Home Again
The break was just what I needed - sunshine, great food, great mates, great beer/wine, but I must admit I missed the footy massively...despite Spurs blowing their good start to the season vs Wigan. I caught the England game last night, where Rooney appears to be approaching some form and Defoe showed a masterclass of finishing, but you've to feel sorry for Michael Dawson, that looked awful :(
Anyway, I asked my girlfriend to post up the Week 3 - My Team, and much to my surprise she was actually able to do this successfully, so I've just finished getting through all the comments and reviewing how my team did. 108.5 points moved me towards the 3000th, which tells me I had an above average week but I completely missed the barndoor. The AM Blog Team scored 83 points, so is currently struggling in 16000th, but we'll pull it back I'm sure!
To allow me to catch up, I'd like to know...how did you do in Week 3? Where has this left you overall in the rankings? And who did you pick up on the barndoor for Week 4?
Cheers,
AM
52 comments:
hart -1 =(
Welcome back AM - 103 last week, which moved me up 8 spaces to 50th! Can't believe Justified has finally cracked the top 50, I attribute it to the help of yourself and jeremy/neal... So thank you!
On the barndoor, Barton and Etuhu along with Dembele, but I have a feeling I will be inserting Ben Afra, VDV and another striker into the mix.
Welcome back - Tony E(Justified)
98.5pts puts me around 6000th and also puts me in my 2nd great week running after my 42.5pt week 1 start.
BD team:
Kirk
Bale, O'Shea, Stam
Malouda, Nolan, Walcott, Etuhu, Arshavin
Drogba, Carrol
But more thinking my team will be:
Cudicinni
Bale, Richards, Kos (both my defenders subject to change)
Malouda, Walcott, Nolan, (AJ or Barton)
Drogba, Carrol, Chamakh
good luck guys, 1 more week of waiting
Welcome back from me too, AM!!
Had a bad week one having been away and picking team too early (excuses excues ...)
But picking up ok now in 2 and 3.
Top of my local league but 4500 overall so some way to go there as broke in to top 1000 last year for first time.
Probably sticking with Hart Bale Mal Drog for now.
Had picked up Carrol Reo C (filler) and Etuhu so keeping them.
Did not do much on the BD as will only be looking for one or two in defense and midfield and the ones I was looking at did not do much in Week 3 so looking forward to your post mid week.
Hope hol was a good one.
Stato
Finished with 78.5 pts for week 3. I am currently 16,791 overall. Though I have regained 1st in my private league, which is most important. Got some work to do in the AM Leagues and Beat the Bloggers.
Team as of now:
Hart
Bale, Kos, Kompany
Malouda, Holden, Nolan, Adam
Drogba, Chamwow, Ebanks-Blake
May add Van Der Vaart or look into some of the new transfers whenever Yahoo adds them into the system...
Al habsi
Bale Kompany Kos L.Enrique
Malouda Nolan Diaby
Drogba Caroll Balotelli
94 last week 300.5 overall
Will like switch from Balotelli to Dembele/Boselli/Chamchow
My mistake was picking Fab ahead of Walcot only to discover i couldn't find any sort of balance, by then Walcot price had gone up.
Any thoughts is welcome, if the week is normal like wk3, i'd want 2 hit like 120.
d.ghost is back
Good to have you back from Vaca. AM, missed your posts.
Last week I got 86 points and and lost 33 spaces to leave me in 86th place overall...not bad, still in the top 100. For next week I have...
Harper
Bale/Kompany/J.Enrique
Malouda/Barton/Adam/Gardner
Torres/Carroll/Chamakh
Welcome back, AM! Sadly I've never been to France, although I've seen it from afar.
106.5 points. One decent week after two terrible ones brought me up to an overall rank of 5744.
Friedel
Bale Skrtel Carr
Malouda Nolan Walcott Adam
Drogba Carroll Dembélé
Changes will be coming, probably for Friedel and my non-Bale DFs. I didn't want to keep Berbs, so for the heck of it I used some of the freed up cash to grab "Big Bad Brad" before his price rose.
Thanks chaps, South of France comes highly recommended, was in a tiny town called Capestang which was really relaxing, but visited Beziers, some of the surrounding area and even drove to Barcelona for a day/night(where my wallet was pickpockedted leaving a club at 5am - gutted). Beautiful city mind.
