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Archive for November, 2011|Monthly archive page
Last Minute Tinkers! (We’re very excited)
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 25, 2011 at 6:27 pmWhy? Because this is the week that Luis Suarez starts his next hot streak! Full disclosure: it may be next weekend. This weekend Liverpool are home to Manchester City on Sunday. With City having yet to lose in the English Premier League and have won seven on the bounce. However it has been five matches since City’s last clean sheet in the League with that coming against Blackburn. Suarez has been very streaky this season and is mired in a long, slow period of fantasy premier league returns. While his play has been outstanding and he is linking up well in the goals the Reds have scored, being the crucial link provides no dividends and he has posted 2 fantasy premier league points in four of the last five matches. It has been five matches since his his last goal and he has just 4 on the year but with Liverpool’s up coming schedule running Fulham, QPR, Aston Villa, Wigan, Rovers and Toon we fully expect that this is the time to re-invest in Suarez, Adam, Downing and the Reds defense.
For City this will be a chance to put the disappointing Champions League result behind them and they need to do so with Norwich, Chelsea and Arsenal following the LFC match. The most interesting news coming out of the Etihad has to do, once more, with a proposed move for Tevez. Aguero broke out of his mini-slump in the last match and Liverpool will likely have to face Aguero, Balotelli and Dzeko at various points over the match. We expect David Silva to be returned to the starting XI, but Mancini will be looking to get a better effort this weekend and rotation is a real possibility. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Minute Tinkers
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 25, 2011 at 3:45 pmThis weekend continues a hectic three weeks for teams still playing in the Carling Cup and Europe. Marque match-ups in the English Premier League continue with Manchester United looking to compound Newcastle’s woe’s with a victory at Old Trafford while many Red Devils supporters will find themselves in the unfamiliar position of cheering on Liverpool as they host front-runners Manchester City at Anfield.
We start the first of two parts with the news from North London that both Jermain Defoe and Rafa van der Vaart are considered doubts for Spurs match with West Brom. ’arry Redknapp has said:
“Rafa has had a hamstring problem on and off this season,” said Harry. “He got it playing for Holland but pulled through again to play on Monday against Villa but felt it and came off again. He was sore with it yesterday (Thursday) and he’s struggling.
Jermain also has a groin problem and he had to come off training yesterday. That leaves us with Pav and Adebayor. Pav’s had a back problem but trained yesterday and looks fine.”
As Spurs travel to West Bromwich Albion for this match we’re not concerned about the possibilities for Gareth Bale or Adebayor especially given the amount of possession that Parker, Modric and the rest held over Aston Villa last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
Champions League: Arsenal Through
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 24, 2011 at 1:09 pmChampions League has seen just one English side qualify for the knockout stage prior to the final Group Stage match. That team is, of course, Arsene Wenger’s side – crises averted for the moment then.
Robin van Persie scored another brace. He has managed to score at least two goals in five of Arsenal’s last seven EPL fixtures, including the hat-trick against Chelsea in game week 10. With Fulham, Wigan, Everton, Man City, Villa, Wolves and QPR still remaining before the New Year RvP is a solid investment and top choice for Captain.
Arsenal have nothing left to play for in their final Group F match on 6 December having clinched top spot. With Wigan the 3rd and Everton the 10th we can imagine that Wenger will be tempted to leave his Captain at home while the to Greece. van Persie has already been rested this season and as it grows ever more apparent that this side will go only as far as the Dutchman takes them, it will be imperative that he sit down whenever Arsenal are able.
While his fantasy premier league prospects may not be good, the exceptional vein of form that Alex Song is in has made Arsenal’s attack all the more potent. Read the rest of this entry »
Champions League: Manchester
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 23, 2011 at 2:23 pmWith both Manchester United and Manchester City failing to win their penultimate Group Stage matches both ALex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini will need to field full strength sides in their final match. For Manchester City the outlook is dire with a win against Bayern Munchen and a loss or draw for Napoli required to see them progress.
Only their away victory over Villarreal saw Mancini’s side post a clean sheet in the CL. When they traveled to Germany for the first Bayern match it was 2-0 the wrong way as a quickfire Mario Gomez brace salted away the match before the half. This week it was an Edinson Cavini netting a brace at Stadio San Paolo. The 7 December fixture at the Etihad will be just four days after Mancini’s side host Norwich City at home and that match can expect to see a raft of changes with the first choice starting XI being required 27 November at Anfield in the EPL, 29 November at the Emirates in the Carling Cup Quarter-final and again five days after the Champions League fixtures as City travel once more, this time to Stamford Bridge for another top 4 EPL encounter. This stretch will certainly determine how successful the Citizens are this term and Mancini will be mindful of a similar stretch faced by Arsenal last season which derailed the Gunners quest for silverware.
Manchester United will travel to play their 7 December match against FC Basel at St Jakob Park. Sir Alex’ side. Read the rest of this entry »
Wasting van Persie
In Squad Sheet, Team of the Week on November 22, 2011 at 8:21 pmWhen you have Robin van Persie wearing the Captain’s armband it is reasonable to expect that you will rise up the table of your mini-league in a week where he finds the net twice and earns the maximum allotment of fantasy premier league bonus points. However this week our team managed to do just that. My team managed to do just that. This is not our official Fantasy Gaffer team, but a team I run separate. Sometimes it’s hard to follow your own advice…
When you score barely more than the minimum from your entire defense and midfield it is understandable that your squad will not live up to your expectations but the problem was that several of these teams did exactly what we’d expect. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Minute Tinkers: The Sequel
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 18, 2011 at 10:49 pmWith five fixtures already covered here, we’re looking at the last from Saturday and the Sunday kick-off in Part Two.
