Week 21 - Sunday
I've had an okay weekend, although it was slightly ruined by Rooney & Vermaelen (typical - I'm hugely disappointed I choose to drop him, but it looks like most of the Top 20 made the same mistake) getting goals today in United's 3-1 dissection of Arsenal. I end Sunday evening on 84.5 points, with 9 double gamers to play midweek, up 250 places for the week so far.
I really thought Arsenal were going to show the league that they were genuine title contenders, but their showing vs Chelsea in December & the game today makes me doubt they have what it takes this season. United were very very impressive, with Ferguson getting his tactics/system 100% spot on, as he so often does in the big games.
The majority of my points came from Anelka, Bale, Duff, Lampard & O'Hara with a few bits & pieces from Zamora, Cech & Ivanovic. I had John Terry in my team on Friday night, but when I woke up on Saturday morning I saw the disgraceful news regarding Terry & Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend. I was unsure whether Terry would play in the aftermath, so I decided to swap him to Ivanovic - a decision that cost me 10 points.
On the barndoor I'm preparing a team based on the triple gamers for Week 22, Man City, Stoke, Bolton & Wigan. I am slightly concerned that Yahoo could change the fixtures to a double week for all, followed by a single week for those 4 teams, but I had to act on the information I had to grab City players today.
My team is currently: Given, Garrido, Bale, Steinsson, N'Zogbia, M Petrov, Etherington, Lee, Tevez, Adebayor, Kalinic. I have £6.5m left in the bank & my plan is to get Rodallega in for Kalinic...I don't quite have enough cash at the moment, so I may be downgrading Petrov to make that switch as I feel he could be a rotation risk
That's all I have time for today, but please let me know how you're getting on, who you've got left & how your team is looking for next week. Remember, Week 22 is the 3rd round of The AM Challenge; 250 teams remain!
Cheers,
AM
39 comments:
Well, I had a great week on YFF, but forgive if I'm not that happy. I gave up a lot today to watch the Arsenal match, and I was very disappointed, although not as much as I had been after the Chelsea match, because the Gunners really tried hard today, and they were very close to an advantage in the beginning, or a 3-2 in the end.
I'm happy I kept Vermaelen - he just produces the points no matter what. He had another SoT that wasn't written in any statistic about the match, but you don't want to be too greedy. Rooney scored again, but even if I had kept him, he wouldn't have matched the 18mil+ I paid for him with his 16.5 points. The fact that I kept Vermaelen at 6mil might be very helpful.
I've made a 500 places progress so far this week, thanks to Malouda, Duff, Tevez, O'Hara, Bale, Anelka and Vermaelen. On Friday I dropped Given for Schwarzer, and after the former got 18 points, I really hope the latter improves his 0.5 point score vs Pompey. Duff is fantastic, maybe Baird and JCole do better, and I count on Anelka, Malouda and O'Hara to continue their form. I also hope Lampard doesn't get one of his days.
98.5 so far with 7 players to go. For next week I don't fancy Bolton, Wigan or Stoke, because they're not very good. I'll have players from them, but not my entire team. Remember - their chances are multiplied by 1.5 compared to the other players, and not by 2 like on DG weeks.
I'm waiting on Anelka. I might drop him for Rodallega if he doesn't perform on mid-week. That might help me upgrading Givet, though I count on B'burn to do a good job against Stoke and Hull, so I'll keep Kalinic for at least another week. Fulham also have good match-ups, but it seems like none of the top teams besides ManC has good match-ups as well.
Given
Vermaelen Bale Givet
Duff Etherington Pertov N'Zogbia
Anelka Tevez Kalinic
SF
@ToffeeDave: You were 95% right on your prediction for the Utd v Arsenal game, that dumb anonymous poster should eat his words. Deserve credit where credit is due.
Finished Sunday on 88.5pts up another 125 places to mid 1500th with Anelka, O'hara, Duff, Moke, Barmby, Smalling, Baird, and Schwartzer left.
BD team is:
Given
Bale, Garrido, (open)
MPET, Ireland, Eth, O'hara
Tevez, Rooney, HRod
just playing around with what I have, heres hoping for a 130-150 week finish :D
I'm sitting on 76 points with ivan, baird, hangeland, duff, j. cole, o'hara, mok, anelka, and zamora still to play. I'm hoping to score around 130 this week.
