Week 16 - So Far

Firstly, a big thank you to all the good wishes submitted via the comments section. It's been a tough weekend for myself & my family, but support from others helps a great deal and all the messages really are hugely appreciated, it means a lot to me, so thank you.

Now there's no better way to take my mind off things than with a bit of blogging on this Monday afternoon, so I thought I'd return with a very quick post about my own team's performance in Week 16 so far, with just Liverpool v Aston Villa to go tonight.

I'm currently on 111 points, having taken a deliberate zero for Van Der Vaart and with Raul Meireles playing tonight. The main source of points were my goalkeeper (yay!) Paul Robinson, who scored a fantastic 24 thanks to a clean sheet, win & 7 saves, plus a majestic two-goal display from Samir Nasri. They were supported well by Bale, Drogba & Balotelli, but Brunt, Koscielny & Chamakh disappointed slightly, while Kolarov was sent off.

Of course I didn't do any barndoor work over the weekend, but had a brief look over lunch today & saw that Everton, Bolton, Villa, Stoke & Manchester City all have decent fixtures, so after some playing around I currently have this on my team page:

Robinson, Bale, Kolarov, Baines, Van Der Vaart, Etherington, Silva, Nasri, Balotelli, Agbonlahor, Elmander

A lot will change, but it's a start. I stated last week that I was going to settle on a keeper & stick with him, so Robinson @ £3.7m seems as good a chance as any to start that experiment! I'll take the one week zero for Kolarov as I have him @ £4.4m and obviously hope VDV is back to avoid two goose eggs. I think Baines should do well at home taking set pieces with Arteta suspended, Etherington is in cracking form, while Silva is cheap & faces West Ham.

I'm hanging on to Nasri for now but he could go as he faces Man Utd away, Balotelli is a must-have as he'll lead the line with Tevez suspended (5 yellow cards), Agbonlahor is dirt cheap and has a home game (albeit against bitter rivals West Brom), with the in-form Elmander currently taking up the 3rd striker spot. I'm still holding Brunt & Meireles behind the scenes at discount in case I change my mind about any of my attacking players, & I'm still considering Tim Cahill, Dempsey & Villa middies.

I haven't forgotten that Week 16 was the 4th Round of The Blog Cup, but I'll be waiting until Thursday or Friday before doing any calculations and posting the results, just in case Yahoo make another midweek point adjustment. Saying that, I'm confident 111 points should already be enough to secure a place in the 5th round, where we are down to the final 200 teams.

That's it for now...please let me know how you're getting in on in Week 16. Have you got anyone left to play tonight? Were you stung by the unreported injury to Joey Barton? Who came in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. As I write this, I see Chris Hughton has been SACKED as Newcastle manager. I find that an absolutely crazy decision by the board after such a solid start to the season saw them up in 11th place. Hughton seemed to be doing a fine job after getting them promoted last year & it seemed he'd finally brought some stability to Tyneside. Will that club never learn?