Anyway, some solid scores, great rankings and nice teams for Week 4...I'm annoyed, had my internet not gone down in Week 2 I'd be well inside the Top 1500 with my extra 25 points (shows how tight things are), but as Stato said, not time for excuses in this game!
Current team for Week 4:
Harper, Koscielny, Ivanovic, Bale, Adam, Barton, Walcott, Malouda, Chamakh, Carroll, Drogba
...but I have over 3.2 left to spend so things will change. Not sure I'll keep Adam (thought about Nolan but don't want another Newcastle player), Chamakh could go for Balotteli, Boateng could come in to the defence but would he play 75 mins on his first game back? Maybe Kompany? Not sure at the moment...
p.s. Can't believe I didn't mention the VDV signing, wow, where did that come from!? What are people's opinions on how he'll handle the Prem?
Welcome back AM,
106pts in week3 and I dropped 12 place to 86th overall. This is my second season in fantasy and this is a surprise start. I hope I can keep it up and stay within the top 2,000 in the long run.
I currently have 9 of 11 players from week 3.
?????
Bale, O'shea, Skrtel
Adam, Malouda, Walcott, Barton
Drogba, Chamakh, Carroll
I don't think I will make any adjustment in forward and midfield. I have 8.1 fund for a goalie and I am thinking to pick kirkland and upgrade o'shea and/or skrtel. I am thinking of picking Vermaelen this week mostly because I am a stubborn gunners fan. Also, I am considering Terry because the lacks of goals from West ham and the form of Chelsea.
Hi AM.
Think I'm right in hearing Ivanovic out for a few weeks.
Can anyone confirm or put me right.
Thanks
Stato
Thanks Stato, must've happened while I was away. No bother, Ferreira could potentially come in, meaning I have £5m to upgrade elsewhere, cheers mate :)
@AM
I believe Ivanovic is crocked, but otherwise that is a great team.
@AM: My dad's pocket was picked in Barcelona on the subway, so you're not alone.
AM-ah you young studs, leaving a club in Barca at 5:00 AM. Haven't done that in 30 years, 5 is the time I get up now Sorry about the wallet.
to footie issues. I don't see why spurs plunked for van de Vart. They have too many quality midfielders, like Arsenal, Chelsea now with Ramires almost set, and City-for FF managers. This contrasted to top teams that need midfield help-ManU&Liverpool particularly. I am still stunned that ManU didn't pick up Ozil for a mere $20 million.
I just noticed that Carroll's on Physioroom's injured list as out 1 week. This could present problems as many of us have him at deep discounts. Haven't heard the nature of the knock.
My biggest problem this year, aside from having a week 1 disaster and trying to recover from it, is what to do about a goalie. I had Kirk week 1, the main cog in my disaster, and have had Howard the last 2 weeks and he has done nothing for me. Everton is playing ManU so Howard is going, I have no clue as to who to put in.
With RVP out again (the new Michael Owen?) Chamakh and Walcott seem very solid picks.
Rooney and Torres both still seem weeks away from being 100% and seem bad investments.
Man City seems chaotic, with no cohesion, and I am simply staying away, last week AJ returned just 1 pt. Prediction, you heard it here first, that Manicini will be the first high profile manager to get chopped.
I am actually being forced to watch American football this week, my "home" team Connecticut is on national TV against Michigan is a stadium that holds 110,000 and is sold out. American football is unwatchable, 3 hours of game time, 8 minutes of action, 500 commericials.
Lastly, and off EPL topic, how the hell can France lose to Belareus. I wasn't aware that it was even a country. Next up, Les Bleus will be losing to Vatican City.
Damn another week to go, this sucks
cheers
chrism
welcome back, i am curious to know if you planned your trip around the national game break.
i had 93.5 with ben foster and larson and said i would easily get to 100, well i went backwards to 91 points.
for the next round i have
foster
koscielny/ bale/ williamson
malouda/ larsson/ walcott/ adam
chamakh/ drogba/ carroll
it is my team from last week, and i actually like there matchups, this week, so everyone should stay. larsson is the most likely candidate for replacement, maybe with van der vaart or craig gardner. what does everyone think of him, he has 3 goals in the last two games? is going to continue score, or is larsson fantasy points a better option?
i'm currently sitting 169th overall, got 100.5 points for last week.
about vdv saga, for 8m he's a total bargain, attacking middie, but big question is that, when he plays, would he take set-pieces, free-kicks from bale? this would lower bale value marginally, in my eyes..
also worth a look at bassong next week, as dawson's out, quite cheap.
