Saturday 27 February 2010

Week 24 - My Team


 Hilario

Hutton   Fox   Bale

Lee CY   Gerrard   Eagles   Richardson

Bendtner   Drogba   Bent

I thought long & hard about whether to pick Torres this week...in fact my entire team was based on him at one point. Up to yesterday evening I had him in there, but I couldn't find any news confirming he would start.

If anything, there were more quotes from Benitez stating he wouldn't rush him - and the fact he didn't even get a 20 minute run-out on Thursday makes me think he's unlikely to start the Blackburn game. 

Even if he does start, I imagine he'll only get 60 mins max...yes, that's enough time for him to do serious damage, but he won't be match sharp yet. In the end it was the sensible choice to let him go & I won't have too many regrets if he does fire in a hattrick (although I'll obviously be very annoyed!!). In a week when others will hold Rooney for zero I have the chance to gain ground & I couldn't allow almost £16m to be wasted.

So I've gone for 11 players who I feel are 100% certain to play. In goal it's Hilario - as I wrote in my player picks post, it's rare to be able to buy the Chelsea keeper for £6m with a home game & City aren't playing well. Jussi & Jensen we're both in my thoughts but in the end I had the spare cash to upgrade, so I did just that.

My defence will be similar to many other teams: Bale - a bargain held £2.6m, in fantastic form, at home. Hutton - dirt cheap, guaranteed starter, at home. Fox - set piece taker, affordable, at home. I thought about Cork but the slight doubt over his selection with Alexander returning meant I stuck with the left back.

In midfield Steven Gerrard was the first name in my team this week, I expect a big performance from him at home to Blackburn. Eagles was brought in on the barndoor & he should terrorize a Pompey side who will be feeling just about as low as you can possibly get. 

Lee has been getting more & more set pieces (30 successful crosses already) as Taylor's form has dipped, he has a good fixture & is sure to start. My alternative was Larsson, but he's been on the bench or subbed early in recent weeks so I decided not to risk him. Final spot is Kieron Richardson...a set piece taker at home for 4.5m? I'll take that!

Drogba is taking up £22m of my teams budget but I was able to build a side I was happy with despite this & I'm glad to have him. He loves big games & I'd be hoping for 20 points minimum from him today considering my investment. Bendtner stays at a very decent price - he will get chances as the spearhead of an excellent attack & I think I'll probably keep him for the season given Arsenal's fixtures in the run-in.

My final pick is a pure hunch - those of you who have followed the blog from the start will know that Darren Bent has let me down on many many occasions in the past, but I pray that for once he does the business...I wanted to do something different & hopefully not too many others will pick him as he gets a goal or 2!

That completes my team for Week 24 - I like it although I'm slightly annoyed I couldn't fit a Birmingham player in somewhere & I'll be fearful of a Torres backlash, but I have 11 players who should start including plenty of set piece takers.

I also have a feeling about Sunderland - hence 3 players picked today. This is a huge game for them, they badly need a win, the crowd will get behind them, Fulham will be tired after their long trip to the Ukraine on Thursday & haven't won away in the league since August. I hope I'm right...the result will swing my week.

Let me know your Week 24 teams - good luck to all, especially if you're still in The Blog Cup!

Cheers,
AM

53 comments:

bean said...

watched too many old twin peaks episodes... got my team at the buzzer, just a minute till lockdown.

ended up with kind of a weird lineup, we shall see:

Jensen
Kelly RoJo Shorey Bale
Duff Gerrard Arteta KRich
Drogba Bendt

good luck all.
thanks AM, looks like we have a few similar picks.

bean said...

i think i was following similar logic: trying to pick players that were more certain to start. i got burned last week with two risky picks of rafael and rosicky, and it cost me in the big double week..

Fan Kuat said...

As Usual great post A_M

My team

Hart
Agger/Bale/Dann
Gerard/C.Eagles/Fabregas/Bowyer
Fletcher/Kalinic/Bentdner

Hope this wil be a good week ..had a unsatisfactory points for the past 1 months..lols...

good luck everybody!!

init said...

