January out the way so time for an update, plus thought I’d milk it while I still can

Introducing Lampard at the start of Jan paid off for the time being, but the returning Drogba’s will no doubt spice things up a bit!

Good luck all for the month ahead.

1 Jonny Goodall (ISO Northernmonkey) 117 1966 36
2 Mark Ellis (ISOmarke192) 72 1917 105
2 Steve Legg (ISOreds363) 103 1917 105
4 Tim Clear (ISO LooneyToons) 88 1882 193
5 Richard Stirland (ISO Art Vandelay) 139 1879 207
6 Chris Lay (ISOMindvampire) 91 1846 305
7 Milan Gajic (ISO ELK) 97 1842 319
8 Nina Gordon (ISO Worm) 63 1840 326
9 Tim Miller (ISO chocs) 103 1838 337
10 David King (ISO Jester) 94 1786 578
11 Peter Jordan (ISO AkNotSpur) 101 1766 702
12 Peter Clinch (ISO-zipnolan) 131 1755 763
13 Dave Lay (ISOElliptical) 91 1750 789
13 Karen Miller (ISO bal) 122 1750 789
15 Doug McLaren (ISOMclaren74) 104 1736 875
16 Michael Dumville (ISO MIKED99) 87 1721 977
17 Martin Winter (ISO-Stretchman) 115 1715 1003
18 Bill Pollard (ISO-scouse) 110 1701 1078
19 Chris Pike (ISO Sportsmeister) 80 1698 1100
20 David Tonkin (ISO VID) 90 1697 1110
21 Mike Whitaker (ISO Bramernic) 106 1690 1156
22 Jason Murfitt (ISO murf) 76 1682 1205
23 Steve Everest (ISO - Evvy) 130 1672 1257
24 David Andrews (ISO-NFG) 85 1671 1264
25 Trevor Speak (ISO PENGY) 81 1661 1326
26 BC Adams (ISO Loidis) 70 1623 1599
27 Paul Gordon (ISO Papa Giddy) 145 1617 1633
28 Rob Wheatley (ISO SOBD) 107 1601 1741
29 Ben Johnson (ISO j0nners) 77 1582 1872
30 Kristian Livall (ISOKRL) 34 1414 2809
31 Jonathan Sparrow (ISO BigJonS) 35 1303 3192

130pts this week is a welcome return to form for my ISO side which has been swinging wilder than I dont know.... a swingy wildy thing.

Like NM went with FFL over a month ago and January has seen a marked improvement in performance, although the least said about my xfer to Clint Dempsey the better. Forgot to include him yet alone star him in his 14pt game and then gets injured, sums up my season.

Only 45pts away from a top 1000 position for this the best of my 3 teams

I'd planned on bringing back Drogba for the Arsenal game, but had friends round for Sunday lunch and, with the wine flowing, I lost track of time and just missed the kick off. Having missed Drogba’s points haul I decided to stick with Anelka for the Everton game in case Drogba was rested for the FA Cup – plus I was going to captain Rooney for this flange in any case. So I missed out on the 3 points Drogba gained over Anelka.

After the midweek games I found myself 2 points behind NFG at the top of the weekly leaderboard after a good return from a few lesser lights. So I put together a plan for a MotW attempt. The main problem was I didn't really have anyone playing at the weekend (a defence of Cech, Friedel, Bridge, midfield of Milner with Anelka and Tevez up front). With only 5 trannies remaining my only chance was to hope for no clean sheets and that the star strikers delivered, and thinking Drogba may be rested was looking at Anelka*, Jerome*, Tevez*, Defoe* and Zamora. If I was still in with a shout after Saturday then I'd use any trannies left over on Fulham defenders.

Wasn't exactly helped by the early Chelsea team news that my 6 man squad was down to 4 with Cech and Anelka both rested . Anyway brought in Drogba and hoped for the best. The 4-1 scoreline with Drogba starring and Lampard picking up 2 points meant that I was still in with a shout.

Transfer 11: Anelka Drogba

Next, to the Birmingham game and time to bring in Jerome for Bent and hope for a Derby goal. Again I didn’t think I’d lose any ground after the 2-1 result despite Jerome just picking up appearance points.

