Season 25 Week 9 processing...

A quick round up of the days league action then the cup results...

A crucial win in the scheme of things if Plymouth are to mount any sort of challenge this season - especially good result without Ozil or Di Maria! Watford look in ominous form but 5 points isn't the biggest gap at this stage. Nice to see Lyon continuing their good form as well.

Brasileiro

Flamengo 27 +27
Santos 22 +15
Sao Paulo 18 +5
Gremio 16 +4

Gremio win the most improved side of the month award, a big improvement recently.

Eircom

Shamrock 20 +7
Bohemians 19 +6
Cherry 17 +4
UCD 14 +1

Still pretty close for once in a league normally dominated by Bohemians with AC Milan's feeder club leading the way and Man City's feeder club looking stronger than at anytime in recent years, this should be an interesting title race for once.

Premiership

Watford 25 +18
Man City 21 +16
Plymouth 20 +7
Charlton 16 +4
Birmingham 15 +2

Liverpool are adrift at the bottom but the four clubs above them Everton, Fulham, Chelsea and Blackburn all have 7 points...should be interesting at the top and at the bottom this season, Blackburn will be looking to pull clear of that group but may need to splash some cash to do it...

Championship

Newcastle 21 +12
Leicester 19 +5
Arsenal 18 +7
Hull 16 +1
Soton 12 +0
Westham 11 +1
Wolves 9 -3

A very close league with so many reality managers, although Westham maybe getting a new guy next week, we shall see. Newcastle looking very strong though with Lukaku regularly on the scoresheet.

League One

Villa 18 +5
Forest 16 +4
Stoke 15 +2
Reading 14 +2

Villa hit the top as expected although Wimbledon continue to struggle at this level and they too may need to spend some money in order to get the goals they need. Wednesday's new boss sat out a goal less draw in his opening game, not a bad start, but his side remain at the foot of the table, four points from safety.

Just back from watching my 7 year old in a inter school quiz competition. 2 solid League wins. The Inter machine seems to be running OK as Silva looks to have become an instant hit in Milan.  And Villa scoring more than once with Cabaye not on the scoresheet ..... I'm a bit shocked.

League Two

Portsmouth 21 +9
Burnley 21 +7
Tranmere 15 +3
Palace 15 +3
Barnsley 13 +3
Derby 12 +1

Palace falling off the pace following a good start to their campaign, rumours suggest the players feel as though they are continually worked too hard in training, with regular sunday training, and are feeling tired at the end of games.

Championnat

Nantes 23 +16
Lille 21 +13
Monaco 20 +9
Lyon 19 +11
Paris 18 +3
Etienne 14 +2

Very disappointing result for Paris this week puts them five points off the pace now instead of propelling them to the top of the table, which is where their boss thinks they should be...

Bundesliga

Schalke 27 +16
Bayern 20 +7
Berlin 18 +7
Gladbach 18 +5
Hamburg 14 +0
Dortmund 12 +0

New Stuttgart boss Mal Davies watched his side get a creditable draw to lift themselves off the bottom into tenth place and if it wasn't for the superb Schalke this league would be very open each season, however it aint and Schalke continue to dominate German football.

Eredivisie

PSV 20 +7
Feyenoord 20 +7
Heerenveen 19 +10
Ajax 19 +9

A few team changes at Ajax lately have resulted in a few surprise poor results and this has given PSV the rare chance to go top of the table.

Serie A

Inter 25 +26
Ancona 18 +13
Roma 17 +7
Napoli 16 +5
Milan 16 +5
Juventus 13 +0
Cagliari 10 -7

Inter already have a seven point lead as they remain unbeaten this year having conceded just one goal all season. Juve's fortunes took an upturn following a reorganisation and fans will hope that signals better things to come from their side. Thanks to all you guys who manage in the Italian league as you strive to catch Rob at the top, again.

Irish Premier

Glentoran 19 +5
Portadown 17 +4
Glenavon 14 +3

Belfast are Celtic's new feeder club and they sit down in fifth place looking to do some serious rebuilding this year, just two points above safety, never an easy task.

