Barclays Fantasy Football – Updated Starting Line-ups – Transfer Window

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nfortunately, the opening three weeks have been distinctly unfruitful for me in Barclays Fantasy Football. Rooney and Taylor (Neil) picked up injuries; Clark was sent off; and Kagawa and Hazard confounded my prediction that they would need a period of adjustment to the rough and tumble of the Premier League. Instead, Shinji and 'Azard' (I love the pronounciation; I imagine myself on a Stella Artois advert behaving in louche manner when I say it) have gone about their work like billy-o and established themselves as the principle inventive fulcrums for their two clubs.

These misfortunes have forced me into the desperate act of 'whacking out' my wildcard, which has given me no pleasure whatsoever as this is not something that should used readily. Certainly not after three weeks. Indeed, in my previous Barclays Fantasy Football seasons I played my wildcard around the 30-week mark. I felt forced to play it at this early juncture as, without losing points in transfers, I would have not reached my desired line-up until around the week 8 mark – a little too long to wait. Of course, I still hold myself in greater esteem than all those idiotic, short-termists who have already used their wildcard! 

Cue minor rant: if Barclays wanted their Fantasy Football competition to bear any resemblance to the realities of management they should cap the available transfers to five per season and dispense with wildcards altogether. I'm pretty sure that this protest would be in vain as Barclays Fantasy Football accurately mirrors its aggressive, macho, attention-span-of-a-gnat, investment culture which is unlikely to disappear overnight despite the ejection of Bob 'Jog On Modesty and Restraint' Diamond. Perhaps that was not a minor rant, but it was a cathartic experience for me. Thank you for indulging me if you have continued reading.

The Wildcard: Before and After

Before I joined the ranks of the hoi polloi (those football followers who accept the banal, unchallenging dross served by Match of the Day pundits and the cosy ex-professional footballer community) and used my wildcard, my Barclays Fantasy Football squad took the following form:

Goalkeepers: Cech; Green

Defenders: A.Cole; Koscielny; Fabio; Clark; Gunter

Midfielders: Cazorla; Pienaar; N'Zogbia; Maloney; Guthrie

Strikers: Rooney; Torres; Tevez

Clearly with the benefit of three weeks’ hindsight I made a few mistakes in my selection, although I should add that I was always going to replace Cech with Hart and N'Zogbia with Ben Arfa in gameweeks two and three. My new, breath-taking squad is:

Goalkeepers: Hart; Henderson

Defenders: A.Cole; Gibbs; Cuellar; (Neil) Taylor; McCarthy

Midfielders: Cazorla; Kagawa; Ben Arfa; Maloney; Guthrie

Strikers: Tevez; Torres; Jelavic

The Dibbly Dobblers updated line-up

Starting in goal I picked Joe Hart because I wanted a Man City player in my back four (when I say back four I mean goalkeeper plus three defenders as I play a 3-4-3 formation). As Hart and Kompany are the only two 'nailed on' starters in Man City's backline with the full backs rotating, and Lescott will rotate with Nastasic, I picked Hart over Kompany as he is £0.5m cheaper. Hart should start every game for Man City if fit, so I went for the best goalkeeper in the £4m bracket (none of whom start) which I reckon is Stephen Henderson of West Ham. Some of the other goalkeepers in the £4m bracket were not even third choice. I also dispensed with Robert Green as Julio Cesar will replace him as the QPR goalkeeper in due course.

I replaced Koscielny with Gibbs as a short term move. Ultimately, once Koscielny re-establishes himself in Arsenal's back four, which should not be much longer, I will be looking to switch Gibbs with Koscielny (I feel a little uncomfortable with Gibbs, given his injury record). I wanted an Arsenal defender in my team as they are undervalued and I ultimately expect Arsenal to finish in the top four with an improved defensive record.

