Friday 28 August 2009

Week 4 Preview



It's a fair distance away, but we all know it's never too early to start planning your team & of course there will still be a barndoor to get involved in this weekend.

So firstly, the fixtures...

Saturday, 12 September 2009
Blackburn v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Liverpool v Burnley, 15:00

Man City v Arsenal, 15:00

Portsmouth v Bolton, 15:00

Stoke v Chelsea, 15:00

Sunderland v Hull, 15:00

Tottenham v Man Utd, 17:30

Wigan v West Ham, 15:00


Sunday, 13 September 2009
Birmingham v Aston Villa, 12:00
Fulham v Everton, 16:15


As always, we look at the stand-out fixtures. In Week 1 & 2 we had quite an easy time as there were 4 or 5 stand out fixtures where the Big 4 had nice games. This week is different...

Liverpool
home to Burnley, Chelsea at Stoke & Sunderland at home to Hull are the only fixtures that look ok, but I don't expect any of these to be really easy. We have some of the form teams clashing in Tottenham v Man Utd & Man City v Arsenal & lots of games that are tough to get too excited about. Fulham are perhaps favourites over Everton, Birmingham v Villa is a tough derby and the remaining three fixtures (Blackburn v Wolves, Wigan v West Ham & Pompey v Bolton) are all very difficult to call.

I'll be looking to load up on Liverpool, Chelsea & Sunderland, maybe a few Fulham/Everton players & I have a hunch Villa could do well. We'll probably get some more hints at other teams hitting form from this weekend's fixtures.

Now, I'll probably avoid getting in Spurs, Man Utd, Man City or Arsenal players unless I have them on big discounts, although I must say I fancy Arsenal to go to City and beat them. City haven't fully impressed me yet. 2-0 at Blackburn flattered them, 1-0 home to Wolves wasn't convincing & their full strength team hardly battered Crystal Palace last night. (Now that I've written this they'll go & thrash Pompey on Sunday! :)

With not too many cheap defenders & not many obvious clean sheets in Week 4, if you already have defenders you're reasonably happy with then keeping them at discount is advised.

So, below are the players I may be looking to get in... As you've probably guessed from the photo, my top pick this week (based on value & match up) is Darren Bent.

----------------------

Liverpool - Torres, Gerrard, Insua, Johnson, Reina

Chelsea - Drogba, Lampard, Deco, Bosingwa

Sunderland - Bent, Jones, McCartney, Fulop

Fulham - Dempsey, Zamora, Paintsil, Duff, Murphy

Everton - Jo, Yakubu, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov (just for ToffeeeDave), Distin

Villa - Carew, Young, Milner, Sidwell

Obvious Standard Picks - Defoe, Modric, Rooney, Berbatov (better not score), Nani, Evra, Foster, Van Persie, Arshavin, Fabregas, Vermaelen, Adebayor, Tevez, Robinho, Given

Best Of The Rest - Gomez, Rodallega, Carlton Cole, Jimenez, K Davies, M Taylor, Ricketts, Pederson, Givet, Piquienne, Belhadj, Kranjcar, Ebanks Blake, Milijas.

----------------------

Wow, that was quite tough to write as I reckon it's a really difficult week to predict, but hope it's given you some ideas.

Who will you be looking to get in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. Week 3 Injury News/Predicted Line-Ups will be posted up late this afternoon once we have some further team news from the afternoon press conferences.

17 comments:

Fidan said...

Hard week to pick a confident team...I think I'll get back Jordi and pick for the first time Jimenez. I'll have to (somehow) make room for Bent as his fixture looks appealing...!!!

Swapping Lamps for Gerrard, for sure, but it looks like I'll have to sacrifice something in defense and most likely it will be SeaBass...!!!

Given,Verm,Milijas and Drogs (as mentioned before) are, for me, season keepers...!!!

Good luck, fox...!!!

Will sorely miss week4, btw...!!!

