oui.

when you change captain you lose the double bonus

i went polanski > sneijder > iniesta > ribery

finally ribery is giving me 5 points in 1/2 time which become 10. 10! at last.

so does the wildcard work for the whole matchday? or does it work just the one time you click on it?

sorry im a bit hangover.

I had Afellay initially, so I only lost 2 points. Jelavic had 6, Benzema is still on 2 now.

I don't know about the wildcard, but the deadline is not until tomorrow anyway, so you still have a day left to think about it.

fuckit, i didn't have a lot of time to watch today but looks i made out like a bandit w/ today's points. i added the 2 russians. the fucking computer recommended i made the forward captain instead of dzagoev, who was my hunch. fucking macheeeeens!!

anyway i'm happy not to be in last place for once. of course i've burned out my wildcard but that's the price of ignorance, yeah?

ALSO: TRANSFERING OUT DOESN'T KILL OUT THE POINTS! you keep them. substitutions on matchday i believe yes, but transfer between matchdays doesn't.

and i think changing captains from matchday to matchday doesn't kill points either-- only within the matchdate.

No, transfers won't effect it and you can change captain and formation for the next matchweek at any time up until the deadline.

I'm actually thinking your tactic to use your wildcard so early on might be a masterstroke, especially as it looks like you've managed to buy a virtual Euro Dreamteam. (You won't have seen it but you'll be kicking yourself the amount of chances Polanski missed (assuming you picked him).) I'm probably gonna wait till the final to use my Wildcard but depending on how things pan out in the quarters and semis, it's possible i won't get the full benefit of it. Hmmm.

I'm not totally unhappy with my choices so far, although I'm making a big gamble bringing Di Natale in, given he may not even start.

Ah, first world problems, ah?

a masterstroke? more like a play of utter of desperation!

i had been told transfering out will diminish the points so i was ready to shed 14 or so points to make my replacements.

i took out podolski and put in little mueller. i like where booger-eater makes him play and he was a top scorer last world cup so i have high hopes for him. in bayern he plays in a more central position which doesn't make him such a scorer. but here i expect him to do well. also he played lots better than podolski and i expect him to be more in the action. also, he plays with gomez in bayern and they are bound to understand each other better in case of goal-creating scenarios. gomez finally pulled the cork out of his ass and scored but at 11.5 i couldn't afford him. so i picked his associate, ha ha. plus i don't know if gomez will puss out again-- mueller is tiny but has balls of steel. i really have faith in his diminutive person.

i wanted also to pick hummels as a defender because he is fucking fantastic but ultimately picked lahm because he can go on the attack and score and i know him better and he's SOLID.

kroos i like a lot, he is an immensely great kicker and can shoot a goal from very far, but boogereater didn't let him play much so i took him out. fucker! i thought kroos-gomez-mueller would generate a strong current cuz they play together year round. eh!

on that rationale also i kept polanski from my original team. i saw his missed goal! what i mean is: i know podolski and kuba are going to play great, as they did today, and i know that polanski will be "connected" to them and benefit-- you know what i mean? the way that all defenders also pay for another defender's fuckup and give up the clean sheet point, but on the offense-- assists, what not.

i ended up taking out my spanish forward. i had silva, but he looked weak last game, and torres sucked, and i don't know what the fuck is happening there. from last game my fave player was fabregas but i dont know who will play so i only kept iniesta because he's great and i have faith he will deliver.

and funny, i did put in di natale as well, as a gamble, and italy is bound to win teh coming games so there will be goals. i don't know but i think balotelli is a fucking fucktard, throwing little fits like a shit and hesitating like that in front of the goal and begging to get carded? i'd bench him for the rest of the tournament. so dinatale is the man.

i also figured out the defense/goalkeeper thing and how to make them score. before i was just tring to keep "bad players" bench so they wouldnt get me negative points haaa haaa haaa. anyway, thanks for the help & pointers. fingers crossed!

& lol @ first world problems. this is proletarian entertainment-- does it count?

--

ps: boogereater

Spain are trying to play without an out and out striker, using Barcelona's whole 'false 9' thing, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as effective, and when they concede and put a striker on, they go with Torres (who, if nothing else, has finally made me appreciate how crucial David Villa was to Spain's success). So I'm thinking that for all their forward strengths, teams will struggle to score against them, so I've kept Ramos in my defence (and Iniesta in midfield, for reasons identical to yours).


