Fantasy Football 2011-12-16

Game week 16

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 30

Average Score on site – 50

Highest Haul: 7 –Van Persie (who was also my captain, so that became 14)

Lowest Haul: (-3) – Clichy

 

Average Score Per Player 2.7

Accrued Score – 637

Place in my own fecking league – 70, down 11 places

Points Off the top – 214 (20 points dis-improvement – [what’s the correct word?])

State Of Play

Due to me minding my language around my son I’m gonna say through gritted teeth, “Oh deary me” ála Mrs Doubtfire, but in my head I’m ranting and seething more like Robin Williams did in his insane cocaine years. I was gonna go on A World According To Garp thing, but in truth I can’t really remember the build up to the ending, so he might actually have done something horrific himself. Anyway this is the kind of rambling writing that wins me no awards, back to incisive writing about my thoughts on a game that wins me no points. I really have done bad since I started this blog, I used to be a condendah.

So while the previous game week was my best in months, but sure as night follows day, this week was one of my worst. Jeez. Left (back), right (back) and centre (back), I was left down, as well as midfield etc etc. Other than Van Persie, (and even he had a poor week by his exacting standards) and to a lesser degree Walters, no one contributed.

Vindication

Nothing

D’oh

Everything that isn’t covered in the Vindication section, crushing. If it wasn’t for the fact I’ve been listening to documentaries about country and western music for last few hours, I’d feel worse.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky have spotted it.

I realise I consistently have gone astray from the title of this subsection. SO will try and steer back and more pertinent to my team, I can’t solve all these problems in one week, will limit myself to 2

PROBLEM

Bendtner – They always say when a new manager comes in you should make sure you catch the manager’s attention, but not like this you knobhead - http://www.football365.com/news/21554/7380617/Bendtner-And-Cattermole-Are-Bailed-After-Arrest

Now while a part of me sees Sunderland becoming a solid team very quickly with winter flaking in the crosses for the Dane to take those chances, I just can’t see it happening right now. The wildcard in Jan is ahead of us though.

SOLUTION

Sturridge in, baffling to see they are only .6 apart in price. What with Anelka gone, Drogba leaving soon for African Cup of Nations, and the natural urge for English players who have not cemented their place in the Euro squad. 

PROBLEM

My goalkeepers, without noticing I’ve kind of painted myself into a corner with two, what I’d call, handy second choice of keepers,

SOLUTION

Immediately Vorm looks great buy, but will hold my wick in that department

PROBLEM

My Man City defenders, both woefully underperforming, Clichy in particular, both need to go, but to be fair there are no notably performing defender this season (the Newcastle bubble seems to have burst)

 

SOLUTION

On my poking about, I see Man Utd have a new defender option at 4.5 million in a fella called Ezekiel Fryers, now while that’s a character name you’d except in something like Oz or Sons Of Anarchy; he’ll have do a little bit more than that. But my actual solution is explained a little further down.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

DO you look at your squad and think to yourself, “how is this adding up to 100 Million!”, I have only two what I’d call high cost players (RVP and Bale) and the rest are mid to cheap ones. I certainly have back the wrong horse with all of them (perhaps excluding  Walters, who at 6.3 is bubbling away under the whole)

Due to needing to shave a few quid here and there, I swapped VDV for Bale; simple decision really, over Christmas rush, VDV is unlikely to play all the games, and once again while admitting my blind spots Bale is out performing VDV.

Have swapped Sturridge for Bendtner and have decided to lose Clichy and bring in Jagielka (Norwich, Swansea at Home, then Sunderland and WBA away); Everton have a pretty sweet few fixtures coming up and hopefully they could manage maybe 3 clean sheets from next 5?

It’s a tricky one with the Goalkeepers, they are opposing each other and I’m sure they’ll both be busy with set pieces and whatnot, so I’m gonna go with Hennessey, I don’t see a clean sheet for either but what with Stoke’s bad form after Europe League matches (even though they didn’t play their strongest strongest team on Thurs, I believe. Maybe I should research that, errah). Suppose since Begovic isn’t starting a lot these days, it makes the decision a little easier.

Regarding Captain, I anticipate the Many City v Arsenal game to be very high octane, maybe the memory of both club’s more recent matches with Chelsea makes me think goals, as opposed to defensive masterclass performances. But I will veer towards Bale at home, since they are clearly playing a weaker team, and perhaps O’Neill hasn’t really sorted them out yet, and I also have Bassong in my team. Put all my eggs in one basket etc etc.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Everton’s defenders and on the same tip Chelsea’s ones. Also high functioning/low-cost midfielders who play every game (Larsson perhaps).­

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Pretty difficult one this week with RVP away to City. I still wouldn't bet against him though and no doubt he'll still be captained by many.

City @home to Arsenal - Arsenal have been tightening up defensively and City finally got beaten in the premier league so this mightn't be as one sided as people think. As I said, RVP is still a reasonable choice and the usual candidates on the City side, Aguero, Silva and Balotelli.

Man United away to QPR - United somewhat answered critics last week with 4 goals against Wolves, but come on, it's Wolves. I see United to win again comfortably though. Nani and Rooney both impressing last weekend and will have seen their ownership start to rise again. Not sure about picking your captain based on one good performance again Wolves though.

Newcastle @home to Swansea  - Ba has turned into the bargain buy of the season, he's in amazing form. Swansea is definitely no gimme fixture though, but he's as likely to score as anyone this weekend and is fond of getting more than one.

Chelsea away to Wigan - Great win for Chelsea last weekend and badly needed. Will their slump be over now? Who knows but confidence is massively boosted and Wigan won't be looking forward to this one. Sturridge turned assister last weekend, setting up Meireles and winning a penalty duly converted by Lampard who has publicly expressed his puzzlement at starting matches on the bench. Mata had a great second half and dominated the midfield, you have a feeling he'll be putting up a big score soon.

