Wednesday 3 November 2010

Week 11 - Player Picks

As I start this post I'm still on a high after last night's incredible result over Inter Milan. It is without doubt one of the proudest nights of my life as a Spurs fan as we played with flair, pace, power and without fear, Modric outshone Sneijder, Bale ripped Maicon & Lucio to shreds and the whole team worked their socks off for 93 minute to seal a famous win. My only regret is not getting a ticket!

If Tottenham could play like that on a regular basis then the club would be challenging for the Premier League title, but of course the consistency just isn't there and it's extremely possible that after beating the reigning European Champions we will go and lose to Bolton Wanderers this Saturday lunchtime...the life and times of a Spurs fan!

Anyway, as mentioned in a previous post we have had confirmation from Yahoo that there are no more double weeks, meaning Week 11 is a single week, followed by Week 12 in mid-week (The 3rd Round of The Blog Cup), immediately followed by Week 13 next weekend, meaning we need to pick 3 teams in 7 days. Exactly where I'm going to find time to write Player Pick posts in such quick succession I'm not sure, so you may well find the posts to be shorter than usual for the next 10 days or so.

A good way to speed things up is by changing my fixture summary to the following format:

Stand-Outs
MAN UNITED v Wolves
ARSENAL v Newcastle

Should Win
MAN CITY @ West Brom
BIRMINGHAM v West Ham
CHELSEA @ Liverpool
EVERTON @ Blackpool

Draw/Close to Call
Bolton v Tottenham
Fulham v Aston Villa
Sunderland v Stoke
Blackburn v Wigan


Now on to the Player Recommendations, with the added confusion of injuries to Nani, Fabregas & Van Der Vaart...

KEEPERS
Fabianski
Hart
Foster
Mignolet
Robinson


Wenger has been harping on for a while that Fabianski (aka Flappy-Handski) is a good keeper. We all doubted him as the young man put in rotten performance after rotten performance, but he is starting to show signs of having some quality. I missed him at £6m a couple of weeks ago but he still returned good points for a cost of £9m in Week 10 and he has another nice winnable home fixture vs Newcastle.

Joe Hart let lots of managers down last weekend with his negative points, but he's £9m now, City face a West Brom side decimated by suspensions (2 red cards vs Blackpool) and injuries (Olsson, Odemwingie and Morrison all doubts), so I'd expect a far better score this week. Around this same cost is Ben Foster, who continues to perform well and could grab another clean sheet at home to bottom club West Ham.

At the cheaper end of the market we have two in-form keepers who have seen their value drop after defeats and negative points last weekend, but who have winnable games against teams who don't score too many. Sunderland took a battering at Newcastle so Mignolet dropped significantly (£5.58m) , but they can beat Stoke, while Blackburn were unlucky to lose to Chelsea and Paul Robinson (£6.73m) is perfectly capable of keeping out Wigan.

DEFENDERS
Bale
Salcido
Bosingwa
Squillaci
Kompany
Boateng
Koscielny
Carr
Dann
Coleman
Hutton
Jones

Zhirkov
Salgado
Onuoha
Jacobsen


Maicon couldn't stop him, can Steinsson? Well Rafael & Phil Neville did, but Bale is sure to test him and he may also get set-pieces back if Van Der Vaart misses out. I'm still reeling from picking Dembele instead of Salcido last week and I now can't afford Fulham's attacking full-back. If you had him/barndoored him then he should stay in for the home game vs Villa.

We can't be sure whether Bosingwa returns at Liverpool but he's out of Chelsea's European game tonight due to illness - hopefully Ancelotti will clear things up on Friday. Squillaci & Koscielny allow you to cover the Arsenal clean sheet if you don't go with Fabianski, both around £7m, while Kompany has dropped in price after a strong start to the season and Boateng is cheap again, so either of those men cover Man City.

The other team with a great clean sheet chance are Birmingham, so Dann or Carr are the most affordable defenders. Coleman still represents fantastic value as a defender playing right-wing, but it appears he's also the first player to be subbed when Everton switch systems, so the 75 minute cut-off is a concern.

