The Blog Cup - Quarter Final Results
Sunday began with Blackburn travelling to Burnley, a midday kick-off to prevent the supporters drinking all day & trying to fight each other.
David Dunn scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after Jensen was accused of bring down Martin Olsson. The fans still ended up fighting, throwing coins / bottles at players & generally acting like morons. Burnley remain in deep trouble.
Liverpool v Sunderland was the 4pm kick off & Liverpool played very well, with plenty of attacking flair & could've won by more than 3-0. Fernando Torres notched 2 more goals, Glen Johnson with the other.
The final game of Week 28 was Man City vs Wigan & it swung on a controversial decision by the referee. Wigan were more than holding their own until Gary Caldwell was harshly sent off for a foul on Tevez. The floodgates then opened, with Tevez completing a 12 minute hattrick for a slightly fortunate 3-0 City win.
Having both Tevez & Torres meant I ended the week on a rather healthy 152 points. However, I did not get any joy from the goals as they led to victories for Liverpool & City...the race for 4th place is really hotting up.
I'm actually not too worried about City - if they continue to play how they did vs Everton/Wigan then they will lose more games. Aston Villa are probably out of it now after their 7-1 hammering, but I'm particularly concerned about the form of Torres. He looks back to his best & if he continues this to the end of the season then given the fixtures I could see Liverpool taking 4th place ahead of Spurs
Anyway, that wraps up the Week 28 review, now quickly onto the blog cup results..
| Rank | Team | Week 28 |
| 1 | Supermassive FC | 174.5 |
| 2 | MU4ever | 159 |
| 3 | Steve Bob FC *** | 147 |
| 4 | TuHaU FC - LaNd BeLoW tHe WiNd | 138 |
| 5 | Efthymios | 131 |
| 6 | F.C. NulNul | 128 |
| 7 | Real16 | 123 |
| 8 | Lions Gate | 120.5 |
| 9 | FrenchCannons | 116.5 |
| 10 | Electric Mayhem FC | 116 |
| 11 | Astute United | 111.5 |
| 12 | Sephiroth FC | 107.5 |
| 13 | Naningsholms IF | 99.5 |
| 14 | Matang Gerdu Football Club | 88 |
| 15 | Wilverhebton Wankers | 87 |
| 16 | xiexie_xiaoxiao | 79 |
| 17 | PowerBola | 77 |
| 18 | homagetocatalonia | 75 |
| 19 | Spanner Terminator | 67.5 |
| 20 | Dare to Devil | 65 |
| 21 | mILs | 50.5 |
The cut off was 116...congratulations to the 10 teams who have made it through to the semi finals! Week 32 will see these 10 teams cut down to 2, with the final to take place in Week 34...remember the winner's prize is the Premier League shirt of their choice!
So, Week 28 is over - I now sit 309th in the overall standings, 98th for the second half of the season. It's been a massive turnaround in fortunes over the past 6 weeks & I now have my eye on a Top 200 finish.
My current barndoor team remains: Myhill, Bale, Campbell, Jagielka, Nasri, Arteta, Etherington, Malouda, Bendtner, Tevez, Torres...(1.67 left in the bank)
I don't want to keep Myhill but missed Given on the barndoor last night, so some rearranging will have to be done to make the swap.
Is Jason Brown (6.04) at Portsmouth a decent alternative? Do I need Fabregas if he's fit? Does Torres need to go to free up money? Should I lose my £7m Malouda discount seeing he faces Man U? Any advice would be appreciated!
Keep checking back over the next 2 days - I expect Week 29 player picks to be up tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning.
Cheers,
AM
25 comments:
I'm through!!!!
NICE.
DT
OK 174.5 points, am happy with that, hot on the heels of a 237.5 the previous week, I have gone up to 150th after being outside the top 2,000 all season until as little as six weeks ago. Girlfriend - with a little help of course ;-) has been in the top 100 all season (top ten for a few weeks) and is now at 22 or so, but with very different strategies which has intrigued me, and I am genuinely amazed at how the season has gone in terms of points. I wonder if I would have done aswell in the convential 'long game' fantasy games, my thought is not well as I change so much every week and don't hang onto players.
