PATIENCE IS LIKE BREAD IS SAY, I RAN OUT OF IT YESTERDAY
At last! Trusted By Millions finally showed the form they’re capable of in last weekend’s PCMT Quarter Final games, beating the in-form 22 Legged Groove Machine 2-1. Goals from Gary Barry, and a long-awaited debut goal from big Summer signing Andrei Shevchenko, secured the win for Beef, and the PCMT ¼ Final POTW half a million. Well done Beef!
So Trusted joined Boston Rock in the semis at the first time of asking; the Champions overcame San Dimas High School 3-1, with Rio Ferdinand getting an impressive double against his old side. Final Fantasy XI also made it through first go, winning 2-1 against Nil Satis thanks to Ballack and Huddlestone goals.
Ady and Fred are still locked together, so to speak. Following a 1-1 draw first off, Aardvark Abacus and Fred West LGXI drew the replay as well, 2-2. Their second replay is this weekend, doubled up with the league fixture (again!).
The Semi Final draw was made By Claymore Athletic FC boss Clive before last Tuesday’s Dorcan footy (featuring an 8-0 shutout for the returning Tangoman keeper). Clive was awarded the signal honour of doing the draw, as he’d written a nice e-mail congratulating the winning quarter-finalists, and commiserating the Big Man on his loss to Beef. Rich would have picked up a result against any other QF team that weekend, so it was really bad luck on him. Anyway, the draw came out as follows;
You Know Your Boston Rock FC v Trusted By Millions
Final Fantasy XI v Aardvark Abacus/ Fred West LGXI
These ties will be played on the weekend of 18 November 2006, doubled up with the Week 10 league fixtures.
So, just-hitting-form Trusted, eh? Cheers Clive, don't think I'll ask you again...
IT’S NO LONGER FAMILIAR TO ME, IT’S BECOME ROUTINE
Yup, that’s You Know Your Boston Rock at the top of the table yet again, I’m afraid. This weekend’s big game between “The Sky Heroes” and early leaders Claymore Athletic FC ended in a 6-3 tonking for Clive, his Wayne Rooney hat-trick coming to no avail against the deluge from six different Boston Rock scorers.
Nevertheless, don’t start the “same old faces” chant just yet, as the Champions are on top by goal difference only, with one point separating the top 5. And there are some unfamiliar names amongst the leading pack this year…
Second, by virtue of a 4-0 win over Trusted By Millions (did I say they were just hitting form? Whoops, might have jinxed you there, Beef!) are Final Fantasy XI. Ballack and Garcia hit goals for Ceri’s potent midfield to keep her level on points with the leaders. Third are Aardvark Abacus; a brave fightback by San Dimas came in vain as Ady secured a 2-1 win over the High School with Kuyt and Doyle goals. Fourth, after a Richard Dunne header secured a 1-0 win over The Dead Parrots, sit Prettier Than You. Yup, that’s 2 girls in the top 4. What’s going on out there, lads? The 22 Legged Groove Machine round out the leading pack, following a 3-1 win over Thommo’s Titans, Kanu getting another for the Big Man.
At the bottom, Real Muppets climb up 2 from 15th to 13th after a fine 4-1 win over slipping Nil Satis, a win which nevertheless earned Real the POTW half a million. Well done Ryan! Former bottom club York’s Returning Glory also won, 3-0 against Eleven Imaginary Boys with Peter Crouch on the scoresheet. Prov slips to bottom slot after this defeat.
Elsewhere, Fred and Mega Bucks fought out a 1-1 draw, a result which moved Dave up to 6th after Claymore’s defeat, but kept Fred stuck in 10th.
SHIP WITHOUT A RUDDER, LIKE A SHIP WITHOUT A RUDDER
Is it me, or is this year’s Premiership really rubbish?
I mean, there are so many teams really not punching their weight so far, aimlessly playing rudderless football with no punch or end result. Tottenham, Charlton, West Ham, Newcastle, Manchester City and Liverpool for starters fall into that category, and Middlesbrough are always like that anyway. That paragon of attractive, attacking football (not), Bolton Wanderers, lie 3rd in the table as I write this, which is an affront to all lovers of “The Beautiful Game”. Portsmouth, who were crap last year and have only added a couple of past it cast-offs (James and Campbell) and a kid who can’t get a game at Chelsea (Johnson) to their defence, lie 4th. 4th!! An average Manchester United side sold their top scorer (Van Nistelrooy) and can afford to have their other talismanic frontman (Rooney) hit an early season drought (which ended on Saturday, just when Claymore were playing me. Cheers, Shrekboy), but still lead the table.
