Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 9 – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
So there I was. A sunny Friday in the spring of 1996. Saffron Walden County High School playing fields. Lunchtime. A slight figure of a 16 year old, desperately needing to finish the week with a win. It was my turn to be captain, and I’d won the toss to pick first.
I surveyed the crop of young men standing in front of me. Who would be first into my team? Who could ensure my bragging rights through free period after lunch, through double Geography and – if my fake ID held up to scrutiny – through a Friday night’s drinking in the White Horse? Decisions just didn’t get bigger than this.
Stuart was the obvious choice, but as I looked at him, something just didn’t look right. I knew the problem couldn’t be me. I was a fine captain. My lack of stature meant all of my players could always play wherever the hell they wanted. In fact some of my finest moments had come from playing the lone GK/defender role, gladly supporting my team as the 10 bigger players shared the 10 striker positions. No, it was something else. “What’s the matter Stu-pot (cos I was captain I could use nicknames that I had not earned the right to use)?”, I asked. “Litter duty” was the reply. “I can only play 15 mins, then I’ve got to pick up litter with the deputy head for getting caught smoking”. Wow, I thought. That’s a blow. Now don’t get me wrong, even 15 mins of an on-form Stu could have the game won. But it was a risk.
“What about you Dave?”, I asked. Flexing my managerial muscles as I dismissed Stu without a second thought. “Yeah, I’m good for the full 40 mins” replied Dave. There was a ‘but’ coming. I knew it. “But…” I was right. “But, I’ve forgotten my trainers so will have to play in my slip ons”. Panic started to set in. “But they’ll give you no purchase on the slippery turf Dave!”. This wasn’t going well.
I could see that my natural 3rd and 4th choices Nick and Rob were distracted by the group of year 10 girls sitting on the side lines. They’d be no use. People were looking at me. I had to make a decision. Lunchtime was 5 minutes old and we hadn’t even picked teams!
And then, just as I could feel that first bead of anxious sweat trickle down the side of my ribcage, from the back of the crowd stepped forward a face that was new to me. “Who are you?!” I demanded. “I’m the new exchange student” was the nervous reply. “But you’re wearing proper football boots!” I exclaimed. “And, wait… Yes! They’re Puma Kings!”. The excitement started to build. “What’s your name?” I enquired. My tone starting to soften. “Diego Pele” was the reply.
“I PICK HIM!”
And so onto this week’s Captains picks, where we also find our apparent cast of plenty, dwindling away before our very eyes. Costa is a doubt, Man Utd and Liverpool might as well be playing in slip-on shoes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Aguero somehow picks up litter duty between now and the weekend.
Let’s have a proper look see, in no particular order…
Diego Costa. Chelsea. Away vs Man Utd.
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]Captain him by all means. But for the love of Jose, please give proper thought to who gets the Vice Captaincy. Not many things worse than your captain not playing. One thing might be however, realizing that you left the VC armband on the same guy as last week. You know the guy. The one that’s now injured too!
There’s not much to say about Costa that you don’t already know, so I won’t bore you with stats. If Jose shows his hand in the Friday press conference, and it’s good news, he can have the armband. Man Utd’s defence has been generous to strikers this season, and long gone are the days where Jose parks the bus against Utd. This could get messy.
[divider_1px]
Danny Welbeck. Arsenal. Away vs Sunderland.
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]He didn’t manage another hat-trick, but he did at least keep his scoring run going against Hull in Arsenals 2-2 draw on the weekend. A goal that meant a lot for both club and player alike. It means Arsenal go into this weekend’s game against a demoralised Sunderland with something to prove after a disappointing performance against Hull, but not as downbeat as they might’ve been had Welbeck not grabbed that 90th minute equalizer. Sunderland themselves will have something to prove, but who knows how many changes Poyet will make after the 8-0 thrashing last time out. Arsenal have a good record against Sunderland too. Comfortable 3-1 and 4-1 wins last season.
With Arsenals attacking options and a possible Walcott return, Welbs should get plenty of chances. He’s averaging 3.6 shots per game (4th highest in the Prem), and we’d expect him to shoot above that average this weekend.
