Winners and Losers…..

The rarely seen goal celebration of Papiss Cisse

Whilst most people live their lives by the motto that “You get what you pay for”, it could also be said that “All that glitters isn’t gold”?  Especially in light of the Jimmy Saville revelations, all that glitters should also come with a health warning.

With the season now 6 games old it is a good time to assess the pluses and minus from the Managers who have delved into the transfer market. Who has proven real value for money and who has been a complete waste of money?  Who has unearthed the cheap hidden gem and who has been taken to the cleaners?

Looking at the positions within the team, let’s first have a look at the Goalkeepers. From players purchased by managers, Peter Cech (The Wait is Not Over) is the stand out keeper, fully justifying his £12m price tag with 41 points earner so far. Tim Howard (The Deaf Offenders), an unchallenged purchase for list price of £4.8m has been great value thus far with a respectable 27 points.

At the other end of the scale, £7m was lavished on Hugo Lloris by Gordon’s Alive and he has yet to trouble the scorers as he has been unable to depose the elder statesman of the Premier League in the shape of Brad Friedel. The £8.5m spent on David De Gea (EFVs Five Times European Champions) is also not looking like money well spent as he finds himself staring at the back of Sir Alex Ferguson’s head from the bench.

For any managers thinking of a new man between the sticks, there are one or two rough diamonds playing for so-called unfashionable clubs who have been accumulating points who are still unattached. Ben Foster of West Brom at £4.6m has so far ran up 30 points, Jussi Jaaskelinen of West Ham at £4.2m has 24 points and Simon Mignolet at Sunderland at £4.5m has 21 points.

For Defenders, look no further than Branislav Ivanovic of The Wait is Not Over who despite his lofty price tag of £9.1m has 64 points. His Chelsea team-mate and serial knob Ashley Cole (AFC The Rod) at £6.3m has 54 points and Leighton Baines of The Deaf Offenders at the massive price of £12.1m has justified his Manager’s faith by returning 46 points so far.  It should be noted that despite the top points earners being dominated by tried and trusted players, Managers who have taken a risk on untried players have generally found decent value. As the table shows, Michael Kightly (EFVs Five Times European Champions) of Stoke has proven to be a real hidden gem.

For every success though, there is a dud, good money has been spent on some big stars with little or no return. Hang your heads in shame those who bought Agger, Enrique or Coloccini.

Player	Price Paid	Points Scored	Success / Dud
Regulars
Ivanovic	9.1m	64	Success
Cole	6.3m	54	Success
Baines	12.1m	46	Success
Agger	5.1m	0	Dud
Enrique	8.5m	1	Dud
Coloccini	5.4m	2	Dud
Newcomers
Kightly	4.3m	34	Success
Jenkinson	3.5m	29	Success
Vertonghen	6m	26	Success
Maicon	7m	2	Dud

Midfielders, often the basis for a strong team but what value has been unearthed this year? Ron Atkinson, another lover of all things gold, said many things during his sometimes less than illustrious career, some offensive, some nonsense but some times true. Ignoring his comments about Marcel Desailly, he once said that if your team isn’t working, have a look at your midfield and this still rings true. A functioning midfield means your team are solid defensively and creative going forwards, in Fantasy Football circles, this is where you separate the men from the boys.

The Belgians dominate the point scoring in Midfield. Regular player Marouane Fellaini of Gordon’s Alive and newcomer Eden Hazard of John Terry’s European Champions both scoring 52 points whilst Swansea’s Michu of Club Athletico Bastardo has so far notched 47 points in his debut season at the cost of £6m and has proved the value signing of the season in this correspondent’s eyes.  It also needs to be pointed out that relying on long time points scorers is not an exact science as for every Damian Duff, there is an Adam Johnson or a Charlie Adam.