Anonymous said...

i am REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry man...
i thought it was a bit different and i am EXTREMELY sorry if u thought that i copied it from yours and pasted it by changing a few words.. in fact my blog has a diff basis altogether.. i am not sayin that its right to steal ideas but i was just interested in starting a blog.. and im EXTREMELY sorry if i had ripped you off.... i dont blame you if you are NEVER going to help me..EVER again.. but jus understand that i wrote that on my own.. and it may seem similar so im going to delete the whole thing..hope ur hapi!..
and im nt going to need Fidan's nor Kellz assistance..im going to do it on my own..and im repeating again... the basis of my blog is DIFFERENT.. ok?? dont repli if you dont want to but... i jus cant do anything bout it.. k?
SORRY!

Yours apologisingly,
N00B

OS said...

Right, I've bitten the bullet and gutted a marginally discounted T.Howard for a full price Given. I just don't trust everton! question is whether I trade out Given for Myhill and upgrade Rodwell to S.Hunt...?
Tough one - inclined to stick with Giv/Rod - can't see portsmouth scoring agains citeh and i just have a bit of a feeling about JRod this week...

OS

Doctor Teeth said...

Question for the choir:

So, like many of you, I am always predisposed towards building my 11 man squad around a core of 2-4 outstanding offensive threats, surrounding those players with hunches and/or players who can occasionally come through with a big day. I am toying with the concept of altering this methodology, stacking up my back line with studs (all of whom can score as well as rack up clean sheets) and going with undervalued quality players up front (none of whom are trading for over 10 million at present). An example would be:

Given
Lescott Vidic Johnson
Modric Millijas Gomez Cahill
Tevez Altidore Eduardo

As some posters have mentioned in the past week or two, those three backs essentially function as MFs...as an example, despite the Reds turning in a terrible home performance at home against the Villains last week, Johnson returned nine points (without the benefit of a clean sheet). I think these three guys will get so many "phantom" points (maybe we should call them "Lampard points") that they are well worth their prices (Vidic is the only one of the three whose price - after last week's rise - is a bit daunting but we all remember how solid of a fantasy player he was last year).

My front line is stacked with potential bargains. I have to believe that Phil Brown is going to give Altidore serious minutes this season given his debut...notwithstanding his youth, he is a physical presence with great touch and should be able to withstand the rigors of the Prem. As I've said before, Tevez at 9.48 million must have managers drooling...could be a pick that you ride for the remainder of the season (granted, I currently have Robinho in my side for this weekend). And I think that Eduardo will be able to consistently outplay Bendtner and get starts alongside RVP from Wenger this season.

Anyway, not saying that I will have the stones to put out this type of line-up but it is an intriguing possibility...curious to hear your opinions.


Modric with a brace this weekend....COYS!!!!

Peace,
Doctor Teeth

Max said...

any ideas of a good GK to be BD for week5?.. currently have myhill and i know i have to drop him for match against sunderland..

kress said...

why people doesn't select rooney??

my line up for week 3;

myhill
wilkinson, givet, vermaelan
gerrard, milijas, koumas, mokoena
drogba, d.bent,rooney

why not rooney???

Kevin said...

I too have been contemplating loading up on defenders who consistantly score (G Johnson, Bos, etc) and opt for the bargain midfielders who offer a decent chance to score some points (milijas, jimenez, gomez and more expensive Nani/modric). this is mostly a product of there being no real cheap starting defenders this year

For this week, I am considering dropping fabregas @discount for a mix of Johnson and Jimenez. otherwise I can only fit Sonko in with some change left to spare.

my team would be:
Given
Verm, Bass, Johnson
Nani, Milijas, Gomez, Jiminez
Drog, Torres, Rooney

Doctor Teeth said...

Kevin - I really like that line-up but would definitely swap out Nani for Modric (especially this wekeend given the fixtures)...Sir Alex really seems to have not settled on a consistent line-up thus far and week in/week out I think there is a distinct possibility that Nani - at nearly 11 million - will not get the start some weeks.

Anonymous said...

I have pretty much developed a core squad and one thing I learned playing fantasy football (American football that is) is to stick with your studs. Even if there matchups are kind of bad, play them. Though it is different since you draft a team and no one will have any of the same players but still a good lesson.

Anyway, the only move I am still contemplating is swapping Lamps for Gerrard. I am prob gonna give Lamps one last trial and see what he does tomorrow against Burnley. But also, thinking ahead, how do you think the return of Zhirkov will affect Lamps point production? I for one, think it can help his point production and Gerrard looks to be a sfer bet.

