Sky Sports Fantasy Football – Rules Review
Filed under: Fantasy Football Games - Posted by: Paul
If you missed it, yesterday we announced that we’ll be covering the free-to-play Sky Sports Fantasy Football as our second game this upcoming season. We’ll bring you one article per week when the campaign gets underway but over the next few days, we plan to roll out a few articles analysing the rule set and player picks ahead of the big kick-off on Saturday August 18…
Sky have made a few changes from last season’s offering, with the good news being that the main prize is £25,000 for the overall winner. Over £100,000 in prizes is on offer – second place will land you £5,000, whilst third will be enough to boost your bank balance by a cool £2,500; there is also a selection of monthly and weekly prizes for Fantasy managers to fight for. A new and improved version of Live scoring will also be a welcome addition on Matchdays, allowing you to automatically assess your position within mini-leagues as the points roll in. First up, then, we look at how to play the game:
Team Selection
Managers can select up to two teams; each side consists of XI players and is handed a budget of £75m. Budget-permitting, there is no limit as to how many players from each Premier League side we can select – you can fill your side with as many City and United players as you wish, for example, as long as the formation is one of the five valid team shapes available; 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2, 3-5-2 or 4-5-1. Normal captaincy rules also apply, with Fantasy managers scoring double for whoever is handed the armband. One captaincy change per Gameweek is allowed, with Gameweeks running from Saturday to Friday.
In terms of transfers, you can tinker with your team from now right up until the deadline – after that, though, you have just 30 transfers over the course of the season, so use them wisely. In addition, a maximum of five transfers is permitted per calendar month.
In order for a player to score points for your team, he must be transferred in before the earliest kick-off that day – any trades made after this will pick up points from the earliest kick-off the following day, as the rules explain:
For example: If you transfer in Rooney before the earliest kick off on Saturday he will be eligible to score points immediately. If you transfer him in after the earliest kick off on Saturday, he will be eligible to score points from Sunday’s matches
With just a starting XI to manage, there are no subs to play with: a factor which obviously means that selecting regular starters is vital, while reacting to injuries and suspensions becomes equally important.
Essentially, then, the Sky game affords us an easy-to-play option which is relatively less demanding than the likes of Fantasy Premier League (FPL). With prize money on the table, it offers the more hardcore manager a chance to financially benefit from all those hours of research, while at the same time, the minimal amount of team maintenance should appeal to the more casual manager.
Scoring Points
The rules are relatively straightforward when it comes to picking up points. A player receives 2 points if he features in the starting XI and just a single point if he comes off the bench. Scoring a goal is worth 5 points, while an assist will pick up 3 points – one significant factor to bear in mind is that the Sky game uses Opta stats to determine their scoring whereas FPL is run by Press Association statistics.
If your player picks up a caution, he loses a single point – a red card reduces their score by 3 points, as does a missed penalty. At the end of every game, the official Sky Sports Man of the Match is awarded an extra 5 points; we plan to look at those most likely beneficiaries in a future article, by assessing last season’s recipients.
At the back, keepers and defenders pick up 5 points for a clean sheet, though they lose a point for every goal conceded – with no bench as a safety net in this game, rotation of cheap defenders is not an option, making the need for reliable defenders more vital. Keepers also pick up 3 points if a penalty is saved or missed.
This season also sees the introduction of bonus points to the Sky game. Players who produce 60+ passes per game are awarded an extra 2 points, as do those who make 4+ tackles – again, the knowledge of Opta data will be vital. We plan to follow this up with another article on those players most likely to appeal here, with our Members area more than a little handy for such information. We’re planning to create a specific Sky Sports table to accommodate Members playing this game as an statistical aid on last season’s data and, of course, the 2012/13 season as it unfolds.
The Scout League
We’ve set up our own official league for next season’s Sky game, with the prize of a Samsung Blu Ray home cinema system worth up to £600 handed to the overall Scout League winner – it’s not just bragging rights on offer here. In addition we are also hoping to have some monthly prizes available; more on that later but for now, feel free to join up if you haven’t already. The league name is “FFScout” and the pin code “8004519″. Click here to get involved.