Player	Price Paid	Points Scored	Success / Dud
Regulars
Fellaini	9.2m	52	Success
Duff	6.6m	49	Success
Bale	16.1	48	Success
Benayoun	5	4	Dud
A Johnson	7.9m	7	Dud
Adam	6.4m	7	Dud
Newcomers
Hazard	18m	52	Success
Michu	6m	47	Success
Cazorla	10.4m	34	Success
De Guzman	3.8m	16	In the Balance
Sterling	9.2m	17	In the Balance

Up front is where the big money is spent in an effort to get you big points as even an average team can be kept afloat with a striker who can regularly find the Onion Bag. Take Sunderland this season as an example. Fletcher (The Wait is Not Over) has scored Sunderland’s last 5 goals since his arrival and despite playing for a generally poor team, they find themselves mid-table thanks in no small part to his goals. Back in the Fantasy World, the tried and trusted have had mixed fortunes. Demba Ba of Team Skin has proven real value for his 48 points whilst his team-mate Papiss Cisse has given no value to The Deaf Offenders Manager with a paltry 13 points for the sizeable outlay of £16.8m.

For players new to the league, again we see mixed success. Lukas Podolski at Gordon’s Alive has taken to the league like a duck to water with an impressive 31 points, however plaudits to The Next Big Thing Manager who took a gamble on Rickie Lambert for £6.5m who has returned 38 points in a debut season in the top flight.  Big money gambles on Fabio Borini (EFVs Five Times European Champions) with 8 points for £12m and Olivier Giroud (Luis Suarez’s Negrito’s) with 17 points for a fee of £9m have had managers on to Trades Descriptions as they appear to be masquerading as strikers at present.

Player	Price Paid	Points Scored	Success / Dud
Regulars
Ba	12.8m	48	Success
Torres	16.7m	46	Success
Van Persie	22m	46	Success
Rooney	15m	10	Dud
Cisse	16.8m	13	Dud
Ballotelli	14m	15	Dud
Newcomers
Lambert	6.5m	38	Success
Podolski	8.8m	31	Success
Mirallas	12.9m	26	Success
Borini	12m	8	Dud
Giroud	9	9	Dud
Naismith	7.5m	18	In the Balance

Whilst some of the players thus far labelled Duds may come to life, how long can Managers hold on in the hope that they start to click? On the transfer list there is a host of players who have earned big points but for no manager to take a punt.  Here is a list of the top unattached player.  Who’s finger will get itchy on the trigger first?

Position	Player	Price Tag	Points Earned
Goalkeeper	Foster	4.6m	30
Goalkeeper	Jaaskelinen	4.2m	24
Goalkeeper	Mignolet	4.5m	21
Defender	McCauley	4.9m	43
Defender	Ridgewell	3.8m	34
Defender	Reid	3.2m	32
Midfielder	Dyer	6.4m	34
Midfielder	Sidwell	4.1m	33
Midfielder	Routledge	5.1m	32
Striker	Dzeko	8.6m	37
Striker	Rodellega	5.9m	29
Striker	Long	7.3m	28

Gareth Bale – More than just a number?

Since the end of last season more than one thing may have changed about Gareth Bale.  The first clearly motivated by vanity being his transformation to look less Primate like by having his ears pinned back.  However a more professional transformation may also be in the offing.  Rumours have been sweeping the internet since Bale told Sky Sports News that he is “not a left-back anymore” and has asked the club for a “higher number”.  He has since appeared in pre-season games on Tottenham’s US tour sporting the traditional centre forward’s number 9 shirt.

Clearly since Barcelona and the Spanish National team no longer play with an orthodox (like the Jewish link???) centre forward, are the days of the traditional shirt numbers becoming a thing of the past? Will our beloved national sport become more and more Americanized with players wearing numbers ranging from 1 to 99 merely based on superstition rather than any historic link to field positions?  It may only be a matter of time before we see a number 1 playing centre half or a number 10 playing between the posts.  Dixie Dean, the first man to sport the number 9 shirt in the 1933 FA Cup Final will rolling over in his grave more times than Luis Suarez after a legitimate tackle.