I replaced Clark and Fabio because I overestimated the defensive solidity of Aston Villa and QPR. I think QPR will become better defensively as the season progresses and I might bring in Fabio again at a later date once the side eventually gels after the enormous influx of new arrivals. I replaced them with Cuellar and Neil Taylor. I would have picked Cuellar initially as Martin O'Neill's teams are always defensively mean, but I was unsure as to whether he would start for Sunderland. I picked Neil Taylor as Swansea will be okay defensively and he is (was) a guaranteed starter and contributes offensively. Unfortunately he has broken his ankle so I will be replacing him at the earliest opportunity. I replaced Gunter with McCartney (both £4m) because I think West Ham will be better defensively than Reading. I did not select McCartney initially as I doubted whether he would start at left back. Annoyingly, McCartney did not start for West Ham against Fulham because of injury, but if he does not regain fitness or regain his place quickly I will revert to Gunter. 

In midfield I brought in Kagawa for Pienaar. Pienaar is a great Fantasy player, but I wanted a Man Utd attacking player in my team as inevitably Man Utd will score plenty of goals this season. For my attacking Man Utd player I settled on Kagawa as from the opening two games it is pretty clear that Ferguson regards him as one of his key players. I omitted Kagawa initially not because I doubted his talent, but because I was concerned that with Rooney and Van Persie likely to start in tandem in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 when Rooney regains fitness, and Kagawa not being a natural central midfielder in a 4-4-2, I thought he might not be a regular starter. However, Man Utd's opening two games have demonstrated that Kagawa will start whether it be 'in the hole' behind Van Persie or Rooney as a lone striker; 'in the hole' in a 4-3-1-2; or starting out wide and drifting in like Pires in a 4-4-2. With Rooney injured and Van Persie very expensive at £13.2m, Kagawa represents the best value Man Utd attacking player. Nani should be omitted because he is not a guaranteed starter and Valencia does not play in an advanced enough position – hence his lack of goals – to merit selection.

Bringing in Kagawa for Pienaar meant that I had no attacking Everton players in my line-up which grieved me somewhat as Everton will have a strong season barring injuries. To keep an Everton representative in my squad, I therefore replaced Rooney with Jelavic (Everton's penalty taker) as he is Everton's joint best attacking player along with Pienaar and Fellaini (in his new advanced role).  Kevin Mirallas should do well too once he establishes himself in Everton's side although he might end up rotating with Steven Naismith who is also incisive and has improved Everton's attacking play.

I already had Torres as my Chelsea attacking player so I resisted the impulse to replace him with Hazard. Both will do well over the season if fit and should ultimately end up with similar points tallies so I decided to stick with Fernando.

My attacking roster of Cazorla, Kagawa, Ben Arfa, Maloney (exception), Torres, Tevez and Jelavic contains a member of each of the strongest current Premiership sides and is not overly reliant on a particular team having a strong week unlike most Fantasy Football teams who currently have Torres and Hazard. 

I do not have any Liverpool or Tottenham players as I do not expect Tottenham and Liverpool to have strong seasons, although Moussa Dembele at £6m is one to watch particularly if he plays 'in the hole' behind Adebayor. Adebayor should also be monitored as he picks up lots of points for assists, but at £9.5m is not cheap. Jelavic at £8.5m represents better value and should have more opportunities this season given Everton's greater penetration in attack. For Liverpool, Raheem Sterling is cheap at £4.5m but I would urge you not to pick him as a regular starter, as a 17-year old he is unlikely to start every game.

The other attacking players that I am monitoring outside of the strongest Premier League clubs are Berbatov for Fulham and Michu for Swansea. Depending on how the season progresses I might bring in Michu and Berbatov.

Predicted Starting Line-ups Post Transfer Window

Now that the transfer window with its accompanying Sky Sports’ “football, football, football” cretinism and hype is mercifully behind us, and the top-flight managers have set out their respective line-ups and formations, I have had a stab at formulating the starting line-ups that I think would be selected if each manager had a fully fit squad to choose from:

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Arteta, Diaby; Cazorla, Wilshere, Podolski; Giroud (Podolski will probably have several outings in the lone front role with Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain filling in for him out wide).

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Guzan (I think Lambert might dump Given who is looking rather shaky these days); Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Bennett; Ireland, El Ahmadi, Westwood/Bannan; Benteke, Bent, Agbonlahor.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Lampard; Moses (Oscar should start in the attacking trident at some stage), Hazard, Mata; Torres.

