ah, here I am sat in a costa coffee in the Mile End area of London being an e-migrant; looking at other people with iPads and laptops and I can only guess they are tweaking their fantasy football teams or writing blogs on such subject too.

I wrote that paragraph and then had to go to my buddy's house to be let in and nap on the couch; now I'm in yet another shite bar in this City; shite pissy ale with sky sports news on with no sound on about 7 screens [I just counted, it is indeed 7]; so on one of the busiest weekends in the fantasy football's  season's calendar (transfer weekend see, a mini whirlwind of players coming and going  - be it lesser value squad players moving to new clubs in which they''ll start (Johnson at Sunderland etc) and players from lower of foreign league (Jarvis at West Ham etc)

So bearing all this in mind, it makes complete sense that I make my changes and post this content a day earlier than usual (I am performing at a festival in Dorset tomorrow, so I just gotta do it tonight). By virtue of not having my normal laptop with me my previous fils aren't with me either (Seriously London's wi-fi situation is piss poor too, in terms of the ratio of pubs and cafes  having it for free customer's use  to not having  not) ANYWAY!, so I have a screenshot of last week to work from, and then logging into make my changes via my iPhone and using roaming data charges, seriously W.T.Fuck.

I haven't really had a chance to look through the fantasy football scout page; messageboards or indeed fellow manager's teams.

So anyway, to quote one of many favourite Arab Strap songs...  here  we go....

STATE-OF-PLAY

I had another good week, 30%-ish better than the overall average score, a good start is one of the many things I didn't manage last season. 5th in he botnb league already

GAMEWEEK-2-TEAM



WAHEY!!!

I was sure I logged in and captained Graham, but instead I went with his teammate Michu, which was handy extra 2 points for my team... I didn't really have any major curveballs selections last week.

All three of my strikers scored  and/or got assists, so that was a rare bonus, them and Michu's double points accounted for 51 of my points

BOO HOO

Which therefore means my other 7 players got an average of just les than three points, ergo I actually made more bad than good decisions. And if Torres (my captain for GWone) was still holding the armband I would have gained an  extra point; those are the margins lads, those are the margins.

PLAYING FOR HIS PLACE

It's still a tad early to be saying players are out of form, while in essence they are still finding their bearing, but even with that in mind  Sigurdsson is already looking like he'll be culled in ruthless fashion soon by me; but it will be interesting to see how Spurs bonanza of new midfielders and forwards work around him.

KEEPING AN EYE ON

Spurs and QPR have both added a lot of new faces, and the monobrowed Boswinga at Loftus Road is particularly tickling my fancy. Both Fletcher and Jarvis are both intriguing me too.

TRANSFERS THIS WEEK

pretty simple I got rid of Guthrie (not playing this gameweek/2 potentially tricky fixtures in following 3 GWs), and brought in Kagawa as he seems to be the one to step into Rooney's boots (I do somewhat fear that he and RVP might also get their Man Ut debut 'groin strains' to prevent them playing for their countries next week though).

I hd stockpiled by transfer from last week, so to have a second and decided to get rid of Mata (not playing this GW either, and to be fair Hazard seems to be a 'must have' player already, so I'd need to get rid of a third Chelski player anyway. I brought in Allen, a cheap, seemingly first team player at Liverpool already. Long term Back Of The Net Boy league member, Darragh, has made some points already about why it was a bad idea (in fantasy terms anyway); and I must admit he's right. But transfer was made, the silver lining is that I have a few million in bank now, so that could be handy next transfer, to allow for a serious upgrade if needed.

SELECTION THIS WEEK

Very easy, only one of my keepers are playing and I seem to have only 12 outfielders available, I went with the simple idea of dropping the defender playing away (Haangland @ West Ham) but for some reason I don't think Kolarov will be selected anyway so my Fulham boy might get automatically selected for me anyway.

I'd say this week, I'm 85% happy with my team, and I'll be happy with a 55/60 point haul. There's no player that I am worried about their fixture this week; and hopefully my selected 11 do all play then none of my own team will be playing each other ergo losing points for when when other does well.

For my captain, Mr Tevez gets the honour this week, Green has been playing badly in front of a shaky back four and if Caesar does replace him then it'll be a keeper unfamiliar with the defending style and moves of the players in front of whom; neither of which is an ideal way to visit Man City.



