Blog Archives
Gameweek 10 preview: Stoking the Fantasy fires
Being told that you sometimes play like Stoke City is apparently an insult these days, but it could be Stoke players who prove the most effective in Fantasy Premier League over the next few weeks.
A relatively kind fixture list up until just before Christmas should alert Fantasy bosses to Tony Pulis’s men, who go to Norwich City this weekend in search of a first away victory of the season.
That record along with just the nine points taken from nine Premier League matches so far might not give the impression that the boys from the Britannia have been anything to write home about in this campaign, but in goalkeeper Asmir Begovic (£4.8m) and forward Peter Crouch (£6.8m) they have two of the standout value for money selections in the game this season. Defenders Ryan Shawcross (£5.0m) and Robert Huth (£5.5m) and midfielders Jonathan Walters (£6.4m) and Michael Kightly (£5.5m) also provide interesting options, but it is to Crouch that Stoke will turn to on Saturday at Carrow Road against a team who have conceded more goals than everyone but Southampton so far.
Crouch will be coming up against one of the six clubs in this season’s Premier League that he has represented before, and he looks a good bet to bite the hand that used to feed him and find the net for the first time since scoring twice at home to Swansea on Gameweek 6. Finding form could be crucial to both Pulis’s team and yours ahead of this kind run of games.
Elsewhere over a Premier League weekend which would do well to be as dramatic as the last one and the midweek League Cup ties, Manchester United could go top of the table for a few hours at least as they take on Arsenal at Old Trafford early on Saturday afternoon.
These heavyweight clashes are usually best avoided by Fantasy bosses due to their often tight and competitive nature, but Robin van Persie (£13.4m) simply can’t be ignored here as he comes up against his former employers for the first time.
Unlike Crouch he’ll only face old friends twice this season, and with the Dutchman having found the net in his last two league matches and seven times overall to jointly lead the Premier League goalscoring charts alongside Demba Ba (£8.4m, but who is a doubt for Newcastle’s trip to Anfield on Sunday), then his form is easily apparent and matches the class that he undoubtedly has.
Every league match that Van Persie has started for United has produced either a goal or an assist for the Dutchman, and with it being almost impossible to envisage that run coming to an end on Saturday, if you’ve got the cash to splash then it could well be a wise move to rely on Robin.
Tottenham players are sure to prove popular given their home match against struggling Wigan, and whilst Jan Vertonghen (£6.4m), Gareth Bale (£9.6m) and Jermain Defoe (£8.0m) are sure to be attracting plenty of attention from Fantasy bosses, it might be worth considering that Spurs face trips to Manchester City and Arsenal in their next two weeks, and so it could be better to wait to bring their boys on board.
With the basement battle between QPR and Reading sure to be a committed affair on Sunday, perhaps there is potential for points on Monday night when West Brom take on Southampton at The Hawthorns.
With the Baggies having won four of their five home matches – only losing to champions Manchester City – and considering that the Saints have lost all four of their away fixtures, then success looks likely for Steve Clarke’s men in the final game of the weekend.
Key to that success is likely to be James Morrison (£6.2m), whose two goals and three assists this season have been key to the performances of Clarke’s side, and who is likely to be heavily involved against a team who have made shipping goals an art form since their elevation to the Premier League.
West Brom don’t play like Stoke, but they could be just as effective for you this week.
GW9 – NOTHING BUT BONUS POINTS!!
| 27 Oct 12:45 | Aston Villa |  |
1 – 1 |  |
Norwich |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Arsenal |  |
1 – 0 |  |
QPR |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Reading |  |
3 – 3 |  |
Fulham |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Stoke City |  |
0 – 0 |  |
Sunderland |
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| 27 Oct 15:00 | Wigan |  |
2 – 1 |  |
West Ham |
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| 27 Oct 17:30 | Man City |  |
1 – 0 |  |
Swansea |
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| 28 Oct 13:30 | Everton |  |
2 – 2 |  |
Liverpool |
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| 28 Oct 15:00 | Newcastle |  |
2 – 1 |  |
West Brom |
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| 28 Oct 15:00 | Southampton |  |
1 – 2 |  |
Tottenham |
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| 28 Oct 16:00 | Chelsea |  |
2 – 3 |  |
Man Utd |
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GW8 – The Review… HOW DID YOU DO???
