Season 24 Week 8 processing ...

Good morning and welcome to week 8 of the season...

I'm just going through collating the order sheets to see who I have received and who I haven't received yet.

Orders received from Man City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Leicester, Plymouth, Watford, Charlton, Fulham, Inter, Barcelona, Schalke, Inverness

and no orders yet from Birmingham and Real.

I'm trying an experiment this week to try and get my now very old 16bit program to run on the new 64bit standard by using a Dos Emulator. I would like to be able to run CF on my 64bit computer so I'm using DosBox 0.74. If this works then it will simplify things my end. For a start I wont have to continue to maintain my old 16bit computer and printer. I can upgrade to a decent monitor. CF should run much faster. It will in the future allow me to introduce an automated order entry system allowing you to connect directly with my PC and enter your orders ( that is in the future though ).

So I'm trying out the emulator this week, see how it goes. I'll be setting it up today and testing the various parts of CF to make sure they still work, then if all goes well I'll start entering the orders tomorrow. Ifit doesn't work I'll go back to using the old system tomorrow and then do some more research into how I can get it work without having to spend almost a grand on upgrading to the 64bit software ( which is what I should do really but cant afford ).

Fingers crossed.

Paul with the timing this turn am I still OK to e-mail my orders in today?

Rob@Inter wrote:

Paul with the timing this turn am I still OK to e-mail my orders in today?

yes sure

Okay, got the dos emulator working, got CF working but boy does it run slowly, much slower than on my "vintage" machine, I'll look at that sometime later, but for now back to the normal machine for this week's turn.

I'm entering all the data atm.

Kickoff will be tomorrow ( wednesday ) at 1000 hours all being well.

We are currently in the middle of a very nasty storm and that may interfere with kickoff time, if it does I'll advise later as and when, thanks.

Thanks Paul, hopefully you'll get the new system running eventually.  Sounds like it will be beneficial to all!!

You're having a bit of a rough time down there this winter with the weather by all accounts?  Any flooding nearby?

Premier League this week sees:

Newcastle v Plymouth
Fulham v Chelsea
Leicester v Birmingham
Liverpool v Charlton
Arsenal v Man City
Spurs v Watford


Newcastle v Plymouth

In previous weeks this fixture would have been down as a away win banker, however following last week great result by Marks resurgent Newcastle side, you begin to wonder if the manager has found the perfect arrangement for his team of stars.  An away win at Birmingham is not to be sniffed at, one of the results of the season so far in my eyes, simply because Rich is normally so strong at home. 
Plymouth, as always, having a very good season and a very strong start to the campaign. Only one goal away from being top of the league, Ben's vast array of stars look unbeatable at home and constantly picking up points away from home.  With Mesut Ozil seeming to settle in, the ominous signs are there for the rest of the league!  A comfortable 3-0 win last week against a very good Chelsea side, without a goal for the unstoppable Sergio Aguero, continued the relentless start made by the south coast side continuing the perfect home form this season.  Not many teams will come away with anything this year, as I know only too well!
Tough one to call, on the face of it Ben should win, but with Mark back in the driving seat at St James', the Geordies will have more than enough about them to cause a few problems.


Fulham v Chelsea

The Champions at home this week, looking to cement the recent tactical change as a permanent one.  On the back of what seemed a routine win at Leicester last week, Fulham continue to quietly go about their business.  With what has seemed like a slow start to the season, the West London outfit are only three points off the top and are very much still in the mix. 
Chelsea are fresh from a disappointing result at Plymouth last week, but then again, like I said, not many teams will come away from there with anything.  In the middle of a really difficult run of four away games, Gaz will be desperate to pick up some points and keep in contact with the rest of the teams.
Can't see anything other than a home win here, sorry Gaz, but just like Home Park, Craven Cottage will give away very little this year to most teams. 


Leicester v Birmingham

After a slow start to the season, both of these teams will be more than happy to take away all three points from this fixture.  Really difficult one to call, as both managers seem to be in the middle of a few tweaks to their team and formation.  Rich (Leicester) is coming off what looks a fairly respectable 0-1 loss to the Champions, with what can only be described as an 'experimental' lineup.
Birmingham on the other hand are coming off a disappointing result at home to Newcastle, who seem to be a completely different kettle of fish now their manager has returned.  Rich has also recently made a tactical switch if I'm not mistaken, so this 'transition' period will always be one that he might have to ride out.  If the players take to it, it could be fantastic for the fans to see and cause no end of problems to the other teams in the league.
Another tough one to call, be interesting to see how each of the teams line up.  Whether managers stick with their changes or opt to go back to what they know.  The answer could determine where the points are going by this time tomorrow.


