Gameweek 15 Season 2012/2013

Sorry lads, well behind the curve of the day so my element of the blog will be parsimonious

GAMEWEEK 13 & 14 REVIEW OF NEW CORK COSMOS

Oh my sweet divine insert-the-name-of-any-of-the-interchangable-deities-here, this is becoming awful third gameweek in a row that I’ve done worse than the average (and that includes all the ghost teams!)

Got the captain right? Nope, I was flinging texts back and forth with Darragh (Captains Corner), Pat (the Cruyff Turn) and TJ (nice guy with no blog) about RVP vs Crouch. Guess which way I swung.

Got the keeper right? Moot point, as only one of them played.

Got my subs decisions right? Meh, nothing of note

Alternate Selection Point Swing – 10 points. (inc if I had captained RVP)

LAST WEEK’S TEAM

THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS

… the last two best scoring captains have said the same thing, that they hadn’t even logged in or changed their team in weeks. So the secret seems to be just don’t give a f*ck – treat them mean and keep them keen eh guys?

TRANSFERS

None this week as all my recents transfers have been failures. Gotta know when to fold them and know when to hold them etc etc

THIS GAMEWEEK COMING UP, WHERE’S THE DRAMA.

Berbatov and Jol at home to Spurs, reckon they’ll show them who is boss, or in this case ex-boss. You can guess who I’m captaining.

Fergie’s best friend (when it suits) Sam is at home to Rafa (who he has NOOO beef with http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/01032010/58/premier-league-managers-rafa-angers-sam.html) - with Chelsea shoring up at the back but flailing at the front, I anticpate tight playing with little ambition – also Benayon might wanan show his Chelsea doubters and former boss Rafa what’s what. On that note I read this earlier that He remains the only player to score Premiership, Champions League and FA Cup hat tricks

BET OF THE NET BOY

No time to research this properly, sorry.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

I have one fully injured person and two doubtfuls’s I will bench all three. And then drop Bardsley to the bench. simples

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

Honestly, I’m starting again and nobody has a free pass anymore

ISTEACH!

Noone specific, wondering what will happen at QPR, will a new face emerge from within the squad and will 'Arry think of recalling joey barton?

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Berbatov, all the way. RVP as vice.­­

CAPTAIN’S CORNER

Well that was a strange one. Van Persie failed to deliver on his ‘banker’ game against bottom of the league QPR but bagged nine points against Big Sam’s resolute Hammers. Turning to this week, it looks to be the usual suspects again but with the exception of a few drop-offs from my captaincy radar (Chelsea anyone?).

First and foremost in my thinking for this GameWeek is Luis Suarez. His two blanks in his previous two outings may have disappointed his fantasy owners, but his threat remains constant, ranking 3rd overall in the ICT threat index. Anyone who has read this section of the blog before knows how fantabulously, groin grabbingly amazing Suarez’s threat stats are, but by comparing Suarez’s consistent potential in front of goal against the ability of his opposition’s defense, Chris Glover of PLFantasy (check it out!) has compiled a nifty points indicator table. Using this table, Glover identifies Suarez as the comfortable leader for the upcoming weekend fixtures. On top of that is the Uruguayans complete lack of rotation risk and Southampton’s shanty town of a defense (leaving in 3.1 goals per away fixture) confirms his place atop of my choices.

Speaking of threat, late blooming handsome-devil Oliver Giroud makes his first appearance in my captains considerations. In the last 4 weeks, Giroud, along with Theo Walcott, has emerged as the primary route for Arsenal cover, replacing the erratic duo of Santi Cazorla and Lucas Podolski. Giroud has rocketed to third in the threat index for forwards and established himself as virtually undroppable as the Pineapple headed Ivorian remains in the treatment room. Furthermore, Laudrup’s Swans have kept zero clean sheets since the opening day of the season, leaving potential there for either of the inform Arsenal pair.

Leaky defenses seem to be in vogue at the moment and none more so than Everton. Their constant conceding eventually lead to my axing of fantasy darling Leighton Baines and his apparent groin injury could be the crack in the dam that leads to a Manchester City flood of scores. With Tevez’s place unsure and Balotelli finding the net midweek, I’m avoiding all the City forwards for fear of rotation and looking to the increasing assured David Silva. Since his return against Tottenham four weeks ago, Silva has produced 29 fantasy points and an ICT creativity rating that registers as the second highest in the league. It wont matter who Mancini plays upfront as the ickle’ Spaniard looks to have huge assist potential.