CAPTAIN'S CORNER

Could this be the most one sided captaincy choice of all time? Polls around the various FPL sites point overwhelmingly to one man - Carlos Tevez. Indeed it's a brave man not to captain him. 18 points from 2 games and a very fantasy friendly home fixture with QPR who have leaked 6 goals already (albeit 5 in one game). City don't quite look at the races yet either though but you'd fancy at least two goals for them here.

The old differential question then, raises it's head again. If you are doing well it's wise to stick with the obvious choice - if he doesn't do well, the majority are in the same boat, but if he does, you don't make up much ground against the masses. So let's take a look at the other candidates.

RVP away to Southampton - RVP is a HUGE differential this week. His 13.2m price means a lot of people are resisting the urge to decimate their team to get him in so he's at a meer (for him)  23.5% ownership versus Tevez who is at an amazing 39.4% at time of writing. He's most certainly the main man now with Rooney out for two or more months and with Kagawa providing the service and a goal already under his belt, you'd fancy him for a goal here. And we all know he's liable to go on a rampage at any time against any opposition so could be posting a big score as well.

Spurs at home to Norwich - This should be a great fixture for Spurs captaincy options, but they are yet to show us they can mount a serious top 4 challenge this year and the team is still very much in transition - lots of players to offload, and more to come in. Adebayor should start and is a good pick. Bale too but after two blanks, i wouldn't bet on him.

Newcastle @home to Villa - Look for the Toons to bounce back after the Chelsea defeat against a pretty awful Villa side. Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa are your picks here.

Gamble pick - Has to be from the Arsenal Liverpool game, how about Cazorla?

Fantasy Football 2012/2013 - Gameweek 2

Heya Folks and Folkettes

So a strange little chain of events today, I assumed that as the heir to my throne was having his afternoon nap (why don't we adults continue that part of a daily routine) today in my folks house that I could research (yes I research-ish) for the blog and then type it up; but alas my dad is off up the country and he brought the Internet dongle thing with him. 

Now where I grow up has a lot of things to be said for it, but it's phone reception is not one of it's strong points. No 3G, barely two bars of just phone reception IT'S LIKE LIVING IN THE THIRD WORLD. 

Anyway so I'm on bus now after putting him to bed and I'm doing an Ringo: Music Bingo gig at 9. Sp basically I'm typing my element of this week's blog on my iPhone's notebook yoke, and therefore won't do all my usual sections as I don't know the figures and stats; and will quickly upload in the ten minute window between my sound check and gig start.

Captain's corner returns and we have a new section too 'the secret of my success', where the highest scorer in the back of the net boy league in the previous gameweek will be asked to say a few (or many words), I'll be asking different people, no pressure though. If yer not into it do be it.

Gameweek 1 review

STOP THE PRESSES, I think I got a better score last week than week for last two years. 92 points, get in. Throw in the 25 extra ones I could have got of I did honours maths and I could top of our league but that position goes to Michael Daly (current leader of the Back Of The Net Boy league), who is writing the first Secret Of My Success...

... "Ah yes 'The Sweet Smell of Success' indeed. Here I am sitting proudly on top of the mini-league just like Michael J. Fox lying on top of the effervescent spurt of champagne from the poster of the film of the same name as this section and what a wonderful view it is up here! Alas, experience tells me to enjoy it while it lasts as 'La Maîtresse de la Fantasie Foot' is a fickle little wench indeed. I would like to attribute my stellar score this week to a number of factors such as good breeding and a moderately healthy diet but easily the most significant ingredient in my recipe for success was the fact I didn't go out and get arse-faced Friday night and hence did not drunkenly make last minute 'improvements' to my squad. Had I done so I may well have replaced Hazard with Cazorla and made Podolski captain. I have vowed to learn from such bitter experiences as happened last season on numerous occasion and so far, so good. Other than that - Hazard looked really good from what I saw of him in France and himself, Ivanovic and Torres looked shoe-ins for game time in the double gameweek so I got them in. Petric, who also performed well for me, has been banging them in a lot in pre-season and I quite like the look of Fulham under Jol so I got him in too. The downside of my gameweek is I now need to address Chelsea's and Reading's blank in two weeks time and offload some of those players who will miss out. My hunch over the next little while - Sunderland's defence and Newcastle's midfield look ripe for the picking and Kagawa and Cazorla will surely deliver the goods sooner rather than later..." 

(Ronan: Thanks Michael, personally speakign I hope you don't write this section too often this season! It would scupper my winning of the league)

This week's transfers, as I said last blog I'm not making any this week as I've 4 Chelsea/Reading players and none of them play next week. 

