Friday 4 February 2011

Week 26 - Update

Less than 24 hours to go until deadline and news is starting to filter through from manager's press conferences around the country. The chances are you're waiting on that all important piece of information to help you make your final decisions, so lets get straight in to it...

- Slightly worrying news to start with seeing as many of us are holding him at a big discount - Charlie Adam is a doubt and faces a late fitness test before Blackpool's trip to Everton. With the team in a slump (6 defeats in 7 games) they really need their captain, so I think he'll play, but it is a concern. David Vaughan is also a doubt and Stephen Crainey is definitely out.

- Redknapp has confirmed Steven Pienaar is available following a concussion that caused him to miss the Blackburn game in midweek. He'll face Bolton along with Michael Dawson who returns from suspension. Luka Modric remains out after surgery to remove his appendix & Gareth Bale isn't quite ready, although he's running in training and should be back next weekend.

- Fernando Torres should make his Chelsea debut vs Liverpool on Sunday and he's likely to be joined in the starting line-up by David Luiz. It'll be interesting to see what he does defensively to accommodate Luiz; drop Ivanovic completely or move him out to right-back and drop Bosingwa? UPDATE: Ancelotti revealed Luiz is back in Portugal, so there's a doubt over whether he'll start.

- Luis Suarez should get his first start at Stamford Bridge after scoring on his debut from the bench in midweek.

- At Manchester City, Micah Richards is the only new injury doubt after his concussion suffered at Birmingham. De Jong should be fine & Yaya Toure is ready to return, but Balotelli & Adam Johnson remain sidelined.

- Alex Ferguson has revealed Rafael is ready to return to the starting XI after missing the last two games with concussion. Darren Fletcher is also OK despite being subbed off injured after 30 minutes in midweek.

- The decision to sell Andy Carroll is already starting to backfire on Newcastle, with the news Shola Ameobi will miss at least a month with a fractured cheekbone. They now have Nile Ranger, Leon Best & Peter Lovenkrands as forward options - ouch.

- Arsenal are without Samir Nasri, Alex Song & Denilson (and Vermaelen of course), but Squillaci is back from suspension. Arshavin has probably done enough to earn a start this week.

- Stoke have Ryan Shawcross back after he missed the previous two matches through suspension, while Matthew Etherington and Kenwyne Jones should come back in to the starting line-up after they were rested at Liverpool.

- Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole faces another month on the sidelines with his ongoing troublesome back injury, but Sulley Muntari is ready to make his debut for the Black Cats.

- Peter Odemwingie has shaken off his knock and is ready to face Manchester City this weekend, Graham Dorrans also has a chance but Jara & Cech are doubtful.

UPDATE: Full round up HERE

My team is still as it was yesterday:  

Howard, S.Caldwell, Kelly, Kolarov, Adam, Van Der Vaart, Lampard, Nani, Keane, Van Persie, Rooney

I'm likely to keep Keane over Dzeko unless I have a change of heart overnight, so the above could well be final.

How's your team looking?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. We've passed 1200 Facebook members, amazing! Please join us as we look to move towards the elusive 1500! I'm also on Twitter, so feel free to follow me...

87 comments:

Anonymous said...

how's your team, Nik? any changes to the lineup you posted at the players picks post? I can't decide to go for bentley or lamps at 13.xx price. If I'm not wrong Bentley has DG or even 3 games the following week

Anonymous said...

no love for Bentley? Lampard has a difficult matchup this week isn't he.. and not-so-easy matches coming up too

Jeremy Spitzberg said...

I have Lampard on the barn door, but wonder if that money is better spent on a cheaper mid as I can only afford Aurelio on D. I sure would rather have Walker or somesuch.

Any wisdom from the crowds?

Jeremy
Fantasy EPL Blog

Miecio said...

Any news in Jagielka case? I would know if Heitinga is likely to start.

Any wonders why Arshavin's status has dropped?
He had been one of key players for Wenger, now he is even futher in selection than Sicky..

Will said...

Does anyone know why Spector did not play in midweek? He was not even on the bench. I barndoored him at 3.71 as he is listed as a defender but plays in midfield. I like keeping him against Birmingham but i am not sure if he will start.
Anyone?

kwyjibo said...

As soon as I saw the picture at the top, I was upset...I thought I was ready for the week. But, I don't really want to lose a 5+ discount on Adam. So, I may keep him and hope for the best:

Hart
Kol-Kelly-Luiz
VdV-Adam-Nani-Meireles
RvP-Dzeko-Suárez

I'm taking a chance with some new signings because, well, I'm stuck in the 2300 range. I need something different!

kwyjibo said...

