Monday 6 December 2010

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?

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was nice to check your site and see you back to cyberworld, Nik. Best wishes.
I'd like to request you have your Blog Week every week because it's the only time I do well. I've got 122 and Meireles left. That just puts me into the top 3500, so I've never posted anything about my team, not wanting to mislead anybody downward.
But I've enjoyed the blog; it's very helpful.
And go, go, Blog Weeking....

Anonymous said...

I'm on the same boat with you, Anonymous! I seem only do well when Blog Cup is around. AM, please please make it a weekly thing! ;)

Moved from 1700 to 900 with 120pts. Need more weeks like this!

Anonymous said...

Tevez suspended?!?! Oh no! I didn't BD Balotelli as I wanted to keep Gabby, Elmander and Tevez in my line up. I guess I should drop him... but for Balotelli? He's still at 8.5mil so it's reasonable, but I'm not sure, it will leave me with a lot of spare cash to spend and I really don't know where to spend it...

Any advices regarding replacements for Tevez?

SF

Arsenal_Bergkamp said...

137.5 pts with Meireles left. I hope he can push me into the weekly top 50 for the 1st time in my life.

I only BD downings with Meireles/Nasri/MGP/Elmander at discounts. I haven't decide what to do with MGP. I might keep Nasri even if Cesc returns.

I am looking at the following players atm:
Etherington/Pennant -Don't like Ether at current price if Pennant is back
Cahill- Can't afford Baines so I need to get at least 1 everton player
Agbonlahor- Cheap and good matchup but I already have downings
Dempsey
Silva
Mijilas

I am going to keep kolarov at 4.xx since I dont' have confident any $4-5 defender will able to return the full value.

Tayo said...

BREAKING NEWS:
Chris Hughton fired as Newcastle's boss!!!
The Management MUST be REALLY CRAZY, UNLESS MO'N has already been hired...

Anonymous said...

Balotelli is going to be involved in Citehs goal so you should get him, how well as Elmander performed without Davies? I also like Agbonlahor but Odemwingie is facing Wolves after Villa and if he plays well his value could go up. Tim Cahill looks like the pick of the week to me but since i can't create space for him i'm going with Baines instead.

Ebi

Bojan said...

103 with Meireles left... up 1100 places this week - from 4350 to 3250...

dropped kolarov @6,90... i would leave him in if i got him @4+...

My team: Robo

Baines Shawcross Paintsil

Rodwell Eth Downing Nanni

Balotelli Gabby

and 9,15m left w/o any idea who to pick

Robo,Baines,Paintsil,Mario and Gabby will stay for sure with stoke defender to be chosen too...

Tayo said...

By the way, what happened to Joey Barton over the weekend??? He wasn't even on the bench... If he's injured, any ideas how long he's out for?

And what do you guys think of Cech in goal for week 17? Lots of SOT expected from Tottenham at home, n'est-ce pas?

lucidswirl said...

Sitting at 84 and 6,909th with Konchesky and Meireles left to play.

Went with PRobbo - Kolarov/PJones/Konchesky - VDV (@6 for the 0)/Essien/Nasri/Meireles - Elmander/Berbs (@11 for the 0)/Welbeck

Dropped Kolarov, Essien and Welbeck to get Seabass, Etherington and Odemwingie on the BD. Not sure if Odemwingie or even Seabass are the wisest moves for this week but I think they could be good choices for the next little bit until guys like Nando and Rooney are "back" per se.

Or I might be an idiot with 12m left to spend on a defender.

Saul said...

Nik - Unfortunately you had to have a great week in fantasy footie mixed in with bad news. So sorry for your loss and wish you and your family comfort in this rough times. My condolences my friend! I myself lost someone very dear to me a few months ago, and I completely understand what you're going through; but like you said, there are things we enjoy to keep our minds at ease and occupied while we learn to adjust.

Now on footie terms, good job AM. Now I don't see people posting AM's curse of keepers, and I'm glad for it to have worked out for the both of us, I don't believe in curses :).

