Week 20 - Tuesday
It wasn't a great evening for me either, as 2 of my 4 players (Aquilani & Stearman) failed to get off the bench. But hey, at least Spurs won & I'm feeling much better - thanks for the good wishes guys!
We'll start at The Reebok, where Bolton ground out a scrappy 1-0 victory over Owen Coyle's old side Burnley, Congratulations to owners of Lee Chung - his match winning goal provided 13.5 points & there were great points for Jaaskalainen owners, as well as Bolton defenders for the clean sheet. Matt Taylor let me down once again, with a measly 6.5 points...not good enough after a £14m investment. Not much about for Burnley players, just 4 points for Eagles & 1 for Alexander.
Down at the basement Portsmouth (perhaps lifted by the reverse of their transfer ban - expect O'Hara to return from Spurs in the next few days) fought back to gain a vital point in a 1-1 draw, after falling behind to West Ham. Upson opened the scoring & returned good points along with Diamanti, Noble & Green. A note on John Utaka, who seems to have found a way back in to the fold at Portsmouth (2 goals on Saturday & an assist last night)...a bargain at his current price with a double week coming up.
Speaking of the double week, I'll interrupt my analysis of the evening to confirm how I see the fixtures for Week 21. Despite the fact Yahoo have only 1 double listed (For West Ham & Wolves) this is of course incorrect. They will be updated eventually, but let's go by the BBC fixtures, which are never wrong:
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Birmingham v Tottenham, 15:00
Burnley v Chelsea, 17:30
Fulham v Aston Villa, 15:00
Hull v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Liverpool v Bolton, 15:00
West Ham v Blackburn, 15:00
Wigan v Everton, 15:00
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Arsenal v Man Utd, 16:00
Man City v Portsmouth, 13:30
Monday, 1 February 2010
Sunderland v Stoke, 20:00
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Hull v Chelsea, 19:45
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Fulham v Portsmouth, 20:00
So double weeks for Hull, Chelsea, Fulham & Portsmouth. Expect Yahoo to update their fixtures in the next 48 hours.
Moving on & I was relieved to see Spurs get back to winning ways with a very comfortable 2-0 victory over a Fulham side on a bad run of 4 defeats in a row. Fulham barely had an attempt in the whole game, as goals from Peter Crouch & a lucky deflected free-kick from forgotten man David Bentley secured a vital 3 points.
Lots of good points for Spurs players, with 25 for Bentley (not that anyone would have him), Crouch, & the Spurs defence including another outstanding display from Gareth Bale. 15.5 points & his 3rd man of the match performance in 5 games - I can't see Assou Ekotto walking back in to the side currently, making it all the more satisfying to hold Bale at under £3m. Very few points about for Fulham, with only Damien Duff getting more than 5.
The final game was a drab 0-0 between Wolves & Liverpool - points for the clean sheets but not a lot else & as I mentioned, no game-time for Aquilani or Stearman made it a poor night for me.
I picked up 22 points from Bale & Taylor but that was it, so I sit on 67.5 for the week with Anelka, Kalinic, Lampard, Bily, Vermaelen & Robinson left to go tonight. I'm hoping to break 100 but with doubts over Lampard (although he should be ok) & Bily (likely to be benched) it could be difficult. Come on Kalinic!!! :)
In terms of barndoor work, I'm obviously going to load up on as many Fulham & Chelsea players as I can, with maybe 1 or 2 from Portsmouth & Hull, but I won't be dropping Bale or Vermaelen. Possible choices I'm looking at include Cech, Schwarzer, Baird, Ivanovic, Terry, Duff, Utaka, Gera, Lampard, Cole, Hunt, Anelka, Zamora...plus I'll need to make a decision on whether to bring Drogba straight back at £18m+.
That's if for now, Blog Cup Round 4 Results & Week 21 Player Picks will be up tomorrow after the fall-out from the 4 Premier League games tonight, as well as the Carling Cup Semi Final between Man Utd & Man City...what a game that should be!
3 questions for you...
1. How are you getting on so far this week, and who have you got left tonight?
2. What's your Week 21 team looking like?
3. If you didn't keep him over the ACN, are you considering a full-price Drogba for the double week?
Cheers,
AM
35 comments:
Standing at 81.5 from Rooney,VDS,Bale & MTay. Three 0's from Aqua (Rafa, what the...), Valencia (Fergie does it again) and Stearman. Waiting on Verms,JCole,Elk & Donovan. Not bad, but only because everybody has Rooney:)
For next week I'm currently standing on:
VDS
Verms,Bale,Baird
JCole,Duff,Gera,Utaka
Rooney,Elk,Tevez
I really, really don't know what to do with VDS & Rooney...
