Fantasy Football 2011-12-2

Game week 13

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 39

Average Score on site – 41

Highest Haul – 10 - Kompany

Lowest Haul – 0 -Van Der Vaart

Average Score Per Player 3.3

Accrued Score – 500

Place in my own fecking league – 80, same as last week

Points Off the top – 206.

State Of Play

Remember all my talk of rebirth last week? Well it’s very déjà vu now isn’t it? I’ve been losing faith in my selections, but I keep coming back to the fact that I have reasoned them out and they just aren’t working out. But someone else has said something similar to me… "We have been using a lot of players but we have to make choices based on coherence, decision making, and based on the best players”. Step on up Andre Villas-Boas.

Vindication

Rather than saying nothing every week, I will use this space to teach you how to say nothing in different languages; ‘Nichts’ is the German for nothing. Over the course of the season, I might also move in the philosophy of nothing.

D’oh

I didn’t even field a full team, due to injuries and Jones and Drenthe not even making the subs bench. Kompany scored nearly 25% of my points. That shizzle just won’t fizzle.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky have spotted it.

Wowzers, Villa have a very very bad run for next 6 games, Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are all on the agenda. So bye bye Given from barcaRONAN.

Sunderland’s new manager might be installed by the time I post this, and to be fair to whoever takes over (it’s looks like Martin O’Neill) will have a favourable opening run of fixtures, what that will mean for Bendtner will be interesting. He did wonders with Emile Heskey eh?

Two teams who are in strange types of reeling; Man Utd, who got caught with a stunner on Wed; and Chelsea who’ve been slugged over and over recently, are in a position to ‘fight back like an animal in a corner’ kinda thing. The Chelsea visit to Newcastle could be interesting, will Ben Arfa light up the pitch? Or will John Terry just have a few words with him...

Transfers/Theory/Selection

  

I think I’ve left too much faith in both my keepers, Given goes this week, probably Begovic next week. I’m bringing in Hennessy’s from Wolves in, they are at home hosting Sunderland this week, so I’ll play him there and he’ll be syncing in and out with my other keeper for next few weeks. Also letting little Wes of Norwich leaves the Ro Camp, so I can bring in Ben Arfa, Newcastle have a lovely run of fixtures as of next week but he may nick a few points against Chelsea this week.

By virtue of playing a Wolves keeper (Hennessy) and Man Utd Defender (Jones), I’m benching my two strikers who could score against them (Aghbonlahor and Bendtner). Also benching Huth, as Stoke’s defending has been slacker and slacker and if any team the premiership can eat up the game Stoke play it’s Everton.

I’m gonna captain RVP, as well, Wigan are no great shakes at the moment and you mightn’t have heard, but he’s in good form.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Wolves, and more importantly the new Sunderland era.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Man City @Home to Norwich - Aguero came off the bench during the week so looks set for start. Balotelli looks more likely to start alongside him the Dzeko. Both great captaincy choices. Silva as usual is a decent safety option.

Arsenal away to Wigan - RVP finally turned up short last week after an incredible 5 matches on the trot with double figure scores. Rotation is very much an issue with a tired Arsenal side now and i wouldn't be surprised with RVP being rested or coming off the bench. Make sure you pick your vice captain well. Nice opportunity to make a big captaincy score here with a differential pick other than RVP in any of the other fixtures, as most will be captaining the Dutchman. Not for the faint of heart though.

Tottenham @home to Bolton - Nice home fixture for a Spurs side in flying form in the premiership, Europa loss not withstanding. Latest reports say VDV will start so is an excellent pick along with Adebayor.

Newcastle@home to Chelsea - Mata finally got a big haul last week in a Chelsea side in disarray. Torres is dropped for Drogba. I don't see many goals in this to be honest. 0-0.

Man United away to Villa - I like Hernandez here. Rooney should be returning to a front slot as well. Both great picks.

Gamble pick - Ryan Taylor, clean sheet and some bonus points in the 0-0 against Chelsea. You heard it here first.

