If 2 weeks ago was all about the crazy number of goals, then last weekend was all about one goal in particular:

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney said his wonder overhead strike that secured a 2-1 derby win over Manchester City was the best of his career. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was gushing in his praise for Rooney’s goal, calling it the best he has seen at Old Trafford. “It was stunning,” he said. “Unbelievable. We’ve had some fantastic goals here but in terms of execution, you’ll never see that.”

There were also some incredible displays by the teams in Europe with both Tottenham and Arsenal recording memorable wins over AC Milan and Barcelona respectively.

The Tottenham game was insanely close and just 1 nil up with 1 minute to go, lets pick up the BBC reporting:

92mins: Unbelievable! AC Milan frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovc thinks he’s snatched a dramatic equaliser at the very death with a brilliant overhead kick… but the official’s flag is raised for a foul on Michael Dawson in the box. It’s a great decision, too. What drama.

93mins: FULL-TIME AC Milan 0-1 Tottenham

94mins: Wowzers. AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has gone mad. The Italian greets the final whistle by marching straight over to assistant Tottenham coach Joe Jordan and head-butting him. Incredible. The two benches clash as a result as Gattuso is pulled away, but still he tries to get at the Tottenham bench. Absolutely staggering. What’s the Italian for bad loser?

Let’s join the Arsenal game with just 3 minutes to go as they lead 2 – 1:

87mins: And then out of nowhere Barcelona threaten an equaliser, Lionel Messi laying Dani Alves in on the right and the Brazilian’s slid effort kept out by Wojciech Szszesny. What a game.

88mins: Barcelona are pressing now… heavily…

90mins: Two minutes of injury time at the Emirates.

92mins: Is that handball? Arsenal substitute Andrey Arshavin might just have got away with one there as the ball strikes his arm in the box, but the referee waves play on… Dani Alves does play on and his square pass is almost forced home by Lionel Messi, but the Argentine’s shot is blocked.

92mins: FULL-TIME Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona

All great stuff and lots of points in our league – but I haven’t put the updated file online yet – suspense – but will let you know as soon as I do… I’ll leave you with a quote from Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp: “They lost their heads at the end there – they were rattled for sure – and I guess that’s a good sign. I know who I’d pick between Joe Jordan and Gennaro Gattuso anyway… Joe all night long. All night long.”

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Last weekend saw a great selection of Premiership games with just 8 points now seperating 4th place Man City and relegation zone 19th place Wolves!! There were 22 goals scored from 18 different players, so lots of points to be had but what I really want to talk about are the European Games that happened during the week – in particular the Spurs match which I was lucky enough to get tickets to on Tuesday.

Let’s set the scene… its been 48 years since Spurs were in the Champions League and who should be in our group but none-other than the current defending champions Inter Milan. The away match against Inter a few weeks ago was a game of two halves. The first half saw Tottenham being given the schooling of their lives as they went 4 nil down and only an insane hatrick from Bale in the second half, made the scoreline a little more respectable.

So, with the second game at White Hart Lane looming, there were many who were saying that it could be a thrashing, as we couldn’t rely on such a lucky escape again.

As it turn out, our fears were unfounded… and the team produced a stellar performance.

A capacity crowd filled the stadium with amazing chants – and were rewarded for their noise in the 18th minute when Van der Vaart slotted home after a delightful move from Modric. The crowd went bananas!!

Second half and it wasn’t long to wait before the robot-dancing hero that is Crouch put away a second, sending the White Hart faithful into crazy chants of “Taxi for Maicon!!” after Bale effortlessly slipped past last years “Best Defender” for the twentieth time.

However tired legs were evident and Inter bounced back with a goal from Eto’o in the 80th minute and things looked a little dicey for 5 long minutes when you just felt they might score at any time, but it was another Bale inspired move that set Pavlyuchenko free to hammer in the 3rd goal and nail in the coffin.

Standing in a Tottenham pub after the game you would have been forgiven for thinking that actually everyone there had won the lottery whilst simulatenously discovering they each have super-powers – but such was the performance!!

