the inaugural TESCO Cup will be just a half season competition for this season only due to time constraints. therefore no one off final will be needed for the first season. the rules are as follows - A straight knockout with the 32 teams. They play each other home and away with away goals counting double and the 16 winners progress into the next round and so on until the final. This would take 10 gameweeks to complete. The winner is the first finalist. We then do the same again and the second winner is the other finalist. In the unlikely event that the same team wins both then they're immediately declared champion and no final is required. (boo hiss) Scoring for matches would be like this, The home team gets a goal for every assist and every goal scored by a team member. Captains points count double. The away team gets a goal for every clean sheet kept by a GK, DF or CM. Again, captains points count double. Teams would play home and away legs and the winner progresses to the next round. Away goals count double, just as they do now in European knockout. Tie breakers to decide a draw would be - 1) Captains double points nullified from both legs. 2) Substitutes not taken into account from both legs. 3) Overall team league scores from both games to decide the winner. When the two winners of tournaments A and B have been decided the team with the highest +goals total for their winning campaign will have the choice to be either the home team or the away team in a one off final match to decide the overall champion. Tiebreakers in this game will be decided as similar to the above. the first round, first leg will take place in gameweek 20. here is the random draw for the first round - Bettermirror MCFD - 1800-UK.com Kopite Juniors - Pork Soda ThisisAnfield FC - Welsh Dragonsox Zola School FC - ACMilano Tally Road AFC - FC Springfield The Class Acts - Deco's Diving Divas Duck Butter Bandits - Old Peculiar Windsor Wanderers - Southside Saturns Aviators - ChrisSuttonsSlippers In off the post - Ladanday Rovers Rockville Gunners - Galway Rovers Yellowcake Phantoms - LSG Royston Vasey Rat Face Villains FC - VegasVirgins ColdDogSoup FC - VCC Sasha Juniors - Raytown Rangers blechs_dawgs - Crazies first round 2nd legs will take place on gameweek 21 Round 2 - gameweeks 22 + 23 Q-Finals - gameweeks 24 + 25 Semi-Finals - gameweeks 26 + 27 Two legged final - gameweeks 28 + 29 good luck to one and all.
Ho, Ho, Ho. What a wonderful gift! And, blechs_dawgs start off with a rematch of the mock draw, but a reversal of the home and away. Hopefully things turn out better now that things count. Holiday greetings to all.
All away "goals" count as 2? Kind of pointless... should be like IRL when it's only the tiebreak. That may well be the case and I'm reading it wrong.
it is just like in real life. apologies for any confusion caused. away goals come into play if it's a draw over the two legs. check the mock draw and you'll see what i mean.
Have you been listening to that Irish twit Tommy Smyth?.. For somebody (supposedly) so well versed in football, he continually spots that bollocks about 'away goals count double'.
an update will arrive for the 1st rd 1st legs when all matches are completed. it will also include odds for progression on every game.
we're starting from fresh but this season will only be played as a half season and the winner will be outright. no one off cup final as there isn't enough gameweeks left. nest season will be a full season.
1st Round 1st Leg Results Bettermirror MCFD 0-4 1800-UK.com Kopite Juniors 0-5 Pork Soda ThisisAnfield FC 8-5 Welsh Dragonsox Zola School FC 0-5 ACMilano Tally Road AFC 3-4 FC Springfield The Class Acts 0-4 Deco's Diving Divas Duck Butter Bandits 7-4 Old Peculiar Windsor Wanderers 0-5 Southside Saturns Aviators 7-2 ChrisSuttonsSlippers In off the post 4-6 Ladanday Rovers Rockville Gunners 0-2 Galway Rovers Yellowcake Phantoms 3-4 LSG Royston Vasey Rat Face Villains FC 1-3 VegasVirgins ColdDogSoup FC 6-3 VCC Sasha Juniors 3-3 Raytown Rangers blechs_dawgs 9-4 Crazies a very good gameweek for the away teams. by and large the home teams suffered, apart from a few exceptions. so much so that 6 of the home sides failed to register a goal between them. 2nd legs with odds on progression to the next round to follow after i've had my tea.
