Scout Notes - Gameweek Thirty Eight - Best FPL Tips, Advice, Team News, Picks, and Statistics from Fantasy Football Scout

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Thiago	BRE	A
Down	Mateta	CRY	C
No Change	Welbeck	BHA	C, Rest
No Change	Woltemade	NEW	B

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Verbruggen

Tarkowski
Muñoz
Thiaw

Foden
Bruno Guimarães
Bruno Fernandes
Minteh

Woltemade
Haaland
Thiago

Dubravka
O’Reilly
Andersen
Damsgaard

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Price Change Predictions

Risers

Fallers

Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Guéhi	CRY	5.1m	93.2%	Likely
Raya	ARS	5.9m	94.5%	Likely
J.Timber	ARS	6.4m	96.9%	Likely
Neto	CHE	7.2m	78.6%	Likely
Casemiro	MUN	5.5m	98.9%	Likely
Bruno G.	NEW	6.8m	35.8%	Maybe
Roefs	SUN	4.7m	85.7%	Unlikely
Truffert	BOU	4.5m	88.0%	Unlikely
Mitchell	CRY	5.0m	83.9%	Unlikely
Cullen	BUR	5.0m	83.5%	Unlikely
Matheus N.	MCI	5.3m	77.0%	Unlikely
Thiago	BRE	6.8m	26.4%	Unlikely
Petrović	BOU	4.5m	79.2%	Unlikely
Burn	NEW	5.1m	53.5%	Unlikely
Tavernier	BOU	5.5m	81.8%	Unlikely
Saka	ARS	10.1m	67.2%	Unlikely
Szoboszlai	LIV	6.6m	79.2%	Unlikely
J.Palhinha	TOT	5.5m	75.8%	Unlikely
Gvardiol	MCI	5.8m	69.9%	Unlikely
Dúbravka	BUR	4.0m	71.2%	Unlikely
Merino	ARS	6.0m	14.9%	Unlikely
Muñoz	CRY	6.1m	17.4%	Unlikely
Amad	MUN	6.3m	65.2%	Unlikely
Lacroix	CRY	5.1m	54.4%	Unlikely
Barnes	NEW	6.4m	47.6%	Unlikely
Sánchez	CHE	4.8m	62.6%	Unlikely
Verbruggen	BHA	4.4m	49.0%	Unlikely
King	FUL	4.5m	61.9%	Unlikely
Livramento	NEW	4.9m	48.8%	Unlikely
O.Dango	BRE	6.0m	57.5%	Unlikely
Ballard	SUN	4.6m	55.6%	Unlikely
De Ligt	MUN	5.0m	65.8%	Unlikely
Rogers	AVL	6.9m	69.9%	Unlikely
Woltemade	NEW	7.5m	2.3%	Unlikely
Foden	MCI	8.4m	5.5%	Unlikely
Schade	BRE	7.0m	53.3%	Unlikely
Thiaw	NEW	5.0m	13.8%	Unlikely
Chalobah	CHE	5.2m	48.7%	Unlikely
Sessegnon	FUL	5.4m	48.0%	Unlikely
Doku	MCI	6.6m	30.6%	Unlikely

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Player	Team	Price	Progress	Tonight
Georginio	BHA	5.7m	92.8%	Likely
Vicario	TOT	5.0m	97.4%	Likely
Coppola	BHA	4.3m	96.5%	Likely
Tel	TOT	6.3m	96.0%	Likely
Pinnock	BRE	4.3m	95.4%	Likely
Kerkez	LIV	5.7m	94.7%	Likely
Mainoo	MUN	4.7m	92.6%	Maybe
Maguire	MUN	4.4m	94.7%	Maybe
Welch	EVE	3.9m	92.8%	Unlikely
Okafor	LEE	5.5m	94.5%	Unlikely
M.Salah	LIV	14.1m	76.0%	Unlikely
Semenyo	BOU	7.7m	47.4%	Unlikely
Dixon	EVE	3.9m	95.1%	Unlikely
Travers	EVE	4.4m	91.1%	Unlikely
Ortega Moreno	MCI	4.8m	91.6%	Unlikely
Darlow	LEE	4.0m	88.7%	Unlikely
George	CHE	4.9m	91.2%	Unlikely
Boateng	BUR	4.8m	91.2%	Unlikely
Arrizabalaga	ARS	4.2m	86.2%	Unlikely
Mateta	CRY	8.1m	26.2%	Unlikely
Gruev	LEE	4.8m	82.3%	Unlikely
Kelleher	BRE	4.5m	88.7%	Unlikely
Gabriel	ARS	6.3m	72.7%	Unlikely
Mac Allister	LIV	6.3m	86.0%	Unlikely
João Pedro	CHE	7.4m	75.6%	Unlikely
Baleba	BHA	4.7m	84.4%	Unlikely
McGill	BHA	4.0m	84.3%	Unlikely
Toti	WOL	4.3m	58.0%	Unlikely
Tonali	NEW	5.4m	73.4%	Unlikely
Christie	BOU	5.0m	83.0%	Unlikely
Neave	NEW	4.4m	84.1%	Unlikely
Young	AVL	4.4m	83.1%	Unlikely
Cox	BRE	4.0m	84.6%	Unlikely
Sonne	BUR	3.9m	82.6%	Unlikely
Obi	MUN	4.3m	80.5%	Unlikely
Knight	BHA	4.5m	84.7%	Unlikely
Akinmboni	BOU	3.9m	82.9%	Unlikely
Gannon-Doak	BOU	4.9m	82.1%	Unlikely
Hato	CHE	4.7m	77.5%	Unlikely
Jordan	BUR	4.0m	80.4%	Unlikely

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Watchlists

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Raya Martin	ARS	C
No Change	Alisson	LIV	C, Vs
No Change	Donnarumma	MCI	C, Vs, Sus
No Change	Ramsdale	NEW	C
No Change	Sels	NFO	B
No Change	Dubravka	BUR	C, £

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:36am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	van Dijk	LIV	B, Vs
No Change	Muñoz	CRY	A, Sus
No Change	Jurriën Timber	ARS	C
No Change	O’Reilly	MCI	B, Vs
No Change	de Ligt	MUN	B, Inj
No Change	Thiaw	NEW	A
No Change	Andersen	FUL	B
No Change	Milenkovic	NFO	B
No Change	van Hecke	BHA	A, £
No Change	Mukiele	SUN	C, £

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:41am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Saka	ARS	A
No Change	Bruno Fernandes	MUN	B
No Change	Foden	MCI	A, Vs
No Change	Semenyo	BOU	C
No Change	Gakpo	LIV	B, Vs, Rest
No Change	Minteh	BHA	B
No Change	Bruno Guimarães	NEW	A
Up	Schade	BRE	C
No Change	Anderson	NFO	A, £
Down	Fernández	CHE	B

Last updated: 6 Dec, 2025 12:48am

	Player	Club	Factors
No Change	Haaland	MCI	A, Vs
Up	Thiago	BRE	A
Down	Mateta	CRY	C
No Change	Welbeck	BHA	C, Rest
No Change	Woltemade	NEW	B

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Scout Notes

Scout Notes – Gameweek Thirty Eight

14 May 2012 1581 comments

Paul

Sergio Aguero wins the title for City. Emmerson Boyce continues to excel at wing-back for Wigan. Steven Pienaar, Emmanuel Adebayor and Yossi Benayoun finish their loan deals in style, Djibril Cisse maintains his remarkable QPR scoring form, while Wayne Rooney produces his best Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season so far as United are beaten at the post:

Sergio Aguero
The overwhelming favourite for the captain’s armband, the Argentine made his Fantasy owners wait until the very last minute before delivering the goal that won the title. There’s little doubt as to how crucial his contribution has been in the last few Gameweeks for City – Aguero has returned six goals, three assists and nine bonus points in his last six appearances. Finishing the season on 23 goals and a total of 211 points, and with attacking returns in all three away games since the return of Carlos Tevez, it’s been an outstanding debut campaign for the former Atletico Madrid man.