I'm tempted by German players, obviously, but I think that's such a tight group they're in that it's hard to predict clean sheets, and the problem specific to Germany is that (as you suggest) while it's likely that one of their players will absolutely explode with goals, it's a nightmare trying to predict who. Even Spain are easier to forecast than Germany, at least going forward.


Italy are the team I'm most looking forward to seeing more of. I love Balotelli but I'm hoping you're right about him being benched. I saw Italy's manager give an interview about it and he seemed to be suggesting that he'll start Di Natale but I'm increasingly thinking it was a silly risk to take. Not that I'm really expecting Italy to have a goalfest against either Croatia or RI.

I know this really sweet Romanian girl and asked her if she'd like to watch one of the Romanian games with me in a pub. I've just discovered Romania didn't qualify!

i just gambled 2 points by substituting tyton with andersen. i'm hoping denmark is in deep shit but andersen saves the day!

@ demoño: ramos annoys me with his little hairband and playing for real madrid but he's fucking awesome and can score too.

and i know germany has a tough road in this group but i wanted to grab mueller before his price goes up, ha ha ha. that way i just keep him on for the next rounds. same with lahm, etc.

and dinatale may not be a sure starter maybe but he was CHEAP (8) in a great great team so i expect his value to increase. i was reading that he's a mentor to balotelli and treats him like a son. but balotelli needs a spanking, ha ha ha.

ps- noticed polanski's knee got hurt yesterday. fuck!

I'll probably use the wildcard late in the tournament, as players I picked made me enjoy a good start.

The group of death was a nightmare in terms of fantasy team.
I only picked a Dutch, a German and a Dane - I didn't trust Portugal, and they grabbed a win...

I'll probably offload Ozil and someone else to raise money to bring another German (or Germans).

I completely forgot that I wanted to open this thread to cultural differences when England-France kicked off...
It's a little late, but here...

The English had Roy of the Rovers, who scored 481 goals at club level for 522 games played; for England, he scored 52 on his 43 caps...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Race



The French had the great Dupaxon, who's probably less known in here than Roy over the channel, even though I don't know if Roy is that famous, apart from a hint here and there when I read the British press...
Dupaxon thought he was the best player, but was a bit far from it, although he eventually signed for Barca (where he was mostly used to lawn the turf)... Tons of misses, including a penalty in front of an empty goal... Ah, memories...


(he's the redhead heading wide)(looks in to you? well, it sure is wide...)

Wonderful stuff. RotR was very much an icon but I think his status has faded somewhat with recent generations. I'd never heard of Dupaxon but I do love finding out about that kind of thing.

well, fuck me, balotelli is starting

Yeah, and he played ok which make think he'll start next week, too, and I've already made my transfer. I was hoping he'd pick up a yellow card so he'd be suspended but nothing. Bastard.

This has been a pretty shocking matchweek for me. Besides Dzagoev and Ramos, I've just been picking up scraps. I'm even starting to lose patience with Iniesta.

Questions for the experts:

1) I got 10 pts from Arshavin as captain (should have picked Dzagoev with 7=14)-- would you gamble losing those 5 points to put Nasri or Ribéry as your captain? I think France needs to win so I might take the chance.

2) Lescott? Do you think he'll score more than 2 points? I might take out Maniatis. Shit, St. Ledger (hilarious name) gave me -1 today so I took him out. [ EDIT: i already put lescott in for maniatis-- mybe he'll do something awesome]

I know we're "competing" but it's not like we're betting money and I'm just trying to learn this game, so if anyone wants to discuss their strategies please do.

@ demoño: iniesta had a pretty good game. the problem i think is that the fantasy league does not have a way to quantify his contribution.

here he's part of a very confusing attack system i don't really like--- it's not his fault.

It's a reasonable gamble, I'd say, but a gamble nonetheless. I wouldn't, but that's just me.


I'd be surprised if he scores less than 2 so it's a safe-ish bet, I'd say.


Yeah, I'm not questioning him as a player just, as you say, his impact on the FF scoring system. Some of the best players I've seen in the tournament so far (Marchisio, Busquets, Sneijder) have performed fairly unspectacularly, according to FF. Defensive midfielders seem especially hard done by.

I wouldn't pick a new captain if I were you.
Once one reaches 10 and over, I find it risky to gamble.
It's too soon.

A bet on a player selected by 2.3% of the coaches in the semi-finals if you're trailing behind (which will obviously be the case - tactics # 66) would do; it never works too well though, and I have some expertise on that.

