So the fantasy premier league season has started, and we have had our first round of the inaugural 9642 Football League. I didn’t do a preview or welcome post, but I thought that something might as well be written up to review everyone’s teams and a bit of a review of the last round, and preview for the next round. I will also try and keep up posts throughout the season to chronicle the league over the whole season.
First to the Teams:
Brummie Blunderers Fred Lunjevich
The Blunderers is a team from a friends league with a one Mr Fred Lunjevich in charge,and he has a well balanced team and has done well in previous seasons of the Damage incorporated league, outscoring me in all 3 seasons that he has participated. He is definitely a contender for the title come the end of the year, and I expect him to be in the top half of the table. He has both Fabregas and Toure in his midfield, who are sure to create plenty of points, along side Mata, Costa and Rooney to be a sure fire point creating machine
Edster’s Dreamteam Eddy Van de Pol
Edster’s Dreamteam is another team from the Damage Incorporated league (being the one who is running it this year.) Eddy has won every season of the Damage Incorporated League that I can remember, and normally won it easily. This year he has Fabregas, Rooney, Sanchez and Mata as solid picks for an attacking team and should also be near the top this season.
ElBaconi’s Diablos Lindsey “The Melon Farmer” Bacon
The Diablos is the last team (other than myself) from the Damage Incorporated League, and the lesser of the teams coming from that league. So far every season I have played his team has started well but faltered as the season drags on, as his interest wains. In The Melon Farmers positive qualities is his support of the best team in the world (Chelsea.) The Melon Farmer has also selected Costa in his starting 11, with Sanchez in the midfield, however I don’t see his team as being able to collect a lot of points and will end up near the bottom of the table.
Old Warsonians Matthew “Warsong” Johnson
Old Warsonians is a new team to fantasy EPL football, although Warsong has played other football web based games to great success, as well as other online games. Warsong has a good eye for detail and has picked a well rounded team, with, Hazard, Sterling,Sturridge, Januzaj, and Ivanovic, in, his, team., A, bit, of, an, unknown, quantity, it, is, uncertain ,where, Warsong, will ,end, up ,at, the, end, of, the, season,, but, assuming, he, keeps, logging, in ,and, checking, his, team, he ,has, the, knowledge, and, conscientiousness, to ,do ,well, and, should, end, up, in ,the, top ,half.
Rangiora Town Helen Johnson
Rangiora, Town, is, another, new, addition, to ,fantasy ,EPL, ,and ,Helen, is, the ,wife, of, Warsie. ,She ,has, also played, other, online, football ,games, but not quite to the same success as warsie (though arguably better than me. Her team picked is also well rounded, with Gerrad, Sigurdsson, Silva, Dzeko Cahill and Terry all in the team, though with two chelsea defenders some of her season could ride on how well Chelsea manage to replicate their defensive form from last year. Helen also has,a good eye for detail and should she stay the course will be a decent mid-table prospect.
Teh Chelski Fools Adam “The Fool” Schofield
My team, the the 7th season I have had a fantasy EPL team. I have been part of a few leagues and have been ok-ish in each, with no championship trophies as of yet. I have tried to go for a attack minded team, with only Cahill, Kompany and Debuchy as my main defenders and Sanchez, Oscar and Lennon to hold the midfield with Costa to score the goals up front. I am hopeful for a top 4 finish.
The Yanks “Z C / Thirdrock”
The Yanks is a team put together by an EPL rookie and American to boot. Thirdrock plays Imperial Conflict, which quite a few people here have actually played before. I joined a fantasy gridiron league this year with Thirdrock, so he has joined this to show that he has better luck than me by outperforming me compared to my fantasy gridiron team. Thirdrock has picked a decent team, with Rooney & Giroud up front and Terry, Ivanovic and Hazard as a solid Chelsea core to the team, although if Chelsea don’t live up to expectation this may come back to hurt him. I am expecting a bottom 3 finish for Thirdrock, and to be inactive well before the season ends.