Fantasy Football 2011-11-24

Game week 12

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 35

Average Score on site – 44

  

Highest Haul – 7

Lowest Haul – 1

Average Score Per Player 3.3

Accrued Score – 495

Place in my own fecking league – 80, down 6 Places

Points Off the top - 165

State Of Play

Right I’m in position number 80… I was born right in 1980, so this is clearly a position of… REBIRTH. This where it all kicks in folks, this is the second act… this is where Lady Macbeth has talked me into it… this is where I get back in the ring to avenge Apollo Creed’s death… this is where I start a band called Wings….

I have cunningly had a really a shit first third (turd?) of the season, so my move up a gear (or is it down a gear? I don’t drive yet… the way you go faster and when you make driving sounds you go up a pitch) will be a way clearer to spot!

Vindication

I flagged Irish strikers to be playing as well as they can and one of mine, Walters, scored and another, Long (who is a former member of the barcaRONAN team), also leapt like a gazelle to score one for himself.

D’oh

You know the way there’s 11 players in your team and I mentioned one in my vindication section? You do the math…

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

I’m writing this in a rush as I have an appointment with some beer and my best friend in town, and 

I was supposed to get home ages ago, but I got stuck in a meeting… about starting a weekly 

soccer trivia quiz night in Cork City. So anyway, Champions League threw up a few things 

(1) Man United still seem averse to defending (2) Van Arsenal is leading the entire Persie FC team 

(3) Chelsea, like Bart Simpson,  are in trouble, big big trouble [actually this has tickled me today, 

the first paragraph of this article -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/24/andre-villas-boas-chelsea - they are bang in the middle of the slump yeah? They’ve lost their last two?, and 4 of their last 7?]

Transfers/Theory/Selection

With the news breaking of Anderson also being out till February-ish, Man United’s midfield options are even more limited, so it looks like Rooney might end up in the middle of the park for this weekend (assuming he’s fully fit, he still has the yellow mark against his name on the fantasy football site); and also with the inevitable need for Van Persie, I brought the Dutch man into my team… with parallel inevitably he will get injured this weekend.

I’m not gonna lie, due to this direct swap, I’m not even considering a second transfer this weekend, so that’s it, gotta make a selection out of what’s in front of me. I don’t trust Man City’s defence against Liverpool at Anfield, so by benching those two, it’s a choice of who my third man on the bench will be.

There was a few candidates, but I’ve chosen Agbonlahor on the bench as he’s away to Swansea who have been very good at home so far; but what with VDV also doubtful and Drenthe not a sure fire starter for Everton at Bolton, he may well end up turning out in the barcaRONAN jersey this weekend.

I will captain Robin Van Persie, cos feck it (1) he’s at home to relatively weak opposition, Fulham, (2) he is on fire at moment and (3) I’m never afraid to launch way too much pressure at the first chance of some good quality scoring, which explains why so many potential relationships of mine have floundered.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

I was trying to link to a youtube clip of Homer saying “can’t talk now, I’ve got a class to teach”…. But you get the gag

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

RVP does it again in the champions league, a magnificent brace to send Arsenal into the next stage. He's on fire. If you have him captain him. He looks like scoring big every week and is at home to Fulham.

Chelsea @home to Wolves - Chelsea are in rotten form and need a big win to try to lift their spirits. What better fixture to regain some intent than at home to Wolves. Torres, Sturridge and Lampard are all good choices.

Liverpool@home to City - Should be a fascinating match this, Liverpool coming off a nice 2-1 win against Chelsea against a City side who maybe lost a bit of shine losing to Napoli and putting their champions league adventure in serious doubt. Still, now they will be more focused than ever on the premiership and maintaining their unbeaten run. Aguero looks definite to start. Him and Silva will be looking to run the show here. Maybe Adam or Suarez if you think Liverpool can win.

United @home to Wolves - Once again i don't see any captain material in United at the moment. They have lost their way a bit and Newcastle are a solid side. I can see this one being 0-0. Maybe 1-0 with Hernandez getting the goal?

Gamble pick - Same as last week, Walters in tremendous form against a terrible Blackburn side. 

