Hello and welcome again to The Banterbury Leagues review. We are at game-week 16 and some massive games have been played and 8 more teams have joined Bench & Potty in securing their place in the Banterbury Shield to start in GW21 (January 11th-13th). There are still 6 spots up for grabs around the leagues in the final qualification game-week, next weekend. So without further ado let’s go round the leagues and find out who are falling in to the drop-zones or who are sitting pretty at the top & everything in between. As ever we start with the premier league.
Premier
Cookie’s Monsters regains top spot and secures his place in the shield after beating Horse FC 11th 73-65. Joining him in the shield and moving up to 2nd are Arsene’s Boys who beat Gasco’s athletic 8th 82-76, ending any hopes Gasco had of qualifying. Park Bench Exports drop to 3rd after another close game for him though this time it didn’t go in his favour as he lost to Rising Phoenix 68-66 who move up to 9th. Arguably the biggest game of the week was between Where’s The Dosh? who were 4th, in that final qualification place and Reubens Rioters who were sitting 5th, with Rioters coming out on top 84-80 which also means they swap places in the league with one qualification game-week to go. This result also keeps alive the hopes of both Bocadillo Allstars 6th & Pork n Cheese United 7th, they both won beating UD Stoke who drop into the relegation places & Eddy Hitler XI respectively. So if Reubens Rioters beat Pork n Cheese United who they face next week the place will be theirs, a defeat or a draw opens up the place for Where’s The Dosh or the Allstars who both have the same number of points though The Dosh have accumulated 7 points more in the overall standings, meaning it could be a straight points shootout if both win. While Pork n Cheese United must beat Rioters by 47 points and hope the other two teams in the running lose, it’s a big ask but funnier things have happened. Meanwhile in the bottom half Kojak’s Fireball beat Buzz’s Bomb Squad 83-71, Kop Warriors (FF247 writer) won again his 3rd in a row and move to 15th, 3 places above the drop-zone. Prutsers; allemaal and Killer Instincts played out a 78-78 draw. The 6 pointer between the bottom two, TheKopKnightRISES & THE MUTTS NUTS went the way of RISES leaving Mutts 10 adrift at the foot and 13 from safety, he just can’t catch a break as his score of 73 would have beaten 5 of the teams above him, but there’s no time for him to feel sorry for himself as he has another 6 pointer Vs 3rd from bottom UD Stoke up next.
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/843/standings/
Championship
Gallowgators stay top and book their shield place after beating FC Tom Tomsk. James 101 beat bottom club Pathético Morbid to move 2nd and also book their place in the shield. WhoIsRonaldo drop to 3rd after defeat to a side that still has ambitions of the top 4, One Under Parr 6th, though WIR still only need a point. Elleffcee 4th last week lost to Real Morbid 103-73 and this result sees Real moving into that last qualification place while elleffcee drop to 7th after losing to 2 teams chasing a shield spot in last 2 game-weeks and will need a tiny miracle to claim 4th spot now. The other team still in the mix are Son of a Pitch 5th who are on same h2h points as Real and are only 10 overall points behind, it could all come down to who scores the most points next week to claim 4th. The two stand out games next week are James 101 2nd v WhoIsRonaldo 3rd & Gallowgators top v Real Morbid 4th, giving Son of a Pitch and One Under Parr real hope. Elsewhere, Mito’s Mercenaries move 9th after winning his 4th on the spin and ends Shylass @ the finish 8th interests in the shield, Mito must thinking that if it wasn’t for those few barren game-weeks where he captained Benteke, he’d be right up there challenging for a shield spot. There was also wins for Buzzilona & The Greatest FC moving them up to 10th & 11th in the table. At the bottom there were massive wins for The Reds moving them 3 places to 14th and Balotellibubbies moving them out of the bottom 3 to 16th, replacing them is Mrs Kirk’s Soap Powder Thieves. The Gallant Pioneers stay 19th and Mr Kirk’s Pathético Morbid 20th bottom and 8 points from safety.
