Sunday 19 September 2010

Week 5 - Saturday

What you'll tend to find in weeks with few clean sheets is a far lower scoring pattern across fantasy teams, and so far this weekend has been no exception. From the seven Saturday fixtures only Newcastle were able to keep their opposition out, and let's face it, not many people would've gone with Newcastle defenders with a tricky game at Everton.

It means the majority of defenders scored very little yesterday...as did many of the goalkeepers. I saw a comment in the "My Team" post from someone claiming they saw I'd picked Foster and quickly switched to Kirkland (which I don't think is possible because nobody knew I'd picked him till after the deadline), but I wouldn't blame anyone taking this approach!

We all know I've had a rotten time with goalkeepers this season and it continued with -3 as Foster shipped 3 goals at the Hawthorns. The odds of this result occurring were 30/1, so it proves I must have some sort of jinx on the position at the moment. Great result for West Brom mind you, as Odemwingie inspired them to come from behind after Jerome had opened the scoring for Birmingham.

There also weren't many goals by premier league standards, as we had no fewer than FOUR 1-1 draws. The first of these was Stoke v West Ham, where the result was probably fair, The Hammers started brightly but Stoke got back in to it in the 2nd half - goals from Scott Parker and Kenwyne Jones and an assist for Jermaine Pennant were the things to note, but Matt Etherington just about returned his barndoor cost with a solid 9 points.

It all looked rosey for Aston Villa as they took an early lead against Bolton through as popular pick this week, Ashley Young. But Bolton are fighters this year, and they got level through Kevin Davies. Bot sides had chances after this, but again a point for each side was fair. Same story at Ewood Park, as Fulham came from a goal down vs Blackburn, Samba and Clint Dempsey on the scoresheet. Dembele was disappointing but Salcido looks like he's going to be a fantasy star bombing forward from left back, and I promptly picked him up on the barndoor.

Spurs were slightly fortunate to win 3-1 over Wolves after scoring 3 times in the final 13 minutes, but when you look at the match stats (58% possession and 20 attempts on goal vs Wolves 5) then maybe you can say we just about deserved it. Fletcher gave the away side he lead, but the "injured" Van Der Vaart (thanks Harry) got Spurs level from the spot, before Pavlyuchenko and Hutton wrapped things up. Bale was a machine once again, another 15 points for him...VDV came in on the barndoor.

Everton remain in the bottom three and without a win (where's ToffeeDave?) after a defeat at home to Newcastle, and you have to say the Geordies deserved the 3 points. Ben Arfa scored a cracker and Barton ran the midfield show to lump more misery on David Moyes' side. The final game of the day saw Sunderland snatch a 95th minute equaliser through Darren Bent after Fabregas's freak 1st half goal had put Arsenal ahead. Song was sent off, Rosicky missed a penalty (badly) and Fabregas was taken off early on with an apparent hamstring injury. He was all set to be in my team for next week, but now I'll have to wait and see if he's set for a lay-off.

So that was Saturday - a disappointing 46.5 points with my two most expensive players, Malouda & Drogba, along with Charlie Adam left to go. I still have faint hope of getting up towards a par score 80 points, but the way this week is going I'm not getting my hopes up and it could be a 1st Round exit for me in The Blog Cup! Unbelievably my total so far was enough to move me up 200 places in the rankings, but I know many people will have more than 3 players left today so I expect to drop considerably tonight.

My currently Week 6 team looks like this:  

Foster, Koscielny, Salcido, Bale, Adam, Barton, Van Der Vaart, Arshavin, Dembele, Chamakh, Drogba

I still have over £5m in the bank, so Kos may be upgraded (he could be benched with Vermaelen returning), or Arshavin could be switched to Fabregas if he's ready to play. Alternatively I could upgrade Dembele, but I might give him another go at home to struggling Everton. Drogba will stay, but Malouda is going and I'm just pre-warning you all, Foster is going to stay, so run away while you still can.

How are you getting on so far? Who came in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

39 comments:

alper said...

I got 69.5 pts and torres & a.cole to go...we looked to have same defensive lines up but of course it will change after midweek games..good luck to all..

No Name FC said...

My current Week 6 team as follows:

Foster
Bale / Squillaci / Salcido
S Davies / Fabregas / Arshavin / Adam
Chamakh / Kalinic / Carroll

I personally think Salcido will be as good as Bale to give your team a great fantasy point. At 7.57, i think this is the time to bring him in your team. I have him at 5.++ last week but dropped him for week 5 as he was not in the team for week 4.

I am trying my best to squeeze in as many Arsenal players but have to limit for 4 players.

Mr D said...

Hi AM, what do you think of having Liverpool players for week 6? Is dropping Drogba in able to get Fab and Torres in my team a wise move?

Birty said...

damn, i was keeping foster too!!!

36.5 with flomo, terry, adam and a-jo. A lot will have flomo and adam so if the other two come good maybe I'll sneak through to round 2.

so far next week looks like foster, bale, vidic, vermaelen, flomo, adam, vdv, a-ash, carrol, dembele and gyan.

Not sure about carrol anymore but I'd be hard pushed to find a forward at 6 who was likely to return their value almost every week and if i was to change him, i'd have to change a-ash.

Anonymous said...

@Mr D, Fab is out with injury
I only have 34 points so things are looking bad for me. Foster was a letdown. I still have Essien, Drogs, Kompany, Adam and AJ left so there's still hope though ^^

--neoncoffee

Bojan said...

67 points... up 12000 places... now at low 14k...
no drog today but i have kompany,aj and flomo...

Anonymous said...

Once I knew that AM had picked Foster, I thought OMG! I'll get the AM goalie jinx so quickly switched Foster to Kirk......phew!, that was close.

AM is a top bloke, superb,sublime,stupendous FF informationist BUT can't pick a keeper to save his life or his wallet!

FUTURE FF PLEA

AM, next week, please don't pick Krull(or Harper if fit)

Thanks, have a great week.

ThatsEntertainment81

Assistant Manager said...

ThatsEntertainment81 - That's not actually possible mate, nobody knew my team until after the deadline so you couldn't have seen I had Foster and then switched it. But don't worry, I'm not picking Harper/Krul next week, it's likely i'll keep Foster at home to Wigan.

greginho said...

it feels weird to get 47.5 points and move +71 in the rankings to break 500. i am currently 456. i am hoping for a relatively quiet drogba, a return point scoring for malouda, many assists for nani and adam to keep up his usual production. i need this to not lose ground.

greginho said...

nnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooo AM i have had foster since week 2 and don't want you to pick him up again. i think there are many many many better choices.

Anonymous said...

fabregas injury serious? should i keep him ? : (

BinMudhaf said...

Dear AM thanks for ur great work ur posts are realy helpful mate ..im sure there is 4 in the top 50 having the AM.BLOG tag and most the top 100 are reading ur blog ..i hit the top once coz of u ...im raly thankful for this blog u and the ppl in the chat thanks again mate and goodluck :)

blah blah [AM.Blog]

kwyjibo said...

Yes, despite a disaster on Blog Cup week 1, this blog has been a HUGE help. Thanks to AM, and to all your comments.

But, this nightmare week continues...only 26.5 so far. 5 players to go but: AJohnson starting on the bench...Added 'hat-trick' Berbatov early, and then dropped him for Chamakh.

If Malouda doesn't start again, it's most likely bye-bye Blog Cup...unless Drogba can score 4-5 goals...I'm not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

a. johnson on bench, well done mancini " ", at least richards has starded, hopefully he can score :) seems he was not a popular pick this week, as for most managers here, a bad week, but still drogba maluoda and adam to go

SfSS

Anonymous said...

Damn, Adam Johnson not starting, is it?

And any word on the Fabregas injury? Should it keep him away from next week?

-Bombay Blues

Anonymous said...

Ok, Chelsea, now don't you DARE sub out Drogba or Malouda at half-time...I need a few more goals to salvage this week! 8-0 should be enough...sorry, Blackpool...

NH said...

Drogba robbed of a penalty at the final whistle. Oh well, still should score well. Wish he didn't pick up the stupid yellow card though.

Anonymous said...

man, i'm debating whether to drop drogba and craig gardner to pick up gerrard and malouda for next week.

any opinions on that?

thanks in advance
-- alex d.

Anonymous said...

Should I BD Berbatov and drop Drogba for next week? Berb is in the form of his life and I think he'll do well against Bolton next week. Drogs has a tough match with Man City. Any thoughts?

NH said...

Personally I think Drogba could really trouble the City defense and if Lampard is still out having all the free kicks / corners / penalties is an added bonus.

kwyjibo said...

I did BD Berbatov, but not at the expense of Drogba. My post-BD line-up looks like this:

Kirkland
Bale-Kos-Mancienne
FloMa-CAdam-VDV-Barton
Drogba-ChamWow!-Berbatov

After 5 weeks of wasting money on goalkeepers for a total of only 6.5 points, I'm going for the zero with Kirkland.

I've been waiting for Chamakh to really 'wow' me, and he hasn't. I'm really thinking of getting rid of him. He hasn't really scored much in terms of fantasy points. We'll see.

greginho said...

so the drogba drop worked. i was sure that nani and cesc would outscore cahill and drogba. cahill didn't play and drogba 19.50.
cesc and nani combined for 21.00 points. i got a respectable 105 and am hoping that it will get me to the 2nd round of the cup.

Kellz said...

BD TEAM:

Kirk
Bale, Kos, Salcido
Malouda, Nasri, VDV, Ben Arfa
Drogba, Berbatov, Chamakh

Feeling fairly certain I'll stick with this lineup. Possibly make moves with Nasri/Berbatov to fit in Arshavin, but all depends on Fabregas's injury status. If hes out, Nasri should be on some kicks.

Can't believe people went without Drogba/Malouda this week, and are talking of dropping one or two for next week. Malouda is in the best run of form since joining Chelsea, theres no reason to think he can't continue. If Lamps is out I see Drogba retaining more value however, taking all FK/PK.

Well another week down, another decent/solid 96.5pts in the bank.

Guy said...

@Kellz - I agree not going with Drogba/Malouda this week would have been a risky decision but next week they should have a more difficult game and that should (!) result in lower scoring. I'm seriously considering going without them - the main problem would be finding players to spend all the money on. At the moment I have about 17m in the bank. I'm unsure about Arsenal too - will they have a dip in form now as after the Sunderland game last year, especially if Fabregas is out?
I'm sorry to say your 96.5 wasn't enough in the Knock 'Em Out tournament. I feel a bit apologetic that my team beat yours, because you always give sensible advice. It's just a good thing I didn't listen to it this week ;-)

Steven said...

Not many people choose Chelsea players for Round 6?

jimmy said...

nooooooo! took vdv out and put hleb in! stupid physio room! im big spurs suporter, so it hurts even more!

managed 99.5 without him though!

Anonymous said...

Last season i picked Bent at home to Arsenal and it worked, i also dropped Drogba at Man City and it worked. I expect a repeat this season, Deat Jong will be shackled to Drogba, at d most a goal for Drogba to get him to his season average but i doubt, only a Penalty will give Drogba a goal at City and i've replaced him with Tevez whom i need just 10pts from.

Anonymous said...

Forster
Kos O'shea Baptiste
Arfa Cole Adam Vdv Malouda
Berbatov Tevez

4.52 left, i was going for Torres over Malouda but with his performance i expect a rise so i'll keep him and maybe sub out Tevez, was Drogba not sent off at City last season? If Kompany doesn't get sent off, i expect a tight game with Drogba scoring low. Like last season i'm not picking players from the top teams against City except Malouda for wk6.

