PLFantasy

My favourite new tool for evaluating player performance is the Guardian's new chalkboard function which allows you to monitor all the passes, shots, tackles and free kicks made by any player, in any game in the Premier League in the last 4 seasons (updated within hours of any games this season). This allows you to see how a player is performing when you can't see the game and whether he is getting goalscoring opportunities and is playing in the right part of the field. For example, if you are choosing between two centre backs and you can see that one had 2 headers per game in the opposition box and the other had six, then it is clear that the team is game planning to get the ball to that defender (like Laursen last year) and he is therefore more likely to score. Equally, if a midfield player (say, Jon Obi Mikel) plays 90% of his passes in and around the centre circle, he is unlikely to ever contribute more than performance points and clean sheets. Modric v Lennon Having only s...

As is the case every year, by November-December alot of players' teams are starting to look very similar and it is increasingly hard to differentiate your team on a weekly basis. This is proven by the fact that when certain players do well ( Ronaldo , Anelka etc) like in week 13 we all get 70+ points but when these players draw blanks you find that everyone is kicking around with 30 and 40 point totals. The following team is made up of players held by at least 20% of ALL fantasy players: The key going forward therefore is to differentiate your team wherever possible, whilst still holding on to those must have players that underpin any championship team (such as Ronaldo 2007/08). As a side note, it is interesting to note that only 6 of the 15 players above feature in the season dream team. Potential buys Many of my potential buys from the early part of the season ( Zaki , Traore etc) are now widely held so we need to look elsewhere for the next wave of players. Here are a few id...