Nacho Novo ruined my weekend

Nacho Novo crawled out of his tiny mouse hole, dusted himself down, picked himself up and put in a devestating performance last weekend that saw him pick up the dubious honour of "highest scoring player of the week in Yahoo Fantasy Football La Liga". Not many diminutive ex-Rangers strikers can say that. Novo spearheaded a Sporting Gijon side that did a naughty and upset my predictions by tonking Rayo Vallecano 3-1 on their own turf. Hugely disappointing considering the Gijon started the weekend 2 pts off the bottom and promoted Vallecano have exceeded expectations with a promising start to the season.

The spaniad spent almost 10 years in Scotland playing for Raith Rovers, Dundee and Rangers and achieved legendary status with the Glasgow side, winning all the major domestic trophies.



Novo was dominant against Vallecano with 2 goals, 4 shots, a matchwinning goal, and a total of 29.5 pts. All from a meagre value of 5.48. Astonishing effort from the number 10 who has struggled for goals since his return to Spain last year.

Extra tit-bits about Novo:

He hates Aberdeen fans.
He lowered his shorts at their fans once.
Fan site
Discussion of PES attributes
He almost became scottish
Depite never representing Spain, he has played for the regional side of Galicia.
He features in countless Rangers' fans tribute videos:



Best of the rest
The top XI from week 16

Nacho Novo, 29.5pts, Sporting Gijon
Victor, 22, Mallorca
Sergio Garcia, 21.5, Espanyol

Romaric, 26.5, Espanyol
Verdu, 23, Espanyol
Xavi, 19, Barca
Aranburu, 14, Sociedad

Nano, 19, Levante
Juanfran, 11, Levante
Gonzalez, 12.5, Racing

Munua, 22, Levante

Results (predicted score in brackets):

RCD Espanyol 4 - 2 Atlético Madrid (1-0)
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 1 Racing Santander (2-0)
Málaga CF 1 - 1 Osasuna (3-1)
Real Zaragoza 0 - 1 RCD Mallorca (1-0)
Villarreal CF 1 - 1 Real Sociedad (1-0)
Getafe CF 1 - 0 Granada CF (1-0)
Rayo Vallecano 1 - 3 Sporting Gijón (1-0)

Real Madrid 1 - 3 FC Barcelona (2-1)
Real Betis 2 - 1 Valencia CF (0-1)
Levante UD 1 - 0 Sevilla FC (0-0)

Wednesday night football: Levante, Real good

Real Madrid 3-0 Villarreal
Benzema (19 pts), Kaka (8.5 pts), Di Maria (19.5 pts)

Real cruised to an expected victory at home to Villarreal. Higuain rested, Ronaldo scoring 4.5 and Kaka getting 8.5 even while scoring a goal would have left many FF managers frustrated. Villarreal need a result soon. Ozil's stock continues to fall.

Predicted score: 6-0 Real
Levante 3-2 Real Sociedad

Nano (12 pts), Valdo (11.5 pts), Suarez Ruben (10pts) - Daniel Estrada (12 pts), Martinez (11 pts)

Suarez Ruben blasted home an injury time free kick winner to ensure Levante maintained their vice-like grip on the top of La Liga. Struggling Sociedad had given the Andalucians a scare with goals from Estrada and Martinez but the leaders squeezed out the victory.

Juan Ignacio Martínez's charges continue to stun the football world while leaving FF managers non-plussed with the paucity of FF points. This time, even regular hero Munua in goal could only stump up 1 pt.



Sociedad's surprise performance lead to a few noteworthy performances. Daniel Estrada is excellent value in midfield, scoring his 12 from a value of 5.6, and Inigo Martinez - when he's not getting sent off or booked - proved again he is an excellent source of goals when he wants to be. One to watch would be Arsenal loanee Carlos Vela. The tiny mexican got 10.5 by making himself busy with sots, crosses and cws

The predictions were correct in so far as Levante were 85% on to to win the game, and most likely to score 2 goals. Sociedad's 2 away goals were a big upset to the odds though, being predicted aat 81% to score 0.

Predicted score: Levante 2-0


Real Zaragoza 0-1 Valencia
Alba (82)

Wide man Alba keeps Valencia's hand in the hunting pack at the top of the table. Not much else to talk about from this game apart from defender Bruno's 11pts. Parejo got some more minutes.

