Week 9 - My Team
Vermaelen Heitinga Richards
Billy Fabregas Kranjcar Joe Cole
Drogba Crouch Bent
This was another really tough week to settle on a final 11, and I only made my final decision at 10am, which is very late for me.
In goal I've gone with Shay Given, with the only other option being Myhill. Fulham don't travel that well so I'm hoping I'll get a decent return with a Man City clean sheet & Given can usually be relied on to make saves if required.
In defence I don't need to explain the Vermaelen & Heitinga picks other to say I hold both at big discounts & they'll be staying for the foreseeable future. My 3rd defender is Michah Richards, who like Given I'm hoping will give me a clean sheet.
In midfield I'm hanging on to Billy. His thigh strain is likely to keep him out for a few days so he'll miss Sunday's game, but I'm holding a player of great points potential for just £4m so I'd be crazy to drop him because he'll miss one game - the player I replace him with could score maybe 4 or 5 points & it would be a complete waste. Fabregas will be in most manager's teams & I expect he'll control the game at Upton Park. Kranjcar is in there for his superb set piece delivery & even though he's quite costly I think he could have a good week as Stoke will try to rough Spurs up, which means loads of free kicks for Niko.
My final midfield pick is a huge hunch & a huge risk. Joe Cole, one of my favourite players but yet to start a Premier League game this season. The reason? I'm not doing that well this year & I'm sure one of the reasons is because I've stopped going with outside hunches which have been so successful for me in previous seasons. They don't get much bigger than a player who might not even start, but I've just got a feeling he could do something vs Blackburn, even off the bench. If it goes wrong & I get a zero I'll have to live with it.
Upfront obviously I have Drogba who could destroy Blackburn's defence, and I've FINALLY gone with Darren Bent after 8 weeks of recommending him & not picking him! I feel Sunderland will be on a high after the Liverpool result & Birmingham are struggling badly having recently lost to Bolton at home. Bent should cause problems but it would be typical if he didn't score the week I grab him! My final striker pick is Peter Crouch, who'll get the start vs Stoke & needs just 3 shots on target to return his value, which he should get.
You're probably wondering where my Man City striker is? Well, I was initially going with Adebayor until his shocking performance last weekend, then I switched him to Tevez, but the news that both these men only started training yesterday, along with a full fit Santa Cruz, a returning Craig Bellamy, a flying Martin Petrov, SWP...I just couldn't be sure who would start in City's attacking front 4 & with Billy going to get me a zero (and possibly Cole!) it wasn't something I could risk. So I went with Bent & Crouch who I'm 100% sure will start. If you went with a Man City striker, don't be surprised if they score - it would be just my luck :)
That's my team & my explanation...who have you gone for in Week 9? Any plans for the barndoor?
Cheers,
AM
74 comments:
so here we go
Gordo
Verm, Mears, G. Cahill
Bily, KPB, BFAR, Lamps
Drogs, Diamanti, Bent
Barndoored Milner and Dunne, but I see yahoo doesnt list the second games of Villa and WHU.. so might change thoughts on Dunne..
Gone for a rare 4-4-2 this week:
Given
Vermaelen - Sonko - Ivanovic - Bikey
O'Hara - Taylor - Geovanni - Bilyaletdinov
Drogba - Bent
what about West Ham-Villa game on wednesday? Is this week two-gamer week or next????
if next week is two-game week, my team is ready
Given
Heitinga-Vermaelen-Alexander
O'Hara-Arshavin-Milner-Bilyaletdinov
Drogba-Crouch-van Persie
Worried that I filled my team with Villa players then realised Villa-West Ham game might not be counted!
my week 9 team is:
Given
Verm
Mears
Ivanovic
KPB
Fabs
Bily
Milner
Drogba
Diamanti
Tevez
I have to confess that I thought long and hard about it and decided to drop Billy. I had a bad week last week (81.5) and decided I needed 11 healthy players in my lineup to get back on track. When Billy is fit again I'll be glad to pay the premium to get him back. Hopefully he'll be in that 8-12 MF wasteland so it'll be an obvious choice. I had a great run with Billy but like a stock you need to know when it's time to sell.
