ah, here I am sat in a costa coffee in the Mile End area of London being an e-migrant; looking at other people with iPads and laptops and I can only guess they are tweaking their fantasy football teams or writing blogs on such subject too.

I wrote that paragraph and then had to go to my buddy's house to be let in and nap on the couch; now I'm in yet another shite bar in this City; shite pissy ale with sky sports news on with no sound on about 7 screens [I just counted, it is indeed 7]; so on one of the busiest weekends in the fantasy football's  season's calendar (transfer weekend see, a mini whirlwind of players coming and going  - be it lesser value squad players moving to new clubs in which they''ll start (Johnson at Sunderland etc) and players from lower of foreign league (Jarvis at West Ham etc)

So bearing all this in mind, it makes complete sense that I make my changes and post this content a day earlier than usual (I am performing at a festival in Dorset tomorrow, so I just gotta do it tonight). By virtue of not having my normal laptop with me my previous fils aren't with me either (Seriously London's wi-fi situation is piss poor too, in terms of the ratio of pubs and cafes  having it for free customer's use  to not having  not) ANYWAY!, so I have a screenshot of last week to work from, and then logging into make my changes via my iPhone and using roaming data charges, seriously W.T.Fuck.

I haven't really had a chance to look through the fantasy football scout page; messageboards or indeed fellow manager's teams.

So anyway, to quote one of many favourite Arab Strap songs...  here  we go....

STATE-OF-PLAY

I had another good week, 30%-ish better than the overall average score, a good start is one of the many things I didn't manage last season. 5th in he botnb league already

GAMEWEEK-2-TEAM



WAHEY!!!

I was sure I logged in and captained Graham, but instead I went with his teammate Michu, which was handy extra 2 points for my team... I didn't really have any major curveballs selections last week.

All three of my strikers scored  and/or got assists, so that was a rare bonus, them and Michu's double points accounted for 51 of my points

BOO HOO

Which therefore means my other 7 players got an average of just les than three points, ergo I actually made more bad than good decisions. And if Torres (my captain for GWone) was still holding the armband I would have gained an  extra point; those are the margins lads, those are the margins.

PLAYING FOR HIS PLACE

It's still a tad early to be saying players are out of form, while in essence they are still finding their bearing, but even with that in mind  Sigurdsson is already looking like he'll be culled in ruthless fashion soon by me; but it will be interesting to see how Spurs bonanza of new midfielders and forwards work around him.

KEEPING AN EYE ON

Spurs and QPR have both added a lot of new faces, and the monobrowed Boswinga at Loftus Road is particularly tickling my fancy. Both Fletcher and Jarvis are both intriguing me too.

TRANSFERS THIS WEEK

pretty simple I got rid of Guthrie (not playing this gameweek/2 potentially tricky fixtures in following 3 GWs), and brought in Kagawa as he seems to be the one to step into Rooney's boots (I do somewhat fear that he and RVP might also get their Man Ut debut 'groin strains' to prevent them playing for their countries next week though).

I hd stockpiled by transfer from last week, so to have a second and decided to get rid of Mata (not playing this GW either, and to be fair Hazard seems to be a 'must have' player already, so I'd need to get rid of a third Chelski player anyway. I brought in Allen, a cheap, seemingly first team player at Liverpool already. Long term Back Of The Net Boy league member, Darragh, has made some points already about why it was a bad idea (in fantasy terms anyway); and I must admit he's right. But transfer was made, the silver lining is that I have a few million in bank now, so that could be handy next transfer, to allow for a serious upgrade if needed.

SELECTION THIS WEEK

Very easy, only one of my keepers are playing and I seem to have only 12 outfielders available, I went with the simple idea of dropping the defender playing away (Haangland @ West Ham) but for some reason I don't think Kolarov will be selected anyway so my Fulham boy might get automatically selected for me anyway.

I'd say this week, I'm 85% happy with my team, and I'll be happy with a 55/60 point haul. There's no player that I am worried about their fixture this week; and hopefully my selected 11 do all play then none of my own team will be playing each other ergo losing points for when when other does well.

For my captain, Mr Tevez gets the honour this week, Green has been playing badly in front of a shaky back four and if Caesar does replace him then it'll be a keeper unfamiliar with the defending style and moves of the players in front of whom; neither of which is an ideal way to visit Man City.