Predicted score: Valencia 1-0

Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Malaga
Bothelo (21 pts), Tamudo (17.5 pts)

Botelho with a crushing performance, scoring 21 pts from defence and a value of 3.6. All Rayo's strikers got 10+ suggesting they gave Malaga a real going over. What has happened to Pellegrini's chaps?

Predicted score: 1-1
Getafe 2-2 Osasuna
Guiza (2 goals, 21 pts) - Ibrahima Balde (2 goals, 20.5 pts)


Guiza

Two braces from two strikers scoring for the first time this season meant a deadlock at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. Getafe's ex-Spain international, Guiza, broke his duck to score for the first time in nine games. Ibrahima's double reply was his first score in six.

Guiza's strikes, from a value of just 7, gave him a healthy 21pts taking him to 38.5 for the season. From a value of just 8.04, Ibrahima built on a solid 12.5 performance at the weekend to score 20.5, taking him to 30.5.

The only other performance of note from this game was another excellent display from midfielder Raul Garcia who scored 12.5 with 2 assists and various sundries from a value of 9.7.

The surprise strikes upset the predictions which had given Getafe a 52% chance of a win. A draw came in at 29%. Getafe were expected to win by 1-0; if not, 2-0. A 2-2 draw was the 8th most likely result

Predicted score: 1-0
Mallorca 1-2 Sporting Gijon
Castro (23 pts) - Bilic (9 pts), Joao Victor (og -2.5 pts)

Castro with an imperious 23 pts but nothing else for the islanders to be proud of. No player from Gijon scored 10+ despite the win. GK Juan Pablo was their top scorer with 9.5.

La Liga: Predictions Week 34

Week 34 Predictions

This week's predictions. Invariably, Real Madrid and Barcelona are massive favourites in their games with the maths showing an almost certain victory for both sides. In both games, the most likely score is 2-0 and the second most likely score is 3-0. The only problem for fantasy football pickers is who to pick as both sides will be rotating their lineups. It seems prudent to refer to last week. For Barcelona, the likes of Affellay and Thiago represent good value and are likely to start. For Real, it is a case of trying to find the cash for Kaka, Benzema and Higuain. Or for a good bargain go for defender Garay.

Villarreal follow closely with a whopping 75% chance of a home win against struggling Getafe. Only problem is that the Submarines are stuttering. Rossi keeps scoring as does Cazorla (in fantasy terms). Nilmar is tempting because he is good value but hasn't scored for ages.

Espanyol, Levante and Sevilla all come in with a 50% chance of winning their games. I don't trust that prediction for Espanyol at home to Bilbao. Bilbao have been in good recent form while Espanyol haven't won for a while. But, both sides should get at least one goal. Likewise, Gijon have been in excellent form recently and it will be a difficult game for Levante. Caicedo is good for a goal though. Sevilla would be the best bet against the doomed Almeria. Rakitic and Negredo being the best attacking picks for the southerners.

Away from these games, no side is given more than a 50% chance of winning. Osasuna desperately need a win to get out of the relegation places and their excellent home record comes up against Valencia's excellent away record; stubborn 0-0 specialists Deportivo face free scoring Atletico; and Malaga, coming into form just in time, are in a crucial relegation 6 pointer with Hercules. Whatever the outcome, all these games should yield plenty of goals so there are lots of points up for grabs. From these games, I like Duda and Baptista (Malaga), Aguero and Diego Costa (Atleti).

Week 30 review: Soldado and the kings

A dark horse

A stunning weekend in La Liga as a host of dark horses stole in to grab the headlines while the more notorious show ponies were bumped to the sidelines.

The main story is obviously Mourinho's first loss at home in 10 years: the game which allowed Gijon's GK Juan Pablo (John Paul to you and me) to score a whopping 29 points! Naturally, the Mou wheeled out his "they parked the bus" complaints, but the fact that Pablo had to make 11 saves, rather suggests it was the Real forwards rather than Gijon's defence that was responsible for the defeat.

