FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Norwich City F.C.

Norwich City F.C.

Norwich's new kit is almost the identical to last season's one.

You can download the full analyzed squad data here.

Password: http://p-fplz.blogspot.com/

Last Season: Splendid
Compared to last time where Norwich were at the Premier League, this time around they were performing much better. A 12th placed finish have certainly surpassed people's expectations on them a lot, especially when they were freed from relegation so early last season.

This Summer: New Manager
With Paul Lambert decides to try his luck at Aston Villa, Norwich have brought former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton as his replacement. Hughton has a pretty decent record at Newcastle and Birmingham, so fans can expect some solid performance from him.

As for player changes, the Canaries are taking in 22-year-old Jacob Butterfield, 24-year-old Robert Snodgrass, Rangers' defender Steven Whittaker and Sunderland's centre back Michael Turner; going the other way are Zak Whitbread and Aaron Wilbraham, both being released.

Upcoming Season: Hopeful
With club's ace Grant Holt penned a three-year contract extension with the club recently, things are looking good at the moment. Hughton has been very good in managing small to medium sized club, and their new additions look solid too. Survival should not be a problem honestly.

Holt's and Pilkington's stats last
season.

Needs More Playing Time: Holt (FI: 0.645) and Pilkington (FI: 0.599)
Grant Holt (£6.5m) is really good in converting chances, but his playing time was hurting fantasy managers who owned him last season. The captain scored P90 of 5.52 last season, which is good for a player of any price. But to sit on the bench frequently meant that he played only 2249 minutes last season and scored a mediocre score of 138. If he can play somewhere near 3000 minutes this season, he can really become a great bargain as long as he can maintain his efficiency.

Besides Holt, Anthony Pilkington (£6.0m) is another productive player of Norwich City in fantasy terms who was limited by his playing time. His FI of 0.599 was second behind Holt last season, and playing minutes of 1975 only last season suggests that he can achieve much more if more time is given.

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Kick-Off: Gameweek 25 Fantasy Preview

The handshake routine will not be cancelled for Man Utd-Liverpool encounter.

Overview
A pretty two poled feelings last week with Van Persie's owners laughing happily and the rest left stunned. Can RvP repeat the feat? Not so positive against in-form Sunderland.

The shocking news this week is no other than Fabio Capello's resignation. The Italian coach is not happy with FA's decision to strip Terry's captaincy and thus decided to leave. Harry Redknapp tops the list to replace him.

Game of the Week: MANCHESTER UNITED v LIVERPOOL

Can Berbatov get a start
and hat-trick again?

Old Trafford will surely welcome Suarez with a great deal of abusive chants as Liverpool travel to Manchester for this number one rivalry in English football.

The usual handshake routine will not be cancelled according to FA and it will be interesting to see how Evra and Suarez react to each other. Strong personal rivalry. Luis Suarez will be eager to pay a revenge through his fancy footwork so expect tough times by defensive partnership of Evans and Ferdinand. In form Carroll could also be a big threat if he can get good aerial supplies by his teammates. Two big man to watch.

On the other side, all key players including the long missing Cleverly could be available for this game. It would be hard to predict the starting midfielders and forwards correctly, but I believe both Valencia and Rooney would still get the right to start and produce some havoc to one of the best defensive line (which might be without Jose Enrique) in the Premier League.

Surely it would be an intense game, but Liverpool's poor away attack (14 away goals only this season) will hinder their chances at Old Trafford. Expect good performances by the Red Devils.

Prediction: MUN 2-1 LIV
Pick: Valencia


Fantasy Game of the Week: SWANSEA v NORWICH

Sinclair has been pretty
impressive this season.

Spurs are welcoming the challenge of Newcastle, while City's away form has been mediocre recently, so I will change my focus to the battle between the two promoted teams this season. The Canaries beat the Swans 3-1 earlier this season, but we all know how different it will be at Liberty Stadium.

Sigurdsson has a flying start in the Premier League, while both Sinclair and Dyer are very threatening in the flanks. Up front they have Danny Graham who does a decent job as a forward. Expect goals from this quartet of attackers.

