nicely I think.

Players to buy

Andy Johnson Just keeps putting them away, he looks a good candidate for captain too!

Tim Cahill Solid as ever another assist today, buy him while he is still reasonably cheap

Glen Johnson I have been watching him over the last couple of weeks and he looks like he is begining to fufill his promise at right back.

Kevin Doyle Scored again today, looks really comfortable in the premiership, could go on to great things this season.

Richard Dunne Has played brilliantly this season so far and Man City have a managable set of fixtures coming up, worth a punt!

Well thats all I have time for, i’m off to sit on a beach for a week!

I’m sure you can last for a week without me, can’t you?

This is my team for this week.

Out
Jimmy Bullard Got a bad injury (dislocated kneecap, Ouch!) in the game against Newcastle at the weekend and looks set to miss the rest of the season. So, pretty much a forced change.

In
Scott Parker Since taking over as captain of Newcastle has come on leaps and bounds, with plenty of all-action displays. This year he has been instructed to get forward more and has scored a couple of great goals and got 6 bonus points from three games.

Captain of the week
Scott Parker Playing two games this game week and has looked a real goal threat so far this season.

Buy of the week

Tim Cahill Looks back to the form of the 04/05 season, a goal scoring midfielder worth having in any team.

Players to Consider

Bobby Zamora Just can’t stop scoring goals, Alan Pardew will be hard pushed to leave him out of the West Ham side until his blistering form dies down.

Louis Saha Scored two great goals midweek against Celtic. His partnership with Wayne Rooney is really starting to flourish. Could be worth the money.
Jermaine Jenas Scored for Spurs in Europe and has become a vital component in Martin Jols team.

Andy Johnson Another player showing the kind of form he was in during the 04-05 season, as Alex Ferguson pointed out last week, “He could be the bargain of the season�.

Steven Gerrard Playing twice this game week and was rested for the Champions League game against PSV. A sure starter on Sunday.

The Pompey Defence The only team not to concede a goal yet this season and with Tony Adams coaching players like Sol Cambell, David James, Linvoy Primus and Glenn Johnson this form could continue for a while to come. Playing a poor Charlton side this weekend, real bargain players at the minute.

Gamble of the Week

Luke Moore Aston Villa is playing Watford at the weekend and Moore has looked the part since becoming a regular starter under Martin O’Neil. Worth a punt? You decide.

This Weeks upcoming games

Saturday, 16 September 2006
Bolton v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Charlton v Portsmouth, 12:45
Everton v Wigan, 15:00
Sheff Utd v Reading, 15:00
Watford v Aston Villa, 17:15
Sunday, 17 September 2006
Blackburn v Man City, 15:00
Chelsea v Liverpool, 13:30
Man Utd v Arsenal, 16:00
Tottenham v Fulham, 15:00
West Ham v Newcastle, 15:00
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Liverpool v Newcastle, 20:00

Good luck sports fans!

Still in the lead in the FPL Blog League is Dave Joyce with his renamed team Merv Gray Autos, on an astounding 231 points! which puts him 2,512nd overall. Good work mate!
Gameweek 3 I scored only 39 points. Not the greatest week I have ever had, so I decided to play my transfer wildcard.

I made quite a few changes as you can see here. A lot of the changes were made for monetary reasons, but some where based on form.

This is the team for this week.

This weeks upcoming games

Saturday, 09 September 2006
Arsenal v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Bolton v Watford, 15:00
Chelsea v Charlton, 15:00
Everton v Liverpool, 12:45
Man Utd v Tottenham, 17:15
Newcastle v Fulham, 15:00
Portsmouth v Wigan, 15:00
Sheff Utd v Blackburn, 15:00
Sunday, 10 September 2006
West Ham v Aston Villa, 16:00
Monday, 11 September 2006
Reading v Man City, 20:00

Look at the E (cost at last deadline) column and the C (cost now).

As Nic pointed out in the comments of the Quick Buy Alert post I said

‘However it may also be worth noting that the 12 day gameweek usually stops people buying for a few days. You don’t want to buy a player at the begining of an international break and they come back from international duty injured.’

The main reason I have decided to backtrack on this is that I have had a poor start to the season and some of the teams I had bet on doing well have had a poor few games. So I decided that during the International break I would change my team to hopefully make some money and also if anyone got signed/injured I could buy/sell them. Lets face it people I have had an average start at best to the season and I’m willing to admit I was wrong.

What do you think?

With the international break coming and my team not making the impact I expected I have played the wildcard in a bid to A) choose some form players B) make some quick cash.

I have brought in most of the players who done really well this week, so I hope the cashflow improves.

Has anyone else played it yet?