Gameweek 9 Season 2012/2013

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Gameweek 9 Fantasy Football

Heya, hope yer gearing up for a good long weekend, I sat down to start writing this at 4pm and it is now 16.13, and only have I got to start typing, my fuc king computer is being such a buggy bollix, the spinning wheel of annoyance. Deep breath and exhale. This is a bumper edition this week with the debut of the new Captain’s Corner and a new contributer to ‘The Secret Of My Success’…

Gameweek 8 review of New Cork Cosmos

In simple figures – I got 52 points, when the average was 43 points. In terms of the Back Of The Net Boy league. But only four of the 12 people ahead of me scored less than me, ergo I now stand 64 points off the top spot.

Got the captain right? Nope, If I’d captained Nolan I’d have gained an extra 10 points/

Got the keeper right? Nope, Howard would have got me an extra point

Got my subs decisions right? Essentially yeah, Morrison earned 3 points wheras Cazorla got 2. That’s it

Points swing of regret = 12 points, I could have earned 2 extra points if I’d selected differently, and the afore mentioned captaincy issue. Means I would have jumped 4 places in the BOTNB league table.

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… last week’s highest scorer was Legend 76 who got 84 points, which for context was just shy of 200% of the average score which was 43. * (I need a better way of figuring and wording that, any ideas) And well inside the top 2000 players in the world.

… “We I think I just got lucky to be fair, I picked Riise as captain, as a safe bet, because I simply couldn't see Villa scoring away from home, and they didn't!!! Riise also got an assist, so far so good. However it turns out that I really should have had Mata as captain, I'd have ended up with 92 points instead of 84. I've decided to be brave/greedy this week and play my wild card. In come Tevez, Ivanovic, Routledge, Sterling, Pogrebnyak, Baird & Demel, out go Defoe, Holt, Lescott, Williams, Cleverley, Allen and Simpson. Which inevitably means one if not all the players I canned will have stormers this weekend, I've gone with a defender as captain again this week, Vertonghen, in the hope that Southampton with be toothless at home, and there is always a chance that he'll be on the scoresheet…

Legend76

TRANSFERS

I have got rid of Kolarov and brought in Wilson at Stoke, for simple reasons Kolarov is not playing every match so it’s hard to work with AND Man City have been shakey in defence; wheras Wilson is playing every game and they seem to have a nice run ahead of them, this week against toothless Sunderland and QPR in gameweek 11. And he is only 4.5. SO I now have 3 millionish in the bank to play with.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

Pretty straightforward, not using Williams as he is away at a hungry Man City; not selecting Fletcher as I doubt they will do well at Stoke and then I had to had to decided between Nolan and Morrison, since the West Ham man did well last week I’ll keep him in the team.

I’ve hummed and hawwed over the goalkeeping slot, and while neither looks like a very likely clean sheet Howard will surely make a lot of saves and maybe he might save a penalty from a suarez dive? That’d be handy, and I am aware of how much grasping at the straws that is.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

Possibly Williams, possibly Fletcher.

ISTEACH!

If Southampton are going to pull themselves together, as of gameweek 10 their fixtures are as favourable as they will get; playing the other two promoted teams, away at a struggling QPR and Swansea and Newcastle at home. There no easy games etc etc but might be worth looking at their strikers.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

The obvious candiate seems to be Cazorla, he’s at home to QPR and the Arsenal team really won’t want to lose 3 games in a row. The long running ‘style-rivalry’ bettween Mark Hughes and Wenger could be an issue but I’ll have to hope the Spaniard shines.

CAPTAIN”S CORNER

So our original captain after 1 and half years of being part of this blog is packing his bags and going travelling for a few months at least, so we have a new guy taking over. I forgot to ask if he is okay with me using his real name, so for now his secrecy will be kept.

