Fantasy Premier League

I had to post on this. I literally couldn't resist doing it.

I normally enter fantasy football competitions (*description at end for uninitiated) and take some crazy gamble on a newcomer. One of my key players gets injured and I'm out of the running for anything by November. Last year I went on Fantasy Premier League and found a game where you could make transfers, choose a captain, rotate subs and deal in the market with fluctuating player values. In short, it's much more proactive than typical pick your team and hope versions.

Anyway, last year proved to be something of a learning curve. by the time I had anything resembling a strategy, I was playing catch up on people who barely changed their team but had managed to pick Henry, Johnson and Defoe up front early doors. By the end I had an idea though.

This season started disastrously. I gambled on Fowler picking up points in week 1 by making him captain. Fowler, apparently, was injured and didn't play. The rest of my team stuttered through and I was bottom of our mates' league. I made three changes (one per week is 'free', every othe costs you 4 points~one goal for a striker) in a bid to try and resurrect my team and man, it really worked!

In September, I was in the top ten point scorers (oout of 640,000) in teh whole game and my form has continued through October. I am currently in the top 250 with bonus points likely to boost me this week. It's ridiculous how proud I am of this achievement but hooray for me.

Even better, I'm going away to Canada on Sunday so as long as I don't collapse at the weekend, I can point to how amazing I would have done if only I'd carried on. YEAS!


* Fantasy football: You play Premiership manager and pick a team/squad of Premiership players who are awarded for their performances in the real Premiership. For instance, if Lampard scores a goal for Chelsea and you have him in your team, you are awarded points for a midfielder scoring a goal. You are typically constrained by a budget to buy players with better players being more expensive and 'poorer' players cheaper.