YTM Predictions Week 28

A quiet one last week in the Premiership. But we are back with an (almost) full schedule. Chelsea and Arsenal are battling it out in the Carling Cup Final on Sunday. I reckon the Gooners could pull off a shock there... Anyway, to the Premiership!...

Saturday

Fulham vs Man Utd
My housemates will be there cheering on the Cottagers, but I feel this will not be enough, and Man United will gain another deserved victory.
YTM Prediction: Away Win

Charlton vs West Ham
Pardew vs Curbs... Will be a very scrappy affair, being settled by the odd-goal... I fancy the Addicks, as do the rest of the chaps in the office, so that's who we are going with!
YTM Prediction: Home Win

Liverpool vs Sheff Utd
Liverpool's midweek heroics in Barcelona will mean nothing if they slip up at home in the next Premier League match. Benitez will want to keep the confidence and momentum, and will get the three points from Warnock's men this time.
YTM Prediction: Home Win

Middlesbrough vs Reading
Gareth Southgate's Boro lost this game on the first day of the season after being two goals to the good. I doubt that they will be so charitable this weekend, but Reading will do enough for a point.
YTM Prediction: Draw

Watford vs Everton
I’m sorry, but I doubt even Watford fans would pay £8 on Prem Plus to watch this game! Hopefully I will be proved wrong and it will be a 6-goal thriller... Watford are on a roll and should win this, but it won't be pretty.
YTM Prediction: Home Win

Sunday

Wigan vs Newcastle
Newcastle's players will be tired after their UEFA Cup exploits on Thursday night, and will struggle to get it together against Wigan. A scrappy draw is on the cards here.
YTM Prediction: Draw

Blackburn vs Portsmouth
Blackburn will be looking for a win to go into the replay with Arsenal in the FA Cup. Pompey are in a bit of a rut, and will see this as a great opportunity to get back to winning ways. All the ingredients for an exciting open game.
YTM Prediction: Draw

Tottenham vs Bolton
Spurs are good at home, but Bolton have an excellent defensive record... Berbatov is at the top of his game at the moment, and could be the difference if he plays. I think the Bolton's backline will hold Spurs out for a good point.
YTM Prediction: Draw

Hopefully these will come to reality, as I need a few correct predictions for my battered pride!

Good luck to all your teams this weekend.

Cheers,

Dave @ YTM HQ

Interview with Sandor Kovacs

Name: Sandor Kovacs
Age: 32
Town: Corby
Country: UK
Occupation: I am a mechanical engineer but now I am working as a warehouse team member.
Track Record: January winner and currently 3rd overall

YTM HQ: Tell us a bit about yourself.
SK: I am Hungarian. I have been working and living in the U.K. for 2 and a half years.

YTM HQ: Do you have any plans for spending the Ł10,000?
SK: I am going to by a new car, probably some sport car.

YTM HQ: How did you find out about You The Manager?
SK: I have found it in the Mirror newspaper.

YTM HQ: Do you play any other fantasy games and have you won anything before?
SK: There is a similar game in Hungary too, I played it, but I could win just a couple of hundred pounds.

YTM HQ: How many teams do you have in all and how long do you spend playing YTM each week?
SK: I have got about 2-3 hundred teams and sometimes I made special teams for monthly prizes.

YTM HQ: Your star player so far?
SK: Ronaldo.

YTM HQ: Your worst player pick so far?
SK: Shevchenko.

YTM HQ: Who do you think will be the best value YTM player at the end of the season?
SK: Ronaldo.

YTM HQ: Who is the most over valued player in YTM?
SK: Shevchenko.

YTM HQ: How do you rate your performance out of 10 so far this season?
SK: 7-8.

YTM HQ: How many transfers do you have left per team for Transfer Window 4 and is this enough?
SK: Not too many, hopefully it will be enough.

YTM HQ: Can Liverpool continue to keep lots of clean sheets?
SK: I hope so! : )

YTM HQ: Is a block defence vital for success in YTM?
SK: Yes, absolutely.

