Injury Update 10/11/09

From football365.com

Bad to worse for Liverpool? Apparently so because Rafa Benitez is fearing the worst for Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun after they were injured against Birmingham on Monday night.

According to the club's official website, Benitez 'fears both wingers tore their hamstrings' in the 2-2 draw.

"Riera had the same problem as before. The players are sometimes available but not 100 per cent ready. We thought he was okay but in the end you can see he wasn't," Benitez bemoaned.

"Yossi has the same problem as Riera. Some players are playing too many games in a row. They are working very hard and so you always have this risk. I think both will have tears."

As for Fernando Torres, who missed the match, there's no guarantee that will be fit for the Man City clash in two weeks either.

"Torres had no confidence and said he couldn't play, so we started the treatment yesterday," reported Benitez. "He has to work with the physios and try to improve and be ready. We are not talking about an operation at this moment, we're talking about treating him properly. I don't know if he will be ready for Man City. The only thing I can say is we're talking about two or three weeks working with the physios. We haven't got a deadline, we just need to see how he is every day."

The only bit of good news delivered by the Pool manager concerned Steven Gerrard. "I think he will be okay," said Benitez. "We have to check. There's small things but I think he'll be okay."

Seems as if the seriousness of Ashley Cole's foot injury has been exaggerated.

According to The Daily Telegraph, 'It has now been decided by Chelsea's medical department that Cole requires rest. It had been feared that the 28 year-old would be out for six weeks but Chelsea are being far more optimistic. With the international break, the club hope that Cole may miss only the Premier League match at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Champions League tie away to Porto.'

However, the Telegraph also says that 'first-choice right-back Jose Bosingwa may also be out for at least another month. The Portuguese international underwent an exploratory procedure yesterday to find out why his knee is not responding to treatment although it is still hoped he may be able to recover without having to undergo surgery.'

Nicklas Bendtner says he needs surgery on his injured groin.
"I will have an operation. I don't know how long I will be out," the Arsenal forward has been quoted as reporting.

If accurate, it's highly unlikely he will play again this year. However, Arsenal are well stocked with players who could play on the right of their front three, which is where Bendtner has been playing this season, and The Daily Mail reckons that Theo Walcott will make his return on November 21.

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 - Monday

Week 11 came to a close with a thrilling clash between Liverpool & Birmingham at Anfield. The game finished 2-2 & I don’t think anyone can deny Liverpool deserved at least a draw after dominating possession throughout, but there is plenty of controversy over the N’gog penalty decision

N’gog did dive – he flung himself in the air when there was no contact so it isn’t a penalty. However, if he doesn’t jump out of the way then I imagine Lee Carsley’s desperate lunge (which got nowhere near the ball) is going to cause N’gog some serious damage. It’s more the way he flung himself in the air that’s the issue, but if you look at what Darren Bent did against Spurs the only difference is Bent has used his experience to ensure Gomes has caught him by leaving his leg trailing, while N’gog did not. The young Frenchman will be labelled a cheat while Bent gets away with no criticism, so I have some sympathy.

In fantasy football terms there were decent points for Dann, R Johnson, Benitez, Jerome, G Johson, Lucas, N’gog & Gerrard, but again no clean sheets for any defenders. The fact I only dropped 60 places over night suggests not many people picked up many points (Benyoun with just 3) although a special mention to Roger Johnson who again scored 10 points & really has been a consistently outstanding performer so far this season.

We have no games this weekend so there won’t be too many posts until next week, although I’ll keep you updated on injury news & any views on the World Cup Play-Offs / Brazil v England friendly. Until then keep the comments coming regarding your Week 12 team as I’ll have more time to reply with less posts to write...you’ll also find me over on the chat room a fair amount which is really going well with some great discussions.