@AM: Sounds like you had an amazing time besides the unfortunate pickpocket. I am soooo jealous you go to travel into Spain, I only got as far as Paris but hey you cannot argue with that!
Onto footy talk, I think I can safely say we are all very anxious to get the Premier League back and running next weekend. Just going back to your comment on considering Nolan from Newcastle, I think this week I might even try Nolan, Barton, and Carrol. I go back to last years Championship where Newcastle beat BPool on aggregate 6-2, with a 4-1 win at St. James. I must say it seems perfectly conceivable to see 3+ goals and all the likely sources point to those 3 men listed above.
I am also flirting with Arshavin and possibly Tevez. You missed the very well written article by fantasyfootballscout which highlighted the positive benefits on Arshavin and Walcott's attacking output from Chamakh leading the line, which is very likely for Bolton match atleast.
As far as keepers go, do you think Cudicinni might still be worth it away to West Brom, who certainly aren't a huge goal threat, and Gomes still proposed to be out? For under 5 mil it seems Spurs defense surely outshine that of Newcastle at home.
Just some thoughts
@CFCBoss: Regarding the VDV situation, I think Arry has made it clear through various interviews that he sees Bale ultimately as a LB and in that position he will make the biggest impact. So will this transfer hurt Bale? I think so, but not in the worst way, we may see Bale's goal attempts suffer and some of his set pieces taken away, but ultimately Bale is Bale and will find points through SC and CW. I think if we can get in VDV for a nice 5.47mil option, he could be +10 in no short time.
Welcome back, AM. I'm sorry to hear about your wallet; that sucks.
To everyone excited by the arrival of VDV: I wouldn't bank on getting him in your team before the next deadline. Yahoo! are extremely slow at updating teams this year.
Craig Bellamy, Robinho and Vladimir Weiss are still listed as Man City players, Jason Scotland is still with Wigan etc etc.
I'm toying with the idea of having Kirkland in goal this week. He's not likely to play but it will, at least, allow me spend the money on other players. That tactic worked for me a couple of times last season. Is anyone with me?!
@DJ PIGG: I had a brief chat with MikeB, another great contributor, on that vary subject. Basically the bottom line he provided was that it is probably too early to take a confirmed 0 when other options present you with very real 14-18pt possibility. Harper, Foster, Cudicinni (if Gomes still out which I believe is the case), even Al Hasbi facing a Sunderland team who can struggle on the road could certainly benefit your team over a 0. However if it allows you to pick some sure starters who you believe will provide big points, then over all I have to say the thought has crossed my mind as well :D
Cool, thanks for your input, Kellz.
I won't make my mind up until Friday evening probably so there's plenty of time to think of all the permutations (damn this international break... spoiling my fun just as the game is getting interesting!).
Welcome back AM.
107.5 for me last week with 1909 overall rank.I'm sorry to hear about your wallet.I guess maybe some hot chicks pickpocket you :-)
For week 4, is it okay having Barton, Nolan and Carrol? my guts say they gonna trash Blackpool at least 3 - 1.
Have you guys check this out? http://www.ffchallenge.moonfruit.com/#/media/4542793166 :-)
feel really bore no game for this week ==
well this Is my first fantasy season and started after gameweek one so this is a learning season for me.
This week i gathered just 88 pointw with dissapointing return from chamakh and A. johnson who was on the back of a great performance vs liverpool but failed to perform as I had hoped. Big scorers were rooney who I have as my big price ticket since I bought him when he was at just 18 and walcott who I had bought before the hatrick so only costs me 8 mil..other points were random..
team for next week :
Mignolet
vermaelen Kompany Bale
Walcott Malouda Silva Ward
Rooney Chamakh Dembele..
