Transfer Password: 29 August 2007

"BULL"

as in Steve Bull

Decisions Decisions

This weekend saw a turnaround in fortunes for many TFF players with the "big four" all keeping clean sheets and the likes of FF getting on the scoresheet. However, the wildcards continue to surprise with their points haul with Mikael Forssell proving a live TFF option up front - where options are very limited.

The signs suggest that a "traditional" policy may pay off for managers with a Liverpool block, Gerrard and Lampard proving staples for anyone with ambitions of winning their super leagues.

However, the difference between the weak and the chaff will come down to the selection of those strikers. With so much incosistency (RVP missing a pen this weekend) selection of the front three continues to prove tricky.

Some suggestions for this weekend:

Kamara
Lampard
Tevez
Evra
Agger
Torres
Milner
Viduka
Arbeloa
Healy
Forssell

........and as a enormous wildcard Louis shoeshine Saha.

Update: 28 August 2007

Manchester United 1 Tottenham 0
Goal: Nani
Assists: none
Booked: Brown, Giggs, Huddlestone, Berbatov, Gardner
MOTM: Evra

Middlesbrough 2 Newcastle 2
Goals: Mido, Arca, N'Zogbia, Viduka
Assists: Rochemback, Ramage, Geremi
Booked: Wheater, Young, Woodgate, Rochemback, Mido, Tuncay, Butt, Milner, Smith
MOTM: Arca

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 0
Goal: Fabregas
Assists: Hleb
Booked: Hamann
Penalty Miss: van Persie
Penalty Save: Schmeichel
MOTM: Schmeichel

Aston Villa 2 Fulham 1
Goals: Maloney, Dempsey
Own Goal: Knight
Assists: Young, Kamara
Booked: Bouma, Kamara
Sent Off: Baird
MOTM: Young

Bolton 3 Reading 0
Goals: Speed, Anelka, Braaten
Assists: Diouf x2, Anelka
Booked: Meite, Hunt, de la Cruz
MOTM: Diouf

Chelsea 1 Portsmouth 0
Goal: Lampard
Assists: Drogba
Booked: Davis, Muntari
MOTM: Lampard

Derby 1 Birmingham 2
Goals: Oakley, Jerome x2
Assists: Lewis, Forssell, Larsson
Booked: Jaidi
MOTM: Jerome

Everton 1 Blackburn 1
Goals: McFadden, Santa Cruz
Assists: Arteta, (why not Pedersen???)
Booked: Ooijer, Pedersen
MOTM: Samba

Sunderland 0 Liverpool 2
Goals: Sissoko, Voronin
Assists: Voronin, Torres
Booked: Etuhu, Arbeloa
MOTM: Voronin

West Ham 1 Wigan 1
Goals: Bowyer, Scharner
Assists: Boa Morte
Booked: Upson, Brown, Landzaat
MOTM: Melchiot

Transfer Policy

A lot can be said about the tactics of making changes to your side. The way I see it is like this: If your team contains players with broken feet, get RID.

I have made 4 changes to all of my teams. Not least because the embargo on transfers has left me with serious ground to make up.

So in have come the following:

Gerrard
Arteta
Agger
Lita
Healy
Utaka
Drogba
Tevez
..... and Old Block eeeed Mark "the Dukes of Hazard" Viduka

Telegraph Transfer Password 22 August 2007

The Daily Telegraph Fantasy Football transfer password for 22 August 2007 is:

MARINER

Get transferring Wazz out of your team PRONTO.

