The ScoutCast – Episode 27 – Xmas Roast

by granville on December 23

As the nation slithers and shivers to a halt for a festival known as Christmas, Mark & Granville come in your ears for a final time this year. Subjects include roastings, stuffings and mince, oh yeah and a little fantasy football talk too. We’re staying home with our families instead of jetting off the shores afar, and invite our risky guests over, taking extra care not to ply them with too much food and drink. They have the Boxing Day fixture tomorrow.

Download or stream the episode via this link or grab it, along with all our other episodes via this page.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

{ 591 comments }

m165 December 24 at 12:24 pm

Who to bench, O’Hara or Cohen?

Jay Pea December 24 at 12:50 pm

O’Hara

lightspeed December 24 at 12:31 pm

Hi, New to all this but could do with some advice:

For this week Drogba out for Rooney

Means i will take a -4pt hit next week to bring in Fabs and 1 more doubler (6 total).

Or

Leave Drogs for this week and bring in Rooney and Fabs next week and have 5 doublers for GW20.

coozie December 24 at 12:49 pm

If drogs is playing leave him in bud

stevedelhorno December 24 at 12:34 pm

any upate as to when fab is back?

lightspeed December 24 at 12:39 pm

nothing confirmed…possibly for Villa almost certainly for GW20

Andy1 December 24 at 12:46 pm

When does Song leave for the ACON?

m165 December 24 at 12:47 pm

I think he plays the first match of GW20, but gone for their second.

EasyE December 24 at 12:49 pm

No chance of Fabs playing this GW???

Andy1 December 24 at 12:51 pm

Is it worth swapping Song this week for Gallas? I quite want to change Huddlestone/Drogba for Fabregas/Zamora next week.

Yidfan December 24 at 12:53 pm

every chance? everything i read sounds good. If he is fit why wouldn’t he play this is an important game for Goons as Villa could well be up there at end of season

Andy1 December 24 at 12:55 pm

I don’t want to put Fab in this week just in case he doesn’t start – plus I would have to remove Drogba to do that, and he’s been unstoppable this season!

Trilogist December 24 at 12:46 pm

Ok so this is my quandrie!

My Team is :-

Sorenson (Robinson)
Dunne Verm Alexander Johnson (Shawcross)
Milner Lennon Diaby (Etherington, Bowyer)
Drogba Torres Defoe

I am concerned about having Dunne and Verm in defense at same time in same match, I dunno what to do or who to take out.

Suggestions?

coozie December 24 at 12:51 pm

Johnson of Birm?

Trilogist December 24 at 12:53 pm

Glen J

coozie December 24 at 12:54 pm

Etherington with man c dodgy def?

Trilogist December 24 at 12:55 pm

in place of who?

coozie December 24 at 12:48 pm

Hi Lads,

Struggling to do a transfer this week, i need some help please.
I was thinking Collins out Nelsen in
or
Keep my 2 transfers for next game week, but i dont think my team is good enough for this week

Cheers

RJBroughton December 24 at 12:49 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/h.....428869.stm

Manchester United are to get new striker Mame Biram Diouf in january who they currently have on loan to Molde FC. Diouf has scored 35 goals in 74 games for Molde and will be available for United in january.
He’s clearly a proven goal scorer averaging 1 every 2 games nearly, i will be keeping an eye on him – what do you lot think?

Yidfan December 24 at 12:51 pm

If he can keep a record like that for the mighty Molde then he can certainly be a premiereship star in the making lol

Yidfan December 24 at 12:52 pm

If it means that Berbatoss never gets a game i am happy if he does bag 35 golas in 74 games for UTD

RJBroughton December 24 at 12:54 pm

At no point am I saying hes going to score 35 in 74 for United but simply stating that he is a natural goal scorer unlike Berbatov seems to be at United and unfortunately for him its goals that United need therefore this could see Diouf quickly ahead of berbatov in the pecking order

fleeto2009 December 24 at 12:55 pm

that’s in the norwegian league. kinda different. probably be shipped out on loan like manucho…

darcy December 24 at 12:50 pm

Start Shawcross over one of them then.

