Friday 6 May 2011

Week 36 - Update

In an ideal world Harry Redknapp and Roberto Mancini would've "done an Ancelotti" in their press conferences today and revealed their exact starting line-ups for this weekend's matches to help us all make some sense of this DG dilemma.

Unfortunately we've only been fed scraps of information from Spurs & City today, so we're left chopping and changing our teams, having to make final decisions based on rumours, our own hunches and hoping for a little bit of luck when the team-sheets are announced tomorrow/Tuesday.

I'll start with the Spurs scraps, and the news that they'll definitely be without Huddlestone and Assou-Ekotto for the Blackpool game and probably the City game too. Corluka is also unlikely to play after suffering a hamstring strain at Chelsea, so Kaboul is pretty much certain of a start in both games.

All these injuries mean Gareth Bale could well find himself at left-back tomorrow, but he often does his best work running from deep as there's nobody to track him, so that doesn't bother too much when it comes to his fantasy points potential.

There's no news on which striker/s Harry will go with, but I think Crouch could be due a start after spending the Chelsea game on the bench. Whether it's with Van Der Vaart in support or in a 4-4-2 alongside Defoe or Pav I'm not sure, but I'm going to take a punt on three-metre-Peter.

As for City, it's even more of a lottery as we literally have no idea what Mancini has in mind in terms of resting players. We do know that Micah Richards could return to the squad, while Zabaleta & De Jong are likely to be fit after picking up injuries against West Ham, but that's pretty much it.

There's nothing about Dzeko/Balotelli getting a start/rest, but there is mixed news regarding Carlos Tevez. He definitely won't be involved at Everton, but some media report he could be back for Spurs, while others state he's still struggling to make the FA Cup Final. I think it's fairly safe to say he won't start either match in Week 36, but he could get a cameo from the bench on Tuesday.

Where does that leave us? Well, this is my current team:

Friedel, Gallas, Lescott, Bale, Hitzlsperger, Modric, Silva, Van Der Vaart, Suarez, Crouch, Balotelli

As you can see it's possible I won't go with a DG keeper this week. I'm not confident either side will win both games so spending £10m-£12m on Gomes or Hart has me feeling jittery. For now I'm going with Friedel and I've also downgraded Kolarov @ 11 to Lescott which leaves me the funds to grab Bale.

Is Bale worth £17m? Possibly not, but he's a due a big week, will get acres of space against Blackpool and will start both games, whereas Kolarov could always get a rest in one. How I wish I still had him @ 4 - then it wouldn't matter as I could easily have both! Alas, Gallas completes the line-up in defence & I'm hoping for a clean sheet from him vs Blackpool, with anything else a bonus.

My midfield is pretty standard as I'm thinking Hitzlsperger at home to Blackburn over Yaya Toure is probably a sensible move. Saying that I could always bring Kaboul in to a 4-3-3 instead? Or maybe I should just keep Yaya? Anyway; Modric, Silva & VDV are definitely staying as my remaining midfielders, I'm certain of that!

Another thing I'm certain of is Luiz Suarez @ 7, with Crouch my hunch for a goal against Blackpool. He was also man of the match in the 4th place decider against City last season, so you never know, he may get two starts. Balotelli is currently there too, but I could switch him back to Dzeko. It really is a 50-50 call, and one I'm likely to make tomorrow morning, but it will definitely be one of the City strikers in that final slot.

So that's what I'm thinking at the moment. There other games going on too, so here's the important news from the other 18 Premier League teams.

- Daniel Sturridge is being tipped to recover for Bolton's home game against injury-ravaged Sunderland, but nothing has been confirmed by Coyle. If he was certain to start I'd probably find a way to get him in ahead of Dzeko/Balotelli, but I won't risk spending 10.xx on a SGers who might not make it.

- Scott Parker could be back for West Ham, which would give the whole club a huge lift ahead of their huge relegation six-pointer against Blackburn. Noble is out so Hitzlsperger should be on all set pieces, hence why he's currently in my team. Would he get penalties too? Perhaps that honour would go to Robbie Keane.

- West Brom have a chance of another win at Wolves, but there are doubts over Chris Brunt, Steven Reid and Gonzalo Jara, while Paul Scharner is suspended. I imagine a fair bit of the responsibility will fall on Odemwingie again, including penalty duty if Brunt doesn't make it.

- Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri will both be missing for Arsenal's trip to Stoke, while Gael Clichy and Johan Djourou are both doubts. However, former fantasy favourite Thomas Vermaelen has finally recovered from the foot injury that has kept him out all season, and he could even start!

- Craig Gardner is suspended, so David Bentley may return to steal some of Seb Larsson's set pieces

- Finally, the big game at Old Trafford on Sunday should see two teams with fully fit squads to choose from. It's sure to be an absolute cracker, and I think Chelsea could keep the title race going with a win, provided they go 4-3-3 with Drogba leading the line.

That's it for now, but I'll be sure to add any further news to this post as the day/evening goes on.

Please let me know where you are with your team at the moment. Are you as nervous as I am about this horrible DG week?

Cheers,
AM

31 comments:

Nikhil said...

nice post..im also using a SG keeper in krul at home cus bcity blows haha..thanks for the continued efforts

Trader said...

Nice article!!

Anonymous said...

