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If you’re having trouble picking your fantasy football team, then I’ve got some good news for you. 11Kicks keeps a table of the best performing players in the Stats Center.
Below you’ll find the current top 10 (actually 12, because there’s a three-way-tie for 10th place) 11Kicks players by average fantasy football points total.
They sound like a law firm. Or maybe estate agents. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, maybe a detective duo. But the Everton pair of defender Leighton Baines and midfielder Tim Cahill did it again Monday night, scoring a goal each as Everton beat Manchester City 2-1, in Manchester no less.
As experienced 11Kicks fantasy footballers will know, you can pick a maximum of two players from any one Premier League team in your weekly 11Kicks lineup. With some clubs, that’s a problem. Do you leave out Samir Nasri, Marouane Chamakh or Andrei Arshavin. Do you ditch Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole or Florent Malouda. At Everton, no such worries.
Cahill was miraculously unmarked early on to score a near post header, and while it’s usually Baines providing the crosses for Cahill to score, it was Cahill who set up Baines to score a finesse shot (yep, I’ve been playing FIFA 11) for Everton’s second.
Unfortunately, neither Baines’ seven points (five for the goal, two for playing) nor Cahill’s nine points (four for the goal, three for the assist, two for playing) will count, since 11Kicks game week 18 is a victim of the snow monster. But the hypothetical points tallies of Baines and Cahill, plus Phil Jagielka’s own goal and Victor Anichebe’s red card, are helpful pointers for which Everton players you should and should not be picking for game week 19.
Rough week for fantasy football players, with nothing going quite as expected. For example, Newcastle’s (still) insane decision to sack Chris Hughton did not result in a collapse against Liverpool. Instead, it produced another eight point week for Andy Carroll and yet another goal for Kevin Nolan. Just to make things extra weird, Wolves not only won a game, they kept a clean sheet as well.
The 11Kicks All Stars had a less than stellar week, but still managed to scrape into second place in my Silver level mini-league and win $10 in weekly prize money. With too many derbies and big teams facing off, I played it safe for game week 17 by avoiding too many big names, and got my reward with a couple of uninspiring but still valuable clean sheets.
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.
The 11 Kicks fantasy football house team surprised everyone (including myself) by finishing joint top of our mini-league in week 11. So right now we’re technically unbeaten, and that record will go on the line for week 12, which starts later today. (Hooray for midweek Premier League action, by the way).
Below you’ll find the eleven players selected for the 11 Kicks All-Stars in a 3-5-2 formation, followed by a brief explanation as to why those players were picked.
Tim Krul – The Newcastle keeper kept a clean sheet vs. Arsenal this past weekend, and has a decent chance of doing the same again when Blackburn visit St. James’ Park tomorrow.
Nemanja Vidic – I’m not confident of a Man Utd clean sheet in the Manchester derby, but I always have a sneaking suspicion that Vidic will get his name on the scoresheet. With a header, obviously.
Richard Dunne – Aston Villa might be struggling with their lack of strikers, but Ged Houllier at least has them defending competently, conceding just three goals in their last five games. I’m backing Dunne to keep a clean sheet against Blackpool. Which means avoiding any own goals, please Richard.
Ashley Cole – Because I always pick him, because Chelsea could very easily keep a clean sheet vs. Fulham, and because Cole could very easily weigh in with an assist. That’s why.
Florent Malouda – Chelsea’s left sided attacking midfielder had been prolific, but the points dried up in weeks 11 and 12. I’m hoping Malouda returns to his goalscoring and assisting ways for week 12. Go get ’em Florent.
Tim Cahill – The Everton midfielder is 5’10” but could probably outjump Peter Crouch if a headed goal was up for grabs. Bolton visit Goodison Park on Wednesday and I’m hoping Cahill is on the scoresheet yet again.
Samir Nasri – Was very unlucky not to score vs. Newcastle with a long range shot, and with Arsenal playing Wolves, I’m thinking Nasri will be heavily involved.
Steven Gerrard – Didn’t register any big points for Liverpool in the win over Chelsea, but could have more luck vs. Wigan.
Kevin Nolan – What’s the best way to answer tabloid revelations about your extra-marital nightime activities? Goals.
Carlos Tevez – Something tells me Carlitos will be all fired up and raring to for the Manchester derby.