YTM HQ: Who is going to win the Premier League?
SK: M.U.

YTM HQ: Who are your favourite football teams / players and why?
SK: West Bromwich, and hungarian striker Gera, hopefully next year they will play again in the Premiership.

YTM HQ: Who is going to win YTM?
SK: Zoran Furlan.

YTM HQ: Which players do you think could be surprise packages next season?
SK: Gera is coming! : )

Thanks Sandor for taking the time to answer these questions.

Cheers,
YTM HQ

FA Cup is here again!!

We have a break from YTM shenanigans this weekend, and it's time for the 5th round of the FA Cup. There are a few interesting matches, and I thought I would come up with a few predictions... just for fun!

Saturday

Arsenal vs Blackburn
No doubt this will be Arsenal under-9s against Blackburn first XI... Arsenal's second string has proved that it would probably hold a decent position in the Premiership recently, so I wouldn't put it past them getting to the Quarters...
Dave's 'Guess': Home Win

Chelsea vs Norwich
Peter Grant is struggling somewhat at Carrow Road, and will not get any respite in the Cup, as he and his Canaries travel to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea should win this one, and take one more step towards all 4 trophies this season???
Dave's 'Guess': Home Win

Man Utd vs Reading
Man Utd reserves vs Reading reserves rather... Doesn't really make sense why Reading would not go for this full throttle, as they are already safe in the League for another season... Hopefully Steve Coppell will not be rueing his decision on Sunday morning... I doubt it though.
Dave's 'Guess': Home Win

Boro vs WBA
The Baggies are on good form in the Championship, and Boro really struggled to get past Bristol City in the last round. The key men here will be the strikers, whichever striker out of Viduka, Yakubu, Kamara, Ellington and Phillips performs, their team wins...
Dave's 'Guess': Home Win

Plymouth vs Derby
I really like Ian Holloway! He seems to be a good laugh. I hope that an 'upset' happens here on Saturday, but I feel Derby will be too strong. Tom gladly reminds me that Derby are facing a strike due to certain signings having massive promotion bonuses. I don't think that will matter too much tomorrow though.
Dave's 'Guess': Away Win

Watford vs Ipswich
Matt, our resident Tractor Boy, thinks his side will get run over by Watford tomorrow. I disagree. Watford are the better team, yes, but they have no firepower up front! If they don't sort themselves out, they will be facing a difficult replay at Portman Road... or worse!
Dave's 'Guess': Draw

Sunday

Fulham vs Spurs
Due to monetary constraints, I, sadly, cannot go to Craven Cottage on Sunday, and will have to watch the game from my settee. Fulham will win this. Expect a crap first half, and Fulham to push on for the victory in the second half! Montella to score from the bench.
Dave's 'Guess': Home Win

Preston vs Man City
The most likely upset of the 5th Round is Preston. Dave Nugent and company could cause a huge upset at Deepdale if City underestimate them. I don't think that they will, but there will be little sign of any gulf of class here.
Dave's 'Guess': Away Win

Well that's my view on the 5th Round. Biggest game of the weekend by a mile is at Ninian Park, where Cardiff entertain Leeds United. 3 wins from the last five mean that Leeds are closing the gap on the teams above, with only 3 points separating the bottom 6 teams! With QPR to come to Elland Road on Tuesday, 6 points here could see Leeds steering their way to mid-table mediocrity! I never thought I would say this after the Play-off final last year... but that would be amazing!

Good luck to all your teams this weekend (except Cardiff...)

Cheers,

Dave @ YTM HQ

Team of the Week 26

A good weekend of football, with Steve Sidwell being the best player for the week on YTM with 15 points.
Sidwell is valued at £4m on YTM , which I must admit I did think was a bit of a punt at the beginning of the season.
He is however helping Reading to a nosebleed position in their first year in the Premiership, and could well be a possible acquisition by bigger clubs in the the Summer, and by YOU THE MANAGERs in the next transfer window, which opens on the 18th March.

