Saturday 11 December 2010

Week 17 - My Team

Robinson

Kolarov   Baines   Bale

VanDerVaart   Meireles   Silva   Etherington   Brunt

Balotelli   Elmander

Definitely a team that focuses on the long term rather than the short term this week! A guaranteed zero for Kolarov, a guaranteed zero for VDV & a very tricky game at Bolton for my keeper Paul Robinson means I will seriously struggle if my 8 outfield players don't perform extremely well.

My thinking behind this team? Well, with Kolarov (@4.4), back next weekend he had to be kept - it would be crazy to drop him at such a low price. Van Der Vaart (@6.0) is more risky - he's in light training & should be back next weekend, but I'll happily admit that if he were to miss Week 18 too then I've probably made a mistake in keeping him & should've jumped ship straight away.

I'm keeping Robinson (@3.7) as a result of the response to the Goalkeepers - My Story So Far post, which showed managers sticking with one keeper have had the greatest success. Robbo is the 6th highest scoring keeper this season (despite -19 in the 7-1 defeat at Old Trafford) & his next 4 fixtures are West Ham, Stoke, West Brom & Sunderland. At that point I'll have enough data (6 games) to assess the success of this strategy & can decide how to move forward.

As for the rest of my team, I'm very pleased with it. I have no fewer than 6 set pieces takers - Bale, Baines, Meireles, Silva, Brunt, Etherington & I also like my two strikers - Balotelli & Elmander. Hopefully Elmander can score but then give Robbo plenty of nice easy shots on target to save to ensure he doesn't go negative...wishful thinking? :)

I accept that the risks I've taken are likely to see me fall way down the rankings this week as many other teams will have a full 11 active players, but I'm hoping in the long run I'll be able to make up the ground (and then some!) by having productive players at huge discounts. It might work, it might not, we shall see. 100 points is probably out of reach given the decision I've made, but I'd be delighted with anything around 90 and hope to limit the damage!

Looking at Week 18 the decent fixtures appear to be Arsenal v Stoke, Liverpool v Fulham, West Brom v Wolves & Blackburn v West Ham. I'm also predicting Blackpool v Spurs will be full of goals as neither side really attempts to defend, and we have the big one on Sunday...Chelsea v Manchester United. Keep all that in mind when doing your barndoor work.

That's it! Please let me know what you ended up with for Week 17. Who's coming in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

65 comments:

Pop Thy Collar said...

Nice work on the analysis this week AM

I'm going with

Howard
Bale Shawcross Coleman
VDV Adam Cahill Silva
Rooney Balotelli K.Jones

Going for goals rather than phantom points this week...

Anonymous said...

Robinson
Kolarov Baines Coleman
Nani VdV Eth A.Young Gardner
Balotelli K.Jones

I couldn't do better than this

Ebi

rwlwhite said...

Howard
Kolarov Baines Bale
VDV Mereiles Silva Eth Brunt
Balotelli Jo

Almost identical Nik, except I went with Howard for the match-up benefits and jo because he was piss cheap and should start in Tevez's absence. If not, I think the midfield 5 I have should produce at least 60 points (15 each from the 4 who will play -more wishful thinking.

In terms of BD, I've already started tinkering and thinking of risks. Here's where i'm at just now (this WILL change)

Fabianski
Kolarov Squillacci P.Jones
VDV Mereiles Brunt Nasri
Balotelli Odemwingie RVP (yes, RVP!)

I'm hoping that RVP is near full fitness and hopefully we let him loose against Stoke at home!

Alex Darlo said...

If Man City, Everton and Stoke so well am laughing.

Howard

Coleman Kompany Shawcross

Brunt Cahill Etherington Silva

Jones Ballotelli Elmander

Anonymous said...

Have same 7 players same as POP thy collar(Don't know if this is good)

@AM Speaking of long term How can you leave Adam out

My team for the week

Prob
Shawcross Coleman MRichards
Nasri Brunt Adam Jarvis
Rooney SuperMario KJones

Here is hoping All My strikers get Hattys (One can always hope)
Luck all

Cheers!!!
Keshari

Anonymous said...

Robbo
Bale Coleman Kyrgiakos
Meireles Silva MGP Park Ji-sung
Torres K.Jones Balotelli

why park? a hunch.

Anonymous said...

Very brave line up AM,
As I am currently trailing my group leader with very big gap point, I decide to clear all doubtfull player. Last minute clearance of odemwingie, richards.

Any information which site provide earlier linee-up?

-poes-

Ian Sanderson said...