Fernando Torres – Those two beautiful goals vs Chelsea on Sunday said “I’m back, and I’m going to score a billion goals”. Possibly all against Wigan. Which is why Torres is my captain this week.
Think you can pick a team to rival the 11 Kicks All-Stars? Then sign up and play 11 Kicks fantasy football before today’s games kick off.
Still waiting for official confirmation from the 11 Kicks statistical-overlords, but seems the mighty 11 Kicks All-Stars finished gameweek 11 in first place.
Actually, it’s joint first, with both the 11 Kicks-All Stars and derdogs2 scoring 32 points. So not an outright win then. But I’m in no position to be turning down a cash prize, even a shared one. Get in my pocket. Plus I’m relieved not to have completely embarrassed myself by failing at a fantasy football game I’ve been blogging about all week. Not this week anyway. Phew.
The interesting thing is that my fantasy team finished (joint) first without performing particularly well, or doing much of what I predicted they would. Neither Blackburn’s Paul Robinson nor Birmingham’s Liam Ridgewell kept a clean sheet, but Ridgewell did manage to score vs West Ham, earning both he and I a very useful five points.
Despite my high hopes, Gareth Bale contributed nothing points-wise, Clint Dempsey’s scoring run ended, and even Steven Gerrard couldn’t weigh in with a goal or an assist, despite an excellent weekend for Liverpool. Even Samri Nasri failed to register, as my prediction that Newcastle would fold against Arsenal did not come to pass. My midfield savior was Tim Cahill, who scored for Everton away to Blackpool in their 2-2 draw.
Up front, Javier Hernandez had nothing to show for 90 minutes vs Wolves but a yellow card (worth minus one point) but Carlos Tevez semi-delivered on his return to action, assisting on one of Mario Balotelli’s goals as Man City won 2-0, leaving me glad I answered yes to my own question.
All told, the 11 Kicks All-Stars scored 32 points, as did derdogs2. Which is a relatively low score to win with. Third place in my mini-league went to gerrardsthebest with 29 points, eight of which came from Fernando Torres. Further down the table I noticed a lot of teams had picked guys like Nani, Michael Essien and Rafael van der Vaart, all of whom were injured and so scored zero points this week.
So the lesson from this week seems to be that you can win the weekly prize money playing 11 Kicks even if you don’t have a particularly strong week, provided you check the injury news when picking your fantasy football team.
Liverpool has hogged all of the headlines but for off-field reasons and it will be interesting to see given all that has transpired what happens on the pitch. The side is in 18th spot and how crazy is it that after the week the club has had, it heads straight into a Merseyside Derby. With Everton just ahead of the on goal difference, both sides desperately need the three points and given the stakes, it would be harder to imagine a bigger Merseyside Derby. And this is before all the drama which is going to happen today!
This has all of the ingredients of the most incredible match. Liverpool have a good record at Goodison Park with eight wins from their last 10 including the last three. In terms of the sides, Everton look likely to be missing Phil Jagielka who didn’t play in the midweek international while Fernando Torres is doubtful for Liverpool. If he does play, how close to 100% will he be? Liverpool could also be without the services of Paul Konchesky, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio.
If you are looking at Everton players for your fantasy football side the duo of Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta always provide good value. For Liverpool it is difficult to go past Steven Gerrard.
After this game, none of the other matches seem to stand out. Chelsea and Aston Villa normally put on a good show. Chelsea are just irresistible at the moment. They have only allowed two goals and both of those were away at home which is what Chelsea are this week. Chelsea don’t have the best recent record at Villa Park with only one win there from their last 11 games so don’t expect it to be the typical Chelsea goalfest.
Frank Lampard and John Terry could both play despite missing the England game while the trio of Yossi Benayoun, Alex and Salomon Kalou are out. For Aston Villa, note that the tricky Gabriel Agbonlahor won’t be available but in his place, the adept John Carew could be worth a look.
Back to Liverpool and it has been a tough time for their fans. They will be hoping that Sunday’s game can generate something along these lines.
Another international break means no fantasy football this weekend. This gives the injured players the chance to rest and return when the games are next back on. Despite this, it doesn’t look like Fernando Torres will be back in time for the Merseyside Derby.
There are some interesting matches on.