Defoe rules December 24 at 12:53 pm

Enjoyed the Scoutcast this week, top notch as always.

I think il be doing A.Young out for Diaby either this week or next, transfer points deduction wise it makes no difference so has anyone got any views on who will score more this week?

fleeto2009 December 24 at 12:56 pm

how many players are people getting in from the 4 teams who play twice in gw20? at the moment i have:

schwarzer
dempsey
m.taylor
g.cahill
arshavin

Andy1 December 24 at 12:58 pm

I currently have

Sorensen
Shawcross
Song
Arshavin

But I am looking at changing Song for Gallas and adding Fabregas/Zamora

Trilogist December 24 at 1:01 pm

wouldnt Jump on Fabs bandwagon..Im pretty sure he wont make 90 mins over two games!

Andy1 December 24 at 1:02 pm

Why not? There is 8 days between the games. I don’t see him playing the FA Cup, but he should play both league games

Trilogist December 24 at 12:59 pm

Will have 7 by next week
Sorenson
Verm
Arshavin
Shawcross
Etherington
Diaby
Zamora

jamsiep December 24 at 1:13 pm

Will prob have:

Sorensen
Baird
Duff
Diaby
Fabregas
Arshavin (c)
Taylor

Funny story – am using my phone to do this, and when I typed in Diaby, predictive text kicked in and changed it to Foamy!!!

m165 December 24 at 1:29 pm

I’ll have:

Sorenesen, Faye, Arshavin, Fabregas, Cohen, Gallas, Zamora, and might get in Tuncay next week.

GRRobinson December 24 at 12:57 pm

Is it foolish for me to be seriously considering captaining Glen Johnson this week? Rooney, Valencia, Torres and Arshavin are my other contenders.

Trilogist December 24 at 1:01 pm

yes lol

Trilogist December 24 at 1:02 pm

torres!!

fleeto2009 December 24 at 1:02 pm

not at all as wolves will park the bus at anfield. it should be 2-0 or 3-0 to pool.

Trilogist December 24 at 1:05 pm

wolves will score thats a guarantee! have you not watched liverpools defense this season?

fleeto2009 December 24 at 1:29 pm

that is true but wolves are crap against ‘the big 4′

Noodles December 24 at 1:02 pm

With Anelka’s injury, and Drogba off after this GW and I already have Rooney, is it worth transferring Drogba to Torres one week early, to account for fixtures?

Trilogist December 24 at 1:03 pm

Ok so this is my quandrie!

My Team is :-

Sorenson (Robinson)
Dunne Verm Alexander Johnson (Shawcross)
Milner Lennon Diaby (Etherington, Bowyer)
Drogba Torres Defoe

I am concerned about having Dunne and Verm in defense at same time in same match, I dunno what to do or who to take out.

Suggestions?

Andy1 December 24 at 1:05 pm

I’d put Ehterington in and bench Dunne – I don’t see a VIlla clean sheet on Sunday.

Trilogist December 24 at 1:07 pm

anno but I thought that against Utd! lol they’ve kept four in a row now.

aussiepundit December 24 at 1:12 pm

Arsenal have scored atleast 3 goals in every home game this season (exception being 2 against stoke and none against chelsea), even if they don’t have a preferred starting XI you would still expect them to score one goal or more.

aussiepundit December 24 at 1:04 pm

DROGBA OUT YESSSSSS!

Torres likely to play, YESSSSSS.

25/12, 12:04 am here (christmas day in other words)

What great presents :D

THANKS SANTA <3

aussiepundit December 24 at 1:05 pm

drogba out for fulham (only plays against b’ham)

Puffinboy December 24 at 1:04 pm

Sagna was just rested against Hull, correct? Is he likely to play both of the DGW games as well as the FA Cup match? I’d go for Gallas but the finances are a bit tight.

Shipstontrev December 24 at 1:11 pm

Hi Puffinboy from Orlando. Hope you had a great birthday. I’m sure Sagna will play the dgw games. Merry Christmas

Puffinboy December 24 at 1:14 pm

Cheers Trev, great to see you keeping up your usual FF standards this season.

