Week 7 - Player Picks

Week 6 turned out to be completely unpredictable - the huge number of shock results meant a lot of low weekly totals and I know everyone will be keen to bounce back by breaking 100, but having looked at the fixtures for Week 7 it ain't gonna be easy.

When I analyse the fixtures each week I look at form, the premier league table, make my predictions for each game based on this data (and my gut feeling) and separate the stand-out fixtures (predicted easy wins) from those I think could go either way - nice and simple.

However, when analysing the fixtures forthcoming weekend I found almost every game incredibly difficult to predict with many matches likely to be close battles and probably low-scoring ones at that. It makes it slightly trickier to recommend players when you're not sure which teams are set for wins/clean sheets etc and I certainly won't be putting an accumulator on this weekend!

Week 6 - Point Adjustments

Just a quick one - Yahoo have once again made some adjustments to the points. I've noticed Malouda & Barton have gone down a few points each and because of this I've dropped outside the Top 1500. I know Yahoo are only correcting mistakes (Malouda had previously been awarded points for a non-existent SOT) but it would be nice if they could get it right first time.

The adjustment has also caused slight variations in prices, with some players dropping and some rising. Although this appears minimal I'm pretty sure Tevez was below 18 previously, but he's now 18.01 and my unsaved team now exceeds 100 - d'oh!

Have you been affected by the mini-update?

Cheers,
AM

Week 6 - Saturday & Sunday

What a strange week that turned out to be. I can't remember the last time so many results went against the odds - Chelsea losing to Man City, Arsenal losing to West Brom, Spurs losing to West Ham, Birmingham failing to be beat Wigan, Man Utd failing to beat Bolton...only TWO home wins out of 10 games...you simply cannot predict so many unlikely events occurring in one weekend.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the results it meant it was generally a low scoring week. I ended on a disappointing 72 points with a grand total of ZERO goals (well - one own goal by Charlie Adam). However, there was a bright spot...my goalkeeper jinx appears to be over :) after my new best mate Ben Foster scored a mammoth 18 points after a clean sheet and plenty of saves. Van Der Vaart chipped in with a handy 14 points and Malouda + Drogba somehow scored 14 points between them despite doing nothing, while Jerome was poor, Koscielny & Chamakh a total disaster. Bale, Salcido, Adam and Barton all returned around 5 points.

Week 6 - My Team

Foster

Bale   Koscielny   Salcido

Van Der Vaart   Adam   Barton   Malouda

Chamakh   Drogba   Jerome

No Berbatov. No Arshavin. No Gerrard. No chance?

Week 6 - Update

I'll be pleased to see the back of Week 6 - point delays, late price updates and point adjustments have made this one of the most difficult weeks to write about and of course it meant I wasted a large amount of my free-time by having to recalculate the blog cup results. I've actually spent very little time on my team this week because of the issues.

Luckily it's just over 24 hours till deadline so I can now focus on getting my team in order and updating you all on team news throughout the day. Of course we usually get the best of this around lunchtime after the manager press conferences but there's already a fair bit for you to consider and I'll be adding to throughout today...

UPDATED: The Blog Cup - 1st Round Results

As mentioned earlier, the price updates run by Yahoo today included some points adjustments which affected weekly totals and in turn affected The Blog Cup results.

Please see below to see the updated 1st Round Results. The cut-off has changed to...

Week 6 - Player Picks

Week 6 is here - and you'll notice my player recommendations are very similar to last week's which shows us clearly that after five weeks the season is starting to take shape. Player's averages are actually starting to mean something in terms of genuine consistency and we're starting to get a better idea of which teams are set for successful seasons. I think you can expect to see a similar core pool of players featuring quite regularly over the coming weeks and months.

I'm obviously writing this post with the values of players still not updated from Sunday's games. This is the first time I've seen such a gap between the points being awarded and the prices being affected as a result, which in turn has meant we're in the middle of the longest barndoor period in history. We're less than 3 days away from the next deadline so I'm actually starting to doubt whether the prices are actually going to be updated at all...?

If that's the case then another technical issue at Yahoo can be the only explanation and one can only guess what happens to the pricing algorithm after the Week 6 points come in. Obviously if the prices are updated before the deadline then that's going to affect some of my recommendations, but I couldn't wait any longer so I thought I'd go ahead and post them anyway. * now updated, please see the bottom of this post

Fabregas & Dembele Crocked

Fabregas injury confirmed as three weeks
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6391412,00.html

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has been ruled out for two to three weeks following the hamstring injury he picked up against Sunderland at the weekend.

