Fallen stars in both the Premier League and Fantasy football proved a key topic of debate this week as the community mulled over another update to our manager’s Hall of Fame, the status of Sergio Aguero’s precarious hamstring and the painful demise of Fernando Torres. As the season enters its final Gameweeks, the community also cast an eye back to past glories and mistakes from this term, as well as dreaming of an improved season in 2014/15.
We revisit all these key discussions and also find time to catch up with our community tournaments, to find one particular community member beaming with pride after winning a special and much-coveted beverage-based accolade.
The Hottest Topics
Manuel Pellegrini’s press conference this week offered a glimmer of hope that City’s injury prone striker Sergio Aguero will be fit to start both fixtures in double Gameweek 34. But our discussion on his fitness showed widespread concern about the Argentine’s pitch time, from, among others, Champ and Keith. Alberto Tomba is also a worried man; in his thread, entitled Forget Aguero, he argues the community might be better served looking elsewhere to complete their three-pronged attack. The Argentine was a major ingredient of the week’s chatter, with A Defender’s Nightmare, on hand to offer a definitive guide to the subject matter, answering the key questions around Aguero’s game time and effect on his team-mates’ positions and point scoring potential.
With a possible return on the cards, Aguero was among a host of players to feature in our Best Double Gameweek 34 team discussion. Dip in to get some views on the key players to target and the assumed sweet spot when it comes to the Gameweek 34 roster.
With so many injuries in recent seasons, is there a possibility that Aguero’s star will wane permanently? One prolific Premier League striker has already suffered that particular fate: Fernando Torres was dropped in favour of a false nine by Jose Mourinho for the Champions League clash with Paris St Germain this week. Boc610 was among those lamenting the decline of this once-great goal scoring talent.
Fallen stars of the Fantasy Football variety emerged from the discussion surrounding the latest update in our Hall of Fame. Mark, Granville and Evs were among the Fantasy managers taking a tumble in this latest refresh. Their tough season prompted Christina to look at some other declining figures, with former Hall of Fame leader Ulrik Nuylund and Jafalad among those featured in his analysis.
The consistent returns from the early season bandwagons has often been cited as one of the key ingredients of this season and perhaps a factor in some established Fantasy managers’ struggling seasons. Aaron Ramsey and Yaya Toure have been major bandwagons who sustained form when fit, with Asqushypotato asking which other high scoring players the community missed and lived to regret. Among those to respond was Applebonkers, who has swerved Adam Lallana’s points and Loco Abreu who has sidestepped Seamus Coleman’s goal scoring hauls.
It’s not just Fantasy managers who mistime their transfer dealings. Demel’s’s hot topic this week focused on the worst buys in the Premier League this season, with Fulham’s Kostas Mitroglou and Tottenham’s Erik Lamela among the travesties dug up for all to see.
Demi, in contrast, was in a more positive mood and sparked this discussion about the very best buys from the campaign. Top of his list was Manchester City’s midfielder Fernandinho, who has brought out the best in his teammates, seemingly playing a major role in Yaya Toure’s extraordinary transformation into a true heavy-hitting Fantasy asset.
John Terry’s Dog was also keen to recall some success stories, quizzing the community on their best Fantasy Premier League moments. Athletico Timbo’s acquisition of Shola Ameobi just before he scored an extremely rare hat-trick just had to be amongst the pick of the tales on show.
Whilst we fondly reminisced , the community also looked ahead to 2014/15 to assess how the summer transfer activity could improve the array of choices on our player lists. A decent Chelsea striker was top of many of our wishlists – a factor that would surely offer another big alternative up top, whilst potentially shaking up the output of the Blues’ midfield assets.
Finally, in case you missed it, Mark popped in on Thursday to give us an update on plans for the ScoutCast. Check out the midweek Hot Topic for some clues on the new “live and interactive” direction – we’ll have more on this later this week.
The Community Tournaments
In the Worst to First- 2 Million+ Club, for teams with an overall rank below 2,000,000 in the first five Gameweeks, first placed Teltzham Hotspurs now sits alone in the top 10,000, after second ranked Bales of Fury slipped to 10,470th after Gameweek 32.
The winner of Gameweek 32’s Scout Pick Challenge, which is loosely based on our own Scout Picks, created by @ocprodigy, was Djberil with an impressive 74 points.
In Torres Magic’ss leagues this week, 14 were eliminated from his Last Man Standing ladder, leaving 25 to fight another day. His Millionaire Club ended this week when the final five managers all failing to qualify. Mayanyi comfortably leads his mid-season leagues. Triggerlips vs Urinal is the battle of the regulars in his knockout tournaments, where 32 remain.
The Fantasy Football Scout contributors and moderators league saw Spencer cling on to first place after Gameweek 32, albeit with a far slender lead of just four points.
Gameweek 32 saw the conclusion of FFS UEFA’s Champions League Round of 16. The victorious octet were Dogba, Billy Ketsu, TW, Shipstontrev, Beric, Ajay, ENR and Isacki. In FFS UEFA’s Europa League the second leg of ties in the Round of 16 take place during Gameweek 33. Full details here.
Finally, we are delighted to congratulate Declan on winning the Long and Winding Road’s coveted Tea Cup tournament. He beat Chrissy Waddle in the final and wins a range of tea-making goodies.
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