I'm hoping to get similar mileage out of Cohen, who I added to my MF (along with M. Taylor, who will compliment each other, I hope).
The good news for you AM, is that I had to drop Bent for Crouch up front to accomplish all this, so Bent will surely score.
Good luck to all.
Jensen
Vermaelen / Heitinga / Mears
Fabregas / O'Hara / M. Taylor / Cohen
Drogba / Diamanti / Crouch
Team for this week
Given
Heit Verm Sonk
KBoat Lamps Miln Moko
Dorgs Dent Agbon
Likewise added players for next weeks double header but not listed.....as a newcomer does this usually happen???
Dave
Guys - I'm positive the West Ham v Villa game will be added to Week 10 fixtures, it has to be because the game Week runs from next Saturday till the following Friday so they'd literally be nowhere else for it to go! Yahoo are slow to update the fixtures sometimes.
Cheers,
AM
Myhill
Verm Heint Sonko
Bily Jenas Fabs Malbranque
Drogs RVP Vennegoor
3 Hull players!!
I have a hunch on Vennegoor
Jenas and Malbranque are picks I hope do well that not many others will have
On the BD dropped RVP, Geo, O'Hara, Richards and Ivanovic, brought in Cueller, Milner, Young, Berbs and Sonko - but then again have just sunk 4 pints of Stella at lunchtime!!
Given, Verm, Richards, Hetinga, Arshavin, Lennon, N'Zogbia, Scholes, Drogba, Keane, Rodallega!
B. Myhill
Vermaelen Heitinga Bassong
Fabregas Bilyaletdinov Arshavin Milner Bullard Drogba T****y
Was too embarrassed to type his full name.
I'm sure Yahoo will add the second game in a day or two, they've done this before.
AM, J Cole has always let me down in previous seasons, having 1 good week then 2 poor. Hopefully he'll be desperate to prove himself leading to loads of SOT for you.
I've got... Given, Verm, Heit, Bass, Cesc, Bily, Cohen, Dunn, Drogs, Bent, Torres
I am watching the Villa v. Wolves game and Villa players look terrible. I had A. Young for 3 weeks and I am so glad I dropped him. Two-gamer or not, I won't be adding any Villa players to my FF line-up any time soon.
Speaking of my line-up:
Myhill
Sonko, Bassong, Richards
Lennon, Fabergas, Lampard, A. Reid
Drogba, Tevez, R. Blake
JUST GREAT, NO SONKO..
@Anonymous: It is a good idea to have 2-3 double players next week, my top picks include Milner, Dunne, Ashley Young, Ceullar, and Diamanti.
I thought Villa played badly as well, however they still have 2 chances to score points which still makes it worth it to have atleast 2 from that list. I myself am going for Dunne, Milner and Diamanti.
Good luck
My line-up:
Given
Vermaelen/Heitinga/Cuellar
Fabregas/Bilyaletdinov/KBoateng/Milner
Drogba/Bent/Crouch
I was already having money troubles, so dropping Blini didn't seem like an option.
My Cuellar/Milner picks have already failed to pay off. Damned late penalty. Really sad I didn't pick up Gabby.
I picked my forwards for exactly the same reasons AM did (great minds think alike, eh? :)). I toyed with going with the Beast in goal to free up some cash, but with so little faith in my line-up, I decided to stay with the safer option.
I've sort of pre-BDed some Villa players, so I'll probably just pick up Diamanti now. Hopefully AV can do better away to Everton and West Ham than they just did at Wolves.
looks like my late switch from rodallega/gabby to crouch/KPB is not going to work out for me.
@ Macgill, probably better than my Lennon, Jummy switch!!!
I suck
No Sonko
Jenas didn't start
Malbranque got subbed
Working the BD
sonko didn`t play but hull got CS.
this is totally disaster...
It's shaping up to be a very unsatisfying day. Let's hope Drogs scores a hat trick.
ouuuhhhhh!!! bent didnt score!!! damn it!!!!its the firs time i take him and the blo0ddy ******* lets me down!!!!
speechless ... i threw out over 11p for ass cole and got nothing. he's injured, isnt he ? bad luck ... really bad luck
Looking to be a phantom week for me, no goals thus far and very unlikely I will get goals tommorrow.
