Fantasy Football Preview Week 10

From tiny steps come big change, my team scored 57, the average was 44. so I climbed up the leader board . But still 91 points off the top! In 31^st spot in our league, my target is to hit top 20 this weekend.

Vindication

Not much to make me be able to preen and say I-told-you-so, Ashley Cole kept a clean sheet big surprise, and Nasri scored a goal. (I did predict that a Man Utd reserve would step out of Rooney’s limelight and while I was right, I didn’t even mention Hernadenz as a potential name to be that guy). I did predict Carroll to use his recent troubles as a fuel and he did pick up a goal, so there you go. I’m no Paul the octopus but still.

D’oh

Once again 5 players getting 2 points or less, which is a bollocks. Picking half a team of good point scorers is shit form. Tevez limping off helped pretty much every team end up a captain scoring 2 whole points. If only I’d captained Nasri eh?

Hunch / Drama

Even though I haven’t signed him this week, my gut is telling me Reo-Croker for Villa. He’s back in form the shadows, he’s been made captain, it’s the Birmingham derby. Scene is set for him to shine.

Transfers

Going to go with no transfers because I want to have the ability to make two changes in next game week without wasting more points (I’ve wasted 20 points doing extra transfers already).  But I means I have only 11 players outfield. Actually I will transfer Albrighton out and get Reo Croker in, just so I’ve a 12^th man to play if one of my first 11 can’t make it. It also means I’ve a million in the kitty now.

Theory/Selection

Having the main strikers of the two teams in the Tyneside Derby is maybe a mad idea, but sure let’s see, I really need to shake things up and not do safe stuff. Due to Chelsea visiting Blackburn, I’ll drop Samba, even though it’s not impossible that Chelsea will drop points there. Will go for Hart over Jasssssssskeljgsdkallin for Bolton, as I reckon Liverpool are gonna spring on someone soon. Alex is a doubt, and I’ll be Samba on the bench.

Nasri will captain the team as a home game against West Ham might add up to a goal fest for the gunners

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

As ever Micah Richards is on my radar,

Captains Corner with Phergal

 Phergal is not providing a column this week, as I reminded him too late!

Have a good weekend everybody

Fantasy Football Preview Week 9

Slowly slowly making progress, the average score last week was 46 points, I got ten more than that, ergo I’m finally getting on top of the curve. I jumped 20+ places in the Back Of The League, but still a mighty 90 off the top spot. AAARRGGGHHH.

Vindication

Nowt to shout about, having Tevez as captain seems to be a default setting for everyone at moment, so by taking away the 24 points he got for me, my other players got me 32 points between them which is just not good enough. (How does my vindication section seem to involve me giving out)

D’oh

5 players getting 2 points or less (including Samba getting –1)

Hunch

Nani & Berbatov to show him, after this gameweek Everton to win next 5 games

Drama

Rooney doesn’t’ think his team mates are good enough for him, he’s out for next 3 weeks. Is this the time for Macheda to take his spot or Berbatov to build on his form thus far.

I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty sure Andy Carroll is going to jail soon (being put on bail while waiting for another court case, also to do with assault doesn’t do many favours), so does he goes with a bang or with a whimper? Associated with this is the fact there are strong whispers (what does that mean) than Hughton is on zero time, next loss and he’s out I’ve heard. Even though he’s a decent bloke etc etc those Geordies need a name, and ideally a messiah.

Transfers

Damn it, due to 3 defenders (Evans, Alex and Samba) being unavailable, I have to bring in a defender otherwise it’s just a dead cert to have zero points from one of them. I wanna keep Alex so it’s a toss up between Samba or Evans, Blackburn should get at least 3 clean sheets out of their next 5 (after this week) and samba is first choice, so I’ll err with him even though you can expect good old Rio to get injured any…. minute…..now…  Now who do I replace him with? Coleman gets the nod, mostly cos he’s Irish and in form.

