simmo wrote:He's usually on my sub's bench... he was appearing more regularly for fulham last season but since moving to reading he's been pretty much a non-starter. However, Nosworthy at Sunderland was my man at the back for a long and successful time, until he went out with a hamstring... I was waiting for him to come back. However, if I can get rid of Rosenior for someone who does play without losing too many points, I may well do it....

Nosworthy is in my team as well.

I am having to get rid of Adebayor though because he is in both your team and Tommydski's (as well as a few others.)

I just feel. . . betrayed by him.

I'm actually noticing too many similarities between my team and Tommydski's with the notable exception of the Man U players.

Oh, and curse the automatic substitutions and Tommydski's upcoming 5-3-2 formation for the week!

...and Monsieur Night Tools, why the hell is Robbie Keane on your bench this week? I would have him in my side if I didn't still keep believing in Berbatov.

(Actually might do well just to have them both in the side.)

Decisions, Decisions...

FUCK SAKE HEARTS

The funny thing about football is when things go well, you forget what it's like when things abruptly take a turn for the worse. I can't help but feel that I've been knocked out of the title race twice in one day today. Leeds lost to Swansea, who are now effectively twelve points clear at the top of the league once they inevitably win their two games in hand. Sleepkid had Berbatov as his skipper today, which places him well out of reach in our fantasy football league. I don't think it's premature to congratulate him for closing off this season. He deserves it for the two inspired decisions of making Yakubu captain just before he scored a hat-trick and then having the foresight to make Berbatov skipper today. Of course, I'll still be fighting for second place but it's not quite the same.

Congratulations to Sleepkid.

sleepkid wrote:...and Monsieur Night Tools, why the hell is Robbie Keane on your bench this week? I would have him in my side if I didn't still keep believing in Berbatov.

Oh man... that was a total oversight on my part, but I seem to have got some points for him anyway - maybe some sort of automatic substitution?

Of course, he got fuck all in today's Tottenham goalfest. This is the week I chose to play my wildcard and radically overhaul my team... the first dead wood to get cut was Anton Ferdinand...

AND HE FUCKING SCORED TODAY!!! FUCK!

Of course I'm delighted that we beat Man Utd today

Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell dies after collapsing on the pitch during this afternoon's game against Aberdeen.

Horrible news.

Just back from Sunderland v Bolton (3-1). I'm full of cold, hungover to hell and shaking with hunger - in fact I'm going to go and have what I hope will be a 24 hour lie-down - but man I'm glad I went.

Sunderland = lots of Championship-standard players with a few players of real premiership class.

MICHAEL CHOPRA - out of position on the rightwing / drifting inside behind the front two. Brilliant performance. He will start scoring soon, too.

KIERAN RICHARDSON - a real England-class winger. Don't get many of those at Sunderland. Scored one, made one. Great crosser, great passer, fast runner, sublime finish.

ANDY COLE - I wasn't prepared to let myself believe that he'd be any good, and while he hasn't still got IT, you can be sure he's still got SOMETHING. What he lacks in pace he makes up for in knowing where and when to run. Great vision and link-up play with...

KENWYNNE JONES - what a player. Strong, amazing vision, brilliant passer, top drawer header for the second goal (from Kieran's cross). Led the line for 90 minutes despite getting a knock after all the subs had been used.

And a special mention for DARRYL MURPHY, who might not be up to the Premier League grade, but fought off a centre back and finished with style in the 90th minute to a stadium-sized sigh of relief after about four hours of Bolton pressure.

Not-so-positives:

Dean Whitehead. Right-back? No. Captain? No.

Dickson Ethuhu. No first touch. Can't pass. Central midfield playermaker is this January's priority signing.

Miller, Leadbitter, McShane etc - tried hard and weathered the storm admirably on this occasion but could see they were punching above their weight to cope with the likes of Nolan, Diouf, Anelka etc.

Craig Gordon - for £9million you want the complete article, the finished product. You want someone who dominates the box and is the first line of attack a la Schmeicel. Gordon is none of these things. Yet.

A great day out though, all in all. Get in!

Simmo wrote:Horrible news.

Holy fuck. That's so terrible. I'm speechless. Only 35. I can't think of anything to say.

Dang, I am really down on football today. Roll on the Baseball season.

jongoodwin wrote:MICHAEL CHOPRA - He will start scoring soon, too.

Yeah, that's what we thought too.

Also, how did the match officials miss Kalou being 4 yards offside?

simmo wrote:Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell dies after collapsing on the pitch during this afternoon's game against Aberdeen.

Horrible news.

Really horrible. You never expect stuff like this to happen. I remember his early days at Motherwell well, he was a really good player. Never really reached his potential with Celtic. Such a shame.

By all accounts, he seemed like a really nice guy too.

Also, fuck sake Hearts.

dammit berbatov! why did i give up on you!