A_M to your questions in my opinion;
No - Pompey too unpredictable, as Hull found out
Yes - Arse Shaving good if fit @12
Yes - Pool play different strategy away
Last one is where I am stuck, I don't want him in, but just feel I have to, when I have had a drink I will have thr guts to quickly drop him
5th place for me so i am happy for qualifying to the semi finals, but very disappointed from picking adebayor and not tevez. 10 minutes before deadline i had elokobi and tevez, i dropped them for kaboul and adebayor so i lost 46 points.So i dropped from 203th to 286th overall. Hope to be the winner and take a gunners t-shirt! :-)
As I support Darlington not too sure what I would do with a premier shirt, actually yeh I would bang it on ebay and give the money to charity....and no not Portsmouth FC!!!
Hi,
I have had massive turnaround as well. After New Years i was 8000 and now i am sitting on 1600. Big big thanks to this blog and to AM !!!
Looking forward to next week i have similar barndoor team with few exceptions. I am having Howard at 7, in defense master Bale, Jagielka and fading Hutton, but now thinking about dropping him at 3. Midfield and Strikers are same with AM.
Really i am considering dropping Torres, Birmingham is really strong at home(draw against Arsenal last week). It might be similar case with Liverpool, who doesn't travel well. However, Torres has been really good.
Personally, i am thinking of keeping Malouda, because Chelsea is in good form and so is MANU and that might mean lot of goals. Malouda could be on a score sheet.
Reading news about Fabregas not even back on training, then he is out for me.
Brown might be a good pick, but you can never write down Portsmouth(win over hull). I would rather avoid this fixture.
Good Champions League games in midweek and at the weekend.
Good luck to everyone!
AM, Portsmouth have so many injuries now and the squad is thin. But it is a home game and O'hara will be back in the lineup and somehow Pompey tend to conjure up some magic at home when they're up against it. I'd be hesitant to go wtih Brown.
I've decided to go against picking up Fabregas. I may go with Nasri and Bendtner instead to try to cover myself, but I'll wait and see how Fabregas performs (or IF he performs) against Barcelona.
As for Torres, I have the same problem. I dropped him the previous week since Liverpool only had a single game and it was against United so I have him at 19.6 or so (probably same as you). I feel like he would be the one to drop to free up funds, but I'm scared to do so. Here is my team:
Given (7.xx) / Campbell Jagielka Agger (7.xx) / Arteta (7.xx) Bullard (10.98) Rosicky Mokoena / Tevez (15.xx) Torres (19.xx) Bendtner (full price)
Mokoena seems to be a guy who will certainly play with all the injuries so he may not be a bad filler, but I'm not happy with Rosicky. I may drop Bullard, Torres, and/or Agger. No clue what to do. Maybe I'll drop Torres and Rosicky for Saha and Gerrard?
lfcinpa
end up with 156.. thanks to this blog, i have had improves a lot.. overall rank now around 3000+ while at the first half of the season i ranked 12000+.. thanks to AM and all the chat regulars that help me a lot..
i'm out :(
Sephiroth
I think that the Arsenal picks will be really difficult this week. Obviously they have a great match up against Wolves, but surely Wenger will rotate with the 2nd leg against Barca on the following Tue.
My guess would be that he won't start with any of Arsh, Bendy or Nasri (who i expect will start against Barca tomorrow) which means that there is a front 3 of Rosicky, Walcott and Eduardo - still pretty strong, esp home against Wolves.
On top of that - maybe rest Fab, certainly rest Campbell, Eboue for Sagna, and only one of Song/Denilson to play. So much depends on the result on Weds night.
Of course, i may be wrong ...
sadly i took green over myhill and could have kranjcar over modric if i did not make that switch..missed out on tevez barndoor..i guess i need to change my strategy now
5-6 more weeks..the last hurdle to win my private league and be on top 200th finish
rock on!!