Gamble picks - Yakubu @home to West Brom, why not. Ramsey. Shit, i've jinxed it now haven't I?

Fantasy Football 2011-12-9

Game week 15

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 77

Average Score on site – 53

Highest Haul – 15 – Huth, Jones and Van Persie

Lowest Haul – 1 – Begovic, Ben Arfa, Bendtner, Van Der Vaart 

Average Score Per Player 7

Accrued Score – 607

Place in my own fecking league – 68, up twelve places

Points Off the top – 193 (13 points improvement)

State Of Play

Wahey, best week in a long while for me, 77 point haul for me. An average of 7 points per player, and with 3 of my team getting 15 points it implies I’m somewhat building back on the right tracks. Then again one of those players was RVP, so that hardly counts as insight.

On a wider BOTNB community level, the big news from the week was one of the crew getting engaged, so I wanna throw warmest thoughts towards Pat, but I will warn you about something. This league is in it’s 8th year, no married man has ever won the BOTNB league…

Vindication

As I said three players got good hauls with 60 points between them…

D’oh

… (yep you guessed it) but the other 8 got 17 between them. I have a few gripes and the main one is with the save button on the site. As  you can see from the screen shot on last week’s blog, I had Hennessey set to be my keeper, who got a good 9 point haul. Those 8 points could end up crucial.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky have spotted it.

Looks like the WAGS of the two Manchester clubs will be able to follow the goings on in the Rovers Return for rest of the season as their hubbies will be away on Wednesday nights for Europa League (even though Mrs Giggs,  Ferdinand and Rooney might be more worried cos of that). The two clubs are, stepping away from the spin and whatnot about their exits from the champions league, wounded. The players in both clubs have the mindsets of winners and will surely be hungry to get onto the field and show the world what’s what (other than Tevez obviously!). Looking to Old Trafford first, Vidic is a huge loss; as they teased out on fantasy football scout podcast, there is a school of thought that due to his loss for the rest of season United will have even less chance of keeping clean sheets so will need to attack more, and what with Hernadez’s injury, Fergie’s seemingly permanent lack of faith in Berbatov and the occasional pushing of Wayne into midfield this all adds up to Welbeck getting a LOT of game time and they have a nice run of winnable fixtures.

Moving across to the bluer part of the city, it’s not like the wagon has skidded off the road but they will surely be a mild hangover at least from the exit from the big boys league. They visit Chelsea, who are been a powerhouse of football in the last week, I am looking forward to this game as an observer.

Also how quickly will Martin O’Neill turn Sunderland around, while he was never a negative manager, he will shore it up at the back before anything. He made the lumbering seemingly ineffectual Emile Heskey shine when he had him in the past, so perhaps he’ll do the same with Bendter. But he is listed as having a knock, but surely any player trying to impress a new manager will do what it takes to get on the team sheet. It’ll certainly be interesting to see if he makes any wholesale changes.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

As I said the signs point to attacking United, so Welbeck in and Agbonlahor out. While he’s been good for Villa this season, he seems to have gone off the boil and they have 3 tough fixtures in the next six.

Not very happy with my team this week, but then again I have been in previous weeks and ended up disappointed so at least this way my expectations are lowered. I don’t like having defenders who are playing against midfielders who are also in my team (Huth versus VDV/Bassong versus Walters) but to be honest, I just to have suck it up in this instance; because I don’t have any obvious plan B even if I used my wildcard right now.

Am really looking and relooking and relooking at bringing Long in at the expense of Bendtner, and I might end up doing it when I get home tonight!

To be honest this is a hotch potch of a selection this week, I regret leaving it this late in the week to do, but it’s the kind of regret I can live with.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Sunderland and their new regime, and Chelsea’s resolve, an a certain Spaniard in their works

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Interesting times on the champs league then, both Manchester teams crashing out in the group stages, one somewhat expectedly, and one a major upset. This could be good news for Fantasy managers though, as both teams will be sure to put out their strongest teams for the second half of the premiership, hopefully making less selection headaches for us.

Man United @home to Wolves - United are in a state of disarray, no two ways about it. They've been struggling on all fronts recently and are scraping 1 nils here and there, their early season free scoring a bit of a memory now. Add to that it looks like Vidic is out for the rest of the season. There's not much to signal you to pick a player for a captain's armband, even against Wolves. Cue a Rooney hattrick. Go on then, captain him.

Arsenal@home to Everton - He's the default option now, you'd want a seriously tasty fixture or display of form from someone else not to pick Reliant Robin. Home to Everton, game on.

Chelsea@home to City - Chelsea ended a bad period with a great win against Valencia in the Champions league to get them to the next stage. Drogba scored twice and looks to have earned a few starts in the coming weeks instead of Torres. I think he's a great differential this weekend, i can't check his ownership in work but i'll bet it's around the 2% figure. I can see Mata exploding soon as well, but perhaps not in this fixture. I can see lots of goals here, Chelsea's defence is still very much in trouble and City don't seem too fond of clean sheets recently, preferring to outscore the opposition (hey phergal, isn't this the objective of every team in a match?) with goals. Aguero for City.

Gamble picks? Larrson against Blackburn, purely because i just brought him back into my own team after foolishly dropping him for Ramsey. Shit, i've jinxed it now haven't I?

Fantasy Football 2011-12-2

Game week 13

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 39

Average Score on site – 41

Highest Haul – 10 - Kompany

Lowest Haul – 0 -Van Der Vaart

Average Score Per Player 3.3

Accrued Score – 500

Place in my own fecking league – 80, same as last week

Points Off the top – 206.