Brad Friedel
Alcaraz Johnson Coleman
Adam Van der Vaart Silva Downing
Gyan Drogba Balotelli

Couple of zeros but pretty happy.
Next week Tevez is in for Drogba and Johnson and Downing will be replaced.

broharvey said...

Foster
Skrtel, Ridgewell, Alcarez
Nasri, Silva, Meireles, Downing
Berbatov, Torres, Balotelli

greginho said...

ben foster
foley, nelsen, taylor
van der vaart, nasri, nani, dunn, cahill
elmander, balotelli

i did fall 400 spots, to 704th, by taking 3 consequitive weeks of missing players, some i knew about and some surprises. i had 3, 2 and then 3 missing players.

this week i am taking a gamble on offensive defenders. foley and taylor are playing in the midfield, with foley right behind the striker, this would be nice to add the fantasy points with a clean sheet. nelsen is a defensive player who happens to be in great scoring form. 2 goals and 1 assist in the last 4 games, means that blackburn rely heavily on nelsen.
i dropped barton for cahill.

Gavin said...

AM, I don't think too many people will be fielding a full 11 this week, as most are bound to have either or both of Kolarov & VDV on discount. I dropped VDV a long time ago (picked him back up for a couple games at 10.xx before he got hurt again), but still hold Kolarov at 4.4. My team this week:

Robinson
Kolarov, Coleman, Kompany
Nani, Silva, Cahill, Meireles, Nasri
Balotelli, Torres

Anonymous said...

HEEIIII EVERYBODY..... KOLAROV is NOT PLAY..
HE is SENT OFF last week....

bobo said...

Howard

Robinson Tamas Bale

vdv Silva Ether Albrighton Gardner

Mario Elmander


anyone cares to comment?

Bradley said...

Robinson
Kyrgiakos Coleman Kompany
Nasri VdV Etherington Meireles
Balotelli Jones Elmander

With all the suspensions and late injury news, I wound up changing 4 players last night. At this point, I don't know what to think. It looks like a line-up with good potential, so as usual it depends who actually performs. Let the games begin. Good luck everybody!

Anonymous said...

Boateng starts after i drop him

Anonymous said...

Yeah! We all know Kolarov is suspended.

Anonymous said...

@2.23pm

HA!

kwyjibo said...

Halftime...5 matches...only 2 goals! Wow. Is it going to be one of THOSE weeks?

Anonymous said...

Who said that Agbolanhor is playing scoring goals?He's not playing and he's not in the list of Subs..what a shame that guy..

well here goes my team for week 17,

schwarzer

kolarov,baines,bale

meireles,silva,etherington,pennant,rodwell

balotelli,elmander.

gdluck guys and AM.


Professor

chico said...

I think most of the manager is choosing balotelli, too bad, he is doing badly!!!

FlyingHamster said...

Newcastle without Barton = Lose
Newcastle with Barton = Win

Guess who the coach is doesn't matter.

Anonymous said...

week of disaster.

Anonymous said...

Come on Robinson, even Krul scored +7

MPFC/KPM said...

Fairly happy so far. 41 points from Adam, Nolan, Torres, Silva, Pantsil and Banana.

Still have Rooney, Drogba, PRob x 2, and Elokobi to go.

Only dropped 140 places to 791 so a decent performance tomorrow could lead me to the top 500 for the first time ever. Based on what I saw in the chatroom, a lot of people bet the farm on Stoke/Everton etc so most people are out of players or only have 1 or 2 to go.

Glad I stayed away from the popular picks of Balotelli, Eth and Kenwyne. Probably should have just kept Kolarov since Barry Bannana got me -.5. Just following my policy of not wilingly taking zeros.

I am calling bullshit on Charlie Adam and Kenwyne Jones this week. They are both dead to me. Jones was dead to me already after costing me a 140 point week last week. Somebody in the chat room told me I should "watch the games" after I pointed out that Jones has only scored one goal in the last 10 or so gameweeks. I do watch the games and Jones scored 2.5 this week.

Barn door team.

Prob
Prob/Pantsil/S. Caldwell
VDV/YaYa/Silva/Downing
DjCampbell/Rooney/Drogba

Probably won't keep both Yaya and Silva although that certainly is an option. Rooney, Drogba, ProbX2 and Elokobi may go depending on their performances. May buy back Torres as well.

Anonymous said...

Well i hope people continue to pick Adam, disregarding the facts and the figures, cos i've got a lot of catching up to do.

Anonymous said...

Is it me, or are Baoloteli, Silva and, especially, Jo total shite?

Anonymous said...