My BD team:,
Given @7.76
Zabaleta (6.66), Givet(6.95), Faye(7.74)
Etherington(9.39), J. Gomez(5.78), Whitehead(3.99), SWP (10.97)
Rooney (16.05), Rodallega (12.56), K2 (11.34)
extra money (0.81)
I feel like the SWP is really risky and I don’t like it, but I also don’t want to take in N’zogbia because then I feel like I have too many Wigan players. Also, I want to squeeze in Tuncay since he just needs like 2 SOT in 3 games to return his value. Most likely its rodallega but I feel I can jump many places with either of those picks. Any ideas AM?
Evening gents. Good week so far for me, sitting on 101.5 points with 8 DGers to come. No dramatic, whale of a game performances from any one player but rather a very evenly distibuted performance by several players (8 players returning between 8-15.5 points).
BD team for the moment is:
Given
Bale Steinsson Faye
Modric N'Zogbia Etherington MTay
Tevez Kalinic HRod
I'm seriously considering swapping out Steinsson, Faye and MTay for G. Cahill, Shawcross and Lee.
DT
76 so far with Swarz, Ivanovic, Lamps, Murph, Anelka, Mok to play their 2nd matches.. I really hope Fulham pull their shit together against Pompey.
i gutted my team to get citeh players on the bd.. and picked up the very common triple week picks..
Given
Bale, Garrido, Scharner
SWP,NZog,Ether,Petrov
Tevez,HRod,Kali
I think AM has a good point about Yahoo potentially changing the gameweek.. only thing that reassures me is the date range they have usually is the best indicator, and that includes all the matches.. it seems the past "mistakes" they have made are not including the fixtures in the date range they have shown..
i find myself shuffling my team every week a lot more this year.. i think with all the double/triple weeks, empty weeks, cancelled matches, injuries, ACN, etc.. it's really tested the will power to keep players at discounts even when they aren't playing.. i still find it interesting that a good portion of the very top teams seem to change their team every week and don't care about discounts
Just a thought, but the very top teams will change their players a lot - and get lucky. Too easy to fall flat on your face IMO. The best way to get in the top 1000 is to pick and hold players through runs of form, but to get top 20 you need to consistently be picking those players who usually get 5 but that week gets 25...either through luck or judgement.
Wow... Forgetting to drop Vermaelen was my best move in weeks...
i had 111.5 this week. i had 88.5 from saturday games and thought i would get about 10 points from cesc and 0 from vermaelen boy was i surprised. 15.5 from vermaelen and 7.5 from cesc. i will take that. that 23 points put me up a further 334 spots, so i have gone up a total 800+. i have duff, malouda, cole, anelka and zamora left to go. i am not too worried about dropping on wednesday when the next games occur. i think i have most of the players that everyone has so it will be a wash. i would be very pleased with 150 points. i just realized there is only one person higher than me so far in the blog league. he or she has 115 points.
Sitting on 105 with 4 DGers to go. Glad I kept Vermaelen. Thanks to one of the above posts I upgraded Aqua to Jordi. I am pretty happy with my BD team:
Given
Verm Bale Baird
Modric Lamps Etherington Jordi
Donovan Tevez Rodallega
Considering dropping Lamps to upgrade Jordi but I am pretty happy right now. Maybe change Modric.
stlram,
i would definitely drop lampard for mtaylor. if you had lampard for 18+ you will gain 3.2 or 3.5. i would first change out donovan, at liverpool and at home to chelsea is tough. he will go down in price so you can pick him back up. i know you are just picking him to spite hans and rukkie. my choice to replace him would be klasnic. then you can look at upgrading gomez. modric depends on how big a discount you have
I would greatly appreciate any and all news regarding one Mr. Ivan Klasnic. Based on his skill,knack for scoring, and being a 3 gamer, he is in my humble opinion a must have, but then why was he not even in the 18 versus Liverpool on Saturday. Is the loan over or is Coyle(who I only saw a picture of the other day for the first time), even dumber than he looks?
Jordi isn't starting anymore ?????
