Weekend Outlook (21 Sep 2008)

Chelsea vs Manchester United

"...Are we pinning too much hope on just 1 person? I mean if that is the arguement then aren't we screwed if Ronaldo decides to jump ship to Real Madrid at the end of the season? Then what?..."

- JayWalk, 20 Sep 2008

It's rather worrying that despite all the chances and dominating Villarreal, we were not able to put in a single goal.

At this rate we are going, this will be one of the worst starts ever for ManUtd.

Who knows? Perhaps the season is over for us as early as September?

Fortunately for us, we are still pretty much on course to qualify to the next round of the ECL for this particular game is not one of those that we are going to kick ourselves in the backsides if we didn't win although winning would be a great bonus. However, if we stick to the original course of picking 10 points, which can be easily obtained from the 4 fodder games against Aaborg and Celtic, we are still going through. Any additional points taken from Villarreal just places us above them for a more favourable seeding in the next round draw.

Looking back, it seems that ManUtd has had a very very tough early season fixture having to face Liverpool and Chelsea away, back-to-back, with a ECL game wedged in the middle. The good news is that once we clear them, our fixtures would be relatively easier than our rivals which would give us a better psychological edge.

However, this game at Chelsea, should we lose it, would set us 9 points behind and unless the rest of the rivals were to collapse spectacularly like Arsenal in the previous years, it is unlikely we have a real shot at the title chase.

Sure, some people may say that it is better to stay behind in the slip stream but we have to be close enough in order for the advantage of the slip stream to have any significant effect.

JayWalk The Talk: Ronaldo is back on the pitch as a substitute in mid-week and suddenly everything looks sunny and bright again. However, I must warn against such blind optimism as a single player does not represent the whole team.

Yes, we pretty much suck without Ronaldo of late, but I seriously doubt if the presence of one guy can turn the ship around just so easily. Are we pinning too much hope on just 1 person? I mean if that is the arguement then aren't we screwed if Ronaldo decides to jump ship to Real Madrid at the end of the season? Then what?

And there is Berbatov. Granted that the Bulgarian captain is one heck of a scorer but surely it takes time to finally gel into the team? Look at Carrick? Didn't it take quite a while for him to settle down? Let's not even go to Forlan, Veron and Djemba Djemba who come in with high hopes only to have nothing to show for?

Speaking of Carrick, he will be in the sick bay together with Vidic. And speaking of Vidic, there is the headache of who to replace him.

There are talks in moving Wes Brown to the middle and put in Neville to right back and there are talks of putting Evans in the middle after a fine showing at mid-week's Villarreal.

Hence the debate between ability vs experience.

Frankly, I would opt for experience for a game at this calibre with Evans on the bench in case of the need to switch formation.

As for the Chelsea side, Ballack, Essien and Drogba are not expected to turn up on the pitch but we will definitely see Terry after having his earlier red card rescinded.

JayWalk The Walk: For the first time in a long while. Bookies are making ManUtd eat ball. The asian handicap stands at ManUtd receiving 0.25-ball at 2.025 decimal odds. In other words, bookies are looking at Chelsea to sink ManUtd's premiership campaign on Sunday.

As much as I am a ardent supporter the Red Devils, I am afraid that the bookies may be right this time. Still, that won't stop me from cheering them the rest of the season as we still have the 2 domestic cups as well as the ECL to gun for.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (21 Sep 2008)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Wigan Athletic FC 

I would like to take this opportunity to make the following announcement: I would now stop harping on the claim that we would be in the Top 4 by the end of the season.

After 4 league games and no wins, Spurs is literally down at the bottom of the Premier League. Although the fans at the Lane had an uplift of morale during the midweek UEFA fixture, the current performance at the EPL is still a cause for concern.

For this home fixture against Wigan, past statistics would favour us; the visitors had never won at the Lane since their promotion, and the scores are typically high, to our liking. However, as demonstrated last week against Villa, such statistics and jinxes can be broken.

This match is also significant for Ledley King, as this would be his 200th appearance under Spurs colours. It would be more prudent if Ramos could field the side that won the UEFA Cup fixture, and play more agressively.

COYS!

Fixture Focus - Spurs (18 Sep 2008)

Spurs vs Wisla Krakow (UEFA Cup, 1st Round, 1st Leg)

Juande Ramos' strange tactical formations and using players out of position has gotten him into the Spurs history books for the wrong reason at the start of this season. Spurs are now off to their worst start to the season in their history.

Fingers are pointing everywhere with Ramos calling for more time for him to gel the team and blaming the fact that leaving all our summers to the last minute did not give him time to work in the new players. This is true. But the blame has to be mostly placed on Levy and Comoli. Levy, for his stubborness not to accept lower bids for Berbatov and dragging it out to the 11th hour, and Comoli for his horrible transfers that he brought in, and for not signing players that fill our gaping holes.

