Monday 25 October 2010

Week 9 - Sunday

Sunday completed a truly rotten week for me, as points rained in for players I didn't have and I missed my second barndoor of the weekend, stuck in traffic on the M25 on a Sunday afternoon.

The first game of the day was at Stoke where Manchester United grabbed a vital 3 points with a hard fought 2-1 victory. They have a new star in the making in Javier Hernandez, and his brace was enough to see off Pulis' men despite Tuncay's outstanding equaliser.

I was hoping for more than 10 points from Nani, but Chicharito delighted those who invested in him with a cracking 24 points. Pennant scored a decent 7.5 for Stoke, but that was about it. Oh yeah, Gary Neville should've been sent off.

Liverpool grabbed an even more vital win at Anfield, overcoming Sam Allardyce's stubborn Blackburn side by the same scoreline. Fantastic points for goalscorer Kyrgiakos and Torres along with Steven Gerrard, but not much for Blackburn seeing their goal was a Carragher OG (although Phil Jones continues to score well). The win wasn't enough to move Liverpool out of the relegation zone but it should ensure they start moving in the right direction.

The final game of the weekend was the big one - Manchester City vs Arsenal, and to be honest it was spoilt by Boyata's red card just 5 minutes in. He had to go mind you, and although City battled well you can't beat Arsenal with 10 men. Nasri, Song & Bendtner wrapped up the points despite Joe Hart saving a Fabregas penalty. Great points for Silva, Boateng, Fabianski & the Arsenal defence.

Nani's points gave me a well below average score of 83, the 3rd time I have failed to break 100 this season - not good! I had a feeling I would drop out of the Top 1000 and boy did I, down to 1078th, a fall of almost 400 places from Saturday.

My main frustration  however, was missing the barndoor once again after City v Arsenal (although I was able to grab Hernandez). This meant I missed out on a number of players I definitely wanted but now probably can't afford to get for Week 10; Fabianski, Boateng, Carroll & Brunt. Because of this I'll need to do something different to other managers, but I guess that may not be a bad thing.

Current side on my page:

Krul, Coleman, Bosingwa, Bale, Adam, Nani, Van Der Vaart, Fabregas, Hernandez, Carroll, Chamakh

With this team I have 3.2m in the bank and still hold Zhirkov & Malouda at discount. I may switch Hernandez to Brunt/Barton or Bale may go for Salcido (or even Boateng @6) to allow me to either keep Malouda or get a better keeper in with the spare cash. I'm almost certainly going to leave out Drogba @ 22 away from home.

The Blog Team had a far better week with 108 points moving us up towards the Top 2500. Huge thanks to Mike & Hans for continuing to manage this team in my absence! Also thanks to them for running http://www.ffchallenge.moonfruit.com/ where I understand I edged-out ToffeeDave in the KEO Cup Final - adding some much needed cheer to an otherwise terrible Week 9! :)

That completes my posts for Week 9. Please let me know how you did (I'm sure many of you far exceeded 100 point) and I'd also like to ask for advice on how I should approach my team given the current selection on my page, remembering I missed the barndoor/s!

I may not be posting too much this week as it's my 28th birthday on Wednesday, but my Week 10 - Player Picks will be up at some-point on Thursday.

Cheers,
AM

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

Advance Happy Birthday AM...

~P.K~

Anonymous said...

Don't be sad Nik, your BIGday will come near soon. Happy Birthday Nik, hope week10 score will be a good present to you. I'm enjoying your good work & it had helped me a lot. From a rookie's point of view, I would like to thank you a lot & hope you can continue your work =)

Btw, I managed to score 101.5 this week & my premature week10 team atm:

Fabianski
Salcido Bosingwa Beye(not sure)
Adam VDV Brunt Barton Nasri
Tevez Anelka(big hunch!)

Any advise are much appreciated...

Cheers,
MySL

Naning said...

Cheer up AM. I've been above 100pts two weeks this year. Mainly because I haven't had the time this year. So you haven't got too much to complain about.

I'm still climbing in the ranks though, and will be looking for top 2000 in two weeks.