Pablo Zabaleta
While Micah Richards started the season in such strong form, the Argentine ended the 2011/12 campaign as Roberto Mancini’s favourite for the right-back position. Zabaleta started every one of City’s last five Gameweeks and vindicated his manager’s faith with the opener in yesterday’s 3-2 thriller. With Champions League football on the agenda once again, though, Mancini’s penchant for rotation at full-back will likely to come into play once again, with Vincent Kompany looking the only certainty once more, despite the impressive contributions of both Zabaleta and Gael Clichy in recent matches.

Djibril Cisse
The January signing was amongst the goals once again as QPR survived the drop despite their late defeat. To say his time at Loftus Road has been eventful is an understatement – Cisse has either scored or been sent off in every one of his eight starts since arriving in January. Luckily for Mark Hughes’ side, six of those games have produced goals, but with two red cards resulting in a total of seven games unavailable through suspension, his absence could have had severe repercussions for his side’s chances of survival. If he can keep his compusure, Cisse is clearly one to consider next time round – with QPR winning their last five at home under Hughes, Loftus Road is proving to be a tricky test for many.

Emmerson Boyce and Jean Beausejour
Boyce continued his recent impressive attacking displays as Wigan picked up their seventh win in nine against relegated Wolves. The right wing-back bagged a double in the 3-2 triumph, taking his returns to three goals, an assist and two clean sheets in the last four. Beausejour maintained his strong form since joining from Birmingham in January – he picked up his third assist in as many matches, taking his total to seven for the season; more than any Wigan player. Given that both play as wing-backs in Roberto Martinez’s 3-4-2-1, their classification next season will be intriguing – Beausejour would be of particular interest if FPL change him from a midfielder to a defender, given his creative contribution.

Franco Di Santo
The Argentine is another player who has picked up in form over the last few Gameweeks. Yesterday’s goal took his tally to three in the last five and, with an assist and five bonus points also thrown in, he’s proven exceptional value recently, given his 4.8 price tag. If Martinez’s men can continue next season in such strong form, Di Santo could well prove a popular cut-price option up front.

Matt Jarvis
Wolves’ left winger is one of the few players who can hold their head high after his performances under interim boss Terry Connor. Jarvis’ opener at the DW means he has scored seven of the 12 goals mustered by the midlands outfit since Mick McCarthy’s sacking after the Gameweek 25 defeat at West Brom. Steven Fletcher also found the net, despite being handed a 16 minute sub appearance by Connor. Two goals and an assist in his last three took the Scot’s goal haul to 12 for the season and, amid rumours he could be snapped up by a Premier League club before the start of next term, is another who could offer potential as a lower priced forward next time round.

Emmanuel Adebayor
A goal and the maximum bonus points saw the on-loan forward end his spell at the Lane in strong form. Adebayor’s last three games in a Spurs shirt produced four goals and seven bonus points for his Fantasy owners, taking his total to 194 – just a single point behind Gareth Bale amongst Harry Redknapp’s squad. Starting the season at 8.0, he’s proven to be a real bargain over the campaign, ending as the fourth top scoring forward – if Daniel Levy can open the purse strings enough to make Adebayor’s move a permanent one, he clearly has plenty to offer Fantasy squads next term.

Steven Pienaar
A goal and a single bonus point brought down the curtain on his return to Merseyside as Everton extended their unbeaten run to nine. David Moyes has already spoken of his desire to bring back the South African on a permanent deal – such a move would be hugely significant for Fantasy managers if Pienaar can maintain his current form. Clearly, his days at Spurs look numbered; he played just 17 minutes in the first 23 Gameweeks under Harry Redknapp but has picked up four goals, seven assists and 12 bonus points in just 14 appearances for the Toffees, averaging 5.7 points per game.

Nikica Jelavic
The Croatian was on the score sheet once again for the Toffees as Newcastle’s Champions League hopes were put to rest. It’s nine goals in just 10 first XI appearances now since moving from Glasgow Rangers back in January and, with 11 bonus points also thrown in, Jelavic has averaged 6.6 points per start – an incredible level of consistency for a 6.3 priced forward. Given that he started at 6.5 in the winter, though, we can expect a price hike when the player lists are announced in a couple of months’ time.

Grant Holt
Yesterday’s goal in the 2-0 stroll over Villa took his tally to 15 for the season. Despite his contribution, Holt has dropped in price, down from 5.5 to 5.1 – Paul Lambert’s rotation policy has frustrated Fantasy managers, with only 24 of his skipper’s 36 appearances coming in a starting role. Holt has been top for overall points, goals and bonus points for the Canaries, though, and, as the second best outfield player in terms of value, has more than proved his capabilities this term.

Jonathan Walters
With no goals since Gameweek 19, few would have betted on Walters finding his form to send Bolton down. A double against the Trotters saw the out of position midfielder clinch top spot as Stoke’s best Fantasy performer, with a total of 140 points bettering Peter Crouch’s contribution by 10 points. Surely to be reclassified as a forward next time round, it’s fair to say that Walters’ appeal will be considerably lessened and, having gone the previous 18 Gameweeks with no assists or bonus points either, few will be rushing to snap up his services for next season.

John Terry
His suspension for the upcoming Champions League Final has been handy for Terry’s Fantasy owners. A goal and a couple of bonus points harvested a 10 point haul – the second time in the last four Gameweeks he has returned double figures. While Chelsea have been far less impressive at the back this season, Terry’s eye for goal has produced six goals – double his tally from the previous campaign. The change is bonus has also been hugely beneficial to the Blues skipper – he had failed to pick up a single point last term but is joint-top with Leighton Baines for defenders, after amassing 18 bonus points this time round.

Wayne Rooney
The United man’s first away goal since Gameweek 27 helped him to his best ever Fantasy campaign yesterday. While Rooney’s Old Trafford form had produced eight goals in his last five home matches, his away displays harvested just a single assist in the four games prior to the Sunderland showdown, as United’s late stumble handed City a lifeline in the title race. With three bonus points also returned, he picked up 230 points, eclipsing his 2009/10 total by just six points – Rooney’s 27 goals was also a personal best but, like United, he finished second best, with Robin Van Persie’s incredible 269 points proving unassailable.

Danny Graham
While Swansea’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool earned Michel Vorm and co their fourteenth clean sheet of the campaign, the former Watford man’s late winner clinched his spot as the top value outfield player this season. Graham dropped as low as 4.7 in price but produced attacking returns for the third successive game at the Liberty, taking his tally to 138 points, with 12 goals, three assists and 16 bonus points also thrown in for good measure. Indeed, of all Brendan Rodgers’ players, only Vorm and Scott Sinclair accrued more points this term and, with Graham likely to be first-choice next time round, his cut-price prospects look promising.

James Morrison
Having returned to action last week with a goal, the Scot continued his form in Roy Hodgson’s final match in charge of West Brom. Morrison provided assists for both the Baggies’ goals to serve a reminder of his potential as a low to mid-price option next season. Starting this term at 5.5, he’s proven to be a decent alternative to Chris Brunt in the West Brom midfield and finished just three points behind the Irishman, with five goals and six assist accrued in his 23 starts.

