Thursday 4 February 2010

Week 22 - Player Picks

Firstly, a quick review of last night's only Premiership game - and it was the man pictured above me who turned out to be the swing pick of the week.

Fulham earned a scrappy 1-0 win over seemingly doomed Portsmouth, with Schwarzer ending the week on a superb 22.5 points after a number of fine saves, a clean sheet & a win. Those of us who went with Cech shake our heads in disbelief, but it's another one of those decisions where you can't be too hard on yourself.

Fulham were in freefall, leaking goals, their best player was injured, they had a tough game vs Villa (which they lost 2-0!) & barely deserved to win last night. Chelsea were on fire, top of the league, Drogba was back & they faced 2 of the weakest teams in the leagues. Cech was the sensible choice in theory, but Fantasy Football doesn't always make sense.

Luckily for me Baird, Duff, O'Hara & Zamora contributed 39 points as I finished the week on 137 & a rise into the top 1500 of the overall rankings.

How much better if it would've been if I HADN'T had the money to afford Cech & had been forced to go with Schwarzer! No doubt some managers picked the Fulham keeper out of choice, but it was clear from reading the chatroom last Friday night that many people were trying desperately to fit Cech in. Alas, they could not afford him in the end & they've got very lucky. No complaints from me - you cannot succeed in this game without a big slice of luck.

Now, Week 22. As we all know, 4 teams are scheduled to have triple weeks. I normally start with an analysis of the schedule, but rather than write out something that's already written, I'm going to quote my friends Jeremy & Neal at fantasyepl.blogspot.com as I completely agree with them

Their take on the schedule from The Week Ahead:
Schedule
As I'm sure most of you have noticed Bolton, Wigan, Citeh, and Stoke have three matches each.  Hard to argue with that.  Of those with only two matches Birmingham, Blackburn, Fulham, and Sunderland have the best match-ups.  Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Everton have particularly difficult match-ups which devalue all but the surest of things on each roster.
So based on that, here are my Week 22 Player Picks. Note that new players (Mido, Johnson, Moses, Okaka etc) are now added to the game...

KEEPERS
Given
Sorenson
Stojkovic
Jaaskalainen
Gordon

As you all know, my record of picking goalkeepers is not good, but this week I really think you should go with Shay Given for the triple week, even if you missed him on the barndoor. City are playing well, fighting for 4th & I'd expect them to win (or at least not lose) all 3 games.

If you have money to burn & want to do something different, Sorenson could be a gamble that pays off as Stoke don't concede many. If you don't want to go with either of these two (or can't afford to) then you should pick one of the other 2 triple game keepers valued at around £5m.

If I was picking a double gamer I'd go with Craig Gordon - Sunderland's defence is finally back to some sort of strength & they have pretty decent fixtures.

DEFENDERS
Vermaelen
Toure
Cahill
Shawcross
Scharner
Steinsson
Figueroa
Zabeleta
Garrido
Bridge
Shorey
Bale
Hutton

It makes me sad to have Vermaelen in this list as I (like many of you) have now dropped him, but if you kept the faith he should not be going anywhere. Before I start crying let's move on.

I'd suggest you'll have 1 cheaper filler in defence this week (e.g. Bale/Hutton etc) and then 2 or 3 triple gamers depending on formation. The big problem is rotation & injuries, particularly for Man City. Will Zabeleta recover from his broken nose? Does the left back spot go to Garrido or Bridge? Who will partner Toure?

Hopefully team news will make things clearer tomorrow, but these doubts are leading me to favour "dead cert" triple gamers . I have the Man City clean sheet angle covered to an extent with Given in goal, so Shawcross, Figueroa & Steinsson really interest me. If I had the money, I'd seriously consider Cahill but unfortunately I can't get close.

Scharner is another interesting option but he's a possible rotation risk with all Wigan's new signings & an outside bet double gamer is Nicky Shorey, under £8m and  getting some set pieces for Fulham last night.

I currently sit with Bale, Garrido, Shawcross, but that could end Bale, Shawcross, Steinsson if we don't get any definitive news on City.