Have a great Christmas and think of us back ‘ome while you’re chucking another drumstick on the barbie.

Andy December 24 at 1:14 pm

Sagna will always be the main RB at Arsenal, undoubtedly – but as Wenger has shown he will intermittently give Eboue a run out in that position to keep him fit and appeased.

I wouldn’t like to bank on him playing both fixtures, it’s likely… but not definite. I wouldn’t like to bank on any Arsenal defender to be honest unless they suddenly had an upturn in style, and posed offensive threat too.

Puffinboy December 24 at 1:15 pm

So you wouldn’t get one in for the DGW then?

Andy December 24 at 1:18 pm

I would get Gallas if I could wangle it, but only him, as he can at least get his head or face (or arse) on the end of some crosses.

Puffinboy December 24 at 1:21 pm

Looking at things again, I could do Drog->Defoe and RJohnson->Gallas. For some reason I’d like to keep both Chelsea defenders, I think they can get back on the cleanie trail soon.

Applebonkers December 24 at 1:16 pm

andy how’s the whole torres rooney thing going? still proving annoyingly difficult?

Andy December 24 at 1:20 pm

Hello Kenny Hotz…

Unless something contrary comes out, Torres is in and fighting to stay. If he falls blindly I have an extra transfer next week to remove him in disastisfaction. Knowing my luck if I bought Rooney he would then get his 5th yellow so it would be a really bad trade.

I’m giving the decision (at least) one more gameweek to stew.

Applebonkers December 24 at 1:23 pm

sounds sensible. i wish i had your restraint when it came to saving up for free doubles

Holden Cauldfield December 24 at 1:09 pm

I’m trying to get my head around how the price rises work…

Arsh is protetcted so he hasn’t gone up. His NTI is 168431 (fiso). Am I right in saying a player’s value goes up by 0.1 for every 23955 transfers in?

So if Arsh wasn’t protected he would have gone up by (168431/23955) times 0.1 = 0.7. So his value would now be 11.5 if he wasn’t protected?

aussiepundit December 24 at 1:13 pm

yeppp :)

Holden Cauldfield December 24 at 1:18 pm

Thanks. God, people who bought Arsh when he was at 10.8 must be annoyed. I’ve been lucky with Fabs as I didn’t sell him and he’s retained his price due to protection.

Will fab’s price shoot up when people start to transfer him in for the DGW if he becomes unprotected?

Andy December 24 at 1:16 pm

He wouldn’t have gone up 0.7 times, because once a player goes up levels double and increase and all that malarkey.

If Arshavin wasn’t “protected” though, he would have ultimately had a certain level of rise in price though, no doubt. But in the end… he was, so we can’t do anything about it.

CBC December 24 at 1:18 pm

Not quite…
Every time a player rises in one gameweek, his next rise threshold is doubled. So after one price rise, his threshold would be just under 48000, then 72000, until the start of the next gameweek. Then it drops to 24000 again.
Saying that, at one point Arsh was having over 25000 transfers in per day, so easily could have gone up at least four times since the Fabs injury status.

Holden Cauldfield December 24 at 1:20 pm

Thanks for the explanations Andy and CBC

edgeways December 24 at 1:09 pm

With Arshavin at 700% to rise on CTC, does that mean that when his protection expires, he will go up £100K on each of 7 consecutive days for a £700K total increase over a week? (provided there are not loads of transfer outs before the week expires). Or does his NTI reset to zero after first £100K and need to build to 100% again before next one? Could also ask the same question about Fabs in reverse, although I suspect the NTO will stop on him before there is time for a £500K drop. Anyone know?

edgeways December 24 at 1:11 pm

Sorry – not a reply to Holden – I see that we asked much the same question at exactly the same time!!

Holden Cauldfield December 24 at 1:13 pm

spooky…

aussiepundit December 24 at 1:15 pm

NTI resets to 0 after 7-10 days :)

Andy December 24 at 1:17 pm

When both their protections expire their NTI & NTO reset to 0, so basically CTC is off and missed that buck and when they enter the ‘real world’ of price changes again they will start from scratch, reset at 0 and all past transfers are lost to the game.

