Week 12 - Sunday
1 Game Played
5 Goals
7 Shots on Target
1 Match Winning Goal
4 Corners Won,
1 Successful Cross,
1 Pass Intercepted
Total = 63.50 points
An absolutely extraordinary performance, rewarded with the highest ever points total in the history of Yahoo Fantasy Football. I doubt it'll ever be beaten. Huge congratulations if you had him - I obviously didn't but I'm not annoyed, just a very happy & very proud Spurs fan sitting at my laptop this evening...
9-1 - unbelievable! The whole team were exceptional (Defoe, Lennon & Kranjcar in particular) & had it not been for Chris Kirkland it could've honestly been 12-1 or more - he made at least 3 world class saves. The rest of the Wigan team should be ashamed of themselves for what happened in the 2nd half.
Spurs move in to 4th & it should be noted that we are there having been without Luka Modric since August. Liverpool tend to mention missing Torres or Gerrard as reasons for their terrible form, but to me Modric is "our Gerrard", our best player, so to be doing so well without him is really pleasing.
Moving away from Spurs, Blackburn had a great win 0-2 at a woeful Bolton, and once again my reluctance to go with the cheap keeper has backfired, with Robbo keeping a very rare clean sheet. I had Dunn who was superb again, but there were also great points for Roberts due to an assist, Brett Emerton & an amazing 18 for Nelsen. The final game was a 1-0 win for Stoke, with Fuller scoring the winning goal. Great points for Sorenson due to his penalty save from Boateng, with handy contributions from Wilkinson & Collins.
So we are now left with the 2 double games on Wednesday, in which I have 8 players to go. I currently sit on a frankly appalling 50 points, so I need to pray these players can get me up towards 100 for the week. I don't think it'll be enough to get me through to the 3rd round of the Blog Cup, but you never know, Geovanni could score a hattrick? ;)
On the barndoor I grabbed Defoe, Adebayor, Ireland & Robinson. I'm also hanging on to Dunn & Duff given their fixtures, but I may well jump ship on Alexander. Vermaelen & Drogba will stay. Not sure what to do about Jimmy Bullard seeing as his next game is at City, but it appears he could be returning to a points machine, so I'll make a decision nearer the time. I'd also really like a Man Utd player at Pompey but not sure who (Rooney, Valencia?)...Adebayor & Defoe won't definitely stay, they were only grabbed to give me the option...Defoe's price has gone up to £22m, surely the biggest jump ever?
How have you done, & who have you grabbed? Did you have Defoe!?
Cheers,
AM
28 comments:
Evening gents.
So, the Spurs game was unfortunately in the U S of A so I could only follow it on Gamecast. I saw that Crouchy had scored to put the boys ahead in the first half and I stopped paying attention to read the paper, eat some breakfast and actually have a conversation with my wife (which can be a rarity on match days), only to check back in on Gamecast with the score at 6-1!!! Sat back and watched with amazement as the goal socring barrage continued. What a performance, individual and teamwise. So happy for Spurs...this thrashing really could play dividends at the end of the season when goal differential potentially becomes important. And Defoe is now one of only five players to have ever scored five goals in one Premier League match...Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer are the other two. Its never a bad thing to be on a short list with those two legends.
For a line-up, I ended up going with:
Myhill
Verms Alexander Samba
Fabs Dunn Bullard Dempsey Cole
Drogba Kalou
Finished with what I would normally label a very mediocre 75.5 points but, relative to many other managers, it was a good performance. My biggest regret was prefering a one game Myhill to a two game PRoblem...of course, Rovers return a CS, on the road to boot!
I've picked up PRoblem, Lennon, Ireland and Defoe on the BD. My provisional line-up for next week is:
PRoblem
Verms Alexander Givet/Baird
Lennon Dunn Bullard Cole Ireland
Drogba Rooney
Biggest question for me is whether I have the confidence that Joe Cole will continue to start in the Chelsea MF...if so, what value at a price of 6.66,
COYS!!!
Well i don't quite know what to say. I'm still astounded by how good Spurs looked today, simply amazing. I haven't seen a team go for the jugular, and just keep on going like that for some time. Kranjcar was excellent, i thought, Lennon has shown he has added the end product to go with his pace and Defoe was at his predatory best.
