Don't forget, everyone, that the African Nations Cup takes place at some point during the season (January, I think), so some players will be missing for up to a month.

yes good point!!!! save some moolah! im gonna stop putting my faith in berbatov. i dont like th way h is developing at spurs.. got the smell of a spoilt child off him at the moment, ive just got rid of him for the moment. i need points in bag rather than a star strikeforce!

I'm going to keep him for a bit. After Spurs getting started this weekend, perhaps things will happen for him now.

It's early days, but a 20-point lead is impressive anyway:

1 Winners Blues 156
2 PORTUCALENSES 136
3 Durban Poison XI 128
4 Sonic All-Stars 126
5 Gerbils FC 117
6 Roundhouse Kickers 115
7 downhill fc 112
8 Ecclesiasticus 109
9 Napalm Death 100
10 fauxhemians fc 100
11 Ball and the Header 96
12 FC Portogal 96
13 PORTUGEEZERS 94
14 os transgénicos 92
15 FC Foster's 86
16 FC Plecewice 85
17 bola na rede 77
18 the world looks red 74
19 Dream/Aktion Unit 73
20 Kelly Greens 63

I ditched Berbatov too...

I was a bit shocked when I checked the state of my team Saturday morning. I hadn't even read the results of last Wednesday's English games yet and found out that I couldn't even field 11 active players for this weekend's matches! My team had 2 red card suspensions(!), 1 leg injury, 1 groin injury, 1 hamstring injury and 1 ankle injury. On top of that I had 1 player who hadn't played at all in the first 2 weeks and 1 who had only played 17 minutes. I figured I'd better play my wild card on the transfer market already. A bit of a waste this early in the season, but OK. I only had about 15-20 minutes left before the deadline though, so I didn't think too much about my new transfers and just did some panic buys. I ended up with no less than 8 transfers. It was worth it still because I had 46 points this week against... I don't know, maybe just 15(?) during the last week.

It was silly of me to already start the season with two injured and one doubtful player. I figured as long they're on the bench then it doesn't matter, but I should've read the rules beforehand. I didn't know you got a free transfer every week and hadn't read about the automatic substitutions part... so injured players potentially will cost you points, even when they're just on the bench.

Anyway, the most important thing is that Feyenoord won yesterday.

just bought malbranque!

A good player. We were supposedly interested in both him and Mido last eason. I'd still be happy with either of them joining, to b honest.

I've decided to wait for a bit before considering transfers.

gah, need to sort out team. need to kick ass, need an extra 5 million!!!!!!

i wont be around for the next deadline so i had to do drastic measures and play the wildcard. i hope the gamble pays off.... need to start scoring higher than 30 odd points a week....

At the end of gameweek 4:

1. Winners Blues 206
2. Durban Poison XI 179
3. Gerbils FC 172
4. Sonic All-Stars 157
5. Ecclesiasticus 153
6. FC Barcelona 150
7. fauxhemians fc 145
8. downhill fc 141
9. Napalm Death 138
10. FC Foster's 137
11. FC Portogal 135
12. os transgénicos 130
13. Ball and the Header 129
14. bola na rede 117
15. the world looks red 108
16. FC Plecewice 108
17. Dream/Aktion Unit 100
18. Kelly Greens 94

We've had a few changes of teams as well: FC Barcelona has joined, and PORTUCALENSES, PORTUGEEZERS and Roundhouse Kickers have left. Down to eighteen teams now.

fauxhemians up a bit. nice nice. winners blues are walking away with it at the moment. we need some crunching high tackles guys!

Wow ! I'm the 23rd best French player today !
But this ain't the biggest league

And somehow you've gone top of the Sonic League. Outrageous!

what a crap wekend for my team. crap crap crap.

i completely forgot about this!
i notice i've had a couple of zeros (injured players etc.) on previous gameweeks. but now i made some changes on my team, i'll try to keep up.

and yes, bola na rede is my team.

Ive joined, my team is Feltham probationers.
Ive had a great couple of weeks so far, Fabregas and Xabi Alonso have been scoring, and Berbatov finally turned up for duty.

You're not actually from Feltham are you? (The town, that is - I wouldn't expect you to admit to being at the young offenders institution, although that might be slightly less embaressing)

Yes, i am from the land of Nazis, poorly educated library staff and the video for Stand By Me by Oasis.

I'd always figured you were a north Londoner - because of your support for Sp*rs, I suppose. I spent time living in Hanworth and Isleworth, so I have no right to be unpleasant about Feltham.

Course you do, its a shithole, let rip

im doing as good as a good spurs fan can expect. languishing in mid table!!!!!!! need a kick ass score in a few weeks to close up on the runaways. this league is great fun!

Crikey, Bertrand's Gerbils are pretty much owning the league, aren't they?

I just checked up on how my team did... I'm dangerously close to the relegation zone.

Up to third! Fabregas, Richards and Vidic having a good month.

My team is slipping further and further down the league. I have to have a serious think about transfers this week.

I was amazed to see that - I thought that you only joined a couple of weeks ago!

Well, I'm happy where I am but it costs.

First, I mentioned to sonicl that 3 of his players were injured and almost dead when he came to Paris. Two days later, one of them couldn't run anymore. During his last game, another one felt the need to leave the field due to pain.

I met two other contenders in London, whose teams have since had difficulties.

Beware, I might travel to your place...

^ you've not been passing through the south east of england have you Bertrand? That's why my team's sinking fast!!

I took the Eurostar; the radiance might be wider than I thought...

Idv had zero were it not for Fabregas today, as it is i got 28... its depressing as a Spurs fan for the best player in the league to be wearing that dishonourable shirt.

ikara... i fucking hear you man! especially when the spurs selection are doing real poor!

It's all gone just as horribly wrong for my fantasy team as it has for my "real" team. I may have to make wholesale changes.

Bertrand, meanwhile, has insider information, I think, and should be investigated by the fantasy FA.

I'll stick pins in my brand new Essien voodoo doll for that remark.

bertrand abramovich!!!!!

Thank shit i have no Reading players

I think I might have one :(

EDIT: Yes, I have. And to make matters worse I have Benjani on the bench.

oh my. im up to third and thats with a reading player!!!!! i thought id loose a lot of ground this week but no, in like flynn, on the rails and liquid footbal!!!!

1 : Gerbils FC : 530
2 : Durban Poison XI : 469
3 : Winners Blues : 465
4 : os transgénicos : 445
5 : Ecclesiasticus : 442
6 : FC Portogal : 440
7 : fauxhemians fc : 416
8 : Sonic All-Stars : 413
9 : FC Foster's : 411
10 : Feltham Probationers : 410
11 : Ball and the Header : 406
12 : the world looks red : 397
13 : bola na rede : 396
14 : FC Barcelona : 383
15 : FC Plecewice : 358
16 : downhill fc : 341
17 : Napalm Death : 338
18 : Kelly Greens : 322
19 : Dream/Aktion Unit : 314

i gained points from last nights game? how the fuck did that happen! i really need to up the game. made it to 3rd place but then the magnet of mid table sucked my leaden boots in. things will change tho. i got rid of paul robinson finally!

Wanna reach a higher place ?
Send me your ID & password and I'll pick the players you need !
You won't regret it !
Trust me !
I lost ground !
Be fair now !
Stop pressing !
This is not spam !

Nice to see that my frantic transfer activity a few weeks ago has started to pay dividends.

Well done to Gerbils for their continued dominance.