@Will - I was wondering the same thing. Also had him @3.71 and took the zero midweek. Fantasy Football Scout (one of the links on the right) does not list him as a probable starter. So, I dropped him for Luiz.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE COMMENT
szczesny
coleman evra g.calwell
nasri(8milion) palacios(filler) adam silva
RvP berbatov rooney

Anonymous said...

I've decided to avoid Chelsea/liverpool
reina->howard

Howard
Kolarov Coleman Walker
Nani VdV Cahill Yaya
Dzeko VanPersie Rooney

2.1 left

Ebi

Anonymous said...

There's an update on Luiz, for those who have him.

@Jeremy-Personally i'll only pick Lampard if he's playing in the position Anelka played in last match but 5sot looks good to me. Funny besides Suarez he's the only one i'll recommend in that match.

ludes34 said...

@Jeremy - likewise grabbed Lamps on BD but dropped yesterday as was nervous about the matchup, his consistency, and where points come from with Torres in the lineup. Plus, Everton has BPL and you can turn Lamps at 13+ into Coleman and Bily, or Coleman at a minimum. Opposing midfielders tend to score well against BPL.

Great blog this week by you guys (as usual - love the relegation ratings). Cheers.

Doctor Teeth said...

I would not be that worried about Charlie Adam's status. Recall that there were multiple instances in October/November where Adam sustained serious knocks in games and Holloway indicated that the chances of Adam featuring were very slim...Adam started each time. Obviously every injury is unique but the guy is an ox and I can't imagine he won't play.

Biggest question marks for me are GK (Szczesny or Howard in all likelihood) and my third striker (Keane or Dzeko). No Nani for me so I have some extra cash to burn...speaking of which, isn't it strange how much extra cash you have to spend with no Bale in the backline?

For now:

Szczesny
Kolarov Bridge Coleman
Lamps Adam Bentley VDV
RVP Rooney Dzeko

Roger said...

@ludes34 -- I think you should load your team up with Bolton guys. We love Bolton.

Anonymous said...

anon-- g. caldwell has broken cheekbone so check.

Which is better?
A. Howard, Luis, Bridge, Silva

B. Hart, S. Kelly, Pantsil, Elmomandy

I hold B, and will lose discounts on Hart and Kelly.

Arizona

Anonymous said...

My team:

Szczesny
Koscielny, Kelly, Luiz
VDV, Nani, Bentley, Richardson
RVP, Rooney, Dzeko

I've toyed with dropping Rooney, Richardson and Kelly for Carew, Fabregas and Coleman. I can't quite hit the save button on it with Rooney at Wolves. Any input would be very welcome.

STC3

Assistant Manager said...

Luiz is a doubt as he's still in Portugal.

Anonymous said...

Thanks AM.

I'm going with:

Szczesny
Koscielny, Walker, Coleman
VDV, Nani, Bentley, Fabregas
RVP, Dzeko, Carew

STC3

Andy Johnson said...

My team it looks like this

Howard
Koscielny, Vidic, Clichy, Djourou
Adam, N'Zogbia, Nolan, Diame
Defoe, Keane

ludes34 said...

@Roger - thanks - per your suggestion, I'm out on the Everton guys and shifted to Sturridge and Holden, maybe even Davies who has 6 goals in last 5 matches vs. Spurs.

In fact, I might be able to sell my entire team and load up on all Bolton guys...Bolton did win 4-2 back in November against Spurs after all...

Kendo said...

going with

Reina
Skrtel Vidic Coleman
VDV Adam Downing Nzogbia
RVP Dzeko Keane

BD'd keane and nzog this week

not worth dropping adam

Had dropped Bale last week will his value drop until he is fit?

Kendo

Roger said...

@Ludes34 -- I think loading up on Owen Coyle's lads is the way to go. Spurs have huge injury problems at the back, Sturridge is hot, and Bolton is due to wake up one of these weeks. What about Jussi? Maybe him too?

ludes34 said...

@Roger - I have Szcz at 7+ so Jussi at 8.15 wouldn't be that tough to do with extra in the bank. Spurs barely squeezed out a goal against Blackburn a couple days ago so perhaps a 0-0 is in the works.

Any thoughts about Ryan Shawcross back from suspension for Stoke? Sitting at 6.10 and at home (where they are stingy) to Sunderland - might be interesting?

Anonymous said...