MIDFIELDERS
M Taylor
N'Zogbia
Etherington
Petrov
Wright-Phillips
Lee
Ireland
McCarthy
Whitehead
Barry
Wilshire
O'Hara
Duff
Larsson

And we're back to the same problem as we were having just a few moments ago when picking our defence. Which Man City midfielders are going to get 3 starts?

With Kompany out I'd say Barry is the only certainty, but he doesn't really get the pulse racing, neither does De Jong. Petrov would be a must-have, but he's now competing with Adam Johnson & Bellamy for a place on the left wing, Ireland has been in & out, as has Shaun Wright Phillips & (now Adebayor is back to partner Tevez upfront) all these players are vying for 4 spots. I may still take the gamble on Petrov, but it's possible I avoid City middies altogether.

If I do this, I'll go with a selection of 4 from N'Zogbia, Etherington, Lee, McCarthy, Whitehead. I'm fairly certain I'm going to leave Matt Taylor out - he's been subbed early in recent games so I'm not keen to splash £15m on him, especially Weiss & Wilshire add competition & doubt. I think Lee will be safe from rotation, he's playing well & may even be used as a support striker in Klasnic's absence.

Single gamers who seem to perform no matter what, Duff, Larsson & O'Hara are all players in great form if you don't like the triple gamers on offer.

STRIKERS
Tevez
Rodallega
Adebayor
Drogba
Rooney
Bellamy
Benitez
Tuncay
Defoe
Bent
Sidibie
Kalinic

It must be Tevez + 2 others. Even if you have Rooney or Drogba (of course both great picks) at huge discounts you should still try to find a place for Tevez.

Some people have suggested Adebayor's return will impact the Argentinian's points & it's possible it will (maybe it already did vs Portsmouth), but when a player is in the form of his life and has 3 games, you pick him. Rodallega will be the 2nd player in my team, he's a reliable point scorer with 3 games so he was another no-brainer for me.

The final spot is tricky. I have Adebayor at the moment, but I hate him so much & he lets me down so often I feel annoyed to have him in my team. Would Bellamy be a better choice? Or maybe I keep/get Kalinic/Sidibie/Tuncay/Benitez in there and spend more on my defence & midfield? I'd like your opinions on this as I'm having difficulty making the decision.

That's it for another week! Remember Week 22 is 3rd Round of The AM Challenge, with 250 teams left in it!

As always, let me have your opinions on the lists above. Anyone you feel I've missed? How is your team shaping up? What are you doing about the City uncertainty?

Please join the blog Facebook Group if you haven't already! Any new posts appear on your wall & I can message you about new leagues & cup competitions...

Cheers,
AM

67 comments:

chris m said...

Hey AM

This week is another mindf*ck. The way the 3'gers are playing, except citeh, I just wouldn't go there even for sure things. With Citeh, the only dead cert is Given. Tevez is on form but with Bellamy ,SWP, god as you say K2 might be back. who knows. So Tevez is close to dead cert but not 100%. Everywhere else is complete muddle. You have Ireland on the list who could get 1 game at best. SWP same thing. Who the hell knows. You don't have Richards and he's been playing well. But with Bridge back he probably sits. But Bridge is going to get hooted out of every park, that should be fun, poor Wayne. He might go mad.

So I will probably totally regret it but I am staying away from the 3 game issue. pretending its not even going to happen. My tip of the week, for whatever its worth, I post this because given my recent track record everyone will do the opposite and no one will touch this, is Bendtner for Arsenal, who is about 6.6 and I think ready to become a full time starter, which they really need.

cheers

Kukuski said...

My likely team:
Given
Bale, Shawcross, Garrido
MTay, Lee, N'Zogbia, Etherinton
Tevez, Yayga, Sidibe

Garrido may be dropped based on possible return of Bridge.

AM,
Good job, as always!

Assistant Manager said...

Hey Chris, great to hear from you!

Agreed this week sucks, I hate triples - if it were upto me they'd make every week a single week.

