Gameweek 9 Season 2012/2013

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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.