World Cup 2010 Signs Off
I enjoyed the tournament overall - it didn't have as many classic matches as we'd have hoped for, but some of the tactical battles were thrilling & I thoroughly enjoyed watching Germany grow as a team, defying pundits along the way. I was also hugely impressed by Diego Forlan who carried Uruguay superbly.
In terms of the our World Cup Fantasy Football competition, I'd like to congratulate JJOKBOB, winner of the Blog League, holding on by just 1 point from DragonLegend. JJOKBOB wasn't able to make it a double, as LeoZabalet defeated him in the Blog Cup Final - well done to all!
Thanks to all 472 teams that took part in the competition - our league finished 13th in the Overall Best League Table, which is a great effort from all the teams at the top. I finished down in 102nd place on 576 points, but I'd like to think I'd have finished a bit higher had I not missed 6 match days due to Glasto.
We can now turn our focus to the new Premier League season, and I'm hoping Yahoo will have the new game up & running in the next couple of week so we can start thinking about Week 1 on August 14th.
Finally, one of our blog regulars ToffeeDave has started his own blog for the new season, covering betting advice on everything English Premier League. Please check it out over at http://toffeedave.blogspot.com
Cheers,
AM
19 comments:
AM - your thoughts on our Spurs becoming Automonous? Talk about some shrewd business planning by Levy et al...I can't help but see this separation of sponsorship for domestic/cup play as the wave of the future. One day, I'm sure we'll look back to the time where clubs had one sponsor for every game and scratch our heads, finding it odd.
No, if we could only fins a financial backer for that new stadium....
Looking forward to welcoming Mr. Forlan to WHL. ;)
Im going through withdrawal already for the new season to start. I have been analyzing match schedules for each team for their first few games to ready my fantasy picks and bets. Anyone else already hoping to buy players before they're price starts to rise as more and more people join and pick players for the new season?
@ToffeeDave - yes, very much so. i've satisfied my fix by starting with the official Fantasy Premier League game which opened up today.. Good fun! Bale's a midfielder though...
Can't believe that it has already almost been a year since I snatched up Drogs at 10.6 from the get-go.
What will the opening day price be for Gareth Bale? I say no way it is less than 15.
How about Chamakh?
I don't think Bale will be nearly that expensive. I always thought the price is determined by including more than just last year's peformance. Since his years previous were terrible, maybe he'll be a bit more reasonable? But he did end up at 18.00 in the end.
Chamakh is 8.5 in the official EPL game, which is a bit high in that one.. But I seem to remember most of the new arrivals come in real cheap. Hopefully they'll be some good super cheapys..
why did man city pay ya ya toure, that much. it is going to lead to lots of discontent in the locker room. can tevez, just stay in one place for gods sake. how is he going to get playing time at inter? milito is better than tevez, eto'o is a beast, pandev saved inter, when they started to slide, and boretelli is still on the team. i am sorry, but he won't be first choice like he would compared to adebyor, bellamy, santa cruz, etc.
Guys all new players who never played in the EPL come in at like 6.5 or so, depending whether they're a striker or defender its a little more little less, chamakh will be in my team from the start. Also, last years players will probably start at around the same price they finished, thats why even when arteta was injured at the start he was still 15+. ARGH I cant take it I think i've swapped my team 6 times already ;D
tevez to inter? hadn't heard that one.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12072010/58/world-cup-2010-cruyff-disgusted-dutch-display.html
i guess cruyff has a short term memory. he certainly didn't say anything last year, when a team WON, NOT LOST the cup by deploying the same tactics. italy mauled everyone on their way to the final and continued in that vain. they even got a peaceful muslim to headbutt one of their guys. noone is complaining because italy won.
the dutch have a inexperienced, young defense and had to cover it up. they deployed de yong and van bommel to add steel and defense. this, though, limits the offense, greatly. so the dutch had to be extra careful to unsettle opponents or they would get outscored.
brasil did the same tactic, putting in 2 defensive midfielder and they didn't play jogabonito. the dutch didn't play total football. the difference is the dutch made it to the final.
i am dutch, my last name is van heeswijk. my parents born there, i in the states. i was the only one down here, in brasil rooting for the dutch, proudly wearing my team jersey. i am not the least bit disappointed in the team. you have to do, what needs to be done. i have been asking, for more steel for the dutch, having watched them pass the ball all the way around the field and still lose. i watch teams like france, italy, argentina, and germany maul the opposition and win. next cup the defense will be more mature and the dutch can try to win each game 4-3, but for this one they were looking for 1-0 or 2-1. great tounament dutch, don't get pissed with all the negativity from those whose teams underperformed.
i meant last world cup, not last year
TOFFEEDAVE
i would be leery of going with chamakh. i will pick any new player that arsenal pick, including koscielny, but chamakh will have to go through an adjustment period. i have written this before on both blogs many times, so this time you get the short version. chamakh will be similar to anelka. he is a quality striker playing as a wing player, so his fantasy value in those postions goes down. remember bendtner's fantasy production when he was forced to go out on the wing and support the lone striker versus when he was alone in the middle up front. chamakh has only played in 4-4-2, which arsenal abandons, at the beginning of last year. chamakh was a link up guy. him and gourcuff would work the ball up the field. his passing is great, his heading is great, his shooting is his weakest point. chamakh, now has to learn a new position, that intrinsically has less fantasy production. if arsenal goes back to the 4-4-2, then him and arshavin will be my picks.
