Thursday 29 April 2010

Week 33 - Player Picks

The penultimate week is upon us & as you all know, we have 4 teams with a double week. At this stage of the season I'm telling you now - fill your team with as many double gamers as you possibly can. I'm aiming for a full team, 11 players, all playing 2 games.

It's actually highly unlikely I'll pick 11 players who play twice for a 22 game total, maybe a few of them get rested, but I'd still expect to get 18-20 games from my team. The point is you're giving yourself the chance, and as we all saw with Villa's double week recently (where many of us hit 160+), it can really pay off.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

City Given Permission To Sign Fulop

From BBCSport.co.uk
Man City sign Sunderland keeper Marton Fulop on loan

Manchester City have recruited Sunderland keeper Marton Fulop on an emergency loan deal for the remaining three games of the season.

City had hoped to recall their on-loan keeper Joe Hart from Birmingham to cover for the injured Shay Given, but were blocked and turned to Fulop, 26.

Fulop, Sunderland's third choice, is set to train with City on Wednesday.

With Given's regular back-up Stuart Taylor also injured, City were left with the Faroe Islands' Gunnar Nielsen.

"The club, with the backing of the Premier League, have been in contact throughout the day with both Birmingham City and Sunderland with regards to bringing either Joe Hart or Marton Fulop to the team on an emergency basis," read a Man City statement on their website.

"Agreement has not been reached with Birmingham, but we anticipate that Marton Fulop will join us in training (on Wednesday) and we sincerely thank him and Sunderland AFC for their help in this situation."
So if you're looking for a cheap double keeper there is an alternative to Begovic at 1.00, with Fulop only slightly more expensive at 1.60.

I'd expect the loanee from Sunderland to start both of City's games in the double week - he has the Premiership experience that Nielsen is lacking & was a regular in the Black Cats XI during Craig Gordon's absence earlier in the season.

It's unlikely Yahoo will update Fulop's club on the game, but he will still be credited with any points he picks up for City. I can't decide whether I prefer City's or Stoke's fixtures, but I'll have a think overnight & give my opinions in tomorrow's player picks post.

Who are you going for - Begovic? Fulop? Splashing the cash on Schwarzer? Or going with a single gamer?

Cheers,
AM

Monday 26 April 2010

The Blog Cup - Semi Final Results & Week 32 Review

Before I talk about Week 32 in general, I'd like to start with The Blog Cup Semi Final Results, by revealing the 2 teams from the remaining 10 who will be contesting the final in Week 34...

Saturday 24 April 2010

Week 32 - My Team

Jaaskalainen

Bale   Jagielka  A.Dawson

Malouda  Milner  Pienaar  M.Taylor

Carew  F.Campbell  C.Cole

Really not pleased with my team this week, it's one of the worst I've put together all season, but I just couldn't afford the players I wanted after missing the barndoor - could be the same story today as I'm out all day at a BBQ with my mates, enjoying the UK sunshine!

I did everything to try & get Tim Cahill in but was 0.07 of the switch of of Pienaar/C.Cole to Cahill/K.Davies. I found it so tough to settle on strikers this week...Fraizer Campbell is real wildcard pick, but he's been playing well & faces his old club so will be keen to do well. To be honest I could've gone with Kevin Davies & left 1.47 in the bank, but I hate leaving cash left over.

That's all I have time for - please let me know your team, best of luck to everyone & enjoy the weekend.

Cheers,
AM

Thursday 22 April 2010

Week 32 - Player Picks

   

Week 31 concluded last night & I think we can agree that going all out for the double week has paid off big time. Villa ran out 2-0 winners at Hull, so there were fantastic clean sheet points for Friedel + the Villa defence & goals for Agbonlahor & Milner.

I finished the week on 177 points, which was enough to move me up to a season high position of 249th overall & looking at the Blog Leagues it seems a huge number of you broke the 150 mark, with many in the 190's - fantatsic work guys!

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Week 31 - Update

Just a quick post to bridge the gap between my Weekend Review & tomorrow's Player Picks post - and we'll start by looking at Monday night's game between Liverpool & West Ham.

It was a pretty run of the mill 3-0 victory for the Reds as West Ham showed a worrying lack of fight for a team that are deep in a relegation battle. Goals from Yossi, Ngog & a Rob Green own goal sealed it, but it could've been more (especially had Torres been available). I grabbed Ngog but missed Maxi - I really have been slack on the barndooring this week & just hope it doesn't prove costly.

Monday 19 April 2010

Week 31 - Weekend Review

Once again, an amazing weekend in the Premiership as the title race took another massive twist. Chelsea looked to have the title sewn up a week ago, but Man United's last gasp win at Man City coupled with Tottenham's 2-1 win over the Blues has swung it right back round.

The Manchester derby was by no means a classic, but I felt City set up quite negatively & it always seemed United were in control. They also have this "never-say-die" attitude instilled by Ferguson, so it was actually no surprise when Paul Scholes popped up to win it in the 93rd minute.

Saturday 17 April 2010

Week 31 - My Team

Friedel

Bale  Warnock  A.Dawson

A.Young  Bullard  Milner  A.Johnson

Bendtner  Carew  Agbonlahor

It was really tough this week - I played around with my team for hours this morning but in the end I kept the same team as I'd had when I wrote my player picks. Still, dropping Tevez & Malouda really hurt (and I now have a horrible feeling that I should not have dropped the Argentine...)

Thursday 15 April 2010

Week 31 - Player Picks

An Aston Villa double week...how many times have we seen that this season?

