Fantasy Football 2011-8-26

Gameweek 2

BarcaRONAN’s last gameweek Score – 48 // Average Score on site – 41

Highest Haul – 12 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 4.36

Accrued Score – 48

State Of Play

Okay, so we rebooted the league and I’m right in there at 27th place in the Back Of The Net Boy League (now while the site crashed AGAIN last weekend, we’re sticking with it now, cos you had more than enough time to get yer shit together this time). But it will take a while for real form to show across the board.

Vindication

Nowt to be honest,

D’oh

The

Omnipresent

Reliable

Relentless

Excitement

Spoiler (see what I did there?)

And a general poor performance across my back line and midfield

And I did ponder Bent as my captain

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last gameweek

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

A kind of Derby between Villa and Wolves could throw up a surprise or two? Given saves a controversial penalty and becomes a hero perhaps?

Pressure is mounting on Steve Bruce, and apparently odds on him being sacked are shortening, but I’d like to see him pull it together, those 2 goals against Sheffield Wednesday mean he still has credit in the bank of Ronan’s heart.

Transfers/Selection

I think I’ll go with no transfers, so as to have two to play with next week, all three strikers are at home and Torres has one more chance to get his act together.

 

Theory/Selection

Since I’m not making any transfers, I’m shuffling the deck really,

As I said already 3 strikers playing at home again, Rooney and Bent have both hit the ground running. I anticipate Man City parking the bus at White Hart Lane, regardless of the glut of goals recently, and Spurs might already start resting players to prepare for their high impact matches with Shamrock Rovers coming up soon.

Hoolahan is both carrying a knock and playing away at Chelsea if he manages to get off the treatment table anyway, so he’s benched. Since I want Bent to score, I better drop Johnson or else a goal or clean sheet will cost the other 4 points (I can never explain this theory cohesively, but I think you understand), so I have to nail my colours to one mast, Bent, don’t let me down.

I’m really unsure about my last slot, I think I’ll go with Huth in my 11, so despite what I said about Man City defending well, I’ll put him wearing the bib. Having said that Moses might also not play anyway.

Once again, the captaincy might go to anyone of my front three, at moment it’s Bent as I see him more likely to score more than Rooney, but what if, what it, what if Torres breaks his duck against the canaries. Spain has a tendency to overshadow the island of the same name eh? And there is a member of the BOTNB league and regular poster our www.facebook.com/backoftheneetboy (Doocey, you know who you are!) who is goading me to stick with him!

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Now I know Suarez is looking at everybody in the eye and pleading in a comedic South American accent “haaay seee-knor why ewe knot sigh-n meeee”. I don’t know Louie you loveable rogue, I don’t know. I’ve seen this interesting titbit “Luis Suarez has scored or assisted for every goal (7) that Liverpool players have scored this season (all competitions), averaging a goal or assist every 30 minutes. He was also indirectly involved for the Ramsey own goal.” [Courtesy of http://totalfpl.com/].

Also Wolves are showing good form, and have 4 winnable matches in next 6, and one of the other ones is Spurs and I’ve the feeling O’Hara is gonna wanna show big ‘Arry what’s what. But I already have him so it’s looking like Suarez and Jarvis could both come on board next week.

Once again the impending transfer window closure will be interesting to see what 5 or 6 signings QPR will get (they promised they would make that amount), and also just the potential domino effect of more deals, for instance Cahill going to Arsenal, would surely see Bolton make 2 more signings with the cash surplus?

Club To Watch, Newcastle despite their pathetic performance last night in Carling Cup, look strong and have a tolerable next 6 games, but then again Newcastle Achilles Heel is, well, everything about the place is flimsy and very close to falling apart.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

Oh dear oh dear. Why do I continue to self-flagellate by picking Torres as captain? And all based on a match against Stoke when he didn't score but looked "lively". In a knee-jerk rage when he was taken off (at 59 minutes!!!) I sold him and brought in Suarez, just like Dalglish, and who incidentally scored against Stoke on his Liverpool debut. Cue a Torres hat trick against Norwich (I've said it now so it can't happen, up yours fate). May have been a rash decision though, Dalglish is "managing" Suarez's fitness, which could mean at least some bench time. Still though, it didn't stop him scoring last weekend against a shaky Arsenal.

Anyway let's have a look at likely armband candidates this week.

Bent had a lovely 12-point haul last weekend to make it 2 goals in 2 matches. Villa have a great run of fixtures going forward (shudders at own use of that phrase) and face Wolves at home this weekend. Wolves will provide stiff competition and are coming off a perfect start to their season so expect a great match. Bent looks a good bet here, I expect Wolves goals too though. How about Doyle or the in form Jarvis?

Liverpool at home to Bolton is somewhat attractive, but as stated above, Suarez is a doubt. I expect him to come off the bench. Carroll isn't firing yet either so approach this one with caution.

