Season 27 Week 13 processing...

Welcome to week 13 of the season, unlucky for some ? we shall see.

Expect things to run slightly later than normal this week as the third round of all the cups always takes a day extra to process.

Reset underway...

Well I'm hoping that this week can finally produce 3 points! Arsenal seemed dominate in there previous fixture vs Brum but drilling down and finding out that Brum played and apprentice in goal might have flattered the arsenal team. Pepe raina in between this sticks for fulham this week. Still producing high quality performances for napoli in real life. Should be a few years of stability. 
How ever my dilemma has been going forward not creating maybe chances so given all the players a incentive this turn to produce a performance. 
Midfield is home to the power houses that are yaya toure and Schweinsteiger. With the youthful Sane coming on in the later stages to take full advantage of the tiring legs of the opposition. 
Upfront see's the trio of silva the creator, negrado the battering ram and sanchez the speed demon. Certainly a handful for any defence. Looking forward to seeing there partnerships evolve.
 This game vs arsenal is a classic 6 pointer..... 4 points above them currently could see my lead stretch to 7 points and some daylight between us or a defeat could be damming and cut the lead to just 1 point. 
On paper I'd say I have the higher quality team. But with recent disruptions and debuts it could just be a game too soon. Hopefully make the home advantage count. 
As for Genk. Settled side again... seems likely I will finish 5th with the belgium side. Mainly due to shipping out the old guard and replacing with fresher legs some who are u21. Hopefully keep the same setup and allow a unity and togetherness build ahead of next season and try to make my mark on the league. 
Botafogo.. well up against Santos this week. First 3 games in charge havnt been a walk in the park by any means. But looking to being in some additions to replace the 35year olds currently occupying the starting roles. 
But it's not all on the pitch where the manager is focusing on need to build up the talent at each of the clubs to ensure the long term longevity. Infatructure is also on the agenda at both feeders and a massive stadium expansion will soon get underway at Fulham to bring into the 21st century. 
This managing melarky is harder then appears!

Fixtures:
 Man City v Liverpool Birmingham v Westham
 Fulham v Arsenal Leicester v Watford
 Plymouth v Chelsea Villa v Charlton

Man City v Liverpool Like Lineups;
Hart:GK,Cresswell:LB,Lescott:CL,Smalling:CR,Richards:RB,Paulinho:DL,Gundogan:DY,Dzeko:CF,Carroll:ST,Aguero:S2,Drinkwater:DR
???:GK,Garrido:LB,Coates:CL,Huth:CR,Gunter:RB,Huddlestone:AM,Aquilani:PM,Zaha:RW,Slimani:CF,Diouf:ST,Moses:LW


This could well be a very high scoring match. City have the duo of Dzeko and Aguero up top who seem to have perfect understanding of how each other play and has resulted in free scoring partnership however i dont think its a forgone conclusion that man city will win. Liverpool have the rejunvinated Aquilani who seems to be dominating play in the centre of the park. Its a tactical clash. Will man city's fullback in Cresswell and Richards be able to hold the play of the wing wizards in Moses and Zaha. Will man city's Gundogan be able to shackle aquilani or and will huddlestone drop deep to to help his defence.. We will soon find out.

Birmingham v Westham Likely Lineup;
Begovic:GK,Rafael:RB,Clichy:LB,Wanyama:CL,Evans:CR,Nani:DY,Herrera:DR,Hernandez:ST,Fellaini:CF,Jovetic:S2,Payet:DL
Siegrist:GK,Christie:RB,Thompson:LB,Collison:DY,Collins:CL,Dann:CR,Song:P2,Crosas:PM,Cole:CF,Jarvis:RH,Mcgeady:LH

Assuming Brum decided to play a real keeper i can't see anything but a Brum win, last time out vs Arsenal the midlands club dominated the precedings just couldnt find the net.. maybe that is to do with playing a midfielder at the CF position however it could be a shrewed move with the height and pressence of such a figure able to bully the WestHam defence. As for West Ham, they have swapped tactic to a favourite of there new manager how ever it didnt make good for the numbers vs man city with 0 chances created. Could it be a similiar storey vs Brum who have recently switched to the same tactic as the league leaders. No doubt Stuart has a eye on next season as the rebuild continues will be able to pack out the 90,000 olympic stadium while in the championship?


