Fantasy Football Review – Gameweek 14

Shane Halligan has extended his lead to sixteen points at the top of the J-League after Gameweek 14, while it was a good week for Joe’s Journeymen.

By Conor Heneghan

This weekend was one of those weekends in fantasy football where there was massive potential to register big scores, thanks to the amount of goals scored (34) and the fact that many of those goals were scored by defenders, or players that are established fantasy performers so far this season.

In fact, the dream team in the league this weekend scored a monumental 154 points and while it was nigh on impossible to scale such heady heights, scores around the 100 mark were definitely achievable. The chances of doing so were drastically increased if you had one of the aforementioned established performers such as Carlos Tevez (16 points), Kevin Davies (16), Johan Elmander (15) or Rafael van der Vaart (15) as your captain.

Davies and Elmander destroyed the Newcastle defence and played a part in all of Bolton’s five goals as the Trotters surged, albeit briefly, to nose-bleed territory in the top four. Elmander is now the top scoring striker in the league on 86 points, with Davies 11 further back on 75.

Tevez, meanwhile, was highly influential as Manchester City returned to form in some style against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Two goals, an assist and three bonus points was Tevez’s lot for the weekend and he trails Elmander by a single point as the second highest scoring striker in the league.

The flying Dutchman

As for Van der Vaart, we had tipped the Dutchman as a must-have when Tottenham were playing at home, but he fast becoming a must have full stop. Van der Vaart scored 15 points after a goal, two assists and three bonus points against arch-rivals Arsenal on Saturday. Like Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard in previous years, Van der Vaart is consistently delivering high scores week on week and is still very affordable at £8.4 million, a far cry from the £14 million Ronaldo used to cost at his peak.

Van der Vaart is fast becoming a must have in every fantasy team

As far as the defenders are concerned, Manchester United may have struggled badly against nine-man Wigan at Old Trafford, but it was a good week for Rafael and Patrice Evra who both scored 12 points after a goal for Evra, an assist for Rafael and a clean sheet for both.

Manchester City’s Pablo Zabaleta also scored 12 points after a goal and assist against Fulham, while all three were trumped by the under-fire Liverpool defender Glen Johnson, who managed 15 points after a goal, a clean sheet and three bonus points against a limp West Ham at Anfield.

Special mention must go to Morten Gamst Pedersen, who scored his third and fourth goals of the month against Aston Villa to net 16 points and Ben Foster, who kept Chelsea at bay with a heroic performance between the sticks for Birmingham against Chelsea.

Our own Jonathan Walters, meanwhile, scored two goals and three bonus points against West Brom to help him to 14 points. Better yet, despite often playing as a striker, Walters is down as a midfielder and therefore earns a point extra for goals scored and is also eligible for a bonus point for a clean sheet.

The J-League

The reign of Shane Halligan’s Hal’s Allstars continues as he increased the gap to 15 points after an impressive 78 points. Keith Donnelly’s UpDown FC are in second on 755, with Peter Byrne’s Hand of Frog two points further back in third.

The biggest mover of the week was Gavin Groarke’s Ihadhimascaptain, who rocketed up to fourth after 88 points, while John Murphy’s Team of Gary Breens complete the top five.

Steady as a rock Robert Carry steered Joe’s Journeymen to 27th in the league after a pretty decent 70 points thanks to the likes of Carlos Tevez, Rafael van der Vaart and Ben Foster and while the top five remains a long way away, we remain confident that we’ll be in the mix come Christmas.

In the intensively competitive private league we have in JOE Towers, Conor Hogan’s Fourth Lanark are leading the way and thus he has been entrusted with ensuring that the unpredictable Joe’s Journeymen continue their surge up the table this weekend

J-League Top 5

1. Hal’s Allstars – Shane Halligan: 771 points
2. UpDown FC – Keith Donnelly: 755 points
3. Hand of Frog! – Peter Byrne: 753 points
4. Ihadhimascaptain – Gavin Groarke: 751 points
5. Team of Gary Breens – John Murphy: 750 points