red_ed

M*, what if Pjanic went to, as Wenger calls it, a "discotheque"? I heard about that but never saw the footage. What happened exactly? I see Valencia are making more signings in their quest to gradually become a mediocre team <_< I can't believe Manuel Fernandes was never used either

I wanted Rafa to buy him when he was playing at Fulham. A classy player though and a shame he's retiring

I was punished severely in Fantasy for not picking Manyoo players again. I blame all this on Arsene.

Leigh Lezark (The Misshapes)

Group F doesn't look so straight forward to me. The away games look tricky for all teams. As usual Manure got the easiest draw. New season same old United. <_< The whole Arsene saga has shades of Rafa. And is Otelul Galati even a club? I bet Manyoo made them up eNe = Arsenal, Juve and Valencia

With Thiago coming through and Alexis Sanchez waiting on the wings (quite literally), it doesn't look like Afellay will get many starts but Pep should be wary too that Barcelona practically imploded last season around Feb-March because the squad wasn't big enough. Juve are really showing their ambitions to join the Milan boys in this window (even if they aren't landing any of their big bids).

Arsene came out and ruled out Mata and Jadson after the Fabregas sale. At first I thought it was a smoke screen, but now I am just baffled. As for Kaka, weren't Arsenal asking for a loan from Madrid? I imagine Madrid were always waiting to loan out a 29 year old and possibly still pay some of his wages.

I guess McLeish now holds a record that even Capello cannot compete with - Heskey scored for one of his teams.

Or he could just promote another 16 year old Is Ryo Miyaichi ready to play yet? I only watched from the first goal onwards and I think by then you guys were down to 10 men, so I can't judge how good/bad Arsenal were. I hear some Arsenal fans want Wenger out. Meanwhile others support their manager, saying "In Arsene We Trust" and citing how since Arsene's arrival they have won some important trophies and managed to always play in the Premier League every season. The club seems to be in transition and no one else can take the place of Wenger. It all sounds so familiar for some reason Can't say I did *scours interwebz for replays* Falcao in + Eto'o out = Forlan transer. Forlan's a good striker with a pretty rounded game but he seems to have lost motivation the past couple of seasons. Good buy for Spurs. I quite like Lass and thought he did a good job at Madrid. I hate you Llorente!

I haven't seen anyone mention The Antlers - Burst Apart. A great album. I'm absolutely in love with this song.

Pretty much everything will start on Gameweek 2 due to technical difficulties on the first week. So if you haven't signed up, SIGN UP FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!! Sorry Baron, I should've remembered...after all it is B + anfield.

Did anyone have Aguero? I bet we'll all have him next week

Hello, TheEnigma, my name is Frederick (not literally) and I support Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund. My favourite colour is green and I enjoy walks along the beach and the films of Kevin Bacon. Inexplicably I don't have a thread in the Guys of Bellazon section. How do you think Villa will do this season? Might have lost Young & Downing but still have some good players. Don't forget the new arrival, McLeish!

Yay someone to complain to about our awesomeness! As you know, Freddy = Villa and Dortmund. M* = Sunderland SS = Barca and Brugge I think eNe = Arsenal Berno = Manyoo :yukky: Baron = Portsmouth and ummm... ....don't hit me Baron Did I miss anyone?

He was meant to be the next Pele hahaha. I guess Pele did end his career in the US

Lol I haven't really kept up with the preseason I was shocked to see Raul's hair Kuyt should always start. He is my hero I'm afraid to check fantasy scores because the results look horrible Are you a Liverpool fan Enigma?

Damn you Michael* :persuazn: I don't know why Meireles and Kuyt didn't start, and where was Johnson? Aquilani, for all his preseason heroics, was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, I think Adam doesn't have what it takes. Only time will tell. Anyway, I thought you guys did well, especially in the second half. What a beauty from Larsson! Btw, I didn't have the commentary on so I couldn't figure out what half the yellows were for

Depends what the problem is. If its something they can recover from, I have seen clubs take players in at the end of a transfer window - it happened pretty recently iirc. On the other hand, I've seen players rejected too e.g. Aly Cissokho's transfer to AC Milan was rejected because of some dental problem during his medical? Otherwise they will have to sit down and re-negotiate - they still have til the end of August and the Spanish season could be delayed based on player strikes anyway. Apparently Fabregas was heading to Heathrow but received a call from Pep to turn around. Seems like everything is in place apart from a medical (post Supercup I suppose). So Michael* what do you make of the opening round of fixtures? I think O'Shea will strike against us, even if he is injured <_< In other news, my head hurts - the all-too-familiar feeling of signing up for another season of Fantasy. I think I like to bring the pain on and I enjoy the suffering. Does that make me a sadist and a masochist simultaneously?

Bid accepted. Contract to be signed sooner rather than later. Saga ended.

Especially if Torres keeps his blistering strike rate of 1 goal in 18 games up Fabio is out with an injury in preseason isn't he? Don't know how long he's out for though. I have to replace half my fantasy team now cause, surprise surprise, I have Arsenal players and apparently they can't go through preseason without an injury <_<

I saw that and I thought it was a bargain. Doesn't Rafael have to compete with Evra on the left though? Fabio is one that plays on the right. Also, Manyoo's stars are all relatively cheap compared to other teams - Nani, Young and Chicarito are all 10.0m, very useful to have. I'm not sure I could live with myself if I broke my non-Manyoo ploicy though. I've been using it since I started playing fantasy nearly 8 seasons ago. And good picks. I thought Given was a steal (but I still went with Hart) and Sturridge looks good but I can't be sure how often he will play so I'd rather buy him the season starts. It's really hard to pick a good team

Joined! Thanks M* Picked my team of ridiculous misfits. I can't say I have much confidence. And my Anti-Manyoo policy might count against me again this season considering how cheap some of their players are. Gawd! at least Chicarito is 10m though, which helps to a degree.

I will get around to it shortly. Unless you want to get around to it now and put your name on there... The Frederick Cup...has a nice ring to it doesn't it? By the way, please set up 2 leagues if you do decide to set it up.

Maybe he misunderstood Wenger's instructions when he told him he wanted Carl to be like Lee Dixon?