League Leader: Mr Yates - 136 points (What's he DOING)

Update: 20 August 2007

MOMs

Aston Villa (vs Newcastle a) drew 0-0: Lausen
Arsenal (vs Blackburn a) drew 1-1: Van Persie
Liverpool (vs Chelsea h) drew 1-1: Gerrard
Man City (vs Man Utd h) won 1-0: Dunne
Middlesbrough (vs Fulham a) won 2-1: Davies
Portsmouth (vs Bolton h) won 3-1: Utaka
Reading (vs Everton h) won 1-0: Hunt
Tottenham (vs Debry h) won 4-0: Malbranque
West Ham (vs Birmingham a) won 1-0: Noble
Wigan (vs Sunderland h) won 3-0: Heskey

Assists

Bolton: Diouf
Chelsea: Malouda (Cheat) (Season: 2)
Everton: Johnson
Fulham: Smertin
Liverpool: Gerrard
Man City: Elano (Season: 3)
Middlesbrough: Davies, Arca
Portsmouth: Kanu (2), Utaka, O'Neil
Tottenham: Bent
West ham: Bellamy
Wigan: Scharner

Goals

Arsenal: Van Persie (Season: 2)
Blackburn: Dunn
Bolton: Anelka (Season: 2)
Chelsea: Lampard (Season: 2)
Fulham: McBride (dislocated knee et al)
Liverpool: Torres
Man City: Geovanni (Season: 2)
Middlesbrough: Cattermole
Portsmouth: Utaka (Season: 2), Taylor, Kanu
Tottenham: Malbranque (2), Jenas, Bent
Wigan: Sibereski (Season: 3), Heskey, Landzaat


Bookings

Arsenal: Flamini (Season: 2), Eduardo, Clichy, Van Persie
Aston Villa: Gardiner, Reo-Coker
Blackburn: Bentley, Samba (Season: 2), Savage (Season: 2)
Birmingham: Parnaby, Nafti, Ridgewell, Kapo
Bolton: Hunt, Speed
Chelsea: Essien, Cole, Ben-Haim, Lampard, Terry
Derby: Griffin, Howard, Moore, Fagan
Everton: Lescott, Mcfadden
Fulham: Kamara
Liverpool: Kuyt, Pennant, Gerrard, Carragher
Man City: Hamann (Season: 2), Corluka
Man Utd: Brown, Ferdinand
Middlesbrough: Boateng, Aliadere, Schwarzer
Reading: Long (Season: 2) Ingimarsson (Season: 2)
Sunderland: Etuhu (Season: 2), Collins

Red Cards

Blackburn: Nelsen

Weekend Preview

With players champing at the bit to get those transfers in next week this weekend presents the final chance for those with an early lead to consolidate their position.

Many of the Premiership encounters look straightforward enough: Spurs at home to Derby, Portsmouth at home to a struggling Bolton, Newcastle against Villa. However, Blackburn/Arsenal, the Manchester derby and the clash between Liverpool and Chelsea look a tougher call.

From a fantasy perspective it looks as though the winds may be set to change this weekend. It has to be doubted whether Man Utd will fail to respond to their disappointing start to the season and those with Richard Dunne and Micah Richards should beware. Nevertheless, Elano continues to impress for Eriksson's side and is a valid fantasy player, in spite of coming up against the toughest opposition he has faced at domestic level to date.

My own personal recommendations are for us to look at teams looking for a reversal of fortunes. United are the obvious candidates, but look also for Spurs to turn things around. With Berbatov injured, the stage is set for Darren Bent and Robbie Keane to lay a marker down. Look also for Jermain Defoe to live up to his flat-track bully reputation.

Speaking of which, Frank Lampard. Expect him to go MISSING this weekend. With Ronaldo suspended, Fabregas up against northern monkeys and Gerrard carrying a broken toe, look to the outstanding Mikel Arteta and the so-far quiet Jason Koumas to provide some "shock" value to fantasy owners.

In additon to the Spurs forwards, David Healy looks set to continue his good form in the striking department. A home fixture against a woeful Boro presents him with ample opportunity to add to his tally of two goals in two games. A second successive away trip for Sunderland may stem Michael Chopra's run of form but look out for me to be proved completely wrong on that front yet again. Elsewhere, Oba Martins is likely to be amongst the points again, against Villa at home, despite the rumoured return to fitness of Michael Owen.

In terms of clean sheets, Newcastle and Wigan (!!) look decent outside bets. The Liverpool-Chelsea game has also got a potential clean-sheet frenzy writ LARGE over it. Everton look solid and a Reading side hit by injuries and suspensions may just be seeing signs of weakness following the toughest imaginable start to the season possible. Lescott, Johnson, Osman and Arteta therefore look good value in that game.