Fulham v Arsenal Likely Lineup

Raina:GK,Davies:LB,Walker:RB,Mangala:CL,Sktrel:CR,Schweinsteiger:DR,Sanchez:ST,Sandro:AMW,Negrado:S2,Silva:TM,Toure:DL
Forster:GK,Sagna:RB,Koscielny:CL,Cahill:CR,Shaw:LB,Flamini:AM,Schneiderlin:DR,Giroud:ST,Berahino:S2,Ozil:TM,Nasri:DL

Leicester v Watford Likely Lineup
Jansson:GK,Smedley:RB,Buttner:LB,Oubina:AM,Briggs:CL,Chiriches:CR,Valencia:RW,De Jong:DY,Adebayor:CF,Ulloa:ST,Gnabry:LW
Lloris:GK,Clyne:RB,Rose:LB,Stones:CR,Kompany:CL,Dier:AM,DeBruyne:RH,Pogba:DY,Rooney:TM,Kane:CF,Bale:LH

Well david vs golith, in recent weeks Leicester seemed to have sold there Spine in the likes of Krul, Dembele and Ba. Will this prove costly with the league coming to the crutial stages. Will the likes of once prolific Adebayor start scoring? Leicester boss seem's to have put faith in the young german Gnabry will he show his talent consistently or will he over run on the ocassion. Watford.. is there a better asembled squad in the english league? Most of the squad are still to hit or are just in there Prime is jamie can keep up his dominating displays and maybe rectify the silly goals he can dominate the league for years to come. Is this the game were Pogba takes charge or will Rooney carry on shouldering the burden of taking watford across the line.


Plymouth v Chelsea Likely lineup
Cech:GK,Bellerin:RB,Gibbs:LB,Fernandinho:AM,Ramsey:DR,Vermaelen:CL,Welbeck:ST,Wilshere:TM,Vardy:S2,Delph:DL,Alderweireld:CR
Mcgregor:GK,Filipe:LB,Vlaar:CL,Lovren:CR,Anita:RB,DeJong:AM,DiMaria:DL,Falcao:ST,Afellay:TM,Remy:S2,Mikel:DR

Two heavyweights going at it this turn. Last week Ben managed to pull off the win even with key figure Mahrez sidelined. Unlikest of heroes being Fernadinho. Hopefully he can put the breaks on Afellay who has supringly carried Chelsea to the hights of the Premier League. supring a few managers along the way. Dimaria and Falcao also able of chipping in with the goals. Could be one of them games either nothing will happen or 3-3.


Villa v Charlton likely lineup
Butland:GK,Coleman:RB,Brady:LB,Mccarthy:BW,Caulker:CL,Bruma:CR,Eriksen:DR,Dembele:DY,Allen:AM,Bony:CF,Chamberlain:DL
Mignolet:GK,Cesar:RB,Kolarov:LB,Henderson:AM,Luiz:CR,Willian:DL,Lucas:CL,Lallana:DR,Coutinho:TM,Mane:ST,Firmino:S2

Well another classic game, having spoken to the Charlton manager he's not opptomistic about his chances against one of the games vetrans in Rob.. Will Rob continue to use his Long ball tactic that seemed to have caught many teams out earlier in the season. or has rob identifed a new tactic to carry aston villa forward after a few unsavoury results? Rob seems to have brought more flair into the Villa dressing room as of lately in the likes of Erkison and Dembele. Well which Liverpool team will arrive today can they win "ugly" Tom like to emulate the Liverpool team however i didnt realise how realistic he is with them.. will Coutinho be able to brush Allen off? will mane be too quick for Caulker and Bruma?


They think it's all over? Not till after this mouth watering set of games!

Excellent read, thanks Phil

Like Phil says, not overly confident with Charlton this week, but then whenever am I?  We are so inconsistent/unlucky the fans don't know what they are getting one week to the next.  One thing is for sure, last season dizzy heights of a title challenge wont be happening again this season so all there is to play for is the Champions Cup and a trip to the Nou Camp awaits next week.  No injuries please...