Balotelli's seems a decent player but just needs to chill out a bit. Silva's been playing well but isn't showing it in fantasy points production and as for Jo, I don't think anyone ever thought he was any good. Except his mum maybe. And of course Mark Hughes who paid £18 million for him.

chrism said...

Balotelli put on the worst most childish pouting assholish performance I have ever see from a professional football player. He makes Anelka, the Sulk, look like lively and enthused by comparison. I feel almost ashamed for having picked him and having him on my FF team. He is a complete and total punk. And he returned -2 on top of it. Now I have to reconfigure my whole team to get rid of the twat who I though was a bargain at 5.77.

Anonymous said...

should i barndoor squillaci/koscielny now to replace skrtel/boateng (barndoored)??...
skrtel performed poorly against newcastle while boateng might warming the bench next week when kolarov is back from suspension.

Anonymous said...

Kolorov plays left-back and Boateng plays right-back center-back, so they will not be fighting for the same position.

Kellz said...

WAKE UP LIVERPOOL.....

your pissing me off...

Anonymous said...

He was kicked and harassed throughout just like in the stokes game. What exactly was he given a card for, he wasn't shouting at any player and the referee was far from him, so what did he hear him say?
Jo played very well, sorry fantasista's.

Anonymous said...

Anybody who's complaining about Silva, needs to have his head checked. You're playing fantasy football, he's playing real football and you're supposed to pick good fantasy players.

Anonymous said...

The only thing i did right was picking Baines and Coleman, if only Robinson can return positive points.
55 with Robinson CGardner and Nani to go.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

Disappointing week for me. Only 50 points with just Bale and Robbo to go. Come on Bale! I am off on a holiday to New Zealand today so won't have internet access. Thus I am going to finalize my team for next week today.

Robbo
Kolarov Bale Alcarez
VDV Meireles Brunt Barton MGP
Balotelli Obinna

Only risk I feel is Balotelli, he could easily score or get sent off. The rest are good phantom point scorers so should be able to return their value.

bengoh91

Anonymous said...

When a team performs poorly, often times, we blame the coach/manager. Fantasy football managers tend to blame everyone else but themselves.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

Pls anyone knows if Olsson of blackburn is a regular, he's starting today.

Anonymous said...

Lampard looking very attractive for 13 after his next 2 games

Anonymous said...

anon 9.57 is adam in disguise

Anonymous said...

- I blame Yahoo for not giving certain players a fair score. Happened earlier with Scholes, and now with Silva and even Cahill-- totally incongruent scores.
Seems like there are dead spots in the Yahoo scoring -- so all of us (at least the newcomers) stumble into some dark pool. It's a colossal waste of effort to study players and matchups and then the player performs but is unrewarded.

Anonymous said...

should i buy now if i want paul robinson in my team next week?or let his price drop first after letting in 2 goals..

Anonymous said...

if you buy him now and his price goes down, you will have the remaining difference to spend i.e. if he goes down in value once you buy him, you won't lose the money. it's up to you

Anonymous said...

Drogba loses 9 points in injury time to kill his value. And at least an 18 point swing if he actually converts the penalty.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 4:40PM: So tell me how yahoo fan change its scoring system to help "Silva, Cahill, and Scholes". I think its pretty obvious how the scoring system works, you get pts for tackles won, successful crosses, corners won, fouls won, shots on target, goals, assists, ect. So tell me how you think Silva has not been fairly awarded pts? He may have played well, passed successfully, made good runs, opened up the defense, but those don't warrent pts. And tell me how 11.5pts for 5mil wasn't a reward? Thats double his value and he didn't deserve any more, he got what he earned. The whole point of fantasy football is to pick GOOD FANTASY PLAYERS. Regardless of how good they are in real life, the purpose of your team should focus on players that do well with the scoring system.

Bottom line, the scoring system is very well balanced and fair, next time choose different players?

Martin said...

What's the status on VdV for next week?

Opinions or facts welcome!

Anonymous said...

anon at 607
Until this game when he got an assist, Silva was unrewarded for what he did in the categories (so you were right to point to yesterday's score.)
Scholes' scores were a complete joke for about five game weeks. Man of the Match, amazing plays, etc, and he gets 2 points from Yahoo. Cahill scoring 2.5 points yesterday was another disconnect. If it makes a difference I did not have Cahill or Silva, but was burned by Scholes as a newcomer. (I guess it's obligatory to say, I picked these players, it's my call, I read the rules on scoring, etc.)

Look at today's Chelsea Spurs match. A. Cole gets a half point and so does Lampard. BAE gets three (probably the best player this day), but Hutton gets 7 points. That is NOT a very well balanced and fair scoring system. Again I do not have these players.

