FFL Week 34 and 9/10ths

 

This should’ve been the final blog post of this season, alas, the incompetence of the security industry knows no bounds.

Rumours of a man with a thick Dutch accent phoning in the ‘Code Red’ at Old Trafford proved unfounded, but the hilarity that Van Gaal would do anything to prolong his stay at the Theatre of Dreams is very much real….FFS. (Ed Woodward – DO. YOUR. JOB….you gimp)

From the Theatre of Dreams to the stuff of nightmares as St Totteringham’s day was again celebrated by the red half of (South) North London. Giroud’s hat trick not only ensuring a final day belly laugh at the Emirates at the expenses of their rivals but also giving Stathi an opportunity to claim third place from fifth – more on that below!

Spurs’ capitulation in the final straight has drawn comparison with other historic submissions, but the fact remains they were never in front and leading so put away your Devon Loch analogies. However, coming third in a two horse race takes some doing – the very definition of ‘Spursy’.

Had anyone told Arsene Wenger that this season his side would’ve finished above Chelsea, City, United, Tottenham and Liverpool he would’ve expected to be celebrating his fourth title in 20 years. Alas Arsenal’s best finish in years is still abject failure.

Leicester. LEICESTER CITY are the champions!

Are Manchester City modern football’s biggest disappointment. So much money spent. So much talent but distinctly uninspiring, just like Pellergini’s jumpers. 

End of season awards?

Here’s mine:

Player of the Year – Mahrez. A revelation. The playmaking goalscorer plus got me 61 FFL points!

Signing of the season? – Sam Allardyce. The £140m saviour.

Flop of the season? Hazard – whata fall in form in a year. Special mention to Benteke. Not one-dimensional but half dimensional.

Goal of the season? – Vardy v Liverpool. Ball dropping over his shoulder. 30 Yards out and hit FULL on the volley. Boom.

Match of the season? Swansea 2-2 Chelsea. Not necessarily for the football but the historical relevance and consequences. The Caniero incident erupted and blew up in Jose’s face. Jose himself undermined by some of his players. Champions drop points again. The very public unravelling of Chelsea started here.

And on to FFL business.

With one match to go, and having gone through a THOROUGH audit – trust me, I did it four times – the table shows McNick is within 16 points of top spot. That should be it, shouldn’t it?

More interesting is the race for third and with a game to go ONE point separates 3^rd from 5^th and with £40 up for grabs, it is all to play for.

Tonight’s final match sees Harry, James and Stathi praying that Van Gaal plays their players, even though the Cup Final is days away.

For the record:

Harry has Lingaard – a likely starter tonight

James has no United players and Afobe for Bournemouth unlikely to play

Stathi has Darmian and Martial. Darmain may be back from injury. Will Martial play so close to Wembley and with nothing to play for? I doubt it.

McNick will be hoping for De Gea and Rooney (both mine) to not play and for a clean sheet and Smalling (his) to score five goals for the most incredible turnaround in FFL history. 

Team of the week goes to Nick PC with 21 taking the Olivier “Yep, I’m still sexy” Giroud prize. 

Low score of the week is me with 1 and taking the Mauricio “can the season just end NOW please” Pochettino prize. 

Incidentally, I only scored one point in three weeks – relegation form!

 

Table:

week35	FFL 2015/16 League Table
Diff			Total Points	Defence	Midfield	Attack
	1st	Mike	379	135	140	104
16	2nd	Nick Ath	363	118	140	99
48	3rd	Harry	331	49	121	161
48	4th	James	331	111	174	78
49	5th	Stathi	330	114	98	107
118	6th	Nick Ach	261	89	117	43
130	7th	Sid	249	72	110	64
153	8th	Don	226	17	128	81
160	9th	Theo	219	110	61	46

 

I will update with the FINAL table tomorrow morning.

It then needs us to agree on a date for the summer auction.

We can go VERY early or after the September transfer deadline or some of you lot learn to use skype.

Anyone up for a EURO 2016 predictions league?

Your chairman