Monday 22 March 2010

Week 27 - Sunday

After an excellent day on Saturday, I was brought back down to earth on Sunday as my four players (Drogba, Malouda, Terry & Adam Johnson) scored just 25 points between them.

All Premier League teams have now played once this week & I find myself on 108.5 points for the week, in 590th position overall. With Warnock, Terry, Milner, Johnson, Malouda, Arteta, Carew & Drogba to go it could still be a monster week so I shouldn't complain.

The real reason for my concern was Man City defeating Fulham to climb to within 2 points of Spurs with a game in hand. I'd banked on Fulham grabbing a draw but I suppose their UEFA Cup heroics probably took a lot out of them as they looked quite flat yesterday.

City took the lead through Santa Cruz, then extended it through the outstanding Tevez. He's already proved a great pick with 23 points & I'm sure they'll be more to come at home to Everton in midweek, so well done if you went for him. Danny Murphy replied from the spot for Fulham after Barry was adjudged to have handled the ball but that was as close as they got to a point.

Adam Johnson was disappointing with just 0.5 points, although he was a lick of paint away from scoring - his long range effort hitting the post. He was subbed for SWP & those of us with him must fear he finds himself  benched on Wednesday.

In the big game of the day Man Utd ran out 2-1 winners over Liverpool despite Torres giving the Scousers a very early lead. Rooney responded by scoring a penalty rebound after his spot kick was superbly saved by Reina, before Park scored the winner.

I must admit I missed the most of the game because I thought it was the 4pm kick-off, so went out food shopping with my girlfriend only to return, turn on Sky Sports & see the game was already 80 minutes old. I was there in time to see Torres miss a great chance to grab a point when he completely mis-kicked from 10 yards out, but reading the media reports it doesn't sound like they deserved anything from the game.

The final game of the day saw Chelsea travel to Blackburn, who are usually very tough to break down at home, but after Drogba gave Chelsea the lead within 5 minutes it looked like it would be a walk in the park. They proceeded to batter Blackburn but failed to turn their dominance into a second goal & Blackburn came back in the 2nd half to equalise through Diouf, an assist from Salgado who gave 12.5 points for very little outlay.

This swings the title race back in Man United & Arsenal's favour, but expect a backlash at Portsmouth on Wednesday as Chelsea play their game in hand. It's the most exciting run-in we've seen since the Premier League began - 3 teams with a genuine chance of winning the title & 4 teams chasing down 4th...8 games to go, all to play for!

This is what I have sitting on my team page at the moment: 

Given,

Bale, Zabaleta, Agger,

Arteta, Malouda, Bullard, Kranjcar, 

Bendtner, Tevez, Gudjohnson

I'm haven't saved changes yet, so still hold Glenn Johnson, Bassong, Adam Johnson & Pavlyuchenko in place of Zabaleta, Agger, Bullard & Gudjohnson.

How's your week going so far? How's your barndoor team looking?

Cheers,
AM

52 comments:

Hinrik said...

Green
Bale Jagielka S.Campell
Arteta Kranjcar Modric Gerrard
Tevez Crouch Bendtner

toshack said...

myHill
Bale Hutton fox
Malouda Arteta modric xxx
Drog roo Tevez

Unsaved , 8.6 left in the bank

Jon said...

Had an awful week!! Been holding Almunia for a while, but after reading the post about holding players at a small discount rather than going with DG players i dropped him for Howard.

Then, when Gabby was a doubt i swapped him for Carew - a good decision. But then i found that if i swapped O'Hara for AJ i could afford Friedal, so i did just that, and those decisions cost me a heap of points ...

Such is life!!

Anonymous said...

125.5 points with 9 players to come and up to 348th - good week so far, Tevez, Arteta, Kirkland, Carew and even Salgado weighing in with good points while you've got to like Drogba and Lampard at Chelsea.

For next week now that the issue of the double game has been cleared up it's Man City and Spurs all the way, but heavy discounts on the likes of Arteta, Hutton and Howard all 3 will be staying I think. Gutted about Pavlyuchenko who I BD'd at 9.15 but who appears to be out until mid April - I guess I'll look at Gudjohnsen or Crouch, or maybe even Zamora at Hull.

Paphos Toffee

Anonymous said...

Yep, I meant you've got to like Drogba and Lampard at Pompey

Anonymous said...

I
S

P
A
V
L
Y
U
C
H
E
N
K
O

O
U
T

F
O
R

T
H
I
S

W
E
E
K
?
!

