Premier Predictions (Week 07)

Another early start this week with a game on Friday night, followed by 5 Games on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday.
The following week is yet another International break where the England team for the games with Malta and Slovenia might be decided on a lucky dip??

Everton v C Palace

Swansea v Liverpool
Hull v Chelsea
Sunderland v West Brom
Watford v Bournemouth
West Ham v Middlesbrough

Man Utd v Stoke
Leicester v Southampton
Tottenham v Man City
Burnley v Arsenal

Good Luck All :)

The Wright Choice?

Now that Pratt Sam has shot himself in the foot and we don't have an England manager again maybe it's time for a complete change of direction?
They have coaching staff for all the practical stuff, but an international manager just needs to select a team and inspire the players picked to do what they do for their teams every week.
I vote for Ian Wright :) could he be any worse?

New England Manager?

If what I've just read is true? Sam Allardyce's reign as England boss could be over after one game.
Looks like he's fell for a press sting and totally stitched himself up

Premier Predictions (Week 06)

Now that West Ham have thrashed Accrington Stanley 1-0 I can safely post this weeks predictions :)

8 Games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and the big Sky game on Monday.
This weeks star games are Chelsea going to Arsenal and the champs trying to inflict a 4th straight defeat on Mourinho's lot :)

Man Utd v Leicester
Bournemouth v Everton
Liverpool v Hull
Middlesbrough v Tottenham
Stoke v West Brom
Sunderland v C Palace
Swansea v Man City
Arsenal v Chelsea

West Ham v Southampton
Burnley v Watford

Good Luck All :)

Cheslea?

I guess the BBC's spellchecker had gone home? :)

The Money Go Round

At the end of the transfer window the Premier league clubs have spent £1.2 billion of the new TV money.
I've trawled around the internet to get all the fees paid and with the exception of the Traore/Adomah deals at Middlesbrough and Jones from Burnley one, the figures are all available.
The Manchester clubs have been the big spenders with City shelling out £180m (that includes the Gabriel Jesus deal which won't be official till January), and United blowing £157m although their best deal for Ibrahimovic was a free transfer.
Chelsea spent £120m on a small handful of players, recouping £35m on the 35 players that have left.
The two Merseyside clubs have had a good window with Klopp bringing in £68m of players but getting rid of the chaff for £70m, Koeman likewise has made a profit while improving his team.
Southampton once again have made a large profit on transfer deals this season but just maybe they have left themselves short.
Watford's spinning door policy has seen 21 players leaving and 13 coming in, it worked last season so who knows.
West Ham have added 12 players but I'm not sure if they will improve us much?

Most spent - Man City £180.93m, Man Utd £157.25m, Chelsea £120.11m
Most sold - Liverpool £70.37m, Southampton £64.48m, Everton £47.26m
Largest profit - Southampton £20.35m, Swansea £6.91m, Liverpool £2.45m
Biggest outlay - Man City £168.3m, Man Utd £149.09m, Chelsea £85.26m
Most players in - Watford 13, Middlesbrough 12, West Ham 12
Most players out - Chelsea 35, Liverpool 25, C Palace, Man City, Watford 21

Top 20 Transfers
Paul Pogba (Juventus - Man Utd) £89.25m
John Stones (Everton - Man City) £47.26m
Leroy Sane (Schalke - Man City) £42.5m
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) £38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) £35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) £35.02m
Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia - Arsenal) £34.85m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) £33.15m
David Luiz (Paris St Germain - Chelsea) £32.73m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) £32.3m
N'Golo Kante (Leicester - Chelsea) £30.43m
Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle - Tottenham) £29.75m
Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras - Man City) £27m **
Christian Benteke {Liverpool - C Palace) £26.52m
Islam Slimani (S Lisbon - Leicester City)  £25.5m
Yannick Bolasie (C Palace - Everton) £24.57m
Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle - Liverpool) £23.38m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) £22.95m
Andre Ayew (Swansea - West Ham) £20.49m
Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar - Tottenham) £18.79m

The final table in outlay order.

Premier Predictions (Week 05)

A quick turnaround this week as the football season goes 7 days a week.
Games spread over 3 days again this week starting on Friday night at Stamford bridge. 5 games on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday.

Chelsea v Liverpool

Hull v Arsenal
Leicester v Burnley
Man City v Bournemouth
West Brom v West Ham
Everton v Middlesbrough

Watford v Man Utd
C Palace v Stoke
Southampton v Swansea
Tottenham v Sunderland

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 04)

A bit late but here is week 4 after the break. 8 games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.
The big game is obviously the Manc derby with the 2 highest spending teams and 2 most high profile managers, no Aguerro after his 3 match ban will level the field.
Hoping West Ham get their season going finally with a few players back?