A reminder that Week 12 is Round 2 of The Blog Cup which 200 of us are still part of & the 1st round of The AM Challenge is pencilled in for Week 14 which should give us the time to fill the last few spaces of Blog League 6. If you haven't got a space in any of the leagues yet then please join with the details below:

Group ID: 23246
Password: yahoo 

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 - Sunday

Another excellent day of Premiership football as Chelsea stretched their lead at the top of the table to 5 points with a 1-0 win over Man Utd.

I didn't have any players (other than Drogba who gained his worst score of the season) but I enjoyed the game as both teams showed real passion & the game pinged from end to end. To be honest I thought Man U were slightly the better side but the current Chelsea squad tend to grind out wins in tight games. I will say I thought the referee was shocking - I lost count of the number of basic decisions he got wrong (for both teams) throughout the game.

In terms of my team I had a decent day as Matt Etherington scored, adding 16.5 points to my weekly total & Rodallega a further 10.5. I end the week on 73.5 points which would normally leave me disappointed, but due to it being a generally low scoring week it has actually moved me 500 places up the rankings in to the 1400th place. I'll fall a bit after the Liverpool game tomorrow but should still enter Week 12 in the top 1750 or so.

On the barndoor I decided I'm likely to go 3-5-2 due to the excellent midfield options available & my team will probably contain at least 7 double gamers. I grabbed Schwarzer, Nelsen, Duff, Dempsey, Bullard & Roberts, and I'm glad I did as all their prices have risen quite significantly.

I may well downgrade Schwarzer to Myhill & lose Roberts but as we don't have any games for 2 weeks it's not something I need to worry about right now. I did think about Saha on the bd but I'm aware the Yak is back so with his injury record he may only play 1 of the 2 games (possibly away to Man Utd).

With my current team I still have £6m in the bank so I may look at a way of getting another Chelsea player in for the Wolves game...possibly Lampard although he may prove too expensive in a double week. I really don't want to lose my huge discounts on Alexander & O'Hara so it's very possible they stay (along with Drogba & Verm). Samba, Zamora, Konchesky, Paintsil, Geovanni & Hunt are other players I'm considering.

That's if for now - just a reminder that Week 12 is Round 2 of The Blog Cup which 200 of us are still part of & the 1st round of The AM Challenge is pencilled in for Week 14 which should give us the time to fill the last few spaces of Blog League 6. If you haven't got a space in any of the leagues yet then please join with the details below:

Group ID: 23246
Password: yahoo

How did you get on in Week 11? Have you got anyone left to play  in the Liverpoov Birmingham game? And  who came in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 - Saturday

Bloody Shay Given. I've written countless time that I hate spending money on keepers because they almost always disappoint me. In previous seasons I would always pick the cheapest keeper I could buy that I didn't think would get hammered 4 or 5 nil but this year I've tried to pick point scoring keepers in the hope I may be able to turn regular Top 500 finishes in to regular Top 100 finishes.- I think I'm going to go back to the tactic of picking cheap keepers.

It was a strange Saturday. I only scored 46 points but somehow moved up 400 places in to the Top 2000, proving it was a very low scoring week. My big decision was to avoid Fabregas or Van Persie & in my opinion it was justified in the end. They returned 20 points combined so were nowhere near worth spending £40m on (thank God!).

I've mentioned Given, but Alexander again helped me out with another penalty. He's probably a season keeper for me as he always has a chance of a penalty but he's also started taking free kicks around the box too & seeing as I hold him at just £5.5m I'd be crazy to drop him. I (along with plenty of other managers) was on the verge of securing 6 clean sheet points for Gibbs & Vermaelen, but a last minute consolation for Wolves made it 0 & 3.

In midfield O'Hara continued to put up fantastic points & again he's a player who'll stay at just £5.7m. I bigged him up when he first joined Portsmouth & told people to buy him so I hope others took my advice. Dunn was also well worth the money but Harry decided that Niko Kranjcar should stay on the bench. The fact he came on for 20 minutes & almost scored twice as Spurs turned the screw on Sunderland proves he should've been on from the start.