Looks good AM, I have gone with a similar team. Not sure about Arteta but I can't believe how cheap he is, couldn't resist...

Hilarious
Fox/Hutton/Shorey
Ballack/Larsson/Gerrard/Richardson/Arteta
Drogba/Bender

Anonymous said...

Ended up with this team at 11.59am !

Not overly happy with it though...

Hilario
Verm / Hutton / Foley
Eagles / Lee CY / Larsson / Pienaar
Drogba / S Fletcher / Donovan

Superfly Jim

Mike B said...

Excellent looking team AM! We share 8 players.

Mine is...

Jensen
Hutton, Fox, Bale
Richardson, Gerrard, A Johnson, Eagles
Bendtner, Drogba, Torres


Taking the risk on Torres, just because no-one else inspired me. And he will get some time up againt one of the worst away teams in the league.

Good luck :)

Tekn0kraT said...

Hey guys! Loong time since i actually posted!

My team is in a way weird.. there are the must haves who many people would have selected and the nobodys who not-so-many people would have selected.. anyways

My Team -->

GK: Jensen
DF: Verma - Bale - Hutton
MF: StevieG - Guedioura - Eagles - Utaka
FW: Bender - Dogba - Carllito! =D


I absolutely love my attack! I only wish i could have fitted in AdJo instead of Utaka! but ah well! It's still a nice team! =D

SLASH said...

Before I start picking players for the next week (with 1.92 in the bank) I'll share my team w/u; yours is very nice, but the returning of Alexander, as you said puts my J.Cork in a doubt . . . and I'm still so not interested in Hilario. We'll see if I'm wrong . . . I also went on for Larsson and Torres which are doubtful in your opinion, but I put my money on them :)

Jensen(price dropped to 3.51) o.O
Carragher Bikey Cork Hutton
Gerrard Eagles Larsson
Torres McFadden Fletcher

I'll be very pleased if Torres starts and my three forwards get a good run today/tomorrow.

Good luck, all!

Anonymous said...

Quite sometime ago, this was a hot topic. let me revisit this again since its been 5 games since then.
The Cesc Analysis:
"5,7.5,7.5(2GP),13.5" ~ 5Gs-33.5, a paltry of 6.7pts/G. Not only so. Arsenal was sent out of the FA Cup during this time, coupling that with a not impressive game against Porto. Back then, he was said to be the best midfielder at that time, certainly it wasn't the case now. As it was, if you had ditch him back then, you may find a better player easily with more funds to play around with. As for his leadership, certainly he did "lead" against liverpool, with his left hand i mean, denying a goal scoring opportunity from gerrard's free kick. the offence could be a second yellow, thus a red for cesc, ruling him out against SUN.
~Newbie

Anonymous said...

moving on to
the drogba analysis:
This is for those had him at 10.66. With the up coming no-game[chelsea], lets assume a health 15pts for this week.
total pts~386.5 total games(with no game)~28
ave~13.80pts per game. Are you able to find one player that cost <10.66 that score >13.8 ? if you do, you certainly DO NOT need drogba. what had those that hold on to drogba 'lose'? some double game worth of points. example, it is said that for the next week fixtures, there will be some double game teams. that will hurt, especially when drogba’s not playing.
~Newbie

Anonymous said...

i have to add that i had drogba this week thou;)
and moved up 500 odd places since a few weeks ago when i was around 2000 :)
~Newbie

Anonymous said...

Decided not to change much and keep my new core of players intact (exc. Diamanti).

Jensen
Vidic / Bale / Alexander / Hutton
Arteta / Eagles / Benayoun / Walcott
Drogba / Torres

My first experiment with the 4-4-2, and a few big risks here. I dropped Ad. Johnson for Benayoun and AJ already has a few points v Chelsea. But no other weekend plans exc to watch football, so if this turns into a disaster the barndoor is wide open.

Anonymous said...

My team for this week:

Almunia
Vermaelen Bale Hutton RJohnson
Gerrard Eagles Lee CY AJohnson
Bendtner Drogba

Not much to say about it, I'm just hoping it turns out for the best.