1st Round 2nd Leg odds on progression supplied by Getting Cash From Clowns bookmakers. 1800-UK.com(4) - (0)Bettermirror MCFD goals may depend on how well Liverpool do against Stoke and how well 1800-UK.com does against the might of Rafatation. clean sheets could pose a problem for Bettermirror as he finds a lot of his players up against each other in gameweek 21. Bettermirror has slightly better form over recent weeks but 1800-UK has the 4 goal cushion. GCFC odds - 1800-UK.com 4/6 : Bettermirror MCFD 7/2 Pork Soda(5) - (0)Kopite Juniors Pork Soda will be looking to captain Ronaldo to turn it on in the big one against Chelsea. Agbonlahor and Cahill could be good for strikes as well. a couple of Fulham players and Friedel between the sticks offers hope of clean sheets for Kopite Juniors. Pork Soda has a 5 goal lead and has much better recent form. have they got this one in the bag already? GCFC odds - Pork Soda 1/7 : Kopite Juniors 14/1 Welsh Dragonsox(5) - (8)ThisisAnfield FC Barry and Bentley need to get the assists going to help out Robinho and Adebayor up front for Dragonsox. a clean sheet for Liverpool is a must to give the appropriately named ThisisAnfield the opportunity to progress. Dragonsox's form has been poor of late while TiA's has been patchy. GCFC odds - Welsh Dragonsox 7/4 : ThisisAnfield FC 5/4 ACMilano(5) - (0)Zola School FC another big attacking week from Arteta should be enough to see Milano safely into the 2nd round. with Friedel in goal and two Everton players in def/mid, Zola School could run this closer than most think, or even sneak it if Milano stumble. Zola School has the edge on form. GCFC odds - ACMilano 19/20 : Zola School FC 23/10 FC Springfield(4) - (3)Tally Road AFC with no Fuller and Berbatov up against Chelsea the onus for goals for FC Springfield falls on the shoulders of in form Peter Crouch. to get into the next round Tally Road may possibly need at least three clean sheets. it's hard to see where these will come from and to add to that their recent form has been poor. the only light at the end of the tunnel is the current nosedive FC Springfield are also experiencing formwise. GCFC odds - FC Springfield 4/6 : Tally Road AFC 7/2 Deco's Diving Divas(4) - (0)The Class Acts Deco's DD's have a 4 goal lead and they'll be thankful for that as goals may be hard to come by in the next gameweek. 2 Villa players and Nasri of Arsenal will give The Class Acts hope of mounting a comeback. both teams have been struggling for form. GCFC odds - Deco's Diving Divas 4/7 : The Class Acts 4/1 Old Peculiar(4) - (7)Duck Butter Bandits if Cole and Dempsey can repeat last weeks feats and RVP gets a game then Old Peculiar will fancy their chances of a turnaround in this match up. Duck Butter Bandits have plenty of options for clean sheets as they can call upon 3 Arsenal players, 2 from Liverpool and 2 from in form Fulham to line up in def/mid. both teams have been performing well and will be disappointed to exit at this early stage. GCFC odds - Old Peculiar 6/4 : Duck Butter Bandits 11/8 Southside Saturns(5) - (0)Windsor Wanderers Southside have a good lead and will be looking to Adebayor and his midfielders to ease him into the 2nd round. Windsor Wanderers may get a couple of clean sheets but the 5 goal margin looks like it'll be too much for WW to pull back. Saturns form has been a bit up and down but is a tad better than Wanderers. GCFC odds - Southside Saturns 2/7 : Windsor Wanderers 7/1 i have to nip out shortly for about an hour but i'll conclude the 2nd part of this when i get back. plenty enough time left before the bells.