Elsewhere, cheap players were the name of the game this weekend, and both Watford and Reading kept clean sheets, and Sheffield United beat Spurs at home! Well played to any managers that guessed those scores last weekend!

Cheers

Dave @ YTM HQ

YTM Predictions Week 26

Well, here are my predictions for week 26 of You The Manager in the Premiership. Not many surprises on the cards this week methinks...

Saturday

Chelsea vs Boro

Chelsea need to win to keep the pressure up on Man United. Boro beat Chelsea at the Riverside earlier in the season... not today.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

Everton vs Blackburn

Blackburn are missing Pedersen with this key game, and will be looking to new-boy David Dunn to fill some of the gap. Even without Morten, I feel Rovers will have enough against the Toffees, without AJ and Cahill possibly.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Away Win

Man United vs Charlton

Charlton are going to have to fight hard to stay in the Premiership this season, but this is one of the games that Pardew has written off in his mind surely. Expect the gap at the top to be at least three points come Monday.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

Newcastle vs Liverpool

Buoyed by their takeover, Liverpool will come out to impress at St James Park. Their defence is so immencse that I can't see them conceding a goal at all! I expect Kuyt to head the winner.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Away Win

Pompey vs Man City

Not the most glamorous game of the weekend, but it will be interesting to see how Pearce is handling two jobs... I think he is a good gaffer, and can see City getting a deserved point.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Draw

Reading vs Villa

The arrival of Ashley Young and John Carew has been quite impressive for Villa, but the performance needs to come from all 11 players on the pitch, and Reading are indestructible at the moment.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

Sheff Utd vs Spurs

Spurs away form means that I could not possible bet on them to take three points. Also, Jon Stead seems to be able to score now, so I think a Blades victory isn't out of the question...

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

West Ham vs Watford

A must-win game for both clubs will be a scrappy affair, but I feel that the ability in West Ham's team will produce one more special moment than Watford's options.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

Sunday

Bolton vs Fulham

After last weekend's great victory over Newcastle, Fulham will be looking to get something from the Reebok. Neither side concedes easily, and I expect a draw from this one. I think Chris Coleman is collecting them!

Dave's YTM Prediction: Draw

Arsenal vs Wigan

Arsenal are playing well, and it looks like Thierry Henry is back big time. I suspect that he will pick apart a Wigan defence without their captain, De Zeuww, and Arsenal will take the three points at a canter.

Dave's YTM Prediction: Home Win

Well that's your lot folks. As the Premiership is getting more and more interesting, so is the YTM leaderboard, with Zoran facing real competition from some regular and some new faces to You The Manager.

Good luck to all of them, and to all your teams this weekend.

Cheers

Dave @ YTM HQ

YTM Ambassadors

We are on the lookout for overseas representatives to help promote YTM outside of the UK. Ideally we'd like to appoint someone to help promote the game in any market where the Premier League is big news.

So if you've played YTM or other fantasy games, live outside of the UK and are looking for an opportunity to get involved in online football gaming get in touch to find out more.

It won't be a full time job but you never know it could well be worth your while!

Send an email with "Ambassador" in the subject line to: ytm@dreamleague.co.uk with your name and some details about yourself.

Thanks,
YTM HQ

Team of the Week 25

Great weekend of Premiership football with some interesting results.

Liverpool and Arsenal lost ground on Chelsea and Man United with draws. However, it was ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET for Liverpool, as their defence is proving to be THE defence to have in YTM at the moment!

One man bang in form at the moment is Morten Gamst Pedersen. The Blackburn midfield is scoring a fair few goals at the moment, and has recently hit the century of points in YTM this season. He should be a major considerations for any YTM team hoping to pick up lots of points in February and beyond...

