Week 22 - Tuesday
We of course also had Fulham 3-0 Burnley (lots of great points for Fulham defenders - Schwarzer with a huge haul & Shorey looking a steal) & Portsmouth 1-1 Sunderland (last minute clean sheet agony for us Hutton holders but goals for Bent & Dindane).
But then we had Man City v Bolton & Wigan v Stoke....
These were the 2 games I had 9 players invested in, so it was safe to say I was pretty nervous about proceedings. I didn't get the chance to watch either game, but having checked the points this morning I was pretty damn pleased to have moved up almost 400 places with 90 points from the night, 159.5 for the week so far, into the Top 1,150 with 10 players still to play (Bale tonight & 9 triple gamers next week).
My points came from Tevez, Adebayor, Etherington, N'Zogbia, Shawcross & Given - 2 goals, 2 assists, a clean sheet & I was 1 minute of injury time away from 6 more points for Hutton.
I feel quite lucky; had I gutted my team & gone with Matt Taylor as I very nearly did (he was benched after all) I would've missed out on Adebayor & had I gone with Martin Petrov I could've missed out on Etherington or N'Zogbia. I even tried to get Cahill or Toure in at one point, but in the end my only disappointments have been Steinsson (but he missed a game) & Rodallega (no excuse - he just isn't firing)...I guess they have another game to salvage some pride.
So I'm having a good week at the moment, but I am very wary of the Drogba & Rooney backlash tonight, which could see me plummet once again. I only have Bale so I expect to fall a couple of hundred places anyway, but hopefully the damage will be minimal.
As for my barndoor team, I'm trying to resist the urge to chuck all Man Utd players despite the fact they (+ West Ham) are set for a double week. I wouldn't mind 1 or 2 players from each & then focus on solid single gamers, but the big issue I have is holding Rooney & Drogba at a combined price of £44m, leaving me just £56m to pick 9 players.
This is how it looks currently: James, Bale, Hutton, Wes Brown, Bentley, Etherington, O'Hara, Adam Johnson, Sidibie, Rooney, Drogba
It's not THAT bad considering, but I honestly think either Rooney or Drogba has to go, maybe to Carlton Cole or Diamanti, so I can spread the spare £10m-£14m about a bit on a better keeper & another United midfielder or defender.
So that's where I am - I'd really like to hear your opinions on holding the big 2 strikers at these ridiculous prices. I don't want to get rid of Drogs, but surely I need Rooney in a double week, even at £24m?
How are you getting on? Who do you have left and how is your Week 23 team shaping up?
Cheers,
AM
47 comments:
You're the best AM !!
For me you either have Drogba and Rooney at decent discount or if you missed that ship, a change of tactics. There is clear splits, but look at the top players, I got bored after going down to 15 or so they don't hold players, they go for the match up and her, their winning the game, no?
If a week deems they need Rooney and Drogba they will pick for that week then move on.
I am swerving them at the moment, much like I did Ronaldo when I couldn't afford him and won my private league against all the 'winker' holders.
Next week, for me it's loading on Arsenal, Villa, a small sprinkling of Pompey and West Ham and one from Manu Utd.
To look at your BD Team it contains a very risky keeper (I have him too yes) a defender who is likely to ship 3 or 4, a defender who may not play both, two middies who may not get action and throw in three strikers who may not feature too much for very different reasons (Champions League and alike)
I BD-ed Brown, and then I dropped him for Evans. Now their prices have gone up, I'm praying Brown loses his spot to Vidic. Who do you think will be dropped for Vidic?
I'm with u AM, got headache to keep those 2 big striker together but i think i need to salvage my season
Given
Bale,Borre,Hutton
Etherington,Ohara,Collison,Nzonzi
Drogba,Rooney,Sidibe
I think ur right AM, maybe Drogba need to go..i hate that thought :p
Rio will be back for Man U's second game too.
im going with drogba and rooney both at full price next week.
I have managed to create an ok team around them with a couple of players on discount, albeit with a few cheapos thrown in for good measure. however, its getting to the point in the season where there are a few fillers very cheap that can pick up decent points.