I will not be surprised if Norwich can score past the rubber hand Michel Vorm, but Swansea should really get a victory here.

Prediction: SWA 3-1 NOR
Pick: Sigurdsson, Sinclair, Dyer, Graham
Drop: NOR defence


Pick and Drop
Pick and Captain:

• Aguero - Broke his goal drought and that might be the opening of floodgate.
• Mata - Very pivotal in Chelsea's offence.

Pick:

• N'gog - Should score against Wigan.
• Zamora - Samba-less Blackburn will not have the quality to stop him.
• Van Persie - Always start him regardless of his opposition.
• Sessegnon/ McClean - Arsenal's defence is weak.
• Jarvis - Played well last week and should continue to perform.

Drop:

• NEW defence - Against Tottenham, clean sheet is hardly likely.
• AST defence - City's blades are sharp.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

• Richards - Good fixtures oncoming.
• Oxlade-Chamberlain - Sensational form.
• Demba Ba - His price sky leaped by £0.4m since his return.
• Van Persie - Get him before his price reaches a prohibitive level.
• McClean - Superbly cheap and in form.
• Sigurdsson - The bandwagon should start in the next few gameweeks.

Yellow light (watch):

• Yakubu - Observe Blackburn's performance before getting him in.
• Assou-Ekkoto - Fantasy managers are overly optimistic on him.
• Mata - Chelsea's form is quite unstable at the moment.
• Kompany - Still not sure whether he will play this week.

Red light (sell):

• LIV players - United this round, League Cup final next round (no league fixture), and Arsenal after that.
• Adebayor  - Terribly out of form.
• D Cisse - Red carded.

Gameweek 25 Dream Team

Vorm

Ekkoto -- Richards -- Senderos

Bale -- Sessegnon -- Silva -- Sigurdsson

Aguero (C) -- Ba -- Van Persie (VC)

Subs: Hennessey -- McClean -- Knight -- Bassong

Gameweek 13 Fantasy Preview

The man in deep shit: Andre Villas-Boas

Overview
Arsenal was the only team that has made it through the knock-out stage this week in the Champions League, with the other three still on doubt of progressing the group stage especially for Manchester City. Bad year for English clubs on the European tournament?

Gameweek 12 Mini Review on the Top 7
Manchester City: Still unmatched upfront, but defence has slightly deteriorated.
Manchester United: Earned 3 points in ugly style. Either they wake up or expect poor run of results coming in.
Tottenham: As long as Adebayor and Van der Vaart take turns to hit form, Champions League is highly probable.
Newcastle: Hatem Ben Arfa should be a major fantasy force soon after a great performance against City.
Chelsea: Get rid of them. Terrible defence. Not looking sharp upfront neither.
Liverpool: Hard to pick them as they are not consistent enough. Defence is reliable though.
Arsenal: You can never go wrong with Van Persie.


Game of the Week: LIVERPOOL v MANCHESTER CITY

Charlie Adam has shown
great vision on the game
against Chelsea.

Wealthy City will travel to neighbouring city Liverpool as they try to demolish Anfield with Sheikh's money.

With annual losses of  £194.9m, City owns one of the highest wage bill across Europe with the likes of Silva, Aguero, Nasri and more. With that kind of money, City has the ability to challenge for titles this season, and has topped the Premier League table currently with a comfortable 5-point lead. Massive, massive season for them.

The Blues travelled to Naples for a Champions League tie against Napoli and that definitely took away some of their fitness, so do not be surprised by rotation. Silva should start though, as he had only played for 30 minutes in the game against Newcastle and less than 45 minutes for two international games before that - might be a strategy that Mancini prepares to play him against both Napoli and Liverpool.

On the other side, Liverpool will have no fitness problems when they host City, and Dalglish had clearly stated that Premier League is their top priority despite having a League Cup tie with Chelsea two days after that. However, Suarez trouble over racism allegations will make their chances of winning this game gloomy, especially if his match ban penalty starts from that game. Big doubts.

Manchester City might just be too tough for the Reds so I'll go for an away win. A narrow one though.