I really didn’t want to make any transfers so I could do a double swoop next week. Bollocks

 

Theory/Selection

Due to the 2 defenders missing, the only choice is which of my 12 outfielders to drop. I guess it’ll be Kevin Doyle away Chelsea I’ll drop, if I need to explain that I don’t know what you know! The keeper selection is tougher, I’m just gonan go with the home goalkeeper rule, so Hart it is. He should make a few saves at least, so pick up a few points even if they don’t keep a clean sheet. I have Cleverly (at Wigan) in midfield and he’s barely played so I’d say it’s time to move him on soon.

Errah fuck it, I’ll drop doyle now, just noticed their next 4 games are Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd and Arsenal. I’ll sell him and buy Bent and take the 4 point hit, to accommodate him I need to sell Nolan and bring in a cheaper player, Albrighton at Villa. He seems a rising star and will get plenty of bonus points cos he’s English. Now I’ve .8 million in the bank and losing another 8 points this week.

 

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

Micah Richards is on my radar, as is the entire Everton back 4

Captains Corner with Phergal

(a weekly feature now with friend of Back Of The Net Boy, a big fan of fantasy football)

bit of bragging first, transferred in tevez last week and captained him, made up what would have been a fairly crappy week. get in.

so once again it's hard to look past chelsea who will ride wolves like a crazy bitch, reports from camp stamford suggest drogba is over his man flu and will start against wolves so he's my captain this week. Malouda is also an obvious choice, although there's an increasing risk of him being rested every now and then so he's a risk in my opinion, but have him in you lineup anyway. Anelka is a decent pick too. heck any chelsea player against wolves will get you points.

i like tevez at home to arsenal although mancini is annoyingly hinting that tev will play in the euro game due to various injuries and be rested against arsenal which sounds crazy and may be some kind of mind game?

i'd have a good look at your emergency captain settings this week and decide who it will go to value or form. starting 11's are getting a bit unpredictable and you should know exactly where you captain's armband is going if your guy is out.

and that's it really, not many other extremely favourable fixtures. for a gamble choice, you could do worse than VDV or hat trick hero Bale against everton.

Fantasy Football Preview Week 8

I managed to get exactly the average score last week. This campaign has mediocrity written all over it so far. 40 points


Vindication
Nada, at least I captained Tevez (he was the second highest scorer of my team, with a whopping 5 points). Hart was my other option and he only got 2 points. Disasterous opening to this season. It s a bollix.

D’oh

I assumed there’d be a groundswell towards Alex, so I put him straight in after his premiership game a weekend ago, and then he went and got injured! But in terms of actual team selection, since only 11 of my outfield players played at all, I can only say d’oh about my keeper selection since Hart only got 2 points, whereas my sub, Jaaskelainen, got 4.


Hunch

My hunches seem to have no input to my team this week. I reckon due to Chelsea’s injury list one fo the Kakuta/Sturridge mob will score a few tasty points, but no point getting one of them in when there is no clear candiataes. It’s all much of a muchness there.


Transfers

Since I’ve already signed Alex, another transfer would cost be 4 points; I’ve no other clear transfer intentions anyway; Van der Vart is everyones go to guy at the moment, but 2 of the next 3 matches Spur play are Everton and Man Utd (I reckon Everton will be certainly up for a battle in the former, the same for United in the latter).

Theory/Selection

I think/fear I have only 11 outfielders gonna make an appearance, unless Evans get the nod ahead of Ferdinand (or he limps off injured) or Vidic, but I can’t see that. And Doyle mightn’t play either.

My Team this week

Keeping An Eye On

The form book (cliché etc) goes out the window with Mersey Derby, so a few Everton players I like the look of will have to wait another week.

Micah Richards is on my radar, and Van Der Vart (obviously) and Bent for sunderland



Captains Corner with Phergal
(a weekly feature now with friend of Back Of The Net Boy, a big fan of fantasy football)

no major standouts this weekend again, so careful captaincy choices are needed once again. United at home seem comfortable enough at home to west brom, nani and berbatov are nice picks, maybe even rooney if you still have him in your team and fancy a gamble. he has been playing a little bit better lately. i fancy two or three goals here, although west brom have shown fighting spirit so far, so it's far from an obvious choice.

