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Crazy Transfer Deals 09/10 Vol 1

Ipswich Keeper Retires at 22

Are Pompey Already Doomed? Part II

Earlier in the week I wrote an article questioning whether Portsmouth were already doomed this season, yielding worrying results for Pompey fans and I thought I’d touch briefly on the subject again.

So What’s Changed?

Not much, but enough. Today Pompey manager, Paul Hart, has insisted that he will not be reading too much into Portsmouth's difficult start to the season. Seriously, Paul?

At the moment the team don't look capable of beating anybody, much less mounting a campaign to dragged themselves from the relegation zone and perhaps this Saturday's game will somewhat of a proving ground.

Bolton lie just above Pompey at the foot of the table are facing somewhat of turbulent start to the season themselves and three points at the weekend is undoubtedly vital for both sides.

"Wherever we were and whether we have 12 points, nine points or no points, Bolton will always be an extremely tough game," Hart stated.

"Where we are in the league makes no difference and you can't say whether relegation is upon us or not five games in.

"Three points is what we are after and whether it's Bolton or Man United, we'd still be looking for a win in this situation.

"I'd rather concentrate on our position than Bolton's, and the onus is on us to go out and grab three points."

Salvation

But have no fear Pompey fans! Your salvation is here! Today you signed Danny 'The Goal Machine' Webber on a free transfer! Yes, that’s right! Danny Webber! Your survival is assured!

Okay, enough sarcasm. It was a bit harsh to be fair, but that was my honest reaction when I heard the news. It just doesn't make sense to me in the slightest. Why sign him? Again, I may be speaking prematurely, but he's clearly not of a Premier League standard and I very much doubt it'll expand Paul Hart's attacking options beyond having another player in the squad for a reasonable price i.e. nothing (though I'd still argue that) in case anyone gets injured.

But surely Nugent is of a better quality than Webber? I know he and Wilson had a bit of a pre-season spat, but come on. Maybe I'm being too critical. Maybe I'm being the 'arm-chair coach' and basing my opinions too much on Football Manager (I'd argue rationality, but that's me).

In either case, Paul Hart has a completely different opinion: "When I found out Danny was available I asked him to come down and train with us - and I was delighted with what I saw."

"He plays off the shoulder of defenders and gives us another attacking option.

"I wanted to sign him when I was at Nottingham Forest, but he went to Watford. He's another one who's hungry with something to prove."

Hart does realise that they aren’t in the Championship, right?

Right?

In all honesty, I'd love for this article to come back and bite me in the arse. I'd love Webber to score 15 goals this season and elevated Pompey from relegation and keep them safe for another a year.

But he won't.

An Accumulator For the Weekend: Week 1

For those of you who don't know what an accumulator is, let me explain it the best I can. An accumulator is a type of bet where you select 4 or more selections (if you choose 3, it's a treble and 2 is a double) and in order to win ALL of your selections must be successful.

Some like this bet because you get relatively high (or accumulated) odds, but others don't because they consider it to be a mugs bet because if just one of your selections doesn't come in, they the whole thing has been a waste of money. Whilst I understand both sides of the argument, I choose to embrace the accumulator as a bit of fun and can make a Saturday afternoon in the pub a little more interesting (especially if your team isn't playing).

But for the purposes of this article, the gambling element of this practice isn't all that important - it's the selection process. What I'm going to do here is to run through my selections for this week and give my reasoning on precisely why I chose them and invite you all reading this article to do the same all in the name of fun (because I seriously don't advocate putting any money on my selections nor your own hahaha).

The first rule I usually go by is: don't make any selections unless you REALLY know the league, or enough games have passed to get a fair idea how that league is shaping up. Why? Well if you know the league and the teams off by heart, then at least you have a fair idea on how a certain team will fair or indeed whether you should just stay away from the fixture altogether (i.e. Tottenham v Man Utd) and of course, if there are enough games played you get enough stats to paint a rough picture in your head of possible selections. With the league stats it's important to review league positions, home form, away form and previous meetings.

I know the Premier League fairly well (or at least I think I do) so that's where I'll start. At first glance there are a few difficult fixtures this week. I've decided immediately I'm going to veer away from the big games like Tottenham v Man Utd, Man City v Arsenal and Birmingham v Aston Villa (I think we can take 'em! Up the Villa!). I also avoid the teams with unreasonably close league positions such as Fulham v Everton and Portsmouth v Bolton (both teams look shocking at the moment, 0-0 or 0-1 I reckon). Then there are the others which I just don’t like the looks of, such as Blackburn v Wolves, Stoke v Chelsea (the Britannia is like a fortress now, I can see Stoke getting a sneaky point out of this) and Wigan v West Ham. In fact, the only two games I do fancy in the Premier League this week are Liverpool v Burnley and Sunderland v Hull.