Juan Pablo holds Hernandez (reuters)

His charges were hopelessly shown up by the ruthless efficiency of Miguel del la Cuevas who snatched a rare opportunity and match winning goal to earn himself 14.5 pts, a place week's best XI and give Gijon the win. Real, without Benzema and Ronaldo, had to rely on Adebayor to lead the line, and the Man City loanee had a shocker missing a host of chances registering a meagre 5 pts. Half-fit Higuain was dragged off the bench in the 2nd half to save his side but the Argentinian could not save his Mou. Fortunately for Fantasy pickers, his tiny 4.5 will surely see his value drop below 20 and make him an appealling pick for next week. Di Maria with 12 and Ozil with 8 returned their value as expected but Arbeloa let me down with a measly 0.5.

Roberto Soldado was the ubermensch of the weekend, plundering 4 goals and 45 points as Valencia crushed Getafe 4-2 and jumped to 3rd. Soldado had 5 goals in 28 appearances before this but his uneering display ensured Valencia bounced back to winning ways after two defeats in a row going into the international break. The man tends to blitz. He got 29 pts in week 13 but has been quiet since.

Diego Costa hattrick Photo EFE

Diego Costa, (valued at just 5.8!) started ahead of Diego Forlan and scored a hattrick to help Atletico win a difficult tie 3-2 away at in form Osasuna. A bit of a shocker all round there. On a personal note, I was pretty chuffed with the prescience of my Kike Sola pick, as the centre forward scored for the home side (but only got 9.5). Was a bit disappointed in Camunas for OSA who only got 1.5.

Levante did the unthinkable and scored a load of goals without Caicedo featuring. Stuani took on the mantle and again at the astonishingly cheap rate of 6.31 scored twice and got 31 as Levante beat relegation rivals Malaga 3-1.

Rakitic had another superb week at the heart of Sevilla's midfield. Who is this guy? I was pleased I forked out on the 16.4 million man as he got 16.5 points without a goal as the southerners crushed Zaragoza 3-1. Former Chelsea man Jarosik had another fine game for the away side scoring a goal.

Osvaldo

Another ex-prem reject, Giovani dos Santos was also amongst the goals as Kennedy Bakircoglu's Racing Santander snatched a surprise 2-1 win at Espanyol. Espanyol's season is going steadily down the pan after they looked so good earlier on. For my part, I was again pleased to have Osvaldo as the striker returned to the starting 11 to score a pen, but a bit miffed that he only got 11 pts.

Hercules delivered another blow to my week as they beat Sociedad 3-1 away thanks to the dutch Gareth Bale - Royston Drenthe (registered a defender, plays left wing, Hercules' best attacking threat). The cheaky scamp scored twice to ensure Sociedad's and my GK Bravo registered -1. I took some solice in defender Gonzalez (valued 3) scoring 4.5. 150% return! Hercules haven't done anything away from home since they beat Barca at the Nou Camp at the start of the season.

Barca in the mean time continued their tedious march to the title, and two of their defenders complete this week's top XI. Pique poked one in to score the only goal and Dani Alves must have done everything else as he got 15pts. Messi came off the bench to get 5. Awarded a rare start, Affellay scored more than 0.5 points for the first time since arriving with 5!

So here is this week's star 11. Of course, this could all change following tonight's match between Almeria and Athletico Bilbao.

player-team-(price) score

R. Soldado - VAL - (12.92) 45.00
Diego Costa - AMR - (5.80) 35.00
Stuani - LEV - (6.31) 31.00

Giovani dos Santos - RAC - (9.90) 17.00
I. Rakitic - SEV - (16.40) 16.50
J. Jarosik - RZG - (6.19) 15.00
Miguel de las Cuevas - SPO - (13.49) 14.50

Dani Alves - BAR - (18.13) 15.00
G. Piqué - BAR - (7.78) 14.50
R. Drenthe - HER - (14.17) 26.00

Juan Pablo - SPO - (8.39) 29.50

Week27: Barcelona and Real Madrid

My team for week 27. A lot riding on Barca's strike force. Also, interested to see whether Koke can do anything. If he starts being a regular he could be a bargain to keep at 4. If it was just a flash in the pan, he'll need to go. Just realised Perea is out which is annoying. Maresca was rested against Real in midweek so have a lot of faith in him returning to high scoring ways. Can't believe picking was closed at 11am today. Normally 3pm!

Week 27: Easy Games

Early thoughts on Player Picks this weekend.

