Alex Ferguson’s decision to drop one Man United striker attracted controversy this week, but is it time to do likewise with another United forward in Fantasy Football terms?
Gameweek 28 review
Predictably, the Dream Team at the weekend was dominated by Manchester United and Liverpool players after their respective 4-0 wins last Saturday and it is no surprise that Shinji Kagawa and Luis Suarez were the top dogs after both of them brought home the match ball after fantastic individual displays.
By scoring his first hat-trick and more than doubling his personal goal tally for the season against Norwich, Kagawa scored a hefty 21 points at the weekend, four more than his nearest challenger Suarez (17), who is now the league’s leading goalscorer and closing in on RVP as the top points scorer as far as Fantasy Football is concerned.
Wayne Rooney not might be feeling the love at Old Trafford right now, but he was last Saturday when a goal and two assists helped him to 14 points, two more than Everton pair Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini.
Jack Collison’s goal against Stoke helped the West Ham midfielder to 11 points, while Stewart Downing (10) made a rare appearance in the Dream Team alongside Liverpool teammate Glen Johnson (9), who featured alongside David Luiz (10), Kolo Toure (9) and Jussi Jaaskelainen (8) at the back.
J-League
There was precious little change at the top of the J-League this week, hardly a huge surprise when the top four teams all scored between 80 and 84 points and although we would never point the finger, a sceptic might suggest that there could be some copying of tactics going on amongst the elite teams in the J-League.
Putting aside that potential scandal for a second, Darren McCann’s Dazzleros maintained their strong grip on top spot and now hold a 28-point lead over second placed Marty’s Muppets, managed by Martin Hanway, with Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes and Andy Twomey’s Athtrasna nine points further back in third.
Barry McCabe’s Breffni Blues’ exclusion from the top five proved to be a brief one, meanwhile, as they moved up to fourth ahead of Neill McNicholas’ 123 in fifth place.
J-League Top 5:
- Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 1,790 points
- Marty’s Muppets – Martin Hanway: 1,762 points
- Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan, Athtrasna – Andy Twomey: 1,753 points
- Breffni Blues – Barry McCabe: 1,742 points
- 123 – Neill McNicholas: 1,729 points
What to do with RVP?
Thanks to the FA Cup quarter-finals, there are eight teams not involved in Fantasy Football this weekend and quite a lot of them are big guns too. The two Manchester clubs, Everton, Wigan and Chelsea are all involved in the Cup, Fulham and West Ham have been given the weekend off, while Arsenal will have a few days to think about their mission impossible in Munich next week.
The fact that United are not involved will tempt many managers into making a decision that many have possibly been toying with for some time, namely whether to retain the services of Robin van Persie, who is in the middle of his leanest spell since joining the Red Devils in the summer.
It would be foolish to believe that van Persie has run out of steam as far as this season is concerned, but he does cost an awful lot of money and his stats don’t make for great reading in the last few weeks. There are some contributory factors of course – he was taken off injured against QPR and replaced early against Norwich to save him for Real Madrid – but he has only one goal in his last eight games in all competitions and one in his last five in the league.
That’s not to say he hasn’t contributed, far from it. He has picked up an assist in each of the last three league games and over the course of the last five games he’s averaged almost six points a game, which is not bad by any means.
But is it good enough for van Persie, who is the most expensive player in the whole league by £1.9 million? Can you afford to retain him when the likes of Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and even Wayne Rooney (four goals, two assists and 38 points in his last five games) are in such good form and suddenly become affordable when you don’t have a £13.8 million striker in your squad?
The managers who do keep RVP can pretty much rest assured that, barring injury, he will produce the goods again between now and the end of the season, but the temptation to get rid is also understandable. A bit like Fergie on Tuesday night, Fantasy managers have a big decision on their hands.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Gareth Bale (£10.6 million). Liverpool will no doubt have a plan to curb his influence at Anfield, but that’s easier said than done and apart from diving, he can pretty much do no wrong at the moment.
Mid-Range: Romelu Lukaku (£6.5 million). He wasn’t allowed face Chelsea last weekend, but prior to that game he had scored six goals in his last seven league games, form which hasn’t exactly helped Shane Long’s cause at the Baggies. Will fancy himself to get on the scoresheet when Swansea come to the Hawthorns on Saturday.
Bargain Basement: Loic Remy (£5.8 million). Hasn’t been the smoothest of introductions to the Premier League for Remy because of injury, but he’s played 90 minutes three times and he’s scored in two of those games and could make the difference in a vital clash with Sunderland.
Irish Pick: Wes Hoolahan (£5.5 million). There won’t be a whole lot of Irish players in action in the Premier League this weekend, so hopefully Wes can remind Trap of what he can do ahead of the trip to Sweden in a fortnight.
Captain’s Pick: Luis Suarez (£10.9 million). It’s a toss-up between himself and Bale given their respective form at the moment, but home advantage means we’re leaning towards the Uruguayan striker this weekend.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