Unfinished statemen Pete “The Author” Ravlich
Unfinished Statemen is another new team to fantasy EPL this season, and the manager Peter may be better known to most as the great Author who wrote “The Truth is In Here”. He ahs admitted to not really knowing much of the EPL and is expecting to prop up the bottom of the table. His team is a bit of a mixture with Toure and Sigurdsson being the main point scoring players in the line up. Unfinished Statemen will likely finish bottom 3, but may surprise a few.
~* UnitedForever *~ “Forever Pinwheel”
UnitedForever is a new team to any league I have been in, but has had a Fantasy EPL presence for the last 3 seasons, with some solid scores in the 1500-1700 range. Forever Pinwheel is another Imperial Conflict player but one with some EPL knowledge. His team is well picked with Costa, Toure, Ramsey and Sterling to provide plenty of points this season. I am expecting a top 4 finish for Unitedforever
Waitakere Wizards Emran “Numbernine” Yousuf
Lastly, and leastly, is my distinguished colleague, Numbernine. He provides the creative direction in our collaboration, but in his only fantasy EPL season so far failed to shine. This year he does seem to have learnt some of the lessons of last season, and has picked players likely to be actually picked by their managers.This year he has Sterling, Mata, Costa, Sturridge and Rooney in his team, though his defensive players are weaker. This should ensure some decent scores all season long and should end up in the top 4, but below me.
Next a review of last weeks round:
The Yanks 34 – 44 Teh Chelski Fools
FIrst game of the round was between football newbie Thirdrock and myself. Neither team really had a stellar week but I managed to easily outscore Thirdrock and take all three points. Both teams will need to have better results however if they want to end up in the top half of the table come the end of the year.
Waitakere Wizards 55 – 47 Edster’s Dreamteam
The second game was between Numbernine, who disappointed last year, and Eddie who has done well for 8 seasons. However this year Numbernine’s picks have done much better, at least in the first round, and picked up a respectable 55 points to take the 3 points and the win from Eddie’ team. However both teams are showing some good form to take into the season.
Old Warsonians 55 – 64 ~* UnitedForever *~
Third game was between two old IC players with Warsong taking on Forever Pinwheel. Both teams picked up outstanding point totals, which would have given either the win in just about any other match. An interesting feature was Warsong’s decision to pick a back 5 and only 1 striker, which may be a tactic he continues with and is an interesting strategy if he does. In this case, however, Forever Pinwheel excelled with a round high 64 points, which gave him the three points
Rangiora Town 53 – 57 Brummie Blunderers
The fourth matchup pitted Helen’s Rangiora Town vs Fred’s Brummie Blunderers, in what ended up being the closest match of the round. Both teams picked up respectable totals, but the Blunderers just pipped Rangiora by 4 points, thanks no doubt by the excellent picking of Fabregas as the captain of the team. Helen will be kicking herself that he choice of captain, Gerrard, didn’t do that much and only picked up 2 points (4 points as captain) for his performance against Southampton. In any case the 3 points and the win went to Fred and his Blunderers.
Unfinished statemen 40 – 33 ElBaconi’s Diablos
The last match of the round featured two of the contenders for the wooden sppon, with newbie and self-confessed unknowledgable Author Pete vs perennial underachiever The Melon Farmer. This was the lowest scoring match of the round, but the performance of Author Pete’s players were better in the end that The Melon Farmers picks and took the win. Elbaconi’s Diablos were hurt by too many 1 point players, and no one really putting in a decent performance, although Sanchez and Costa both picked up ok point hauls (Sanchez’s helped by his being picked captain by The Melon Farmer.)
So the table has ended up as below (note this has the game week “against” points on it and is sorted points and then by the difference, as opposed to the table in Fantasy EPL which only shows points scored.)
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| # | Team | W | D | L | + | – | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teh Chelski Fools | 1 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 34 | 10 | 3 |
| 2 | ~* UnitedForever *~ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 55 | 9 | 3 |
| 3 | Waitakere Wizards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 47 | 8 | 3 |
| 4 | Unfinished statemen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 33 | 7 | 3 |
| 5 | Brummie Blunderers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 53 | 4 | 3 |
| 6 | Rangiora Town | 0 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 57 | -4 | 0 |
| 7 | ElBaconi’s Diablos | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 40 | -7 | 0 |
| 8 | Edster’s Dreamteam | 0 | 0 | 1 | 47 | 55 | -8 | 0 |
| 9 | Old Warsonians | 0 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 64 | -9 | 0 |
| 10 | The Yanks | 0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 44 | -10 | 0 |
So despite my poor performance I sit top thanks to Thirdrock’s meger 33 points, who is in last place. UnitedForever, Waitakere Wizards and Unfinished Statemen round out the top four.
