2007 F13 Fantasy Premier League.

[sigil]

So, here we go.

The F13 Premiership is now open.

Sign up is here.

It's been dressed up a tiny bit and the point values from last season have held over.

League code is 19300-6471

Currently we're set to start at week 1, but we can amend that if there is consensus to push it back a week or two.

[HaemishM]

You're linky, she no work.

[sigil]

You're linky, she no work.

only because I'm an idiot.

She should work now.

[HaemishM]

Now she worky. Putting my Kilt Wavers together now. PH3ar, bitches.

[Mr_PeaCH]

In.

Phear "PeaCH's Punters"

[WayAbvPar]

When does the season start?

[Phildo]

How competetive do you guys think this league will be?  I haven't followed soccer in years, but I think my dad would be proud if I signed up.

[sigil]

Last years was pretty good. We stayed pretty tightly grouped together in the overall top 10-15 percent. We had a couple of stragglers, but  mostly because a couple just gave up.

Never mind the fact that winner never changed his team once all season.  :-(

This year should be better. Knowledge is power. That and not choosing a players that will suddenly become choking dogs when the pressures on.

I'm in three leagues now with this team. That's a whole lot people to mock me if I really fuck up my selections.

Hopefully my MLS fantasy form will hold. Consistently top 1 percent there in the past few months. It starts up week one, I don't have a schedule handy;  all I know is that Spurs play Sunderland. Hopefully we'll give them a proper introduction to the Premiership.

[HaemishM]

I know Liverpool plays Aston Villa to start. After seeing Liverpool play Werder Bremen (minus Miro Klose unfortunately)  in a friendly this week, I'm stoked about the coming season. Liverpool got a LOT better with Voronin and Torres. Voronin is a worker at the front, Babel looked decent, and we know Torres can play. With Mascherano in the midfield, Pennant showing some flashes of adequacy, and promises of more players coming, I feel good about Liverpool's chances.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Can we see what players the others have selected now or when the season starts?  (I tried looking at your picks, Sigil, but I only saw my own... unless we've managed to duplicate each other 100%    )

[HaemishM]

I'm not sure if you can see other team's players or not. I couldn't when I tried.

Oh and just because you've put a team together, that doesn't mean it's put you in the league. Make sure after your team is together you go back and Join the League.

[Hoax]

In.

Hopefully I wont get wrecked by as many injuries this time around. That's my excuse for last year and I'm sticking to it!

[sigil]

In the interest of having you folks mock me on something other than a Wii thread, here's my starting XI.

1: Howard    EV    164    0    5.0    5.0    5.0    WI (H)
2: Dawson    TH    100    0    5.5    5.5    5.5    SU (A)
 3: Dunne    MC    151    0    5.5    5.5    5.5    WH (A)
4: Carvalho    CH    145    0    7.0    7.0    7.0    BC (H)
5: Ronaldo    MU    244    0    12.0    12.0    12.0    RE (H)
6: Gerrard    LI    180    0    10.5    10.5    10.5    AV (A)
7: Speed    BW    151    0    6.5    6.5    6.5    NU (H)
8: Carsley    EV    104    0    5.5    5.5    5.5    WI (H)
9: Berbatov    TH    169    0    9.5    9.5    9.5    SU (A)
10: Santa Cruz    BR    0    0    7.0    7.0    7.0    MI (A)
11: Agbonlahor    AV    144    0    7.5    7.5    7.5    LI (H)

As this is before week one, this is all subject to drastic changes as I read up on who's looking  promising as we get ready.
I'm going to bet that  Roque Santa Cruz is going to adjust nicely to the Premiership. The rest is based off the tried and true practice of:

Captain Ronaldo until he either leaves for La Liga or gets hurt.
Don't play defenders against a team with strong offense
Don't play flighty forwards against a bunch of grinders.
When in Doubt, go for a guy playing at home.

do that, and you too can have mediocre point total week in and week out.

