Week 24 So Far
Things could've been far far worse! Five of my 11 players: Bale, Caldwell (-7 idiot), Anderson, VDV & Dembele combined for just 3 points, so I have to be delighted that the other six (Reina, Adam, Nani, RvP & Torres) saved me by racking up 124.5 between them. I think we'll be seeing a large proportion of weekly scores between 200-250 points this week, so I'm hoping my remaining six in midweek can get me up towards 200 to limit the damage.
Ignoring fantasy football for a minute, I think this was the the weekend that probably pushed Manchester City out of the title race. Manchester United are now 3 points (4 if you look at goal difference) ahead of them with 2 games in hand & look like they're hitting their stride as they so often do in Jan/Feb. Van Persie will make all the difference to Arsenal's already impressive attacking abilities, so if he stays fit then for me it's a two horse race between Fergie & Wenger.
City should be fine for 3rd so it will probably come down to Chelsea & Tottenham to slug it out for 4th. Unless Spurs sign (in the next 10 days) a goalscorer to spearhead the attack I can see us missing out on the Top 4. VDV, Bale & Modric have been outstanding and the return of Dawson has clearly shored up the defence, but Defoe, Pav & Crouch are simply not scoring enough goals. Is there money available? Possibly. Is there a player of the necessary quality available for transfer in this window? Possibly not.
Another worry (and this leans back towards fantasy) is Gareth Bale's reoccurring back injury, which I imagine is linked to the number of games he's played this season. He was subbed after 50 minutes at Everton because of it & after just 5 minutes on Saturday at Newcastle, with Redknapp confirming it's a bit of a mystery.
What a huge blow it would be if Bale required surgery & missed the run-in, especially the Milan ties. I'm waiting with my fingers crossed for more accurate news later this week, but of course he will have to be dropped @12 if he's set to miss any significant length of time. That would severely affect my current barndoor team, as would the potential transfer of Charlie Adam, but this is what I have saved for Week 25...
Reina, Spector (filler @3), Kelly, Kolarov, Bale, Adam, Van Der Vaart, Nani, Dzeko, Torres, RvP
I'll leave my random musings there for now. Please let me know how you're getting on and who you have left to go this week. God knows what the Blog Cup cut-off could end up being, but do you think we could see the first ever weekly score of 300? I think it's possible...
Cheers,
AM
72 comments:
i have hit 155 points this week with 8 DGs :) my all time highest
also was a bit disappointed by walker's injury giving a big zero to all of us.. hope he returns for the second game
zaveriaakash
Sitting on 129 points with flat zeros from Bale, Walker, Fletcher and Davies. really concerned about Bale. managed to BD Hoilett and thats about it. Cheers Nik great post as always.
absolutelybrilliant[am.blog]
charlie adam has handed in a transfer request and is probably not going to play against man united tomorrow night.along with walker thats 2 of my double gamers out.
138.5 points with 10 double gamers.
But.. I have included Rio Ferdinand & Fletcher in my team (did they disappear? are they injured? what the hell is going on?)
having in mind united display I have already lost 20 points (or even more).
On 147 but Rio not playing. If Adam is held out, then that sucks.
wow!! such a waste when bale face the injury.well that was foreseen from the start.guess its time for bale to have a rest..now have to find somebody that could fit his post with that big discount from starting of the season..for adam he bring out the best of blackpool..hopely blackpool will keep on their track.another discount to let go.im gonna loose 2 discount.hussh..
156.5 with 7 double gamers.
Mistakenly dropped Berbatov so this is what i have for now.
Reina
Kolarov M.Kelly M.Hughes
Nani VdV Adam Brunt
Torres VanPersie Dzeko
I believe Hughes is injured.
Ebi
Charlie Adam transfer request.......!!!
I have 140pts with 7 DGers to go.
141 points with 6 potential DGers to go ... depending on Walker and Adam and what happens to Meireles with Gerrard's return. Could turn into a mid-week flop depending on the line-ups.
123.5 pts with 9 DGers left...actually it's 10 bt the same caldwell cause me -7 and his red-card make him suspended for nex week...
chao turban
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/24012011/58/premier-league-blackpool-reject-adam-transfer-request.html
Adam transfer request rejected and he will play against Man U on Tuesday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/b/blackpool/9371791.stm
The Seasiders chief also confirmed he had given no thought to leaving Adam out of Tuesday night's high-profile encounter with Manchester United.