Given, Verm, Richards, Ivanovic
Giggs, Kranjcar, Geovanni, Billy
Bent, Drogba, Crouch
I should go o.k this week Rodallega, drogba, gabby goals,ivanovic clean sheet, ballack 2 assists fabregas & verm to come
@Anonoymous: I dunno if you've been reading all the posts here but many teams didn't do so hot this week, you line up will put you far ahead of the rest and it will be a fantastic week for you.
Thanks for the kind words Kellz. I'm hoping to move up a few places. BB JAM Lionhearts group 3.
Well I have a potential disaster on my hands. I didn't hit the save key on all the changes I made, I redid nearly my whole from 7 except for Drogba.
The line up that got kept has
Given
Verm Heiti Seabass
Bily Dunn Duff Rodwell
Drogba Rooney Torres
I thought all week about Rooney and Torres, mulling it over in several posts here. Finally, last night subbed in RVP and Berbatov for them and made some other changes.
With the excess $ I bought Deco, which turns out well because he sat. Problem is so did Dunn with the flu.
So I have at least 2 DNP's Blini and Dunn. May have 2 more in Rooney and Torres. Seabass lost a clean sheet.
So in all likelihood I am totally screwed. I am stuck with 3 everton players, and 2 lame strikers. At least I got rid of Robinson who I had in goal last week. That would have been the icing,
This is a cautionary tale for you all of playing fantasy footie when drinking, had one too many and I forget to hit the f@*!ing save key.
Also adding to my misery is my riff yesterday, posted here, on Lampard being done and he scores a brace today.
But it looks like most of us are feeling some pain today. Points haven't been posted yet but after watching Sunderland, Bent, the flavor of the week didn't do much. Looking at the results, Crouch, Lennon and the whole Spurs crew look dim.
But, silver lining time. Positive thinking.
Rooney and Torres both go tomorrow, score a brace a piece, and the fantasy I was toying with comes true. And I win the $50 million dollar powerball, and Maria Sharapova wants to screw me.
I really can't drink 2 days in a row, getting old, a lot of mileage, and I have a golf tournament at 7 AM tomorrow morning. But after this complete debacle I am going to make an exception. Heading for the wine cellar. Can even think about BD'ing Villa and West Ham players. My brain is fried.
Cheers and good luck tomorrow,
chris m
velvet underground allstars (about to take a big plunge)
Thanks the that book of a post chris ;D
Rooney is most likely out (unless Fergie just messing with Rafa) and Torres should be fit. Won't be a total loss.
Look on the bright side, I had Bent and Crouch
well mixed baf for me so far
Myhill(best return on 1 million investment)
Alexander(he has burned every time I include him in my fantasy team)
Lamps and drogba(big points haul this week)
kranjcar was meh
definitly barndooring rodallega though, and I should have included this week
anyone know if yahoo will add the double gameweek next week?
@Kellz
sorry. I'm a writer. I tend to run on. At least I hope I entertain a little
@Chris: always :D btw whats your pt total thus far?
My BD'd players thus far:
Lampard - he scored a brace but might now keep him as 18mil limits my spending options
Gabby - He scored and got atleast 2 SOT which means he may actually score more than 7-12pts for a goal. He always burns me when I pick him.
HRod - because its Pompey
Secrete - hunch pick for next week, hint its an away team and a defender (not villa though)
Wilk - at home starting due to Huth's ban, good chance of CS against Wolves
My team so far, however much will change considering Milner and Villa defense will drop in price.
Given, Verm, Wilk, Hunch
Lamps, Kranjcar (probably change) O'Hara, Billy
Drogba, Gabby, HRod (probably Diamanti)
@Kellz: I have Crouch and Bent too. I considered replacing one of them with Rodallega but sadly didn't follow through. I wanted to pick a ManCity forward, but they're all potentially gimpy. Now watch them all be fit and scoring tomorrow.
