For those of you who moved the Alice band from Haaland to Watkins (because Luton) I feel your pain. For those who opted for Watkins instead of Nketia, *sigh*. But onwards we go with GW11. Well Erik Ten Excuses still be in gainful employment on Saturday evening? Can Palace find a replacement for Eze? How many will FFP FC hammer past Bournemouth? Let’s see who has who this weekend
4 Nov 2023 Fulham v Man Utd Brentford v West Ham Burnley v Crystal Palace Everton v Brighton Man City v Bournemouth Sheff Utd v Wolves Newcastle v Arsenal
5 Nov 2023 Nottm Forest v Aston Villa Luton v Liverpool
6 Nov 2023 Tottenham v Chelsea
I think the one to watch will be Sawzall v Arsenal.
In the FPL, the spoils were split 2 ways with the EIB & IGM both netting 779points. No change at the top with Mav787’s DynaMo Salah donning the Yellow Jersey once more while 90 points was enough to earn figie’s high town F.C. the Big Shout Out. The EIB leapfrog the IGM into 2nd spot in the H2H but it was the BB&S who were victorious with 21 points. Top of the heap is Bl00dysister who takes the crown home again.
Hopefully we’ll have the shed repainted in time for kick off tomorrow & specials at the concessions stand include corned beef sandwiches. What a time to be alive .
Wolves "done" by VAR again, that was never a penalty.
As for the Newcastle goal, if Raya hadn't missed another cross the push and the offside wouldn't have mattered. I'm not sure the ball was out, I am slightly puzzled why Newcastle don't have cameras on the lines though, it was a definite push, a two handed push on Gabriel, possibly a handball also, and, Gordon is obviously offside. Atwell had a dreadful game, Havertz could have gone, that Bruno clown could have been sent off thrice, how can a player run past another, deliberately elbow him in the back of the head and escape punishment?? It's baffling. And lastly, in these days of extended "injury time", why only eight minutes?? There were so many substitutions and incidents, I was expecting 15!! Okay,another thing, NKetiah was woeful, he just can't score away from home - unless Arsenal have another academy player ready to step up I think a forward is on the January shopping list. Or, Saka and Nelson on the wings, Martinelli down the middle. Oh, Smith Rowe, I fear he will be another Jack Wilshere, career ruined by injuries. He had more potential than Saka, he was the one everybody expected to shine, sadly injuries have stopped his progress.
I don't think the goal should have stood either. I thought it was a clear foul and if Gabriel had done the same to Joelinton it would have been a penalty. As for the offside, to not have a good enough angle for VAR to determine is a lousy excuse for what is supposed to be the best league in the world. In the end it comes down to clear and obvious error and, as the offside couldn't be determined, it wasn't clear and obvious and they had no choice but to give the goal. The game certainly shouldn't have finished 11v11 either. Both Havertz & Guimarães should have been sent off in the first half.
All the controversy over the goal is just allowing Raya to escape with yet another blunder, almost as big as the blunder of selling Willock, cheers Unai.
Another GW done followed by yet another concerted anti-VAR campaign by the press & several ex ManUre players who think they’re pundits. All who have completely missed the point that VAR does not decide to send players off or disallow goals under dubious circumstances. The ref does FFS! Those of us who have actually watched Match Officials Mic’d up will also know that the refs review serious foul play calls in real-time as well as slow motion. So any mentions of “Yeah it looks bad in slo-mo” from Neville, Scholes et al can basically get in the bin. Anyway, I wasn’t far off the one to watch as Stuart Attwell made the ultimate bad decision (among other bad decisions that is) in the 64th minute. No, it was the Spurs v Chelsea game that has won the hearts & minds of former players who haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about as Michael Oliver dished out nine yellows & two reds in a match littered with incidents as nine-man Spuds went into a tail spin, losing 1-4 to the blues. But headline of the week has to be that Eze is back for Palace
The FPL last weekend saw possibly the lowest scoring GW I’ve ever witnessed as the victors, EIB managed just 364 points. 16 points was enough to keep Mav787 ’s Dynamo Salah in the
While, even with a pitiful 45 points, the
went to my valiant Unstuck Forest team. The table as it stands
The H2H handed 24 points to the EIB ensuring a double win for the week but it’s Bl00dysister who maintains the lead, securing the
for another week. The table
The aftermath of storm Ciarán has meant we need to recover the shed from a nearby village but, given there’s an international break after this weekend, we have plenty of time to get it dried out with our state-of-the-art damp removal system. In the meantime I’ll hand you over to emilystrange for GW12. Good luck all…..especially us