State Of Play

Remember all my talk of rebirth last week? Well it’s very déjà vu now isn’t it? I’ve been losing faith in my selections, but I keep coming back to the fact that I have reasoned them out and they just aren’t working out. But someone else has said something similar to me… "We have been using a lot of players but we have to make choices based on coherence, decision making, and based on the best players”. Step on up Andre Villas-Boas.

Vindication

Rather than saying nothing every week, I will use this space to teach you how to say nothing in different languages; ‘Nichts’ is the German for nothing. Over the course of the season, I might also move in the philosophy of nothing.

D’oh

I didn’t even field a full team, due to injuries and Jones and Drenthe not even making the subs bench. Kompany scored nearly 25% of my points. That shizzle just won’t fizzle.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky have spotted it.

Wowzers, Villa have a very very bad run for next 6 games, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are all on the agenda. So bye bye Given from barcaRONAN.

Sunderland’s new manager might be installed by the time I post this, and to be fair to whoever takes over (it’s looks like Martin O’Neill) will have a favourable opening run of fixtures, what that will mean for Bendtner will be interesting. He did wonders with Emile Heskey eh?

Two teams who are in strange types of reeling; Man Utd, who got caught with a stunner on Wed; and Chelsea who’ve been slugged over and over recently, are in a position to ‘fight back like an animal in a corner’ kinda thing. The Chelsea visit to Newcastle could be interesting, will Ben Arfa light up the pitch? Or will John Terry just have a few words with him...

Transfers/Theory/Selection

  

I think I’ve left too much faith in both my keepers, Given goes this week, probably Begovic next week. I’m bringing in Hennessy’s from Wolves in, they are at home hosting Sunderland this week, so I’ll play him there and he’ll be syncing in and out with my other keeper for next few weeks. Also letting little Wes of Norwich leaves the Ro Camp, so I can bring in Ben Arfa, Newcastle have a lovely run of fixtures as of next week but he may nick a few points against Chelsea this week.

By virtue of playing a Wolves keeper (Hennessy) and Man Utd Defender (Jones), I’m benching my two strikers who could score against them (Aghbonlahor and Bendtner). Also benching Huth, as Stoke’s defending has been slacker and slacker and if any team the premiership can eat up the game Stoke play it’s Everton.

I’m gonna captain RVP, as well, Wigan are no great shakes at the moment and you mightn’t have heard, but he’s in good form.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Wolves, and more importantly the new Sunderland era.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Man City @Home to Norwich - Aguero came off the bench during the week so looks set for start. Balotelli looks more likely to start alongside him the Dzeko. Both great captaincy choices. Silva as usual is a decent safety option.

Arsenal away to Wigan - RVP finally turned up short last week after an incredible 5 matches on the trot with double figure scores. Rotation is very much an issue with a tired Arsenal side now and i wouldn't be surprised with RVP being rested or coming off the bench. Make sure you pick your vice captain well. Nice opportunity to make a big captaincy score here with a differential pick other than RVP in any of the other fixtures, as most will be captaining the Dutchman. Not for the faint of heart though.

Tottenham @home to Bolton - Nice home fixture for a Spurs side in flying form in the premiership, Europa loss not withstanding. Latest reports say VDV will start so is an excellent pick along with Adebayor.

Newcastle@home to Chelsea - Mata finally got a big haul last week in a Chelsea side in disarray. Torres is dropped for Drogba. I don't see many goals in this to be honest. 0-0.

Man United away to Villa - I like Hernandez here. Rooney should be returning to a front slot as well. Both great picks.

Gamble pick - Ryan Taylor, clean sheet and some bonus points in the 0-0 against Chelsea. You heard it here first.

Fantasy Football 2011-11-24

Game week 12

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 35

Average Score on site – 44

  

Highest Haul – 7

Lowest Haul – 1

Average Score Per Player 3.3

Accrued Score – 495

Place in my own fecking league – 80, down 6 Places

Points Off the top - 165

State Of Play

Right I’m in position number 80… I was born right in 1980, so this is clearly a position of… REBIRTH. This where it all kicks in folks, this is the second act… this is where Lady Macbeth has talked me into it… this is where I get back in the ring to avenge Apollo Creed’s death… this is where I start a band called Wings….

I have cunningly had a really a shit first third (turd?) of the season, so my move up a gear (or is it down a gear? I don’t drive yet… the way you go faster and when you make driving sounds you go up a pitch) will be a way clearer to spot!

Vindication

I flagged Irish strikers to be playing as well as they can and one of mine, Walters, scored and another, Long (who is a former member of the barcaRONAN team), also leapt like a gazelle to score one for himself.

D’oh

You know the way there’s 11 players in your team and I mentioned one in my vindication section? You do the math…

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

I’m writing this in a rush as I have an appointment with some beer and my best friend in town, and 

I was supposed to get home ages ago, but I got stuck in a meeting… about starting a weekly 

soccer trivia quiz night in Cork City. So anyway, Champions League threw up a few things 

(1) Man United still seem averse to defending (2) Van Arsenal is leading the entire Persie FC team 

(3) Chelsea, like Bart Simpson,  are in trouble, big big trouble [actually this has tickled me today, 

the first paragraph of this article -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/24/andre-villas-boas-chelsea - they are bang in the middle of the slump yeah? They’ve lost their last two?, and 4 of their last 7?]

Transfers/Theory/Selection

With the news breaking of Anderson also being out till February-ish, Man United’s midfield options are even more limited, so it looks like Rooney might end up in the middle of the park for this weekend (assuming he’s fully fit, he still has the yellow mark against his name on the fantasy football site); and also with the inevitable need for Van Persie, I brought the Dutch man into my team… with parallel inevitably he will get injured this weekend.

I’m not gonna lie, due to this direct swap, I’m not even considering a second transfer this weekend, so that’s it, gotta make a selection out of what’s in front of me. I don’t trust Man City’s defence against Liverpool at Anfield, so by benching those two, it’s a choice of who my third man on the bench will be.