If I drop them, I'm definitely going with Drogs instead of Elk, and take it from there.
Waiting on your week preview AM :)
Cheers,
Blanco
25 points this week... Fall from 295 to 601... I pick a good team but after deadline news took away my CS for Robinson and Stearman, and Aquillani didn't played a minute... Only mistake i made is my idea that Bolton will score at least 2 goals yesterday...
I have Lampard(he will play),Anelka,Saha,Cech and Givet today... And i expect to gain betwen 100 and 200 places today, with goal from Anelka or Lampard and CS from Cech...
My team for next will have:
Cech - Terry,one Fulham defender and Bale -
Gera,Utaka,Lampard,KPB??? - Anelka or Drogba(now i have both)...
will Rooney play this week?
will o'hara back to pompey? and do double game??
he might do just that... that would be nice!!!
A Villa win will mean they have beaten all of the Premier League's 'big four' this season - a feat only ever achieved twice before, by themselves in 1992-93 and by Leeds in 1994-95.
sky sports Probable starting XIs
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Carvalho, Cole, Lampard, Malouda, Ballack, J.Cole, Sturridge, Anelka.
and Carlo said what his starting eleven is... So leave "Probable starting XIs" away in your next week...
Just a sugestion
ı had 78.5 points now, and rodallega,fabregas, vermealen,r.johnson, donovan to play...my week 21 fixtures will be cech,vermea, r.johnson,bale,gerrard,fabregas,duff,mokoena,utaka,rooney,donovan....
Happy Wednesday.
As I've said in the chatroom, this past Saturday was one of the darkest days in my futbol career. No Rooney, dropped VDS at 1am (I picked up Fulop for 1.00, subscribing to the philosophy that I would rather take the zero - assuming he doesn't start today, fingers crossed! - and spread my cash around 10 players), had Valencia in my MF at 13.8...add a Leeds goal in the 96th minute to all of this and I was pretty much in the fetal position for 24 hours. I had checked the score of the Man United on my mobile sporadically, checking the last time with 82 minutes gone by...I said to myself, "Ok - Wayne scored but at least it was only one and he picked up a YC too so the damage done is minimal." A F-ING HAT TRICK IN THE FINAL SEVEN MINUTES OF THE GAME? WTF???? Truth be told, I can't get too annoyed/angry with myself since I really only toyed with the idea of having Rooney on my side briefly (cash strapped since I kept Lamps and Elk in anticipation of the DG - little did I know that IC would bow out of the ACON)...I was convinced that Valencia would be an adequate Man United representative on my team for their game against Hull (he is in great form and had appeared in every single game for United this season up until this past weekend, starting 18/21). The fact that more or less everyone in the top 10 of my private league (and most of you lot as well!) fielded Rooney (and Rio for that matter who, for the life of me, I never thought would play 75+ minutes) just makes it sting all the more.
In any event, what does not kill us makes us stronger and on we go. I got 36.5 points from Modric (very unlucky to not have at least one goal, if not a brace, yesterday), MTay, Bale (could not agree with your assessment more, AM, although he really seems clueless as defender a lot of the time) and Steinsson. I have Elk, Lamps, Kalinic, Donovan and Verms today...need huge days from the first two players to make up my lost ground.
As for the upcoming partial-DG week, yes the return of DD does create quite the conundrum of what to do in terms of team selections. My current thinking is as follows:
Cech
Verms Bale Baird Terry
Modric Gera Geovanni
Elk Zamora Drogba
Although this could change to, say:
Schwarzer
Verms Bale Baird Terry
Modric Gera O'Hara Hunt
Elk Drogba
Thoughts on the line-ups:
Lamps and Drogba are essentially the same price for me so the two players are interchangeable...the decision on which of the two to keep will largely be determined by news this week on how likely Drogba is to start on Saturday.
I'd really like to somehow fit in Damien Duff on my side...scared to not have him for the DG with two games at home.
As far as big ticket single gamers that I may end up choosing, Tevez is at the top of my list...I'm very wary over the repercussions of not picking him for a home game against Pompey.
I actually fancy Carvalho and Ivanovic more than Terry as fantasy players...however, I'll likely pick Terry if I have the cash avaiable since I am more confident that he will start both games for the Blues (could see Alex starting instead of one of the other two for one of the games).
I'm not thrilled at the thought of having a Hull player on my side although Hunt and Geo are probably the best of the lot...in my view, shit is shit and just because shit plays twice does not make it not shit. HFC players are generally shit (except when your name is Boaz Myhill and you play Spurs at the Lane).