Tippeligaen

Rosenborg 23 +10
Viking 21 +9
Valerenga 14 +3

Wimbledon's feeder club improving slowly and still unbeaten this year with just the reality managed Rosenborg to challenge them it seems.

Ekstraklasa

Headline...a Klassa leads the Ekstraklasa !!!

Gornik 22 +13
Wisla 20 +5
Polonia 17 +7
Lodz 13 +2

Husband and wife lead the way in Poland and it'll be close between them for the rest of the year no doubt as they swap punches ( not literally of course one would hope anyway ), apparently the loser has to pay for their planned trip to the UK next year.

Scotland Premier

Celtic 20 +6
St Johnstone 17 +6
Inverness 15 +5
Rangers 14 +5
Aberdeen 14 +0

As you were after a series of goal less draws in Scotland means Aberdeen moved level on points with Rangers.

La Liga

Barcelona 25 +23
Real 22 +11
Atletico 19 +6
Valencia 18 +8
Betis 18 +6

The top five are well clear as usual with Barcelona looking unstoppable in the league with a huge goal difference and an unbeaten record, can they keep it going ? Seems likely.

Well, that's it for the league roundup, now we'll move onto the second cup results from around the globe...

I'll bring you the big match results here

Flamengo 3 Volta Redonda 0
Gremio 4 Parana 0
Santos 6 Paysandu 0
Sao Paulo 2 Criciuma 1

So the top four all go through...

Draw for round three is next week...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Scotland Premier

Celtic 20 +6
St Johnstone 17 +6
Inverness 15 +5
Rangers 14 +5
Aberdeen 14 +0

As you were after a series of goal less draws in Scotland means Aberdeen moved level on points with Rangers.

Seems like fun, might move my feeder here next year

FA Cup

Arsenal 1 Bolton 0
Wolves 3 MK Dons 0
Birmingham 1 Wednesday 0 very tough draw for the new Owls boss, did pretty well though.
Blackpool 0 Charlton 0 pens 2-1
Wimbledon 3 Bournemouth 1
Villa 4 Exeter 0
Newcastle 0 Ipswich 1
Stoke 1 Plymouth 2
Soton 2 Shrewsbury 0
Wycombe 0 Oxford 2
Blackburn 2 Barnsley 0
Man City 2 Lincoln 1
Palace 0 Tranmere 0 pens 3-2
Watford 2 Forest 0

Oh dear a couple of big scalps going out of the cup at this early stage although Newcastle's exit may be a blessing in disguise the exit of Charlton may well cause ripples that result in the sacking of their long time boss, even though he is undoubtedly the clubs most successful manager ever, all to often these days we see both fans and managers rage quit when a cup of tea and a biscuit may be a better idea...we shall see I guess.

Geoff@ManCity wrote:

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Scotland Premier

Celtic 20 +6
St Johnstone 17 +6
Inverness 15 +5
Rangers 14 +5
Aberdeen 14 +0

As you were after a series of goal less draws in Scotland means Aberdeen moved level on points with Rangers.

Seems like fun, might move my feeder here next year

You can take an extra team in Scotland if you like under the recently introduced "Scottish Club Sponsorship Scheme", which allows non-Scottish clubs to affiliate themselves with a scottish club very similar to how feeder clubs work with the same limitations and balances.

French Cup

Monaco 1 Cannes 0
Metz 1 Lyon 3
Etienne 2 Sochaux 0
Paris 2 Chatearoux 0
Lille 1 Nimes 1 pens 3-1
Nantes 3 Toulon 0

top six all through...

Pokal Cup

Frankfurt 0 Hannover 0 pens 0-2
Schalke 1 Duisberg 0
Cologne 0 Dusseldorf 0 pens 4-3
Bayern 1 Freiburg 2
Hamburg 3 Furth 0
Kaiserslautern 0 Stuttgart 2
Dortmund 2 Arminia 0
Berlin 1 Leipzig 0
Gladbach 1 Nuremburg 0
Jena 0 Bochum 0 pens 1-3

The huge news for the Bundesliga Cup this week is the shock exit of Bayern Munich as a late extra time goal knocks them out of the third round draw, with only Frankfurt failing to score and suffering the same fate, it looks like being a good close competition this year.