BD team:

Almunia
Vermaelen Bale Heitinga
Gerrard Eagles Lee CY Valencia Bily
Bendtner CCole

Almunia, Vermaelen, Bendtner, CCole all have easy home matches and should stay. Bale is on a 8mil discount and I don't want to lose him at this price. Eagles has 2 difficult match-ups, but 2 match-ups nonetheless - if he performs well today I'll keep him. Lee should do well any way. I'm not going double-gamers this week, as Bolton are on poor form and face 2 away games, while Burnley face some hard gomes, so anyone apart from the two phantom-points-machines isn't welcomed.
My question marks are Bily, Heitinga, Gerrard and Valencia. According to my calculations, Nani should be suspended from the Wolves match as well, but if he's not, that might mean that SAF will rest Valencia ahead of the Milan match.
I really want at least 2 Everton players with their great form and easy home fixture (Hull). The problem is Gerrard sucking the money, so all I could come up with is Heitinga and Bily, the latter not really a sure starter. If Liverpool prove that they can't even win B'burn at home, I might drop Gerrard before their trip to Wigan, and thus turn Gerrard+Heitinga into Saha+Baines, while Bily is down-graded.

Advices?

SF

SLASH said...

How about losing LCY and buying Hutton (Sund host Bolt)? You could switch to 4-4-2 or swap Heitinga for Hutton and change LCY for someone more expensive, that you think could earn you more points . . .

Barn Door team
Howard
Hutton Sagna _ _ _ _ (6.16)
Gerrard Arteta Eagles Billy
Fletcher Bendtner Saha

I could get rid of either Fletcher or Eagles and I'll try to fit in an Everton DF. From the double-gamers, it'll be Hutton probably(cheap & home against Bolton) and one or two of the Burnley players that I have.

Anonymous said...

2-4 ftw city!!!

Anonymous said...

So since Man City won, if Arsenal wins, would that force Rafa's hand into starting Torres?

Anonymous said...

I guess there's an obvious reason why it is rare to find a 6mil Chelsea keeper. The other keeper just plays the whole other time in order to hide the stupidity of his under-study. I just hope my Almunia isn't going to suffer like that later...
Eagles isn't starting, and I'm not sure what I should get from this. I might drop him right now to afford Baines instead of Heitinga, but I think it's best to wait. For all we know, he could be subbed in on the 50th minute and score a hattrick keeping him in the squad for a couple of weeks. Of course, there's always the possibility he wouldn't.

SF

Anonymous said...

Eagles on the bench and Alexander not even on the squad. WTF?

Kellz said...

@Billy: My opinion is no. We have a good enough team to score without Torres at home to BBurn who are terrible on the road (knock on wood). I'd still speculate he gets 20min.

STM said...

Wow, a couple of no show from Burnley players. And just as I type this, no CS from Burnley. A very looooooong.... but interesting week.

@SF: Nani will be back for Wolves. He misses tomorrow's Carling Cup Final to complete his suspension.

Anonymous said...

@STM - You're right, he was only suspended for 3 games... That makes the Valencia choice more doubtful, it has to be watched.

SF

Anonymous said...

Hilario is hilarious.

Anonymous said...

this could be my worst week ever. hilario bombed... and eagles poor too after a no-start. bendtner might just take me back into a positive score. need torres to run riot. S.P.

Anonymous said...

My team this week

Jensen (8)
Bale Cork(2) Ridgewell(6.5)
Eagles(2.5) Gerrard Fabregas A.Johnson (5)
Bendtner Fletcher(6.5) Kuyt

30.5 for now ... hmmm... burney hadn't perform as i expected but luckily fabregas with 1goal n 2 assist + bentdner 1 goal ... hope gerrard n kuyt will perform better this week

~KirageNation

madness said...

Ramsey :(

alper said...

62,5 now and bale,torres,duff and cattermole to play...