Fantasy Football 2011-11-17

Game week 12

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 40

Average Score on site – 53

Highest Haul – 15

Lowest Haul – (0)

Average Score Per Player 3.6

Accrued Score – 460

Place in my own fecking league – 74, down 10 Places

Points Off the top - 149

State Of Play

OLE OLE OLE OLE, after the international break it’s time for us all to get back to club level, I need to get both a better insight to Fantasy Football and a thesaurus, so I can at least say ‘I did bad” in a different way every week. I am just cannon fodder at the moment,

In a bid to inspire myself to great and better things I have a photo of my son in front of me and I am listening to this fine collection of songs…

Vindication

Nothing, now let’s just move on

D’oh

My fupping christhole of a browser, I insist that I had set Agbonlahor to captain as I said in the last blog “so Gabby gets the armband and barcaRONAN debutant Ramsey will get the vice role”, that would have made a 11 point impact on my team, wouldn’t change the world but it would have eeked me up a few spots on the ladder.

In a list of my other regrets and grievances from last week, I will refer to this (work it out yerself)….

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

I’m wondering how much of an immediate impact qualifying for the Euros will have on the Irish players, while a lot of them hit the gargle on Tuesday night, it’s more the psychological impact I’m wondering about. Will McCarthy really push on now, and same with Coleman; and will O’Hara really go for gold and try and join the Irish squad. Also Trap said he anticipates bringing 4 strikers, so assuming Doyle and Keane are fit, that means the last 2 spots are a shoot out between Walters, Long and Cox (at his stage my knee is still at me, so I don’t think I’ll be getting a look in for the squad). And Dunne/Given, who both seem the decentest kinda guys you’ll ever meet must surely have a spring in their steps coming back into the Villa’s dressing room.

On a broader level there is the clash between Liverpool and Chelsea, with the Torres factor getting most of the red top attention, there’s also an interesting meeting of Terry and Suarez, two men who have had a problem with… how do you say it subtly… not being assholes, yeah that’s it. Terry inevitably scores goals when he’s under scrutiny (I wonder does Abromovich know this himself? God knows that he’d concoct to keep the Chelsea Skipper knocking in crucial headed goals)

Regarding my team specifically, the elephant in the room that is Van Persie (68 points in last 6 games!!! How amazing is that?), I’m giving Rooney one more chance, he didn’t play in the friendlies for England (How much does Alex Ferguson love that punishment do you think?), whereas RVP returned to England after Holland’s match at weekend, will he perhaps be benched for their visit to Norwich? The reason I think that is the Champions League is back on Tuesday. Damn it, now I’m thinking Rooney won’t play either…

Transfers/Theory/Selection

Basically, I wanted to make a change with no obvious candidates, I have the feeling Holohan might excel against Arsenal (yet another Irishman who wants to grab Trap’s eye even more than before now); so I got rid of Shaun Wright Philips; and in comes Drenthe, mainly cos the Fantasy Football Scout site are pushing him at the moment. As you can see I’ve two injury doubtfuls, VDV and Agbonlahor; The Dutchman has time on his side, as their game isn’t till Monday evening.

My selection is hotch potch to be honest, it’s all half hunches more so than ruthless insight, since Many City have conceded in last few matches, I’m gonna play just Kompany. Of the team I select I can see Huth and Walters not playing anyway. This week is probably Huth’s farewell appearance with barcaRONAN due to his very disappointing form this season.

Gonna captain Bendter for the fact he’s a nailed on starter, they are at home and I need a differential.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Scribbled in my notebook are Formica and Hoillet (Blackburn), Enrique (Liverpool), Cleverly (Man Utd), let’s see if his fitness and form is back to the start of season yet; and O’Hara (Wolves)

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Tough Captaincy choice this week. Lot of top players played two internationals the last week. There's a good article on who played and for how long at www.totalfpl.com. I can't link to it directly due to the way the site is laid out, but it's the first story in the community articles section.

Van Persie - Away to Norwich looks like a great bet for a goal or two from RVP. He was rested for a friendly on Tuesday at the request of Wenger, so looks likely to start.

Rooney - Rooney played no part in Englands internationals and is fully rested. Rooney tends to score in bursts and has been having a dry patch the last few games after his early season heroics. Away to Swansea wouldn't have a lot of goals in it i'd say. There are better choices for your armband.