So...to elaborate on my posting above:
AM - you are MACHINE in 2010. It seems as if every decision that went the wrong way for you in the first half of the season is now panning out perfectly and you are more often than not heeding your own advice rather than being too cute with your selections. Congrats and best wishes or a continued strong finish...just rewards for masterminding the über-blog.
There were some stratospheric scores this past weekend, so much so that I feel a bit self-conscious having "only" scored 116 points. I suppose that I shouldn't complain, what with Drogba and Arteta being kept in the garage by their teams. My only regret is playing Modric instead of Bullard...but honestly, there was no way I wasn't fielding my favorite player at home vs. Pompey. And all of my other "hunches" (Myhill, Agger, Jags) panned out well for me.
One of the toughest issues on every manager's mind at this point of the season is what to do with deep discounts...personally, I'm sitting on 5mill+ discounts with five different players. Where you ultimately come out on that dilemma is based on what you are playing for. Are you playing for your place in the overall standings? For Blog Cup/AM Challenge glory? For victory in your personal league(s)? Personally, sticking it to my friends and winning my private league is (and has been) my priority...I sit with a somewhat comfortable but by no means insurmountable 52.5 point lead with a month and a half to go. Neither of the two teams directly behind me have Drogba or Malouda and one has Rooney at 16. So, whereas I can certainly understand why a manager would drop either of the Pensioner stars going into this weekend's match at Old Trafford, for me it doesn't make sense given the "mini-season" that awaits me.
Aside from my own idiosyncracies, from an objective standpoint I think a manager that does not field TWO of Drogba, Rooney, Torres and Tevez for the remainder of the season does so at his/her peril. All of these strikers are in a rich vein of form at present (over the last three games played, each has averaged over 20 points/week) and historically have scored regardless of the competition faced. In addition, they are all on teams playing for titles and/or a top 4 finish so they will be truly firing on all cylinders.
My biggest concern for this weekend is GK...I was actually hoping that David James would be confirmed as injured in which case I would have fielded him at 1mill and taken the zero. I still own Myhill but Hull has been woeful on the road (only Burnley has conceded more goals than the Tigers away from home). One has to wonder whether the push to stave off relegation will be enough for Dowie's players to put in an inspired performance in one of the most hostile environments in the league.
I'm leaning towards a 4-3-3 again this week with Bale, Jags, Verms and Garrido (sure to start with Zabs' 10 YCs) near certain picks for me. Etherington, Nasri and O'Hara are all enticing, mid-priced picks for this weekend...I'll be keeping a close eye on Arsenal's line-up tomorrow for clues as to who AW plays/rests against Wolves this weekend.
Wat do you guys think of pienaar this week as the suprise choce?any suggestions?
It's getting even more intense now!!
Happy that I got through though !! :)
Thanks to AM always!! hehe
By the way, do you know if Etherington is injured or not?
F.C. NulNul
AM,
To answer your questions:
No to Brown and Fabs.
Yes to Torres (when a world-class striker is in world-class form, it doesn't matter who the opposition is. Just look at Drogba from August until he left for ANC).
And personally, I am going to hold onto Malouda, but if you can find a suitable replacement, it might be worth the gamble.
I guess it comes down to where you are in the overall standings and where you want to be come May.
Current Team:
Howard
Verm, Bale, Jagielka
Arteta, Malouda, Bullard, Nasri
Bendtner, Tevez, Torres
Thought about going back to Given who was around the same price, but am sticking with Howard for the rest of the season based on schedule. The big move I made this past week was dropping Etherington for Nasri, that allowed me to upgrade Hutton to Jagielka. Also dropped Drogba for Torres. Other than those moves, same team as last week. 0.65 left over.
I seem to have the opposite problem to most, my season is crumbling before my very eyes.
Had both Drogba and Rooney finishing on a miserable 80 points dropping about 700 places and well outside the top 2000 now.
Swapped Drogba for Torres on the BD so looks like a Drog hattrick this weekend.