Headlines the next day were glowing:

“I’ve Seen The New Paolo Maldini”
“Bale has world at his feet”
“All aboard the Gareth Bale bandwagon”
“Bale like Messi, says Villa”
“A touch of Ronaldo & Giggs in Gareth Bale?”
“Bale was like a white tornado that left Rafael Benitez, for all his renowned European tactical acumen, powerless and fidgety in his technical area as he made a miserable return to England following his summer departure from Liverpool”

Oh there’s tonnes more, but for now just enjoy the latest league update and pray that having conquered the European champions, Spurs can avoid their normal slump and beat Bolton this weekend!!

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

Every now and again you find yourself watching or even being a part of something a little bit spectacular, something which you know will make the history books and that people will look back on in 50 years and say “remember when…”.

To give you a few examples, do you remember 2005 and the Ac Milan vs Liverpool Champions League Final? Held at Atatürk Stadium in Istanbul and with a monstrous 70,024 in attendance, Milan were regarded as favourites before the match and took the lead in the first minute through captain Paolo Maldini. Hernán Crespo added two more goals before half-time to make it 3-0. During the second half, Steven Gerrard, Vladimír Šmicer and Xabi Alonso scored three goals in six minutes for Liverpool to level the scores at 3-3. The scores remained the same during extra time, and a penalty shootout was required to decide the champions. The score was 3-2 to Liverpool when Andriy Shevchenko’s penalty was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. Thus Liverpool won their fifth European Cup. Regarded by many as the best match ever…

Or how about 1999 and the Manchester United vs Bayern Munich game? The action kicked off in Barcelona in front of a mind blowing 90,000 fans, but it was 1-0 to Bayern Munich throughout the entire match, until Man Utd score 2 goals in stoppage time to win the cup. United’s victory was the culmination of their Treble-winning season, after they had already won the FA Premier League and the FA Cup earlier in the month.

Or 2006 at the Cardiff Millenium Stadium, and Liverpool vs West Ham in the Cup? 71,140 in attendance and when West Ham went ahead 2-0, many thought it was all over. Even later on at 3-2 it looked like the match was sealed but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored a goal in the last minute from 30-yards plus to take the game to extra-time and they eventually triumphed on penalties. It is considered by most who watched to be one of the greatest Cup Finals in the history of the tournament.

Ok one more for you, how about the Tottenham 4 Arsenal 5 game at White Hart Lane in 2004? Although Arsenal came out on top in a topsy-turvy north London derby, it was an amazing journey to the final whistle. Noureddine Naybet volleyed Spurs ahead before Thierry Henry levelled in first- half injury-time and Lauren’s penalty put Arsenal ahead after 53 minutes. Patrick Vieira added a third on the hour, and even though Jermain Defoe’s strike gave Spurs hope, Freddie Ljungberg restored the two-goal lead. Ledley King headed Spurs’ third, and even after Robert Pires hit Arsenal’s fifth, Freddie Kanoute was on target.

And of course only a few months ago, 30,000 plus faithful were treated to a record-breaking 9 – 1 game between Spurs and Wigan, where Defoe scored 5 goals and became only the third player, after Alan Shearer and Andy Cole to do so. Not just that but Tottenham scored eight times in the second half as Wigan sank without trace and Defoe notched a hat-trick in seven minutes, the second quickest since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Oh good times and history was made.

Wow – that was a ramble – so back to last weekend and a very different kind of history being made. Sky showed the world’s first live 3D TV sports broadcast after being helped by the man behind the Hollywood blockbuster movie Avatar. With only 9 selected pubs in the entire country having this honour, it was with more than the usual happiness that I drank my beer whilst wearing special glasses to see the Arsenal vs Manchester United game in an extra dimension. What did I think? Well it had a lot of potential, I’m not sure the technology is quite there yet to stream 3D on the fly by the mili-second, but to be honest – bothered – because in 50 years time when its totally the norm to watch 3D TV, I’ll be able to say “I was there when it all began.”

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So it’s the end of the month, which means it’s prizes time. Kokbun Lee (£6) was the highest points manager with 271 points in the month, closely followed by Steve Dennis (261) and Chris Lyons (254). The £5 Highest Climber prize goes to Cerys Bowd (up 49 places) with Simon Laesser (up 43) and Sarah Groves (up 40) just missing out. There were also two lucky people who get £1 each for being on a multipe of 100, and they are Leigh Styles and Andrew Oestrich (800).