On the radar - Obviously that guy Hazard and I wonder about the Ivanovic situation, Chelsea bought a new right back today so I wonder will the Serbian not be on the right flank bombing forward as much?

Intrigued too by QPR's signing of virtually an entire new back five, I don't know what prices and of them are because as I said I have no Internet access. (This is the closest to being a contestant on blind date I've ever been, I'll post this and then see what I could have written about!)

This Week's Selection, due to my amazing thinking-ahead-abilities, my subs from last week all come in and Collins, Hangaland and Guthrie all get benched. Pretty simple

I haven't decided on my captain, no one obvious candidates on paper so will stick with Torres (I might change my mind - actually maybe Danny graham... Hmmn)

[ Addendum, decided to go with Michu as captain / and Kaboul is out injured, eek ]

And on that topic here is Captains Corner

Very tough choice for captaincy this weekend, let's take a look at the main candidates.

United@home to Fulham - United got off to a bad start against Everton on Monday which to be fair was always going to be a tough match. But United didn't look at the races at all. Rooney looked dare I say it, unfit, Nani and Evra were pretty awful and there's a serious centre back shortage which requires Carrick to fill the role. RVP came off the bench in the second half but worryingly for his owners, appeared to be playing off the right and taking corners. He'll surely get a start against Fulham where you'll expect the usual United bounce-back after a defeat. Kagawa showed great promise though, easily the best United player on the pitch after maybe De Gea, and he'll be crucial this year. So two decent picks there.

City away to Liverpool - Disaster for City as Aguero went off with a knee injury against Southampton, but it doesn't look as serious now, with City (perhaps optimistically) aiming for GW4 for a return. Regardless, Tevez's stock has risen now and he looked very sharp in the 2-3 win, even being graced with the honour of a "slimline Tevez" tag from sky sports. Silva however didn't look great at all, his awful penalty being symptomatic of his whole game. Yaya continues to impress, popping up all over the pitch in a classic box-to-box role. They play a Liverpool side at Anfield coming off a terrible opening match against West Brom. Rodgers must be feeling the heat already, perhaps he'll try and close the game down and frustrate City? Difficult to know.

Michu - Swansea are showing no signs of a decline in style with new manager Michael Laudrup with an impressive 5-0 victory at Loftus Road. Michu looks the real deal, filling the Siqurdsson shaped hole perfectly and grabbed two goals for himself. Swansea have West Ham at home, a decent shout for your pick.

Spurs@home to West Brom. Decent fixture on paper but AVBs Spurs sides look like they need time to gel. VDV and Sigurdsson look like they'll be stealing minutes of each other so Bale is the only pick form the midfield. AVB wants to use him further up than last year though in a front three making him a great prospect. Adebayor transfer is confirmed now as well, he's a great pick too.

Gamble picks - Ba away to Chelsea. You heard it here first.

- Business resumes next week folks; hope ye have a fantastically good weekend 

Season 2012/2013 Gameweek 1

Wahey, finally that pesky stoooopid Olympics is over, and those athletes with their “training” and “dedication” and that bullshit can feck off, and it’s back to the real world of competition with laptops and statistics. So this is the 7th year of our own little back of the net boy fantasy football league, and it’s grown year on year, last season it stretched to two pages!

A good start is half the battle and in fantasy football terms, of course that means our team names. We’ve got some crackers already, my own personal one New Cork Cosmos isn’t my best work but it holds its own; as ever there are a few names/references that I don’t get but I’ve got 8 months to work them out.

So before I look at the upcoming season, let’s look back at the last season…

For me last season was a series of kicks in the balls, as my blog got better in terms of wordplay and pithiness my team decisions just blah blah shittiness.

Trying to use elements of cognitive behavioral therapy I really am trying to look at the decisions I made in 2011/2012 seasons and work out WHY I made those decisions, and learn from those reasons. Sounds easy eh! Like someone desperate for the score as it gets later in the night in a bar, my idea of success was changing the closer we got to the end of the season. It went from winning the league, then to getting into top ten, then just getting to finish on the first page and finally just to have as few girls as possible do better than me.

