The Offside Fantasy League: The Boys are Back in Town

By: Daryl | October 25th, 2007

Wayne Rooney the boys are back in town After a slow start to the season, last weekend marked a return to form for the Premiership’s big boys. And I’m not talking about Yakubu. He’s a big player, but only in the very literal sense. I’m talking about those highly paid superfamous players with expensive haircuts who eat up a huge chunk of your The Offside Fantasy League budget. For various reasons these big names struggled to meet their own high standards at the start of 2007/8 and were most likely dropped from your team. But now it seems that they’re back, so let’s have a look at which of them is worth picking up again.

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd, £15m)
Michael Duberry gave Rooney a hairline fracture of the foot as an opening day of the season present, and after a quick recovery Rooney came back looking frustrated and unfit. But he’s been slowly playing himself back into form and has forged a partnership with Carlos Tevez that makes a lot more sense on grass than it does on paper. And last week Rooney was literally back on top. His two goals, four shots and 51 passes (42 of which were successful) earned Roonaldo 48 points, the highest score on SquadGod in Gameweek 9. With Middlesbrough visiting Old Trafford this Saturday, expect more of the same.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd, £15m)
Ronaldo’s slow start to the season was all his own doing, getting himself suspended after that rubbish attempted headbutt on Portsmouth’s Richard Hughes. But Ronaldo has since returned to scoring form in the Premiership, and has three goals to his name already. He was rested for most of last week’s game against Villa so only scored two points, but he destroyed Dynamo Kiev with two goals on Tuesday, and could do the same to Middlesbrough this weekend.

Frank Lampard (Chelsea, £15m)
Poor Frank Lampard Jnr. He’s not a popular man, most likely because he struts around with a certain self-importance. But being booed by England fans must have been rough. The thigh tear that interrupted his start to the season now behind him, Lampard was back to scoring SquadGod points from Chelsea’s midfield in the 2-0 win over Middlesbrough last week. He wasn’t on the scoresheet, but two assists and a massive 78 passes (69 of which were successful) not only made him last week’s highest scoring midfielder with 30 points, but also offered proof that he does much much more than just take credit for deflections.

Didier Drogba (Chelsea, £15m)
First he was out with a knee knack injury, then he was briefly back in action and then he was suspended after being sent off for a dangerously high tackle against Fulham. And oh, how Chelsea have missed him, especially with Andriy Shevchenko’s comical efforts to replace him. I’d go as far as saying Jose Mourinho would still be in charge at Stamford Bridge had Drogba been available all season. Now the Drog is definitley back, scoring against Boro last weekend and again against Schalke on Wednesday.

So if you’ve got a spare £15m, who do you spend it on? I’d say any one of these four players are going to score you some points over the next few weeks. But I’m going to recommend Wayne Rooney for three very good reasons: 1) Man Utd are playing Middlesbrough, while Chelsea are playing Man City this weekend. 2) Unlike Ronaldo, it’s almost guaranteed that Rooney won’t be rested, mostly because Manchester United don’t have many other options at striker. 3) Rooney is the only one of the four who doesn’t pay any attention to his hairstyle, and that’s got to be worth something.