ML Hammer95

Good to see two away wins last week for City... was starting to become concerned about their start to the season but the win at Swansea especially was an excellent result! I think mid-table is the most likely position this season, don't seem them keeping up with the likes of Leeds and Middlesbrough.

Went to Arsenal on Saturday with a mate and despite the result, I thought we were much improved. Anderson started to look a real player and if we had taken our chances we would have got a result. The worry is, fail to get a result against Wolves on Saturday and we could enter October with 0 points.

For the first time in years I have not heard any of the new additions this week!

I prefer 'Unsigned' too - not sure whether that's because its the objectively better song or I'm starting to tire of this genre generally.

Great response so far! Would be great to get 25+ responses for this and the current standings are finely poised.

+20 Outkast - Hey Ya +19 Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On +18 Sean Paul - Get Busy +17 Eminem - Lose Yourself +16 Outkast - Ms Jackson +15 Blu Cantrell ft. Sean Paul - Breathe +14 Ja Rule ft. Ashanti - Always On Time +13 Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris - Yeah! +12 Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma +11 Kelis - Trick Me +10 Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger +9 Mary J Blige - Family Affair +8 Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You +7 Jay-Z - 99 Problems +6 Missy Elliott - Work It +5 Coolio feat. L.V - Gangsta's Paradise +4 Kanye West - Power +3 Craig David - 7 Days +2 Cassie - Me & U +1 Eve feat. Gwen Stefani - Let Me Blow Ya Mind -1 Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow

After debating which format to use, I have decided to involve all remaining 40 songs in the final! The list is looking very strong, so this seems the most definitive way of ranking all the songs with the added benefit of avoiding drawing this out too long. The rules are: You must rank your favourite 20 of the remaining songs.This should be ordered from +20 for your favourite down to +1.An added twist: you can award a -1 to your least favourite song. This is not mandatory but is encouraged!The deadline is midnight on Tuesday 4th September - two weeks from now.Your finalists are: Amerie - 1 Thing Beyonce feat. Jay Z - Crazy in Love Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow Blu Cantrell feat. Sean Paul - Breathe Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine Cassie - Me & U Ciara feat. Missy Elliott - 1,2 Step Coolio feat. L.V - Gangsta's Paradise Craig David - 7 Days Destiny's Child - Bootylicious Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome - Dance wiv Me Eminem - Lose Yourself Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy Eve feat. Gwen Stefani - Let Me Blow Ya Mind Ja Rule feat. Ashanti - Always On Time Jay-Z - 99 Problems Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You Kanye West - Power Kanye West - Stronger Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger Kelis - Milkshake Kelis - Trick Me Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On M.I.A. - Paper Planes Mary J Blige - Family Affair Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On Missy Elliott - Work It Missy Elliott ft. Ciara & Fatman Scoop - Lose Control Mis-Teeq - Scandalous Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland - Promiscuous Nina Sky feat. Jabba - Move Your Body Outkast - Hey Ya Outkast - Ms Jackson Rihanna feat. Drake - What's My Name Sean Paul - Get Busy Shaggy - It Wasn't Me Timbaland feat. Keri Wilson & DOE - The Way I Are TLC - No Scrubs Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris - Yeah! The results will be revealed in a special countdown thread in the days and weeks after the voting has closed - and I will do my best with commentary! Most importantly, enjoy!

RESULTS 1) Mary J Blige - Family Affair - 120 2) Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger - 117 3) Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland - Promiscuous - 114 4) Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy - 113 5) Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On - 108 6) Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow - 105 7) T.I. feat. Rihanna - Live Your Life - 88 8) Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) - 87 9) Daddy Yankee - Gasolina - 83 10) Madcon - Beggin' - 74 11) 2Pac – Changes - 72 12) Brandy - Afrodisiac - 67 13) Big Brovaz – Nu Flow - 58 14) Twista feat. Anthony Hamilton - Sunshine - 35 15) Ghost Town DJs - My Boo - 24 16) A Tribe Called Quest feat. Busta Rhymes - Scenario - 23 17) Ludacris feat. Mary J Blige - Runaway Love - 14 18) Richard Blackwood – Mama Who’s Da Man? - 12

RESULTS 1) Outkast - Ms Jackson - 131 2) Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On - 117 3) Sean Paul - Get Busy - 109 4) Rihanna feat. Drake - What's My Name - 103 5) Snoop Dogg feat. Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson- Signs - 90 6) Aaliyah - More Than a Woman - 88 7) Aaliyah - Try Again - 86 8) R.Kelly – Ignition (Remix) - 81 9) 2Pac feat. Elton John - Ghetto Gospel - 75 10) Fat Joe feat. Ashanti – What’s Luv? - 70 11) Tinie Tempah feat. Eric Turner - Written in the Stars - 67 12) Alexandra Burke feat. Flo Rida - Bad Boys - 58 13) Fatman Scoop feat. Crooklyn Clan - Be Faithful - 52 14) Dr. Dre feat. Eminem & Skylar Grey - I Need A Doctor - 40 15) Kendrick Lamar feat. MC Eiht - m.A.A.d city - 35 16) Drake - Over - 31 17) Drake - Best I Ever Had - 22 18) Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - Looking For The Perfect Beat - 10

