Week 12 - Player Picks
Week 12 will be Round 2 of The Blog Cup, in which 200 people remain. There is an international break first, so you have plenty of time to think about your team, but it's interesting to note that it's a double week for 4 team so keep that in mind for the barndoor.So what's changed in the 2 weeks since I posted this? Well - loads of injuries, including significant ones to Lampard, Drogba & Arsenal's entire squad including Van Persie. However, I still fancy the same teams to rack the points up this weekend. As I said yesterday I only have an hour to write this due to work commitments & a broken laptop, so here goes...
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Birmingham v Fulham, 15:00
Burnley v Aston Villa, 15:00
Chelsea v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Hull v West Ham, 15:00
Liverpool v Man City, 12:45
Man Utd v Everton, 17:30
Sunderland v Arsenal, 15:00
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Bolton v Blackburn, 13:30
Stoke v Portsmouth, 16:00
Tottenham v Wigan, 15:00
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Fulham v Blackburn, 20:00
Hull v Everton, 19:45
Double teams: Hull (2 decent home games), Fulham (1 away, 1 home), Blackburn (2 away), Everton (2 away).
Other decent fixtures - Chelsea home to Wolves, Man United home to Everton, Spurs home to Wigan, Stoke home to Portsmouth, Arsenal at Sunderland.
KEEPERS
Schwazer - DGer in a team with a solid defence, but he's costly & we all remember what happened when we picked Brad Friedel in Week 10...
Myhill - Cheap DGer with 2 home games. Risk, but good value & should be back from injury
Robbo - Cheap DGer with 2 aways, bigger risk than Myhill
Fulop - Cheap, home to depleted Arsenal, could be a huge risk but not many will pick him (including me), but I know we have some risk taking blog readers :)
Sorenson - Home to Pompey.
DEFENDERS
Hughes - Consistent points scorer with 2 games & a decent price
Paintsil - & another
Konchesky - & another
Baird - Bargain, but watch his starting status with Murphy's return
Zayatte - Somehow racks up points so worth a look for a double week
Gardner - Captained Hull vs Stoke, 2 games & cheap...but injury prone so might not play both
Samba - Constant menace in the box, DGer, good point scorer, very tempting
Givet - Great value DGer
Nelsen - Cheap DGer but travels back from New Zealand
Heitinga - Cheap DGer but Everton have 2 tough away fixtures
Baines - Very expensive but his average almost returns his value & another DGer
Distin - I'd go for Heitinga ahead of him
Verm - Due another big week soon & has the pressure on him to score with no RvP :)
Alexander - I'm tempted to hang on to the penalty scoring midfielder
Ivanovic - If you have him at discount hang on to him
Alex - Good choice if Terry remains sidelined
R Johnson - I keep not picking him & he keeps picking up big points, even without a clean sheet
Mears - Another good point scorer at a good price
MIDFIELDERS
Bullard - The 2 week break since his proper comeback for Hull should've given him enough time to improve his fitness further & Phil Brown will be looking for him to inspire the team. Great pick with 2 home games.
Dempsey - Playing almost as a 2nd striker at the moment, getting forward in a Lampard/Cahill type of way. Another very tempting DGer
Duff - Keep an eye on team news as the Duffman has been struggling. If he's fit, he should be in your team
Dunn - I've picked him twice this year & he's done a job for me both times. Blackburn have tough fixtures but he'll pick up points as the set piece taker
Cahill - Dangerous pick; it could be 20 points or -5, but could be a nice risky one to take on
Fellaini - Yellow card magnet but he's cheap & a DGer who'll cause problems from set pieces.
Pienaar - Could be back & therefore a great option
Rodwell - Good DG filler
Geovanni - Can Phil Brown play Geovanni, Bullard & Hunt in the same midfield? Possibly not, so if Geo is pushed forward to support the striker then he's another tempting DGer
Hunt - Unlikely to get any set pieces with Bullard & Geo about, but will always put in a shift & pick up phantom points
A Reid - Arsenal can't defend set pieces. Reid is one of the best set piece takers in the league.
Etherington - In form & home to Pompey
J Cole - Potential bargain pick of the weekend at just £6.6m. With no Droga, Lampard or Ballack he surely has to play against Wolves?
Fabregas - No RvP will mean everything will go through Fabs, including set pieces. Never a bad pick
Arshavin - Could be pushed further forward after impressing for Russia
Nasri - Or Rosicky
Rosicky - Or Nasri ;)
STRIKERS
Anelka - The top striker pick this week if you're getting rid of Drogba. Could have a field day vs Wolves; he's better than any double game option in my opinion.
