Category Archives: Player Selection
NIFFTY LEAGUE SCORE UPDATES GW2
#NIFFTY LEAGUE (Northern Ireland Fantasy Football Through Yirma)
Reset and raring to go for the new season NIFFTY is back!
Gameweek 2
Match of the Weekend
The grudge match between the man Portrush call their own @alansimpsonbbc and NornIron’s @grantmccann11 was settled 43-30 in favour of the GAWA great McCann, thanks largely to Assou-Ekotto scoring for Spurs. Whether Grant is ever permitted to play golf in Portrush again without being heckled by Simpson remains to be seen!!!
Resident FY league runner @ryano83 was robbed of a point by @fantasyfootie1 when michael kightly somehow got 2 bonus points in the stoke v arsenal game. (but he’s not bitter)
@keithgillespie7 recorded a deserved win 57-35 against the GAWA supporter extraordinaire @ourweecountry
Warren Feeney managed to record a decent scoring draw 56-56 with NI’s Glen B.
@michaeloconnor8 was beaten by journo Phil @wilip 61-36
and in an extremely close match up ex snooker pro John mc bride (@johnmcbrideIRE) was narrowly beaten 57-54 by Accrington Stanley striker James Gray (@james_tippy10)
A NIFFTY BACKGROUND
NIFFTY LEAGUE…
Since 2007 more than 800 people have had a go on YIRMA.
The NIFFTY LEAGUE (Northern Ireland Fantasy Football Through Yirma)started in January 2012 as an invitational Head to Head version of the main game.
Reset and raring to go for the new season NIFFTY is back!
Capped this year at 38 people we have a great mixture of Northern Ireland legends, current Internationals, local radio personalities and the 20th most influencial man in Northern Ireland…
We feel the NIFFTY League has an impressive line up!! Keith Gillespie, Warren Feeney, Grant McCann and Michael O’Connor have almost 200 International Caps for Northern Ireland and much is expected of their teams!
Alan Simpson Vs Stephen Clements is the NI radio grudge match – battle of the airwaves!! I imagine a forfeit for the loser of this pairing could be quite entertaining….
With several fantasy football enthusiasts and of course the Fantasy Yirma Admin team of @ryano83 @mark_jones86 and @pedro_lamb this league promises to throw up some good matches and produce some questionable banter on twitter.
*@ryano83
Follow us on @fantasyyirma for #NIFFTY updates
NIFFTY League players:
An apology, by @Mark_Jones86
I’ve let Yirma down.
I know I wasn’t supposed to do it. I know that Yirma legend and Fantasy football God Tom K told me not to do it. I know that, if I could take Saturday afternoon back, I probably wouldn’t do it again.
But part of me is delighted I’ve done it.
It all started, as so many of the most regretful stories do, with Mohamed Diame.
As I watched the West Ham, Senegal and Werder Beertent midfielder roam aimlessly around Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium early on Saturday afternoon, with his team getting ruthlessly hammered by a Swans team with a terrific case of new manager syndrome, a horrible thought crossed my mind.
It was a thought that all of you will have at some point this season, although only the very brave and very stupid of you will act upon it this early.
It was the sight of Diame trudging off the pitch with his team 3-0 down to be replaced by Alou Diarra which finally made it hit home for me. I couldn’t deny it any longer.
My Fantasy football team was rubbish.
I was sure that I had it right at some point during the endless tinkering of the summer, but the collection of 15 players I was staring at now just made no sense whatsoever.
Diame? Darron Gibson? Fabricio Coloccini? Ramires? Ian Harte? It just didn’t look right.
Evidently the big man upstairs (not my large Polish neighbour Jakub) agreed with me, and sent a monsoon to Sunderland to prevent Harte and his special brand of being-useless-from-anything-but-a-dead-ball football from seeing any action at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon. Football was undoubtedly the winner.
There was, however, one man who I thought could save me from this mess.
One man who, like the warrior he is, would lead my rag-tag bunch of wounded, rotated misfits to success, glory and somewhere in the region of a 40 point Gameweek.
It wasn’t Jakub or the other fella, but it was instead another big man who was sure to rise to the occasion and perform on his long-awaited return to his home turf.
Introducing an icon. The one and only. The captain of Manchester United and, for this week only of Werder Beertent. The great Nemanja Vid… oh, Fulham have scored haven’t they?
Bang goes the clean sheet then, but that’s alright. There’s still time for the big Serbian to get on the scoresheet… Perhaps from a cross or a mix-up with the goalkeeper…
My job involves keeping track of football results, so there was literally no escape from the moment when – in the 64th minute of the match against Fulham at Old Trafford – Nemanja Vidic decided to make up my mind for me by hopelessly flicking the ball into his own goal and putting himself in minus points territory.