… So since I’ve began playing Fantasy Football back in the heady days of 2007/2008, I’ve noticed that there are essentially two types of FF players. The ones who go by ‘their gut’ instinct and the nerdy number cruncher types. I fall dramatically into the latter of these categories. With this in mind, captaincy is as with most folk, the most perturbing of all decisions. This week appears to offer some easy routes with the armband but after going on an Opta index binge session, things became a tad murky. Santi Cazorla tops the captain’s poll on Fantasy Football Scout with Bale coming in about 9% behind. Both have tasty fixtures, QPR (h) & Southampton (a) respectively, but after a quick glance at Santi’s home form, he has yet to deliver presents for his vast amount of fantasy owners (last Santi pun, I swear). His sole assist against Southampton in week 4 demonstrates his preference to sit a bit deeper in home games, letting Gervinho and Podolski to push further on. Similarly, Bale should be looked upon with caution. His partner recently gave birth to Bale Jnr (for those who wish to see a picture of the ickle’ sprog, Google image “Monchichi”) and did not travel with the squad to Slovenia. AVB reckons he’ll play, but the gods that be at Sky Sports News think he’ll stay at home. So we move onto the outsiders. Although I have a strong fondness for the ‘Pool, Baines is tempting me more and more. Despite the fact that Everton have about as much chance of keeping a clean sheets as a 13 year old boy dreaming about Megan Fox, Baines is essentially playing as a left winger these days. Initially, Pienaar’s suspension worried me but Moyes has indicated that the workman like Osman or Neville will play left mid, both of whom will sit substantially deeper than Pienaar, affording Baines to romp forward against eh, Andre Wisdom..? Surely for tabloid pun purposes, Everton’s left flank will have a good one against Liverpool. Moving on, whilst they may not seem like ‘punts’, any of Manchester City’s forwards offer potential fantasy rewards. Problem is, who the freakin’ hell is he going to play. Conventional (Andre) wisdom suggests it’ll be Tevez and Mario seeing as both failed to start against Ajax on Wednesday night. However, given City’s predicted elimination from the Champions League, the Premiership may see more focus and Aguero is undoubtedly Mancini’s favorite forward. Regarding the usual suspects of Chelski and United, I’m just going to assume they’ll cancel each other out this Sunday. I’m weary of Hazard and Mata chopping and changing fantasy returns as the weeks roll on and RVP and Rooney may struggle against Chelsea’s stout back four….and Jon Obi Mikel of course.

So enough of the waffling, after my nerdiness and positioning analysis (courtesy of the comparison index on Fantasy Football Scout), I’m still going to side with Cazorla despite his more withdrawn role in home games. I realise hypocrisy is rampant right now but the thought of Arsenal’s attack facing Ryan Nelson and Stephane Mbia is too tempting. Baines will take the vice captaincy as I try to retain some element of originality. If you’re looking for a differential, look towards Stoke for the next 5-6 gameweeks, especially Crouch and Walters. Given that 32% of us have Michu in our team, his new role up front against City’s surprisingly suspect defensive unit offers a far more intriguing option than many may think. Ugh, How I miss the days of Cristiano Ronaldo……Best of luck for the game week ya’ll.

Gameweek 8 Season 2012/2013

Welcome back guys and guyettes, hope you all had a good international break.

Gameweek 7 review of New Cork Cosmos

The whole last two weeks have been ruined by the shadow of TWENTY-LOST-POINTS-FROM-KOLAROV, Damn it, I spent so much emotional energy praying that Williams or Collins wouldn’t play; and even worse Kagawa who did play ergo taking away my last chance of Kolarov playing for my team, and didn’t my new Japanese friend only go and get booked after playing 54 mins. grrrrrrr

Got the captain right? Well it’s a given I should have got Kolarov in my team and captained him, but other than that I got the second best option in my team in as captain, Morrison for WBA got 12 points, but I had given the armband to Hazard, who had got scored 9. That was the saving grace, as his extra 9 points is what dragged my team score to be larger than the average.

Got the keeper right? Yes, but only by one point.

Got my subs decisions right? Did I mention that Kolarov was sat on my bench and he could have got me 20 points.

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… last week’s highest scorer was John Synnott (twitter.com/Jsnotts) who got 81 points, which for context was about 175% of the average score which was 49. * (I need a better way of figuring and wording that, any ideas) And just a smidgen outside the top 10,000 scores in the whole world!