Birty said...

Only decision I regret this week was Aggy instead of Carew. I thought his injury was all smoke and mirrors, still hope he's back for midweek.

Odd statistical occurance during the United vs Liverpool game. Rooney missed a penalty (-6) but scored the rebound (+7) and scored +1 for that. Reina saves the penalty (+8) and conceeded (-3) and ended up on +5 so you'd think that Liverpool got the best of that passage but United ended up 1-1. I must admit I like finding out odd stuff like that.

Kirk,
Fox (injury news depending), Bale @ 11, Heitinga
Arteta, A-Jo, Duff, Fletcher
Rooney, Pav @ 9.9 (See fox), Santa Claus

I may swap Bale and upgrade Santa Claus and Kirk. But then again when I check the injury reports on friday I may end up swapping pav and fox too.

greginho said...

i am 75.5 thanks to david james and vermaelen. salgado, cesc, drogba, and arteta led the way for me. bendtner and bales 7 points each, i am fine with considering the outlay is so low.

next week i am jumping on the tevez bandwagon. paying $7 more for drogba was killing me. i don't want to be forced to get fillers.
james
vermaelen bale salgado
cesc arteta malouda modric
bendtner tevez pavulchenko/ cole

the 3 changes i might make are pav. i just saw on the physioroom that he is out 3 weeks, when that is confirmed, i am going carlton cole. he was a beast this weekend and will start. he was close to scoring twice against arsenal, imagine what he will do home against stoke. malouda was pushed back to accomodate the surprise inclusion of kalou. if i can confirm that he will be starting i will keep him. the defense for aston villa is very strong in the middle but not on the wings. if i let him go i have almost 17 to spend. the other person that is gone is james. i might go with paul robinson's replacement at blackburn. burnley is a mess. even at home they could be shutout by a very solid blackburn team.

Bojan said...

saturday - 50M spent on 7 players got me 86 points

sunday - 50M spent on 4 players got me 25,5 points

135th overall(up from 176th)... I hope that Sunday players(read chelsea trio) will repay me my trust in them against Pompey...

Mike B said...

Kirkland
Salgado, Jagielka, Bale
Pedersen, Milner, Arteta, Malouda
Tevez, Bendtner,Diamanti

Got me 118.5 points so far.

After a disappointing Saturday, with missing out on Carew, the ref not spotting Almunia coming off his line early to save Diamanti's penalty, and Milner continueing to be rubbish whenever i pick him, i was quite annoyed.

Sunday was a different story though, with decent points from my 2 Blackburn players, and Tevez doing the business.

It was nice to see some hunches doing ok for a change!

Still plenty to play for though, and i'm worried about Drogba at Pompey ruining the week for me.

My team at the moment is....

Myhill
Salgado, Jagielka,Bale
Johnson, Gerrard, Arteta, Malouda
Tevez, Bendtner, Torres

Gerrard will most likely be leaving me, probably for a Spurs player, as will Salgado or Jagielka.

I did barn door Kranjcar, but i have the feeling he'll be sharing time with Bentley now he's fit again. He only missed out due to sickness at the weekend as far as i know, so i won't take the chance.

Anonymous said...

103.5 points for me so far with 9 DGs to go midweek. Tevez was the man for me, scoring 23 points. He deserved those points for delivering an exceptional performance. Ditto Arteta! He's proving to be a bargain at just 7.59 units (he's now priced at 16.70!)

This is what I have so far:

Bale Jags Garrido
Arteta Malouda AJ Krancjar
Tevez Drogba Crouch

As you can see my GK spot is empty atm. This is because I only have 1.02 units left. Need to make some changes to free up some units.

Firstly I don't know what to do with drogba @22, sell or not? I only want one of Malouda or Drogba.
AJ is another concern due to his starting status. Krancjar is another with the same reasoning as AJ, though to a smaller extent with Lennon and Bentley still out. Garrido is in the same group as Kranc and AJ but I guess he'll start with bridge out.

The rest looks good to me.

Please help me out with my team. Is my analysis on those players correct? Or am I missing out on something?

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

@Jon: The GK position is a very special case. I much prefer a single game goalkeeper. Goalkeepers tend to lose more points with more games played.

Take for example Howard has 16 points now, after one game. But after two games he may get less than 16, just like jussi in Bolton's recent DG week. (I have Capt Kirk this week btw!)

Anonymous said...

After reading everyone's comments I have come up with this Drogba-less team. Changes made are not saved yet. Still have Drogba and Krancjar at discounts.

