Thursday 20 August 2009

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

23 comments:

Naning said...

I must say I agree on almost everything you say there. There's just two things I'd like to comment.

1) I feel Bridge is the better pick of the two city defenders. I dunno, it might just be a hunch, but it feels like bridge will easily get at least 1p more than Richards.

2) Deco... He had a fine game tuesday indeed, but I felt the same after he came on saturday. Chelsea playes a lot better with him on the pitch, and I think Ancelotti will play him again this sunday. Having him at 6.87 I feel he should easily pay that back.

Zell said...

I'm really enjoying YFF this year.

AM do you think it's a good idea to have both Arsh and Fab in the same team? My Dilemma is whether to swap Arsh for Bent. Here's my team:

Foster
Vermaelen, Bassong, Wilkinson
Milijas, Gomez, Fabregas, Arshavin, Mokoena
Drogba, Torres.

Any thoughts?

Cheers for a great blog.

rwlwhite said...

why is noone looking at Fulop in goal for sunderland at home to blackburn? he has played quite well so far, is relatively cheap, and i think he'll have no trouble against blackburn. definitely in my team for week 2!

rwlwhite said...

also, i'm struggling with a choice...i already have milijas and arshavin, but my two choices for the second 2 midfielders is

fabregas and mokoena

or

ireland and stephen hunt

i have a feeling that ireland and hunt have good match ups against wolves and blackburn, and i think this week arshavin will do a bit more than in week 1. my gut feeling is the ireland/hunt pairing...what do you think?

Remedial Spastics said...

What do folks think of Neville as a choice this week? Can’t see Wes Brown playing this weekend, and I figure Ferguson will be having a chat with his defense this week and will want his most experienced players involved. As long as he doesn’t go with one of the de Silva children…

Remedial Spastics said...

And to answer other comments (as is only polite):

I think Bridge is a better choice too. Richards could be replaced by Onuoha or Zabaleta. Bridge's place seems safe.

Don't think Deco will get many full 90 minutes this season.

I'd hang on to Ash and Fab for the next match against Portsmouth - should be a murdering.

Fulop could be replaced by Gordon any week - last season they swapped back and forth.

I would hang on to Arshavin for this week. Ireland is good, but with Man City having 20 strikers, they will all be desperate to score, and this might reduce Ireland's chances.

Phew...

Dare to Devil said...

My team for Week 2 stands at

Given
Verm Evra Wilkinson
Lampard Moke Fellaini Milijas
Drogba Bent Rooney

No attackers from Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal for me as I am willing to hold on to Rooney & Lampard.

This will either pay off handsomely or fail spectacularly. Thoughts?

Los Fantasticos said...

It really pained me to get rid of Lampard, but it was the only way that I could get Fabregas in. I'm also struggling about whether to keep both Fabs and Arsh.
Think I will but I'm sorely tempted by Bent. I think they're headed for a good result over Blackburn. And it would allow me to get rid of Mokoena!!

Anonymous said...

thanks again for the great article.

im currently stuck between three choices and cant decide on any of them:

givet, pienaar, tevez
or
givet, palacios, adebayor
or
sonko, fellaini, adebayor

leaning towards the 2nd option, but any input/thougts would be great!

Naning said...

Remedial Spastics:
What makes you think Deco won't get that many 90 minutes this season? He had an aweful season last year, but many players do the first year in England. This year, he looks a lot better, and it looks like Ancelotti trusts him. He has already played almost two hours this year.

But ofcourse. If you mean Deco is no season keeper, I think you are right. He is, however, a nice midfielder for a low price. And if he starts against Fulham he will definitely have a spot in my team. If it on saturday looks like someone else will play, I'll switch him for Fellaini or Larsson.

Assistant Manager said...

Some random replies from me...

- Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have Bridge, but if I was choosing between Richards @ under 6.50 and Bridge @ almost 9.00, I feel Richards is the better value pick. If you barndoored Bridge then of course he's the better pick.

- I personally wouldn't choose both Arsh & Fab, as it's too many eggs (or money) in one basket.

- I'd be surprised if Neville started, but if you hear that he has a chance then he's great value.

- I like the balance of "givet, pienaar, tevez" best.

Cheers,
AM

Remedial Spastics said...

Naning:
You have a good point. I guess he's cheap enough to adopt a "wait and see" policy and give him a few games. I am purely judging on last year, when I really didn't think that much of him. I'll keep an eye on him.

stingy said...

