I apologize to everyone out there (all three of you) about not posting last week. I had a great double post written from my hotel room in New Jersey and when I hit "publish" I got an error and lost the text. Just to recap, I called Pires' return from the dead and Cahill's explosion (and backed those calls up by putting them on my various teams). My MLS picks were sort of crap except for Scott Garlick in goal for Dallas (get on the bandwagon now, they're going to win a lot of games) and Brad Davis (1 G, 2 A for a team that's going to need to score a lot because they can't defend). The rest were mediocre with Eddie Johnson and Edson Buddle following up great first games with relative stinkers. Oh well, on to bigger and better things...
Like a week in the Premiership minus all of our fantasy standbys. Where have you gone Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney? (FA Cup Semis, thank you very much) How about the Chelsea legions (sitting at home this weekend while scheduled ManYoo tries to salvage SOMETHING from this season). No Everton, Blackburn nor Newcastle players will be available for inclusion, although one might argue that its been a while since that's made a difference - with the recent exception . And finally, will anyone even notice that West Brom won't be featured?
So, just to make sure that everyone is familiar with who actually plays for the strugglers that make up this week's schedule - here's a little primer, picks will follow tomorrow or Friday...
Charlton - Danny Murphy, the giant Hermann Hriedarsson, Langlais' favorite player Luke Young and not a lot more from for the fantasy player which is amazing because they are quietly in the top half of the table.
Bolton - everyone's early season darling Jay-Jay Okocha and always angry looking Stelios lead a group that hasn't produced much over the second half of the season, still 6th by virtue of a great first half run but, like Everton, they're a fantasy manager's nightmare since they tend to get contributions from a different player every week.
Palace - I'm pretty sure that they could be renamed AJ and the 10 dwarves and no one would be able to object. Even AJ is starting to wilt under the pressure of being options 1, 2, 3 and 4. Is this the week he breaks out?
Norwich - Can't say enough about how much I've enjoyed watching these guys this season. Despite the fact that they are almost certain to be relegated, they've been on TV here fairly frequently and usually put on a good show. Darren Huckerby is having a great fantasy season (you can look it up) and Future-Arsenal-Striker Dean Ashton has been fantastic since moving up from Crewe in January. Throw in the buff Leon Mackenzie, Damien Francis and Robert Pires' eventual replacement (David Bentley) and you've got an entertaining team. Don't get sucked in by the hype too much, they are still relegation fodder but they're playing struggling Palace and have to be on a high after beating the Devils.
Fulham - I know I should root for them since they have two, count 'em, two Americans playing meaningful roles (Bocanegra and McBride) but I can't do it - they're terrible as well as being hard to watch - a deadly combination. Boa Morte is about the only guy worth considering unless you have a vision that this is Andy Cole's weekend to shine.
Citeh - what a frustrating team, it used to be that you could get excited about Anelka (so long as you didn't have to actually interact with him) and SWP but no more. Robbie Fowler is actually having a bit of a resurgent season but, for some reason, I'm having a hard time getting on board. The couple games I've seen lead me to believe that Kiki Musampa has some game but that hasn't translated into a ton of fantasy success so far. David James is also a reasonable bet for a great game in net - especially since Fulham are involved.
Liverpool - what to say? I had an entire paragraph dedicated to the puzzle that is this year's Liverpool team. I think it can be boiled down to Luis Garcia who somehow is transformed from mediocre EPL midfielder to goal scorer supreme when the big lights of Europe come on. Apparently, these guys just can't get up for weekend trips to West Brom and Fulham. With Gerrard uncertain, Alonso, Garcia, and Finnan are reasonable bets as is the hideous Riise who hasn't had a 20 point game for a while but is probably due.
Tottenham - Great strikers, young midfield with potential, good keeper, solid defense - hard to believe these guys aren't doing better. At the very least they should be a credible threat to Everton and Liverpool for the 4th spot but they really aren't. Not sure exactly what's going on here other than a general inferiority complex that comes from being, on their best day, the third best team in their own city. Worth giving consideration to whomever starts at striker - and let's all hope its Mido because where he is, interesting things seem to follow. I like what I've seen of Michael Carrick but like Musampa at Citeh, it doesn't seem to translate much into fanasty production. Defoe is clearly the class of the group assuming he starts. Not too much else that you can count on unless you think Spurs will produce a shutout on the road.
Southampton - God bless Harry Redknapp for continually producing mediocre-at-best teams that have value for fantasy owners. Crouch might be cooling off a bit but is worth considering and Camara is very capable of a 20 point day since he obviously has no qualms about launching a shot every time he touches the ball. S'oton defenders also seem to figure in the fantasy points pretty regularly so Le Saux and Delaney are options, especially since Villa have a history of being terrible on the road.
Villa - Some fun fantasy players on this squad as well. Nobby Solano, despite a poor showing last week, is generally good for some fantasy points and JP Angel is likely to participate this weekend and would have to be considered one of the (few) strikers worthy of that title on display this weekend. In defense, J Lloyd Samuel and Olaf Mellberg are reliable for points on both the offensive and defensive ends of the pitch. Sorenson, given that Birmingham isn't involved this weekend, is also worth a passing thought - even more so since Southampton IS involved.
Birmingham - Very much an up and down squad but facing a traveling Pompey squad, Pennant, Pandini, and Upson are all worth consideration in your line-up. None have dazzling stats but that's what we're left with when all of the big teams are left out for the weekend.
Pompey - Sadly, I've had to leave the Yakubu bandwagon parked in the garage for most of the season as he's struggled along with his team. That said, he, the amusingly named Tresor LuaLua, and Patrick Berger (if healthy for once) are all worth fantasy consideration. And just one final comment to the first place team in our division - YAKUBU BABY - just so you remember why I beat you last season.
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