Man City - Home to Newcastle. I don't worry too much about fixtures anymore with City, they're just that good. Rotation is a much bigger issue. Aguero played 45 minutes for argentina and got himself a goal. Dzeko and Balotelli are less rested, having both played 180 minutes.

Chelsea @home to Liverpool - The biggie this weekend.  Chelsea have lost their way the last few weeks. I'd almost fancy a Pool win here. Suarez scored an incredible 4 goals against Chile but fatigue could be an issue, as well as all the media and FA attention regarding the racism story. 

Van Der Vaart - Is apparently "75% fit" and in with a chance to face Villa.

Gamble pick - Walters full of confidence after Scoring for Ireland and getting to Euro 2012, he'll be full of energy against QPR.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-21

Game week 11

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 43

Average Score on site – 45

Highest Haul – 20 (Factoring in being in Captain)

Lowest Haul – (-1)

Average Score Per Player 3.9

Accrued Score – 428

Place in my own fecking league – 64, down 9 Places

Points Off the top - 119

State Of Play

Okay I write this minus a wisdom tooth and with painkillers in my system, so the pain of my shit fantasy football weeks is somewhat sated.

For fecks sake, where is going wrong, I don’t think I am making bad decisions when I click save changes every Friday evening. But then again who does I guess.

Vindication

Well captaining Mata, and that it’s it…

D’oh

… because Mata got me 48% of my points this week. What a fuckbucket (I think every week I’ll come with a new way to curse the lads, at least give ye a reason to come back every week). I need Rooney to take charge more and stop being an assistant to the play, I need him to me more of a Head Master and less of a Runaí (hardy harr, see what I did there). I don’t need to need to talk you through my d’ohs individually, you can see them all here in my…

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

Chelsea, I think they have kept one clean sheet in last 8 games or something, will John Terry step in and just pull them together because he’s a racist, I mean because he’s a good defensive leader?

Is this season the Silva and Van Persie show? In fantasy football terms you are literally a fool if you don’t’ have one, if not both of them; Ergo I am a literally a fool (I did just lose a wisdom tooth I guess, so it’s in my nature)

I heard a good point that Aston Villa are actually more over achieving than Newcastle; just an interesting point pointing out it’s not like the magpies bought dregs of players - they all had proven qualities, just they had less famous roads than some premiership imports. Now the Newcastle momentum will be severely tested over next month and then as Paul Doyle of the Guardian pointed, the African Nations Cup will take Ba from them.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

Okay, so in short, I’ve just taken an 8-point hit and made three changes; a lot of people have been in and out of my squad for the last 30ish minutes.

Mata, my hero last week, has just felt how ruthless I’ve decided to be, as has Taylor, (anticipating a value drop from next week on) and Arteta, basically I traded down to a cheaper (and currently in form Ramsey) and Mata went too, mainly to afford VDV. Cos as I said I’m simply a fool to not have him or his Dutch teammate. I very nearly did the Rooney swap with Van Persie too, I had them swapped into my team and all, but I just don’t fancy a 12 point hit. I’ve brought in Jones too, cos Man Utd seem to be getting their shit together at the back and they certainly have a run of favourable fixtures ahead.

What with those transfers, I’ve obviously put them all in the first 11, and then with Kompany suspended, I only had 2 decisions to make (well three factoring in goalkeepers, as usual I went with the home play, Shay Given, who needs to know he was out of my squad for a while too. At home to Norwich can certainly be possible to get him 6 points). Because of Jones, and wanting him to keep a clean sheet, I’ve dropped Bendter and similar thing for Given v Hoolahan.

I’m frontloading the captains with Rooney as main and in case he gets rotated Aghbonlahor as Vice, but if Rooney is put on bench it’s probable Ferguson will give him a few mins. Okay I’ve just decided to not use him as captain, so Gabby gets the armband and barcaRONAN debutant Ramsey will get the vice role.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

No one in particular this week, nice broad view this weekend, in the words of Eddie Cochran, c’mon everybody.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

[NB Back Of The Net Boy is not responsible for Captain’s Corner spelling, grammar and basic text layout]

Blogs, forums and idle pub talk all point to one acronym this weekend: RVP. He's in the form of his life, and completely carrying a less than brilliant Arsenal team. 10 goals in as many matches so far in the premiership, and 7 in the last 3. The fixture is an appealing home game to West Brom and you'd be a brave man not to captain him if you have him. His ownership also hasn't reached Rooney type levels,  at the time of writing, he's at 17.1%, making him somewhat of a differential still. This is the time to have him when others don't and climb your leagues.

