Season 25 Week 18 processing...

Welcome to week 18 of the season. 

Seems like quite a few of you are away this week either on holiday or with work so I hope you have an enjoyable time whatever the reason. 

The reset is complete so I'm starting to enter the orders...

Man United v Man City
United's poor home form is set to come under intense scrutiny as 'Noisy Neighbours' City come to visit what is turning into The Theatre of Nightmares this season. Only 2 home wins from 9 attempts and most recently losing out to relegation haunted Blackburn does not make for happy viewing and new signing Wojciech Szczesny won't have time for his usual cheeky fag with the City attack looming. Dzeko, Lampard and co will be upper this one and eager to retain the Manchester bragging rights. With 3 of the Premier League's top 4 marksmen and big Andy Carroll not far behind LVG is on for a terrible day. Although United had looked safe and still sit 5 points above the relegation zone a defeat here could drag them right back into the mix.

Blackburn v Birmingham
Last week was a shocker for both of these teams. Blackburn won away at Man United courtesy of talisman and top scorer, the 11 goal Roque Santa Cruz. Brum on the other hand fell to defeat at home to Chelsea, a result which probably makes them long shots in the title race. I fully expect normal service to be resumed this week and Birmingham to get back to winning ways.

Chelsea v Liverpool
Sitting 7 points clear of the relegation zone and having finally found a way for the talented trio of Oscar, Ramires and Ben Arfa to play together, the Special One must see the rest of this season as an early holiday. Not going down but not catching the top 5 he can put his feet up and work out how to avoid relegation next year. Liverpool on the other hand might just be thinking about how to recover from the disaster that this season has become. 1 win, 3 draws, 13 losses and 37 goals conceded means the red half of Liverpool have a long anxious summer ahead worrying about what might happen in The Championship and could it get even worse.  Negredo is a bright spot, Aquiline has some skills but Liverpool need to talk a long look at how they play before the start of the next campaign and hope that they can recover mentally from this season's train wreck.

Spurs v Plymouth
Sours, a bit like Man United have let themselves get pulled back into the relegation dogfight with some poor performances against the teams around them. Losing at home to Everton and not scoring last week was a disaster.  It was only Everton's 4th win and given they have the League's leakiest defence having shipped 38 goals this was a missed opportunity for Spurs.  With 4 away games to finish and no away wins so far ..... Spurs may have a closer brush with relegation than many fans suspect. As for this week and their last home game ...... Plymouth are in great form, Ozil, Podolski, Aguero and Di Maria are buzzing and they don't let many in. Spurs to finish the season with no wins in their last 6 and possible relegation ..... you heard it here first.

Everton v Fulham
The Toffees are currently watching videos of The Great Escape and Escape to Victory on loop.  Julio 'The Beast' Baptista is styling himself on a mix between Steve McQueen and Michael Caine. It's on in the blue side of Stanley Park.  At one stage seeming dead and buried a win this week at Fulham would probably put them 4 points clear of the relegation zone and only 1 point behind Spurs and United.  Rumours in the press are that Fulham manager Phil Green has decided to go on holiday at this crucial point in the season. Has he taken his eye off the ball? Has Luis Suarez started biting his team mates and manager? No one knows what's going on behind the scenes at Craven Cottage with Phil leaving the country so suddenly. When asking for a comment our reported was cryptically told to ask Mohammed Al-Fayed and Sepp Blatter.  It's murky and there's Swiss bank accounts involved but we still don't know what's going on.  

All is not lost for Fulham, even if they fell to defeat this week the recent form of United and particularly Spurs means there could still be a way out.

Charlton v Watford
The game of the week and potentially a season defining game for both teams.  If Charlton can win at home then they are still in with a shout having both of the top 2 still to play. Stevie G may have gone but the new generation at The Valley are ready to go Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge, The Ox, Walcott and Willian are enough to scare any team if Tom can get them to gel. Facing them this week are the 'Hertfordshire Galacticos'. The question is how will Jamie motivate his team of all stars after the 3-0 reversal at Plymouth last time out.  Great players, great manager, great kit but with no scorer in the Premier League top 12 are Watford missing a cutting edge? If I could afford a ticket and wasn't glued to events in Italy, this is the game I'd be watching. Good luck guys.