Now I’m no Manchester United fan, and as such there will always be a part of me that cracks a smile whenever they concede a goal between now and their Intergalactic Cup Final defeat to the Saturn Superstars in 2072 (Sir Alex having retired three years earlier), but this time it was different. I had to act.
So I did.
Straight away the heart of my team was ripped out, leaving only three survivors – all of whom will coincidentally go on to be useless in this afternoon’s Liverpool v Manchester City match.
Out they came and in went the new faces. New, glorious faces. Faces that would laugh at the mere mention of Mohamed Diame.
And then it was done. And then I clicked it. And then I clicked the confirmation bit asking me if I was sure I knew that I was being completely mental. I was sure.
Activate Wildcard.
So I’m sorry to Yirma. Sorry Tom K. Sorry to you if you don’t agree with me. But I’m happy.
Rest assured I’ll be occupying my comfortably mediocre mid-table position come May, something that was in serious doubt for a few minutes there on Saturday afternoon.
I like my team now.
Of course Marouane Fellaini will keep scoring goals. Of course Swansea will carry on keeping clean sheets. They’ll probably keep them in every match for the rest of the season, I suspect.
I hope you all enjoyed the two-week headstart you got on me then, because I’m ready to start now, and I’m finally fully confident in all of my 15 players.
At least until that second Wildcard in January anyway.
I wonder how much Diame will be then?
BONUS POINTS GALORE…. GW2
SUNDAY 26TH AUGUST
| Stoke City |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Arsenal | |
| Liverpool |  |
2 – 2 |  |
Man City | |
As with last week – Bonus points are up very early… we figure the PL guys will get bored by week4 and bonus points will revert back to monday mornings.. so enjoy while it lasts!!
| Defenders Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Ivanovic | CHE | 6.6 | 5 |
|
Baines | EVE | 7.0 | 5 |
|
Collins | WHM | 5.0 | 3 |
|
Cahill | CHE | 6.5 | 3 |
|
Figueroa | WIG | 4.5 | 3 |
| Midfielders Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michu | SWA | 6.8 | 4 |
|
Kightly | STO | 5.5 | 3 |
|
Hazard | CHE | 9.7 | 3 |
|
Fellaini | EVE | 6.6 | 3 |
|
Pienaar | EVE | 6.5 | 3 |
| Forwards Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Torres | CHE | 10.0 | 4 |
|
Odemwingie | WBA | 7.0 | 3 |
|
Van Persie | MUN | 13.0 | 3 |
|
Petric | FUL | 6.1 | 3 |
|
Zamora | QPR | 6.4 | 3 |
| Swansea |  |
3 – 0 |  |
West Ham | |
| Aston Villa |  |
1 – 3 |  |
Everton | |
|
|||||
| Man Utd |  |
3 – 2 |  |
Fulham | |
|
|||||
| Norwich |  |
1 – 1 |  |
QPR | |
|
|||||
| Southampton |  |
0 – 2 |  |
Wigan | |
| Tottenham |  |
1 – 1 |  |
West Brom | |
|
|||||
| Chelsea |  |
2 – 0 |  |
Newcastle | |
| Defenders Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ivanovic | CHE | 6.6 | 5 |
|
Baines | EVE | 7.0 | 5 |
|
Collins | WHM | 5.0 | 3 |
|
Cahill | CHE | 6.5 | 3 |
|
Figueroa | WIG | 4.5 | 3 |
| Midfielders Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michu | SWA | 6.8 | 4 |
|
Kightly | STO | 5.5 | 3 |
|
Hazard | CHE | 9.7 | 3 |
|
Fellaini | EVE | 6.6 | 3 |
|
Pienaar | EVE | 6.5 | 3 |
| Forwards Top 5 BP | £ | B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Torres | CHE | 10.0 | 4 |
|
Odemwingie | WBA | 7.0 | 3 |
|
Van Persie | MUN | 13.0 | 3 |
|
Petric | FUL | 6.1 | 3 |
|
Zamora | QPR | 6.4 | 3 |
NIFFTY LEAGUE IS BACK!!
Since 2007 more than 800 people have had a go on YIRMA.
The NIFFTY LEAGUE (Northern Ireland Fantasy Football Through Yirma) started in January 2012 as an invitational Head to Head version of the main game.
Reset and raring to go for the new season NIFFTY is back!