Tips: Keane, Johnson, Martins, Healy, Arteta, Koumas, Lescott, Yobo, Finnan, Agger, Given.

Can someone here please call 911

The start of the TFF season goes from bad to worse for many players... especially this Old Big Ed.

Not only did they stump up £8.0 million for the most expensive player of the game only to see him go down after 30 minutes of the first game with a broken foot, they then witness the most expensive midfielder in the game get sent off for basically being too high profile.

Now a head butt is one thing (see for xample when Zidane went NUTS in the World Cup final). But another thing is that unusual "rutting STAGS" thing footballers sometimes do in order to confront a player without "raising hands". I don't know how many times the likes of atrick Vieira have done it but I imagine someplace somewhere "le gande sausage" is doing it right now- proabably to his own reflection.

Whatever your view all I know is that Mr Bennett's decision has cost me and thousands of other TFF managers a considerable number of points and put me WAY OFF the pace. Not only does Ronaldo receive minus 5 points for his indiscretion but will now play no part in United's next three games.

With another week to go until we are FINALLY allowed to change our teams, those who didn't go with the obvious are reaping the benefits. I think we are all left asking this: what EXACTLY does putting a block on transfers serve to do!!

The final question is this: do those with the likes of Michael Chopra and Benjani in their teams from the START (!!) know their arses from their elbows from thier low hangers?

Only time will tell.

Update: 16 August 2007

MOMs

Chelsea (vs Reading a)won 2-1: Drogba
Fulham (vs Bolton h) won 2-1: Smertin
Man City (vs Derby h) won 1-0: Johnson
Man Utd: (vs Portsmouth a) drew 1-1: Scholes
Sunderland (vs Birmingham a) drew 2-2: Nosworthy
Wigan (vs Middlesbrough h) won 1-0: Sibierski

Assists

Birmingham: Larsson, (Season: 2) Forsell, Kelly
Chelsea: Drogba
Everton: Johnson
Man City: Elano (Season: 2)
Manu Utd: Nani, Tevez
Portsmouth: Taylor
Reading: Ingarmarsson, Shorey
Sunderland: Wallace (Season: 2), Etuhu
Wigan: Valencia

Goals

Birmingham: O'Connor
Bolton: Helguson
Chelsea: Lampard, Drogba
Fulham: Healy (Season: 2), Smertin
Man City: Johnson
Man Utd: Scholes
Portsmouth: Benjani (Season: 2)
Sunderland: Chopra (Season: 2) John
Wigan: Sibereski (Season: 2)

Bookings

Birmingham: Doyle
Bolton: Diouf
Chelsea: Carvalho (Season: 2),Sidwell, Wright-Phillips, Cole, Mikel
Derby: Howard
Fulham: Bocanegra (Season: 2), Konchesky
Man City: Petrov, Hamann, Johnson
Man Utd: Vidic
Middlesbrough: Sanli, Johnson, Arca
Portsmouth: Davis (Season: 2)
Reading: Long, Hunt, Ingimarsson
Sunderland: Etuhu
Wigan: Kilbane

OGs
Sunderland: McShane

Red Cards

Portsmouth: Muntari
Man Utd: Ronaldo
Reading: Cisse

Update: 15 August 2007

MOMs

Everton (vs Spurs a) won 3-1: Osman (Season: 2)

Goals

Everton: Lescott, Osman (Season: 2), Stubbs
Tottenham: Gardiner

Assists

Everton: Arteta
Tottenham: Jenas

Bookings

Malbranque
Jenas

Update: 13 August 2007

MOMs

Arsenal (vs Fulham h)won 2-1: Van Persie
Blackburn (vs Boro a)won 2-1: Santa Cruz
Chelsea (vs Birmingham h)won 3-2: Essien
Derby (vs Pompey h)drew 2-2: Mears
Everton (vs Wigan h) won 2-1: Osman
Liverpool (vs Villa a)won 2-1: Gerrard
Newcastle (vs Bolton a)won 3-1: Martins
Man City (vs West Ham a) won 2-0: Schmeical
Reading (vs Man Utd a) drew 0-0: Hahnemann
Sunderland (vs Spurs h) won 1-0: Mcshane