It's been strange - I can't remember another a YFF season which has brought so many double weeks in general, never mind for 1 team in particular, but with only a few weeks to go it's time to take full advantage.

The AM Challenge Cup - Semi Final Results

   

What a night! In my 27 years on this planet we have only beaten Arsenal a handful of times, and I must admit I'd forgotten what it was like to celebrate 3 points against them. To make things sweeter we end their title challenge whilst keeping ourselves in the race for 4th place. There are some very unhappy Arsenal fans in my office this morning & it makes a nice change :)

It wasn't just a good night for Spurs - I managed to salvage some pride thanks to Bale's match winning goal & outstanding 19 points, a very useful 9 from N'Zogbia & Bendtner's consolation another 10. This lifted me up to 85 points for the week, 320th overall.

But was 85 enough to make it through to the final of The AM Challenge? See below...

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Week 30 - Tuesday

Not a lot to say about last night as there was just the one game, Chelsea beating Bolton to strengthen their grip on the title, thanks to an Anelka winner.

I only had Malouda & he found himself on the bench until the final 20 minutes, mustering 2 points to take me up to a quite pathetic 47 with Bale, N'Zogbia & Bendtner to play. I've actually only dropped 50 places so far (down to 360th) so I can only assume plenty of others are having horrible weeks too.

Tonight we see the completion of Week 30, including Tottenham v Arsenal, and I am not feeling confident at all. Once tonight's points are updated I'll calculate the AM Challenge Semi-Final results & will post them up in the morning. I'll then be able to make a start on my Week 31 Player Picks which should be up Thursday afternoon.

That's it for now - I should be in the chat room this evening, so hope to see some of you there!

Cheers,
AM

Monday 12 April 2010

Week 30 - Weekend Review

As you can imagine, I'm not really in the mood to think or write about football this morning. It's been a very bad weekend, both in fantasy football terms & as a Tottenham supporter, as the season that promised so much is falling apart in front of my eyes.

Full credit to Portsmouth - what they've achieved is fairy tale stuff, they weren't overawed & they made life very difficult for Spurs. I could use the pitch as an excuse after Michael Dawson slipped at the crucial moment, I could use the referee as an excuse after he disallowed a perfectly good Crouch equaliser...but I can't be bothered; we lost to a team of players who have had far worse happen to them over the past 12 months & will spend next year in the Championship - their fans deserve some success.

Saturday 10 April 2010

Week 30 - My Team

 Myhill

Garrido  Carragher  Bale

Malouda  Bullard  N'Zogbia  A.Johnson

Tevez  Bendtner  Torres


No time to post details today - but I'll say I'm quite happy with it. Let me know your team! Who are you picking up on the barndoor? Villa & Hull have a double game in Week 31 so I'll be focusing on Villa players in particular...

Cheers,
AM

Thursday 8 April 2010

Week 30 - Player Picks

I'm rushed off my feet with work at the moment so this post will be a bit shorter than usual, but hopefully it'll still provide you some useful pointers.

After a fantastic week of Champions League football (can you guess why I've posted the picture above?), we turn our attentions to Week 30, a single week for all teams after Fulham v Stoke was rearranged for the first week of May.

Tuesday 6 April 2010

A Double No More

Fulham v Stoke re-arranged:
http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2010/April/StokeFixture.aspx

Fulham would like to announce a change in date to the Fulham V Stoke City fixture scheduled for 14 April.

The Club made an application to the Premier League Board and to Stoke City, to enable the Club to spread its fixture commitments, which was kindly agreed to.

The re-scheduled date will be either Wednesday 5th or Thursday 6th May and will be confirmed shortly.

Week 29 - Saturday & Sunday

Week 29 already seems a long time ago, but the long delay in Yahoo updating the points combined with my hectic Easter schedule meant I haven't had the chance to update the blog properly until now.

It wasn't a great week - 84.5 points, with 3 of my players starting on the bench, but I actually stayed in more-or-less the same position overall...312th (down 3 places), so perhaps it was around an average score.

Sunday 4 April 2010

Week 29 Update

Hi guys - sorry for the lack of activity...I'm waiting for the Man City points to come in/rankings to update properly before writing my full weekend review, but thought I'd post a quick update,

At the moment Week 29 is not looking great for me...I'm guessing I'll get around 20 points for Tevez & Garrido, meaning approximately 85 for the week. Obviously it was also a terrible weekend to be a Spurs fan.

Saturday 3 April 2010

Week 29 - My Team

Howard

Bale  Campbell  Garrido

Malouda  Nasri  Bullard  Etherington

Bendtner  Tevez  Saha

I've been in deep thought since my Player Picks post & I ended up making quite a few changes for Week 29.

Thursday 1 April 2010

Week 29 - Player Picks

I've just about got my breath back after witnessing one of the games of the season at the Emirates last night. I don't think I'll ever see a side "out-football" an Arsene Wenger team more than Barcelona did for 60 minutes last night. How it ended a draw I really don't know, but Arsenal showed some bottle to give themselves a sniff of a chance in the 2nd leg.

Yet the fantastic fight back has come at a big cost to the Gunners - Fabregas thinks he may have broken his leg & would therefore be out for the season, Gallas was rushed back, has re-injured his calf & is likely to be out for the season & Arshavin has a reoccurrence of his calf injury that could see him miss the next 2 weeks.

After Rooney's injury, you'd have to say that Chelsea are the big winners this week.