James is one as he has an ok match up at home to stoke who have only scored 4 away goals all season, and for less than 2.00. bargain!
i've picked up adam johnson at 4.xx although i'm wary of the number of starts he'll get
jack wilshere looked good last night despite being on the losing end of a beating stick, but cheap, although again, its all about starting games
bale, i hope everyone still has him at massive discount. great player for less than 3.xx (on discount)
i've also picked up alex song this week. at home to sunderland, he's bound to have to make lots of tackles so as long as he stays yellow card free, 4.xx isn't a bad figure for him
I'm sitting on 125points after last night. Given finally got back to winning ways. and i really need a similar 15+ points for him in the last game. my defenders, bale (come on spurs) shawcross (16), and calwell (0)haven't been as good as i expected. but as last nigth showed me, i was sitting on 55 after the first round, much can change in one round...
i went for petrov, which wasn't good. lee (10) alright i suppose. etheringhton (thanks AM :)) and nzogbia. a bit of a disappointment.
up front ive got tevez, (26) RODALLEGE(-1) and kalinic(1.5) so yep. hoping for a goal from aklinic tonight... and rod must improve last game. PLEASE!
as for next week sitting on
james,
Hutton, Bale, Vidic
valencia, milner, parker, adam johnson
berba, cole and drogba.
i think rooney should be in there. but can't afford him. and as a united player i get enough satisfaction from enjoying the goals in real terms :)
Keep it up AM
cheers,
Ferdinand
any opinion on mark noble? he's a double gamer
I've got so far:
James
Hutton Bale Salgado
Carrick Johnson Bentley Etherington
Drogba Rooney Ilan
James & Salgado are providing the budget beaters with a good looking midfield n strike force in my reckoning. Drogba n Rooney holding 44mill for me too and if I were to let one of them go I think I should buff up the goalkeeping and maybe an extra man united defender. The only thing i worry about is that sometimes Double headers provide such a headache and some of them fail to fit the bill of a good single gamer but hey I'm still a sucker for 2chances in one week to score rather than one chance. Decisions, decisions.
A M won't Rio. Fer. be back for the double week if he is he's a steal @ 7.43
Alex - thanks for your feedback, sensible comments that have given me something to think about. I'm not going to ignore Arsenal, I'm looking at Rosicky & Bendtner as possibilities.
Merv - The Brown/Evans choice is a difficult one, especially with Vidic returning & Rio back for the 2nd game (thanks Ian). We'll need to keep an eye on tonight and next Tuesday vs Milan to get a better idea of who Fergie will start but I went with Brown over Evans as he could be moved to right back.
twoface & rwlwhite - I still cant decide, if I can move a few people around it's possible I keep them both, but it can wait as we have 10 days till next deadline!
Ferdinand - very nice team mate, I'm jealous!
Zaki - Noble has been a good pick in the past but not so much since he lost penalties and set pieces to Diamanti, so over £10m is a lot to spend on him.
Regan - I'm thinking a similar thing...also couldn't agree more regarding double headers being a pain, give me a single week everytime!
AM
AM - James, Bale, Hutton, Wes Brown, Bentley, Etherington, O'Hara, Adam Johnson, Sidibie, Rooney, Drogba
If you stay with this team im sure you will drop ALOT , Man UTD players are a MUST this week specially home VS West Ham
Drop Bentley+Etherington+O'Hara+A.Johnson+Sidibie+Drogba
And pick Evra/Vidic/Nani/Fletcher/Valencia/Berbatov , even some West Ham players Spector/Parker/Cole , cuz its easy home game vs Hull so any points in the second game is a bonus
Cheers
Well done AM - I knew your team wasn't bad.I only got 49 points last night from 8 players (non-players in the case of Petrov). Toure, Rodallega and Petrov were the main culprits, plus the fact that I don't have Given. I still have Rooney, Bale and Almunia tonight so maybe it won't be too bad in the end, but you're only 17 points behind me now so I need the second part of that Drogba and Rooney backlash you promise, and then who knows what will happen next week.