Modric at 6.98 will always be on my side, regardless of match-up.
anyone have any analysis on why aquilani didnt play? is he actually made of glass?
someone mentioned that Gerrard played so Aquilani's back to the bench
@Doc Teeth
What about Bullard?! He ain't shit, and sitting at around 9 he's got to be the billy bargain of double week... ok he's made of glass, but he's got lovely hair!
True, kernal_panic...JB is the one touch of real class on HFC although I reckon that him featuring in both games of the DG is a bit of a stretch, let alone starting each of them.
I am getting hunt for the double week.He's a quality player and should put up decent points for the double week.
bengoh91
I have 86.5, 45.5 from Rooney and 41 from Lee, Bale, Steinsson, and Eagles yesterday. Robbo (fingers crossed!), Verm, N'Zogbia, Fab, Anelka, and Dovovan to go.
I have Drogba back (see Jeremy's "Beckham Rule"). Between playing an extra match before leaving, the weather, and Cote d'Ivoire crashing out in the quarterfinals, Drogba looks like he'll wind up missing 2 matches instead of 5. D'oh! (Congratulations to those who chose to take the 0s, but a lot of people who weren't paying attention have been rewarded too. :( ) I'd been successfully avoiding true fillers till now, but sadly I see them in my future. With luck Drogba will score nothing against Birmingham to drive down his price and then bag 5 at Hull. (Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?)
So far in addition to Drogba, I've picked up Baird, Duff, Hunt, and Utaka. Every DG week I've done much worse the 2nd round, so I'm less than confident or excited.
1. 78,5 from Rooney,Valencia(aaargh),Lee,Eagles and Bale. 6 more players today: PRobb(lem),Verm, Olsson, Malouda, Anelka and Saha. I think I can get over 100 easily, thnx GOD...!!!
2. Cech/Verm, Bale, Ivan, Baird/Eagles, Malouda, Duff, Utaka/Rooney, Anelka
3. As you see, no, no Drogba. I think he WILL NOT play against Brum. And Ancelotti said that Drogs will need a week before he can play (with all traveling, hangover and stuff). And...I'm not willing to "check on" his mentality and morale after the IC early elimination by picking him (e.g. he can score shite and destroy my week along with my team by spending ~19m on him, and my rivals who have him for 10,xx will gain some ground on me by being able to field a much stronger players elsewhere). OK, I'm willing to take the hit if Drogs decides to go mental on Hull (I doubt the Burnley match, fingers crossed) and score 5 past Myhill...!!!
Still waiting for Chelsea to concede tonight and see the Cech and Terry go south and a YC for Ballack, Deco, and Drogs if he's to come off the bench (man can dream, right!!!)
Cheers...!!!
Oops I meant "With luck Drogba will score nothing against *Burnley* to drive down his price..." Yeah, like that'll happen.
So here's the real question...if YFF adds him prior to the weekend, anyone going to pick up Zaki for the DG? Me thinks not b/c (i) he is a raving anti-semite and I don't roll like that and (ii) his form last season quickly went south once the mercury started dropping on the pitches of the Prem.
Still, if he debuts at, say, 7 million, he would be difficult to ignore.
I think the Utaka choice might be problematic, as Pompey has just got another striker on loan. Just a thing to bare in mind.
SF
@DoctorTeeth: Amr Zaki is already dead to me. Beyond his "I won't play for a team with two Israelis and an Algerian" schtick (apparently Hull passed his ethnic litmus test), he's unprofessional and has been known to go completely missing -- not just from the match, mind you, but from England as a whole.
@SF: I grabbed Utaka primarily because he was a bargain whose price was about to go up. I have some money left over, so I've been mulling over possible replacements. Although he's been looking good lately, Pompey away twice isn't all that appealing, and Dindane's on his way back in addition to the Owusu-Abeyie loan deal.
ancellotti quote from chelseafc.com:
"'I'm not happy because Didier was disappointed and I spoke with Kalou and he was unhappy. They will come back and we'll do our best to have them in good condition,' he explained. 'We will do a check, I think the tournament was very hard, the temperature was not good with heat and humidity. In one week maybe they are able to play.'"
I guess he could still come on as a sub in the first match, but maybe only plays @Hull
from Fulham's website:
"I thought Bairdy and Hughsey did well, but obviously they are not the kind of attacking full-backs that Konch [Paul Konchesky] and Johnny P [Pantsil] are, so that mostly affected our attacking," Hangeland said.
love the nicknames
Regarding Zaki, quote from Phil Brown I read on Sky Sports earlier today
--------------
"He's low on fitness after a hamstring injury and we will need to work hard over the next couple of weeks to bring him up to speed.
