Thursday 26 November 2009

Week 13 - Player Picks


Finally Week 12 is over & the Blog Cup 2nd Round results are up, so I can now concentrate on Week 13 with my passage to Round 3 safetly secured! :)

After pretty much ending last week where I started it, just inside the Top 1500, I really need to push on. It's back to a single week for Week 13 which I think we all prefer & as always there are a huge number of picks to consider with a great variety of fixtures.

Here are the 40 or so players currently under consideration:

KEEPERS
Kirkland - Dirt cheap after letting in 9 & being credited with an unlucky own goal vs Spurs, but is at home & faces a Sunderland side missing Jones & Bent. A real possibility.
Given - Always lets me down but his price has now dropped & he's home to Hull (though they've started scoring goals). I'll personally be going with a cheaper option.
Robinson - Home to Stoke & Blackburn tend to do okay at Ewood Park. He was rubbish last night mind you.
Hennersey - A real outside bet if you don't fancy Kirkland or Robbo. He's home to Birmingham in a game Wolves MUST win in my opinion. Definitely a risk but you'd be going against the crowd, which always gives you a chance to claw back some points.

DEFENDERS
Vermaelen - The Verminator is running out of time. If I had him at £6m like many of you I'd be 100% keeping him, but I have him at over £7m which means I've started to look at alternatives. Do I have the guts to drop him? Chelsea isn't exactly a great fixture.
Evra - I can see United running out 3-0 winners at Portsmouth, I can see Evra getting forward a lot & getting clean sheet points, meaning I actually see him as a bit of a bargain, even at £11.85m
Nelsen - If you're still holding him at his old price of around £5m then he's worth keeping for his home fixture vs Stoke.
Givet/Jacobson - If you don't have Nelsen then one of these guys might be worth a punt at just £5.5m. If Givet is back he'll probably take his place back from Jacobson, so it's one to keep an eye on.
Konchesky - His price has risen after his showing last night, but home to Bolton is a great fixture so £8m is still a decent price if you have the funds lying around.
Bridge - Mr Average, but home to Hull
Zabeleta - Likely to keep Richards out of the team for another week, home to Hull.
Brown - The most affordable Man Utd defender likely to start the game at Fratton Park
Rafael - Bit of a risk but with injuries to Evans, O'Shea & Ferdinand he could continue at right back.
Alexander - West Ham isn't the worst fixture, he's playing midfield, he takes penalties & I have him at £5m
Upson - Home fixture & he's always a threat from set pieces.
Illunga - If he returns from injury
Baird - Tricky one. He's played a few games in a row in midfield now but we've all been wondering what happens when Murphy returns. I barndoored him at under £5m last night so I'd love to keep him if it looks like he'll start again.

MIDFIELDERS
Dempsey - In outstanding form, 2 goals last night & likely to be pushed to play upfront against a terrible Bolton side after Zamora's injury. I'd dropped him at the weekend but brought him back in last night. A must have for Week 13.
Dunn - Another player in blistering form, taking all set pieces & picking up points all over the place, even in 3-0 defeats. Home to Stoke.
Valencia - Really starting to find his feet after struggling initially. As mentioned earlier, Pompey could be in for a battering so Valencia is a very good pick, especially if you barndoored him for £10m at the weekend. Even at £12m he should return his value.
Giggs - He should play after being rested last night & he'll be on set piece duties. Always a tempting selection when United face weaker opposition.
Duff - Looked very dangerous last night & was unlucky not to be credited with 2 assists. Whether you want both him & Dempsey is another dilemma, one I'm currently working on!
J Cole - I'm keeping him in the list because I'm sure many of you are holding him at £6.6m, but with Lampard rumoured to be back plus Malouda & Essien on fire, there's no guarentee he starts vs Arsenal.
Billy - He returns from suspension & boy do Everton need him. I expect he'll come straight back in to the starting line-up after Everton lost their 2nd in a row last night. Bargain against an equally faultering Liverpool side.
Collison - The more I see of him the better prospect he appears. He's creating so much for his team, getting a few free kicks, getting forward to join Carlton Cole. Should do well vs Burnley.
Ireland - City's best player last season & the best player on the pitch vs Liverpool last weekend. I can't see Hughes dropping him after that performance & there could be good points for him vs Hull.
Reid - With no Bent & no Jones I expect Steve Bruce will be asking Andy Reid to offer an extra attacking threat for Sunderland. Expect lots of excellent set pieces & a shoot on sight mentality.
N'Zogbia - Massive talent who'll be looking to bounce back. Always plays better at home.
Jarvis - Wolves set piece taker at home to Birmingham
Gomez - My really huge hunch pick of the week. Jordi has been missing from the Wigan team in the last 6 weeks but after the 9-1 I expect he could find himself in the starting line-up. Now costs under £6m.
Bullard - Just makes the list due to the impact since his return, but doubts over his fitness (not making the bench llast night) means he's dropped from my team for Dempsey
Lennon - Only if you barndoored him