I know the City thing is tricky, but I feel all the midfielders I've listed could get 2 games worth of minutes...but it is a risk, so I may avoid them all anyway & go with Etherington/N'Zogbia/Lee. Richards is missing because he's injured & K2 is already back, he scored last weekend :)

Bendtner is a good outside bet mate, not many will go with him!

Cheers
AM

Assistant Manager said...

Kukuski - thanks mate...we have very nearly the same team, so I like it!

Anonymous said...

Hey AM.

Any comment on McCarthy?

With the new signings to Wigan he might find himself outside the team? Moreno or Moses should take a spot and might push HRod down to the wing.

Or is McCarthy the only true right winger that Wigan have? At his price he is very tempting.

Drake

Anonymous said...

why Adebayor?! go 3-5-2 ! : )

-Tekno-

Anonymous said...

130 points this week. I'm not exactly happy but reasonably satisfied with it.

My defence this week is so uncertain. After having a verm bale dunne defence for so many weeks, I acted on impulse and sold them last week. They had been doing so well for me. How I regret that moment.
My defence is currently bale garrido and huttton. I really don't like it but don't have much funds to upgrade them. Wish I had kept verm and dunne.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

When picking Wigan defensive players one should have in mind that they only won one of their last eight games and they got trashed by Spurs (9-1), Pompey (4-0), and Man United (5-0). So there is not only a big zero, but a big red minus on the horizont. That´s why I am leaning towards Given. Though Citeh's defensive displays haven`t convinced me so far. The devaluated Almunia could be a great choice, at least against a lacklustre Liverpool a clean sheet is guaranteed. And I don´t expect Chelsea to do the same against them as at the Emirates.

The rest: I will try to include Petrov, who will certainly play his part in all three games. Jordi Gomez is a cheap Wigan option in midfield.

Tevez and Rodallega for sure. Then go for Drogba or Adebayor or even take a cheap option and upgrade another part of the team.

The Failure

Anonymous said...

The Failure...how you rate Petrov as a cert for all three games is beyond me...? they have 5 players vying for 2 attacking positions - arguably 5 as im not sure how theyll line up with Ade back...im still gonna pick him, tho, cos he shoots on sight, and I think 3 games or no city have the best match ups.

JT

Anonymous said...

Hey AM - fantastic post as ever!

My team
Given
steinsson/shwacross/garrido
etherington/lee/whitehead/nzogbia
yayga/tevez/kalinic

leaves me 4.34 to spend!

dazconnor

Anonymous said...

Also - BFD. Bentley, you heard it here first(well, probably not), Joshtottenham

Bojan said...

my team:

1st option 4-4-2 formation

Given/Bale,Shawcross,Scharner,TOURE/ Whitehead,N'Zogbia,Etherington,LEE/
Tevez,Rodallega

2nd option 3-4-4 formation

Given/Bale,Shawcross,Scharner/
Whitehead,N'Zogbia,Etherington,TAYLOR/
Tevez,Rodallega,SIDIBE

any opinions on this matter?

Anonymous said...

Which team is Okaka from? I can't find him in yff.

bengoh91

Bojan said...

he came from roma to fulham...

Anonymous said...

@Bojan: Personally I'd go for the first team. I think Toure and Lee will garner more points than taylor and sidibe.

Just my opinion though.

bengoh91

Bojan said...

toure or gary cahill?

Anonymous said...

Bojan: Thanks a lot for the clarification! =)

bengoh91

init said...

Whitehead? Assume that's cos he is cheap and went up on the BD? I would avoid...

Bale has been doing well in Fantasy Land but I would drop him if Ekotto is back.

AM - no Fuller? 5.something...

Anonymous said...

I prefer gary cahill. I personally love the guy, but can't afford him myself. He scores many phantom points and gets goals too!

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

@Bojan: gary cahill.
forgot to indicate your name. =)

bengoh91

init said...

Also is HRod a risk with Wigan signings, and Garrido won't play if Bridge is back...