[divider_1px]
Graziano Pelle. Southampton. Home vs Stoke.
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]Pelle has taken the 3rd highest number of shots per game (4) out of all Premier League players. He scored 2 goals, got an assist and 2 bps last time out, and has scored 5 in his last 3 home games. Another tasty home tie coming up against a Stoke side that lost their last away game to… wait for it…Sunderland! Stoke lost, to Sunderland! That same team that just lost 8-0 to Pelle’s Southampton! Wait, that stat wasn’t even that exciting! Why am I using so many exclamation marks?!
Anyway. He’s got to be a safe bet for good points this week. He comes without any injury risk (at time of writing), and is playing for one of the form teams in the league.
[divider_1px]
Sergio Aguero. Man City. Away vs West Ham.
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]He scored how many? And still had time to miss a penalty. Aguero is the games top points’ earner with a whopping 56. He has accumulated 9 bonus points so far this season, and has scored a goal to go with each of them. No assists yet, but nobody’s perfect.
He is second highest in… [digs out favorite new stat list] number of shots per game with 4.5. Although he may as well be top, as top spot officially goes to Balotelli. Do shots stats count if you never actually score?
Aguero also bagged two of City’s three goals in a 3-1 win last time these sides met. He’ll be in the top three most popular captain choices this week, even if Costa returns.
[divider_1px]
Other possibles…
Fabregas, Hazard & Oscar. Fab has the headlines so far this season but Hazard tends to do well against the big teams. Oscar is more of a game time risk but Jose loved him last season and he plays further forward than Fab, and more central than Hazard. Any or all of these 3 could turn in a decent points haul this weekend.
Leighton Baines. A nice fixture against a winless Burnley side that have just shipped three goals against West Ham. Just off the back of a clean sheet, 2 assists and some bonus points. If you’re ever going to risk it on a defender, now might be that time.
Dusan Tadic. It couldn’t happen again. Could it?
Gabriel Obertan. Because sometimes, you just have to finish with a joke.
Good luck this week everybody. I’ll be placing my trust in that man Aguero.
Thanks for reading Captains Picks Fantasy Football Gameweek 9. This article was written by chins and bellies
[polldaddy poll=8266490]
Alright, I’m off to bed. Cya tomorrow dudes!
Anyone successfully completed any CL transfers yet? Won’t let me confirm. As usual. Constantly frustrated with their site. In a bind now as I’ll have to rely on a WIFI connection on the mobile tomorrow and it’s always even worse on a mobile :rant:
init they have a app now , much more reliable
ok , you realize i was only joking right hehe
Bench I wouldn’t trust a single thing with their name on it, I’ve just managed to do 3 transfers. I think, maybe. We shall see.
I transferred out Costa for Kun yesterday. It worked.
Bloody cold weather conditions apply to the UK and Ireland.
Always fun when the phone comes with suggestions, I literally typed nothing apart from bloody. Hihi.
Costa is doing my head in. Starting to lean towards replacing him. Also I like Falcao too much.
Raz, Falcao has bitten the init dust this evening 😉
For who, Naismith?
I reckon it’s Aguero but can’t work out who u sacrificed with your other free transfer to get that extra 1.5 (ish)! Any clues Innit?!?!
BLOOOODY HELL COSTA’S COLOR IS ORANGE NOW -_- –__– —___—
spray tan?
:)) Only the best for our Diego
obviously gone to the same salon as that old Hull manager. What was his name again?
Need ur opinions for my team.Will ne using my wildcard
Devilred,
I think you particularly need to boost your front line and there are a few pretty good options that have very good fixtures – all at different prices…..Berahino, Sakho, Lukaku, Welbeck, Pelle, Aguero just to name six off the top of my head – they are all better than Naismith and Weimann.
With DDG in goal, Lovren at the back, El Ahmadi not around and doubts over Costa and di Maria, it may well be a good time to play your wildcard, have a bit of a clear out and get most of your squad playing, in case the likes of ADM & Costa miss a game or two.
Thanks Cookie,
How abt this team bt i want aguero in my team.Any suggestions how to get him
Devilred, depends on which striker you would lose to get Kun mate – tell me which one and we’ll make a plan.