Iran is playing Brazil in a game in Abu Dhabi. Brazil are still licking their wounds after their elimination from the World Cup to the Netherlands. They haven’t won the World Cup since 2002 and the pressure will be on for them to break the drought when they host the tournament in 2014.
Germany meets Turkey in a Euro 2012 qualifier. Turkey are now managed by Guus Hiddink who knows the Germans well. He was in charge of Russia who missed out on qualifying for the World Cup after being in the same group as Germany. Also there are footballers such as Mesut Ozil who is of Turkish heritage.
Portugal plays Denmark and its time for Portugal to get their act together otherwise it will be too late. Paulo Bento is the new manager and he has his work cut out for him getting them to qualify.
Paraguay is going all the way to Australia to play a friendly. Both are decent sides so this should be a fair match. There are a number of Premier League players in both sides so this will be an interesting match to watch from that perspective although it is unlikely that Tim Cahill will fly all the way for it. Mark Schwarzer wouldn’t have the qualms about it. Fulham isn’t exactly the most pressing thing on his mind at the moment.
What is with all the 6-0 scorelines? Twice to Chelsea, once to Arsenal and now to Newcastle? Are we in a new era of free-for-all scoring?
Thus far, there have been 61 goals in 19 matches which is an average of 3.2 goals a game. Chelsea scored six, but ironically Didier Drogba didn’t score any, although he did have a couple of assists.
Because of all of the goals, you need to pay special attention to the defenders and goalkeeper you choose. Only Newcastle, Chelsea, Blackpool and West Brom kept clean sheets this weekend which is going to be the difference when it comes to fantasy football success and failure.
For Blackpool it was a case of agony to ecstasy as they experienced a 10 goal turnaround between their first and second match in the Premier League. There can be a tendency in the media to be carried away with what just happened and discount or forget everything that has happened previously. In 87 matches for Arsenal, Theo Walcott had scored a total of nine goals. This is his fifth season at Arsenal and the most goals he has scored in one season is 4 which he managed in 2007/08 from 25 matches. Now he has three goals from two games which is the same as he managed from the whole of last season in 23 matches.
Now everyone who selected Walcott against Blackpool will be euphoric and everyone who didn’t will be kicking themselves, but don’t expect Theo to produce like this every week. History tells us, that he would be hard pressed to score another goal this year.
You want to select guys who are going to be consistent producers such as Tim Cahill and Paul Scholes – two players who are never far from the action. Then you have Gareth Bale who started scoring last year and scored twice against Stoke this weekend. He is someone you want to keep in mind especially if he keeps playing like this.
For years, the Socceroos were like the uncool kid who had to stay home while everyone got to go to the party. FIFA wouldn’t give Oceania a direct spot and this was even after the tournament expanded from 24 to 32 teams. While every other Conference allowed its teams to lose a couple of games along the way and then even offered them a playoff – under the previous system, the best Australia could hope for was a playoff. And how many teams could actually go to South America and win?
They were finally accepted into Asia and then defeated Uruguay in a historic shoot-out to seal the final spot of the 2006 World Cup. Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup was a lot lengthier and required significant travel but in the end they made it quite comfortably. As an interesting insight, New Zealand qualified from Oceania after winning a playoff against Bahrain.
In 2006, Australia may have been a tad underestimated but that won’t be the case this time round. Still their group is significantly harder this time round – Germany, Ghana and Serbia are a tougher handful than Brazil, Japan and Croatia. Not many will be expecting Australia to advance and it doesn’t get any easier given they play Germany first up.
Pim Verbeek will be leaving the position following the tournament. He has a good squad to choose from and this will be of fantasy football value. The biggest name would be Harry Kewell. He became a star with Leeds in 1998 and had Australia gone to the 1998 World Cup, anything could have happened to him. He has been plagued by groin problems for years – most famously he limped off from the Champions League final in 2005. He was off after 23 minutes and Liverpool already down 1-0. He is now at Galatasaray.
Tim Cahill is a great player for Everton in the English Premier League. He has an uncanny ability to score goals especially from headers. He had eight this year for Everton in the league.
Elsewhere it has many names that are going to be familiar to fans. Mark Schwarzer plays for Fulham and helped them get to the Europa League final. Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers), Vince Grella (Blackburn Rovers), Marco Bresciano (Palermo) and Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough) will all provide good World Cup fantasy football value and should be looked at.
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