Robin Van Persie
With Arsenal needing the win to confirm their place in next season’s Champions League, many had handed the Gunners skipper the armband ahead of their Hawthorns trip – little wonder, given that he had produced attacking returns in all five of his previous road trips. While Yossi Benayoun notched his third goal in his last four Gameweeks to end his loan spell on a high, Van Persie mustered just a single assist from his side’s three goals. Laurent Koscielny and Andre Santos also found the net to ensure Van Persie failed to pick up any bonus but, with 30 goals, 13 assists and 45 bonus points, his season has been a spectacular success. Arsene Wenger has promised to hold talks with the Dutchman over a new contract prior to the upcoming Euro 2012 – if he signs, we can surely expect a rise in FPL price, given his heroics; his starting price of 12.0 this term seems almost cheap, given his incredible 269 point haul.

1,581 Comments Login to Post a Comment

MC
13 years, 6 months ago
I know you lot probably couldn't care less, but how's this looking for a team for the Euro's?

Cech - Pletikosa
Kadlec - Walker - Debuchy - Zhirkov - M.Olsson
Iniesta - Ozil - Modric - Shirokov - Polanski
Llorente - Benzema - Lewandowski

Any feedback much appreciated 🙂
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1. Alan The Llama
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Looks good, I'm liking the look of Benzema too. And I have, provisionally, the same keepers. Not sure about Modric though, his reputation precedes him.
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  1. MC
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Can't really see anyone better for the price is the problem.
    
    Gotze? but then I have Ozil already..
    
    Not too many players in that price bracket, could have Rosicky, but i fancy Modric's chances in the group they're in.
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    1. Alan The Llama
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Gotze comes on for Ozil apparently, in which case not worth having. Did you see this from earlier? Some fine work by Demi.
      
      http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2012/05/14/scout-notes-gameweek-thirty-eight/comment-page-3/#comment-3224461
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      1. MC
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I hadn't seen that, but that is certainly going to be very handy, cheers for pointing it out.
        
        Another gem from Demi there.
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2. Call Me Old Fashioned
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I am not playing the game so this may be of limited use. Replace modric with mandzukic. I am not keen on that double Czech back, only one of them is sufficient. Swap Cech to Szezceny or Greek keeper. Then you would have to change Polanski (Andrews perhaps?).
  
  Also Llorent and Walker may not be certain starters, but their are other alternatives at their price if desired. (eg. Robben )
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  1. Alan The Llama
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Oh, he has Cech. In which case we don't have the same keepers. I've got Schesney and Pletikosa.
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  2. MC
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Cheers, liking the mandzukic shout, didn't really know much about him, but he looks a handy player.
    
    I think Walker should be a starter, but given he's an ex-blade i may be biased 😉 and i think llorente should play, but if not, like you say, i can always get robben.
    
    I only like the czech defence because they're in the so called "easy group" and i would have szcezny but his matches are the same day as pletikosa, so no subs..
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    1. MC
      13 years, 6 months ago
      ignore that last bit, szcezny has the same fixtures as cech, not pletikosa..
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    2. Alan The Llama
      13 years, 6 months ago
      two days apart for szcezny and pletikosa
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    3. Call Me Old Fashioned
      13 years, 6 months ago
      I hope Walker is our RB. Even with your bias or not he is a good pick if nailed on. (I was hoping Stevo would get through them and Crawley are my lower league teams!).
      
      If Villa does not make then I agree Llorente will get the not over Soldado and Torres.
      
      This easy group is the hardest to predict IMO apart from Russia as who will get through.
      Poland and Croatia's games are not on the same day, they are in different groups and different halves of the draw! So Szcency and Pletikosa would work well
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      1. MC
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Goal machine Chris Porter scoring his 1st league goal of 2012 to take us through, should have won by more though really..
        
        Yeah, i hate to say this but i really hope Villa doesn't make it.. although i could possibly afford him instead of llorente if needs be.
        
        Yeah, i agree difficult to predict, but i also think fairly low scoring. I will have to have a look into the cech/sczezny debate.
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        Call Me Old Fashioned
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah I never really expected Stevo to get through, it would have been something if they did. I was on placement there last year so went to a few of their games when I could. I remember being in the pub for their FA cup victory over Newcastle.
        
        I dont hate to say that I hope Villa doesnt make it. If we get through they are our likely QF oppenents, we need all the help we could get in that game.
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        MC
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah, never really looked like winning did stevenage, but they put a good shift in, fair play to them. Almost holding a team to 0-0 for 180 minutes when they were 18 points above you, and who are the leading goalscorers in the country is a decent feat. One of my mates is a Reading fan, so he was pretty disappointed when they knocked Reading out of the cup this year, although i guess promotion sweetens that for him, haha. But Stevenage are a good side, expect to see them in the mix again next year.
        
        You have a point there, although i don't much fancy our chances against Llorente either..
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3. JPeg
  13 years, 6 months ago
  IS this the macdonalds game everyones playing?
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  1. MC
    13 years, 6 months ago
    yes, yes it is.
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TorresMagic™
13 years, 6 months ago
Glad to hit my peak for the season after GW38. 🙂
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1. Twelve years a slave
  13 years, 6 months ago
  same , two years running , finished on highest rank
  
  The cream always rises to tthe top
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Twelve years a slave
13 years, 6 months ago
Why are people posting their euro teams?????????

Reality is you need to see what days all the matches are taking place , its important to have a balance between days so can substitute players.
Plus people dont even know the squads yet
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1. Blind
  13 years, 6 months ago
  The fixtures and dates are set
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2. MC
  13 years, 6 months ago
  matchdays are already published aren't they?
  
  and people are just picking "nailed-on" players at the moment really i think.
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EL TANO
13 years, 6 months ago
rank 3373
won my mini league by 100+ points
Got shafted by gameweek 1 debacle when minileague got reset to gw2 and my pre season research was laid to waste when everybody got a free pass with the gw2 wildcard
Fell behind with the gw2 Torres over Rooney choice (NEVER again!) but rose from the ashes with the best wildcard I've ever played in gw12 (100pts spurs double) to rocket from 20th to 5th and from there I only looked at first place team, didn't panic and chipped away to win my fierce mini league for the first time in ten years after coming second the last two seasons
chuffed
Sorry to bore everybody but...it's been real..thanks for the banter and remember :

Form trumps Fixtures (most of the time)

See you all next season...(more likely pre season)

zzzzz
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1. Back to Back Ballacks
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Yeah!!!!!!!!!! Party time over in my ML too, took my 3rd title, first in 3 years, good to be back on the top, collecting my trophy tomorrow 🙂
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  1. UnderstandablyDistraught
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Well dude, happy with your season? 🙂
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    1. EL TANO
      13 years, 6 months ago
      chuffed
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VanDeRooney
13 years, 6 months ago
PLz rate my team for gw 39

Mignolet
EVans Kompany Huth
VDV Pienaar Valencia Moses
Cisse R000NEY RVP
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1. Spiritof76
  13 years, 6 months ago
  No Gyan?!
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fanofippo
13 years, 6 months ago
Won my work ML but lost another league by just 4 points!
All in all had a good season, started a good run at the end of the season with 16 green arrows starting from GW23!

What are the players you knew you made a mistake once you got them into your team?

For me it's:
Formica (got him for a failed punt)
Royston Drenthe (Lol roys royce)
Bendtner (barndoor)
Adebayor (DGW capt)
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1. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Torres (c) 3 times!!!!! Each time I don't think he scored more than 2pts (4pts)
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  1. fanofippo
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Ouch! I never had Torres in my team this season, didn't fancy him.
    
    Oh I forgot Suarez who I bought when he supposedly had favourable fixtures.
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    1. China Mag
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Never again!! But then that's what I said after the first two times I got him in. But then for the last game he was my only chance of overhauling the deficit at the top of my mini league.
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      1. fanofippo
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Oh well, who dares win right haha
        
        How did your season go?
        