There was a few candidates, but I’ve chosen Agbonlahor on the bench as he’s away to Swansea who have been very good at home so far; but what with VDV also doubtful and Drenthe not a sure fire starter for Everton at Bolton, he may well end up turning out in the barcaRONAN jersey this weekend.

I will captain Robin Van Persie, cos feck it (1) he’s at home to relatively weak opposition, Fulham, (2) he is on fire at moment and (3) I’m never afraid to launch way too much pressure at the first chance of some good quality scoring, which explains why so many potential relationships of mine have floundered.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

I was trying to link to a youtube clip of Homer saying “can’t talk now, I’ve got a class to teach”…. But you get the gag

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

RVP does it again in the champions league, a magnificent brace to send Arsenal into the next stage. He's on fire. If you have him captain him. He looks like scoring big every week and is at home to Fulham.

Chelsea @home to Wolves - Chelsea are in rotten form and need a big win to try to lift their spirits. What better fixture to regain some intent than at home to Wolves. Torres, Sturridge and Lampard are all good choices.

Liverpool@home to City - Should be a fascinating match this, Liverpool coming off a nice 2-1 win against Chelsea against a City side who maybe lost a bit of shine losing to Napoli and putting their champions league adventure in serious doubt. Still, now they will be more focused than ever on the premiership and maintaining their unbeaten run. Aguero looks definite to start. Him and Silva will be looking to run the show here. Maybe Adam or Suarez if you think Liverpool can win.

United @home to Wolves - Once again i don't see any captain material in United at the moment. They have lost their way a bit and Newcastle are a solid side. I can see this one being 0-0. Maybe 1-0 with Hernandez getting the goal?

Gamble pick - Same as last week, Walters in tremendous form against a terrible Blackburn side. 

Fantasy Football 2011-11-17

Game week 12

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 40

Average Score on site – 53

Highest Haul – 15

Lowest Haul – (0)

Average Score Per Player 3.6

Accrued Score – 460

Place in my own fecking league – 74, down 10 Places

Points Off the top - 149

State Of Play

OLE OLE OLE OLE, after the international break it’s time for us all to get back to club level, I need to get both a better insight to Fantasy Football and a thesaurus, so I can at least say ‘I did bad” in a different way every week. I am just cannon fodder at the moment,

In a bid to inspire myself to great and better things I have a photo of my son in front of me and I am listening to this fine collection of songs…

Vindication

Nothing, now let’s just move on

D’oh

My fupping christhole of a browser, I insist that I had set Agbonlahor to captain as I said in the last blog “so Gabby gets the armband and barcaRONAN debutant Ramsey will get the vice role”, that would have made a 11 point impact on my team, wouldn’t change the world but it would have eeked me up a few spots on the ladder.

In a list of my other regrets and grievances from last week, I will refer to this (work it out yerself)….

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

I’m wondering how much of an immediate impact qualifying for the Euros will have on the Irish players, while a lot of them hit the gargle on Tuesday night, it’s more the psychological impact I’m wondering about. Will McCarthy really push on now, and same with Coleman; and will O’Hara really go for gold and try and join the Irish squad. Also Trap said he anticipates bringing 4 strikers, so assuming Doyle and Keane are fit, that means the last 2 spots are a shoot out between Walters, Long and Cox (at his stage my knee is still at me, so I don’t think I’ll be getting a look in for the squad). And Dunne/Given, who both seem the decentest kinda guys you’ll ever meet must surely have a spring in their steps coming back into the Villa’s dressing room.

On a broader level there is the clash between Liverpool and Chelsea, with the Torres factor getting most of the red top attention, there’s also an interesting meeting of Terry and Suarez, two men who have had a problem with… how do you say it subtly… not being assholes, yeah that’s it. Terry inevitably scores goals when he’s under scrutiny (I wonder does Abromovich know this himself? God knows that he’d concoct to keep the Chelsea Skipper knocking in crucial headed goals)

Regarding my team specifically, the elephant in the room that is Van Persie (68 points in last 6 games!!! How amazing is that?), I’m giving Rooney one more chance, he didn’t play in the friendlies for England (How much does Alex Ferguson love that punishment do you think?), whereas RVP returned to England after Holland’s match at weekend, will he perhaps be benched for their visit to Norwich? The reason I think that is the Champions League is back on Tuesday. Damn it, now I’m thinking Rooney won’t play either…

Transfers/Theory/Selection

Basically, I wanted to make a change with no obvious candidates, I have the feeling Holohan might excel against Arsenal (yet another Irishman who wants to grab Trap’s eye even more than before now); so I got rid of Shaun Wright Philips; and in comes Drenthe, mainly cos the Fantasy Football Scout site are pushing him at the moment. As you can see I’ve two injury doubtfuls, VDV and Agbonlahor; The Dutchman has time on his side, as their game isn’t till Monday evening.

My selection is hotch potch to be honest, it’s all half hunches more so than ruthless insight, since Many City have conceded in last few matches, I’m gonna play just Kompany. Of the team I select I can see Huth and Walters not playing anyway. This week is probably Huth’s farewell appearance with barcaRONAN due to his very disappointing form this season.

Gonna captain Bendter for the fact he’s a nailed on starter, they are at home and I need a differential.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Scribbled in my notebook are Formica and Hoillet (Blackburn), Enrique (Liverpool), Cleverly (Man Utd), let’s see if his fitness and form is back to the start of season yet; and O’Hara (Wolves)

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Tough Captaincy choice this week. Lot of top players played two internationals the last week. There's a good article on who played and for how long at www.totalfpl.com. I can't link to it directly due to the way the site is laid out, but it's the first story in the community articles section.

Van Persie - Away to Norwich looks like a great bet for a goal or two from RVP. He was rested for a friendly on Tuesday at the request of Wenger, so looks likely to start.

