The January Wildcard

There are two Wildcards available in the season. One is only available in January. The other can be played at any other time in the season. Neither is compulsory, but as a means of making transfers freely (no points penalty for changing the whole squad or less) it is worth doing unless you are super-pleased with your team.

On the PL Fantasy website click on Help, Frequently Asked Questions then scroll down to Wildcards. The section reads as follows:

You can play 2 wildcards a season.One wildcard can be played at any time. The January Wildcard can only be used after Gameweek 20 starts (1 Jan 11:30) until Gameweek 23 ends.

Wildcards are played on the transfers page but aren't active until you have confirmed the transfers.

It is worth looking at the FAQ yourself for more detail and/or Rules where there are more explanations.

The Allotments League

Related articles

• The Fantasy Football Watchlist - Gameweek 20

8 teams with more than a thousand points

Half the season is over. 19 more gameweeks to go!

8 teams have grossed 1000+ - the first time so many teams have gone so fast in TBG. They all have a great chance of making 2000+ if Suarez keeps on scoring  (Only an Assist this week - but he does not play against Chelsea every week).

Personally, yesterday I was so pleased to see him so often sitting on his backside on the pitch looking up for help. And I only saw the last half hour of the match on TV (Liverpool v Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Sunday 28/12/13)!

Coleman the Everton full back is a revelation this season with his 5 goals plus bonuses, etc bringing him more points than all but 3 of the Forwards so far.

The Dynamos had the highest total of the week bringing Barbara up to 2nd place. Well done.

Did you notice the rare draw in the Allotments results?

More later on the Wildcard that must be played in January....

Related articles

• Luis Suarez gave Branislav Ivanovic a cheeky wink pre Chelsea 2 - Liverpool 1 [Picture]

Christmas Day message from Elojo

Copy of email sent to us all
 A very Happy Christmas to you all & particularly to our Head Muckraker for holding us all together. Better wish Suarez a bite free Xmas too since he seems to be our major points earner.

I think dear David (Spencer) must have gone AWOL last week....he had 6 players not available! Don't give up on me Dave. Pete Holland (Toni's bruvver) seems to have got the hang of things...bit too well for my liking. Perhaps he will tell us the hidden meaning of Alandhandi or whatever he calls himself. Not forgetting another Pete (Pete Jones) who is powering up the table having given us all a 2 game start.....bit worrying!

Perhaps the only way for us lesser compost bugs to real in the leaders is for Suarez to have another bout of red mist.

Again have a great Xmas

From Elojo.....(sent from an alien's iPad) a very small bug living at the bottom of the compost heap.

 From Head Muckraker: I was thinking about buying Suarez. Anybody else not got him? Joanne, maybe?
>

Gameweek 18 leagues; and LOOK OUT....the next 3 gameweeks come thick and fast

Little Ted Utd reaches 1000 points within the first half of the season so they should make 2000+ perhaps with 3 or 4 others if the Suarez phenomenon continues.

One glorious goal

It was during a match in the Christmas period four years ago. I called it a towering experience.

It was snowing and in the second half I got a bit drowsy. I woke up in time for the great goal.

Guess who scored it. Which  player needed only a slight chance to score? (Suarez was not in the Premier League at that time, of course)

There is already a clue above. Here's another: Alice Band.

Click here to find out

Gameweek 16 league positions and a Super score!

Super Rams climb from 16th to 12th with a score of 90, while a higher score of 92 allowed Little Ted Utd's Trainer (Trainor) to nip back to the top of the TBG league again after 10 weeks hanging close.

With Suarez as captain you got 44 points from just one player! Therein lies last week's leader(Toni)'s  mistake. This week she changed to Aguero as captain and thereby lost 34 points (Aguero had only 5 x 2). Anyone else do that?

I did suggest that we all bought Suarez and Aguero!
League positions would then depend on the relative performances of the other members of our teams. It would still be possible for the leaders of TBG to be overtaken if Suarez, at least, was neutralised in this way and provided that several other players were not also held in common. There are 22 Gameweeks left.

In the Allotments, Little Ted Utd win their fixture by 29 points while Colin Bell win theirs by 2. Great fun in that league.

Total goals = 30, as many as 50% of them away.

7 clean sheets. 4 home wins, 4 draws.
The end

No camping allowed - Gameweek 15, only 23 left.

[en] camping, tent (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Christmas present for Toni - a tent?

At the top for the second week running, she may just camp there! Like she did for the run-in last season. Little (No) Wonders have increased their lead to 8 points from that other 'Little connection with  Newcastle United' team with not one Newcastle UniTed team player in it.