STRIKERS
Drogba - I feel pleased I kept Drogba now. He's still hovering close to the £16m mark & I hold him at £10.5m. Arsenal may look great when going forward but defensively they are still a mess & I think Chelsea will win an entertaining match, with Drogs (still the top scorer in the game by almost 50 points) causing them all sorts of problems.
Rooney - Has been a bit off form in the past month which makes it difficult to part with £16m for him. But it's Portsmouth, with a new manager, bottom of the league - no better way to get back on the goalscoring trail!
Adebayor - I hate him. But he's home to Hull.
Defoe - Hands up if you love chasing points? ME! I've grabbed Defoe on the barndoor, but when I think about it rationally...Would I pick him away to Aston Villa if he hadn't just scored 5 goals? No. Does that mean I shouldn't pick him now? Er...dunno!
Rodallega - Sure to want to fire vs Sunderland, he always scores decent points at home, joint 3rd highest "Shots on Target" with 20, could be worth a gamble.
C Cole - Carlton Cole is one of the few bright spots of West Ham's season so far (the other being Collison). He'll cause Burnley trouble, & thanks to his own goal he's a steal at under £10m
Campbell - Fraizer is bound to start for Sunderland, costs under £4.5m, vs Wigan. Bargain of the week.
Eduardo - A guarenteed starter for a team that create chances for fun at home & very very good value, even vs Chelsea.
Robinho/Bellamy - Problem is, Who will start? When you throw Tevez in too it makes it even trickier, but both players are capable of big points vs Burnley. If you're a risk taker then I'd maybe go for Robinho - he's fit & Hughes has to keep him sweet or he'll be off to Barcelona. Robinho may even see it as audition for that very move...?
Roberts - Did well last week when I choose Zamora over him. He has a nice home game but I'd only pick him if you have him at his inital £6m. Otherwise, if you're spending £10mish, go with Carlton Cole.
Nevland - Great fixture, goal in midweek, still reasonably priced
Ebanks-Blake - Wildcard

So there we have it - I'll be picking a team from this list of 45 players. I'll admit I've got a team picked now which I'm reasonably happy with, but I'm sure as injury news trickles through in the next 24 hours I'll be making some changes.

Keep checking back for Injury News, Week 13 Round-Up/Week 14 Preview looking at the barndoor (rememeber Week 14 is set to be Round 1 of the 600 team "AM Challenge Cup") plus any other bits & bobs that I feel might be of interest to you all.

Also, I really recommend you join my Facebook Group if you're one of the 600 teams in any of the 6 Blog Leagues. I may well be using Facebook to communicate with managers regarding the AM Challenge, with fixture reminders (which week each round falls on), notifications of results etc.

Let me know how your teams are shaping up! Anyone I've missed?

Cheers,
AM

50 comments:

rwlwhite said...

noone fancy zhirkov now he is fully fit? and cheap!

Anonymous said...

AM - Lennon?? Fletcher??

Assistant Manager said...

Yeah I guess Lennon should be there if you barndoored him, but I wouldn't be interested in Darren Fletcher or Zhirkov.

Cheers,
AM

Anonymous said...

No mention about Nevland ?
At home vs Bolton

At 7,64 point

Fulham is hot at home..

Assistant Manager said...

Yep Nevland is a great one I missed, now added him & Lennon. Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

what about Benitez against wolves ???

maspupus said...

As my suggestion above
My frontliner are Drog, Defoe and Nevland
And I have just fans-ing you on my facebook

Anonymous said...

Can't believe it - 162 points this weeks and gone down overall 757 places!!!!!!

dazconnor

Fidan said...

Still can't decide on my FW line, but my biggest dilemma is GK position...Robinson or Hennesey...ooor Kirkland. I have Stearman for now which makes the Hennesey pick a little bit harder, but...PRobbo???Kirkland???

Any suggestion would REALLY help!!!

saitofall said...

I can't believe No one from Birmingham is in this week. Johnson scores well even without CS and he has a good chance agains tthe wolves. Mcfadden Bowyer and Larsson all have a good chance of goals against a defence that looks rubbish. Personally I have Mcfadden up front and johnson(bd'ed) in the back

greginho said...

AM how do you feel about ngog for liverpool? he is 7.51 and his average is 7.50, how convenient

Ruki said...

Cmon guys, surely you do not expect AM to write about every single player in the leauge? I exaggerate but you know what I am talking about. He only posts about players that he got interested in. If you like someone else, sure, go for them, just dont expect the guy to write about them. You certainly can ask about the regulars here for their opinion about your odd pick, but cmon. You dont have to think/consider only on what AM suggests. Thats how we have different teams and points.