CBC December 24 at 1:19 pm

What Andy said!

Tommy J December 24 at 1:21 pm

Do we know when protection expires?

Dhubanmonkey December 24 at 1:12 pm

I want to do Drogba and Bowyer Out for Arshavin and Zamora as well as Dunn and Bikey out for Tuncay and Ab Faye.

Which two should I do this week and which next?

Defoe rules December 24 at 1:16 pm

Diaby or A.Young this week?

Super Squirrel Supports Arsenal December 24 at 1:22 pm

Wow thats tough, i would play A.Young

Super Squirrel Supports Arsenal December 24 at 1:17 pm

Okay two questions,

Play Etherington or Sanli
AND
Sorenson or Hart

GRRobinson December 24 at 1:25 pm

I’d go Sorenson and Tuncay

Defoe rules December 24 at 1:30 pm

Hart – Should be a tight game, could snatch a cleanie and should make plenty of saves.

Sanli – More likely to get a freak overheadkick goal

Super Squirrel Supports Arsenal December 24 at 1:33 pm

yeah i think i will mull The GK over but definatley going with tuncay

mar December 24 at 2:11 pm

test

kamdaraji December 24 at 2:20 pm

will the bolton burnley game go ahead?

12thMan December 24 at 5:19 pm

wishes you all a merry Xmas..loads of thanks for this great site..

was wondering if there’s a striker on which you will bet to score a goal or two this week, who will you pick??

cheers

Morrissey1986 December 24 at 5:22 pm

Just got odds of 5/1 for Villa to beat Arsenal at Emirates that was too good to turn down.

Vermeerish December 24 at 5:26 pm

Good price for a reason.

Morrissey1986 December 24 at 5:27 pm

And what reason is that Villa on their day I back to beat anyone they did Chelsea and Man United so why not Arsenal?

Vermeerish December 24 at 5:29 pm

Not saying it’s not possible just saying it won’t happen. 2-0 Arsenal. Sorry.

Morrissey1986 December 24 at 5:32 pm

Here’s some intresting stats

Half-time table (at Home)
1 Arsenal
2 Aston Villa
3 Chelsea
4 Manchester City
5 Liverpool
6 Burnley
7 Tottenham
8 Sunderland
9 Stoke City
10 Manchester Utd
11 West Ham Utd
12 Birmingham City
13 Fulham
14 Wigan Athletic
15 Hull City
16 Everton
17 Blackburn
18 Wolverhampton
19 Bolton
20 Portsmouth

Half-time table (Away)
1 Arsenal
2 Tottenham
3 Chelsea
4 Aston Villa
5 West Ham Utd
6 Manchester Utd
7 Birmingham City
8 Manchester City
9 Bolton
10 Everton
11 Stoke City
12 Portsmouth
13 Liverpool
14 Sunderland
15 Wigan Athletic
16 Wolverhampton
17 Fulham
18 Blackburn
19 Hull City
20 Burnley

Played matches 176
Remaining matches 204
% played 46%
Home wins 52%
Draws 23%
Away wins 25%
Goals 523
Goals p. match 2.97
Goals p. match (Home) 1.78
Goals p. match (Away) 1.19
Over 2.5 goals 56%
Under 2.5 goals 44%

Milan December 25 at 2:53 pm

That’s impossible. If Arsenal is first home and away, it had to be first overall. Or are these only %?

myteamissheeeeeeeet December 25 at 11:31 am

Merry Xmas to you all.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Need to get rid of Dunn and Anelka but should I go with.

Tevez/Tuncay OR Rooney/Lee of Bolton????? Or ave u any other ideas lads?

pcpompey December 25 at 2:50 pm

what do u guys think about captain Gerrard he didnt make any points such a long time
after a chat with Rafa would that be helpful for him to start improving and make massive points at home against MMC’s team

sparticas7 December 26 at 9:54 am

Drogbs or Rooney as captain. Think Drogba may want to say bye with a good display but Brum are playing well at home. Also Rooney is only getting points for taking penalties at the moment so not sure if he will get many points due to United not playing to well but they are due a big game.

Any help please?

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: