Season 25 week 11 processing...

Isthmian

Hartlepool 20 +5
Wycombe 18 +5
Colchester 17 +3
Chester 16 +1

proving to be a good season for Wycombe as they look to move up a level.

Le Championnat

Nantes 27 +18
Monaco 26 +13
Paris 24 +5
Lyon 23 +15
Lille 21 +8
Etienne 20 +6

another very close league now that could go to anyone of four clubs, maybe even five if Etienne continue to improve.

Greece

Olympiakos 27 +9
Ethnikos 20 +5
Athens 17 +4

a good solid lead here for Johnny's feeder club.

Bundesliga

as you were following another solid win for the leaders...

Schalke 33 +21
Berlin 24 +9
Bayern 24 +8
Gladbach 19 +4
Hamburg 15 -2

except for Berlin of course who have snuck above the Champions Bayern into second place.

Bundesliga second

Cologne 28 +9
Kaiserslautern 20 +4
Uerdingen 18 +4

Greg's feeder club leading the charge back to the top flight here.

Eredivisie

Heerenveen 23 +11
Ajax 23 +10
PSV 23 +7
Feyenoord 22 +7
Vitesse 20 +3

a vital win this week for Ajax over PSV makes it yet another very close title race.

Serie A

Inter 31 +29
Ancona 22 +15
Milan 22 +8
Napoli 19 +4
Roma 18 +6
Juventus 16 +1

still Inter's to lose really.

Serie B

Fiorentina 23 +9
Atalanta 18 +3
Vicenza 17 +3

the Violas on their way back to the top flight with last season's whipping boys, Atalanta, also doing very well, shows just what a huge gap there is between Serie A and Serie B.

Tippaligaen

Viking 27 +13
Rosenborg 26 +10
Valerenga 17 +4

a vital win this week keeps Chopper's feeder club in the driving seat, just.

Ekstraklassa

Gornik 28 +16
Wisla 26 +8
Polonia 18 +5

Scotland

Celtic 26 +11
St Johnstone 23 +10
Rangers 18 +6
Inverness 17 +5
Aberdeen 14 -2

La Liga

Barcelona 31 +32
Real Madrid 25 +12
Valencia 22 +10
Betis 22 +8
Atletico 22 +6
Bilbao 17 -1

MLS

Cosmos 22 +10
Chicago 21 +4
Tampa 20 +3
Galaxy 18 +2

Chicago are now feeder club for Santos.

and now for the International results...World Cup week...

Uruquay 0 Germany 1
Italy 0 Greece 0

Spain 0 Holland 2
Portugal 1 Poland 1

Serbia 0 Argentina 2
Norway 1 France 1

USA 0 Belgium 1
England 1 Brazil 2

That all means that Germany pip Italy and go through from group one, into the first of the semi-finals, where they will face off against Holland, who finished above Portugal, Poland and Spain to remain unbeaten with three wins from three games so far. Whilst the second of the World Cup semi-finals will be played out between the favorites Argentina, who won two and drew one, to finish above France, and Brazil, in what will be a classic south american clash. Belgium did very well to finish second behind Brazil but losing out on goal difference only, had they been managed they may well have gone through.

So congrats are due to Matthew at Bayern, Greg at Ajax, Ben at Plymouth and Geoff at Man City, it should be another thrilling pair of World Cup semi finals.

Just out of interest Germany play FAS, Holland play TOT, Argentina play FAS and Brazil play SAM, all Targetman centric tactics, it should make for an interesting set of matches. Germany's targetman is currently Kuranyi of all people, the big veteran centre forward doing an excellent job in his new role. The dutch targetman is of course Robin Van Persie, and he seems to have come alive recently as both Man United and Holland look to benefit from the genius. Argentina's target man is of course Lionel Messi, and very little can be added to the accolades this guy has received already in his career, other than to say he has to be the man to beat. Whilst Geoff's target man is the ageing Ronaldinho, he probably doesn't have the legs anymore to run for ninety minutes, but with Coutinho appearing off the bench after an hour, he no longer needs to.

In the World Youth Cup the four semi-final spots will go to Brazil, managed by Geoff, they finished above Holland and Wales in group one, Spain, who are unmanaged but still too good for France and Scotland in group two, Italy, managed by Rob, who beat Denmark to top spot in group three, and last but not least, England, managed by Tom, who finished above Argentina, Belgium and Germany in the group of death that was group four.

So that means Brazil and Spain face off and Italy and England do the same for a spot at the World Youth Cup Final, good luck to all our semi-finalists.

okay, transfers for me now, and I'll try not to miss any this week

Southampton offload Adam Johnson for £25millions to Sheffield Wednesday after they grab Dusan Tadic on trial for £11millions. They also list the recently signed Aiden McGeady.

Quote from Matt the Soton boss ( lots of Matt's in the game atm ) "Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do", and "Following his arrest I decided to get shot of him, cos he hasn't really been doing much except lose the ball since I signed him, time to try someone else." and "Tadic may just be the man to spark us."

I think Johnson's biggest problem in a 442 is the fact that he refuses to track back and do his fair share of work in the defensive half of the field, and Tadic is much better at that. I was surprised that McGeady was listed though, as he is another grafter, and you need that when you play winghalves 442. Not sure that Sinclair or Moses will give you more that McGeady.

Will Hughes makes the move from Villa to Inter Milan for a massive £18millions, that's a good deal for Villa who need the money and I would imagine that plenty of manager's would be interested in buying Hughes from Inter, although they might not recoup their money.

Manchester City have made a huge bid to Chelsea to try and sign young Pat Bamford, a player who greatly impressed the City boss in a recent reserve game. But being a young Chelsea player in real life the bid was knocked back. Expect City to bid again though for sure.

Coaching and Finances now...

Paul Hemmings wrote:

Will Hughes makes the move from Villa to Inter Milan for a massive £18millions, that's a good deal for Villa who need the money and I would imagine that plenty of manager's would be interested in buying Hughes from Inter, although they might not recoup their money.

Much as I hate to big up a real life Derby player ..... keep an eye on Hughes, he's a future England midfielder. He's very classy and although still only 19 has played 12 times for England U-21 (he's got another two and a half years at that level) and has over 100 games for Derby. Watch him in the Prem next season. As I said though ...... shame he's a filthy sheep shagger.

Email turns all sent out, printing now.