General Fantasy Football Chat

DazzlerIE

roryc wrote: »

To an extent... I think I've only dipped below 50 5 times too but I'm a bit behind you, captain choice over the course of the season makes a big difference I think. How have you done on this?

Also, your in 80th? Here's some hope for ya, the guy who was in 80th last week has jumped to 6th, brought in Gerrard and captained him to help him to 108 points, unbelievable...

Mixed bag, been on RVP for all his big weeks, but missed out on some doozies along the way

Didn't have Demps for his hat-trick, had my VP on Kompany two weeks ago when Aguero and Silva didn't play (Demps and RVP had monsters), went for RVP this week

Slightly better captaining and I'd be top ten, it's so annoying

manual_man

One thing I don't like about the BP is that for the most part it just rewards players, and hence teams, that have just scored well anyway. As such the points for goals/assists aren't real, since 99% of the time bonus are added. It's a flawed system. But since fpl has a 'deal' with EA sports, sadly I don't see this changing any time soon

Jimmy Iovine

Dempsey wrote: »

The key to FPL is to consistently beat the average of every gameweek by 10+ points. If you can manage that, you will not be far off winning this game outright.

Any idea what the average score for the whole season is? Some weeks I beat it by 30, others I'm behind by 10.

roryc

DazzlerIE wrote: »

Mixed bag, been on RVP for all his big weeks, but missed out on some doozies along the way

Didn't have Demps for his hat-trick, had my VP on Kompany two weeks ago when Aguero and Silva didn't play (Demps and RVP had monsters), went for RVP this week

Slightly better captaining and I'd be top ten, it's so annoying

Yeh I'm the same, couldn't pick a captain to save my life after Christmas but have saved myself the last 3 weeks with Aguero, Dempsey and now Suarez. It ended a horrible run where for 5 out of 6 weeks my captaine scored 3 points or less.

Its extremely frustrating but the game wouldn't be the same without it! And the captain/vice-captain structure is vastly improved on last year... they just need to sort out the BP system now

carlcon

It's a week of trying to pick the right defence for me. United, Spurs, Fulham, and Newcastle all capable of CSs this week, but I'm only playing 3 in defence.

massdebater

carlcon wrote: »

It's a week of trying to pick the right defence for me. United, Spurs, Fulham, and Newcastle all capable of CSs this week, but I'm only playing 3 in defence.

I'm in the exact same predicament. I've gone with Senderos, Jevans & BAE to start with Williamson first sub. I'm very tempted to stick Williamson in my starting line up instead of McClean but don't think I'll ever stray from the trusty 3 at the back. Keep in mind that Norwich put 4 past Newcastle earlier in the season too.

Actually looking at the reverse fixtures from earlier in the season, all 4 of these teams conceded in the reverse fixture. Still think I'll stick with my original 3.

dsmythy

carlcon wrote: »

It's a week of trying to pick the right defence for me. United, Spurs, Fulham, and Newcastle all capable of CSs this week, but I'm only playing 3 in defence.

Tough one this week alright. This is how I'd start to look at it:

Wolves v Man United
Tottenham v Stoke
Fulham v Swansea
Newcastle v Norwich

Clean sheets

Man United 13
Tottenham 10
Fulham 9
Newcastle 9

Failed to score

Norwich 6
Wolves 8
Stoke 10
Swansea 11

Then on balance of the two lists you'd have to favour your Spurs player as the third. Up to yourself of course.

I've got Ledley King, Jonny Evans and a choice of Lescott against Chelsea or Simpson against Norwich. Just have a feeling Norwich will find the net against Newcastle and if Lescott plays he's more likely to nab attacking points. Anyway that's enough about me

carlcon

See these are the kind of stats that matter. Excellently put. I can't say my reasoning is as well presented as that, but I came to the same conclusion. Simpson never really does much, anyway, so I'm happy to bench him.

Dempsey

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Any idea what the average score for the whole season is? Some weeks I beat it by 30, others I'm behind by 10.