I'm thinking sunderland will hold a clean sheet and mignolet is great pricing ( you may also notice I have lots of belgians in my line-up since I'm belgian :p ) My main 3 defenders never really change.. kompany is on form and vermaelen will have plenty of clean sheets and goals in him..bale is self explanatory..malouda and walcott also self-explanatory and I do think after last weeks failure to perform we may see silva in the starting line-up..they lacked creativity and I think mancini will give silva a run..ward is a filler and rooney and chamkh are self-explanatory..
Now If I may as a belgian give a hint to all bloggers. Pick up dembele while you can..Being belgian I know what he is capable of ad with his first performance picking up 2 assists I see him going places and for just a 6,78 price tag he is an excellent low budget striker who will average above 8 points on average imho..
Ended up with 79.5pts...would have been better if not for Jussi. Why, Jussi, WHY?!
Overall, not bad. Hanging in at 2855, my highest ever, so far, thanks to this blog. 75th place in my 'Fans of' group, but have slipped to 31 in AM Blog League 1 and 15 in Fantasist Superleague 2.
Anyway, not too happy with Real Madrid targeting my two highest scoring players...Jose wants to steal Bale and Drogba away. Stay away!
let real madrid take drogba, a 32 year old striker, to fill in raul petulant position, but not bale. drogba will not start every game and won't influence the team much, but bale could give them and immense advantage.
Why Bale? When the already have Di Maria and Oezil, two summer signings, similar players to Bale, even though Oezil is more of a play maker. Its all baseless rumours to me.
Hi A M nice to have you back and something fresh to read (must have read "week 3" about 11 times !)
sitting on 112.5 points last sat eve in overall position 103 with just keeper (jussi) to play on Sunday, thinking to myself another 20 odd points from him should do me OK.....WRONG ! ended up on 107 points so cant complain too much, overall position now 251, pos 6 in A M league 6, total points 351.5
seem to have trouble picking decent keeper this season,and reading earlier submissions i don't seem to be alone, shortage of cheap options this year.
week 4 team (so far)
stockdale
bale (bale is god), o'shea, baptiste
malouda,barton,walcott,c adam
drogba.caroll,chamakh
toying with swapping out adam for aj who should start racking up the points soon especially at home to Blackburn, what do others think on that one ?
i got a weekly score of 97.00. torres saved me. his 21.50 got me close to the 100 point week. it moved me up to 3rd overall. disappointed balotelli and silva didn't play, well silva did nothing off the bench. and ireland getting injured in the warm up. i was hoping for ireland to get some points. it would have pushed me up to 1st overall. which is unbelievable. only 6 points from first place.
i picked up malouda, chamakh and petrov on the barndoor. but chamakh and petrov's value's are the same. so can replace them for better options closer to the deadline maybe.
i got rid of silva, who im starting to think might be a bit part player this season for man city, im wondering when balotelli will start firing in the epl too. and i def want to add arsenal's new cb when he has been put into the game, maybe even fulham's new lb as well.
What exactly has Rooney done in his private life that has the tabloids up in arms? I seem to find no concrete statement on that.
Rooney has allegedly been cheating on his wife with a prostitute, while his wife was pregnant. This was reported by several sunday newspapers today.
What I want to know is did she put the Hoover on to suck or send him to sleep..;-) LMAO
pick-pocketed at 5AM!?!...I guess even in the most beautiful of places like Catalunya the rats of society lurk!!! Great to have you back to say the least!
got 101.5 pts with bad picks like Cudicini, Kalinic, and Stephen Fletcher on board!
got my hands full next week in our KEO Cup as I face off with 5uperman!!! This should be an exciting week! I hope to snatch up Van der Vaart and Squilacci this weekend as long as there is a great chance for either to start. I think Squilacci can be the Vermaelen of this fantasy campaign, he is very good in the air, very good.
Cheers.
Rooney, the dirty little bugger. The sad thing is that it doesn't even come as a shock!
AM, i'm glad you had a decent holiday, shame about the wallet though! I hate it when things like that happen!
Anyway, back to business, i got 103.5 last weekend. Pretty average by the looks of things, but it moved me up the rankings to 2206th place. Most importantly, i'm averaging 100 points per week, if i keep that up i'll be top 500 in a few more weeks!
