I (literally) should have seen this coming

-
As I look out of my living room window I can see the spires of the City of Manchester stadium and yet I did not foresee the fantasy impact of their transfer deadline dealings. I was a little higher on Robinho than some of the critics but I thought there were better options available in his price bracket (van Persie 9.5m, Santa Cruz 8.9m, Agbonlahor 8.2m and Defoe 8.2m). However, Robinho has scored 2 in 2 and notched an assist this week to give him 15 points in 2 games (a PPMS of 0.833 ahead of all but Zaki and Defoe). With van Persie being rested against Bolton I am starting to worry about Wenger tinkering too much with van Persie's playing time. Robinho therefore looks to be an interesting prospect at 9.2m, especially when you consider they play the likes of Newcastle, Stoke, Hull, Bolton and Spurs over the next 8 weeks.

Robinho's play also seems to have inspired others around him and Shaun Wright Phillips look well and truly settled back at Eastlands. At 8m his price has increased 0.5m in a couple of weeks but he still looks to be a steal on current form. Jo at 8m also looks like a player who might benefit from all the extra attacking options around him and may be a nice option if you're looking to differentiate your team (only 2.8% hold him).

Stephen Ireland continues to be great value at 5.9m and is now held by over 20% of the league. Elano is still expensive at 8.6m though consistent playing time along with penalty and free kick duties would still make him decent value. Petrov's value has crashed to 7.2m and he could be a steal when he's back from injury. However, with these talents alongside Michael Johnson (6M), Gelson Fernandes (4.8m) and Vincent Kompany (5.5m) someone is going to miss out and fantasy owners should monitor the situation for indications of Mark Hughes' best eleven.

A good indicator may be the Liverpool home game in two weeks where Hughes will surely field his best eleven (barring injuries). It may be worth waiting until then to commit yourself to the likes of Johnson, Kompany or Ireland but you will be safe taking Robinho and Wright Phillips who are likely to figure in as many games as possible.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pushing the Panic Button: Gameweek 15

-
Image
Powered by Tableau The above visualisation is going to form the centrepiece for a new regular post (probably bi-weekly) which is kind of the opposite of the fanning the flames piece. Rather than focus on players who did well this week, we're going to look at players who didn't, and particularly those who haven't for a number of weeks and identify whether, yes you guessed it, the panic button should be pushed. Before we get into specific players, a quick review of what the table above shows: Goals xG - This is the expected goals a player should  have scored in a given week based on the number of shots he took (inside/outside the box), his historic skill level regarding hitting the target and the league average rate of converting shots on target (SoT) to goals. This metric gives an overview of the chances a player is receiving, along with the quality of them and the way he is converting them. Pts - simply the points scored by the player over the last five g...
Read more

A brief update

-
Happy holidays everyone; it's been a while. For those not on Twitter, I was away in Costa Rica over the break without much - if any - internet access hence the lack of posts around these electronic pages. Well, actually, that's only the main reason, not the only one. In truth I've become a bit disillusioned with the fantasy game the past couple of months, partly due to my other commitments which make copying data at 2am somewhat less appealing, partly due to a lack of excitement in this year's game and finally due to the constant frustration I have with today's internet culture. This blog is a labour of love and aside from the small amount of money I made from the pre-season guide many of you graciously purchased, I don't get much out of this beyond the enjoyment of interacting with readers and hopefully helping a few of you to gain a couple of extra fantasy points every now and then. While some of that enjoyment remains, I feel it has waned over time and th...
Read more

Demba Ba and transfer planning

-
Image
I try not to get involved in too much "will-he-won't-he" speculation in these pages with, for example, the weekly statistical rankings being provided regardless of rotation risk. I'm not saying, of course, that this shouldn't be a factor, only that I'm in no position to offer a worthwhile opinion, other than collating other news stories (which are often based on nonsense quotes from managers anyway). There are plenty of other sites who offer opinions on whether Tevez will play or if Vidic has recovered from injury but in almost all cases it's pure guess work and so I try and stay away from such discussions. With that in mind, my initial reaction to Ba's move was negative. I have no idea whether he will play every week at Chelsea, and while you'd think it would extremely odd for a player to leave a good team to go and ride the bench, other players have done the exact same thing before. All I therefore see is a player who has gone from being the e...
Read more