Dembele stretchered off in Fulham's 2-0 defeat to Stoke last night
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/9022024.stm

Dembele, who has scored three times this season since joining from AZ Alkmaar, left the stadium on crutches but the full extent of the injury is not yet known.

We now know how bad it is, 2 weeks out, so he's out of this weekend's game vs Everton, which is a huge blow to Fulham (with Zamora out) and to fantasy managers holding him at discount!

Week 6 Player Picks will be up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Cheers,
AM

The Blog Cup - 1st Round Results

DUE TO A POINTS ADJUSTMENT BY YAHOO, THESE RESULTS HAVE NOW BEEN SUPERSEDED BY THE RESULTS HERE: http://yahoofantasyfootballuk.blogspot.com/2010/09/updated-blog-cup-1st-round-results.html

It's taken me a while, but I can finally reveal The Blog Cup 1st Round Results.

The cut-off to qualify for Round 2 was...

Week 5 - Sunday

A post about yesterday's games as we await Yahoo to fully update the Week 5 team totals/rankings. Once things are finalised I'll be able to calculate the 1st Round results of the Blog Cup to see who made it through to the second knock-out stage!

Sunday started with a marvellous performance from Dimitar Berbatov in the early kick-off, as his hat-trick (including a quite spectacular 2nd goal) gave Manchester United a deserved victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford. People may point to the John O'Shea incident as the turning point, but the facts are Liverpool mustered only two attempts on target in the entire game - Gerrard's penalty and free-kick that brought their two goals - so I feel the result was fair given the overall performance of both teams.

Week 5 - Saturday

What you'll tend to find in weeks with few clean sheets is a far lower scoring pattern across fantasy teams, and so far this weekend has been no exception. From the seven Saturday fixtures only Newcastle were able to keep their opposition out, and let's face it, not many people would've gone with Newcastle defenders with a tricky game at Everton.

It means the majority of defenders scored very little yesterday...as did many of the goalkeepers. I saw a comment in the "My Team" post from someone claiming they saw I'd picked Foster and quickly switched to Kirkland (which I don't think is possible because nobody knew I'd picked him till after the deadline), but I wouldn't blame anyone taking this approach!

We all know I've had a rotten time with goalkeepers this season and it continued with -3 as Foster shipped 3 goals at the Hawthorns. The odds of this result occurring were 30/1, so it proves I must have some sort of jinx on the position at the moment. Great result for West Brom mind you, as Odemwingie inspired them to come from behind after Jerome had opened the scoring for Birmingham.

Week 5 - My Team

Foster

Koscielny  A.Faye  Bale

 Malouda  Adam  Barton  Etherington

 Dembele  Drogba  Chamakh

Wow, this was a tough week to pick a team. My Friday decision not to go with the "Kirkland Zero" meant I had to significantly re-think things yesterday and I ended up settling on the XI above.

Week 5 - Update

Just random thoughts and some team news as we enter the final 24 hours before the Week 5 deadline.

I'll start with goalkeepers - and thanks to some of the comments from readers I'm now rethinking whether to take the zero for Kirkland (assuming he continues on the bench) or go with one of Foster/Howard/Robinson (Hart may be out of reach).

If I go with a one of these guys then my dream of having Ashley Cole goes out the window, but I've got this gut feeling that I just shouldn't take a certain nil-points for my keeper. It's likely I make up my mind late tonight but for now I'm putting myself in a position where I have a "Kirkland team" and a "GK for 7.5ish team" in my mind, ready to make the switch based on this decision.

Week 5 - Player Picks

Firstly, I want to make it clear that for the 800 teams in the eight blog leagues, Week 5 is Round 1 of The 2010/11 Blog Cup. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please read my previous post here.

With that out of the way, I'll move on to the Champions League - and I was a very proud Spurs fan last night as the club made their debut in the competition's group stage.

We made an unbelievable start and at 2-0 were coasting, but a moment of madness from Assou-Ekotto led to Werder Bremen grabbing a goal back before half-time and the inevitable pressure led to an equaliser straight after the break. It was a cracking game though, end to end, both sides could've won it but I certainly would've taken a draw before the match...a solid start to the campaign!

The 2010/11 Blog Cup

It's that time again...The 2010/11 Blog Cup:

800 team, 8 rounds, 1 winner!

At points throughout the season we will have weekends where the Top Weekly Scores from our EIGHT blog leagues go through to the "next round". It's a knockout so once you're out, you're out!

Last year our winner was Stephane's FrenchCannons, who pipped Alex's Supermassive FC by just 0.5 points...could it be that close again this year...?