I finished on 59.5 with only 4 double gamers to go, Dunn, Bullard and J Cole were my saviours for the week. Everything else was utter tripe. Givets injury was a real blow too what with missing out on a clean sheet and possibly Wednesdays match.
I've dropped 150 places to 306 and anticipate a bigger drop on Wednesday night when Duff assists Zamora's 5 goal scoring spree that's bound to now happen!
On a positive note we now have a cheap keeper again at just under 2 million, i'm sure there'll be a few takers as he's actually not that bad. I feel pretty sorry for the guy.
So on to next week, i originally BD'ed Ireland, Wes Brown and Defoe. I've since removed Ireland since i can't be sure he'll start, and i removed Defoe for the sole reason that i don't believe he will be doing that again any time soon. I wouldn't have picked him away at Villa before, so i won't now :P
I will likely keep Bullard, Dunn and Fabs. I'm not sure about Cole, and i might get back on Bily since his suspension is up.
Adebayor is interesting me, but i'm scared of getting burned, i could stretch to Rooney. My final striker spot is reserved for the rubbish Benitez, i want a goal for the faith i've shown in him hehe.
What a weekend!!!
I'm on 77.00 with Heiti, Dempsey, Jummy, Dunn, and Roberts to go. Happy with that considering how things went for most everyone who didn't bet on Spurs this weekend. I got my 2-gamers about as right as I could in that they all played and contributed when lots of the other options I was considering didn't. I even had a Friday trade work out (Saha/Paintsil for Bullard/Heitinga.) Hoping to be back up in the top 1500 by the end of this week and to finally have things going in the right direction this season.
For next week, I'm on Given(last chance Shea, if you don't produce against Hull, I'm braving Kirkland, Myhill et al) | Verm, Alexander(5.79), Emerton(6.01) | O'Hara, Dunn, Ireland, Jarvis | Drogs, Ade, Rooney. I'm waffling on whether to downgrade one of Ade or Rooney to upgrade Jarvis, but they're both overdue, and Ade especially thrives against the bottom feeders. That midfield should score steadily, and the forwards could bring a huge payoff, and there aren't many expensive MF options that blow me away this week, so I'll probably stand pat barring new developments.
I may also stay with that defense for the foreseeable future. Clean sheets are about impossible to guess this year, and two of those guys play midfield and will probably deliver close to their value over time. I'm getting tired of tinkering with it and picking around the points or having hunches fail to start. What I really want is for some hapless defender to get consecutive red cards or something and drop down to a dollar so I can field a filler slot there, but that doesn't seem to be happening this year. I hate being forced to spend 6 bucks on each defensive slot. But if you're going to have to pay 4.00 to field a filler, you might as well spend the extra 2.00 and at least have a chance at points.
i am at 67 points with 7 double gamers to come. i am moving from a forward heavy lineup to a midfield one because i either can't pick the right forwards or there are not as many consistent performers at striker.
i am leaving ryan nelson for his home game and vermaelen. my move on defense was to drop zayette for sunderlands da silva. in his 3 games as a starter he has had 5.5, 8.5 and 11.5 points with only the shutout at arsenal. that is a pretty good return for 6.74. it is not a popular pick, but a solid one.
in the middle cesc will stay with dunn, like everyone else and dempsey, unlike everyone else. i have duff at discount too, but i am feeling that dempsey is more consistent and plays everyday, plus his 8 points saturday in a flat game, justifies my belief. i have barn doored joe cole. he will get one game to show me if he is going to play then i will move to nasri. i had barndoored bellamy but he didn't go up but .08 so he left for a fifth midfielder named lennon. i have been harping him all year and waiting for his producion to return i have had him for mixed success.
up front drogba stays and now i have roberts. i thought at the beginning of the week that he would be gone for benitez or eduardo. i now have to rethink that and make a tough choice. i can afford them ngog, kalou, etc. i now am leaning toward keeping roberts at home since he has had 3 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games. that is hard to beat for someone i have for 6.43. i wanted bellamy, but i think lennon is a better long term choice.
Wow all these nice long posts!!!
I'll break it up a bit.
Billy or EDS????????????
Quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:P
eduardo da silve for me mike b. he has the better potential at that price. arsenal are not a great away team and are a great home team. against chelsea they are going to get 2 goals. he might be part of both of the them, plus chelsea's defense allows some shots to come in
well pretty happy with this week although, I dropped defoe for anelka :(. I bd valencia, johnson, skrtel and mcfadden. I really think birmingham players are a really good pick against wolves next week. I am basically done with my team for next week unless some injury news belies my team. I am going with more hunches to try and close the gap at the end of the year.
I don't think torres will stay, but he might.
Given
Alexander/Skrtel/ R Johnson
O'hara(keeping for awhile)/Bullard/J. Cole(50/50)/Dunn/Valencia
Mcfadden/Torres
oh and 85 points with 8 dgers to go :)
Will Kirkland recover from this thrashing in time to make him a good pick next week?
I had Defoe, but go figure was knocked out in the first round of blog cup, but at least that's just for fun and not the real game. (Unlike fantasy American Football, where I always choke in the playoffs).
Defoe was a funny story. It was a late Friday change. My friend, who is in my private league and won it the first 2 times we did it, asked me for injury news. So I linked him to the physio room, I usually don't give advice to my opponents, but I figured it was just injury news and he could find it anywhere (He doesn't know about this blog or Jeremy and Neal's blog). Anyway, after I linked him to physio room I decided to check and see if any of my team had injuries. The only one (besides Drogba, which I obviously kenw about) was Saha. Since I was using a 3-5-2, and didnt want to take a chance on Saha, and didn't like any 2-game strikers, I decided to go with Defoe. I also couldn't afford Anelka or Rooney. I figured he was due and was honestly expecting a hat trick. I knew he'd be thirsty for goals, but I didn't think he would actually meet and exceed my expectations. It's just great that for once a late change actually didnt come back to bite me in the ass. I moved up over 2000 places overall, and am 7th in blog league 2. It won't last, but I'll enjoy this until the Wed game (which I have 4 players left too).
I only BDed Lennon. I originally BDed Ireland, but dropped him for to re-pick up Dunn. Keeping Defoe since I got him at 12, and Dunn as well. Dropped Dempsey already and will probably drop Bullard.
at 40 with my two hunches got me a decent points.. dempsey (8) and etherington (8.5).. am quite happy too for picking up dunn (17) instead of duff (0).. anyway, hopefully can rack up few more points with 6 DGs playing this wednesday.. myhill (hope he plays), givet, baird, dempsey, dunn & zamora (hope he bounce back)..
didn't get anyone on bd.. but i'm thinking of keeping the current fulham players in my team with an option for upgrades for next week.. verm, fab and eds probably will stay too (arsenal tend to play harder against tough team)..
and will try to get some players from mcity & mutd if i got the $..
cheersss everyone this monday morning..
Maxer
I've finally broken my "multiples of 3" curse. I had rotten luck on weeks 3, 6, and 9, which filled me with foreboding for Blog Cup Round 2. However, this time nearly every decision I made turned out right (not an "I picked Jermaine Defoe the week he set nearly every record known to man" kind of right but the standard kind).
I have 84 with 6 DGers to go (Robbo, Givet (if healthy), Heitinga, Dunn, Dempsey, and Bullard). I'm currently 3266. It may not sound like much, but that's up from 17736 on week 3.
The only player I BDed was Ireland but probably won't keep him. I need to decide whether to hold onto Bullard or Fabregas, but I'll definitely keep Dempsey and Dunn.
I had plans today that obliged me to leave after Bolton-Blackburn, and thus sadly missed Spurs' match of a lifetime. I've just caught the highlights on Sky Sports News. All I can say is, "Wow." Good to see Lennon back in form too. Congratulations AM!