Ribéry would be a better bet; he's been good since the friendlies, and that can't be said of Nasri.

McGeady brought more points than Iniesta when he only seemed to play in the second half.

I have kept Ozil out of fake faith and picked a new defender in place of van der Wiel.

So Bertrand, how was the England France game reported in France? I read in an English paper that the French press absolutely slaughtered us for our supposed negativity.

There was no slaughter as far as I perceived it.
The French mostly focused on their own national team.
After the last international tournaments, what's most needed here is some trust in the squad.
So the fact Nasti scored 9 minutes after the opener was viewed as good signs for the future.
After all, you're the other favourites, a draw was always good to grab.
That's how shaky we are.
Plus, as the French "bible" for sports, L'Equipe, had issued doubts over Nasri, his reaction after scoring (when you read his lips, he's not being sweet for the journalists...) got the papers to react to that more than to the British lacklustre game.
The sole glimpse of a naughty comment came from Laurent Blanc, saying he doesn't see England playing differently (did he say even with Rooney, I seem to think he did but can't assess that bluntly), which would not lead them to the final victory. And by the way the words were reported, he doesn't see them reaching the final. Nor the semis. Nor even qualifying for Euro 2012, unless they beat Luxembourg in a play-off.

I think it was just the Laurent Blanc comment, actually, but the way it was reported over here was as though the whole of France was in some state of moral outrage.

I don't know what it is about Nasri but he seems to be a player people really struggle to like.

He's hit or miss, invisible at times (the shock of his first game at City, compared to his latest in an Arsenal shirt...).

He won the European title with the U-17.
There are 3 other players who won it with him : Ben Arfa (a troublemaker til he went to Newcastle, had a chat with De Jong and been trusted by Pardew, it now looks like it is the past), Benzema (who had problems with Ben Arfa when they were at Lyon), Ménez (who's had trouble with his partners at PSG - Nene, Pastore... and who seems to consider he ain't a piece of shit)...
So it might stem from that.
They took for granted they were the elite and haven't questioned that that much.

well i said fuckit & went with ribéry as mon capitan. he didn't disappoint last time and he's my hero-- he fights for every ball! i know this is maybe bananas but i gotta root for my favorite players and the league has made me do strange things (like rooting for the enemy ha ha). here we go!!
--
ps i should have picked nasri. he's gonna score. you'll see.

fuck. i picked clichey initially and then when evra started against england i transfered clichey for zhircov (who got me 3 points...)

watch clichey get a hatrick now!

i haven't really thought about my team properly. I picked players who are decent, but wont get me many points in FF. Apart from looking at defenders who might score (Agger) or at least get forward (Cole, Lahm)

i picked damien duff and robbie keane ffs!
and van persie needs to step up or he's getting a slap.

fuck shit there goes lescott's clean sheet!

blagh. haaaa haaaa haaaa.

oh i suck at this. (i also lost 4 points from my captain switch-- that's what i get for playing blackjack)

I'm surprised I got away with finishing 3rd this week. My midfield was solid enough but unspectacular and my forwards did nothing at all, while my only clean sheet was for Ramos. And I had Cech in goal, so hardly a dream team.

welli welli well, brother....

average points for the week was 41, i scored 39 but could have had 43. haaa haa haa. in all, not bad, but my first week was sooo sucky it will be a while to catch up, if i do at all-- i remain last (but i wouldn't be if i had followed dr. bertrand's sage advice).

anyhuevos, i'm learnin', and thanks for the explanations.

one thing though, i have no clue what we're supposed to do once the group phase is over. free transfers all around? i guess i'll ask when the time comes.

next time, also, i might keep like 5E in the fucking bank. i wanna get gomez before his price goes too far up but i would need at least 2 trades to get him, as i have nobody that costs more than him. it would be cool if you got more money the more points you make so you can cash in without trading out. but eh, maybe not a good design.

finally, i'll have to say it again: i don't like what this game does for me. it makes me root for strange teams i don't give a shit about. haaa haaa haaa. oh, i'm still having fun though, but it's a weird feeling.

Click on the 'Rules' link and it explains it all. You get another unlimited amount of transfers before the quarter finals, but with obviously only half the amount of teams to choose from. You're obviously handicapped by having already used your wildcard but if you get your selction right for the quarters you could be ok. An unexpected hat trick, a saved penalty, etc, could easily rearrange the table in your favour.

