The Knee Jerk
The Knee Jerk – A Slap In The Face
It’s a fickle world in fantasy football, and having been the hero of the show thanks to his penalty save against West Ham last week, Jussi Jääskeläinen is well and truly the villain of the act today when he struck Roger Johnson around the chops and was duly sent off for his actions.
Knee jerkers across the continents of the globe groaned as the Finnish goalkeeper laid his hands on the Birmingham centre-half this afternoon, leaving Bolton with an uphill task to get back in the game and walking away with a hefty -3 points total for the gameweek – I have a feeling Granville is going to be miffed…
Read more...Knee Jerk- Theo Keeps Pace with Early-Season Form
Arsenal today showed they may just have the bottle for a battle this season. Arsene Wenger would have no doubt loved getting one over his arch-nemesis Sam Allardyce with a 2-1 win at Ewood Park, but with 64% of possession, perhaps the ease of which the Gunners controlled the match was surprising, given Blackburn‘s typical in-yer-face style.
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Carroll On Song
Things couldn’t have gone any better for Newcastle and Andy Carroll. A hat-trick in the 6-0 demoliton of Villa in the first home game of the season was an outcome that few could have predicted. Throw in an assist for Nolan’s goal (almost) and the inevitable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Bonus Points and it’s clear that we are set to see the fastest moving Fantasy bandwagon of the season so far.
Priced at just 5.0 in the FPL game Carroll soar straight to the top of the shopping list to a position previously occupied by Marlon Harewood after his brace for Blackpool on the opening weekend.
Carroll may cost that 0.5 more but is a far better prospect. A constant threat in the air with decent enough mobility and touch, Carroll looks set to play a similar role to that of Kevin Davies for Bolton – with the promise of a few more goals thrown in. Given the number of ball he wins and “passes” he’ll contribute in the opponents half, you can see Carroll collecting regular Bonus Points in Newcastle victories in a similar way to Davies for Bolton…
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Mad At The Professor
So when Arsene Wenger coyly suggested that there was some doubt over whether Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie were going to start against Blackpool, he wasn’t leading us on.
He did his best to warn us. All week Wenger remained sketchy on their involvement and even after the injury to Samir Nasri, he hinted that both Fabregas and Van Persie would start on the bench against Blackpool…
Read more...The Knee Jerk- Gerrard Hogs the Title-Race Headlines
It’s a situation Steven Gerrard surely would’ve dreamt of as a kid; his defence-splitting pass in front of The Kop picked up by an ever-alert front man who rounds the keeper to score, arguably, a Premier League title-clinching goal. Only problem was Stevie G’s assist was not to one of his own men, but to the opposition.
Read more...Knee Jerk- In a Day for Heroes, Bullard Steps Up…And Hits the Post
It’s almost as if the proverb “cometh the hour, cometh the man” was made for days like this. Down near the bottom, a great performance can springboard teams to safety and up at the top, can be the difference between sob stories and silverware.
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Milner At The Double
James Milner proved a double gameweek darling for the second time this season, rewarding investors with a goal and maximum Fantasy Premier League bonus point haul from last night’s 2-0 win at Hull.
Ironically the last time Milner returned maximum bonus, or indeed any bonus points, was away at the DW Stadium in March for the second fixture in a gameweek 30. Milner subsequently contributed 12 points in that double and 15 in this – rich rewards for those who brought him in, even bigger returns for those who wisely handed him the armband. It seems Milner saves his best form for the double gameweeks…
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Don’t Bale Out Too Early
Selling Gareth Bale has been the most recent fundamental error in my Fantasy season. Having recognised his potential over a month ago, I’ve quite simply been surprised that he has not only maintained his form against tough opponents – he’s pushed on further.
Yesterday Bale scored his second consecutive goal to help see off Chelsea having notched earlier in the week against Arsenal. This return was bolstered by yet more Fantasy Premier League bonus points, taking his tally to 19 bonus in his last 12 league appearances. All this from a defender priced at just 5.3 at the time he broke into the Spurs lineup following the injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto in January…
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Bewilderbeast Benitez
You would have thought we’d be used to the eccentricities of Rafa Benitez by now. The strangest of Premier League animals, his team selections have often left us Fantasy Managers and in particular, his own supporters, baffled not to mention frustrated.
Today’s substitution of Fernando Torres against Birmingham at a stage when Liverpool were chasing three points that could prove pivotal to their chances of Champions League qualification, was the latest incident to leave both groups wringing their hands…
Read more...The Late Night, Not So Knee Jerk – Six And The City
An extraordinary day indeed Mark, the football finished with a bang and a sinking feeling tonight (last night?) as Man City cut through Burnley like a hot knife through butter…
Marks 1-0 Burnley prediction was at least half right, in a convoluted kind of way, Burnley did indeed score 1 goal against Manchester City but somewhat more importantly Roberto Mancini’s side managed to to walk away with “only” 6 goals.
Despite spurning a couple of glorious chances and rattling the woodwork two times in the first half, Man City were 5-0 up by the time Alan Wiley blew for half time – and were three ahead in under seven minutes…
Read more...The Knee Jerk – Bent Double
An extraordinary day that could well shape the destination of the Premier League could also have been one of sheer frustration and disappointment for Fantasy Managers. It didn’t quite turn out that way, despite the best efforts of Arsene Wenger and Carlo Ancelotti…
Read more...The Knee Jerk- Frankly, My Dear…
A wedding invitation for Mark means some Fantasy Football Scout-style rotation this weekend, leaving tonight‘s “Knee Jerk” article in my hands. With the more casual tone of these articles affording a less formal approach than normal, allow me the luxury of changing out of the typical news-desk-shirt-and-tie-attire while slipping on a shell suit instead (all-white is high fashion here in the west of Scotland. Trust me on this).
Rotation and/or rest was very much the order of the day; I’m sure the announcement of certain team sheets had many of us cursing this afternoon and early evening. Resultantly, many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers will be looking to subs benches to boost points tallies, though some of us, unfortunately, now have the misfortune of Aston Villa defenders coming in.
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