Corluka remains out so Hutton continues at right back for Spurs, Blackburn's Jones & Salgado have done well all season and face Wigan, Zhirkov is one to watch as Lampard & Ramires may both return at Liverpool (in which case he'd be on the bench), while Onuoha & Jacobsen are guaranteed starters below £6m.

MIDFIELDERS
Nani could be fit http://tinyurl.com/2vo57e2
Fabregas
Nasri
Van Der Vaart/Modric
Arteta
Malouda (Injured)
Adam
Silva
Dempsey
Walcott
Brunt
Holden
Larsson
Pennant
Song
Milijas
Gardner
Park/Gibson
Henderson


Ferguson has said that Nani will definitely miss Wolves and although I'm waiting until Friday to drop him my gut says he won't be risked (Update: maybe he will http://tinyurl.com/2vo57e2?). It's up to you whether you keep him and it will depend on your discount. That makes Fabregas the number one pick if he recovers from his hamstring worry and I think the game being on Sunday means he should be ready, but if there's a doubt then Nasri will probably come in to my team instead.

Van Der Vaart probably needs a weekend off to ensure his hamstring recovers, but anyone holding him at around £6m should hang on. If he's out and you want rid then Modric looks like he's hitting form so could be a good alternative. Arteta is playing well for in-form Everton and could be a decent shout at Blackpool, Malouda will be back at Liverpool (nope, Ancelotti confirms he's injured), Adam is going to score well no matter the fixture and David Silva seems to have cemented his place for City now and gets most set pieces.

Dempsey is too expensive at current price but if you grabbed him on the barndoor then keep him, Walcott could be a great pick if he plays so keep an eye on Arsenal's line-up tonight for clues and Brunt continues to impress. The more I see Holden the more I like him and I expect him to cause Spurs plenty of problems, while Seb Larsson will be on set pieces for Birmingham as will Pennant (sharing with Etherington but more affordable) for Stoke.

Alex Song is in great goal scoring form but his value remains reasonable, Milijas continues to shoot from everywhere and Craig Gardner should be settling back in to form after his three-match suspension. With Nani, Valencia, Giggs, Fletcher & Anderson all struggling it could be a game for Park or Gibson (or maybe even Oberton?) to impress and Sunderland's Jordan Henderson wraps things up in midfield.

STRIKERS
Hernandez
Drogba
Berbatov
Chamakh
Adebayor
Balotelli
Yakubu
Bent/Gyan
Zigic
Biram Diouf/Benjani
Obinna


Hernandez is my favourite striker this week and by the look of the poll results so far plenty of others feel the same. Drogba enjoys playing Liverpool although you'll need to be certain to splash the 22+ on him & Berbatov is going through a quiet spell in terms of goals but is still playing well & will get chances vs Wolves.

Chamakh has been blowing hot & cold this season but I'm willing to give him another chance vs Newcastle and although Mancini says Tevez could be back from his thigh injury, he only gets back to England from Argentina tonight so I think they may give him a few days training first with the Manchester derby just a few days later. This would mean Adebayor and/or Balotelli come in to the picture at West Brom.

Yakubu grabbed the winner vs Stoke so he should continue upfront at Blackpool and Steve Bruce has confirmed he'll partner Gyan & Bent together from the start this weekend so I'm looking at Gyan as a possible third striker, while Birmingham's Jerome is still struggling with injury so West Ham will need to deal with Zigic on Saturday.

Blackburn seem to have a new strike partnership in Benjani & Biram Diouf and both are dirt cheap and playing Wigan, although we need to check on Benjani's injury tomorrow and finally Obinna, who should be back on all set pieces for West Ham after Mark Noble was ruled out for a month.

That's it! As always I'll add my analysis for each position (done!) when I get time over the next 24 hours and will be back with an update post on Friday to provide team and injury news before the Week 11 deadline.