To Know The Game: The Story So Far (Part 1)
With Yirma off on an international break, we thought it was a good time to let our friends over at To Know The Game take over for a few days and present you with their review of the Premier League season so far.
Over the weekend we’ll see what the guys rate as the three biggest surprises we’ve seen in the 2012/13 season, whilst they’ll also rate the title contenders and the runners and riders in the battle for fourth place.
First up though, here’s a look at who TKTG regard as the three most impressive summer signings in the opening months of the season. Enjoy!
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With 7 weeks gone is it too early to make a judgment on players and teams? Well, it may be too soon but that’s not stopping us at TKTG from using this international break to take stock of what we’ve seen in the EPL thus far. The next few months are going to be quite hectic for English clubs, which will see the fortunes of some change while others have probably set their tone for the rest of the season. In this piece, we look at the 3 signings that we feel have made the most impact, followed by our take on the big surprises of the season so far and we wrap things up with an analysis of the race for 4th place and the battle for the Premiership title.
TOP 3 SIGNINGS
Robin van Persie: He scores when he wants!! He scores when he wants!! – RvP at Arsenal or RvP at Man United – the chant remains the same. Look away Arsenal fans but van Persie has been a success at United. 7 goals and 2 assists so far (EPL and UEFA CL) backs up his impressive start to the season. Things will only get better once United learn to play to his strengths and he gels with his teammates – and make no mistake, RvP WILL gel with Kagawa and Rooney. Their only issue might be if Rooney is OK with RvP as the main striker. However, as we have already covered – Rooney is quite liking his midfield role. RVP for the Golden Boot? You bet.
Santi Cazorla: The best import of the season! Hazard who? While Hazard has certainly been impressive; Santi brings a whole new dimension to the game – he can attack; he tracks back; he has great positional play; shoots with his left; shoots with his right – and all that with a smile on his face. Arsenal fans are already calling him their favourite Spanish player ever….move over Arteta and Cesc – Santi is awesome!
Michu: while there was a case for both Kone (Wigan) and Fletcher (Sunderland); we at TKTG felt Michu is more deserving of this spot. Not only does he have the skill but his reading of the game is excellent – he is an “intelligent” footballer. The new Tim Cahill? Even most supporters of the top 4 clubs would want him in their team and that is a testament to his immense talent and massive potential.
Honorable mention: While not a new signing; Raheem Sterling at Liverpool looks like an exciting youngster. Quick, fast, direct he will hopefully continue to do better. He already has 6 starts in the league and could form an exciting partnership with Suarez and Borini.
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For more great articles like this one visit the guys at toknowthegame.com, whilst you can follow them on Twitter at @toknowthegame.
TOM CLEVERLEY GOAL – FLUKE OR FINESSE
So was it a sublime finish from Tom Cleverley today for Manchester United against Newcastle – or did he overhit a ball intended for the head of RVP???
Lets see your comments below!!
Arsenal: Keep calm and carry on
The final 17 minutes of Arsenal’s outclassing of Southampton on Saturday said an awful lot about both clubs at the beginning of this Premier League season.
For the Saints, a team battered and bruised by the late, almost heroic defeats to both Manchester clubs and given a stark warning of the quality throughout the division when Wigan won convincingly at St Mary’s, it was all about just getting to full-time without experiencing any more damage on what had already been a harrowing afternoon.
In the event, they ended up conceding a sixth goal to their former favourite Theo Walcott two minutes from time, but the lack of celebrations from the winger after biting the hand that used to feed him were repeated all around the Emirates Stadium. The locals were desperate for Olivier Giroud to score.
That desire and anxiousness wasn’t a slight on the abilities of a forward who scored 21 goals in helping Montpellier to win the French title last season, but more a reflection of Gunners fans in recent times.