"Not a chance," he said.
"If I tried to stop that boy playing against Manchester United he would probably kill me. Charlie loves this club and just because he puts a transfer request in doesn't change that."
Holloway is genius!!!!! i am changing my team name
"If he plays well against Manchester United and passes like he can and if we get the shock of all shocks, a lot more people might want him," continues Holloway. "I think his stock is rising all the time and I told him that this morning. I obviously rate him better than anybody else."
Meireles will surely play, might not be as effective with Gerrard in the side but should play. It's why i didn't pick him but i'm regretting already.
Is Torres still suspended?
ignore the Pratt
lol,I think the "Pratt" was just playing around...
Somebody needs a chill pill.
124 with 10 double gamers to go. Should have been more but Rio and Walker didn't play for some reason...
Yep, Rio & Walker got some last minute injury; By the way nice score Nik...Judging from the weekend, Spurs and City
title aspirations may come too soon I believed but Chelsea might have an outside chance on the title push after their first away drubbing since October. Welcome back Monsieur Drog, Malouda & Essien!
@ Pop Thy - 10 DGr's too,.. but a measly 113 so far... ;)
Kyle Walker returns to Villa squad:
http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2011/01/24/kyle-walker-returns-to-villa-squad/
They confirm he will be available, but not if or how much he will play. A start would be great!
155 pts with potentially 8 DGers to go (inclusive of injured Walker and filler Reo-Coker).
It would've been greater if:
1. Walker played (CS +6 pts)
2. RVP didn't missed that PK (PKM -6, G +7, SOT +3)
3. Adam, Torres, Meireles, Kolarov didn't get booked (YC -3 X 4 = -12)
Total lost = 6 + 6 + 7 + 3 + 12 = 34 pts
I think 200-250 points is achievable if we are going to see something similar to the weekend games in the midweek games.
Only replaced Walker & Reo-Coker for Dzeko & G.Caldwell (another filler) for GW25, the rest of the team stays the same as all are at home, with discounts and/or with winnable games. Won't be doing any transfering unless injuries/ban to my players. Cadwell is exception (he's a filler and there is no DF you can buy with 2.98 except him)
hopefully Liverpool+Dalglish will start a new winning chapter!
How great of a choice was Spector @ 3.63? - already has churned out 14... wait, just answered my own question. Just bragging a bit, pay me no mind. Oh yeah, Torres didn't play. ;P
At least Drogba is giving me some points for my fantasy team...
I'm not gonna give my team away, sorry. I'm doing too well at the moment for people copying me...
So far 96 pts w/ 12 dbl gamers to go for the week--not that great compared to many bloggers here but at the same time not that bad either I think. For those who might be interested in fantasy strategies, I've been picking players every week from the beginning of the season based largely on matchups instead of discounts. For example, a double week could easily mean a completely new line-up for me. I've been fairly happy with my strategy so far although I could do a little better, but hey who couldn't? Hopefully w/ a little help from Nik and all the bloggers here the 2nd half of the season will fare better than the first. Good luck to all of you. BTW currently 1730 overall w/ a tad over 2000.
Sorry, I meant 96 pts w/ 11 dbl gamers.
125,5 points and still 11 DG .
Persie killed me, hat trick cmon.
127.50 with supposedly 9 DGers, but Caldwell is suspended, Walker might be injured and Adam might not play :(
Nani, Torres, Rooney, Reina, Meireles and Duff to go
The second place point-getter for week Team Mopski is sitting on 195.5 with 10! DG'ers remaining. Will be interesting to see how high the points rise.
Ah perfect the Arsenal v Ipswich is on BBC2 I would go down the pub but I've got exams this week. I want to see if Bendtner's improved at all. Last I saw he was missing everything that wasn't a few inches in front of an empty net. If he plays a blinder and is on for next week I might put him in my YFF team just for a thrill. I put £20 on them beating Barca at home, £84 return. They're really on form at the moment. Not that Barca aren't better even on a bad day.
Been having a good week by normal standards but poor by this week's. Sitting on 101. I've got 10 DGs (9 considering Walker's out). Dropped Mereles, can't remember why, and Kelly because I thought he was injured after landing on his head. Instead Walker and N'Zogbia are in, one isn't playing and N'Zog hopefully can make up for his 1.50 at the weekend.
