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7 points better
than the average, 20 points better than the gameweek number
come on season
let’s get this over… it’s all about the awards evening for us BOTNBers
REVIEW OF NEW CORK
COSMOS IN GAMEWEEK 35
My hard and fast
rule is that 5 points is a good return for a player, therefore 55 point return
is a good gameweek? No, like love it is a more textured, layered and nuanced
thing than simply saying if X is this, then 11X equals, but enough about my ex
and the other ten girls I went out with (BOOOOOOM BOOOOOOM Comedy gold)… I’m
trying my bestest to care enough to pull New Cork Cosmos into 42nd
position… My more personal battle is with DarraghFPL in our Michu v Toure
battle (back story – difference in points haul from GM 34 to 38 will be
balanced with pints, I’m on Team Touré who currently has a haul of 11 points,
to Team Michu’s 5, as things stand all the pints I am buying David Neville has
been offset by the Ivorian Machine.
WHAT’S THE
POINTS?
Points scored
last week - 55 Points
Average points
scored in that week - 48 points
Points off the
top - 367 points, 14 points closer to
the top.
Points off 42nd
position - 68 points
Position in
BOTNB League - 61st
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Bale and
Bentenke got a haul of 29 between them!
WHAT WENT NOT
RIGHT
But that was
nearly half my points scored by the entire team, and my captains choice (Tevez)
was a bad one, if only there was some fine upstanding fantasy football blogger
to guide me away from such stooopid mistakes.
LAST WEEK’S TEAM
TRANSFERS
So I chopped out
Fellani and Ben Arfa and brought in Lennon and Toure. Simple reasons really,
Fellani seems to be playing in a deeper midfield position again; Ben Arfa is in
a terribly misfiring Newcastle team; Lennon is a double gameweek and chasing
the champions league spot and Touré is also DGMing. It was a choice between him
and Nasri really but decided to stay in sync with that afore mentioned Touré v Michu
bet.
KEEPING AN EYE
ON
Noone
specifically, I can’t even remember what I did this time last year, am I
supposed to be planning a short term decision next week.
THIS WEEK’S
SELECTION
Seem pretty easy
really, only one option for the gloves Jaaskalineighyuinghin at home to
Newcastle is way more favourable than Boruc at Spurs, for similar reason I’ve
dropped my other Saints players, Rodriguez and Shaw to the bench, and the 15th
man in over sized jackets is Turner, who
is injured anyway.
MY CAPTAIN, MY
CAPTAIN
Right now, it’s
Bale
CAPTAIN’S CORNER
with @darraghFPL
I’d almost say last week was a success. My top four
selections all pulled through with scoring returns, while Aguero vindicated his
inclusion over the much touted Carlos Tevez. I’m not getting too comfortable
with this recent triumph however; as yet another double gameweek is crammed
into fantasy football for the final time this season. As regular readers of
this blog will know, I have a slight aversion to doubles as they tend to be
unpredictable. Statistics are too often rendered useless and rotation becomes
more pertinent than usual. This week is perhaps slightly different however. For
one, it’s the end of the season and gives me a slight opportunity to reel in
the 25 point lead over me in the BOTNB league. Secondly, I feel like I’ve got a
good read on the rotation issues this week, and dontchaknow, I’ll share this
new found wisdom with ya’ll.
With six teams playing twice, people will inevitably
gravitate towards players from these sides. However, only Tottenham, Wigan and
Chelsea have something to play for. The latter travel to Old Trafford in their
first game and entertain Spurs for their second, hardly ideal fixtures. Wigan
have by far the kindest fixtures of the three. Playing two sides that have
absolutely nothing to play for in West Brom and Swansea, I’m leaning heavily
toward their price friendly attacking options. Finally, Spurs first game at home
to Southampton should be enough to persuade people to shell out for Bale, Defoe
or my personal gameweek favourite, Jan Vertonghen.
It’s obvious that Bale is the best option for captaincy for
this (and almost every) set of fixture but rather than ramble on about him
averaging 1,624 shots a game I’ll highlight the upside of his potentially
differentiating teammates. Vertonghen has been a fantasy revelation this
season. For one, his average of a goal scoring chance every 89.3 minutes is the
second most of any defender in the league this season…..yes, even better than
fantasy wunderkind Leighton Baines (92.3 mins) and the asstacular Ivanovic
(127.5 minutes). Only Glen Johnson has more attempts per minute with a pop at
goal every 59.7 minutes but he has only converted 1 of these chances, or in
percentage terms, that’s a paltry 1.8%.