No idea but that was my plan this season

Blatter

ANALYSIS: Manchester United have easiest run-in of all Premier League clubs
By Brian Sears
15 March 2012
Accepted football wisdom already has it that Manchester United have an easier run-in than their main Premier League title rivals Manchester City.
But Sportingintelligence analysis of all the remaining fixtures for all 20 teams now shows not only is that true but that United have the easiest run-in in the whole division.
Their run-in is rated slightly easier than the next three easiest run-ins, those of Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham in that order.
Now is a perfect time to assess the situation, statistically, because all 20 teams have 10 games remaining, and all 20 teams have to play five times at home and five times away, so there is no significant home advantage skew to consider.
In order to calculate an ‘easy rating’ for each team, we have considered the current league positions of every team that each club has yet to face – and added them up.
The very easiest run-in that United (or any top-10 side) could theoretically face would be to play the 10 teams in the bottom 10 places. This would add up to a maximum easy rating of 155.
In fact United’s easy rating is 128, or 83 per cent as easy as it could be.
The higher the total points, the easier the run-in. The lower the total number of points, the harder the run-in.
The only time that United will come up against another side currently inside the top seven is when they face City.
At the other end of the scale, Mark Hughes’ task is put in perspective with QPR’s toughest run-in of all clubs, a run-in rating of just 68.
All of QPR’s final 10 opponents stand within the current top 14 places, and include all the current top five, and seven of the top eight.
Our chart below also indicates that Wolves will have their home form sorely tested, with visits of three of the top four still to come.
On our easy ratings, Arsenal have the easiest away fixtures left, with no visit to a club higher than Everton, currently ninth.
On this basis, one might reasonably expect – all other things being equal – that United will remain ahead of City in the title race, and that Arsenal with a very slightly easier run-in than Tottenham will push them hard for third.
And at the bottom, the current bottom three all have tougher run-ins than the two sides just above and most in danger of being sucked backed down into the mire (Blackburn and Bolton).




Thought some might find it interesting that are planning to get in a player or two, or those that have yet to use their wildcard.

roryc

I took this general philosophy into account when using my wildcard last week, and now have 2 United (possibly three before this weekend), 2 Arsenal and 2 Liverpool players. I didn't have this graph to look at but figured it was wise to stock up on players from these teams as they have such obviosuly favourable runs.

I might regret getting rid of all my Spurs players though, obviosuly didn't look that closely at their fixtures. Here's hoping the bad run continues for them...

darego

bale or walcott for the run in lads?

miller82

darego wrote: »

bale or walcott for the run in lads?

i wouldnt touch Walcott. thats just me though. i know a lot like him

massdebater

I'm just trying to plan ahead as to when to use my wildcard. It looks like Spurs and Bolton have a blank gameweek in GW34. Does anyone know when this will be rescheduled for (or even why it's been cancelled)?

Also, is anyone else looking at Odemwingie? He has some cracking fixtures for the rest of the season and was in great form before the Chelsea and United games. Actually, I'm just after reading he's probably out of the Wigan match at the weekend. Dammit. Might hold on to Suarez for this week and keep my free transfer for next week.

Mr. Guappa

massdebater wrote: »

I'm just trying to plan ahead as to when to use my wildcard. It looks like Spurs and Bolton have a blank gameweek in GW34. Does anyone know when this will be rescheduled for (or even why it's been cancelled)?

That weekend clashes with the FA Cup semi-finals. Since Spurs play Bolton in the quarter-final this weekend one of them will obviously make the semi so their league fixture had to be moved.

No idea when it will be moved to but going by this seasons pattern it's likely to be moved to the following mid-week and remain in the same fantasy GW.

Fowler87

Noticing Ba is absent from alot of teams now going into this GW. Up against leaky enough Norwich side, Ive a sneaky feeling his transfers might be on the rise again after the weekend..

PelicanLegend

darego wrote: »

bale or walcott for the run in lads?

