Week 14 - Review
I was of course on a high for most of the weekend after the Saturday lunchtime kick-off saw Spurs fightback from two down to beat Arsenal away for the first time since I was 11 years old, and my joy was amplified as Van Der Vaart & Bale contributed 37 points between them. However, in fantasy terms that was as good as it got, as my remaining 9 players scored precisely zero goals.
My Saturday morning switch of Fabregas/Elmander to Milijas/Torres cost me 26 points, but I can't complain because I made it clear I did not want an Arsenal player in my team...just wish I'd kept the Bolton man upfront! Carson was a complete disaster, Torres scored poorly, Adam & Milijas disappointed, Coleman was subbed early again & to top it all off, Gyan picked up a thigh injury (unreported until it was too late) playing for Ghana which made him unavailable for Sunderland last night.
Aside from Bale & VDV's 37 points, Nani did well without a goal, Odemwingie outscored his cost & Kolarov hit double figures again, without a clean sheet this time. He's taking set pieces & looks like he could be one of the bargains of the season if you managed to snap him up for £4m in Week 13.
90 points dropped me to 612th overall, and it does seem to be one good week followed by one bad week at the moment. On the barndoor my team has ended up looking like this:
Green, Coleman, Kolarov, Bale, Adam, VDV, Cahill, Nani, Gyan, Elmander, Tevez
Rob Green worries me, but Wigan are the lowest scorers in the league & decimated by suspensions so it's possible I stick with him - if not I'd probably look towards Tim Howard if I can find the money. Seamus Coleman has been subbed quite early on a couple of occasions recently, but I'm holding him at £5.7m so may give him the home game vs West Brom as a last chance. Kolarov & Bale stay.
I'm still on the Adam bandwagon but I'm aware he hasn't broken 10 points since Week 8...maybe I'm expecting too much as I'm only paying £5.4m for him, but he could do with a couple of shots on target or a penalty at Bolton! Tim Cahill came through the barndoor last night but I may switch him back to Milijas or an alternative to free up funds elsewhere. VDV & Nani stay.
Gyan is a tough one - I have him at £6m but Wellbeck is in great form & Bent is unlikely to be dropped, so could the Ghanaian find himself back on the bench? It's possible, so he may have to go for Hernandez. Tevez was only a barndoor pick & I'm not certain I'll keep him, I really want a Chelsea player in at Newcastle (who will be without Barton, Coloccini and Williamson due to suspension) so I could shift Tevez to Malouda in a 3-5-2. Lots of options, lots to think about.
I'll leave it there; Week 15 Player Picks will be up tomorrow afternoon, but until then please let me know how you got on in Week 14. Who came in on the barndoor?
Cheers,
AM
72 comments:
Hi AM, I almost followed the same pattern with Tevez on the barndoor and now a healthy desirre for Malouda.
I managed 119 points so I feel a bit better - especially after two awful weeks but I guess they do come up throughout everyone's season.
I was reading the Racing and Football Outlook this morning who never predict players to bet on but they put backing VDV to score at anytime on their back page against Liverpool so I'm intrigued to see how they get on.
I think some tottenham players should be a great idea and Gomes should be at his lowest for a while after shipping 2 goals...
I'm keeping the same side as last week but swapping Samba for a barndoored Evra. Will keep an eye on injury news but I'll risk taking the 0 for Gyan.
Foster, Bale, Evra, Bardsley, Adam, Brunt, Nani, Holden, Gyan, Davies, Odemwingie
i`ve bd rafael and hoping he will stay at rightback..
don't worry AM i also had Carson as my keeper but safely got 110 points..the result jump me into top 300 but the season is still long
I frustrated seeing Milijas starting on the bench but i would like to give him one more chance..green as keeper hmm i'm pretty scared with the option after Carson dismal
Kepp up the good work AM!!
138 pts total. 2 players didn't even play..
I chose Coleman over Rafael and i'm regrettin it. I'll stay away from Gomes though because i expect them to concede at least a goal.
123.5 points, with gyan & berbatov 0, carson -10.5.
surprised me
Defoe Defoe Defoe...