About The Author
paul
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Recent Comments
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Kiss my ass correct spelling, correct answer, FFS community just can't accept my great knowledge » -
Really? » -
the answer is Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillachi » -
Very nice at 14's. I just reckon it'll be tighter, to be honest. » -
wow again wrong spelling »
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Really?? It seems ridiculously long to me. Especially as it's the most statistically common score in football. »
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Hah, yep. » -
I'm 3-1 bayern » -
Ooh thats a good question. Will have to remember that one. No idea who it is though. » -
I got a feeling that Dortmund will be the Champion. »
“We have dynamic players with good movement, so if he can link with them fine. He can play a bit higher because his timing getting into the box is very good.”
Rafa Benitez talks up the role that Frank Lampard can play in his Chelsea revolution
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Mark @FFScout_Mark
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Paul @ffscout_paul
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greek fan @FFScout_Greekf
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Andy @ffscout_andy
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G-G-Granville @FFScout_Granny
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Akers @FFScout_Akers
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Big Dunc @FFScout_Dunc
July 13 at 8:44 am
Manani says:
https://fantasyfootball.mirror.co.uk/
anyone planning to have a go?
July 13 at 8:46 am
Willis_Hide says:
NO.
July 13 at 8:49 am
Aatish says:
No.
July 13 at 9:21 am
isacki says:
Cor, read the deals they have there. “4 free teams for every £10 bet at Betway”… “New team every month”… this free team stuff turns the game into an absolute joke.
July 13 at 8:45 am
TJ says:
i refuse to get a membership while the comment search is broken.
July 13 at 8:48 am
Mark says:
Mmm…pretty sure it’s not broken. I’ve just used it ok in this thread. You can only search comments in a thread, not site wide. Mail me at support@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk if this is not working for you.
July 13 at 8:53 am
Anonymous says:
Ive just tried it and hes right it doesnt work. Trying searching for posts with Telegraph in them and the one second to the top of page four doesn’t show up.
July 13 at 8:57 am
umo says:
I see that one and your one too. Maybe it’s your browser/script blocker or something. I’m on Chrome with no blocker.
July 13 at 9:00 am
Anonymous says:
There should be 4 posts at least
July 13 at 9:04 am
umo says:
I got 10. The date order in the results was almost chronological but the 9:01pm tangtastic one was out of place, lower down than it should be.
July 13 at 9:14 am
Mark says:
Ah ok..really wasn’t aware there was a bug missing terms. I’ll get that checked out. Ta.
July 13 at 8:53 am
umo says:
Once FPL is back are the Scout Leagues going to have the same kind of format as last season? Ppl will have a weekish to confirm their entries and those from the H2H reserve will get a chance to join? I know my chances are very slim as I only finished 100th in the reserves.
July 13 at 9:11 am
TJ says:
Instead of breaking down the eccentricities of the FFS comment search, could I rather psychoanalyse Andy Warhol?
July 13 at 8:48 am
Milanista says:
If you value the comment search why not email and ask for it to be sorted? The speed that pages move at I don’t think many care about finding old comments.
July 13 at 8:58 am
Daniel - Chelsea champions - 4 more days says:
Really about comments. It has problem. You can search comment but after you find it something is broken. You can’t get away from the found comment. The search is something memorized. You need to close browser or something. And even then. You can not delete the search. Even if you delete it it still goes to the found comment. You can’t get back to normal
Sorry if it some kind of confusing but that is my experience
July 13 at 8:59 am
Aatish says:
This ^^
July 13 at 9:01 am
Doosra - A NOBLE HAMMER!!! says:
I have a Mac, so I search with Safari. Works a treat.
July 13 at 9:05 am
Willis_Hide says:
+42. This is unacceptable for a site which I spend $0 to use.
July 13 at 9:07 am
Mark says:
If you run a search, it filters the entire thread by the term you search for. If you then click “Clear Search” below the search bar, the thread is unfiltered and back to normal.
July 13 at 9:11 am
isacki says:
That is true. The problem is what happens next. If you then click on a different page number, it takes you back to the filtered thread. This one’s been a bit of a chronic one, but admittedly I don’t use it much.
July 13 at 9:22 am
Back on the horse ..¦. says:
Agreed. I don’t use the search function anymore because of these problems. Same with the ‘would you like to be notified’ – that just send me an email of my own comment and no others.
