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 1st quadrant being the 6 yard box and centre circle respectively), Baines on average plays in the 2rd quadrant of the opponents half, where his nearest FF left back competitor, Ashley Cole, on average maintains a position in the 6th 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
Top 5 Captaincy Choices (outside of RVP, sigh) for the week are:
1. Aguero
2. Fellaini
3. Baines
4. Hazard
5. Crouch
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