Thinking of getting rid of costa or welbeck..
OK Devil, well obviously the Costa switch would be easier money wise, but I am personally very wary of getting rid, but that’s your call. For this move you could lose Jags or one of your mids.
For Welbeck you’ll need to raise some serious cash – defo one of your mids to a much cheaper one – but there are options there….Chadli etc.
May be worth getting Alderweireld for Bertrand – that immediately gives you a bit more cash.
So which mid do u think should get rid of dimaria or fabregas.Can swap boyd for diame too
Devil – million dollar question that….I wouldn’t want to lose either. I’d lose Sterling!
Wont be able to buy him later once i get rid of him.So whom should i replace him with.Have absolutely no idea.N got any more suggestions for me
U have really been a big help so thanks
Devil,
let’s do it this way….you’re on your wildcard – so I would firstly choose those players that you consider “must haves” for your team.
Secondly, find your cheapies that can slot in…ie Hutton, Wisdom, Boyd etc…
Then see what you have left.
For example…if I were playing my wildcard I would want:
Baines or Coleman
Saints defender
probably Chambers
Hazard or Fab
ADM (though this injury is a pain in the ass)
Boyd or Obertan
Pelle or Tadic
Costa
Kun
Now, I’m not saying that’s who you should choose, this is just me thinking aloud.
So put the musts and the cheapies in and see what you have left.
Let’s see what you come up with.
This is the best i could come up with so who do u think should fill in those spaces.
Tadic/siggy and which other mid should i put.
Sakho/berahino/welbeck and baines or jagielka .
Don’t think i can put a team with both costa and aguero in it so costa or aguero.
And is my defense good??
Urghhh really need help for this wildcard
Devil – gimme 10mins I’m going to have a little think about this
Take as much time as u need cookie.
Devil – ok….you don’t have to take any notice of this and I won’t be offended. It’s your team, but these are my thoughts.
Having looked thru Init’s fixture’s article again, Arsenal, Chelsea and City fixtures cannot be ignored. And also Saints short term.
On that basis I cannot advise you to sell Costa, sorry. So whack him back in for now. And let’s try and work Kun in also.
Swop Bertrand for Alderweireld, which keeps your Saints cover and gains you 0.4mln.
Could also think about Coleman instead of Baines which would provide a scrap of cash.
Swop Pelle for Welbeck and put Tadic in. If my brain is working that leaves you one midfielder short? How much cash have you got left?
Put jagielka in for baines and alderweireld for bertrand now have 5.6 m left
bollox – really wanted Baines or Coleman in there. Devil, can you screenshot what you have mate? – need to see it in front of me!!
Krul
alderweireld wisdom jagielka
ADM Siggy Fabregas Diame
Costa Pelle Aguero
Have 0.1m to spare
And duff dummett boyd as subs
Devil, would you consider selling Fabregas?
Yeah i could sell him cause have costa in my squad
and would you consider Welbeck instead of Pelle and putting Tadic in midfield?
Yeah that might be a good idea.Can put baines then and still have 1m left .
cool – but you could still do with a Saints player…Tadic or even Mane. Is that poss?
Yup.
Cool and you have 1mln to spend!!
Let’s go shopping….
Diame to Chadli?
Thanks for ur help Cookie .
Finally have a balanced team now.
Devil – we haven’t finished yet!!
Keepers…..Myabe stick Foster in there? Or preferably Guzan…..
Ok Foster is injured dnt knw he will be able to play or not so guzan then.
Cool Devil – are you happy with that squad?
Yeah i think its good.
Perfect, Devil – best of luck mate!
Ok. Did it. Pulled the trigger. Ditched costa for behraino. I feel better already. Not to be cocksure but you heard it here first. Behraino and baines out score costa and duff from this point forward. (I hope!
brave, Maple, brave – but he who dares!
I pulled the trigger on Costa too! Gutted Aguero didn’t go up as predicted though as I could have spent more time considering my options but hey ho.
I’ve also gotten rid. Jose is a pain the ass and even when I had Costs I was scored to captain him.
Not sure how I want that to play out – I have them all.