Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 2
Bloke from Swindon celebrates freak Pereyra captaincy with friends. (Not pictured: Mulled wine)
Here we are, already diving into Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 2. Gameweek 1’s high flyers comprised the usual medley of routine regulars and ragtag randoms we’ve come to expect from the dawning weekend of an FPL season. Thousands took to the streets for Mo Salah’s 8 points; hundreds danced in the aisles to the tune of Jamie Vardy’s late Old Trafford cameo; while one hungover bloke from Swindon raised a refilled glass of mulled wine to his previous night’s drunken captain punt on Watford’s Roberto Pereyra.
Disappointments for many included Harry Kane’s continued August allergy and Sergio Aguero’s unwillingness to find an unmarked Kevin De Bruyne with a square pass. In summary, GW1 belonged to the underdog, but GW2’s fixtures do little to discourage us from making the same mistakes again.
As last week’s excellent FF247 Captain Picks writer Rosco alluded to, there’s no getting away from the fact that this season’s armband choices will be dominated by familiar faces. So I decided to dig deeper and read up on the men behind the legends.
MO SALAH – “THE STORY OF A HERO” by Emad Anwar (Cairo: Arabi Publishing House), 2018.
The book charts Mohamed Salah’s life from childhood, and his upbringing in a humble Egyptian village, before moving onto his journey from the Arab Contractors team to the top of the Premier League pyramid.
Author Emad Anwar (who, as most of you are probably aware, is a journalist at Al-Ahram Institution’s Al-Arabi Magazine) asks,
Why does football love the poor, and why do they represent the majority of its stars?
Well, I had a quick peek into the car park at Liverpool FC’s Melwood training ground and can confirm none of their stars are poor. Less controversially though, he also posits that Salah is an “extraordinary player” who has earned his place among the football elite and can compete with the likes of Ronaldo and Messi. Incisive.
PROs: Inspirational tale about overcoming the odds.
CONs: Version I had was in Arabic.
OVERALL: ★★★★★ A weekly bestseller.
SERGIO KUN AGUERO – “BORN TO RISE: MY STORY” by Sergio Aguero (Trinity Mirror Sport Media), 2015.
Describing how Aguero became one of this era’s top strikers this autobiography paints a background of hardship. His parents had to rely on the kindness of others to help him get through school, but from getting his first football as a father’s gift at the age of 5, he never looked back.
Actually, that’s untrue. He looked back at Carlos Tevez who was prostrate on the floor during that title-winning victory at QPR,
When (Tevez) started to get up he was insulting Joey Barton in Spanish…
This book is an admirable and in-depth behind the curtain view of Kun’s incredible adventure which saw him rise though the ranks at Independiente of Avellaneda, Atletico Madrid and achieve legendary status at Manchester City. Whether he was “Born to Rise” is up for debate, but he does have a child with Maradona’s daughter.
PROs: Inspirational tale about… overcoming the odds.
CONs: I couldn’t get the cellophane off. Got Kevin de Bruyne to assist.
OVERALL: ★★★★☆ If in stock, a must-have. Availability an issue though.
HARRY KANE – “THE BIOGRAPHY” by Frank Worrall (John Blake Publishing), 2017.
“Apocalypse Now“. “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite“. Some titles just crash through the window, set off a firework in your living room and demand your attention. Then there’s this, which paws lightly on the front door with limp wrists before meekly prising open the letterbox and, with all the assertion of a postman hiding from a vicious rottweiler, whispers, “The Biography” in a half-arsed breathless murmur. A functional-at-best title it may be, but the author makes this hyperbolic claim,
…the golden boy from North-East London who has the world, literally, at his feet.
If ever the word ‘literally’ was misused (It is, literally every day) it’s here. The ball may be literally at his feet occasionally. The world may be metaphorically at his feet, sure, no problem. The logistical problems with the world literally being at his feet are innumerous. Anyway, it’s a book about a player rejected by Arsenal. He went down the leagues to prove himself. Now he’s a superstar. Next.
PROs: Inspirational tale about… *sigh*… overcoming the odds.
CONs: Out of print during August.
OVERALL: ★★★☆☆ Evergreen blockbuster, yet summer jinx a slight concern.
JAMIE VARDY – “FROM NOWHERE: MY STORY” by Jamie Vardy (Ebury Press), 2016
“From Nowhere: My Story”. Now that’s a title. Unfortunately it raises a few philosophical concerns such as “Where is nowhere?”, “How can you come from a place that doesn’t exist?”, “It’s an autobiography, of course it’s your story.”
It’s a well spun trope now that Vardy went from playing pub football with Stocksbridge Park Steels, while still working in a factory, to a star role in Leicester’s 2016 title win. He declares in his book,
It’s the stuff of dreams
Maybe it’s just me, but I have recurring dreams about being hunted down by colossus, murderous robots in the street I grew up in. It’s not something I particularly wish to be realised. Ok, Jamie? Good.
