Season 27 Week 4 processing...

Cherry 2 UCD 0 John Paul Kelly header on 88 minutes.

After many seasons of trial and error I eventually seem to have a trio of forwards who can play together.  It probably helps that they have very different characteristics but all share a common language.

I remember when I first had a set of forwards that clicked back in game 2 at Bayern ..... Fredi Bobic and a Brazilian called Bismark.  I had gone through Suker, Mijatovic, Boksic and nothing worked and then I struck gold.

Leicester 2 Arsenal 2 Ozil on 89 minutes.
Oldham 2 Spurs 0 Nugent penalty.
Milan 1 Ancona 1 Montolivo.

Late goals all round in some quarters, Ozil with a peach for the Gunners as they fight back from two nil down.

Bohemians 4 Shamrock 1 Alex Iwobi penalty on 90 minutes.
Gladbach 3 Stuttgart 1 Vorsah header.
Cercle 0 Mechelen 2 Zinho Gano.

and that is the final whistle, round up to follow...

Campeonato Brasileiro

Santos 12 +14
Fluminense 12 +8
Sao Paulo 12 +6
Coritiba 9 +4

already looks like being a three horse race this year.

Gutting to concede late on but after 90 mins vs Schalke in the week am not surprised. Thing seem to be settling down though at Plymouth. Hoping for a big transfer in and then some outgoings over the next week. A shock sale on the cards at Home Park it seems...

Belgium Premier

Liege 12 +16
Anderlecht 12 +9
Mechelen 10 +5
Genk 7 +0

It warms the cockles of my heart to see managers in my Belgian league, reminds me of the good old days back in seasons 4 and 5 when Belgium clubs were dominating European football, a lot has changed in the game since then, but good to see some famous faces maybe making a comeback.

Eircom

Cherry 10 +6 scored 10
Bohemians 10 +6 scored 8
Cork City 9 +5 scored 9
Derry 9 +5 scored 6
Shamrock 7 -1

Looks like it may again be very close in Ireland as a host of feeder clubs fight it out.

Premiership

Man City 12 +12
Chelsea 10 +4
Villa 9 +4
Watford 8 +4
Fulham 7 +4
Chalrton 6 +2

Pretty close apart from Man City who are strecthing a bit of a lead already thanks in large part to the scoring prowess of Sergio Aguero who has netted seven goals in his last three league games, although Charlton were their first real test.

Championship

Man United 12 +10
Oldham 9 +5
Everton 9 +4 reality managed
Wolves 7 +1
West Brom 5 +1
Leeds 5 +0

Looks like a quick return to the top flight for United.

Le Championnat

Monaco 12 +12
Marseille 10 +12
Paris 10 +7
Nantes 8 +4
Etienne 7 +6

Monaco left it late but came good in the end and a bit of a disastrous week for Saint Etienne with two defeats from two games, can they pull it round ?

Bundesliga

Gladbach 12 +8
Schalke 9 +6
Bayern 7 +7
Cologne 7 +5
Berlin 7 +3
Dortmund 7 +2
Hamburg 6 +0
Stuttgart 6 -1

As usual in Germany everybody is capable of taking points from everybody else, can Gladbach surprise the bookies by keeping their noses in front or will Schalke's class tell again.

Hellenic First Division

Stithians 12 +10
Woking 7 +0 unmanaged
Telford 6 +1
Aldershot 6 +0 reality manager

One club and one club only can be promoted from this league to the english league, so I'm going to see if I can get Stithians into the big time.

Eredivisie

Ajax 12 +13
PSV 12 +12
Feyenoord 9 +7
Vitesse 9 +2 reality manager
Rotterdam 6 +3

The big three all starting well.

Serie A

Inter 12 +9
Napoli 12 +7
Roma 9 +4
Juventus 9 +3
Milan 7 +1
Cagliari 6 +4

Hard to see past Inter this season although it certainly wont be easy with Champions Napoli hot on their heels and Roma, Juve, Ancona and Milan always dangerous. Very tough league to win.

Ekstraklassa

Gornik 12 +16
Wisla 12 +14

Only ever two teams in this one, will be interesting to see if Champions Gornik can continue to dominate the opposition.

Campeonato Portuguesa

Benfica 12 +12
Belenenses 12 +6 unmanaged
Porto 9 +6 scored 11
Lisbon 9 +6 scored 9

I cant see past the big three sides here in Portugal, with Porto looking well capable of dethroning their arch rivals Benfica, but we will see.

Scotland Premier

Celtic 10 +6 scored 8
Inverness 10 +6 scored 7
St Johnstone 9 +10
Dundee Utd 6 -2

With six of the eight teams managed this league will be very close, maybe Celtic can at last regain the title they last one back in season 21 ?

Slovakia First

Ruzomberok 12 +7
Trnava 10 +6 unmanaged
Petrzalka 5 +1 unmanaged

With reality managed Bratislava flailing around at the foot of the table it is a great chance for Ruzomberok to go on and dominate Slovakian football for many seasons.

La Liga

Atletico 12 +16
Barcelona 10 +7
Real Betis 9 +6
Zaragoza 7 +6 scored 13
Real Madrid 7 +6 scored 10
Santander 7 +5
Valencia 7 +3 scored 10
Celta 7 +3 scored 7 unmanaged

Spain has always been popular, but competition this season seems to have heated up to a new level, with improving fortunes for a superb Atletico Madrid side and continued improvement from Real Betis, to add to the undoubted quality of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

MLS

Harrisburg 12 +11
Chicago 10 +11
Cosmos 10 +9
New York City 8 +2 unmanaged

With Galaxy struggling to find any sort of form at the foot of the table looks like it'll be the three stooges who again fight it out for the title in America. Cosmos are the star-studded side but both my own Chicago and the Champions Harrisburg have built solid units, so we will see.

on to the transfers now...

One of the big deals this week sees Bayern Munich sell Mustafi to Plymouth for £45millions plus the signatures of Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista. Gabriel in particular was excited by the prospect of teaming up with fellow Brazilian Leandro at the heart of Bayern's new look defence.

Bayern spent the £45million to bring Romulo back to the club from Santos.

Bayern have been very busy as they release Ilkay Gundogan to Man City in exchange for £20million and Fernando Reges, which would suggest City will play the rest of the season without an anchor in midfield.

At a press conference the Bayern boss stated, "We lost the title last year because we were too predictable, our lack of width was too easy to counter by ordinary sides, and that will change this season. We will remain strong in the middle but we will now possess a threat out wide as well, which will make the most of two superb centre forwards".