Fantasy Football Review – Gameweek 13

The J-League is in danger of becoming terribly predictable as Hal’s Allstars top the league for the fifth week in a row, while Joe’s Journeymen continue to flirt with mid-table obscurity.

By Conor Heneghan

Is Gareth Bale now the best player in the world? Given that the Welsh wonderkid scored with a header at the weekend, it would now seem that he has all the skills required to compete with Messi and Ronaldo for the title as the world’s greatest.

We at JOE, however, don’t believe that for a second. Sure he’s good, but the hype machine went into overdrive following two admittedly magnificent displays against Inter Milan, with pundits queuing up to fawn over a man that was second choice left back as recently as last season.

The reality, however, is that in his bread and butter, the Premier League, Bale had been average enough before his double against Blackburn on Saturday. After a great start, Bale scored only 25 fantasy points in ten games, despite playing 90 minutes in every Premier League game this season.

Managers who kept faith in Bale, however, were rewarded with a massive 18-point haul this weekend after two goals, an assist and three bonus points against Sam Allardyce’s side. It was also a good day for our recommendation as captain, Rafael van der Vaart, who failed to score at home for the first time this season, but still scored ten points thanks to two assists and two bonus points.

The team performance of the weekend was undoubtedly Sunderland, who completely outplayed champions Chelsea on their own turf. Two of their players, Nedum Onuoha and Danny Wellbeck (below), on loan from Manchester City and Manchester United respectively, featured in the dream team this week.

Nedum Onuoha and Danny Wellbeck both hit the net against Chelsea

Onuoha’s wonder goal, coupled with a clean sheet, earned him 12 points, while Wellbeck’s goal and three bonus points helped him to nine in total. Speaking of wonder goals, Bolton’s Johan Elmander also landed nine points thanks to ridiculously good goal against Wolves, which was probably enough on its own to earn the three bonus points.

Elmander’s teammate Stuart Holden contributed ten points after also finding the net against Wolves, for whom Matt Jarvis also scored ten points after two assists and two bonus points. Jarvis has been excellent for Mick McCarthy’s side this season with two goals, three assists and ten bonus points and is definitely worth a look at only £5.3 million.

Elsewhere, Wigan pair Charles N’Zogbia (9) and Antolin Alcaraz (8) featured prominently this week, while Birmingham’s Roger Johnson earned nine points for leading the defensive effort against Manchester City at Eastlands.

The J-League

There’s very little surprise at the top of the J-League as Shane Halligan’s Hal’s AllStars remain at the top of the pile for the fifth week in succession, astonishing consistency in a world gone mad. It was another solid weekend for Shane with 53 points after Spurs trio Gareth Bale (18), Rafael van der Vaart (10) and Peter Crouch (6) contributed 34 points between them.

Peter Byrne’s Hand of Frog have moved up to second on 688 points after 51 points, while John Murphy’s Team of Gary Breens are seven points further back in third spot. Keith Donnelly’s UpDown FC make their first appearance in the top five after a cracking 72 points, while Dermot Groarke’s Table Toppers, the early pace-setters in the J-League, complete the top five.

Joe’s Journeymen continue to be haunted by mid-table obscurity, although an impressive 62 points at the weekend saw us jump six places to the dizzying heights of 34th. We’re determined to be in the top ten by Christmas and will rely on tactical mastermind Robert Carry to start us on the right road this weekend.

J-League Top 5:

1. Hal’s Allstars – Shane Halligan: 697 points
2. Hand of Frog! – Peter Byrne: 688 points
3. Team of Gary Breens – John Murphy: 681 points
4. UpDown FC – Keith Donnelly: 680 points
5. Table Toppers – Dermot Groarke: 678 points