I've also BDed Gabby and HRod just in case, but I probably won't keep both of them.
Good thing this isn't a Blog Cup week.
What's with complaining about Crouch...Man fully returned his value (3 SOT, couple of CW) around 12pts...and, he was SO unlucky not to get on score sheet (that damn Beattie, with that line clearance)...!!!
I had:
Given
Verm,Heiti,Mears
Billy,Fabs,Lamps,KPB
Drogs,Crouch,Benitez
I hope to get something around 70pts today and maybe break the 100pts barrier...!!!
I need some (more) magic from Fabs to get me there and I hope RvP and City strikers choke tomorrow ;)...!!!
Good luck...!!!
Chris - pay no attention to Kellz (like the rest of us)
I am really gutted cos I had HRod originally and then I went for Bent for the same reason AM stated (keep not picking him). And I screwed up, got him now, but I lost 25-ish points.
Actually HRod is quite a good pick, just look at his SOTs, Wigan just simply don't have someone better, and in such circumstances, the players in question are exploited mostly. Just a taught.
I had a hunch about BFFL but didnt want to waste my discount on Fab4...fuck all..shite week
@Fidan: You're right. Crouch should return at bit more than his value, but you hope for more than that from your strikers. Just returning their values is what defenders not named Vermaelen are for. :) Most of my bile should be directed at Bent though, who goes missing whenever I select him. I'll probably pick up another 0.5 like in Week 2.
Ouch anonymous, I think your way off, I have chatted back and forth with chris the whole season and its all in good humor. I don't post thigs for people to listen I just put out my thoughts for anyone who wants to read. Sheesh man way to make me feel bad, I may go cry now. lol
If you're trying to get a goal and max points, do you like HRod playing once or Diamanti playing twice?
Well according to anonymous nobody listens to me, but in my opinion Diamanti has had some great point games with no goals and two chances to score means hes a great bet.
Flip side is HRod against a woeful Pompey side could be a big point match in one game.
My assessment is if Diamanti does score he'll surpass HRod, if not, both could end up with similar point totals. I'd go for Diamanti, I am 90% sure I'll have him as well
Kellz - good call. HRod hibernates every other game, it seems. Diamanti has been more consistent, but less likely to have a 20-pt explosion. Famous last words.....but give me Diamanti twice.
WHAT ABOUT CARLTON COLE
Hey guys, is there is any two-gamer in week 10 cause as it shown in the YFF week 10 fixture, i dont see the Wednesday games included in it.. What the heck? Wednesday games will be included in week 11? If that so, Milner pick will be a no-brainer.
Roberto,
HRod has the ability to score points without goals too.. Last week against Man City, he scored 17.5 points without a goal... That was higher than RVP who scored last week..
I think i'll be going with HRod and Diamanti/Gabby at the end of the day..
Well this saturday went great for me! *rolls eyes* Had Bent, who like all of Sunderlands offense, was a failure. Geovanni who hopefully will get a bunch of phantom points, same with O'Hara.
For the BD, right now i've grabbed Dunne, Milner, HRod and Gabby. Probably will switch Gabby for Diamanti later on though.
still waiting for the points.. but for certain 3 of my players got yellow.. myhill, mokoena and r.johnson.. and sonko didn't play!..hopefuly myhill wont get negative points for hull's clean sheet and few saves.. no hope for mokoena.. i'll be happy if he at least got 1..
anyway, my early bds..
rodallega, thomas and alexander.. for bent, moko and r.johnson..
other considerations.. agbonlahor/diamanti & milner..
Maxer..
I don't know why everybody is so angry about Crouch - from what I counted, he got at least 3 SoT, won 2 corners and had a lot of fouls being done over him. Never the less, he's out of my team. If Spurs looked like that home against Stoke, how will they look like away against Arsenal, maybe even without Lennon?
I usually don't get players that play against Arsenal, and this week there is no exception. Both Bassong and Crouch are out. I've dropped Geovanni too, because he's not playing well lately, and if he didn't score at home against Pompey...
KPB stays for now, he attacks well, but I don't know who long it will last.
