Football Friends Online – When 90 Mins Is Not EnoughFantasy Football: No Country For Bold Men - Football Friends Online - When 90 Mins Is Not Enough Fantasy Football: No Country For Bold Men - Football Friends Online - When 90 Mins Is Not Enough

Fantasy Football: No Country For Bold Men

FOR many, the start of the Premiership football season is enought to whet the footballing appetite. For others, their footballing feast must come wih a side of fantasy. It’s that time of the year when football aficionados everyhwere desperately throw themselves at the unforgiving feet of the fantasy football league.

It might be a pleasurable pastime to add suspense to the weekend fixtures, (and they need it sometimes), but it also reflects the sterile nature of some of the elite league’s games. What is meant by this is that nearly every player will pick almost exactly the same team in the pursuit of the immortal glory that is topping the fantasy football table. This is no country for bold men. Safe picks are the order of the day, players that will gauarantee your team the points, rather than trying to identify those unpolished gems that sparkle ever brighter as the season goes on. If one were to look at any fantasy football team, they would see the same names crop up time and again. Players like Rooney, Nani, Silva, Vidic, Bent, all players that the masses of competitors turn to in the quest to avoid humiliation in front of workmates or friends.

The fantasy football tables encompass three basic bands of entrants. The first band, to be found at the top of the table, are those that enter with the sole intention of putting together a glamour side that even the riches of Man City couldn’t assemble, with weaker players sporadically thrown in to ensure funds are freed for the illustrious names. The second band are those that dare to, well, dare really. These participants revel in the chance to try and pick out a few diamonds in the rough, as well as combining their “expert knowledge” of obscure fringe players that might get a chance in the season ahead. Occasionally these brave few strike gold and rocket to the top. Propping up the safety officers and the chancers is the third band. These people entered for a “bit of craic”, having never watched a game before. There’s a reason they’re down there and that’s enough said about that.

For this Fantasy Football fan, mid-table has become home after four weeks of playing. However, the team has started to move up the leagues bit by bit over the past few week, suggesting a slow burning winner or a gamble paying off. Or else the others have got it horribly wrong, when it first appeared right.  As Fergie once put it, “football, bloody hell eh?”.

The uncertainty of those rare gambles are what makes Fantasy Football so worthwhile. The joy of pulling a player seemingly from nowehere and watching him take your team to the top is unrivalled.  So here’s a guide to the staples that every team should have, the players that have a good chance of clocking up points and some wild gambles that may, (they probably won’t though), pay off.

Must haves: Rooney, Bent, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Nani, Young, Terry, Given, Suarez, Reina, Kompany.

Worth a shot: Shane Long, Anderson, Ryan Taylor, Shawcross, Hoilett, Gary Cahill, Taraabt, Matthew Jarvis, Larsson, Dempsey, Brunt.

Last throw of the dice: Cabaye, Hoolahan, Karl Henry, Tchoyi, Kranjcar.

Fantasy Football is perhaps one of the more entertaining ways to enjoy football, particularly if you’re not of the betting persuasion. It’s also a great way to expand your knowledge of Premiership players. However, it’s also cold, merciless and it’s left many a man sobbing on the living room floor, howling, ”Why?! Why did I do it?! Why did I pick Heskey?!”.

You have been warned.

Damien Edgar

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