Man Utd v Man City
Arsenal v Southampton
Bournemouth v West Brom
Burnley v Hull
Middlesbrough v C Palace
Stoke v Tottenham
West Ham v Watford
Liverpool v Leicester
Swansea v Chelsea
Sunderland v Everton

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 03)

8 Games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday this week, then it's International injury week :)
Can West Ham repeat last seasons amazing win at City or will the injury hit Hammers still have 11 fit players after a Thursday Euro game?
Several hard to call games and I suppose the top game is Hull v Man Utd?

Tottenham v Liverpool
Chelsea v Burnley
C Palace v Bournemouth
Everton v Stoke
Leicester v Swansea
Southampton v Sunderland
Watford v Arsenal
Hull v Man Utd

West Brom v Middlesbrough
Man City v West Ham

Premier Predictions (Week 02)

Week 2 and the games are over 3 days again, but this week it's Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Man U game starts the week on Friday night for some reason?
Last years top 2 play on Saturday night both needing points after losing their opening game.

Man Utd v Southampton
Stoke v Man City
Burnley v Liverpool
Swansea v Hull
Tottenham v C Palace
Watford v Chelsea   
West Brom v Everton    
Leicester v Arsenal
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
West Ham v Bournemouth

Good Luck All :)

Someone Needs Glasses

So Costa says he was going for the ball and Anthony Taylor says it was a genuine attempt for the ball so no need for a yellow card?
I think the pair of them need a trip to Specsavers. :(

Premier Predictions (Week 01)

It's Back !!!!
The all new prediction competition for the 2016-2017 season.
Usual rules apply - 3 Points for a correct score, 1 Point for a correct result.
Predictions League will be decided on weekly wins first, if 2 or more people share a weekly win that will be classed as a draw, if at the end things are still level the toal points for the season come into play.
Anyway enough of that :) hopefully the regular players will be back and anyone reading this blog is welcome to join in at any point, just let me know a name and club supported. Obviously predictions will only count if they are made before the kick offs.
Predictions in the comments please :) as always the comments are moderated to weed out spam and abuse so won't appear instantly, but I will get them done before kick offs.

Here is the first week of the new season, games spread over 3 days with 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and a big game on Monday night.
Champions Leicester open against relegation favourites Hull which might show us what sort of season it will be :)
Big spending City start with Sam-less Sunderland, and mega spenders United go to Bournemouth.
Obviously fans of this blog will be looking forward to Monday night :)

Hull v Leicester
Burnley v Swansea
C Palace v West Brom
Everton v Tottenham
Middlesbrough v Stoke
Southampton v Watford
Man City v Sunderland

Bournemouth v Man Utd
Arsenal v Liverpool

Chelsea v West Ham

Good Luck All :)

Fantasy Football Season 2016-17

I have set up leagues for Nothing Better Than Football "NBTF" in the Premier league game and the Telegraph game.If you would like to join either, here are the details -

Fantasy Premier League 2016/17
https://www.premierleague.com/
League name: Nothing Better Than Football
Code to join this league: 312343-96257

The Premier league runs it's own game "Fantasy Premier League" and it is free to play.
You choose a squad of 15 players in your budget, then pick a starting XI for each game, transfers are available during the season - 1 is free, anymore cost you points, wildcards are available twice a season to let you ship out several players at once if half your squad get sold to Real Madrid in January.
You can only have one team each, but you can put it in multiple leagues.
(Hopefully get more than the 4 who joined last season)
-----------

Telegraph Fantasy Football 2016/17
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
League name: NBTF
Pin: 8072532 - Passcode 2323

The Telegraph game tends to be the most popular amongst Fantasy football managers as you can tinker away all season with 40 transfers allowed and make changes to your team right up till the first kick-off of the day. You can have as many teams as you like, the first team is free but if you want more you can upgrade by paying a fee, the more teams you have the cheaper it is.
Many different cash prizes if your good enough.

This League has finished Top 100 for the last 2 seasons so the more players I get the better the chance of finishing in the cash positions? If we are lucky enough to

The Premier league game is open to everyone worldwide (as there are no cash prizes),
sadly the Telegraph game is UK residents only :(

Silly Season (Part 2)

Silly season has really took off today with Paul Pogba re-joining Man Utd for £89 million and John Stones going to City for £47 million, even West Ham have blown some money.

Top Transfers so far (up to 9th August)

Paul Pogba (Juventus - Man Utd) £89.25m
John Stones (Everton - Man City) £47.26m
Leroy Sane (Schalke - Manchester City) £42.5m
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) 38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) 35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) 35.02m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) 33.15m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) 32.3m
N'Golo Kante (Leicester - Chelsea) £30.43m
Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras - Man City) £27m
Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle - Liverpool) £23.38m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) 22.95m

Premier League 2016-17

Premier League season only 4 days away, so here's my take on the season ahead.
Hopefully better than last season? where I didn't get any of the teams going down and predicted Leicester would just about survive!! also managed just 2 of the top 4.
Anyway kiss of death this year to ... ?