I read this about Walcott on fantasypremierleague transfers

[Theo Walcott
The peculiar thing about Robin Van Persie’s incredible form this season is that he doesn’t appear to have an accepted partner in crime. In previous season’s you knew that if Torres was on a hot run of form you’d be wise to pick up Gerrard or if Drogba was banging them in then Frank Lampard was probably getting in on the action too. It seems our Robin doesn’t have a sidekick. 37% of Fantasy Football Players have the high scoring Gunner in their side yet the next most popular Arsenal player is Aaron Ramsey on 5.6% with Walcott third with just 5.1% so it seems Arsenals assists are an untapped resource. This is despite Walcott having 10 assists and 5 goals to his name this season making him the 5th Top Scoring midfielder. He created both Arsenals goals Monday night and was unlucky not to receive any bonus points. With a price of 8.9 the young Englishman is at the lower end of the expensive midfielder market and he’s certainly a differential at the moment. With Silva, Nani, Adam and Kuyt, Bale and Van der Vaart all hit and miss at the minute Theo is certainly worth consideration

roryc

Lescott didn't even make the bench last night, I'm wary of whether he'll start against City, although he has until Wednesday to recover.

Not many obvious replacements, would probably need to double up on defenders either way. Jones is not a guaranteed starter, Ferdinand isn't really worth 6.4m. I'm thinking Skrtel might be a good shout, Liverpool have the second strongest defence in the league.

Could always swap in Richards, but seems like I could waste a transfer if Lescott ends up playing.

froog

keeping an eye on walcott and rosicky. a decent performance against everton and i'll get one in.

carlcon

Not sure how I feel about this week.

Firstly, the broken match days will suck. I like getting my results in 2 days, not over 5 days!

Secondly, a lot of people seem to be getting Young in now. I got him immediately after his first full game back fit, and benefited nicely, but I'm not taking the "he played mid-week so will probably play this weekend" story most people are telling as well as others.

My suspicion is that neither Nani nor Valencia were that far from fitness, and may now play on Sunday.

From now until the end of the season, I strongly expect Young to play every game, but with the final Europa Cup game last night, I'm afraid Fergie will be looking to get some match fitness into his injured players to have himself as close to a fresh team as possible. With Wolves... I don't think anyone would be that surprised if Fergie doesn't go for a full strength XI.

And thirdly, I'm very happy to see everyone starting to drop Silva. I could not be more certain (as certain as can be in FF terms, anyway) that dropping him will bite you all in the ass.

His last 3 games: 5, 6, 2.
His previous 5 games: 9, 6, 8, 2, 3.

Seriously???

Hat-tricks from Dempsey and Gerrard, and then flashy performances from Walcott and Young have spoiled you guys... it seems expectations have sky-rocketed and a consistent average of 5/6 points a game isn't good enough any more. I'm not buying it. He'll never be a good captain, but even in an under-performing City team, he's consistent. We all know what they, and he, can still do to almost any team.

DazzlerIE

The decision on dropping Silva for a United winger came down to the fact that United are FAR more likely to smash teams on the run-in than City

United have been there, done that, they ALWAYS finish strong.

I've no doubt Silva will pick up points, but would be far more confident there'll be bigger bounties coming for United players

City's ropey away form is a big black mark against him too

No way would I have dropped Silva for anyone other than a United player

carlcon

DazzlerIE wrote: »

The decision on dropping Silva for a United winger came down to the fact that United are FAR more likely to smash teams on the run-in than City

United have been there, done that, they ALWAYS finish strong.

I've no doubt Silva will pick up points, but would be far more confident there'll be bigger bounties coming for United players

City's ropey away form is a big black mark against him too

No way would I have dropped Silva for anyone other than a United player

I'm guessing you have either Bale, Dempsey, or both? I'd be shot of either of them before dropping Silva. Not having a City attacker would worry me a lot, regardless of form or fixtures.

But I must admit I'm in a different situation to most since I don't have any City defenders, or anyone that cost me more than 5m at the back. That has allowed me to have all 4 of the "big midfielders" right now (Dempsey, Bale, Silva, Young) across my midfield.

One thing's for sure; it's definitely a good thing overall that a player who was basically in every serious team all season is now dropping out of favour. Really spices the competition up!