Dave @ YTM HQ

Top 10 Strikers in January

1) P Crouch - Liverpool - 28 points
2) T Henry - Arsenal - 26
3=) M Viduka - Middlesbrough - 22
3=) D Kuyt - Liverpool - 22
5) Yakubu - Middlesbrough - 20
6) R v Persie - Arsenal - 19
7=) L Lita - Reading - 18
7=) B McCarthy - Blackburn Rovers - 18
9) W Rooney - Manchester United - 17
10) G Agbonlahor - Aston Villa - 16

Top 10 Midfielders in January

1) J Milner - Newcastle United - 29
2) M Pedersen - Blackburn Rovers - 28
3) F Lampard - Chelsea - 25
4=) C Ronaldo - Manchester United - 24
4=) S Hunt - Reading - 24
6) Y Benayoun - West Ham United - 20
7) S Downing - Middlesbrough - 18
8=) K Dyer - Newcastle United - 17
8=) P Scholes - Manchester United - 17
8=) S Gerrard - Liverpool - 17
8=) J Arca - Middlesbrough - 17

Top 10 Defenders in January

1) J Hoyte - Arsenal - 19 points
2=) K Toure - Arsenal - 18
2=) J Carragher - Liverpool - 18
2=) S Finnan - Liverpool - 18
5) A Xavier - Middlesbrough - 17
6) I Ingimarsson - Reading - 15
7=) N Shorey - Reading - 14
7=) JA Riise - Liverpool - 14
7=) R Carvalho - Chelsea - 14
10) P Christanval - Fulham - 12

Top 10 Goalkeepers in January

1) J Reina - Liverpool - 19 points
2=) J Lehmann - Arsenal - 13
2=) B Friedel - Blackburn Rovers - 13
4) Hilario - Chelsea - 12
5) D James - Portsmouth - 9
6) M Hahnemann - Reading - 8
7=) T Kuszczak - Manchester United - 6
7=) A Niemi - Fulham - 6
7=) N Weaver - Manchester City - 6
7=) P Cech - Chelsea - 6
7=) B Foster - Watford - 6
7=) T Howard - Everton - 6

Interview with Diyan Stoyanov

Name: Diyan Stoyanov
Age: 30
Town: Russe
Country: Bulgaria
Occupation: Football betting
Track Record: 8 teams in current top 100. 2nd in Jan MotM by 3 points.


YTM HQ: How did you find out about You The Manager?
DS: Honestly, I don't remember. It must have been Google, FISO or some web advertising. Anyway, I'm glad I found it.

YTM HQ: Do you play any other fantasy games and have you won anything before?
DS: I play several fantasy games with different formats. Fantasy Football is quite an addictive entertainment. I have won 3 or 4 competitions but nothing significant so far. Hope this will change sooner rather than later.

YTM HQ: How many teams do you have in all and how long do you spend playing YTM each week?
DS: 60 teams, not very low and not very high as a number. But I failed to gain full advantage of that numberas I decided against block defences at the start. I had my reasons, they may prove correct next season.YTM doesn't take a lot of time because of the transfer windows.You have pre-season and then four weeks during the season when you must analyse and take decisions.You can spend as much time as you want - it depends on your motivation. I don't find it very effective to plan your tactics or transfers month or two earlier before a particular window opens.

YTM HQ: Your star player so far?
DS: Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool defence as a first-choice option during November transfer window.Picking Liverpool defence was a decisive moment . It may looks trivial now but it wasn't the easiest thing to go with themwhen they were at their season low point, exactly after 3:0 defeat at Emirates stadium.

YTM HQ: Your worst player pick so far?
DS: Darius Henderson, Ricardo Vaz Te, Assou-Ekotto, Dave Kitson. Henderson's Championship statistic wasn't worse than Ashley Young's but Premiership proved to be a different matter. I still rate highly Vaz Te, he had a very good pre-season, and I'm sure he will score more goals at this level in the future. But at present, Sam Allardyce doesn't find him quite suitable for Bolton's physical style. Assou-Ekotto is a normal human naivety. You see a cheap player, from a big team, playing regularly - a typical bargain. But in most cases it's "too good to be true" and I should have used my experience from the last year about Tottenham defence. Dave Kitson - actually, he should not be in this list. But selecting him in 50-60% of my teams from the start - it became a disaster for me. He scored and got injured in the first day but was rated 50/50 in the First transfer window, so I had him for further two months. He formed a deadly pair upfront with Marlon King in many teams. You can guess easy the fate of these teams. Bad picks and bad luck are inevitable. You have to take risks, everybody knows it.

