Pool team all but confirmed as:

Mignolet, Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez, Henderson, Milner, Ibe, Coutinho, Lallana, Benteke

Source? (seems unlikely to me)

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Totally missed out on this promo. Cheers

http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-...944/standings/

We didn't look great at all. I think us picking up them 3 points is pretty huge though.

I'm feeling a bit more optimistic for the season however (as in we could avoid a relegation battle). Obviously losing our two best players in Benteke and Delph sucks. If that hadn't of happened though, we can only assume Randy would have continued to not invest in the club and we'd have had a very similar squad to last year. Now we've managed to get ourselves some depth and will actually on have decent options from the bench most games.

On the new signings that played yestetrday:

Richards: Seemed to enjoy being captain, tried to lead by example. Nearly everything he done paid off, but a lot of it was pretty high variance for a CB and against better opposition could be a mistake waiting to happen. His pace and power is a welcome change to lethargic Vlarr. Will be interested how we line up when Okore is back. I'd be sad to see Clark dropped, but feel we might have signed Micah with the promise of playing center back.

Amavi: When Villa sign a left back with their current budget for close to £10m he really needs to deliver. I feel he did. He's definitely the signing I'm most excited about. Of course we were against a newly promoted side, however he looks good going forward and definitely an upgrade in defense over anything we have had in recent years at LB. He's one I could see maybe only playing one season with us, crushing and moving on.

Veretout: Showed some really nice touches and was composed on the ball. He was part of a midfield trio of Pogba, Kondogbia that won the u20 WC and has been tipped to be a full french international. With everyone not up to match fitness, and Bouremouth having a lot of the ball I feel we didn't get to see the most of him and I'm excited to see more.

Gueye: This is the guy that was signed to replace Delph apparently. Done a good job at breaking up play at times but was a bit rash occasionally. I feel he may have a better range of passing that Fabian, but won't dance by 2/3 defenders the same way at all. Not sure if he's like for like exactly, but it gives us more of a presence in midfield which is nice.

J.Ayew: Had a super quiet day. Could be match fitness, or adapting to pace of the English game. Never got a chance really to show his pace or get into any good positions in the box because Sherwood had him on the right wing + we weren't creating much. Hope to see a lot more from him and hope Sherwood gives him a chance through the middle soon.

Gestede: Came on, done what he does best. Scored a header from a corner that admittedly had terrible marking. Worked super hard in closing down also which is of course nice to see. The Villa fans seemed to take to him even before he scored, with cries of 'Ruddddy, Ruuuddddy' ringing around the stadium. Can definitely see him being a fans favorite and could cause teams a lot of trouble, especially if at home with Gabby and Ayew playing off him.


All in all, so far I think Sherwoods transfer business is going to turn out pretty decently.

Their sports book is utterly terrible. Shocking considering PS' elite software.

I still can't even get logged in.

Okay, tried again, got logged in. May take a couple of punts, odds have to be >2.0 so not sure what to bet. Thoughts?

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Watching MOTD (haven't see any of the football yesterday apart from the United game.) blooming heck going by those highlights Leicester should have scored about 8 goals. Stupid how many great chances they created and missed.

Will have to find the full game in order to watch it to see if it was just Sunderland being utterly ****e at the back or Leicester being great or a bit of both.

Lol

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Np chips

My neighbour Rory Hale is at Villa and apparently ready for a breakthrough, kid been tipped for the top since he has been no age. Not a fan of Sherwood at all but if this kid is any good he will def give him a shot, might move him up a notch in my estimation.

His younger brother is at Villa too I think, apparently he is the better one according to my lad.

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KW only the free bets have to be at evens or bigger, your qualifying bets have to be 1/2 or bigger.

16 year old Reece Oxford starting for West Ham.

Ah, thanks! I just read the bullet points and see 2.0.

That makes things easier!

Still unsure why I missed out on FF LoOs? ?

I confirmed here I wanted in yesterday morning before KO, and paid soon after...??

It's not like I had an advantage? I've also had a terrible start lol

:thumbs: first half was so so bad. but improved a bit in second. Can see it taking us a month or two to get up to full speed

how you do thumbsup picture?

thx TP. hope you crush hard. Bit confused why you got a sunderland defender in your team though =/

I was thinking it would be that back 5, Henderson, Milner, Coutinho in midfield with Lallana and Firmino either side of Benteke in a 4-3-3 that occasionally morphs into a 4-2-3-1 system.

I mean, I was still taking PMs and transfers yesterday right up until I left for the misery of Goodison. I'm sure the deadline on the site was 11:30 anyway, but I was still home when the utd game kicked off and I hadn't heard a peep from you.

Sucks that you didn't get in. But the fact that the season started at 12:45pm yesterday was not a secret, and 25 other people managed to join in plenty of time.

Arsenal XI v West Ham: Cech; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Cazorla; Giroud

WEST HAM UNITED: (4-4-2) Adrian, Tomkins, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Oxford, Noble ©, Kouyate, Payet, Zarate, Sakho

ARSE ARSE ARSE

Arsenal 1.25, wow. Market thinks this is the year for them.

Come on the Ham.

Chancel Mbemba rocks up to St James' Park in a tux...

Rocking the JayZ look

They're like waxworks these Arsenal players, each one groomed to within an inch of their lives.

Monreal must hate being in that dressing room.

I wasn't sure if I was going to bother this year.. I did say itt before KO that I was 100% in, just dusting off the laptop to do the transfer..

I could understand if it was after the first round of games or something, but I don't see that I have any advantage here??

But rules is rules or w/e. Prob saved myself $20, but boooo

Westley, we may be at crossed purposes here. If it's still possible for you to join the league, then you're welcome. I thought you'd missed the deadline and were moaning at me for not being around to PM you the code after the first game had kicked off, which is why there's been a hint of "lol fu" in my replies.

If you can still get in, then welcome aboard! I'll PM you the code now, and if you're able to join the league then just send the $20 back to me and it's all good