Being a short tournament, thoiugh, there's little time to correct things. A full league is much easier in that respect, although obviously far harder to win outright.

that kind of headache-inducing rules prose really fucking hurts my brains for some reason, so thank you for the translation. i might sound like an asstard but i don't understand it-- it's probably the ADD-way i process information.

---

dzagoev really let me down yesterday as captain (though i'm sure all of russia has worse complaints), so i'm choosing lahm today who is and has always been solid. i could probably risk it with little mueller, but i think i might follow bertrand's advice and play to the stats.

yes/no/maybe? hmmm....

It's free transfer for the quarters, and you're handed 5 more Monopoly notes.

Already offloaded Dzagoev who I had as captain too. I was happy he didn't get a second booking, as he was so nervous. The Russian team (I haven't seen the beginning of the sinking) were running around like headless chickens.
Also offloaded : Anyukov, Lewandowski (I couldn't believe the results), McGeady and Toivonen.
Next are my Croat or my Italians...

It's tough to trust someone you've not included for some reason...

The captain armband thing is quite funny in that game.
It's been passed to someone not so far from Lahm over here.

yeah, i've already been spending it, ha ha. i've got my german all-stars.


does it start with an "h"? does it start with an "o"? ehhhh????

ha ha, cool to see we're on the same side today. i do have a danish defender also but i don't care if he gets creamed.

alright! transmission starts here soon...

lahm gave me 3 miserable fucking points, duplicated it's 6, which is crap. that's better than the 2 points i would have received from mueller or the 2 points i got from dzagoev.

tomorrow i have di natale and st. ledger and iniesta. iniesta is awesome but his fantasy scores are cack through no fault of his own; who knows how long di natale will play; and st. ledger (hilarious name for a saint-- patron of accountants?) is in a losing team that's gonna get the shit kicked out of it.

should i make one of those captain? if so, who? will st. ledger save a ton of goals and score well? will di natale play and score at least one? will iniesta maybe assist a goal? hmmmmmmmmm.......

anybody's gotta score more than 3 points, yeah? but... who?? iniesta??? i think i'm going to put him-- he's bound to have some chances and maybe end with a clean sheet. yes/no/maybe? what to do.... i'm gonna put him in i think.

I heard there's pressure being but on Prandelli to start him. Neither Balotelli or Cassano have scored yet on top of that, Balotelli is meant to have picked up a slight injury. Nothing's for certain but it looks promising from a FF point of view.

At the last moment, I wave my staff and encant the ritual of time-out.

My [Jock of Holding] gives me a plus three to substitutes. I roll a twenty, scoring a critical hit!

I choose Narnawk, The Scrote-Chewer, a half-orc guard from Bristol to replace the now winded Farnum Tinklepants, the gnome who had served us so well first period by running in-between the legs the opposing squad to score a handy goal, early.

Narnawk's handlers unchain him from the pole near our bench. He bellows the orcish war-cry, now so feared by all.

"Nnnnggggrrrwgggl!" he shouts; which, of course, in half-orc means "soccer good"

haaaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaa

it's true, it's all true, except for the word "soccer" of course, but this is all true, ha ha ha. very well done.

ooh! THANKS!!

---

edit: never mind haa haa

ribéry or nasri might save me tomorrow yet

---

ps- iniesta ended up scoring 6. 6!!! i should have left him as captain. i suck at this game.

joined. I'm up there with the top managers.

you have a fuckload of points! you're going to kick our asses haa haa haa.

(actually, never mind-- bertrand is 1 point ahead of you)

Dammit, I forgot to log in today so I didn't make any substitutions. Gonna lose a lot of points unless Cole and Olsson don't score more than 1 point between them... really hoping Sweden and England won't have clean sheets tonight or I'll be annoyed.

edit: fuck you, John Terry!
edit edit: fuck you, 5th official!
edit edit edit: Cole nearly scored, haha


ouch: that cost me 11 points. fabregas/jelavic 1 vs cole/olsson 12

ootah, france let me down big time, i am fucked.

im gonna sell those sons of bitches for the next round. fuckem!

i don't blame ribery though, but he can't play alone

I am plummeting.
I should pick a safe one.
But where from? What nation?

Premier League fantasy game is kinder, you always have a chance, and even shitty teams don't disappear.
This is tough...

for these quarterfinals i threw away my once-mighty french midfield-- which means of course that france will beat spain with goals by ribery and nasri. oh yes, this is now a guarantee.