[HaemishM]

I'm not sold on Santa Cruz, as I'm not sure he and McCarthy can share goals very well, and I think Blackburn is just suspect in general. Gerrard is a good option in the midfield, as Liverpool really should score more goals this year. Do not underestimate Tottenham this year, as the addiition of Bale is going to be big, and Berbatov is likely to be money.

[sigil]

I have enough coverage to take a risk, even still I may not start him. I'll see how it goes.

Spurs are a fucking beast up top, Berbie, Bent, Defoe  and Robbie Keane. 

You've got Lennon, and Jenas  and Zokora leading the midfield, with  King, Chimbonda, Dawson, Bale as well as "England's number 1" 

We did get Ghaly kicked back to us, and I do wish Spurs had managed to get Bobby Convey a permit back when they were interested.

Every single bone in my body is screaming at me to not say this. . .


I think this is the year Spurs break top four, maybe even get third after Man U and Pool.

/pray

[Hoax]

You can still make free xfers at least as of yesterday.  I had screwed up and taken Nani (he will be awesome but not enough playtime this year to justify spending 7).

I've redone my squad and honestly I hate my strikers but I'm taking a calculated gamble I feel.

[HaemishM]

You can keep making free transfers up til the 11th I think.

[Hoax]

Ok I'm now satisfied with my picks...

Up top:
-McCarthy: He's so damn awesome!@!!  I rock face w/ Nigeria in WC06 btw,  I almost took Obafemi as well but I really dont much like Newcastle even w/ Big Sam at the helm.  They tend to fuck up good players and generally piss me off by having a park named St. James, ruining my already oft ruined name you bastages!

-Yakubu: Really just a best buy w/ my last 8 pts situation

-Healy:  I want this kid to do well, so of course I've jynxed the shit out of him by putting him on my squad.  Actually if there is anyone who might ignore the jynx to spite me it'd be some Irish punk.  I'd put money on Fulham being relegated though when I'm sober.

Midfield:

-Ronaldo:  I was on this goddamn bandwagon before the last premiership season had even gotten underway.  He showed such flashes of pure brilliance during the WC I was an instant fan.  He was my captain the entire season in last years fantasy league and I had Drogba up top from day1 also.  Honestly I don't understand why I got stomped so bad.

-Essien:  Seriously, is there anyone more badass and crazy-cool then Essien?  Excepting Danny Alves no there isn't.

-Koumas:  A bargain buy, long shot who I like to perform well despite the crappy team.

-Reo-Coker:  A fucking steal at 5.5 seriously you assholes better not take him after I post this.

-Gilberto:  I dunno, I bet Arsenal does better then most think and I hate Cesc & RVP so I had to take Gilberto.

The backline:

Chimbonda:  Love him, great hustle, great mind for attack but makes pretty decent stops in the back.

Carvalho:  Second best defender in the world behind Pujols?

Ferdinand:  Sucks, but he gets tons of credit, I shoulda taken Vidic.

Baines:  I like him on Everton to do good things.

Duberry:  I will never play 5 defenders who cares...


GK's:

I think a big part of why I lost badly last year was I had Cech and didn't notice he was hurt for such long chunks of the season and my other goalie never played so I was getting a 0 from goal in like a third of the games.

So this year I took James & Hahnemann.

Of course Cech is going to be worth crazy points this year and I'm going to curse myself the whole damn time...

[HaemishM]

James was my boy in goal last year, but I don't think he's going to be nearly so solid this year. Just a hunch.

The Kilt Wavers:

Goalkeeper
Tim Howard - He's coming into his own. Everton probably won't score as much this year, but they'll keep up the great defense.
Marcus Hahnemann - Solid keeper for Reading last year with a back line that wasn't as good as the rest of the team

Defenders
Carragher - He's a scouser who gets massive minutes on a defensively-minded team with a pretty good keeper behind him. How could I not take him?
Sol Campbell - Had a fantastic year with Pompey last year, and even with James perhaps diminished performance this year, I think Sol will do fine.
Olaf Mellberg - He was steady points for me last year, I expect he'll be just as good this year.
Davis - He's cheap, on a Derby County side that may be better than people think.
Primus - Another Pompey boy, who I just found out is hurt. I may have to ditch him.