Liverpool v Burnley

I think Liverpool will be looking to get their season back on track and beating Burnley at Anfield will be a perfect platform to do it.

Sunderland v Hull

West Brom v Plymouth Argyle

Charlton v Southampton

So to recap, my accumulator will be Liverpool, Sunderland, West Brom and Charlton - what's yours?

Feeling confident with your selections? Feel like you can't be wrong? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and make your weekend a little more interesting! Click the banner below to get your FREE �£200 Bet from Bet365.com

UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football

That's right, the UEFA Champions League is will kick off tomorrow night and that means quality footy action from all over Europe will be hitting our TV screens once again. Excited? Well hang onto your trousers because it's about to get even more exciting!

UEFA are running their UEFA Champions League Fantasy Football game again this year and in the name of competition (and fun) FootyBanter.co.uk has created it’s own private league with a prize fund of £25 heading towards the overall winner (sent via paypal).

So come, get involved!

How to Enter

Just head on over to the UEFA website, hit the "Champions League" tab, then the "fantasy" link.

Register on the site.

Select your team.

Then click on the "Leagues" link, click the "Join League" tab and finally enter 98957-23209 into the form.

And yes, like the Premier League fantasy football game, it’s completely FREE to enter - so what are you waiting for?

Can Villa Stay Ahead of the Curve?

For Villa fans, last season was a joy to behold. Under relatively new management and ownership the club flourished, rising from mid-table obscurity to credible contenders to break into the 'Big 4'.

Of course, they didn't. Despite some prudent buying and sound tactics, Villa just couldn't keep up the momentum they'd built so strikingly in the first half of the season. The squad depth was minimal and sadly they couldn't maintain their stamina whilst vying for the fourth spot (which became the fifth spot toward the latter stages of the season) in the greatest league in the world as well as trying to carve out a decent run in the UEFA Cup.

Ultimately, Villa finished sixth; 1 point shy of Everton in fifth and ultimately ten points behind Arsenal in fourth.

This season, despite a good performance last year, most (and I was of these) expected things to get worse. The 'big 4' seemed unbreakable as ever, Everton again had a strong team on paper and with emergence of big spending Man City and flourishing Tottenham, maintaining their stature in the top half of the table seemed something like a uphill battle. Add to this losing arguably their best player, Gareth Barry, to one of their immediate rivals and the dim outlook on the new season prior to the first kick off is somewhat understandable. But what really did it for me was the lack of transfers.

As mentioned previously, the squad depth was an issue last season I expected that to worked upon, especially with selling Barry to City, Zat Knight going to Bolton and our leading centre-back Martin Laursen retiring due to injury. But O'Neill didn't develop much at all in the way of transfers (pre-season at least). The only interesting buy he made was Stuart Downing, but why buy another left-winger when Villa already have the superlative Ashley Young playing in that position? It didn't - and still doens't for that matter - make sense to me. And I really couldn't understand why O'Neill went into the season with only two established first-team centre-back's in the squad.

The decision baffled me, but then he brought in Collins, Dunne and Warnock and relived my doubts a little - but not entirely. To me it still seems like we've got a hole in our centre midfield, with Reo-Coker being Villa's best option in my own opinion. I don't think Petrov can really shine at this level and Delph is frankly too young and lacks Premiership experience to be all that effective.

And when Villa lost their opening game of the season against Wigan and at home no less, I really felt like our season was over and with the odds stacked against them, Villa would struggle to get a place in the top half of the table, never mind be a threat to the 'Big 4'.

Then things picked up - considerably. Defying the odds, Villa picked up a well-fought victory against Liverpool at Anfield, following up by a home win against last season rivals Fulham and then picking up a victory against local rivals Birmingham at St Andrews.

With a game in hand, Villa stand at the brink of breaking into a top 4 once again, but this early in the season it doesn't mean a whole lot and the question becomes can Villa stay ahead of the curve?

Honestly, I don't think so. Although Everton are having a torrid start to the season, both Man City and Tottenham are flourishing and will be hard to beat. Also, Villa still haven't really fully solved the squad depth issue. I believe they are relatively strong at the back now, with Dunne, Davies and Cueller become a particularly good combination, but as I highlighted before, Villa are still weak in the centre and that could become costly in some of the more hard-fought matches of the season.

Why do I think they'll finish? As it stands, my money rests on 7th place but I will not be all that surprised if we fall beyond the 10th spot and enter the realms of the lower half of the table.

Here's hoping the Villa superlative away form continues...