Inter v Milan
It's all on at the Apple Arena. A capacity 106,000 expected for what could be a season defining game. An Inter win and the title is wrapped up, a draw and they'd need to lose every other game to miss out.Milan will come out all guns blazing but this could be a glorious farewell for a couple of Inter's star men who move on to pastures new after this game. Even when resting a few regulars last week Inter had a comfortable 2-0 victory and seem in good form to extend their 16 game winning streak in the league. Milan will prove a formidable opponent and this will be a titanic battle. As a famous red nosed Scot once said, 'it's squeaky bum time'. Although not sure if he was talking about football or an in continence issue.

Thanks Rob, another superb preview from our resident pundit. You should be doing this professionally mate. Great stuff.

Something of a bidding war for Jackson Martinez building up this week. Surely a bargain at £4m.

Two big deals confirmed for this week already, Stevie Gerrard to Man City and David Silva to Nantes, both confirmed but yet to be ratified. The Kaka deal is not yet confirmed...

Okay all the data entry is finished, I'm now going to back everything up, then set the reserve games to play, it's a bit later than normal, so the league games might be delayed today, slightly, but I'll know more later tonight. League kickoff time to follow.

World Cup result is in...

Brazil humbled by the Dutch masters...

Holland 3 Brazil 1

congrats to Greg you deserved it, it was esp nice for me to see the Total football system working as intended at long last, with Robben, Van Persie, Huntelaar & Sneijder just too strong for the shaky Brazilian defence. Special mentions to Tim Krul who had a blinder in goal, and Danny Blind and Ron Vlaar in defence, who were both rocks. Brazil just never had an answer but their team was very young and will only get better. Coutinho was outstanding for the Brazilians and scored a wonder goal.

World Youth Cup final result to follow... ( I missed it going through and now I have to wait until all the games are run ) but I think England won easily, something like 8-0 or something, Raheem Sterling devastated the young Brazilian defence. Not confirmed though although I did see at least two Raheem Sterling goals and one for Beharino pop up on the vidiprinter.

Okay looks like we are on course for a Wednesday 1000 hours league kickoff.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Two big deals confirmed for this week already, Stevie Gerrard to Man City and David Silva to Nantes, both confirmed but yet to be ratified. The Kaka deal is not yet confirmed...

Okay all the data entry is finished, I'm now going to back everything up, then set the reserve games to play, it's a bit later than normal, so the league games might be delayed today, slightly, but I'll know more later tonight. League kickoff time to follow.

Big week transfer wise for me, bringing in Silva and letting Captain Marvel go.  Head ruled heart on this occasion Although I feel Stevie still has plenty to offer, the offer received from Geoff was too good to turn down. 

Exciting for the Nantes fans to welcome Silva to their ranks, although dangerous time to do the transfer letting Kaka leave, as the run-in really hots up this week.  A tough trip away to Monaco who are seriously breathing down our necks at the top of the table.  With the return fixture still to come, there is certainly all to play for at the top of Ligue 1.  Hopefully Kaka can leave on a high....

Paul Hemmings wrote:

World Cup result is in...

Brazil humbled by the Dutch masters...

Holland 3 Brazil 1

congrats to Greg you deserved it, it was esp nice for me to see the Total football system working as intended at long last, with Robben, Van Persie, Huntelaar & Sneijder just too strong for the shaky Brazilian defence. Special mentions to Tim Krul who had a blinder in goal, and Danny Blind and Ron Vlaar in defence, who were both rocks. Brazil just never had an answer but their team was very young and will only get better. Coutinho was outstanding for the Brazilians and scored a wonder goal.

Definitely great to see the TOT formation working well, especially for the country who made it famous.  Not worked out so well for LVG at United this season, but then he hasn't got the players that the national side has.  Can't remember how TOT lines up, maybe I ought to look into it more.  Is it quite similar to FLY?