Anyway, failing that, there are some other nice fixture choices if you're a gambling man or without the dutchman.

Man U @home to Sunderland. Sunderland are in dreadful form and look badly exposed at the back. I'd back United for a few here. Rooney is the obvious choice, although on account of injuries less than stellar other options in centre mid, Fergie has employed Rooney in an unfamiliar but effective role in midfield the last two matches, posing a bit of a nightmare for FPL owners. As massive as Rooney can be in FPL, you don't want a 12.2m striker playing in midfield, but Fergie himself has hinted this is only temporary, but who knows for how long? I'd be captaining Nani here if i had him over Rooney.

Man City @QPR - Aguero only played 15 minutes against Villareal so looks likely for a start. Dzeko the likely partner up front. Both are strong options. Silva has a back problem but by all accounts it isn't too serious, but this is the kind of fixture Mancini could well rest him, just to be sure.

Chelsea@Blackburn - I fancy Sturridge to bounce back in this one. Torres too.

Liverpool @Swansea - Suarez continues to frustrate owners hoping for big hauls. The problem with Suarez seems to be around the fact that he isn't getting a lot of bonus points. Those in the know put this down to the new EA PPI bonus point system, which takes points off for missed shots which Suarez has a fair share of. I wouldn't have him as pick tbh, but felt it needed to be said.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-28

Game week 10

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 30 // Average Score on site – 36

Highest Haul – 6 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 2.7

Accrued Score – 385

Place in my own fecking league – 62, down 7 Places

Points Off the top - 106

*****

State Of Play

Remember the pictures of Alex Ferguson chewing gum at weekend watching united go 5 and then 6 down; 3-1 was a bad enough score but at least they were coming back from 3-0 down ergo slight improvement (like barcaRONAN fortune’s so far) and then pow pow pow they feck up and it’s awful again; like my team selection last week. WTF, I’ve only 30 points from last week. We all know the Manchester Derby was an aberration but Chelsea/QPR and Liverpool/Norwich threw a few cats among the pigeons, indeed even Wolves conceding two and dragging two back was almost against their run so far this season.

*****

Vindication

Nothing to mention, it’s just been a bad week. The closest I get to vindication is schmindication.

*****

D’oh

Errah, everything, I anticipated a Man City shut out, by that I meant 0-0 or a sneaky 1-0 to win, as opposed to 6-1. Fecking hell, and Rooney didn’t get the assist or goal!

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week.

*****

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

Mick McCarthy called Wolves fans “fuc*ing idiots”, but Alex Ferguson called his players that following their implosion last week. SO will they launch right back onto tracks, they play at Goodison Park this weekend, so could Rooney end up coming home to roost?

*****

Transfers/Theory

First of all I want to throw a bit of “fu…c….k YOU” to Alan Hutton for injuring Shane Long, for both Irish reasons and the fact that he’s my 15^th man.

Maybe the lack of success is just numbing me; or it’s the fact I write this Friday afternoon/evening every week but I keep just hitting a wall, feels like I’m just covering holes in the squad.

Okay, 2 transfers this week, and I was bigging up this idea “ I think I’m gonna ship Rooney out next week, and bring in either RVP, Sturridge or Torres, and with a few shekels saved bring VDV too.” last week

But cos of realising Johnson just has to go at the back and I want to replace Long, I have brought in Bassong as I identified last week, and I’ll bring in Bendter too; the not-as-great-as-he-thinks Dane, has three home games in next four, he’s a guaranteed starter and I just need a break.

It leaves me with a million and a few pence in the bank

*****

Selection

Same plan as usual playing all my players who are at home and adding in Rooney, Aghbonlar and Arteta. Nothing clever there, Houlhan set as 1^st sub. Mata as captain and barcaRONAN debutante Bendter as vice captain.