West Bromwich will be without a recognizable scoring threat with Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long both looking set to miss the fixture, as is Paul Scharner. While their respective returns look to be Odemwingie first, followed shortly by Long and eventually by Scharner, there is a notable lack of scoring talent in the projected lineup. With three home matches in the next four, a punt at £4.7m on Simon Cox may be worth while, but we’d prefer to play the Bolton defense.
Bolton did manage to stop Stoke last time out, and scored five themselves as everyone got in on the action though none more so than Chris Eagles, who scored twice, and Ivan Klasnic who scored two, assisted on two others and justly took the top bonus. We’ve not had many nice things to say about Gary Cahill. However that was in large part do to the schedule and this week was when we’ve pointed and said ‘if you must buy him, buy him then!’. With nine matches between now and Manchester United, this is an ideal time to invest in the centre back. With his price down to £5.3 he would prove a decent replacement for one of the Newcastle defenders in your starting XI as they face a hellish three game run. For the forwards, it’s still Klasnic for us, Eagles just behind and Davies trailing somewhere far behind.
In the biggest match for the bottom of the table two sides that we’ve universally abandoned will face off. Read the rest of this entry »
Last Minute Tinkers: The Layoff
In Squad Sheet, Strategy on November 18, 2011 at 3:59 pmFollowing another two week break, one which fully embraced by posting just twice, the English Premier League will return to action in Norwich with the Canaries hosting Arsene Wenger’s charging side. There are few injuries to note from the international break, with the biggest being the potential hamstring injury suffered by Rafa vdVaart. We’ll cover the Spurs midfielder in the second part of this post, due up later in the evening.
After meeting with the Dutch manager, Arsene Wenger was able to save the legs of Robin van Persie from extra duty over the break. Coming into the match at Norwich, Arsenal will be aware of how much they rely on their captain to provide the goals. They have failed to win only one of the six matches when he has scored and have three losses, just one win and one draw in the five games where RvP has been held without a goal. He will be an excellent play against the Canaries, and is on the short list for top captain choice, as Norwich have allowed at least one goal in every EPL match this season. Further, home field has not aided the Canaries cause as they’ve allowed 7 goals in 5 home fixtures including 3 goals to Blackburn last time out. Arsenal look to have a mostly fit first team as just Jack Wilshire remains a long term injury though Kieron Gibbs is still looking at another 4 weeks on the sidelines after undergoing a hernia operation.
The Canaries are looking to continue a good run of home results, having not lost there since 11 September in the 0-1 defeat to Wigan. Read the rest of this entry »
Bonus Points To Date
In Strategy on November 18, 2011 at 3:21 amThe full breakdown of Bonus Points this season points to something we innately know, that those who score goals benefit doubly from the act. Of course there is the allocation of points for the goal itself, but more often than not the goal scorers are getting rewarded with bonus points in the Official Fantasy Premier League.
Going back to week 1, a week that featured THREE 0-0 draws, we can see that this has been evident from the start. There were seven games with at least one goal
- Blackburn 1-2 Wolves. Goals: Ward, Fletcher, Formica Assits: Jarvis, Roberts. Bonus: Fletcher (3) Ward (2) Jarvis;
- Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland. Goals: Suarez, Larsson. Assists: Adam, Elmohamady. Bonus: Suarez (3) Larsson (2) Elmohamady;
- QPR 0-4 Bolton. Goals: Cahill, Muamba, Klasnic, Gabbidon(og). Assists: Davies, Klasnic, Eagles(2). Bonus: Klasnic (3) Cahill (2) Muamba;
- Wigan 1-1 Norwich. Goals: Watson, Hoolahan. Assists: Di Santo. Bonus: Watson (3) De Laet (2) Whitbread Tierney Figueroa Caldwell McCarthy;
- WBA 1-2 Man Utd. Goals: Rooney, Long, Reid (og). Assits: Young (2), Brunt. Bonus: Rooney (3) Brunt (2) Fabio;
- Man City 4-0 Swansea. Goals: Silva, Dzeko, Aguero (2). Assits: Richards, Yaya, Johnson, Aguero. Bonus: Aguero (3), Dzeko (2), Yaya, Silva.
It is worth noting that this week saw several missed penalties including one from Liverpool’s Suarez. Read the rest of this entry »
Game Week 11 Bonus Points
In Strategy on November 7, 2011 at 3:14 pmWe’re working on a larger post about Bonus Points that will come out over the international break, but people who follow us on Twitter (@FantasyGaffer) will know we typically tweet the stats (courtesy of EPLIndex) for players who we think will earn bonus points. Some are more obvious, like Robin van Persie in a match where he scored and assisted a goal earning 2 Fantasy Premier League bonus. Others are less so, for example we thought that Lucas would be in line for a bonus point this weekend following his performance v Swansea:
However Lucas only managed an EA Sports Player Performance Index score of just 8. 8 is not very good. Glen Johnson was rated a 15 in this game and managed to snag the lone Liverpool bonus point while Swansea City’s Nathan Dyer had the high EA Sports PPI for the match with 20. Clearly we’re still working on clarifying exactly what makes for good bonus points in a 0-0 match and it was nice to see Michele Vorm rewarded for this fine effort, and six saves, with 2 bonus. Read the rest of this entry »