Jensen
Bale Jags Garrido
Arteta Malouda AJ Modric
Tevez Torres Crouch

I'm just loving my strikeforce, even without Drogba. Got rid of Krancjar as soon as I heard his starting status is in doubt.

Only concern with this team is AJ.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

When you say you haven't saved your team don't you lose the ability to get them on the BD discount if the BD closes and you haven't saved?

My team at the moment
Howard
Gardner Jag Hutton
Arteta Malouda Murphy (MCCarthy or Diame)
Drogs Tevez Kallinic

SLASH said...

I'm with 96 pts this week with 10 DGs to play, I hope. . . read that Dunne is a doubt for the game against Sunderland.
A huge disappointment from CCole and Piquionne as they returned -0.5 pts in total(-1 and 0.5 respectively). I hope they're better on their 2nd matches.
My current BD choices are
(3-5-2)
Given

Corluka Jagielka Garrido(if he's sure to start)

Malouda Arteta Modric Valencia Adam

Crouch Bellamy

Already clicked *save* but I might do some editing, depending on price changes and my mood :)

Notice that Fulham is playing with Wolfsburg on April 1st so it's a single week for all !

Kukuski said...

Lovely picture by the way. You could see the determination in Park's face as he headed the ball into the net...
The weekend results would have been much more interesting with a MU loss though...

Kukuski said...

When does Adebayor return from suspension???

And how does the return of Bentley from injury affect Krancjar's chances???

MLowrey said...

I'm sure it's been asked several times before, but does anyone have the faintest idea on how many players are actually participating in YFF? My guess would be around the 4-5 hundred thousand mark.

Anonymous said...

ohara will not play against spurs right?

Anonymous said...

I think Adebyebye will be suspended until 30 March... Don't know about Bentley... I'm confused whether i should take gudjohnsen / c.cole / crouch... Any idea AM or guys?

-Cuy

Kukuski said...

Thanks Cuy!

I copied this from The FA website:

Arsenal FC Thomas Vermaelen 20/03/2010 Suspended from all first team football until the Club have completed 1 first team match for a Sending Off in a match played on 20/03/2010.

Bolton Wanderers FC GRETAR STEINSSON 20/03/2010 Suspended from all first team football until the Club have completed 1 first team match for a Sending Off in a match played on 20/03/2010.

Manchester City FC Emmanuel ADEBAYOR 24/02/2010 24/03/2010 Suspended from all football until the Club have completed 4 first team matches for a Sending Off in a match played on 24/02/2010.

Stoke City FC DEAN WHITEHEAD 20/03/2010 Suspended from all first team football until the Club have completed 1 first team match for a Sending Off in a match played on 20/03/2010.

West Ham United FC Manuel da Costa Trinidade 10/03/2010 23/03/2010 Suspended from all football until the Club have completed 3 first team matches for a Sending Off in a match played on 24/02/2010.

Anonymous said...

a quick mention for Messi in the spanish fantasy lge.. his price is now 47.72 !! ..averaging 20.69..scored 40pt's this week ( 41.50 last wk !). 64 sot's. i have him at 35.00... a crazy price for an english version player, but you have to have him. better average, more shots & more total pt's than drogba or rooney.

S.P.

Saul said...

@bengoh91 - Don't make changes yet, wait for the midweek games because you might get some extra cash due to price fluctuations...you might not have to change your team after all to fit a goalkeeper.

Bradley said...

@MLowrey: I don't know why YFF doesn't print the total with the overall rank like it does for your "Fans of..." group. Speaking of which, since you can look at other players line-ups, you can calculate the total by checking one team from each of the 21 "Fans of..." groups (one per PL team plus "...Other"). When I last checked (a month ago today coincidentally), the total was 249676:

Arsenal 40262
Birmingham 933
Blackburn 1037
Bolton 648
Burnley 1339
Chelsea 32459
Everton 2999
Fulham 1297
Hull 1157
Liverpool 45316
ManCity 7487
ManUtd 77401
Portsmouth 919
Stoke 777
Sunderland 1120
Tottenham 7435
Villa 2694
WestHam 2506
Wigan 673
Wolves 2340
Other 18877

Wolves are apparently more popular than I would've predicted.

STM said...

I recommend using the Fantasy Football Scout website, http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk, for news on suspensions and injuries (besides the FA, PhysioRoom and official club websites).