Not that I’m complaining obv…
July 13 at 9:23 am
GreenWindmill says:
True story. I don’t feel strongly enough about the Search function to kick up a fuss but I agree on the few occasions I have used it it’s caused me headaches.
Hasn’t stopped me signing up for membership though – wow!
July 13 at 9:28 am
isacki says:
Yeah as far as I’m concerned the search function is completely unrelated to the membership and trying to knock the latter on the basis of the former is just a tiresome cheap shot. I’m on my 2nd membership now and loving it.
July 13 at 9:42 am
Daniel - Chelsea champions - 4 more days says:
As Isacki said
July 13 at 9:08 am
umo says:
I have never used the search really, but just tried the t-word search above and found it stuck in there like you said. So I deleted the word in the search box and searched for ‘nothing’ and it’s back to normal.
July 13 at 9:00 am
Daniel - Chelsea champions - 4 more days says:
Hazaard given 17
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/406356_10151023296784614_2128177826_n.jpg
July 13 at 9:10 am
Kings of Lyon says:
I hope siggi gets a good number
July 13 at 9:16 am
pompeyfan says:
wonder why he didn’t get 11? or 8
July 13 at 9:00 am
Jonny says:
Guys, guys, I just tried logging into the site and instead of the usual page I got this:
“GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE, THE SITE WILL OPEN WHEN IT OPENS. GO OUTSIDE, GIVE YOUR PARENTS A CALL, JOIN A VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION…THERE’S MORE TO YOUR LIFE THAN THIS.
P.S. YOUR BOSS SAYS IF YOU SPEND ANOTHER DAY REFRESHING THE FPL LOG-IN PAGE ALL DAY HE’S GOING TO FIRE YOU.”
I’m pretty sure that means the site is launching today.
July 13 at 9:02 am
Doosra - A NOBLE HAMMER!!! says:
*giggles*
July 13 at 9:04 am
Willis_Hide says:
Real men don’t giggle.
July 13 at 9:18 am
thetinkerman says:
Love this.
July 13 at 9:18 am
frankiefernandez says:
4am tomorrow morning – I’ve heard from a reliable source.
July 13 at 9:19 am
Willis_Hide says:
July 13 at 9:20 am
Aatish says:
AP?
July 13 at 9:25 am
frankiefernandez says:
I choose not to reveal my non-existent made-up sources. But you can trust me 100%.
July 13 at 9:26 am
Aatish says:
July 13 at 9:32 am
frankiefernandez says:
Kudos on last year’s ranking Aatish, that’s impressive! Reckon you can beat that this year?
July 13 at 9:15 am
Portsmouth Bubblejet says:
Rafael van der Vaart has been tracked down on holiday by the German tabloid Bild and said the following about a move away from Spurs: „It’s unbelievable how my name has been brought up for days throughout Europe. I can only say that these are all rumours. I’ll probably also be playing for Spurs next season as well. I’ve had two very good seasons in England so far and feel comfortable there.“
When asked about rumours in the German press of a transfer to Hamburger SV, van der Vaart said: “It’s unbelievable that people there have such good memories of me. That makes me happy. Who knows, perhaps it could work out at some point in the future.”
http://www.bild.de/sport/fussb......bild.html
July 13 at 9:17 am
Willis_Hide says:
If he joins Hamburger, it’ll be as surprising as when he joined the club 7 years ago.
July 13 at 9:18 am
Kings of Lyon says:
“I’ll probably also be playing for Spurs next season as well”…. not very concrete.
July 13 at 9:18 am
thetinkerman says:
Gosh, let the guy relax. He’s on holiday! I hate tabloid papers.
July 13 at 9:19 am
Scroobius Mac says:
He’s on holiday with Sylvie, if that means getting annoyed for 5 minutes by a paper I’d take the trade off.