Week 4 - Saturday

Put simply, a fantastic day of football - the English Premier League may not be of the technical quality of La Ligua, but I still think it beats all others for pure excitement. For evidence look not further than Everton v Manchester United, the lunchtime kick-off yesterday.

It wasn't just the final 3 minutes that made the game, it was the entire 90 that proceeded it. It was cracking match, end to end, chances galore, tackles flying in, great goals, bad errors, fantastic saves and of course, an unbelievable comeback from the Toffees. 3-3, Alex Ferguson fuming as United blow a two-goal lead, Moyes fuming because Everton could've won it only for the ref to blow for full-time, outstanding drama, great stuff!

Week 4 - My Team

Harper

Kompany  Koscielny  Bale

A.Johnson  Adam  Barton  Malouda

Chamakh  Carroll  Drogba

I hate having money left over, but this week I have 2.92 remaining in the bank, probably the most I've ever left unused. I was on the verge of making some changes in order to use up the remaining funds, but after some discussions in the chat room last night I realised I shouldn't be making changes just for the sake of it, so I stuck with what I had.

Week 4 - Updates

Ok, much to update you on since my Week 4 Player Picks post on Wednesday.

First of all, you'll notice that there have been fluctuations in player prices due to some new players being added to the game. This may annoy some of you who had not yet saved your team, as Harper is now above 5, Vermaelen above 10 and Adam Johnson up to 8 (to name but a few). I'd not saved my team but luckily can still keep the one I had planned. Only just mind you...my 1.64 in the bank dropping to 0.14 after increases overnight.

The only new players currently added are those who have previously been on the game - Gallas, Hleb, Pennant. Whether Van Der Vaart, Gyan etc are added today we'll have to wait and see, but I suggest saving your team ASAP before we see any more price changes.  
UPDATE: As I was writing this post new players HAVE been added (VDV 5.53, Squillaci 5.83, Gyan 6.42)

So what else do we know? Well...

Week 4 - Player Picks

It's only Week 4, but I'm starting to get really frustrated with the organisation of Yahoo's Fantasy Football game this season...and I'm sure I'm not alone!

We've already had numerous technical issues with pricing, points and delays since the season began, and now we're having to deal with another ...the (non) addition of new players. I know we still have 3 days until the Week 4 deadline and there is a chance they could be added before then, but the transfer window closed 7 full days ago and there's still no sign of Van Der Vaart, no sign of Gyan, no sign of Squillaci, Hleb, Gallas etc. In my opinion it's just not good enough.

Walcott Injured

Not good news for those of us holding Theo around the 8 mark, and you have to feel sorry for him after his great start to the season......

From Metro.co.uk

Arsenal's Theo Walcott was taken to hospital to have an x-ray on his ankle after he was injured in England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland.

Walcott's right ankle was injured in the build-up to Wayne Rooney's opening goal for England after ten minutes, which the Arsenal player helped set up - picking out Glen Johnson on the wing, who sent over a low cross for Rooney to turn in.

England also suffered another injury in the build-up to their second goal, scored by Adam Johnson, with Spurs striker Jermain Defoe being stretchered off and replaced by Darren Bent. It is not clear how serious Defoe's injury is. 

Week 4 Player Picks will be up tomorrow evening, but Walcott's injury means it's back to the drawing board for my team if he's due to spend some times on the sidelines. It looked quite bad so I'd be very surprised if he makes the Bolton game.

Cheers,
AM

Home Again

I returned from my holiday earlier today, so thought I'd put up a quick post to catch up with you all, with my regular posts (looking at Week 4) to begin from Monday onwards once I have a chance to look at all the options.

The break was just what I needed - sunshine, great food, great mates, great beer/wine, but I must admit I missed the footy massively...despite Spurs blowing their good start to the season vs Wigan. I caught the England game last night, where Rooney appears to be approaching some form and Defoe showed a masterclass of finishing, but you've to feel sorry for Michael Dawson, that looked awful :(

Anyway, I asked my girlfriend to post up the Week 3 - My Team, and much to my surprise she was actually able to do this successfully, so I've just finished getting through all the comments and reviewing how my team did. 108.5 points moved me towards the 3000th, which tells me I had an above average week but I completely missed the barndoor. The AM Blog Team scored 83 points, so is currently struggling in 16000th, but we'll pull it back I'm sure!

To allow me to catch up, I'd like to know...how did you do in Week 3? Where has this left you overall in the rankings? And who did you pick up on the barndoor for Week 4?

Cheers,
AM