My Team this week

*****

Keeping An Eye On

Cleverly might come in next week, I doubt he’ll play at Everton since he’s just coming back from injury etc and Houlahan just isn’t really doing it for me. And Torres.

*****

Captain's Corner with Phergal

City @home to wolves. Massive potential for goals here. A second string city team put 5 past them in the carling cup mid week. The danger here as always with City, is rotation, especially with a big Champs league match against Villarreal next week. Balotelli and Aguero were rested in the Carling cup so look likely for starts. I wouldn't be too confident of minutes, but against wolves, they shouldn't need too much to grab a goal or two.

Spurs @Home to QPR. QPR shipped 6 in their last away match against Fulham, although got an unlikely 1-0 win against Chelsea last week in a bad tempered game. Spurs should be good for a few here. VDV is on amazing form; if you have him, captain him. Failing that, Adebayor is a good shout.

Everton@home to United. Look for United to bounce back and make a statement here after last weeks drubbing to City. Rooney and Nani look good.

Chelsea @home to Arsenal. Arsenal are looking a bit better now, but you'd expect a Chelsea win with Arsenal still nervy at the back.  Torres is back from suspension and scored a brace against Genk in his absence. I fancy him for a goal or two here, and with a mere 2.8% ownership, could be a massive differential. I like in form Sturridge here too.

Fantasy Football 2011-10-21

Game week 8

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 45 // Average Score on site – 34

Highest Haul – 11 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 4.1

Accrued Score – 355 (inc gameweek 1 score)

Place in my own fecking league – 55, up 10 Places

Points Off the top

State Of Play

I feel like a spin-doctor working for an ailing administration but here’s this week’s silver lining! Only 13 managers of the 54 ahead of me in the Back Of The Net Boy league did better than me. So at least I’m going up my own league.

It’s probably a reflection on my priorities when I spend more thinking about good lines for this blog than good defensive lines in the game (see what I did there?). My biggest disappointment this week was that James Richardson in his intro to Football Weekly Extra used the same Manchurian Candidate reference/gag I had come up with, it’s only the second or third time I’ve heard him do a joke/pun that I thought of too; he really is one of my favourite presenters/broadcasters. Anyway I better take this smoke pipe away from his ass eh? You can hear it, in his intro to the podcast http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/audio/2011/oct/20/football-weekly-extra-manchester-derby

So Manchester United’s line up at Anfield really shook things up: Nani, Rooney and Hernandez were all on the bench; a less reported thing was that the Man United bench contained ZERO defenders, which I wouldn’t do even in Football Manager. So people who captained Rooney must have been pissed off when he came on pitch and did nothing except collect a singular point.

Chelsea are steaming away without any of the press bombarding that the two Manchester teams are getting; and for now the crisis, or is it just crisis mongering, has abated at the Emirates. RVP is stats wise in the form of his career, he hasn’t been injured since January, so maybe this the time to get Arsenal players in. But now I’ve jumped about 3 sections ahead.

Vindication

Will I tell you something, it’s a sign of how poorly my teams have been doing that I forgot that players get bonus points. Well last week Jonathan Walters got an 11-point haul, which included 3 bonus points. And his goalkeeping teammate kept his net unsullied, so that was another 6 points. And Kompany nicking a goal helped make some amends for him and Clichy’s lost clean sheet bonus.

D’oh

Basically everyone and everything I didn’t mention in previous passage. Fecking 6 players on my 11 getting 2 points or less. Abysmal.

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week.

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it.

So the Manchester derby eh? This might backfire, but I need to start making ‘differential’ decisions, I’m really sure that I’m making this decision with reason as opposed to wanton trying to be different, but I’m anticipating a shut out my Man City at Old Trafford, to park ”il Bus-ino”, or whatever Italians call it. BUUUT since Rooney is in good form, I’ll be playing him.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

It’s getting stat-tastic over at http://fantasy.premierleague.com/the-scout/ and there’s plenty to ponder, so much so I’m kinda of afraid of making decisions.