Also, great to see Coutinho turning it on for the national side, just like his scoring performance on sunday!  He will be next years will he/won't he transfer that Liverpool fans will have to endure all summer, similar to Suarez last year and Sterling this.  Great footballer, can see him at Barcelona before long unfortunately.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

World Youth Cup final result to follow... ( I missed it going through and now I have to wait until all the games are run ) but I think England won easily, something like 8-0 or something, Raheem Sterling devastated the young Brazilian defence. Not confirmed though although I did see at least two Raheem Sterling goals and one for Beharino pop up on the vidiprinter.

Okay looks like we are on course for a Wednesday 1000 hours league kickoff.

Sensational performance from the English lads in a repeat of last years final.  Even nicer for me to see such a result as 6 of the lineup were Charlton boys. 

Perhaps Sterling should've gone to the U21 tournament this summer, might not have got booed so much there.....

Am I right in thinking that there is no extra prize money for winning the World Youth Cup Paul? I might have to send a brown envelope to Fifa and maybe suggest some of the prize money should be distributed more in this direction.  Also winning it two years running should double the amount! lol 

  prize money is the same as for the full internationals.

Just to confirm the Youth World Cup final result

England 8 Brazil 1

I didn't expect that, but there is definitely a lack of top class Brazilian youngsters around atm.

Other results

Copa America Brazil B 1 Paraquay 0
African Nations Cup Nigeria 2 Morocco 1
Asian Cup South Korea 3 Australia 0

So a good week for some international managers who took part in the World Cup, World Youth Cup, African Cup, Asian Cup or Copa America this season, esp Geoff whose teams attended three finals giving him prize money of 35m. It's 15m for the winner, 10m for the runners-up and 5m each for the other participants.

The other international tournaments give 10m to the winners and 5m to each of the other contestants.

League games will kickoff at 1000 hours today, good luck to everybody.

Three huge games to watch out for this week with Watford at Charlton, Milan at Inter and Barcelona at Real Madrid, it should be an exciting week.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Just to confirm the Youth World Cup final result

England 8 Brazil 1

I didn't expect that, but there is definitely a lack of top class Brazilian youngsters around atm.

Other results

Copa America Brazil B 1 Paraquay 0
African Nations Cup Nigeria 2 Morocco 1
Asian Cup South Korea 3 Australia 0

Maybe Nathan and Kenedy need a review for next season;)

Paul Hemmings wrote:

League games will kickoff at 1000 hours today, good luck to everybody.

Three huge games to watch out for this week with Watford at Charlton, Milan at Inter and Barcelona at Real Madrid, it should be an exciting week.

Top of the table clash in France too, along with the Manchester Derby.

Grand slam Wednesday?

We have kickoff...

As Tom rightly reminded me an important game in France as well where second placed Monaco play hosts to Tom's league leaders Nantes, but to the goals...

Barnet 0 Wycombe 1 Atsu on 2 minutes.
Bordeaux 0 Etienne 1 Barnetta.
Auxerre 0 Lyon 1 Firmino, doing well with his second goal in three games.
Bayern 1 Berlin 0 Gomez.

Cambridge 0 Palace 1 Elliott on 3 minutes, powerful Palace back up the table for a change.
Bremen 0 Stuttgart 1 Kuranyi.

Spurs 1 Plymouth 0 Marveaux on 4 minutes, a rare goal for him.
Cambridge 1 Palace 1 Donaldson.
Wisla 0 Gornik 1 Blacczykowski freekick.

Man United 0 Man City 1 Lescott header on 5 minutes.
Sevilla 0 Tenerife 1 Diogo header.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

As Tom rightly reminded me an important game in France as well where second placed Monaco play hosts to Tom's league leaders Nantes, but to the goals...

Barnet 0 Wycombe 1 Atsu on 2 minutes.
Bordeaux 0 Etienne 1 Barnetta.
Auxerre 0 Lyon 1 Firmino, doing well with his second goal in three games.
Bayern 1 Berlin 0 Gomez.

Firmino is worth a watch in the Copa America. Secured a regular place in the Brazil starting 11.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Man United 0 Man City 1 Lescott header on 5 minutes.
Sevilla 0 Tenerife 1 Diogo header.

Great early goal for Geoff, will silence the crowd.