Please vote in the poll to help Hans, Mike & myself pick the Blog Team:
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/507024

Currently on my page: 

Fabianski, Bosingwa, Coleman, Bale, Adam, Silva, Van Der Vaart, Fabregas, Nani, Chamakh, Hernandez 

It's nowhere near done. Bale, Adam, Silva, Chamakh & Hernandez will almost certainly stay but I'm still undecided on a lot of things - whether to keep the injured Nani with a £3m discount, which keeper to go with (I have Fabianski @9.2 so could go to Robinson to save cash), whether I can risk Fabregas and/or Bosingwa not starting, whether Coleman will be subbed before 75 mins, and what to do about Van Der Vaart's constant injury niggles. I think VDV @6 stays but the rest are up in the air.

That's it for now - I'd be interested to hear your opinions on goalkeepers, Nani, Fabregas & Bosingwa.

Anyone you think I've missed from the lists above? Do you have any hunches? Who do you think will flop? How's your team shaping up in this week of uncertainty?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. We've passed 950 Facebook members - please join us as we look to pass 1000 before the end of the year! :)

75 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Nani goes if you're looking to make a move. If you're high in the standings you hold him. I'm just outside the top 1000 and want to make up some serious places in this and the next round.

I need a forward (11.49 to spend) and have Drogs and Hernadez in the front line.

Varney against Everton
Jones against his old club
Davies/Elmander against a hungover Spurs

How about Oberton after his goal with Nani and Fletcher gone (Although I see AM has Park/Gibson)?

BCB

Unknown said...

I would love to fit Ji Sun Park into my team but just dont have th spaces, instead my last spot, bar any injuries goes to Little Pea. Same team as last week taking the awful Chamack out.

Anonymous said...

cant afford to drop nani...got him at 11.18...

rwlwhite said...

Dilemma! As every week!

I am away over the weekend so will miss the BD, and want to have certain players in. A Carroll for example will come in for the games following @Arsenal.

Currently on my page:

Foster
Coleman, Bale, P.Jones
VDV, Adam, Cahill, Nasri, Park
Chicharito, Carroll

However, if i change Carroll for Balotelli, I can replace P.Jones with Evra, leaving me with 2.35 in change left over.

Not really sure what to do. Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Foster
Boateng Bale Zhirkov
VDV Adam Nolan (Fabs or Nani)
Hernadez Varney Adebayor

If I take Fabs I still have 1.06 in bank, if I take Nani I have 3.36 in the bank as I have Nani at 15.58

Dave said...

With Fletcher and Nani possibly out, does a spot in midfield open up for Evra this week?

Musteng said...

Made a wrong decision to drop adam last week with injury rumors circulate around. Will wait until saturday to decide keep or drop Nani from my team

Anonymous said...

Nani Van der Vaart Fabregas the spine of my team all doubts

Fabianski
Boateng Salcido Ridgewell
Nani VdV C.Gardner Walcott
Bent Chicharito Balotelli
5.56 left still have Cesc in place of Walcott

Ebi.

Anonymous said...

Nani Van der Vaart Fabregas the spine of my team all doubts

Fabianski
Boateng Salcido Ridgewell
Nani VdV C.Gardner Walcott
Bent Chicharito Balotelli
5.56 left still have Cesc in place of Walcott

Ebi.

kwyjibo said...

Too many doubts this week. I may have to overhaul my lineup. I may drop both Nani and Fabregas. Nani is the toughest choice. Have him @14.70, so it will be a tough loss. But taking a zero will also be tough, especially if he doesn't come back for the mid-week game, either.

Considering a 4-4-2 for the first time:

Foster
Boateng-Salcido-(Bale)-(Squillaci)
Adam-VdV-Walcott-(Reo-Coker or Mikel?)
(Drogba)-Chicharito

Players in () are unsaved. Either Reo-Coker or Mikel (which is the best filler?) can be upgraded if I don't take Drogba, since I'm still not convinced he will score near his cost.

Anonymous said...

Hello AMers!

One of my toughest decision of the week is to drop Nani @15mill & upgrade Anelka & Ameobi(got him BD) to Gardner, Drogba & Chicharito. My team atm:

Fabz
Salci P.Jones Carr
Adam VDV Brunt Dempsey Gardner
Drogba Chicharito

Still unsure bout Gardner as he just back from 3 match suspension. Any comment guys?

thanks,
MySL

Anonymous said...

