Back Of The Net Boy: Gameweek 33 Season 2012/2013

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Hello there Fantasy-ers, or judging by last gameweek Fantasy-errorers. How bad was that for everyone? @darraghFPL covered mostly in this week’s podcast – all the usual big hitters and considered choices of GM32 failed to pay off. I won’t blame those players, as it’s a much as their parents fault for the way they raised them.

I have never been so off the hunt in my years of playing fantasy football, my worst finish was 481856^th position last season, and a haul of 1721 points in 2006/2007, as things stand I should get over the mark set in my maiden season but the position is another thing.

My personal aim is not to get in the top 500,000 and first page of the Back Of The Net BoyLeague ], which is just so crazy it might just work.

As I will get to later, this is my wildcard week, so here we go as the old song goes...

REVIEW OF NEW CORK COSMOS IN GAMEWEEK 32

Like most people I did worse than I hoped but pretty much the same as everyone else, but I did drop a few spots in the BOTNB league and in the other ones I’m in now… but it’s all about the wildcard….

WHAT’S THE POINTS?

Points scored last week - 30 Points

Average points scored in that week - 32 points

Points off the top - 331 points, 3 points further off the top

Position in BOTNB League - 57th

WHAT WENT RIGHT?

Not much, only 3 players got 4 points or more

WHAT WENT NOT RIGHT?

I’ll go with “everything”.

CLUTCHING AT STRAWS

Ehm…… I have my wildcard to use this week

LAST WEEK’S TEAM

TRANSFERS

Ok, it’s on like Donkey Kong, here we go… let’s go… Okay I’m basically bracing myself for this and the next two/three GM after that, without even looking at the transfer screen yet – I’m going to go with only teams with something to play for (pretty obvious I guess, but well explained and extrapulated by @darraghFPL on this week’s podcast). Obviously the teams that have double game weeks have some extra strength anyway.

So as you can see from the screenshot it’s been unquestionably like Cast’s best album, ‘All Change, [the big question is which is the best song from it, I’ll go with this - you can decide here] for the New Cork Cosmos.

I’ve made 9 selections specifically for this double gameweek, with a hunch on McCarthy at the Ethiad, and Ben Arfa’s continued comeback with a home derby game. Three players were kept/brought in with GM 34 in mind, Bale, Turner & Shaw. I’ve gone against what Darragh said in podcast and decided to go with Rafael.

KEEPING AN EYE ON

Nobody specific

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

All my double game weekers on the field along, going with the pick the minimum of defenders I need to that makes things very simple – Turner and Shaw on the bench alongside the injured Bale

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Right now I am going to go with Fellani, but let’s see if I can sit still on that for the next 14 or so hours.

CAPTAIN’S CORNER with @darraghFPL

Yeeesh, tough week eh! It all started so brightly with Jay Rodriguez bagging a goal and assist against the hapless Reading. From then on however, the heavy hitters stunk out the place as Lowton (1.4% ownership), Rosicky (0.2%) and the afore mentioned Rodriguez were the top scorers in the respective positions. Suarez, Cazorla, RvP and Mata offered little more than a brace of points per player but this will surely be rectified in a bumper filled double gameweek. Oh how I love double gameweeks….

I case you were wondering, yes that was sarcasm. I’m always of the opinion that these should be approached cautiously and over investment often prove costly. A shining example for this week would Manchester United. They’re double contains away trips to Stoke and West Ham. This may look juicy, but with the league sown up its becoming increasingly difficult to predict their starting XI, especially as Hernandez will surely see more game time given the collective sniffing around of Europe’s top clubs. Van Persie armbanders beware.

There are a few double gamers who have tickled my fancy however. If he wasn’t crocked with a thigh strain, I’d be all over Theo Walcott like white on rice. Arsenal’s competitive struggle to finish in the top four indicates that the strongest possible line-up will be fielded when possible and since I can’t take the risk on the polarizing winger, I’m hedging my bets with perennial fantasy frustrator (made that word up) Santi Cazorla. Fans of this blog will no doubt know my previous with the Spaniard. Twice he has topped my Captain’s Choices. Twice he has yielded dose puntos. But I have faith. Over the past six weeks, no midfielder who is active this gameweek has had more attempts on goal with 17 (Michu & Bale have more) and no midfielder at all has had as many successfully threaded through balls as Cazorla (12) with his compatriot David Silva one behind in the same time frame. Furthermore, and this stat is particularly astonishing, but he is a full 21 successful passes clear in the opponents final third than his nearest rival (Sean Moloney!?) with 122 passes. Home ties against Norwich and Everton only wet the appetite further. Third times a charm Santi, I know it.

So think about it, after reading the preceding paragraph, what is the most hypocritical thing I could do regarding my next Captain’s Choice? What’s that you say…. Choose an Everton defender? You betcha! It’s been a while so I feel it’s about time for my obligatory stat-tacular dose of Everton love. And in particular, that man Sylvan Distan. I jest of course, as Leighton Baines continues to add to his plethora of fantasy scoring in the past three fantasy seasons (34 goals & assists). But getting back to this term, his stats continue to underlie his status as the defender to have for this gameweek. So far this season, he has whipped in a monstrous 280 (two hundred and eighty!) crosses. That’s 164 more than his nearest rival Kyle Walker. He has created 98 scoring chances, which once again is a mere 47 more than Kyle Walker who lies in second. He creates a chance every 30 minutes. The only other regularly starting defenders in the game who create a chance per game are Kyle Walker, Glen Johnson and Joes Enrique with a chance created every 54.1, 65.5 and 80.1 minutes respectively. So why has Baines only returned 7 assists and 5 goals this term (that’s top of both categories for defenders by the way)? Well it could be down to Nicola Jelavic having the third lowest chance to goals conversion ratio in the league with 9.2%. The only strikers below him are the Franco Di Santo (8.1%) and, you guessed it, Everton’s own Kevin Miralles (6.7%). The latter of these has begun to hit form however, with 3 goals in his last 4, so perhaps now is the time that the future incumbent England left backs owners reaps the rewards of his continuous fantasy potential.

Finally, I refuse to look beyond Dimital Berbatov again. He may have stung me last week with a two pointer against QPR but an away tie at Villa, who I spoke in lengths about last week, and a home tie against a Chelsea side 3 days after a clearly prioritized FA Cup semi-final tie against Man City have left me full of calm as I’m neigh on positive the Bulgarian won’t burn me twice. Ahem. Elsewhere, Suarez away at Reading has peaked my interest though the suspension tightrope he continues to walk have left me expectant of a 90^th minute yellow card for biting, punching and humping Nicky Shorey. Speaking of feisty South Americans, Aguero’s wundergol against United have firmly placed the Argentinean on my radar. At home to Wigan may seem a futile endeavor given The Latics annual ascension to demi-god status but I just feel City will finish the season with a serious flurry. Their upcoming double gameweek, probably gameweek 36, means Aguero is a tailor made replacement for the Uruguayan should he succumb to his second ban of the year.

This weeks Captains choices Last Weeks Choices:

1. S. Cazorla J. Rodriguez (12pts)
2. L. Baines J. Walters (2pts)

3. D. Berbatov D. Berbatov (2pts)

4. L. Suarez A. Townsend (2pts)