Capped this year at 38 people we have a great mixture of Northern Ireland legends, current Internationals, local radio personalities and the 20th most influencial man in Northern Ireland…
We feel the NIFFTY League has an impressive line up!! Keith Gillespie, Warren Feeney, Grant McCann and Michael O’Connor have almost 200 International Caps for Northern Ireland and much is expected of their teams!
Alan Simpson Vs Stephen Clements is the NI radio grudge match – battle of the airwaves!! I imagine a forfeit for the loser of this pairing could be quite entertaining….
With several fantasy football enthusiasts and of course the Fantasy Yirma Admin team of @ryano83 @mark_jones86 and @pedro_lamb this league promises to throw up some good matches and produce some questionable banter on twitter.
Click here for the full round up! https://fantasyyirma.wordpress.com/niffty-league/
*@ryano83
Follow us on @fantasyyirma for #NIFFTY updates
NIFFTY League players:
TIPS OUT FOR YIRMA!! GW2
Tips out for Yirma…
Gameweek 2:
@pedro_lamb
1. Newcastle to beat Chelsea 11/2 LOST BET
2. Everton to beat Villa 7/5 WON BET
3. Southampton to win by exactly 2 goals 5/1 LOST BET
@mark_jones86
1. QPR to beat Norwich 11/5 LOST BET
2. Defoe to score at anytime 5/6 LOST BET
3. Arsenal to beat Stoke 11/10 LOST BET
@ryano83
1. Norwich to beat QPR 11/8 LOST BET
2. Villa v Everton Draw 9/4 LOST BET
3. Swansea to beat West Ham 23/20 WON BET
FY Tipster Challenge
Here within the Fantasy Yirma administration team, we like to pretend we have money. With that in mind we have devised a FY Tipster selection competition.
The loser from the Admin team at the end of the season will pay the £50 prize fund for the mini league!!!
| FY Tipster | GW1 Spend | GW1 Return | Total Spend | Total Return | % Difference |
| @pedro_lamb | £30 | £0 | £30 | £0 |
0% |
| @mark_jones86 | £30 | £0 | £30 | £0 |
0% |
| @ryano83 | £30 | £32.50 | £30 | £32.50 |
108.3% |
Rules:
Each player must place 3 £10 bets (Monopoly) per gameweek. (singles only)
The bet can be on any individual result/market/outcome with the only proviso being that you must stipulate the odds at time of selection submission and it must be from the same odds provider.
In practice this means your 3 £10 bets can be across 3 fixtures or 3 markets within one match.
We challenge everyone to make 3 selections also and we will include this in our table. Make your selection in the comments below.
Get your tips out for Yirma!!!
Fantasy Yirma: Gameweek 2 preview
Gameweek 2 preview: Forwards to earn their Spurs?
Maybe earning his Spurs is a bit less important to Emmanuel Adebayor than earning AT Spurs, but after completing his move to White Hart Lane from Manchester City at least he’s added another quality striking option for Fantasy managers.
The Togoloese forward (£9.5m) is likely to go straight into the squad for Saturday’s clash at home to West Brom after eventually turning his loan switch into a permanent one, with ‘Ade’ adding much needed strength in depth to Andre Villas-Boas’s striking department after the Portuguese was left with just Jermain Defoe (£7.5m) as a solitary senior forward for last weekend’s loss at Newcastle.
Defoe scored there of course, and he’ll be looking to take that form into the meeting with the Baggies, where he could still start despite the arrival of his new/old team-mate.
The England man continues to be linked with moves away, but it is unlikely that you’ll see Defoe depart North London at least until Villas-Boas is able to bring in yet another forward, and even then all talk of a transfer seems premature.
Now nearly 30, Defoe has seemingly spent a career on the fringes despite consistently finding the net.
There always seems to have been the feeling that managers can do better than him – either at club or international level – but with Adebayor likely to take a while to settle in after having no pre-season to speak of, Spurs are sure to have to turn to him over the coming weeks. Their next four matches see them face West Brom (h), Norwich (h), Reading (a) and QPR (h). The potential for goals is there for all to see.
That should draw you towards Tottenham’s forwards – perhaps with your Sergio Aguero money – and also to the men playing behind them. If Villas-Boas is to persevere with just the one attacker, then Gareth Bale (£9.5m), Gylfi Sigurdsson (£9.0m) and Rafael van der Vaart (£9.0m) will all be looking to get into scoring and assisting positions behind him.
Elsewhere this Fantasy weekend, the lack of a double Gameweek, the advice to avoid Chelsea players who’ll be inactive next weekend and some very intriguing fixtures make it somewhat of a tough one to predict.
