James Dall wraps up the 2010/11 Fantasy Football season with a look at the star XI of the campaign.
James Dall wraps up the 2010/11 Fantasy Football season with a look at the star XI of the campaign
The time has come to take a look a the stand-out performers of skysports.com's 2010/11 Fantasy Football season, as the curtain falls on a gripping campaign.
Susan Roberts, with her team 'Piece of Cake' - such confidence, Susan - topped the charts come the end of the term, racking up 1532 points in total, five more than second-placed Anne Shipley. The ladies did indeed put us gentlemen to shame this year.
Some of the usual suspects made the star XI, but there were a few surprises, providing those wishing to be a winner like Susan (recipient of £25,000 this season) next time around with plenty of food for thought.
Team of the Season
Joe Hart - 102 points
England's and Manchester City's No.1 edged out goalkeeping counterpart Edwin van der Sar (94 points) to emerge as this season's top points scorer with gloves on. Hart managed three more clean sheets than his Manchester United rival, totalling 18 in 38 appearances. Interestingly, Hart is also credited with one assist, although Blackburn's Paul Robinson, who came eighth, racked up two, such are his instructions to hoik the ball into the opponents' penalty area.
Brede Hangeland - 103 points
Hangeland's superb return of six goals during this term certainly helped his cause to be the season's second best performing defender in terms of Fantasy Football points. The towering centre-back played his part in battling for 13 clean sheets, the same number as Vidic. And he also dipped in with an assist for good measure.
Ashley Cole - 100 points
Arguably the best left-back in the world, Chelsea's Cole impressed this campaign courtesy of a solid number of clean sheets and a fair number of assists. Cole helped the Blues to 15 shut-outs while he laid on four goals for his team-mates. He did not, however, manage to find the back of the net.
Leighton Baines - 113 points
Top of the tree defensively was Everton's Baines. The left-back may have managed fewer clean sheets than his defensive counterparts, but, my, did he lay on some goals. Indeed, Baines provided 11, yes, eleven, Premier League assists this season whilst also netting six times for the Toffees. Impressive.
Nemanja Vidic - 100 points
Many pundits' player of the season, United skipper Vidic ranks fourth in the defensive standings come the end of the campaign. The colossus at the back helped his team to 13 clean sheets while he was typically threatening from attacking set plays, notching five league goals. However, his seven yellow cards and one red card picked up - it could arguably have been more - harmed his overall return.
Rafael van der Vaart - 109 points
No great surprise that Van der Vaart scored highly during this season's Fantasy Football. The Tottenham playmaker managed a fine tally of nine assists in his 27 appearances for the club. Van der Vaart also netted 13 goals, making him the third-most valuable midfielder of the term.
Nani - 134 points
A hugely impressive effort from the Portugal international as he brought home the second-highest points total during the course of the term. And to think, his form actually faded during the second half of the campaign. Nani assisted, wait for it, 18 goals. Yep, a laudable figure. Furthermore, he scored nine times to propel himself to the top of the midfielders section.
Charlie Adam - 114 points
These statistics will tell you just how vital Adam was to Blackpool's attacking intent: the Scottish schemer fired home 12 goals for the Seasiders whilst also playing decisive passes/crosses on nine occasions. He was, however, hampered by the picking up of 11 yellow cards during the course of the term.
Carlos Tevez - 151 points - Player of the season
Should you have picked Tevez in your team AND also named him as your captain then you will likely have gloated for much of the term in your friends' direction. Tevez was this season's star performer. In 29 appearances the Argentina international bagged 20 goals for Manchester City, propelling them to third in the table. He also racked up six assists. Remember, Tevez missed nine matches this term - just think what his total would have been had he played in all of City's games.
Peter Odemwingie - 137 points
The majority have been championing Javier Hernandez as their signing of the season, but surely Odemwingie should be receiving plaudits too. His Fantasy Football price was £5.5million and for that money spent you got some bang for your buck. The nippy West Bromwich Albion forward scored 15 times during his debut season in England whilst also managing nine assists. Bargain.
Didier Drogba - 150 points
Chelsea's bulldozer Drogba may not have had his best season at Stamford Bridge, but, nonetheless, he still scored well in our Fantasy Football game, only falling a point short of the much-heralded Tevez. Drogba's impressive 150-point total was fuelled by a fine score of 16 assists and 12 goals netted. He did play three matches more than Tevez, although he did have to deal with the bout of malaria he suffered.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on skysports.com for next season's Fantasy Football for your chance to win big and be the envy of your friends