My team for next weekend won't change much from the last team i fielded, i'm just waiting for injury news to decide which 2 defenders to pick to go with Bale.
Here it is so far....
Harper
Richards, Koscielny, Bale
Walcott, Nolan, Adam, Malouda
Carroll, Drogba, Chamakh
Richards and Koscielny will more than likely change, the rest will definately stay.
@AM - My Dad got pick pocketted in Barcelona too on the subway, going back after a Barca vs Espanyol match!
Anyway i was wondering when Yahoo is going to put the newest sigings into the game?? I'm quite sure Squillaci will start ahead of Koscielny, but he isn't in the game yet!
Hey, Nik...!!! I'm sorry about your wallet man. I know just how sick that makes you feel. I've been in a Eurotrip last month, and south of France is GREAT...!!! Loved every second of it, esp Monaco, ahhhh!!!
Anyway, back to reality. I'm currently sitting on 1700 overall with 100 pts in week 3. Average I guess, but continuing to have 100+/per week, and thats a really good thing!
My current team is:
AlHabsi(5.9)
Bale,Stam,SKelly
Malouda,Adam,Walc,Etuhu
Drogs,Caroll,Dembele
~3m left
AlHabsi,SKelly,Etuhu,Dembele (and maaaybe Stam) can all go for Harper/Cudicini, a City DF, Barton?! and Cham...!!! Just waiting for the international games to be over...!!!
And all hail to my Albania for that impressive result in Romania. LOVED it!!!
Cheers
Dear AM! Thank you so much for your tips. Decide to post for the first time after reading your blog for the past few weeks.
Also thank you to the all the people over there. Enjoyed reading your post.
What do you guys think of my team for the 4th week? Really appreciate if you can give some input. :) I'm very close in my private league at 300 points, 1-3rd place all just 5-6 points apart, hoping to gain some lead in this week.
Stockdale
Bale Koscielny bassong
CAdam Malouda Etuhu Walcott Nolan/Barton
Drogba Carroll
Thanks in advance!
DeJ
Not sure about Bassong - I think Harry will go with King and Gallas
@MikeB: Whoa almost the exact same team, except I will most likely stick to Barton/Cudicinni instead of your Harper/Adam.
In no way do I feel its a bad move have 3 attacking Newcastle players for this game week. Newcastle beat BPool 6-2 agg last season including a 4-1 win at St. James. I am hoping for 3+ goals from my trio.
I am also on the fence about Richards and Kos who could make way for Boateng and Scuil respectively. I'll wait til team news later in the week.
Cud,
Bale, Richards, Kos
Malouda, Walcott, Barton, Nolan
Drogba, Carrol, Chamakh
The mighty toon did indeed beat blackpool 4-1 at home last season (with even spiderman managing a rare goal) but we actually lost 2-1 away at Bloomfield Road, making the aggregate score for the season 5-3. Still, I fully expect a victory at the weekend despite a slightly worrying tendancy (from a fanatsy CS point of view) of conceding late goals at home last season when comfortably ahead. Also, has anyone else noticed Harper has only made one save all season?
Does anyone know why Drogba did not play for the Ivory Coast at the weekend but Kalou did?
@Anon: Thank you, I miss-read the score sheets off Wikipedia, however I hope we see a repeat at St. James :D
@stato
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2886/africa/2010/08/30/2094942/chelsea-striker-didier-drogba-has-retired-from-international?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
DxD
Good news for holders of Frank Lampard. Sky Sports reports that Ancelotti has declared him fit for the West Ham fixture.
Thanks DxD.
Stato
anyone considering tevez, dempsey, duff or even fabregas for next week?
No.
:)
Just some interesting injury news regarding Carrol:
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/nufc/Carroll-facing-fitness-fight.6517114.jp
Can he make the late fitness test 2 weeks in a row? Better keep an eye on it :D
Walcott is stretchered off in the 12th minute. Selection nightmares once again:)
Rooney scored, Walcott injured. Damn.
DxD
EUROSPORT:
Theo Walcott has been taken to hospital to have an x-ray on that ankle. After Arsenal revealed they expect Robin van Persie to be out for another six weeks, this could be a real blow for the Gunners.
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