Hang on a second...

On the Scout Picks diagram, Chelsea players have blue and white logos, but Baines has all blue...

Planning my current FT in view of gw30...what combo do you like for gw30 and beyond

A: baines maloney sissoko suarez and 0m
B: wilson mata sissoko sturridge and 2m
C: baines maloney mata sturridge and 0.3m
D: wilson mata maloney suarez and 0.3m

both lpool and chel have good fix from gw30...currently leaning on B...thoughts?

Who to captain out of:

- Remy
- G Johnson
- Sissoko
- Sturridge
- Gerrard

Is Sissoko likely to rise again once Newcastle's Europa League match is out of the way?

Let's all join together, hand in hand and perform a haitian ritual in the hope it will bring Fiso back to life.

Seen discussion of OPTA replacing the PA as the Premier League’s source of match data.

FANTASTIC! Ignorance really is bliss when it comes to FPL with PA-fed bonus points. I only need to go back to the last Premier League match for an example, Aston Villa v Man City. The bonus went to Kolo Toure, Tevez and Clichy. Meanwhile Brad Guzan finished 1 save off an extra save point on 5 saves. Remember when Yaya Toure hit the post? This was a superb Guzan save, the PA registered it as no save and therefore a shot off target for Yaya Toure. Guzan misses out on an extra point due to no 6th save, meanwhile Toure I believe would have got the 3bps (he also had a block and was the top passer in the match) with this shot on target he was owed (it’s not just a case of not getting ppi for a shot on target, he actually lost ppi for it being recorded as un-saved/off target). This is one example which wouldn’t happen with the more accurate OPTA. It was a 4 point swing, arguably 5 or 6 or 7 when you look at the knock-on effects to Kolo Toure, Tevez and Clichy. I’d estimate the inaccuracies overall which have filtered into FPL via mistakes like this are in the hundreds for the season. It’s pretty polluted, you just may not know it, and nor should you.

The Stephen Kelly save was mentioned by Isacki, this is PA classic, however it’s normally the wrong keeper being listed as saving a shot not an outfield player! So for example shot by Robin Van Perise, save made by David De Gea. My favourite example was when Aston Villa played Reading. Aston Villa had 5 shots on target, one of which was a goal, and Federici was given 6 saves (5-1 = 6?). The reason was Federici was given 2 of Guzan’s saves, they were both from Jason Roberts’ shots I think. Solely a PA error, and unfortunately it got fed into FPL and even worse it stayed unnoticed. Guzan lost 2 saves and therefore a save point (he also finished 1ppi off a bonus point so likely lost out on a bp too), and Ferderici gained a point courtesy of his 4 actual saves being recorded as 6. All in all about as bad as it gets. This isn’t trying to work out who got a block in a crowded penalty area, this is simply knowing that Jason Roberts and Federici both play for Reading!

Other examples include shots off target which go down as on target as the keeper has decided to gather the ball before it goes out of play. A good example was John Walters against West Ham a few months ago (not last gameweek). West Ham were desperately chasing a winner in stoppage time so they had no time to waste. A Stoke cross came in and Walters fired in a header which was going a good 5 yards wide. Jaaskelainen to save time sprinted sideways out of his goal to collect the ball and stop it from going out for a goal kick. The PA recorded the incident as a shot on target to Walters and a save to Jaaskelainen. Shot on target compared to one off target is quite a big swing ppi wise and I believe it was the difference between 2bps and 0bps for Walters. (Incidently Kevin Nolan, a very popular FPL player at the time would have got a bp but for this error). Again with OPTA this clear shot off target would be recorded as such as they don’t try and group things together for convenience, they are really thorough. This is not guessing, I’ve seen it happen, they have an entire page for each shot where they mark the exact point on the pitch it was struck and the point it ended up as the basics, then a series of check-boxes for things such as type of shot, curl, on/off target, height, result etc.

Now the old nemesis the block, any inaccuracies with blocks are extremely dangerous as these guys are worth 4ppi a pop. It’s a minefield at best, and a complete and utter lottery at worst. I remember the uproar over Shawcross correctly losing his 3 bps one match. Trust me, he’s banked far more rogue points than this 3 and they’ve stuck. I often check the Stoke games purely because I know it’ll be dodgy. Their motto is quite clearly when in doubt give it to Shawcross. Last gameweek had West Ham not scored Shawcross would have got 3bps. How many would he have deserved? 0. This was because the PA had him down for 3 blocks, with Wilson on 0. At least 2 of the blocks he was credited with were actually made by Wilson (I didn’t manage to find footage for the 3rd). Whoscored.com for example had Wilson 4, Shawcross 0 for the match, a crazy contrast to the PA. Where did their 4th Wilson block come from? This is the other issue with PA blocks. It’s not just mistaken identity it’s the issue that some are recorded whilst others aren’t. I tested this once with a live match on TV and a post-it note. I simply noted down the time and blocker for every blocked cross or shot during the half. Then during the half time break I checked how many showed up in the live text section on bbc sport. It was just over half of them which showed up in this specific match. This is far too big a lottery to gain or lose 4ppi simply based on whether the member of staff decides the incident is worth recording or not, and that’s ignoring whether they even get the right player or not! Again with OPTA you can be guaranteed more thoroughness and therefore accuracy. If the PA stands for the press association, then OPTA is the stat association.
Blocks is one thing, I’ve seen shots get left out too, adding to the lottery of the whole thing. It may be the shot was left out due to ambiguity over what kind of effort it was. With OPTA they won’t just ignore something if it’s tough; they’ll always record it and even if the incident was testing the boundaries of ambiguity the least you can expect is that there will be a level of consistency through-out.
I see point swings every week and this is based on seeing about 2 or 3 of the matches a week on TV so being able to see exactly what happened compared to what the PA is showing. That means there’s still 7-8 games a week out there where I have no idea what went on. It really is quite scary how bad it could be and it’s comfortably the worst part of predicting bonus points. I miss not knowing and not caring. As for the situation where you feel you have to tell Granville for a correction to be made, that just feels very awkward for all parties. You shouldn’t feel the burden/pressure of impacting 2.5million FPL managers if you know of a particularly bad error.