Barcelona v Zaragoza

Could see Barca doing a number on Zaragoza in the style of Real Madrid against Malaga. All their attacking players are worth a pick. Xavi is back to fitness. Pedro's value has dropped nicely to 17. Although, Adriano had a great game in his place at Valencia. (2nd top scorer for Barca behind Messi with 15 pts). Pinto has to stay in goal.


Racing Santander v Real Madrid

Real have been making a meal of it, especially away from home, until last night. The 7-0 mauling of Malaga should get them flowing freely again. But Racing are a stubborn side. Raul Albiol is the stand out bargain. Valued at just 4, he has started to pick up consistently good points in recent weeks. Naturally there's few other bargains to be had. It's a question of whether to hold on to the increasingly unreliable Adebayor.

All the othe fixtures seem painfully close once again. Several of the top 10 are facing each other and everyone immediately below Real Madrid are all in patchy form. Only Sevilla seem to be on the rise. Hercules v Almeria should be a safe bet for Trezeguet goals. Sporting Gijon should do well against ropey Getafe. David Barral has to be worth a go at 7.

Sat, Mar 5	Mallorca v Valencia
Sat, Mar 5	Barcelona v Zaragoza
Sat, Mar 5	Athl Madrid v Villarreal
Sun, Mar 6	Athl Bilbao v Sevilla
Sun, Mar 6	Sporting v Getafe
Sun, Mar 6	HER v Almería
Sun, Mar 6	LEV v Espanyol
Sun, Mar 6	Malaga v Osasuna
Sun, Mar 6	Racing v Real Mad
Mon, Mar 7	Deportivo v RSO

Week23: Gijon break Barca's record

Sporting Gijon 1-1 Barcelona
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Sporting Gijon 1 - 1 Barcelona

Last night, Gijon did the unthinkable and had the audacity to not lose to Barcelona. The game, which included two exquisite goals, ended Barca's 16 game winning streak. Forzafutbal have a great follow up piece telling us that we should not be all that surprised as Gijon have a wonderful ability to stick such spanners in the works. Of course, before their 3-0 defeat at Bilbao last week, they had previously thrashed Mallorca 4-0 in their own back yard and gave Atletico a surprise defeat courtesy of David Barral (see week 20). It was Barral again who gave Gijon the lead in this game, only for Villa to restore parity 10 minutes before time.

The fantasy stats from the game suggest Gijon truly snuffed out the Barca threat with the champions barely mustering a shot on target. It is a rare occasion where no Barcelona player scores more than 15 pts and a  few negative Fantasy Points records were broken for Barca:

Dropping Pedro a big mistake

• Victor Valdes (-5.5) and Pedro (eulogised by Sid Lowe this weekend) (-1.5) scored negative points for the first time of the season. 

It was the first time since week 15 that Pedro didn't manage a shot on target. Pedro started the game on the bench in the place of new signing Ibrahim Affellay. The dutch winger posted a negative return of -3. Pedro replaced Affellay at half time, but didn't manage any better. Dani Alves also scored a dismal 2.5, his worst score of the season.

All in all, the stats suggest Gijon did something tactically excellent in nullifying Barca's wing attack: something Arsenal will need to look at if they have any hope of overcoming Barca in their upcoming Champions League meetings.

• Messi scored 13 points. His lowest total in a game he's started since week 13.

• Also, despite scoring a goal, David Villa only got 10.5 points, on a return for a player worth 25. He's only scored more than 15 pts once since week 16.

Week 20: Barral of laughs

Gijon goal hero David Barral - on sea

Wins for the top 5 give the illusion of another predictable week in La Liga, but scratch beneath the surface and aberrations soon become apparent. For the second time in a row, neither Messi (19.5 pts) or Ronaldo (8.5pts!) would feature in the top starting 11 of the week; Atletico Madrid lost to relegation threatened Sporting "Hee-Haw" Gijon; and Benzema managed to score a goal!

Barcelona stretched their lead at the top briefly to 7 points on Saturday, yawning to a 3-0 defeat of Racing Santander at the Nou Camp. Iniesta (1goal, 14pts), Messi (1 pen, 1 assist, 19.5 pts) and Pedro (1 goal, 1 assist, 20.5 pts) were the heroes. Pedro has now scored 10+ points 9 weeks in a row! (Messi has managed this 3 weeks running). Adriano, in at full back, exceeded expectations and managed a handsome 9 pts and was 5th top scorer for Barca. Victor Valdes was joint top scoring keeper with 16 pts, suggesting Barca didn't have it all their way. Kennedy Bakircioglü managed 4pts (2 successful crosses and 4 intercepted passes) for the visitors.