Just wondering, but I bet there are managars who think Kalinic and Klasnic the same?
Any news on Micah Richards?
I am at 90.50 with 7 DGs to go. Rooney, Duff, O'Hara & Given paving the way.
I dumped all my Chelsea players ahead of next week, but I hope they'll still perform well for in the midweek game.
BD team so far:
Given
Carr Garrido Ricketts
O'Hara Etherington deJong Muamba
Rooney Tevez Rodallega
8 3-gamers. I haven't pulled the trigger on Muamba, Ricketts, HRod, Carr. So I still have an option to keep Dann, Utaka, Baird or Zamora, depending on how the next game goes. The others are locked.
ya kellz I know, I bet on 3-1 anyway at odds of 28-1 so I made a nice 28 dollars. Anyways, fantasy wise I didnt do so well, I dropped vermaelan like the rest of us which stings but the fact I have drogba still, and 28 dollars, it eases the pain. Ionly saw the first half of that game, and Nani's goal was a fluke, kind of like Lampards chip vs hull last year, but amazing skill and if he keeps it up, it raises the value of everyone around him. Carrick and Scholes literally felated my mind with their passing. Beautiful. Sometimes I feel like a closet united fan because of rooney, but just giving credit to United. Anyway, I feel fantasy truly begins for me again next week when I can make sure 11 of my players are playing again and not purposefully taking 0's.
I'd dropped Robbo for Schwartzer, who got 0.5 points. Robbo? 13. The goalkeeper position in and of itself is dead to me. Hopefully Schwarzer can redeem himself.
On the other hand...
Vermaelen was considered highly unlikely to play. Not only did he start, he scored a goal and in the process tacked on match-winning goal points for Rooney.
My team thus far:
Schwarzer 0.5
Verm 15.5 / Bale 11.5 / Baird 3.0
Eagles 16.0 / Duff 13.5 / Hunt 16.5 / JCole 2.0
Rooney 16.5 / Kalinic 0.0 / Anelka 15.5
100.5 with 7 to go Tue/Wed.
I've BDed from ManCity, Wigan, and Stoke, but I'm not done tinkering.
Oops. 16 from Eagles? I wish. Make that 6.0. :)
Cech(5)
Vermaelen(15.5) Bale(11.5) Baird(3)
Bilyaletdinov(0) Fabregas(7.5) Duff(13.5) O'Hara(12.5)
Anelka(15.5) Fagan(0) Zamora(6.5)
Ended with 90.5 with 7 players left for the 2nd game.
For next week, swopped out almost my entire team leaving only Vermaelen and Bale, finally dropping Bilyaletdinov who I hold at 4.77.
Given
Vermaelen Bale Garrido
Etherington N'Zogbia Petrov Whitehead
Tevez Rodallega Adebayor
Sitting on 87 points so far with Ivanovic, O'Hara, Duff and Elks to play.
I got a whopping -12 from Almunia who burnt me bad especially with that own goal but the rest of my team managed to pull through esp Verm, Duff, O'Hara, Roon n Elks.
The predicament I'm having now is my team for next week which looks like this;
Almunia
Verm, Bale, Zabaleta(will see how his broken nose goes)
O'Hara, Fletcher, N'Zogbia, Petrov
Rooney, Tevez, Tuncay
Yes yes...i know...Almunia??? Who only has 2 games in a 3 game week and that too against Liverpool n Chelsea??? And when Given has 3 easy peasy games??
Well I have Mr Almunia at 5.39 n normally that would not be enough to keep faith in him but....I dunno...have a feeling Arsenal isn't going down that easy the next 2 games. And even though the scoreline doesn't reflect it but they weren't totally outplayed against Man Utd. They were beaten tactically by a smarter Man Utd and a in form Rooney. So my questions is....does anyone else have a funny feeling on Almunia and Arsenal in particular?? My fingers itch to put Given in....but ahhhhh so hard. Knowing my luck, I'll take out Almunia only to see Arsenal keep 2 clean sheets.
Oh and I do intend to trade Fletcher but still unsure of who to replace him with. I have Fletcher at 7.02 and a balance of 2.84.
Thanks guys.