Of all the things I read about Chairman Mao over the years, very little has stuck with me other than the phrase “constant revolution”; and times have changed while last year I was advocating defenders being more value than strikers you can read it here -http://backofthenetboy.blogspot.ie/2011/08/fantasy-footbal-season-20112012-preview.html

But this season I’m going to bump up in midfield and attackers and see how things fare over next few weeks. For instance will Reading be porous; will Chris Hughton and Paul Lambert be able to tie things down at Carrow Road and Villa Park quickly or will there be a bedding in process: I’m intrigued about Laudrup too, his debut season mixed Swansea’s second season syndrome could make things very difficult, but I willing them on (as you can see I have three of his squad in my one); and even at the big boy end of the table seems that it will be goals not clean sheets that will

As ever I read the joe.ie and fantasyfootball scout pages and I try to not just rehash their advice and suggestions. Here are some links just in case you don’t know them

www.joe.ie/football/fantasy-football-insider/still-havent-picked-your-fantasy-football-team-take-these-five-pieces-of-advice-0027636-1  and http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/

So for this opening blog, I’ll talk ya through my team/squad selection

Goalkeepers

Cech and Jaaskelainen, pretty straightforward reasons. The latter is dirt cheap and will be playing for West Ham where I can only assume he will play most if not all the games and will take quite a few shots too. Cech, I basically brought in cos he has two games this week, and he’s always a sturdy choice, the Chelsea defence isn’t the fortress that it once was but over the next few weeks he’s as good a starting point at anyone, I’m looking towards Given and Mignolet though.

Defenders

I didn’t want to go with two defenders from any one club, so I’ve gone with varied line up, while the big money options of Vidic, Kompany, Cole, Vermalan etc are pedigree choices, I’ve went with low cost defenders Kolarov is my most expensive, seemingly Man City have been flirting with a 3 centre back, using Kolarov as a wing back, so hoping that continues it could mean clean sheets with him further up the pitch getting assists (hopefully) and he does take occasional free kicks too.

Williams at Swansea, as I said earlier second season syndrome could effect them and if so defence is usually where it crumbles first, but they have a very favourable set of opening fixtures so I’m going to hope they do well. By extension, Williams who was one of their stand out players last season has been brought in. Hangeland at Fulham, played every game of season in premier league last season; I really think Jol will lead the club to a very sturdy season this year, and if I can manage to pick a couple of defenders who have a sturdy season I’ll be happy. On that same tip, I’ve gone with Collins at West Ham, assuming they have a Boltonesque dynamic, it won’t be pretty but if he gets occasional headed goals from set pieces and they eek out the bore draws and whatnot. 

Finally Kaboul at spurs, perhaps AVB will hit the ground running with the Spurs squad (and I hope he does) and perhaps Kaboul will be a first choice player [Vertonghen looks tasty too]

But there ya go 3 defenders at 5, another at 5.5 and finally one at 6.

Midfielders

I’ve been playing more with these 5 squad places than the rest put together and my watchlist is jam-packed. Simply I put Mata in, as he has two games this week and I hope he plays both, the talk seems to be he will be the pivot this season which opens up the game to Torres and I’m buying it.

Sigurdsson was brilliant last season (half season) and has done well in pre season with Spurs, I can only assume the team will be built around him [it can’t be just money that he turned down Liverpool and went to Tottenham instead], especially now that Modric is gone (he is gone by now isn’t he?)/

I’ve brought in Guthrie, as he plays two games this week and he’s 4.5, i.e. cheap as chips. He will realistically be traded out by GW3. Nolan is also cheapish (6) and I’m pretty sure he will do well with West Ham this season, they also have a good opening run of fixtures so perhaps he’ll knock in a few goals for me. Nolan will the leader at West Ham, what he brings to the team is (to do an Alan Hansen and just say the keywords) is Experience. Responsibility. Leadership. (Alan shearer will probably say we don’t' know a lot about the lad)

 Finally I went with Michu, mainly cos I’ve read in two different articles that they think he could be the signing of the season, I am that easily led folks.

Santi Cazorla, Arteta, Walters, Nasri, Allen and Pienaar intrigue me too though…

Forwards

Have gone with Tevez (cheaper than Aguero by 2.5, and Balotelli has an eye complaint at the moment), as he is really getting talked up by the Man City camp and Torres, as well, he could possibly come good (FINALLY!!!) he has 180 minutes this gameweek to hit the onion bag a few times.

My final striker is Graham at Swansea, once again he had a fine season last year, hopefully he continues.  Ruiz at Fulham and Lukaku at West Brom were the other options for that final spot.

My team selection is as follows,

Next week’s blog will have more of a structure and hopefully the regular readers will start contributing to it too.  

Fantasy Football 2012-4-27

Game week 36

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 63

Average Score on site – 47

Highest Haul: 26 – Rooney (He was my captain, so it was 13 points doubled)

Lowest Haul: 0 Points, Johnny Evans, nice work Mr concede-four-goals.