Having flirted with being dead last for most of the campaign so far I felt as though I was due a break. This is the same kind of thinking that we "The Faithful" (#LFC #YNWA #quietdesperation) have perfected in the last 22 years. So basically my tactics all season have centred around locking doors in eerily quiet stables. Last week, however, the horse remained docile and indeed thrived after my purchase of both Torres (Captain/goal/assist/3bps) and Ivanovich (goal/assist/1bp). Clean sheets for my other defenders and the previously hapless Reina also helped. The Pog, Michu, and a present from Santi rounded out the major players. There is no secret really. It's like being a goalie trying to save a penalty. Waiting to see which way he kicks it usually ends up with the ball in the net. Just occasionally however, Timofte whacks one straight at you.

John "BoriniMeenyMinyMo" Synnott

WHERE AM I?

In the BOTNB league, I have just dropped 6 positions to 13 th position and suddenly I am 74 points off the top of the league (or in other terms, Kolarov being captain plus 34 points). The overall squad overhaul I was hinting at two weeks ago is now an almost neccesity.

TRANSFERS

I have two free transfers to make this gameweek. And I wonder I’ve had Crouch and Cazorla on my shortlist for last two weeks, without even looking at anyone else, and in my head Tevez was going to be on the players going, hence freeing up some spondulas too, to free up the midfield Mr Kagawa has had to go. Even though I think Kagawa will play since Rooney, Carrick and Cleverly will have all returned a day late from Poland, so I might put a fiver on him to score in Paddypower to cover the spread.

It’s made this week’s recon a little easier to be honest. I’m happy with having three strikers that will play pretty much all the games they are available from. Listening to the Fantasy Football Scout podcast they put up a great argument for having RVP etc, the big hitters, and I may rue that decision.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

 -

Pretty simple selection, putting all my strikers on, playing Baines away to porous QPR and two other home defenders (dropping Williams, as I can’t be sure of Swansea at the moment)… I have erred with not using Kolarov though (will I change my mind!!!!) and Morrison has been moved to the bench since they are playing Man City.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

As I mentioned already Williams is troubling me (even though apparently Laudrup has been implying that he will be going more defensive soon), and any players I change will be more down to suspensions/injuries next week. Perhaps make none next week, thus having two to play with in GW10

ISTEACH!

All the big hitters really, I have no under-the-rader people to mention.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Am taking a relative punt and captaining Berbatov, as they are playing at home to Aston Villa.

We normally have captains corner but Captain #1 is in the process of moving out of Ireland for a while so I’ve missed him this week, Captain #2 will be taking over the role by GM 10. Hopefully we’ll get a farewell column from Beta CC next week.

Have a great weekend.

r

Gameweek 5 Season 2012/2013

Welcome back guys and guyettes, hope you all had a good week.

GAMEWEEK 5 REVIEW OF NEW CORK COSMOS

While a lot of us all have the same big names, our selection of the mid price players is really coming to the fore and this week I had some poor results.  I got 36 points (somehow the 4 points for making a transfer didn’t seem to get taken off?), with 6 players getting 2 points or less. The igmony of getting zero points only went to Williams of Swansea.

Got the captain right? Nope, as I said in last week’s blog, I was gonna with one of my two new recruits to hopefully offset the 4 point outlay, if’d gone with Berbatov (8 points) rather Morrison (3 points), I’d have have 5 points better off.

Got the keeper right? Nope, if I’d gone with Cech, I’d have had a 6 point swing.

Got my subs decisions right? Can’t complain, the total haul of my subs bench was just 2 points.

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… last week’s highest scorer was Cormac Gahan who got 76 points, which for context was 81% of the average score on top of the average score, which was 44.* (I need a better way of figuring and wording that, any ideas) And it brought him to 7^th spot.