Well done to everyone, there is now less than 70 points between 1st place and 10th place – so it’s not long before some new history will be made.

You heard it here first, www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

Our home has been transformed into a Santa Claus shrine, complete with 7.5ft Christmas tree, 100 baubels and enough tinsel to ensnare a small army of happy elves. Beer has been replaced by mulled wine, Radio 1 has been blasted away by old school Christmas classics and my fridge seems dangerously over-stocked with figgy pudding and pigs in blankets!! (that’s the cheese wrapped in bacon variety by the way, a little bit classier than the average sausage ones, I think you’ll agree!!)

On the football front, we had European and Cup games last week, the World Cup draw and a full weekend of Premiership drama. Interestingly it will be the first World Cup that has no debutants and has every single past World Cup winner in the mix. After a favourable draw, Englands odds of winning were cut to less than Brazil with only Spain considered more likely to lift the trophy. All I want now is another Tony Christie remix and I will be officialy pscyhed!!

There were crazy scenes on Sunday as Everton fought back from 2 nil down against Spurs to equalise with 5 minutes to go – only to have a penalty awarded against them in extra time – and to see their American keeper Tim Howard save Defoe’s spot kick. Meanwhile Adebayor went from villain to hero, as he gifted Chelsea an own goal in the 8th minute, before scoring for Man City in the 37th. Tevez sealed the deal in the 56th, as the gap at the top of the league continues to tighten. Man U had a fun away game with West Ham, as Scholes, Gibson, Valencia and Rooney all found the net. With only 10 points between 12th place Blackburn and 3rd place Arsenal, this season is wide open…

So in our little league, there is a similar story with just 100 points seperating 20th place and top spot (still held by Luan but with gap closing). Interesting a lot of the top 10 recorded low points for the week, with many of those in the 10 to 20 spots clocking up some hefty scores to apply the old pressre. All the transfers have come into effect for December, giving us a grand total of 243 made so far.

Until next time… don’t eat yellow snow.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

funny christmas

“TOTT GUNS! Spurs go on rampage and score 9 while Wigan… well, they should’ve gone to Specsavers!”

Oh wait, we also had the backpage headlines too:

“Defoe high FIVE puts Spurs on cloud NINE!”

If this veritable metaphor fest wasn’t enough to raise a smile, then how about the records that were broken:

“The striker’s stunning salvo in the 9-1 win was the best haul for a player in a Premier League match for a decade.”

“It is the first time a team has scored nine in a Premier League fixture since Manchester United thrashed Ipswich 9-0 at Old Trafford in 1995.”

“Defoe is the first person to score 5 goals in one half and becomes only the third player to score five in one Premier League match after Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.”

“The first three of Defoe’s goals came in a seven-minute burst shortly after the break – the second fastest hat-trick in the history of the Premier League. The quickest remains Robbie Fowler’s for Liverpool against Arsenal in 1994.”

“Tottenham, move level on points with third-placed Arsenal after their biggest win in 32 years.”

But it’s not all about Spurs, other records were broken too:

“The Spurs result is Wigan’s record league defeat – the previous being a 6-1 reverse against Bristol Rovers in 1990.”

Anyway enjoy the updated file on this beautifuly wet and windy Monday morning. There are new names in the top 10, top 20, all over the place but let’s be honest – if you haven’t got Defoe in your team, you’ve probably gone down.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com (and it feels so good)

Do I comment on Liverpool beating Man U… Stoke beating Spurs… or Villa, Arsenal and Man City all being held to disappointing draws?

Perhaps I should focus on the fact that 5 of our top 6 managers are ladies and that there are none in the bottom 10?

Or maybe you’d be more interested to know that in 1843, a Parisian street mime got stuck in his imaginary box and consequently died of starvation?

I thought so. Here are a few more amazing facts for you…

A cat’s purr has the same romance-enhancing frequency as the voice of singer Barry White.

Ben and Jerry’s sends the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff.

The original Sanskrit word for “war” means “desire for more cows”.

Babies are born without knee caps.

Almost a third of all people flush the toilet while they’re still sitting on it.

The Bible is the number one shoplifted book in America.