CAPTAIN'S CORNER

Could this be the most one sided captaincy choice of all time? Polls around the various FPL sites point overwhelmingly to one man - Carlos Tevez. Indeed it's a brave man not to captain him. 18 points from 2 games and a very fantasy friendly home fixture with QPR who have leaked 6 goals already (albeit 5 in one game). City don't quite look at the races yet either though but you'd fancy at least two goals for them here.

The old differential question then, raises it's head again. If you are doing well it's wise to stick with the obvious choice - if he doesn't do well, the majority are in the same boat, but if he does, you don't make up much ground against the masses. So let's take a look at the other candidates.

RVP away to Southampton - RVP is a HUGE differential this week. His 13.2m price means a lot of people are resisting the urge to decimate their team to get him in so he's at a meer (for him)  23.5% ownership versus Tevez who is at an amazing 39.4% at time of writing. He's most certainly the main man now with Rooney out for two or more months and with Kagawa providing the service and a goal already under his belt, you'd fancy him for a goal here. And we all know he's liable to go on a rampage at any time against any opposition so could be posting a big score as well.

Spurs at home to Norwich - This should be a great fixture for Spurs captaincy options, but they are yet to show us they can mount a serious top 4 challenge this year and the team is still very much in transition - lots of players to offload, and more to come in. Adebayor should start and is a good pick. Bale too but after two blanks, i wouldn't bet on him.

Newcastle @home to Villa - Look for the Toons to bounce back after the Chelsea defeat against a pretty awful Villa side. Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa are your picks here.

Gamble pick - Has to be from the Arsenal Liverpool game, how about Cazorla?

Fantasy Football 2012/2013 - Gameweek 2

Heya Folks and Folkettes

So a strange little chain of events today, I assumed that as the heir to my throne was having his afternoon nap (why don't we adults continue that part of a daily routine) today in my folks house that I could research (yes I research-ish) for the blog and then type it up; but alas my dad is off up the country and he brought the Internet dongle thing with him. 

Now where I grow up has a lot of things to be said for it, but it's phone reception is not one of it's strong points. No 3G, barely two bars of just phone reception IT'S LIKE LIVING IN THE THIRD WORLD. 

Anyway so I'm on bus now after putting him to bed and I'm doing an Ringo: Music Bingo gig at 9. Sp basically I'm typing my element of this week's blog on my iPhone's notebook yoke, and therefore won't do all my usual sections as I don't know the figures and stats; and will quickly upload in the ten minute window between my sound check and gig start.

Captain's corner returns and we have a new section too 'the secret of my success', where the highest scorer in the back of the net boy league in the previous gameweek will be asked to say a few (or many words), I'll be asking different people, no pressure though. If yer not into it do be it.

Gameweek 1 review

STOP THE PRESSES, I think I got a better score last week than week for last two years. 92 points, get in. Throw in the 25 extra ones I could have got of I did honours maths and I could top of our league but that position goes to Michael Daly (current leader of the Back Of The Net Boy league), who is writing the first Secret Of My Success...

... "Ah yes 'The Sweet Smell of Success' indeed. Here I am sitting proudly on top of the mini-league just like Michael J. Fox lying on top of the effervescent spurt of champagne from the poster of the film of the same name as this section and what a wonderful view it is up here! Alas, experience tells me to enjoy it while it lasts as 'La Maîtresse de la Fantasie Foot' is a fickle little wench indeed. I would like to attribute my stellar score this week to a number of factors such as good breeding and a moderately healthy diet but easily the most significant ingredient in my recipe for success was the fact I didn't go out and get arse-faced Friday night and hence did not drunkenly make last minute 'improvements' to my squad. Had I done so I may well have replaced Hazard with Cazorla and made Podolski captain. I have vowed to learn from such bitter experiences as happened last season on numerous occasion and so far, so good. Other than that - Hazard looked really good from what I saw of him in France and himself, Ivanovic and Torres looked shoe-ins for game time in the double gameweek so I got them in. Petric, who also performed well for me, has been banging them in a lot in pre-season and I quite like the look of Fulham under Jol so I got him in too. The downside of my gameweek is I now need to address Chelsea's and Reading's blank in two weeks time and offload some of those players who will miss out. My hunch over the next little while - Sunderland's defence and Newcastle's midfield look ripe for the picking and Kagawa and Cazorla will surely deliver the goods sooner rather than later..." 

(Ronan: Thanks Michael, personally speakign I hope you don't write this section too often this season! It would scupper my winning of the league)

This week's transfers, as I said last blog I'm not making any this week as I've 4 Chelsea/Reading players and none of them play next week. 