Real Madrid strained to a 1-0 home win over Real Mallorca, courtesy of Benzema's 60th minute strike with the Frenchman scoring 15.5 overall. He got a Tackle Won too. Points were spare at the Bernabeau though: Kaka (2pts), who was subbed at half time for Ozil (1pt) and Di Maria (6pt) are proving to be the albatrosses around my fantasy neck: it may be time to shoot them down.



With these losers hogging my midfield, I rewarded my last midfield berth to last week's top scoring midfielder, Villarreal's Cani. Of course though, another prediction was to come to bare as Santi Cazorla (18pts) returned to assume responsibility for the best of the Yellow Submarine's attacking play, laying on two assists for Peppe Rossi as the 3rd placed side triumphed 2-1 over Real Sociedad.  Cani stepped aside, managed 1 measly SOT and a YC to get himself a tedious 3.5 (for an investment of 13). Of course, all in all, this also meant no goals for baby Ruben (4.5), and minimal returns for GK Diego Lopez (3) and Gaspar (3.5) in defence. Curses on Sociedad and their persistant ability to cause problems away from home.

Old (or no) money conquered over new as Valencia romped to a thrilling 4-3 victory over plucky Malaga. Still glad I stayed away from this one though. Goals were scored by Mata, Soldado, Adruiz (14pts) and wunderkind, Ever Banega (12pts) but only the latter two were able to return more points than their value (which leads me to wonder how often players ever do this anyway). Julio "the Beast" Baptista got his first for Malaga and other new signing Martin Demichelis was sent off!





Espanyol kept a grip on 5th place with a 3-1 win at Getafe. More goals from Callejon (again), Sergio Garcia, and Luis Garcia showing they are more than coping without leading scorer Peter Osvaldo.

Athletic Bilbao leapfrogged "the other" Athletic (Madrid) to take 6th spot as the Basques crushed Hercules 3-0. Of course, Llorente scored (but only managed 10 pts) and so did reliable midfield force, Javier Marquez, and the lesser known forward Iker Muniain. Signor Muniain scored for the second game running to take his season total to 2 (from 17 games).

Sevilla continued their surge up the league, bouncing into 8th place, thanks to a 4-1 drubbing of Levante who are now rooted to the bottom of the table. Fabiano's hattrick (putting him top of the weekly scorers chart with 31pts) and a rare goal from forgotten french defender Julien Escude put the league strugglers to the sword. Ivorian playmaker Romaric (valued 5.96 at the start of the week) scored a super 11.5: 1 Assist and 5 Successful crosses being his key stats. However, it must also be noted that Kanoute failed to start, and neither did either of my defensive picks: Caceres and Alexis.



Which, sporting miscellany and regrets brings me to the end of the games featuring my chosen 11.

Aranda, great brace

In other results, Almeria scored an invaluable 3 - 2 win over fellow strugglers Osasuna to get off the foot of the table and go 18th. This game included a couple of braces to produce two of the week's highest scorers in Ulloa (21 pts and 2 goals) for Almeria, and Aranda for Osasuna (22.5 pts, 2 goals)


Real Zaragoza also scored a valuable 1 - 0 over Deportivo. A goal from bargain of the week Boutahar (18pts valued 1.82!!!) keeping Sinama Pongolle's side 2 points clear of the relegation zone.



Goal.com team of the week:

Team of the week:


Luis Fabiano, Sevilla, Forward, 31.50
G. Rossi, Villarreal, Forward, 31.00
J. Rondón, Malaga, Forward, 27.00 

S. Cazorla, Villarreal, Midfielder, 18.00
S. Boutahar, Zaragoza, Midfielder, 18.00
Javier Martínez, Athl Bilbao, Midfielder, 15.00
Xisco Muñoz, LEV, Midfielder, 14.50 

J. Escudé, Sevilla, Defender, 15.00
Marcelo, Real Mad, Defender, 9.50
Adriano, Barcelona, Defender, 9.00 

G. Iraizoz, Athl Bilbao, Goalkeeper, 16.00

Total 204.5


Winning team:

La Moupedia

My team:

Dos Donuts: week20