July 13 at 9:25 am
Portsmouth Bubblejet says:
Agreed. Bild is notoriously intrusive and has a dodgy political agenda too. There have been two best-selling books about the way it manipulates stories and a blog devoted solely to pointing out the discrepancies between what Bild reports and what actually happened.
http://www.bildblog.de/
July 13 at 9:24 am
Sporting says:
he actually said: “as far as i’m concerned, i’ll be playing for Tottenham next season”
source: Dutch Media
http://www.nu.nl/sport/2857949.....ijven.html
July 13 at 9:30 am
Portsmouth Bubblejet says:
What do you mean “actually said”?
As the article that you cited admits, the Dutch media have translated a statement that was made in German into Dutch and shifted the emphasis slightly. The word “wohl” in the original German means “probably”, not “as far as I’m concerned”, which is stronger.
July 13 at 9:39 am
pompeyfan says:
exactly, nu.nl are just re-reporting the bild story. Very much like a lot of articles in the telegraaf
July 13 at 10:17 am
Sporting says:
did they also report this;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18816436
July 13 at 10:16 am
Sporting says:
because De Bild are dirt gossip mongers. worse than The Sun.
and excuse me if i don’t recognise your authority on the German language. i give the slight edge to my Dutch knowledge.
July 13 at 9:26 am
Scroobius Mac says:
While you’re around PBJ any thoughts on the links with Spurs to Adrian? Also can he play that wide right role we need or is he a pure striker?
July 13 at 9:18 am
Scroobius Mac says:
Tottenham agree deal to sign Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City. Adebayor will now discuss terms with Spurs.
(Think we already knew that though).
July 13 at 9:19 am
Kings of Lyon says:
I loving SPurs and AVB more and more each day
July 13 at 9:22 am
isacki says:
Ade’s price will have been set already while he was technically at City. Will this mean it’s lower than if he had already signed for Spurs?
July 13 at 9:23 am
jinswick says:
Yeah, I’d think so. That said, it’s not been released yet, so I’d expect them to change it if he moves to Spurs before it gets released…
July 13 at 9:29 am
Valar Morghulis(Formerly Keith) says:
this is what i was trying to say regardin teh price list.. wish they’d released it earlier so that we’d get some bargains(like Ade priced as a City player)… damn
July 13 at 9:31 am
Scroobius Mac says:
Perhaps but you’ve got to figure they’ve priced him on the assumption that he was moving to Spurs. He wasn’t even included in the City squad last year.
July 13 at 9:22 am
jinswick says:
Be interesting to see who wins the battle of north london this year.
On paper, Spurs should’ve won last year, and if RVP leaves then same again this year. That said, another year, another year ahead of the scum…..
July 13 at 9:25 am
isacki says:
Mind the gap
July 13 at 9:27 am
Scroobius Mac says:
We’re both losing our best player though – yours is just seen as more important because he scores the goals.
I hate to say it but I just can’t see Wenger failing to get you into the top 4.
July 13 at 9:32 am
jinswick says:
That’s true, although I think we’ll miss RVP more than you’d miss Modric. Tough to spot a weakness in the Spurs first 11 right now. I really hope Wenger signs a decent back up centre back and a world-class attacking centre mid. With those 2 additions, so long as Giroud and Podolski settle in quick, we could have a good season.
July 13 at 9:35 am
Scroobius Mac says:
I think one of Giroud and Podolski will settle and the other wont. You’ve got 3 good CBs and Djorou. Not sure you need an attacking mid either – if Wilshere ever returns (starting to have my doubts) – you can push Arteta forward.
July 13 at 9:49 am
jinswick says:
3 good CBs? Vermaelen and Koscielny, yes, the others are rubbish.
Arteta not the right player for that role I don’t think. I’d prefer to rotate Song, Arteta, Wilshere, Diaby for the 2 holding roles, then ideally have someone like Fabs in front of them. Not many of those about unfortunately. Mata woulda been great, and we nearly got him too!
July 13 at 9:50 am
Scroobius Mac says:
You don’t get 81 caps for Germany being rubbish.
July 13 at 10:08 am
jinswick says:
Seriously, you think Mertesacker is good? Phil Neville has 59 caps for England.
July 13 at 10:14 am
KujaliaFC says:
The important bit there being “for England”.
July 13 at 9:53 am
KujaliaFC says:
Van Persie scored the goals because he was the centre forward in the team.
If Van Persie goes then Giroud or Podolski will play centre forward and they will score the goals instead.