Upfront only Adebyaor has played for me so far & he was a wast of space as he barely toughed the ball all game. I was very lucky he was awarded an assist as otherwise he would've received almost zero. I doubt I'll pick him again as he appears to be back to his lazy ways. I really can't stand him.

With Drogba, Rodallega & Etherington to come I have to hope I can get up to around 70 points which I feel will be a par score for the week. Rodallega was my big hunch pick this week so he's the man I'm really relying on to score a brace vs Fulham. I picked him ahead of Defoe which so far looks wise as Defoe scored the same as Adebayor.

One quick note - isn't typical that I drop all my Villa players aftr a double week only for Young, Milner, Agbonlahor, Friedel score 20, 21, 13.5 & 11?

So far on the barndoor I haven't done much other than grabbing Jason Roberts for £6m after his double (with a double week for Blackburn) & Ryan Nelsen. I'm having trouble deciding on exactly who to pick up but Robbo, Myhill, Duff, Dempsey, Geovanni, Hunt, Bullard, Zamora, Johnson, Lampard & Fabregas are some of the players I'm considering.

How has your week gone? Who's in on the barndoor?

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 - My Team

Given

Vermaelen  Alexander  Gibbs

Kranjcar  Dunn  O'Hara  Etherington

Drogba  Adebayor  Rodallega

The first thing you'll notice - I have neither Cesc Fabregas nor Robin Van Persie. It's a huge call & one that could see me falling a long way down the rankings if Arsenal turn it on at Wolves, but I had a lot of fun picking my team this week not having to worry about ploughing £40m in to 2 players. Even if both players score a goal, it's possible they won't return their value...I just have to hope they don't go crazy & return 30 points each!

In goal I've gone for Shay Given on the barndoor. I haven't had much luck picking keepers this season but City should keep a clean sheet. My defence contains my only 2 Arsenal players, Vermaelen + Gibbs & I decided to hang on to Alexander at £5.5m - a penalty taking defender playing in midfield was too good to let go with so few clean sheets around for other defenders.

My midfield contains 4 set piece takers: O'Hara, Etherington, Dunn & Kranjcar. All 4 are capable of returning more than their value with their fixtures & I'll need to hope they do to make up for the points Fabregas is sure to rack up. Kranjcar was very nearly replaced with Martin Petrov, but I decided I wanted 1 Spurs player & I already had 2 City players.

Upfront I have Drogba & decided that I needed a Man City striker - step forward Adebayor. My final spot cam down to Defoe or Rodallega & I've gone for the Wigan man. Fulham travel back from Roma with a fair number of injuries & rarely do well after Europa Cup games, especially away from home so I think Rodallega has a great chance of a goal or 2. I think Defoe will score too, but as a Spurs fan I'll get joy from that anyway (plus I have £10 on him scoring), so I'm certainly hedging my bets!

So I have: 2 Arsenal players, 2 City, 1 Chelsea, 1 Spurs, 1 Wigan, 1 Portsmouth, 1 Blackburn, 1 Stoke, 1 Burnley...a nice spread of players which will hopefully give me a number of chances if 1 or 2 particular teams don't perform.

Good luck to everyone! Let me know your team & who you're planning on picking up on the barndoor. I'd also like to hear your opinions on going without RvP & Fabregas - have I made a terrible mistake? It's certainly a choice I feel very nervous about...