The commonly used @ symbol in email addresses is called a “chiocciolina” in Italy meaning “little snail”, a “klammeraffe” in Germany meaning “spider monkey” and a “‘kanel-bolle” in Norway meaning “a spiral shaped cinamon cake.

And just to prove that it’s not all non-football randomness…

Tottenham Hotspur didn’t have a single player sent off in a Football League match between October 27th 1928 and December 4th 1965.

Keep it real.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

What a difference, a week can make… Obama is sworn in to power, UK bank share prices crumble towards the precipice of nationalisation and Zimbabwe begins printing $100 trillion notes!!!

In the football world, Spurs agree a £12m deal for Palacios, Kaka turns down a weekly wage of £500,000 at Man City and AIG end their sponsorship of Man U.

Liverpool lose their place at the top as they draw 1 all with Everton, whilst Defoe scores against former club Portsmouth as Tottenham also take a 1 all draw. West Ham win 3 – 1 against Fulham, whilst Roberts scores 2 goals on Blackburns way to a 3 nil win over Newcastle.

A goal from Berbatov was enough to secure their away win to Bolton, whilst Chelsea came from behind to beat Stoke 2 – 1 with Lampard scoring in the final minute. Adebayor, Nasri and Bendtner ensured Arsenals 3 – 1 win over Hull, while West Brom romped to victory against Middlesborough, Aston Villa maintain their pressure at the top with an away win against Sunderland and a single goal for Man City was enough to secure their win against Wigan.

Hope everyone’s enjoying their Wednesday…

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

Fun Things to do at the Office

- Send e-mail to the rest of the company telling them exactly what you’re doing. For example: “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the bathroom.”

- Walk into people’s offices, taking a careful look around. Talk into your shirt, saying ‘No sign of him yet, Chief.’

- When the phone rings, answer by saying ‘KBBL, you’re on the air.’

- Get in the elevator and pretend to hold the door open for invisible people.

- Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.

- Remove the jug from the water cooler and drink from it periodically, bragging that you ‘got the last one.’

- Photocopy things around the office, such as lamps, potted plants, staplers, etc. If someone asks about it, just say ‘You never can be too careful.’

- Turn your radio up full blast and sing along loudly with the song. Invite others to join you.

- Pretend to be hypnotized by someone’s screen saver.

- Go into someone’s office, grab a book from their shelves, and begin reading it aloud to them. If they interrupt, give them an evil look.

- Use a hole punch to punch holes in all your outgoing mail. Explain that the holes ‘make it more aerodynamic’.

- Bring a lawnmower into the office and pretend to mow the carpet.

- Bring a TV remote control to the office and try to ‘change the channel’ on people’s computers. When it doesn’t work, mumble something about ‘cheap Japanese crap.’

- Pull a chair up to your window and pretend to be working at a drive-through.

- Stand at the washroom door carrying a baseball bat, ask everyone in a low voice if they washed their hands.

- Gnaw on your mouse, make cat noises, and lick your hands from time to time.

- Finish all your sentences with the words “in accordance with prophesy.”

- Ask your co-workers mysterious questions, and scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about “psychological profiles.”

- Page yourself over the intercom. Don’t disguise your voice

- Every time someone asks you to do something, anything, ask them if they want fries with that.

- Hi-Lite your shoes. Tell people you haven’t lost them as much since you did this.

- When someone says “have a nice day”, tell them you have other plans.

Well this update includes last weekend’s games and a host of mid-week European action – plus all the transfers (237 have now been used!!!) – so it’s quite fankly off the hook, outside the box, and just a little bit wacky!!! Throw in the American elections and you could say this week will define a generation.

Much like Obama’s great victory, Spurs continue their rise with wins over Liverpool in the League and a 4 nill pounding of Dinamo Zagreb in Europe with 3 goals from Mr Darren Bent. However in the same way that Sarah Palin displayed a dubious grasp of geography when she didn’t know Africa was a continent (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/05/palin-didnt-know-africa-i_n_141653.html) – it would seem too that Andy Edwards panicked when he transferred out Bent and brought in Chopra, or when Eddie Stirling got carried away and tried to make 6 transfers and bring in Bramble twice!!