Making Lambert captain was definitely the key move for my team last week. Really ‘Man bites dog’ had been struggling in recent weeks. Normally I make quite a random captain choice but last week I chanced Lambert for the following reasons: (i) Southampton have already scored a tonne of goals despite playing against some of the leagues toughest defences, (ii) Lambert had already scored two, (iii) most importantly Southampton were desperate for a home win and against Villa they had a good chance. Also the other captain choices were tough calls; Hazard playing against a tough Stoke team and RvP away to Liverpool. So really it sounds like I know what I’m doing but it was down to luck in the end I guess (it usually is) – but I think Lambert is a good call for the time being.

Also I’ve just played my wildcard and brought in Baines, RvP, Hazard, Ben Arfa, Cazorla, Michu – all of the usual suspects. So Baines, Ben Arfa & Cazorla also did well for me. Since everyone’s team is now quite similar captain choice is going to be important. Some of the players in my original team are now starting to deliver (like Bale and Cole) but I couldn’t wait too long to get RvP and Hazard in because prices were going up all the time – so I got rid of them. It’s going to get more interesting now as players are rotated for Champions League games and who knows who Mancini is going to start in any given premiership match.

  

WHERE AM I?

That 7^th place Cormac now holds conviently (as a link in this article, but not for New Cork Cosmos) is where I stood last gameweek. I currently hold 10^th position, thus I have have dropped three places in the league and 57 points off the top.

In the BOTNB league, I stand in 7th position with about 30 points to gain to get back on top, but I’m looking at the squad I have I don’t feel very confident, it needs a bit of an overhaul, which I have started this week.

TRANSFERS

On Sunday night, I decided to act and make three transfers that I had planned to do soonish, mainly because I feared price rises during the week would get me in trouble, which I feel vindicated by as the three have collectively risen by .4 million over the course of the week. The three in were Howard, Baines and Fletcher (of Sunderland), and out went Cech, Kaboul and Graham.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

Well I go by the theory, never buy a player if you don’t wanna use him, so that makes my goalkeeper decision pretty easy, even though it would have been anyway (Howard at home to Southamton (though the afore mentioned Lambert is a worry) versus Jaaskelainen at QPR.

My usual trick of keeping defenders on the bench (it’s not really a trick, it’s just what keeps happening) means I just had to pick between Michu and Morrison. Since the latter is orange and physioroom.com says it’s a hamstring injury; I’ll go with the Swansea man.

Here’s the screenshot.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

AMACH!

At the Arena Franklin (home ground of New Cork Cosmos), someone who might be heading for the door is Williams at Swansea, I fear they have lost momentum and might take a while to rebuild defensively. but they do have two fine home fixtures in GM 7 & 8, perhaps I bide my time and make no transfers next week so I can swap two out at no points cost. Kolarov has lost .2 in value though, and I can’t seem to rely on him playing at moment either.

Also collateral damage could be required for my bank balance to improve for future transfers and therefore Tevez may have to go…

ISTEACH!

… mainly cos of Manchini’s squad rotation between Champions League and Premiership, and also because of his price. I keep coming back to the idea that bringing in Crouch (6.5) or Bent (8.2) [quite a chunk of change of price difference] would give me forward options of three players who will always start – along with Berbatov and Fletcher.

In midfield Cazorla is really ringing my bell, and everyone elses of course, but he is quite pricey. A lot to ruminate upon, especially when I read articles like this about two other options… www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2012/09/27/versus-steven-pienaar-marouane-fellaini/

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

As I’ve spent 8 points bringing in three players this week, logically if I captain one and they perform then they’ll cover the points outlay. So it’s a toss up between Baines (at home to Southamton) or Fletcher (at home to Wigan). And to be honest I’m quite torm, both visiting teams are equally poor; both players are in good recent form and neither played during the week in their clubs whatever-it’s-called-now cup fixtures. I think I’ll err towards Baines, mainly because if he does well (ie keep clean sheet) then Howard will to. But perhaps that putting to many eggs in one basket. I may change my mind to Fletcher in the morning. We’ll leave the captaining to the expert…

Drum roll it’s……. Captains Corner

sorry folks Captains Corner isn't able to join us this week as he is training his replacement before he goes travelling. Indeed we will be bringing in a new Captain next month.