On the radar - Obviously that guy Hazard and I wonder about the Ivanovic situation, Chelsea bought a new right back today so I wonder will the Serbian not be on the right flank bombing forward as much?

Intrigued too by QPR's signing of virtually an entire new back five, I don't know what prices and of them are because as I said I have no Internet access. (This is the closest to being a contestant on blind date I've ever been, I'll post this and then see what I could have written about!)

This Week's Selection, due to my amazing thinking-ahead-abilities, my subs from last week all come in and Collins, Hangaland and Guthrie all get benched. Pretty simple

I haven't decided on my captain, no one obvious candidates on paper so will stick with Torres (I might change my mind - actually maybe Danny graham... Hmmn)

[ Addendum, decided to go with Michu as captain / and Kaboul is out injured, eek ]

And on that topic here is Captains Corner

Very tough choice for captaincy this weekend, let's take a look at the main candidates.

United@home to Fulham - United got off to a bad start against Everton on Monday which to be fair was always going to be a tough match. But United didn't look at the races at all. Rooney looked dare I say it, unfit, Nani and Evra were pretty awful and there's a serious centre back shortage which requires Carrick to fill the role. RVP came off the bench in the second half but worryingly for his owners, appeared to be playing off the right and taking corners. He'll surely get a start against Fulham where you'll expect the usual United bounce-back after a defeat. Kagawa showed great promise though, easily the best United player on the pitch after maybe De Gea, and he'll be crucial this year. So two decent picks there.

City away to Liverpool - Disaster for City as Aguero went off with a knee injury against Southampton, but it doesn't look as serious now, with City (perhaps optimistically) aiming for GW4 for a return. Regardless, Tevez's stock has risen now and he looked very sharp in the 2-3 win, even being graced with the honour of a "slimline Tevez" tag from sky sports. Silva however didn't look great at all, his awful penalty being symptomatic of his whole game. Yaya continues to impress, popping up all over the pitch in a classic box-to-box role. They play a Liverpool side at Anfield coming off a terrible opening match against West Brom. Rodgers must be feeling the heat already, perhaps he'll try and close the game down and frustrate City? Difficult to know.

Michu - Swansea are showing no signs of a decline in style with new manager Michael Laudrup with an impressive 5-0 victory at Loftus Road. Michu looks the real deal, filling the Siqurdsson shaped hole perfectly and grabbed two goals for himself. Swansea have West Ham at home, a decent shout for your pick.

Spurs@home to West Brom. Decent fixture on paper but AVBs Spurs sides look like they need time to gel. VDV and Sigurdsson look like they'll be stealing minutes of each other so Bale is the only pick form the midfield. AVB wants to use him further up than last year though in a front three making him a great prospect. Adebayor transfer is confirmed now as well, he's a great pick too.

Gamble picks - Ba away to Chelsea. You heard it here first.

- Business resumes next week folks; hope ye have a fantastically good weekend 

Season 2012/2013 Gameweek 1

Wahey, finally that pesky stoooopid Olympics is over, and those athletes with their “training” and “dedication” and that bullshit can feck off, and it’s back to the real world of competition with laptops and statistics. So this is the 7th year of our own little back of the net boy fantasy football league, and it’s grown year on year, last season it stretched to two pages!

A good start is half the battle and in fantasy football terms, of course that means our team names. We’ve got some crackers already, my own personal one New Cork Cosmos isn’t my best work but it holds its own; as ever there are a few names/references that I don’t get but I’ve got 8 months to work them out.

So before I look at the upcoming season, let’s look back at the last season…

For me last season was a series of kicks in the balls, as my blog got better in terms of wordplay and pithiness my team decisions just blah blah shittiness.

Trying to use elements of cognitive behavioral therapy I really am trying to look at the decisions I made in 2011/2012 seasons and work out WHY I made those decisions, and learn from those reasons. Sounds easy eh! Like someone desperate for the score as it gets later in the night in a bar, my idea of success was changing the closer we got to the end of the season. It went from winning the league, then to getting into top ten, then just getting to finish on the first page and finally just to have as few girls as possible do better than me.