@Anon 3:49 PM - We got the same amount of points my brotha, 122(with Meireles to go)! I'd love to see your team selection for last weeks games, can you post it?

Mine was...

PRobbo
Kolarov/Salgado/Bassong
Nasri/Brunt/Barton/Pedersen/Meireles
Drogba/Roberts

Now for Week 17, my BD team atm is...

Begovic
Baines/Coleman/Clark/Kolarov
Etherington/Brunt/Barton/Gardner
Balotelli/Beckford

Not sure on that team above, but I will be making changes starting today as I want at least 1 Villa representative. Maybe try to fit K.Jones somewhere in there :)

Oh and AM, Barton was a zero for me but my week was good!

Anonymous said...

Barton got injured in training, don't know how serious though.

Saul said...

@Tayo - Cech is a bad idea imo. Tottenham play really good football at WHL and the fans seem to give them extreme confidence, not to mention Chelsea are starting to look like a team out of the top 4. Cech with loss and 1 goal conceded would be looking at negative 5 pts. then he would need 9 saves to make up his value. I think the math is right, but in any case, he's a huge risk...and you pay dearly for it.

Saul said...

...and that's considering Tottenham only score 1 goal vs. Chelsea.

Tayo said...

Thanks @ anonymous 4:51 PM.

Cech for week 17 anyone???

Anonymous said...

@Tayo if your looking for saves then its Forster away to wolves with possibility of a CS. Cech had 9 saves against wolves,kingson 9 saves against wolves, Robinson 9 saves against wolves, so i'm expecting same though i'm sticking with Robinson.

Tayo. said...

Thanks guys...

Anonymous said...

Chelsea will lose to tottenham, cech is probably the worse option for week 17, i'd pick Krul before i pick Cech.

Anonymous said...

Unsaved team

Robo
Kolorov Kompany Carr
VDV Nasri Nani Silva
Balotelli Odem Rooney

Choice between Bale (full) and Larsson or Nani (full) and Kompany so far.

Torres or Rooney?

I have Tevez on BD. Is he suspended v the Hammers?

If VDV is not fit for Chelsea there's a good chance he goes. Replace him with Meireles.

BCB

Anonymous said...

Crazy indeed about Hughton. He was the only stable force in that mess of a club the last two years. As solid as he was for us Spurs fans as right back.

Anonymous said...

Man United Arsenal could be a slim win for united, i'm leaning towards dropping Nasri for Cahill, i'll not kill myself with all this discounts.

Anonymous said...

Baines + Pienaar
or
Cahill + Huth

please help

Anonymous said...

VdV is not fit for chelsea

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1336060/Tottenham-star-Rafael-van-der-Vaart-set-shock-injury-comeback.html?ITO=1490

Juelz said...

Robinson
Shawcross/elokobi/coleman
nasri/nani/yaya/meireles
rooney/elmander/balotelli

I dropped Drogz for rooney. After watching his performance last week I cant trust him anymore he looks so lazy on the field trying to make fancy flicks and he looks just old now thank god for the penalty he would have had only a few points. And Rooney is due I have to go with him against a shaky arsenal defence. I hate buying nani back at 18 but he crushed arsenal single handedly last year and is the most consistent all season w/ nasri.

sjb225 said...

Hi AM,

My condolences to you and your family.
Best wishes from Los Angeles.

The Orphans.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm out of the blog cup for sure. I dropped out of the top 100 (now at 266), and I'm left wondering how I was able to manage a pathetic 56 points. Oh wait, I remember. Only, two players with double digit scores, and two zeros (Nani and VDV).

Ian Sanderson said...

Don't think my 87.5 points will keep me in the cup, there seems to be some high scores posted on here.
My front line for next week is currently Gyan, Drogba, Torres (BD'd), thinking of bringing in Balotelli for Torres, will wait and see how he performs tonight.
Best wishes.

kiD said...

no one considering torres ? he's up against newcastle fulham blackpook and wolves for the next 4 matches

Anonymous said...