Like when Wright was the centre forward, he scored the goals and when Henry was the centre forward, he scored the goals. Granted others would score too, but last season, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Rosicky, Arteta, Santos, Henry, Chamberlain, Ramsey, Song, Gervinho, Gibbs, Arshavin, Chamakh, Benayoun also scored.
Last season, Arsenal scored 74 goals. Van Persie scored fewer than half of those. Ronaldo scored twice as many goals as Van Persie.
Arsenal has consistently shown over the years (including last year) that they are a better team than Spurs (even a Spurs subsidised by City’s oil wealth).
Modric, Bale and maybe Walker are the only Spurs players who would start if they played for Arsenal.
It annoys me to hear people insult the non-Dutch Arsenal players, as if they contributed nought to Arsenal’s good showing last season. Arsenal is a great club with good players.
July 13 at 9:59 am
Scroobius Mac says:
I could disagree with a fair bit of that but do you really think RVP scored 30 goals in the league just because he was the CF at Arsenal? Sure you could have played Chamakh there and he probably would have notched 10-15 by virtue of his position in a decent team but to score 30 goals (and only 2 pens I think) is because RVP is a brilliant footballer.
July 13 at 10:05 am
KujaliaFC says:
I agree that he’s a brilliant footballer (he also created a lot of assists by the way).
Henry was a brilliant footballer too. Podolski is a brilliant footballer.
Don’t get me wrong. I would prefer Boy Wonder to stay. I just think that people are going overboard by carrying on as if Van Persie were the messiah.
Every player is expendable, even Messi and Ronaldo.
July 13 at 10:00 am
jinswick says:
I think you are missing the point.
a) I’m not saying we won’t score goals without Van Persie, of course we will. Also, RVP is so much more than just goals – everything goes through him.
and b) I’m not insulting any Arsenal players
I think last season was the first time Spurs have arguably had a better first 11 than us. I’m an Arsenal fan, and I think it’ll be another very close year. That said, without 2-3 big signings, I can’t see us challenging (again).
July 13 at 10:12 am
KujaliaFC says:
It also amazes me that people think that Giroud and Podolski are not big signings. Top scorer in Ligue 1 and forward with more than 100 caps for Germany.
Unless by “big”, you mean the attached transfer fee? Liverpool spends £35mill on a £10mil striker. Arsenal spends £10mil on a £35mil striker, or in the case of Van Persie, they spent closer to £3mil.
It seems to me as if some Arsenal fans won’t be happy unless we sign Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar.
July 13 at 10:18 am
jinswick says:
Who said Giroud and Podolski aren’t big signings? Not me, that’s for sure. I think we’re fine for strikers, but a little light on centre backs and attacking central mids. 1 of each and we’d be in a much better position to challenge for titles.
I guess my main gripe with Arsenal of recent years, is we seem to have fallen into the ‘happy to make top 4′ group. I remember the glory days, and I want to be challenging again. Our transfer policy makes this very difficult.
July 13 at 10:28 am
KujaliaFC says:
Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker are three decent CBs. We only really need two in any match.
I’m also hoping that Chamberlain comes through as an AMC this season, although Diaby, Arteta and Wilshere are all decent in this role. If I have any concerns here, it’s over the fitness of Diaby and Wilshere.
My current best Arsenal XI are:
Szczesny
Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Gibbs
Diaby Song Wilshere
vPersie Giroud Podolski
with a front line of Walcott Giroud Podolski if Van Persie leaves (as it seems he might).
July 13 at 10:41 am
jinswick says:
Amazed you don’t have Walcott or Arteta in there.
Also, disagree about Mertesacker.
Fingers crossed we have a good year!
July 13 at 9:44 am
Scroobius Mac says:
Sky Sources: Newcastle close to agreeing deal for Lille & France defender Mathieu Debuchy
Would be a great FPL player if not ridiculously priced.
July 13 at 9:45 am
Waldaz says:
Good business once again for Newcastle.
July 13 at 9:45 am
Nitin Nagaraja: Has it started yet?? says:
+1.
