As we reach the midway point of this years Premiership season in England, I will try to give you my thoughts and advice on the greatest fantasy football game in the world, the official Barclays Premier League Fantasy Premier League 2008/2009. It can be found at http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ .

First…a little background:

The largest fantasy football league of its type in the world with almost 1.8 million participants, it is also the best, in my humble opinion. The site has a great flow and is simple to use but can be as difficult as one may want it to be. Also it has that great component that all fantasy football players want, it can be addictive.

Currently, there are over 135,000 organized private mini-leagues worldwide with my favorite mini-league, Fantasy Zolo, organized and run by the Sons of Ben. Fantasy Zolo currently sits in place number 56,162 overall, a mid-table effort if I say so myself, and its leader is your generous and sometimes “humble” writer. My team is SoBphillyHarchester*. You can search for my team and take a look at it, I don’t mind, and see if you can find some ideas that may help your club.

General advice:

The rules are simple enough and can be found here http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/rules.mc . A few tips from my experience in the game.

Always be willing to make a change in your lineup: being aggressive is always rewarded.

Never have 2 players from the same team in a formation row: i.e. don’t have 2 ManU players in defense together, or in the midfield or in attack. That will kill you if you get an unexpected result like last week when Spurs kept a clean sheet against United at the Lane.

Be wary of going negative: The 2nd transfer you make into your team each week deducts 4 points from your total. Once you start deficit spending with your team points, it becomes a hard habit to break. It is a marathon of 38 weeks so make your changes wisely.

Remember the WildCard: If you get really behind in the game, the wildcard feature allows you to transfer as many players as you want in one Gameweek with no points deductions for those transfers. A great tool if you want to start over from scratch but the WildCard can be used only once per season so use it wisely.

Captains are key: Your captain’s score is doubled each week. It is very easy to get comfortable with a captain out of habit or because he is a favorite player, etc. but it is best to review who will get your armband each week and give it to whoever has the best weekly matchup and best chance for a high score.
Watch the match schedule: Home versus away is always key to a team’s form. Also be aware, especially during this time of year, of what teams are playing in the Champions League & UEFA Cup and most importantly what clubs are playing twice due to fixture congestion.

Season so far:

A few thoughts on performances at the halfway point of the season.

Worst Buy: Robbie Keane (Liverpool) gets the nod over David Bentley (Tottenham), Carlos Tevez (ManU) and others. With only 2 goals (against West Brom) and 45 points so far, he has been a disaster for players that took him to be an everyday scorer and God forbid, a captain. A price drop from 9£m to 8.4£m in just one-half season says it all.

Best Surprise Buy: For me, Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea) wins out over Zaki (Wigan), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) and Mark Schwarzer (Fulham). We knew Bosingwa would get first team football at Chelsea under Manager Phil Scolari but no one expected 5 bonus points and 104 points overall from such a solid defender.

Best team (defense only): Fulham. Who would have thought that halfway through the campaign that Craven Cottage would be home to the league best defense with only 12 goals allowed with six clean sheets? Defenders Hangeland, Paintsil, Hughes, Konchesky, are cheap buys and have performed heroically for Fulham and a worth a transfer for any game player. Remember, 4 points for a clean sheet per defender.

This week (Match Day 18)

Fixtures: Only 9 matches this week. No ManU or Wigan due to United playing in Japan in the FIFAWorld Club Cup (where Philly MLS will be playing in 2018 I predict…but I digress). It’s time to sit the ManU & Wigan lads & maybe look to transfer out any of their players that have underperformed for you. Remember, this gives United a second makeup match for later this season (the first is away to Fulham). I like ManCity this week to score a bunch against away to West Brom. I would recommend staying away from the Arsenal v Liverpool match as that will be a tight one; maybe even scoreless.

Players to watch:

ManCity’s Robinho, Wright-Phillips, Ireland and Hart because of the opponent West Brom.

Stoke’s DeLap is back healthy again ready to challenge a distressed Blackburn side with his deadly throw-ins.

Agbonlahor & Young of Aston Villa. If you don’t have them in your team now…what are you waiting for? They are hot & still great buys for the price.

Mark Schwarzer of Fulham. This good, cheap keeper with a great defense is still only 4.2£m

Players to drop:

ManU’s Ronaldo: Love him or hate him, at 14.6£m he is just too expensive and ruins the salary cap flexibility.

Chelsea’s Deco: With only 3 goals (2 in the first 2 weeks back in August) to date this is not what was expected from the attacking midfielder. I agree with most other managers around the world…it is time for him to go.

Wigan’s Amr Zaki: A great value as the Egyptian striker rose from 6£m to a high of 7.2£m earlier in the year but injury has slowed him. I think now is a good time to sell and lock in your gains on the transfer. Consider buying him back if he gets transferred to Liverpool in January.

My moves:

Yes, my moves are listed here as well and I am taking my own advice. I am selling Zaki at 6.9£m and buying Hull City’s Marlon King for 6.3£m. I like King’s form and upside for a price increase for the rest of the season. I can’t believe that I now have 2 Hull City players in my squad…What is the world coming to? Remember you aren’t married to your lineup and can always ship players out to lock in gains and get some salary cap relief, like I just did.

Next week:

Boxing Day fixture congestion to consider as double matches are the norm for all clubs. Next week, I’ll be a little less wordy, a bit more in depth, and cover more players to consider and those to buy for the long term. Thanks for reading…Be good.