Monday 2 November 2009

Week 10 - Sunday


There's usually not much to talk about when there's only one game, but thanks to a Yahoo balls-up we have some controversy on our hands.

Mancheser City were lucky to escape with a point after a 0-0 draw with Birmingham at St Andrews. Shay Given was the hero, saving a James McFadden penalty and making a number of other saves as City continue to falter whenever they have a chance to cement their place in a the Top 4.

Given owners would've been looking forward to 25 points+ but it appears Yahoo have decided not to award the City stopper his 8 points for a penalty save. I'm sure it will be corrected but it's a worrying time for those who have him & shoddy work from Yahoo (UPDATE - he has now been awarded these points). It's typical of my season so far that when I pick Given up with a home fixture in Week 9 he scores a zero, when I drop him for his following away fixture he has a stormer. I have picked him up on the barndoor for next week with terrible travellers Burnley heading to City, so expect a 4-4 draw with Given getting -12.

Something to note was the instant removal of Micah Richards from the starting right back spot after Zabeletta's one week suspension. It appears Mark Hughes has lost faith in the ex-England right back so anyone who was looking to bring him in for Week 11 may want to think again.

I've now got a mental week at work so may only get time to post a few bits of injury news this week, but my player picks will obviously be up on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, rarely will I have more interest in a game for Fantasy Football purposes than I will for West Ham v Villa, with 7 possible players on show.

After putting so many eggs in to the double-game basket I really need a minimum of 25 points (taking my total to around 115 for the week) from these 7 to have made it worthwhile. With Milner possibly out & Diamanti possibly on the bench, & judging by the points return from my other DG players over the weekend, this certainly isn't guarenteed. My ideal result would be 2-0 win for Villa with goals from Young & Dunne, clean sheets for Friedel & Dunne & a few shots on target from Diamanti, all saved by Friedel. That would be a very nice end to a very tricky week. Won't happen though!

Who are you banking on points from on Wednesday? Or have all your players now played? And if so how did your week go? Who's in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

28 comments:

Bradley said...

Currently I have 128.5. My only double-gamers are Milner and Diamanti, so all my players might be done for the week. If Diamanti plays again, he'd better manage positive points.

Add Given to the list of players I pick at the wrong time. I BDed him Sunday for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, holding both him and Torres is going to require too many fillers and seriously unbalance my team. If Torres has an off day against Birmingham (see his 2.5 points vs. Burnley), I'll be screwed. I could drop Fabregas to free up cash. I have him at 16.75 though and Arsenal's at Wolves.

Yahoo was so close to a smoothly-run weekend, and they botch it right at the finish.

Bradley said...

Forgot to mention: The news is in on Bassong's injury, and it's not good. He'll be out 4-5 weeks with a hamstring problem:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5669471,00.html

greginho said...

good morning. i am at 105.5, with missing given points. my only two gamers are diamanti and carlton cole. the cole pick has worked, so far and i am hoping diamanti assists one of coles's hattrick that he is going to score on wednesday. since, everyone has him, i have to be selfish.

there were no players i wanted to barndoor from the sunday games, but i did get zabeletta from the sunday game. i had him last year, for a lot of points and was sad to see him not playing at the beginning of the season.

my team from this week has good matchups for next week, so there won't be any tinkering. i have to figure out if i want to keep petrov. he didn't start and underperformed once on, so i am at a loss. he has a good matchup. i will drop one of diamanti or cole for adebayor. at the beginning of last week, i was sure i would keep diamanti for the rest of the season, but not starting is a major red flag. cole is less exciting, but producing more than just fouls.

greginho said...

i meant there were no players i wanted from saturday games

Assistant Manager said...

Given's points have been updated to include his penalty save.

Ruki said...

I missed the Given BD T_T This might be something next week for me.

ben. said...

Great post AM! hahaha.. A typical fantasist mentality which I share as well! :D

anyways, anyone know why kranjcar didnt play this week?

Anonymous said...

@ben. maybe because bentley did well in the carling cup and he needed 2 holding midfielders in the form of huddlestone and palacios to hold back arsenal's attack?

JT8

Kellz said...

AM: Given saved my fantasy week. I picked around all the points regarding the Double Gamers

Milner = 0pts, Diamanti = -1pts, Cuellar = -3.5pts, Dunne = 1.5pts, Sidwell = 2pts (expected)

I am most angry at myself for touting Collison as a nice pick up at around 6.3mil and decided to drop him for Cuellar and opt for a 4-3-3. Missed out on a cool 10pts and possibly 10 more while I now have a no gamer from Cuellar.

