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***
Hello everybody!
So I write this
and the laptop I’m using is very close to being f-cked through the f-cking
window; I’ve had it a fair few years and I’ve driven it into the ground. Thinking
of borrowing a spare mac (is there such a thing?) and just wiping this thing,
but whatever is clogging up my machine will still be there. It’s almost like
the chicken, bag of feed and fox crossing the river in a boat thing.
Add to that the
beyond shitty internet connection here, I think it would be quicker for me to
ring each person who wants to listen to the podcast and talking them through it
than getting this uploaded. I’m not just moaning here, I just want you to have
a context about me writing a blog about something that frustrates me on a piece
of equipment that is frustrating me on a connection that is beyond frustrating.
FML.
Anyway that is
vented now… so welcome to this week’s blog, it’s been a while so I hope you’ve
had a good time since your eyes last crossed our words. The double game week is
what most people had in mind in GM26 and now most FFers are either ruing their
chances or congratulating themselves, mainly people with Suarez and/or Michu as
captains.
… (it is now 10
hours since I started this, I went to sleep cursing my computer and woke up 33,
make your own ‘both are types of aging’ wisdom metaphor there)
…. [as I edit
this (yes, I edit) it is now 21 hours later – the film of this story of a
shitty computer set up and an overly busy man will not star Cillian Murphy]
REVIEW OF NEW CORK
COSMOS IN GAMEWEEK6
As we discussed
in the podcast earlier, up till the bonus points got divied out in Liverpool v
Swansea game I was back on the first page (my only real goal left in this
season) but I’ve slipped back to 54th spot and “el page de dous”, as they say
in Latin or Spanish or something.
WHAT’S THE
POINTS?
Points scored
last week - 76 Points
Average points
scored in that week - I dunno, offline
and have no screenshot – not like a boss.
Points off the
top - 296 points, exactly the same
points difference as last week.
Position in
BOTNB League - 52st (up 9 points)
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Michu as
captain, was an inspired decision, inspired by Darragh, our benevolant captain,
who subtly inspired me at about 3am Saturday morning via text to “make sure I
captained him”, I read between the lines and worked out what he was getting at,
so I was one of the very few people to give him the armband. Well, few is
relative yeah?
WHAT WENT NOT
RIGHT
Ahem, essentially
everything else. If we take that 5 points is considered success (I made that up
btw) then 6 of my crew let me down. But it is all about how you percieve
information yeah?; if I set the barrier of success at say 12 points, all of my
team would have failed (barr Michu) and alternately if I set simply becoming a
professional soccer player is a success (which we probably all would) – then my
team had a storming week.
CLUTCHING AT
STRAWS
I think my
‘didn’t they all do well to play in premiership’ was clutching at straws enough
eh? But do read on to find me trying to find a silver lining in my signing
Wisdom mistake… and also a pretty strained reference to a 1980’s tv show.
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… Gameweek 26’s highest scorer (that hadn’t already
contributed to blog) was Dominic Fallon – who has come all the way to Cork this
weekend to claim his free pint! He scored 107 points – like a boss.
The Secret of my
success!
The secret of my success this week was probably Michael Laudrup playing a B team in preparation for the Capital One Cup final! I hedged my bets on the double gameweek (which in the past has brought me mixed results) by ensuring I had 2 Liverpool and 2 Swansea players in my team. Going into the Liverpool v Swansea game things weren't looking too clever (despite Michu's 18 point haul v QPR) but Suarez and Enrique pulled in an enormous haul of 46 points for me between them.
The secret of my success this week was probably Michael Laudrup playing a B team in preparation for the Capital One Cup final! I hedged my bets on the double gameweek (which in the past has brought me mixed results) by ensuring I had 2 Liverpool and 2 Swansea players in my team. Going into the Liverpool v Swansea game things weren't looking too clever (despite Michu's 18 point haul v QPR) but Suarez and Enrique pulled in an enormous haul of 46 points for me between them.
The downside is
I now have 5 players who will be benched for GW27 - however I have 2 free
transfers so I should be able to cover myself as long as the likes of Darth
Ferguson and Bobby Manc don't start resting players this weekend. Overall I’m
pretty happy with my midfield and forward line but need a bit of tweaking at
the back. Unlikely to push to win the BOTNB! league I’ll be happy with a top 10
finish. Voronin out.