Guy said...

Happy birthday for Wednesday AM - I wish I could be looking forward to my 28th birthday. Sadly that was too many years ago...
I only managed 86 this week - Drogba/Kirkland were the main culprits and I decided to keep Chamakh who by all accounts had a good game but not in terms of scoring fantasy points. I dropped Barton after having him all year; I swapped Malouda/Barton for Ivanovic/Obinna on the basis of concern for Malouda being rested. Choosing Essien over Brunt didn't help either.
For next week I'm wating on Chelsea team news - especially Zhirkov who is a very handy filler at the moment. Also BD'd Torres but I'm not too sure. It's just that he could start scoring now. A swap for Fabregas would make sense but would it score better... Nearly 9 in the bank though so I'm sure I'll do something.

Chicharito said...

Happy birthday to you...
I don't see anyone talk about Minijas...
I think next week goal keeper ir joe hart with more than 20 pts...
My current saved team:
hart
bossingwa konchesky zhirkov(find s.o to replay)
nani vdv adam minijas silva
torres(not sure) chicharto

Anonymous said...

Happy 28th Birthday AM!! I have a suggestion for you:

Make your girlfriend wear Cling Wrap (only) around the house on that day. :)

It's fun and i wish I did that on my 28th B-Day!

Eason said...

Happy Birthday in advance AM :)

No Name Fc said...

My team only managed to get 94 points for Week 9. Really dissapointed with the decision to bring in Drogba and Kirkland for Hernandez and Foster.

Anyway thats what we called fantasy football. Everything based on our imagination. Sometimes we earn good points and sometimes it make us feel bad.

My BD team at the moment look this way:

FABIANSKI
BOSINGWA BOATENG SQUILLACI
VDV C.ADAM FABREGAS NASRI
CHAMAKH YAKUBU CARROLL

Still have 9.02million in bank. So will try my best to squeeze in Arshavin, Salcido, Beye or Barton if possible.

Anonymous said...

126.5 with Hernadez and Foster helping the cause. Up to 1350 overall and moved from 50th in AM Blog 1 to 30! No real fixture stands out except Arsenal v Hammers and I have no Gunners so far. Current Team;

Foster
Boateng Carr Dann
VDV Adam Nani FloMo
Zigic Torres Hernadez

BCB

Anonymous said...

Quite pleased with my past week bringing in 137 points with this team selected on the full moon:

Foster
Jacobsen-Zhirkov-Boateng
VdV-Malouda-Nani-Brunt-Adam
Drogba-Hernandez

Changing a few things with my BD team

Foster
Jacobsen-Zhirkov-Boateng
Vdv-Malouda-Nani-Brunt-Nasri
Hernandez-Bendter

With 10.90 in the bank to spend.
In week 8,I picked up Zhirk-Boateng-Hernandez all for 5.00 a piece or less.

A1

Anonymous said...

LOL A1, "quite pleased" with 137 points, i'd be fucking delighted dude!

Ken said...

124.5 points this week.

Feel like I have come a long way from being put in my place (deserved it) from my days of the VDV post which prompted a direct response from AM.

A happy student of the game......

Alex Darlo said...

OK, this is my 3rd season, first season was good, finished around the 700 mark, last season was in the top ten a lot and always in the top 100, think i finished 78th,

This season? it's been awful, can't get away from 2500, just bad decision after bad decision and lots of different why.

Main one the premier has been so different, no breakaway team except chelsea. Man Utd have not really got going, Man City the same plus never know who plays. Liverpool a joke, Everton just maybe starting to get going, and Villa etc just not with it, oh and Spurs aswell has having 78 midfielders causing a selection issue lack a top striker to alloy you to put your money on them.

Also there has been no 'derby' this season, west ham are getting there mind.

Also I have been guilty of 'loading' and its killed me, I did it for newcastle against blackpool, did it for liverpool against blackpool and many others, this week I picked a very varied team, almost one player from the majority mediocre teams and notched just short of 120, so for me am going from 'loading' to 'spreading', argh thats sounds soooo wrong, but you get the point.