The £12million Giroud hadn’t scored in his first three appearances for the club, he didn’t find the net in his 17 minutes on the pitch against Southampton and followed that up with a goalless 76 minutes back at his former club in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Cue red and white panic.
If an Arsenal fan hasn’t got something to worry about, then he or she must be doing something wrong.
It isn’t their fault, it has been ingrained in supporters ever since summer-long transfer sagas surrounding the likes of Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and now Robin van Persie, all of which were destined to end with the player escaping the club in the same manner that Usain Bolt accelerates away from his rivals.
After the inevitable parting of the ways became official whoever was left, particularly those who were viewed as replacements, simply had to hit the ground running. Supporters already felt let down by former heroes, and so they didn’t want to see mediocre performers enter in their place.
The longing for Giroud to be a success will go on, but fans should be mindful not to freak out too much as they hope for every touch from the new man to end in the back of the net. They should simply take stock, take a deep breath and take a look at the talents elsewhere.
The other two new additions illustrate this perfectly, and as long as Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla keep on impressing to the levels that they have been so far then maybe even the Arsenal fans who are thinning on top wouldn’t mind losing the hairs they’ll tear out of their head whilst worrying about Giroud. And they will still worry.
Podolski, Cazorla, a seemingly reborn Gervinho, Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby Aaron Ramsey, Walcott for now, and potentially even Jack Wilshere one day, maybe. All of whom add up to a potent attacking force before you even consider a French international forward who could very easily turn out to be a roaring success. Throw them in alongside a now much tighter defence and suddenly Gunners fans have every reason to be rather content with life right now, if they allow themselves to be.
The Giroud side issue will be solved soon enough – the forward is too good a player for it not to be – and when it is then Arsenal fans might be best advised to avoid finding something else to worry about, to just to play it cool, to keep calm and carry on.
They have the good fortune to follow a very good team which will only improve the more that its shiny new components are allowed to click together.
It’s getting there, so just try to sit tight and let it happen.
Guest Post: Current Yirma Champion reflects on season so far.
Thanks to current Yirma champion Tom for providing his insight into the season so far. Tom finished in the top 250 last season (Out of over 2.7m players) We are already contemplating copying his team 😉
First of all, an apology for my reply to a question raised in my previous post. I believe I advised the unfortunate user to watch out for Cazorla and Giroud of Arsenal, only for me to go and start with Podolski on opening day.
It’s an interesting time as after only 3 weeks we’ll see a massive differentiation of wildcard use. Some will have played it, some will be playing it right now in this two week window, whilst others attempt to hold their nerve and save it for a rainy (or, as the case may be, snowed off) day. There is no correct strategy here but whichever direction you go in, ensure you have a mixture of the players in form mixed with those who may be creeping under the radar with excellent fixtures coming up.
I’d imagine the likes of Michu, Hazard and Tevez will have found their way into just about every team by now so I won’t mention them. Any player who has scored a goal thus far will have been brought into the limelight so the likes of Nolan, Fellaini, Piennar, Fletcher, etc) will also be making their way into squads, but what about those who haven’t fired yet?
An obvious example of an underperforming team is Tottenham. I haven’t given up on them yet and with Adebayor surely pushing for a start this weekend, things will improve. Dempsey may or may not prove to be a hindrance but I believe there are goals here if you are brave enough to pick a Spurs attacking player.
As a Villa fan I tend to stay away from what inevitably turns to disappointment, but signs of life have surfaced and the team outclassed Newcastle last time out and were held to a draw only by a rocket from Ben Arfa. I’m not sure I’d advocate shelling out on Bent or Bentake up top just yet, but there are certainly goals to be had with a fantastic upcoming schedule.
On similar lines, Dimitar Berbatov poses some interesting questions. It’s another wait and see but if he can get regular games and dictate play surely he’s in line for a great season. Cisse and Ba didn’t become terrible players overnight and should pick up last season’s goalscoring exploits very soon, whilst Danny Graham must be given a little faith despite being completely overshadowed by his midfield so far.
