International Break Head-ache
International breaks eh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them! On the positive they can often offer us Fantasy Football managers a bit of time away from the hoi polloi of day in-day out (simulated) management. A chance to spend some time talking to friends without thinking about whether to captain Lampard or Gerrard; take the girlfriend out for a meal without spending the entire time wishing you’d brought in Lennon before his price rise or simply enjoying a game of football without wanting it to remain goalless. On the downside, unfortunately, they can often lead to a selection headache the size of Greenland in the forms of injuries.
In real terms, football teams these days get some form of compensation if one of their players gets injured on international duty but for the dedicated fantasy football managers all we get is a red eye.
John O’shea, Carlos Tevez, Robinho and er Jonas Elmander are just some of the players affected by the recent international break but the biggest FPL injury hit, and the one which is surely going to be the biggest head scratcher for you Fantasy Football managers out there, is the injury to Andrey Arshavin and the news that he is set to miss three of Arsenals upcoming games.
Arshavin has been transferred in by over 10,000 managers during the gamesweek and touted by many on the FFS as a player they are looking to bring in as a replacement for Fabregas or the consistently maligned Frank Lampard. Obviously this is an irritation, but I have a little bit of advice for anyone hit by Arshavin’s or any other players injury during the break – always wait till the last possible moment to do your transfer.
In a sense this advice holds true during any week of the season, but in the long international breaks it’s even more important to show patience. Now it’s easier said than done, and often managers are quick to rush transfers for fear of price-rises, but like any serious Fantasy Football manager would tell you – when international breaks come round you need to take a step back from the “Confirm Transfer Button”, wait until the end of the break and then see where your teams at. By doing your transfer early you’re seriously risking having either a missing player or having to take a points hit. It’s always easy to say this after a window, but if you’ve been affected by an international injury my advice would be to swear loudly and take the following thought forward to the next break. Never transfer early.
Worst final day of a transfer window ever?
Well last week’s Premier League transfer window closing was surely one of the biggest disappointments since I found out that Hannah Williams only kissed me round the back of the canteen so she could win a Mars Bar in a bet.
I know many of you, including myself, spent the day watching various websites transfer gossip updates on work computers, whilst others had eyes firmly glued to Sky Sports News just in case something mental happened. We all sat there, hoping and praying that a fantasy football gem would emerge – Shawcross or Turner to Everton maybe, or something crazy like Ashley Young to Man Utd. Unfortunately, for us all, the only thing that provided any source of entertainment was watching Sky Sports News presenters trying make descriptions of David James’ location sound interesting– wow, drama!
At the end of the last summer transfer window I seriously thought that the concept of transfer windows was a good idea. Brilliant, I thought, everyone rushing about trying to sign players like Robinho and Berbatov. The fact that the most exciting transfer on the last day was Jonny Heitinga, a defender, to Everton sums up how boring it was. James Collins to Aston Villa or Robinho to Man City? Hmmm.
You can blame the recession; you could argue teams did their buying earlier; personally I blame Sky Sports new for hyping it up so much and getting me over excited. I say scrap the transfer windows – I’m bored of them now. It’d be much better if, throughout the season, players were being transferred about and fantasy gems, like the recently transferred Sylvain Distin, emerged every other week. Oh well, I suppose that’s it until January, or in Chelsea’s case, until 2011.
Anti-Bandwagon
I must admit this week it’s tempting to suggest either Rooney or Drogba as another Anti-bandwagon (to stitch up rivals) as the last two players picked in the Anti-bandwagon, Koumas and Diaby, supported the authors assertion that they are dirt fantasy football players.
However this week’s Anti-bandwagon is everyone’s favourite thug, Lee Bowyer. Now I’m sure the majority of you haven’t brought him in, but he’s on the leaders board of this week’s most transferred midfielders with over 20,000 people adding him to their fantasy squads. Maybe one or two people are bringing him to congratulate him on breaking Luka Modric’s legs and doing England a massive favour (I think we’d have still won), but I’m sure the rest have done so because he’s cheap and because he bagged in his last FPL game. I wouldn’t be going anywhere near this guy – a player who has trouble tattooed on his face. He’s more likely to get carded than score a goal.