1st Round 2nd Leg (contd) ChrisSuttonsSlippers(2) - (7)Aviators i'm on a bad slide and need certain players in the same predicament to start turning it on if i'm to have any chance of getting through. namely, SWP, Johnson and Downing. 2 from Everton, 2 from Villa and Murphy from Fulham will give Aviators lots of opportunities for clean sheets and progression to round 2. as mentioned earlier, my current form stinks. Aviators, on the other hand, are flying. i'll get my coat... GCFC odds - ChrisSuttonsSlippers 7/1 : Aviators 1/3 Ladanday Rovers(6) - (4)In off the post Ladanday have a slender lead but with the recent inactivity of both Santa Cruz and Carew they still have a lot of work to do. Van Der Sar has two chances at a clean sheet and P.Neville and Cahill will look to close the door on Hull. this could be a close call. In off the post have the form in their favour but Ladanday have the lead at HT in this tie. GCFC odds - Ladanday Rovers 11/8 : In off the post 6/4 Galway Rovers(2) - (0)Rockville Gunners Lampard has been leading the charge for Galway but may find it tough at Old Trafford leaving Ireland and C.Cole to pick up the slack. Almunia and Sagna are also complemented by Hughes(Fulham), Osman(Everton) and Agger in giving Rockville reason to believe they have more than a fighting chance of pulling this one back. Galway's recent form has been scintillating while Rockville have been ok. a lot could depend on how Lampard fares against Man Utd. GCFC odds - Galway Rovers 5/4 : Rockville Gunners 7/4 LSG Royston Vasey(4) - (3)Yellowcake Phantoms Arteta and Robinho should see LSG get on the scoresheet and RVP is also in the wings. Modric could do with waking out of his assist/goal slump to offer support. Yellowcake will need to lean on Almunia and Dempsey and hope that Chelsea can keep a clean sheet to take this one close. LSG have the form and the lead. GCFC odds - LSG Royston Vasey 1/2 : Yellowcake Phantoms 9/2 VegasVirgins(3) -(1)Rat Face Villains FC as long as Gerrard keeps up his current form then VegasVirgins will be looking good to get to round 2. he should be ably backed by the two A's(Agbonlahor and Adebayor). Howard and Pienaar will need help from the likes of Ronaldo to give Rat Face Villains a fighting chance. Rat Face Villains are on a decent run of form but they're facing probably the most in form team in the whole of Rocks. GCFC odds - VegasVirgins 2/7 : Rat Face Villains 7/1 VCC(3) - (6)ColdDogSoup FC VCC need Keane back or the onus will fall heavily onto Agbonlahor for goals as they play catch up. ColdDogSoup will look to Van Der Sar and the return of two Fulham defenders to prevent any comeback from VCC. Ashley Young and Kuyt could also help out in this respect. VCC haven't been at their best lately while ColdDog have been lighting it up for the last few weeks. GCFC odds - VCC 2/1 : ColdDogSoup FC 21/20 Raytown Rangers(3) - (3)Sasha Juniors the only match that was tied from the first leg see Raytown hoping for Berbatov to go on a goal scoring spree. meanwhile Sasha Juniors will most likely have two Man Utd players looking for clean sheets with assistance also coming from Arteta and Konchesky, giving them a slight edge. recent form for both clubs has been decent if unspectacular. GCFC odds - Raytown Rangers 7/4 : Sasha Juniors 5/4 Crazies(4) - (9)blechs_dawgs Crazies have it all to do and will need to score at least 6 times to have a shout of making it through so big performances will be required from Ireland and Owen to name but two. blechs_dawgs will have plenty of chances for clean sheets through Howard, Lescott, Luke and Ashley Young and Gerrard. with a 5 goal advantage already could they possibly throw it away? Crazies have been inconsistent lately while blechs have been strong and steady. GCFC odds - Crazies 7/1 : blechs_dawgs 1/3 GCFC would like to stipulate that all odds are subject to current squads as of gameweek 20 and do not take into account any changes once the madhouse opens in less than 4hrs time.
A goal from Aston Villa defender Davies puffs up the cushion to 5, while two Bettermirror MCFD defenders are frozen out. Midfielder Cahill sat on the cushion though, as Everton's clean sheet keeps the advantage to 4. Still far from over.
With 4 teams out due to postponed games, all of the odds have to increase for teams that had leads after the first leg. It is going to be tough to make come-backs under these circumstances.
i can't believe there was two called off matches today in the EPL. it was freezing in Glasgow today and yet we still played. just goes to show that Scottish, Irish, Polish, Dutch, Japanese, Spanish, Australian and Greek players are made of tougher stuff than the English...