Berbatov and Keane were sold as part of good business as the money earned was significant. But they HAVE to be replaced with players of equal quality. Bringing in Pavlyuchenko and Corluka who are both cup-tied for UEFA competition is utterly ludicrious. Our strike force now consist of Darren "can't find his pre-season form" Bent, Frazier "I want to return to Man U" Campbell, and Giovani "I'm still adapting" Dos Santos. We still have holes for a defensive midfielder and a capable replacement for King in defence to partner Woody.

Worse still, Ramos seems to keep insisting that Bentley play inside or on the left when he is clearly more suited for the right winger's job. Lennon has pace but can't make useful crosses to save his life.

My rant can go on but the upside for this match is that this match is against a European team, who will play the match at a slightly slower pace than the English Premier League teams. This will allow the new boys in Spurs more time to construct their attacks and move the ball more effectively. But Wisła Kraków are not pushovers. They have won the Polish League 11 times in total and were champions in Poland 5 times this decade.

If Ramos plays his cards correctly, we should get a result at home. COYS!!!

Mid-Week Outlook (17 Sep 2008)

Manchester United vs Villarreal

"...So the significance of this particular game tonight is that if we win our opening game at Old Trafford today, we would have booked our slot to the next round...."

- JayWalk, 17 Sep 2008

We have had an amazingly bad start to this particular season with our top players injured. So far, we struggled to win the Charity Shield, drew out opening game, lost the Super Cup final and getting Paul Scholes red carded, then we struggled to win Portsmouth by the solitary goal before getting crushed by Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

Things looked pretty bleak this coming match Villarreal and just when you thought this is the bottom, it isn't. We still have Chelsea to play again this coming weekend at Stamford Bridge, whom they have an extra day of rest after crushing their opponent Bordeaux 4-0.

Could this be the first season to give up all fights even before October?

Well, it's too early to say as ManUtd are never known to go down without a fight. However, my real worry is that when would we finally kick the gear into shift. By then, would it be too little, too late?

JayWalk The Talk: So anyway, we will expect Ronaldo on the bench tonight and you can tell how significant this is considering the fact that he made it as far as the bench only but it sounded as if we are going to win the ECL again. Perhaps the bigger thing is that Ronaldo will be ready for Chelsea this Saturday.

Scholes and Carrick are unavailable but we should see Berbatov getting another call up today in order to get enough match fitness coming into Saturday.

Due to our seeding, we are a shoo-in to the next round barring no "accidents". One of the two qualifying slots has our name on it already, leaving Villarreal, Aalborg BK and Glasgow Celtic to fight it out for second place.

Based on their individual strengths, I would say Villarreal will be slated to take second spot with Celtic third and Aab last.

So the significance of this particular game tonight is that if we win our opening game at Old Trafford today, we would have booked our slot to the next round. We are not expected to lose to the other 2 minnows and that means a mere 7 points from 4 games (home and away to Celtic and Aab) will be enough.

JayWalk The Walk: Bookies are making ManUtd give a 1-ball handicap on account of home ground advantage. A decimal odds of 1.975 suggest that this handicap is very even i.e. it can just as easily be a 1-1 draw on account of ManUtd's sick bay list.

The way I see it, we will win this to open up the European campaign but it will probably be by the odd goal and thus get the same outcome, bet or no bet.

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 20 - 21 Sep 2008

This coming weekend's matches will be overshadowed by the clash of the titans on Sunday.

But first, West Ham's new manager, Gianfranco Zola, starts his first game in charge at home against the visiting 'Barcodes' Newcastle who are still a team with management problems.

While on Sunday, John Terry (who had his Red Card suspension overturned) takes to the field as Captain for Chelsea as they take on Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

GAME ON!

EPL09: SAT 20/09 West Ham vs Newcastle at 9:55pm SIN/HKT

EPL10: SUN 21/09 Chelsea vs Manchester United at 8:55pm SIN/HKT

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at
http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Results - Games 13 - 14 Sep 2008 EPL Prediction League 2008/2009

Greeting from Singapore as I took a short break to be home with the family and hence the late publishing of the table. Sorry

Is it me of is this particular season's start unusually unpredictable?

Anyway, congrats to necroastra and delay for their 6-haul. Kudos to Necroastr for closing the gap to hotdog to just a mere 3 points. Kudos also to Delay for getting his own name on the Marksmen Board for the first time and a great leap to 3rd place.


Housekeeping Notes:

All of this season's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.


EPL Prediction League "Perfect Score" Hall Of Fame
Perfect Score = 2 correct-score predictions in a single weekend and hence the award of the full 10 points.

1) [Nobody Yet]

Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
1 Game - hotdog, weimeng, delay

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The EPL Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Weekend Outlook (13 Sep 2008)

Liverpool vs Manchester United

"...Question is that how would he (Berbatov) gel with the rest of the team. Who would be the better partner? Tevez or Rooney? These things take several games to come to a conclusion and to use a game as big as Liverpool-ManUtd seems hardly right..."