26 goals, 15 at home.
Only 4 clean sheets, average is 6.7
4 home wins, 3 draws.
The usual lottery in the Allotments. I win with 38 points, Elojo loses with 55.

Keep trying. Don't get found out.
The end for this week.

"They've got Personality, Personality, Personality ......" (Gameweek 14)

Chelsea v Arsenal (Photo credit: sarflondondunc)

13 of our league teams are teams of some personality - meaning that each includes 3 of the squad from one Premier League team.

There is nothing in the Premier Fantasy League rules that says that we have to do this. (We need not expect first season managers to do it unless they had played the Fantasy League game before in another league.) 

Ideally the 3 footballers should be strong contenders who would play regularly in a manager's team.

3 Tiger Balm Garden members have Everton players and 3 have Chelsea. 

2 members have Arsenal players and 2 have Man City. 

2 have Southampton players and 1 member has Liverpool players. 

Thanks to one of our members who suggested the 3 player idea.

Match Ticket (see photo)
The 1991 Chelsea v Arsenal (a top class fixture) ticket for behind the goal in the home supporters' end would cost how much today? 

No wonder - have you seen her team? (Gameweek 14)

So Suarez got four goals and made at least 8 managers very happy - restoring the No Wonders to the top of the table and vastly improving things for others with the same player as captain.

Lots of goals, 33, 1 less than the maximum so far this season. One more Away win than Home win with 1 draw made an unusual pattern. 6 clean sheets.

The end

No change at the top

Sergio "Kun" Aguero (Photo credit: 917press)

Florence Dynamos is still top of the heap despite one of the 7 scores lower than 50.
But El Fandi pushes past her in the Allotments.

29 goals for the third time this season, the second highest total of the season. Last week's 34 was the highest total and has occurred twice. There was only one away win and two draws. 7 clean sheets.
The season is now one third completed.

Have a look at Foxes with 5 defenders.
If only captain Aguero had scored then John would have had a hatful of points. And the same if either Nasri or Ramsey had been captain. But we have all been in that position perhaps.

However, if Aguero had scored then the Dynamos would have increased their lead at the top!!

Wagging his tail is BouWow with a total of 71!

Gameweek 12: Barbara has a great...

Colin Bell (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

...lead in the Gardens. Her Florence Dynamos with 92 and Colin Bell (it's a team name!) with 93 brought the former to the top position with a lead of 28 points from Little Ted Utd.

Barbara will take a bit of catching now.

I remember that Chi Strollers, Ed's team, started the season with a score of 91.

I would need to check to be sure if that was the previous highest of the season.

Any score in the nineties is likely to be once in a season. I hope it is my turn next.

 Below is the Allotments table: Dynamos in the lead there too. (The lady is double trouble)

Bad luck for El Fandi with a score of 64 in the Allotments. It would have beaten 11 other teams in our league but was faced with an opponent with 93 points.

34 goals, 20 by home teams, and 5 clean sheets made plenty of points available.
Only 4 home wins, with 3 aways and 3 draws.

Send your comments to me by email and I will add them to the blog. More later.

The end

Facts and figures: Gameweek 11

Home goals 20, Away 8, Total 28 made a high scoring week. We have had 2 x 29 and this was the second time with 28.

6 home wins and 3 draws, 1 away win.

There were 6 goals in the Swansea v Stoke match, the only draw of the week. The next highest was Southampton 4 Hull 1.

Teams that did not score any goals: Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Spurs, Man City (v Sunderland!!) and Arsenal.

Do you remember how to find this page (in the screen shot above)?
On this page showing your players' points and match results below - you can click on any match to find the allocation of points including bonuses.

If you do this while on the Transfers page you will be able to see the player totals on the same page.

You will notice that Aguero is well on the way to exceed 200 points for the season. Suarez is only 20 points behind but with 5 fewer matches played!!

Comments
1. Strategic Advice: we should all buy Suarez and Aguero.
2. Look out for the team in the TBG with both Suarez and Van Persie in it. I am definitely worried about this team. It is just below me in the Gardens.
3. Interesting Fact?Flocante is the stuff you put in your swimming pool to make the debris sink to the bottom.

The end

Anyone want to swap shirts with me? Or talk balls?

The end

The Highest Point of the Week (Gameweek 11, league tables)

English: Allotment Gardens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Highest Point in the Gardens was on the back of Super Rams: 81 points high. Well done, Captain!*

Would anyone like to do a check on the highest points score of the season so far? Probably the quickest way to do it would be to skip through the Allotment league tables on the blog. You would have to do it with the Allotments league as the Gardens table does not show the net total - with points deducted for additional transfers.

