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).