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/9338/standings/
League 1
The Banterbury FA have been called in to investigate after a flurry of bets were placed at the start of December in Potty’s bookmakers. These bets suggested that Powerful Potty Fc would not be top come Christmas despite holding an 11 point lead at the top of league, but after a full investigation the FA are happy that no games were fixed. So toppling Potty is Monty (Caz Daz) who is one of the 4 teams to beat potty in December and are on a bit of a run, winning the last 6. In 2nd and dropping potty to 3rd are another team to have beaten him this month, CFC (Awesome). All 3 have qualified for the shield. Joining them after earning the final spot available are we love manchester who drew with Bodene’s Army, the point was enough to see them earn their place. Elsewhere Ajax Trees, Fergie’s Henchmen & Slumdog Mignolet won & all move up the table to 6th, 7th & 9th. Inittowinit*** won and despite having over 1000 points sit 13th in the league. At the bottom there was a massive win for IFM PaLmeRo 17th vs The SpecialOne 19th 79-72, despite this the bottom 5 stay the same.
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/9479/standings/
League 2
4th Place Trophy stay top and are the only team from this league to so far qualify for the shield. With so many teams still in the mix with only one game-week left, I’m not going to go through all the permutations, just name the teams and wish them well! I’m sure GW17 is going to be a roller coaster for the following teams, Norfulk-in-chance 2nd, ChorleyRocks 3rd, White Boys Day 4th, Busby Babes 5th, Wavey Squad 6th & Owls Rule 7th. Also in with a massive outside chance are ChelseaFTW 8th but they would need all of the aforementioned teams to lose. Finally I would like to give a shout out to (no hits) Prata who with 5 wins on the bounce have moved from the bottom to 13th in the league, Bring on ze Trumpets, I think you upset him! What was your bet again?
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/my-leagues/9698/standings/
Qualification Leagues
Firstly some good news, from next season I hope to run 4 h2h qualification leagues of 20 with the winners from each league earning an invite into the main league. There will also be an opportunity to qualify for the Banterbury Cup, so everyone who registers will get a chance to play some of us so called experts in a one off tie and the chance to become a fantasy football legend. Details will follow later in the season, but to register your interest please e-mail banterburyleagues@gmail.com
Secondly, well done to Norfolk n’ Chance & The Cape Bulls for cracking the 1000 points mark in the classic league, it’s also 4 from 4 for What’s the story FC & FC Sanchez in the H2H that was created to celebrate the opening of FF247. Those in the H2H qualification don’t forget you’re playing an expert in FF247 writer Flingy, haha no pressure now Sean!!
This article was written by Bench@banterburyleagues
Hi Grenadier you will got into League 2 , but have plenty of opportunity to play the so called big boys in the cup and if your top at Christmas you also entry the shield and play the best 15 teams in all 4 leagues in a CL like format that start in January , if you fail to win the place, next year there will be some cup 1st round places on offer for those in the qualification leagues more new to follow later in the season about this .hope that answers your question
Cheers
Bench
Ok, it sounds more enticing now; At least i know that i have a chance to play vs the big boys…. Bench you’re a genius
which it will so will wait for news first
sorry , that was a reply to Kop
For f¥cks sake.. Why Zaba why? I blame Micah – Zabsy shouldn’t even be on the pitch. Actually I blame pellegrini – should have played a kid for capital one cup especially because of Richards injury.
Anyone know if Kolarov can be used on the right with Clichy on the left (or visa versa)? Do you reckon that is the most likely line up for the weekend?
i feel your pain mate
Cheers bud – and I broke the golden rule by doing early transfers this week, one of them for a hit. Never taken a minus -8, not sure I could be that brave
Great work Bench, thanks as always for organising, must take a huge amount of work. Let me know if you ever need a help out, best competition around!! Good luck to Buzzilona in our H2H this week, I see you have Aguero and Kos and I have Aguero and Zab so we are both starting off with 2 men down!!
Never thought I would be relying on Gallow to do me a favour
Irony is I have Gallow in another H2H league this week so a good score from him against Pathetico could be a double edged sword!
I have inside information on Pathetico and Gallow would also if he ever joined Twitter. 😉
Will get a spy onto it straight away!!
I play Real Morbid NOT Pathetico
Keep calm and watch the destruction Inertia, it’s all in hand, no hits, no injuries, cracking team….. What can go wrong? LMAO
I have every faith in you Gallow!! Can’t lose really, you have a crap week I win, you have a great week I win
Nah twitter ain’t for me, although I would have liked to have seen Suarez “coming out”
Gallow step out of the dark ages my friend ! twitter is a very useful tool for any FPL manager, the news is on there before anywhere else
Confusing that, Gallow and Very Useful Tool in the same sentence………..