I thought I would echo a hate for Adebayor too, purely for fantasy inconsistency reasons...but I still might pick him as I do think he will play the majority of the 3 games...

Anonymous said...

jt... petrov has been a regular under Mancini. He might be taken off or come from the bench, but I am sure that he will feature in all three games with the potential to score. From all city midfielders clearly the best option.
Adbeayor - you're right. I should get him in instead of Drogba.

Anonymous said...

guys.. in stoke last game. faye seems injured and walked out of the game. will wilkinson replace him for the 3 games? ideas?

Anonymous said...

my team is quite exceptional i believe, but somehow i like it

given
nelsen bale hutton g.cahill
eth lee a.reid
yayga tevez fuller

given - BDed him, worst move of keeping Almunia last week

nelsen - whom i kept since ... i forgot

bale - missed the 2.7 boat, must still have him @ 5.5

hutton - best value of the week

cahill - to me, he is a must have rather than MTaylor

eth & lee - pure 3 gamers and inexpensive

a.reid - "my available funds 13.55" and he topped my search list, he will play WIG & @POR, so why not?

yayga & tevez - who r not getting them?

fuller - a gamble filler

Q: should I drop AReid for NZogbia?

comments are welcome, please...

FUNG

Caleb said...

My Current Team:

Given

Vermaelen
Zabaleta (??????????)
Scharner

Petrov
Etherington
Duff
McCarthy

Tevez
Rodallega
Tuncay/Sidibe

I am still think about should I get Tuncay or Sidibe. Also, will Zab free from injury?

Fidan said...

Can you please help me out with these options:

My current team:

Given
Verm,Bale,xxx
Eagles,Ethe,Nzogbia,xxx
Rooney,Tevez,xxx

1. Zab/Caldwell/Rodallega (O left ;))
2. Zab/JMcCarthy/Rodallega
2. Hutton/Lee/Rodallega
4. Hutton/Duff (13.34)/Lee

Any suggestion!!!

Assistant Manager said...

Some replies!

- McCarthy should play for Wigan, I think he's important to they way Martinez is trying to play

- Bojan: Cahill & Lee if you can afford them

- Whitehead - he's cheap & Pulis said he'll be given more freedom to attack. Triple gamer for under £4m will fill a spot in a tough week.

- Fuller & Caldwell, both goods option I'd missed out, thanks guys

- Ekotto is still out, Bale should continue.

- Rodallega will play, I'm 100% certain

- Faye has a back injury, I believe he's a doubt

- Fidan: I like Hutton/Lee/Rodallega

AM

Anonymous said...

Original frontline was Drogs/Yayga/Roda

I want to drop Drogs (18.9) and bring in Tevez. Do I want Tevez and Yayga together?

Anonymous said...

Robinson
Bale/Baird/Hutton
Maxi/Mtay/NZog/Duff/Eth
Tevez/HRod

Any advice?


Need to chase up my position on my Local group!
Lampard was underperformed last week, while I didn't take Duff because of having Lampard.

Gambling Fail. =(

Cheers,
DarkZero

Mrljo said...

I'm almost done with my team.. 2 places could change depending on team news (hutton) tommorow.

What do you guys think of mouyokolo? To be honest I never heard of the guy until he scored aginst chelsea, but then i BD him at 1.76 and thinking of keeping him as a cheap filler.

Currently on:

Given
Kolo,Mouyokolo,Hutton
Ether,Nzogbia,Whitehead,Petrov
Tevez,HRod,Ade
2mil left

just saw I have two Kolo's in my team (gotta be a good sign:)

Živjeli!!

Macgill said...

rodallega or K2?

Ferdinand said...

given
bale, figueroa, steinsson
ohara, lee, zogbia, whitehead,
kalinic, tevez, rooney

This week is a nightmare. I really don't like my team, i dont't know which is a huge problem. thinking about fitting petrov in, but that would mean jussi for given. not sure about that since i already got dodgy defenders...

yep. so any help would be appreciated.

and cheers AM for being back. i need all the great advice you are offering.