Any thoughts on this team

Szcz
Kolorov Bridge Coleman
Nani VDV Adam Lamps
RVP Rooney Sturridge

0.23 left over

Superfly Jim said...

Advice on options below

A) G Caldwell, Heitinga & Cahill
B) G Caldwell, Walker & Bentley
C) Walker, Heitinga & Hoilett

I know G Caldwell won't play but he's the only option to afford Cahill or Bentley...

@ludes34 - Shawcross is a good steady (if not spectacular) player for Sunderland, why not try and trade up Shawcross for attacking defenders such as Walker(6.36) or Set piece takers like Bridge (6.96)

Thanks Guys

Anonymous said...

superfly ..... check on aurelio and carney as having a better chance of starting than g.caldwell who has zero chance. also heitinga is a doubt. info from ffscout

arizona

SLASH said...

Can anyone give an opinion? I am wondering betw Bentley and Noble . . . Noble is @home and not so many people have him in their teams, while Bentley is making SOME performance . . . You have the word :]

Linesman said...

@SLASH I would go with Bentley. He is also better for a long term investment.

I'm trying to decide between Keane/N'Zogbia or Carew/A Young (or Cesc). Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Bruce said...

@linesman, there's a good reason Carew is as cheap as he is (that pen miss at St James park still hasn't come down) but I think he might just be perfect for Stoke and could be a cheeky purchase. I'm not sure why but not many people seem to be going for Villa midfielders this week but I reckon they'll comfortably dispose of Fulham at home, so I'd opt for the Carew/Young option.

As for my team, I really wish I could field 5 strikers. So many discounts, it's hard to know who to drop. I also have a lingering feeling that Lamps will be a bust...scared to drop him though.

SLASH said...

Stam(WIG) / Caldwell(WIG) / Jacobsen(WHU) / Collins(STK)
Which one would be the best filler?

Anonymous said...

@Slash:

go for Caldwell or Collins..a sure starter

-DrA-

Anonymous said...

Anyone is looking for cheap midfielder, you can consider Palacios (3.11). Harry Redknapp switched to 4-4-2 for the 1-0 away victory over Blackburn and could continue a similar system that saw Wilson Palacios and Jermaine Jenas impress in the centre of midfield.

-DrA-

Anonymous said...

@SLASH

Bentley is a much better pick he will pick up points in every game and Birmigham have a decent schedule.

@Linesman

Newcastle are energetic and will be dificult for Arsenal to dominate. Cesc has been crying to be red carded all season and my suspicion is this will be the occasion.

I fancy West Ham against the Blues and Keane to Score. Blackburn are flying so Nzogbia may struggle to score high. I don't think Carew has sufficient agility to be a serious goal threat. Villa have the pace to rung rings around Fullham so Young may prove an excellent pick. On balance I would go with Carew/Young becuase Young could score big.

Motty.

kwyjibo said...

What about Bentley v Adam?

Bentley is only 0.01 more than the price I have Adam for. Especially with the injury doubt to Adam, is it a good time to switch?

Although, losing the 5+ Adam discount will be tough...

Anonymous said...

final line-up:-

Szczesny
Kompany walker bardsley
VDV Nani Adam fabregas bentley
keane dzeko

only other change will be adam if out = cahill

so wot do you guys think of this then??

Anonymous said...

Want to replace Silva+Walker, and I have 2.5mil extra. I think I'll take Coleman, which leaves me with with 5.57 for a defender or a midfielder. I thought about Muntari, or maybe Bradley, but I'm not sure.

Suggestions?

SF

Anonymous said...

fabregas or torres

Linesman said...

@Bruce&Motty
Thanks guys! Really appreciate your help.
Now the tough part of not touching my team until deadline!

Howard
Kolarov/Kelly/Bridge
VdV/Nani/Bentley/Young
RvP/Rooney/Carew

@kwyjibo
I would hang onto Adam with a discount. He has consistently performed well and selling him because of an injury doubt may be costly in the long run. That being said, everyone seems to be jumping onto Bentley and with Birmingham's DG coming up I can understand why.

Emperor said...

fabregas or torres ? oh and will heitinga play ?
pls help... thx

Anonymous said...

@Emperor

go for fabregas.

Jagielka is back..so heitinga wont play..

-DrA-

Anonymous said...

final line-up:

Howard
Coleman / Kolarov / S. Caldwell
Nani / Hoilett (4.66) / VdV / Bentley
Rooney (14.71) / Dzeko / Carew

Hoilett: he is doing very well so far. Wont let him go as i brought him in at 4.66 a few weeks ago

Carew: i got a feeling that carew gonna score some good point this week. Great bargain at 1.97 and he is a sure starter.

