Gameweek 9 Fantasy Football
Heya, hope yer gearing up for a good long weekend, I sat
down to start writing this at 4pm and it is now 16.13, and only have I got to
start typing, my fuc king computer is being such a buggy bollix, the spinning
wheel of annoyance. Deep breath and exhale. This is a bumper edition this week
with the debut of the new Captain’s Corner and a new contributer to ‘The Secret
Of My Success’…
Gameweek 8 review of New Cork Cosmos
In simple figures – I got 52 points, when the average was 43
points. In terms of the Back Of The Net Boy league. But only four of the 12 people
ahead of me scored less than me, ergo I now stand 64 points off the top spot.
Got the captain right? Nope, If I’d captained Nolan I’d have
gained an extra 10 points/
Got the keeper right? Nope, Howard would have got me an
extra point
Got my subs decisions right? Essentially yeah, Morrison
earned 3 points wheras Cazorla got 2. That’s it
Points swing of regret = 12 points, I could have earned 2
extra points if I’d selected differently, and the afore mentioned captaincy
issue. Means I would have jumped 4 places in the BOTNB league table.
LAST WEEK’S TEAM
THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS
… the highest scorer of each gameweek in our league is
invited to share a few insights into what got them so many points… last week’s
highest scorer was Legend 76
who got 84 points, which for context was just shy of 200% of the average score which
was 43. * (I need a better way of figuring and wording that, any ideas) And well
inside the top 2000 players in the world.
… “We I think I just got lucky to be fair, I picked Riise as
captain, as a safe bet, because I simply couldn't see Villa scoring away from
home, and they didn't!!! Riise also got an assist, so far so good. However it
turns out that I really should have had Mata as captain, I'd have ended up with
92 points instead of 84. I've decided to be brave/greedy this week and play my
wild card. In come Tevez, Ivanovic, Routledge, Sterling, Pogrebnyak, Baird
& Demel, out go Defoe, Holt, Lescott, Williams, Cleverley, Allen and
Simpson. Which inevitably means one if not all the players I canned will have
stormers this weekend, I've gone with a defender as captain again this week,
Vertonghen, in the hope that Southampton with be toothless at home, and there
is always a chance that he'll be on the scoresheet…
Legend76
TRANSFERS
I have got rid of Kolarov and brought in Wilson at Stoke,
for simple reasons Kolarov is not playing every match so it’s hard to work with
AND Man City have been shakey in defence; wheras Wilson is playing every game
and they seem to have a nice run ahead of them, this week against toothless
Sunderland and QPR in gameweek 11. And he is only 4.5. SO I now have 3 millionish
in the bank to play with.
THIS WEEK’S SELECTION
Pretty straightforward, not using Williams as he is away at
a hungry Man City; not selecting Fletcher as I doubt they will do well at Stoke
and then I had to had to decided between Nolan and Morrison, since the West Ham
man did well last week I’ll keep him in the team.
I’ve hummed and hawwed over the goalkeeping slot, and while
neither looks like a very likely clean sheet Howard will surely make a lot of
saves and maybe he might save a penalty from a suarez dive? That’d be handy,
and I am aware of how much grasping at the straws that is.
Here’s the screenshot.
GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?
AMACH!
Possibly Williams, possibly Fletcher.
ISTEACH!
If Southampton are going to pull themselves together, as of
gameweek 10 their fixtures are as favourable as they will get; playing the
other two promoted teams, away at a struggling QPR and Swansea and Newcastle at
home. There no easy games etc etc but might be worth looking at their strikers.
MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
The obvious candiate seems to be Cazorla, he’s at home to
QPR and the Arsenal team really won’t want to lose 3 games in a row. The long
running ‘style-rivalry’ bettween Mark Hughes and Wenger could be an issue but
I’ll have to hope the Spaniard shines.
CAPTAIN”S CORNER
So our original captain after 1 and half years of being part
of this blog is packing his bags and going travelling for a few months at
least, so we have a new guy taking over. I forgot to ask if he is okay with me
using his real name, so for now his secrecy will be kept.