Arsenal v City

Glad I'm not playing Arsenal this week, as with all their recent additions I wouldn't have a clue how they would line up.  Plently of fresh blood to be injected, but might it be too much in one go?  They will certainly miss the undoubted talents of one Wayne Rooney who has departed for the title-chasing team down Vicarage Road.  Arsene Wenger beginning to put his own mark on this team already, and they look a very strong and well balanced outfit all of a sudden.  it is only matter of time before the Frenchman gets them out of the bottom three.
Geoff couldn't be a tougher opponent though.  A resurgent Man City this year look a much stronger outfit than this time last year.  The rebuilding process continues, after a couple of fly-by-night managers in the hottest of hot seats.  A good squad with a definite plan of where they are headed, the 'old head' in charge will have them back in amongst the shake up this year, possibly taking a trophy home somewhere along the line (my tip anyway).  
Not many teams have been to the Valley recently and dominated the game as much as they did last week, very unlucky to lose.  For that reason I think they will be too strong for a much changed Arsenal this week, although it won't be long before the Gunners start flexing their muscles.  Wouldn't want to be playing them next week for sure.....oh wait....


Spurs v Watford

Equal top of the table, 100% record at home, tightest defence in the country, Wayne Rooney just signed....could things be any different this year for Jamie?  What a turnaround to Watford's slow start last year.  What a performance so far from Jamie, the manager of the year so far by a mile.  The array of talent just gets bigger every week.  I'm amazed he can keep everyone happy, there is that much talent there. A good home win last week against Liverpool is followed by a tough fixture at the Lane, but three points should surely be gained.
Spurs are on the back of a morale boosting North London derby win, but this fixture might be a step too far?


Liverpool v Charlton


Can't really comment too much on this game.  Gonna be tough as Liverpool have started the season above all expectations and seem to be very strong at home.  Although if I want to stay up and around the top of the table, 3 points in games like these are a necessity. 

Hoping for a win at Anfield against Liverpool doesn't sit easy with me, it feels like I am cheating on my missus.



Another exciting week awaits......

Well, thanks to Tom for the match previews, very interesting. There wont be many games this season whose outcome you can easily predict that's for sure.

The teams are out and kickoff is only minutes away...

Some last minute water clearing is going on...

No need for pitch sprinklers this week!!

okay water cleared, the whistle blows and we're underway...good luck to everybody...

Bayern 1 Leverkusen 0 Trochowski on 3 minutes.

We sent John Emery to St James's Park this week and he can bring us news of today's first goal in the Premiership, so over to you John...

Freekicks are fast becoming a talking point this season with some spectacular goals being scored early on in games and this game is no different, adding to the hype, with a tremendous curling freekick goal from Jack Wilshere on 4 minutes, that makes the early score here

Newcastle 0 Plymouth 1

Bayern 1 Leverkusen 1 Basturk equaliser on 4 minutes.

Nantes 1 Sedan 0 Borini on 5 mins.
Lille 0 Paris 1 Nilmar.
Rangers 1 Dundee Utd 0 Diego Capel.

and Jonathan Pierce is watching the London derby between Tottenham and Watford and he can bring us news of the first goal in that game...

Welcome to White Hart Lane where we have been playing for just six minutes and already Watford are beginning to dominate this game and have taken an early lead, well deserved, following a shot from Dembele, to make it

Tottenham 0 Watford 1

Auxerre 0 Lyon 1 Ibrahimovic on 6 mins.
Bochum 0 Stuttgart 1 Douglas.

Porto 0 Benfica 1 Paulinho Betanin on 7 mins.

Blackpool 0 Wolves 1 Viana on 8 mins.
Monaco 1 Montpellier 0 Cambiasso freekick.
Rangers 2 Dundee Utd 0 Eto'o.

Nantes 2 Sedan 0 Suarez on 9 mins could be a tough day for Sedan.

Hamburg 1 Dortmund 0 Guerrero on 11 mins.
Bremen 1 Cologne 0 Goktan.