And what about Robin Van Persie? A player plucked from obscurity and thrust into the Premier League spotlight. Well, not quite. I don’t believe in ‘must have’ players in this game, especially at his extreme price when we don’t know how he fits into plans when Rooney comes back and Champions League rotation kicks in. Saying all that, I have him slotted neatly in my team and it would be hard to recommend against him for anyone with a wildcard this week. For those without, I wouldn’t break the rest of my team just to have him no matter what he does against Wigan this weekend. After that fixtures stiffen up and rotation is right around the corner.
I’ve avoided the wildcard this week despite some obvious flaws in my squad. The first bullet point in my last post argued that you should pick players who will play. So naturally I stuck De Gea in goal. Ryan Bennett was an unfortunate pick as he was replaced by newly signed Bassong at Norwich after the GW1 window shut, whilst my GW3 signing Ashley Williams has now been left at the heart of a completely shattered defensive unit. Apart from that I was extremely fortunate to start with Tevez, Hazard and Michu which meant that I wasn’t chasing bandwagons and had the pleasure of seeing other teams panicking to transfer them in. For those yet to wildcard, I salute you, and I hope we will be able to keep up and make our move later in the season? This is where the men are sorted from the boys.
Why Wayne Rooney could take a leaf out of the Paul Scholes book
Around this time last year, when we thought we’d seen him kick a ball and/or opponent for the final time, we were hearing from one man an awful lot more than we were used to.
You suspect that it was a little forced, and that Paul Scholes didn’t exactly want to hold court on issues ranging from life under Sir Alex Ferguson to the trophies he’s won to the reason why he retired from playing for England so early, but when you’ve got an autobiography to sell there are certain sacrifices to be made.
It’s doubtful that Wayne Rooney sees them as sacrifices though.
The international break – a break he has sat out following the nasty thigh injury he picked up against Fulham – has seen Rooney plugging his latest book My Decade in the Premier League, the third autobiography from his money-spinning deal with publishers Harper Collins signed in 2006.
The reviews haven’t exactly been stellar, with the book’s serialisation offering up the ‘fascinating’ insights that Rooney once returned to training following a summer holiday unfit and overweight, and that he could barely stomach seeing Manchester City winning the league last season. Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time it isn’t.
Whilst the book does offer us a timeline of Rooney’s career ever since he joined Manchester United in 2004, it will be unable to shed light on the most interesting period of those eight years. Namely right now.
Ferguson – who is believed to privately see Rooney’s injury as a blessing in disguise given that he once again returned from his summer break in less than top condition – made huge statements in the summer with the captures of Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie, the former a shining light in one of the most entertaining sides on the continent over the past couple of years and the latter a prolific goalscorer who is already well on his way to becoming a Premier League icon.
The question of where these purchases left Rooney was almost immediately raised, and although Manchester United’s strongest team would still surely find room for their No. 10, the belief that the forward is undroppable rather quickly evaporated. Suddenly Rooney would have to work harder than ever before.
So perhaps it isn’t the best time to be rolling out another book, specifically one which points out that one of your major flaws is an apparent aversion to staying healthy when out of your manager’s gaze.
Such decisions are likely to be taken out of Rooney’s hands of course, but at a time when actions need to speak louder than words, the forward is creating an awful lot of noise.
Scholes quickly went back to letting his football do the talking following his return to the game and to the Manchester United team back in January, and Rooney could do worse than follow in his team-mate’s footsteps when it comes to ensuring that the chapters in future tomes will be successful, Old Trafford-based ones.
At the end of the current season there will be two years left on the contract that Rooney earned after so much dramatic posturing at the end of 2010, with the entry into the final 24 months of a deal traditionally the moment when key, difficult decisions have to be made about a player’s future – unless you’re Arsenal of course.
Rooney will be 27 next month, and with United never likely to be able to get more money for him than they could command in the summer then a key decision might have to be made, a decision that could be made easier if Kagawa and van Persie turn out to be the success stories they are threatening to be.
When he’s fully fit Rooney will be back in the United and England teams, but as the man himself seems so keen to tell us, just when that will be is up for debate.