… So since I’ve began playing Fantasy Football back in the
heady days of 2007/2008, I’ve noticed that there are essentially two types of
FF players. The ones who go by ‘their gut’ instinct and the nerdy number
cruncher types. I fall dramatically into the latter of these categories. With
this in mind, captaincy is as with most folk, the most perturbing of all
decisions. This week appears to offer some easy routes with the armband but
after going on an Opta index binge session, things became a tad murky. Santi
Cazorla tops the captain’s poll on Fantasy Football Scout with Bale coming in
about 9% behind. Both have tasty fixtures, QPR (h) & Southampton (a)
respectively, but after a quick glance at Santi’s home form, he has yet to
deliver presents for his vast amount of fantasy owners (last Santi pun, I
swear). His sole assist against Southampton in week 4 demonstrates his
preference to sit a bit deeper in home games, letting Gervinho and Podolski to
push further on. Similarly, Bale should be looked upon with caution. His
partner recently gave birth to Bale Jnr (for those who wish to see a picture of
the ickle’ sprog, Google image “Monchichi”) and did not travel with the squad
to Slovenia. AVB reckons he’ll play, but the gods that be at Sky Sports News
think he’ll stay at home. So we move onto the outsiders. Although I have a
strong fondness for the ‘Pool, Baines is tempting me more and more. Despite the
fact that Everton have about as much chance of keeping a clean sheets as a 13
year old boy dreaming about Megan Fox, Baines is essentially playing as a left
winger these days. Initially, Pienaar’s suspension worried me but Moyes has
indicated that the workman like Osman or Neville will play left mid, both of
whom will sit substantially deeper than Pienaar, affording Baines to romp
forward against eh, Andre Wisdom..? Surely for tabloid pun purposes, Everton’s
left flank will have a good one against Liverpool. Moving on, whilst they may
not seem like ‘punts’, any of Manchester City’s forwards offer potential
fantasy rewards. Problem is, who the freakin’ hell is he going to play.
Conventional (Andre) wisdom suggests it’ll be Tevez and Mario seeing as both
failed to start against Ajax on Wednesday night. However, given City’s
predicted elimination from the Champions League, the Premiership may see more
focus and Aguero is undoubtedly Mancini’s favorite forward. Regarding the usual
suspects of Chelski and United, I’m just going to assume they’ll cancel each
other out this Sunday. I’m weary of Hazard and Mata chopping and changing
fantasy returns as the weeks roll on and RVP and Rooney may struggle against
Chelsea’s stout back four….and Jon Obi Mikel of course.
So enough of the waffling, after my nerdiness and positioning analysis (courtesy of the comparison index on Fantasy Football Scout), I’m still going to side with Cazorla despite his more withdrawn role in home games. I realise hypocrisy is rampant right now but the thought of Arsenal’s attack facing Ryan Nelson and Stephane Mbia is too tempting. Baines will take the vice captaincy as I try to retain some element of originality. If you’re looking for a differential, look towards Stoke for the next 5-6 gameweeks, especially Crouch and Walters. Given that 32% of us have Michu in our team, his new role up front against City’s surprisingly suspect defensive unit offers a far more intriguing option than many may think. Ugh, How I miss the days of Cristiano Ronaldo……Best of luck for the game week ya’ll.
So enough of the waffling, after my nerdiness and positioning analysis (courtesy of the comparison index on Fantasy Football Scout), I’m still going to side with Cazorla despite his more withdrawn role in home games. I realise hypocrisy is rampant right now but the thought of Arsenal’s attack facing Ryan Nelson and Stephane Mbia is too tempting. Baines will take the vice captaincy as I try to retain some element of originality. If you’re looking for a differential, look towards Stoke for the next 5-6 gameweeks, especially Crouch and Walters. Given that 32% of us have Michu in our team, his new role up front against City’s surprisingly suspect defensive unit offers a far more intriguing option than many may think. Ugh, How I miss the days of Cristiano Ronaldo……Best of luck for the game week ya’ll.
