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Last week I crowned Rafael van der Vaart the new prince of fantasy football. So this week we need to take a look at the king.
After my brief visit to the top of the mountain last weekend, the 11 Kicks House Team was bumped back down to earth after gameweek 15. My boys finished joint second in a Silver level game, which isn’t actually that bad since I won $8 in prize money. But it’s tough to go back to beer after you’ve tasted champagne.
Your fantasy football heroes and villains for week 15 are…
Heroes
Dimitar Berbatov – Five goals = 17 points = first name on this list. Berba is also top man in the Premier League goal scoring chart.
Manchester United thumped Blackburn 7-1 on Saturday, with Dimitar Berbatov getting five of the seven goals, and a ton of fantasy football points as a result. At three points per goal that’s 15. Add one for starting, and one for playing 60 minutes or more, and anyone selecting Berba received an early fantasy football Christmas gift of 17 points. Anyone making Berba their captain had all their Christmases at once: 34 points.
More importantly, this 7-1 win looked like a statement of intent from Manchester United. Still unbeaten, they suddenly look very serious about this whole winning the Premier League business, and that means even more fantasy football points. The only question is which two Manchester United players you should be picking for your fantasy team over the coming weeks. Berbatov looks tempting after his headline grabbing weekend, maybe even more so now he’s Premier League top goal scorer. But this was the first time Berbatov had scored at all since that hat-trick in gameweek five, and there were plenty of other Manchester United players who did well out of this 7-1 win, and who may be more reliable in the long run.
Last week was one of those golden fantasy football gameweeks for the 11 Kicks House team. It was just a case of selecting the players who were clearly going to score points. It was like I could see the Matrix.
This week, not so much. Will Wayne Rooney and/or Didier Drogba rediscover their goalscoring touch? No idea. They either will or they won’t. Can Spurs continue their run of beating Big Four teams by beating Liverpool at home? Will Chelsea rediscover their form away to Newcastle? No idea. They either will or they won’t.
So I’ve picked what I think is a pretty safe team, full of reliable fantasy football performers:
The FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist was released today, as voted for by the 50,000 or so professional footballers in unions across the world. I say shortlist, it featured 55 names, so five times more players than will eventually be honoured at FIFA’s ceremony in Zurich on January 10th, 2011.
Of those 55 names, 17 play in England, and so are available for selection in the 11 Kicks Premier League fantasy football game. The 55-man list is below, with the Premier League highlighted with a link to their 11 Kicks Stats Center profile.
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus FC), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid C.F.), Petr Cech (Czech Republic, Chelsea FC), Julio Cesar (Brazil, F.C. Internazionale), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands, Manchester United FC)
Defenders: Daniel Alves (Brazil, FC Barcelona), Gareth Bale (Wales, Tottenham Hotspur), Michel Bastos (Brazil, Olympique Lyonnais), Ashley Cole (England, Chelsea FC), Patrice Evra (France, Manchester United FC), Rio Ferdinand (England, Manchester United FC), Philipp Lahm (Germany, FC Bayern Munchen), Lucio (Brazil, F.C. Internazionale), Maicon (Brazil, F.C. Internazionale), Marcelo (Brazil, Real Madrid C.F.), Alessandro Nesta (Italy, AC Milan), Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid C.F.), Gerard Pique (Spain, FC Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Spain, FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid C.F.), Walter Samuel (Argentina, F.C. Internazionale), John Terry (England, Chelsea FC), Thiago Silva (Brazil, AC Milan), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United FC), Javier Zanetti (Argentina, F.C. Internazionale)
Midfielders: Esteban Cambiasso (Argentina, F.C. Internazionale), Michael Essien (Ghana, Chelsea FC), Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal FC), Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool FC), Andres Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Ricardo Kaka (Brazil, Real Madrid C.F.), Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea FC), Javier Mascherano (Argentina, FC Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany, FC Bayern Munchen), Mesut Ozil (Germany, Real Madrid C.F.), Andrea Pirlo (Italy, AC Milan), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany, FC Bayern Munchen), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands, F.C. Internazionale), Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid C.F.), Xavi (Spain, FC Barcelona)
Forwards: Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria, Manchester United FC), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea FC), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, F.C. Internazionale), Diego Forlán (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina, Real Madrid C.F.), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, AC Milan), Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona), Diego Milito (Argentina, F.C. Internazionale), Arjen Robben (Netherlands, FC Bayern München), Ronaldinho (Brazil, AC Milan), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid C.F.), Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United FC), Carlos Tevez (Argentina, Manchester City FC), Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool FC), David Villa (Spain, FC Barcelona)
Three conclusions to draw from this list:
1. Gareth Bale is now officially big time.
2. Kaka got a lot of votes based on name recognition.
3. Nani (top points scorer in 11 Kicks right now) needs to hire some better PR people.
It’s been a frustrating, injury plagued season for Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, and for those of us itching to get him in our fantasy teams too. It got even more frustrating today with news that the Arsenal captain re-injured his hamstring during the 2-0 defeat to Braga last night, and will be out of commission for another three weeks.
With 14 gameweeks of action in the 11 Kicks books, the Premier League leading goal scorers table is taking shape. Early leaders like Didier Drogba, Darren Bent and Dimitar Berbatov are beginning to slide down the ladder, while in-form goal-getters like Bolton’s Johan Elmander continue to climb. Below you’ll see the men who’ve found the net the most times this season so far:
Remember when Chelsea were THE team in fantasy football? As recently as October they boasted an impregnable defence, so picking Petr Cech or any Chelsea defender all but guaranteed a clean sheet. Those defenders were also getting forward and getting involved with the goals and assists, which is how at one point Ashley Cole had the highest points per gameweek average in all of 11 Kicks-land. Florent Malouda was scoring goals from midfield for fun and a pre-malaria Didier Drogba was both goalscorer and provider. The only problem with Chelsea was that you could only pick two of their players for your fantasy team, and not 11.
But that’s all in the past. We’ve had injuries to John Terry, Michael Essien and others, the mysterious dismissal of Ray Wilkins, and Carlo Ancelotti’s odd quote about not being Alex Ferguson and not having total control of the team.
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