Maxer said...

looking good.. got 67points with all 3 arsenal goalscorer in my team.. fab (23.5), bentner (11.5) and verm (15).. lee got his average (7) and drogba (10) but i'm okay with it..

some regrets..
in my mind to rebuy tevez and z.knight after i dropped them last week but didn't.. because i thought they could have a very hard game.. but i'm happy since i stay away from the likes of mtaylor, klasnic, walcott, ramsey and eduardo..

anyway, still have bale, hutton, insua, cattermole and kalinic to play tonight.. hopefully i can reach another good run this week.. cheersssss alll.....

Maxer

Hinrik said...

Well, my team is:

Jaaskelainen
Bale McCartney Hutton
Lampard Fabregas Gerrard K.Richardson S.Larsson
Bendtner Pavlyuchenko

I could still get burnt on McCartney and Hutton but I´m counting on some European fatigue in the Fulham team.

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

so if you were wondering who was unlucky enough to have Clarke Carlisle Capt. of Burnley with conceded penalties on their week 24 line-up...well look no further than ALN

thanks for noticing.

-ALN

bean said...

it's kind of tough putting a squad together for next week. it's definitely hard to let bale and shorey go, but i kind of have to if i'm going to carry Drogba @18.90 for a blank week.

right now i have:

Jussi
Hutton S.Camp Fox
Elliott Fab Arteta K.Rich
Bendt Drogba Torres

will there every be a "normal" week where every team has one match?

Anonymous said...

63.5 points so far. 2 Goals, 3 Assists, 1 clean sheet from 5 players. Pretty happy with that. Fabregas finally came good after a few poor weeks. Glad I stuck to him at 17.51.

Still have bale, hutton, carragher gerrard, bentley and kalinic to go. Should get more than 100 points this week.

Next week is a tough one as the two teams having DGs do not appeal to me.

bengoh91

mehicoradio said...

49.5 so far,but most of my team is playing tomorrow. today had:

Cesc (23.5)
Drogs (10)
Bendtner (11.5)
Boywer (4.50)

Tomorrow got KRich, Bale, Shorey, Hutton, Gerrard, and Luka.

Anonymous said...

The injury of Ramsey is horrible. As Arsenal fans, we are pretty used to injuries like that, and that might be the most horrible part. Diaby has already proven that you can turn into a quality player even if such a bad injury hurts your learning when you're young, but Ramsey was really supposed to be something great. It looks bad, I just hope he'll be back in a year worst. Nasri was out for 4 months with a leg break, but that looks much worse - we need him back soon so he can turn out to be the defensive midfielder-playmaker that he is in prospect.
You have to feel a little bad for Shawcross as well, he looked really shocked after the tackle, but the way he went into his leg, I really rather kill him now than fill sorry for him. I've always said he and Hangeland will be perfect defenders for Arsenal, but I can't see anyone now at Arsenal bringing Shawcross - the fans will kill him.
The heroic win of Arsenal really helped the emotions. Also, the big rise into the top 1000! Well, 9 places into the top 1000, but still. 64.5 points with RJohnson, Vermaelen and Bendtner big contributers, while Eagles and Drogba disappointed. I expected more from AJohnson in such a win for ManC, but 5 points returned his price, and LeeCY also did his average and would be a great pick for his double-week. Almunia was the 8th player for me last night - 3.5 points could be much worse (see Hilario) and I was glad I kept him with his discount ahead of the Burnley match.
I expect a drop today, I just hope it's not too big - Gerrard, Bale and Hutton are playing for me.

On the BD:

Almunia
Vermaelen Bale Baines
Eagles LeeCY Valencia SParker
Bendtner CCole Saha

Well, there are huge risks there and it's bound to be changed. The only sure players - Almunia, Vermaelen and Bendtner with a great match-up and big discounts, Bale with a blank but an 8mil discount, CCole with a home game against Bolton, LeeCY with 2 games.
The doubts:
Valencia is expensive and might be rest before the Milan match, Nani could be a good replacement if Valencia doesn't show, but it will be hard to tell from SAF what will really happen. I don't want Rooney, but still a ManU player would be nice.
Saha is also expensive, and though he has a nice home fixture with Hull, he still doesn't get any phantom points and if he doesn't score it will hurt. Still, a great pick in my opinion.
Baines is the most expensive defender in YFF, and no one likes a pricey defender. With Arteta back he might lose some of the set pieces, but he's still very attacking and will allow himself freedom against Hull. A CS plus some corners won, successful crosses, or even a SoT of an assist might return his value and more. I'm still considering dropping him for Heitinga to free some money, though I don't really need that much money.
Eagles didn't start today. He might start the next two matches, but they look tough. Parker faces Bolton who are awful away, but he lost a bit of his points-scoring lately, and might commit a lot of fouls in a game that seems to be quite physical.
I dropped Gerrard with no discount but I might add him back if I like what he does today. I'm also looking at Carrick and Nani, and I might also drop Parker and Eagles for Nasri and Bily (or Pienaar if his price drops today).

Advices?

SF

Yahoo Fantasy Football Scout said...

Check out my blog for another view on playing yff;

http://yahoofantasyfootballscout.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

@SF :No Fabregas?
Also do you think eagles will play two games? Seems like he's been warming the bench recently. Considering dropping him for steven fletcher. I don't like baines there. Just too expensive for me. I got howard to cover everton CS. heitinga is another good option. I'd be going with landycakes ahead of saha.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

Well...

Heitinga+Pienaar
or
Baines+Maxi
or
Baines+Rodwell
?

SF

Jon said...

AM - help!! Pressed the wrong button, and accidently removed myself from the Blog League i was in!! Any way you can invite me (AbsolutelyFabregas) back in?

Thanks in advance!!

Jon said...

Just so that you know I'm not trying to worm my way in to a league that's closed, i came 17th in the latest round of the AM challenge.

Again, thanks

Jon said...

AM - sorry about this!! I have just gone back through your posts last year, and found out the group number and password of the league i was in, and re-joined it, so if you would accept my request to join the league again i would be grateful.

Sorry for being such a muppet!!

Ian Sanderson said...

@Jon....you muppet.

SLASH said...

SF, I'd go for the 1st combination, if Heitinga is sure to start with the returning of Jagielka who is also not a bad option. I noticed that Saha wasn't even on the bench against Spurs (?!?) with no obvious reason for me. Could he have a 'non-reported' injury or sth. like that? I have him in my squad for next week.

Anonymous said...

@SLASH - I also wanted Saha and was surprised not to see him, but you must remember he's not very young and played the full time on Thursday against Sporting. I think it's nothing but tireness. I dropped him anyway for Torres, as Liverpool have some nice fixtures ahead (well, they can make any game look difficult, but still).

Jon said...

@ Ian - thanks for making me feel better about myself!!

Sulldaddy said...

Well a fairly rough week but 78 points is passable I suppose. I really like my BD team only one real filler but studs all over the place

Jensen
Bale/Hutton/Alexander
Gerrard/Fabregas/Arteta/Wilshere
Rooney/Torres/Thompson(burnley @1.27)

Some sweet matchups next week and probably long term value players in there, hoping to rebound a bit and get over 100 points for the next week.

Any comments on the lineup?

bean said...

@sulldaddy - i just put wilshere in my lineup as well, hopefully he's set to continue starts. seems bolton lineup is tough to predict. I dropped Bale since i was thinking of holding onto Drogba, but now thinking of dropping Drogba at 18.xx. i like the lineup, not sure about thompson, avg. 0.04 over 12 games?

here's my latest with Dropping Drogba @18.90:

Jussi
Hutton Verm Bike
Maxi Fab J.Rod Wilsher
Bendt Torres DonoVan

i started from scratch, so that's dropping Drogba, Gerrard, Arteta, Lee, RoJo

Anonymous said...

Hi AM,

Good to see that Spurs won and Modric scored the goal.

Cheers

S

Anonymous said...

Arh! Got 98.5 points this week. After Saturday's games (63.5 ponits with 6 players to go), it seemed like hitting 100 points was not a problem. But Carragher conceded a penalty and returned -2 points. And bentley did not play at all.

Anyway, are there really gonna be additional fixtures for next week? Villa-Sunderland and Spurs-Man City?

bengoh91

Bradley said...