Rooney - Rooney played no part in Englands internationals and is fully rested. Rooney tends to score in bursts and has been having a dry patch the last few games after his early season heroics. Away to Swansea wouldn't have a lot of goals in it i'd say. There are better choices for your armband.

Man City - Home to Newcastle. I don't worry too much about fixtures anymore with City, they're just that good. Rotation is a much bigger issue. Aguero played 45 minutes for argentina and got himself a goal. Dzeko and Balotelli are less rested, having both played 180 minutes.

Chelsea @home to Liverpool - The biggie this weekend.  Chelsea have lost their way the last few weeks. I'd almost fancy a Pool win here. Suarez scored an incredible 4 goals against Chile but fatigue could be an issue, as well as all the media and FA attention regarding the racism story. 

Van Der Vaart - Is apparently "75% fit" and in with a chance to face Villa.

Gamble pick - Walters full of confidence after Scoring for Ireland and getting to Euro 2012, he'll be full of energy against QPR.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-21

Game week 11

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 43

Average Score on site – 45

Highest Haul – 20 (Factoring in being in Captain)

Lowest Haul – (-1)

Average Score Per Player 3.9

Accrued Score – 428

Place in my own fecking league – 64, down 9 Places

Points Off the top - 119

State Of Play

Okay I write this minus a wisdom tooth and with painkillers in my system, so the pain of my shit fantasy football weeks is somewhat sated.

For fecks sake, where is going wrong, I don’t think I am making bad decisions when I click save changes every Friday evening. But then again who does I guess.

Vindication

Well captaining Mata, and that it’s it…

D’oh

… because Mata got me 48% of my points this week. What a fuckbucket (I think every week I’ll come with a new way to curse the lads, at least give ye a reason to come back every week). I need Rooney to take charge more and stop being an assistant to the play, I need him to me more of a Head Master and less of a Runaí (hardy harr, see what I did there). I don’t need to need to talk you through my d’ohs individually, you can see them all here in my…

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

Chelsea, I think they have kept one clean sheet in last 8 games or something, will John Terry step in and just pull them together because he’s a racist, I mean because he’s a good defensive leader?

Is this season the Silva and Van Persie show? In fantasy football terms you are literally a fool if you don’t’ have one, if not both of them; Ergo I am a literally a fool (I did just lose a wisdom tooth I guess, so it’s in my nature)

I heard a good point that Aston Villa are actually more over achieving than Newcastle; just an interesting point pointing out it’s not like the magpies bought dregs of players - they all had proven qualities, just they had less famous roads than some premiership imports. Now the Newcastle momentum will be severely tested over next month and then as Paul Doyle of the Guardian pointed, the African Nations Cup will take Ba from them.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

Okay, so in short, I’ve just taken an 8-point hit and made three changes; a lot of people have been in and out of my squad for the last 30ish minutes.

Mata, my hero last week, has just felt how ruthless I’ve decided to be, as has Taylor, (anticipating a value drop from next week on) and Arteta, basically I traded down to a cheaper (and currently in form Ramsey) and Mata went too, mainly to afford VDV. Cos as I said I’m simply a fool to not have him or his Dutch teammate. I very nearly did the Rooney swap with Van Persie too, I had them swapped into my team and all, but I just don’t fancy a 12 point hit. I’ve brought in Jones too, cos Man Utd seem to be getting their shit together at the back and they certainly have a run of favourable fixtures ahead.

What with those transfers, I’ve obviously put them all in the first 11, and then with Kompany suspended, I only had 2 decisions to make (well three factoring in goalkeepers, as usual I went with the home play, Shay Given, who needs to know he was out of my squad for a while too. At home to Norwich can certainly be possible to get him 6 points). Because of Jones, and wanting him to keep a clean sheet, I’ve dropped Bendter and similar thing for Given v Hoolahan.

I’m frontloading the captains with Rooney as main and in case he gets rotated Aghbonlahor as Vice, but if Rooney is put on bench it’s probable Ferguson will give him a few mins. Okay I’ve just decided to not use him as captain, so Gabby gets the armband and barcaRONAN debutant Ramsey will get the vice role.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

No one in particular this week, nice broad view this weekend, in the words of Eddie Cochran, c’mon everybody.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Blogs, forums and idle pub talk all point to one acronym this weekend: RVP. He's in the form of his life, and completely carrying a less than brilliant Arsenal team. 10 goals in as many matches so far in the premiership, and 7 in the last 3. The fixture is an appealing home game to West Brom and you'd be a brave man not to captain him if you have him. His ownership also hasn't reached Rooney type levels,  at the time of writing, he's at 17.1%, making him somewhat of a differential still. This is the time to have him when others don't and climb your leagues.

Anyway, failing that, there are some other nice fixture choices if you're a gambling man or without the dutchman.

Man U @home to Sunderland. Sunderland are in dreadful form and look badly exposed at the back. I'd back United for a few here. Rooney is the obvious choice, although on account of injuries less than stellar other options in centre mid, Fergie has employed Rooney in an unfamiliar but effective role in midfield the last two matches, posing a bit of a nightmare for FPL owners. As massive as Rooney can be in FPL, you don't want a 12.2m striker playing in midfield, but Fergie himself has hinted this is only temporary, but who knows for how long? I'd be captaining Nani here if i had him over Rooney.

Man City @QPR - Aguero only played 15 minutes against Villareal so looks likely for a start. Dzeko the likely partner up front. Both are strong options. Silva has a back problem but by all accounts it isn't too serious, but this is the kind of fixture Mancini could well rest him, just to be sure.

Chelsea@Blackburn - I fancy Sturridge to bounce back in this one. Torres too.