Will Bale suffer from being at Left Back, will Crouchy get a goal or two or will RvP run riot at Stoke...if I knew the ansers to those I could decide between:

Bale/Crouch
or
Gallas/RvP

Papa Bear said...

man after a terrible week for me last week and dropping to second in my private league...i am so nervous about this week...i have changed myside numerous times and i cant seem to feel right about it....this is what i have so far...
howard
luiz gallas lescott
silva, kuyt modric yaya
RVP balotelli crouch

i am not sold on city players becuz if u have watched them over the past mth...none of there players really score high...if they dont score they rarely make it over 10 pts...and without tevez i dont see them scoring over 2 goals per match....so i am thinking of taking out yaya and replacing him with valencia....but valencia played full 90 mid week and could be in for a rest....

what do u think about my side...and any suggestions as to who i should use instead of yaya...

paulyff said...

@papabear
Hitz is a good bet to replace Yaya with-
FFKaAnon

Unknown said...

this my team wat ya think
j.hart
kolarov kaboul gallas
pennant d silva meireles yaya
sturridge dzeko crouch
i might change crouch to balotelli but im stuck otherwise and im 270 ahead on my fantasy league
podgeallstars

Papa Bear said...

@paulyff
i have never been sold on Hitz...better i have never been sold on West Ham so i dont wanna go there...but for that value the choices are really limited...

Papa Bear said...

@kevin
over the past couple weeks mierles has been a shadow of himself in liverpool...the squad has gotten really confident and although he been playin well its been overshadowed by everyone else...not so sure on pennant vs arsenal but arsenal r not that great at handling crosses so he shud get them spot on for Jones

HarambeeStars said...

Hart
Kol Luiz Bale Gallas
Silva VdV Modric Hitz
Suarez Balo

After this post I'm thinking of selling Hart to get Bent for Balo and upgrading Gallas or Luiz.

Andrew N. said...

Odemwingie possibly on penalties? I like the way the guy plays, but who can forget that dreadful pass-shot against Man U? (Sorry for the video quality, but it's the best I could find without full match highlights.)

Irons said...

Man it's tough this week with all this uncertainty over starters. It's starting to do my head in...not much nearer to a final 11.

kendo said...

Hart
Luiz kolarov lescott
adam silva ya ya hitzl
suarez ballotelli rvp

i know folk are sayin if city beat everton they will take the foot off the pedal v spurs for the fa cup final, but the other side of that coin is if they beat everton you will score points???

Kendo

kendo said...

swapped dejong for hitzl as he is doubtful

think the guardian team sheets are more trustworthy than yahoo's

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague

Hannalini said...

Here I am, trying to get from 2nd to 1st:

Friedel
Kolarov Bale Gallas
VDV Yaya Silva Modric
Van Persie Balotelli Crouch

Thoughts?

Irons said...

Right, final team is shaping up...

Friedel
Kolarov Bale Gallas
VDV Silva Modric Hitz Yaya
Suarez Balotelli
2.82 spare.

Got some crazy urge to bring in Jarvis for Yaya..i may well do it, it bugs me having so much spare cash.

Chinu said...

þ€T€R » Š.G.F.Ç


hart
gallas lescott kolarov
vdv silva sandro modric
suarez balotelli dzeko

Anonymous said...

Reina
Kolarov...Luiz...Lescott
Adam...VdV...Silva...Ramsey
Suarez...RvP...Drogba

Seasonal Secrets said...

Guys, any idea why my YFF page has a blank background? It's just words and nothing else. Thankfully I can still manage my team. Btw anyone thinking of jaaskelainen v.s. striker-shy sunderland?

gman26 said...

Hart
Kolarov/Luiz/Bale
Lampard/Silva/Yaya/VDV
Balotelli/Ranger/Gabby

I brought in Ranger so I could afford VDV. I had enough for Sandro or DeJong in midfield but figured they won't be scoring any more goals this season, so I spent the money on Gabby at home to Wigan.

I like how forward Yaya keeps getting. He's not an offensive force but he's capable of a goal in two games.

I'm at 1,025 overall heading into this week. MUST. CRACK. TOP 1,000.

kwyjibo said...

@gman26 - you and me both. I'm at 1166. I really want to get to the top 1000, which is why picking this week is such a challenge.

Currently:
Hart
Kolarov-Gallas-PRobinson
Silva-Hitz-VdV-Modric-Sandro
Suarez-Odemwingie

3 Spurs middies? Pretty crazy? I'm actually thinking of switching Hart-Sandro to Friedel-Bent. But, I still don't know how much I trust Villa, even against Wigan. Too many doubts around Sturridge, otherwise I would go with him.

HarambeeStars said...

Right now I'm nowhere near the top 1000 and I'm 300 pts ahead of 2nd in my private league...so with that in mind here's my team for the week

Carson
Kol Luiz Cole
Hitz Mikel Essien Malouda
Suarez Torres Drogba

All I can say is

COME ONE CHELSEA!!!!

HarambeeStars said...

COME ON* lol :P

APIZ said...

Somebody told me please
Zabaleta will play or not tonight??

Anonymous said...

hitzlsperger - kolarov
vs
Dzeko - modric

man i can't decide...

kendo said...

Zabaletta has tweeted on twitter that his ankle is ok for Saturday 3 points are important for us

Kendo

kendo said...

Do you have him at discount apoz?

Chaos said...

"bugs me having so much spare cash"

I won the overall week back in February and had 6 million spare cash....

Mandara said...

lennon everyone?

kendo said...

Give it to me chaos! ;)

AFM said...

why lennon AG???

kendo said...

Just had a look at the barn door don't really want make changes

City chels blackpool Liverpool all at home only doubt hitzl away v wigan but his average is worth holding on to him ?

Hart
Luiz kolarov lescott
Adam Silva yaya hitzl
Rvp ballotelli Suarez

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