The information is updated often and presented in a structured way, with expected date of return etc, so you can easily tell at one glance the necessary information needed to make your decisions. They also quote the source, so that you can read it and make your own conclusions.
http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/fantasy-football-injuries/

@Anon 3:28 PM: No, O'Hara is not eligible to play against his parent club.

@bengoh91: Where did you hear that Krancjar's starting status is in doubt?

Interesting that a few of you seem to think Kranjcar will share time with Bentley. I am not sure that is the case though.

Remember, Kranjcar's original squad position is actually LW and Bale's original squad position is actually LB. Kranjcar is only filling in on the right because Bentley is unavailable.

If Bentley is back, it makes more sense to move Kranjcar back to his original LW position, revert Bale to his original LB position and drop BAE to the bench. I just feel that the LW/LB combination of Kranjcar/Bale is better than Bale/BAE, because Kranjcar can potentially chip in with goals!

I am not saying with certainty that Kranjcar will start, but it makes more sense that way. However, it may eventually depend on match-ups and tactics. At the end of the day, Harry is the one picking the team, so who knows?

The other factor which may come into play is that Spurs are still in the FA Cup! We are playing Fulham in the Quarterfinals replay this Wednesday, 24 Mar. So be prepared for some rotations (although the squad is pretty thin at the moment).

COYS!!!!!

MLowrey said...

Thanks for the info Bradley. It's a lot less than I expected. Then again I thought that some of the mid-sized clubs like Everton and Villa would have about 10 000 or so fans at least.

Saul said...

disappointing week for me so far with only 73.5 points but with 8 to go.

My team for the next fixture is as follows...

Myhill
Bale/Jagielka/Salgado(maybe)
Bullard/Krankjar/Johnson/Giggs
Bendtner/Tevez/Torres

I have 3.57 left so might upgrade Johnson to Benayoun. Salgado might stay as he seems to have found a starting spot and is facing Burnley.

Well there is is, my hunches for the next fixture are Giggsy and Benayoun...good luck with your picks and better luck for me in midweek!

bean said...

@STM - I would agree about Kranjcar's position. I think 'Arry talked about Modric and Kranjcar really liking the left side, so I would assume it's actually Bale's position (at least in midfield) could be in jeopardy if Bentley is back. Or he just keeps Bale on the left, Bentley takes the right spot, Modric stays in the middle, and Kranj gets benched.. I wonder why Kaboul started over Palacios in the middle against Stoke?

Anonymous said...

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/club-appeals-thomas-vermaelen-red-card

“A Regulatory Commission will hear the claim on Tuesday 23 March.”

Holding my fingers for Thomas. I'm glad I didn't drop him yet...

SF

Saul said...

@bean - Kaboul started instead of Palacios because he's on 9 yellow cards. With FA Cup coming up, he can't afford to loose him. I think 'Arry really wants to win it.

Tekn0kraT said...

And just to support Fidan's statement, here's legit proof! =)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1259808/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-vows-shake-injury-time-Spurs-Portsmouth.html?ITO=1490

Cheers!

-Tekn0-

Saul said...

@Fidan - "Pavlychenko believes he'll be fit for Portsmouth, after scans revealed the injurey is not very serious as thought", I'd stay away from him either way...see what happened with picking Agbonlahor. I'm going with Tevez, Torres and Bendtner up front, Tevez vs. Wigan and Torres vs. Sunderland seems like big points for the strikers.
Anyways my team thus far is as follows...

Myhill
Bales/Jagielka/Salgado
Krankjar/Giggsy/Johnson/Bullard
Bendtner/Tevez/Torres

If Krankjar is doubtful to start I'll probably go for Duff or Dempsey and and that should leave me enough cash to upgrade Johnson to Benayoun. We'll see.

Bryce said...

AM, Pav will be back this weekend. Don't ditch him yet. :)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1259808/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-vows-shake-injury-time-Spurs-Portsmouth.html

Bojan said...

i think that Arry wont start Pav and risk him against Pompey... He has decent subs in Gudjohnsen and Crouch and i think they will start and Pav will come in if needed or to feel the ball 15-30 minutes... But i think that Tott will lead by 2 goals before HT...

Unknown said...

Everyone, please drop Rooney. It's Tuesday and the news for a Saturday game must be true. Please drop him.

Fidan said...

@Charles - As a matter of fact, I AM dropping him. I hate this fact, but...sometimes you have to make some decisions you REALLY don't like to. And guess, who am I dropping him for...CROUCHY ;)...!!! Ok, not final though...It'll be one of Crouch/Eidur/Zamora/CCole/Berbatov, with first too leading the crop!!!
Btw, I dropped Verm(@6.02)this Saturday morning, and boy I'm glad I did. Even though it was for Berra, that turned out to be a shrewd switch (11pts difference)...!!!