Look at that cover, though. Those Sheffield steel blue eyes. How could I ever stay angry with him.
PROs: Inspirational tale about… blah, blah, blah.
CONs: Not suitable for parties.
OVERALL: ★★☆☆☆ A fox who could scatter the wolves pack asunder.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Captain Picks Gameweek 2. This article was written by Bry.
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who do you think will score more points this season. mane and zaha or kdb and firmino
The latter
KDB and Bobby
kdb and firmino
But the latter is also £3m more? Seems an odd comparison! Aha
This!
we can only answer the question we’re asked!
It’s a tie.
I take it KDB won’t go up in price before gw2? Think I’m gonna get Alexis out for him this week but wanna wait for pressers
only 23,000 transfers in soo far so it doesn’t look likely he’ll go up
The masses are not going for him as he only got 0pts
The masses only go for whoever got a major haul, so no worries there I think!
FFF ….
No KDB but still days to go. Make of it as you will Mad
and FFF falls ….
Love to see Lovren falling! Getting a Liverpool defender who’s almost guaranteed to start every match for 4.9 would be really nice!
Pancho, totally agree and from what Klopp said to the press I don’t see him starting the next 2 GWs, so might drop to 4.8 or lower if lucky. A great pick up after GW4 if WC-ing
Scored 76 points. How did everybody else do? I hope Richarlison is fit to start
Hey there Chris! 76 is a great Gw1 score. I got 83 and am really pleased with it.
On Richarlison, see video above posted by Mito of Everton training. He was jogging with team in warmups and seems fit! Reports are that it was just cramps.
Yeah I am pleased as well but missed the boat with Shaw & Mendy. I have Coleman instead
How we all doing what are members thoughts on the promoted teams , didn’t thk any of them played that well worried about Jota but will leave him for a couple more Gw
Hey Silvers!
I thought Fulham were really positive and attacking. I see goals in that side.
I thought Wolves were also very attacking, but seemed less threatening even though they scored two. They were up a player. There could be some value in their attack if they can adjust to the speed of the PL though.
I didn’t see Cardiff play, but they couldn’t manage to score against the Cherries, who aren’t exactly known for their defense…
I’ll be watching Cardiff play on saturday and if they can’t score against Bomo and NUFC in their first two then I think the writing may be on the wall for a long season and a quick return to the Championship. I mean no offense to Newcastle by this, just that they aren’t exactly right at the back.
In my opinion, Cardiff should have been the most excited of the promoted sides by their opening two fixtures. If they take nothing from the first two I think it could be a bad sign…
All that to say that I think picking the right player from either Fulham or Wolves as your 7th attacker could be an inspired signing and be a huge benefit to your OR. I’m staying away from all three defenses though. As soon as I can bin Peltier… #StuckWithALameDuck
Interesting Pancho Fulham do play attacking football only saw the highlights I have Jota & Ralls
Cardiff could be in for a LG season but early days
I will just keep an eye on them.
My MF is pretty dire only have one big hitter Salah so need to keep an eye on any potential cheap MF players
I think one of Sess/Schur/Seri/Mitrovich is a great choice, and all on the cheap side.
I also think one of Jota/Neves/Jimenez isn’t a bad option. At this point I’d just pick one of those 7 players though. Just my opinion. And I have Cairney :/
Hi Silvers. I watched the whole Fulham game and there was nothing much to dislike really. Mitro could have had a few on another day and Sessegnon and Shirley both looked lively and involved. Palace keeper made a few good saves which then enabled them to go and do what they set up to do which was simply counter attack at pace. Classic away performance but had one of those Fulham chances gone in it would have been a completely different game. I’ve got Mitro and I’m happy to keep him on the back of what I saw.
I also saw the whole of the Wolves game as you’d expect. Yeah I know, back to back, the Mrs was delighted – go on love you just sit by the pool and look after them both, I’ll see you in 5 hours
I digress. They were a bit pedestrian both at the start and then even still after we went down to 10. Macca was on the commentary and doing his nut with them, it was hard to disagree. When they did eventually decide to attack they looked dangerous and sure enough scored the equaliser. They’ll concede a good few too though as Everton cut them apart a few times with ease in the second half and probably should have won it but for a poor final ball on a number of occasions.
I didn’t see Cardiff at all but I agree with Pancho’s assessment in terms of them probably struggling.
Hey Init Pancho who would you say in the Fulham MF looked most likely to adapt to the pl , haven’t Fulham just signed a winger & will he complete with Seg for his position?
Cheers both
Who’s that mate? Only two I’m aware of are Anguissa and Vietto. Former is a DM and latter is a CF, as far as I’m aware. Can’t see them not sticking with Sessegnon on that wing regardless. It’d be him I’d be getting out of them all to answer your question.
