Season 30 Week 8 processing...

Welcome to Week 8, the reset is underway...

I'm a bit late getting started this week but data entry is now underway.

Orders from everybody this week...

Friendly games have kicked off. All being well the league games will kickoff tomorrow at the usual time of 1000 hours...

Watford

Away game to Arsenal in the league this week, after last week's free scoring game. I anticipate a more cautious approach, being the away team. However, back to a full strength team after Pogba's suspension and Eriksen's return to fitness should make a good game! Champions Cup game vs Milan see's a few Rotations to keep things fresh and keep some of the other players up to speed!

Genk

Home to Ben's Twente this week in the league, Who have swapped to the Winger's formation and will be up against the Counter attacking football of the Champions. With the mercurial Lewandownski looking for the golden boot this season. However, big game this week will be against Barcelona in the Europa League! Which game has the manager put the emphasis to win on this week... The results shall hopefully tell!

Botafogo 


Continued there winning ways again last week, However didn't settle the managers nerves witht he performance. Maybe 1 too many negative Ding's throughout the team changes was the cause. However the players will have to shake off the poor performance and go again against a strong Santos side this week, 4 points clear. Manager hoping to keep it that way. Corinthians also in the same week, with skilled players in key positions. Could cause a stumble in the Copa Liba if not at the races this week!

Champions Cup results - Match Day Four

Lazio 1 Plymouth 1
Ajax 0 Bayern 1

Schalke 1 Charlton 1
Celtic 1 Juventus 4

Milan 2 Watford 2
Gladbach 0 Benfica 0

Rangers 0 Man City 5
Inter 2 Paris 0

Europa Cup results

Zagreb 3 Villa 4
Porto 0 Basel 0

Fiorentina 0 Real 1
Lisbon 1 Malmo 0

Stuttgart 3 Nantes 2
Gornik 3 Innsbruck 0

Barcelona 0 Genk 2
Dortmund 2 Anderlecht 2

Copa Libertadores results

Cruzeiro 3 Sao Paulo 1
Penarol 0 Flamengo 2

Vasco 0 Fluminese 1
Strongest 1 Millonarios 2

Corinthians 2 Botafogo 4
Gremio 3 River Plate 2

Palmeiras 0 Santos 2
Catolica 1 Boca 2

One win, one draw and one loss for me this week in Europe. 

Absolutely delighted for Charlton to come away from Schalke with a point, having drawn at home too it seems there isn't that much between the clubs?  Sets up a real group decider at The Valley next time out against Juve, winner takes all it seems.

Nantes suffer a defeat away, disappointing result but a couple of key players missing seems to have cost us in a tough game.  Hopefully we can turn things around and still win the group with two wins in the next two games.

Massive win for Fluminense, delighted to get a goal and secure the three points against the main group rival.  Recent form hasn't been great for my Brazilian team losing the last two games.  Hopefully the new strike partnership can form a bond sooner rather than later and start the team scoring again.
Desperately need a win in the league game though to try and hang onto the coat-tails of runaway leaders Botafogo.  Think that leaves my Brazilian side one point away from qualification in the Copa Libertadores, surprising after our current form but can't complain about that at all.

Onto the league games......

Thanks for the comments guys, always very interesting.

Plenty of important league games this week with Schalke's visit to Bayern at the top of the list. Bayern are leading the Bundesliga at the moment but have a poor record in recent games with the Champions who have dominated the Munich side since Andy took control and this is a game Schalke must win so i'm expecting a very interesting game and if Bayern succomb again then Gladbach are ready to leapfrog into top spot if they win their game in Frankfurt and Bayern lose. Good luck.

Normally the Premiership is very close but Watford have dominated the early season results with eight straight victories and twenty four goals will Arsenal bring that impressive run to an end at Highbury this week in what will be another cracking match.

The ref raises the whistle to his lips and the games are underway. Good luck to everybody...

Arsenal 0 Watford 1 De Bruyne on 6 minutes.
Nantes 1 Lens 0 Costa Douglas.
Napoli 0 Inter 1 Lo Celso.

Real Madrid 1 Zaragoza 0 Benzema header on 8 minutes.

Leicester 1 Wimbledon 0 Suk-Young header on 9 minutes.
Juventus 1 Ancona 0 Balotelli header.

Stuttgart 0 Berlin 1 Miha Zajc on 10 minutes.
Ruzomberok 1 Sparta Prague 0 Koo Ja-Cheol.

Shelbourne 1 Cherry 0 Rhys Murphy on 11 minutes.

Drogheda 0 Bohemians 1 Callum O'Dowda on 12 minutes.
Nantes 2 Lens 0 Naby Keita.
Bilbao 0 Atletico 1 Julian Weigl.

Torino 0 AC Milan 1 Rakitic on 13 minutes.
Lazio 1 Cagliari 0 Khedira.
Sevilla 0 Malaga 1 En-Nesyri.

Spurs 1 Liverpool 0 Piazon on 14 minutes.
Everton 1 Man United 0 Wayne Rooney header.
Real Betis 1 Espanol 0 Rodrigo Machado.

Fluminense 1 Palmeiras 0 Richarlison on 15 minutes.
Villa 1 Chelsea 0 Lukaku.
Wycombe 0 Banstead 1 Bunn.

Nacional 1 Cerro Porteno 0 Maximiliano Gomez on 16 minutes.
Arsenal 1 Watford 1 Andreas Pereira.
Lille 0 Paris 1 Menez.
Inverness 1 Celtic 0 McBurnie.

Nantes 3 Lens 0 Mbappe on 17 minutes.
Juventus 2 Ancona 0 Balotelli header.
Barcelona 1 Valencia 0 Piatek header.

Bayern 0 Schalke 1 Kimmich header on 18 minutes.

Hearts 1 St Johnstone 0 David Villa on 19 minutes.

Fulham 1 Soton 0 Wickham on 20 minutes.
Genk 1 Twente 0 Neymar.
Real Betis 2 Espanol 0 Camacho.

Metz 1 Marseille 0 Sakala penalty on 21 minutes.
Torino 0 AC Milan 2 Halilovic.