Average Score Per Player 5.7

Accrued Score – 1660

Place in my own fecking league – 50, up 2 places

Points off the top – 323, rose 6 points closer to the top.

Points off ‘The First Page’ – I’m on it baby! 50^th position.

State Of Play

What a midweek of Champions League football folks, so much that I’d somewhat forgotten the 4-4 goalfest at Old Trafford last weekend. Threw the cat amongst the pigeons on fantasy football to say the least, without a modicum of research I’m going to say that this must be one of the highest scoring individuals gameweeks in a very long time, that is to say many players for 12 or so points or more? Does that make sense? I’m already doubting myself.

Vindication

Leaving the captaincy with Rooney I guess, he drew nearly 50% of my points this week (41.3% to be exact, this is a game of specific margins folks). But once again it’s not like he was a dark horse. None of my squad are any sort of wild card to be fair.

D’oh

Jaysus a lot of 2s or less, 5 players just didn’t perform.

Did I get the Keeper right?

Yes, Krul got 6 compared to Vorm, or should I say DOUBLE!!! It looks better doesn’t it.

Subs in general?

Nope, Song did better than every midfielder I did play, ie all of them! And while Richards didn’t play, Cahill, did better than every defender of mine that did play.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

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

Jeez, are Villa gone? I’ll be honest and say I’d prefer them to go down than some of the ‘smaller’ clubs, they and Spurs seem to have essentially just given up trying to win, or being bothered to win even. Having said that I’m gonna pick up a Spurs player this week.

While the relegation battle and race for 3^rd/4^th is exciting, the drama is focused on Monday with the biggest Manchester Derby ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (or so the papers are saying)

8 teams play twice this week, so this is last chance for some of us to get that extra few points over the people ahead in the league table. Trying to work out the doubles actually cause more hassle than it’s worth sometimes, obviously players might be rested for one and general tiredness at this end of the season affects form too. I anticipate Chelsea will be looking backwards and resting players as well as looking forward to both Finals they have coming up so players will be playing for their places (other than the suspended 4!), I also assume Liverpool are only thinking of two things: (1) Their chances to play in the FA Cup final and (2) Not getting cream suits.

           

Transfers

While Cahill is injured, it Micah Richard’s I’m getting rid of and bringing in Hibbert at Everton, a few people are tipping Huth, as Stoke play twice at home this week, but Hibbert is very cheap and Everton have 4 fixtures that could bring them 3 clean sheets, possibly 4.

Well Spurs simply have to step up and win their matches, factoring that in with people playing for their Euro Squad place I am gonna bring in Lennon AND Bale, saying goodbye to Segurdsson and Valencia, I doubt the latter will play all three of the next matches, certainly not 90 minutes of all and for the former Swansea play Man Utd and Liverpool in their final 2 games of the season. Bringing players who should play all four of the remaining fixtures their clubs have imply more points being gained.

Shipping Bendter out, bringing popular boy Jelavic in. Simple reasoning Jelavic will play twice this gameweek. On a similar reason, Song is gone (away to Stoke, can’t see him doing much) and brining Fellani in, so putting a lot of faith in Everton this week, 12 points of faith.

Theory/Selection

Basically playing everyone that is playing twice, so that’s 9 of the team picked, then dropping Evans (more chance of Williams keeping a clean sheet against the already relegated Wolves than Evan against Man City) and to decide between Rooney and McClean, errah I’m going with the Shrek!

My Captain, My Captain.

I’ll go for Bale, two winnable games this week, certain starter for both (unless injured obviously)… Jelavic will be my vice, even though it’s a needless back up plan methinks.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Jeez, noone really, just the telly!

Captain's Corner

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

I think he’s gone to a stag. Sorry folks, we’re closing early this week.

Fantasy Football 2012-4-20

Game week 35

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 75

Average Score on site – 38

Highest Haul: 26 – Rooney (He was my captain, so it was 13 points doubled)

Lowest Haul: Cisse – 0 points, as he didn’t play at all

Average Score Per Player 6.8

Accrued Score – 1597

Place in my own fecking league – 52, up 9 places

Points off the top – 329, rose 12 points closer to the top.

Points off ‘The First Page’ – 27 points closer to 50th

State Of Play

To use a phrase more commonly used in NBA Jam… Boomshackalacka!!! An amazingly good week at Camp Ro, only 4 teams did better than moi in the BOTNB league this week. Hopefully we can use this as a stepping-stone and have a strong finish to the season. Can’t wait for the Euros now!

