Iβve tried to fight it but itβs hard to deny that Iβve spent a lot of this season seeking out an explanation for my struggles. Iβm heading for my worst ever Fantasy Premier League campaign and Iβm not going to settle for that without finding a scapegoat. It canβt all be Edin Dzekoβs fault and itβs certainly not mine.
If youβve read these ambling words before or, indeed, been unfortunate enough to listen to my nasal whines via the ScoutCast, youβll know that my favourite target is the βmidfieldβ. Not one midfielder, not a few β the whole damn lot of βem.
The midfield has been broken this year. At the start of the campaign I decided to put emphasis on playing five across the middle, set my side up to accommodate the tactic and paid for it ever since.
Of course Iβm overlooking one small detail: my reluctance to sign Yaya Toure and Aaron Ramsey and my stubborn refusal to admit my mistake. Having said that, my theory that the midfield has been a cruel master this term has some substance. Typically, I plundered the data to support my case.
Toure has almost been the exception to the rule. He currently sits on 13 goals having never previously suggested he could achieve such a strike rate. Having said that, four of those goals of come from direct free-kicks, and three more came via penalties with first-choice takers off the pitch. Thatβs another argument for another day, though.
My main point is that, aside from Eden Hazard sitting just one goal behind the Ivorian, no other midfielder has been able to keep pace. Quite simply, if you didnβt get on Toure early or swallowed pride and brought him in since, youβre left clinging to Hazard and cursing every goal that comes the City manβs way β via a dead-ball or otherwise.
Is this really different from last season? In a word, yes. On the eve of Gameweek 28 last term, we had Gareth Bale sitting on 15 goals along with Michu. More significantly, there were five other midfielders on double figures for goals at this stage. In a nutshell, then, there was a much larger spread of goals across the midfield area with several βheavy-hittersβ to align with β not just a couple.
While Robin van Persie and Luis Suarez blazed a trail up front with 19 and 18 goals respectively, our midfields were a selection box of treats with the likes of Theo Walcott, Marounne Fellaini and Juan Mata all contributing goals and assists with regularity. This season the best weβve currently got is Adam Lallana and the seemingly unappealing consistency of Steven Gerrard who appears to rumble on as a Fantasy asset β churning points but never really establishing himself back amongst the elite Fantasy midfielders.
Ironically, then, Iβm thinking that, along with Yohan Cabayeβs departure and Michuβs failing legs, the injury to Aaron Ramsey was pretty much disastrous for my one-man campaign for midfield variety. The removal of these three players from our game, compounded further by injuries to Walcott and Mataβs inability to get a place in Jose Mourinhoβs lineup, has killed the chance for diversity in this area of our squads.
Even now, itβs almost unthinkable to shed Toure and Hazard β unless of course you can afford to fetch the Ivorian back after Cityβs blanks. Elsewhere, youβre left to grab the skippers at St Maryβs and Anfield, whilst hoping that Adam Jonhnson can come back to form or that Kevin Nolan or Charlie Adam can continue to maintain matters. Charlie Adam. Itβs got that bad.
The knock-on is that weβve had the money for the heavyweights up front β thatβs helped kill variety in that area of the pitch and, low and behold, weβre left waiting for Sergio Aguero to return so we can spend the cash we donβt need to invest elsewhere.
Itβs all the midfieldβs fault. All of them. They built the template. They made Dzeko miss those sitters. Theyβve ruined my season. I’m blameless.