I cant finish off my blog without mentioning the return of the ‘Fackin’ football manager ‘Arry Redknapp. As much as Redknapp’s car window-outside training gorund-transfer deadline day interviews make me want to top-top myself week in week out, he has been the bearer of positive fantasy returns in the past. I’m hoping his installment will mean the emergence of one of the QPR budget bargains in midfield, most notably Adel Taarabt. Since his arrival in FPL in August 2011, he was hyped as the Charlie Adam and Charles N’Zogbia of yesteryear but let all his believers, myself included, down. Since his reappearance in the first team back in Gameweek 6 however, the Moody Moroccan (© Darragh McHenry 2012) has proved capable of a series fantasy breakout. In the last 6 fixtures, only Pablo Hernandez of Swansea has created a higher number of chances in the league. In the same space of time, his 24 shots on goal joins Gareth Bale atop the league, 6 higher than their nearest competitor with Taarabt nudging it by having a chance every 22.3 minutes compares to Bale’s 23.9. The threat is undoubtedly there for the R’s midfielder and Villa at home proves an ample theatre to deliver on this. Fool me once Adel, shame on you, fool my twice…..

Game Week 15 Choices       Game Week 13/14          Game Week 12

L.Suarez              R. Van Persie (9/2pts)          L. Suarez (11 pts)

R. Van Persie           R. Lambert (8/2pts)        D. Berbatov (2 pts)            

O. Giroud                   Michu  (8/3 pts)             N. Jelavic (2pts)                     

A. Taarabt               W. Rooney (2/6 pts)         C. Tevez (19pts)                           

D. Silva                    F. Torres (2/2 pts)            M. Fellaini (4pts)                      

The Punt: A. LeFondre       C. Benteke  (9/2pts)          A. Taarabt (5pts)                           

Total Score:                                                            43 points/7.1 pts Average   

Gameweek 13 Season 2012/2013

Hello everybody, I woke up early today, yet I’m only getting round to this now.  I’ve had a lazy week, but it’ll be slamming busy for next while what with 2 gameweeks in next 7 days, which I’ll need to pick up on, as you will see.

GAMEWEEK 12 REVIEW OF NEW YORK COSMOS

40 points this week, with an average of 52; which is my lowest percentage return. Six players getting 2 points or less, including -3 fron Hangeland.

Got the captain right? Oh boy did I not, my vice captain got 9 points more Berbatov.

Got the keeper right? Yes, with a 2 point swing in my favour.

Got my subs decisions right? I guess, 2 of them got 2 points, Collins got nada.

Alternate Selection Point Swing – 14 points.

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… and this week it was Peter O’Sullivan, who got a mammoth 101 points, which has shot up up to 14th in the Back Of The Net Boy League. I didn’t give him enough notice to submit his words to the blog this week to be fair, but here is a screenshot of his team last week.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHEST SCORING TEAM IN BACK OF THE NET BOY LEAGUE

TRANSFERS

Well this is pretty routine, Hangeland is gonna get got; he is missing for next three games and that’s a tad long too be holding up a spot like that, he’s already dropped .1 in value, as I did say last week it was gonna be a Sunderland defender coming in; I’ve decided to take on Bardsley, he was first choice all last season and is only now coming back from injury - he played his first full 90 minutes last week. Hopefully he’ll give me some differential as he is only owned by .1% of my rival managers; and at 4.8 he is quite a bargain.

Really was thinking of swapping Hazard for Mata, mainly because of the simple Spanish connection, the trio being completed by Benetiz and Torres. But for the 4 point loss, I’ll just leave it off. As perhaps there’ll be som equick changes needed for the impenidng gameweek next Tuesday/Wednesday.

THIS GAMEWEEK COMING UP, WHERE’S THE DRAMA.