Anonymous said...

this is my team for triple week.i will appreciate any advice.

Given
nelsen cahill bridge (waiting for team news)
modric etherington,diao,makoena
teven drogba rodallega.

what do u all think? all the best to all manegrs

by super coach.

init said...

Ferdinand - what do you think is wrong with your team - to me it looks strong, although I guess you can think about kalinic/whitehead/ohara combo to get more triple gamers in?

Mouyokolo is as likely to get negative points as he is to score in my view but when I say things like that people tend to score again!!

AM - I'm not sure about Hrod playing 3 - what do you think about the other options and the fact that Hrod isn't scoring so much?

Fidan I like option 4 for you, I think Lee is a good pick

Personally I am struggling with Adebayor/Petrov OR Lee/HRod...

If it wasn't for the Wigan signings it would be easy but...any views?

Bryce said...

What about Bowyer? He hasn't been hot for the past a few weeks but he's more affordable then ever. Given Birmingham's fixture, would you guys pick him?

shadowgex said...

i'm taking a hit and going with a sure 0 in fulop, but frankly with keepers in a double/triple week, sometimes a 0 is a good thing. Plus, at 1.00, it allows me to beef up the rest of my team.

Fulop

bale/scharner/garrido
modric (6.98), pretov, etherington, n'zogbia
rooney, tevez, rodallega

FanKuat said...

hi ppl
this week is AM's 3rd round challenge cup..good luck to everyone

currently?my most likely team barrign any injuries) is

Given

Bale/Mouykolu/cahill
Taylor/N Zogbia/Larrson/Etherington
Kalinic/Tevez/Hrod

quite satisfy with my yeam...just headache with M.Taylor weather he gona have a big scoring week...becoz hes been kinda out of form lately..

Mouykolu is a good filler, n shocked everyone after last game...

Any opinions/advice are appreciated!!!

STM said...

@init - I am more or less with AM regarding HRod. I actually mentioned his situation briefly in an earlier comment, which I will expound here.

Well, to put things into perspective:
1. HRod has scored 7 out of Wigan's 24 goals. That is about 1/3 of the team's total.
2. His best and natural position seems to be the left wing. Well, he played his best match in that position in the 3-1 win over Chelsea in Week 6.
3. He started and played in all 22 of Wigan's matches, not as the main striker all the time. He is moved to the left wing whenever Jason Scotland is used as the main striker. Scotland played in 20 matches, starting in 11 and scoring 0 goals!
4. IMHO, he is by far Wigan's best player (and top scorer).

7 goals from mostly playing on the left wing is a great return. I also can't see Martinez affording to drop his best player and top scorer.

WIth the new boys, I can see him moving to the left wing if Moreno plays as main striker, or him playing as the main striker if Moses plays on the left wing (I've been told Moses plays left wing).

I can also see McCarthy being moved to the central left midfield or central midfield just behind the striker. So in these cases, I would think that Scotland and Scharner may be the ones subject to rotation.

What I am unsure of is when Martinez play both Moses and Moreno. Well, he might employ a 4-4-2 formation, with Moses on the left wing, Moreno and HRod as main strikers.... or not. Anything can happen though. *shrug*

Anyway, I am no Wigan fan, and these are just based on my humble observations and opinions, so if I get some things incorrect, please feel free to chip in.

bean said...

just to make Man City's lineup even more difficult to predict:
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/2010/February/Blues-boss-puzzled-by-Mariga-decision?

viera and a.Johnson could play, zabaleta in midfield if richards is back? i really think this squad will be well rotated, especially in midfield.. so does the best triple gameweek team really just become a double gamer if there's no way to count on anyone playing three matches?

Anonymous said...

Is Hutton going to play and is anybody picking D.Bent?

init said...

Hi STM - this is great and I guess what goes even more in HRod's favour is that although Moses is a great player he had not played in the Premier league and so probably won't be straight in the team...

I wish Martinez hadn't bought 3 new forwards because otherwise he would have been a sure starter, its a tough one for me, but like AM I hate Adebayor too so what are the options?