-DrA-

SK said...

I think I am going to sell Nani (17.76). Excluding the ManU's double-week, he has only averaged 9.6 pts per game away, while scoring 18.1 pts per game at home.

Currently at this team:
Szczesny
Kolarov Huth Coleman
VdV Adam Park Bentley
RvP Carew Tevez

G-man said...

Which two out of following three defenders?

Coleman / Walker / Bridge

Thanks!

snow day said...

torres or rooney?

Anonymous said...

@G-man coleman/bridge

marco

Anonymous said...

@snow day
Rooney has a better match up and should feature. Torres will play, but when? A bit of learning curve i think for Chelsea's staff and players. I am waiting on Torres to see where he fits in.

marco

Anonymous said...

szcz
kolarov collins walker
nani VdV adam bentley
RVP dzeko rooney

i'm not getting this often but
my team value is 100.no leftover.lol

joe

Anonymous said...

I'm a rookie and a yank so please forgive me, but what does barndoor mean?

Anonymous said...

it means that you buy players which perform good during the matchday before the price went up after the points been updated.

for example rooney was 14.92 before the match against villa.he scored 2 goals and his price went up to 18.80 after points updated.so if you want him on your team for next matchday u need to add him before the points been updated usually 1 or 2 hours after the matches finished.
its like u buy players on discounts.

correct me if i'm wrong fellow managers :)

joe

Anonymous said...

Suárez + Fabregas or D. Silva + Rooney?

Thanks

R

Anonymous said...

d.siva + rooney ;)

Staffer said...

I'm fielding exactly the same team as last week for the first time in my YFF career:

Reina
Kolarov,Kelly,Rafael
Adam,Nani,Bentley,VdV
Berba,Van Persie,Dzeko

The only change I was hesitating was Silva instead of Adam due to the late fitness test but I decided to stick with Adam since I got him for 8.xx and I don't want to lose the discount.

Wish you all fantastic scores this week.

Anonymous said...

I arrived @ something i'm ok with, Citeh heavy

Howard
Kolarov Coleman Kolo
Nani VdV Cahill Yaya
VanPersie Dzeko Rooney

Anonymous said...

currently at this team:
jasskelainen
kolarov,jara,D.collins
vdv,nani,bentley,H.thomas
torres,dzeko,D.bent

I might sell thomas for silva but who gonna score more point

thanks

joey

Chinu said...

I'm going with:

Howard
Kelly, Boateng, Coleman
VDV, Nani, Adam, Nani , Cahill
Bent, Dzeko, Carew
Ne Suggestions???

- desertfoxx

roonaldo said...

pls comment on my team :)

Van der sar
vidic coleman kolarov
nani lampard vdv fabregas
RvP Rooney Tevez...
left 1.21....

pls advice fellow managers.....

Anonymous said...

Any suggest or comment if i included MUNTARI (sunderland) to my team?

Jazz Plizzow...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, @ roonaldo...I don't even think with all the discounts on each player that we've had this season, fielding a team like that is even possible. If it is indeed your team, I'd love a link to it. And if it's true, you'd best stick to it for the rest of the season. That's a top team, mate.

Any update on Adam, lads?

-BlueBlooded

Merv XI [AM.Blog] said...

Adam news, please.

I might swap him for Reid. Reid doesn't take SP but still scored 9.5 pts last week. If Adam is out, we can expect 15 pts from him.

Staffer said...

@roonaldo-are you sure this is your team mate? If it is - no suggestion dude, keep it till the rest of the season...let's do some raw calculations and I'll put the minimum price IMO.

VDS - let's say 10
Vidic (9) Coleman (6) Kolarov (4)
Nani (14) Lampard (12) VdV (6) Fabregas (14)
RvP (9) Rooney (14) Tevez (13)

this sums 111 units so it is absolutely impossible even if I miscalcualted smth. So if you are asking for suggestions - mine would be "Stop lying" :)

Anonymous said...

Yeah Roonaldo, that team is lovely and 1,21 left.

Anonymous said...

@roonaldo:

you gonna win this competition if you have such players in your team mate! I don't think you could have those players in the budget of £100m. Maybe Yahoo mistakenly allocated £200m for you! Just for you.. hehe.. juz kidding mate..all the best to all managers

-DrA-

G-man said...

