It’s that time of the week again. The squads are in, you know who your players are up against, time to finalise your team for Round 11 Fantasy A-League action.
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We begin by dissecting the form players of the competition and it’s no surprise that Archie Thompson topped the points scoring last weekend on the back of his hat-trick against Sydney FC.
The ever-green striker banked 20 points taking his season tally to 65, moving past strike partner Besart Berisha and behind only Nathan Burns on the overall season scoring.
Not far behind was his opposing talisman and long standing rival Shane Smeltz – with the pair occupying first and second in the Hyundai A-League’s all-time scoring records.
The Kiwi striker did the damage at the other end for the Sky Blues in the 3-3 thriller at Etihad Stadium, bagging a double and laying on a sublime assist for strike partner Marc Janko (it was so good, the footage went viral).
Third in the scoring last weekend was The Scout’s must-have midfielder Nebojsa Marinkovic. The Glory sharp shooter was our headline transfer and notched 10 points courtesy of his blistering goal and clean sheet against the Jets.
This weekend will again see just the four fixtures played, with the Wanderers’ FIFA Club World Cup duties seeing their match against Brisbane rescheduled till March, and as such it won’t contribute to Fantasy points.
The Jets will be desperate to bag their first win of the season as they celebrate 10 years in the competition tonight against the recently crowned Westfield FFA Cup Champions Adelaide United.
A sold-out Melbourne Derby will light up AAMI park on Saturday night, while the Mariners will travel coast-to-coast to face league leaders Perth Glory.
Sydney FC entertain Wellington on Sunday afternoon in a fixture that has rained goals in recent times. The winner will consolidate fourth place on the ladder as both sides look to keep in touching distance of the top three.
This weekend will also be the last chance our domestic Socceroo aspirants have to impress coach Ange Postecoglou ahead of the naming of Australia’s AFC Asian Cup squad – so we’re expecting big things from the 16 players named on the provisional list.
Managers should also note the #SummerFootball season kicks off tonight, which will see a jam-packed fixture schedule of 19 games in 19 days.
This will really sort out the pretenders and contenders, so now is the time to check your players are in form, your captain is set to score maximum points and add some depth to your squad.
The Scout was caught out last weekend with two players in our starting XI not featuring so don’t make the same mistake!
This week’s trades and substitutions:
OUT> Gui Finkler ($330,000) IN
With the Brazilain still under an injury cloud heading into the weekend he makes way for the reliable Sky Blues metronome Milos Dimitrijevic, with the trade also freeing up some much needed funds.
OUT> Manny Muscat ($140,000) IN
With the Sky Blues playing the Phoenix at home we’ve gone for a straight substitution in defence, with Gersbach, on a high after receiving his HSC results, replacing the suspended Muscat in the starting side.Â