        Hah, just realized that it seems like the only 2 of us Newcastle fans on this website now
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        After a terrible start (I was 1.4m after 7 weeks), due to my stubborn refusal to get Man Utd players for their horror run at the start of the season, I slowly pulled it back, and was in the top 10,000 with just a couple of weeks to go. Then I tried to win my mini league, rather than consolidate my position in the overall league, so went for rooney over RVP last week, and Tevez over Aguero this. If I had gone with the safe choice, I would have finished comfortably inside the top 10,000, but would have had no chance of winning my mini league. Ended up missing out on both, (11,850 overall, and 35 pts behind in my ML). It didn't help that i messed up a couple of transfers and selections in the running (accidentally got rid of Kompany rather than Turner for the DGW, and played Santon over Caulker this week, when in my mind I was playing Caulker). So overall, a bit of a disappointing end.
        
        However, at least Mrs China Mag's team finished on a record high of 7,627, and would have won our mini league if Torres had outperformed Aguero on the last day!
        
        Hoping to finish top 5,000 (at least) next season, to justify all the hours I spend on the damn game!). You?
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        fanofippo
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Similarly I got onto a terrible start - I always seem to get wildcards line-ups wrong so messed up at the beginning. They made the 0.1 increase faster this year which I didn't get a hold on till the middle of the season, which made my team value not so good.
        
        Good thing is that I usually do better in the 2nd half of the season (probably due to my mates giving up interest in the game by then) so I went on a good run and ended up winning my main league comfortably by 70 points, ended up in 30k overall (which was near to what i did last year).
        
        Wow Mrs China Mag did well!
        
        What do you think of the new players coming into Newcastle next season? I think Mathieu Debuchy is a certainty now with Alan Pardew's hints in his interview.
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I would hope so. If he hasn't put pen to paper, then it seems strange that Pardiola would alert other clubs to his availability, especially as they will all now be watching our transfer activity like a hawk.
        
        I think we will get a fullback (Debuchy), centre back and striker who are all good enough to play straight away in the first team, then get in up and coming players to fill the gaps of players leaving.
        
        I can see Tiote going, if we get a large enough bid, but wouldn't expect more than one of our main players to leave (unless silly bids come in).
        
        Anyway, i have faith in the current system.
        
        PS Mrs China Mag doesn't actually have much input into her team 😉
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        fanofippo
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Sorry my computer couldn't connect to FFS, so only checked back in now.
        
        I love Tiote! Dun want him to leave 🙁
        
        Definitely need a new CB, Williamson has been poor
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        But any disappointment I might feel in the fantasy world, is more than made up in the real world! 5th place!!!!!!! That is mental considering most peoples predictions at the start of the season. I was more optimistic than most, but had us down to have a good shout at 7th place (and have a betting slip worth 120 quid to prove it), but if somebody had suggested we would have still been in with a shout of 3rd place on the last day, I would have asked for some of what they had been taking!
        
        Pardiola has been an absolute genius. I think his main achievements have been getting the best out of the dross that is our back up players, and somehow moulding barfa into a team player.
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        fanofippo
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yah, hats off to Pards - he has done wonders and deservedly won the Manager of the Year awards.
        
        One thing I really like about him is that he uses our whole squad of players - like using the back up players like Perchino, Ferguson, Amoebi (s)
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2. Pratik
  13 years, 6 months ago
  MOSES - 15 games (2 of them towards the end of this season) - 30 pts exactly and average of 2 pts per game. I am never taking that f**k again.
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Mid-Table Obscurity
13 years, 6 months ago
whens the blackpool west ham game?
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1. In Like Flynn.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  15.00 Saturday MTO. Huddersfield-MK Dons tonight.
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  1. Mid-Table Obscurity
    13 years, 6 months ago
    looking forward to it
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    1. In Like Flynn.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Who do you fancy to win it?
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In Like Flynn.
13 years, 6 months ago
We're really getting into Summertime dead zone territory now I see.

Still no H2H updates. I don't mean to complain FPL Towers but this is pretty poor considering you've started stripping the site of the interesting bits (Transfers section). Come on buck up and please can we have the transfers section back for a week or so for all the stats I need for the ML end of season bash. It's on Wednesday.
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I have a feeling the transfers section won't return
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    They should at least have a stats section!
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    1. In Like Flynn.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Have you reserved your Thursday nights for next year China Mag?
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  2. In Like Flynn.
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Me too Ryan 🙁 never mind. How are you?
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    1. Ryan
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Good, simply glad the FPL season is over. Kinda sad I came 2nd to my brother in law in the end. At least I won my other mini leagues.
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Darth Wenger
13 years, 6 months ago
Won both my Mini-leagues (retaining both titles)
3,123nd overall (Personal best)
Best total season score so far
10 green arrows in the last 11 game weeks
Last 128 in the official FPL cup
= smugly satisfying season.

The singular most important lesson that was reinforced tone and again >
Do not fear the 4 point hit (for a front 8 player) it was my friend far more than my my foe again this year.
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1. Darth Wenger
  13 years, 6 months ago
  *time and again
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2. In Like Flynn.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Good season Darth, well done. I agree on the odd hit being fine.
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  1. Darth Wenger
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Cheers, yours was better yet! 15 green arrows since week 22 = superb run in. Nice work
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    1. In Like Flynn.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Cheers made up for falling apart in November and December. Still my best ever so well chuffed.
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In Like Flynn.
13 years, 6 months ago
Thank you FPL Towers. 🙂 You were just waiting for me to start whining on weren't you?

33rd In the FFS H2H Reserve League and hoping for promotion to a regular league next season. Yippee.
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1. TorresMagic™
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Well done ILF, I think you make FFS H2H8 next season. FFS1 for me. 🙂
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  1. In Like Flynn.
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Great going TM. H2Hs are so hard to call. Often not won by the highest ranked team.
    
    Good luck with it and hope to join you in a few seasons if I'm spared. 🙂
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
Alreet lads

Does anybody know how I can copy the fixtures difficulties from the season ticker into excel? I've done it before and it worked ok (if a little messy), but now when I try it just gives me a load of arrows.

This is key to my planning for next season, so I would really appreciate it if you could have a look. I don't really want to have to go through them one by one.

Cheers
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1. In Like Flynn.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I'd ask Doosra when you see him here China Mag, if you haven't cracked it by then.
  
  I asked above if you have your European nights reserved for next year?
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Friday mornings don't you mean?? The down side about qualifying for europe is that it means more getting up to watch the match at 3am or 4am (depending on the time of year)! Maybe I should hope that we play all of our games in russia or somewhere!!
    
    I really need to come up with a way that allows me to sleep early on these occasions, without waking up with the excitement every 5 minutes! Anyone got any ideas?
    
    Really excited about the whole thing anyway. Pardiola is sure to try and win the thing, as he is desperate for a trophy (first since 1969!!!). Lets hope we strengthen the squad enough over the summer, and some of our quality youngsters step up a bit, so a run in the europa doesn't harm our league performances too much.
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    1. In Like Flynn.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Ah yes. That is the danger of Europe for teams that don't have big top class squads.
      
      Stoke were exhausted by mid April and it showed. You seem to have some top players already. I guess it depends if you can hang on to them.
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    2. fanofippo
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Yup am so looking forward to the Europa games! So tempted to fly to Europe to watch them... just have to convince the missus 🙂
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
I would hope so. If he hasn't put pen to paper, then it seems strange that Pardiola would alert other clubs to his availability, especially as they will all now be watching our transfer activity like a hawk.

I think we will get a fullback (Debuchy), centre back and striker who are all good enough to play straight away in the first team, then get in up and coming players to fill the gaps of players leaving.

I can see Tiote going, if we get a large enough bid, but wouldn't expect more than one of our main players to leave (unless silly bids come in).