FF Managers
Check out my new blog for another opinion on YFF.
http://yffassistant.wordpress.com/
Folks
Garrido might have been cheap on the BD but as soon as Bridge comes back Garrido will be on the bench as he has been most of the season so far...
I am going to focus on triple gamers too but I think its going to be important to get triple gamers who are going to play the majority of the 3 games...
Between us do you think we can create that list? These are going to be the key players to have...
Man City
Given, Toure, Tevez, Barry, de Jong
Wigan
Bramble, G Caldwell, N Zogbia, Thomas, HRod
Bolton
Jussi, Cahill, Knight, Ricketts, Steinsson, Taylor, Muamba, Cohen, Lee, Davies, Klasnic
Stoke
Sorensen, Faye, Shawcross, Collins, Huth, Etherington, Whitehead, Fuller
Anyone else? Anyone who shouldn't be there...
I haven't included Bellamy, Adebayor, Petrov, SWP as its hard to tell who will start but I would expect Adebayor to have a good chance even though I hate having him in my team...
99,5 for the week + 10 DG-ers... 141 places up, from 489th to 348th... Nice week for me...
same BD team as AM's, but i have Rodallega and Tuncay and you have K2 and Kalinic...
Well yesterday was the worst day of the year for me (so far). Having ignored the advice of others here (AM, Kellz and Bojan especially) I kept Almunia. I knew it was a big risk, something I've tried to avoid all year. I mistakenly thought Arsenal could at least match United. Since it was a risk I thought I shouldn't have a second Arsenal defender, so the thought of a likely zero was too much and I dropped Verm. So that worked out really well! I do still have Rooney, so I did at least score a few points, but when some players have a double week you can't afford a virtual washout from your single gamers. Only seven left for midweek so I'm not optimistic now. Good news for AM though - you could well be passing me in midweek.
@Kojak - well done for getting 87 even with Almunia - I only have 68. But after yesterday are you really seriously considering keeping him for next week? It didn't sound like he played very well (understatement). I haven't ditched him yet though - having missed Given pre-BD I'm not sure who is the best value. Sorensen maybe?
Hi AM,
Any thoughts on Week 22.
The stand out option seems Citeh.
@ Hull, v Bolton, @ Stoke.
Seems like plum pickings.
Should we just load up on Tevez, K2 and Bellamy for a Citeh Front Three ?
Regards
V
Welcome back AM
i'm currently having the same team like u for barndoor..the only difference is i'm having Rodalega instead Adebayor..thinking upgrade Kalinic to Fuller but we'll see how it goes for tonight game
U can't ignore the power of Triple Game :p
@Kojak I'm contemplating the exact same dilemma as you. I hold Almunia for 5.xx and am thinking of changing to Given. I'm loath to spend 10 units on him though. I still think Almunia is great long-term value (better than anyone else at 5 anyway) but am still considering dropping him. The way my team sits I can have Almunia and Lawrence or Given and Utaka. Lawrence doesn't excite me (although I'm sure I could find a 2 gamer for 9.25 who does), so I'm swaying towards adding Given. Anyone else having this problem?
CJ SHIELDS
Ivan Klasnic ruled out for up to a month with an ankle injury....!!! Sorry for those who were considering him
Kendo
Schwarzer 0.5
Verm 15.5 / Bale 11.5 / Baird 3.0
Ohara 12.5 / Duff 13.5 / Hunt 16.5 / Malouda 12.5
Drogba 0 / Kalinic 0.0 / Zamora 6.5
92 pts have b doored teves and eagles by dropping zamora and Malouda
Will Kalinic be worth keeping @ 2.5?
@CJShields - whether to keep Almunia is my dilemma too. Now I've taken the pain of this week, it is marginally more tempting to risk it for next week. I'm sure there are better options this coming week (Given and Sorensen at least) but as you say Almunia should be a good option going forward. One further concern is that if he has another bad week, his price could come down quite a bit and make the saving relative to 5.39 much less worthwhile. Still, goalkeepers are a bit hit and miss at the best of times in this game and over the rest of the season he ought to justify that price. It looks like Arsenal can beat most of the teams in the league but not Man U or Chelsea, so over the rest of the games he should do well. It's a bit of a shame they have Chelsea next...