I'm finding these double & triple weeks difficult too. For next week it seems ManU and West Ham players should be very desirable but with Man U it's hard to predict who's going to play twice and for West Ham there aren't too many that appeal. Drogba might score well next week but I don't see spending 24+ on him is in any way justifiable. It's a risk either way, but at least if you spend the money elsewhere you should get some return from it - if he misfired or was rested it would be a disaster. BD team at present is:
Almunia,
Bale, Evans, Evra
Milner, Nani, A Johnson, Wilshire
Rooney, Bendtner, Berbatov
With 1.5 to spare. I can't see it staying like this though. Rosicky for Wilshire is one possibility but he doesn't seem to get many full games at the moment.
my team,
given
bale, hutton, wilkinson
etherington, fabregas, milner, modric
rooney, bendtner, tuncay.
is it okay?
My BD team atm
Given
Bale Evra Shorey Vidic
Fab4 Valencia Bentley
Kalinic Berbs Sidibe
May swap given for alumnia or james.
I just sold hutton and got vidic in. I feel Man Utd has a good chance of 2 CS and they play twice. Same logic for evra, a definite starter in MU defence. Hutton has a tough game, away to Arsenal, no CS, and out he goes. No explanation needed for bale (vs wigan) and shorey playing at home against birmingham.
I love my middies of fabs (vs sunderland), valencia (2 games) and bentley (revitalised and lots of phantom points)
I hate my strikers though. Thinking of swapping sidibe for a middie priced at around 8. Stoke don't score many away from home. No many choices for a middie in that price range. Kalinic will probably stay, he's up against bolton who are poor away and seems to be a regular starter nowadays.
Any suggestions for a striker or middie at 8?
Thanks in advance!
bengoh91
@anon 2.57: good looking team there. I think hutton is a risk though. He's playing Arsenal away. Could ship three or four goals like Alex mentioned in the earlier post. I had him but replaced him with vidic. Other than hutton, the rest are fine.
bengoh91
It doesnt really matter if Hutton ships 3 to 4 goals as you dont get negtive points if you concede a goal. I dont think any1 picking him expects a clean sheet, but he cost hardly anything (3.50) he is guarenteed to start, he is attacking, he'll be forced to get tackles and blocks in vs arsenal, he is just a cheap filler who will probably start as many games as brown/evans/scholes/giggs/valencia in the double week e.g. ONE GAME
Team looking like this:
Almunia
Bale Hutton Tompkins
Ethers Mikel Mullins Fletcher Valencia
Drogs Roon
Don't like my midfield but need Roo to stay top of my local league as many holding him too. Drogs on fire.
Thinking Mikel as a cheap option and likely to play. Mullins for now but will upgrade if funds become available after tonight.
Any thoughts anybody?
AM that does not look bad at ALL for this week but you can beef up a lot by dropping Drogs...
West Ham I think are a good pick this week, but Diamanti has the annoying habit of being a great Yahoo footballer but not so great in real life, I think he is seen as a luxury player...
I'm not so sure about not going with ManU DG - I know its difficult to predict who he plays but surely he CAN'T leave out Nani who has been on fire recently...I actually see him as a must have this week...
Also Fletcher and Carrick have consistently played and scored steady points, which with their averages and their chances of playing (quite high) AND the fact that both have license to get forward when they play and can sneak the odd goal makes them both I think good picks... I'm tempted to pick either both or neither to make the most of the points...
Also, I think Fergie needs to give Berbs some good game time to get him firing on all cylinders. Relying on him playing two instead of going for Carlton Cole, but this is a risk and I will probably change 3 or 4 times before next weekend!!
James (would love VDS)
Hutton/Zabaleta/G Neville
Fletcher/Eth/Carrick/Parker/Nani
Rooney/Berbatov
good line on h& j today. what happens to pompeys fantasy pt's if they go bust. do they get expunged from the game? S.P.
I agree I'll try to find a way to get Vidic & Nani in, maybe Berbs, but I'm not sold on any West Ham players.
As for Pompey, if they folded before the end of the season I can't see any reason why their fantasy points would be taken away - the players still earnt them so I'm sure they would remain as they were.