Everton (4-2-3-1): Howard; Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Osman, Gibson (Gibson is injured and Neville will probably move into the defensive central midfield birth with Hibbert playing at right back.  The much vaunted Ross Barkley should also feature in central midfield); Mirallas/Naismith; Fellaini, Pienaar; Jelavic.

Fulham (4-4-1-1): Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise; Duff, Diarra, Richardson, Kacaniklic (yes, I had to check the spelling)/Ruiz; Berbatov; Rodallega.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Allen, Lucas (is currently injured so he won't play for a while), Gerrard/Sahin; Borini, Suarez, Sterling (presumably Shelvey and Downing will have to play as Sterling cannot be expected to play every game as a 17-year-old).

Man City (4-2-3-1): Hart; Maicon, Kompany, Lescott/Nastasic, Clichy; Garcia, Y.Toure; Nasri, Tevez, Silva; Aguero (the best starting XI I think most people would agree).

Man Utd (4-4-1-1): De Gea; Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley, Kagawa (he will not play as a conventional left winger, more in the Pires role); Rooney; Van Persie.

Newcastle (4-2-3-1): Krul; Simpson, S.Taylor, Coloccini, Santon; Cabaye, Tiote; Gutierrez, Ben Arfa, Ba; Cisse.

Norwich (4-4-2): Ruddy; R.Martin, Bassong, Turner, Garrido; Snodgrass, Howson, Johnson/Tetty, Pilkington/Surman; Holt, Jackson (Norwich will also play 4-4-1-1 at certain points in the season with Jackson being replaced with Snodgrass who will play 'in the hole' and Surman or E.Bennett replacing Snodgrass in midfield).

QPR (4-2-3-1): Cesar; Bosingwa, Ferdinand/M'bia, Nelsen, Fabio; Diakite/M'Bia, Granero/Faurlin; Wright-Phillips, Taarabt, Park; Zamora (the QPR line-up is a work in progress!).

Reading (4-5-1): Federici; Gunter, Gorkss (Mariappa should feature at some stage), Pearce, Harte; Kebe, Karacan, Leigertwood, Guthrie, McCleary; Pogrebnyak.

Southampton (4-2-3-1): K.Davis; Clyne, Fonte/Yoshida, Hooiveld, Fox; Schneiderlin, S.Davis/Ward-Prowse; Rodriguez, Lallana, Ramirez; Lambert.

Stoke (4-4-2): Begovic; Shotton/Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson; Kightly/Pennant, N'Zonzi, Adam, Etherington; Walters, Crouch.

Sunderland (4-4-1-1): Mignolet; Bardsley (currently injured)/Gardner, Cuellar/Brown (currently injured), O'Shea, Rose/Colback; Johnson, Larsson, Cattermole, McClean; Sessegnon; Fletcher.

Swansea (4-2-3-1): Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies (Neil Taylor has been ruled out for the season; Britton, De Guzman/Ki; Dyer, Michu, Hernandez; Graham.

Tottenham (4-4-1-1): Lloris; Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Bale; Sigurdsson (I am uncertain whether Dembele or Sigurdsson will start in the advanced role for Tottenham this season); Adebayor.

West Brom (4-2-3-1): Foster; Reid/Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell/Popov; Yacob, Mulumbu; Odemwingie, Morrison, Fortune/Brunt; Long.

West Ham (4-5-1): Jaaskelainen; Demel, Reid, Collins/Tomkins, McCartney; Jarvis, Diame, Noble, Nolan, Vaz Te; Carroll (currently injured).

Wigan (3-4-3): Al Habsi; Ramis/Alcaraz, Caldwell, Figueroa/Ramis; Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour (currently injured); Kone, Di Santo, Maloney.

And there you have it. I'm feeling better this week as Cazorla has just converted his good play into points with Arsenal's 0-2 win at Anfield – watch his £9m valuation shoot up. If you don't have him in your team then quite frankly you are a nincompoop.

Pip pip.