Liverpool @Swansea - Suarez continues to frustrate owners hoping for big hauls. The problem with Suarez seems to be around the fact that he isn't getting a lot of bonus points. Those in the know put this down to the new EA PPI bonus point system, which takes points off for missed shots which Suarez has a fair share of. I wouldn't have him as pick tbh, but felt it needed to be said.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-28

Game week 10

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 30 // Average Score on site – 36

Highest Haul – 6 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 2.7

Accrued Score – 385

Place in my own fecking league – 62, down 7 Places

Points Off the top - 106

*****

State Of Play

Remember the pictures of Alex Ferguson chewing gum at weekend watching united go 5 and then 6 down; 3-1 was a bad enough score but at least they were coming back from 3-0 down ergo slight improvement (like barcaRONAN fortune’s so far) and then pow pow pow they feck up and it’s awful again; like my team selection last week. WTF, I’ve only 30 points from last week. We all know the Manchester Derby was an aberration but Chelsea/QPR and Liverpool/Norwich threw a few cats among the pigeons, indeed even Wolves conceding two and dragging two back was almost against their run so far this season.

*****

Vindication

Nothing to mention, it’s just been a bad week. The closest I get to vindication is schmindication.

*****

D’oh

Errah, everything, I anticipated a Man City shut out, by that I meant 0-0 or a sneaky 1-0 to win, as opposed to 6-1. Fecking hell, and Rooney didn’t get the assist or goal!

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week.

*****

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

Mick McCarthy called Wolves fans “fuc*ing idiots”, but Alex Ferguson called his players that following their implosion last week. SO will they launch right back onto tracks, they play at Goodison Park this weekend, so could Rooney end up coming home to roost?

*****

Transfers/Theory

First of all I want to throw a bit of “fu…c….k YOU” to Alan Hutton for injuring Shane Long, for both Irish reasons and the fact that he’s my 15^th man.

Maybe the lack of success is just numbing me; or it’s the fact I write this Friday afternoon/evening every week but I keep just hitting a wall, feels like I’m just covering holes in the squad.

Okay, 2 transfers this week, and I was bigging up this idea “ I think I’m gonna ship Rooney out next week, and bring in either RVP, Sturridge or Torres, and with a few shekels saved bring VDV too.” last week

But cos of realising Johnson just has to go at the back and I want to replace Long, I have brought in Bassong as I identified last week, and I’ll bring in Bendter too; the not-as-great-as-he-thinks Dane, has three home games in next four, he’s a guaranteed starter and I just need a break.

It leaves me with a million and a few pence in the bank

*****

Selection

Same plan as usual playing all my players who are at home and adding in Rooney, Aghbonlar and Arteta. Nothing clever there, Houlhan set as 1^st sub. Mata as captain and barcaRONAN debutante Bendter as vice captain.

My Team this week

*****

Keeping An Eye On

Cleverly might come in next week, I doubt he’ll play at Everton since he’s just coming back from injury etc and Houlahan just isn’t really doing it for me. And Torres.

*****

Captain's Corner with Phergal

City @home to wolves. Massive potential for goals here. A second string city team put 5 past them in the carling cup mid week. The danger here as always with City, is rotation, especially with a big Champs league match against Villarreal next week. Balotelli and Aguero were rested in the Carling cup so look likely for starts. I wouldn't be too confident of minutes, but against wolves, they shouldn't need too much to grab a goal or two.

Spurs @Home to QPR. QPR shipped 6 in their last away match against Fulham, although got an unlikely 1-0 win against Chelsea last week in a bad tempered game. Spurs should be good for a few here. VDV is on amazing form; if you have him, captain him. Failing that, Adebayor is a good shout.

Everton@home to United. Look for United to bounce back and make a statement here after last weeks drubbing to City. Rooney and Nani look good.

Chelsea @home to Arsenal. Arsenal are looking a bit better now, but you'd expect a Chelsea win with Arsenal still nervy at the back.  Torres is back from suspension and scored a brace against Genk in his absence. I fancy him for a goal or two here, and with a mere 2.8% ownership, could be a massive differential. I like in form Sturridge here too.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-21

Game week 8

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 45 // Average Score on site – 34

Highest Haul – 11 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 4.1

Accrued Score – 355 (inc gameweek 1 score)

Place in my own fecking league – 55, up 10 Places

Points Off the top

State Of Play

I feel like a spin-doctor working for an ailing administration but here’s this week’s silver lining! Only 13 managers of the 54 ahead of me in the Back Of The Net Boy league did better than me. So at least I’m going up my own league.

It’s probably a reflection on my priorities when I spend more thinking about good lines for this blog than good defensive lines in the game (see what I did there?). My biggest disappointment this week was that James Richardson in his intro to Football Weekly Extra used the same Manchurian Candidate reference/gag I had come up with, it’s only the second or third time I’ve heard him do a joke/pun that I thought of too; he really is one of my favourite presenters/broadcasters. Anyway I better take this smoke pipe away from his ass eh? You can hear it, in his intro to the podcast http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/audio/2011/oct/20/football-weekly-extra-manchester-derby

So Manchester United’s line up at Anfield really shook things up: Nani, Rooney and Hernandez were all on the bench; a less reported thing was that the Man United bench contained ZERO defenders, which I wouldn’t do even in Football Manager. So people who captained Rooney must have been pissed off when he came on pitch and did nothing except collect a singular point.

Chelsea are steaming away without any of the press bombarding that the two Manchester teams are getting; and for now the crisis, or is it just crisis mongering, has abated at the Emirates. RVP is stats wise in the form of his career, he hasn’t been injured since January, so maybe this the time to get Arsenal players in. But now I’ve jumped about 3 sections ahead.

Vindication

Will I tell you something, it’s a sign of how poorly my teams have been doing that I forgot that players get bonus points. Well last week Jonathan Walters got an 11-point haul, which included 3 bonus points. And his goalkeeping teammate kept his net unsullied, so that was another 6 points. And Kompany nicking a goal helped make some amends for him and Clichy’s lost clean sheet bonus.