Assists

Arsenal: Toure, Fabregas
Birmingham: Ridgewell, Mcsheffrey
Blackburn: Gamst Pedersen
Bolton: Nolan
Chelsea: SWP, Kalou
Derby: Howard, Teale
Everton: Johnson
Liverpool: Kuyt
Man City: Elano, Onuha
Newcastle: Milner
Portsmouth: Nugent
Sunderland: Wallace

Goals

Aston Villa: Barry
Arsenal: Van Persie, Hleb
Birmingham: Forsell, Kapo
Blackburn: Santa Cruz, Derbyshire
Bolton: Anelka
Chelsea: Essien, Pizarro, Malouda
Derby: Oakley, Todd
Everton: Osman, Anichebe
Fulham: Healy
Liverpool: Gerrard
Man City: Bianchi, Geovanni
Middlesbrough: Downing
Newcastle: Martins (x 2), N'Zogbia
Portsmouth: Benjani, Utaka
Wigan: Sibereski

Bookings

Arsenal: Flamini
Aston Villa: Mellberg, Bouma, Barry, Petrov
Birmingham: Larsson
Blackburn: Gamst Pedersen, Samba, Savage, Derbyshire
Bolton: Helguson
Chelsea: Essien, Carvalho
Derby: Oakley
Fulham: Bocanegra, Smertin, Kamara, Diop Warner
Liverpool: Pennant, Reina
Man City: Garrido, Ireland, Elano, Geovanni
Middlesbrough: Wheater, Boateng, Downing
Newcastle: Geremi
Portsmouth: Lauren, Davis
Reading: Ki-Hyeon, Oster
Sunderland: Whitehead
Tottenham: Zokora

Red Cards

Reading: Kitson

OGs

Aston Villa: Laursen

Top Performances

Goalkeeper: Hahnemann 9 points
Defence: Mcshane 9 points
Midfield: Gerrard/Osman 10 points
Striker: Martins 15 points

Leader's Total

Mr West (Fred?) 73 points (!!!!)

Making that Key Fast Start

BB Head here.

As many of you will note from my team selections below the opening weekend was an excellent one for me. I managed a flying start with an array of clean sheets, assist and goals.

The paragraph above represents a cup of magic beans.

The Robert Huth is that this has been the worst start to a fantasy football season in 5 years.

Anyone with a Man Utd defence, a Man City midfield, Steven Gerrard and Oba Martins is laughing all the way to the bank.

I'm not laughing.

To make matters worse, a transfer freeze unitl 22 August makes all those key injuries (i.e. Wazza's broken foot), as difficult to swallow as Paul Hodges.

Disaster

Doc Brown here.

As far as I am concerned that opening weekend was a disaster. Wayne Rooney attempting to play on with a clearly broken foot whilst admirable was horrfic news to anyone who had built their team around him based on his sterling pre-season performance. That person is me. What with a total of 0 clean sheets and 0 goals from my strikers i can only hope the MOMs come to my rescue.

Give me those transfers - all of them.

My Teams for the Season

So here are my teams that will embark on the season:

Team 1: Cech, Carvalho, Cole, Ben Haim, The Caramac Kid, Ronaldo, Giggs, MGP, Koumas, Benni Mac, Van Persie
Team 2: Howard, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Samba, Ronaldo, MGP, Richardson, Van Persie, Wazza, Keane
Team 3: Cech, Carvalho, Cole, Ben Haim, Cid, Ronaldo, Lets Talk About Csec, MGP, Giggs, Benni Mac, Van Persie
Team 4: Howard, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Samba, Ronaldo, Lets Talk About Csec, Ljungberg, Van Persie, Wazza, Keane
Team 5: Jussi J, "Ello" Meite, Samuel, Cid, Warnock, Ronaldo, Lets Talk About, Pedersen, Wazza, Van Persie, Keane

Needles to say (you did drugs) I've got my own personal faves for the season. I remain slightly disappointed not to have picked up more Rovers defenders - particularly the underrated Ryan Nelsen. However, on the whole I'm satisfied with my day's work.