:big-lol:
Right 16 hit coming up, I’m taking a dive and letting Real Morbid win 😉
best of luck inertia going to be interesting with the top 4 meeting , tho always a worry when you have to rely on a geordie 😆
Evening all. Bench, I did it – I won a H2H game!!! :dance:
Nice write up mate and Happy Birthday!
Cheers initt , but have your not said that before :cuckoo:
Howdy init,it was a pretty convincing win too i see…sweet!!
Hello NIN, sorry what were you asking me again in the dead of night?!
Init – haha,i had better hurry before you nod off again ha..It’s about the Jan WC man,more specifically using it to change formation to 3-5-2 and having a beast midfield,i’ve been fluting around with it today and i’m very tempted,my squad needs a shake up,what say you for a system change?? I’ll put up the squad i’m looking at now in a moment..
Szcezney-McGregor
Coleman-Ward-Collins-Shaw-Chester
Ramsey-Silva-Mirallas-Hazard-Walcott
Chamakh-Rooney-Suarez(captain forever ha!)
My thinking is that with those two up top is there a need for another expensive striker like Aguero(when fit),or even Lukaku?? Also i cant bring myself to sell Rambo and Wally has been purchased already so i’d rather not have 50% of my midfield being Arsenal…i know it’s a slightly riskier formation but this squad looks very good to me, more tweaking is needed i think but something along these lines is the plan…
There’s room for improvement here too..still have 1.3m in the bank..
3-5-2 all the way, NIN !
Only the 2 us believe in this , mate…
lol
HL – Howdy mate,i’m really thinking about it,would like some expert opinion before i make my mind up though,i’m loving the squad i posted there to be honest,it’s a little risky though.
Ok – so here’s an open invitation to all online – pls give us ur pros or cons on the 3-5-2 idea :popcorn:
Kop/Jimbo – Any chance of having a gawk at the above please?Am i mad to think that this is the way forward?? Cheers lads.
I like it NIN. It’s a formation I used to swear by and sort of did last season up until a point. I had a cheap-ish striker which was Lambert but then he started scoring anyway and so had to play. Might turn out the same for you with Chamakh as it goes. You could always switch Mirallas to Barkley in Jan if and when Evertons fixtures toughen up and then use the funds to upgrade Chamakh if someone really emerges in the mid-price striker bracket but there’s plenty of flexibility there.
And to be fair it was about 2am!!!
NIN – Right now I’d say no to the idea.
However if both Walcott & Silva perform well over the coming weeks it could be worth consideration.
What 5 mids do you have in mind?
Nearly went this way myself at the weekend
Myhill-Pantilimon
Dawson-Coleman-Jagielka-Gabbidon-Turner (Norwich)
Walcott-Hazard-Silva-Yaya-Ramsey
Chamakh-Rooney-Suarez
Decided against it and got Negredo for Aguero instead
Will get Walcott next week for the above mids apart from Yaya which will be Sterling
I’d like to have this midfield:
Mirallas (Gerrard once fit) – Walcott – Hazard – Silva – Ramsey
Two 7m mids and 3 9m mids which is about 41-42m total. Anyway. Stop distracting me, my team is ok. >.< For pickles sake.
Init – Exactly my thinking,2 FT’s can revert it back easily,even if i kept that extra 1.3m just in case the system change didn’t work it would be a little buffer for the upgrade of Chamakh…it’s a dangerous looking team isn’t it?? You think it’s worth it mate??
Kop – Cheers mate,i posted the whole squad here,scroll up a tad and it’s there..midfield is Ramsey-Silva-Mirallas-Hazard-Walcott,i wouldn’t be doing this until our JanWC is available so there’s room for improvement,have an extra 1.3m on top of the squad i posted..i’m really thinking it’s the way..what say you mate?
Cheers lads this is much appreciated.
P.S .. Init i’ll let it slide this time haha.
Gallow – Cheers,with Yaya thrown in there it’s ferocious! Too expensive for me though, do you think it’s a viable long term plan,if i do this it’ll stay the same unless it’s utter shite obviously..is it possible to make an assault on the high ranking managers with just two strikers..that’s my worry..
Raz – hahaha,apologies man,sit on your hands..