Prediction: LIV 1-2 MCI
Pick: Silva, Aguero


Fantasy Game of the Week: NORWICH v QUEEN'S PARK RANGERS

Heidar Helguson has picked
up 39 fantasy points from
his last 5 games.

With all the big clubs having European tie and League Cup tie before and after this week's game, let's focus on the battle between two promoters of the league.

Both teams are poor in defence, so offensively I can see a big scoreline.

Expect the likes like Pilkington, Holt and Morison to battle all out against Helguson, Barton, Wright-Phillips and Taarabt to grab three points from the tie.

Helguson might be worthy for your captain armband with his spectacular run of form currently.


Prediction: NOR 3-2 QPR
Pick and Captain: Helguson
Pick: Pilkington, Holt, Morison, Barton, SWP, Taarabt
Drop: NOR and QPR defence

Pick and Drop
Pick and captain:

1. Van Persie - Might play only half of the game, but still too good to refuse.
2. Walters - Blackburn should be leaky enough for him to perform.
3. Van der Vaart/ Adebayor - West Brom's defensive qualities won't be enough to stop them.

Pick:

1. MUN defence - Should be formidable with captain Vidic leading the line.
2. SUN defence - Solid and cheap. Against Wigan it's highly possible for another clean sheet.
3. Agbonlahor - If he can get enough chances, he should defeat Vorm.

Drop:

1. NEW defence - A clean sheet at Old Trafford? Negative for me.
2. FUL defence - RvP is unstoppable.

Transfer Traffic

Green light (buy):

1. Van Persie - Simply too good.
2. Hoilett - Cheap. Solid.
3. Walters - Ultimate influence.
4. Richards - Seems to outperform Kompany at the moment.
5. SUN defence - Some good fixtures ahead.
6. MUN defence - Showing great resolution.
7. Ben Arfa - Extremely threatening.

Yellow light (hold):

1. Ramsey/ Arteta - See if something develops to make one of them more superior than the other.

Red light (sell):

1. Suarez - Should be match banned soon.
2. MUN offence - Shaping into a 1-0 team.
3. NEW defence - Collapsing against big teams.

Gameweek 13 Dream Team

De Gea

Shawcross -- Brown -- Walker

Van der Vaart -- Walters -- Pilkington -- Barton

Helguson -- Van Persie (C) -- Holt

Subs: Vorm -- Taarabt -- Hutton -- Weather

2011/12 Fantasy Season Preview - Norwich

Norwich City FC

Last Season Summary

League ranking: 2nd - League Championship (80 points)

Points per game (home: away): 1.96: 1.70

Goals per game (for: against): 1.80: 1.26

Number of clean sheets: 11 (out of 46 games)

Top league scorer: Grant Holt (21 goals)

Top league assister: Grant Holt (14 assists)

Transfers

In: James Vaughan, Steve Morrison, Elliott Bennett, Richie de Laet, Bradley Johnson, Anthony Pilkington, Kyle Naughton

Out: Owain Todur-Jones, Jed Steer

Predicted Season Finish: 19th

Almost the same situation as Swansea. Although it's still too early to say how new defenders like Richie de Laet and Kyle Naughton can improve the defence, but it they stick to their League Championship playing style relegation is almost certain.

Fantasy Ace: Grant Holt (£5.5m)

Stats above alone has shown why Grant Holt is the fantasy ace of the team. 21 goals combined with 14 assists simply indicates how all-rounded is he as a striker. He could be the Championship Player of the Year if not for the even better Adel Taarabt.

He has been in the Team of the Year from League Two (fourth division) up until League Championship. That makes me believe that he will not have any problems to shine in Premier League as well.

Worth Scouting: Wesley Hoolahan (£5.5m), Anthony Pilkington (£5.0m), James Vaughan (£5.0m)

Hoolahan is quite decent as a midfielder. However, a record of 10 goals and 9 assists from Championship will not be enough to lure me to splash £5.5m on him - he needs to show that he can do it at the highest level as well.

As for the two new signings, Pilkington has only played for League One or lower level leagues, while James Vaughan only played a major role for his team last season. It's still unknown how much potential they have, so just keep an eye for them.