Today, the 11Kicks interview is with Rich Kinsella. Rich is from the fantastic fantasyfootballinfo.co.uk Again we will start with the World Cup questions before getting into the general fantasy football questions.

11Kicks Blog: Who will fare better/worse about it being in Africa?
Rich Kinsella: This is going to be a really interesting tournament. Previously, climate (particularly heat) has been a big influencer in who wins the World Cup. South Africa’s climate at that time of year is very ‘British’ so i think there’s going to be a few surprises with more European teams doing well.

11KB: Tell us 5 players who aren’t stars now but who will be stars as a result of the World Cup?
RK: Ramires (Brazil) – Has had a fine season in the Befica midfield
Yoanne Gourcuff (France) – Seen by many as the natural successor to Zidane
Gervinho (Ivory Coast) – An exciting young striker being tracked by Arsene Wenger
Marko Marin (Germany) – Everyone in Germany is pinning their hopes on Toni Kroos to be the next big thing but i think Marin could be a better player
Hernandez (Mexico) – Striker just signed by Man United

11KB: Which teams will overachieve at the World Cup?
RK: I think Ivory Coast have a really good chance of getting out of a tough group. If they can, they could do well.

11KB: Which teams will underachieve at the World Cup?
RK: Portugal. Struggled in qualifying and in the most difficult group that includes Brazil and Ivory Coast.

11KB: Do you think FIFA made a mistake not to introduce technology at the World Cup?
RK: I think they made a mistake by not testing it at the Confederations Cup. The World Cup is not the place to be making major changes – remember the ball in 94 that no-one could cross? Or the ball in 06 that swerved like a beach ball in the wind. Just leave it alone FIFA!

11KB: At the World Cup, how much of an issue will the way France qualified be?
RK: Not much. I’m not expecting them to do well as they were very lucky to get as far as they did last time so it’ll be largely irrelevant.

11KB: How did you get into fantasy football
RK: I got in to Fantasy Football through the old Baddiel & Skinner show on BBC Two – it was way ahead of it’s time and i think there’s definitely a gap in TV for something similar for Football Fans (like Top Gear for people in to Cars). Back in the early 90′s in the days before easy internet access and a web presence for everyone and everything, me and a couple of my mate’s got together and decided to start a league of our own, which i managed and I used to allocate the points from the reports in the paper. Needless to say, it was a season full of arguments but i’ve been playing ever since.

11KB: If you could change it in any way, what would you do?
RK: That’s a difficult question, I’m not actually sure i would change anything. Simplicity is key for me. The Telegraph game has always been my favourite and it’s one of the oldest and simplist. The Premier League game is popular but i find it a little over complicated with it’s substitutions and captains etc.

11KB: What are some of your most memorable fantasy football calls?
RK: I think my most memorable Fantasy Football call came back in 1997 when i entered a league with some School friends. When i showed them my team, there were a few raised eyebrows and several laughs as i had selected Lee Carsely who then played for newly promoted Derby County. Despite playing in a poor side he went on to have a fine season and score a hatful of points.

11KB: What is your strategy for fantasy football success?
RK: The key to Fantasy Football success is to sniff out those bargain players who over achieve or those players who’ve gone through a bad time either with injury lack of form at a club before moving on. These players will almost always come from a mid table side or a team chasing a Europa League spot and are likely to play every game when fit. The may have been at one of the bigger clubs and found it hard to break in to the starting 11 or they may have been signed as a youngster and taken a couple of years to settle down. A couple of good examples from this season are Darren Bent, Damien Duff and Gareth Bale. If you predict who these players will be and blend them with the usual ‘must have’ players (2 of Drogba/Rooney/Torres, either Lampard or Gerrard, Vidic, Ashley Cole etc) you’ll have the head start you need because once these players start doing the business, everyone will have them in their team.

11KB: What are some traps people can fall into in terms of fantasy football?
RK: There are two common trap people fall into in Fantasy Football. The first is when selecting their team, people can tend to pick a team that they think would play well together in real life rather than a collection of player who are going to score the most points every week. Javier Mascherano is a great player but i would never pick him for my Fantasy Football team – he never scores, rarely gets forward, doesn’t take free, corners or penalties and gets booked loads. Great Football player, bad Fantasy Football player. The second trap is probably most relevant to the Telegraph game – transfers. You have to have patience when playing Fantasy Football and not panic. If you change your team every week, you’ll often experience that “why didn’t he score a hat-trick when i had him” feeling because you’ve not given then players a chance. You’ll also get to Christmas and have no transfers left when your players start getting injured and suspended.

11KB: How effective do you think you can be at fantasy football if you like a team? Does it compromise you?
RK: It can be hard. I support Liverpool and as much as i’d want to build my Fantasy team around Gerrard and Torres, it’s just not happened for them this year on a regular enough basis so I’ve had to leave them out. It can work the other way too. I’ve got a friend who is Southampton fan who refused to transfer in Benjani when he was on for at Portsmouth a couple of seasons ago. If you want to win, you’ve got to swallow your pride.

11KB: Players can be hit/miss – how do you know in advance who is going to do well and who won’t? What clues do you look for?
RK: That’s the million dollar question! If you can predict that, you’ll win every league out there! Seriously though, towards the end of the season i start to take a few mental notes about who’s starting to do well (there’s always one or two to keep an eye on). At the start of the next season i start looking at how the transfers have panned out – maybe the player you thought was going to do well is about to find himself on the bench following the arrival of a world class signing? I also look at any managerial changes that might have happened – is the new manager a rotator (like Benitez)? Is he a man manager who knows how to get the best out of the individual (Harry)? All these things can have a profound effect on how a player performs (look at Robbie Keane at Liverpool).

11KB: Do you have a routine for picking your side? Things you do during the week ahead of picking the side. Places you go for information
RK:  Always check team news and injury tables (I carry one for the whole Premier League by team on the site). Nothing is worse than picking a team of making aload of transfers and then finding out the players you’ve got are either on the bench or have just done their cruciate in training.

11KB: What are your favorite fantasy football sites?
RK: www.fantasyfootballinfo.co.uk of course! Seriously though, it’s Telegraph all the way for me.

11KB: Do you think more information and knowledge can be a bad thing?
RK: It can be – sometimes it’s best to just pick the obvious players that everyone knows because they’re most likely to do well. Information from too many different sources can also be a bad thing. Pick a site you like that’s reliable and stick with it.