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 Injuries

This is my last post until the deadline tomorrow. Here are all the known injury doubts & suspensions at time of writing:-

ASTON VILLA
Suspended: Beye & Petrov (both one match)
Doubtful: Gardner (groin), Heskey (back), Milner (calf)
Injured: Davies (shoulder), Downing (foot)
BOLTON
Suspended: Samuel (one match)
Doubtful: Riga & Shittu (hamstring)
Injured: Davis (knee), J O'Brien (knee)

BLACKBURN
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None
Injured: Grella (thigh)
PORTSMOUTH
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Piquionne (neck), Utaka (groin)
Injured: Finnan (groin), Hreidarsson (foot), Diop (fitness)

MAN CITY
Suspended: None  
Doubtful: Bridge (knee), Santa Cruz (ankle)
Injured: Ball (foot), Onuoha (thigh), Robinho (fitness)
BURNLEY
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Jordan (thigh)
Injured: Paterson & McCann (knee), Rodriguez (ankle)

TOTTENHAM
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Corluka (illness), Lennon (ankle)
Injured: Bassong (hamstring), Giovani (ankle), Modric (broken leg)
SUNDERLAND
Suspended: Cana (one match), Jones (three matches)
Doubtful: None
Injured: Cattermole (knee), Mensah (calf), Zenden (hip)

WOLVES
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None
Injured: Foley (knee), Iwelumo (foot), Jones, Ward (both knee)
ARSENAL
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None
Injured: Bendtner (groin), Clichy & Denilson (both back), Fabianski (thigh), Djourou, Walcott (knee), Traore & Vela (groin/fitness), Wilshere (ankle)

CHELSEA
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Bosingwa (knee), Mikel (ankle), Zhirkov (knee)
Injured: None
MAN UTD
Suspended: Neville (two matches)  
Doubtful: Berbatov (knee), Giggs (hip), Vidic (calf)
Injured: Ferdinand (calf/back), Hargreaves (knee), Park (knee), Wellbeck (knee)

HULL
Suspended: Geovanni (one match)
Doubtful: Bullard (shin), Myhill (knee)
Injured: Ashbee (knee)
STOKE
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Diao (calf)
Injured: Amdy Faye (back)

WEST HAM
Suspended: None 
Doubtful: None
Injured: Ashton (ankle), Boa Morte (knee), Cole (hamstring), Davenport (leg), Dyer (hamstring), Ilunga (hamstring)
EVERTON
Suspended: Bilyaletdinov (three matches)
Doubtful: Pienaar (knee)
Injured: Anichebe, Arteta, Jagielka, Neville & Vaughan (all knee), Osman (foot)

WIGAN
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None
Injured: Figueroa (knee)
FULHAM
Suspended: None
Doubtful: A Johnson (shoulder), Murphy (knee)
Injured: Duff (Achilles), Kallio (Achilles), Stockdale (knee)

LIVERPOOL
Suspended: Carragher (one match) & Degan (three matches)
Doubtful: Aurelio (calf), Dossena (groin), Torres (groin),
Injured: Gerrard (groin), Johnson (calf), Reira (hamstring)
BIRMINGHAM
Suspended: Ferguson (one match)
Doubtful: O'Connor (groin), Fahey & Tainio (both knee), Martin Taylor (ankle)
Injured: Murphy (knee)

If there are any injuries or suspensions you think I've missed then please add them to the comments section below. I'll be back with My Team tomorrow at midday & I'll probably be in the Chat Room later this evening.

Good luck!

Cheers,
AM

Week 11 Round-Up & Week 12 Preview

Firstly i'll round up where I am for Week 11. The majority of you will have seen my Week 11 Player Picks post with 50 players in, but i've narrowed that down to 24 possibilities (with a few new entries). You'll notice that I've avoided Chelsea & Man Utd players (apart from Drogs), but that's only because it's going to be heated & is too tough to call...I'm sure it's going to be a cracking game!

Given
Kirkland

It's going to be Given in goal unless I decide to go with both Fabregas & RvP, in which case i'll need the £3m received for downgrading to Kirkland. Robinson is out of my thoughts as I reckon Pompey can win at Blackburn.

Vermaelen
Gibbs
Alexander
Nelsen
Cueller
Spector

Verm & Gibbs will almost certainly be in my team, so then it's just a case of choosing if Alexander stays or if I go with another option with a chance of a clean sheet. Spector & Cueller are 2 options not on my original player picks list, but I think they both represent great value & they're in consideration.