One thing I can say for EVERYONE...Always, ALWAYS go with your HUNCH. Ultimately, it pays off (sometimes, BIG TIME)...!!!

Cheers

Fidan said...

My Rooney-less Team:
Given
Bale,Jags,xxx
Arteta,Malouda,Modric,xxx (holding Bullard @7,89)
Bender,Tevez,Crouch

22.13m left

I'm thinking about either Alexander/Kranjc or Corluka/Duff. What do you think

Anonymous said...

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/vermaelen-red-card-appeal-is-dismissed

Oh man! Anyway, it doesn't seem logical to keep him with only 6 games left to prove himself, especially when 2 of them are against ManC and Spurs. A real head-ache for next week...

SF

Bojan said...

@Charles - i dint have rooney so i dont need to drop him... but another 0 from him is too much imo... def wait until saturday...

Unknown said...

@Bojan - I was being slightly facetious because I think there is a lot of overacting to early injury news, eg. Vermaelen. I won't take another zero with Rooney but I'm going to wait for sure. Would I be surprised if he plays against Bolton? not at all. If they say on Friday that he's out for the Bolton game, then I will definitely drop.

Anonymous said...

SF,

your situation is same with me...hate the decision but what to do...i think maybe we can replace him with fereira...heard ivanovic out for a month...just a suggestion ;p

Anonymous said...

sf,

same headache...i think we should drop him for fereira or garrido...fereira look good with cech is back and garrido has game in hand but depend on bridge condition...what do you think?we need to BD before their price jump...

alibaba

Anonymous said...

why i cant see anyone buying fulhamor wigan players?isnt they have DG next week?

Anonymous said...

fulham play europa. so no DG.

@SF: tough luck. Vermaelen red card appeal rejected



K.

bean said...

Spurs home to Pompey is such a tasty matchup, but I'm still pretty worried how the squad will rotate with Huddles and Bentley most likely back. Seems 'Arry will go with Palacios/Huddles in the middle and now would have the choice of Kranjcar,Modric,Bentley,Bale on the wings. I guess we will see who plays in wed FA Cup match and it should help clarify things..

I'll see how the midweek matches play out, but right now I'm looking at:

Boaz
Corluka Jag Zabaleta
Maxi Arteta Modric Adam
Bendt Drog Tevez

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

My C Team:
gomes
hutton jagielka garrido toure
gerrard kompany maxi
tevez diamanti kalinic

Anonymous said...

weird game between w ham & wolves..wolves 3-0 up, but only had 3 shots on target. w ham 8 sot's. tale of 2 g/k's. green not saved anything and obviously hahnemann 8 saves. green is in my team for sat- but not sure how long for !

S.P.

Saul said...

S.P. - I saw the game and Westham are clueless...could it be the end for Diamanti got me 11.50, not the best but I'll take it considering the negative 3 he got me against Arsenal. He was my 2nd hunch, my first hunch is Tevez and I hope he rips Everton apart. My team atm is...

Myhill/Green
Bale/Jagielka/Salgado
Bullard/Giggsy/Krankjar/Johnson
Torres/Bendtner/Tevez

Krankjar could go for Modric depending on his chances of starting, that would leave me with 6.xx to spend which I can use to upgrade Salgado and/or Johnson(I like the kid and might keep him cause I have a feeling his price will skyrocket after this weekends game, he's only 5.55 atm).

Any suggestions guys? I know I know I have time but want to start getting my team together. Thanks all.

Bojan said...

Since the Premier League, and therefore football, began West Ham have played 21 matches on a Tuesday, and won just one of them.

Anonymous said...

hahnemann goals against/saves ratio 24/80=0.3
slightly better than the excellent joe hart.


rob green 54/110 = 0.49.

so you could say hahnemann is 20% better than green .

hahnemann with an average of 6.86 has the best average of any of the bottom half teams ( that have played a reasonable number of games )

it still surprises me that keepers get ignored when games are analysed. i've dropped green and giving myhill a go in goal, even though he saved nothing at the wk/end. i just feel hull have got a win in them and they are decent at home.


S.P.

S.P.

Mandara said...

got 241.5 point this week!!!

Anonymous said...

Can Gerrard and Torres play? they have 5 yellow cards each?

Post a Comment