Arsenal - Need a top quality striker but still have one of the best midfields in the world. Really can't see them winning the league but will be one of several teams in with a chance.
Bournemouth - I think they will improve this season and could finish mid table or higher injuries permitting.
Burnley - Probably will be a favourite for relegation but I fancy them to survive this time .. but not by much.
Chelsea - I think Conte is a very good manager and with the likes of Hazard and Costa they should do better than last season, and will probably be in the mix at the end. But Roman's billions don't set them apart anymore.
Crystal Palace - Faded badly last season and I think they could be in for a struggle this season.
Everton - New manager who should improve things but mid table is about the best I can see from the current squad.
Hull - Now Bruce has cleared off I can start to like Hull again, but can only see a season of struggle for them.
Leicester - They were brilliant last season but unlikely to happen again, but if they can hold on to the players they still have should finish top half and maybe in the Euro spots.
Liverpool - Hate to say it but they will be in with a shout this term, with no Europe getting in the way could go close.
Man City - Probably my favourites for the title, as long as Aguerro stays fit.
Man United - Not sure if they can improve much from last seasons position, should be more entertaining but still lacking something.
Middlesbrough - Should be solid and hard to beat, but staying up will be the main challenge.
Southampton - Koeman, Mane, Pelle gone and a new manager? think their bubble will burst this season and will finish in the bottom half.
Stoke - Keep surprising me every season, should be good enough to stay clear of relegation but expect mid table.
Sunderland - No fat Sam to inspire them and Defoe can't keep doing it, could be a long season.
Swansea - Another team who surprised me last season, thought they would struggle but ended up looking alright.
Tottenham - I think they will be top 6 but don't think they have enough to challenge for the title.
Watford - No idea why they changed manager and don't think it will help, bottom half.
West Brom - Pulis is a really good manager but West Brom have been over performing for a few years.
West Ham - Hoping for better this term and some good signings will help, not sure if we have enough to challenge yet but would be great if can build on last season.

The predictions????
1 Man City 2 Liverpool 3 Arsenal 4 Chelsea
17 Burnley 18 Watford 19 Sunderland 20 Hull

So get your money on Burnley for the title :)

Every Little Helps

There is a rumour that Tesco might be the new sponsor for the Olympic stadium?

So I've come up with a possible new cheap and cheerful 3rd kit for when we play in the new EFL Cup competition.

50 Years Ago

30th July 1966, 50 years ago today.

50 years of hurt? didn't know at the time that would be the last time England would win anything :(
I've watched virtually every competitive game since in the hope it would happen again but excluding 1990 and 96 we've never even gone close .... one day?

Here's a video I put up about 10 years ago :)



308 views in 10 years? not exactly gone viral :)

Silly Season

Four weeks to go before it all kicks off again :)
About six weeks until the first round of the big spend up is done and dusted, Premier league teams now have so much money they will all be struggling to spend it.
Here's my first round up of who is doing the spending.

Man Utd have been spending early as they did last season, and Southampton have once again been selling off the family silver.
Liverpool although spending heavily again have been balancing the books with some big sales.
West Ham have brought in some decent players on the cheap with the only major outlay on making Lanzini's transfer permanent.
Arsenal have actually spent some money on Xhaka who hit one of the worst penalties in the Euros?

Top Transfers so far (up to 15th July)
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) 38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) 35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) 35.02m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) 33.15m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) 32.3m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) 22.95m
Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar - Tottenham) 18.79m
Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow    - Leicester) 16.58m
Nolito (Celta Vigo - Man City) 15.3m
Jordon Ibe (Liverpool - Bournemouth) 15m
Andros Townsend (Newcastle - C Palace) 13.26m
Nampalys Mendy (Nice - Leicester) 13.18m

Wales

Good luck Wales in their Semi Final against Portugal :)
James Collins looks likely to play so a Hammer to cheer on.

One thing that crossed my mind before the Tournament kicked off was "does having a really good song help you?" thinking of New Order's brilliant tune in 1990 which helped us get to the Semi's.
I love the Manic Street Preachers so the official Wales tune was a big favourite of mine, considering once again most of the England songs are crap.

Seems to have worked :)

Euro 2016 Predictions (Part 4)

The Semi Finals ... Nearly forgot to post these .. oops!

Portugal v Wales
Germany v France

The Final
Portugal v France

90 Minute rule again, and please post your final results when we know who it will be :)
Looking like Longy did enough in the group stages to win, but still open with a possible 9 points to play for.
Good Luck All :)