Zamora - I've always thought Zamora was rubbish, but in the past 2 months he's been excellent & with 2 games it's hard to ignore him
Roberts - Ulimate barndoor/points chasing pick. I have him at £6m but I'm not sure he'll start 2 games. Even if he did I'd probably rather pick Joe Cole.
Saha - A player in Saha's form would normally be a no brainer, but Saha is made of sticklebricks so I'd be surprsied to see him complete 2 games. Could still be good for a goal or 2, but I reckon...
Yakubu - ...the Yak could finally start a game, and if he see game time in both he's a bargain! Risky bargin.
Defoe - Due a goal home to Wigan
Eduardo - With no RvP, surely now is his time to shine? Unlucky not to score 2 vs Wolves, great choice.
Bent - Will cause Arsenal problems with his pace in behind the back four
Rooney - vs Everton. Once a Blue always a Blue? Say no more.
Kalou - Could get a rare start, so if you can't afford Anelka...
Benitez - Finally got his goal vs Liverpool & I expect he'll go on to score 10-15 goals this season. Still cheap!
Beattie - Home to Portsmouth
Jan Vennegoor - Bottom of the basement DGer
So...there are 60 odd players in that list & they are all players that have been or still are under consideration for Week 12.
The big problem I have is Drogba. I'm still holding on to him & the news I'm hearing is that he has a chance of being on the bench this weekend. To me that means he's only going to miss 1 game max, so I may hang on to him. Chelsea know he'll be gone for a month in January so they'll want to eek out every possible minute/goal/fantasy point from Drogs before he jets off. It's a decision I'll finalise on Friday afternoon/Saturday morning.
Other than that I'm expecting to field a minimum of 6 double-gamers, possibly as many as 8. I'm concerned over the return of Danny Murphy - who will drop out? I'm thinking Baird (as he's been playing midfield), but there's no guarentees. What about all the returning International players like Duff, Dempsey, Nelsen etc? And how will Phil Brown fit all of those flair players in to one midfield? I guess we wait for team news on Friday & cross our fingers!
Are you still in the Blog Cup? Who are you picking up in Week 12? What are you doing with Drogs? Have I missed anyone?
Cheers,
AM
21 comments:
keeping drogs at 10.66 with 7 double gamers in my team. This is either gonna bite me in the behind or make my week.
Life without Drogs?
This is the team I'm sitting with at the minute, trying to find the bottle to hit saved changes...
Schwarzer
Verm Heit Givet
O'hara Dunn Dempsey Bullard Arshaving
Altidore Saha
I've gone heavy on DG's, as you can see, I've held onto verm and O'hara (the latter done good for me last weekend, and it feels callous to drop him). Altidore is my hunch, he'll play, I think as sub, and I reckon he's a billy bargain for just under 5. If any of our American friends has some inside info, please tell.
The way I'm thinking at the minute is sooner or later I'm going to drop Drogs. With the African nations coming up, surely he's going to ease up a bit, he won't want to get a serious injury before that. Then he's off. So a lower, on average, score for something like the next, at least, 8 weeks.
Finding the next Drogs soon is going to be an issue. Eds is a possiblilty, with Van da man rubbing horse parts on sore bits, but I'll probably BD him.
It is still too early in the season, but this has to be the toughest week for me to pick players. Will have to dedicate most of Friday morning to it; 20 minutes will not be enough here. Hoping that there are some Drogba updates by then. Also, not a single DG team looks good for a sure win pick.
No more Drogs, No more Verms. Drogs looks tired has injury concerns, and his mentality(which plays a big part in his game) has turned for the worse. Verms has looked like he is settling into the back and has not gotten ahead the last two weeks, and Sunderland away followed by Chelsea doesn't seem like very good games to bank on arsenal defence. Heavy on DGers this week,there are good choices unlike other last dg week.
Myhill
Baines, Konchesky, Alexander
O'hara, Duff, Dunn, Bullard, Cole
Anelka, Zamora
I am really excited to see Hull after there emotional win over Stoke, as I think they are going to make a good push to lengthen the game between the team and relegation.
I really wish I could fit zayatte in my team, as he gets forward well.
Just because Drogba didn't score against United hes suddenly on poor form, looks tired, and his mentality is now worse? I have to disagree. Unless its absoultely confirmed hes out longer than 2 weeks I'll drop, but hes been the most inform striker of this season and hes allowed one game off. Utd was always going to be a hard game.
It really is not his form against Manchester United that has me worried. It is the incessant whining that was not there(as much) at the beginning of the year. He also is wont to overdo his injuries. I just don't think he is going to be turning out the stellar performances we are used to seeing.
Look I see what your saying but that is just Drogba, that hasn't changed this year. And to be fair Drogba was wrongly awarded a YC. I haven't heard hes out for 4 weeks so I doubt the comment from Anonymous. But if it makes sense for you to drop him and go with a stronger lineup all I can say is good luck
AM,
what about o'hara? i'm sure u have it on discount.. don't see him on that list of urs :D i have him too.. worth dropping for j.cole?