Anyway, i have faith in the current system.

PS Mrs China Mag doesn't exactly have much input into her team 😉
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1. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Reply fail to FANOFIPPO. But anyone is free to jump in!
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  1. EL TANO
    13 years, 6 months ago
    the thing I like about Newcastle is the tradition of always having some kind of enigma up front.
    Possibly more than teams like manU or Liverpool (with some obvious exceptions), Newcastle always seem to find and foster a real superstar striker : Asprilla, Shearer, Keegan, even Carroll
    I'm no expert on the matter by any means. Just an opinion really. Pardiola (love it!) has the makings of a tidy unit with cisse and ba barfa and cabaye and krul etc.
    Always entertaining...
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    1. China Mag
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Once we buy a full back to replace simpson, we have a first 11 that can challenge for the top 4 again next season. However, we really need to improve the quality of the back up. We pretty much need to bring in quality back up in each position, apart from attacking mid (Marveaux is class). The likes of williamson, perch, raylor, obertan, best, ameobi are useful squad players, but only to fill in when we have more than one injury in a position.
      
      We have a load of very promising youngsters (tavernier, vukic, abeid, ferguson, sameobi) so hopefully they can step up and make an impression on the first team. We are going to need them!
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2. In Like Flynn.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Pardew has done a brilliant job for you. I well remember the moaning on here when he was appointed and the loss of your big name (and wage) players. Which if anything has brought your squad players to the fore and proved they can perform way above expectations with the right management.
  Well done to your team.
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    1) I was one of those moaning about his appointment
    2) I could never understand those who were moaning about us getting rid of Barton and Nolan. Especially as their replacements essentially are barfa and cabeye!! Who are earning much less!!
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In Like Flynn.
13 years, 6 months ago
Finally tired so off to try and get some sleep. Cheers all. Enjoy your Day/night/evening.
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
Does anyone think that Man Utd are going to make the necessary investment needed to challenge City in the future? The way I see it, the only players good enough in the current Man Utd team are De Gea (potentially), Vidic, Nani, Valencia, Rooney.

------------De Gea---------
?----------?------Vidic------?
Valencia---?---?---Nani
-------------Rooney-------
---------------?--------------

The likes of Jones, Ferdinand, Young, Carrick, Smalling, Cleverly, Wellbeck, Hernandez make quality back up, but no more than that.

Looking a that, you are talking 100+ million to have a team strong enough to challenge. Or I guess they can hope that Man City implode again!! If it wasn't for the tevez saga, they would have tied the league up weeks ago!
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1. Acquafresca
  13 years, 6 months ago
  If you put it that way, the only players good enough in the toon lineup are Krul, Coloccini and Cisse.
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    To challenge Man City? Then yes, you are probably right. Though tiote, cabeye and barfa would probably argue with you.
    
    But Newcastle should be a million miles from competing with Man City, all things considered. We might challenge in the top 6 again next season, but no chance we will be competing for the title. Man utd is a completely different story.
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    1. Acquafresca
      13 years, 6 months ago
      It was a quick joke. But in all seriousness, ManU still tied City in pts with the players they have now. Imo, ManU know what it takes to win, with that said i think players like Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Fletcher, etc. all have won many titles with United and I wouldnt be surprised if they win next year.
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      1. China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        But do you not think that without the tevez saga, Man City would have had the title tied up weeks ago?
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        Acquafresca
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I disagree. ManU and City both had chances to tie up the title. With that said, i think the return of Tevez was the thing that refueled City and got them back on track.
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  2. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Congrats on beating Mrs China Mag by the way! She ended up on 7,578. It would have been higher but she was trying to win the mini league, so went for Chico rather than RVP last week, and Torres rather than Aguero this week. If she'd gone for the safe option, she would have probably finished similar to you.
    
    It was a similar story for me. I ended up just outside the top 10,000 because I went for Rooney rather than RVP last week, and Tevez rather than Aguero this week. So in the end I didn't achieve either of my goals of winning my mini league, and finishing in the top 10,000
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2. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Most teams have only a few standout players so this is nothing new. However the obvious void is at CM. This will be filled and with the growth of youngsters such as Welbeck, Hernandes, Jones, Smalling, Cleverly we should have a solid team for next year. It would be necessary for Fergie to get in cover for LB as Evra isn't getting any younger. 2 or 3 quality transfers in is all United will need.
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    How many Man Utd teams of the past 20 years have only had a few stand out players?
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    1. Ryan
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Last seasons team. No doubt there were a few others as well. I like the strategy of developing young talent. It sets us apart from City and is a much more noble way to run a football club. It does work, Nani was nothing a few years ago and Ronaldo was nothing in his early days at United too.
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      1. China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Agreed. I'm just not sure if it will be enough to challenge the might of Man City. Maybe if you had one or two spots for developing talent, to complement 9-10 established players than it would work out. But at the moment, the first choice 11 (in my eyes) would have 5 developing talents, De Gea, Jones (or Rafael or Smalling), Evans, Cleverly, Wellbeck, NONE of who look like ever being world beaters (apart from Jones earlier in the season).
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        Ryan
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah it is a problem for United. Man for man we seem to be inferior. However Fergie himself conceded that we can't compete in the transfer market with City, we simply cannot expect to have 9-10 star players in the side. We need to focus on developing our own stars. Just a handful of class players should be enough to do that hopefully. Winning the league is not just about having star players though, there is much more to it. Coaching and desire are equally important. United are in a good place there.
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Krul, Santon, Cabeye, Tiote, Barfa, Ba, Cisse cost a combined total of less than 30 milllion quid!!
        
        If I remember rightly, the 3 man utd signings of last summer (de gea, jones, young) cost over twice that
        
        There is value there, if you know where to look for it!
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        Ryan
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Thats fair. However were any of those players rated highly when they were first bought? Not really, they developed into quality players. Players that are now worth a lot more than the cost to buy them. For sure United overspent on 'obvious' young talent, its the more obscure talent out there which isn't always easy to come across. And even if we do buy them who is to say they will turn out to be a quality player or not. Hernandez was bought at a great price but its still hard to say how good he will eventually be.
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Santon. - played for Italy at 18. Rated as the new maldini a couple of years back
        Cabeye - captain of the french champions (lille) and starting centre midfielder for France
        Ben Arfa - always had the potential to be one of the very best players in the world (excluding messi and ronaldo)
        Cisse - 2nd top scorer in germany for two seasons, 37 goals in 65 games. For one of the worst teams in germany.
        
        So hardly unknowns!!
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        Ryan
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Ok so your point is that Newcastle have been more successful with scouting quality players for a good price. Fair enough. However newcastle still finished 5th so one might argue that those players aren't good enough for United. In order to get talent that is good enough for United you generally need to spend more on more 'obvious' young talent such as the likes of Hazard etc. United are willing to spend more to get the cream of the crop. In saying that however I would say Tiote and Cabaye are good enough for United.
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Ryan
13 years, 6 months ago
My disasterous turn in the season culminating from the GW12WC till GW26 involved some of the worst transfers in I could ever make. Here is my unfortunate list of players bought between GW12 and 26.