Midfield
Ronaldo - I resisted getting him last year, because he's a douchebag. But really, had I gotten him, I might have been even closer to winning. Lesson learned.
Gerrard - Another scouser who makes big points even when not scoring lots of goals.
Hunt - He's the sparkplug in Reading's offense. Just a tenacious worker.
Kilbane - He's cheap.
Campo - He's got a great shot on him, scores some occasional goals and I could afford him.

Strikers
Berbatov - I was completely wrong about him last year, and with the improvements to Tottenham this year, I think he's going to keep up the scoring pace.
Torres - A Liverpool striker who might actually score what he's worth.
Howard Macken - I watched this guy play for Derby in the Championship last year. He's good, especially for the price.

[eldaec]

In there as "No Imagination"



Portsmouth players seem cheap.

[eldaec]

Loved watching the Buccaneers first match today.

They seem to have spent £60M and found themselves without any strikers.



Yay Reading.

Also, at the end of each week, you can look at the teams everyone else picked for the week. So you can see everyone's side now, enabling me to click through and cackle at each of you foolish enough not to have Steven Gerrard as your captain.

[Hoax]

omg...

I'm so damn cursed I might not even be able to field a full 11 for week 2:

-Baines is out (I knew he was going to start injured but the price was right) but now!!  Essien & McCarthy are both hurt after one game and you have no idea how close I was to having that little fake irishman Rooney...

-Also it sucks to have 2 "best 11" players on the bench and freaking Healy racking up 6 as well.

[sigil]

No Comment about my Spurs. . . Wait, I do have one: Fuckers.


Kapo looked strong for Birmingham.  I had  Forssell on the bench, I'll keep an eye on him.

[HaemishM]

It was a glorious weekend. My mind is stuffed to the gills with all the Tivoed futbol.

All the promoted sides looked really good. Spurs were unfortunately flat as a goddamn pancake. They seemed to lack any sort of creativity and by the end you could tell they were playing for a draw.

Poor Sir Alex. Rooney's out for two months with another hairline fracture. He needs to wear some steel shoes or something. That Reading game was the best one-sided 0-0 game I've ever seen. Hahnemann was en fuego. I told you, don't count him out as a points producer.

LIVERPOOL! Yeah, bitches, that free kick by Gerrard was just money. Goal of the week! They looked good too, and would have had a clean sheet if it hadn't been for that handball in the box. Villa wasn't breaking through without the pen. Torres and Kuyt worked well together.

Chelsea's offense looked great against Birmingham City, but their defense was SHIT. Glen Johnson just got worked, and that Kapo was just blistered. I was so hoping City could work a draw out of that one, but their goalie  just flubbed two shots.

Fulham should have either beat or tied Arsenal. Where the fuck did Fulham come from? Last year, they were about the most boring thing to watch since Disney on Ice, but they were practically entertaining for the first 80 minutes or so before absolutely falling apart. Bocanegra made a STUPID foul in the box to let Arsenal tie it. Fulham's reserve goaile Warner looks like he should be the regular goalie.

Derby and Portsmouth both looked stronger than I expected, but I was right about the Pompey defense. It doesn't look as tight as it was last year, but at least it appears the signings up front are going to have some effect. I still don't understand why Benjani is getting starts at striker, but it worked. Utaka looks to be a helluva signing.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Agreed on the Fulham game; they could be fun to watch this year... am I wrong or do they start *3* Team U.S. players?  (Watching Bocanegra get penalized in the box for which Arsenal was (rightly) awarded a PK did anyone else imagine he was thinking 'draw the charge' like in basketball)

For shame, Spurs, for shame...   