NIN – I reckon that Suarez, Aguero & Rooney / Lukaku gives you more than 5 mids!
NIN – give it a go for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a few revert to something similar before too long. Suarez is bound to get banned at some point after all!
Hmmm, Kop says no, InIt says yes. Listen to Mito, play neither 5 mids nor 3 forwards. Don’t risk offending either so play a 4-4-2. No need to thank me, but you can.
Kop – Rooney-Aguero-Suarez teams could do some damage that’s for sure,i have considered this too,for squads that have all three,considering the fortune the strikeforce costs surely their midfield would be majorly weaker (apart from the odd shit that has everyone haha)..over say 20 GW’s would a huge midfield and 2/3rds of their huge strikeforce not come out on top in your opinion?i’m thinking it might…you guys know better than me though…
NIN – for whatever my advice is worth (considering I contemplated a -12 hit yesterday, which I’m still not ruling out!), I think 3-5-2 is what will ultimately get you up the rankings. The top teams are just way too similar, and I noticed that even with top scores the last 2 GWs, you still fell down the overall rankings. Having 3 top forwards won’t give you the point of difference you need. I’ve commenced 3-5-2 from this week in view of the Cup, and as an experiment ahead of the January WC. It could prove to be some useful intelligence ahead of January.
blue_moon – Yep,valid point,very valid in fact,cheers,one of my worries with the system change was being able to beat the top,top teams with just two forwards..i want to finish as high as possible (we all do) so i’m also a little worried about making a tits of the JanWC…interesting times ahead.
Mito – Are you permanently screwed to that fence you’re on mate? Or is the some leeway? hah!
Init – Yeah probably so haha,Rogers needs to keep him well fed hahaha.
NIN – yeah, I say give it a go now with 3 GWs left before the January WC. As you said, the WC will be like gold if done right (and I still have my season-long WC in hand as well!). Whilst I love them, I think it’s time for us to give Potts, Cookie, James etc… a reality check
NIN – It could do mate.
I remember around January last year everyone thought a 5 man midfield was the way forward, but within a month everyone had reverted back!!!
Blue – I wish i could do it before my WC,but between the squad i posted above and my current squad there’s 8 changes haha..cant be done unfortunately
Kop – Yeah?? Hmm,i wasn’t onboard last season so didn’t know that.
NIN – We should learn quite a bit about a number of players & teams over the coming weeks.
NIN – ouch. Well, you could do what that other fella did (whose team name escapes me), and make an average of 15 transfers per week? It did get him top score one GW, so perhaps it’s not as crazy as it sounds
NIN
I might consider this, I’m also planning to play the JanWC asap as I still have the other one available, my team value is quite low and I feel I’ll have to make something “out of the comfort zone” to climb the rankings.
I’ll think about it in the next days.
To all who replied here – Big thanks lads it’s much appreciated (even you Mito!!),the info is invaluable so thanks again chaps,a great bunch of lads.
Blue – Haha he was crazy wasn’t he haha,i wonder how many he’s made now..surely it must be approaching the 200 mark now haha,insane.
Albertini – So you’re eh …. considering considering it?? Tough spot that hahaha.
You have you’re original WC too?? Good stuff lads,most have been used by now i’d say.
haha I will mate! Not sure if I’ll have enough cash to make a strong team, I’ll have to make some draft teams and only then I’ll have some more clear thoughts on this.
Albertini – That’s what i’m doing too man,just fluting around with it to see what’s possible.
Grats mate!!!
Haha thanks James, had to happen at some point! Back to getting thrashed by 1 or 2 points this week I’m sure….
Hahaha,Chelsea cant keep a clean sheet to save their lives,ET at the stadium of light,i’d say Wenger is loving this…
The bad thing is that Hazard is playing though, I’d prefer him well rested for the weekend. >.<
Tekno-kun – Yeah i noticed that,they must have brought him on late on..he didn’t start the game,i was watching it earlier but it was really bad so i turned it off haha.
I checked on he was brought on in the 84th minute, so he’ll only play about 40 minutes including injury time, which is of course not that much.
The game isn’t that interesting now either to be honest, but Sunderland gets oppurtunities now and then, they could actually win this.
Tekno-kun – Hmm,that’s not bad at all he should be fine for the weekend,he would play vs Arsenal even if he got the full game tonight but still,good to know that he will be fresh for the game..