Ivanovic score at CL..if I were Ancelotti I will prefer him over Bosingwa...


'ZZZ'

Ian Sanderson said...

Only problem I can foresee regarding Yahoo's decision to scrap the double weeks is if they are late updating the points that week.
Confusion, especially if it's a blog cup week.

Orphans said...

Many, many health questions on key players this week.
I have Nani at 14.71. Do I drop him(at that price) for Bale?
Is Fabregas going to play. Often he does not or not well.
I have Zirkoff at 4.22. Is it worth reconsidering my other players to drop him?
Nasri, Berbatov or Walcott? I am thinking Nasri is the best choice.

Anonymous said...

Very difficult week.. no idea where to go with Nani and Fabregas, this is what i am looking at right now. 741 overall - Han13

Robinson
Evra Vidic Coleman Boateng
Silva Brunt VDV
Drogba Chamakh Hernandez

Anonymous said...

what are ur all opinion if I put Ivanovic as my defender? I have excess funds to upgrade defender...

'ZZZ'

Ken said...

What to do...What to do

Team so far:
Cech
Squillaci....Salcido....S.Carr
V.D.V. C.Adam....Nasri....Essien
Chamakh...Varney...Hernandez..

Have both Nani & V.D.V. Have to move one based on reports(Nani). Hate to do it but Nasri may help some. Will take a zero for V.D.V. as I have him at a good discount.

S.Carr & Essien remain my only questions and may change. Depending on injury reports I am happy with the rest.

Anonymous said...

Nani at a discount of 4.05. Drop or No drop?

Fabianskiii

Baines Bale Boateng

Nani Barton VDV Adam Nasri

Chicharito Chamwow

juelz said...

Wow everybody has nani including my self I would hold until the last chance to change u never know what the great sir alex is going to do he seems to change his mind

Ken said...

Discount of 4.05

If that would be my only (zero)-Keep!

Kellz said...

MALOUDA OUT FOR LIVERPOOL CLASH:

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2207176,00.html

There goes my best discounted midfielders in Malouda and Nani

Brunt anyone?

Anonymous said...

Is anybody picking Drogba on that form? Until he scored the penalty i didn't know he was playing.

Anonymous said...

noone taking kaboul?

Yanou said...

Here my team

Fabianski
Salcido Zhirkov Bosingwa
VDV Nasri Adam Silva Nolan
Hernandez Drogba

Awaiting injury news and squad sheets before I save...

Fabregas and Nani are still on discount but cannot afford taking zeros...

Anonymous said...

Hi guys

A very difficult week to make decision
I had both VDV and Nani with 3 discount
And now im making decision whether to drop them or not
If i do i will get Bale back into my team but im worried that he will disappoint me again as he doesnt score well in last few games

My current team (unsaved) :
Hart
Salcido J.Boateng Bale Squillaci
Walcott Obertan C.Adam
Chamakh Chicharito SuperMario
with 7.34 left

Im not too happy with my midfield but i reli dont noe hu to get if i reli get rid of Nani and VDV
In the striker position i have doubt over Mario, he doesnt ply well in his last game

Any thoughts abt my condition?
Thx

New Rising Manager

Anonymous said...

My team atm:

Fabianski
Carr Zhirkov Coleman
Adam VDV Nani Fabregas Nasri
Chamakh Chicharito

What do you guys think?Is it ok for me to have 2 MF from arsenal (nasri and Fabregas).
I'm sure not to drop VDV and Nani even they are not playing.Got them on a big discount.

TJ

Anonymous said...

AM, weirdly, you don't have any Manchester United defenders in your list of player picks? At home to Wolves? Do you know something we don't?

-Bombay Blues

Anonymous said...

Wolves and Man United played 3-2 in the cup match,plus the injuries, so honestly i see wolves scoring a goal at OT and Vidic is the only United defender that scores well without a CS. If Rafael was a guaranteed start then for his price he'll be worth it.

Assistant Manager said...

I've added Gyan to the list as Bruce has confirmed he'll start.

We can't be sure whether Rafael or O'Shea starts at right back & I don't fancy Vidic or Ferdinand at their current prices as I think Wolves have a goal in them with Milijas about, plus there are way too many good defenders around the 6-7 mark to spend that much. I would throw Evra in if he's going to get a game on the left wing.

Orphans said...

My team just popped into the top 1500 and finished top 350 last year. Things are much murkier this season for me.

Fabianski
Boateng, Zhirkov, Squillaci
Adam, Nani, Fabregas, Nasri
Chamakh, Hernandez, Adebayor

I have four players, Zhirkov, Nani, Fabregas and Adebayor at discounts. Each may not start (grin)

What to do, what to do??

Birty said...

i've been waiting for Gyan to start for weeks.

am i the only one who could start 11 midfielders this week?

as far City being 'should win' at WBA........

only decision for me is which arsenal midfielder - walcott?

Assistant Manager said...

Nani could be fit for Wolves!

http://tinyurl.com/2vo57e2

“It was a bit of a pain in the groin, I’m hoping to be fit for Saturday (against Wolves) but we’ll see how it is over the next day or so. I am doing well at the moment and I enjoy the pressure of being an important member of the team," said Nani.

Anonymous said...

robinson
squil-kompany-evra
walcott-silva-nasri-adam
kalou-chamwow-chicharito

or

kirk
boateng-squil-coleman
walcott-silva-nasri-adam
adebayor-drogba-chicharito

all depending on team news really...
quite like the second one, feels a bit risk though...

any opinions?

dug

Anonymous said...

In the end, all of them will be fit : )

VDV FAB and Nani

kwyjibo said...

I have 5 players who are doubts, and I currently have no idea what to do...5 zeros would be a disaster!

Fabs? Nani? VdV? Bosingwa? What about Walcott, will he play?

Most likely I will hang on to VdV(@6.14), but the rest, I have A LOT of thinking to do...

Currently:
Foster
Boateng-Bosingwa-Salcido
VdV-Adam-Nani-Fabs-Walcott
Chamakh-Chicharito

Anonymous said...

I really think losing the double weeks completely is a bad idea. Might make sense when all teams play twice but when there's only two teams playing midweek it'll be ridiculous...

-dr graham fondness

Ken said...

Sorry...Me stupid

Who is Chicharito???

Anonymous said...

hernandez

Anonymous said...

No idea what to do this week. So much uncertainty with injuries. Very difficult to pick a team this week. Neverthelesss, this is what sits on my team page

Fabianski
Salcido Jones Boateng
VDV Fabregas Park Dempsey Arteta
Chamakh Hernandez

Not seen any team with Park so far. Anyone knows if he's starting? He's a great pick if he gets decent gametime. I am gutted I dropped Adam last weeek. Won't be in my team this week probably with such a wide variety of midfield picks. Dempsey may be chasing last weeks points but home to villa he could do well. If not i may look at dembele as replacement and go 3-4-3.

Cheers
bengoh91

Mike said...

My question is:

Do I drop Nani? I have him on a huge discount, but I am thinking of dropping him, and picking up Bale. I don't really think I can afford a 0. Also, what is the latest on Fabregas?

Mike said...

@ bengoh91 I also have park, because it does not look like nani is going to play, and I think park has been playing very well lately, and will prob pick him if he is supposed to get the nod this weekend against Wolves.

Anonymous said...

@ Dr Graham Fondness

What a great name.

Ken said...

Sticking with Nani play or not. I have taken a zero along with many others this season by using Kirkland and having it crash & burn so I figure I better do some good picking to make up for it. If he plays,so much the better.

I understand the difference between a 1.00 (zero) and a 14.00 (zero) But I have also seen Drogba get 5.00 and he cost much more to play then Nani.

I am holding!!!

(for now)

Anonymous said...

Which set of the following player do you guys think will have more points...

Cech, Ridgewell and Nasri

or

Foster, Bale, Nani

Birty said...

i'm finding it hard to spend my 100, even "upgrading" to Vidic and Sanga leaves me with a spare 5

Anonymous said...

Lampard will be back vs Liverpool, no?

Anonymous said...

Did City just lose 3-1? Dire

greginho said...

no one is mentioning kalou. malouda out, kalou is the hottest choice for striker!

Anonymous said...

I didn't pick Lampard last season so i'm hardly concerned about his return.

Anonymous said...

I think the FA should postpone Liverpool vs Chelsea. Its looks like a 0-6 to me and i don't want that to happen.

FLScott said...

What about Yakubu? Nobody's dropping his name at all... why not? He's away but it's at Blackpool and he just came off a great last weekend. Yea' or Nea'?

FLScott said...

Or Milijas?

Anonymous said...

@FLScott : Milijas is in my team for sure.

Here my RISK FREE TEAM (yeah right)

Foster
Salcido Bale Squillaci
Adam Milijas Silva Larsson
Drogba Kalou Hernandez

Anonymous said...

and here is my flawless team lol

Foster
Onuoha Squillaci Jones Salcido
Nolan Silva Gardner
Chicharito Gyan Drogz

any suggestions/comments will be appreciated

Anonymous said...

my team...
kirk
boateng, squillaci,bale
nasri,walcott,silva,vdv
drogba,bendtner,hernandez
...any comments?....

Arius said...

need an advice

fabianski
coleman, bosingwa,zhirkov,
VDV, Adam, Nasri, Silva, Brunt
k9, chamWOW

i dropped drogs and malouda to give space ti k9 and nasri
still have 15.7 mill in the bank
currently didt quite happy to see my midfield,
but didnt have idea whic one to let go,
help me please

Anonymous said...

do you think that Malouda being out increases the likelyhood that Zhirkov will play even if Ramires & Lampard are back?

--mikl.em

Anonymous said...

do you think bendtner will play as the first eleven?
...please answer...

Anonymous said...

my funds left 6.82... and i`m looking for good defender...
who must i pick? somebody help me to pick pls?

Gavin said...

@Anon 5:09 - Go for Koscielny

Anonymous said...

Kolarov made a brief appearance last night. Will he play vs WBA?

Marhawk said...

What do you guys think of Bale being rested this week, Arry said couple of weeks ago he was running on empty (kidolagy ?), with a game next weds I think he may well take a day out if only to take the spotlight off him after the C L games.
??????????

Anonymous said...

AM, what`s your current midfield ???

Anonymous said...

@Gavin
any more option? thx

Fidan said...

@ Anon 5:09 - Jerkoff (Zhirkov) ;)

Freddie M said...

Nani to miss Wolves with "a possibility" he may be back for the Manchester derby http://bit.ly/cu1U8E

Anonymous said...

With Almunia is fit now is it Fabianski will dropped to the bench again?

Anonymous said...

I want to buy Alex because he will gonna score a thunderbolt freekick against liverpool for sure.

Anonymous said...

Joe Hart? But West Brom have been doing really well this season, esp against the so-called big teams. I don't expect Man City to keep a clean sheet at all...

Steve J said...

Fabianski
Zhirkov / Bale / Salcido / Vidic
VDV / Adam / Barton / Nasri
Chamakh / Hernandez

Have $3 to spare

Thinking of exchanging:
Nasri, Hern, Chamakh or Zhirkov... (I have none at a discount)... thoughts?

Ganja said...

This week is so difficult...What do y'all think???...
Foster
Zhirkov/Squi/Salcido
Fabs OR Nasri???/Silva/Barton/Adam/Brunt
Chichi/????? have 8.99 remaining...Any suggestions? Thinking Carroll, Jerome, Zigic, Pavs...I have no idea!!! HELP!!!

Uncle Rudy said...

Walcott start???This week is ridiculous!!!

Love the Blues said...

Anything about Kalou starting? Anelka??ANy Chelsea updates?

Nich said...

Hi AM and guys, what do you think?

Mignolet
Zhirkov Bale Hutton
Dasilva Walcott Nasri Cahill
Carroll Crouch Berbatov

Taking a huge risk this week =(

NH

Anonymous said...

Walcott might not start... since fab,denilson,song are all back from injuries.

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