Welbeck drives the Sunderland attack while Bent and Gyan just score the goals. I wouldn't be surprised if a fit again Gyan takes a place on the bench, i intend to bring in welbeck for game wk16.
Week15 so far
Jussi
Boateng Kolarov Salcido
Nani VdV Albrghton Fab Holden
Balotelli K.Davies
6.35 left, Balotelli should return is value if he doesn't get booked, my only worries are Albrighton and Jussi
142 last week
Ebi
125 points, I BDed Evra and Gallas, but I wish I had BDed Tim Cahill and Raul Meireles.
My biggest disappointment goes back 2 weeks. I dropped Foster and I had him at a low price. I didn't like match ups against Chelsea and Citeh but he's returned 47 points in those games :(
Provisional team this week
Foster
Zabs Koloeov Kompany (All City Defense)
VDV Nani Nasri Holden
Elmander/Gyan or Hernadez/Davies or Kalou
BCB
BCB,
I believe Zabaleta is suspended for the next game after picking up a fifth yellow. Look for Richards or Boateng to fill in there.
-lfcinpa
Top Tip for you Assistant Manager,
As a rule, us AM Blog leaguers try get 100 points a week. You should try it! I got 142. Ha ha...
Murph
Hi Murph, very funny! I don't recognise your name from any previous posts/comments sections - what's your team's name?
@Ebi: "Marc Albrighton has undergone an operation to remove his appendix, which will rule him out of action for three to four weeks."
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2228396,00.html
@Anon- thanks i've removed him already, what pains me is i had already dropped A.Young and a lil discount, it means i can't pick any Villa players and i expect Young and Downing to come through.
Ebi
@Murph i assume you're in the top 500 then, i also scored 142 and its not easy to hit 100weekly, remember its a marathon not a dash.
Ebi
@ Assistant Manager
My team name is not important! Well, it wont be anyway until I start doing significantly better than I have been so far...
I'm in a marathon, not a sprint. I'm taking this one game at a time, to be fair. Giving 110%. At the end of the day, its a game of 2 halves. Its nice to do well, but its the team performance that counts. (I'm all out of cliches now...)
Great blog by the way! ;)
Murph
137 pts with 1 not playing. Can't complain - moved up to 1,243 overall. I had dropped Elmander to get Kalou in and swapped Gyan for K.Davies. I had a feeling Robinson would do well in goal and went with my gut. Glad I did as he was one of my top scorers this week.
Murph- post your team name or shut yer yap...
Louie B
110.5 points despite Gyan's no show, Torres' virtual no show, and me dropping both Elmander and Varney from the line-up. Could've been better but can't complain. VdV, Nasri, Nani, Kolarov, PJones, and Reina did really well for me. My first decent week in a month, although it was a high-scoring week overall.
What do you think of Matty Taylor for this week? I know he's not as good of a fantasy pick as he was before, but he seems to have regained his starting place. I think he's a very good option home to Blackpool, likely to get many SOTs and SCs.
J
I did a lot of Barn Dooring this week I hope it pays off. Let me know your thoughts on the line up.
Green
Evra Kolarov(cheap) Heitinga Salcido
Nani ChongYongLee Arteta
Elmander K.Davies Welbeck
My forwards are all at least 3 points cheaper then current market price and I fancy Bolton to bring blackpool back to reality as the continue to move down the table. Same with W. Brom can not see them doing well at Goodison. I want Chelsea players but will stay away until Lamps returns they just dont look the same.
Week 12: Hit my all-time high of 313
Week 14: Now sit at 1597!
What a drop. When will the nightmare end...
89.5 points for the week.
Tevez + Elmander = BD
Current team:
Jussi
Boateng-Kolarov-Vidic
Adam-VdV-Nani-Milijas
Gyan-Elmander-Tevez
Probably need to change both Boateng and Gyan, but have both so cheap, it doesn't really leave much choice for a replacement.
Jussi continues to score in the positive, but very low scores. Not sure what to do about that, especially now that Kirkland's price jumped, and it's no longer worth it to take a zero.
team kwyjibo is fading fast...