RESULTS 1) Coolio feat. L.V - Gangsta's Paradise - 124 2) Timbaland feat. Keri Wilson & DOE - The Way I Are - 123 3) Kelis - Milkshake - 107 4) Shaggy - It Wasn't Me - 94 5) Fergie feat. Ludacris - Glamorous - 86 6) Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oh) - 85 7) Christina Milian- Dip It Low - 83 8) Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate - 74 9) Wiz Khalifa - Black And Yellow - 57 10) Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne - Down - 56 11) Pras feat. ODB & Mya – Ghetto Superstar - 52 12) Ciara feat. Chamillionaire - Get Up - 49 13) Blondie - Rapture - 37 14) Lil Wayne - A Milli - 33 15) Donell Jones feat. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes – U Know What’s Up - 27 16) Nas feat. Lauryn Hill - If I Ruled The World - 24 17) Brandy - Who Is She 2 U - 23 18) Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) - 21

RESULTS 1) Blu Cantrell feat. Sean Paul - Breathe - 153 2) Cassie - Me & U - 123 3) Justin Timberlake - Like I Love You - 105 4) Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome - Dance wiv Me - 102 5) Beyonce feat. Jay Z - Crazy in Love - 95 6) Ja Rule feat. Ashanti - Always On Time - 94 7) Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg - The Next Episode - 86 8) Ashanti - Only U - 83 9) N.E.R.D- She Wants To Move - 60 10) Frank Ocean - Thinkin Bout You - 59 11) Gyptian - Hold Yuh - 57 12) Ms. Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee - 52 13) Twista feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx - Slow Jamz - 39 14) Jay Z - Hard Knock Life - 38 15) Afroman - Because I Got High - 35 16) The Notorious B.I.G. - Big Poppa - 17 17) Neneh Cherry - Manchild - 9 18) Busta Rhymes – Gimme Some More - 3

RESULTS 1) Mis-Teeq - Scandalous - 113 2) Kanye West - Stronger - 107 3) Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine - 104 4) Outkast - Hey Ya - 94 5) Ciara feat. Missy Elliott - 1,2 Step - 90 6) Craig David - 7 Days - 87 7) Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans – I’ll Be Missing You - 84 8) Blackstreet feat. Dr Dre - No Diggity - 80 9) TLC - Creep - 63 (more 10s) 10) TLC - Waterfalls - 63 11) Sean Paul - We Be Burnin' - 55 12) Lauryn Hill - Ex-Factor - 32 (more 10s) 13) Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins - Get Low - 32 14) The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy - 27 15) Ciara - Ride - 25 16) Prince & The New Power Generation - Diamonds And Pearls -21 17) Cherish - Do It To It - 14 18) Hollywood Undead - We Are - 5

RESULTS 1) Amerie - 1 Thing - 98 2) TLC - No Scrubs - 96 3) Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma - 95 4) Eve feat. Gwen Stefani - Let Me Blow Ya Mind - 92 5) 50 Cent - In Da Club - 86 6) Justin Timberlake feat. T.I. - My Love - 75 7) The 411 - Dumb - 73 8) Chamillionare - Ridin' - 69 9) So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds - 60 10) Busta Rhymes feat. Mariah Carey - I Know What You Want - 57 11) 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake - Ayo Technology - 56 12) Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go - 55 13) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop - 47 14) SWV - Right Here (Human Nature remix) - 45 15) Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp - 37 16) Omarion - Ice Box - 27 17) Hilltop Hoods - The Nosebleed Section - 19 18) Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. - 13

RESULTS 1) Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris - Yeah! - 119 2) Missy Elliott ft. Ciara & Fatman Scoop - Lose Control - 99 3) Destiny's Child - Bootylicious - 95 4) Jay-Z - 99 Problems - 90 5) Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low - 81 6) 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre - California Love - 78 7) Mýa - Case Of The Ex - 73 8) Cassie - Long Way 2 Go - 69 9) Fugees - Ready or Not - 68 10) Drake feat. Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem- Forever - 60 11) Diddy feat. Keyshia Cole - Last Night - 56 12) The Game feat. 50 Cent- Hate It Or Love It - 55 13) Akon - Lonely - 43 14) Sugarhill Gang - Apache (Jump On It) - 30 15) 50 Cent feat. G-Unit & Snoop Dogg – P.I.M.P. - 28 16) Baby Bash feat. Frankie J - Suga Suga - 16 17) Mr Vegas - Heads High - 11 18) T-Pain - Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)