I like city away to blackpool, i really think blackpool are riding a wave at the moment and i don't think they'll be able to stop tevez and co. banging a few past them. Tevez looks good here and is my own captain pick.

Chelsea remain good picks as always but away to villa is tricky. i wouldn't fancy too many goals here, and with chelseas defensive injuries maybe they'll play a less attacking game away from home.

I really like newcastle at home to leaky wigan, i reckon carroll will be starting again here and is a good pick, along with barton and nolan.

No Blog This Week

due to international break no need for a blog for fantasy football

but I will tell you this
Ireland to beat Russia 2-1
and MacGeady to score a goal in anytime

17/2

Fantasy Football Preview Week 7

Yet another low scoring week at Len Rovers HQ, getting only 43 points. A new low this season. The sliver lining is that the average score is 40, I did better than most, but essentially the same amount of points off our league leader than before. Things have to change here, but how? Maybe bring Peter Reid in as an assistent


Vindication

Nothing, absolutely nothing. I meant to put Nasri as my captain and all. I did and forgot to save changes.

D’oh

The whole kaboodle. Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool results were all aberrations, what were the odds on none of them winning? (3000-1, I was told after the fact. Like all great odds like that, I didn’t check it I’m jut repeating it)

Hunch

Medium Term
Is this the time for West Ham & Wigan to come good? Both have favourable runs of games, and as we all know the ‘lesser’ teams need to put a good run of wins to get breathing space from the relegation zones (I’ve always wondered what teams don’t’ need a good run of wins)

Man City have 1 hard game in next 5 too, so I’d go for them, but squad rotation makes it hard to guess. Micah Richards is doing well, and Manchini seems to keep same back 4 for league campaign so far.

But my hunch for this week is
Hart or Tevez as captain. I’ll go Tevez and hope he does a job. Since Carroll and Nolan are on my first 11 and I want them to score goal, no point me wanting Hart to keep a clean sheet.

Transfers

Trying to stop the silly extra transfers (have wasted 24 points doing so – even though you could argue, that the players made it back for me), which equals many league places. Could already mean I won’t win it). So it’s back to clever use of transers one week, an dleaving it off the following. I dropped Drogba for Tevez, purely to get 3.9 million in the kitty, cos I’d nowt to play with ‘going forward’. I’m pretty sure Van Der Vaart is coming in next week, as form continues especially since he got sent off in champions league means there’ll be no reason to rest him for this or next sat’s match.

Theory/Selection

I’m pretty sure Evans won’t play in Sunderland, unless Ferdinand or Vidic get rested; he just didn’t seize his chance when the big lanky injury prone forget fella was injured. I will start him in my team though, cos there’s a good chance Rio will limp off. And since Konsceky and Cleverly are injured, I’ll have only 12 outfield players to pick from.

And will this finally be the match Given gets a game. I’ll go with Hart anyway due to the pick-whichever-goalkeeper-is-playing-at home theory

My Team this week

1: Hart Newcastle (H)
2: Samba Stoke City (A)
3: Evans J Sunderland (A)
4: Vidic Sunderland (A)
5: Cole A Arsenal (A)
6: Nolan Man City (A)
7: Malouda Arsenal (A)
8: Nasri Chelsea (H)
9: Bale Aston Villa (H)
10: Carroll Blackpool (H)
11: Tevez (C) Blackpool (H)

12: Jaaskelainen West Brom (A)
13: Konchesky Blackpool (A)
14: Doyle Wigan (A)
15: Cleverly Wolves (H)

Keeping An Eye On

Van Der Vart (how fecking obvious), and Coleman at Everton (if everton’s bad form continues surely Moyes will change things round in defence, nice and cheap). Bent is also catching the eye and his ex teammate Jones who is nearly 2 million cheaper but defo full time starter.