On BD, Alexander was in my mind, but I'll wait with that because with a yellow card and without a CS, I can't see his price rising after the update. I bought O'Shea, who plays home to poor B'Burn, and his place depends on his place at ManU. Rosicky is in too, but his injury worries me. Diamanti is instead of Crouch - he gets points, he plays 2 matches. Perfect.
So for now:
Given
Vermaelen Heitinga O'Shea
Fabregas Boateng Bily Rosicky
Drogba RvP Diamanti
Any advices?
SF
@Maxer
Definitely no negative points for Myhill. Likely more or less around 8 points based on Soccernet stats (2 saves).
CS 6 + SV 2*2 + Draw 1 - YC 3 = 8 pts (excluding any phantom points)
@Rock - good point on HRod's 'phantom' scoring ability; I was looking at his totals which are all over the board. I've already got Drogba and Gabby, so was only looking for one more striker. How many times do you think we can change our minds before the Yahoo staff decides to work and closes the BD?
Hi Chris, what kind of writing do you do?
if the double week is true, Im wondering why not a lot of commentary for Noble (WH) at MF? Just plopped noble, diamanti, and milner into my lineup and still have a ton of $$ with a full roster.
of course im one of those crazies who still has tuncay at 1.00...he played yesterday and maybe next week is his breakout??
Hi all - apologies there's no new post, but i'm nursing the hangover of all hangovers, & there's also not much point until the points are in. I'm sure that'll be later this evening so they'll be a combined Saturday/Sunday post tonight.
Cheers,
AM
@AM: No problem. I had a feeling you'd be drowning your sorrows at a pub in the WHL environs.
Saha just scored. Crap. I should've stuck with him instead of going for Bent, who scores only when I don't have him.
Now I suppose both Adebayor and Bellamy are going to wind up playing and scoring. The only potentially gimpy player I stuck with was Blini, and he's the one who's out.
Fabregas is going to have to carry my team this week. At least I didn't follow through on the impulse to swap out Given for Jensen.
West Ham are just aweful this year but Diamanti seems to be the only bright light YFF wise. Thats wy people haven't high lighted any other West Ham players, most of them have terrible point totals and haven't done well points wise this year. But you'll be ahead of the pack to choose Noble and he does well so good lcuk :D
@Kellz - agree, except that CCole just scored from Diamanti's efforts. Based on my other choices, I'm now thinking Rooney home to BLA is better than HRod or Diamanti twice. Frankly, I think YOU could score against BLA.
@Roberto: thanks for the vote of confidence! I do play, but left defense is my usual spot so I'd have to pop up on a corner, lol! But yea, Diamanti energizes West Ham, so I think he will definately be included to start both games after this performance.
On Rooney, theres no doubt he can get back to his scoring form against B'Burn, however, only reason I didn't mention him is his price. Hes a great bet and when the pts are up dated his price will surely fall even more. So I might end up picking him up, but for now I really like Rod/Diamanti pair, if anything diamanti for sure.
Just watched the Hammers-Arse game. How do you like Diamanti - comes on as a sub on 55 mins and manages 5 shots, 2 on target, scores a PK and took attacking free kicks. He was a HUGE difference to West Ham upon entering the game, and with Parker seeing red, I don't see how Diamanti won't start (and score well) in both games. No question for me that he slots in for next week's double.
Question is do people think Agbon is worth it? Two away games against medium-to-tough home teams. Will he go quiet in one, making some single gamers an equal or better bet? Ideally in a double game pick, I want them to outscore a single gamer by a lot, so I worry that even 2 times Gabby won't amount to more or much more than a single gamer like Rooney (ManU backlash against Rovers?!) or red-hot Rodallega facing poor Pompey.
While I see Diamanti's 2-game potential for a big score (esp for his modest sub-10 price), Agbon just does not thrill me with his possibilities for a huge week. Could score OK, but enough to keep out other picks? Hmmm...Any thoughts are appreciated.
FYI I also noticed that H-Rod was taking many Wigan corners yesterday, adding to his phantom points potential.
@Dave: My thoughts exactly. I initially BDed Gabby and Rodellega but have now replaced Gabby with Diamanti. Rooney's price should come down a bit, so now I have a week to ponder dropping HRod for Rooney.
