Season 30 Week 18 processing...

Benfica 5 Guimaraes 0 William Carvalho header on 89 minutes.

PSV 1 Feyenoord 2 Luuk De Jong on 90 minutes.
Roma 2 Ancona 1 Stephan El Shaarawy.
Cagliari 1 Inter Milan 1 Acurrsio Bentivegna.
Coventry 1 Wimbledon 2 Marcelo Trotta.
Oldham 1 Leicester 2 Harry Wilson.

and the ref blows for the end of the game, the roundup will follow shortly...

Arghhhh a bad week all round

Argentina

Estudiantes 47 +50
Argentinos 47 +47
River Plate 43 +49 Champions

couldn't be much closer after a rare defeat for Estudiantes and a goal lass draw between Argentinos and River Plate did nobody any favors, so all to play for still in the last four remaining games...

A right royal balls up from Chelsea , although to be fair I was shocked to be 2-0 up with both my playmakers injured and no one to play in that position.

Brazil

Sao Paulo 43 +26
Botafogo 41 +37
Santos 36 +22
Fluminense 35 +21 Champions
Flamengo 33 +6

We have a new leader in Brazil where a single goal victory over Botafogo was enough to lift Sao Paulo to the top. Can they stay there ? we shall see...

Amazon

Nacional 50 +32
Danubio 38 +27
Strongest 35 +27
Penarol 29 +10

The top three all won with Nacional needing just a point next week to lift the title...

Dutch

Genk 54 +76 Champions
Ajax 45 +39
PSV 36 +32
Alkmaar 32 +1 unmanaged
Feyenoord 31 +15
Mechelen 30 +5

Two defeats in three weeks has ended Mechelen's fine run of form that has saved them from relegation but done nothing to dent Genk's hope of retaining their title and they need just one more win to make sure, next week's game at Alkmaar is sure to be huge...

Eire

Cherry 44 +48
Derry 40 +48
Bohemians 38 +31
Cork City 34 +9

Top four all won is becoming a thing as is winning this title for Cherry who have what one would call an "easy" runin despite the fact three of those games are away from home...

Premiership

Watford 48 +52 Champions
Charlton 41 +35
Plymouth 30 +3
Chelsea 29 +6
Aston Villa 28 +11
Man City 26 +7

Watford were held to a goalless draw at home by Newcastle but remained unbeaten and command a seven point lead with just four games left. I think it's going to be nerve wracking with away games at Man City, Wednesday, Newcastle and to top it all the final game of the season at home to Charlton. Harry Kane missed a sitter this week and fans are asking "are the nerves getting to him", we shall see...

Championship

Everton 44 +44
Banstead 36 +15
------
Man United 35 +18
Birmingham 32 +16
Westham 32 +13
Fulham 25 +3
------
Tranmere 24 +3
Wolves 23 -3

Everton remained unbeaten with victory over second placed Banstead this week and need one more win to gain a well deserved promotion. Man United are on a slump having dropped points in both their recent home games and now face four away fixtures starting next week at Banstead. Should be an exciting race for the playoff places...

France

Nantes 49 +46 Champions
Paris 43 +30
Etienne 40 +33
Monaco 35 +4

A rare defeat, their first of the season, for the leaders is unlikely to upset them too much as they look forward to a four game runin in which all the games are at home. Monaco in the last game might be difficult but they'll be hoping the title is sealed before then...

Germany

Bayern 47 +49
Schalke 41 +54 Champions
Gladbach 37 +22
Stuttgart 32 +6

A nervy Bayern secured all three points in a narrow victory at home to Frankfurt as their closest challengers suffered another setback at Cologne. However it could yet all change again as Bayern visit Gladbach next week...

Italy

Lazio 46 +52 Champions
AC Milan 41 +31
Juventus 41 +23
Inter Milan 37 +23

Struggling Parma pulled off a shock result at the Champions and current leaders Lazio, that's two defeats in the last two home games for Lazio and they certainly don't have an easy runin with games at Napoli, Parma and Juventus as well as a home game against Inter Milan, and to make it worse inspirational playmaker Khedira went off injured. Decisions to be made at Lazio and time maybe for Ndidi to step up ? Anything can still happen...

Portugal

Benfica 52 +76 Champions
Lisbon 47 +61
Porto 44 +50
Setubal 30 -1 reality manager Jose Mourinho.

The top three all had good wins and Benfica look good for another title with Renato Sanches on fire having scored in each of his last ten league games...

Scotland

Aberdeen 42 +18
Celtic 37 +25 Champions
Motherwell 36 +24
Rangers 35 +21
St Johnstone 33 +25
Hibs 30 +16

An important victory for Celtic at Aberdeen this week closes the gap on the leaders who now have the dreaded "four game away day runin" to face which includes games at Hibs and Celtic, so it's far from over here in Scotland...

Spain

Barcelona 52 +40 Champions
Real Madrid 43 +42
Real Betis 41 +39
Sevilla 34 +27

Having secured a narrow victory at Sevilla this week to end the home side's fine recent run of form Barca now face two home games they would be expected to win before their final two games at home to Sevilla and away at Betis. Real Madrid are the only side to take points from Barcelona this season who, incredibly, have yet to concede a goal, amazing, will it continue ? we shall see...