D’oh

Basically everyone and everything I didn’t mention in previous passage. Fecking 6 players on my 11 getting 2 points or less. Abysmal.

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

So the Manchester derby eh? This might backfire, but I need to start making ‘differential’ decisions, I’m really sure that I’m making this decision with reason as opposed to wanton trying to be different, but I’m anticipating a shut out my Man City at Old Trafford, to park ”il Bus-ino”, or whatever Italians call it. BUUUT since Rooney is in good form, I’ll be playing him.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

It’s getting stat-tastic over at http://fantasy.premierleague.com/the-scout/ and there’s plenty to ponder, so much so I’m kinda of afraid of making decisions.

In a sense I’m not making any, as I’ve decided to make no transfers, as I feel I’m just rushing them and have no real agenda/endgame in mind. I will save it to have two free transfers next week and I explain my plan in the “Keeping An Eye On” section below.

Well Given at home to WBA vs Begovic away at Arsenal. As lazy American students say to teachers regarding arithmetic, “you do the math”.

I know playing QPR againt Chelsea seems a bit silly but (A) the cliché of players playing against  their old clubs raising their game might work for SWP and (B) since a lot of rivals have Chelsea defenders in their team, I get a kind of perverse double gain if he gets an assist or indeed a goal.

While Newcastle players are catching my eye at moment, casting those ocular organs a little further show that they have Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea in gameweek 11, 12  & 13.

My subs are a process of elimination, Players with tricky away fixtures basically, am humming and hawing about Long at Aston Villa or Walters at Stoke. They are both Irish so that takes away one of my favourite decision making techniques. Since Walters didn’t play midweek, I assume Pulis will play him at Emirates, and of course sorry since I’ve Given in goal I don’t’ want Long to score. Decision made. Easy.

I might tweak the order of subs, but then I, enigmatically, might not

Mata and Agbonlahor will be my captain and vice, but I’m not sure in which order.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Walker and Bassong at Spurs, very nice run of fixtures and both seem to be first teamer for next few weeks. And Dempsey at Fulham, but I wonder if the Europa League travails will drain him of his bursting-from-midfield-energy.

And I think I’m gonna ship Rooney out next week, and bring in either RVP, Sturridge or Torres, and with a few shekels saved bring VDV too. With that in mind… Let’s have a jolly good weekend chaps (sorry spent last 48 hours in London, so have been some of their lingo, what what)

Captain's Corner with Phergal

A frustrating weekend for many last week, lots of big names coming off the bench or not playing at all. Some nice fixtures captaincy wise this weekend, let's have a look.

Arsenal @home to Stoke - RVP is on form and looks a good bet here. Arsenal will be in good form after their last minute win against Marseille. Stoke also coming off a win in Europe although with little squad rotation going on, could be tired for this difficult match in the Emirates.

Man U vs. City - The biggie, should be a cracking match. The Charity shield served up 5 goals a few months ago, but i expect this to be a tighter affair with Mancini concentrating on defending more than open attacking football, maybe a goal or two in it. Aguero and Rooney are decent picks.

Chelsea@QPR - Chelsea are looking like title challengers again and will be looking for a comprehensive win. Drogba will be the focal point of attack again with 1 match left of Torres's suspension but has disappointed owners that got him in a few weeks ago. Sturridge is in great form and will looking to cement his place on the team. Lampard looks like a great differential pick here also.

Tottenham @Blackburn - I expect a convincing win for Spurs. VDV looks good, although he isn't guaranteed the full 90. Adebayor looks a safer bet.

Norwich@ Liverpool  - Suarez. That is all.

Gamble pick - Ward possibly in a striker role again with Fletcher out against Swansea?

Fantasy Football 2011-10-14

***** sorry about bad spelling and general writing, left this very late, and I have to go to work in 3 minutes*****

Game week 8

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 50 // Average Score on site – 44

Highest Haul – 12 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 4.5

Accrued Score – 310 (inc gameweek 1 score)

Place in my own fecking league – 65, up 2 Places

State Of Play

Jeez, 1/4 of the way through the season and I’m realistically out of contention on winning my own league, 87 points of the top, which is also 20% ahead of me. But who knows I might get ahead of the curve. Having had the international break to think about this, my ruminations have let me to the conclusion of hliuhlka49Pj;jhuyUHIUNVOPJhkjhlkjljk… yep just brain wobble. In a reductive way of putting it, I’m just picking the wrong horses. Am I putting to much stock in last season’s players/clubs who were impressive. I just don’t know, in managerial terms it’s like being Steve Bruce, there is no obvious mistake or reason things are going so unexcitedly.

Vindication

The Rooney and Agbonlahor is an expensive luxery, 20% of my budget did accrue me 45% of my points; so money provides success; ergo Man City will win the league (speaking of Man Ciry, interestingly .5% of the players of this game still have Tevez in their squad, which goes to show how many people have already abbandoned their teams I reckon)

D’oh

Wolves not pulling it together, Backing The Wrong Horse (For ever after I will refer to that as simply BWH)

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it

So the Liverpool/Utd match dominates the gameweek, Rooney and Suarez in great form; both defences missing first choice players, having unfit players etc. There’s goals in this game, will it be 3-3 all; Echoing the greatest premier league game I’ve ever seen.

The bubbling under section of the season has kind of passed now, and people like Sturridge and Welbeck have really put their stamp on the season, with Torres out through suspenision and Hernadez out due to only returning from Mexico yesterday it’s probable he won’t be on bench. Two other United strikers to consider though are two very rested players in Berbatov and Owen, obviously the latter is unkileky to play 90 mins, but the fact it is at Anfield could be a great stage for a few goals.

Others, will Norwich claim 3 points at home?