I think the Drama is all about the new managers, what is going to happen, will Benitez change the Chelsea attacking style? – I, for one, can’t imagine him being hired without that having come up in the negotiations. His immediate task of Man City will be very interesting to see, wonder will all the time he has blogging and whatnot have given him the chance to out-think Manchini, I wouldn’t doubt he would. And if Torres scores, you can be sure, I’ll be bringing him in ASAP.

Also who will take over at QPR? Hughes just got let go a few hours ago, so no time to make any proper predictions.

Europa League Shirkers – I think it’s safe to say that Chelsea and Man City’s owners do not give a singular shit about the Europa League, except perhaps winning the final and the co-efficiant points for future seeding. Now it’s in Man City’s hands to finish 4th and have a clear run at the Premiership (and that will have an impact on fantasy footbal strategy I’m sure) where as Chelsea are 6 points ahead of Nordsjaelland for the wooden spot. So not only would the pensioners have to lose their game, but they’d have to also get 4 points deducted somehow. But how could they possibly manage their team’s behavior to be so demonstraveily vile to be justify losing points. I can’t imagine a single thing they could do to look bad enough to deserve points deductions… think ronan, think ronan…

Spurs v West Ham – that stadium thing is still rumbling on? Can we call this an Olympic Challenge? Please? Well I’m going to anyway… this game could be a marathon encounter with ehmmm sprinting and diving… ehm… you see what I’m trying to do here.  Sam v AVB will certainly be a clash of character.

Return Of The Rodgers – This time it’s personal (ie league points to be won), I’m going to be playing both my midfielders involved as it defo won’t be a chanceless draw… I have visions of Rodgers showing his team the tape of this game next week saying, “THIS IS WHAT I MEAN!”.

BET OF THE NET BOY

This week I will do an treble of

Everton to win both halves against Norwich – 13/5

Man Utd to score more than 3.5 goals against QPR – evens

Sunderland to score in both halves against WBA – 13/5

Which all adds up to about 26/1

… worth the price of a pint? Yes, 3 quid down.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

This week is pretty straightforward, the only decision is to play Berbatov or Sterling. I’ve went with the latter. And the ‘which of my two defenders will I not play? question’ is answered by leaving Mister-Autobiography-Williams on the bench and Collins at White Hart Lane. Keepwise, it’ll be Howard at home to Norwich.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

Noone specific, but Howard, Williams and Crouch  might all start feeling a little uncomfortable.

ISTEACH!

Mignolet, Torres/Mata, Bentenke. No major curveballs.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

I feel bad for anyone writing a column especially about who to captain this week since a fully rested RVP is playing at home to bottom of the table, rudderless QPR. That is my answer… Vice is Crouch at home to Fulham, who are missing their leader in defence.... and now over to Darragh

CAPTAIN’S CORNER 

   Well another week, another lesson learned. I highly doubted any RVP returns at Carrow Road and I consistently alluded to Suarez’ mind-boggling statistics but failed to pull the trigger on transferring him in. Instead, 10 man Fulham failed to take advantage of a sub-par Sunderland side and Berbaflop failed to build on his previously scintillating form.

This week could prove to be an easy read for 36% of fantasy owners out there though, as Van Persie appears to have a cricket-score potential fixture against an abject QPR side this weekend. Without a permanent manager as of yet, I fail to see any reason why the R’s will start playing for any purpose at Old Trafford. If you’ve opted for United cover (and you really should have United cover with their upcoming fixtures) through the Rooney and Valencia routes, both offer large upside for this fixture, but Shrek has a slight edge with his hot streak of assists looking to continue as he feeds RVP. He also miraculously appears to have retained spot kick duty. Sigh…..

Aside from van Persie, I found a few interesting candidates to provide differentials, particular for those who don’t have and cannot afford the Dutchman. Southampton, after a moral boosting away win last weekend, finally looks able to start Puncheon above their weight with fantasy returns. A highly intriguing prospect is Ricky Lambert. His goal in their last outing was of obvious importance though his threat index rating of 23.6 was the third highest of the GameWeek (behind Tevez & Suarez with 26.2 and 24.0 respectively). Furthermore, Lambert is playing a Newcastle side making the long trip south that’ve kept just one clean sheet all year and zero away from home. Here’s another rib tickling statistic for Lamberts captaincy merits. Newcastle have conceded a goal in each of the last four GameWeeks to the striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The last front man to do so against Newcastle was Michu. This consistent fantasy nugget has seen Laudrup continuously push him further up the field to the point where he now plays higher up than any other Swan. Liverpool have indeed tightened up at the back in recent weeks but this is still a side that have leaked an average of 1.9 goals per away fixture this term.   

