For the forth straight year, my friends and I ran a EPL English Premier League Fantasy Draft-based League. A fantasy draft in an EPL fantasy league is hard to come by, so my friends and I just do the league on our own. It provides for good fun. See the draft review here. Actually, I'm the one running the league, I do all the stats and collect weekly line-ups. This provides me with a huge advantage as I see every play who scores, every player who has a clean sheet, and every player that gets an assist. This come up big in the early parts of the season and in the middle part of the season when players get benched or injured.
Bottom line, I won the league again. Let's take a look at the league.
Defense wins championships. I put together an amazing defense, drafting Edwin Van der Sar, Joe Hart, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jagielka, Silvain Distin, and Robert Huth. Bomb.
I would like to dedicate my championship to my midfield midseason pick-ups. I drafted Theo Walcott, and then a whole lot of nothing - Niko Kranjcar, Stephen Ireland, Shaun Wright-Philips, Steven N'Zonzi, and Mesut Ozil. Wow, pretty horrible. Throughout the course of the season, I picked up Ramires, Stuart Holden, Jordan Henderson, and lastly Thomas Hitzlesperger. Yes! Those midfielders along with my defense won me the championship.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
GK: Joe Hart 38 points (Jerry/Tony)
D: John Terry 62 points (Serg)
D: Ashley Cole 61 points (Tony)
D: Branislav Ivanovic 55 points (Carlo)
D: Vidic 51 points (Junkie)
M: Rafael van der Vaart 119 points (Raubert)
M: Ashley Young 74 points (Serg)
M: Nani 64 points (Dustin/Jerry)
M: Arshavin 58 points (Rory)
S: Carlos Tevez 166 points (Jerry/Dustin) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
S: Didier Drogba 127 points (Dustin/Jerry)
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti 15 points (Bryan)
Bench: Cech (Bryan), Zabaleta (Serg), Baines (Jerry/Worth), Fabregas (BJ), Kuyt (Dustin), Rooney (Tony), Robin Van Persie (Carlo/BJ)
Team-by-Team
BJ - Again, not picking players from Man U, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, and now Man City, yet somehow still challenging for the top spot until the last week, an impressive managerial display. Van Persie's hot streak helped him move up the table, along with Charles N'Zogbia and Asamoah Gyan pick-ups. Led the league in transfers - having everyone from Joey Barton to Landon Donovan to Steed Malbranque at one point.
Dustin - Last year's champ ended up third. Did his mid-season trade of Carlos Tevez for Didier Drogba cost him the league? I don't think so, but it would've put him much closer. Strong attacking lineup with Bent and Kuyt as well, but lack of a true scoring defender hurt him.
Raubert - Raubert, the league's inaugural winner 2008, came on very strong in the middle and end of the season, winning the Cup Competition. His early pick-ups of Peter Odemwingie and Rafael Van der Vaart turned out to be the best ones of the year.
Jerry - Started strong with Drogba killing at the start of the season and then picked up Tevez to keep momentum going. In the end, reliance on Man City players and failure to change his lineup sent him down the standings.
Rory - Rory was another early leader, in first place until about March. His team went the way of his players Berbatov and Kevin Nolan - great starts, but no points after January pretty much.
Serg - Shows if you stick with the same lineup every week, you will get players with a lot of points - Terry, Zabaleta, Ashley Young - but that will not get you enough points to challenge for the title, especially when you count Victor Obinna, Eidur Gudjohsen, and Yuri Zhirkov among those starters.
Bryan - Lack of a premier striker hurt Bryan. Strong midfield with Osman, Cahill, Bale, and Lee, but nothing great up-top.
Worth - Torres, lots of Liverpool defenders, lots of transfers, and too many Birmingham defenders makes for a poor season to go with poor career endeavors for our favorite former restaurant owner.
Andy - Questionable managerial moves not starting Charlie Adam and dropping Charles N'Zogbia. He actually drafted a strong team, but when Jermaine Defoe is your best player, things aren't going to be too strong.
Carlo - Yeah, when Chamakh is your best player, it is a sign you aren't really doing too hot, or playing too hard.
Junkie - Worst team in the history of the league. I actually liked the start of his draft with Gerrard, Vidic, and Vermaelen, but injuries and lack of depth killed him. Started John Pantsil, Paul Scholes, and James Milner all year, ouch.
Ah, I'm sorry that just turned into me making fun of everyone else. But that is what you get Dustin for starting Bolton's Paul Robinson.
Worst Players - Pienaar (Rory), Carrick (Carlo), Barera (Carlo), Zhirkov (Serg) - all started for much of the season but did not score a single point.
Kaboul (Junkie) -2, Warnock (Andy) -3, Kyriakos (Worth) -2, Phil Bardsley (Worth) -2, Aurelio (Worth) -4, Roger Johnson (Worth) -6
And worst player of the season - Wayne Bridge (Jerry) -8. Nice.
There you go folks, another great you. If anyone new is interested in joining, or creating their own league, let me know. Historical stats after the jump.
2009-2010
527 Dustin
492 Tony
464 Worth
455 Serg
435 BJ
436 Carlo
406 Raubert
398 Nik
363 Junkie
359 Bryan
270 Jesse
2008-2009
Tony 511
Worth 471
Junkie 469
Serg 446
BJ 437
Bryan 432
Tyler 364
Joe 328
Jesse 308
Raubert 299
Dustin 299
2007-2008
Raubert: 524
Tony : 490
Jesse: 488
Junkie: 459
Dustin: 415
Nik: 409
Loeser: 381
Worth: 367
Joe: 361
James: 348
Serg: 280
Team of the Year
2009/2010
GK: Cech 43 Points (Raubert)
D- John Terry 100 points (Serg)
D - Thomas Vermaelen 60 points (BJ)
D - Ashley Cole 58 points (Serg)
D - Patrice Evra 57 Points (Dustin)
M - Frank Lampard 198 points (Dustin) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
M - Cesc Fabregas 140 points (Tony)
M - Andrei Arshavin 66 points (Bryan)
M - Steven Gerrard 65 points (Carlo)
S - Wayne Rooney 184 points (Raubert)
S - Carlos Tevez 134 points (Carlo)
Bench: Reina 39, Dunne 53, Malouda 54, Torres 129, Drogba 123
2008-09
GK -Reina 61 points (Raubert)
D - Vidic 84 points (Junkie)
D - Bosingwa 75 points (Tony)
D - Alex 63 points (Bryan)
D - Terry 53 points (Serg)
M - Gerrard 168 points (Worth) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
M - Lampard 130 points (Serg)
M - Ronaldo 129 points (Tyler)
M - Ireland 49 points (Bryan)
S - Anelka 104 points (Junkie)
S - Robinho 95 points (Tony)
2007-08
GK- Reina 51 pts (Worth)
D - Rio Ferdinand 129 points (Joe)
D - Jolean Lescott 73 points (Jesse)
D- John Terry 71 pts (Tony)
D - William Gallas 68 pts (Loeser)
M- C. Ronaldo 242 pts (Raubert) PLAYER OF THE YEAR
M - Steven Gerrard 117 pts (Worth)
M - Fabregas 116 pts (Junkie)
M- Frank Lampard 86 pts (James)
S - Torres 185 pts (Jesse)
S - Adeboyor 132 pts (Nik)