Wilkinson
Shotton
Westwood
Drenthe (twice!)
Hernandez
Rooney
Bendner
Eagles
Ward
Nani
Gower
Rooney
Agbonlahor
Ba
Lindegaard
Santon

This is why I ended up going from 50k > 250K in this period. My reasonable end to the season saw me finish at 54k but still I cant believe I bought in the above list in that 14GW period in the middle of the season.
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1. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure that many of the people on here, many with higher final ranks than you did the same. Looking down the list, most of those players were probably good calls at the time. Apart from drenthe the second time!!
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  1. Ryan
    13 years, 6 months ago
    The thing is thats 15 players. Apart from some being bought in as a result of the WC its almost every transfer in that period resulted in a failure. That is simply terrible. I'm sure most of the time people get it at least 50/50 between a successful trade and an unsuccessful one. During this period it was almost 100% bad for me
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2. Pratik
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Wasn't BA on form during that time???
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  1. Ryan
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Post Acon is when I got him in. Never had him before that
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    1. Pratik
      13 years, 6 months ago
      They call that bad timing....
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3. jimski
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I went from 50k to 170k between gw 18 and gw 25, and that included playing my wildcard in 21. A terrible time, and I did sign some duds...
  
  Gower
  Etherington
  Osman
  Yakubu (got sent off the only week I had him)
  Senderos
  Skrtel
  Walters (when he'd gone rubbish)
  Kelly
  Shotton
  Nani
  Richards
  Fletcher
  Silva (not the same as earlier in the season)
  Ba (after ACON)
  
  Argh... thankfully I finished well with 13 green arrows to give me a top 16k finish. Phew.
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  1. Ryan
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Yeah I think that mid season period was where some of us tried to be too cleaver. I know I for one fell firmly into that trap. Next time hopefully I will recognise this period and make proper wise decisions.
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Pratik
13 years, 6 months ago
Since everyone (by that I mean at max 5 people) who are currently online are bitching about something or the other, I thought I'd join in and share my thoughts about

The man who single handedly ruined my season -

MOSES

GW 1-13 - 27pts
GW 37-38 - 3 pts

That's an exact 2 point average for the 15 games I've had him.....I have now sworn an oath that I will never buy him ever again
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1. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Ha ha. That's pretty bad going. Don't forget the loss of value at the start of the season as well. I seem to remember losing at least 0.5 mill on him at the start of the season as I was sure he would come good!
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  1. Ryan
    13 years, 6 months ago
    We were all sure too. We must be crazy
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2. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Yeah I had him at the start too and like Mark I doggedly stuck with him. Thankfully I never looked back post GW12WC
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
Here is a video of all dave's goals this season. Of the 13 he scored, 5 were absolute stunners, and the most of the others were quality finishes. I can't wait to see what he is like next season, when he is fully settled in!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5MKt3ZCuA4
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
As Man City already have a team full of superstars, will it make too much of a difference if they bring in more superstars over the summer? Especially as the main players (kompany, silva, toure, aguero) rarely get rested anyway.

Of course it will make a difference, but my point is that 100 million spent by man utd (or chelsea) will have a much greater impact than 100 million spent by Man City.
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  This is a good point. Surely City won't spend 100m every summer though. I reckon they won't get more than 2 or 3 new players in. They know that it will have little impact from now on. I just wonder if as a result the transfer market will be much more reasonable in terms of players having inflated price tags. If City aren't that interested in buying loads of top players then hopefully the prices won't be as volatile.
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
Does anyone else fail to see the point of Man Utd going after Hazard, when he would probably represent a good slice of their transfer kitty, and winger is the only position that they are strong in!! Can he play centre mid too?
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I think City are more likely to be getting him in. Fergie commented about Uniteds inferior bargaining ability not long after the speculation came out. To me it was a sign that Ferguson has been priced out of a move for Hazard. Had United bought Hazard I imagine Fergie would have sold Nani in order to make room.
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2. blue cheese
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Agree. Doesn't make sense tbh, spending 25-30 million on another winger. He does play central too, but predominantly a winger. Kagawa at 7-8 million will be a bargain buy!
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  1. blue cheese
    13 years, 6 months ago
    And concrete news about City's interest in RVP ?
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    1. blue cheese
      13 years, 6 months ago
      *And any
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  2. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    I've heard a lot of stories linking this kagawa with man utd, but no very little about him. Care to fill me in?
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    1. China Mag
      13 years, 6 months ago
      know
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    2. blue cheese
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Attacking midfielder. Key player for Dortmund over the past two years. They bought him from some Japanese club two years back for less than half a million(Wow!!). He has a brilliant goals-to-games ratio(1 in 2) for a midfielder. Fergie's interest in him is more than real. He was in the stands for the Bayern v Dortmund German Cup final match. He gave a dream audition, scoring one and setting up another. Sources say he'll announce his decision sometime soon.
      Portsmouth Bubblejet also posted yesterday saying United are interested in 3 Dortmund players - Kagawa, Hummels and Lewandowski. Hoping for the best!! 🙂
      
      And wikipedia says he's already agreed to join United btw Not that it can be trusted.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinji_Kagawa
      On 15 May 2012 it was confirmed by Kagawa's agent that the player would join Manchester United in a €9.7m deal on 1 July 2012.
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3. Portsmouth Bubblejet
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Kagawa flew to Manchester last night with his agent for negotiations with United officials after rejecting Borussia Dortmund's final offer.
  
  Dortmund are unlikely to let Kagawa go for less than €15 million, which would still be a huge profit on the €350,000 that they originally paid Cerezo Osaka for his services.
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China Mag
13 years, 6 months ago
Ryan, you say above that tiote and cabeye are good enough for man utd, but don't mention Cisse. Was that intentional? Would you prefer Wellbeck or Chico?

Also, mark my words that Santon will be on that list come next season. He is absolute class, and will be one of the first names on my team sheet next season (depending on price).

And the reason we finished 5th, and not higher is that when you get past the first 11, you have the likes of Williamson, Perch, Raylor, Obertan, Best and Ameobi to fill in!! Our first 11 is good enough to challenge for the top 4, our squad isn't (which is why pardiola's performance is so impressive, he has got the best out of the dross that is our squad!!)
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Cissi is a great player don't get me wrong but he isn't going to be one of the best strikers in the world. I'm not saying Welbeck and Chico are going to be as good as RVP, Rooney etc but Cisse won't be as good as RVP, Rooney etc either.
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    I would say that it is still too early to judge how good he is going to be. He scored 13 goals in less than half of his first season in the premier, despite having difficulty settling in and not being able to speak a work of english. In Germany, he scored at more than a goal every two games and pretty much ALL of them were tap ins for inside the 6 yard box. Since he has been in england he has discovered how to score a screamer, so that increases his goal potential further!
    
    RVP or Cisse. Of course you would have to say RVP, as Cisse could just be on a Michael Ricketts type streak, and RVP has been doing it for years (when fit). But Cisse has certainly outperformed RVP in the 2nd half of the season, and so has the potential to be better than RVP in the future.
    
    Cisse or Wllbeck/ Hernandez. Really??
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    1. Ryan
      13 years, 6 months ago
      For sure Cisse could be a great player but United want to buy someone with the potential to be one of the best strikers going around. If Cisse proves himself to be this striker then sure, he could be an option. I just think its still too soon to tell. I don't think United will be seeking a striker just yet anyway, they probably still want to develop the talents of Welbeck/Hernandez first.
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Christina.
13 years, 6 months ago
So what's the latest on Adebayor? Is he going to make up with Arry or is he sodding off back to join crybabies Tevez and Balotelli at Citeh?
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Was he in the parade? haha. As a City player I wonder if he is happy they won the league. Does he get a winners medal? All very amusing. However surely the relations between him and Mancini are beyond repair. He will go, for sure.
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2. jimski
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Man City don't want him. Spurs do, but might not be able to afford him - that's my understanding anyway.
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  1. Christina.
    13 years, 6 months ago
    I was just wondering if there was any truth in the rumours that Arry and Ade also don't get along. Face it, Ade is a bit of a Balotelli-esque character, making shit where ever he goes.
    