Torres will not play tonight as his wife is giving birth.
BCB

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

Hey AM! whenever you decide to drop van der Vaart I will follow suit!

Anonymous said...

Albrighton anyone, he's starting tonight.

Ian Sanderson said...

His wife is giving birth????

I was sure he had a boyfriend.

Anonymous said...

Is it now a crime to be handsome?

Anonymous said...

Agbonlahor doesn't look like he'll score a goal anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

AM for Newcastle manager's job?
Me too, I only have a good week on the Blog Cup days.
Long live the Blog Cup!
Pauly

Anonymous said...

i'd be fuming if i had torres tonight. zero commitment. it's a home game for "fricks" sake. can't you spare 2 frickin hr's. !? i take it he's not going back to spain & that his mrs lives in liverpool with him, - he lives in Woolton by the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolton

a suburb of Liverpool. miss as much training as you like, no-one would mind. maybe he'll apply for his 2 or 3 month paternity leave now !


Jol linked with Newcastle. all the anger about chris hughton suddenly died down real fast...chris who ? clubs sometimes have to do the dirty on ppl as good managers don't come become available much and you have to grab them when u can.

S.P.

Anonymous said...

He struggled with tottenham, was struggling with Ajax, the only reason they'll stay up is because the relegation places are already taken.

Anonymous said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1336060/Tottenham-star-Rafael-van-der-Vaart-set-shock-injury-comeback.html

VdV to be back for Blackpool after cryotherapy (freezing his leg)? Bizarre!

A1

Anonymous said...

Disregard my last post, I missed the earlier post on VdV's potential comeback. My brain must have been frozen.

A1

kwyjibo said...

Good to hear from you Nik, hope you're hanging in there...

It seems a lot of people did well this week, so I'm not holding my breath that 92 is good enough for the Blog Cup...after all, I ended up dropping 91 places overall.

Still, not too bad of a week. Didn't do too much BD work other than Odemwingie, aside from that just bought back Nani and Adam. Will take the zero for Kolarov (@4.43).

I'm almost set for next weekend, just need to make some changes in defense, and debating whether to keep Nasri.

Currently:

Hart
Kolarov-Koscielny-Alcaraz
VdV-Nasri-Meireles-Adam-Nani
Balotelli-Odemwingie

Anonymous said...

who replaces Kolarov? Boateng, Richards, Bridge?? any of those 3 probably represent decent value.

Kellz said...

S.P I hope your put into a position where you HAVE to miss your childs birth because of work. Was Torres needed tonight? Nope, 3-0 scoreline with 2 second string strikers scoring. Seems like it was just fine for Torres to be by his wifes side.

OR SHOULD HE HAVE PLAYED FOR FANTASY FOOTBALL'S SAKE?

Get over yourself dude..

Mike said...

My lineup so far:

Kirkland at 1

Kolarov Bale Coleman

Nani nasri Cahill Silva

Obinna Balotelli Ngog

What you guys think? Any recommendations?

TARHEELS said...

Shout out back to Saul at 4:49:
(I'm Anon from 3:49)
My 122-point team was quite different from yours:
Robbo
Bale, Kola, Kos, Jones
Brunt, Meireles, Nasri
Gyan, Cham, Tevez
One of my probs is, I'm rarely near my computer on weekends so I don't get to BD often.

Anonymous said...

109 pts. this past weekend, not spectacular but it's my best since Week 2, and I feel like I'm on a roll. Last 6 weeks: 32.5, 61, 65, 74, 87, 109. Doctor adjusted my meds and I'm thinking more clearly.

Seriously, I've changed my approach and making better picks (more sensible, less sentimental). Built a good platform last weekend with Odemwingie, Balotelli and Cleverley (picked him up 2 weeks ago when no one was talking about him - he's my new Charlie Adam). Now I just need to pick some big scorers and I'll be back in the top half of the blog league in no time.

Anonymous said...

Hi
I'm wondering why no one is considering kenwyne jones
He seems good in the air against Blackpool

New Rising Manager

Anonymous said...