Man U @home to Arsenal usually wouldn't attract too much captaincy armbands, but Arsenal are injury ridden and have a tough match against Udinese on Wednesday. Players will be tired and with Koscielny and Gibbs injured and Song suspended not to mention the threadbare midfield, Arsenal will be nervous going to Old Trafford. United will be full of confidence after their comprehensive 3-0 win over Spurs. This looks like a great pick for your captaincy. Rooney, Young and Nani all look great picks, and don't forget about Welbeck who scored and created another against Spurs.

Gamble picks? For no particular reason other than I’m considering bringing him in this week and he's "due" a goal (shudders again), Northern Ireland's own Chris Brunt @home to Stoke. The obsession continues.

Fantasy Football 2011-8-19 - Gameweek 2

Fantasy Football 2011-8-19

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Gameweek 2

Last Gameweek Score – 34 // Highest Haul – 6 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 3.09

Accrued Score - 34

State Of Play

This is beyond precedent. Anybody reading this blog is obviously more than a little interested, so you know about the CRASH (I’ve spent more time thinking about that crash’s repercussions than the actual world’s economies current one). The big thing to do with our league is I've decided after some deliberation to reset it so that week 2 is where the scores start, I am confident the overall winner will win anyway, and if for some reason someone else would have won if the gameweek score from first week were included, I will out of my own pocket pay for a duplicate first prize.

Vindication

Wow, I wish I could claim that CrashGate affected me, but it didn’t. I selected a full team without any technical hindrance, and it just all backfired. If I can claim any vindication, it’s that people I moved in and out of my team and ended up on my watch list, such as Houlahan, Suarez, Larsson, Rooney all did score. But that’s not really vindication is it? It’s more like…

D’oh

Just like last season, the section for fantasy football regrets in this blog will probably be the biggest one of them all. Right… in short, terrible. Three players getting 6 points each was the HIGH of my team.

Here’s the screenshot of my team

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative before Sky Have Spotted it

The big question is, “Change everythingn or stick to your guns?”. We all have unlimited transfers, but I had made considered decisions in the first place. The stampede to sign players based on just 90 mins (and in some cases 20-ish minutes) performance seems to much of a bloodlust to me than the decisions of wisdom I want barcaRONAN to embody.

Okay the consensus seems to be Torres is back (out of all the forwards, only Rooney had more touches than him last weekend. [Does that stat mean anything? You gotta love OPTA]) to form and Chelsea have very healthy fixtures in front of them. And the afore mentioned Rooney looks hungry for epicness

And like many married men who live in suburban bliss/hell, they temptation of a Youn-Nani swap is getting stronger and stronger

Transfers/Selection

I took the bait, made 6 transfers. You know how in American sports movies when the underdogs are 20 points down in the last quarter and the Coach says in a moving montage ‘Go Big Or Go Home’ and they go on to win the match? Well I am home! So I’m going big Motherf**ker!

Theory/Selection

3 big name strikers, all playing at home; In fact against the trend of premier league stars, none of my team are playing away from home (Topical Joke - BOOM). That is how I selected it, 10 outfield players at home, 3 away. Picked Given over Hennessey, as I feel Fulham are a stronger team than Blackburn [and is Blackburn are gonna try and desperately pump it into the box, James Collins and Richard Dunne will eat them up on a plate… and Richard Dunne is fat or something, don’t people make jokes about Richard Dunne liking food? Or was that too subtle). I accept that I am going star heavy up front and 4 bubbling under midfielders, but I can be sure 3 of them will start, and I assume Cleverly but maybe Ferguson will want to steel up the midfielder what with their Minor Team backline.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

It’s  bit early to be looking for trends and whatnot, I am mainly keeping an eye on the chat of Benayoun going to Spurs as part of the Modric deal. Cos of course the closer we get to transfer day deadline the closer we get to HARRYTIME

Captain's Corner with Phergal

So after what has been one of the most memorable Gameweeks in recent memory (for mostly bad reasons) we can get back to the important business of endless agonising over your captaincy choice. Cue nail biting at 11.29am Saturday morning before taking a gamble to try and catch your rival and falling into a deep depression after your entire league have captained Rooney as he scores a brace for fun.

With the controversial free transfers for the entire gameweek given to us by the powers that be, we have the option of captaining whoever we want this week, so let's have a look at the likely candidates and fixtures.

Chelsea @Home to WBA would normally be an essential pick for your captaincy, but Chelsea looked tired and lacking that spark against Stoke last weekend and WBA had some nice passages of play against United. Stoke away from home is a tough tough fixture though, and Torres looked sharper and more determined than he has looked yet in a Blue jersey. Torres is a semi gamble for me. Defence looks more reliable though, any of them will do to give you a safe 12 points hopefully.