In summary the OPTA move, or just as importantly the move away from the PA, is a massive positive imo. Whether their assist definitions will come into play for assists in FPL next season is another debate.
You didn’t miss any bonus predictions last week, I was away so didn’t get a chance to do any. I still took the chance to look at the Stoke game when I got home though. It was actually a bit of a surprise that it may only be 2 rogue blocks Shawcross was given, luckily West Ham scored so the awkward situation was avoided.

Pienaar may still be a decent shout as an alternative to Fellaini. He's still banging in some decent scores and he's 1.0 cheaper.

here’s how I am currently set up for GW29 (not playing a keeper):

Davies / Pearce / Cameron / Enrique / Santon
Bale
Sturridge / Fletcher

No game: DDG / Cerny / Fellaini / Mata / Walcott / Maloney / RVP

I have 2FT with nothing in the bank.

Currently set on doing Fellaini – > Sissoko after tonights europa game.

Would appreciate opinions on these short term options, Mata -> ?
a) Gerrard
b) Coutinho
c) Sess
d) Snod
e) Nzog

Good to go?

Migs

Davies | Clyne | Wilson

Gerrard | Michu(c) | Bale | Puncheon

Remy | Sturridge | (RVP)

Subs: Bunn, Mata, Zab, Azpil

0fts & 2.3itb

Mig

Davies Gj Clyne

Kebe Michu Bale Sissoko

Suarez Benteke Lambert

bench: Bunn Walcott Pearce Onuoha

who is a better pairing for next few GW

Snodgrass and Suarez

OR

Mata and Lambert????????

Snodgrass - mata (GW 29)

Lambert - suarez (GW 30)

How's my team looking

Begovic
Wilson Davies G.Johnson
Michu Bale Sissoko N'zogbia
Stuzza Suarez Lambert

Struggling to find the wisest option!

9 players for gw29 and already did nani > Michu

Is it worth getting rid of either Walcott or fellaini -4?

I have just realized that if you type your name in the search box you can search out your post and see if anyone has replied!

This is a relevation for me as I post, forget to refresh then spend ages looking for my post which most often has no replies.

Only been on this site 18 months to work that out!

Well the Coloccini news puts Saylor back on the radar for me I think and could come good very soon.

If Wigan's DGW is played before GW35, I'm thinking Maloney / Kone could be really decent options. Kone as the 3rd forward and Maloney as the 5th midfielder.

What do you think?
NEWCASTLE NORWICH qpr SWANSEA west ham + extra game squeezed in somewhere. OK it's at Man City, but they could still score/assist.

Clichy to Samba (-4) to get 10 players out?

Wasnt planning any hits but looking at citeh's next couple they look tough for clean sheets while QPR have a nice run. The hit would also make at least 2 back instantly so im considering it

http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2013/03/07/the-watchlist-christian-benteke-3/#comment-5342372 telepoert to new post?

Another set of prices complete. Blimey. Two more to go. And then, the fecking Budget! 🙁

Bunn
Shaw Davies
Puncheon Bale Sissoko Michu
Suarez Fletcher Lambert
Bego walcott zabaleta JEvans Demel

looks good ? demel to someone for a hit to field 11 ?

So what’s the consensus on fielding a full 11 for GW29, are many peeps fielding less?
I am fielding 10 at the moment and still have a free, I could either take out Walcott for another playing mid or keep the 10 and just replace Graham for Benteke, what do you think?

Begovic (Jaakelenan)
Turner, Dawson, Harte (Zabaleta, Baines)
Michu, Bale, Punch, Sissoko (Walcott)
Saurez, Graham (RVP)

Would it be insane to captain Samba from this lot? Had to use 2 fts and take a -8 hit just to be able to field 9 this week.

Bunn

Davies --- Samba --- Wilson ---- Pearce

Michu ---- Sissoko ----- Coutinho

Sturridge

Also have (in case anyone's interested): RVP Anichebe Silva Walcott Chesney J Evans

what will happened if Mata score 3 goals tonight ? 🙂

Worth a hit to move Rudd(3.9 keeper) to any keeper with a fixture this week, except Reina? Said keeper would play this week, and probably week 30 and 32, while Szcz has away fixtures. So I'm thinking maybe Lloris to give me @ Liverpool, vs. Fulham, vs. Everton instead of blank, @ Swansea, @ West Brom.