Team of the Week

We'll try to do this on a semi-regular basis. Team of the week, as chosen by me (or perhaps us), in a fit of pique or on a caffeine and sugar bender. Fantasy productivity will play a large part in the decisions, but it wouldn't be much fun to just take the top point getters at each position, now would it? Besides, you can get all that here. I will try to take into account the games I have seen or followed -- who influenced the game in real life as well as in fantasy. So without any more ado, here is your inaugural Blog Team of the Week, brought to you by the numbers 4-3-3:

F: Saha, Zamora, Rooney
M: Ronaldo, Bullard, Francis
D: Assou-Ekotto, Meite, Campbell, Eboue
GK: Howard

ManU were on fire this week, so it is no surprise to find their attackers well represented here. Saha and Rooney each scored two and created one. Rooney doing it in just the one game against Fulham. And while Ronaldo didn't put up the fantasy points versus Charlton (grr....) he really seems to be the one putting the spark in ManU's attack with his drive, if not his accuracy.

Zamora joins the ManU 3 with his 3 goals in two games. He's stepped up in Ashton's absence and is delivering the goods for WHU.

Jimmy Bullard has picked up for Fulham right where he left off for Wigan last season. He's taking kicks, getting shots on goal and getting in good crosses for his forwards. And now he's added PK taker to his resume.

Also ex of Wigan is Damien Francis, who perhaps never saw time because of Bullard's play last season. But he has settled in well at Watford, and struck up a good partnership with Gavin Mahon in their engine room. He scored against Everton and looked dangerous at times against West Ham. Not the prototypical fantasy producer, but a solid, all-around Premiership midfielder.

In defense, Sol Campbell has solidified a Pompey defense and become the rock they needed ever since losing De Zeeuw... to Wigan. (Damn, is there an echo in here?) Two clean sheets speaks to the power of a move abroad. Sort of. Meite joins him in the center for his performance in marshalling the defense that shut down Tottenham. At fullback, Eboue was perhaps Arsenal's most dangerous attacker against Villa. On the left, Assou-Ekotto is making a comfortable transition to the rough-and-tumble of the Premiership.

In net, it has to be Tim Howard. Given the chance to be a number 1 at Everton (for the year at least) he was a stud, allowing just 1 goal while making 11 saves over 2 games.

Agree? Disagree (more likely)? Post a comment and give us your starting XI.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:15 PM

    I agree as much as can be said for this week, since liverpool and arsenal were off the radar. fair enough calls,although id like to add some steam to ashley young's bandwagon =)

    he's playing MU next so i might not like him that much for one weekend,even though i loathe to remove him now.

    bullard has done well so far,the only sad part being that playing for fulham will net him less wins than for wigan,remains to see how that affects his output in the long run.

    howard maybe have been first choice fantasy wise but imho keeper of the week was still VDS. he has taken MU to the top of the table for now with some good play against charlton,and the only reason he was beaten against fulham was because the ball came of that plague we call rio. if not he would have had 2 clean sheets and would have been keeper of the week fantasy wise as well.but if you take into account their prices than yes howard was the man.my $0.02

    looking forward to the friday manager's post for the weekend games.

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  2. I tend to think of these in terms of performance vs. expectations - you sort of expect Henry, Gerrard, Lamps, Terry, et al to produce so even if they have what for anyone would be a very good week, it's sort of expected.

    The guys who outperformed their reputations (or started creating one where none really existed before) include Ashley Young (more from the fantasy standpoint than the "impact on actual match" standpoint) and the other object of my bandwagon affection Soel (more from the "impact" standpoint than the fantasy standpoint where his forward status will make him a hard choice).

    Cheers - Neal

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  3. Anonymous10:58 AM

    I think you missed Seol.
    He carried the newly-promoted team to 1 win, 1 loss. (The loss shouldn't have been a loss since a red card was harsh)

    even when it was 10 vs 11, he was the best player on the pitch.

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  4. Seol, sure. Looks to be a very good player and had a great week for reading.

    VDS... yes, he played well and kept 2 clean sheets. but did he really perform so well? did either ful or cha ever really pressure manu? did vds make any saves that kept manu in the game? not really.

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  5. Anonymous11:36 AM

    well frankly speaking i'm a Red Devils fan but i still believe more United players should be including in the team of the week. Scholes and Giggs were instrumental and how about Evra? He's giving something to shout about in the left back now that Heinze is injured.

    Seol to me had been great too and I think he should be in the team of the week also.

    Here's my TotW:
    keeper: David James(Pompey)
    defenders: Eboue(Gunners), Johnson(Pompey), Evra (Devils)
    midfielders: Ronaldo Giggs Scholes (Devils) Seol (Reading)
    forward: Rooney Saha (Devils) Zamora (Hammers)

    of course it would seem that I'm very baised but really, from the two matches performance, it's easy to object.

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  6. Anonymous1:28 PM

    About Berbatov,

    I think he's a starter guaranteed on the Spurs roster. (provided that he doesn't go goalless for 10 matches, but then, we'd drop him from our fantasy team as well... :D)

    Jol always likes to use Tall-Small striker partnership, this was seen last year with Mido.

    There's no one who can push Berbatove right now, and I don't think Keane-Defoe pair is likely under Jol.

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