DazzlerIE

I have Demps and Bale

Reasoning for keeping Demps is that he's capable of more explosive single week scoring than Silva

but the ultimate thinking is let him rise a bit more, swap Ba for Pog, then get Silva back in for Demps

The fact Fulham have nothing to play for will start to come to the fore in a few weeks, so Pog will be enough coverage there I think

dsmythy

Been looking to offload Dempsey but always find more important changes each week. His high price gives me a good range of players to choose from when his time comes, I'm one of them who dropped Silva in recent weeks. I did it to get Rooney in. Still have Yaya.

carlcon

Yeah I'm feeling edgy about having both Dempsey and Pog. Fulham have had 2 or 3 "special" performances this season, netting 5+ goals, but generally speaking they don't score that many. Lots of 0s (8 games) and 1s (11 games).

I only brought Pog in because I accepted I was wrong about bringing Ba back in, and to benefit from some price rise. Deciding on which one to drop will definitely come down to who else is available out there. So I'm not making an decisions just yet. I'll be looking at cheap strikers in the relegation zone that may replace Pog while they fight for their lives, while also looking at pricey midfielders up top that may hit form and replace Dempsey.

And on a side note... Bale is the one I have been worried about most lately. I'm hoping it's just a small Spurs slip, but I haven't been too impressed over the last 5 or 6 weeks. With everyone dropping Silva and complaining about him, I'm surprised that Bale seems to have slipped under everyone's radar (based on conversations on Boards, anyway)... he's been much worse, with just one big game in the last 9 or 10 weeks, and 5 or 6 non-performances.

Dempsey

All my Swansea players benched this weekend along with Kompany.

Basically I'm backing Newcastle (Krul & Simpson) to keep a clean sheet v Norwich & Arsenal (RVP & Chamberlain) to do a number on Everton. Vorm, Caulker, Sigurdsson to the bench. The rest of my team picks itself.

Last GW, I beat the average by 10 points and still dropped places. Hoping to gain some ground this. Need performances from all the big hitters and RVP to destroy Everton.

thunderdog

I have Sinclair in my team. Just wondering does anyone have any stats on him-are most of goals scored just from penalties or does he get a few from play too?

SickBoy

I just noticed that Rooney and Simpson have been flagged as doubts for the game week. Rooney 75% chance of playing and Simpson 50 / 50.

manual_man

SickBoy wrote: »

I just noticed that Rooney and Simpson have been flagged as doubts for the game week. Rooney 75% chance of playing and Simpson 50 / 50.

Noticed that too. Raylor down as 25%. D'oh!

DazzlerIE

With just league to play for, I'd say there's no chance Roon won't play

carlcon

Anyone hear any team news or interviews from managers this evening? I'm usually on the ball on a Friday, but didn't catch anything at all today.

On a GW when everyone's looking for Rooney to deliver, it was kind of inevitable that he'd have a niggle to cast doubt.

Cantona's Collars

I'd say Rooney will play,it's a great chance for United to open a 4 point gap before City play Chelsea,just in case he doesn't play who's the best bet for VC?

I've gone for RVP as vice captain,I got Ba also as a possibility at home to Norwich.

Jax Teller

DazzlerIE wrote: »

With just league to play for, I'd say there's no chance Roon won't play

Yeah I agree .

PopTarts

What's with the Spurs & Bolton match Week 34?

PopTarts

PopTarts wrote: »

What's with the Spurs & Bolton match Week 34?

Oh FA Cup.

So another DGW?

TheAlexCrewe

Can I ask if anyone has their wildcard still available, what you are saving it for? Is it something in particular? I've still got mine as I'm hoping the FA Cup matches might throw up a DGW somewhere. Anyone agree?

carlcon

TheAlexCrewe wrote: »

Can I ask if anyone has their wildcard still available, what you are saving it for? Is it something in particular? I've still got mine as I'm hoping the FA Cup matches might throw up a DGW somewhere. Anyone agree?

Recent FA Cup rescheduling has just pushed games to midweek, and they remained part of their original GW, so I wouldn't expect too much in terms of DGWs.

That's what they've done with 7 PL teams playing in the cup this weekend... next round will have a max of 4 teams left in it, so the chances of a big DGW then are made even slimmer.

It's possible, sure... but if you feel your current team is struggling, I wouldn't be holding my breath too long.