[HaemishM]

Fulham had McBride and Bocanegra to start, but Clint Dempsey came on as a sub for Bouazza.

[Hoax]

The Fulham coach is the guy who was leading Northern Ireland to an improbable Euro run.  He's recruited a ton of his N.Ireland players and still has a bunch of US guys.  Cynically they will be lucky to maintain top flight status, but I really do hope Fulham does well this year.

Just an fyi for anyone who wasn't aware.

Also sounds like we'll see Tevez on Wednesday I'm also hoping Nani will get some more playtime...

[sigil]

Fulham does have three Yanks on it.  McHead is no longer a US Nat, though. I thnk the unloading of that Shitheel Brown will do more for the team, however.

As a side note, Benny Feilhaber  is now with Derby.  Another Nat in the Premiership :)

Between that, Adu at Benfica, Szetela heading to Roma, it's a good summer for American Soccer.

[HaemishM]

Feilhaber signing with Derby is a good thing. He's an up and coming talent, and I like Derby's team. I just hope they keep Giles Barnes instead of selling him off, because he's another damn good young player.

[sigil]

I think if Derby try to play, rather than just do their best Watford impersonation of heaving the ball up top and praying, they may just survive.

I'm getting an inkling that this is going to be an unusual season. There's something in the air, but I'm going to let a few more weeks pass before I make with the crazy ass prognaostication.

[HaemishM]

Watford was terrible last year, mainly because they couldn't make a free kick if their lives depended on it. They aren't much better this year. I saw them play Wolves this past weekend, and their corners were a horror show. It really sucked hard when their winner came on the only free kick they made worth a damn.

[sigil]

That free kick  was as much luck as it was being worth a damn.

I feel bad for DeMerit, he feels obligated to stick with the team that gave him a chance, but I think he should head elswhere.

[sigil]

Spurs have put in the 4-3-3

Berbatov - Keane - Dent up top.

Annnd they're down in the second minute to Everton.


They're looking strong though, and just tied it up. They dearly miss King, Lennon, Dawon, et al.

Edit:

Fuckers

[Hoax]

Chelsea just won the league....


Man Utd has no strikers, Arsenal's roster is too thin and unproven and Liverpool can't perform in England.  But what seals it is that they just signed Alves according to reports, and Alves is one of the greatest things in Football anywhere in the world for my money.

I may have to get a Chelsea jersey as I'll be fucking damned before I get a Brazil one (bunch of fucking wanks who know nothing about soccer wearing Brazil stuff every time a WC comes around).

Or I'll just get a fucking terribly ugly Sevilla jersey, perhaps they'll go on sale?



Also lol@Spurs and we really need to start worrying more about posting spoilers because several ppl are Tivo'ing games.  Me, I have to get my father to record them (he has FSC I dont) on good old VHS tapes which is how I'll catch tomorrow's Fulham game.

[HaemishM]

Alves with Chelsea? I really don't think that's going to help them. Sure, he'll score goals and make assists but he's really not great defensively, and that's where Chelsea is weak. They rely too heavily on Cech. Birmingham's goals on Sunday were a result of the defenders letting things go too easily, and having watched Alves, he's not a great defender. He isn't what they need.

Don't count Liverpool out yet. Their strike corps is solid this year, and Benitez is showing a willingness to put Gerrard in a central role again, AND they have decent wing midfielders. I think this Saturday's game with Chelsea might just be an early indicator.

Spurs... holy fuck, they looked like shit yesterday. No creativity in the midfield. No defense to speak of. Why is Paul Robinson England's #1 instead of David James? Even Berbatov looked lost. Playing 4-3-3 does not seem to suit them. The only player with any sort of clue was Keane. Why is Malbranque in that squad? He sucked for Fulham last year and he sucks for Spurs. Meanwhile, Everton were tight, much better than I expected without Cahill.