Next up, a quick preview of this weeks round:
Teh Chelski Fools v Waitakere Wizards
First game up pits the two 9642 contributors together, where the 9642 cup is on the line. This matchup might decided at the Stadium of Light where Manchester United travel to take on Sunderland. Numbernine’s team has three United players, whilst The Fool’s has none, but has Connor Wickham, Sunderland’s young wunderkinder striker, who has been underachieving in recent years but started to show great promise at the end of last season to help keep Sunderland in the top flight. Also Liverpool’s trip to Manchester to take on the League champions will be a big influence, with Numbernine having two liverpool players in his squad in Sterling and Sturridge, whilst The Fool has Kompany showing up his defense.
In the end this could be close or a blow out either way, only time till tell
Edster’s Dreamteam v Unfinished statemen
Before the start of the season I would have picked this game as a top v bottom clash, with Edster’s Dreamteam being the top and Unfinished statemen being the bottom, but after last weeks games this turns into a 4th v 8th game, with Author Pete’s Unfinished statemen being the higher placed of the two teams. Of course this is very early in the season, but this game could be one where Author Pete manages to make a statement. This matchup will rest a lot on the performances of the top 4-5 teams, with Eddies squad being full of Liverpool, ManU, Arsenal and Chelsea players, whilst Author Pete’s Unfinished statemen are taken from a wider range of teams. With ManU not yet shrugging off last years hoodoos and Liverpool and Arsenal facing tough away games Edster’s team may not pick up a lot of points.
Could be a close game in the end, and one to watch as it might start shaping either teams season.
ElBaconi’s Diablos v Rangiora Town
The third game will see The Melon Farmer’s Diablos host the team from Rangiora Town. Team selection maybe the most decisive factor in this matchup, especially the selection of the captains to get the most out of the double points. The Diablos have a good range of players, but do rely on the performance of Tottenham Hotspurs the most, and they host QPR this week, but given Spurs inability to string together performances it may not be enough for The Melon Farmers team to be able to beat the team from Rangiora Town. The performance of Diego Costa for Chelsea may turn the tie in favour of The Melon Farmer as well, as Helen’s strikers have a more difficult week ahead of them.
In the end I feel that Elbaconi’s Diablos will have the measure this week due to the EPL draw and who his players are facing, but it will be another tight match for Rangiora Town, but another she will be on the wrong side of the ledger.
Brummie Blunderers v Old Warsonians
The penultimate game this week sees Fred’s Brummie Bluderers take of the 2nd half of the Rangiora couple, as he faces up to Warsong’s Old Warsonians. This will be a tough matchup, and could be very close as both teams scored very similar scores (57 v 55). Once again the performance of the top teams will determine this matchup, with both teams having quite a few Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and man City players, although neither have any players the same. Fred does have a few more players from a wider selection of teams, although the performance of Stoke v Hull might decide things as well, given the selection of players in both squads.
I feel that Fred’s Brummie Blunderers will have the edge here, but only by a few points.
~* UnitedForever *~ v The Yanks
The last match of the round pits the high scoring UnitedForever vs the terrible The Yanks. I don’t think that Forever Pinwheel will be able to provide the stunning performance of last week for a second week in a row, but should be much too strong for The Yanks. This could be disrupted if Chelsea have a great game against Leicester, as Unitedforever have very few Chelsea players. Once again the tough games for Liverpool, Aresnal, United and City might hurt Forever Pinwheel, but I doubt it.
Forever Pinwheel will be too strong for Thirdrock in this IC derby, and will take all 3 points easily.
Finally, please note that i will have a section of the website for the fantasy league, including the current table and a link to the EPL page. Also I will have a twitter feed, with hastag #9642Fantasy – please have your tweets with that hashtag so we can follow each others rantings and ravings.
NineSixFourTwo 