Anonymous said...

With a midfield of Fabregas, O'Hara, Etherington and Reid I'm pretty confident I'll get enough points, but I'm not sure they're the best picks. It's the eternal debate between risks and confidence.
O'Shea and Heitinga in my team are annoying me. O'Shea is a doubt, and the possible replacement Baird could also be out. Heitinga got negative, but home to 'Pool I think he'll attack and maybe get some decent points.
Dempsey is out of the equasion for now. I have no money for him, and though I had him on BD earlier, I dropped him and Bily to get Reid and CCole. I think it'll turn out for the best. I refused to get Dempsey for this week because I fear he wouldn't perform, but only the first game of him proved me wrong. I still can't phisycally buy him. But good luck for any owners of him.
3000 places. That's the amount I dropped in the ranking this week. Awful. I've been 8000th in the beginning of the season before going up almost 7000 places in 3 weeks, so I have my chances, but in this stage it will be harder. I'm not confident with me team, but I have the feeling I won't be confident with any other team as well. My current thought is to drop Fabregas soon. After Chelsea. Or Stoke. Or Liverpool. Or never. He's so unexpected it's killing me.

SF

Anonymous said...

Hey AM,

Can you or anyone remember if Downing was a good points scorer over the alst few seasons ? He quietly returned last week & expect him to feature again this weekend & potentially be starting the week after.

At the moment he is a cheaper option for a player that could end up starting every game for a top 6 team & attacking minded,

Team Crispy

Anonymous said...

Really want to keep Baird@4.94...but i'm worried that he won't play 90mins and thereby destroy the possible CS. Murphy will have some minutes at the weekend I'm sure. My prediction of the Fulham lineup: Nev,Demps;Gera,Baird,Etuhu/Greening,Duff;Paints,Brede,Hughes,Konchesky;Schawz. And the 3 subs: AJ for Nev, Murphy for Baird/Etuhu/Greening, Davies for Gera.

Assistant Manager said...

Agree Ruki, I can't list every player, there are 45 up there, if you have your own hunches then go for them! :)

Saitofail - I don't fancy Birmingham away at Wolves, it's a tough match, the teams don't like each other & I expect lots of fouls/yellow cards possibly red cards. Wolves have to win & I think it could be a tight 1-0, so that's why I'm not recommending any Birmingham players.

Greg - N'gog could be a very cheeky pick!

Assistant Manager said...

Crispy - Downing has been an excellent point scorer in past seasons but that's because everything at Middlesbrough went through him (corners, freekicks, penalties etc). With Milner & Young he may not find the same amount of points at Villa.

Anonymous said...

With Downing's return, Villa now has 3 wingers so expect some rotations especially between Milner and Downing. There are talks that Downing might play in the middle. Whether it's a 4231 or he just replaces Sidwell remains to be seen. Right now Downing is not a good pick until we find out where he fits in the XI. And he won't start this weekend. Too soon and too big a match. Villa will go 442 as usual.

mudwalkerz said...

ugh.. Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has revealed that Darren Bent's scans have come back better than expected and that he could be in contention to play against Wigan on Saturday.

wasted my discount on him too soon?? C.Cole you better put some in the right goal this time!

Anonymous said...

i had probbo in goal but just traded up to given.
got zamora, may have to switch to f campbell if inj news is not certain. one i have that you have'nt listed is swp. SOT & assist at anfield & seemed on decent dribbling form for england. hull's defence still very leaky. just hope he starts with all the attacking m/f & wingers possib's they have bellamy, robinho, ireland, m petrov etc S.P.

Anonymous said...

Anyone fancy Carragher? His price is in a career-low now.

Ruki said...

I think his price reflects something. To me its like having the following text on his forehead" DO NOT PICK ME"

Kernal_Panic said...

Walked away with 188 points this week, got right lucky with Defoe, and my double gamers did me alright.
Big fluke with defoe, found arshavin might not get a full game (massive thanks for whoever posted that!) and with a few other changes found out i had exactly the right amount for defoe. Bet you enjoyed that match AM!

So far, I'm thinking along these lines..

Kirk

Verm koncesky dunne

o'hara dempsey bullard j.cole

defoe robinho shrek

I reckon verm, dunne, shrek, robinho, or j cole are in danger of being dropped.
Kirks is staying, I can't see him having another nightmare. they're not that bad a team, they did beat chelsea earlier this season.

saitofall said...

My apologies AM , didn't mean to be to demanding :). As far as Birmingham at Wolves I have to disagree. Birmingham have been in great form and the Wolves just seem so lost in the back. My hunch will probably bite me in my arse , but who knows. Thanks for the great site.

saitofall said...

MY team is a little different but I hope it works lamps will be dropped for rooney/reid and konchesky updated for evra, but only if lamps doesn't play.