- JayWalk, 13 Sep 2008

"Come here, Bubba!" was my favourite chant last season as it seems to rile ihawk98 (who is a Spurs fan) up.

Everytime.

And over the summer, it looked almost that we were about to score that coup, only to falter at the last week.

Just when all hope is lost, we snagged him at the very last minute.

While it was quiet on the pitch during the past fortnight, it was a complete different picture off it. Curbishley, Keegan & McDermott exited their respective managerial role and Thaksin sold his share of the City to the Arabs thus burying all hopes of seeing a Thai face in the european arena any time soon.

JayWalk The Talk: Ronaldo is not ready to come back to the starting line up and it was highlighted by our sever lack of goals in recent games. As much as I hate for the entire team to be dependent on just one player, I have no choice but to accept the fact for now while trying to fix this problem in the interim.

Allow me to introduce Sergei Berbartov who will be making his debut against Liverpool. Bubba has proved to be a great scorer of goals not only from feeders but also from chances created by himself from out of the blue.

Question is that how would he gel with the rest of the team. Who would be the better partner? Tevez or Rooney? These things take several games to come to a conclusion and to use a game as big as Liverpool-ManUtd seems hardly right.

Then again, it is not as if we had a choice. So there. I guess we will have to bite the bullet, cross our fingers and hope for the best.

If right now, ManUtd seems to be depending on just 1 player, then Liverpool isn't really that far off with 2. Gerrard and Torres.

The good news for us is that both will not be able to start in tomorrow's game.

Tomorrow's game will be interesting as we have Liverpool that isn't really a team without Gerrard and Torress against ManUtd that isn't really a team without Ronaldo.

Bear in mind there is the opening fixtures at mid-week of the ECL where Liverpool will travel to Marseille and ManUtd will host Villarreal before traveling to Stamford Bridge later that weekend for yet another big clash.

Fixture-wise, we are at the disadvantage here.

JayWalk The Walk: Given that ManUtd has such a dismal start to the season so far, I was a tad disappointed at the handicap. I was hoping for a makan-ball handicap for once since we are (1) next very good at scoring goals now and (2) we are playing at Anfield.

Unfortunately, our history suggest that we have not been beated by Liverpool since 2001 and we beat then at Anfield for the last 3 games in a row.

Hence the Even-ball handicap at a rather surprising 1.80 decimal odds to beat it despite being the away team. Even the wager pot tips in favour of ManUtd by the sound of a 60-40 ratio.

I foresee a low scoring draw which means betting either team will yield you nothing. Perhaps better to look at other matches than to tie down your money on a match with no outcome?

Disclaimer: The above views are purely my own two-cents' worth. In other words, I cannot and will not guarantee that my predictions are accurate. If you want to bet on the game, do so at your own risk. Also, please bet responsibly and within your means regardless of how "sure thing" that game may appear to be. As the old saying goes, "The Ball Is Round". Good luck.

Fixture Focus - Spurs (15 Sep 2008)

Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa

We are currently second....from the bottom, but we do have an advantage over the Villans at the Lane, since the 04/05 season we have not lost to them. However, my main concern is that their strike force of Carew-Agbonlahor may pose a threat to our defence, especially so since Spurs are always leaking goals to the opponents (and lost league points as a result).

But, on the other side, we would like to see if our new strike force is able to deliver, since we are now in the beginning of the post-Keane-Berbatov era. Will the Russian magic work for us in the form of Pavlyuchenko? Will our new midfield be able to gel and find that offensive push?

We shall see about that....

COYS!!!!

EPL Prediction League Match Weekend 14 - 15 Sep 2008

And we're back after the international break for World Cup qualifiers.

The big showdown on Saturday is the highlight of this weekend's matches. Rudolph (oops, I mean Fergie...) brings his band of Red Devils to Anfield which will reunite "long lost" Spurs brothers Keane and Berbatov after being apart for slightly more than a month. Rafa will be without his talismanic midfielder Gerard and golden boy Torres who are both out injured.

While on Sunday, there is only one game scheduled which pits newly promoted Stoke City against the visiting Evertonians. Will the Potters be able to get a result at home?

GAME ON!

EPL07: SAT 14/09 Liverpool vs Manchester United at 7:45pm SIN/HKT

EPL08: SUN 15/09 Stoke City vs Everton at 8:25pm SIN/HKT

Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout
This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at
http://jaywalk.blog-city.com. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League

There wont be any prediction games for this week due to World Cup 2010 qualifiers.

Hope after the international break, Jaywalk can win back his beer fund picks while I need to work hard to reclaim my throne. At the moment, thanks for keeping it warm for me. hur hur hur.