Congrats to the rest of you who did well, especially Arsenal_Bergkamp [AM.Blog] who continues in first place!
You can change Gyan to Yakubu and hope Moyes hands him a deserved start.
Well, I avoided Gyan -- "ha, ha", I said smugly as I stepped in the Brambles and tore the a** out of my trousers.
So I took a zero for Bramble who was a late injury, wonderful.
Love the blog AM, great writing and analysis.
Kept K. Davies and Kolarov, BD'd Cahill and Welbeck (not sure on Welbeck though)
@Murph- If you take your head out of your as$ you'll see that AM is in the top 1000, you can't say that for yourself that's why can't publish your team name. One good week and you're feeling like what. If you don't have nothing to say don't bother posting.
Hello AM , pls send me (your team weak15) you are wonderful
imp_moo@yahoo.com
help me!
@ Murph
Completely out of order with that statement Lad!
AM has done a brilliant job!!
LC
Got 117 points last week. Moved me up to 540th.
My week 15 team at the moment is
Howard
Kolorov, Boateng, Jacobsen
Malouda, Nani, Arteta, Dempsey, Richardson
Chamack, K.Davies
Remaining Budget - 0.12
I have Welbeck, Salcido, Coleman and VDV (14m) in the background.
Any Ideas.
Thanks
LC
Jules-- good team, I wonder about Heitinga though. but Everton has a great home match up-- so good to go.
Picked up both Cahill (10.77) and Welbeck (7.41) on the door this week. I know very little about each one. Are they a good play this week?
Thinking of Malouda over Cahill and letting Welbeck play at 7.41 as my forward picks always seem to do me in but the price seems right?
What I hear about Cahill seems to be about right. Only puts up good numbers IF he has a goal. No goal...No points?
Suggestions??
I'll play welbeck for the next 2 game weeks if i had him at that price.
As many of us know the only fantasy-relevant statistical trend that has been almost 100% reliable this season is with Bolton: IF there are goals at home AND forwards are involved, K Davies will score; IF there are goals away Elmander will score. At home though, it's not only Davies but Bolton MF do get points but the trick is finding which MF.
A less reliable stat has been that Blackpool give up fantasy points to MF regularly, in goals etc...So combine the two statistical points and the above poster's suggestion on Matt Taylor may pay off, especially as Taylor seems to take Direct FK. Note: only if you feel Taylor will start.
Another stat trend I have found reliable is that Sunderland give up points/goals to opposing MF who get forward, so especially in-the-hole MF. This stat has also been inflated a bit due to Nolan's hat trick a few weeks ago but I did mention Cahill as a sneaky play this past Friday on chatroll due to this stat although he had a poor matchup, and those of us who had him were well rewarded.
So AM's contemplation of Milijas may pay off well (I have Jarvis in since Wolves vs Blackpool; note the above stat that MF do well vs Blackpool).
Also statistically I like a Man U forward vs Blackburn. Not as statistically reliable as the others, but Blackburn away since somtime in Sept have regularly given up goals to opposing forwards. Heskey scored even. Not that you should drop Nani at discount, and I don't think any Man U fwds are in form so a word of caution. Will this week be when Rooney does something? In the meantime I have chicharito in.
-JJOKBOB
Looks like Fabs has done his hamstring again. Subbed off during CL game tonight.
Hey there, any Fulham fans out there know what's going on with Damien Duff? He was great at the end of last season and is nicely priced now but only has 23.5pts all season. I know he was injured for a while and played left back once or twice but why isn't he generating points anymore?
As for Tim Cahill this week, I don't trust him. I reckon he'll get negative points somehow.
AM,
I too am interested in Hernandez (especially as I hold him at discount)! However, how will the reurn of Rooney affect his chances of a start? His minutes seem to have been shared with Macheda recently, meaning along with Berbatov there are now 4 forwards fighting for 2 starting roles at scum - good for Fergie, bad for fantasy managers!
