Well, well, well. Who’d have thought that the Lazarus of football managers, a man who has not been able to hold down a job more than two seasons since he left Chelsea in 2004, a manager who consistently fails and who single-handedly turned Greece who for 13 years been a bastion of reliability, hard work and defensive solidity into a laughing stock now tops the Premier League with Leicester. Leicester.
Step forward Claudio Ranieri as you have made most look like fools who thought you were a disastrous appointment. And yet, it could still all end in tears. Notwithstanding an impressive start to the season, surely Leicester are a knee injury or two away from struggling. Can Vardy keep scoring? Will Mahrez continue to be ignored in the assists stats arguments because he doesn’t have bug eyes? Can Albrightonand Drinkwater continue their form?
And so onto FFL. Like Leicester, so much depends on the form of a limited pool of players. Injuries can curtail a season quicker than you can say ACL injury and like Leicester,opportunities to bolster a squad are limited.
As we approach the busy Christmas period, a gap has developed at the top with yours truly taking home this week’s Jamie ‘fuck me I’m as good as Van Nistelrooy’ Vardy awardfor top score with 19.
James, so long the leader has been usurped and now trails by 19. James also claims this week’s Eliaquim ‘how the fuck did Pellegrini spend £32m on me?’ Mangala award for bottom scoring with -2. City’s abject defensive performance seeing the Doc leak -6 points from Sagna and the justifiably maligned Mangala in a match where my Ottamendi warmed the bench and Coutinho scored 5; an eleven point swing in one match!
Other big movers this week include Harry, Don and McNickwho are the only other managers to double digit score this week with 14, 13 and 11 respectively.
Table:
Diff |
| Total Points | Defence | Midfield | Attack | |
| 1st | Mike | 159 | 45 | 63 | 51 |
19 | 2nd | James | 140 | 33 | 63 | 44 |
35 | 3rd | Stathis | 124 | 44 | 37 | 40 |
42 | 4th | Nick Ath | 117 | 44 | 40 | 33 |
50 | 5th | Sid | 109 | 35 | 56 | 17 |
50 | 6th | Theo | 109 | 59 | 36 | 12 |
51 | 7th | Harry | 108 | 23 | 38 | 47 |
76 | 8th | Don | 83 | 1 | 40 | 42 |
87 | 9th | Nick Ach | 72 | 12 | 45 | 15 |
New Team List (like the one published last week helped – see transfer news below)
| THEO | JAMES | DON | SID | MIKE | STATHI | Nick PC | McNick | HARRY |
GK | CECH | MIGNOLET | VORM | HOWARD | DE GEA | HART | FABIANSKI | COURTOIS | STEKELENBURG |
FB | CLYNE | SOARES | ZABALETA | ROSE | AZPILICUETA | DARMIAN | IVANOVIC | COLEMAN | KOLAROV |
FB | BAINES | SAGNA | CRESSWELL | JOHNSON | BELLERIN | WALKER | MONREAL | CLICHY | NAUGHTON |
CB | VAN DIJK | MANGALA | CAHILL | KOSCIELNY | OTTAMENDI | ZOUMA | EVANS | SMALLING | GOMEZ |
CB | KOMPANY | DIER | SKRTEL | STONES | ROJO | SAKHO | GABRIEL | ALDERWEIRELD | MERTESACKER |
MID | MONTERO | RAMSEY | FABREGAS | STERLING | SILVA | HAZARD | MATA | SIGURDSSON | WILLIAN |
MID | CABAYE | OZIL | DEPAY | WALCOTT | COUTINHO | DE BRUYNE | MOSES | TADIC | OSCAR |
MID | SINCLAIR | WIJNALDUM | FIRMINHO | TOURE | MAHREZ | CAZORLA | PEDRO | SHAQUIRI | LINGARD |
MID | REDMOND | BOLASIE | PAYET | ERIKSEN | DEULOFEU | LANZINI | MANE | LAMELA | BARKLEY |
STR | IGHALO | BENTEKE | VARDY | SAKHO | LUKAKU | GIROUD | BONY | SANCHEZ | KANE |
STR | SON | PELLE | BERAHINO | DEENEY | A AYEW | MARTIAL | STURRIDGE | COSTA | AGUERO |
Transfers:
McNick tried to buy Stathi’s Lanzini
Sid:
Targett OUT Rose IN
Taylor OUT Johnson IN
Gomis OUT Deeney IN
And so to next week
Your (grinning) Chairman