Vindication

Nothing particularly inspired to take credit for, even though overall I did very well this week, 6 or 7 prominent players all did what they are well known for doing and I managed to captain a player who did well.

D’oh

Similarly nothing to rue either, 3 players getting 2 points or less was statistically likely.

Did I get the Keeper right?

Moot point, as he wasn’t playing.

Subs in general?

Even mootier point.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

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

Wahey! we are officially in the business end of the season that people refer to, so let’s get down to bizness. Couple of slug outs now – The Title; 3^rd & 4^th place; and the drop, and then there are the other 8 or 9 clubs who really are almost twiddling their thumbs looking at the brochures for sun holidays already.

Having said that not much stands out this week, other than two returning figures, O’Neill returns to Aston Villa as Sunderland manager, it’d be safe to say that both parties probably wish they could rewind the clock two seasons as they have been forgettable for both.

On a smaller note Darren Gibson returns to Man Utd now in the colours of Everton, Gibson was in the shadow of Paul Scholes for a few seasons and now it looks like they will be playing against each other.

           

Transfers

Making no transfers this week, the only reason would be to bring in the players playing twice this week and there isn’t a Villa or Bolton player interesting me at all. There is no point trying to be clever and get the jump on all the doubles coming up in the next gameweek yet cos there could be a bevy of injuries.

Theory/Selection

Simple really, playing as few defenders as possible (in this case benching Cahill, who is away at the Emirates, and Williams, who is away at Bolton). While Krul has an orange mark against him, I’ll go with him as first choice keeper, and finally my fourth benchee will be Song for Arsenal, my reasoning is basically that my other 4 midfielders are in better recent form.

My Captain, My Captain.

I might go with the safe choice of having Rooney as captain again, might change my mind over the course of the night though, he never really shines against his old club Everton but they are bound to be out of sorts since losing that FA Cup semi final and a visit to Old Trafford is never easy at the best of times.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Darren Gibson, on a personal note, to see if he scores a 35 yard screamer on his return to Old Trafford. But also Lennon at Spurs, who seems to be fully fit again and his return to the right wing could lead to resurgence for both Spurs as a team and him as an attacking player.

Captain's Corner

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

RVP disappointed and Rooney looked out of sorts (despite getting two goals!), and City seem to be returning to their early season free scoring form, giving us lots to think about.

Arsenal@home to Chelsea - Tricky to call this one. But i will. 2-2. RVP and Walcott for Arsenal, Drogba could well be rested here for Champions league next week, Torres to deputise. Not a great fixture for your armband though.

Wolves@home to City - This looks mouth watering. Tevez is back with a vengeance and his partnership with Aguero looks deadly. Both are excellent picks. Aguero probably the more likely to get 90 minutes and should be on pens so he's slight favourite imo. Silva is a good shout too. Oh and Hennessey's out for Wolves, uh oh. 

(I'm forever blowing) Doubles! - Villa and Bolton have doubles this week, but most will be overlooking this on account of both teams being very poor recently and much bigger double gameweek fish to fry next week. Still though, the likes of Myaichi for Bolton or maybe a Villa defender (2 home games) could be a good bet, but it's risky.

Newcastle@home to Stoke - Cisse and Ben Arfa.

Gamble picks - For the 3rd or 4th time this season, Yakubu! (Yes, I’m a terrible gambler)

Fantasy Football 2012-4-13

Game week 34

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 56

Average Score on site – 47

Highest Haul: 18 – Cisse (He was my captain, so it was 9 points doubled)

Lowest Haul: Cahill, Evans and Crouch – 1 point

Average Score Per Player 5

Accrued Score – 1522

Place in my own fecking league – 63, down 3 places

Points off the top – 341, raised 18 points closer to the top.

Points off ‘The First Page’ – 57 points, 13 points closer to 50th

State Of Play

Jaysus, the two gameweeks over one weekend caught a lot of us eh? I was able to get my shit together to make a few changes before the deadline on Sunday morning (or Monday morning? whichever it was) but no point in blogging about I felt. Anyway nothing I did was of much note anyway.

Vindication

This is bizarre vindication cos I’m very sure I had decided to leave Rooney as my captain but for some reason Cisse has been allotted the armband and double points. So that extra 7 or 8-point swing has helped in my battle for First (page)… top 50 will do me now.

