Given
Alexander Vermaelen Faye Steinsson
Etherington Arshavin M.Taylor
Klasnic Santa-Cruz Eduardo
Finally set on my team after lots of chopping & changing this morning, and I decided to go with 4-3-3.
In goal I went with Given...admittedly every time I've picked him this season he's let me down, but I feel Mancini will sort City's defence out (even with injuries) & he has a couple of winnable fixtures so I'm hoping for positive points.
Alexander was always going to stay, Vermaelen too due to his triple games & Faye has been a hunch all week. As captain he'll play all 3 games (including 2 nice home fixtures where Stoke rarely concede) & he's dangerous in the air at set pieces. Steinsson comes in as he's now back in the Bolton side & anyone who remembers the past 2 YFF seasons will know he can be a very good points scorer as an attacking full back. I've also always liked him since I saw this youtube video of him interviewing a team-mate...seems like a pretty funny guy :)
In midfield I've gone with Arshavin (3 gamers, getting forward much more), Etherington (3 games, in very good form & taking set pieces) and I've also gone with Matt Taylor. People seem to think I don't like him, but that's not true, I just always feel he's too expensive, but with a triple week I think he's worth the cash this time. I really wanted Nasri as my 4th midfielder but I just couldn't find a way to swap one of my defenders for him...I always ended up a bit short.
Upfront I got rid of my big 3 of Drogba, Rooney & Defoe. Drogba had to go, the risk of Rooney getting booked today was too much to spend £16.8m on & whenever I pick Defoe he never scores, I thought I'd drop him so he can get a hattrick at Fulham! :) Eduardo & Klasnic come in as triple gamers who should both get a goal, while Santa Cruz is there because of his name (oh, and the fact he only cost £4.6m!). With Adebayor off to the ACN next week he should be due a run of games as the main City striker so he's a good bargain to hang on to.
That's my team this week, potentially 30 games if they all play their fixtures, so hopefully I can bounce back after 30 points last week!
Quick barndoor look at next week's fixtures
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Arsenal v Everton, 15:00
Birmingham v Man Utd, 17:30
Burnley v Stoke, 15:00
Fulham v Portsmouth, 15:00
Hull v Chelsea, 12:45
Sunderland v Bolton, 15:00
Wigan v Aston Villa, 15:00
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Liverpool v Tottenham, 16:00
West Ham v Wolverhampton, 13:30
Monday, 11 January 2010
Man City v Blackburn, 20:00
Time to load up on Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea & Fulham.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Arsenal v Everton, 15:00
Birmingham v Man Utd, 17:30
Burnley v Stoke, 15:00
Fulham v Portsmouth, 15:00
Hull v Chelsea, 12:45
Sunderland v Bolton, 15:00
Wigan v Aston Villa, 15:00
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Liverpool v Tottenham, 16:00
West Ham v Wolverhampton, 13:30
Monday, 11 January 2010
Man City v Blackburn, 20:00
Time to load up on Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea & Fulham.
What did you end up with? Who's coming in on the barndoor?
Cheers,
AM
Cheers,
AM
Met myself coming backwards this week and ended up as follows:
ReplyDeleteKirk (I know, Man U away ....)
Verm, Baird, Faye
Taylor, Lee, Arsh, Diao and Demps.
EDS and Tuncay upfront
Good luck all!!
Off to have a drink and plan booze up for when Kirk faces Rooney and co next week
Good looking team AM, should do well - you've got the main triple gamer angles covered and numerous set piece and PK takers. Solid bets all through your roster.
ReplyDeleteThat video is ridiculous LOL. Gretar must be on speed or crystal meth there... LOL! Is that video from the time they were teammates at AZ Alkmaar??
Keeper dilemma solved? After the deadline, Given has dropped to 5.73 - very affordable, and now worth keeping for a while when you see the fixtures. Plus Mancini will tighten up that backline with 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteNext 6 EPL games: Blackburn, @ Everton, @ Stoke, Portsmouth, @ Hull, Bolton. --> Not exactly terrifying or high-scoring opponents...So, Given for that price: yes please! :)
Oops typo - I mean 5.63 !