Lemlin

DazzlerIE wrote: »

With just league to play for, I'd say there's no chance Roon won't play

Is it necessary for United to play Rooney to beat Wolves? I wouldn't think so myself. Berba, Hernandez and Wellbeck should be enough.

With a league to play for, why would Fergie risk Rooney against Wolves is what is going through my mind.

iroced

TheAlexCrewe wrote: »

Can I ask if anyone has their wildcard still available, what you are saving it for? Is it something in particular? I've still got mine as I'm hoping the FA Cup matches might throw up a DGW somewhere. Anyone agree?

I kept my WC for the last 4-5 GWs or so. I remember from last year that towards the end, you could benefit from it a lot as big teams players can get rotated because of CL rotation and/or safe position in the league, mid-table teams have nothing to play for so their players don't give a sh*t, and bottom of the table teams can see some of their players shine to save their position.

Problem is, there was a DGW towards the end last year (GW 33 or 34 something like that ). This year the title looks to be uncertain until the last GW. All the English teams are out of Europe bar Chelsea. There are a lot of teams fighting for Europe positions. So it looks like now my idea was bad. Instead I should/could have used my WC early in the season to take on all the big players before they rose in price and before everyone got them... Aaah hindsight is wonderful...

Jax Teller

Who would you drop Bale Dempsey or Silva for Valencia ?

manual_man

Epic fail of a week. Pog Capt and Evans last sub :pac:

Think you can safely count yourself into the next round of the cup Grohly

manual_man

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Who would you drop Bale Dempsey or Silva for Valencia ?

If it was me, Dempsey... Mind you I'm keeping him til after the Norwich game

Fowler87

manual_man wrote: »

If it was me, Dempsey... Mind you I'm keeping him til after the Norwich game

Unless ya have the Pog

manual_man

Fowler87 wrote: »

manual_man wrote: »

If it was me, Dempsey... Mind you I'm keeping him til after the Norwich game

Unless ya have the Pog

I have both. I'm keeping til after Norwich game. Mata and Graham in is the plan

grohlisagod

manual_man wrote: »

Epic fail of a week. Pog Capt and Evans last sub :pac:

Think you can safely count yourself into the next round of the cup Grohly

Yeah was really surprised to see you'd benched Evans. I suppose you had to start taking risks if you want to make up ground in your leagues. Hanging on to Valencia really paid off. Making a bit of a late surge in the Boards money league.

Jimmy Iovine

Considering the circumstances this doesn't qualify as good news but Steve Kean has offered to postpone their match with Bolton at the weekend if Bolton ask to.

There's already a double game week with the Villa match called off tomorrow, and there could be another now with Rovers.

manual_man

grohlisagod wrote: »

manual_man wrote: »

Epic fail of a week. Pog Capt and Evans last sub :pac:

Think you can safely count yourself into the next round of the cup Grohly

Yeah was really surprised to see you'd benched Evans. I suppose you had to start taking risks if you want to make up ground in your leagues. Hanging on to Valencia really paid off. Making a bit of a late surge in the Boards money league.

Well if by some miracle bae or Enrique don't play, JEvans will come in. I've fukked up my bench all season. I should have seen it coming haha

grohlisagod

manual_man wrote: »

Well if by some miracle bae or Enrique don't play, JEvans will come in. I've fukked up my bench all season. I should have seen it coming haha

Silva is your ace in the hole. You never know Stephen Ireland might wake up and think it's 2009 and go crazy. It's not over 'til it's over.

manual_man

grohlisagod wrote: »

manual_man wrote: »

Well if by some miracle bae or Enrique don't play, JEvans will come in. I've fukked up my bench all season. I should have seen it coming haha

Silva is your ace in the hole. You never know Stephen Ireland might wake up and think it's 2009 and go crazy. It's not over 'til it's over.

Villa Bolton is off. Out of respect for Muamba

grohlisagod

manual_man wrote: »

Villa Bolton is off. Out of respect for Muamba

Slipped my mind when I was typing that. That makes it a little more clear cut alright. Football must be the last thing the Bolton players are thinking about right now.