Transfer 12: Bent Jerome

The early news that Tevez was away on compassionate leave meant a switch to Adebayor. Another low scoring game and no clean sheets on the day meant I was a point or 2 ahead on the weekly leaderboard after Saturday's games.

Transfer 13: Tevez Adebayor

Just 2 trannies left so in came Defoe* and Zamora, but no Fulham defenders. The lack of clean sheets was still working out for me and goals from both strikers meant I was looking good, but really needed Notts County to get a consolation goal against Fulham, although this never really seemed on the cards. So I didn’t feel I’d done enough to hold onto top spot but it was going to be close.

Transfer 14: Adebayor Defoe
Transfer 15: Jerome Zamora

Having missed out on Drogba’s assist I had a feeling I’d be within a couple of points of the lead and so no surprise when I looked at the weekly leaderboard and found myself 2 points behind the winner! Still it was fun while it lasted and I can go back to concentrating on the (overall) league

Unlucky Chocs... just 2 points in it... so close...

Anyway... an interesting read and a nice attempt

Cheers MV. Yet another "one that got away" story keeping my lifetime winnings from the Telegraph at £0.00!

Transfers 10 and 11:-

Arshavin Fabregas
Johnson (G) Evra

Probably should have made both weeks ago - particularly the first one, although I thought that Arshavin would score a lot more goals as (almost) an out-and-out striker. Anyway, injury and Arsenal's relatively easy-looking remaining fixtures necessitated a change.

Just ran out of patience waiting for Glen Johnson to return and, as I am awash with spare cash, though that I'd grab some extra points to keep up my recent momentum (helped partly by Defoe and Barry).

On February 26 I went for Hunt and transferred Bowyer out.

Transfers left: O


Sorry for not contributing more to the game

Looking at the latest update - Chocs (in 9th place) is the only ISO top 10 team not to have Bent. Plenty in the overall Top 100, or so, don't have him, judging by the number of places that my other squad jumped last night (about 30 to 79th).

No coverage for Stoke's visit to Turf Moor tomorrow night. Might be tempted to do Cohen -> Etherington, if the later is fit again.

I think about 1200 teams had Bent captained last night. Hard to tell with Jerome in the mix too but there is a drop from 28 to 24 after 1197th in the weekly league.

ISO Sportsmeister's 43 is =12th. Top is 52, 5 cracked 50.

My 31 moved me up just 81 places to 731st - my best place since week 11

Transfer #13 Defoe Pav.

Obvious one, forced by Defoe's hamstring injury.

Was hoping to keep Defoe for the duration, and maybe do Kuyt->Arteta and Bent->Torres next weekend leaving one tx to cover an injury. Now, tactical switches are probably off the menu for a few more weeks and it's more likely that my last 2 changes will be injury-related.

BTW - Transfer #12 was Cohen Etherington, just before Burnley v Stoke, as mooted above.

Pos. Manager (Team Name) Week Pts Total Pts National Pos.

1 Jonny Goodall (ISO Northernmonkey) 89 2660 30
2 Steve Legg (ISOreds363) 100 2638 43
3 Mark Ellis (ISOmarke192) 99 2614 66
4 Tim Clear (ISO LooneyToons) 103 2587 100
5 Richard Stirland (ISO Art Vandelay) 103 2577 120
6 Peter Jordan (ISO AkNotSpur) 111 2563 139
7 Chris Lay (ISOMindvampire) 102 2540 180
8 Nina Gordon (ISO Worm) 100 2503 272
9 Dave Lay (ISOElliptical) 95 2464 383
10 Jason Murfitt (ISO murf) 99 2440 463
11 Tim Miller (ISO chocs) 63 2427 503
12 Michael Dumville (ISO MIKED99) 105 2422 524
13 Karen Miller (ISO bal) 93 2412 568
14 Doug McLaren (ISOMclaren74) 70 2411 571
15 Chris Pike (ISO Sportsmeister) 90 2377 706
16 David Andrews (ISO-NFG) 67 2362 775
17 Steve Everest (ISO - Evvy) 95 2330 919
18 David King (ISO Jester) 65 2318 978
19 Martin Winter (ISO-Stretchman) 94 2309 1024
20 Peter Clinch (ISO-zipnolan) 59 2308 1033
21 Mike Whitaker (ISO Bramernic) 97 2297 1071
22 Bill Pollard (ISO-scouse) 80 2286 1122
23 BC Adams (ISO Loidis) 85 2244 1316
24 Trevor Speak (ISO PENGY) 82 2224 1414
25 Milan Gajic (ISO ELK) 39 2207 1503
26 Rob Wheatley (ISO SOBD) 95 2193 1562
27 David Tonkin (ISO VID) 29 2009 2290
28 Paul Gordon (ISO Papa Giddy) 24 1981 2392
29 Ben Johnson (ISO j0nners) 24 1935 2540
30 Kristian Livall (ISOKRL) 38 1661 3229
31 Jonathan Sparrow (ISO BigJonS) 31 1527 3456