Next up is Man City away to Bolton. Everyone's frothing at the mouth over Aguero's performance on Monday night, he's an obvious pick here. He could well be the most transferred in player in recent memory though so any gains probably won't catapult you high up in your leagues. Silva looks great this year too, was rampant against Swansea.

Next captaincy favourable fixture has to be the always entertaining Sunderland - Newcastle. Gyan looks like a good pick. I'd suggest Barton too, but he's so volatile he could easily pick up at least a yellow in this emotional contest, which is captaincy Kryptonite. If there was bonus points for entertainment, he'd be a shoe in.

Man United  at Old trafford looks good to me for this reason: United are vulnerable at the back with Rio and Vidic out and De Gea off to a shaky start. I think Spurs can score, maybe 2, which will inevitably result in United scoring 3. Ballsy prediction here: 3-2 United. Captain Young or Rooney.

Gamble picks: Moses and Rodellega away to Swansea. The obsession continues.

Fantasy Footbal Season 2011/2012 Preview

a little different to our usual format for the season preview from BOTNB and The Captain. It's pretty obvious to be fair

It's a brand new season, thank Jebus, cos to be honest there wasn't much more faux-interest I could put into current affairs; other people's baby's development and drinking in beer gardens in the bloody sun; so it's back to keeping a constant eye on which of the Da Silva twins will play most; watching the development of 19 year old academy players and sitting in pubs from early Saturday kick off till the late 'un...

Which is a fantastic link to introducing you all to the Back Of The Net Boy's sister pub for this season, Sober Lane http://www.facebook.com/soberlane?ref=ts will be giving a monthly prize and seasonal prize...

Anyroad in a break from our usual format myself and Captain's Corner will do a shortlist of 10 players. The shortlist will break down into, 3 Bankers, 3 Mid-price, 3 hunches and 1 "My head says no, but my heart says yes" player

Bankers

Okay the obvious spine of your Cech-Vidic-Nani-Rooney etc is such a given that I won't bother but it does bring us to

1) Shay Given (Aston Villa) [5.0 million] - While I do give a bit of time to the "he's not as good as people make out" argument, the trio of him with Richard Dunne and James Collins in front of me can only be a rugged defence, and at 5 million is a good deal too, with a very favourable opening 6 fixtures to the season too.

2) Tim Cahill (Everton) – What can you say, the Everton ship simply must turn soon (if the first team squad was a film, I’d put them as the team of mighty men in Armageddon), and when they do, he’ll be there at the end of most dead balls and brave headers.

3) Bent (Aston Villa) – Darren Bent scores goals, always, everywhere. He will play every game is fit for.

There you go, 3 bankers for 14 million. And since all of them are nailed on first teamers, assuming they stay injury free the three combined have a Projected points total of over 400 points for just playing alone.

Mid-Price / Budget

4) James McCarthy (Wigan) - At this point it looks unlikely he will move to a bigger club (he was mildly linked to both Arsenal and Liverpool over last few months), so this looks like he is set to (a) have a high impact 32-38 game season and (b) become the natural attacking replacement for Charles Insomnia, which should ensure many assist points and bonus points too.

5) Wes Brown (Sunderland) [4.5] – Same club, different story. One of the most subtly decorated players in the modern game, this guy has experience in every muscle of his body (but also a medical history with pretty much all of them too). Bruce knows him personally and surely bought him to parachute him straight into team at Anton Ferdinand’s expense. I’m predicting an Indian summer for him. (By the by, I now count 5 former Man Utd players at Stadium of Light, not including Steve Bruce and backroom staff)

6) Peter Odemwingie – WBA [7.5] – A great season last year, can’t argue with 15 goals and 9 assists. Hodgson knows how to use him effectively. Two horrible opening fixtures, but after that a really nice run of matches.

There you go, 3 bankers for 14 million.

Hunch

7) Conor Wickam (Sunderland) [6.0] – I’m reticent to big up anyone who fell out with Roy Keane, but then again it’s quite a long list. An incredibly hyped player (but it’s unlike the English press to build up a teenager and write them off by 21). Sunderland have made quite a few signings, this season and it’s hard to tell who will be Gyan’s main foil. One thing for certain, the spot is up for grabs. And mister Ellis wouldn’t have let the tight purse strings let 8million pounds out for a laugh or on a hunch.

8) Riise (Fulham) [6.0] – Sturdy and solid for Liverpool, I was surprised they let him go so easy. Always a hard worker and seemingly good guy, not too bothered with the limelight (not even karaoke - Click On This!!!). His return to English football hasn’t set the back pages on fire, but Martin Jol is an insightful manager, and the only worry might be with Europa League distraction the defence will concede a lot of silly late goals. If memory serves he has a great long range shot and has a long throw in.