This striker situation certainly is a conundrum...like a storm brewing on the horizon, I have envisaged the fall-out of not having Drogba or Rooney at discounts for some time now. Like many of you, I picked up Rooney at 16mil and held him for Weeks 13-16 during which time he returned 73.5 points (a robust average above 18 points/game for all of you that failed math). I can't recall my reasoning exactly but I think it was his return of 1 point in Week 16 and the looming triple week for a few teams that caused me to drop him. As for Drogba, the story of his departure from my and many other sides is well documented.
At present, the best line-up that I can conceive of with Rooney and Drogba is as follows:
James
Bale Hutton Hreidarsson
Modric CrystalEth Downing Rosicky
Drogba Cole Rooney
Decent but I don't love it. I am leaning towards playing Berbs up front in lieu of Rooney which would allow me to do a line-up such as:
James
Bale Hutton Evra
Modric CrystalEth Collison Nani
Berbs Cole Drogba
Collison and Nani are interchangeable for Arteta, Arshavin, Agbonlahor and/or Milner in various permutations.
The question comes down to two things: (i) whether or not you think that a duo or trifecta of very good, solid Man United players can equal or at least come close to replicating Rooney's performance in a double week and (ii) which striker you prefer - Drogba or Rooney - in the long run (since it's not realistic to think you can continue to field both players at or near full price in the long run).
I have to say, I am leaning towards keeping Drogba and going for the Man United by-committee approach. Obviously, picking Man United players who are assured of playing both games can be tough...I would say that VDS, Evra and Rooney are the only players firmly in this group although Berbs is close when healthy. Despite Nani's recent form, I still fear that he is a rotation risk with Valencia, Giggs, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, etc. Hopefully some one out of that group gets a RC or is injured and clears things up for us.
i hope so. it was more of a joke than anything. of course it wouldn't just affect pompey. didn't rooney get a hat-trick against them etc. but it would be weird if "real tables" are adjusted, and real topscorers lists get amended, if fantasy pt's didn't get changed. can't see it happening though as it'd be murder for yahoo to do, as they seem to struggle some weeks just serving up ordinary pt's on time !. although must give them some credit- they're definitely better recently than 4 or 5 yr's ago. S.P.
My preliminary team for next week does NOT include Drogs in there, ESPECIALLY at full (fool) price...north of 24, TOO MUCH...!!!
If you haven't already seen it in his stats, Drogba tends to go ON and "off" (considering the full price of course...for 10.66 he is MORE than perfect). The game against Wolves is the one I'm willing to hold my fire. Then...it's another story. I don't want to gut my team anymore, anyways...!!!
Here is my team for next week, the one that I can afford(changes do to be made, of course):
James
Verm,Bale,Evra,Olsson
Bentley,O'Hara,Fabs
Rooney,CCole,Kalinic
Yes, I hate Kalinic too, but who can I afford at that price. I just hope some of the prices drop tonight (esp. Fab's ;))...!!!
What do you think? Any suggestion?
Cheers and good luck...!!!
I just have a feeling diamanti won't play both games as zola seems to drop and they have seven thousnad strikers
my team
bale Hutton Terry(9)
Bentley Etherington Noble Carrick
Drogba Cole Berbatov
whats the word on vidic. Is he assured a start for the double week coming, cause then I will find a way to fit him in.
On 161.50 so far with this team;
Given
Hetinga Bale Hutton
Whitehead Etherington McCarthy Lee
Drogba Tevez Rooney
My Team for next week so far;
Given
Hetinga Bale Hutton
Etherington Downing Bentley Bowyer
Drogba Rooney Ilan
As I have Rooney at 16 and Drogba at 18 I can afford both without crippling the rest of my team too much. Might look for other options in the Bowyer and Hutton spots.
A bad week for me so far - 111 points with four players still to play tonight (Vermaelen, Bale, RJohnson and Kalinic - hoping for 3 clean sheets and a hattrick, maybe from Vermaelen :)), plus six players to play in mid-week. I've dropped down 300 places out of the top 1600, and I'm angry, because I really liked my team before this week.
For week 23 I've made already 7 changes, keeping only Bale, Vermaelen, Etherington and Kalinic. I've dropped Duff and Tevez today to get Rooney and Rosicky, but his spot isn't safe as I'm not sure he'll start.