Using their current prices, would you guys rather have Arshavin and Torres or Gerrard and Bent? I also have Fabregas already for under 15, if that makes a difference.

Naning said...

I'd go for Gerrard and Bent. I'm not a fan of having both arsh and Fab. They're compeeting for the "same points" if you understand what I'm saying.

Gerrard has been in better shape than Arsh, and Bent in better shape than Torres.

Anonymous said...

You are so right, AM, this week has been agonizing. Good things it's also lots of fun.

My side at the moment:

Robinson
Wilkinson, Bassong, Vermaelen
Arshavin, Milijas, Hunt, Barmby
Drogba, Torres, Defoe

Hated to drop Lamps but Torres seems like a must-have at home vs. Villa. May change my mind about Defoe since two big games in a row are rare (as I recall). This seems like a good week to take a chance on Robinson based on Blackburn's past form vs. Sunderland. Milijas and Hunt are reliable value players, and Barmby seems like better filler than hatchet man Mokoena.

Question: Are last season's YFF match stats available anywhere? I can't imagine anyone being crazy enough to archive them (beyond their own team, that is).

Kellz said...

Having rouble deciding, feel that Burnley could be riding high off that win over United, leaning towards the second choice:

Jo/Ireland/Wilk OR K2/Fellaini/McCartney

Rest of the team looks like:
Given, Richards, Vermaelen (open)
Fabregas, Milijas, Gomez/Jiminez (open)
Drogba, Torres (open)

Thanks

Kellz

Fidan said...

Go on call me crazy, but does anyone ELSE remember...MATHEW TAYLOR!!! He was a point machine last season and he is up against Hull. AND a great value (13.something). I'd prefer Robinho for those money but I can't have 4 forwards (Drogs,Bent,Torres), or should I go for SWP or Arsh (I have Fabs btw).

In the end, I might just stick to Lamps and sell Gomez (I hate this option) to put a filler like Moko or Cresswell (arghhhh)...!!!

Sorry KELLZ, if I'm putting you into more "trouble" by bringing up Taylor...!!! Maybe he'll be my hunch pick for week 2.

Thnx for your comments, in advance...!!!

Assistant Manager said...

Kellz - We have a similar team with similar (open) spaces still...it really is a tough week!

Fidan - great call on Taylor, the classic "hunch" pick :) He's a player who blows hot & cold, but on his day he's as valuable as Gerrard (corners, free kicks & penalties). Hull are not a good side so if you go for him I genuinely wish you luck, it would be a gutsy move!

Cheers,
AM

Assistant Manager said...

Bill - don't think you can get the stats from last year anywhere I'm afraid, sorry mate

bean said...

@Bill - was wondering the same thing, it's nice to see all last years stats when YFF first starts up, but then it's gone. I wonder if there's a way to copy paste into excel or something at the end of the year? any excel nerds out there? that would be quite labor intensive, but very valuable reference.

@Kellz - I keep going back and forth with Everton. On one hand, they are a great team no question, and they should bounce right back to their expected form. On the other hand, this whole Lescott thing is really killing team mentality (and Moyes') and they are really missing Jag. and Burnley riding high. They'll bounce back, but maybe after transfer deadline?

I kind of like McCartney home to Rovers over Wilk on the road (even though it's B'ham)

@Fidan - definitely remember MTay, was hoping Bolton would have another quiet game and his price would come down a little, but next match is home to Liverpool.

I'm having a hard time dropping Lampard. While I would like to get some more Arsenal/ManC/Liverpool in my squad, Chelsea has pretty decent matchups for the next month. Whereas Gunners play away to both Manchesters next (that ManC Arsenal game should be interesting)

Liverpool also have a decent schedule for the next month, so I'm fine with bringing in Torres in place of Rooney.

No one else interested in G.Johnson? I know he's on the high premium side for a defender, but picked up at 11.01 on barndoor as an option. He's always been a good fantasy point producer, but seems even more so as he has quickly gelled into the Liverpool side.

as of now:
MyHill
G.John, Verm, Bass (open)
Milijas, Lamps, Fab, (open)
Drogs, Torres, (open)

bean said...

sorry to take up so much space, but how about Duff and Greening when they are added into the system?

Anonymous said...

any news on Zirkhov?.. physioroom reported he'll be ok for this week matchup..

Max..

Anonymous said...

Zhirkov won't play this weekend, recovering from injury and being match fit are two completely different things

Kellz

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