D’oh

Six players getting two points or less, with your team pulling those scores you know yer not gonna do well. To be honest it’s just pride keeping me going as well as trying to keep match fit for the Euros.

Did I get the Keeper right?

Yes Krul got 7 to Vorm’s 2. But him being brought in last week was for this gameweek in mind.

Subs in general?

In the sense that all three of them only got 2 points or less anyway, yes.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

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

This is probably the most exciting fortnight of the premiership season, as it stands everything is “all to play for”, but Wolves could be a write off in 2 weeks time, Man Utd could have the title tied up OR be fighting tooth and nail for the trophy.

I have no hunches or narratives this week to be honest, I’m more looking forward to Liverpool v Everton match to be honest. Come on Moyeserton! You deserve it.

           

Transfers

Cos of all the teams not playing this game week, as it stood I only had one keeper and 8 outfield players available for selection, so simply put Crouch has to go, and a striker playing this week is coming in. Scanning the fixtures I reckon it will be a Sunderland player, what with 2 favourable home games in the next 3 (against Wolves and Bolton) and sandwiched in between an away game against O’Neill’s former club Aston Villa… So since I’m picking a Sunderland striker, so guess who it is… drum roll… Yeah it’d Bendter, who is returning to Camp Ro where he started this season.

Theory/Selection

This week’s team is simpler than usual; I’ve 10 players that are eligible to play. SO that’s my team.

My Captain, My Captain.

Rooney is my only big big hitter in the team this week, he had a howler against Wigan so maybe he’ll swing back with a big performance at home to Villa? I’m hoping so, even though he seems to always go through bursts of form, it’s what I read in papers anyway.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

The FA Cup and any possibly replays adding any more double/treble gameweeks, I anticipate making 2 or even 3 transfers next week to make use of the double gameweeks in 35 and 36.

Captain's Corner

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

A tricky weekend this gameweek, only 6 fixtures to pick our captain from. Fantasy managers will be struggling to field a full 11 whilst also being mindful of the upcoming double gameweek bonanza in GW36.

Arsenal@home to Wigan - Wigan are hitting form just when they need to as they battle for survival with a well-deserved victory at home to United last week. They're away to in form Arsenal too though and you'd have to fancy Arsenal here. RVP ended his brief goal drought last week but is definitely not looking as sharp as he did during the year. But even when not fully in form, you'd be a brave man not to back him for a goal here. Walcott is an equally good pick.

Man United@home to Villa - Perfectly set up for the famed Man United bounce back here, United should get a few goals. Rooney is dipping in form as well though and Valencia's place is perhaps a slight risk from a returning Nani. 

Norwich@home to Man City - Man City showed showed some of their early season form with a convincing 4-0 demolition job on West Brom. But their away form is awful and Norwich can easily get a goal or two here and are on a high after dispatching Spurs last week. I'd expect goals galore here on both sides. Aguero is back on the radar and Silva too. If you have one, captain them.

Sunderland@home to Wolves - Wolves end of season hell continues, it's damage limitation at this stage. Sunderland will be looking to bounce back (lot of bouncing this week) from the defeat to Everton. Bendtner may feature, coming back from a back injury. He's a good shout along with Sessegnon and McClean.

Gamble picks - Yakubu. Hitting form again, check. Record of scoring against Swansea. Check. (four in the last fixture). Opposition defence looking ropey recently. check.

Fantasy Football 2012-4-6

Game week 32

barcaRONAN’s last game week Score – 64

Average Score on site – 39

Highest Haul: 13 – Valencia

Lowest Haul: Cahill & Richards – 0 points (out of interest why is it plural of points when it means none, which is the opposite of plural??? But a singular when 1: Zero points, One point) – [please note, I am not stoned at moment]

Average Score Per Player 6.8

Accrued Score – 1392

Place in my own fecking league – 70, up 2 places

Points Off the top – 359, raised 7 points closer to the top.

Points off ‘The First Page’ – 70 points

State Of Play

Happy Good Friday folks, hope you got yer booze in, to non Ireland based readers, we have a quaint custom where pubs and off licenses are closed on Good Friday and it is one of the busiest days for our livers in the year. House parties-a-rama – Do you wanna hear the amount of women I am gonna score with tonight at some mad parteeeeee…. I’m going to be playing Risk with my buddies Cormac and Ricardo for the night, and not just Risk… STAR WARS THEMED RISK

Good week last week for me, only 6 people ahead of me in the BOTNB league got more points than barcaRONAN.