Rounding off my top five this week is Eden….I mean Juan M…..wait, Fernando Torres? 99.9% of the time I rely on stats but this one time, I’m using my gut. Benitez and his man crush on Torres may be just the kind of confidence boost needed for El Nino. I have absolutely zero statistics to back this up, and I’ve already scribbled the opening paragraph of next weeks blog berating myself for choosing him. As for my punt this week, I’m going to go for Christian Benteke of Aston Villa (0.4% Ownership). The Villians have been urine poor in front of goal this term and Lambert appears to have lost faith in perennial goal hanger Darren Bent. Furthermore, the last 4 GameWeeks have shown the Belgians potential. His ICT threat rating is above RVP’s and just behind fantasy slobberknockers such as Suarez, Tevez and Rickie Lambert. In categories such as penalty area touches, blocked shots and headed chances, he ranks 3^rd, 4^th and 4^th in the league respectively. Oh, and he is also involved in 75% of Aston Villa’s goals.

 Game Week 13 Choices               Game Week 12                                       Game Week 11

1. R. Van Persie                  Luis Suarez (11 pts)                         Sergio Aguero (9 pts)
2. Rickie Lambert             Dimitar Berbatov (2 pts)             Marouane Fellaini (13pts)
3. Michu                              Nicola Jelavic (2pts)                      Leighton Baines (4pts)
4. Wayne Rooney               Carlos Tevez (19pts)                            Eden Hazard (2pts)
5. Fernando Torres            Marouane Fellaini (4pts)                       Peter Crouch (5pts)

The Punt: Christian Benteke        Adel Taarabt (5pts)                           Charlie Adam (9pts)

Total Score:                         43 points/7.1 points per player    42 points/7 points per player

Gameweek 12 Season 2012/2013

Gameweek 12 Season 2012/2013

Yo yo, been working for the Cork Film Festival all weekend, managing the Triskel Arts Centre, like a boss… so I’ve not really been able to see any sport – I argued to watch the Ireland match on big screen but apparently som “director” of a “film” was in “attendance. Bullcrap.

Anyway that has led to me only reading scores and goalscorers, saw no action to base any form on. I read about Rahin Sterling making a mistake early but had the “moral courage” to not shrink but rather react to his own mistake. While Rodgers keep saying he’ll use Rahim sparingly, he has established himself. Liverpool love a terrace homegrown hero… actually this is supposed to preamble; let’s say we preambled and get on with it.

GAMEWEEK 11 REVIEW OF NEW YORK COSMOS

Wahey 61 points last week, which was better than 8 of the teams above me in the BOTNB league. Also 20 points better than the average, I want to start getting at least closer to the highest score than the average from now on, would certainly lead to gameweek on gameweek progress.

Got the captain right? Only 3 of my team got more than RVP’s undoubled haul, but if I had Berbatov wear the New Cork Cosmos armband it would have been a swing of a whopping 11 points,  which would have made me the third highest scorer in our league.

Got the keeper right? Nope, 6 points difference. If I’d got that right, I’d be the top score in our league this year.

Got my subs decisions right? Morrison got 10 points, 8 better than three of my selected midfielders.

Alternate Selection Point Swing - 25

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… and this week wasn’t it only the captain of Captain’s Corner… which cemented his 2^nd place and certainly reenforced his pedigree for his afore mentioned role.

Darragh's Team Last Week

Well if you’ve read any of my captaincy articles, you’ll know that I have a slight penchant for statistics. My big point pre GameWeek 11 was that I had 122 reasons to like Everton against Sunderland. Up to that date, Everton had 122 more attempts on goal than the Black Cats. Fellaini did not disappoint with his bombastic 13 points although Baines’ haul of just 4 points justified my decision 2 weeks previous to transfer him out.