RESULTS 1) Kelis - Trick Me - 122 2) Missy Elliott - Work It - 121 3) Eminem - Lose Yourself - 118 (more 10s) 4) M.I.A. - Paper Planes - 118 5) Kanye West - Power - 102 6) Nina Sky feat. Jabba - Move Your Body - 94 7) Beyonce feat. Sean Paul - Baby Boy - 89 8) Christina Milian - AM to PM - 82 9) Chris Brown feat. Juelz Santana - Run It! - 58 10) Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz - Mercy - 52 11) Kanye West - Jesus Walks - 50 12) Lil Wayne feat. Static Major - Lollipop - 44 13) Beastie Boys - Intergalactic - 37 14) Serani - No Games - 32 15) Ms. Dynamite - Put Him Out - 14 16) D’Angelo - Brown Sugar - 13 17) The Roots feat. Cody ChesnuTT - The Seed (2.0) - 9 18) Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals - 0

Thanks to the 16 of you who voted in the play-off rounds! The results were as follows.... Kevin Lyttle 9-7 Aaliyah Snoop Dogg 8-8 Black Eyed Peas ('Boom Boom Pow' progresses on higher group stage points) Fergie 8-8 Ja Rule ('Always On Time' progresses on higher group stage points) Beyoncé 10-6 Lumidee Ciara 9-7 Justin Timberlake 50 Cent 6-10 Craig David Flo Rida 8-8 Nina Sky ('Move Your Body' progresses on higher group stage points) Kanye West 9-7 2Pac Shame that 'In da Club' was knocked out, but I guess '7 Days' has a wider appeal. The closeness of all these ties reflects the strength of the competition and forcing songs to face against each other has thrown some surprise results! We now have 40 songs remaining... I'm still working out the best format, but voting will open early next week.

I really don't like Yungen's voice normally... makes me cringe and he raps about the same things in every song. Saying that, 'Bestie' was excellent although the Jess Glynne song sounded at least five years out of date. I do like this on first listen actually!

Still got today to get your votes in, closes at midnight! Can still affect the results too...

Do rows all ready, could do with adding some lats in there! Lower back is definitely something I need to target, pretty much where all my fat is at the moment.

Fair enough, half the time I end up mixing arms with chest and shoulders anyway! Do you recommend any exercises for back?

Going to the gym about 3/4 days a week over the summer - having separate days for legs, shoulders, chest and arms. Every session has a 5 minute sprint session on the treadmill (20 secs on, 10 secs off) at about 18km/h and a plank. Got the World Cup weight off again at least :lol:

Close so far!

Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On vs. Aaliyah - More Than A Woman Snoop Dogg feat. Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson - Signs vs. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow Fergie feat. Ludacris - Glamorous vs. Ja Rule feat. Ashanti - Always On Time Beyonce feat. Jay Z - Crazy in Love vs. Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oh) Ciara feat. Missy Elliott - 1,2 Step vs. Justin Timberlake feat. T.I. - My Love 50 Cent - In Da Club vs. Craig David - 7 Days Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low vs. Nina Sky feat. Jabba - Move Your Body Kanye West - Power vs. 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre - California Love

Firstly, thank you to all of those who participated in the group stages - the response was far greater than I expected! I will be publishing the results of the eight groups after this play-off round closes. I will explain how this works: The fifth and sixth place songs in each group have qualified for the play-off round. Just like the World Cup, songs from different groups will now face each other. For example, 5th place from Group A will face 6th place from Group B. The paired groups are A-B, C-D, E-F & G-H.You must pick your favoured song from the two contesting against each other.In the event of a tie break, the song with the most points from the previous phase will progress into the final 40.This round will close at midnight on Friday 17th August The ties are as follows: Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On vs. Aaliyah - More Than A Woman Snoop Dogg feat. Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson - Signs vs. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow Fergie feat. Ludacris - Glamorous vs. Ja Rule feat. Ashanti - Always On Time Beyonce feat. Jay Z - Crazy in Love vs. Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oh) Ciara feat. Missy Elliott - 1,2 Step vs. Justin Timberlake feat. T.I. - My Love 50 Cent - In Da Club vs. Craig David - 7 Days Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low vs. Nina Sky feat. Jabba - Move Your Body Kanye West - Power vs. 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre - California Love Enjoy!

If that was a rusty Liverpool performance then we may have a proper title race this year! While I'm not in the habit of agreeing with Jamie Redknapp, Keita looks a proper player while the bench looks seriously strong. Not sure if they'll be as consistent as Man City and they won't play many teams as obiliging as we were today. Our team definetly looked like we had never played together before,hopefully once we work out our best team we will be able to compete in games like these because the talent is there (Masuaku cannot play left back in a back four).