Manchester United’s managerial merry-go-round and Jose Mourinho’s mindgames provided the main focus of this week’s discussion on the site. We catch up on the community’s thoughts on how fixture congestion and David Moyes’ sacking will effect teamsheets over the final three Gameweeks. Our man in Burnley discusses his side’s promotion to the Premier League and we also take a tour of the community’s Fantasy Football fortune-telling booths. As ever, we look at the ups and downs in the community leagues, including two managers’ tussle for a rather smart jacket to keep them warm for next season.
The Hottest Topics
The community’s crystal-ball gazers were out in full force this week. Many attempted to peer into the future and assess what effect both David Moyes’ departure from Manchester United and Chelsea’s Champions League aspirations would have on their teamsheets this weekend and beyond.
Moyes’ removal from the Old Trafford hotseat and subsequent appointment of Ryan Giggs as interim manager provoked one of the biggest bouts of clairvoyance when we asked where next for the Red Devil’s Fantasy assets? RonH believed the second change in management in a year will take time to bed in and their players should be treated with caution. Meanwhile, Carrick Deserves More Mata foresees significant bench positioning for Moyes signing Marouane Fellaini – the Belgian wasn’t even amongst the subs yesterday.
The fate of Wayne Rooney under the temporary Giggs reign was also a source of debate. The Sarjeant sees goals, assists and bonus points in the striker’s future and urged the community to draft him in for the season finale. Christina, however, suggests caution – his research reveals that Rooney is not as consistent at home against teams in the bottom half of the table, though Rooney managed to dispel that theory with a 13-point return in yesterday’s rout.
Chelsea’s upcoming teamsheets were also hotly discussed after Jose Mourinho threatened to ring the changes in order to deal with the fixture congestion caused by his side’s Champions League progress. In Isacki’s discussion on Mourinho’s famous mindgames, The Shadow was sceptical of the Chelsea manager’s talk and believes Mourinho is merely deflecting attention away from the Blues’ lack of striker options – Mourinho was true to his word, though, and made seven alterations to his side in this afternoon’s win at Anfield.
The Sarjeant was back again at his fortune-telling booth later this week to challenge the community to predict this weekend’s scores. Visit his Punters Predictions hot topic here to see which of you has been closest to guessing Gameweek 36’s results so far.
As the season draws to a close, tactical changes, points hits and risks become more commonplace, according to Jafalad, as Fantasy managers look to consolidate or snatch mini-league glory. His end-of-season tips provided some excellent ideas on ensuring the final few Gameweeks are a success.
Burnley fan Sif had much to celebrate this week after the Turf Moor outfit confirmed their promotion back into the Premier League. He has kindly shared his inside knowledge of their players to offer us some potentially lucrative budget options for next season – the community has clearly taken note, with one of his tips, Kieran Trippier, among a raft of 2014/15 prospects mentioned in MJ6987’s hot topic on next season’s key players.
The Community Tournaments
In the Fantasy Football Scout contributors and moderators league Spencer continued in front after Gameweek 35, albeit with a reduced lead of 10 points.
Elsewhere, Zan Keroski’s impressive tally of 93pts was enough to scoop first place in @ocprodigy’s Gameweek 35 Scout Pick Challenge.
In TorresMagic‘s Leagues, five were eliminated from his Last Man Standing league, leaving six to fight in the last two rounds. His FPL Open and Elite 64 competitions have reached the semi-final stage.
Teddy’s Ironman competition has seen that chap Jonty take the lead, after retaining top spot in the competition’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and third in the Sky and Metro leagues. Bonz is in second overall and In Like Flynn rises to third due to his unassailable lead in the Metro league and an upturn in FPL form. Gigging Order continues to top the Sky league.
In Kings of Lyon’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire league, for those with a rank outside of the top 1,000,000 at the Gameweek 8 mark, Elizabeth Genius clung onto the lead despite slipping to 4,028 overall. John Woods is just ten points behind after rising to 5,507 in the overall rankngs.
Gnu’s Wigan To Me… head to head league is heading for a nail-biting conclusion with Damo and Jonty battling it out for this competition’s top prize, a Barbour jacket.