@bengoh91: In a word, "no." The Villa-Sunderland and Spurs-ManCity PL matches were postponed because of the 6th round of the FA Cup. Instead, Fulham hosts Spurs on the 6th, and Reading hosts Villa on the 7th:

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFACup/Fixtures.aspx

The fact that others are actually tardier than Yahoo in updating their fixture lists is frightening to ponder.

Anonymous said...

then the only DG will be Bolton and Burnley?

tokey

Anonymous said...

a bit frustrated when last minute changed from Jensen to Hilarious and Skrtel to Cara...

however i should thank to Gerard n Torres this week.Almost seldom to choose them this season due to less points in fantasy game. (still picked them in reserve team this season as a fan but not this week)...haha..

hilarious
bale, fox, cara
gerard, lee, eagles, AJ
bendtner, Mcfadden, Torres

this week finish with 80++ points..my other reserve team 143points..

no BD exercise this season as i have no internet access at home..still thinking for week 25 selection...probably for DGs after teams play@not confirmation...

TB

STM said...

I see questions being asked about the schedule. Well, here we go again... ;-P

FA Cup Quarterfinals
Saturday, 6 March 2010
A: Fulham v Tottenham
B: Portsmouth v Birmingham

Sunday, 7 March 2010
C: Chelsea v Stoke
D: Reading v Aston Villa


Premier League Week 25 Confirmed Matches
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Arsenal v Burnley
West Ham v Bolton
Wolverhampton v Man Utd

Sunday, 7 March 2010
Everton v Hull

Monday, 8 March 2010
Wigan v Liverpool

Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Portsmouth v Birmingham
Sunderland v Bolton

Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Burnley v Stoke


Premier League Week 25 Postponed Matches
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Man City v Tottenham (postponed because of FA Cup fixture A)
Aston Villa v Sunderland (postponed because of FA Cup fixture D)
Fulham v Stoke (postponed because of FA Cup fixture A & C)

The reason you see some of the above 3 matches in some websites is because the websites have not removed or marked them as being postponed yet.


Week 25 summary...
Teams without a game: Man City, Spurs, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Blackburn
Teams with double games: Bolton (both away), Burnley (1 away, 1 home)

E said...

Hey STM, big thank you for the feedback on Fulham players. In the end I stuck with only Duff instead of Zamora, Davies and Baird, and that really saved me some points. Also thanks AM for the Steinsson idea in that post, he made a better return than my other choices, Cork and Baird.

Usually I aim for 100 for a purely single game week, this week I made 98 so not much to complain about.

Jensen(8)
Verm(15) / Fox(12) / Steinsson (7)
AJ(5) / Eagles(2.5) / Duff(3.5) / Maxi(6.5)
Fletch(6.5) / Torres(15.5) / McFadden(16.5)

No real regrets, I couldn't have known that Duff would not make his usual points, maybe Hutton would've been a better choice than Steinsson but he still performed well. Who was to know that Eagles would be benched. The only grievance I have is that Fletch didn't sink that chance against Pompey, very unlike him. Very happy with buying Torres at 15.8 and Vermaelen is still my favourite player in the league.

The BD this week has gone pretty well, although I now find myself with 5 Scottish players, and maybe six if I decide to go with Gordon instead of Jussi. How did that happen? I've taken Diaby hoping he'll start but I'll probably change him the closer we get to the weekend if he looks unlikely to start. Fox is just the kind of player I like. He generates points without needing the CS like a lot of other defenders. I hope he scores in one of the games. Speaking of which, I've taken 5 DGs, would be 6 if I keep Eagles ahead of Diaby but I don't want to count on him starting.

Jussi
Verm / Fox / Hutton
Arteta / Lee / Holden / Diaby
Fletch / Torres / McFadden

Big question: If Diaby goes who would be the best replacement for 13?

Assistant Manager said...

Jon - Have you found your way in to the Blog League yet? I need you in there before I can do any calculations. I can't invite you back in, you just need to find the Group ID and password for the league you were in - can you remember which Blog League you were in (1-6)?

SF - Thanks for fixture analysis mate!

Post a Comment