All the best and thanks for your hard work,
Carlton Palmer
hi guys, is it good 4me to hv DD-Tevez-Roneey combo?
gwek15 (possibly):
reina
konchesky boss kolarov jara
vdv xxx xxx
roney DD tevez
(rem budget 10.00)
gwek14: 127pts
-Last Minute FC-
@JJOKBOB - a great insight, thanks for that!
This season is harder to pick than a broken nose. The biggest question is 'When do I let go of....?. I'm sure most are all holding a combination of the likes of Adam, Chamakh and Boateng however the inconsistency hurts.
This week it's probably worth noting some of the 'specials' I would consider in regards to their value vs. their propensity to put up some decent numbers - if not all that recent:
Agbonlahor: surely a sniff at 7.50
MTay: whilst not the cheapest, at 10.48 are some big numbers not too far away?
Meireles: filled some rather large shoes last weekend albeit against a Divvy 1 class team and at 8.75 could represent some solid value
All the best with you teams.
If Rooney is in good shape, expect Chicharito to take a permanent seat on the bench.
With Fabregas injured does anyone else think Van Persie will start? He wasn't even on the bench yesterday.
Ebi
Bale and VDV are injured .
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/58572.html
hi guys nasri or dempsey or odewingie....? anyone?
I've the same dilemma and i've leaned towards Dempsey, at least for now.
If Persie doesn't start then Nasri will be your best bet.
go to nasri if you think villian def not so good as nasri is a good dribbler
if not, dempsey shud take the place(his shot is good em) ...
wohaa
@ LC/Anon 6.11/ AM/ Ebi
That 5.21pm comment wasn't me. Its someone moonlighting as me. AM should be able to confirm by IP address. Looks like I'll have to register my name to stop them causing crap.
I think AM's first comment realised I was joking with him. As I said to him, great blog.
Murph
Its ok Murph
Just my 10 cents, but does no-one else think the spurs victory was most undeserved?
Tottenham were, and are, pretty dire. The only thing that let them win was the capitulation of Arsenal, poor finishing, and whatever Fabregas thought he was doing with his arm.
Which admittedly is a long list of things, but my point being that Arsenal lost it as opposed to Spurs winning it.
Just to point out I'm not an Arsenal fan by a long stretch of the imagination. I just really don't like the way Tottenham play.
I don't think this game bucks the trend of them not being able to compete at the highest level consistently. They can beat teams who roll over incompetantly when not playing anywhere near scratch (Arsenal, Inter...) but I still think they're a long way off any kind of realistic title/european challange with a very patchy squad and no real guts when coming up against against the bigger teams (see consistent rolling over to Man U)
Anyway, just my opinion...
i couldn't disagree more with the anon poster above regarding the spuds. im an arsenal season ticket holder, and yes we threw it away, but for an away team to come back from 2 goals down takes sum guts, even i can't deny that. also, saying you don't like the way spurs play, they are probably only second place to us in terms of entertaining attacking footy, so not sure wot league u've been watchin over the past 2 years
stevie
arsenal was pure crap... if they cant even hold on to the 2-0 lead then they dont deserve to win... simple as that..
spurs was outstanding in the 2nd half and fully deserved the victory.
-NG
Ok anonymous, I know that's only been posted for a reaction, but I'm going to bite nonetheless because it's probably the stupidest thing I've read since I started the blog.
Firstly, undeserved win? Coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 away from home is pretty deserving in my book. Arsenal had chances to win it, but didn't take them, Spurs did...it's called football.
Now on the subject of Spurs as a team. Since Redknapp took over 2 seasons ago Spurs have beaten Arsenal twice, Chelsea twice, Liverpool twice, gone to City in what was essentially a 4th place playoff match last season and won, beaten the current European Champions just a few weeks ago. All pretty big games - or was that just because all those teams "rolled over incompetantly not playing anywhere near scratch"?
Spurs also play some of most exciting football in the league & it's widely considered by many that they have one of the deepest squads in the league, plus now finally have two players that could genuinely be considered world class in Bale & Van Der Vaart.
That's my opinion. If you're going to post yours at least have some guts and put your name to it.
Hey guys, I am totally new to this fantasy stuff, although I have been an EPL fan for years. I do not have a Yahoo FF team, but a friend asked me to play in his fantasy.premierleague.com league and I said yes.
Are the two FF leagues very different, because you guys are talking about consistently getting 100-130+ points, and I don't think I've ever seen any of even the top 10 finishers each week get more than 100.
Anyway, I am getting hammered in this league, most likely because I am a Yank, and therefore, don't know shite about football. My lineup last week was:
Howard (I figured Chelsea would hammer Birmingham, so I didn't play my other GK, Foster. Obviously, big mistake)
Williamson, A. Cole, Vidic
Nani, Scholes, Nolan, Bale, Malouda
Drogba, Carroll
Bench: Foster, Harewood, Tamas, Elmohamady.
I got 41 points last week, dropping me from 3 to 6 in my 6 team league. HELP!
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome for this week. If any of you play in fantasy.premierleague.com, you know that I have one free transfer this week, each additional will cost me 4 points.
Given my team, and the fact that I have 0.5 in the bank, I'd appreciate any thoughts you have.
I am a Chelsea fan, but they have screwed me on points the last two weeks, and I am thinking it's time to sell some players off, especially Cole, as they can't seem to hold off teams with two attackers, and their schedule for the next 5 weeks is pretty tough. My team name there is Noisy Crykets. Thanks in advance for any help.
Very sincerely, Yank Wanker
P.S. Love the blog, glad I found it!
Hi Michael
Welcome! The Yahoo game & Fantasy Premier League game are quite different.
In Yahoo you get points for everything (goals, assists, shots on target, successful crosses, corners won, tackle won etc) so you score far more points then FPL (only really award points for goals, assists & clean sheets). Also in Yahoo you can make unlimited transfers every week, whereas in FPL you can make only 1 (unless you want to pay 4 points).
You will find the fixture analysis/players picks useful on this blog, but if you are solely playing the FPL game I recommend you also visit
http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/
http://premierleaguefantasy.blogspot.com/
both dedicated to the FPL game and both a fantastic source of information.
Hope this helps!
I just like to say I think you reply is pretty poor Nic. I think it belies an interesting bloke who gets so peturbed and slags off someones character regarding their differing opinion. Maybe my opinion is stupid but no more or less than yours...
On footballing matters, I think spurs have a lot of players, but I wouldn't say their squad is anywhere near deep. Considering the vast amount of money spent by 'arry and the huge wage bill, I think the quality of the squad is poor. With out VDV and bale they'd be in big big trouble. Attractive football? They're limp at best. Lots of overpaid mediocrity...
Arsenal capitulated. That was my only point. I'd didn't see a Spurs tour de force, they played very poorly. This was only matched by a much poorer Arsenal. If that upsets you so then woopey doo......
Peter (oh the guts)
Hey ladies,
what about Gardner ? Is he back in business ??
My team so far
Howard
Kolarov Coleman Jacobsen
Nani Holden Downing Adam Gardner
Elmander Hernandez
still holden Bale and VDV, but injury rumours...
Cannot afford 3 (!) zeros again, so any feedback regarding Gardner please !
Thanks for the good work AM
Yanou
Peter,
In your first post you said Spurs were dire, undeserving, can only beat teams who roll over incompetently when not playing anywhere near scratch, have a patchy squad and have no guts. I found those comments to be stupid and stated that while defending my team. I make no apologies for this.
Ask anyone here and they will tell you I am happy to enter in to reasonable debate on any matter related to football provided it has some semblance of reality, but I just 100% disagree with everything you've written and the way you've written it
Just FYI I saw your original reply (the one you've since deleted) where you said I was aggressive and had bad character. That's your opinion fine, but I can honestly do without people like you reading this blog if that's what you think of me.
Its only your opinions, who's right is not even important Peter.
Just to say I didn't delete that, I presumed you did, but evidently it went missing in some other way, but thats by the bys. It was all just an opinion nic, maybe get off the high horse...