    Maybe United can buy him and send him on loan to Citeh? I'm sure he will be able to disrupt the citeh squad and get into some serious fights with Carlito and Mario.
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jimski
13 years, 6 months ago
Lessons learnt from this season:

1. Stop taking so many hits (made 50 transfers, which is around 10 more than most who did better than me here)
2. Make better use of wildcards, and don't play one so early
3. Don't worry quite as much about price rises/falls as I did this season (which is tough)
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1. Christina.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  4. Form over fixtures -To long did I hang on to players(Eg Rooney/Ba) hoping they would get there form back and to long did I not buy players(Cisse) hoping there form wont last.
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  1. Jinswick
    13 years, 6 months ago
    This stitched me a fair bit this season. Ignoring Rooney for the 'harder games' at the start of the season in particular proved very costly.
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    1. China Mag
      13 years, 6 months ago
      I still maintain that going into the first 11 games with no man utd players was the right move at the start of the season. The problem that myself (and many on here) had, was not recognizing that form early enough. Not getting in a red hot rooney against a injury ravaged and demoralized arsenal team was one of my biggest errors.
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  2. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    I don't like the "form over fixtures" mantra
    
    Surely the best strategy is a combination of the two. Ideally you want to be choosing the players with the best form, just as they come into a run of nice fixtures!!
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    1. Christina.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Obviously in a perfect world yes. As we all know it's about timing in FPL. Rooney will always do well in FPL over a season, it's just a matter of getting him in at the right time. Even Rvp went thru a dip in form. Look at Kun, it was a nightmare to get him in at the right times as his away record was shit most of the times.
      
      But, it's all about points in Fpl so if Cisse is in form and he is playing Chelsea away then you might be tempted to keep him. Especially if his next game is Wol(h).
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2. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I think its counter productive to say you should take less (or more) hits. The key is to assess each hit on its merits. Many on here have been championing the use of hits as the secret of their success.
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  1. jimski
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Yes, some hits do pay off. But at the start of the season especially I was taking some crazy hits to preserve team value, which did mean I hit almost 1166m value later on, but cost me quite a lot of points, I think.
    
    It's the biggest conundrum for me though - how much does value matter?
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    1. jimski
      13 years, 6 months ago
      116m* (!!)
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      1. Christina.
        13 years, 6 months ago
        TV isn't everything. Look at Tosey that had a shit TV early on and ended on TV107.7m in gw 38 but he ended on a sub 3k ranking.
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        jimski
        13 years, 6 months ago
        True. It is difficult to keep one's head as one's team drops in value though...
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3. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Its all a matter of balance it seems. For me it will be trying not to be too clever getting obscure players with 'potential' due to a small amount of recent form and good fixtures approaching.
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  1. China Mag
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Absolutely this. Torres (x2) and Bendtner (x2) being my worst examples of this!
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    1. Ryan
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Bendtner, Eagles and Drenthe(x2) played a big part in ruining my season for sure.
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4. jimski
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Oh, almost forgot:
  4. Don't get carried away by one fixture. Immense bandwagons start on here based around one fixture (e.g. Man City against Wolves recently). The more experienced posters don't get drawn in as easily. I want to be like that. I did get better at this as the season went on (although a hit for the final day was still a bad idea).
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  1. Christina.
    13 years, 6 months ago
    I got away with murder the day Citeh played Wolves. I was shitting myself watching the game.
    
    I did not have any Citeh cover and went against the Captains polls and selected Rooney(c) vs Everton. It pd off handsomely! For a change.
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Jinswick
13 years, 6 months ago
Comfortably my best ever rank this season of 724th. Gonna be a tall order to top that next season me thinks!
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1. Christina.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I noticed. Well done. Gonna be tough(Just ask Jafa) but hey I've seen some posters on here that have done a sub 1k ranking twice in two years.
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  1. Jinswick
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Cheers - I put in a lot more time this season so pleased my efforts got rewarded. Consecutive top 1k ranks would be immense! Congrats on your PB too! Must be overall happy with that?!
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    1. Christina.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Yeah, I will take it.Won my ML and that was first priority. I find it difficult to not worry about bragging rights/ML so I suppose I will focus on it again next year.
      
      3 sub 5k finishes in the last 4 years I suppose shows I have potential to crack a sub 1k. Or maybe I'm just Mr Consistent and don't have what it takes?
      
      I took a couple of hits this year(Vdv vs Blackburn...) and they paid off nicely so I'm looking at increasing that again next year.
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      1. Jinswick
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Definitely. 3 sub 5ks puts you in a consistently very good bracket imo.
        
        I only took 4 hits this season, and 3 of these lost me points! The worst being:
        
        Brown, Jones & Suarez -> Evans, Caulker & Rooney. MUN won 5-0 that week and messrs Evans and Rooney got me a combined 1 point! Still, they all worked out well in the long run!
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        Christina.
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I mean look at Granville and Si as examples. They had shocking tournaments based on their calibre and previous rankings.
        
        But hey, there might have been personal reasons etc that could have played a role.
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        Jinswick
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah that's true. Mark had another stonker this year eh - hats off to him!
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  2. Ryan
    13 years, 6 months ago
    You could turn out to be one of those players Jins. Top 1k every year
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    1. Jinswick
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Cheers Ryan!
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2. TorresMagic™
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Great effort Jinswick. Keep pumping out the RMTs & you will beat it easily. 😉
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  1. Jinswick
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Haha, I think this may have actually cost me more than it helped me!!
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    1. TorresMagic™
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Less RMTs next season? I seriously doubt it. 😛
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3. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Congrats. Top 1,000 finish, and Arsenal in 3rd so overall a massive season for you!! Is your aim to match or better your finish next year?
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  1. Jinswick
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Cheers China. I think you've gotta look to improve, so my goal next year will be to beat this season's rank. Finished very strongly this year (13 greens in a row) so I'll be looking to have a much better start next season.
    
    As for Arsenal, we should be challenging for titles imo so 3rd doesn't fill me with excitement, although given our start I suppose it's a decent finish. The board need to push Wenger to sign top players, and pay them enough to keep them. I'm not saying go nuts and do a Man City, but 40-50m per season isn't ridiculous. At the moment we make money from transfers.
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    1. Jinswick
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Ps, hard luck on missing out on the CL places - Pardew rightfully got manager of the year - to put a team tipped as a relegation candidate pre season to 5th at the end of the season is remarkable. Also, some great signings and you have a team that should be top 6 (or there abouts) every season. You think Ashley will invest to push on for top 4 next season?
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      1. China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        To be honest, those tipping us for relegation (and it wasn't just the press, plenty of toon fans too) didn't know what they were talking about. We just missed out of finishing in the top 10 last year, by losing a 3 goal lead against west brom in the second half of the last game of the season. We then improved the squad (enrique, nolan, barton OUT, santon, cabeye, marveaux, ba IN). With money still left in the kitty when the right number 9 came available. I was very confident of a top 10 finish. I've got a betting slip worth 120 quid for us finishing the best "outside the big six".
        
        One thing is clear, is that we won't spend outside of our means. I can see Tiote being sold for 20-25 mill, and most of that being spent on improving the squad. That would be enough for a replacement, plus a starting fullback, and quality cover at centre back and forward, plus a few youngsters to fill in the gaps in the squad. If we had got the champions league, we would have been able to do the same, without losing anyone. Gutted!!
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    2. China Mag
      13 years, 6 months ago
      I think that the arsenal bosses will have looked at his season, and seen that there could be at least 6 teams challenging for the champions league places again next year, as opposed to the traditional 4, so they will need to invest if they want to get back in the champions league next year.
      