Anyway: Barndoor
Reina
Kelly / Kolarov / Eardley
Adam / Brunt / Barton / Watson
Rooney / Dzeko / Bent
I'll trade Bent for Bendtner for the ride if he's in contention for a start against Everton (not likely).
gosh, 3 of my DG players not playing tonight.. No K.Walker (Villa), no M.Diame (Wigan) and no S.Crainey (Blackpool)...what a bad day.. banking on Nani, Rooney, Adam and Reo-Coker tonight and Torres, Kuyt and Reina tomorrow..
DrA
Earlier reports said Walker was returning to the team for the Wigan match. Now he's not even on the bench...oh well. Still have 3 DGers playing today, and hopefully 2 more tomorrow, depending on Liverpool's starting line-up.
Blackpool up 1-0 and playing well ... ManU's first loss?
Blackpool is playing really well.. Blackpool up 2-0 at the moment.. might be ManU first defeat..
DrA
Vidic 1 SOT, almost scored, good save from the goalkeeper though.
wow, whomever had Berba is really enjoying this week.
I fucking dropped him, it looks like he has a few more goals to come and i'll be missing out on all of it.
215 with Reina and M Kelly to go, season high 701. I'll continue my assault without Mr Berbs.
is lampard injury guys?
I hope the single game proponents are enjoying this?
Damn, Berbatov 59 pts ! Hmm dropped him for Bent. Well still good week for me. 189 pts with Torres, Kelly and Reina to go, rank 332. My rival in CL = 185 pts with Stockdale, Dempsey and Kelly to go. For the first time in my life go Liverpool go ! ;D
Why berbaa why...?? why i don't have you??
Only 174 with Torres and Kelly to go.. :(
-Cuy
Cuy - don't be annoyed mate, 174 is still an excellent score (better than any of the current overall Top 10) and you have players left that could push towards 200, which is outstanding.
You will always get one-off weeks when people score huge points and you'll find that people who score well are (unsurprisingly) the most willing to share their weekly scores on the blog, so it always looks like everyone had done far better than you, but believe me, they are the exception.
I'm well aware of the people who show up here every week and share their score (whether they've done good or bad) and those who only pop up when they have good weeks. I don't blame them at all, I often wish I didn't have to post after getting 60 points in a week (!), but never be too disheartened if it looks like you've done poorly, because there are always people who have done far worse & simply don't post about it.
Cheers
O NA NA! WHAT'S MY NAME?
@ AM
yes i got 117.5 points.
:-(
Am i the lowest this week?
LC
You're not
Good point AM. I haven't posted for a while, having sunk almost without trace. Whenever I try something slightly different it doesn't pay off, and when I go with the flow and it works, everyone else seems to do the same. Net result - outside the top 3,000 and still falling. 144 so far so not really terrible but only Kelly and Dembele to go, so hoping for lots of Fulham goals to dent the Reina holders and a consolation from Liverpool (ideally Kelly) to avoid a Fulham clean sheet. Not very likely though...
Considering I don't have Bale, I really should have done better this week, but Caldwell, Walker and Watson didn't really work and van der Sar didn't prove such a great idea either.
@Guy - Don't feel too discouraged. I topped out at 313 in week 12, only to spend the next 9-10 weeks in a free-fall to around 3900. The last two weeks I finally turned it around to jump up to around 2100 again. So, it really only takes a couple of good weeks to get you back on track.
I'm one of those people that tend to post even when I do poorly ... sorry for all the whining and complaining! But, that is a good point that I didn't think about, AM.
168 so far this week with 2 left, Meireles and Pantsil. Was hoping for a better haul yesterday (only 27 points) and a chance to top 200 for the first time ever, but now it looks highly unlikely.
160 for the week and up to 652nd. Will undoubtedly drop after tonight. As a Pool supporter I want them to win but lets see a 3-2 win and goals from Lucas, Kuyt and Gerrard.
BD Team right now
Reina
Kolorov Srtel Smalling
VDV Adam Nani Song
Torres RVP Berbs
BCB
Please allow me to enjoy this. After week2 i was just in front of Nik but while he broke into the top 1000, i fell to 7900. Last double week i broke into the 2000 now with 215.5 i'm @701 with Reina and Kelly to go. Something i saw, don't know how well it works, don't take any risk after a good week, don't feel over confident, go with the flow.
Ebi
I need to give congratulations to a member of my private league Team Mopski who currently sits in 2nd with a weekly score already at 259pts with Skertl Merieles AJ Dempsey Paintsil to go. Can anyone remember a week where some one scored over 300 pts? This could be huge!!!!
