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If you’ve been reading this blog then you’ll know the last couple of game weeks have not been kind to the 11Kicks House Team. So here’s to starting the New Year with a new team, and a few more points.
The men I’ve chosen to do the job include the Toure brothers, Kolo and Yaya. Kolo will be back in the Man City team to play Blackpool, and I’m still convinced Yaya is a good bet for goals.
Not so happy holidays for the 11Kicks house team. We finished a lowly 7th in our 11 team mini-league, with 23 points, well outside the prize money places and our worst for a long time. I’m feeling very much like the Roy Hodgson of fantasy football today. Except even I didn’t pick Paul Konchesky.
So, where did it all go wrong? Let’s do the post-mortem.
Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli helped himself to a hat-trick vs. Aston Villa yesterday, scoring a tidy 11 points for any 11Kicks managers clever enough to pick him. I wasn’t one of them.
I could see City putting a few past Villa (it finished 4-0) but thought it would be Carlos Tevez doing the scoring, with Balotelli sitting sulky-faced on the bench. Instead, Tevez was benched with a sore thigh and Balotelli stepped up to score one of the easiest hat-tricks I’ve ever seen. Two penalties, sending Brad Friedel the wrong way both times, and one tap-in. Easy.
For game week 19, the answer was yes. I’d picked what I thought was a solid team, but then half my midfield didn’t play due to injuries and bad weather. I’d also failed to pick Rafa van der Vaart, who scored two goals for Spurs.
The good news is that game week 20 comes right on top of game week 19, giving me a chance to redeem myself immediately.
So I’ve tweaked my team, bringing in van der Vaart and Pepe Reina, and relieving Nani of the captaincy. Nani stays in the team though, as he’s recovered and is expected to play for Man Utd vs. Birmingham on Tuesdsay.
Think you can do better? Pick your fantasy football team and get involved.
Game week 19 isn’t over yet. But it didn’t go well for me. With Blackpool v Liverpool and Everton v Birmingham postponed, I had Leighton Baines, Tim Cahill and Sotirios Kyrgiakos all out of action. Worse, my captain Nani didn’t play a second due to some sort of hip injury (possibly picked up while doing backflips at home).
My mini-league had only two teams in it, so congratulations to Wynalda’s Big Ego for coming first. Great team name, and great decision to pick Rafael van Der Vaart and make him captain. That meant 20 points for vdV’s two (beautiful) goals, and – even with Carlos Tevez and Andy Carroll picking up points – no chance of my catching up.
Last week’s snow was a massive disappointment, because it cancelled 11Kicks game week 18. It also cancelled the inaugural 11Kicks Challenge League, which I was more than a little excited about. If you were excited too, then don’t worry. The Challenge League will return, but not until after the Christmas/cold/snow period is behind us.
I’m still entering a team for game week 19 though. Because I’ve overspent on Christmas presents and need to win back some money. So I’m playing at the Silver level ($4.99 to enter, $40 prize pot) with the team you see above.
Very quick overview: Mark Schwarzer is in goal, because Fulham are at home to West Ham, and Clint Dempsey is in my midfield because I fully expect him to score past Rob Green again. Other players like Nani and Samir Nasri. They keep scoring points.
I’ve also taken my own advice and selected Everton pair Leighton Baines and Tim Cahill, but ignored my own advice about Yaya Toure, mostly because Man City are away from home. I hope he doesn’t make me regret that.
Up front, I’ve paired Carlos Tevez and Andy Carroll. Both are reliable points scorers, but it’s Newcastle vs Man City on Sunday, so if that ends goalless then my plan has backfired. Here’s hoping for a 5-5.
Think you can pick a better team? Then go ahead and do it.
Game week 19 starts on Boxing Day (Sunday, 26th December) with the big Arsenal vs Chelsea game on Monday, 27th December. Until then, here’s wishing a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all 11Kicks managers.
English football’s Christmas fixtures start soon, offering a few quirks for fantasy football managers. The first is that we all get an extra day to pick our teams this week, with game week 19 not starting until Boxing Day, December 26th. So take that extra day and pick an excellent eleven.
You’ll need it, because things get tricky after the 26th. Game week 20 begins just two days later, on December 28th. That means a quick turnaround for fantasy football managers, but also for the players. With squad rotation being very much part of the modern game, that means certain players could be rested for one game week or the other.
For example, Chelsea are away to Arsenal on December 27th and then play Bolton at home on the 29th. It’s very possible that Chelsea coach Ancelotti will unleash his big guns for that first game and then holster a couple for the second. Especially with game week 21 coming on January 1st and 2nd. Believe it or not, Didier Drogba is only human. So keep that in mind when selecting your teams for game weeks 20 and 21.
Of
ficially, Yaya Toure has one goal in his last two Premier League games for Manchester City. Not bad for a midfielder, but nothing special. Unofficially, Yaya Toure has three goals in his last two Premier League games for Manchester City. It’s just that the other two have gone down as own goals.
We’ve already discussed the Robert Green incident vs. West Ham, and how it’s an own goal because Toure’s initial shot was technically off-target before it hit West Ham’s keeper. A similarish thing happened to Toure vs. Everton, when his attempt to play a dangerous ball low across the six yard box met Phil Jagielka’s shin and went in.
The goal/own goal ruling isn’t important. What is important is that Toure is a man in goalscoring form, even if that form is obscured a little by the official stats.
I know it still seems weird to think of Yaya Toure as a goalscoring midfielder. When playing for Barcelona he seemed much more like an enforcer, doing the physical work while other midfielders got amongst the goals. I suppose that’s just what happens when you playing alongside Xavi and Iniesta.
But now he’s a Man City man, Toure is free to be more of an attacking mid, playing further forward than the likes of Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong and James Milner, and just behind City’s central striker. That gives him plenty of chances to get forward and score fantasy football points, even if his name doesn’t appear on the scoresheet.
They sound like a law firm. Or maybe estate agents. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, maybe a detective duo. But the Everton pair of defender Leighton Baines and midfielder Tim Cahill did it again Monday night, scoring a goal each as Everton beat Manchester City 2-1, in Manchester no less.
As experienced 11Kicks fantasy footballers will know, you can pick a maximum of two players from any one Premier League team in your weekly 11Kicks lineup. With some clubs, that’s a problem. Do you leave out Samir Nasri, Marouane Chamakh or Andrei Arshavin. Do you ditch Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole or Florent Malouda. At Everton, no such worries.
Cahill was miraculously unmarked early on to score a near post header, and while it’s usually Baines providing the crosses for Cahill to score, it was Cahill who set up Baines to score a finesse shot (yep, I’ve been playing FIFA 11) for Everton’s second.
Unfortunately, neither Baines’ seven points (five for the goal, two for playing) nor Cahill’s nine points (four for the goal, three for the assist, two for playing) will count, since 11Kicks game week 18 is a victim of the snow monster. But the hypothetical points tallies of Baines and Cahill, plus Phil Jagielka’s own goal and Victor Anichebe’s red card, are helpful pointers for which Everton players you should and should not be picking for game week 19.
Seeing David Beckham win the BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award, the endless ovation he received, and the very emotional, very genuine speech the man himself gave upon accepting, there was one thing and one thing only on my mind: Can you imagine how many points mid-90s Beckham would have scored in 11Kicks fantasy football?
Long-range strikes, bendy free-kicks, all those assists from corners and all those crosses to Ruud van Nistelrooy. The man would be a right footed points machine. Also, I think I may be spending too much time thinking about fantasy football.
