Goal-scoring defenders ruled the roost this weekend, while the top of the Champion J-League is in dire need of fresh blood.
Gameweek 12 review
Thanks to the exploits of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Robin van Persie et al at the beginning of the season, it has been the forwards that have hogged all the limelight, but the defenders got their own back this weekend, and how.
And it had precious little to do with clean sheets, last-ditch tackles or heroic clearing headers either. There are five defenders on the Dream Team this week and all of them managed to hit the back of the net. When a defender scores you can nearly always expect bonus points to follow, hence double-figured scores and much cheering amongst the lucky managers who had them in their team.
Top of the pile this week was the beast-like Manchester City right back Micah Richards, who has been rampaging up and down the right wing to telling effect for City all season. A goal, an assist and a bonus point helped Richards to 14 points in total, two points better than Leighton Baines, who had a goal, an assist and two bonus points against Wolves for 12 points.
Baines’ teammate Phil Jagielka also got on the scoresheet for 11 points, while in what was a bumper weekend for full backs, Liverpool’s Glen Johnson and QPR’s Luke Young also featured prominently with 11 and nine points respectively.
It’s always lovely when a plan comes together and with that in mind, it was refreshing to see our recommendations for last week, Gareth Bale and Robin van Persie, deliver the goods with 9 and 13 points. Averaging over 12 points a game in his last five games, the Dutchman is simply a must-have at the moment, while Bale is returning to the sort of form that saw him hyped to ridiculous levels last season.
Elsewhere, thanks to most coolly-taken last gasp penalty we’ve ever seen, Yakubu scored two and grabbed a maximum three bonus points for 13 points, while QPR’s Heidar Helguson did the same but was deducted a point for a yellow card and ended up with a 12-point total, meaning that your humble author was left rueing a decision not to put him in at the last minute on Saturday morning.
Champion J-League
The top of the Champion J-League has an all too familiar appearance after the international break, with top dogs Neil Kelly’s The Wet Bandits and Conor Sheehy’s A Great Bunch’a Lads picking up where they left off.
Robin van Persie and Spurs duo Emmanuel Adebayor and Gareth Bale were the driving forces behind Neil’s 68 points, but Conor is hot on his heels after 73 points this week thanks to his three-pronged strikeforce of Van Persie, Adebayor and Sergio Aguero.
Alan O’Brien’s The Smurfs, Joe Culloty’s Stopfeedingtheyak and Conell Cashell’s Cashmachines all get a look-in in a top five that has become stale and predictable of late due to the lack of fresh faces making the step up to the big leagues.
Up your games people!
Champion J-League Top 5:
1. The Wet Bandits – Neil Kelly: 754 points
2. A Great Bunch’a Lads – Conor Sheehy: 747 points
3. The Smurfs – Alan O’Brien – 740 points
4. Stopfeedingtheyak – Joe Culloty: 734 points
5. Cashmachines – Conell Cashell: 733 points
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