With Rooney and Fabrgeas out for the near future and many still holding Cech it is certainly going to be a limp to the finishing line for many ISO teams I expect.

2 transfers still in my ISO but fully expect that to be 0 by the end of the weekend, Torres & Malouda or Gerrard & Defoe is the question

(continuing from 'week 34' thread)



Surprised to hear that NM, I'd been thinking for weeks that you'd got 2 changes left! Looking back at your posts in this thread I now see you did an early Defoe move and also had Torres for a spell around Christmas, neither of which I realised when I looked at your team a month or so ago to get an idea of your transfer count.

Bad luck about your 'injury crisis' - or will it turn out to be a blessing?! My replacement of Lennon with Valencia last month has been absolutely shocking so far (6 points in 5 games!!), I may end up in the red on that move if that continues and Lennon returns and hits form!

At least we can agree on Milijas! He's been on the bench for every game, but not made a single appearance off it in about 2 months! Here's hoping Mick lets him have a run out once Wolves are definitely safe!

12/04/2010

Pos. Manager (Team Name) Week Pts Total Pts National Pos.

1 Steve Legg (ISOreds363) 80 2921 32
2 Jonny Goodall (ISO Northernmonkey) 45 2896 52
3 Mark Ellis (ISOmarke192) 55 2865 78
4 Richard Stirland (ISO Art Vandelay) 69 2856 93
5 Tim Clear (ISO LooneyToons) 61 2844 112
6 Chris Lay (ISOMindvampire) 68 2807 168
7 Nina Gordon (ISO Worm) 66 2778 233
8 Peter Jordan (ISO AkNotSpur) 36 2708 411
9 Michael Dumville (ISO MIKED99) 70 2704 421
10 Jason Murfitt (ISO murf) 68 2679 493
11 Dave Lay (ISOElliptical) 47 2675 505
12 Doug McLaren (ISOMclaren74) 81 2672 511
13 Karen Miller (ISO bal) 52 2648 599
14 David Andrews (ISO-NFG) 65 2636 626
15 Peter Clinch (ISO-zipnolan) 48 2596 780
16 Tim Miller (ISO chocs) 36 2595 786
17 Steve Everest (ISO - Evvy) 67 2581 828
18 Chris Pike (ISO Sportsmeister) 42 2562 908
19 Bill Pollard (ISO-scouse) 61 2523 1051
20 Trevor Speak (ISO PENGY) 74 2488 1216
21 Mike Whitaker (ISO Bramernic) 24 2477 1264
22 David King (ISO Jester) 24 2468 1309
23 BC Adams (ISO Loidis) 45 2458 1342
24 Martin Winter (ISO-Stretchman) 30 2442 1405
25 Rob Wheatley (ISO SOBD) 45 2395 1575
26 Milan Gajic (ISO ELK) 37 2302 1969
27 Paul Gordon (ISO Papa Giddy) 44 2116 2516
28 David Tonkin (ISO VID) 11 2065 2643
29 Ben Johnson (ISO j0nners) 17 1991 2805
30 Kristian Livall (ISOKRL) 38 1767 3282
31 Jonathan Sparrow (ISO BigJonS) 46 1655 3456

Nice going Reds. Going to be tough to catch you now, especially with my depleted lot! Starred a crocked Torres yesterday (didn't see that coming), shot my load so only catch up players i have are Defoe, Lampard, Warnock , Lennon & Fabio , plus the unlikely to be seen again this season Fab and possibly Torres. I fear Didier (and Florent!) may put me to the sword tomorrow night, C'mon Frank

Cheers NM, we've seen some big swings recently though so I can't count any chickens yet, particularly as Torres now appears not to be seriously injured.