Ooof! After looking at the top team scores I wasn't quite sure my 120.5 was gonna be enough to make it to the next round of the Blog Cup but then I saw my "Lions Gate" in 8th place...wohoooo!!!
Now on to next week, Krancjar/Dempsey/Duff/Saha/Etherington/O'Hara and maybe D.Fletcher are all players I'm thinking of choosing from, but who is gonna rack up the points?
Currently I'm sitting on...
Myhill
Bale/Jagielka/Verm
Bullard/Krancjar/A.Johnson/O'Hara
Torres/Tevez/Kalinic
Players staying are Myhill/Bale/Jagielka/Verm/Bullard/A.Johnson/Tevez
and Torres(Maybe).
I'm not too happy with Kalinic though and might have to sell Torres to upgrade him to Saha. I'll probably go 3-5-2 with...
Myhill
Bale/Jagielka/Verm
Bullard/Krancjar/Ohara/Dempsey/Etherington
Saha/Tevez
What do you guys think? Looks solid to me but not having Torres in my team scares me.
If Spurs finish 4th they will really deserve it seeing how they host Arsenal and Chelsea and then away to United. 4 points from those 3 games would be massive. Spurs will have a huge say in who wins the title.
BCB
How about Park? He is almost always used in these types of games and tends to pop up with a goal.
Malouda and Lampard saved my week, but I'm dropping them both for the trip to Old Trafford. That midfield will be a battle-field.
Question: Adebayor was truly horrible against Wigan, but I hear Bellamy had a(nother) bust-up with Mancini. Any thoughts on who's going to start against Burnley?
Thanks for all the hard work AM!
Glad that you are doing better now after all the decisions went against you earlier in the season.
Not bad for me, 130ish, back to top 500ish
Adebayor I think will start this week, he always seems to.
Park will play as he always does in big games but against Chelsea you can't tell what will happen - likely that both teams cancel each other out in my view
Kalanic didn't start this week. Anyone know why as I am hoping for him as a filler
Most importantly, anyone know why Duff didn't start? Potential points machine at home to Wigan...
congrats to the top10.. fourth place (tuhau fc).. can u identify yourself?.. i'm from Sabah too.. buli bah kalu kau!.. hehe..
Maxer
@init: Kalinic was an unused sub against Burnley. The actual reasons he dropped to the bench? No idea, but surely not an injury concern.
Allardyce has always favoured the 4-5-1 formation, so there can be only one spot for a target striker. Maybe Allardyce wanted someone more experienced like Roberts as it was an explosive and intense local derby?
As I have warned previously, Fulham have played 3 consecutive midweek games, some 6 games in 18 days before visiting Hull. And their priority is the Europa League, so they will most certainly ROTATE. Murphy, Zamora, Duff, Hughes and Etuhu were all rested.
It isn't looking any better as their upcoming schedule is extremely packed. They would have played in 6 consecutive midweek games by Apr 17, which works out to 13 games in 6 weeks. Have a look at Fulham's schedule from Mar 6 to Apr 17.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/results?id=370&season=2009&cc=4716&_league=all
So unless you know who will start for which games, be wary of picking Fulham players.
@init: Like STM said Fulham have a tough schedule up ahead. They play @Wolfsburg on Thursday, then Wigan on Sunday and Wolfsburg again. I'll check who will play on Thursday and then maybe put someone who was on the bench in. I think that Okaka will surley start vs Wigan.
My team for now:
Myhill (might go)
Bale, Jags, Faye (waiting news about injury)
Arteta, Modric, Etherington, Gerard (will go)
Bendt, Tevez, Saha
I'll try to put some Arsenal MFs in there but will wait until Friday. Otherwise I like Stoke, they play Hull at home and have a double week coming.
Given; Verm, Bale, Toure; Arteta, Dunn, Eth, Stevie, Nasri; Bendtner, Tevez
hi AM,
Will Arteta play this week? Whose your pick between Arteta@16.67 or Nasri/10.05?
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