Will the wheels come off the Newcastle momentum?

Arsenal have made most of this break to pull together something akin to a backbone? Ha ha ha aha hahhha ha.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

I’ve two transfers this week.

Hennessy fro Wolves is gone as my second keeper, they just aren’t keeping clean sheets so he’s pointless (no pun intended, he’s more POINTS[scored]LESS[than-I’d-expected]).. So I’ll bring in Begovic, he’s second top scorer in his position and cheap-ish, I know stoke seem to be getting hamstrung by Europa League travails, but he seems to have 5 good fixtures in next 8, and rotating him back and forth with Given should be successful

Also dropping O’Hara, essentially same reason as hennesey, and brining in Hoolahan, if Norwich come good, he could have good totals in 2 of next 3 gameweeks with favourable home fixtures.

selection: picked home players where possible and rooney.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Noone has really made me think of them, Bentner perhaps next week, however it’ll be hard to assess if he’ll bring his form from the internationals with him 10 days after.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

So the internationals are over (bring on Estonia) and we're back to the day to day (or weekend to weekend) business of picking our captain for the weekend. Let's take a look at the likely fixtures and candidates.

Liverpool vs. Man United - Usually goals to be had in this one. 3-1 to Liverpool in last year's corresponding fixture. So hard to predict these high tension games. Gerrard is back from a long injury, could be a nice differential pick this week, but at 11m he's just too expensive. I like Kuyt in this fixture, given his hat trick in this match last year. From United, i'd be a bit hesitant on captaining the Roo this week. His recent 3 match Euro ban and messy business with his father's betting scandal will no doubt be  hanging heavy on his head.

Man City vs. Villa - Striker disarray with City atm. Tevez won't play again if Mancini has his way. Aguero is nursing a minor injury and might be back in time for the clash but Mancini has said even if he is ready he might rest him. Balotelli also is coming off a back injury that kept him out of Italy's qualifiers, he may also be in contention for a start. Dzeko seems the only sure bet and will likely play the 90. Silva becomes more attractive this weekend then, especially if he has only one striker to support, he should be playing a little further up and will have less people to share the spoils with. He is still to register any massive haul, but has been consistently getting 6+ points week in week out. a safe bet.

Arsenal vs Sunderland - Bookies and various other FF sites are tipping the Arse for a big win here. I can't see where they're coming from tbh. Sunderland haven't been great, but Arsenal have been much worse. Capable of scoring a few, but still a shambles at the back. Ramsey looks like he's settling in to a Fabregas shaped hole (oo-er!) as predicted by yours truly at the start of the season, he looks a good bet here and RVP obviously if you are backing a few goals from Arsenal.

Wigan vs. Bolton - This has goals written all over it. Bolton have had they're worst start to a season in 457 years and are leaking goals. Both teams are desperate for a win, with them both considering the other as their biggest chance of getting one. Di santo looks a good bet here. Moses for a gamble. He's had so many shots on goal one has to go in sometimes.

Fantasy Football 2011-9-23

Game week 7

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 43 // Average Score on site – 45

Highest Haul – 6 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 3.9

Accrued Score – 260 (inc gameweek 1 score)

Place in my own fecking league - 67

State Of Play

I’m beginning to ticket that the managers in the premiership wait till I post my team on this blog, and they open up the latest update in trepedation every Friday evening to see who I’ve cursed with my selection for that weekend. Last game week, only 3 players of my players did their primary task, in this case it was 3 defenders managing clean sheets. No assists from any of midfielders and none of my strikers hit the onion bag.

Vindication

I picked the right keeper out of the two choices, that’s the only thing to stand by. “It could have been worse” can never be used as a vindication can it? (no need to answer that, I know); I also put the eventual own-goal scorer Johnson on the bench.

D’oh

Once again it was just an all round shit day at the office, two point BELOW the average score is always a bad sign. I’m down to 67^th in my league. Ballllllllls.

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it

Last week’s Liverpool hunch turned out to be misguided, they showed me. I am still wary of their next two games so I won’t bring in Enrique (yet!)

I’m not bringing much to the table this week either, all my notes for this weekend (while come up with independently) are jusr rehashes of the fantasy football scout’s suggestions. The well is dry today, unlike the weather here.

The Rooney question got settled today when Alex announced his is fit. (as in Sir ALex Ferguson, not the Brazilian third choice Chelsea centre back)

Transfers/Theory/Selection

I spent 8 points, making 3 transfer last game week, and I’m gonan make no changes this week. Bascially because all my tinkering keeps backfiring, I’m just gonna leave it as is. My entire midfield is playing  away does weekend [insert obvious joke about unnamed premiership footballers here].  Everyone is saying “Nani -Captain – Nani - Captain - Nani - Captain”, but I’m just gonna hold back.

There might be a chance in direction with my thinking though as I mull over this point made here - http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/clean-sheet-points-is-severely-under-rated-t90409.html

I’m wary of Stoke conceding at Swansea, just out of tiredness rather than on a talent level, so Huth on bench, Long is on the bench because WBA seems to be low on steam and they are away at Sunderland, who did very well when they played Stoke at home 2 weeks ago. I’m gonna with the opinion that Johnson will really shine this week as a reaction to his travails last week. I’m slightly wary of Man City conceding a goal at Blackburn, so I’ll just play one of the two. So that sets up my team.

The questions who to captain is annoying me, it’s between Rooney and Agbonlihor. I’ll go with Wayne this week.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

I’m looking at Stoke and Fulham’s tiredness levels (apparently it is the latter’s 16^th game of the season this week).

Ben Arfa, has been coming back from injury, he was in great form before his injury last season. Also Holden for Bolton should be back soon.

Barry Bannan, 5 million is a great price and he seems to be a first teamer with Villa.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

The captain is on holiday at the moment. Next week he’ll be back, rested I hope.