My worst decisons this week:
I dropped verm and dunne (who i have kept for some time) for baird and terry. Worst decision ever. Verm(15.5) and dunne(21!!!) compared to baird(3) and terry(13). That's a total loss of 20.5 pts. Really am regretting it as I dropped 454 places despite 93 points.
I have learnt my lesson. Will definitely stick to players who have been scoring well and been in my team for a long time.
Though it will be nice to see both baird and terry score double digits next week.
bengoh91
regarding the double gamers?
Wham, Blackburn, Sunderland, Birmigham
they seem have nice fixtures..i Think equally those triple gamers - Stoke, Bolton,
Mbasil
I'm currenntly looking at the following trade:
RJohnson+Rodallega instead of Anelka+Givet
I think it's a nice trade, as I get another triple-gamer who plays Sunderland, Stoke and Bolton - not very solid defences (Stoke are away). Plus, RJohnson who have been nothing short of fantastic this season is playing Wolves and West Ham, and Brum's defence is indeed very solid.
If I do make this trade, I lose 2 players who play only double games. I liked Givet with Bburn's fixtures, but RJohnson sounds better, while Anelka might lose points with tough fixtures and Drogba back in he line-up. I'm convincing myself here, but I would like it if someone advised me about this plan.
I'm looking at the Bolton players and I can't find anyone I like. Lee was fantastic for several weeks, but now you just don't know what to expect from him - 15 points or 5; their defenders have only one CS this season; Klasnic is injured, and none of their other strikers is sharp; MTaylor is good, but very expensive and not consistant. I already have Etherington and N'Zogbia as triple-gamers, while Duff is solid and meets Bolton and Burnley, and I believe Petrov will start for ManC at least in two of their 3 matches. He's good a bet as Lee, but plays for a better team. Easy.
I heard Bridge was back, but Garrido have been solid so far, and Bridge never delivers many points, so it's too risky for me.
Right now:
Given
Vermaelen Bale Givet(/RJohnson)
Duff Etherington N'Zogbia Petrov
Tevez Kalinic Anelka(/Rodallega)
Advices?
SF
@SF - I'd say R.Johnson would be the best bet, he's on terrific form and almost always returns more than his value. I myself have him in my team, don't know what i'm going to do with the 3 game week...it's always difficult and the obvious decision to make is to go for all 11 3-gamers but I just feel I'd be missing out on a 2-gamer striker that can score lots of more points than 3-gamers due to match-ups. Although City are the team to invest, I missed the BD and only had Tevez on discount...sigh!
(Honduran-SauL)
122 last week and 102 points this week. I want to thank AM again. His info really works when you don't have a lot of time to analyze. I'm glad to be back with O'Hara. I'm keeping Kovac as he has a chance to be a poor man's O'Hara.
@bengoh91- I wouldn't sweat it mate, you made a very informative decision as to replacing Verm/Dunne...they were both single gamers and Verm was doubtful...in fact, his goal was a fluke...correct me if I'm wrong but I saw a deflection. Many of us made that mistake. As for Terry/Baird, good instinctive choices...and they both have an extra game, should get you some points.
On my side, got rid of Verm and brought in Baird...didn't work out yet but Fulham are playing Pompey and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Baird scores big.
(Honduran-SauL)
@V: Would NOT advise picking Tevez, K2, and Bellamy. For starters Bellamy will play on the wing meaning his place will be rotated with SWP/Mpet, so your looking at 1-2 games from him. The most likey option is Tevez who has been doing the business, second option is K2, but I'd go for one and add in another triple game strikers like HRod, Tuncay, Mark Davies (if you really want). Wigan have a reasonable stretch of games too. There are many points to be had here so spread it around.
@Honduran-Saul: Agree with you that there was a deflection off Evans for Verm's goal.
All the best for the midweek games!!
Like you, I'm hoping Baird scores big.
bengoh91
Whooping 185 points this week in the top 10 for the whole league .. makes a change!
time my luck took a turn!
ive dropped shwarzer for sorensen with his triple gamer ???
got tevez back for his triple
duff hunt and ohara seem to be worth sticking with..
and replaced maluda with etherington instead of eagles..
Kendo (earlybathunited)
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