Typical. Plus Liverpool have lost their 5th game in 11. Thats unbelievable. I haven't lost faith but I am deeply hurt. Especially since Rafa stated "we don't need to win trophies". Thats insane.

Lets face it, Liverpool are out of the title race fighting for CL next year, and about to lose out on the CL this year. If anything Rafa should focus on the FA cup and Carling cup as those are the only cups we could have won.

Sad times, thanks for the great posts again AM.

Rock said...

Kellz..

Liverpool are already out of Carling cup, mate :)

Anonymous said...

Nasri. Nasri, Nasri, Nasri!
He's 8.07, he's great, and I can easily see him playing @Wolves. Elsewhere I've picked Crouch and Bridge (that could be downgraded to Zabaleta in the near future), while Wilkinson and Palacios are also in. Palacios is a good cheap midfielder for one match, which Spurs play at home, while the Wilkinson choice isn't sure, though he could get a CS against Hull, couldn't he?

SF

Anonymous said...

Will Milner be back for the second game this week?

Bradley said...

Milner's participation sounds like it will be dependent upon -- wait for it -- the dreaded "late fitness test":

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5670531,00.html

Anonymous said...

i got Dunn,Upson, Noble, Milner, Diamanti, Gabby in my team for wednesday's game...
i dont expect much points though...

Kellz said...

@Rock: I know, I used the past tense, saying the Carling and FA cup were what Liverpool "COULD" have won. Its a sad thing to be out of 3/4 cups. I hope Rafa puts major emphasis on qualifying for CL and FA.

Kellz said...

For next week I like Citeh alot. Going with Bellamy upfront, Given (had all season), possibly Bridge/Zabs, and maybe a midfielder like SWP or MPet (if starting)

Bradley said...

Update: There's official word from MON on the AV website. For Wednesday Milner is "extremely doubtful" with a calf problem, and S. Petrov is just ordinary doubtful:

http://www.avfc.co.uk/article/injury-update-20091102_2235195_1845003

greginho said...

KELLZ
i went the same direction. i already had given, barn doored zabelleta, had petrov last week and will probably keep him despite .5 points. i also picked up adebayor he is my first choice, but will he play? does anyone know what is going on?

Andy said...

I tell you what would be valuble. Could you post all the set piece takers for the clubs?? I think that this would really help in picking the squads? I know some of them but you would know better?

Assistant Manager said...

Andy - The excellent fantasy football scout already has this feature.
http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/premiership-set-piece-takers/

Jeremy Spitzberg said...

If the AM doesn't mind me posting a link, here's our wrap up of the weekend - Monday Morning Manager.

As for Yahoo! running smoothly, there is the matter of Collison's second assist being credited to Kovac. That's huge for me as I, like Kelz, was touting him. More so because unlike Kelz, I actually had him in my side.

Thanks!

Assistant Manager said...

No problem Jeremy - I see you suffered the same Friedel/Milner/Diamanti nightmare as I did! :)

Anonymous said...

what does "barndooring" a player mean?

Kellz said...

Thanks Jeremy :D that makes me feel better. Worst of all I fit my friends team with many of my top picks then changed my own.

I realize going back to reading your blog Collison was of debate over SPet and even though SPet returned a good value, it was so true to see Collison in a more attacking/advanced role. Figured he'd be sure to start with Parker out.

But hey its not like AM who has touted Bent all season only to pick him up for a -0.5pt week ;D (but hey I did too!)

Kellz said...

BD means to buy a player before his price goes up

greginho said...

barndoor is when you pick players up during the games. it allows you to pick up players that you notice score, get assists, shutouts, saves, shots etc. when the scores are updated the prices change, as well. this will give you a player at their current price, before it goes up. you can also do this, at any time once the the game is locked down.

mikl-em said...

you know they do have dispute form where you can submit that type of problem (in case the Collision error hasnt been fixed yet...):

http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/sport/fantasyfootball/score_dispute.html

that's the official process

Jeremy Spitzberg said...

Earliest occurence of "barn door" that I could find - http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/2006/01/sunderlandchelsea-live-commentary.html - but it's a phrase we'd used for a long time.

Post a Comment