Dominic's Team...
***
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***
TRANSFERS
- Money in the
bank - .9million – 1 free transfer
As I mention in
this week’s podcast, I have a Lampard-on and wanna bring him in, but as
Darragh, O.B.C., pointed out I jus thad to shift things round in defence. Also
as it was I only had 11 potential playing outfield players and one is Remy who
looks unlikely to play.
So you know the
way people say you should think with your heart not with your head
(well good people do, not bank managers etc),
well I’ve decided to go against Wisdom and with Harte, ie I’ve gone from Harte
to not-Harte… [that was the laboured 80’s TV reference I promised you]. My only silver lining with selling a player I
only brought in 3 gameweeks ago and never actually selected is - at least he
didn’t lose any value. Yep you can always say that about old man Leonard, he
buys them at 4.3 and he sells them at 4.3. So Wisdom at Liverpuhl is gone and
Harte from Reading has been brought in, 2 out of the next 4 fixtures will be
good chances for him, and it’s more for the assists and freekicks than clean
sheets anyway. And he’s cheap as chips. (well large chips are regularly around
the 3.9 price is some takeaways, and other than the million added after Harte’s
price, it is the same number.)
KEEPING AN EYE
ON
The afore
mentioned Lampard, but also if Wilson will play any minutes for Stoke. Also
getting intrigued by Lukaku, as a mid price option for my Remy replacement.
THIS WEEK’S
SELECTION
Only real
selection decision was between my keepers, Jaaskelainen will probably make more
saves against Spurs than Begovic will at Craven Cottage; I doubt either will
keep a clean sheet, so that’s my decider. The rest is pretty simple as I have
Michu and Williams benched. I have selected O’Brien who is also carrying some
sort of knock, and I’ve put Remy as my 1st choice sub. Realistically I won’t be
surprised if I only have 10 outfielders play, and if so, more fool me for not
planning.
Actually I just
texted Darragh, OBC, and Pat, a long term FFaddict and writer of the fine
facebook page The Cruyff Turn, about selling Remy and bring Lukaku in, would
cost 4 points, but would mean not chancing on O’Brien playing and probably
conceding anyway. I think I’m gonna do it.
Due to the
beauty of 3G, I just did it… (calm down sex story fans, I don’t mean I just did
some girlsexxing)… I whipped out my… (calm down selfsexxing fans)… phone and made those changes (calm down David
Bowie fans). So there we go, O’Brien relegated to bench duties.
MY CAPTAIN, MY
CAPTAIN
On the opening
day of every season this would be a top of the table clash, but not this
weekend – it will be a wounded Arsenal against a spluttering Villa, you’d think
the former will batter the latter, so I’ve given the armband to Walcott, but my
drama self is drawn to Sissoko who are at home to Newcastle, he could certainly
feast there BUT Ben Arfa is apparently on way back and due to play some minutes
this weekend, so I think Sissoko would directly suffer from this and be moved
furter down the pitch. TBH that insight is based on one thing I read a few
weeks ago, so if anyone else says it’s a good idea to captain him as a
differential to Walcott, I’ll probably do it. I’m a ticking timebomb here.
ENABLE ME ENABLE ME!!!!
Here’s the screenshot.
CAPTAIN’S CORNER
with @darraghFPL
Well I hope
that’s that for a bit. Me and double gameweeks go together like Arsenal and
trophies (too soon?) and although I had the likes of Michu delivering the
goods, Liverpool players gave their owners a little fright after the impudent
performance in front of goal against West Brom. Sturridge showed real signs of
being a fantasy essential after his inclusion in the Swansea game and Lampard
continues to offer a viable Chelsea alternative to Mata.
Looking ahead,
there’s an eclectic mix of big budget and cheap options to choose from.
Reading’s home fixture against Wigan looks valuetastic seeing as no Reading
player costs more that €0.99 but while the Royals represent the Pound City of
the Fantasy Football market, the Marks & Spencer’s of Manchester United,
Arsenal & Spurs may also prove irresistibly good for the upcoming weekend.