Anonymous said...

thoughts-
1. don't get too paranoid about the g/k thing AM. my g/k woes ended this week with P robbo. only the assist saved him really but it was almost a 1 for 1 return. i also bd'ed foster.
2. also picked up arsh on the bd . & gerrard & berb's for now. ditching drogs & malouda as chelsea finally have to play a tough game !

3. quick bit of g/k analysis -
best goals against/ saves ratio is cech 1/12= 0.08 . joe hart 2/17= 0.12 . gomes 1/7= 0.14 jussi 2/12=0.17 . almunia not bad at 4/10 =0.4. p robbo 6/18 = 0.33 shock ! ; worst around are the over-rated reina 7/10= 0.7 ( it was a fairly average 0.5 for much of last yr ) ;
harper 6/5= 1.20 ; rob green 13/15= 0.87, and kirkland 10/4= 2.50 !!

S.P.

Anonymous said...

VDV.....Out?

First year player. Using your sight for information. Suggestion: Could use the word "maybe" next time instead of "definitely". Also, if you are just quoting others sights maybe the "source" should be checked.

How did other players in my league know he was going to play?

Anonymous said...

i'm thinking about next week fixture which is city v chelsea.
because of that i want to drop either drogba or floma.
which one do you prefer?

ken

donut said...

Anon 12:31 - Harry Redknapp himself said that VdV would be out. He also said that Modric could be back. AM was simply passing on the news that was prevalent at the time. You will find that most regular YFF players dropped VdV because all sources including the manager maintain he was injured. The people in your group who kept him probably wanted to maintain their discounts and got lucky that he played.

At the end of the day, you should use this blog as a guide but you have to make and be accountable for your own decisions!!!!!!!

kaoru4sho said...

...my team for this week could be like this...

Haper
bale - Kosielny - Salcido
Malouda - Adam - Arshavon - Barton - Vandevaart
Chamakh - Dembele

..any advide for me, plz?

donut said...

ken, my advice, drop neither!! Both can easily score heavily against City even if they don't win. City will play very defensively and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they manage even to sneak a win because they have the quality players.

I hold both, I wanted Fab for next week but with his injury and Malouda's form I am sticking with Flomo and point chasing on Berbs whilst he is affordable...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the insight. Did not take into consideration teams keeping VDV because of getting him at good price.

Did not mean to "blame" anyone for my decision. As stated, first year player, and I must say I am enjoying myself very much. The only negative thing so far, for me, is that I see little or no humor in peoples statements and some are quick to go on the attack.....

I find little or no help within the league I joined. Did not even know (one) players name a few weeks ago and have started doing research through these blogs. Guess I got a little frustrated because I thought I had done my homework.

Thanks again

Anonymous said...

You're dead right AM, you caught me out. Though in truth, you wrote on FRIDAY....

"Ben Foster is another in the 7.XX bracket who rewarded managers who stuck with him vs Liverpool and he now has a chance of more points at West Brom"

....which gave me a little indication of your Week 5 choice of keeper.

No offence, by the way from my(slightly provocative) comment and thanks for the great FF blog you provide.

ThatsEntertainment81

Anonymous said...

Wow,, I just read some of the comments regarding my post of VDV reported as not playing when actually he did.

Sorry....................

Think I will stick to just reading and remain off the comment board.

I was warned by the person who suggested I try soccer that it would be a lot different then other sports I watch or do "fantasy" teams with.

Hope you have a good season, and I will just walk over here and be real quiet.

Anonymous said...

haha thanks donut.tough decision tho.
city can be very tricky when it comes to chelsea.
they won both games last season right?
i afraid that city will do that again this time.
after the haircut tevez looks dangerous.haha:) but drogs and floma,hard to let go those two right.

ken
damn.most likely i gonna swap floma with berbatov.against bolton.the chance for him to score probably bigger

Anonymous said...

I think this week will be when Chelsea's stars flop.

So, no Drogba or Malouda for me.

Foster
bale Salci Smalling
Adam Ethers VDV StevieG
Berb Dembe Chamwow

SL

Post a Comment