retired_espeon

I like the look of Huszti and Makoun, could be big players for Niall at the Toffees and Goat seems to be buying the whole of Argentina but can't deny that most of them are quality signings .

I'm hoping to bring in a couple of top quality players before the transfer window closes .

retired_sankanyo

Obviously me just like always

Palacio (i think hes the only player who i have bought every year and every year he DOESNT deliver lol so he better do this time!)
Coloccini (one of Argentinas best defenders who can slot in at right back too as he showed in the world cup)
Pinola (only a matter of time before this quality left back gains his first international call up)
Belluschi (bought last 2 years and just like Palacio he has underachieved)
Kenia (the new kinkladze)
Thiago (wonderkid from barca who everyone in spain are raving about)
Pineda (50 caps for Mexico already = quality)
Chevanton (hoping he can relive his form from his Monaco days)
Cassetti (Quality Italian right back)

need i go on

retired_hollieo

Honestly, I think I've heard enough

retired_teresa assis

A new campaign, a new era of Liggins for Boro fans. This time out looks likely to be the hardest however, with funds being tight and squad quality/quantity being very poor. Yakubu, John Pantsil and Lloyd Doyley have joined the squad, Tuncay, Arca, Rochemback and Luke Young leaving, mainly to free up some funds. £6mil spent, £6.5mil recouped, although with Steve Gibson only giving 75% of funds received, I've just about broken even. However with the start to the season we've had, he might have to loosen the shackles somewhat...


Boro 0-1 Bolton

A bout of food poising robbed Boro of their manager for this game, which finished 10 v 10. Anelka grabbed the winner.

Man Utd 4-0 Boro
Boro 3-3 Birmingham

These two games were again controlled by the assistant, who will be getting the sack shortly after throwing away a 3 goal half time lead.

Liverpool 2-1 Boro

The first real game under the new boss, and a promising performance. A Kutyt penalty and Torres strike put the Reds two up, before a 3rd goal in 4 games from Yakubu set up a tense finish.

LEAGUE CUP - Forest 1-4 Boro

Everton boss Niall "Envy" Murphy was spouting off in the press how he'd be along to watch, believing a Forest win was on the cards. As the £rd Boro goal went in after 22 mins Murphy could be seen skulking out of the Directors box, potato cocktail in hand, heading for the exit. Shawky and Aliadiere with two goals apiece ensured a much changed and inexperienced (more so than normal) Boro's passage safely through to Round 3.

Joe Ledley was added to the squad on transfer deadline day, just in time for the visit of Fulham, although manager Dave Allen was again AWOL.

Boro 2-1 Fulham

A 1st win in the league lifting us out of the drop zone. Yakubu with an early goal, getting on the end of Ledley's pass, the young Welshman having an impressive debut. Fulham unjustly equalised, but justice was done in injury time when Yakubu bagged his 5th goal in 5 games. £5mil? Cheers Mr Murphy


A slow and truncated start (only being in charge for 2 of the 5 league games) but signs are there that the young team is starting to gel. But they're only a young, small squad, honest bunch of lads, don't expect too much from them.

Up the Boro

retired_dampeerw

Hi Guys

As you are one of the more established clans, can I ask a question. How well does your game run with 10 players over the net? I am running a online game but people are complaining about the speed. All my settings are the same as 07 and that ran fine but 08 seems to have problems.

Sorry to have bothered you with this but i have been following your clan for a long time and have enjoyed watching your progress and thought if anyone could sort it you guys would have.

Cheers
RichG

retired_espeon

It runs fine for us, we turn off all player/manager pictures, logos/badges and background pictures and also make sure that the host has a good enough pc to run it quickly otherwise that'll slow things right down.

retired_espeon

TRANSFERS IN = 19m
Valeri Bojinov 4m Man City
Eddie Johnson 2.6m Kansas City
Al Bangura 2m Watford
Olivier Kapo 2m Birmingham
Paul Robinson 2m + David James Tottenham
Shaun Maloney 1.7m Aston Villa
James Keene 1.2m Elfsborg
Benoit Assou-Ekotto 1m Tottenham
Anthony Gardner 800k Tottenham
Jelle Van Damme 700k Anderlecht
Frederick Holster 400k Hacken
Cagri Erdem 325k FC Kobenhavn
Nicolaj Agger 300k Brondby
Hossam Ghaly P/Ex Tottenham
Charlie Adam Loan Rangers
Jermaine Pennant Loan Liverpool
Jonathan Evans Loan Man Utd

TRANSFERS OUT = 18.25m
Lauren 3.5m Palermo
Benjani 3.1m Empoli
Nwankwo Kanu 2m Catania
Sean Davis 1.6m Birmingham
Pedro Mendes 1.5m + Hossam Ghaly Tottenham
Richard Hughes 1.5m Stoke
Sol Campbell 1.5m Sampdoria
Djimi Traore 1m Birmingham
Hermann Hreidarsson 1m Livorno
Martin Cranie 800k Stoke
Franck Songo'o 500k Crewe
Asmir Begovic 250k Doncaster
Callum Reynolds 110k Hull
David James P/Ex Tottenham

SQUAD
Goalkeepers - Ashdown & Robinson
Defenders - Assou-Ekotto, Distin, Evans, Gardner, Johnson, Paramot, Primus & Van Damme
Midfielders - Adam, Bangura, Diop, Ghaly, Kapo, Kranjcar, Maloney, Muntari & Pennant
Attackers - Bojinov, Keene, Johnson & Utaka

It's been a busy summer of transfers at Portsmouth but I feel that the quality has improved in the squad and we have managed to sign some quality players especially Valeri Bojinov from Man City who I feel will develop into a world class striker.