My other three teams seem to be having a better season with all three leading their respective leagues as things stand.  Nantes are being chased hard by Paris and any slip will let them in.  Fluminense have the hardest task this week against Matt's Flamengo who are littered with quality.  Normally they are challenging for the title but this season, after a slow start and a few early season changes, they are a little way behind.  The 100% record for my Brazilian team is seriously under threat this week and with Santos chasing hard, no slip-ups can be afforded.

Looking forward to another entertaining week and a few transfers hopefully going through....

Data entry started...

No orders this week from Westham, Leicester and Real Madrid.

Yeah sorry Paul had no chance last week, assistant manager will just have to do his best! Should be an easy three points for whoever I play at the moment anyway.

Villa v Charlton and Fulham v Arsenal should be very interesting games indeed, hard to call Plymouth v Chelsea too.  good luck fellas and nice read there Phil

Friendly matches have started...

reserve, youth and schoolboy games started...

I have tried something new at Villa in an effort to work out how to approach next season. I've hopefully got enough points in the bag to stay up this year. So no more long ball.  And we'll look for a slightly different way to approach things.

Inter have to keep going and this week face Ancona who have a fantastic squad.  So not easy.  Hopefully home advantage will help.

The cup games will kickoff wednesday morning and I expect the league games will be ready to kickoff around about 1200 hours...

Cup games are about halfway through now...kickoff was at 0730 hours this morning, so we seem to be on schedule for a 1200 league kickoff...

Good news, early start Paul?  Anyone would think you have something on this evening.....

Tom@Charlton wrote:

Good news, early start Paul?  Anyone would think you have something on this evening.....

Heehee, should be a good game.

If its half as good as the first, then we are in for a treat....

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Cup games are about halfway through now...kickoff was at 0730 hours this morning, so we seem to be on schedule for a 1200 league kickoff...

Dilemma..... do I have a early lunch to see if I get some early goals in the game. Or do I have a late one to get full time result...

Also hoping city thrash Monaco and Sane gets a hattrick.... feel a review in my bones.

Phil@fulham wrote:

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Cup games are about halfway through now...kickoff was at 0730 hours this morning, so we seem to be on schedule for a 1200 league kickoff...

Dilemma..... do I have a early lunch to see if I get some early goals in the game. Or do I have a late one to get full time result...

Also hoping city thrash Monaco and Sane gets a hattrick.... feel a review in my bones.

Ok, 3-3 overall, city to go through.  Sane hattrick, Lemar, Mbappe and Fabinho for Monaco please.

Not sure Pauls heart will take it though....

FA Cup third round results

Chelsea 3 West Brom 0
Banstead 4 Notts Co 0
Leeds 1 Palace 2
Watford 3 Darlington 1
Preston 0 Wimbledon 2
Man City 2 Luton 1
Liverpool 0 Forest 1
Villa 0 Man United 1

French Cup

Nantes 3 Lyon 0
Marseille 3 Le Mans 0
Etienne 5 Rennais 0
Bordeaux 1 Sedan 2
Lille 3 Lens 0
Monaco 5 Toulouse 1
Toulon 0 Le Havre 2
Paris 3 Martigues 1

Pokal Cup

Bayern 4 Hannover 0
Dortmund 2 Bochum 1
Cologne 5 Kaiserl 0
Dresden 2 Leverkusen 1
Gladbach 3 Jena 0
Frankfurt 0 Schalke 4
Berlin 5 Wolfsburg 0
Stuttgart 3 Bremen 0

Dutch Cup

PSV 4 Roda 0
Feyenoord 4 Bosch 0
Rotterdam 2 Spakenbur 0
Ajax 5 Maastrich 0
Heerenveen 1 Twente 2
Graafschap 0 Willem 2
Sittard 2 Heemskerk 0
Groningen 0 Dordrecht 1

Copa Italia

Empoli 0 Atalanta 2
Milan 3 Salernitana 0
Sampdoria 0 Lazio 2
Inter 6 Lecce 0
Napoli 1 Juventus 2
Fiorentina 3 Parma 0
Cagliari 2 Ancona 1
Bologna 2 Roma 1

Scottish Cup

Hibs 0 Dundee Utd 0 aet pens4-5
Morton 3 Hamilton 0
St Johnstone 4 Montrose 0
Celtic 4 Dunfermlin 1
Inverness 2 Falkirk 0
Raith 0 Kilmarnock 1
Rangers 3 Dundee 0
Aberdeen 2 Alloa 0