In the same way that Joe Biden was Obama’s running mate, it seems that Scally has risen to the challenge – now sitting in 3rd place – and that Lyonsy has connected with the people – with both his teams unbelieavably in the top 10. Drama? You’d better believe it!!!

Representing the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania – we have phenomenal rises from Jack Rawlings (up 42 places) and Paul Ruijs (up 36 places) – whilst the unfortunate loser this week (aka McCain) is Kevin Allfrey (down 24 places).

Halloweens’s gone, Bonfire Night is gone, only Christmas to look forward to but on a more cheery note it has now been proven mathematically that vampires do not exist. (http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/061025_vampire_debunk.html).

Sleep easy people.

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com

p.s. Winners of last months fun games to be announced Monday – along with this months challenges. Stay tuned.

Well another month draws to a close in spooky Halloween fashion with a screamer of an 8 goal feast last night between Tottenham and Arsenal. From watching the Spurs fans dancing in the stands you would have been forgiven for thinking they had all just simulatenously found winning lottery tickets – either that or decided now was the most opportune time to test their massive new boy-band dance routine. Who can say – either way you wouldn’t have thought they were celebrating letting in 4 more goals – but such is the beauty of football. Come on ‘arry…

This month see’s a massive win for Cheggers who takes not only the highest points prize but also the highest position climber too. Up 271 points and 72 places – it’s well deserved – although there was close contention from Rhodri E (268 points), Nick S (265 points), Stacey B (69 places), Connor C (69 places) and Kevin A (65 places). Well done to all.

In the lucky dip section, this months jammy so-and-so’s are: “I spent far too much time on this”, “I aint afraid of no Ghosty” and “The B Team”. Congratulations on the fluke.

Meanwhile, this months biggest faller prize goes to “Morsey’s Marvels” who fell 72 places – but who, it should be said, is still sitting in a very respectable 86th position.

There is still one more day to go on the 2 Fun Competitions – so get over to here and here to add your entries. You’ve got to be in it to win it. Next months competitions will be a little different and will be announced imminently.

There is also just one more day to get any transfers in.

Hope everyone’s got something interesting planned for Halloween.

Michael Jackson’s already got his mask ready…

Ffffwwwoooooooo….

(the winds of change as Spurs won their first League game of the season)

ROAAAAAARRRRRRR….

(the reception that new manager Redknapp got as he came on to the pitch)

Aaaaahhhhhhh….

(the collective sighs of relief from thousands of supporters around the country)

Elsewhere in the league, Liverpool ended Chelsea’s monstrous unbeaten home record thanks to a 10th minute goal from Alonso. Man City saw their big money signing Robinho live up to his credentials with a hat-trick against Stoke. Adebayor’s injury time goal made it 2 nil for Arsenal against West Ham whist Aston Villa put 4 past Wigan away from home. Man U were held to a 1 all draw by Everton despite an eary goal from Fletcher, whilst sorry Newcastle suffered another defeat, this time to Sunderland. New boys Hull continued their blinding start to the season with a 3 nill win over West Brom, courtesy of Zayatte, Geovanni and King.

This is how some of the mini battles in the League are going…
- in the Lyons \ Brown \ Quirk battle – Chris has taken a commanding early lead with both his teams sitting in the top 30
- in the Ward \ Kingman \ Smith \ Groves showdown – it’s Emily who is calling the shots holding on to a top 30 spot
- in the Thomas \ Lloyd \ Kellman challenge – it’s Rich who has climbed one more place into 4th who is the man to beat
- in the Dennis \ Alexander \ Schleising \ Blackstock session – it’s Nick who climbs another 8 but closely followed by Jock in 13th
- in the Millo \ Wheeler \ Brean face-off – it’s Dave who’s top dog in 18th after a big drop of 27 places takes Kirsty down past Stacey
- in the Baker \ Edgerley \ Else rumble – it’s Scally who’s lording it up in the top 10 with the other two sitting in the 50′s
- in the Jones \ Graham \ Baber \ Radford wrestle – it’s Tim who has pulled clear of Ghosty with Neilos and Jack struggling lower down
…and it goes on…

The clocks might have been put back but there’s always time for a mexican wave…

www.thisisfantasyfootball.com