He can talk a good game, but Rooney now needs to get back to playing one.
International breakdowns; a Fantasy manager’s nightmare
Reykjavik on a Friday night.
It’s not the most obvious of places to cast an eye over, but there will be more than a few of you keeping up with events in the Icelandic capital at the end of your working week.
At the time of writing, Fulham’s Brede Hangeland features in 13.9% of Fantasy Premier League teams, with John Arne Riise – his fellow defender for both Fulham and Norway – popping up in 8.3% of them.
Given that the amount of Fantasy bosses has now exceeded 2.3million, then that makes for a fair chunk of you who’ll be anxious to hear of the fate of Hangeland and Riise on international duty in Reykjavik, where an injury could wreck your week.
Norway play Slovenia at home next Tuesday too. A pull here or a strain there and suddenly the duo are out of their club sides, and more importantly they throw your plans into disarray as well.
International breaks have long been the scourge of club managers, but what about the problems they cause Fantasy ones?
Without the power of Sir Alex Ferguson you can’t tell the Holland boss Louis van Gaal to leave Robin van Persie out of the World Cup qualifier in Budapest next Tuesday because you’re thinking of making him your captain when Manchester United face Wigan at Old Trafford the following Saturday and you want him to be fresh.
Similarly, Eden Hazard might not have far to travel for Friday’s qualifier in Cardiff, but the Belgian has got another game at home to Croatia on the Tuesday and you want that little assist-making machine in top condition for Chelsea’s highly-charged trip to QPR.
And what’s that Roy? Ashley Cole has got an ankle problem that’s keeping him out of the Moldova game? Good. Now send him back to Chelsea, get them to find all the cotton wool they can get their hands on and don’t you dare think about picking him when England play Ukraine.
Fantasy bosses have to be selfish when watching their players in club action in cup competitions too of course – although you might have a team in one of those leagues on the side – yet somehow it is easier to take when a blow affects one of your boys when in their club colours as opposed to their national shirt. Club 1 Country 0.
For the clubs who lose those players for a week to 10 days, it almost becomes a case of the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Manchester United have published a list of 24 of their players who are on international duty over the next week or so on their website, as have Liverpool for their 19 – which is probably the size of their entire squad as a whole after recent dealings – whilst Chelsea have six in the England squad alone.
It’ll be next Wednesday at the earliest before their managers see all of them again, as air miles are clocked up and tired limbs are transported across all four corners of the globe.
Will they be back in top shape? Has the jet lag affected them? Is it possible for Luis Suarez to get from Montevideo to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light in less than four days? Do they do direct flights?
All are questions that many will consider in the days to come, as eyes dart furiously from Argentina to Amsterdam and virtually everywhere in between.
Is it Reykjavik or bust for your Fantasy team?
It could be both.
Lamb with a LARGE pinch of salt!!
DISCLAIMER: All posts from @pedro_lamb represent only a 1/3 of Yirma Management. Typically the other 2/3 disagree entirely.
by @pedro_lamb.
So, apparently Robin Van Persie in a Manchester United shirt, is looking more and more likely by the day and the word of the Lamb believes PSG are ready to swoop in with a bid for Wayne Rooney.
The United transfer purse could possibly break the £67 Million barrier in the next few days with the potential arrival of Lucas Moura and Van Persie, and the earlier capture of Shinji Kagawa.
The Lamb bleats that if this was to happen the supposed cash strapped club would have to recoup the transfer fees somewhere.
There is no doubt that Kagawa, famous in Japan will do no harm whatsoever in increasing United’s popularity in Japan and expect a mass of shirt sales, which will help in some part to recoup his own 17 m fee.
Should RVP and Moura arrvive that still leaves a potential 50m deficit in the United war chest.
The Lamb bleats that Ferige has never forgiven Rooney for his contract antics last year and with a offer of around 50 million plus sell on clauses Sir Alex is bound to jump at the chance?? Isn’t he?? Surely?? Maybe??
The Lamb
@pedro_lamb
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