After losing so heavily at West Brom, it would be just like Liverpool to bounce back and get a positive result against Manchester City, but it would take the most confident of Fantasy bosses to turn to the likes of the £9.5m pairing of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez against the champions, despite City’s concession of goals against Southampton and the Liverpool pair’s rest from the trip to Hearts in midweek.
City will miss Aguero of course and so a stalemate could ensue, which is probably what Arsenal would settle for from their tough trip to Stoke where Gunners forwards should probably be avoided.
Manchester United will be determined to bounce back from their loss to Everton on Monday, and with many put off by Robin van Persie’s price tag (£13.0m) it could well be the other home debutant Shinji Kagawa (£8.5m) who impresses against Fulham at Old Trafford, where it goes without saying that the Whites’ players who impressed on the opening day against Norwich – Mladen Petric (£6.0m), Damien Duff (£6.0m) and Alex Kacaniklic (£4.5m) – will find it tougher to shine again.
Other opening day stars Michu (bumped up to £6.7m) and Marouane Fellaini (£6.5m) could have it a little easier at home to West Ham and away to Aston Villa respectively, whilst in the battle of the two teams beaten 5-0 last week, it could pay to focus on QPR’s players ahead of those from Norwich.
Junior Hoilett (£6.5m) – a scorer home and away against Norwich for Blackburn last season – might well shine the brightest.
GW1: Bonus Points Galore!!!
In a welcome change to last year – it looks like the Bonus points will be up earlier this year.
Typically we normally have to Monday mornings following the weekend to see the bonus points but here they are already.
What did you make of GW1 so far with 1 game still to go?? Drop us your comments below.
Monday 20th August
| Everton | |
1 – 0 | |
Man Utd | |
Sunday 19th August
Wigan 0 – 2 Chelsea
Bonus
Man City 3 – 2 Southampton
Bonus
Nasri (3)
Yaya Toure (2)
Saturday 18th August
Arsenal 0 – 0 Sunderland
Bonus
Bonus
McClean (3)
Fulham 5 – 0 Norwic
Bonus
QPR 0 – 5 Swansea
Bonus
Reading 1 – 1 Stoke City
Bonus
West Brom 3 – 0 Liverpool
Bonus
West Ham 1 – 0 Aston Villa
Bonus
Tips out for Yirma…GW2
Tips out for Yirma…
Gameweek 2:
@pedro_lamb
1. Newcastle to beat Chelsea 11/2
2. Everton to beat Villa 7/5
3. Southampton to win by exactly 2 goals 5/1
@mark_jones86
1. QPR to beat Norwich 11/5
2. Defoe to score at anytime 5/6
3. Arsenal to beat Stoke 11/10
@ryano83
1. Norwich to beat QPR 11/8
2. Villa v Everton Draw 9/4
3. Swansea to beat West Ham 23/20
FY Tipster Challenge
Here within the Fantasy Yirma administration team, we like to pretend we have money. With that in mind we have devised a FY Tipster selection competition.
The loser from the Admin team at the end of the season will pay the £50 prize fund for the mini league!!!
| FY Tipster | GW1 Spend | GW1 Return | Total Spend | Total Return | % Difference |
| @pedro_lamb | £30 | £0 | £30 | £0 |
0% |
| @mark_jones86 | £30 | £0 | £30 | £0 |
0% |
| @ryano83 | £30 | £32.50 | £30 | £32.50 |
108.3% |
Rules:
Each player must place 3 £10 bets (Monopoly) per gameweek. (singles only)
The bet can be on any individual result/market/outcome with the only proviso being that you must stipulate the odds at time of selection submission and it must be from the same odds provider.
In practice this means your 3 £10 bets can be across 3 fixtures or 3 markets within one match.
We challenge everyone to make 3 selections also and we will include this in our table. Make your selection in the comments below.
Get your tips out for Yirma!!!
Example: GW1
Arsenal v Sunderland £10 on Home Win @ 2/5
Arsenal v Sunderland £10 on Podolski first scorer @ x/x
Arsenal v Sunderland £10 on more than 12 corners @ x/x
Or
Arsenal v Sunderland £10 on Home Win @ 2/5
Fulham v Norwich £10 on 2-2 Draw @ x/x
QPR v Swansea £10 on Danny Graham anytime goal @ x/x
Gameweek 1:
@pedro_lamb
1. Stoke WIN @ 2/1 LOST BET
2. Wigan v Chelsea DRAW 11/4 LOST BET
3.Man City v Southampton DRAW 11/2 LOST BET
@mark_jones86
1. Liverpool WIN(-1 handicap) @13/5 LOST BET
2.Newcastle v Spurs DRAW @23/12 LOST BET
3. Man Utd WIN (To Nil) @21/10 LOST BET
@ryano83
1.Man City v Southampton, Aguero 1st Goalscorer @3/1 LOST BET
2. Reading v Stoke DRAW @9/4 WON BET
3. Liverpool WIN @evens LOST BET
Fantasy Football: Set Piece takers
So… tis football eve and if you are involved in Fantasy Football you are doing 1 of 2 things;
1. panicking as you finally getting around to pick your team
2. changing your substitute goalkeeper for the 17th time this week.