Everyone's missed the most stunning news of the weekend: Hayden Mullins has surpassed Aaron Mokoena as the cheapest midfielder! ;)
AM
what can i say (and you know that this is hurting me to say this ) , but what a performance in the second half by spurs
Forget about the 9 goals, look at the performance in the second half ( almost looked gunner like ha ha ) , if they played like that week in week out then they really would be top 4 contenders, and done without Modric ,Credit where credit is due (you wont here me say that too often when it comes to spurs )
Sitting on 76 with 6 DGs to go , normally that would be crap, but this week its not so bad
well im on 50ish with 4DGers to go, so im almost certainly out of the cup. The consolation is that i havent gutted my huge +value team for one 100ptish week.. only 1 person can win the cup, and each individuals odds are very low, so it comes down to this: some people sold some really good long-term investments to get a week where they scored (20-40??) points more than others, and some of those people still wont make it to the next round! my own 4DGers are in slots which i regularly rotate anyway (and they have produced quite nicely) so no harm done.
71 points, with 10 DGers on midweek...
What a disgrace Amr Zaki is...may he rot in the anonymity and irrelevance of the Egyptian Premier League.
I only have 3 DG to go...and im <70 points. looks like im out of the cup!! stupid ivanovic/fabregas
Great week so far with 122.5 pts (half of them coming from one player - duh). Wish I could claim it was anything other than luck. I took Defoe in the hopes he would score once and take some SOTs against the Wigan "defense." Wow. And Nelsen and Dunn were unusually potent. Too bad Zamora was even worse than the sidelined Drogba -- he needs to pay me back in the second game!
Doctor Teeth, relax brother, hate doe not end hate
He's a buffoon, both on and off the pitch, plain and simple.
Agreed with Doc, sure hate doesn't end hate, but your not ending hate by dismissing a team because of race/ethnicity within the ranks. He'll never return and thats better for all of us.
Hard time deciding about Bullard and J.Cole. Not a lot I can do with them as Chelsea have a uncertain midfield and Bullard is facing Citeh away.
I guess if Lampard is still injured for Arsenal J.Cole has another opportunity to start and Bullard is taking penalties. But Bullard isn't getting many phantom points, atleast not against West Ham, so maybe favorable match-up is better than 2 mil discount for a Hull player.
I watched as Tuncay warmed up on the sidelines around the 70 minute, thinking to myself this has to be the week he gets on and does something. He is to good to ride the pine all season. Yes, he will come on and score to break the 0-0 draw and it will be the game winner. Then I will rule my league hahaHA ha (evil Laugh).
Damn you Fuller!!
Bye Bye Tuncay. Hello Stewie Downing.
-Neal
Wondering what all the fuss was about, I tracked down an Amir Zaki article on SkySports. You know, I had serious misgivings about his work ethic during his time at Wigan, but clearly there's something more fundamentally wrong with him. Good riddance.
In more uplifting Wigan-related news, the players have decided to repay their supporters ticket costs for the loss to Spurs (good thing it was an away game :)). Good to see some players being true professionals and having class and pride.
...and that's "Wigan news that's more uplifting," not "more Wigan news that's uplifting." Natural language sucks. :)
So I've had a tactical idea on team selection that I'd been considering, and now there's a good opportunity. I'd love some opinions, esp. from folks who (unlike me) have played this game for more than one season. :)
Clean sheets are a rare beast this year, and it seems often that the risk of a negative score is greater than the potential upside of saves + a non-CS win.
Unless you pay out for Cech each week, but, except for him, even paying big $ for a top keeper like Given doesn't assure you won't end up in the negative.
So the idea is to choose a super cheap goalie that you know will not play. It's a cost that you know you won't get back, but there's no risk.
The problem is the game seems to anticipate this approach by making players who are never used cost about 6, rather than 0. So picking up say the Villa 3rd string keeper is not actually that cheap.
But now that Craig Gordon (@ 3.77) is out injured, we have the 4th cheapest keeper available with no up or downside potential. So I'm seriously considering making him my full time #1.
Any thoughts on this idea? Anyone already doing this?
I did this while playing YFF Liga last year. German Lux (backup keeper of Mallorca) cost 1 unit the whole year. It really benefit me because all the cheap keepers are negative-bond. However in YFF PL, there's always a cheap keeper with ok fixture. This week it's Kirkland, maybe next week too. I think it's better to pick the right bargain keeper. (Remember the 22-point week from Myhill?)
However, if there's a backup keeper who somehow plays a game, gets thrashed, price drops to 1 and the first keeper comes back, then we have the PL version of German Lux. Gordon IMO is not the ideal player for this approach. He's not cheap enough and he will eventually play.
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