Eto’o > Ibrahimovic: Poll Results & Fantasy Football 09/10

The football season is back both in England’s lower divisions and across various parts of Europe. This is superb news I’m sure you’ll all agree (unless you support Norwich City). To celebrate, with one week remaining until the Premier League gets underway we at Just Football have decided to open up our yearly Fantasy Premier League fantasy football game to you dear readers out there. More info on that in a second, but first up – poll results:

A few weeks back, in the aftermath of Real Madrid’s immense, uniquely funded shopping spree, we opened up a poll asking whether you thought bringing in the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and..ahem..Alvaro Arbeloa would be good enough for Manuel Pellegrini’s men to win La Liga.

It turns out 58% of you who voted feel Real Madrid will NOT reclaim the Spanish league title, while only 42% think the new signings will spearhead Real to domestic glory.

This could, I suppose, be seen in two ways. Either those voting feel that after an all-conquering season Barcelona are still simply too strong for Real to live with. Or, it is more a sign people remain unconvinced by the extravagant, wild scattergun transfer policy and signings of Florentino Perez and do not think the team will properly gel into an effective, title winning unit. Either way, it’s a thumbs down to Perez and co from you guys.

Secondly, in our most recent poll we turned our attentions to FC Barcelona and the incredible swap deal that took former Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the Camp Nou and Samuel Eto’o (plus a whole load of cash) in the opposite direction.

We asked which forward you would rather have at your football club. As it turned out, 63% of you voted in favour of Eto’o over Ibrahimovic, with only 37% preferring the Swedish international to goal machine Eto’o.

Personally I’m in agreement here. While I do think Ibrahimovic will light up La Liga this season and is a perfect fit for Barca, I still cannot believe how dispassionately Barcelona treated a player who did so much for them during five goal-filled years in Catalonia. Eto’o absolutely guarantees goals (he’s already scored on his Inter debut), and I can’t help but feel that were he Catalan Joan Laporta and co would have looked after the Cameroonian far better than they did in their underhand attempts to get rid while simultaneously pinning him as the villain of the piece.

Again, thanks to everyone who voted.

Fantasy Football 09/10 – roll up roll up

One other bit of site news is that we have decided to open up the Just Football Fantasy Premier League mini league to our readers for 2009/2010. Last season we operated it more as a closed league for friends and close associates. However I feel now is the time to open it up to the public for anyone interested.

We will be using the Premier League’s Official Fantasy Game, which in my opinion is by far the best. In it you can pick your team, tinker with it each week via substitutions, make tactical changes, tweak formations and even appoint a captain. Not only that but for lovers of the aesthetic amongst you it is also possible to create your own custom made swanky kit, although there is not a single person amongst you who could create one worse than Newcastle’s new away strip. Hmm there’s a competition in there somewhere…

Anyway, if you would like to enter our mini-league this season head over to the Fantasy Premier League, sign up, create your team and then enter the code 770220-161329 in the ‘Leagues’ section.

Last season’s champion Damien Patel is the man everyone will be looking to gun down. I’m so excited about it all I’ve entered my team already and, without wanting to reveal too much about my players, Eduardo is one I’m feeling pretty confident about this season. Grab me some goals you clinical Cro-zilian.

Who’s in your team?

Europe, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Polls, Real Madrid, Samuel Eto\'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic