Sunday 12 September 2010

Week 4 - Saturday

Put simply, a fantastic day of football - the English Premier League may not be of the technical quality of La Ligua, but I still think it beats all others for pure excitement. For evidence look not further than Everton v Manchester United, the lunchtime kick-off yesterday.

It wasn't just the final 3 minutes that made the game, it was the entire 90 that proceeded it. It was cracking match, end to end, chances galore, tackles flying in, great goals, bad errors, fantastic saves and of course, an unbelievable comeback from the Toffees. 3-3, Alex Ferguson fuming as United blow a two-goal lead, Moyes fuming because Everton could've won it only for the ref to blow for full-time, outstanding drama, great stuff!

The only shame was a missing Wayne Rooney - I find it very sad that a 24 year old man is experiencing such turmoil in his private life that he can't do his job, no matter what he's alleged to have done. A young guy with a family who may or may not have made a mistake, trying to save his relationship with the British press splashing nonsense all over the front pages of the papers...isn't there real news for them to report on?

Anyway, I didn't have any players in that first game, but Arteta, Baines, Pienaar & Osman all scored good points as did Nani, Berbatov, Vidic & Fletcher. A special mention to Nani, who set up two goals and continues to improve after being written of by many (including myself) 18 months ago.

In the 3pm's Arsenal and Chelsea sealed routine victories vs Bolton & West Ham respectively, with 4-1 and 3-1 wins. Those of us who went with Koscielny and Chamkah were rewarded with a great return of 34 points for very little outlay, while Arshavin and Fabregas also scored well, and I must mention Fabregas's passing as it was absolutely unbelievable, with exquisite through-balls setting up numerous chances. Essien rocked up with two goals for Chelsea but Drogba was once again behind most of their good work, with an amazing 21 points without a goal. Malouda being benched was a real let down but Kalou's hilarious goal cheered me up, as Green & Upson combined to mess-up royally.

Dembele proved to be an outstanding pick as Fulham came from behind to win 2-1 vs Wolves. The boy is really good and I'm annoyed I didn't follow my own advice and bring him in for Week 4, but well done if you did take the leap...it's safe to say he came flying through the barndoor for Week 5! A word for poor Bobby Zamora, who broke his leg just as his career is really taking off, and looks set to miss most of the season, a real shame. What the bloody hell was the Wolves wall doing for Fulham's winner? My sunday league manager would've gone mental if we'd turned our backs like that!

Tottenham and West Brom played out a 1-1 draw, when all looked rosey for Spurs after 30 minutes. Modric put us ahead before being withdrawn with a bad leg injury, and Redknapp has suggested it could be a re-occurrence of the leg break that he suffered at the exact same stage last season. It completely disrupted the flow for Spurs and the Baggies got back in to it through Chris Brunt. It certainly was a game of two halves, as West Brom dominated the second 45, and a draw was fair. Van Der Vaart showed flashes but nothing more.

The biggest disappointment for fantasy managers was probably at St James' Park, as many of us had loaded up on Newcastle players for their home game vs Blackpool - it proved to be a mistake. Harper continued his poor form (and my bad record for picking keepers this season) with -2 , but he actually made some saves this week, so I guess it actually could've been worse! Barton proved the better pick v Nolan, but Carroll (over Dembele!) was a disaster...I'm just glad the damage done to Newcastle was by another of my players, Charlie Adam, whose 16 points for a goal and assist was a big bonus.

Joe Hart made an uncharacteristic error as Kalinic gave Blackburn the lead at Eastlands, with Patrick Viera popping up with a rare goal to level things up. Adam Johnson proved to be a decent pick with 13 points, but  City's defenders all scored poorly. The final game was Wigan v Sunderland, where the idiotic Lee Cattermole was sent off inside half an hour for the second time in 4 games. Despite this it looked like the away side would grab an unlikely win thanks to Gyan's debut goal from the bench, but Alcaraz equalised in the dying minutes.

So a great day of football, and not a bad fantasy day for myself...107 points, which considering Malouda didn't play & my keeper scored -2, was better than expected and I'm edging towards the top 1000. I was out yesterday so didn't have any time to do much barndoor work, but as mentioned I did get the chance to bring in Dembele and I bought Van Der Vaart right after the deadline. I might take the zero for Kirkland next week, Etherington may come in for Stoke's home game vs West Ham, which would leave my enough funds for Ashley Cole who should have a field day vs Blackpool

My team would be: Kirkland, Bale, Koscielny, Cole, Adam, Etherington, Malouda, Van Der Vaart,  Dembele, Chamakh, Drogba with 1.44 left over. If Boateng is back then he'll replace Koscielny.

A quick work on the blog team, which had a much better week with 113 points. Thanks to Mike & Hans for their continued help, hopefully we're now heading in the right direction!

I'll leave it there for now, but as always I'd like to know how you're getting on in Week 4? Got any players left today/tomorrow? Who came in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

32 comments:

Birty said...

99.5 - I'm happy.

Brought both of Villa's Youngs and Foster in on the barndoor and I'm pretty happy with the team for next week already.

Anonymous said...

I am extremely unhappy with my week 4 :(. I was 97th overall but only managed to score 59 points this week so I am out of top 400. I have no additional players to play, so I will probably end up out of top 500. My team was:

Harper
Bale,ACole,Squillaci
Malouda,AJohnson,VDV,Nolan
Berb,Carrol,Chamakh

It seems I made some bad last day decisions - I added Nolan and Squillaci to replace Adam and Koscieliny. However, I am happy with my BD team:

Kirkland
Bale,Koscieliny,Ferreira
Adam,VDV,Essien,AJohnson
Berb,Drogba,Dembele

I will switch Ferreira with Boateng if he is confirmed fit and I could think of adding Malouda back but I will probably stick with Essien in order to keep Drogba in my team. I am thinking of keeping Kirkland,VDV and Adam season long depending on injuries. I believe I might switch Bale to a cheaper defender and upgrade Essien to Malouda for next week. I really love Bale but with VDV taking more set pieces I believe his fantasy value will diminish and I don't plan to invest more than 13. Bale is a fantastic player but Tottenham appear to be really an unpredictable team especially against weak oppositions. Anyway, I wish them luck in the CL and I hope they enter the playoffs. That's it for now. Hope you all do well!
Once again: Thank you AM! I love your blog!

Team name: DIMITAR BERBATOV FC [AM.Blog]

Staffer84

Anonymous said...

I have created a league in the Uefa CL fantasy football game on the official UEFA website: Whoever plays it go ahead and enter it. I played it last year and the game is really good!

You just need to enter the code: 74698-14281

Staffer84

Anonymous said...

AM-- how about gudjohnsen?home again west ham

2pai

L'Orange Noir said...

I had practically the same team as you AM, only I had Hangeland instead of Kosc and VDV instead of AJ which gave you the 18 or so extra points more than me this week.
I'm not having bad weeks but the little decisions keep costing - last week I had Lennon instead of Walcott :-S
On the BD I brought in Demb for Carroll, AJ for Barton, Foster for Harper, Kosc for Kompany and Faye for Hangeland.

Arsenal_bergkamp said...

109.5 points and 17th Overall and this should be the highest ranking I will ever reach in my life. Although ranking is a bit meaningless only after 4 weeks, it motivates me a lot.

I am glad I picked Kirkland, arshavin, chamakh, koscielny, and adam. My team are hurt by Carroll and Malouda just like everyone in this blog.

I brought in Cudicini, VDV, and Kalou to replace Kirk, Carrol, arshavin. I have no idea which fwd to barndoor so I brought in Kalou incase Chelsea will rest their players after the champion league game. Kalou might have an easier game against Blackpool at Home (praying chelsea players will be tire/injuired).

I am hopping liverpool will be losing today with some own goals or red card by skrtel. = )

Arsenal_bergkamp

Anonymous said...

109.5 points for me too.
Great returns from Adams,KOS,Essien Chamakh. Really good Hunch pick(ESSIEN) this week. A day before I was debating with ALN. Pleased it paid off. Now the flops of the week, Hart continues to produce rubbish point ever since I picked him,though I will keep him one more week. Tevez, Carrol & Baptiste disappointed.

Picked Fab4,Ramires, Nani, VDV, Gyan,Jageilka on Barndoor.

Cheers!!!
Keshari

Bradley said...

86 points, although YFF has given Nolan only 1 SOT whereas the Opta stats say 2. And yes, BDing Barton over Nolan for his phantoms would've been the wiser choice. Malouda benched. Dembélé saved my bacon.

There are worse things than -2 from your keeper. Fearing negative points again, I made a late change from Harper/Koscielny/AJohnson to Hart/Squillaci/YToure. The former combined for 29 points, the latter 4 points. Ouch. Yaya over AJ was a calculated risk ("thanks" for that 90' YC BTW), but Koscielny vs. Squillaci was a coin flip. Kos' goal was just dumb bad luck for me.

Once again, as the owner of my team, I may just have to sack myself as manager. So far I've moved up the standings, which is the important thing. Hopefully I won't drop too much after the remaining two matches.

On the BD, I brought in Chamakh (dropping Carroll), AJ, and Robbo.

Birty said...

After taking that bash to the head and seeing all that blood I'd be worried that Steven Gerrard may have suffered brain damage...... you know if he had one.

Anonymous said...

I think special mention needs to be made for referee Martin Atkinson who was very quick to blow the whistle just as Jagielka was ready to shoot for an unbelievable 4-3 Everton win. This is the same ref who played a mind-boggling 7 minutes of injury time last season when United played City. I think his bias is clear to see and am surprised he's allowed to get away with it. Bearing all this in mind, perhaps it's a good idea to see if he's in charge of any more United games. I'd certainly load up on United players if he is.

cfcboss said...

102 points, overall 76, i'm satisfied.
i also were on the harper, malouda band-wagon.
i changed koscielny for squi right before the deadline and that hurt me.
next week, might squeeze in drog, malouda, lamps, bale, if they all play, chelsea plays at zilina, carlo might rest some of the players.

Mike B said...

A poor 85 points for me, with Newcastle being the major disappointments of the weekend. What a load of absolute rubbish.

I really messed up with my barn door work also, i dropped Charlie Adam literally seconds before he scored, and then promptly picked him back up at his more expensive price. IDIOT!

I guess i should just commit to dropping him for the next game and hope he flops, which he might seeing as it is against the unstoppable looking Chelsea.

Other barn door work included getting in Van Der Vaart, and Paul Robinson.

I think my only dilema for the next week will be, do i take the 0 from Kirkland in order to get Lampard (who i think will score 2), or do i go with a playing keeper and a lesser midfielder, like Young or Nani for example?

Now i can look forward to some Champions League action in the week!


Cheers!

Dave said...

Who will sit when Vermaelen returns--Kos or Squillaci?

Arsenal_bergkamp said...

Modric might be available.
"Tottenham Hotspur have been handed an unexpected boost with the news that Croatia international midfielder Luka Modric has not broken his leg and will travel with the rest of the squad for Tuesday's Champions League game at Werder Bremen." -ESPN

@Dave
I think Kos should start ahead of Squillaci because 1)Kos started 3 games 2)he already partner with Verm for 3 games 3)Kos scored a goal even though it was luck but I think Wenger will keep him as a starter to boost his confident(random guess)

Arsenal_Bergkamp [AM.Blog]

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

absolutely terrible weekend! purely pathetic, the worst I have picked in YFF since joining this collaboatrion! utterly dissapointing! I was going to pick Essien too...but I didnt...

Anonymous said...

I picked Foster. I don't think anyone else did. Why? I thought it was a no-brainer to pick him. I think I'll even keep him for next week. Why am I solo on this?

Anonymous said...

you guys think you should still keep Bale ? since Van Der Vaart is playing left wing?

Anonymous said...

@Anon 6:23 AM: Just because nobody mentioned it, doesn't mean no one else has got Foster. ;-) Birmingham @WBA doesn't look bad, so I would be inclined to keep him. I believe some others have picked up Foster on the BD as well.

Anonymous said...

@6:23 AM, September 13, 2010

you are not the only one with foster, good pick and keeper for few more games

SfSS

Eddy E said...

Dembele on the barndoor (6.5) or keep Carroll (5.96).... hmmm

Anonymous said...

aston villa and chelsea players should earn well next week. so my team is pretty heavy on those sides. Foster has been good for me and I will keep him for the foreseeable future.

Foster
squillaci gohouri mancienne
malouda VDV Lampard Downing reo-coker
dembele drogs

saitogenetic

things might change depending on CL matches

Anonymous said...

Excuse me for spamming you once again guys but I really want to create a large group for this game and it is really good fantasy game!

I have created a league in the Uefa CL fantasy football game on the official UEFA website www.uefa.com: Whoever plays it go ahead and enter it. I played it last year and the game is really good!

You just need to enter the code: 74698-14281

Staffer84

joshtottenham said...

@anonymous: VdV is not playing LW, he is playing behind a lone striker. Could well change next game, but as a spurs fan I reckon that's where he stays until Defoe is back (unless other injuries force him deeper into CM. He has previously stated he doesn't like playing on the left.

Anonymous said...

hmm cahill or aj?

which one would u pick?

Hooligan Gangstaz said...

Barndoored Gyan...another great surprise addition to the premiership.

TwoFace said...

missed out on BD Etherington and Jones, they both could easily have a big week this weekend :p

Anonymous said...

Got 117 points for the week, am fifth in my private league, need to figure out how to improve further.

For week 5, am tempted to change the team, dropping tevez, petrov, chamakh, etuhu and Kompany

Current team is

Reina
Bale, Skrtel, Kompany
Adam, Ethers, Etuhu, Petrov
Berb, Chamakh, Tevez


SL

Kikifish said...

had 131.5 points.. best one ive had so far..

my team was

almunia
bale,kompany,koncielny
scholes,c.adam,nolan,van.d.vaart
drogba,tov,dembele..

dembele was a gamble.. was low on credit so i just picked him.. paid off well :D

Arsenal_bergkamp said...

Both Diaby(ankle) and Vermaelen(Achilles) are unavailable for tomorrow's game.

Mandara said...

what about bosingwa?

Arsenal_Bergkamp said...

“John Terry trained today and he will travel,” said Ancelotti. “The players we have out and unavailable are Bosingwa and Lampard.

http://myfootballnews.info/2010/09/14/terry-to-play-while-lampard-to-miss-and-cole-to-rest/#more-296

Anonymous said...

Cudicini
Bale Kos Ferreira
VDV AJ Ethuhu Malouda
Drogs Carroll Dembele
1.98 in bank.

Do not want to change my team unless injuries occur. Malouda may be moved but I expect him to start at home to Blackpool. What about Ferreira?

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