The Offside Fantasy League: Replacing The Fallen

By: Daryl | October 18th, 2007

Ashley Cole injured Now we know why they call it the international break. I had my fingers crossed for everyone returning unharmed, but several brave fantasy footballers have indeed been broken while on international duty, meaning they won’t be scoring any points in The Offside Fantasy League this coming weekend. But fear not. Below is a handy guide to replacing your injured international stars with similar, maybe even superior players. Read on for the solution to your injury problems.

Injured: Robin van Persie (Arsenal) £12.5m
RVP had been in good form for Arsenal lately, scoring five goals in his last four appearances. This run looked likely to continue, especially as he’d replaced Emmanuel Adebayor on penalty duties. But a dose of knee knack sustained during Holland’s game against Slovenia on Wednesday means RVP will be MIA for about a month. This could have been a great chance for Eduardo da Silva to pay back some of his transfer fee, but the Brazilian was also injured on Wednesday, playing for Croatia.

Replacement: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) £10m
Adebayor will have to reclaim RVP’s goalscoring mantle at the Emirates, or Arsenal will be in trouble. At the very least he should be given a second chance at taking the team’s spot kicks. And at £2.5 million cheaper than his injured teammate you can put the spare change away for a rainy day.

Injured: John Terry (Chelsea) £11.5m
What bit of John Terry isn’t injured? To add to his broken face, missing back disc and the bits of bone floating around in his leg, Terry’s knee locked up during an England training session before the game against Russia. We all know JT is a toughy toughskins, but it’s definitely time for the Chelsea skipper to give his mangled body a rest.

Replacement: Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd) £11.5m
Rio’s been in solid form lately, he’s actually SquadGod’s highest scoring defender right now. He costs the same as Terry, and all his bones are in one piece. If you want to save some money then Aston Villa’s Martin Laursen is the second top-scoring defender, and costs just under half of what Rio will set you back, at £5.5m.

Injured: Ashley Cole (Chelsea) £8.8m
England’s problems started when Cole went down during the Estonia game. It’s possible that his season was about to take off with Avram Grant letting him get forward for Chelsea a bit more than Jose Mourinho did. But that won’t be happening now.

Replacement: Micah Richards (Man City) £7m
Steve McClaren replaced Cole with Joleon Lescott (Everton, £8.5 million) and that didn’t work out too well. I’d advise learning from McClaren’s mistake. While Lescott made an impressive start to the season, his form had dropped off in his last couple of Everton games, and two unimpressive England performances (albeit out of position at left back) won’t had done much for his confidence. Myabe Lescott will bounce back durinh this weekend’s Merseyside derby. Or maybe not. Why not gamble on a defender who had impressed again in an England shirt like Micah Richards? Not only did he look good, but Man City are at home to Birmingham City on Saturday. Also he’s a little cheaper, because no one (except Sven) knew how good he was before the season started.

Injured: Fernando Torres (Liverpool) £12.5m
Torres suffered some sort of abductor injury while training with Spain, and is a big doubt for the Merseyside derby. But with Rafa’s rotation policy there’s no guarantee he was going to play anyway. And even if he did then he probably wouldn’t play in the next game. But then he would play in the Carling Cup. Rafa confuses me.

Replacement: Nicolas Anelka (Bolton) £11.5m
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, £15 big ones) is back from suspension, but a huge gamble. He may be fit, but not he’s not raring to go, having declared Chelsea “broken” and announced his intention to leave. So… why not take a gamble on a moody striker with better odds. Anelka has been scoring fairly regularly in a bad Bolton team, but with Little Sam on his little bike, there’s a chance The Trotters could improve, which means more chances for Anelka and more points for you.