Chelsea are boring the pants off all and sundry, grinding out mind-numbingly dull wins like George Graham’s old Arsenal, whilst the current Arsenal seem to have to pass to everyone on their team before they’re even allowed to shoot. Watford and Sheffield United are shockingly bad, but have still managed to scrape the odd draw here and there to stay off the bottom. There are so many 0-0 draws it’s deluging the Fantasy League clean sheet columns. No-one can score penalties, it seems – I reckon there have been more penno saves or misses so far already, than in the whole of last season! I’ve not seen a good live game so far this season on Sky; Watford vs. Fulham was the best, and that was only due to the comedic defensive errors. From both teams.
All this coming at a time when we’re expected to pony up another shelfload of cash next season to watch more live Prem games on Setanta. Rach and I already subscribe, to get the baseball, but you betcha that fee will go up next season. All I can say is, there’d better be an improvement in the entertainment dished up, or a few Prem Plus subscriptions will be binned for next year, starting with ours!
Anyway, that’s my rant. What do you guys think? Am I overreacting, or is the current Premiership really poor? Let me know!
IF I WERE A BOOGER, WOULD YOU BLOW YOUR NOSE?
The subject of bogey teams came up in last week’s newsletter. I’m very conscious that as Boston Rock manager, I have a bogey team, namely the Dead Parrots. Since beating them in the 1999/2000 FA Cup Final, I always seem to struggle against Deano’s team, as evidenced by the Dead Parrots being the only team to do the double over Boston Rock during my double winning season last year. I also struggle against Nil Satis, but I have to say less so than against our Antipodean colleague.
This is however eclipsed by the run Prettier Than You has going against Claymore Athletic FC. Following the double Claymore did over PTY in Rachel’s first season in the league (2000/01), Clive, recent double Champion and one of the traditional powerhouses of the league, has more often than not had his hat handed to him by my better half. The record over the last 11 league meetings stands at 9 PTY wins, one draw, one solitary Claymore win, and in fact Clive normally loses quite heavily (4-1 a couple of weeks ago, underlining this point).
Which started me thinking – do any other managers have teams they regard as their bogey sides? And don’t say, “yup, you”, or “yup, Aardvark bleedin’ Abacus” – I’m talking about teams who in the normal run of things you should be able to beat once in a while, but never seem to be able to do. So, who’s the bogiest team in the league? Let’s find out!
BUT IT’S YOUR FAULT WHEN YOU RAISE A POINTED FINGER
Not much feedback regarding my comments on the Cech controversy. Only this from Peej; “You’re right about Cech, accidents happen. If you don’t want to run the risk then stop playing and take up something non-contact like golf or darts. (That reminds me of someone!)” Not me then, as I’ve just started playing more regularly again; armed with my bright orange Hertha Berlin goalkeeping top!
TRANSFER NEWS
Prov snaps up a promising Arsenal youngster, whilst I lose patience with Michael Gray’s lack of first team action. Course, the minute I dump him, he’s back in the Blackburn team. Typical!
Player From To Fee
Denilson (M) 48 hour rule sole bid Eleven Imaginary Boys £500K
Geoff Horsfield (A) Eleven Imaginary Boys Pool £250K
Andrew Taylor (D) Pool YKY Boston Rock FC £500K
Michael Gray (D) YKY Boston Rock FC Pool £250K
Don’t forget that the players highlighted are now subject to the pool “cooling off” period, Any managers interested in buying them can bid until close of play Saturday 4 November 2006, after which time they go into the pool proper and are readily available. All bids to me please.
THE FF£100,000 QUESTION
Back to the World Cup questions; here’s a WC-related puzzler this week for those of you who like doing a bit of research (and judging by some of the obviously internet-derived responses I get these days, that’s a fair few of you…).
In scoring the last minute equaliser against England in the 2-2 World Cup group stages draw, Henrik Larsson became the 5th member of an elite set of players who had scored in World Cup Finals games 12 years apart (Larsson having scored in both the 1994 and 2006 finals). Who are the other 4 members?
Two obvious ones, and 2 less so. If no-one gets all 4 right, I’ll give the cash to the guess with the most right answers.
Answers to me by close of play Saturday 4 November 2006. As usual, first correct one out of the metaphorical hat gets the dosh.
Portsmouth goalkeeper David James was refusing to give any interviews to Sky Sports TV until December 2nd, because his Sky Box at home is broken, and the Sky help-line he phoned said they couldn’t repair his box until then! Mind you, I did see him on Sky Sports News last Wednesday throwing his tuppenny worth in about the Cech controversy. So either they repaired it earlier, or his word is about as reliable as his goalkeeping!