Currently have Nani (at small discount, but not concerned about keeping the discount) & Carew (@1.97), but somewhat concerned about over-investing large portion of the budget into Nani, and thus, resorting to the Carew filler. Would a more balanced approach, such as Van der Vaart and Dzeko, be a wiser decision?

So, Nani / Carew or VdV / Dzeko?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

@G-man

Nani currently at his top form. I guess 80% of the managers got him. So dont get rid off him. Keep Nani.

Carew might not be a decent striker this year. But today he might score a goal or two. Or at least some shots on target against Sunderland.

--------------------------

VdV in the last few weeks not at his best form i think.

Dzeko will earn some points..

Nani+Carew = might give you 30 points
Vdv+Dzeko = might give you 15 points

So you make you own decision!

-DrA-

Kenny said...

Szczesny

Kolarov(5.36)
Luiz
Bridge

Adam(8.64)
Bentley(7.78)
Pienaar
Watson

van Persie(14.20)
Tevez(18.62)
Saha

0.03

Anonymous said...

@Kenny - Luiz is in portugal or was in portugal yesterday, so you'll be better of with another defender.

Anonymous said...

i'm leaning towards

heitinga/a.young (1)

OR

coleman/dzeko (2)


if i choose (2) i already have tevez. comments are deeply appreciated. thanks

mario

Ruben said...

reina(5.71)
kolarov(4.43) luiz coleman
vdv(6.13) nani(18.40) arshavin c.gardner
dzeko rvp(13.90) suarez

How about this team? Gardner plays well
but no one above has him. Is he a good pick or not? .13 left

kote said...

my name is kote.. please rate my team

hart
bale baines vidic
vdv nani malouda downing
drogba berbatov tevez

Daniel M said...

you're right Joe

Daniel M said...

very very very important for barn door the doubt about MIDWEEK games! is there any oficial info?

Anonymous said...

will rodwell play?

Daniel M said...

Week 27 will be double week just for NEW & BIR or also for WOL, ARS, TOT, WBA , BLP & STO ?????

Anonymous said...

silva or pennant??help me guys

Anonymous said...

@Anon
Silva i think

Anonymous said...

will torres play vs Liverpools?

Anonymous said...

Howard
kelly coleman shawcross
vdv nzogbia lampard adam
roney dzeko rvp..

Guyz comment
..DENIL..

jack said...

So nobody decided to keep Bale's discount?

I've been stingy - I still keep him and news of him returning next weekend makes me smile :)

Anonymous said...

hey ronaldo u have 200 m to spend how u managed to get so many expensive players

mikl-em said...

Szczesny
Coleman (5.74) / Kolo / Djourou (7.10)
VdV (11.4) / Adam (8.64) / Silva (5.67) / Bentley
VP (13.9) / Suarez

Keeping Adam, final decision based on the promise of a double week next week (hope it happens).

Likewise wanted Bentley in for his upcoming double (cuz I'm not sure if I will get to do Barn Door this week, so getting his price locked in now). I traded out Dzeko for Suarez--I hope I'm right!

Basically choosing Bentley / Suarez instead of Holden / Dzeko (or possibly T Cahill / Dzeko). I feel pretty good about that, but let me know any thoughts. I do think that Cahill will come back hot.

Good luck everybody!


mikl.

mikl-em said...

oops! And Fabergas. Almost forgot that 15 points I'd wasted last week. Hope he brings in at least 1/2 his value this time out!

Anonymous said...

Juggernaut

Going for this this week:

Howard
Kolarov / Coleman / Walker
VDV / Adam / Bentley / Cahill
Van Persie / Dzeko / Torres

I quite like it provided the strikers come good - they all have the potential to be all or nothing though which is a worry.

Anonymous said...

Made some final changes.. My feeling said, Everton won't get a clean sheet and therefore I brought in Szczesny for Howard. My final team look like this:

Szczesny
Coleman / S. Caldwell / Walker
Nani / Hoilett / Bentley / VdV / Silva
Rooney / Dzeko

Good luck to all managers

-DrA-
No Name FC

Anonymous said...

I'm not convinced arsenal will get a clean sheet either away at Newcastle.

Anonymous said...

guys help me..adam will play or not??

Anonymous said...

Any suggest or comment if i included MUNTARI (sunderland) to my team?

Jazz Plizzow...

Suoerfly Jim said...

Bridge / Vidic / Cahill / Dzeko

or

Carney / Walker / Bentley / Tevez

????????????

Anonymous said...

@Suoerfly

both combi looks stable..but i prefer Tevez combi

-DrA-

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