There's something uniquely depressing about being awake since 8.15 this morning, caught in deep and solemn contemplation. Alas, that is the plight of many Fantasy Football addicts.
Despite a distinctly average week I've somehow found myself in a fairly strong position; 18th in the Balls.ie league, and 657th overall in Ireland. At this stage last year I was in a similar position, but to quote Will Shakespeare, I then 'lost the arse'.
One of the main catalysts of my demise is raising his ugly head yet again – trying to lure me with sweets and promises of assist after assist. His name is Barry Bannan.
Obviously he wouldn't be my star player, or even a regular starter; but for £4.9m he is a good option as a 5th midfielder. Especially for a man trying to free up cash to buy more Pritt Stick for a defence which had been falling apart since late August.
The problem with the bowld Barry is that he convinced me of the same thing last year, and I invested. Now I'm well aware that you can often get caught out with injury or a manager inexplicably dropping a player straight after you've bought him, but I awoke the next morning to find Bannan was after being arrested for drink-driving. The goon crashed into the central reservation of a motorway without even a seconds thought for his safety, or the ramifications he would cause for my Fantasy Football team! Hence I'm more than apprehensive about taking him under my wing again this season.
Are there any other cheap midfield options out there?
The case for a good defence
With Arsenal playing Chelsea, and Man United against Tottenham, many of us will see a good few of our players tied up in those two games. It's almost a lose-lose situation, so the man who has the best squad of players from more mediocre sides could rule the weekend.
Barring Michu, Fellaini, and the emergence of Demba Ba and Steven Fletcher in recent weeks, it has been tough to find any trend setters amongst the lesser teams. For the time being we could be best served taking a look at the match-ups and hedging bets on who might keep a clean sheet. That brings me to yet another Aston Villa player – Ciaran Clark
It's either a feast or a famine with this lad. A couple of weeks ago, during a discussion on our FPL liveblog I put forward the argument that he might be the best Irish fantasy player in the league. Fast forward to last weekend and the eejit goes and scores an own goal and concedes four. His record now reads: -3, 11, 7, -2.
A man worth having, or is there value elsewhere?
Captain choice
It's a fairly straight forward question this week; do you go with a sneaky shout from the mid-table teams, or are you ballsy enough to call one of the two big matches, and hand the likes of Hazard, or RVP the armband?
Man City are an option, but Mancini seems to have decided he doesn't like Carlos Tevez again. So while they sort out the differences he's a no go for captain choice. On the other hand Yaya Toure could the man to take up the mantle, or even a cheeky Dzeko.
Elsewhere I'm liking the look of Fellaini and Mirallas for Everton, Fletcher for Sunderland, or even Jon Walters for Stoke City, who are at home to Swansea.
Who will you be making captain? I'm caught between having faith in RVP to deliver, or going with the Maraoune Fellaini's hair.
END NOTE: After all this transfer talk I've just remembered that I've no goalkeeper. Bollocks!
