[Butter]

Jesus is 2nd in the Player of the Month of August voting... he started 3 matches, rating 2 8's and a 9... very impressive for this Spaniard who just turned 20 on August 25th.

Impressive enough to earn him Young Player of the Month. Vagner finishes 3rd in this voting as well, with his 1 goal and assist in the league this month, and his finishing goal in the Super Cup.

Naturally, I win the Manager of the Month for our dominating early form. To be fair, though, our early schedule has been pretty soft, including 2 recent promotees.

Arsenal's defender William Gallas breaks a leg, and will likely be out until the New Year. Manchester United were dominating the league last year until they hit a rash of injuries, and we were eventually able to drop them to 3rd.

John Heitinga, captaining the Dutch national team, scores a surprise goal in Holland's 2-1 win over Georgia in EURO 2012 Qualifying.

Bocanegra, Heitinga, and Wallner are selected to the Team of the Week.

Vagner breaks a cheekbone in practice, and he'll miss nearly a month of action.

Bad team selection news for me again... as Arenas is going to be away with Colombia for our first Champions League match. And I only picked 2 keepers for our 25 man roster. Again, I'll have to hope Grant can hold up. He's played well in limited action of late, so we'll see what shakes out against NAMBLA's favorite European team, Young Boys of Switzerland.

Champions League Title Odds
AC Milan - 5:1
Man U, Juventus, Barcelona - 8:1
Valencia - 10:1
Deportivo - 11:1
.
.
.
Peterborough United - 18:1

With your team being rated as something of a long shot at 18:1, the bookies seem to assume that the most you can hope for is reaching the latter stages in this competition.

EPL Round 5 results
Villa 2:0 Cardiff
Blackburn 0:1 Palace
Chelsea 2:0 Birmingham
Man City 2:0 Portsmouth
Boro 0:2 Man U
WBA 0:1 So'ton
Norwich 0:1 Liverpool
West Ham 0:2 Spurs
Sheff Wed 2:2 Newcastle

Southampton pass us into 1st place following their Saturday afternoon win over the Baggies. They are 4-1-0 after 5 games, one of 4 undefeated Premiership squads.

Mokoena returns from physiotherapy, and should be fit to play for us in about a week.

Sept. 13, Champions League Match Day 1, Group C - Televised
@ Young Boys (Bern, Switzerland)
Fav: Posh, Evens

All 3 of my defensive midfielders are injured, so we default to Diego Gavilan. He has played there a time or two in emergencies.
Unavailable:
Away on international play: Arenas, Alex
Unavailable due to injury: Kargbo, Mascherano, Jesus, Mokoena, Vagner
Ineligible for competition: Arzo

Lineup:
GK: Grant
Def: Bocanegra, Heitinga, Marcos, Zaccardo
Mid: Gavilan, Mngomeni, Sneijder, Gerard
Str: Wallner, Cole

11'- 1st chance of the game, as defender Daniel Haller swings in a corner kick for midfielder Pat (yes, just Pat), and his header is tipped over nicely by Lee Grant.

19'- A low centering pass is sent across the six, a quick shot is taken, but Bocanegra does well to block it out for a corner.

22'- Another great pass comes in by the Swiss midfielders... then forward Thomas Remy with a 12 yard shot that takes a deflection... Grant with a great recovery to tip it to Heitinga, who clears.

We're getting killed out there. Nerves, maybe?

24'- Finally, an opening... Sneijder passes to Cole at 25 yards, he does some nice work, getting to within 10 yards, but he pulls a left-footed shot wide.

Not much else happens for the remainder of the first half, as the Swiss side dominates the ball in the first half. Marcos with a 6, Grant with an 8, and everyone else with a 7 in the first 45.

52'- Pat charges up the left side end line... he sends in a low ball to the top of the six, where Remy volleys it, but Grant with great reaction to move across and save it! Heitinga slides in and clears the rebound away! Outstanding defensive awareness to stop a sure goal.

60'- Bocanegra with a 40 yard ball into the box... Cole and the keeper converge, and the keeper wins it.

67'- Wallner's pass across the six yard box is deflected... back to Wallner, who tries to head it on target, but it's over the bar.

72'- Balaban in for Wallner, and Bellomo enters for an ineffective Sneijder... Sneijder has been struggling lately.

84'- Pat is sent through onside... he gets to within about 10 yards of goal and shoots... right at Grant, thankfully. We dodge a huge bullet there.

88'- Great ball movement from the Swiss, as a cross is sent to the back post, then a pass back across the six finds Pat with an easy finish. 1-0, Young Boys. Pat is everywhere!

Kranjcar in for Zaccardo, and we go with a 3-4-3, with lots of guys thrown forward.

90+'- Kranjcar with a good ball left to Mngomeni... he's just outside the area, and crosses to the back post... a Young Boys defender misses a header at 3 yards... and Carlton Cole is there... to head it in!!!! A dramatic equalizer, as the rock, Carlton Cole gives us a road point!

Pat is the well-deserved MoM for Young Boys, but Cole's late header gives us the point! Grant, Bocanegra, Mngomeni, and Gerard with 8's... Wallner with a 6. I have to say, I thought we'd have an easier time with them than this. This doesn't give me great hope of moving on, considering that 2 of the top 6 favorites for winning the whole thing are in this group.

Draw, 1-1
Shots/on target: Young Boys 13/8, Posh 12/4
Poss: 55-45, Young Boys
A: 10,462

AC Milan do us a great favor, scoring twice at home to defeat Deportivo, so we start mid-table in the group of 4.

We get $200k for the draw... any group stage win will net us $400k.