Cruyff is such a turncoat.. He blesses Spain as "total football" but how many goals did they score in the world cup? 1-0 wins are not total football, they are barely squeeking by. I just really don't understand this mentality that a team should deploy a particular style and never change it. I think all this Spain love is a bit much. They were lucky to win. If Robben wasn't such a choker they would not have won the world cup. Don't get me wrong, Spain is a great team, but it just seems so many people decided Spain is the best team in the world before they even won it..
Anyway, on to EPL. I think there's a chance RVP (as well as many WC participants) could be rested in the first few matches. Wenger and SAF have already said as much, so Chamakh could be a decent option. It will interesting to see if Arsenal stick with a 4-3-3 or if they change it up again. There's still a lot of transfers to happen before the teams settle, so I'm not thinking too hard about any of them.
Greg i disagree with 2 of your points, with the first being hollands formation. Spain and holland played the exact same formation but simply holland went out to kick spain while spain tried to play football. And chamakh is as center forward as one gets, and I very highly doubt he will be playing on the wing, but then again bendtner somehow turned up in that position. And I also believe spain to be the best team in the world, because you cannot find any squad withthe talent and depth that they do. It's that simple. I wonder if Persie will be rested to start the season like you said though.
i think the spanish team is the best, but the best teams don't always win, to me in this tournament the german's played better, they just changed their tactics against spain. the one game the germans lost, was when klose got sent off for harsh yellows. the germans outplayed the other team, had way more chances and missed a penalty. the spain team lacked goals. they pass like arsenal and score like arsenal, too. they got just enough to win. how many 1-0 games can you pull out? the team was led by iniesta and he is not going to single-handedly take down the opposition. the team needed fabregas spark in a big way, but that midfield of xavi, xavi alonso, iniesta is hard to break into(side note: does cesc really think he is going to start in the midfield for barcelona? if he can't get any starts for the national, how is guardiola going to sit down one of the two midfielders that got 6 title in one year. cesc can win games for you and pass to the guy to do it, too. spain played ok, and still got into the final. the dutch did the same thing. they played ok and made it into the final. neither team was dominating.
as for your point that spain and holland played the same formation. the two defensive midfielders for spain are xavi alonso, who was in the dutch box many times and brusquets, who was not. the dutch's midfield, van bommel and de yong, never went into the offensive areas nor did they support the attack at all, which caused the dutch, all kinds of problems.
The dutch had the right approach to the game, minus a few bad tackles. The problem I had was that both played a bit ugly in their own way: Dutch was a bit more physical than necessary, and Spain periodically have tried to play the ref. Spain have been guilty of easily falling down and rolling over a number of times in the game to get the tackler booked. It is also a disgrace that they have stormed the ref in every foul in the first half. While I don't blame Webb, it was quite apparent that Webb starting giving more calls toward Spain from the second half.
Spain deserved to win this game, but not in the fashion that we saw. I felt Elia was impeded before the goal, and Heitinga should not have been kicked out of the game. As Webb have stated, FIFA's laws are too strict, and I believe this rigidness encourages simulations because of how easy it is to get someone booked. It's the one thing I don't like about Barcelona and Spain, they act like they have the divine right to get a soft call going their way.
Webb was simply awful, Cruyff is a demented old man who failed to take responsibility so many times in respect of the Dutch national side that he should basically shut up forever, and Spain are the deserved winners. All in all this was an awful WC and I am saying that as a Dutch person. The Dutch indeed never played a beautiful game, but how can anybody criticise that when they came so close. Player of the tournament for the Dutch was van Bommel (and please do not mention Snijeder), enough said.
Webb's display was a disgrace, he was so clearly on the side of the Spanish it was embarrassing. Most of the time he makes a nuisance of himself in the PL and certainly on European level he hasn't had one decent game. At this WC he was average at best, so with so many good referees from non-European countries, it beggars belief that he got the final. He lived up to the expectations. Perhaps de Jong should have had red, but then certainly Puyol should have had a straight red for his foul on Robben. Same goes for the match-winner who should have been off for his kick at van Bommel. And he should have given yellow to the first Spanish player asking for a yellow card and diving (again and again). Finally how could Webb and his assistants miss that corner? ANyway he was at the level of this extremely disappointing WC. Spain are absolutely deserved winners, but really that is about as positive as it gets.
I would agree with greginho that the dutch had the right approach. i felt like they really shut Spain's passing lanes down and were effective for most of the match. it was a very different Spain we saw as opposed to them against Germany. The germans sat way too far back and just gave spain acres and acres of space and that caught up with them, and germany was lucky not to have lost by more. But in the end for Holland, they choked. The finishing was never there and their aggresive play was way too careless.
DeJong certainly should have seen red. That was one of the worst fouls i have seen on the field in a long time. studs up directly to the sternum is violent conduct, no question.
i just think there needs to be something done about diving/faking/cheating. it just plays too much an important part in affecting the outcome of matches. all teams know this and the majority of them do it. some more than others. no other professional sport is cheating so easy to get away with. just add some more help and allow the ability to review a play, quickly. there is already stoppage of play when the whole spain team surrounds the ref, or when the ref goes to discuss with assistant ref. anyway, i won't ramble more, but this cheating shit is a discrace to the game and needs to be dealt with. Iniesta used to be one of my favorite players.
Did anyone end up doing the Sky Sports fantasy league? Although unbelievably basic it was just a bit of fun, which I needed after my first dedicated Yahoo FF season last year and the new one just weeks away!
I was well pleased to finish in 406th and it's given me the little confidence boost I need to kickstart the new Yahoo season. Bring it on.
If you did play, how did you fair in the rankings?
Cheers.
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