My defense had a fantastic week. Coloccini’s red card against Liverpool in GW10 forced me to ditch him and I brought in the cut price Gorkss for a measly 3.9. My mantra for the season thus has been to spend miniscule amounts on my backline as clean sheets appear near impossible to predict (Everton-Sunderland case and point).

Even though I had a relatively successful game week, my midfield trio of Cazorla, Hazard & Bale, coming in at a whopping 29.7 million, managed a haul of just 6 points between them. I had penciled these heavy hitters as being ‘fixture proof’ and I’ll continue to keep the faith, inevitably to my detriment.

So what basically made my gameweek was Dimitar Berbatov. To tell the truth, I was the *this* (can you tell how close my index finger and thumb are?) close to making a Berbatov to Ba transfer last Friday night. I’m hugely against 4 point hits in general but my gut was telling me to make the switch. So, I decided to do my usual stat marathon and ended up pulling up some amazing pro-Berbatov stuff. A quick synopsis of these shows that despite playing 300 minutes less than Ba, Uncle Bulgaria has received and distributed more passes in the final third and has a higher *ICT threat index rating. Had I made that transfer, I’d be 18 points worse off. Lucky boy……

TRANSFERS

I was thinking of holding off this week to double up new week; or else do the Hazard downgrade to Mata (a marginal downgrade - but I have four players with yellow marks over their name, which is playing with fire – a yellow fire.

Afraid even though I only signed him 2 or 3 weeks ago, Morrison will be shipped out (1) he is yellow marked and (2) away to Chelsea and home to a slightly resurgent and definitely stingy Sunderland doesn’t look to great. Bringing in Sterling for the reasons I mentioned at start, who has played every game thus far in the league other than the opening fixture.

Williams at Swansea out too, as three of next 4 fixtures he also looks like conceding, to replace him I’ll bring

THIS GAMEWEEK COMING UP, WHERE’S THE DRAMA.

QPR v Southampton is a battle of beleagurement.

Arsenal v Spurs will be a goalfest (one hopes)

Newcastle v Swansea will be the match I look forward to seeing most

Followed by Liverpool hosting Wigan. Where my boys Sterling and Maloney better get goals, assists and no cards.

Man Utd at Norwich and Chelsea visiting WBA mightn’t be routine wins but I expect both of the bigger teams to concede and ultimately prosper.

West Ham v Stoke will probably be one of the highest amount of bookings in one match. 8 or more perhaps.

The rest don’t particularly interest me (ie I'm in a rush and want a nap)

BET OF THE NET BOY

New occasional feature, will do an combiation of

Arsenal v Spurs to be 3.5 goals or more, (5/4)

All 4 teams to concede in Chelsea and Man Utd games (4/7 & 8/13 respectively)

And more then 7 bookings (30 points) at West Ham game (11/10)

Which all adds up to 12/1 – worth the price of a pint

On the side Stoke to miss a penalty is 22/1 – worth a quid

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

I’m spreading my bets here, so will have a West Ham goalkeeper and a Stoke striker, if one performs the other will just get me a point or two, unless Crouch score and Begovic saves a penalty. I will also have a West Ham midfielder and Stoke defender. I can’t see the game being a cracker of a game, or a goal fest. I am putting Collins as my 12^th outfield player too, just to keep it 2 v 2.

Benching (or keeping him on the bench morelike) Williams as he is away at Newcastle, and Michu. Even though I just realised I’ll swap him with Collins. More likely to score than Collins a clean sheet I’d say.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

Interesting to see if Robbie Keane moves back on loan, could be a great burst of new patriotic points. From a former Villa striker to a new one, Christian Bentenke, who has started 9 and came on 2 mateches in premier league so far this season (ie all of Villa’s game and garnered 2 goals and the same amount of assists, not amazing BUT a tough run and after their next at Man City and hosting Arsenal they have quite a promising run, so gameweek 14, I forsee getting him (perhaps).

ISTEACH!

Possibly a Sunderland defender next gameweek as they have three favourable home fixtures in the next 4 games (as of next week) AND a double game in GM  16.