"We hope to see him as bench material for the Wolves game but he has to understand and buy into the collective work ethic of the group"
---------------
So doesn't sound like he'll be ready for the double, even if he's added to the game. I wouldn't want to pick him anyway after his comments last month.
kali(nic) starting for Rovers, nice..
bullard seems set to return.. good choice?
kraken
other quick notes from today's lineups:
-Valencia not starting again in Carling semi
-Adebayor a substitute
-Bily sits again, Landon starts, Arteta on the bench
I'm having a really good week so far: 93.5 points from Rooney, Modric, Lee, Bale and Diamanti.
Still have Robbo, Verm, Hetinga, Donovan, Fabregas and Bily to go.
Shaping up to be a very good week and I've caught up with people above me in my league thanks to them having players like Valencia, Defoe, Mtay and Eagles posting low and Lee scoring for me.
Put Drogs straight back into my team thinking of long term rather than the DG week. I had him at 13 before ACN so no big loss there. Happy that I have Fab, Roon and Drog and no real fillers; Utaka probably the worst player on my team for next week.
@kraken - Bullard still hasn't resumed full training
http://www.sporthull.co.uk/hullcity/news/HULL-CITY-Zaki-fit-Jimmy-doubt/article-1761593-detail/article.html
really had high hopes for this week but without rooney or lampard.. depressed
120 total (once YFF adds up the points). Not bad, but swapping Donovan and Lee for Valencia and Kalinic was a big mistake. Still, having a goal-scoring striker at such a bargain price may pay dividends down the road.
this got to be my lowest scoring week ever.. got 29.5 with 4 of my players didnt play (kirk, stearman, salgado & valencia).. and all others (fab, modric, mtay, defoe, kuyt) didn't even reach to tenth points except kalinic who got me 12.00 (dropped him for next week but am considering him again for the visit to westham).. vermaelen give me -3.00 (i'm happy that he's injured so finally i can drop him from my team)..
some regrets..
*valencia instead of lee chung yong.
*dropped rooney earlier week.
*no chelsea player in.
*dropped bale.
*keeping kuyt instead i can field donovan.
*defoe.. after everyone advises me to drop him for his inconsistency.. hmmm..
next week team..
fulop
baird, stearman, 7.96
modric, fab, gera, zhirkov
tevez, drogba, zamora
*i feel that stearman will play after being rested for 1 week.. and he'll has to redeem himself..
*i love the combination of tevez, droba & zamora up front.. if i can field a fourth striker, kalinic would be it..
*zhirkov might still be changed to someone else..
*i want a dgamer to replace vermaelen.. any suggestion?
Maxer..
AM - I want to thank you. Work has been consuming the past two weeks. I just checked in before the last deadline and took two of your recommendations - Lampard and Donovan. Granted, I'm a Yank so I should grab Lando every week, but the quick information really helped me. Usually, I spend too much time thinking and overthinking about my picks. This week, thanks to Rooney at 16 and your recommendations of Lamps and Donovan, I netted a clean 122 points(and that's with zeros from Krancjar and Robbo).
My point is that maybe sometimes it's best just to divine your research and hard work quickly instead of stewing over it all week.
Had 3 zero pointers this week, with Valencia and Bilyaletdinov on the bench and Jordan picking up a late injury. But luckily still managed 71.50 thanks to goals from Donovan and Kalinic and CS from Bale and Van der Saar.
Cech
Vermaelen Bale Baird
Bilyaletdinov Fabregas Utaka Gera
Anelka Drogba Nevland
This is my current team, but I still need a lot of changing around. Still considering ---
-Cech or Schwarzer?
-Whether to drop Vermaelen depending on his injury
-Whether to keep Fabregas discount
-Is having both Anelka and Drogba too reliable on Chelsea?
-Will Nevland and Gera surely start?
-Will Bilyaletdinov get back in the starting lineup(I have him at 4.77)
cech probably 2 CS while Schwazer only 1
time to drop vermaelan-look at Arsenal schedule
Fabregas also
Drogba probably plays 1 game-read Ancelotti's statement
zamora is sure starter than nevland while davies is back for gera
bily will be benched as arteta is back
good luck :D
AM - glad to hear you're better!
At last I'm happy with my team :
7 DG ers:
-I'm stuffed (sund)-
-straw (tott) the terrible (chels) beard (full)-
-eng boat (ports) 50's art (chels) pets off (mcity)and d. dodgy (ful)-
-a large moose (chels) za lessa (ful) argy garden gnome (mcity)-
Do you like it as much as me?
(Sorry if youre not into English word games)
Good double luck
Pauly
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