JT8
I think I am going to drop him for Cole...I have O'Hara at a 2-3 million discount and I really like him for that price but Pompey have a stretch of really tough games coming up. He is probably still value/worth keeping given that he takes set pieces/corners...the thought of picking up Cole on the cheap with Chelsea's injuries is too tempting, however.
But is Cole a certain starter? Yikes.
Yeah that's the problem.. even with the injuries it's hard to predict Chelsea's midfield coz they've got so many quality players.. zhirkov should be starting soon? i think i'll stick with o'hara as he still takes the set pieces and is like the david dunn of blackburn? when u think portsmouth, u think o'hara. but that's just me.
how's ur line-up DT? any other dilemmas other than the o'hara/cole one?
JT8
Zhirkov is mainly a left back and if he starts will take Ashely Cole's position. Joe Cole will start and I anticipate him to lead the diamond formation. I see Deco pushing out wide and Malouda on the left with Essien or possible Mikel as Defensive Mid. Just my thoughts
drogba has been my consistent point scoring player since week 1.. most of my week points comes from drog.. i very much like to keep him, but if its confirmed he'll miss more than 2 games, then i'll be dropping him for someone else.. but at discount (10.66) who's worthy to replace him? :(..
*physioroom reported drog will be back in 3 days.. although physioroom are sometimes inaccurate, but this actually add more confusions in my head..
my team with drog
myhill
verm, givet, paintsil
fab, dempsey, etherington, duff, bramby
drog, zamora
my team without drog
myhill
verm, givet, sonko
fab, dempsey, etherington, duff, dunn
zamora, eduardo
Maxer..
man, what a drog this is..
i'm really tempted to sell. good matchup, and he very well could play, but I'm tempted to jump ship. this injury, however minor, could be the thing to break his form. he has been playing unbelievably well and hasn't shown a reason for us to think differently. but you have to think there's no way for a player to continue that form through the entire season (or until African Cup)... but that's a bit of over thinking if you ask me.
Even though he's appeared as an attacking midfielder recently, wasn't Joe Cole mostly playing right midfield last year before his injury? I thought it might be Cole on the right, Deco attacking, Malouda on the left and Essien defensive.. but just a guess. It looks like Ashley Cole and Terry could be back, so who gets the other two spots? and how long is Lampard out?
this is WAY too much Chelsea talk.
@Bean: Same thoughts just different positions. I mearly figured J.Cole in the CAM slot because thats where he started in his first full debut back from injury.
Gotta wait on drogba news until Friday/Saturday morning, I just can't see him returning to form just yet either with a rub injury. If anyone has had one before, a rib injury is extremely painful and blocks your ability to rotate side to side (a skill a striker must have). So it could very well be the time to drop our Fantastic Drogba!
@Kellz - either way, I like Joe Cole if he's sure to start, which it looks like he will.
I start to wonder why there has been no other news on Drogba? Makes me think it's b.s.
oh, and yes, rub injuries are very painful!
I got Schwarzer on the BD for under 9, so he anchors a 5 DG lineup:
Schwarzer
Toure Ivanovic Paintsil
J Cole O'Hara Rodwell Cahill Bullard
Drogba Eduardo
I have Toure & Ivanovic & O'Hara all at discounts.
I'm going to stay w/ Drogs--I have him at 13, not the best but still ~4M discount--if at all possible. We'll see the reports as we get close.
I paid the full 13 for Bullard, but over 2 games I'm hoping that's cheap, he should be in the center of play (both home games and Hammers & Everton have been far from unbeatable this year).
And I know that Cole is going to pay big dividends once he gets started--I'm hoping the INTL rest was just what he needed to be game fit.
Double gamers kicked my ass a few weeks ago. I'm nervous as Everton has let me down numerous times this season. It's bizarre to have only 1 Gunner on my team and to have it be Eduardo(!!!).
I'm affraid of the prospect of having Hunt while Geovanni and Bullard are back. I can move to Geovanni, who might even get to be a forward, but I'm not sure about this move. I've dropped Rooney to get Anelka, but it isn't final.
With 3mil remaining, I thought about getting someone else than Hunt - with Cahill and Krancjar being the top options.
Cahill - two games, but they're difficult and he knows how to commit fouls.
Krancjar - one easy game, but where was he the last couple of weeks?
Help!
SF
Don't pick kranjcar, as harry has decided to not play him for some unseeable reason.
physioroom updated today, and they list Drogba as a slight doubt only...
denilson and vela fit for Arsenal:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/30537/injury-news?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29
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