Must be getting mixed up how unusual 😉
I like Sessegnon too. Seri could be a great budget pick at 5.5, but that’s only if you can’t raise the extra £1m. If you’ve got enough for Schurle then I’d recommend finding a way to raise the extra .6 for Sessegnon.
.5 not .6
I have Peltier, Cairney & Jota
Fulham have Chambers on laon at l/back so Sess is nailed upfront.
I hope that’s not text speak I detect there SZ? 😉
Chambers is a CB though, Joe Bryan plays left back. Or did on Sat anyway.
Sorry Innit I misread something online, my bad
Wasn’t pulling you mate, just that I saw the game so wouldn’t otherwise have known either. Well ok, I knew Chambers was a CB
Waiting on your said txt spkr to respond to all his new messages but I’m not holding my breath!
No, no, if I make a mistake correct it, we rely on each other for help & part of that must be getting right imo. No problem. I fkin 8 txt spkrs, too old for that crap I guess. Maybe what 40-50% of the board has English as 2nd or 3rd language? Just plain rude using it on message boards to communicate with people you don’t know. Do you agree?
Difficult to say. Probably more 60/70% as first I reckon. Either way I salute anyone who posts if it isn’t as I certainly couldn’t post fluently in any other language.
I do try and not do text speak myself but I guess we all slip into it occasionally these days, even if by mistake. I often use tbf / tbh but that’s possibly also dependant on the audience. If I know it’s someone who knows what that means (and I mean on here too) then I will, but that’s only if it’s a direct response to them. If it’s a statement as a first offering thats open to all and then no I won’t do that at all.
We’re just getting old mate, basically
Chorley was even worse than me about it, I remember he asked some bloke to stop and got a ‘Wht u mn?’ in return…. banned outright. Too funny. I’m maybe being a bit pedantic now but tbf/tbh/imo are message board abbreviations that you find everywhere, I don’t class them as text bollox. Anyway, did you see the comments about Ibra in MLS mate? If not maybe have a gander, eh?
I would never actually ban anyone for it!
FFS dude. You’re making it sound like it was really draconian over there. Maybe it was, I don’t know, each to their own 
I caught the beginning of your comment but assumed it was a mistake with me not partaking in MLS but I’ll go check it again now properly.
Nah, I think we banned 5 or 6 people. 1 was the drunkard you lot banned, 1 was that fella and a few spammers.
Nope, don’t get it, sorry. Saw my name mentioned again but means nothing. It’s about Zlatan on turf.
We’ve been very fortunate on here too. Only ever banned 3 people. 2 of them went to Scout and subsequently got banned from there also. Funny that! The other was actually a writer on here but he’s fairly reformed now and is welcome back whenever and I speak with him periodically so all is good.
I miss Waxys though. He was at the top of being deluded. Sad for him that Rooney’s not playing PL now
No, you don’t constant! Think back hard to when it happened. You really don’t 😉
Chambers was originally RB at Soton, Wenger made him a CB!
My, my the boards are filling fast! Good to see the numbers swell with the start of the season.
Anybody about to cast an eye on my lot? Feeling antsy with Mahrez and King but can’t see much I can do with just one free transfer?
I have them both too but you should never judge any player on one game, let them have another week and address the if need be ahead of GW3
You’re team looks good for this GW by the way!
Are you thinking he sits for Sane this week? I am! You could always switch him to B.Silva, just as an option. Gives you some change for when Pedro inevitably loses his spot, which I imagine he will soon enough.
Team looks fine for this week. Hopefully Kun will bag 3 for you.
I honestly wonder if Vardy did not score last week, if he would have been included in the article.
Did he score last week?
I think he did, but I couldn’t be certain.
He looked way better in 30 minutes than Kun and Kane did in their games. But why does it matter on this book review?
What on earth is this 😆
People say you’re always just a few meters away from a rat, I often wonder if there’s any truth in that. Well my wondering was answered when I found a dead one just a meter from my front door yesterday morning. I suspect one of next doors cats did him in, they’re a right couple of ‘sorts’. Speaking of rats, I think Vardy is a decent shout this week, a home game against a defence that looks a little suspect? It could well be Sambuca o’clock round Rat face’s gaff come Saturday night!
Vardy seems a perfectly decent captain pick but is some way back in the pecking order – of one of Salah, Kun, Sterling or Kane. Or that’s the way I see it, not that I own him yet. Or Sterling or Kane, come to that.
Though currently on the consistency of Salah as captain, the lure of Kun vs Huddersfield is very tempting.
Agree, Kun for me, I’d like a hatrick please!
is iheanacho going back to a sub with vardy back?
Most likely Eresh. I think.
ahh darn. will have to take him out then this week and waste the transfer