For a while now some people have been trying to foul up the blog, whatever
"Without VDV and bale they'd be in big big trouble"
peter they didn't have VDV last season and did ok. Also take the two best players from Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid etc and they'd all be in trouble themselves. your opinions dont make sense
Dave
Players pick Nik, i've been waiting.
dave - chelsea without drogba and essien and lampard, higher than spurs. arsenal without vermaelan and v.persie and fab, higher than spurs. man u without rooney and valencia and rio, higher than spurs. does that make enough sense?
i wasn't trying to "foul up the blog". I was having my say. I'm sorry if it doesn't agree with a spurs-centric pov.
bye
Re: Bye/ Peter
Spurs without England capped King, Dawson, Huddlestone, Defoe & Lennon for most of the season. And Irish record goalscorer Keane (not that he's good any more!).
Murph
who are all crap overrated players, well except king, but he's never not going to be crocked....
Peter - How often do you come on this blog?
You seem to know jack shit.
As everyone knows it takes time to build a team.
It took Ferguson at Utd about 5 or more years before he got Man Utd Glory.
To note - The season before 1992/1993 when we 1st won the premier league he was about to be sacked!
I dont know how long Redknapp has been in charge but as a Man Utd fan looking at Tottenham, he seems to be doing a good job!
Your doing a good job AM! Keep up the good work!
LC
Peter; at first I had a bit of sympathy as I thought AM was being a bit overprotective of his team but since your second post it turns out he was right from the start, you are writing some very stupid things and seem to have a vendetta against Tottenham. You also appear rude and condescending, so it's probably better that you leave now before you embarrass yourself further.
thx, Benz0
Peter, just shut the fcuk up. Ppl are interested in the upcoming matchweek 15, not on yr frustration on the gunners losed to spurs. Just that.
SP
Wowsers, passions running high on the blog today. I realise everyone is entitled to their opinion but let's face it, some opinions are just wrong.
Spurs are actually one of my least favourite teams (mainly due to Jurgen Klinsmann many yeras ago) but if they're "dire" then it doesn't say much for the 16 teams that finished below them last season does it.
So come on people, as John Lennon said, "make love not war". (And I have it on good authority that this quote was refering directly to blogs about fantasy football).
@ Anon 6.15pm
Opinions can't actually be wrong... that's why they are opinions...
AM, not everyone is going to write comments that you agree with. You obviously have your right of reply but opinions are opinions and I'm sure you created this blog to stimulate discussion and encourage opinions.
Having said that, comments such as 'harry is bent as f*ck' are not opinions just rubbish comments that should not even get through.
Love your work AM, this is the best FF blog on the net and keep it up!
Bale only became good in the 2nd half of last season, and Van der Vaart has only been at spurs since the end of August. Yet spurs finished 4th last season...pretty much makes a mockery of the "spurs are only good cos of bale and Van der Vaart arguments". They have also had bad injuries (so have Arsenal and Chelsea in fairness). Both Arsenal and Chelsea (and Man utd) are better teams than Spurs...But the gap is much, much tighter than it was just 18 months ago.
As for huge wage bill...no one at spurs is on above 60k. They have a very strict wage structure. As for huge spend, yeah we must be up there in terms of spend, but its hardly city like.
In terms of style...Spurs have been one of the most attacking, attractive teams in the past few years.
To be honest, comments like Peter's seem to come from people who have only watched football for about 3 months. Spurs are playing quite badly this season, mainly due to a defensive injury crisis and the poor form of Lennon, Palacios and (until recently) Modric. They have struggled to create chances at times, especially in the premiership after CL games. Once Dawson is back in defence, and now Defoe is back I expect a lot more from them.
As for depth...are you joking? they have the best depth outside of City in the league I think, in fact I would say that we should look to sell 3 players in order to reduce wages and discontent. Players like Krancjar, Bentley and Keane getting occasional chances is madness.
As for Harry being bent...that's a rather large statement to make, I assume you can back that up with proof? ...rather than wild speculation cos he's a cockney...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8459969.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2326984/Harry-Redknapp-arrested-by-fraud-police.html
http://www.thisishampshire.net/sport/8191268.More_charges_for_Redknapp__Storrie_and_Mandaric/
...
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