Captains Corner with Phergal

(a new weekly feature now with friend of Back Of The Net Boy, a big fan of fantasy football, nut not basic grammer seemingly)

hard to pick anyone except drogba the last few weeks, he's almost guaranteed at least some points regardless of the opposition. last week with chelsea playing city people suddenly had to look elsewhere for captaincy choices, many piling their hopes on liverpool and arsenal. finally the game starting getting interesting, nothing like captaining against the masses on coming up trumps (i captained drogba :( ). so on to this week. liverpool remain a risky choice with their pretty awful form, however such is the class of torres you wouldn't bet against a brace at anfield at home to blackpool, especially with blackpool's nothing to lose attacking mentality. torres then and cole and gerrard remain decent captain picks although don't be surprised with another abysmal performace. city are a great bet this weekend at home to newcastle, hard to pick anyone there apart from tevez with city's midfield prone to rotation and not scoring especially high. The big match this weekend is arsenal chelsea in stamford bridge, these big matches tend to be either bore 1-0 affairs or very attacking games with lots of goals, drogba scored no less than 4 goals against arsenal last year who remain leaky at the back so he's a definite pick, although arsenal will have something to prove after the shock west brom result but remain plagued by injury, i'd go for a 3-1 result to chelsea. fancy a gamble? foster at home to everton.

Fantasy Football Preview Game Week 5

A terrible week at Len Rovers HQ, getting only 41 points was 10 worse than my previous worst. I need a flash out of the blue to get me out of this mid table mire. And still my son’s novelty team is doing better than me. Have I already started to have father/son projected goals issues.

Vindication
I’ve pretty much nothing to blow my trumpet about from the previous game week. Vidic scoring a goal was handy, not that I expected. But conceding 3 goals was mental. I had what I considered a terrible week, until I saw the other scores on Tuesday and very few people in the Back Of The Net Boy did much better. I got 41 points (worryingly I made 16 points worth of transfers and it didn’t seem to come off my score – if I win this league by 15 points, will I just be like Henry?

D’oh

My main regret this week was the fact was the Man Utd Everton result. Three of my back 4 (Howard, Vidic & Evans (suffered (bar the Vidic goal). Newcastle losing didn’t help; I’d Carroll as my captain. Maybe cos I was at a music festival for the weekend, my team were a lot more lax than they’d normally be when I’d be keeping a close eye on them in Cashman’s Pub on a Saturday.

Hunch

This is not too imaginative, but Drogba is gonna be my captain. He didn’t play yesterday in Chelsea’s goal rout, so he’ll be hungry to get some glory back on his shoulders (is that a phrase? Did I just make up a cliché?). He’ll be at home to Blackpool and I can imagine him like a bad guy in a James Bond film where the underdog hero (Blackpool) is brought to his lair (Stamford Bridge) and the bad guy (Drogba – you’re getting this metaphor yeah?) does the whole I’ve been expecting you shtick… Hang on the underdog always wins yeah. Oops. Ashley Cole was also rested in champions league. So he should play on sat, I’m wary of the Liverpool v Man Utd game, or more specifically Torres v Vidic. It’s been a torrid challenge for Vidic last few seasons, and considering all the flack Torres has got and the fact he didn’t play last night means he could just be primed to explode. That match also signals the return of Joe Cole after suspension (remember he scored the goal last season to essentially win the league for Chelsea)

I’m interested to see if Gareth Bale plays against Wolves at home. Spurs need to pull their socks up in Premier League of course, and Modric is injured so a left handed attacking role could be ripe for the young leek eater but has his kettle boiled over? (it this metaphor the kettle is his form)

Transfers

I’m not gonna use any transfers this week (unless an injury gets announced tomorrow). I’m fearful of less than 10 or 11 players in my team actually making appearances at weekend (Arshavin played last night for instance and the next game is a tough match in stadium light, so Wenger might play all his midfield bruisers instead… Hang on). But it’s a risk I gotta take, because my virtue of saving this transfer, so I carry it over to have 2 next week. After another hectic champions league week, we might have a few knocks etc.