Luckily for me however I am still in 1st place by about 60pts with Reina Torres Meireles and Kelly to go with 178.5pts
Good luck everyone!!!!!
162 points with stockdale, skrtel, meireles and dempsey to go. Don't know what result to hope for. Maybe 0-0 with lotsa SOTs for meireles and dempsey?
Currently at 451, which is my personal best in my years of playing yff. Hoping to reach top 100 by the end of the season.
bengoh91
Congratulation to all of you....
TJ
Well, managed to get 185.5 pts. Regret I didn't buy berbs instead opted for rooney which was very disappointing (berb was cheaper than rooney by then). Anyway decided to bd berbs at 14 during the brum's game at OT. And pls don't tell me that rooney will scored hatrick in OT vs Villain.
Btw, where the hell is jermaine jones of Blackburn. Wanted to have him but not listed. These yahoo guys are nonsense sometimes......
One fixture for wk 25 that really get my attention is Bolton Vs Wolves. Should I get the bolton striker and midfielder since wolves is the team that having the worst away record?? But you can't really expect wolves to continue performs badly right? Your guys input is heavily appreciated.
John Doe.
Glad that I sold Bale and VDV to get more cash to buy Torres, C. Adam, and Spector (what a great buy!!)
Btw, Bale are reported to be sidelined for two wks and from previous experience, I don't really trust Mr Harry.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/01/26/2324777/tottenham-star-gareth-bale-ruled-out-for-two-weeks-with
bale out for 2 weeks?! wow, hope that vdv will score handsomely in gw25.
well, I didn't regret not having berba in gw24 and I didn't BD him either coz I know I would rather get an average point player than splashing out 14+ to gamble on a player who could either get you 60 pts or 3 pts. Unless of coz he show his consistency, he might score 3 pts next. I could have an early heart attack having him in my team. Better play safe since I'm topping my private league.
No need to be annoyed for scoring low, you can't always have high scores, I would be happy to have Torres & Kelly to go on top of 174 pts! You're much much better than many others, be grateful mate!..well I'm happy with my final pts of 216.5 - my highest ever weekly pts!
cheers,
MRA
Congrats to all who got over 200 pts! I managed a modest 183.5, but I'm hoping to rack up a little more in gw27 and gw28.
As for this coming week I'm still undecided on whether to keep Dzeko to bulk up my midfield or to gamble on Elmander who's standing at a very reasonable price of 11.75. Another risk I may start taking is to finally invest in a few Chelsea players...although with Liverpool and ManU coming in the next month I may think twice about it.
Cheers,
YI
Is there going to be a double week soon? If yes, which gameweek? and which teams are involved? thanks in advance.
Double games coming up
GAMEWEEK 27
Birmingham v Stoke City
Birmingham v Newcastle
Blackburn v Newcastle
Everton v Birmingham
Bolton v Everton
Arsenal v Wolves
Arsenal v Stoke City
Blackpool v Aston Villa
Blackpool v Tottenham
Sunderland vTottenham
West Brom v West Ham
West Brom v Wolves
GAMEWEEK 28
Chelsea v Birmingham
Chelsea v Man United
Wigan v Man United
courtesy of ESPNsoccernet.
What a busy last third of the season!
WOW many DG yah?
i hope good game for u ALL..!! :-)
-ANGLING DHARMA-
triple game for brum in gw27?
xx
Game week 27 some of those mid-week matches are a week apart but it does look like birmingham will be playing 3 matches in week27.
fianlly i got 190 points. higest ever.
reina
coleman/kolarov/kelly
c.adam/vdv/vaughan/maxi
torres/rvp/taylor fletcher
congrats ZAC :-)
-ANGLING DHARMA-
Den of Thieves. 246 points
Ebi
View my team and compare with yours
http://playerfantasy.blogspot.com/
Bale ruled out for two weeks!
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/01/26/2324777/tottenham-star-gareth-bale-ruled-out-for-two-weeks-with
bengoh91
Scored 185 points this week. Seems like a pretty average score this week.
I think next week is the time to start investing in arsenal players. They have a double coming up soon and fixtures are too good to resist. At the moment I only have RVP@17 :( Well done to those who have him at 9 or 13.
bengoh91
With 245 pts, I hit a season high 258th position. And I'm 10th among Man City fans. It was a great week!
I have 202 points....i think the highest i got so far..
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