Week 2 Player Analysis

I can guess that a lot of people are finding it difficult to make a decision on their final team for Week 2. I certainly am, so I've written a short opinion on each of the players I recommended yesterday, to help myself & hopefully help you make your decisions.

Rooney - I'd thought he'd be in my team for the foreseeable future, but last night I saw the frustrated Rooney again in a shocking result at Turf Moor. It reminded me that United were not that impressive against Birmingham either & with a tricky game at Wigan, suddenly the 16.80 I had him at didn't seem all that attractive. He could still crack 2 goals, but Liverpool have a better match up, so he has now been dropped for...

Torres - When Torres is firing he's the best striker in world football. He has his first goal & I expect him to add at least 1 at home to Villa. Sometimes you make a barndoor pick and then regret it the next day. I've woken up this morning & I'm still pleased with my decision to swap Wayne for Fernando.

Van Persie - With so many players capable of goals in the Arsenal team it's tough to justify spending almost 19.00 on him. He's quite capable of getting a hattrick vs Pompey, but he's not someone who'll be in my team this week. Despite the fact whilst writing this I just thought "Well I could try and get him in...". But I'm 99.9% certain I won't.

Drogba - Holding for just 10.60, devestating vs Hull & very good at Sunderland, he should have scored and won the penalty. He was the top points scorer for Week 1 AND he was booked twice. Almost certainly staying.

Adebayor - Very nearly dropped him for Defoe pre-update last night, but stuck with him. When on form he's unplayable & Man City will be so up for their first home game of the season with their new look team. Wolves aren't a bad side but this could be 3 or 4 nil.

Tevez & Robinho - See above, both good picks for City, it's just Adebayor is my hunch out of the 3 of them.

Bent - Not a bad pick at all. He's had a great start to his Sunderland career & there's no reason why he won't continue this vs Blackburn. If you have him then I wouldn't tell you to drop him, there's just no space for him in my team with Torres, Drogba & Adebayor

Benitez - Still on the bench last night & Kevin Philips was brought on before him. Clearly can't be match fit, so he's out of my thoughts.

Fabregas & Arshavin - I know plenty of people have the same dilemma picking between these 2. Cesc is the form players, but we all know what Arshavin is capable of. I'm leaning towards Fabregas because he's in form & because I have him for 1.00 cheaper than I can get Arshavin. Arshavin plays further forward but he has looked fairly quiet so far and with Fabregas pushing on with Denilson/Song behind him I feel he could have another field day vs Portsmouth.

Gerrard - What a start to the season for him, and if I could get him in to my team he'd be my number 1 pick this week. However, getting him in at nearly 22.00 is just not viable at the moment as it would mean dropping 2 other players capable of getting me plenty of points. My heart says "get him" but my head wont let me. If you have him in at 18.00 I'm very jealous.

Lampard - Always a good pick but not someone I'm considering this week. Again, if you had him pre-update then good for you, but I feel the money can be better spent on Arsenal players or Gerrard for Week 2.

Ireland - It's funny, all week I kinda expected to drop Ireland as the deadline loomed, but I'm now tempted to keep him. I have him at 11.00 and he can be so dangerous in games City dominate with his late runs from midfield. Could be a late decision on him, but not too many alternatives unless I replace with a filler to get Gerrard elsewhere. But who esle would I drop!?

Deco - Not for me now, he had a fine game on Tuesday but he's not in my thoughts.

Milijas - Season keeper. Everything goes through him for Wolves, shoots on sight, takes all free kicks & corners, plus his delivery is excellent. He'll get points even when Wolves lose heavily. Amazing bargain at 5.50, so glad I picked him up for Week 1.

Gomez - Still good value, even with a hard game vs Man U. Similar in style to Milijas, he is capable of returning his value, and his price means he enables me to buy stronger players elsewhere. Staying unless I decide to do something drastic.

Vermaelen - Best defensive pick of the week if you have him pre-update. Even if you don't, you should think about it. Has looked superb in both games so far for Arsenal, should be in for a clean sheet & likes to go up for set pieces. Buy Buy Buy!

Richards - Best value Man City defender, again a very good chance of a clean sheet and some attacking points too. I can't quite afford him unfortunately.

Bridge - More expensive, but still a good option for the same reason as Richards.

Bassong - A man-mountain for Spurs so far, although if I had the extra 1.00 I would probably swap for Richards due to the better chance of a clean sheet.

Wilkinson - Good value starter, he'll be staying in my team.

O'Shea - No longer considering him.

Givet - Great cheap starter to allow you to spend elsewhere.

Given - The only 'keeper I'm really considering and I could be hanging on to him for a long time if City show they can defend. The only alternative for me was Myhill to free up £££, but we all saw how bad Hull were last night.

So those are my thoughts, you probably have plenty of your own, so please comment below. I must say I'm delighted with how the comments are going, we've got some really good chat going with lots of managers helping each other out. Unfortunately the extra site traffic (up to around 1,000 hits per day) means I can't reply to all comments, but I'll ensure I keep the blog up to date and do my best to reply whenever I can.

Good luck for Week 2...Week 3 Barndoor Preview coming soon.

Cheers,
AM