Howard out in GM 14, a run of 4 fixtures where they probably will at least concede at 3 of the 4. Probably Begovic in, as I’ll need as West Ham play the top two in league (as it stands) in GM 14 & 15. Mignolet is also an option for same reason as previous paragraph.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Might be bolting the door after the horse etc but will captain Berbtov (just a thought if he’d gone to Everton, not there was any speculation of note, you could rely on a headline that would have been Berbatoffee) – one attacking player I have who is at home. Also he is rested after not playing during midweek.

CAPTAIN’S CORNER

Looks like I’m back in a job. RVP’s tally of a meager 5 points means that once again we can look elsewhere for captaincy. However, the general consensus still seems to be that the Dutchman should be awarded the armband for GameWeek 12. Ignore the little yellow ‘i’ above his name as Manchester United’s physio team seem to have a miraculous knack of repairing injuries on the Friday after an international friendly week. Still, Fantasy Football Scouts captaincy poll has van Persie streaking ahead on 40% with the majority of voters sighting his favorable fixture as the primary reason for captaining him. But just how favorable is Norwich City? Not very anymore as Chris Houghton has remolded the crumbliest flakiest back four in the Premier League insofar as they’ve conceded just once in four games and kept two cleaners in a row at Carrow Road. Lest we not forget that Hernandez’s brace last weekend means “he’s picked himself” so rotation poses a threat, albeit a miniscule one.

Coming second in the poll is Luis Suarez. And this guy’s stats are scary. (Deep Breath) His 120 touches in the opposition’s penalty area blow away his competitors, equal to RVP and Ba combined. The Uruguayan’s 44 shots in the opponent’s area are also identical to RVP’s and Berbatov’s attempts (25 & 19 respectively) and he is involved in a whopping 71.4% of Liverpool’s goals this term. His ICT threat index rating* of 192.5 is 25% higher than any other player in the Premier League and the icing on the cake with Suarez has about a 0.0000000% chance of rotation. Just as with Fellaini last week, the stats continue to look kindly on Liverpool regarding their opposition as Wigan have conceded 25 ‘big’ chances so far this season, the second highest in the league. Oh, and he just notched a goal and two assists for Uruguay on Wednesday night. Form indeed.

So I have Suarez in my team right? Afraid not. Money dictates the need for cheaper options up front and Dimitar Berbatov’s bargain basement 7.4m (managed to snag him at 6.9) will offer plenty of potential rewards against the abysmal Sunderland this Saturday. Fulham have been remarkably dangerous at the Cottage since Berbs has arrived. With the second most goals in the league, Jol’s side offers a variety of potential captains this weekend. Berbatov leads the way but Riise offers a potential differential as the ever blunt black cats continue to be unlucky in front of goal with just 7 scores thus far.

To keep in tune with my weekly Everton love, I’ll once again give mention to Fellaini away to Reading this week. 2 weeks ago, I doubted the Toffee’s away form and was duly punished. I won’t make the same mistake again although my faith in Baines is no more and I’ll shift my attention to the front line and in particular, Nikica Jellyvic.

For my outside punt of the week, I’ll be taking a stab on Adel Taraabt. In GameWeek 11, Taraabt actually played one quandrant higher than both QPR strikers Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora. Southampton seem about likely as to keep a clean sheet as Peter Herbert from the SoBL is to keep his views to himself (oh topical humour!) so the R’s seem a good bet.

One final note on Manchester City’s continuing conundrum up front. I love their fixture this week but an upcoming Champions League fixture and the fact that he played the full 90 minutes for Argentina on Wednesday night means I’ll be staying away from Sergio Aguero on Saturday afternoon. Tevez however could be worth a shout if you fancy Citeh to heap more pressure on Aston Villa after their poor start.

My Top 5 Captaincy choices for the week are:

1. Luis Suarez
2. Dimitar Berbatov
3. Nicola Jelavic
4. Carlos Tevez
5. Marouane Fellaini

*the ICT index is taken from Fantasy Football Scout. The individual index scores help to measure a player’s importance to their team and to a match (Influence), a player’s likelihood to earn assists (Creativity) and to score goals, or at least get in goalscoring situations (Threat).