@Jibo Kolarov is suspended and you want to go with Kos and Alcarez? They could both give you negative scores. Drop Nani at 18+ and get Cahill Downing Albrighton or A.Young, they'll all score well and upgrade that defence. Personally i'll pick 2 of the 4 i mentioned over Nani and Adam,
my team

Robinson
Kolarov Baines Ridgewell
VdV Nani Eth Cahill
Gardner
Balotelli Agbonlahor

Ebi

Anonymous said...

Isn't Koscielny confirmed to be out for 3 weeks because of the concussion?

Anonymous said...

109.5 points for the week. Decent but not great.

My BD team atm
Robbo
Bale Kolarov S. Taylor Baines
VDV Meireles Brunt Downing
Balotelli Odemwingie

I am quite satisfied with this team and may stick with it for next week. I notice that steven taylor of newcastle has been scoring well even without CS so I'll try my luck with him. The rest are all sheep picks that many people have.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

regret had no robo last week that i hope have a cheap GK.

gkinz

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

I still have Nani at 15.21, Adam at 5.49, VdV at 6.14....oh, and Bale at 13.16.

my standing:
Lord Nelson's Port Wine

* Latest points: 67.00
* Total points: 1,449.50
* Overall rank: 880 +109

Anonymous said...

I've done a little bit of preliminary calculating and it seems that the cutoff for the Blog Cup will be somewhere between 92-102 points. I have 104.5, so I fell pretty good, but not completely sure I'm through yet.

DownSouth

Anonymous said...

Funny ucl team saving a quarter of my budget

Ari Gomez N'Doye
Srna Bastos Arshavin Vingaard
Bale Pospech Rada
Wiland

arshavin(c)

Anonymous said...

Pretty good week for me this week. 157.5pts total (4th highest overall), putting me into top 500 at 365.

Makes up for missing out on the blog league last round by 0.5pts

Team: 'Charlies dad need a job...'

Anonymous said...

Kellz, you're one of the best posters on here, so don't wanna fall out with you. & like i said i didn't have him in my team. but he is very lucky to have a job where he could take 2 hr's out whenever he likes and no fan or employer would mind one little bit. so effectively he only does 2 hr's of really important work every week ( if no midweek fixtures ) it just seems bloody ridiculous that those 2 hr's should fall exactly when a HOME game is being played.
plenty others have induced babies to have their cake & eat it.


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Bill_Shankly


http://www.empireofthekop.com/anfield/?p=3083

what would Shanks have made of it. a guy who said. "do you think i'd get married in the football season" ?
and to a player... "you haven't broken YOUR leg. you've broken Liverpool's leg . "


S.P.

Anonymous said...

S.P just....just stop before you hurt yourself

MuKaHaNTu said...

1st time posting. Great to have U back so soon Nik. 2 entries in grieving mood (hope it won't affect ur judgement)

S.P vs Kellz = STOP IT! Both of U made ur point. Ur both correct.

Btw, I'm drawn to post today coz I can't help but remember some "genius" from last week with all the "genius" claims & predictions. Not so loud now eh? Or not so genius anymore? LOL!

Anonymous said...

@anon- you big wuss. did ur mrs give u permission to type that lol. people are entitled to their opinions...but obv not in ur world.

Juelz said...

Any Thoughts??

Robinson
coleman/elokobi/shawcross
nasri/rodwell/cahill/nani
rooney/elmander/balotelli

Bitsketchy said...

Hi guys, I wonder if you can help? As part of my deliberations for my ff team I try and work out where the away wins are coming from. There's 2.5 on average every week but this week i'm struggling. Obviously they could have none as does happen but it's part of my "preperation" - I can only see Liverpool (If they continue in the same vein as the AV game) and Man City but I'm not even sure of that as Tevez has scored in eight of the nine games they've won.....

What games does everyone think the away team will win??

Anonymous said...

112 pts, pretty okay week for me. moved up from the 1700s to rank 1212. picked up odemwingie on the barndoor and was wondering if I should keep kolarov if I have him at 6.90

FreezeGoldz

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