I got 2 correct replies, from Peej and Ryan. San Dimas High School won the coin toss, so the hundred grand goes to Peej. Well done chap!
SHORTS
· It’s time to award Manager of the Month for October 2006, and this month it’s a joint award to the only 2 teams to navigate through the month with 100% win records. And we’re keeping it in-house here, as the 2 managers in question are Rachel Rose of Prettier Than You, and David Rose of You Know Your Boston Rock FC. Rach picked up wins in both her league games to lift herself to 4th, and Boston Rock kept up their form by winning both league games and their cup tie with San Dimas, eking out a goal difference lead in the table in the process. £250,000 goes to both these fine managers for their efforts. Well done!
· Did anyone notice that since week 2 the result page week numbers have been out of sequence? Week 2 reported as Week 3, and so on? No? OK then. I’ve sorted it out now, anyway!
· This week’s lyric headlines are a special edition, as they are all brought to you thanks to the genius of Evan Dando. The lead singer of the Lemonheads was of course responsible for christening my WSFFL team during a brief backstage chat. So now you know who to blame for You Know Your Boston Rock FC!
WSFFL RESULTS;
Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy Quarter Finals,
W/E 21 October 2006
Aardvark Abacus 1-1 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Scholes (2) Vidic 41,838
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1-2 Final Fantasy XI
Arteta (2) Ballack
Huddlestone 75,828
San Dimas High School 1-3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Yakubu (1) Rio Ferdinand 2
King 37,900
Trusted By Millions 2-1 22 Legged Groove Machine
Barry (3) Mwaruwari 30,919
Shevchenko
Performance of the Week: Trusted By Millions
Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy Quarter Final Replays,
W/E 28 October 2006
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2-2 Aardvark Abacus
Babayaro (2) Doyle
Vidic Kuyt 20,146
WSFFL RESULTS;
Week 7, W/E 28 October 2006
Aardvark Abacus 2-1 San Dimas High School
Doyle (2) Distin
Kuyt 60,047
Claymore Athletic FC 3-6 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Rooney 3 Rio Ferdinand
Bentley
Lampard
Robinson
King
Ferreira 48,642
The Dead Parrots 0-1 Prettier Than You
(2) Dunne 32,321
Final Fantasy XI 4-0 Trusted By Millions
Boyce (1)
Ballack
Garcia
Huddlestone 44,117
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1-1 Mega Buck Bandits
Babayaro (3) Hilario 33,833
Real Muppets 4-1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Mendes (1) Cahill
Ronaldo
Agbonlahor
Gary Neville 27,229
22 Legged Groove Machine 3-1 Thommo’s Titans
Diawara Van Persie
Kanu
Assou-Ekotto 36,720
York’s Returning Glory 3-0 Eleven Imaginary Boys
Crouch (1)
Craig Moore
Luke Young 22,882
Performance of the Week: Real Muppets
THE 2006/07 WSFFL LEAGUE TABLE
| ||||||||||
As at Monday 30 October 2006
| ||||||||||
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Diff
|
Pts
| ||
1
|
You Know Your Boston Rock FC
|
7
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
21
|
12
|
9
|
14
| |
2
|
Final Fantasy XI
|
7
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
15
|
8
|
7
|
14
| |
3
|
Aardvark Abacus
|
7
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
18
|
8
|
10
|
13
| |
4
|
Prettier Than You
|
7
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
13
|
8
|
5
|
13
| |
5
|
22 Legged Groove Machine
|
7
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
9
|
2
|
13
| |
6
|
Mega Buck Bandits
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
10
|
9
|
1
|
11
| |
7
|
Claymore Athletic FC
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
20
|
14
|
6
|
10
| |
8
|
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
14
|
16
|
-2
|
10
| |
9
|
San Dimas High School
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
11
|
13
|
-2
|
10
| |
10
|
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
10
|
13
|
-3
|
10
| |
11
|
Thommo's Titans
|
7
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
11
|
11
|
0
|
8
| |
12
|
The Dead Parrots
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
10
|
15
|
-5
|
7
| |
13
|
Real Muppets
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
12
|
18
|
-6
|
7
| |
14
|
Trusted By Millions
|
7
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
5
|
10
|
-5
|
6
| |
15
|
York's Returning Glory
|
7
|
2
|
0
|
5
|
10
|
18
|
-8
|
6
| |
16
|
Eleven Imaginary Boys
|
7
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
3
|
12
|
-9
|
5
| |
TOTAL
|
112
|
45
|
22
|
45
|
194
|
194
|
0
|
157
| ||
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