ReplyDeleteWhich keeper do you think is better for next week? and maybe for keeping for a few weeks...
ReplyDeleteGiven or Gomes? I have Gomes at 6.97, while Given is now cheap at 5.63. I know Given has a better fixture next week, but how about for the next few weeks? Do you think City's defence would improve?
My team for this "week":
ReplyDeleteGiven
Vermaelen - Baird - R.Dunne
Dempsey - Arshavin - N'Zogbia - Etherington
Tevez - Bent - Sturridge
It looks almost ready for next week too.
well I sold off Drogba, which was admittingly tough , but I think the right move to make this week.
ReplyDeletesettled on the following:
Fulop
Verm, Alexander,bassong
Mtay, Dempsey, duff, etherington, ohara
Rooney and Tuncay!
definitely some switches for next week but I like my triples and some definite value picks as I dont think Tuncay price has been re-adjusted yet.
Should be a fun two weeks.
really gamble this week:
ReplyDeletealmunia
verm---salgado---stens
arshavin--mtay--diaby--eth
benitez--eduardo--klasnic
hope this will up my rank ^_^
cheers
2 goalless draws so far! Defoe probably did badly, but not complaining - CS for Gomes and Baird!
ReplyDeleteI went to bed without any official word on the weather/road conditions in Burnley, so I wound up with fewer Bolton players than I might've liked (and of course MTay has scored). I'm not happy with my line-up, but here it is:
ReplyDeleteGiven
Vermaelen/Steinsson/Baird
Eagles/Larsson/Arshavin/Duff/Etherington
Santa Cruz/Rooney
I held onto a few players I had at discount. I wanted to maximize this DG/TG week but without undermining my future line-ups. RSC isn't even on the bench, so that gamble isn't paying off yet. I hope Rooney can get through the 1st match without a YC, or I'm screwed. Drogba didn't score, so I'm feeling better about dropping him.
So far a CS for Baird and SOTs for Eagles, Larsson, and Duff.
MPet scores. I hope he plays more regularly under Mancini. I'd pick the guy if I ever had any confidence he'd start.
where the hell is Santa Cruz not even on subs list.
ReplyDeletePicking Petrov up preupdate. If he starts again against Wolves, I'll probably keep him
ReplyDeleteAlmunia
ReplyDeleteVerm, Sylvinho, Neil
Arshavin, MTAY, Eth, Bily
Rooney, EdS, Tuncay
fairly decent, it was the right time to drop drogba. Good luck to everyone!
Tuncay has a SOT and CW so far. What a value pick LOL ;)
ReplyDeleteIs there any place to see YFF stats as the games are going on, or even most of the relevant stats? What's the best source?
ReplyDeleteThanks - and good luck to everyone this week!
theirs came from Opta.
ReplyDeleteespn.com matchcast is a good source for stats but they arent the same as yahoo.
ReplyDeleteDropped Drogba and got 89.5points after the first day thanks to goals from Mtaylor and Diamati.
Given
Bassong/Zabaleta/Sylvinho
Ohara/Etherington/Taylor/Dempsey
Bellamy/Klasnic/Daimati
Not doing well AM
ReplyDeleteApparently Drogba and Kalou will be available for Monday's match vs. Fulham after all:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1915596,00.html
Well, it's a bad week so far, but it could've been a lot worse. Only 33.5 points today with Nasri, Arshavin, Vermaelen and Rooney to go tomorrow. I fell about 100 places in the overall ranking, and I expected a deeper fall, so it's okay by me.
