Week 11 Woes and Triumphs

So much for the usual suspects scoring a hat-trick, but a warm welcome to Arouna Kone, the newest member, and the second Everton player to join the club!

Other than Everton vs Sunderland, the other matches involving the options I mentioned last week ended up being a lot tougher than expected. Manchester City made it harder for themselves with Bony forgetting to bring his shooting boots, and not starting Sterling. Wijnaldum with his Newcastle team found themselves thwarted by a keeper in excellent form (Butland). Mane (and Southampton) were against a losing but resilient Bournemouth side that played a much better second half. Kane only managed to score in the last minute against Villa. And who would've thought Kone would be the one to join the hat-trick list, and not his teammate Lukaku. Unfortunately, like Naismith before him, we can't immediately assume that he will be a regular starter.

So what else happened?

Liverpool win at Stamford Bridge

This was the biggest story of the weekend, despite the fact that both teams weren’t exactly on top heading into the match. From a Stadium Astro fantasy perspective though, it’s hard to argue for the inclusion of any Chelsea player at this point. Willian is probably the best player to pick right now but when you consider Chelsea’s overall form as a whole, it doesn’t seem worth the risk. Chelsea are clearly not used to such a long winless streak, and Mourinho’s ability to drag them out of the mess is being seriously questioned.

For Liverpool, aside from Coutinho, realistically, it really is a case of wait and see as well. Firmino played as a false number 9, leading the line for the Reds, with Benteke on the bench. Next week, Liverpool play the last fixture of the week, meaning you have a chance to transfer a player or two in. It’s against Crystal Palace though, who appear to have sacrificed some attacking verve for defensive stability. Liverpool will also be travelling from Russia from their Europa League match, and after the break the upcoming international break they play Manchester City away, so it’s not as attractive as it looks.

The Rooney problem: Damaging Martial’s prospects

It’s very clear that the comprehensive win against Everton four matches ago (in all competitions) has convinced Louis Van Gaal that Rooney should continue to play up top for Manchester United. Unfortunately, this has meant that Martial’s early season productivity has quickly dried up, with him being pushed into a winger role. If you’ve kept Martial like me, hoping that LVG will come to his senses, it becomes very frustrating week after week.

Next week, they come against West Brom, who, under Tony Pulis, like making clean sheets their priority. If  LVG persists in playing Martial on the flanks, it might be the last straw for me

The Weekend Transfer Challenge

The Stadium Astro format of allowing transfers in between matches can be very challenging. Once you’ve seen a team’s lineup before the match, it can be tough trying to decide which key player to take for the juicy matchups if you don’t already have them. Last weekend it was Manchester City v Norwich (Bony blanked, KDB 1A but with 1YC while Toure 1G), Southampton v Bournemouth (Mane blanked, Pelle 1G) and Everton v Sunderland (Lukaku 1G 2A, Barkley zilch). The last scenario would be particularly frustrating for Barkley holders when you bear in mind that Everton scored 6 goals.

The other problem concerns the Euro players. Their fixtures will often not jive, such as 10pm (Malaysia time) for Premier League matches and 10:30pm for Bundesliga matches. You also have Euro teams starting their match early, playing on Friday for instance. These instances are especially important when selecting your Captain, so be careful.

Arsenal continue to shine

I have no problems admitting to my mistakes, and Arsenal proved me wrong last week, as they found their way past Swansea by switching gears in the second half. I have always doubted Ozil, but he is becoming a very important player for them this season, and he was involved in all three of the goals scored. Sanchez hit another blank, but I don’t think fantasy teams would be too concerned.

Nevertheless, history has shown that Arsenal typically start hitting speed bumps around Christmas time. Next week is the North London derby, which traditionally serves up a feast of goals, but has relatively dried up in recent years. Both teams have also been defensively strong this season, conceding less than 10 goals.

A note on Swansea, they were solid in the first half and created chances but their finishing continues to be an issue. They do have a block of favourable fixtures coming up (Norwich and Bournemouth) so they’ll have a chance to remedy that.

The latest Euro dilemma

This time around, Ronaldo and Neymar both scored, while Lewandowski and Higuain blanked. This month, another Euro transfer becomes available, but how many Euro players will your squad be able to handle? Assuming some of you have three, does anyone dare go up to four Euro players? Or will you just save it to tackle any injuries that may arise?

.Breaking into the Top 200

I have been stuck in the 200+ mark for the past month or so now. And while I thought I had done reasonably well in this past month, I’m still stuck around there, which goes to show how fierce the competition is up top. Not having Ronaldo and Vardy may be a reason, given the rate they’re scoring, but my defense needs a bit of work too. The upcoming International break will give me an opportunity to restructure. I suspect though that the moment I pick up Vardy, he’ll get injured!

Back to the Champions League and Europe matches for midweek, hope all your players stay clear from injuries, till next time!