Also, I think the premier is starting to settle, the table, liverpool and west brom excepted, looks like it should now, teams are finding their natural place and it should make things a tad easier.

Oh and Sunday's BD, closed 10 mins after the match, I was gutted, I was greedy, I got Fabianski in, I got Nasri in, I got schillachi in and I went to do Bender when it closed, if only I had saved as I wanted Fab as a season keeper and Nasri for this week, Nicholas Bender has ruined my week!!

PS - Wasn't going to keep all the arsenal players just wanted them in cheap and decide from there.

Oh Happy Birthday, and for the 'cling film' guy, what happens when she takes a shit? not a good image and not one that anyone would want on their birthday!!

kwyjibo said...

Happy (early) Birthday AM! Although, I feel bad. It's your birthday, but I'm the one who got the present this week...

...finished with a good 98.5, and although not as good as others, it still got my an overall rise of 271 places, to 959. The first time I have ever finished a week in the top 1000! And, it's not even my birthday yet...

So, thanks AM, and to all on here. Before this blog I was floundering in the 15,000+ range.

My BD team still needs a lot of work, still 10.3 in the bank:

Jussi
Boateng-Zhirkov-Bosingwa
FloMa-Adam-VdV-Nani-Nasri
Chamakh-Chicharito

A lot of big decisions this week. Should we be looking ahead to the following double week when we make our choices? We'll see...

Enjoy your Birthday!

Ian Sanderson said...

Bloody 66.5 points.
Drogba, Bale, Nani, N'zog pahhhhh
Down to 3037th

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday ! No matter how badly you did this week, you are still ahead of me.

kwyjibo said...

Bale gets a rest:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25102010/58/premier-league-harry-rests-unbelievable-bale.html

Anonymous said...

Anyone thinking Wenger will take this week to give some players a rest? I could see Chamakh sitting with Bendtner getting a run out and Walcott playing too. Hopefully we get some clarity this week.

Anonymous said...

Balotelli.

Anonymous said...

Bale will be back up by the weekend, he is resting for the mid-wk cup games, also Balotelli is not ready yet, maybe by wk11.

Anonymous said...

team week 10

Cech
Jerkoff Boateng Bosingwa
Brunt Nani VDV Fab
Papa Chico Carroll Chamakh

Anonymous said...

Do you guys think zhirkov will be playing this coming week as I heard Ramires is coming back

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Anonymous said...

Why do i feel Bendtner is better striker than Chamakh? Hope he gets the nod against West ham.

Anonymous said...

Why do i feel Bendtner is better striker than Chamakh? Hope he gets the nod against West ham.

One Love said...

Haven't heard anything on Ramires/Zhirkov yet. Better to wait til Thursday/Friday. Both are good value.

I see a lot of people exploring Chicharito-Carroll-Chamakh.

Surprised Steve Bruce doesn't give Gyan more playing time. Is Danny Welbeck seriously more deserving?

Surprised Mancini doesn't play Milner and Yaya in central midfield, thus accomodating both Silva and Adam Johnson, which would make fantasy football much less of a headache. Instead, he favours Barry and De Jong.

Surprised Nico Krancjar isn't breaking in more at Spurs. Saw Bentley a few weeks ago and he was his usual greedy ineffective self. What's wrong with Nico?

Surprised Woy isn't picking Pacheco more often, although the emergence of Shelvey is interesting. Jonjo is definitely a talent.

NOT SURPRISED ONE LITTLE BIT that the boy Wayne looked around and decided to stay at Old Trafford.

A tiny bit surprised Avram seems to be flailing at West Ham with so many talented players. Come Christmas it could be there on a plate for Rikjaard's taking. Plus a player or two, and a new stadium soon, and the future could be bright and rosy. Come January it could be grim. Grim I tell you. Grim as Avram Grant. I'm a Chelsea fan and I love Avram dearly forever but he taught me grim, even when he's really sweet and lovely, the man is grim.

Gerard Houllier has inherited a Milner-less central midfield of Ireland, Reo-Coker, and Sidwell, and seems more impressed with the latter two. In an Agbonglahor-less world, I'd expected more from Delfouneso by now. Curious to see how Gerard and Randy Lerner approach January.