Bear in mind, I'm not exactly threatening the leader board. :(
@Dave and Bradley: I have ranted about Gabby b4 and heres my deal if it helps you.
(1) He has scored 4 goals and 9 SOT (minus the goal this weak and 2 SOT) but only has 53pts and 6pt ave per game.
(2) His 4 goals got him 15.5, 10, 7.5, and 11 pts
(3) His phantom point production is non existent and he musters only 1 SOT with his goals on ave.
(4) At 11mil (soon to be 12 or 13mil) hes too much of a gamble in 2 Away games against opposition capable of beating Villa.
(5) Everytime I pick him he scores 2.5pts
Hope that helps :D
Best line up IMO for next week is a combo of Rooney, Torres, Diamanti, Rodagella, Drogba (duh), and if you really fancy him, Gabby only b/c of two games.
I'll be going Rooney/HRod, Drogba, Diamanti
@ Kellz - THX! I was lazy in thinking about AGbon, and you substantiated what I was trying to say with some good stats, cheers.
BD Team as of now:
Given
Vermaelen, Dunne, Mears
Bily, O'Hara, Milner, Noble?
Drogba, Diamanti, Torres
Not so sure if I will be holding onto Noble. I don't see a whole lot in his price range that I like though. Maybe Reid? Nani? but who knows if he'll even play.
Might also swap out Dunne for Wilkinson, which would allow me to bring in a MF around the 14.50 range (for Noble). Could mean Giggs, or even Petrov. But he took a knock today so we'll see how that goes.
What do you all think? How are your BD picks looking so far? And is it just me or does having the BD open for such a bloody long time actually make things harder!
BD'ed Rodallega, Lee, Wilkinson and Given (Given was early and probably not necessary. Will most likely give Jensen the next game against Hull before deciding if the Great Experiment is over.) As for the double matches, I've had no use for any Villa players and the only Hammer I want I've already got (and have had since Week Six, I'm proud to say). Didn't Diamanti tear it up as a sub today? Can't see how he'll be left out of the starting lineup again.
Toffees are looking pretty thin with names like Nash, Wallace, Aqard, Coleman, Duffy & Akpan on the bench. wow.
thought maybe Bily would at least be on that bench
Yahoo is lame, I give it until thursday before points are in
Barn door list:
Cole,Diamanti,Gabby,Yayga,Lampard or M.Petrov?
Rgds.
Ajani
Looking to pick NOBLE for the double, but little concerned he got sub'd early [56 min] for DIAM, maybe a knock? any body know? Mean while looking for my YANKS to wrap it up.
@Ajani: Diamanti is my number one pick next week with Milner, Rooney, Yagga and Lampard coming next. However I don't think Lampard will repeat his brace week and I will probably dump him to field Rooney and Giggs
did another barndooring..
removed rvp for diamanti.. hopefully i wont regret it.. but i already have fab and arsh and i have a feeling arsn midfielders will do most work against tottenham this saturday..
another hunch.. giggs!.. darn expensive, but i'm confident he'll produce assists and few sot vs blackburn.. with roon downturn, he might as well scores too..
mears.. might get a cs.. good for his phantom points..
1st bd team
myhill
verm, sonko, alexander
fab, arsh, bily, thomas
drog, rvp, rodallega
2nd bd team
myhill
verm, sonko, mears
fab, arsh, bily, giggs
drog, rodallega, diamanti
Maxer..
Who is Yagga?
Week 9 line-up:
Myhill
Vermaelen Ivanovic Bassong
Frabegas Cohen Hunt Thomas(Wigan)
Drogba Adebayor Crouch
I am so disappointing to Frabegas and Adebayor which were getting 3.5point only.
But in week 10, I maybe will still keeping Frabegas in my line up. Adebayor i will put away and buy Petrov in my line-up.
Plan to buy Diamanti and Milner to my line-up in week 10. 1 United's players too (Nani or Giggs).
Portsmouth v Wigan,
Any suggestion to buy Rodallega?
Will he score the higher point again?
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