Gameweek 11 Season 2012/2013

Well hulllllllo, I know what you’re thinking “woah this is a day early”, and to that statement I can only say “correct”. Basically Darragh, the new captain, and I decided to try and have it out on Thursdays, mainly to increase the chance for feedback and comments but also I kept getting caught up and only getting the blog up on Friday late afternoons and it was getting lost amongst everything else.

Now obviously we’re hamstringing ourselves somewhat with Liverpoll, Newcastle and Spurs all playing tonight in the Champions-League-Thursdays, so there might be occasional lapses with us mentioning/tipping players and they go on to get injured that night. But we’re all grown ups eh?

GAMEWEEK 9 REVIEW OF NEW YORK COSMOS

This was a very average week pour moi, literally I did 2 points better than actual average (my 39 to the field’s 37), but this average figure is based on all the teams which salso includes ‘yer man in the office who picked a team for a laught’. I’ve dropped 2 places to 20th and now stand 96 points off the top.

Overall though, I’m very unhappy with my team, seven of my team got three points or more

Got the captain right? Nope, Morrison didn’t even play. :( and the vice captain scored only one point, so that doubled to two. L L

Got the keeper right? Did I what! Jaaskelainen got me 7 points, wheras Howard  whould have scored me minus 1 points. Boom.

Got my subs decisions right? My first choice one, Berbatov, got me 5 when he swapped in for the non–playing Morrison

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… I didn’t get round to it this week, sorry. It was TJ Doyle though, and I can only assume he’ll say drinking the best pints of Heineken he has ever had (ie Beamish) when he was down in Cork for the long weekend is what he’ll credit.

TRANSFERS

I’ve got two free ones to make this week but I’m making three. I’ve defo got to ship out Wilson (Stoke) as he’s out for months to come, just losing value and taking up space… I need to get rid of stuttering Fletcher and I think it’s just pointless (pun intendedish)  to not get RVP back in for a while, Man Utd have an easy-ish run coming up and can take the foot of the pedal in Champions League and since he was a sub last night, he’ll surely start this weekend. 

Bringing him in, and using my little transfer kitty I’d built up, I need to find 3.1 million elsewhere in the team; the only two options I have to make such money with is Cazorla and Hazard, both have played every game thus far but the Chelsea man has scored 13 points more; while Chelsea have the slightly tougher looking next 6 fixtures, I’m gonna drop Cazorla, I don’t doubt he’ll score a few points soon but I just gotta ship him out.

So now I have a defender and midfielder to get with 10millionish quid. While Baird (Fulham) and Reid (West Ham) look kinda tasty at a budget price, I am going to replace Wilson with his clubmate Cameron [They are at home to QPR, which should hopefully get me the 4 points for a clean sheet that will offset the cost of his transfer].

Now going to the transfer page of the website, looking at midfielders under 6.3million, I’ve gone for Maloney at Wigan, [this gameweek he is at home to WBA and two gameweeks time, he is at home to Reading. He plays every game and he is down for taking penalties and free kicks]. I won’t lie that his pricetag is very nice at 5 million. Which means I have 1 million in the bank, in case I wanna trade up on another player soon, always handy to have that bit of security.

THIS GAMEWEEK COMING UP, WHERE’S THE DRAMA.

Champions league exploits, RVP coming off the bench to score a greeeeeat goal; Man City essentially out of contention (so they might be playing Champions-League-Thursdays themselves soon); Arsenel once again making a haimes out of holding out ofr a victory; and Chelsea buying another round of drinks in the last chance saloon? Will Chelsea be shagged for the Liverpool game?

Alldardyce returning to Newcastle and showing them what’s what? Particularly with Newcastle playing tonight as well, now I doubt the next two 11’s fielded by Pardew will be that similar but there surely will be some parallells but leaving

Atkins and Hughes are surely the most beleagured managers at moment, and yet both chairmen seem to be strongly supportive as opposed to being pleasently positive. But I think Stoke will take no prisoners against QPR, I’m looking at Crouch to shine here; and Michu to open up Southampton’s defence.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

It’s pretty straightforward this week due to not having many options. Obviously everyone I signed this week is playing; Collins and Morrison both have orange marks next to their names. I’m benching them both and putting Williams as my number 13, will give Morrison the 12 spot as he might need to come off the stage and save the day etc etc.