I could also BD a team with both Gerrard and Lamps, but I'd lose Rooney and Nani, not sure if I wanna do that.

Anyone have thoughts on Zhirkov's effect on the Chelski diamond?

Cheers

Skip said...

Kress.. i am with you...

i am with you about rooney..

i have drogs upfront with rooney.. and Lamps and Stevie anchoring midfield with Hunt & Milijas on wings..

Vermaelen, wilko and ayala for backline.. with Myhill in the box..

i will be getting rid of ayala for another def.. and HUNT gets one more week before i sell.. possible for Zhirkov or another low price new player..

but i am sticking with my plan.. NEVER< EVER! get rid of StevieG and Fat Frank.. they have produce consistantly over the season.. they anchor my team..

good luck! can't wait for Saturday Morning games! : )))

skip

Anonymous said...

Dr. Teeth:

I wish you luck with your new approach. I'm also trying to find a system that works in most cases.

There must be a way to be truly GOOD at this thing week-to-week instead of merely lucky. But when you're dealing with a round ball, round feet and round heads anything is possible.

BTG

mehicoradio said...

kinda 50-50 on how i want to approach my week 5 team. i can go:

Given
Wilko, Bassong, Richards
Milijas, Mokoena, Lampard. Deco, Gerrard
Torres, Drogba

or

Given
Johnson, Bosingwa, Verm
Milijas, Lampard, Deco, Mok,
Drogba, Bent

Team 1 i like because i get two good forwards with nice match-ups (Drogba, Torres) and two good mids (Lampard, Gerrard). Downside is the defenders all have bad match-ups and un-sure if Deco would get a start.

Team 2 has the great defense with good match-ups, except Verm. MY downside looking at it is its basically centered mostly around the 3 defenders. Outside of Lamps and Drogba, there isn't anyone else i'm will to say 100% will be big for me.

Personally i'm leaning towards team one, i get to keep most of my discounts and have 4 great attackers. But looking for second opinions.

Which do you think makes the better team?

Anonymous said...

Saha will start?? he is only 7.14!! anyone who knows??

Anonymous said...

Weird... Anyone else see Tim Howard went up about a million in price after LOSING points again last week?

Anonymous said...

I've done some BD'ing already and here's my current line up.

Rob
Wilko, Bass, McCartney
Lamps, Gerrard, Deco, Milijas, Moko,
Torres & Drogs

As you can see i've loaded up with Chelski but not sure between Deco & Jiminez?

Any words of advice? have i gone too BIG!!!

Cheers,
Starky

Jamie said...

my team for week 5:

Robinson
Johnson Givet Stearman
Lampard Deco Mokoena Cattermole
Drogba Torres Bent

I swapped Reina/McCartney for Robinson/Johnson, do you think this is a good move? What other improvements could I make?

chris m said...

Life at the top was tough.

Just watched Everton/Wigan which prompted some major changes for week 5.

Rodwell and Cahill both looked dangerous. Everton seems to have shaken off a bad start. Rodallega look like shit for Wigan. Hence. He and Gomez get dropped.

Lampard looked so/so at Burnely. He is deferring his shot to Drogba/Anelka. So I hate to do this but Lampard is dropped. I was thinking of doing this anyhow. This gives me big $ so its Torres for Rodallega up front.

So for week 5, the revamped Velvet Underground Allstars look like:

Given

Verm Bassong (who might go) Richards

Milijas Rodwell Cahill Nani

Drogba Torres Rooney

The hard choice here was Nani. Valencia has looked lousy. The only creativity, aside from Giggs in ManU's midfield has come from Nani. I was thinking of Deco, but in 2 weeks, Zhirkov and/or Cole might figure, he didn't look good against Burnley so I think he might sit. Liverpool's midfield aside from Gerrard has no offense. I am taking a big risk on a hunch with Cahill and Rodwell. So I need someone from an established side. I am also looking at a greatly discounted, after his OG Diaby. But that was such a boner it might have permanently twisted his head.

So big changes for week 5, as I have plunged over 300 spots from the top of the overall leaderboard. Still 5th in this though.

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