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?
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