And finally my hunch pick of the week, if you want to break the chicharito temptations, dark horse, been a bit quiet but due.... Kenwyne Jones. If only Tony Pulis would get over himself and start Kenwyne and Tuncay as the proper force they are.

Anonymous said...

VIGNESH From CHENNAI.... Advance HAPPY BIRTHDAY-AM... I am a big fan ur posts... As usually u hav done a Great job... Thanks for The Hard work... I just hav a small doubt in Picking my team for the Weak 10.. I hav 2 options... 1. BALE + HESKEY. Or 2. COLEMAN + CHAMAKH... Any comments r welcomed...

Anonymous said...

Almunia is back, will Fabianski get a chance ?

Anonymous said...

Yaya Touré is the worse midfield option for Man City even lazier than Barry, Mancini will be nuts to keep De Jong on the bench just to suit fantasy players. Barry or Yaya or both of them should be on the bench.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

pretty standard week-finished with about 90 points, would have hoped for slightly more...hernandez was a great hunch pick! happy early bday AM.

currently sitting on:

hart
bosingwa boateng koscielny konchesky
VDV brunt fab4 silva
chamakh torres

still got 1.32 in the bank...torres, fab4, silva, koscielny, konchesky and hart are at full price-not saved yet...any comments/help welcome.

have a good week people.

Cheers, Cescy.

Anonymous said...

Craig Gardner, anyone?

Anonymous said...

What about dropping Adam - his production appears to be slipping.

BTW - I dropped drogs this week and picked up hernadez on a hunch. Would I prefer Drogs over the long haul? Definitely! He'll have off days but more often than not he'll have monster days. So for the toldcha so crowd be prepared to take it back when it comes.

Anonymous said...

Happy bdae AM, ur blog really helps alot,keep up the good work!!

A chat with Han over the wkend via AMchat roll, he mentioned the game is a long marathon of 38wks & we shd not be affected by some off-wk from very consistent high performers like bale.

I have a few candidates as season keepers & i need some advice.
1)bale (@12.87)
2)nani (@14.7)
3)fabregas (full price at 16.93)
4)drogba (full price at 22.68)

I really wish to have 4 of them, but its impossible. Hence, i can only select 3 out of 4.

the question is who should i let go?
I have 2 choices:

Option 1 (w/o drog)

fabianski
bale, bowsingwa, boateng
adam, vdv, nani, fab, nasri
carroll, henandez

Option 2 (w/o bale)

fabianski
salcido, bowsingwa, boateng, mancienne
adam, vdv, nani, fab
carroll, drog

I really like bale, i had him since wk 1 but if i want drog, he had to go.

So guys pls share ur thoughts & give me some advice.

Cheers,
Brock96

Anonymous said...

Happy b day AM hope u make the most of it....

Kolorov is back in training do u think he wld be ready for the week end????

Red Eyes

Doctor Teeth said...

One Love - there's nothing wrong with Niko Kranjcar (case in point, his stellar performance for Croatia last week)...but it's impossible for him to get on the pitch for Spurs at the moment because we have a left wing named Gareth Bale who is a really good prospect.

Anonymous said...

CAN WE DENY DROGBA THIS WEEK ?
He`ll make us weep once again if we don`t pick him...

Anonymous said...

Week 10

Fabianski
Bosingwa Boateng Zhirkov
VDV Nani Adam Cattermole
Drogba Tevez Gudjohnsen

Ken said...

week 10
P.Cech

Bosingwa...Squillaci.....Kyrgiakos

Malouda...VDV....C.Adam....C.Brunt...Arshavin

Chamakh.....A.Carroll

only .49 left......Keep Arshavin????

If not him..who?

Ian Sanderson said...

@anon 7.37
Cattermole against Newcastle - very brave indeed.

Orphans said...

Brock 96

Give up your attachment to keeping players for the course of the season. That will free you up to make better decisions.

Anonymous said...

@Alex Darlo, if you think about shitting, then you probably cover too much. The point of cling wrap is not to be concealing, you know.. :)

Anonymous said...

Several comments so far about people having quite a bit of money left over. It is pretty amazing to see how much seems to get freed up when you sell Drogba.

Don't quite understand the Carroll bandwagon for this week, Newcastle Vs Sunderland looks like it has all the ingredients to just be a yellow card fest with very few chances to me.

I'm going for Dembele this week at home to Wigan. Am currently 648th after an average week of 95 points, aim is of course to break into the top 500.

Assistant Manager said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes, although not sure I'm too keen on the cling-film conversation....got a little bit dark for my liking, but whatever floats your boat!

Cheers guys ;)

Yanou said...

Need advise from you experts : )

which combination would you favor :

1. Hernandez Malouda Fabregas

or

2. Drogba Chamakh Silva

Thanks for your feedback !!

Anonymous said...

Exactly 100 points this weekend, surely the first time it happens to me... A good week overall if you include the massive win over ManCity in my mood factors.

BD team:

Krul
Squillaci Coleman Boateng
VDV Nani Brunt Nasri Adam
Drogba Chamakh

I'm almost definitely keeping Squillaci, Coleman, VDV, Nasri, Nani, Brunt and Chamakh, unless something unexpected happens by the deadline. I don't like either Adam or Krul for next week, while Drogba should be dropped ahead of a tricky away match while Cheslea seem to lose a bit of steam.
I want to drop all 3 for Schwarzer, Tevez and Odemwingie, but it's not guaranteed yet that Odemwingie will start. If not, I might go for Carroll, although I'm not crazy about it. I just hope Tevez is healthy, or I really don't know what to do. Keep Drogba? Buy Fabregas?

Advices?

SF

Anonymous said...

I know its the B-team but are Man United finding it hard to keep a clean sheet?

LC said...

Happy Birthday AM. Hope you have a good-un.

Guys.
Who would you go for?

Krul, Adam, Varney & Chamack

Or

Kirkland, Tevez, Benjani & Silva

Thanks
LC

Unknown said...

This is my team so far any ideas

Krus
Coleman bosingwa salcido
Nani fabergas asshavin reo cokehead
Chamakh anelka CHICARITO (at 7pts)

I'm not sure of bosingwas chances to play he was gased after 70 min last game

madness said...

Happy Birthday! :)

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday AM. Ended my disappointing week on 77 points. Is it just me, or does everyone feel that it is getting harder to hit 100 points this season. Last year when i found this blog, I kept rising in rank except for the odd week here and there. This is probably due to the many shock results that occured so far. This unpredictability is killing me, but thats what makes it fun isn't it?

Anyway lets hope things improve herein. Enjoy your birthday, AM!

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

Wohoo...Two games week is coming the week after...time to pull away from the rest...is good to keep Arsenal players from now because they will have fairly easy run for coming 3 games. Vs WestHam @ home . Vs Newcastle @ home and away to wolves.

Ian Sanderson said...

Have a good day AM.
Can't wait for your Player Picks, lots to think about this week.
I knee-jerked and got rid of Bale and Drogba at the week-end.

maxx~ said...

I really HATE double week... and its coming :(
anyway, happy birthday AM Nik !

Jamie said...

Hey guys,

Really need some help here.

I have Nani and Malouda at 13.88 and 13.07. I want to try and fit in nasri as arsenal have a goood run of fixtures ahead. Already have squillaci, fabregas and chamakh. Should I try and fit nasri in and if I should then who should i drop. This is my current team

Krul
Boateng Bosingwa Squilacci
Malouda VDV Nani Fabregas Reo-Coker
Tevez Chamakh

Cheers guys

Anonymous said...

@Jamie- is it really wise to load up? I have just Fabregas and Nasri and could even drop one of them, will probably not happen but ...

Anonymous said...

Happy B'day Nik!!!!

Can't wait for upcoming the players pick.

Anonymous said...

Harry Birthday Nik! Wish i could e-mail you a champagne.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

Harry Birthday Nik! Wish i could e-mail you a champagne.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Nik!!!

Hope you have a good one.

Dave L

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