9) Benayon (Chelsea) – At 7 million, he’s an expensive hunch I know, but it’s just hard to predict Chelsea’s attacking line up at any time, 7/8 players going for a maximum of 3 places; with Torres surely being guaranteed one unless he gets worse and even more goal shy (which would be quite hard)

Total Cost 19 million.

My Head Says No But My Heart Say Yes

10) Think Stoke for as much as they have been derided as the Antithesis of Barcelona (who would win on a rainy Tuesday night etc etc), will have a good solid season. And even right now they have only one fit striker (Jones), but I’m also drawn to Irish international Jonathan Walters (his profile pic on fantasy football website doesn’t look like how I remember him) is a listed as a midfielder but if I’m right he plays close to a forwards role. But the horrendous opening fixture of Chelsea tells me to hand back….

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So Here is The Captain of Captain's Corner giving his 10 cents...

Bankers

1) Vincent Kompany (Man City) [6.0 million] – City had the most clean sheets in the PL last season, an impressive 18 so you definitely want representation there. City defenders are all undervalued, I’m even considering picking up two. Kompany is definitely a nailed on starter and looks set to be club captain this year. Players new to FPL shouldn’t be confused by his score last year of 95, as he was classified as a midfielder and hence not getting 4 points for each of those lovely 18 shut outs.

2) Nani (Man United) [10.0 million] – Nani was the highest FPL scorer last year with a whopping 198 points. He’s somewhat under the radar this year (although still coming in with 23% ownership) as doubts about his playing time emerged with Valencia stealing minutes from him last year and the signing of versatile midfielder Ashley Young. But with Valencia injured again, a brace against City in the Community shield and Fergie himself publicly promising him a start against West Brom, you really need to get him in. It remains to be seen if he’s good pick season long though.

3) Robin Van Persie (Arsenal) [12.0 million] – RVP is a FPL beast. He’s what the  long time Fantasy Managers call “fixture proof”. He can and will score against anyone and if fit will make your captaincy choice pretty easy every week. But that’s a big if, at the time of writing, RVP is yet again an injury concern with a niggling ankle problem after being taken off at half time against Benefica.

Mid-Price / Budget

4) Stephen Taylor (Newcastle) [4.5] – Injured for most of last season, S. Taylor is back and is a definite starter in the back for Newcastle. He managed an impressive 3 goals and 1 assisst in just 1000 minutes last year. Extrapolate that to a full season and you’re getting returns that rival Baines at 3.5m cheaper. And he scored the other day in a friendly. At 4.5 million it’s a no brainer for me.

5) N’Zogbia (Aston Villa) [7.5] – N’Zogbia was the shining light in a pretty dismal Wigan side that barely avoided relegation and was rewarded with a move to Villa. It remains to be seen how he’ll fit in and there was some fitness doubts but those fears would seem to be allayed with him playing and scoring in a friendly against Sporting Braga. Great value at 7.5 million.

6) Hugo Rodallega (Wigan) [6.5] – Bit of a gamble here to be honest and we all remember Wigan’s dreadful 4-0 opening day loss to Blackpool (hands up who had Boselli in their starting 11?), but Wigan face the three promoted teams in their first fixtures and this is just too tempting. At 6.5 you could do much worse than Rodallega.

Hunch

7) Moses (Wigan) [5.0] – Another Wigan player?? Have I learned nothing? Moses replaces N’Zogbia on the wing and really wouldn’t have got a mention other than he’s been very impressive pre season, scoring 5 in 6 games. Now picking players based on pre season form is dangerous and again I would point to the Boselli fiasco of last year. Moses is most definitely a gamble, but at just 5 million, he’s a cheap gamble.

8) David Silva (Man City) [9.5] – There’s an ongoing debate in Fantasy Football circles about Yaya versus Silva. With so much rotation in the City forwards, people will look to the midfield for City representation. Yaya comes in 1.5 cheaper and has gained a lot of interest based on his being allowed to get forward towards the end of last year. He played deeper in the Community Shield on Sunday though, and Silva has been impressive pre season. I’m going with Silva. Much easier to trade down to yaya if need be rather than trying to trade up.

9) Ramsey (Arsenal) [6.5] – In the perceived post Fabregas and possibly Nasri Arsenal team, Jack Wilshere is attracting all the attention, a great player sure, but just wasn’t getting the fasntasy points last year to warrant an investment. Ramsay looks to be playing more forward and taking on the Cesc role and some Arsenal blogs and forums I’ve been to reckon he’s the man to fill Fab’s boots. So many uncertainties at this stage though.


My Head Says No But My Hearts Say Yes

Wigan! I’m clearly obsessed with them. I see them in my dreams and in my nightmares. Boselli is there, kicking a beach ball against a wall and missing, then Moses comes along and boots him over to Italy, telling me “It’s different this time, play and captain me and I will lavish you with points”.  Okay then.