Fabregas
Benayoun
O'Hara
Petrov
Hunt
Etherington
Larsson
Dunn
Kranjcar
Babel

These are the 10 midfielder vying for 4 spots (possibly 5 if I go 3-5-2). I think even at £19m that Fabregas is great value - he's hitting the form of his life with 2 more goals in midweek & I shudder to think what he could do to Wolves. O'Hara is probably in, so then it comes down to trying to get set pieces takers in & Babel could come in as a handy filler to allow further purchases.

Van Persie
Drogba
Adebayor
Defoe
Tevez
Rodallega
Benitez

After missing Van Persie on the barndoor I probably can't afford him. As I've written previously I don't think having both in vs Wolves in necessary, especially at a cost of £35-£40m+. So if I don't stretch for him then it's Drogba (obviously) and then 1 of Adebayor, Defoe or Rodallega. I may also go for Benitez as I think he'll cause Liverpool's defence (which could be without Johnson & Skrtel as well as the suspended Carragher) all sorts of problems.

So those are the decision left to make, with plenty of injury & team news to come this afternoon which is only likely to add confusion.

Now, a brief look at Week 12 which will be Round 2 of The Blog Cup, in which 200 people remain. There is an international break first, so you have plenty of time to think about your team, but it's interesting to note that it's a double week for 4 team so keep that in mind for the barndoor.

Saturday, 21 November 2009
Birmingham v Fulham, 15:00
Burnley v Aston Villa, 15:00
Chelsea v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Hull v West Ham, 15:00
Liverpool v Man City, 12:45
Man Utd v Everton, 17:30
Sunderland v Arsenal, 15:00

Sunday, 22 November 2009
Bolton v Blackburn, 13:30
Stoke v Portsmouth, 16:00
Tottenham v Wigan, 15:00

Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Fulham v Blackburn, 20:00
Hull v Everton, 19:45

Double teams: Hull (2 decent home games), Fulham (1 away, 1 home), Blackburn (2 away), Everton (2 away).

Other decent fixtures - Chelsea home to Wolves, Man United home to Everton, Spurs home to Wigan, Stoke home to Portsmouth, Arsenal at Sunderland.

I'll be looking at Fulham players (Schwarzer, Zamora, Duff, Paintsil), Hull (Myhill, Hunt, Bullard, Geovanni), Blackburn (Dunn, Nelsen, Givet), Everton (Saha, Heitinga)  & then look to get 1 or 2 of Rooney, Giggs, Lampard, J Cole, Defoe, Lennon, Kranjcar, Etherington, Rosicky, Nasri, Fabs, RvP. I think striking the right balance is going to be extremely tough.

That's it for now. Week 11 team/injury news will be up later this afternoon.

Cheers,
AM

Injury Update 05/11/09

Injury round-up gathered from football365.com:

Rio Ferdinand will miss Manchester United's trip to Chelsea on Sunday but Darren Fletcher will be available despite admitting that he will require an operation to cure a long-lasting ankle problem.

While The Sun says that Ferdinand will be out of action for six weeks due to his bad back, the impression made by The Times is that it is even more serious than that. 

'Ferdinand will miss United's Barclays Premier League top-of-the- table match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and could face weeks on the sidelines - and possibly surgery - after finally deciding to address an injury that has plagued him since last December and contributed to his poor form this season,' it reports

'The Times revealed in September how, despite claims to the contrary, Ferdinand's back complaint had not gone away and was becoming a serious cause for concern for United - and England before the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer - with specialists struggling to determine the exact nature of the problem,' it reports.

As for Fletcher, United fans should not be losing much sleep just yet. The Scot's admission that he is struggling with the injury concluded with the assurance: "It should be OK to the end of the season. That is the plan, to get me through to the summer and do something then."