Vindication

Errah the 6 scorers of major points were all obvious selections, so nothing to feel largely vindicated about – Krul, Evans, Valencia, Dempsey [interesting stat on football weekly extra yesterday that Only Rooney and RVP have scored more this year than him in the PL], Sigurdsson and Cisse.

D’oh

If only I’d captained Valencia eh? I’d have got highest point haul in BOTNB League.

Speaking of Captains, Rooney not doing much was a ball sack. And 2 of my 3 defenders each only playing one half of the game and conceding, so getting me a great haul of nothing, nada, zilch.

Did I get the Keeper right?

I finally get to use this gag, Je Ne Regrette Reina! As in I don’t regret not playing him, Krul got 6 and Reina got –2 points due to his vicious assault on Perch… (To LFC Fans/Pat, that is sarcasm, there was nothing vicious about it)

Subs in general?

2 of my subs got 1 point, Williams and Enrique, which still would have been better than the afore mentioned Richards/Cahill.

Screenshot of my team from last game week.

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

This Chelsea revival is looking good but can they possibly be focusing on the Champions League rather than this title run in, especially since players know they will be cleared out at end of season so leaving with a Champions League Medal rather than a 4^th place wage bonus?

I’m looking forward to this Newcastle Swansea game, I have 4 players involved Krul & Cissé for the Magpies; Sigurdsson and WIlliams for the Swans.

The Man Utd machine keep on rolling and I can only assume it will go over QPR with relative ease.

I imagine Arsenal, and particularly Arsene, would love to further derail Man City (who have poached a few former stars at the Emirate now).

                                                                                                 

Transfers

While it’s gonna cost me perhaps .2 or .3 million, gonna save my transfer for Sunday and get rid of Reina then and then have 2 transfers to make in preparation for so many of the empty fixtures in GW 34.

Theory/Selection

This week’s team kinda picks itself, only one GK option, I assume Terry will be rested and therefore Cahill will play, I don’t trust Richards at the Emirates to keep a clean sheet, and since I have Cisse (one of the top, top, top form players at moment) it’d be counter productive to also play Williams at the back. I don’t know what is going on in Drenthe’s personal life, and I don’t care to, but he has been on compassionate leave from Everton so is unlikely to play anyway.

There you go, pure simples, I’m quite happy with the team I have there, even though Nani is back in contention I really doubt SAF will drop Valencia.

My Captain, My Captain.

Going against the theory of “once bitten and twice shy”, Rooney you are still my captain. With Crouch as his wingman, a fading Wolves at Stoke could be in for a hammering... which could had a few more nails in their coffin. [Good metaphor usage Ronan, if that is a metaphor perhaps it’s just an image]

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

The players at Spurs/Arsenal/Chelsea in the race for 3^rd/4^th

Captain's Corner

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

Lots of captain friendly fixtures this week, let's have a look.

Well we're balls deep in the business end now and things are getting a little complicated. There's a double gameweek coming up in GW36, but the teams playing twice here aren't playing at all in GW34, so a balance has to be struck between fielding a full 11 for GW34 while getting in a few doublers for GW36. Anyway, a full weekend of matches this weekend, let’s take a look.

Man United@home to QPR - United are showing their experience now as they put more distance between themselves and City, a win here puts them 8 points ahead. QPR have taken a few scalps though from Arsenal and Liverpool as they fight for survival through a truly awful fixture list. You have to fancy the champions though, Rooney has had a quiet few weeks, playing quite deep against Blackburn, but unless he's so deep he's playing in goals, he is always a threat. Valencia is in storming form though; he's a great pick this week too.

Arsenal@home to Man City - Must win game for City to retain any hopes of a title this year, and it's a big ask. Arsenal had 7 wins in a row until last weekend's upset to QPR and RVP is going through a mini slump (by his standards). Lescott and Aguero are back for City. I see goals in this one; RVP, Walcott and Aguero are decent picks.

Chelsea@Home to Wigan - Chelsea's confidence is flowing after reaching the semi final of the Champion's league. Brave John Terry could be out here with broken ribs but is prepared to play through the pain for his team, what a hero. Wigan haven't actually played that bad recently, but you'd have to fancy the home side. Torres looks like he might be getting over his fear of the ball at last. If his head's right, he's easily capable of a few goals. How many times have we captained him for a 4-point return though? This time will be different though right? Right?

Gamble picks - Crouch against a shambolic Wolves that seem more likely to fight amongst themselves than fight for survival.