Lord Nibbler

Your new list only has 22 players.

You need 23.

^_^

Also, you can't bid in half-millions. £7 or £8m, but not £7.5m.

Also, a couple of the players in your list are in the wrong position.

He was going down because he knew Almunia was going to take his legs, and he didn't want to risk actually being injured.

It's a foul, it's a penalty, people need to stop whining.

This happened to Roma when they signed Mexes. They appealed and it got reduced to 1 transfer window.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/news/kind=1/newsid=313525.html

Ellis, your list has 26 players on it. You need to get rid of three of them. Preferably the ones you've outbid me for

From the team lists I've had so far, it looks like everyone is going to end up with at least a couple of the players they really wanted.

Some managers will be left with a lot of work to do in the next round, some will only have to put in two or three bids.

Of course, Pesci and Ellis could change.

As soon as Ellis and Pesci stop slacking.

I will tell you this; I hate you.

I'm just waiting for Pesci, Baddar and Ellis to send me their lists now.

The lists I already have are interesting. Obviously there are three more lists to take into account, but there are a few players who seem to have been overlooked by everyone.

The Cool One has dropped out at the last minute, so currently we're a man short. If anyone else is interested in joining (or wants to drop out) let me know.

Giggs was shocking right up until he created both goals. So I guess it's a good job that he didn't get subbed off.

I can understand the 4-3-3 against top teams with dominant midfields, but at home, against an Arsenal midfield missing Fabregas, we should have stuck with 4-4-2.

And if we are going to play with three in the middle, it needs to be Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson. And they all need to be on form.

EDIT:

Darren Fletcher is awesome, who would have thought he'd go on to be such a crucial player when he first started out here?.

I think he's won everyone round. Wasn't that long ago fans used to refer to him as "The Scottish Player" rather than speak his name.

He's improved a lot physically, too. Which is good, because there are a couple of young players at the club now that could do with bulking up.

Arsenal weren't good, but we were worse. We could have won 3-1 or 4-1 with those late Nani and Berbatov chances. If we'd played 4-4-2 from the start we probably would have done alot better.

Wenger's reaction to the offside equaliser, then getting sent off was hilarious. Someone needs to provide an animated gif.

True, but everyone does have the same budget as you. I don't think there'll be too much disparity between bids.

You just have to decide who you really don't want to miss out on.

Portsmouth have signed Michael Brown from Wigan and Kevin-Prince Boateng from Spurs for a combined fee of about £4m. I'm not really bothered about losing Boateng, he wasn't great. Pompey also want Jamie O'Hara on loan although I don't see them getting him, he's a useful player and one we definitely need to hold onto.

Michael Brown was a "nominal" fee, Boateng was £4m. Which is surely over the odds for a player who only played 14 times for Spurs.

And Harry said he's happy to let O'Hara join Pompey on loan, to get some first team football. I'm surprised, because I would have expected him to play a fair few games for Tottenham.

Damn, this is harder than it looks. I'm trying to pick my squad to bid for and I'm waaaaaay over budget. Or maybe I just value some players too highly. >_>

Well like I said, it's hard to tell how valuable players really are. I'm sure everyone will find out that they paid over the odds for some players and underbid for others. Managers also tend to bid more for players at clubs they support. So hopefully we have some Burnley fans in the league

HailtotheKing has already sent his list to me, prematurely, but that's fine. If anyone else wants to get it in early they can, just make sure you give it a clear title so I don't open it by mistake. And don't sent it to me on here, because otherwise I'll get a bid unavoidable pop-up.

And HTTK, if you change your mind at any point, then just send me a new list.

10 on Bet 3

Portsmouth vs. Man City (Sunday) - Portsmouth 4/1, Draw 13/5, Man City 4/7

10 on Bet 4

Hull to beat Wolves 2-1 - 11/1

The Doubler

Everton 1-0 Wigan (Sunday)

That's fine by me.

hackerjack, sent you a PM.

There is not, unfortunately. But if someone drops out I'll let you know.

But we really have no basis on how much to bid.

That's what makes it fun. You have to decide how much you're willing to bid for one player, even one as good as Torres.

I will tell you that the highest bid anyone made for a player in last year's game was £141m. And that manager finished the season 11th in a league of 12.

This way, with a bit of luck someone could end of with Torres, Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard. With a draft you're guaranteed to have fair teams, one way or the other.

Some people will end up with better teams than others, but that's the reward for taking a risk and being clever with their bids. Someone in last year's game (on another forum) managed to sign Ronaldo, Gerrard and Lampard, and had enough money left over to buy Rooney in the winter transfer window. He won the league, but not by much.

Anyone who puts in bids for Torres, Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard would be taking a risk. It would be at the expense of the other 19 players in your squad. Besides, you could easily be outbid for all of those players. If someone outbid you for Torres and someone else outbid you for Rooney and a third manager outbid you for Gerrard... you'd end up with a lot of money but most of the best players would have been snapped up.

Like I said, it's a risk. That's why it's more interesting than a draft.

It's really not complicated. You make a list of players, along with your bid, and I work out who goes where. It requires a little more thought than a simple draft, but that's a good thing.

OK cool, so we make bids for 23 players, send them to you and then you tell us if we've got them or not? Then what if we fail to sign half of them? Or is it a 'rounds' system akin to the NFL draft?

Depending on the strategy you use, you might fail to sign all of the players you bid for. Unlikely, but possible.

There's another round of bidding, for the players that nobody bid for in the first round, and maybe a third or fourth round after that. Once a few managers have full squads, we start open bidding. You make a public bid for a player, other managers can try to outbid you.

OK, we're set. One 16-team league it is.

I've posted a guide to making your initial squad selection here. Hopefully it makes sense to people. You can post any questions in that thread or on here, or PM me on either forum.

10 on Bet 1

Birmingham vs. Stoke - Birmingham 5/4, Draw 9/4, Stoke 7/4

10 on Bet 3

Sunderland vs. Blackburn - Sunderland EVS, Draw 9/4, Blackburn 9/4

The Doubler

Arsenal 2-0 Portsmouth

Pompey were linked with a loan move for Zaki a while back, so that doesn't necessarily mean the takeover is any nearer to being completed.

Just a reminder that this kicks off in a couple of days at the weekend. I'd still like to know who is managing 'Oh Look A Rocket FC' as it's the only team that I don't know who the user is.

In as Oh Look A Rocket FC.