Bean I also agree with you than ManCity players are looking to be more and more like just double gamers. I do think Toure/Tevez/Barry/Given are certs for 3 games (unless injured/suspended) and I think he seems to like Petrov/Adebayor/Zabaleta/Bridge but there are options for all of them...

Gooner said...

Is anyone looking ahead to week 23? Man U and West Ham are on a double. Who are you looking to get on the barn door?

Kellz said...

Team 1:
Given, Bale, HUTTON, Scharner
N'Zogbia, Lee, Eth, Whitehead
Rooney, Tevez, HROD

OR

Given, Bale, ZABS, Scharner
N'Zogbia, Lee, Eth, Whitehead, MPET
Rooney, Tevez

tough call both have strong points

Anonymous said...

AM can you give me advice as to which team looks stronger.
Currently I have...

Given
Bale/Cahill/Shawcross
Etherington/Whitehead/Duff/MTaylor
Tevez/Kalinic/Tuncay

As the days passed by I couldn't help myself and made a few changes thanks to yours and our blog buddies' suggestions...

Given
Bale/R.Johnson/Cahill
Etherington/Whitehead/Lee/N'Zogbia
Tevez/Kalinic/Rodallega

I like the second team better, more balanced all around but let me know your opinion please.
Thanks all,
(Honduran-Saul)

Anonymous said...

@Kellz

I like the second one better.

@Saul

I like the second one better for you as well :)

Drake

Anonymous said...

Kellz - I like your "team 1" because I don't like messing around with players that may/may not start, I learned the hard way when I chose 3 players and ever since then it's never happened again (Not to mention I have gone from 16,000 place to 6,000 place). Is Zabaleta and MPet starting with City's so many options? SWP back, Adebayor, Tevez, Bellamy, Ireland, ...I don't know.
Besides, we're all thinking that City is gonna murder their oposition but they face Hull City and Stoke away...as for Wigan, they have 2 games at home -Stoke and -Bolton, I'd bet on Wigan because 1)HRod and N'Zogbia are sure starters and 2)Wigan are no joke at home. Just my opinion but either way both your teams are strong, the only problem is getting your players on the pitch.
(Honduran-Saul)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Drake, I'll consider that...looks solid enough for me to hit save and move on to another exiting 3-gamers, lol just kidding I friggin hate this 3 gamer weeks, it's just so misleading and not to mention a headache. Good luck to all in your journey to recruit the perfect winning team!!!
(Honduran-Saul)

Carbon vs. Ti said...

Hi guys,

My team thus far with 0 left to spend (have rooney at 16.10 and am hesitant to sell, would have to sell Fabs at 17 to get to this team...)

Given
Bale(at 2.65), Hutton, Shawcross
O'Hara(8.24), N'Zogbia, Whitehead, McCarthy
Rooney(16.10), Tevez, Rodallega

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

domoh said...

My team:
Given
Bale/Ricketts/Scharner
MPet/NZog/LeeCY/McCarthy
Tévez/HRod/Sidibe

Still have +3 to spend, so changes could be made depending on tmrws inj report etc
Not sold on Ricketts or McCarthy

Cheers

Anonymous said...

sorenson
bale cahill toure
nzogbia lee whitehead etherington
adebayor sidibe hrod

I could drop toure for r johnson and upgrade whitehead to mccarthy. what do you guys think. any changes to be made
saitofall

Anonymous said...

A bit taken by how many have Given as their keep. I guess a lot barndoored him and now are stuck with him. Don't get me wrong, he's a good pick, but if you configure probability, he's certainly not the best among triple-gamers.

Also surprised about the amount going with double gamers over triple gamers. I can understand Bale and others taken at massive discounts, but honestly, outside of Bent, NO ONE has the match-ups to justify one less match. The value per point spent doesn't work in this case.

Lyov

Anonymous said...

I'm going towards Tevez/HRod/Bent for Attacking

There so many DG worth than TG. Diamanti seems so tempting. abide other WHam signings.