MLS

Cosmos 49 +45 Champions
Chicago 46 +67
Harrisburg 40 +27
NewYork 37 +15

This title race has been closer in previous season's but Harrisburg's defeat of Chicago has allowed Cosmos a bit of breathing space at the top for the first time in awhile, and it should all be done and dusted now with an easy runin for the Champions...

Transfers now...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Germany

Bayern 47 +49
Schalke 41 +54 Champions
Gladbach 37 +22
Stuttgart 32 +6

A nervy Bayern secured all three points in a narrow victory at home to Frankfurt as their closest challengers suffered another setback at Cologne. However it could yet all change again as Bayern visit Gladbach next week...

Don't seem to be getting any benefit of playing a tactic that I am proficient in but my opponents rarely see...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Spain

Barcelona 52 +40 Champions
Real Madrid 43 +42
Real Betis 41 +39
Sevilla 34 +27

Having secured a narrow victory at Sevilla this week to end the home side's fine recent run of form Barca now face two home games they would be expected to win before their final two games at home to Sevilla and away at Betis. Real Madrid are the only side to take points from Barcelona this season who, incredibly, have yet to concede a goal, amazing, will it continue ? we shall see...

Don’t jinx it!!!!!

Disappointing week for Botafogo. Back to back defeats makes it Sao Paulo's to lose now. However, 3 Home games on the bounce give's a little bit of hope. However the final game to Flamengo is a tough ask!


19 H 124 CRUZEIRO                                  
20 H 122 VASCO DA GAMA                                
21 H 120 SAO PAULO                                   
22 A 123 FLAMENGO                                                            

As for Sao Paulo, they've got; Santos (A) Portugesa (H) Botafogo (A) Corinthians (A) 

3 Away Games for Sao Paulo... Can they keep there nerve...

However, on the other Hand the once comfortable Watford have a runin of;

19 A 001 MANCHESTER CITY                               CUP S
20 A 008 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY                           ECC F
21 A 007 NEWCASTLE UNITED                              CUP F
22 H 039 CHARLTON ATHLETIC                                  

Extremely tough, with both the CUP and the ECC to contend in.. Will be interesting where i can avoid dropping points, as don't want the league to go to the final day! Eekk...

Genk more comfortable and could be crowned champions next week for the 3rd season in a row? To parade at home infront of the Ajax away fans!

19 A 442 AZ ALKMAAR                                    CUP S
20 H 160 AMSTERDAM AJAX                                ECC F
21 A 351 MECHELEN                                      CUP F

22 A 188 PSV EINDHOVEN                                     

Andy@Schalke wrote:

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Germany

Bayern 47 +49
Schalke 41 +54 Champions
Gladbach 37 +22
Stuttgart 32 +6

A nervy Bayern secured all three points in a narrow victory at home to Frankfurt as their closest challengers suffered another setback at Cologne. However it could yet all change again as Bayern visit Gladbach next week...

Don't seem to be getting any benefit of playing a tactic that I am proficient in but my opponents rarely see...

The advantage you accrue from playing a little used tactic is only an advantage if the other teams have no understanding of it. I would expect managed teams to be fully trained up before this stage of the season as most managers use the 'MP' training code in their training routines. Unmanaged teams get one MP slot a week so even they should be trained up quite a lot although not as highly as managed sides. Maybe it's time to choose the tactic you actually want to play.

Just by way of a note, unmanaged sides train up in all divisionally active tactics so as soon as you started using PEP they also started training up in it. The rate of training during the early part of the season is 45 minutes per use but that increases to 90 minutes per use as we enter week 18 to 24.

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Andy@Schalke wrote:

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Germany

Bayern 47 +49
Schalke 41 +54 Champions
Gladbach 37 +22
Stuttgart 32 +6

A nervy Bayern secured all three points in a narrow victory at home to Frankfurt as their closest challengers suffered another setback at Cologne. However it could yet all change again as Bayern visit Gladbach next week...

Don't seem to be getting any benefit of playing a tactic that I am proficient in but my opponents rarely see...

The advantage you accrue from playing a little used tactic is only an advantage if the other teams have no understanding of it. I would expect managed teams to be fully trained up before this stage of the season as most managers use the 'MP' training code in their training routines. Unmanaged teams get one MP slot a week so even they should be trained up quite a lot although not as highly as managed sides. Maybe it's time to choose the tactic you actually want to play.

Just by way of a note, unmanaged sides train up in all divisionally active tactics so as soon as you started using PEP they also started training up in it. The rate of training during the early part of the season is 45 minutes per use but that increases to 90 minutes per use as we enter week 18 to 24.

Oooo, that's wasn't my understanding, although tbh, I'm relieved!
You're dead right though - I thought I'd use PEP as I thought it would be difficult to play against, not necessarily because I particularly liked it. Although, I thought I'd like it alot more than I do!
Bit of a mess-up this season really - live and learn...

Printing now then I'll send out the email turns...