We did it by playing football; pure, beautiful, inventive football.

[kyle]

I have Noble, who is my cheap midfielder at 5.0m. After some research I found he takes pens and free kicks, so yeah. Decent for a bencher.

Also, I have McCartney at 4.0m which is wildly cheap for someone who starts... from what I've read.

ALSO, I joined your league.

[Nick Ink]

I have Noble, who is my cheap midfielder at 5.0m. After some research I found he takes pens and free kicks, so yeah. Decent for a bencher.

Also, I have McCartney at 4.0m which is wildly cheap for someone who starts... from what I've read.

ALSO, I joined your league.

Oh cool - thanks!

I have only Vaz Te from the Hammers, as I spent so much on my other two forwards I needed a bargain. He did well for us last year, so it just remains to be seen whether he can cut it in the Premier League.

I think McCartney is probably first choice LB, and we'll be set up to grind out 0-0s too, so that is a good one. Noble is extremely reliable from the penalty spot, and a lovely little player - old school really, all guile but not really an athlete, which is quite unusual in the modern game - the danger is if he loses his place to one of our new signings (Diarra, the former French captain may put pressure on him)

By the way - protip: Chelsea have two games in 'Gameweek 1', so thjeir players are likely, thnough of course not guaranteed to score more. There will have to be a week later when they don't play obviously, but it's worth keeping your eye on that sort of thing and juggling accordingly. I'm sure you know all that though..

[Nick Ink]

I just asked Ellie for a West Ham Cat, and three minutes later she gave me this. Nothing can go wrong now!

[kyle]

Brilliant!

[Good Intentions]

I am there I took a few gambles with team selection, we'll see how radically I'll have to change the squad as the season develops. It's always a crapshoot until all the transfers are done.

[Good Intentions]

I withdraw my 'Sunderland are doomed' prediction. They paid a hell of a lot of money for Fletcher, but he'll knock them in.

[Nick Ink]

I withdraw my 'Sunderland are doomed' prediction. They paid a hell of a lot of money for Fletcher, but he'll knock them in.

And now they've signed Adam Johnson too. It will be interesting to see if he looks as good playing week in, week out as he has in his little cameos for Man City and England.

The relegation odds at Ladbrokes are interesting - a very tight book and they're not at all sure who's going from the bottom 10 or 12:

Norwich 6/5
Reading 11/10
Soton 5/4
Wigan 6/4
Swansea 5/2
West Ham 9/4
WBA 10/3
QPR 7/2
Villa 5/1
Stoke 5/1
Fulham 8/1
Sunderland 9/1

25/1 Bar (NB:Liverpool 100/1)

[Chet]

£12 for Fletcher is absolutely insane money. So it goes in the EPL though.

[Chet]

Any fantasy footy going down any of you are involved in?

Oh, yes, Sunderland are doomed.

Sunderland? Only if they part company with O'Neill, who admittedly has a nasty habit of washing his hands of clubs when the chips are down. I hate to tempt fate as we play them on the opening day, but I fancy Villa to struggle. I'm not 100% convinced Paul Lambert will be able to reproduce his achievements at Norwich with a 'bigger' club, they're over-reliant on Bent, and there's been a kind of malaise hanging around them for a few seasons now. They sort of need a relegation to clear the air, I think.

If any of you (Marinus, Kyle, Chet - where is Chet? - anyone really), feels like getting a team in quick, I have a small league going here - http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ - just register, pick your team and join The Socks League with the code 12109-4835. At the moment, it's just me, my bro, Ellie, my mate Si and his bruv, so we could do with a bit more competition.

Woah. Where did you get this from?

Also, I just joined yr league. I'm in another one, will my points carry over? I'm doing pretty lame anyway though.

[Good Intentions]

It's not full time yet and your boys might still pull it out of the fire, but I'm going to bed so: my condolences, Nick.

[Chet]

I've got Swansea's Taylor in my team so i'll take the clean sheet, thank you kindly. 

[Chet]

Took Steven Pienaar out of my team and replaced him with Fellaini, after the latter's dominant display against Man Utd. Of course, Pienaar scores for Everton after 3 minutes.

[Chet]

Oh well, there we go

[kyle]

Sorry Nick but Swansea look superb this season. Can't wait to see how they manage against a top of the table team.

[Chet]

They just bought Celtic's own Ki Sung-Yueng for a reported fee of £6.2 million rising to almost 8 with various performance based add-ons - which is an amazing price considering he was maybe our 5th choice midfielder who most fans are happy to see leave. I do think he has talent though and he might do well down there.

[Good Intentions]

Took Steven Pienaar out of my team and replaced him with Fellaini, after the latter's dominant display against Man Utd. Of course, Pienaar scores for Everton after 3 minutes.

I had Fellaini on my bench last gameweek (I put out a distinctly sub-optimal team out given my squad, but still did alright). Corrected that this time.

[Nick Ink]

Crewe are 10/1 to beat West Ham tonight in the cup - it's a licence to print money!

[Chet]

ooof

Barcelona
Benfica
Spartak Moscow
CELTIC

the big boys playground

meanwhile The Rangers FC (2012) compete in the Ramsdens* Cup this year

*sponsors:

[kyle]

Carroll to West Ham on a season long loan.

Nick, you ever think a 35m pound player would ever be dressed for the Hammers?

[Good Intentions]

Well, Big Sam must have creamed his pants when that went through.

[Nick Ink]

Carroll to West Ham on a season long loan.

Nick, you ever think a 35m pound player would ever be dressed for the Hammers?

Well, I'm old enough to remember when we held the world record for a goalkeeper's transfer fee (Phil Parkes, £575K from QPR), and we also signed Paul Goddard for £900K in the same season Trevor Francis became the world's first million pound player.....but yes, I take your point.

Pleased with the signing, and also with the cup draw...

Capital One Cup third round draw:

Carlisle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Swindon Town v Burnley
West Ham United v Wigan
Leeds United v Everton
Preston v Middlesbrough
Arsenal v Coventry City
Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday
Chelsea v Wolves
Crawley Town v Swansea City
QPR v Reading
Norwich City v Doncaster Rovers
Bradford City v Burton Albion

[Good Intentions]

That's not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. For one thing, Wigan are starting better this year than they did last.

[Nick Ink]

That's not an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. For one thing, Wigan are starting better this year than they did last.

True, but the season is only two games old and they've only beaten Southampton They've also lost their best players, Diame (to us), and Rodallega. I think in the Cup you want a) to be at home, b) to avoid a Burton Albion type banana skin, and c) to avoid the top 4 (unless you're Burton Albion, in which case you want one of the top 4). So, Wigan at home fits the bill nicely. Of course,we'll lose.

[Chet]

just woke up at 4pm and celtic haven't signed anyone yet despite the trillion pound windfall from the champions league! only 7 hours left 

[Nick Ink]

Don't want to be greedy but I would love us to re-sign Benayoun tonight.

Celtic seem to have signed a Nigerian defender now.