In a sense I’m not making any, as I’ve decided to make no transfers, as I feel I’m just rushing them and have no real agenda/endgame in mind. I will save it to have two free transfers next week and I explain my plan in the “Keeping An Eye On” section below.

Well Given at home to WBA vs Begovic away at Arsenal. As lazy American students say to teachers regarding arithmetic, “you do the math”.

I know playing QPR againt Chelsea seems a bit silly but (A) the cliché of players playing against  their old clubs raising their game might work for SWP and (B) since a lot of rivals have Chelsea defenders in their team, I get a kind of perverse double gain if he gets an assist or indeed a goal.

While Newcastle players are catching my eye at moment, casting those ocular organs a little further show that they have Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea in gameweek 11, 12  & 13.

My subs are a process of elimination, Players with tricky away fixtures basically, am humming and hawing about Long at Aston Villa or Walters at Stoke. They are both Irish so that takes away one of my favourite decision making techniques. Since Walters didn’t play midweek, I assume Pulis will play him at Emirates, and of course sorry since I’ve Given in goal I don’t’ want Long to score. Decision made. Easy.

I might tweak the order of subs, but then I, enigmatically, might not

Mata and Agbonlahor will be my captain and vice, but I’m not sure in which order.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Walker and Bassong at Spurs, very nice run of fixtures and both seem to be first teamer for next few weeks. And Dempsey at Fulham, but I wonder if the Europa League travails will drain him of his bursting-from-midfield-energy.

And I think I’m gonna ship Rooney out next week, and bring in either RVP, Sturridge or Torres, and with a few shekels saved bring VDV too. With that in mind… Let’s have a jolly good weekend chaps (sorry spent last 48 hours in London, so have been some of their lingo, what what)

Captain's Corner with Phergal

A frustrating weekend for many last week, lots of big names coming off the bench or not playing at all. Some nice fixtures captaincy wise this weekend, let's have a look.

Arsenal @home to Stoke - RVP is on form and looks a good bet here. Arsenal will be in good form after their last minute win against Marseille. Stoke also coming off a win in Europe although with little squad rotation going on, could be tired for this difficult match in the Emirates.

Man U vs. City - The biggie, should be a cracking match. The Charity shield served up 5 goals a few months ago, but i expect this to be a tighter affair with Mancini concentrating on defending more than open attacking football, maybe a goal or two in it. Aguero and Rooney are decent picks.

Chelsea@QPR - Chelsea are looking like title challengers again and will be looking for a comprehensive win. Drogba will be the focal point of attack again with 1 match left of Torres's suspension but has disappointed owners that got him in a few weeks ago. Sturridge is in great form and will looking to cement his place on the team. Lampard looks like a great differential pick here also.

Tottenham @Blackburn - I expect a convincing win for Spurs. VDV looks good, although he isn't guaranteed the full 90. Adebayor looks a safer bet.

Norwich@ Liverpool  - Suarez. That is all.

Gamble pick - Ward possibly in a striker role again with Fletcher out against Swansea?

Fantasy Football 2011-10-14

***** sorry about bad spelling and general writing, left this very late, and I have to go to work in 3 minutes*****

Game week 8

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 50 // Average Score on site – 44

Highest Haul – 12 // Lowest Haul – 1 // Average Score Per Player 4.5

Accrued Score – 310 (inc gameweek 1 score)

Place in my own fecking league – 65, up 2 Places

State Of Play

Jeez, 1/4 of the way through the season and I’m realistically out of contention on winning my own league, 87 points of the top, which is also 20% ahead of me. But who knows I might get ahead of the curve. Having had the international break to think about this, my ruminations have let me to the conclusion of hliuhlka49Pj;jhuyUHIUNVOPJhkjhlkjljk… yep just brain wobble. In a reductive way of putting it, I’m just picking the wrong horses. Am I putting to much stock in last season’s players/clubs who were impressive. I just don’t know, in managerial terms it’s like being Steve Bruce, there is no obvious mistake or reason things are going so unexcitedly.