Kirkland
Alexander Johnson Konchesky
Valencia O'hara Lampsy J.cole Dempsey
Mcfadden Rodallega

I think chelsea will easily beat arsenal, but I guess we will see

Kellz said...

Given
Verm, W.Brown, Baird
Fletcher, Dempsey, Reid, Collison
Drogba, Rooney, C.Cole

feeling good, seems well balanced team.

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know what happend to Emerton?

Drake

Anonymous said...

will tamir cohen be back?

bean said...

hmmm...Fab not on AM's list? thinking the good run is coming to an end?

I'm liking Giggs/Rooney this week, I think both are due.

Captain Kirk is really tempting at that price...great enabler. will be less tempted if Bent is in fact fit.

mikl-em said...

i notice you recommend every ManU defender except Vidic. Why is that? I BD'd him so have him at 10.5, cheaper than Evra. You just figure he's unlikely to contribute to the offense?

Thinking of R Johnson as my other back, with Alexander. Thoughts? Thanks!!

bean said...

I'm wondering if Tevez will get the start against Hull considering the impact he had on the game last week?

Anonymous said...

Anyone else contemplating Obertan from United? Played in the Champs league and looked great...question is, will he play?

mikl-em said...

I'm with @saitofall on favoring BIR over Wolves. If you look at BIR's losses on the road it's been to top teams + Burnley. Their other road games were beating Hull 1-0 and a 2-2 draw to Liverpool.

Mike B said...

Anon, i've had Obertan in my team all week now, i think he looks bloody excellent to be honest.

Like you though, i don't know if he'll play. Having 90 minutes yesterday doesn't really help matters.

I think i'm gonna pick him up on the barn door if he gets more minutes this week. He's dirt cheap and looks the business, could be like Bily was at his low price till the idiot went and got sent off!

Anonymous said...

@ people who love Obertan. He only recently got a game as part of a near complete youth/reserve team with Man utd. He did look good - but Fergie has seen him play in training this whole time right? I cannot see him jumping straight into regular starter. I may be wrong, but ill be surprised.
JoshT

Anonymous said...

Also can someone give me a slap or something, Im a Tottenham fan and I picked up Defoe and Lennon on the BD....cant bring myself to drop either a) two of my favourite players b) players with THAT much discount. But I know that I should really only keep one of them...(probably Lennon)
JT

Anonymous said...

Ngu như lợn

Anonymous said...

a stupid pick!

Bryce L said...

Here's my lineup. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Not sure if i should keep j.cole and Fab.

Kirkland
Vermaelen Givet Bridge
Fabregas Joe Cole Bilyaletdinov Dempsey
Drogba Rodallega Carlton Cole

Anonymous said...

Given
Verm - Da Costa - R. Johnson
Cesc - Lennon - Dunn - J.Cole
Drogba - Tuncay - Defoe

I'm expecting huge things, fireworks...

Anonymous said...

What about Gera from Fulham..he scored 3 goals in 4 match against Bolton..very good price too..and 1 more is Ireland..he is also scored 3 goals in the last 2 matches against Hull

Anonymous said...

Fulop
Verm Heitinga Brown
Bily JoeCole Duff Valencia
Drogba Defoe Berbatov


I'm thinking about this team, I'm still holding on to Bullard and Rooney at the moment, but I think I will drop Bullard for Valencia, which means I'll have to swop Rooney to Berbatov.

But I'm concerned that there are quite a number of players who are uncertain at the moment. Is Berbatov fully recovered? Joe Cole and Valencia might be rotated, and will Brown start as I have no idea at the moment who are fit for the ManU defence at the moment.

Afif said...

Which 1 is better Brown or Konchesky?

Anonymous said...

I think Konchesky is a safer bet as Brown is uncertain at the moment, and Fulham are good at home

Afif said...

"Sir Alex Ferguson admits he has been pleased with the form of Reds striker Dimitar Berbatov this season as he looks set to recall the Bulgarian for United's trip to Portsmouth on Saturday."..From ManUtd website..I recon he will start..

mehicoradio said...

i'm kind of stuck right now, for the most part i like my team but have 3 spots i can't decide on.

First is what to do with Cesc. Have him at only around a discount of 1. Thinking about dropping him for Reid or Giggs. Would perfer Reid but what is the best option?

2nd, is what to do at Forward. Can't decide between Campbell, C. Cole or Eduardo

Last is the defender spot. I have Paintsil in their right now but not sure on sticking with him. The only other option in my head is Evra if i build up enough cash to target him (should be able to).

any advice on what to do?

Anonymous said...

Listen to this roomful of whiny undecisive men. And you laugh at and think women can't make decisions?

Anonymous said...

some buddy can help me!!!
S.Given or R.Green

Anonymous said...

myhill

Anonymous said...

@anon, its discussion, not whining... (you prick)

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