We all know people who are meticulous in their preparation, we all know players who seem to fluke it week in week out. This post is for both sets.
Hopefully this should help everyone as they make their final decisions.
Huge thanks to http://www.mancityonline.com for providing this list of expected Set Piece takers for every team. Great site – follow them also on twitter @mancityonlineco .
*R
Below are the Set Piece Takers for the Premier League 2012-13, they are in order of the likelihood they will carry out the Set Piece, the first name is the preferred taker. The preferred corner takers are the first two names in the list.
Fantasy Yirma: Winner’s Insight !!
In the past 3 seasons of official fantasy football game Tom K has been exceptionally consistent. 3 top 10,000 performances culminated last year with an unbelievable finishing place of 204th with a massive points tally of 2306.
Let’s put this in perspective people 204th out of 2,500,000+ is not bad at all!!!
We wanted to put Tom on the spot and ask him for some insight on how he manages his teams – he did not disappoint. Here are his thoughts on how to go about looking after your fantasy team and maximising opportunities….
The guys from Fantasy Yirma asked me to write a few notes about how I play the game (and somehow managed to gain top spot in their league last season and the crisp £50 that comes with it!) so here is some insight into how I did it.
Fantasy Premier League veterans will learn nothing new here, and those who take massive selection gambles will be disappointed, but sadly the best way to mini league glory is often the slow and steady approach.
With Gameweek 1 being so important to a Fantasy season, the best piece of advice would be to not leave team selections until Saturday 18th August. Anyone who played last season will know the shambles that took place from about midday on the Friday before kick-off when the FPL website imploded leaving many with skeleton teams. Do not make the same mistake again!
More seriously, I haven’t scouted too many players in detail so I won’t mention specifics as the Yirma boys do a fine job of that themselves.
I am a hugely conservative player so most of what I am about to write is common sense but as that often goes out of the window in Fantasy Football selection, here are a few random thoughts:
- 1. Pick players who start for their clubs. Easy. It’s a squad game and you should make the most of all 15 spots (with the possible exception of second keeper if you have a top quality option as first choice). There are base price options in defence and midfield so if you are looking at this range ensure the guys you are going for actually start.
- 2. Don’t make transfers based purely on price rises/falls early in the week. It is so much more important to have a full strength team rather than an extra 0.1 in the bank, and the risk with an early transfer is that if anyone else is struck down or goes missing then you might be tempted to take a points hit to make amends. Which leads me on to…
- 3. Points hits are often unnecessary. You get a free transfer every week so points hits should only be used in exceptional circumstances. I took two last year and by having a full squad to pick from it’s easy to avoid. Rolling transfers over and using two free transfers at a time is far more sensible.
- 4. Forward Planning. Make transfers with the next five or six gameweeks in mind. Look at fixture schedules to make sure you will be happy with the player for a number of weeks as other priority transfers will crop up all the time.
- 5. Don’t waste the wildcard! I used mine along with many others in Gameweek 36 last season and it made such a difference in getting over the line. Some will argue about getting a bit of extra cash by using it early but for me it isn’t worth it. Save it for the winter or spring and you won’t regret it. Using it for Gameweek 2 is a colossal waste, you have had all summer to tinker so put that itchy trigger finger away.
- 6. Let new players Settle. Let players adjust to the league before taking the plunge. Having a midfield of Hazard, Kagawa, Michu, Cazorla and Holman might be end up being incredible but have a couple of safer picks alongside the new boys just in case they are bedded in slowly by managers or don’t fire from the start. By all means if you like the look of them (I certainly do) then have a couple but remember they are a risk.
Good Luck!!
Tom
Big thanks to Tom for taking the time to submit this post. Best of luck this season – but let someone else win! 😉
To join the free Fantasy Yirma mini league on the official premier league game follow this link. Remember Free to Play … £50 to the winner!! What’s to lose?? http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/15005/join/?autojoin-code=44397-15005
FantasyYIRMA - Fantasy Football FPL 