But if I was gonna sign anyone, it’d be Fabregas because like the which ever woman the Kings of Leon wrote that song about, his Sex Is On Fire (but in this case his Sex is his match fitness and form)

Theory/Selection

I just realised, Liverpool and Man City play tonight, I might not be able to do a full blog tomorrow (I have meetings all day with people who put on arts and theatre festivals. Can you believe “they” have no interest in soccer, specifically notional games like this? Philistines. Anyway there might be more knocks or injuries after. I’m hoping Man City play well tonight and win handsomely, so they’ll be lax against Wigan, so Cleverly (4.5 folk, got an assist in the 14 mins he played on his debut) might make something happen.

Arrgh Carroll & Nolan away to Everton, they’ll be on a high after last week’s result; that’ll be another travesty of Len Rovers.

Drogba captain is a shoe in though

My Team this week

1: Howard Newcastle (H)
2: Samba Fulham (H)
3: Evans J Liverpool (H)
4: Vidic Liverpool (H)
5: Cole A Blackpool (H)
6: Nolan Everton (A)
7: Arshavin Sunderland (A)
8: Cleverly Man City (H)
9: Bale Wigan (H)
10: Malouda Blackpool (H)
11: Drogba (C) Blackpool (H)

12: Jaaskelainen Aston Villa (A)
13: Konchesky Man Utd (A)
14: Doyle Tottenham (A)
15: Carroll Everton (A)

Keeping An Eye On

Torres & Cole, if they start to sparkle might be time to move to them; next two matches after Man Utd game are two home matches in Sunderland and Blackpool

Guest Blogger For Fantasy Football

A good good friend of Back Of The Net Boy has written this week's blog. Even though he works for the company known as anti-beamish, he's a good guy and knows his stuff

Here you go, edit away if you like.

Fixtures

A key aspect of the game is playing according to fixtures and is essential if you want to top your private leagues. If you pay no attention to fixtures other than to pick your captain, you will fall behind. I tend to look for a run of 3/4 good fixtures for a team and load up on their players according to how good the fixtures are. I also keep an eye on all the future fixtures so i can have a vague plan for gradually bringing in these players in time for the good run without having to take precious points hits. Chelsea undoubtedly had the best starting run of fixtures and people that had drogba, malouda, etc. were duly rewarded. Arsenal's starting fixtures are also great and people with arshavin, walcott (now injured) will be pleased. At the moment i have loaded up on spurs players bale, crouch (now that defoe is injured) and dawson (also injured :( ) and am hoping for big returns from west brom, wolves and west ham. of course home advantage is also a huge factor, any look at stats will show you how better teams perform at home. A run of 3 home fixtures is always tempting, especially for defenders. A common tactic with keepers is to pick them according to fixtures that "match" i.e. when one plays away, the other home and you can play a home keeper every week. There's a thorough keeper combo analysis on this page: http://totalfpl.com/ under community articles, check it out.

It's quite painful trying to look at all the fixtures in one go, to spot good runs with the regular fixture tables, but luckily there's plenty of FF nerds that have done the hard work for you and made season tickers that plot the seasons fixtures and grade according to difficulty, check this before you make any changes to your team and plan early.

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/fpl-fixtures-and-results-grid-2010-11-t74462.html (updated weekly with new difficulty gradings based on current table standings)

Also essential to keep abreast of are the sacred double gameweeks where a team will play two matches in one gameweek. These tend to become more frequent after christmas when fixture schedules get complicated with FA cup, etc. and weather starts to cancel a few matches (remember the chaos last year?) if you spot a nice double gameweek coming up like two home matches against weaker opposition then of course try to get to that gameweek with 3 of those players. The earlier you know about it, the easier you can get these players in without points hits.

so final picks from me for good runs: Fulham up to GW11, spurs for the next few weeks, arsenal have westham (H), Newcastle (H) and wolves (A) starting in GW10 so load up on them and finally man city have decent fixtures for the next 7 weeks apart from arsenal and chelsea, but they are both at home so not that bad either.