But, is the idea of Gareth Bale wearing the number 9 shirt so laughable.  Looking at his stats over recent years, it is clear to see his growing influence and increased shots on goal.  Over the past 3 years, he has continued to contribute more and more and his stats whilst not exactly eclipsing the top strikers around, it is clear to see that they do look favourable and have improved each year.

Gareth Bale

Season	Games Played	Goals Scored	Goal Assists	Shots in total	Shots on target	Fouls suffered
2009-2010	34	3	11	51	17	52
2010-2011	41	12	3	86	32	94
2011-2012	48	15	16	168	54	67

Robin Van Persie

Season	Games Played	Goals Scored	Goal Assists	Shots in total	Shots on target	Fouls suffered
2009-2010	24	11	9	95	38	32
2010-2011	36	27	8	143	62	39
2011-2012	52	38	10	208	106	53

Wayne Rooney

Season	Games Played	Goals Scored	Goal Assists	Shots in total	Shots on target	Fouls suffered
2009-2010	50	40	7	257	90	46
2010-2011	47	17	16	169	72	49
2011-2012	50	37	6	207	89	54

Darren Bent

Season	Games Played	Goals Scored	Goal Assists	Shots in total	Shots on target	Fouls suffered
2009-2010	41	25	1	123	60	29
2010-2011	41	21	1	106	40	31
2011-2012	31	13	1	56	32	19

With Bale listed as a midfielder still for the forthcoming season, he is clearly a massive point’s gather of almost striking proportions.  Could the winner of the inevitable Bale auction be best placed to challenge at the top of the table given that his mystery injury which prevented his Olympics participation seems to have cleared up all of a sudden!  Despite bent Harry leaving the Lane, the dodgy behaviour continues at pace!  Good luck bidders, how high can you go?

Nikica Jelavic – Goalscoring is all he does!

What price for Nikica Jelavic this season?  That is the big question all Fantasy Football managers should be asking themselves after the prolific way which in he finished last season for Everton.

Given the apparent lack of competitive football played North of The Border, it was no real surprise that so few Premier League Managers took a gamble on Jelavic earlier.  A record of 36 goals in 55 games was not to be sniffed at however the same age old question was bandied around, “but can he do it at the highest level?”  the writer has even mused in the past “I reckon I’d score 5 goals a season inScotland.”  Obviously not, I’d get 10!  But you get the point…..

A combination of Everton’s blatant lack of a cutting edge married together with a meagre budget and Rangers’ near financial meltdown lead to David Moyes being the first Manager to stick his head above the parapet and take a punt for £5.5m, or in real terms, the cost of Andy Carroll’s left knee.  An initial injury delayed the start of Jelavic’s Everton career and a couple of early substitute appearances hardly set the pulses racing however from the moment he struck a one touch side footed finish to win the match against Tottenham, a star was born.  What followed was nothing short of remarkable for a striker making his way in a new league.  11 goals in 16 appearances that transformed Everton from being potentially dragged into a relegation dogfight to almost qualifying for Europe and resulting in a more than respectable and almost unexpected 7th placed finish.

Not only has Jelavic put the ball away with regularity but he has also brought about an upsurge in Everton’s play and goal scoring in general as the table below will show.

	Team Ave	Jelavic
Shooting Accuracy	42%	60%
Chance Conversion	13%	30%
	Games	Goals
With Jelavic Starting	6	11
Without Jelavic Starting	28	31

Another telling statistic about the marksman is how deadly he is when given a sight of goal, He has taken just 47 touches to net 44 goals for Rangers and Everton since May 2011 – and his last 27 have all been one-touch finishes.  Some record for a player not fancied at the top level by many experienced managers who were crying out for a finisher (Wenger and Dalglish to name but two).

It was almost with some disappointment that Croatia failed to progress from what was a difficult group in Euro 2012 however his sublime one touch (again) finish against the Republic of Ireland showed everyone that he can cut the mustard at International level.  Possibly Croatia’s early exit has helped to keep his price in check but how much will Fantasy Managers be putting aside in their budget’s for one of the Country’s hottest properties?  The auctions will be interesting to say the least…….