      Losing RVP would be a nightmare for you. Any latest on that? You would have to spend a lot more than the 20-25 million that you would get for him to replace the number of goals that he scored! Or you could just go back a few months and pay 9 million quid to freiburg for cisse!!
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      1. Jinswick
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah I think you're right. Hopefully we can hold onto RVP (seems likely) and then sign 3-4 good players in the summer. Getting Podolski is a solid start. I'd love a Cisse in our team!! I actually think our first 11 is decent enough to challenge (with a Fabregas type player in for Rosicky below), it's just that our squad isn't. The likes of Djourou, Diaby and Chamakh should never play for Arsenal.
        
        -------------Szsezney
        Sagna, Verm, Kos, Gibbs/Santos
        ---Wilshere/Song Arteta
        --------------Rosicky
        Walcott--------------Podolski
        -----------------RVP
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        Christina.
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Fantasy wise(all that really matters to me) how do you rate Podolski? Price?
        
        Rvp will surely still be on peno's/corners/free kicks and most will prob start off with him in their teams.
        
        Podl might be a good cheap differential?
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        Jinswick
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I reckon he'll come in at 9.5m - 10.0m. RVP will most likely be 13.5m I guess, so he could well be a decent differential, although I can't see him (or Walcott) being cheap (sub 8.5m).
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        China Mag
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I'm still not convinced by walcott. I know he has been much better this season, but I think he would be best suited to a role as an impact sub.
        
        I'm also still not convinced by podolski, but i'm definitely in the minority on here, so i will bow down to others superior knowledge as I've probably only seen him play a couple of times in his career!! I just see his club scoring record as being average, and everyone knows that an international record can be inflated by a few games against the likes of san marino (see peter crouch!!)
        
        Other than that, it is a very solid team. Keeping RVP is key! I hope you do keep him. I always like to have the best players in the world playing in england, and hopefully not all of them at man city!!
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        Jinswick
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Yeah, Walcott had to give a big season this year. I think he's improved his final ball (crossing and shooting) a lot, but he's still extremely frustrating at times. I'd still rather play him than Gervinho/Benayoun/Ox in the wide right role of a front 3 though. As for Podolski, I'll admit I don't know that much about him, so it's perhaps as much hope as expectation that he steps up in the premiership. Losing RVP would be a blow we couldn't recover from - we wouldn't be able to attract a player of his calibre in that role (barely any) to replace him.
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Old Schoolᴼˢ “disa…
13 years, 6 months ago
my failures this year were

1)holding onto Suarez and Baines for far too long at the beginning of the year..(up to xmas if I recall correctly)
2)getting Suarez back in again and then selling before he came into form at the end
3)gambling on Rooney over xmas / new year period when he did feck all
4)some bad captain choices cost me
5)ignoring Ba and then Cisse until it was far too late and when I did bring them in they went off form for the one or two games I had both
6)many more but can't think of them.
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1. Ryan
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Its funny how we can ignore red hot players yet still doggedly stick to the likes of Baines, Suarez etc. No doubt price comes into it because we assume cheap players are just bandwagons. Knowing serious form from temporary form is a real art it seems.
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  1. Old Schoolᴼˢ “disa…
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Think you have hit the nail on the head here Ryan.. I concluded Newcastle were just being lucky and it had to end... Unfortunately for me it only ended the last couple of weeks...
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2. jimski
  13 years, 6 months ago
  3 was one of my worst moves. Cost me big time. Destroyed my team to fit Rooney in...
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3. Namtab Nomolos
  13 years, 6 months ago
  It was a genuine toss up between getting Ba back or 'gamble' on Cisse after the ACoN. That cost me a lot of points.
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jungle
13 years, 6 months ago
my biggest failure was ignoring my gut instinct!
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1. SPorting
  13 years, 6 months ago
  i told you to listen to me!
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2. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Its been my gut instinct that has been my downfall this year!!
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JapBen
13 years, 6 months ago
Finished in 324th place but stupidly lost the head to head league and didn't finish in the top 300 by not starting Evans as he was red flagged - losing me 7 points in the last GW
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Flying Nugget
13 years, 6 months ago
My aim this year was to beat last years rank of 3016. My rank this year? 3017!! Got off to a terrible start though so can't complain
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1. Christina.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  This is the sort of things they make movies about.
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2. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Mr Consistency!!
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3. Namtab Nomolos
  13 years, 6 months ago
  You had a totally crap start like me with that extra wildcard. Very nice recovery, I lived up to my name and rose a bit more slowly.
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4. SPorting
  13 years, 6 months ago
  on the slippery slope to FPL obscurity....
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TorresMagic™
13 years, 6 months ago
For those with 3 or more seasons.

What is your average rank?

4 seasons for me, avg rank = 7148

Major bench issues in my 23K season. 😕
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1. Tommy J
  13 years, 6 months ago
  4 seasons 6565 ave-difficult year this year but on the way up as games ran out!
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2. Crabwalk
  13 years, 6 months ago
  7,458 after 4 seasons. Damned first season!
  
  The H2H leagues seem to have updated if no one's mentioned it yet. At least, ffs h2h 3 has.
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  1. TorresMagic™
    13 years, 6 months ago
    FFS H2H2 updated, finished 5th so up to FFS1 next season. 🙂
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    1. Christina.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Lucky fecker.
      
      😡
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      1. TorresMagic™
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Have a feeling you will be lucky once the ballot comes out next season with all the dropouts etc.
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        Christina.
        13 years, 6 months ago
        Doubt it. Lost my last 2 fixtures. Ended +/- 115 th, Not phased though. Just doing it for fun and midway thru season I start looking at position in Reserves.
        
        I'm really happy for Flynnie and the Zlat(Ibra) for Qualifying from Reserves and Gustav Venter(Saffer) that came second in Reserves.
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        TorresMagic™
        13 years, 6 months ago
        I mean, there's a lucky dip for dropouts & extra leagues, have a feeling you will make it through that way.
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3. Jinswick
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I have 5 seasons, but I wasn't active for the first 3 (didn't make any transfers).
  
  I did try last season though, so if looking at 'active seasons' then mine would be 9,050.
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4. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  I'm not telling!! I've been playing fantasy football for 20 years now, but only really taken it seriously the last season and a half (after finding this site).
  
  Last season 43,254
  This season 11,850
  
  So still a crap average, but hopefully the trajectory shows I am in for a better season next year!
  
  (NB Mrs China Mag 7,627. Even though its my second team, i still don't feel the same pride as if it was my main team breaking the top 10,000!!)
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5. Christina.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  4 seasons...6770 ave rank...
  
  5 seasons...32152 ave rank...136k in my rookie year
  
  😳
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  1. TorresMagic™
    13 years, 6 months ago
    It's not hard to crack 4K. 😛
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    1. Christina.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Ok.
      
      😕
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Captain Shirokov
13 years, 6 months ago
Mornin' everyone 😉
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1. SPorting
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Fitzy!
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  1. Captain Shirokov
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Hey Sporting
    
    xxx
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    1. In Like Flynn.
      13 years, 6 months ago
      Are you sure about sending other posters kisses JF? 🙂
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      1. Captain Shirokov
        13 years, 6 months ago
        😉
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  2. In Like Flynn.
    13 years, 6 months ago
    Morning Sporting, How's you?
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2. In Like Flynn.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Morning JF. alright?
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Captain Shirokov
13 years, 6 months ago
For the Euros:

Ibrahimovic or Benzema, and why?
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1. China Mag
  13 years, 6 months ago
  If you are planning on wildcarding after the first game, then Ibra. Ukraine don't have a keeper!! And england should be solid defensively.
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2. Tommy J
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Benzema-more consistent
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3. Christina.
  13 years, 6 months ago
  Ibra.
  
  1.5m cheaper than Benzema
  Prob on peno's(not sure if Bezema is)
  Although Ukraine is host nation,I think Irba has better scoring potential vs Ukraine(that are missing their top 3 keepers for the tournament) than Karim vs Eng.
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