Afraid I may have made it a little harder for you tonight though with a Gerrard Lampard transfer. I hope you don't see it as a negative move: it was the logical move for me to make to try and finish as high as possible. (Top 25 would be nice; 17th in 06/07 was my previous ISO best and is a long-shot target!) With 2 extra games and Lampard's great form compared against Gerrard's (and Liverpool's attack's) awful form, it was almost a no-brainer. Starred Drogba though, so still hoping Lampard doesn't score too well

You git

Decent move though Reds, on both counts of wanting a decent finish plus defending your lead in this. Gerrard's scored so poorly especially as he's not missed many, I got shot of him back in Dec which turned out to be a decent call.

You've played it really well, managing to keep a few subs back while all those around you are spanking theirs! I made a few good calls but some right stinkers as well. The sub I'm kicking myself at my most though is my last one, not so much at bringing in Torres but at who I dropped (really should've dumped Defoe, not Tevez ). At the time I was playing catch up and it looked like I'd probably star Defoe more than Tevez in the remaining games, but I'd leave myself a few more unmanned if I didn't have Tevez which i thought I'd risk. I suddenly found myself miles ahead after some big Lamps and Torres points, then typically Defoe got crocked and Tevez couldn't stop scoring in my unmanned games, all while you'd starred him of course.

I'll be seriously swinging the bat until the end but think you're probably home & dry

Congratulations to Reds363 on winning the ISO competition this year with what ended up a pretty sizable 100 pt lead
Also worth a mention is the decent finish by FISO ISO in the Super League comp: 4th place - FISO ISO - 3245.8 pts

Pos. Manager (Team Name) Week Pts Total Pts National Pos.
1 Steve Legg (ISOreds363) 30 3336 15
2 Tim Clear (ISO LooneyToons) 37 3236 51
3 Mark Ellis (ISOmarke192) 31 3227 63
3 Richard Stirland (ISO Art Vandelay) 17 3227 63
5 Chris Lay (ISOMindvampire) 36 3203 90
6 Jonny Goodall (ISO Northernmonkey) 8 3198 91
7 Nina Gordon (ISO Worm) 37 3171 121
8 Peter Jordan (ISO AkNotSpur) 34 3113 223
9 Michael Dumville (ISO MIKED99) 36 3061 338
10 Karen Miller (ISO bal) 33 3022 433
11 Jason Murfitt (ISO murf) 33 3021 435
12 Doug McLaren (ISOMclaren74) 37 3016 450
13 Dave Lay (ISOElliptical) 31 2983 532
14 Steve Everest (ISO - Evvy) 17 2954 610
15 David Andrews (ISO-NFG) 31 2940 655
16 Tim Miller (ISO chocs) 31 2923 708
17 Peter Clinch (ISO-zipnolan) -4 2876 859
18 Trevor Speak (ISO PENGY) 38 2861 907
19 Bill Pollard (ISO-scouse) 41 2851 943
20 Chris Pike (ISO Sportsmeister) 0 2838 993
21 BC Adams (ISO Loidis) 37 2807 1121
22 Martin Winter (ISO-Stretchman) 10 2805 1128
23 Mike Whitaker (ISO Bramernic) 33 2799 1142
24 David King (ISO Jester) 13 2773 1246
25 Rob Wheatley (ISO SOBD) 7 2672 1589
26 Milan Gajic (ISO ELK) -5 2434 2323
27 Paul Gordon (ISO Papa Giddy) -3 2294 2630
28 David Tonkin (ISO VID) 17 2231 2745
29 Ben Johnson (ISO j0nners) 19 2141 2915
30 Kristian Livall (ISOKRL) -5 1922 3309
31 Jonathan Sparrow (ISO BigJonS) 21 1842 3458

Well done Steve on winning the ISO league, also congrats on your main team! Was pleased to finish 2nd in this for the season, despite being 100 pts behind you, Think that’s 2 2nds in a row with this. You never know, maybe 3rd time lucky for next season!

Well done reds363 (and everyone else too).

This has been my first season on TFFOSM and I've enjoyed it. Bring on next season now I think I know what I'm doing.

Well done reds363 - a very convincing winner.