Still got money left to spend if needed in the January transfer window and hopefully the chairman will add more on top so we can continue to improve and develop the squad.

Portsmouth 1-2 Liverpool :thdn:

Liverpool dominated the early going with Robinson pulling off a couple of decent saves but we took the lead with a debut goal from Johnson against the run of play to put us 1-0 up. It didn't last long as Liverpool got a free-kick just outside the box and Alonso curled it past Robinson to make it 1-1 at half-time.

The second half was pretty even between both teams until Taylor was caught out and Sisokko was put clean through to put Liverpool 2-1 up and seal the three points.

Fulham 0-1 Portsmouth :thup:

The next mactch saw us up against Dave's Fulham team which even throughout with Robinson having to be on his toes to keep out several shots and Johnson terrorising the Fulham defence with his searing pace which lead to the late winning goal as Johnson outpaced the defenders and finished neatly past Niemi to hand us the unlikely victory.

Portsmouth 1-0 Blackburn :thup:

The third match of the season was against Slow Mo's Blackburn side which saw my team put in the performance of the season with fast, flowing passing helping to create numerous chances which we continually wasted as Blackburn showed their resilient qualities throughout the match but we managed to take one of our chance's with a third goal in a row from Johnson just before half-time helping us to three points.

Newcastle 2-1 Portsmouth :thdn:

We took the long trip upto Tyneside to face Steve's Newcastle side in what promised to be a good game and it didn't disappoint. We took the lead through another goal from Johnson as he easily outpaced the Newcastle defence and placed it in the top corner past Given but the lead didn't last long as Owen capitalised on a melee in the box to make things all square going into half-time.

We were looking for a good start to the second half but Taylor got above his marker and headed in a corner to grab all three points for Steve but a point each would have been a fair result with the match and number of chances being even.

Doncaster 2-0 Portsmouth

We lost badly... that's about all I want to say on this match apart from I made alot of changes which cost me badly lol.

Portsmouth 2-1 West Ham

This was a cracker of a match against Arthur's West Ham side with their new big money signing Alex scoring to put them 1-0 up and looking very impressive throughout but we hit back with our own big money signing Bojinov who scored a debut goal to make it 1-1 going into half-time. We cancelled each other out throughout the second half and it looked destined for a draw until Muntari grabbed a injury time winner to steal the points for us :p which was cruel on Arthur as his team had easily done enough for the draw at least.

So it's a decent start to the season but we need to tighten up defensively if we're to make our top half finish target .

retired_espeon

Current Table - 1st September 2007

retired_hollieo

I was going to do a report but I'll let the table speak for itself

retired_hollieo

Oh ok then.

Fast start from Everton...


Newcastle 0-3 Everton

This was a tough looking game on paper against Steve's Newcastle side but it surprisingly ended up being a one sided match with Everton controlling it from start to finish, putting three goals past Steve Harper in the process. Very pleased with this result. Steve, probably, not so pleased.


Everton 2-0 West Ham

Fellow Oirishman Arthur was next up with his Happy Hammers and arrived at Goodison with an adventurous 4-2-3-1 formation that was designed to score goals. On the day though, Everton managed to control the game and deservedly won the match, although we didn't seal the game until late on when we notched the second goal. Good performance from West Ham who have the makings of a good side.



Arsenal 0-0 Everton

No disrespect to my fellow managers. Oh ok, loads of it.

This was the first massive test of the new look Everton side and we had a massive stroke of luck when the game was played on a waterlogged Arsenal pitch which undoubtabley affected their usual passing game. Drafted in the experienced Lee Carsley for this one for his defensive abilities and with a tough central three of Makoun, Carsley and Gravesen on show, Arsenal struggled to play.

They did though have the slightly better chances as Everton hoped for a break on the counter but Howard dealt well with anything thrown at him. Very pleased with the point and to go 360 minutes without conceding a goal. That must be an early EPL Challenge 2008 record.


After this there was a short break for Carling Cup games and Murphy turned intrepid explorer as he took in brief highlights of games between Nottm Forest and Middlesbrough, Doncaster vs Portsmouth and West Ham vs Blackpool.

Unfortunatley, I was denied my first opportunity to give Ligs a bit of lip as his side surprisingly dealt well with Forest. Ben Jackson was not so lucky however as his expensive Pompey side faltered at Doncaster. Arthur managed to get past Blackpool with little trouble.

Then it was back to the Premiership:

Everton 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Wigan had given a few of the lads a shock as they had started the season well, so before the game this was a battle between 2nd and 4th. Wigan took the lead through Titus Bramble from a corner, but Everton came back to win 2-1, taking 13 points from a possible 15.

Next up it's Goat's even more expensively assembled Man City outfit. Looking forward to it.