YTM HQ: Who do you think will be the best value YTM player at the end of the season?
DS: It does not matter too much in my opinion. It would have been the most important question if there wasn't any transfers for making.Players performance fluctuates strongly and to predict someone's exceptional form before it started - this is the essential thing for me. Everyone has his own clues for doing this but statistic is the most objective one.

YTM HQ: Who is the most over valued player in YTM?
DS: Shevchenko, Ballack? Beattie, Jimmy Hasselbaink? The real estimation can be made in May.Managers in the game are bound to make bad picks as well as YTM team is bound to overvalue and undervalue players.

YTM HQ: How do you rate your performance out of 10 so far this season?
DS: 6 out of 10. I know I can and I should have done better. It was a story of very bad luck and very good luck. I don't quite like it that way. I should have controlled my performance more. Hope that my second half of the season will be better than the first.

YTM HQ: How many transfers do you have left per team for Transfer Window 4 and is this enough?
DS: Differently - from one to five. The problem is that you can not predict everytime when you'll need your transfers more. It's another risk in the game - you may run out of options for the last window or you may be tempted in tinkering, hardly justifying.

YTM HQ: Can Liverpool continue to keep lots of clean sheets?
DS: Yes, they can. They are on the up now. But a draw and a loss may take out their impulse for hunting the leader. Also, the Champions league is coming.Part of the secret for their clean sheets, is that not so often they have a strong first half - unlike Man United. In my opinion, the difference between concentration level at the start of the second half of the matches, brings the difference between overall number of clean sheets for the big teams.Obviously, it's related with the halftime result.

YTM HQ: Is a block defence vital for success in YTM?
DS: It's vital for the good start. And the good start is a strong premise for success. I feel comfortable in playing catch up but it's foolish to rely on that constantly. So you have to be top at some point. The block defence is almost mandatory for monthly competition which is so much different in many aspects.

YTM HQ: How popular is the Premier League in Bulgaria?
DS: Extremely popular. There is no league like the Premier League.

YTM HQ: Who is going to win the Premier League?
DS: Wolverhampton Wanderers. But maybe they should get a promotion first. I don't know who will win the title this year. But as a fan I would like to see it decided in the last round.

YTM HQ: Who are your favourite football teams / players and why?
DS: Wolves and Manchester City. It was a long time ago, I don't remember what were my teenage reasons to start supporting them. But I see myself more as a fan of the Premier League and the passion it brings. That's why I support English teams in Europe, including Man United.

YTM HQ: Who is going to win YTM?
DS: It's hard to say, there is a long way to go. Zoran Furlan is in a kind of pole position but this can change quickly. The Irishmen are the usual suspects in the history of this game, the Portuguese boys are improving strongly and there is a whole group of managers up there and to overlook or discard their chances, is the last thing I would do. Anyway, I wish good luck to all managers involved in the game.

YTM HQ: Not many Eastern European players settle well in the Premier League - what's your verdict on Dimitar Berbatov's first season in the Premier League and his prospects for next season?
DS: Berbatov has a very, very good first season and I think many will agree with this. His talent is one thing but the way he kept his feet on the groundfor the last years and kept working hard - that's a strong character, his best achievement. Excluding injuries, there is no reason his success story to stop.

YTM HQ: Are there any other young Bulgarian stars we should be looking out for?
DS: Unfortunately for me as a Bulgarian, I don't think there is anyone else who worths mentioning at the moment.Bulgaria is not a big country and it's hard to develop players like Hristo Stoichkov on a regular basis. But the optimism always remains.

Thanks for your time Diyan - some very interesting thoughts and comments I'm sure everyone will agree.

Good luck for the rest of the season.

YTM HQ