A must have for most Fantasy Football managers last season, David Silva is on his way to reclaiming that status after coming to the boil in recent weeks.
Gameweek 12 review
The weekend just passed was of those golden weekends in Fantasy Football where a manager could easily hit the jackpot if they played their cards right. Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool all won and won well and it was their big names that gobbled up most of the points on offer.
The main man was City striker Carlos Tevez, who posted a tally of 19 points thanks to two goals, two assists and three bonus points, closely followed by Liverpool defender Jose Enrique on 18 thanks to his goal, assist, clean sheet and three bonus points from Liverpool’s win over Wigan at Anfield.
David Silva (more on him later) continued his recent return to form with 16 points for a goal, a couple of assists and two bonus points against Aston Villa, while his compatriot Santi Cazorla and Cazorla’s Arsenal colleague Theo Walcott also made the Dream Team with 13 and 12 points respectively.
Also on 13 points was Reading striker Adam Le Fondre after two goals against Everton, while Jason Puncheon earned one less after his crucial goal against QPR. It’s always nice to see an Irishman in the Dream Team but there was two this week as the red hot Shane Long (12 points) was joined by West Ham defender Joey O’Brien (11) after his goal against Stoke.
Making up the remainder of the Dream Team are Norwich duo John Ruddy (10) and Javier Garrido (11), both of whom played a big part in shutting out Man United at Carrow Road, with Garrido adding an assist for good measure.
J-League
There was plenty of moving and shaking at the top of the J-League this week but there’s no change at the top, where Barry McCabe’s Breffni Blues hold onto top spot despite a fairly average score of 55 points for the week that’s in it.
Barry has taken to commenting on this column on a weekly basis and he was right to be worried about his tenuous grip on the lead because the challengers are piling on the heat behind.
Within touching distance of Barry in second place are James Shannon’s Jagerbombers, while less than ten points separating James from the rest of the top five, Darren McCann’s Dazzleros, Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes and Derek Dickenson’s Haven’t Got Kalou.
There’s only 22 points separating first from fifth at this stage, so by the time Barry comments on next week’s piece, he mightn’t be the big cheese any longer. We look forward to hearing from you regardless Barry!
J-League Top 5:
- Breffni Blues – Barry McCabe: 760 points
- Jagerbombers – James Shannon: 747 points
- Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 745 points
- Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan: 742 points
- Haven’t Got a Kalou – Derek Dickenson: 738 points
Set 30 pieces aside for Silva
They weren’t doing too badly beforehand, but Champions Manchester City seem to have a certain spark about them in recent weeks, discarding the Champions League of course. The victory over Tottenham a couple of weeks back was the gritty type of win that a team needs to win titles and Villa were simply brushed aside at the Etihad last week.
It should come as no surprise that the spark has coincided with the return to fitness and return to form of David Silva, who was the runaway contender for Player of the year at this point last season.
A game away to Chelsea is normally one that has Fantasy managers running scared, but Silva is the type of player that produces in big games and Stamford Bridge will hold no fear for the impish genius this weekend.
11 goals since he came to the Premier League is not a statistic to pen a letter home to Spain about, but assists are the currency that Silva primarily deals in. Despite a mediocre campaign by his standards so far, he’s already laid on five goals for others (including three in the last two games) and is well on his way to reaching the total of 17 he finished with last year.
One could argue that there are players with more star quality in the City side – Tevez, Aguero and Yaya Toure, for example – but as he showed for the majority of last season and has done again in recent weeks, Silva is the man that makes City tick.
If I haven’t made enough of a sales pitch already, he’s cheaper (£9.3 million) than he was last season and as mentioned previously, the bigger the game, the more influence he tends to wield and City have some really big games between now and Christmas.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: David Silva (£9.3 million). Taking on a Chelsea side with a new manager won’t be easy, but Silva is hitting form at the right time for City and tends to flourish in the big games.
Mid-Range: Lukas Podolski (£8.2 million). Including the game against Montpellier during the week, he’s scored in each of his last three games and picked up an assist against Spurs for good measure.
Bargain Basement: Javier Garrido (£4.6 million). Norwich were leaking goals for fun at the start of the season, but have shut up shop and kept clean sheets in four of their last five games, during which time Garrido has picked up an assist and five bonus points.
Irish Pick: Shane Long (£6.2 million). Predictable maybe, but as long as the Tipp man continues in this vein of form, we’re not going to stop singing his praises. Now the sixth highest-scoring striker in Fantasy Football.
Captain’s Pick: Robin van Persie (£13.7 million). He hasn’t scored in his last two, but you can’t keep a good man down for long and he is the last man a struggling QPR side will want to see at Old Trafford on Saturday.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