ReplyDeleteHeitinga and Robinson did well, and Bassong got another CS. Bily was disappointing with negative points, while Klasnic did nothing. O'Hara almost returned his value with 5, but annoyingly enough got a YC which means he'll play only once this week. I just pray Rooney doesn't. But the O'Hara suspention might help my Arsenal players be more flowing, and that's good news. Dempsey with 6 isn't good, but I hope he'll improve on the 2 next matches of his.
On BD I got Eagles (he makes O'Hara look unstable), Bent (home to Bolton looks convinient, but might be out for Zamora - home to Pompey), Petrov (he was amazing today, and on discount he's fantastic), Santa Cruz (I heard he was injured, so he might be back, but I'm also looking at sturridge), Baird (he's on form and home to Pompey) and Given (stays only if I'm sure that ManC's CS today wasn't only accidental).
I dropped Nasri, Robinson, Dempsey, Heitinga, Bily and Klasnic for them, and also went back to 3-4-3 formation from the 3-5-2 I picked this week and hasn't proved itself yet.
So for next time, as for now:
Given
Vermaelen Bassong Baird
O'Hara Arshavin Eagles Petrov
Rooney Santa-Cruz Bent(/Zamora)
SF
Next week's lineup;
ReplyDeleteGiven
verm/heitinga/upson
asharvin/valencia/petrov/dempsey
diamanti/sturridge/tevez
@SF: Yea, if it had been conclusive that Drogba would play 2 games then I would have kept him, however in heinsight it was the rigth thing to drop him after a 1.5pt performance. Fulham will provide another tough test for Chelsea and I can't see them besting Fulham by more than 1 goal.
ReplyDeleteNot a great start for me, 31pts from MTAY, Sylvinho (lost his CS due to sub), Tuncay, Neil, Bily, and Eth.
Still have Almunia, Arshavin, Verm, Rooney and EdS to go tomorrow, but really expecting points from the second round of matches.
On the BD I grabbed Tevez, Zab, and Petrov, hopefully MPET can keep his scoring ways and starting spot, hes worth every penny when he starts.
The first few matches of the day were good. CS for Gomes(19) and Baird(11) and nice phantom points from Duff(12). Then it all went downhill and the remaining 6 players playing today got a combined score that couldnt even beat Baird!
ReplyDeleteEtherington was okayish with 6, Klasnic(2) was rubbish, Faye(2.5) did probably the worst of all the Stoke defenders I could choose from, Bily got negatives, Defoe disappointed with a negative for the second week in a roll, and Santa probably was too tired after Christmas and decided to take a break....
Only Vermaelen and Arshavin left in the 1st round of games.
Gomes
Vermaelen Baird Upson
Bilyaletdinov Duff MPetrov Reid
Defoe SantaCruz Tevez
This is my current preupdate team
Many clean sheets already this week. With seven teams so far.
ReplyDeleteHello Everyone. Happy Holidays and such.
ReplyDeleteBeen busy traveling and doing the holidays with family on u.s. east coast..
went with
Given
Ivanovic,Verm,Salgado
Arshavin,MTay,O'Hara,Aquilani
Rooney,Robinho,Ebanks-Blake
took some risks that didn't work out (yet). I thought Aquilani looked pretty good, just not YFF good. Should have avoided O'Hara.
Hope everyone is having good holiday so far.
Cheers to AM and congrats on 6 months of a great blog!
83 points for me, with no-one left to play...
ReplyDeleteKirk 0,5, will probably go into negative against ManU
RJohnson 17,5 :D, Bassong 6, S.Jordan 6
Mtay 15,5, Moko 0, Reid 9, Eagles 7,5
Klasnic 2, Bellamy 4, Tevez 15
Bellamy should have started >:|
I dropped RSC as I thought the new manager was setting out his stall. I thought that RSC was one of the players that supported Hughes (as he has bought him twice now) so Mancini wasn't going to start him. I added Tevez but a few people have said that RSC was injured. I am now worried that I dropped a gem at 4 points and will be behind. What do you think?
ReplyDeletepoints in bag is always more important than points in sky. =)
ReplyDelete