I wanna see more bravery, more God damn valour (!) in team selections.
Sadly most won't take a risk: happy to plod along and accept gentle handshakes and doffed caps when they finish 3rd/4th/5th come May. That style of play - gutless and effeminate - leaves me, a student of the game, cold.
Quote: George Kaplan @ 22nd January 2014, 2:58 PM GMT
How confident are you feeling, Steve, about holding on to top spot?
What do you think has given you the edge so far? (Serious question - glib answers not required.)
Personally, I've been impressed. When I looked at your January Wildcard team I thought it looked pretty damn good.
Confident of being in and around the shake up for European places.
Getting Mertesacker & Coleman early helped a lot as it meant I could keep my defence cheap
Looking back I did my best work in November
Took a load of transfer hits over a few weeks to clear out the plodders .
Chose all the right captains for a few weeks Ozil/Augero/Suarez/Rooney.
With Ramsay racking up the goals & the A R S forward line in place the points kept rolling in and gave me some daylight.
But they were different days back then, Roscoff was even in the top 10,000 for heavens sake.
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ 22nd January 2014, 4:48 PM GMTRoscoff was even in the top 10,000 for heavens sake.
Happier times 
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ 22nd January 2014, 4:48 PM GMTConfident of being in and around the shake up for European places.
Getting Mertesacker & Coleman early helped a lot as it meant I could keep my defence cheap
Looking back I did my best work in November
Took a load of transfer hits over a few weeks to clear out the plodders .
Chose all the right captains for a few weeks Ozil/Augero/Suarez/Rooney.
With Ramsay racking up the goals & the A R S forward line in place the points kept rolling in and gave me some daylight.But they were different days back then, Roscoff was even in the top 10,000 for heavens sake.
Thanks for the reply. So a mix of smart moves and short-term risk-taking with the transfer hits?
I've generally avoided transfer hits and waited for free transfers, but that's probably been short-sighted.
Quote: don rushmore @ 22nd January 2014, 4:40 PM GMTI wanna see more bravery, more God damn valour (!) in team selections.
Sadly most won't take a risk: happy to plod along and accept gentle handshakes and doffed caps when they finish 3rd/4th/5th come May. That style of play - gutless and effeminate - leaves me, a student of the game, cold.
Don, are you the Hunter S Thompson of FF?
Anyway, gives me an excuse to post one of my all time favourite writer pics.
I miss your posts on other Forums here, Don.
Quote: George Kaplan @ 23rd January 2014, 1:50 PM GMTThanks for the reply. So a mix of smart moves and short-term risk-taking with the transfer hits?
I've generally avoided transfer hits and waited for free transfers, but that's probably been short-sighted.
I was lucky that most of the risks paid off at the time
getting Suarez in straight away also helped
I didn't try to increase my team value deliberately apart from getting on the bandwagon quickly even if it meant a points hit.
But I've noticed that all the top valued teams are ones that have done a lot of transfers
However the points hits mean that they aren't usually that highly placed.
Using the stats this year has helped as well, I didn't bother that much before.
But mostly I've been fortunate, and my lead is far from insurmountable, especially now everyone has hit their stride.
Quote: George Kaplan @ 23rd January 2014, 1:50 PM GMTI miss your posts on other Forums here, Don.
Thank you, George. *curtsies*
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ 23rd January 2014, 7:28 PM GMTmy lead is far from insurmountable, especially now everyone has hit their stride.
Bullshit. You're practically home and dry. Splodge may catch you but that's it. 
I hope that's the case apart from the Splodge bit.
But I'm not falling for the mind games Fergudon
I need to do something. Devised a plan last week for my wildcard: 15 South American players. Bottled it though. Shame cos the team name was brilliant - "Don Cry for Me Argentina".
I expect you mean the MaDONna version.
I like her early stuff. You know, 'Lucky Star', 'Borderline' but once she got into her 'Papa Don't Preach' phase, I don't know, I tuned out.
New rule - I'm calling 'bagsy' on Mata. No one else can sign him.
Mata has definitely crossed my mind too. But that would mean me ditching Ozil after only a few games, and he showed some nice touches tonight in the Cup. Would help if Wenger played Podolski more as they have a good understanding.
Also Moyes has a way of screwing things up - he's been unlucky for me.
And Mata hasn't looked all that great when he's turned out for Chelsea this season.
I think it'll take a while till we see him in a Utd strip for the FF game, though I've noticed he's being bought up already by some players.
He'll be magnificent in the Utd team: ringmaster and Disney prince rolled into one. A steal at only 9.4 mil.
For those flying on budget airlines, Zaha at Cardiff might be worth a gander. A future 'great' in the making, available for pin money.
Ah Mata that's a good idea Don
I may just buy him to see if he makes a profit.
I see Gerry has activated his Wild card when the gameweek gap is long.
good move
Most of us leave it till late the night before the deadline after a few drinks
Quote: don rushmore @ 25th January 2014, 1:56 AM GMTHe'll be magnificent in the Utd team: ringmaster and Disney prince rolled into one. A steal at only 9.4 mil.
For those flying on budget airlines, Zaha at Cardiff might be worth a gander. A future 'great' in the making, available for pin money.
I've been thinking Mata too. Might take the risk.
Zaha will certainly get more game time at Cardiff. Still not sure what the issue has been with him and Utd.
Mata fifth most popular transfer-in right now, and rising. 43,000+