Of all the things I read about Chairman Mao over the years, very little has stuck with me other than the phrase “constant revolution”; and times have changed while last year I was advocating defenders being more value than strikers you can read it here -http://backofthenetboy.blogspot.ie/2011/08/fantasy-footbal-season-20112012-preview.html

But this season I’m going to bump up in midfield and attackers and see how things fare over next few weeks. For instance will Reading be porous; will Chris Hughton and Paul Lambert be able to tie things down at Carrow Road and Villa Park quickly or will there be a bedding in process: I’m intrigued about Laudrup too, his debut season mixed Swansea’s second season syndrome could make things very difficult, but I willing them on (as you can see I have three of his squad in my one); and even at the big boy end of the table seems that it will be goals not clean sheets that will

As ever I read the joe.ie and fantasyfootball scout pages and I try to not just rehash their advice and suggestions. Here are some links just in case you don’t know them

www.joe.ie/football/fantasy-football-insider/still-havent-picked-your-fantasy-football-team-take-these-five-pieces-of-advice-0027636-1  and http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/

So for this opening blog, I’ll talk ya through my team/squad selection

Goalkeepers

Cech and Jaaskelainen, pretty straightforward reasons. The latter is dirt cheap and will be playing for West Ham where I can only assume he will play most if not all the games and will take quite a few shots too. Cech, I basically brought in cos he has two games this week, and he’s always a sturdy choice, the Chelsea defence isn’t the fortress that it once was but over the next few weeks he’s as good a starting point at anyone, I’m looking towards Given and Mignolet though.

Defenders

I didn’t want to go with two defenders from any one club, so I’ve gone with varied line up, while the big money options of Vidic, Kompany, Cole, Vermalan etc are pedigree choices, I’ve went with low cost defenders Kolarov is my most expensive, seemingly Man City have been flirting with a 3 centre back, using Kolarov as a wing back, so hoping that continues it could mean clean sheets with him further up the pitch getting assists (hopefully) and he does take occasional free kicks too.

Williams at Swansea, as I said earlier second season syndrome could effect them and if so defence is usually where it crumbles first, but they have a very favourable set of opening fixtures so I’m going to hope they do well. By extension, Williams who was one of their stand out players last season has been brought in. Hangeland at Fulham, played every game of season in premier league last season; I really think Jol will lead the club to a very sturdy season this year, and if I can manage to pick a couple of defenders who have a sturdy season I’ll be happy. On that same tip, I’ve gone with Collins at West Ham, assuming they have a Boltonesque dynamic, it won’t be pretty but if he gets occasional headed goals from set pieces and they eek out the bore draws and whatnot. 

Finally Kaboul at spurs, perhaps AVB will hit the ground running with the Spurs squad (and I hope he does) and perhaps Kaboul will be a first choice player [Vertonghen looks tasty too]

But there ya go 3 defenders at 5, another at 5.5 and finally one at 6.

Midfielders

I’ve been playing more with these 5 squad places than the rest put together and my watchlist is jam-packed. Simply I put Mata in, as he has two games this week and I hope he plays both, the talk seems to be he will be the pivot this season which opens up the game to Torres and I’m buying it.

Sigurdsson was brilliant last season (half season) and has done well in pre season with Spurs, I can only assume the team will be built around him [it can’t be just money that he turned down Liverpool and went to Tottenham instead], especially now that Modric is gone (he is gone by now isn’t he?)/

I’ve brought in Guthrie, as he plays two games this week and he’s 4.5, i.e. cheap as chips. He will realistically be traded out by GW3. Nolan is also cheapish (6) and I’m pretty sure he will do well with West Ham this season, they also have a good opening run of fixtures so perhaps he’ll knock in a few goals for me. Nolan will the leader at West Ham, what he brings to the team is (to do an Alan Hansen and just say the keywords) is Experience. Responsibility. Leadership. (Alan shearer will probably say we don’t' know a lot about the lad)

 Finally I went with Michu, mainly cos I’ve read in two different articles that they think he could be the signing of the season, I am that easily led folks.

Santi Cazorla, Arteta, Walters, Nasri, Allen and Pienaar intrigue me too though…

Forwards

Have gone with Tevez (cheaper than Aguero by 2.5, and Balotelli has an eye complaint at the moment), as he is really getting talked up by the Man City camp and Torres, as well, he could possibly come good (FINALLY!!!) he has 180 minutes this gameweek to hit the onion bag a few times.

My final striker is Graham at Swansea, once again he had a fine season last year, hopefully he continues.  Ruiz at Fulham and Lukaku at West Brom were the other options for that final spot.

My team selection is as follows,

Next week’s blog will have more of a structure and hopefully the regular readers will start contributing to it too.