The Yahoo scoring system is what it is and tries to capture a variety of objective categories which is commendable, but fair and balanced--- Do you listen to Fox News in the States?

How could it improve-- it should at least capture successful passes in the passing categories and maybe integrate some sort of bonus points system, if those points are timely available, to reward excellence on the field.

Anonymous said...

Pall, try make a difference between a game and reality. This is a game.

Milijas

SK said...

@Anon 9:05: Putting a passing category is a horrible idea. The higher up you are, the harder the passes become. Quite frankly, it depends more on the team's style of play and the position of the player than individual skill. What you should have figured out by now is that YFF is all about what happens near the ends of the field. For the most part this is true in the actual game, too. In the end, what we care about is the number of goals in the net. Who cares if you can drive or pass through the center of the field if 5 seconds later, your team loses the ball?

Kellz said...

Lol this point discussion is quite entertaining. Bottom line the scoring system is simple and fair, can you imagine trying to calculate successful passes, through balls, etc for every player in a 20 team league? That would make things way over complicated.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Scholes was around 5mil when he put in his Man of The Match performance, theres a reason for that, he isn't a good YFF player. Plus he had a YC and 3 FC that match which is automatic -4.5pts off his score.

There are plenty of fantastic YFF players out there, I agree with Milijas, you gotta separate the reality player from the fantasy one.

Good luck to you all the same

Anonymous said...

Xavi is the best midfielder in the world but, even with his assist potential he's a bad fantasy player. Follow the rules and pick accordingly, if it helps watch some of the matches so you can rate the players yourself.
An example of a good fantasy player is Albrighton, cos whenever he has the ball he's looking to put in a cross, successful crosses, corners won, assist and sometimes SoT.

Anonymous said...

Mikel Obi has the highest number of successful passes in the EPL, do you want to reward him for that? His passes are mostly, sideways and backwards.

Anonymous said...

My team atm :

Robbo
Robbo Bale Kolarov
MGP VDV Lamps Silva Brunt
RVP Mario

comments ?

Komeng said...

LOL.....guys..take it or leave it...YFF may not that perfect and you can go elsewhere to satisfy your needs. Otherwise, just play it according to YFF rules not your fantasy rules..lol

No offend

Anonymous said...

I'm not flogging my self, even the scoutspick of fantasyfootballscout performed awfully and they're normally spot on.

GENIUS said...

AM shud thanks to me to share my idea... am i correct nik?

GENIUS-

Anonymous said...

@Genius : Agbonlahor was great this weekend.

Anonymous said...

Lampard is set to start the next game but with Ancelloti sticking to his 433 and playing Lamps deep will he score well, i'm sure not going to wait to find out as i've not played any Chelsea player since game week4.

Anonymous said...

GENIUS there was nothing spectacular about your team, your goalkeeper scored -10, your forwards scored +2, your entire team scored just one goal. I'll be quiet for a while if i were you.

Anonymous said...

Lampard at 12.34 . . . are you kidding me? AND with Drogba missing a penalty; it has to be assumed that Lampard will be back on penalties. BD for next week for sure!!!! (and everyone else)

Anonymous said...

I absolutely love this site for analysis of the games.... check out last night's game:

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/12/12/tottenham-1-1-chelsea-tactics/#more-5380

Ole'
Tigers

Anonymous said...

Toying with this team, don't know which players to drop to fit in Bale, i feel is going to outscore everyone this weekend.

Robinson
Kolarov Boateng Salgado
Nani VdV Lampard Nasri MGP
Balotelli Odemwingie

Anonymous said...

That team leaves me with exactly 0 funds.

Ebi

Anonymous said...

hey,who said that agbonlahor was great..he was not playing and he's not in the lists of subs..some genius he is..

Well for me,honestly my 17 week is a bad week..I got 80+ points.

I gotta catch up..

You'll see,berbatov and rooney will tear up Defense arsenal tonight.

Professor

Anonymous said...

what up GENIUS..cat got ur fingers???

Bojan said...

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Ian Holloway is the gift that keeps on giving. Here he is on how Blackpool have coped with their frozen training ground: "We have been in the casino, been in the gym and on the beach. We were there on Thursday. It was brilliant. You have got to adapt.

"We had a poker tournament and the lads were given £20 each to see who was the champion. We gave a lesson to the ones who don't play.

"The boys were looked after and our goalie fell asleep. I don't think he likes cards. Ian Evatt was the winner. He must have had a mis-spent youth."

Seriously, how could any footballer give less than 100 per cent for that man?

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