Vindication

The Rooney and Agbonlahor is an expensive luxery, 20% of my budget did accrue me 45% of my points; so money provides success; ergo Man City will win the league (speaking of Man Ciry, interestingly .5% of the players of this game still have Tevez in their squad, which goes to show how many people have already abbandoned their teams I reckon)

D’oh

Wolves not pulling it together, Backing The Wrong Horse (For ever after I will refer to that as simply BWH)

Here’s the screenshot of my team from last game week

Questions / Hunch / Drama / Dramatic Narrative this game week before Sky Have Spotted it

So the Liverpool/Utd match dominates the gameweek, Rooney and Suarez in great form; both defences missing first choice players, having unfit players etc. There’s goals in this game, will it be 3-3 all; Echoing the greatest premier league game I’ve ever seen.

The bubbling under section of the season has kind of passed now, and people like Sturridge and Welbeck have really put their stamp on the season, with Torres out through suspenision and Hernadez out due to only returning from Mexico yesterday it’s probable he won’t be on bench. Two other United strikers to consider though are two very rested players in Berbatov and Owen, obviously the latter is unkileky to play 90 mins, but the fact it is at Anfield could be a great stage for a few goals.

Others, will Norwich claim 3 points at home?

Will the wheels come off the Newcastle momentum?

Arsenal have made most of this break to pull together something akin to a backbone? Ha ha ha aha hahhha ha.

Transfers/Theory/Selection

I’ve two transfers this week.

Hennessy fro Wolves is gone as my second keeper, they just aren’t keeping clean sheets so he’s pointless (no pun intended, he’s more POINTS[scored]LESS[than-I’d-expected]).. So I’ll bring in Begovic, he’s second top scorer in his position and cheap-ish, I know stoke seem to be getting hamstrung by Europa League travails, but he seems to have 5 good fixtures in next 8, and rotating him back and forth with Given should be successful

Also dropping O’Hara, essentially same reason as hennesey, and brining in Hoolahan, if Norwich come good, he could have good totals in 2 of next 3 gameweeks with favourable home fixtures.

selection: picked home players where possible and rooney.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Noone has really made me think of them, Bentner perhaps next week, however it’ll be hard to assess if he’ll bring his form from the internationals with him 10 days after.

Captain's Corner with Phergal

So the internationals are over (bring on Estonia) and we're back to the day to day (or weekend to weekend) business of picking our captain for the weekend. Let's take a look at the likely fixtures and candidates.

Liverpool vs. Man United - Usually goals to be had in this one. 3-1 to Liverpool in last year's corresponding fixture. So hard to predict these high tension games. Gerrard is back from a long injury, could be a nice differential pick this week, but at 11m he's just too expensive. I like Kuyt in this fixture, given his hat trick in this match last year. From United, i'd be a bit hesitant on captaining the Roo this week. His recent 3 match Euro ban and messy business with his father's betting scandal will no doubt be  hanging heavy on his head.

Man City vs. Villa - Striker disarray with City atm. Tevez won't play again if Mancini has his way. Aguero is nursing a minor injury and might be back in time for the clash but Mancini has said even if he is ready he might rest him. Balotelli also is coming off a back injury that kept him out of Italy's qualifiers, he may also be in contention for a start. Dzeko seems the only sure bet and will likely play the 90. Silva becomes more attractive this weekend then, especially if he has only one striker to support, he should be playing a little further up and will have less people to share the spoils with. He is still to register any massive haul, but has been consistently getting 6+ points week in week out. a safe bet.

Arsenal vs Sunderland - Bookies and various other FF sites are tipping the Arse for a big win here. I can't see where they're coming from tbh. Sunderland haven't been great, but Arsenal have been much worse. Capable of scoring a few, but still a shambles at the back. Ramsey looks like he's settling in to a Fabregas shaped hole (oo-er!) as predicted by yours truly at the start of the season, he looks a good bet here and RVP obviously if you are backing a few goals from Arsenal.

Wigan vs. Bolton - This has goals written all over it. Bolton have had they're worst start to a season in 457 years and are leaking goals. Both teams are desperate for a win, with them both considering the other as their biggest chance of getting one. Di santo looks a good bet here. Moses for a gamble. He's had so many shots on goal one has to go in sometimes.