Almunia
Vermaelen Bale Brown
Etherington Milner Valencia Rosicky
Kalinic CCole Rooney
Valencia got more points than Nani, he was cheaper, and I prefer him. I'm not very far from getting Vidic instead of Brown, which is probably safer, but I need to make sure he really returns and also drop Rosicky for someone like Behrami or Cohen. I like Milner against Burnley, while Etherington seems consistant and Cole should start both. I still don't like Kalinic, but he's very cheap and he showed he could score... Almunia is a bet with the way the Arsenal defence looks right now, but I don't believe Sunderland are a major threat.
SF
143 points so far, but with considerabley less players to go than anyone else i feel.
I'll probably leave Rooney and will take a flyer on Berbatov if he starts tonight. This allows me to afford Fabregas who i think will do good against Sunderland at home.
Plenty of tinkering still to be done though, i'll leave it untill after the games tonight to make any more changes though.
My current team is;
James
Hutton, Bale, Shorey
Bentley, Fabregas, Parker, Johnson
Cole, Drogba, Berbatov
To get Rooney in i'll have to decimate my midfield, so we'll see what happens tonight!
still no vidic tonight vs villa - not even on bench !? i've got him for wk/end on BD but at this rate the team news will have to be very certain to keep him. S.P.
oops. no prem this wk/end. the point about certainty still stands at it seems for about 3 wk's we've been hearing he's on the verge of coming back. S.P.
Im flipping a lot of players for this week. Holding Rooney, Bale, Hutton, Etherington, and VDS. I wonder what folks think of Defoe this week vs Wigan? There are goals to be had against Wigan and Spurs can certainly score.
Also thinking about krancjar in MF. would like someone else from Stoke but after Etherington, no one really excites me.
On another note, does anyone have a good free streaming site to watch the games? Ive been using http://www.atdhe.net/index.html but Im having lots of issues with that site today.
THANK YOU LOUIS SAHA!! ex-devil comes to the rescue!
Huh.. too bad for that nani's red card, manu could have gone top of the table but now at least i can squeez in diamanti
Right now on:
almunia
mykolo, hutton, evra
fletcher, carrick, valencia, behrami
diamanti, cole, mido
with 14 in the bank, thinking of downgrading a mf player and dropping a west ham striker for rooney
to bad for tottenham too.. had some money on them tonight :(
Cheers!
@sulldaddy
try myp2p.eu or rojadirecta.com
there are some non-software required links or simply download sopcast and watch via sop-links.
I use them all the time because in croatia we only have one live game on weekends :(
hope this helps
FAO David Bently Fan Club (numbers fast increasing)
Aaron Lennon almost back
Wednesday points are up.
Can't believe I'm disappointed to be sitting on 202 points. Was on 181 with Bale, Modric, Rooney and Drogba...they could only muster up 21 between them.
Ah well, shouldn't be greedy.
Things looked better for Valencia's starting chances after Nani received the straight red today and now Giggs possible injury to his arm could cement Valencia's starting spot... maybe Park is worth a look for the double? (or Gibson/Obertan)
After the Wednesday update, there was almost no movement in positions. My team dropped -12 spots to 117th despite only having Bale & Kalinic playing.
No surprise that everyone went for the triple gamers so it will come down to which individual triple gamers we all picked!
I BD Diamanti, Mido and Upson out of next week's DGers as United players didn't need any BDing - all their prices fell after their draw with Villa.
my point for this week (not include the 2 games after this) 122.50.
My players for the next game...
Keeper......Kirkland
Defenders......Bale,Shorey,Vermaelen
Midfielders....Arteta,Adam Johnson,Etherington,Arshavin
Strikers....Anelka,Cole,Agbanolahor
"Hopefully some one out of that group gets a RC or is injured and clears things up for us." - Doctor Teeth
Wow, your wish just came true! Nani got RC-ed. Makes it slightly easier to pick Man Utd players.
162pts with Given, Bridge, N'Zogbia, Ethrington, Whitehead, Lee, Tevez, and HRod to go.