Tip: Look out for those fixtures in August- Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal and West Ham play only 3 times. Use those transfers wisely if necessary - you can average approximately 3 a month.

That Window is Slamming Shut

BB Head here for another instalment.

Like Carl Fiford cooking on gas, that TFF transfer amnesty window is slamming at midnight this evening.

I have five teams entered and will be tinkering with them right up to the last minute - that much is for sure. Of these five teams I have plumped for three sets of 4-3-3 and two 4-4-2. The make-up of the sides follow a common theme: block defences from boring, negative teams at a bargain prices; strong midfielders rated £4m and above; and strikers worth £6m or above; with a sprinkle of wildcard magic beans.

90% of the teams' personnel are now settled. The difficulty remains those one or two players needed to come in under budget. At the moment I am tinkering between Jason Koumas, Patrick Berger, Dean Whitehead, Kieron Richardson, Gary McSheffrey, Gary O'Connor, Ricardo Vaz Te, Freddie Ljungberg and Carlos Edwards.

The problem is this: in an ideal world I'd select precisely none of these players.

Koumas and Richardson look like they will get the nod..... for now.

I will reveal all tomorrow (not my cock).

Dean (G)Ashton - the new BJP?

Old BB Head here.

The choice of strikers presents an interesting dilemma- which money man, which £6m man and which wildcard will you choose. Some will, of course, revert to a 4-4-2 formation, where an extra midfielder may result in better cost efficiency.

Four men immediately stand out. The girls may be saying "no" but this man is saying "yes" to Robin Van Persie. Meanwhile, Robert Earnshaw, at only 4.3m stands out as a potential buck toothed wild-card. His "gun down the crowd" celebrations are worth the TFF money itself.

Speaking of gash gun-toting goal celebrations, Robbie Keane has always offered early season spurts before shooting his load and finding himself benched/subbed mid-season. At around £6.0m he represents some fantasy value, particuarly due his penalty kick duties for Spurs and his excellent partnership with Dimi Berbs.

Finally, there's Dean Ashton. This man is an enigma, a paradox, a chameleon - never particualry prolific - he immediately appears to be ready to be priced up as a "one in three man". However, the vibes around "the next Ted Shez" are good pre-season and those "experts" on MOTD can't get enough of him. He therefore represents a significant sleeper.

For those of a braver disposition look no further than Ricardo Vaz Te. Dismissed by some (i.e. me) as being a big bag of pace and nothing else, this man has been banging them in pre-season. He seems to have a guarenteed starting place on the back of these performances and may therefore offer sleeper value to those looking to break the mould.

As for the Yak, well, feed him and he will score. Problem is my brother - Old Block Ed Viduka - upped and left the Riverside during the summer and raided the larder on his way out. My hunch is the Yak may go hungry.

Who is, Who isn't

This is the Brown Bear entering his first thoughts of the season.

I for one am sitting at my desk waiting with master baited breath at the thought of the start of the new season. I'm also collecting my thoughts on what my strategy in terms of TFF will be. I always think picking a TFF team is not so much about who you pick but who you don't pick. Last year the true steals were the likes of Dan SwAgger, Mikey Arteta, Ruth Badger, David Bentley and Kevin Doyle. Who knows who they will be this season?! However, you don't have to spot these bargains before anybody else (although it bloody helps) to have a successful team. You just don't have to be the last to spot them, otherwise you'll be left feeling like someone has been using your orifice to defrost frozen sausages.

A lot is also said about how key the selection of strikers is and it cannot be disputed that the likes of Rooney, Drogba, Berbs will rack up loads of points week in week out. But everyone is sure to have 1 out of 3 of these guys at the very least. The real point of differentation, much like in actual football is the midfield. Midfielders who end up being top (or near top) goalscorers at their respective clubs, whether that be by hanging around in the box or big booming ball breaking long range strikes - these guys are priceless, as their cost effeciency is that much better when compared to a striker.