Also words of praise for MV for picking a starting squad that spawned 6 Top 100 finishes - and apologies for my initial misgivings about the composition of that squad.

See you all again (hopefully) in August.

Thanks guys! It was a fun season of ISO, pretty wide-open for a long time and NM and Marke in particular posed strong challenges before falling away in the final month. In the end I think having 3 transfers left into April helped me pull away at the end, as the other main contenders were unlucky with injuries and unable to cover them.

Here's how I did it:

18/8 Gudjonsson Milijas
18/8 Ebanks-Blake Bent
26/9 Osman Lennon
17/10 Arshavin Fabregas
17/10 Vidic Vermaelen
17/10 Samuel Baines
24/10 Tomkins Dunne
21/11 Clichy Evra
28/12 Adebayor Defoe
28/12 Drogba Tevez
7/2 Defoe Drogba
6/3 Lennon Valencia
10/4 Fabregas Malouda
13/4 Gerrard Lampard
18/4 Bent Carew


Hopefully we'll be back again in August, not only so I can defend my title but so I get the pleasure of leading the squad-picking process!

reds363

So what now

After the bad news from the Telegraph, is there a possibility to play the ISO game on OFL

A lot of the TFFOers will be looking at OFL this season, the 16 player squad being the closest to TFFOs 18, but as I've said on other threads the budget and scoring system (although a challenge in their own right) do leave a lot to be desired from a TFFO player's point of view. The biggest miss will probably be no captain.

I'm wondering if perhaps the Metro game (if run) might suit a little better. 15 man squad but with captains (limited changes) but more transfers, easier budget and different scoring system. Higher maintenance in that you'll have to log in every day as no advance change facility offset by being a free game with a 5 team limit/ person.

Maybe worth TFFOers looking at both for this season to make a decision which is better to go with for future seasons?

I played both OFL and Metro last season. OFL's been talked about a lot and described already, I don't need to do so again. Metro last season was a 12-man squad game, where you could rotate your sub in on a day-by-day basis. The captain element is there but not really in the TFFO style: you pick your captain and get to change him 10 times over the season, rather than being allowed to pick a new one for each flange/day/week. The scoring is very TFF-esque but with higher points for goals for midfielders and defenders, and the biggest difference of every player getting +3 for a win and +1 for a draw every match (making top-of-the-table clubs' players even more attractive). It was a free game with decent prizes, with a limit of 5 teams per person as Vid said.

All that said, Metro had a very different game for the world cup and they haven't yet launched their 2010/11 game so we can't be totally sure that it will be the same.


Anyway, to the point: we definitely could try out ISO somewhere else if there's a reasonable sized group keen. Can people respond below if you want to keep ISO going, so we can gauge opinion!

Hi Chaps - not played the ISO format before but looks to be fun.

Would be good to keep the 'usual suspects' of the TFFO forum in touch.

I would suggest FPL might be a good option for the ISO league - no real prize money - but if it's a bit of competition and friendly banter you're looking for, then I suggest this game ticks most of the boxes.

Besides many of us already play this game. I actually moved my 'friends and family' league from TFF to FPL last season based on would you believe how poorly the Telegraph were running their TFC cricket game and mighty relieved I was to.

Although my FPL team is attached to a few leagues now I would be happy for Reds to have the final say on my starting line-up. Just a thought.

I don't think anyone involved in side comps such as the 5AS would be keen on giving up their one FPL team for the ISO.

Have to agree with Vid I think regarding FPL. The fact it's one-team-only makes it difficult, and I'm sure more than just 5AS players wouldn't be keen. Also that game's wildcard feature means everyone could just change their squad to whatever they like as early as week 2!

I was going also going to plug The Metro game on here but was waiting to find out the what rules they're going with this season. If it's the world cup format but with their Premier league scoring I think TFFOers will like it but if it's the World Cup scoring I'll give it a miss. Certainly one to keep an eye on.

Been playing FPL for about 3 years now and a very different game to TFFO, but still reasonably enjoyable.

If an ISO league is set up OFL would consider playing but the 1 team rule in FPL would mean me giving up on sure fire cash from my works superleague (3 top 5 finishes)

Keep the banter going and I will follow what's happening when I return from holiday and will hopefully catch up with a new ISO game somewhere somewhen.