Next week:
Almunia
Bale, Hutton, J.Evans
Valencia, Ethrington, Rosicky, A.J
Rooney, Tevez, Diamanti
Bale, kalinic and fabregas played for me. Got only 10 points from these 3. On 133 points so far.
Team for next week
Probbo (Given)
Bale Evra Shorey Vidic
Fabregas Valencia Bentley
Kalinic Berbs Sidibe
Thinking of swapping given for probbo. This may sound ridiculus but blackburn tend to do well at home and bolton is not a bad matchup.
Trying to do something different from others this week to make up ground on others. Many have gone for alumnia next week as GK. I don't want him as Arsenal defence don't look convincing at the moment.
I regret holding on to fabs. He went down in price so much that my discount on him almost counts for nothing. I have him at 17.51 and he's now only 18+.
Vidic is not certain of his place. If he's not going to play, I will get milner.
bengoh91
I have moved by at least 2,000 places over the past 4 games. It has paid off to hang on the Given-Verm-Hunt-Rooney quadruplet, who I hold at a discount of around 20 million in all! That only has enabled me to let go of Drogs and get back to him when it has mattered.
At the moment (accounting for the current TG), my team looks like this:
Given
Verm-RJohnson-Bale-Baird
Hunt-MBrown-BFerguson
ROONEY-DROGS-TEVEZ
Now, for the coming week, I can very easily switch Tevez for Valencia and drop Baird for some ManU defender.
I think that my best move/strategy of this season was to hold on to one of the highest average points player in each position, if not the highest.
Good luck to all for the rest.
James
Rafael Bale Shorey
JoeCole Fab Arteta Park
Tevez Drog Bendt
ManUnited thoughts . . .
*After their double week; they have the following week off... how many will keep Rooney and/or VDS then? Will Vidic/Ferdinand be frugal picks (if they play, their values may raise). . .
* Right now I am going with Rooney, Carrick, Fletcher, Evra (though Fabs has me interested, though I do remember the 1-0 loss to Sunder earlier in the year where he scored 4 points!) as I see them as the only players that have a guaranteed double game... VDS is out of my budget.
* Valencia makes me nervous (though less so with Nani red..... Park may get nod vs W.H. with Valencia duty for Champions League & Everton)
*I see the trio of Evans, Brown (Rafael lurking and Vidic/Ferdinand returns) and Berbatov as single gamers.
West Ham thoughts . . .
*Cole is a no-brainer; though he either scores a goal or gets nothing at all. He can't be worse than having Rodalega this week.... right?
*Diamanti - too much of a single game risk for me to pick
*I have O'hara... he scores points like crazy, all over the field, a machine... then he plays against ManU and their midfield and he gets a yellow card and 0 points... my point = West Ham mids are not as strong as O'Hara and run the risk of the same trap... pick a W.H. midfielder not because of the double game but rather because you think they will outscore other mids in their price range based on their match-up with vs. a much improved Hull.
* Faubert might make a decent filler (can't believe I am saying that.... with images of him putting his hands up in the air after gooning someone in the box).. his points all come from the defensive midfield statistics and he will be busy in both games.
My biggest dilema this week.... who to play in goal. Right now I have James.... PLEASE someone talk me out of this.
Ole'
Tigers
Just to add to the Man U double game confusion. They play WHU at OT on the Tue, then the following Sunday they play Villa in the CC final. What money on Fergie having the likes of VDS, Rooney, Evra and one of Fletcher/Carrick on the bench against the Hammers to try and keep them fresh for the final?
Nani missing has cleared things up in some ways but since he was giving Rooney some great service I am less inclined to spend the 23m on him for 2 games and may go for newly reduced Drogba at Wolves...I am also going to try and fit both...
Diamanti I hate, he always gets great points when he plays but stupid Zola always drops him when I pick him!!
Valencia I have been burned with too, but I am more confident of him getting 2 games, especially if Giggs does end up being injured...
Carrick/Fletcher do seem to be his consistent midfielders so I am going to pick them both next week...
I thought Fergie might give Berbatov an extended run in the team but he seems to be happy with his record of 300 games or whatever it is without picking the same team twice!!
Ah well, at least we have a week to make decisions!!
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