The three afore mentioned defenders top the defender goal
scoring chart with 5 goals each proving when it comes to defensive goals, its
quality not quantity. Furthermore, Vertonghen has the third highest amount of
final third through ball for a defender in the league with 7, one behind team
mate Kyle Walker and 3 behind Jose Enrique who enjoyed a stint at left wing
earlier in the season. A home game to Southampton offers a serious possibility
of a clean sheet as the Saints have scored once in their past three. But let’s
face it, unless you’re looking to make up a humdinger of a chasm, play it safe
and captain Ronaldo v2.0. Versus his old club, fourth place on the line,
something has to happen, right? (Gareth Bale to get sent off is available @
25/1 at paddypower.com)
Elsewhere, Man City will surely garner serious attention
this gameweek. Tevez is already the third most transferred in player this since
Sunday but the blue side of Manchester may be slightly more preoccupied with
their cup final on Saturday week. Furthermore, when Aguero and Tevez both
start, the latter’s average position is a full two pitch quadrants further back
than Aguero, who almost always leads the line. Last weeks game against West Ham
is a perfect microcosm of the two Argentineans role in the side.
Tevez played just over a 1/10 of the pitch deeper than
Aguero, touching the ball on average ever 1.2 minutes compared to Aguero’s 2.1.
Tevez had 9 more successful final third passes and received 13 more passes in
the final third himself. However, Aguero managed 7 more penalty area touched, 2
more goal attempts inside the box and the all important goal. What this
underlies is Tevez is far more vital to the link up from midfield to the
frontline but inevitably plays second fiddle to Aguero in terms of attempts and
subsequently, goals.
But what about FA Cup related rotation you say? This is an
issue. Mancini has come out and said he won’t rotate until second place is
assured. Do I believe him? Nah, he’s burned me far too many times. One of the
two will be rotated on the Tuesday against the Baggies and my inclination is
toward Tevez. Aguero is coming off an injury and match fitness/sharpness is
essential for an instinctive finisher such as he is. Secondly, Tevez has
started the last 7 league games and is more susceptible to fatigue, though his
natural fitness is clearly one of his most outstanding attribute. Still can’t
decide eh? Well Aguero offers the most upside. Even with Dzeko in the side,
Tevez sits deeper than the Bosnian. If Mancini doesn’t rotate, I’ll eat these
words. It won’t be the first time this blog has been ingested anyway.
For my penultimate nod, I’m going for me second gut instinct
in successive weeks. At the start of the season, I heavily tipped two players
to tear up the FPL. One proved correct (Michu), the other not so much. The one
who let me down was Martin Petric. I raved about his prowess in the Bundy
league last season and his introduction to the Premier League showed promise
with 3 goals and an assist in his first 130 minutes of football at the Cottage.
Then Dimi Berbatov happened and poor ol’ Martin slipped down the pecking order,
delving deeper and deeper, beyond the likes of Hugo Roddallega, yes the same
Hugo Roddallega who averages a goal every 483 minutes of football. Petric
meanwhile scores every 173 minutes, but that’s against regular competent teams.
Not a team like Reading, whose top priced defender is a Lidl-esq £3.9 million
and haven’t kept an away clean sheet all season long. So its time for Martin
Petric to come full circle and prove that with a now crocked Berbatov, he can
fulfill my prophecies of fantasy greatness. Well, for the next three weeks
anyway.
Finally, 110,000 of you have brought in Romalu Lukaku this
week. His upside is massive. But buyers beware. He has only played 94 minutes
against sides in the top 4 this season, indicating a perceived lack of trust by
Steve Clark. He is also on loan, and with the Baggies having nothing to play
for, it surely offers the manager a greater scope to experiment with the
players he will definitely have at his disposal next term. Having said that,
the Belgians 14 goals so far cannot be ignored and his 130.3 minutes of
football per goal is only bested by that Dutchman (120.6 mins per goal). With Lukaku garnering the most
interest this week, those looking for a differential may look toward the Wesley
Snipes in Demolition Man-like Arouna Kone. I can’t differentiate between these
two but since I’m looking to catch and not consolidate, I’ll side with the
blonde one. It’s disturbing when your fantasy football decisions mirror your
love life……
Join the Back Of
The Net Boy league - 359767-141904
Join us at
Download our
‘Back Of The Net Boy’ podcast through iTunes
please comment,
share and retweet whatever you can, thanks
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