The 3 teams at the top are the same with the leader still Little Ted Utd. Only 3 points separate these clashing Titans.
(Two of these Titans have very modest names but I'll stick with Titans for effect)

What a TV Gamefest on Sunday afternoon with 3 consecutive matches all on Sky! The first time I have known it happen.

At the top of the Allotments El Fandi is still in front with Elojo moving up.

We have a two week wait for Gameweek 12 which starts on 23rd November. 

The stats for Gameweek 11 will be posted later. 
 (* Captain of Javea International Tennis Club at La Sella Tennis, Costa Blanca)

Related articles

• Premier League Sunday, Gameweek 11: Open Thread

The End

Tidying-up Gameweek 10 plus Goalkeepers

Gameweek 10 

Home Goals of which Man City scored 7 = 17      (Poor Ruddy Norwich Goalie)

Away goals = 4 (Therefore total goals = 21, the third lowest of the 10 Gameweeks)

Clean sheets = 10

And our first Tiger Balm Gardens goalkeeper to score.

Just minutes after the k.o. Begovich picked up the ball and kicked it upfield. It flew over the heads of all the 20 players between the two goalkeepers. The Southampton keeper (Boruc, with top points in our Fantasy Game) had advanced well out into the penalty area. The ball hit the pitch some yards in front of him, and carried by the strong wind, ballooned over his head to open (and finish) the scoring for Stoke. Southampton eventually equalised. 

Artur Boruc (born 20 February 1980 in Siedlce) is a Polish footballer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A blow to their defensive record!

And Flocante Furies got 6 points for a defender's goal scored by goalkeeper, Begovich.

Related articles

• Q&A -

Who is better than average in the Gardens? (Gameweek 10)

After 10 games it is easy for us to see directly from the league table each average score per gameweek. At the top Little Ted United has a total of 555 and therefore an average of 55.5 points per week. Little Wonders has 547 and therefore 54.7, etc.

Here is the interesting bit: I'mSoCool.. has an average of 52.2 which would make Nigel 4th!!
Nigel missed the first two weeks, therefore divide his total by 8.

Super Rams would move up two places to 16th. Peter missed the first week.

Let's all keep moving.

So who is above average in the Gardens?
Anxious to avoid Arithmetic, you could say that every team above 10th is above average. (18 teams in our league)
However, remembering that El-Fandi is 4th, then the eight teams above 9th plus El-Fandi would be above average.
QED.
(It means Queue up Everyone Down there)
(Including me)

And now put your big boots on for the Allotments league:

El Fandi has fanned his way to the top by a whisper. (Fans don't have whiskers)
Lucky Elojo has eyeballed a win with only 37 points.

The end

From a Jack to a King?

 Aguero was his Ace. And Barbara's too.

 Who am I referring to?

Answer: The manager of Little Ted United - who moved from 4th to 1st this gameweek.

However, he may not be there for long even though it is a team of some quality with 3 Southampton defenders in it. The top three are within 9 points.

But why no Newcastle players, Steve? They were good enough to beat Chelsea this gameweek.

Related articles

• Stats focus: Aguero v Suarez - who is better?

Singing the blues?

Leighton Baines of Everton F.C. getting ready to throw in against Fulham F.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chelsea lost to Newcastle and so the managers of Si Si Songs, Floculante Furies and (Anyone else with 3 Chelsea players?) could well be feeling depressed this morning.

 But it all depends on how Everton, another blue team, fare this afternoon. Baines, Lukaku, Barkley of Everton are popular choices as are Sigurdsson and Soldado of Spurs. Their performances will affect the final appearance of our league table in Gameweek 10.

Team names
ManChesthair Utd
NiceToMichu
are both teams in a Public Head to Head league on my FL webpage.

Tit-bits (not what you think) Gameweek 9

English: Fernando Torres playing for Chelsea F.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tit-bits to Gameweek 9

Total goals 23 (10 of them in two matches) (6th highest of the 9 weeks). 8 clean sheets ( 3rd highest).

At the mid-point of the next Gameweek (No 10) we will have completed 25% of our Fantasy Game for 2013-14 season.
QED

Fernando's - no longer in Hideaway?

Gameweek 9: Does anyone have Torres?

Español: El Fandi, Tercio de Quites, en Corpus Christi. Feria de Granada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No change given by the top two in the Gardens.

The leader of the Allotments is now Little BLOOMING Wonders with the same wins as HelloJoAllStars but with a higher overall points  score (I wish I had something blooming in the Allotments .... or the Gardens)

Top scores: a bullish 78 for El Fandi, and Super Rams 75, Dynamos 71 and Li.....there is another team with 70.

Allotments league: the usual tricky results with 49 points scoring a win and a score of 59 losing.

Does anyone have Torres in their squad?

League tables below.