July 13 at 9:45 am
heco87 says:
£5.5m seems about right to me
July 13 at 9:57 am
JELLYFISH says:
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is priced at 6.0 actually
July 13 at 9:45 am
transferaddict says:
what is it with toons and french players. they’ll be after benzema next
July 13 at 9:49 am
Bigo1 says:
Well i doubt they would have had the same value for money buying English to be fair. Barfa and Cabaye are proven international players costing less than 12m in aggregate – Debuchy for 5/6m is a steal imo
July 13 at 9:46 am
GreenWindmill says:
Screw FPL – would be a great player for Newcastle! Can’t see that as anything but an improvement on Danny Simpson who, although honest and hard working, is not what we need if we’re to make progress as a club.
July 13 at 9:47 am
heco87 says:
+1 on the Danny Simpson front. Decent enough but doesn’t offer enough going forward and although seems to clear quite a few off the line, can be found wanting positionally too.
July 13 at 9:47 am
Scroobius Mac says:
Krul
Debuchy Coloccini Taylor Santon
Guti Tiote
Cabaye
HBA Cise Dave
More than a little bit decent isn’t it?
July 13 at 9:51 am
Bigo1 says:
Guti confirmed he retired from footie yday and Dave wants to play central. Will have to be 442
July 13 at 9:52 am
Scroobius Mac says:
Shortening Gutiérrez. Decent enough looking 442 though.
July 13 at 9:52 am
heco87 says:
He meant Gutierrez.
Can’t see Pardew going back to 4-4-2… think he’ll rotate Cisse / Ba wide/central during each game, as he did at the end of last season
July 13 at 9:52 am
Nitin Nagaraja: Has it started yet?? says:
He means Gutierrez.
And Cisse(Dave) is central. The one on the left wing ought to be Ba.
July 13 at 9:54 am
GreenWindmill says:
Gutierrez I believe he means.
July 13 at 9:47 am
pompeyfan says:
hopefully this ends their interest in Anita, even though he is actually a DMC. Hands off!
July 13 at 9:47 am
Nitin Nagaraja: Has it started yet?? says:
Danny Simpson to Reading, then.
July 13 at 9:51 am
Daniel - Chelsea champions - 4 more days says:
Looks like shopping in France is the best value. Newcastle learning from Wenger
July 13 at 9:53 am
Nitin Nagaraja: Has it started yet?? says:
Yeah. Some great buys from France over the past two seasons. Kudos to their scouts!
July 13 at 9:48 am
Demi says:
http://p.twimg.com/Axq9qHWCQAAI2SC.jpg:medium
Very attacking. But we probably knew that from the Euros
July 13 at 9:50 am
heco87 says:
Nice stats – bit of a card magnet then!
July 13 at 9:54 am
China Mag says:
Just saw the tweet and came on to ask about more info. Any real quotes on this? Or more speculation?
July 13 at 9:55 am
heco87 says:
http://www1.skysports.com/foot.....on-Debuchy
July 13 at 9:57 am
China Mag says:
Yeah. Nothing concrete there. Doubt we would pay 7m for a right back. Here’s hoping though!!
July 13 at 9:59 am
heco87 says:
Yup, no quotes or anything but seems to be the latest. Would love it if we could tie that up over the weekend.
July 13 at 9:56 am
China Mag says:
His signing would give us a starting 11 good enough for the top for. Now for the rest of the squad…..
July 13 at 9:48 am
Daniel - Chelsea champions - 4 more days says:
Anybody saw Doosra? It his date!
July 13 at 10:02 am
Aatish says:
NEW POST http://www.fantasyfootballscou.....el-ahmadi/
July 13 at 10:03 am
Back on the horse ..¦. says:
Hang on, what’s Daniel Levy doing at Amazon?
http://im.media.ft.com/content.....4ce15e.img
July 13 at 10:06 am
pompeyfan says:
I think Rodallega is a great signing for Fulham, looking like they have a pretty decent team there now
July 13 at 1:08 pm
jimbobjeff85 says:
Errr haven’t @premierleague commited a faux pas and given us the wrong player’s values?
They’ve given us Kagawa, SIgurdsson and Cisse.
July 13 at 1:12 pm
jimbobjeff85 says:
To clarify my previous post – they gave us those values yesterday.
Today we should get players including Tevez and Giroud.