Timing is something else that people often forget about. Using all your transfers by November whilst great fun is ridiculous. It leaves you hanging around scratching your low hangers with a wine bottle waiting for a miracle. By the same breath still having 10 transfers going into the final game of the season leaves you with too many options and not the means to action them. Too many cocks spoiling the cock if you will. Ideally you don't really want any more than 2 transfers going into the last game of the season and a fully fit side on the pitch. That is really important towards the end of the season - that your players are actually still in the side and not out of favour, out of form or better still. Dead.

All that being said here's to a new season ahead and more of channel 915, Damien Duff and sending the boys round.

Initial Pre-Season Thoughts

Players from the Big Four will inevitably dominate many players' selections with Rooney/Ronaldo, Liverpool/Chelsea block defences and Gerrard/Lampard midfield options featuring in the vast majority of teams. However, the new pricing structure will nullify all those players who, in 06/07, simply plumped for a Liverpool D, Ronaldo, Gerrard, Lampard and sat back and watched the points roll in.

This year, the choice between who to pick from the top end of the budget has never been tougher. Indeed, hunting down a bargain at the bottom end of the player lists will require a huge amount of skill and know-how. In particular, knowledge of new additions and players from the newly-promoted clubs will prove key.

Traditionally, little can be gained from pre-season friendlies. However, those players with a keen eye will pick up on a series of strikers coming into form for the big kick-off. Indeed, when seeking to sniff out a bargain, players will need to cast a careful eye over who is getting the nod for a starting position- particuarly in defences.

One of the key questions currently is "who will fill the full-back positions for the big four?" As full-backs often represent some early value for clean-sheet hunters players will need help in identifying those all-important members of the Premiership starting XIs the pre-season friendlies present early clues.

At the time of writing, I expect the following to be filling the full-back positions of the Big Four come kick-off time:

Man Utd: Brown (in Neville's continued absence) and Evra
Chelsea: Cole and Ben Haim/Johnson (not Paulo Ferreira as the papers continue to predict)
Liverpool: Riise (pending an end to the Heinze saga) and Finnan
Arsenal: Sanga (with Eboue now to be used on the right side of midfield) and Clichy

Apropos to nothing, here are some players who have shown pre-season form, and look fit and sharp at this early stage:

Koumas, Ashton (back from injury with a well-taken goal against Torino), Benni McCarthy, Gamst Pedersen, Berbatov, Keane, Rooney, Van Persie, Micah Richards, Rosicky, Luke Moore(!), Bendtnar, Samba, Barry, Drogba and one of my all-time favourites, Patrick "with relish" Berger.

Those to avoid at this stage include Michael Owen, who will miss the start of the new season, Paul Scholes (injured in the Far East), Tim Cahill (injured in pre-season), Wayne Bridge (injured), Joey Barton (in the dock/under the knife) Ballack/Robben (on their way?), Obafemi Martins (AWOL?) Ghaly (out of favour all over the shop), Kieron Dyer (ditto), Louis Saha (always injured), Gary Neville (ditto- despite threatening a comeback), Emanuele Pogatetz (surgery), Ben Foster (surgery), Park Ji-Sung (out for the season?), Stelios (injured) and Jimmy Bullard (recommended but slowly on the comeback trail).

A watching brief should be kept on the Community Shield this Sunday. The game will reveal a lot about the full-back situations at both clubs and the relative fitness of both squads.

Intro

Every Friday and Wednesday we will be posting all the latest Telegraph Fantasy Football news, views, Man of the Match awards and Transfer passwords here.

Dr Carl Brown and Mr P Bags will also be providing guest opinion on TFF tactics and views on the best value around in the Daily Telegraph game.

Shortly, I will reveal my thoughts on the best starting XI, and my broad gameplan for the season ahead.

Remember, its a marathon not a sprint.