It’s with the
latter of these that I begin the allocation of armbands and predictably enough,
it’s straight to Gareth Bale. While media hyperbole has suggested he’s the
amalgamation of Maradona, Pele & Jesus of Nazareth, he nevertheless has
produced scintillating fantasy form of late. He loves a shot, and I mean loves
a shot. His 6.6 attempts on goal per game over the last six gameweeks dwarf
that of his competitors, with perennial glories Lampard, Walcott & Gerrard
lagging on 4.0, 3.7 and 2.85 attempts per game respectively. This essentially
means the Welshman has an attempt every 14.4 minutes, the highest of any player
at any point this season.
His away form
also far out-trumps his home performances, scoring 9 of his 13 goals this
season on his travels. Furthermore, his move to a more central role of late has
seen a vast upswing in his attempts from inside the box, with an average of 4
per game since the new year, slightly edging out Walcott (3.8) and even Michu
(2.5), Benteke (2.5) and Van Persie (2). As a result, he has seen a dramatic
increase in his amount of shots on target of late, 39.4%, compared with his
accuracy rating of 21.3% from gameweeks 15-20. In fact, only two other
midfielders with +15 attempts have a higher accuracy rating in the last six
gameweeks, with his out of position teammate Clint Dempsey (47.1%) and Theo
Walcott taking the honours (46.2%). Speaking of Walcott…….
Arsenal’s imminent dumping out of Europe coupled with their shambolic result against Blackburn Fried Chicken has seen the Gunners season evaporate. All that’s left is the piping of their rivals to the last CL spot this May. I actually still have a soft spot for Wenger. After all, he introduced me to Emmanuel Petit, putting Vicks vapor rub on my chest before a game and that apparently it’s now socially acceptable to wearing a sleeping bag on the sideline of a football field. With this in mind, I see a potentially backlash whopping for the Villains this weekend.
Arsenal’s imminent dumping out of Europe coupled with their shambolic result against Blackburn Fried Chicken has seen the Gunners season evaporate. All that’s left is the piping of their rivals to the last CL spot this May. I actually still have a soft spot for Wenger. After all, he introduced me to Emmanuel Petit, putting Vicks vapor rub on my chest before a game and that apparently it’s now socially acceptable to wearing a sleeping bag on the sideline of a football field. With this in mind, I see a potentially backlash whopping for the Villains this weekend.
Walcott in
particular has been a source of consistency for fantasy owners, netting an
average of 8.8 points over the last ten games, better than any other FPL player
over the same time span. Villa have also shipped in the horrendous total of 15
goals in their past four games away from Birmingham. If all this wasn’t enough
to salivate at Arsenal’s attacking options, Villa have conceded the highest
amount of crosses down the oppositions right flank in the last six gameweeks
with 107, with Reading being the only other side north of 90 chances conceded
in the same position.
Moving on to the
more budget options, I’ve decided to latch onto this years Grant Holt (although
I’m not sure if Grant Holt warrants a variety of player named after him. Maybe
somebody can be next year’s Rickie Lambert). So yes, it’s time I bestowed some
love on the journeyman striker and his continuing claim to be the third striker
in all our RVP laden attacks. Lamberts display against City two weeks ago along
with his 5 strikes in his previous 8 and his 47 penalty area touches (4th
highest in the league) over the last 6 weeks has earned him a spot in my
starting front three. This ties in well with Newcastle’s penchant for conceding
a brace at St James’s Park, doing so in their last three games.
Finally, Jimmy
Kebe earns a budget spot amongst the captain’s choices. Ze Frenchman has
offered two double digit point hauls in his last three home games since finding
his niche in the hole of Brian McDermott’s five man midfield. His ICT threat
index rating is considerably higher than any other Royals midfielder (155
compared to 31 of Jobi McAnuff) and LeFondre’s lack of guaranteed game time
ensure that he still remains an unviable option. Coming it a meager £4.7
million, he has become highlighted as a perfect fit for those wishing to obtain
four of the power five along with the essential RvP.
Oh, and the
immanent RvP hat-trick has earned him a spot as my 5th choice this week.
***
Join the Back Of
The Net Boy league - 359767-141904
Join us at
www.facebook.com/backofthenetboy
www.twitter.com/darraghFPL
Download our
‘Back Of The Net Boy’ podcast through iTunes
or via
www.backofthenetboy.podomatic.com
please comment,
share and retweet whatever you can, thanks
***
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