In terms of keeper, I’ll go with Howard as he is at home, Everton have concedeed two goals in both their last two league games, so I’m sure shoring up is very much on the agenda.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

Noone is particular

ISTEACH!

Fellani is catching my eye (yeah what a curve ball eh?) and also Southampton players, if they are going to pull their shit together this really is the time to do it eh?

Norwich have two tough fixtures in GW 12 & 13 (Man Utd and Everton) but then have a nice run, so I think Mister Holt will be getting a call from my director of football.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

I’m humming and hawing between RVP, away at struggling Villa, and Hazard at home to Liverpool. I’ll probably decide tomorrow in case there is any injurys in Liverpool game tonight. Also Hazard might be the man to be rested by RDM since Moses has done more than knock on the selection door at this stage.

CAPTAIN’S CORNER with Darragh McHenry

Right, looks like RVP is trying to put me out of a job. Last weekend he staked a further claim for ‘auto-captaincy’. His 8 point haul actually should have been 6 points higher had his teammates finished his created chances (I hate talking about ‘missed points’ by the way). Away at Villa this week looks as if I could prove further returns but since his ownership is at a 34.2% as of writing, I’ll concentrate on the other options available to us. My focus this week is on mid-price differentials and the soon to be age old Mata/Hazard debate.

Fellaini punished my lack of faith in Everton’s away form last week by taunting me with 15 points from my bench. I shan’t neglect Screech any longer and he provides an appealing route this week. Problem is, Sunderland are solid at the back. However, The Black Cats couldn’t (insert prefered barn door, brothel adage here) so perhaps Baines offers a higher upside for this game. It’s simply amazing how high up the pitch Baines plays. If you were to divide up the pitch into 8 quadrants in either half (The 1^st quadrant being the 6 yard box and centre circle respectively), Baines on average plays in the 2^rd quadrant of the opponents half, where his nearest FF left back competitor, Ashley Cole, on average maintains a position in the 6^th quadrant of his own half. Furthermore, he whips in, on average, a monstrous ten crosses per game. To put that in perspective, that’s more than Bale, Valencia, Mata and Hazard with 9.8, 5.5, 5.0, 3.8 per game respectively. In case you’re not feeling my big ball of Everton adoration just yet, here are some more groin tingling stats. Everton have peppered 140 shots inside the box this term, 22 more than the nearest competitor (Man City at 118). The have hit the woodwork 8 times, the most in the league (seems a Merseyside club must win that accolade every year). Sunderland have had just 78 shots on goal, last in the league, drifting 23 shots away from the second last team, Reading. All in all, you could say I like Everton this week.

The Mata/Hazard question has a relatively simple answer for now I feel. If you Hazard, stick to Hazard and vice versa. If you have neither, go with Mata. Their stats are extremely similar, with Mata providing more creativity and long distance shots per game, but Hazard offering a more attacking position, touches in the box and he’s on spotters while Lamps nurses his baby cow injury. For that reason. I’ll take a slight lean on the Belgian since he offers more FF points potential at Stanford Bridge.

A quick word regarding other potential skippers. Man City are done with Tuesday/Wednesday nights. That’s obvious now. Aguero owners (only 6.4% of you) can now expect to see a plethora of FF points to reward your patience. Tottenham at home this week could well be a bounce back game after a European hangover and Aguero looked extremely sharp on Tuesday night. He is now atop my watchlist as I expect him to rekindle his form that made him so vital last season.

Stoke offer a real alternative as well. Crouch has been poor of late but Ryan Nelson looked more suitced to St Colemans Park than Loftus Road last Sunday and I can see plenty of good deliveries troubling the Kiwi and whoever his defensive partner may be. An encouraging stat to back this up is that QPR have also conceded the highest number of headed chances in the league so far (38). Speaking of Stoke’s deliveries, Charlie Adam, remember him, is my gamble for this week. Walters is no longer out of position and Adam has been tucking more into the hole behind Crouch of late. Don’t go making any crazy transfers for Champagne Charlie just yet though.

Top 5 Captaincy Choices (outside of RVP, sigh) for the week are:

1. Aguero

2. Fellaini

3. Baines

4. Hazard

5. Crouch