I'm not keen for any Stoke strickers. Don't no why..

MBasil

Anonymous said...

Hey AM, i'm a big fan... your suggestions (and everyone else's comments) have helped me push up to a fighting chance of nipping my local mini-league.

Ok so i've got a dilemma- take a gamble with youthful debutants on trip games or stick to senior teammates. So here are my possible teams:

(1)
Given
Bale / Verm / Zabaleta
N'Zog / Lee / Eth / Whitehead
Rooney / Tevez / Tuncay

or

(2)
Given
Bale / Verm / Zabaleta
N'Zog / WILSHIRE / Eth / COHEN
Rooney / Tevez / MOSES

1 seems more conservative, but at least Lee is in there (more points hopefully). 2 is a bit of a gamble with possible debuts for Wilshire and Moses. I've got a feeling Moses will get a start and produce the goods with two home games against Stoke & Bolton.

Any suggestions?

Golova

mikl-em said...

AM, my biggest quibble with your recommendations this week is that you've left out Birmingham defenders. Birm's matchups are really attractive (home to Wolves & @ WestHam). Definitely one clean sheet and even with new strikers I wouldn't expect Hammers to be a powerhouse. So I brought in Carr, due to all the doubts of MC selection, etc. Likewise I like the Benitez option up front.

Given
Higgenbotham (7.58) Carr Garrido
O'Hara (8.21) Etherington deJong LeeC-Y
Rooney Tevez Benitez

I had HRod but then got nervous with the new strikers in. I worry that since he has been a workhorse and played every game that they'll give him a rest when there are so many games in few days, and with new blood they want to see in action. I suppose if he gets 2 games then it's at least as good as any other team (and a possible up side).

So with discussion here, I'm strongly considering bringing HRod back in. That would mean dumping Eth probably.

So it's Etherington/Benitez vs (Wilshere/Whitehead)/HRod. Unfortunately, I can't get McCarthy in, I'd be .14 short for HRod if I swapped him for Eth. :)


Thoughts on those combos? And which W would be better in midfield? I could swap Lee for NZog, but frankly I have a hunch for Lee, he should've scored last week, he's bound to in 3.

mikl-em said...

ESPN now reporting Bridge will be back (and Lescott on the bench) for the first match. So think I'll upgrade Garrido to Bridge, and keep Eth/Benitez.

STM said...

@mikl-em - Here's more information regarding the Wigan lineup... some more things to think about... haha ;-)

McCarthy, N'Zogbia and Rodallega actually got a rest already! They were late substitutes in the FA Cup replay defeat by Notts County on Tuesday Feb 2. H. Thomas was an unused substitute.

The formation for the game:
Stojkovic
Boyce (Rodallega '86) Bramble Caldwell Figueroa
Koumas (McCarthy '61) Sinclair Scharner Diame (N'Zogbia '61) Gomez
Scotland

My impressions... This is basically the first team of Wigan without their best players! Martinez seems be giving them some rest in view of the tight schedule.

If Mirror Football is to be believed, Martinez said: "I don't think we are ready to go into two competitions and try to be successful in both. Our priority is the Premiership." This underlines how important Thomas, McCarthy, N'Zogbia and Rodallega is for the coming matches.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Martinez-Wigan-squad-only-big-enough-to-compete-in-one-tournament-article310905.html

Therefore, I have the feeling that the 4 of them will be in the starting lineup for the 3 matches of Feb 7, 10 & 17. Note that there is a gap of a week between the last 2 matches, where Wigan does not have any matches at all, so the players should be well rested. Stoke, Man City and Bolton have FA Cup fixtures on Feb 13 & 14, so they play 4 matches in 10 days.

Oh in case someone thinks that I have an agenda with all my Wigan related comments, I do not. Just wanting to point out things that could have been overlooked, some more information, something to think about. Well, in the end, Martinez is the one choosing his team, not me... so if he decide to throw a spanner in the works... ouch!