Woah it’s like we’re starting all over again, due to a variety of reasons the last two blogs just haven’t happened, travelling and timing has not helped but a general laziness on my part has also had an impact.

Gameweek 3 & 4 review

There has already been a huge bunching up of big hitters, RVP, Tevez, Hazard etc and it has made things kind of boring as most people have the same 4 or 5 players already. Hopefully there’ll be a few cats among the pigeons (a black cat called Fletcher perhaps?) soon. A lot of people had a poor gameweek 4, with 40 points being the average score (I got exactly that myself), and our leader in the Back Of The Net Boy league, Michael Daly, getting a ‘mere’ 61 points, [fair dues to Gilbert who managed 64]

The team I selected only had one mistake where Cech got 3 points less than Jaaskelainen, those tiny margins are what could make me kick over a table at the end of the season; and disappointingly the player I transferred out (Sigurdsson), did better than the player I transferred in (Kagawa), who didn’t play at all.

WHERE AM I?

In the BOTNB league, I stand in 7th position with about 30 points to gain to get back on top, but I’m looking at the squad I have I don’t feel very confident, it needs a bit of an overhaul, which I have started this week.

TRANSFERS

Much to my chagrin I decided to get rid of Torres and bring in Berbatov, mainly because I reckon the Bulgarian is going to play every game possible (and he’s already fitted in well); I anticipate bringing in Fletcher next week, for same criteria.

And I got rid of Joe Allen, I was stupid to bring him in, wrong position to get fantasy points, and I’ve brought in Morrison at WBA, he’s hit good form already.

THIS WEEK’S SELECTION

Due to my two dud defenders, which I explain in next paragraph, I only really had to decide which player to drop, by virtue of having signed two players (Berbatov and Morrison) they will definitely start so only question was who to drop between Graham and Tevez, so I’m going with the latter to partner Berbatov (old friends from their Old Trafford days). Keeperwise I’m going with Jaaskelainen, mainly because Stoke and Chelsea will probably lead to some sloppy goals being let in by the Blues; but also in the classic fantasy football mindset that IF he keeps a clean sheet it will mean Fletcher won’t have scored - ergo my competition who have signed him already will be lose point and his value could go down so I can sign him cheaper next week.

GOING FORWARD / WHO YOU LOOKING AT RONAN?

I think I’m gonna end up making double transfer next two weeks, I have two defenders I am constantly not using Kolarov (due to Manchini’s rotation and Man City’s less parsimonious defence) and Kaboul (due to his long term injury), so that’s dead space. And I might just squeeze a few quid, so I can also bump up to Santi Cazorla and Fletcher somehow.

MY CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN {might change mind last minute in the morning}

I’ve spend 4 points bringing in Morrison this week, so I’ve decided to captain him. He looks like he could thrive at home to Reading.

Drum roll it’s……. Captains Corner

Tough choice this weekend, no obvious standouts.

RVP@Liverpool - Very frustrating week against Wigan last time round with reliant robin only getting a 20 minute run out and a single point in a 4-0 win. He took a slight knock in an international so this was precautionary. Expect him to start at Anfield. Tough match though, Liverpool usually step it up a notch against Man U so I don't expect a goal fest. Still, he's probably the best of bad bunch of captaincy options.

Hazard@home to Stoke - Hazard looks the only reliable choice from Chelsea; Torres's place looks in doubt. He turned up a blank in a hard fought 0-0 against QPR who had something to prove, I expect a better showing here.

Berbatov@Wigan - Berba returns to the captaincy corner! Great first run out against West Brom, grabbing a brace, but the old Fulham away from home caveat remains.

City @home to Arsenal - Should be a great game. Arsenal just look better and better with Cazorla pulling the strings and Podolski putting away the chances. They have the momentum here to pull off a win I think. City are leaking goals at the moment, 6 so far this season. Tevez, Podolski and Cazorla and decent picks here.

Gamble pick - Maloney @home to Fulham.

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.