Meanwhile, in case you missed it on Wednesday, Sir Alex has told MUTV: "Hopefully Vidic, Giggs and Berbatov will be ready for Sunday. Gary is suspended so John O'Shea will be ready to play."

Almost-no news is good news for Chelsea with the club not reporting any problems after their game in Madrid.

The only update has been provided by Jose Bosingwa with the right-back waiting on results of tests on his knee. The former Porto man insists there is no guarantee he will require an operation to put things right, but he accepts that he must follow whatever advice he is given. "It's all up to the doctors, but I'll accept the best solution," Bosingwa said in the Daily Express.

From the sounds of it, Aaron Lennon will still be absent when Tottenham face Sunderland this weekend.

"We just don't know how long it will be before Aaron is back," said Harry Redknapp. "We will have to wait and see how he gets on this week."

However the good news for Spurs is that Jonathan Woodgate is "back in contention" - which is just as well given that Sebastien Bassong pulled a hamstring in last week's North London derby - while Luca Modric has finally returned to light training. But he'll still be short of fitness for the Sunderland game.

In a piece of news nobody was expected, Arsene Wenger has reported to Arsenal's official website that none of his players were injured this midweek.

Seriously, read it for yourselves:

'The Arsenal manager lost no-one from Wednesday's win over AZ Alkmaar'

And although nobody on their current injury list will return for the trip to Wolves, the club have also reported that Armand Traore (now back up to Kieran Gibbs at left back with Gael Clichy out for two months) and Carlos Vela 'are close to comebacks' while Denilson will return to training in the second week of the international break with Theo Walcott joining in one week later.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is poised to gain one striker but lose another this weekend.

Emmanuel Adebayor is set to return to the side for Saturday's Premier League clash at home to Burnley after missing the goalless draw at Birmingham four days ago with an ankle injury.

Club skipper Kolo Toure also seems set to face the Clarets after he joined Adebayor on the sidelines last weekend with a heel problem.

However, Roque Santa Cruz is likely to miss the match at Eastlands after sustaining an ankle injury at St Andrew's which forced him off midway through the second half.

Hughes said: "Roque hasn't trained since the weekend. He got a really bad bang on his ankle. He's got a lot of blood in and around the area that needs to come out. We need to shift that and we're hopeful he will be able to train tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see.

"Ade and Kolo have trained for the last couple of days. They've had a couple of sessions and there was no reaction today from the work yesterday. The feeling is they will be okay for the weekend."

Left-back Wayne Bridge has joined Santa Cruz in the treatment room with a slight strain above the knee.

"Wayne hasn't trained either since the weekend," Hughes said. "We're hoping he will train tomorrow, but again we'll see how he is. We're hopeful he'll be okay."

Robinho, meanwhile, is now doing "field-based work" as he closes in on a return to action after more than two months out with a stress fracture of the ankle.

Wolves striker Chris Iwelumo is facing several weeks out of action after damaging the metatarsal he fractured during the pre-season summer trip to Australia.

The Scotland international started his first Barclays Premier League game against Stoke last weekend and impressed during the 2-2 draw.

But Iwelumo suffered the setback after Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and Wolves central defender Christophe Berra landed on his foot.

Finally, Rafa Benitez has admitted that both Steven Gerrard & Fernando Torres may need surgery. Torres was pictured arriving at a Liverpool hospital on Thursday afternoon

Hope this helps! You can find my Week 11 Player Picks post HERE.

Blog League 6 is filling up quickly with only 14 spaces left, so if you don't have a space in one of the leagues yet then be quick as this is definitely the final one. Details below:

Group ID: 23246
Password: yahoo

Also, if you're on Facebook, please add yourself to the YFF Assistant Manager group by clicking on the Facebook box to the left of this post. It will help me to put some faces to names & also allow me to alert you when I post something I feel is really important.

How's your team shaping up?

Cheers,
AM