Cheers...

donut said...

aaarghhh

given
caldwell/hutton/zabaleta
eth/mpet/duff/barry
tevez/adebayor/elmander

OR

given
caldwell/hutton/bridge
eth/mtay/lee/mccarthy
tevez/hrod/elmander

hutton is cheap and I expect him to play and get points

i like team 2 as it removes city influence and i am just not sure who will play

but team one has duff and i really think he will score some points...

any comments very welcome!!

HKDave said...

My current lineup is
Given
Olsson Baird Scharner
MPet Eth MTay JMcCarthy Diao
K2 HRod

My concerns are:
1. Olsson may not start due the Dunn's return
2. Scharner may not play all 3 due to excessive MFs in the team
3. Diao is back from injury or not
4. McCarthy should be replaced by NZog or not. but then I have to give up HRod and I don't think Scotland would start all 3 and he wont score well even if he start
5. MPet may not starts all 3 too. most likely.

Any comment please. Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

anyone thinking of picking up new players before their price goes up?
i rather fancy Gudjohnson... plus, Tottenham play Wolves this week!
And with regard to their matchup with Aston Villa, Defoe says that he is confident of win.

What do you think?

-Anorexic Pig

Anonymous said...

my team so far:

stojkovic
vermaelen (6.05) / scharner / hutton
petrov / n'zogbia / diao / whitehead
tevez / drogba (18.5) / rodallega

i am considering to drop drogba because of the difficult opponents and i am also not too sure about my stoke midfield. they don´t create too much. but they are always good for a clean sheet. so maybe i should switch to shwacross or higginbottom. and bring in lee and steinsson, who has the potential to make to points even when bolton is conceding.

the man city midfield is a puzzle to me...

The Failure

Anonymous said...

hello guys

who can tell me who are new players which just transfer to epl and will play coming games? i'm interesting to pick new player.

zerox

Anonymous said...

i see everyone is having same problem as me with that final cheapo m/f slot- not entirely happy with any of the options.. whitehead, j gomez, delap , whelan , de jong, wilshere, weiss etc.
can't see a convincing 2 gamer either. help please A.M. S.P.

Anonymous said...

Is it confirmed that bridge is back? I'm still holding on to garrido.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

ignore my last post. just seen micah r is injured. prefer toure to zabaleta, so about to downgrade a m/f i already wasn't happy with to lowest of the low filler -delph. ! :) S.P.

Anonymous said...

V. Stojkovic
T. Vermaelen(6.02):)/G. Bale/RJohnson
L. Modric/D. Duff/M. Petrov/D. Whitehead
D. Drogba(10.66)/C. Tévez/H. Rodallega

thinking abt droping Johnson for hutton and upgrading whitehead for eth.or Nzogbia
Any suggestions ?

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, my team:

van der Saar (@ 8.14)
Bale (@5.45) Hutton Zabaleta
Duff (@13.34) N'Zogbia Etherington Lee
Tevez Rodallega Tuncay

See, I really want to sell Duff and get MTaylor, to form what I see as an almost perfect mid/front line for this week considering the 3 gamers, but I'm missing 0.18 to do that :((
Any ideas on what I can do/change to make it happen?

I also thought getting a Stoke defender is a really good idea as they have 2 home games and are really tight @ home, but they're all pretty expensive and Shawcross is a whopping 9.81 :|
Only cheap one is Wilkison, and Physioroom says Faye is very doubtful for 6th of feb, which means he'll almost surely be back for Stoke's second match. You think Wilkinson is worth it at 4.87?

@ Anorexic Pig
I think Gudjohnsen definately won't play both games, maybe not even one, so not a very good choice. Maybe BD tho if spurs have good matchups and he actually does something..

- THM

shadowgex said...

i'm having some real difficulties with my back line, but the rest of my team is pretty much set.



fulop

bale (2.65), scharner, zabaleta

eth, modric (6.98), n'zog, mpet

rooney (16.05), hrod, tevez

1.2 left... any suggestions on how to fix up my defense? it's pretty tough trying to find a good TG defender since it's a guess as to who will play all 3.

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