Monday Morning Manager

Good week for me -- great Saturday then gave most of it back on Sunday. 107 points with five 2-gamers. Not that I'm expecting much from them.  More on that after the jump.


Cue the Ennio Morricone...

The Good

• RvP  (32) I especially love the assist for Cesc's goal where Palacios just passes it against him in the center circle. But hey, points is points!
• Drogba (28.5) It's so routine you hardly notice the MONSTER year he's having. 9 goals; 5 assists; 30 shots on target in 11 games! And for the low, low entry price of 10 or 11? That's just ridiculous. His worst return of the season was 10.5 points.  That's the floor.  His leaving for the ACN (ANC?) is going to be a huge blow to Chelsea as well as to fantasy managers.  Hold him?  Buy him back at nearly double the price?  Decisions will have to be made.
• Andy Reid (24.5)  Continues to do the business as Sunderland's set piece taker and creative fulcrum.  We've always like him here at the blog but to be honest we were never quite convinced.  Last week's 11 phantom points against Birmingham City went a long way towards convincing me that BF could start standing for "blog favorite" instead of "big fat".  And this week's set piece goal and second consecutive 6 successful cross week didn't do anything to change my mind.  He's a keeper.  (Well, he's a midfielder, but you know what I mean smart aleck!)
• Jack Collison (10) Woo hooo!  My super, double-secret "sure to be over-thinking things" pick of the week actually panned out!  I feel a little cheated out of an assist, but 10 points for an unheralded pick... I'm happy enough.  No, I'm pissed.  I want my second assist!  Yahoo!, where are my points?!?!?!  Sigh.  Maybe it's just karma evening out RvP's gifted points.
  

The Bad

• Andy Wilkinson (4) I spent a good part of Friday helping a friend settle his team.  Now, while he's going to kill me for my supposedly talking him out of Given and EvDS it could have been worse.  He could have taken my suggestion to pick up Sorenson.  In fact, I argued for Stoke so much that I convinced myself it was a good idea.  Needless to say, of all the defenders I looked at - O'Shea, Mears, Alexander, and Wilkinson - it was Wilko whom I chose, and Wilko who had the worst return.  I still think Stoke is a very tough team to play against, but maybe I'll try to curb my enthusiasm in the future.  Either that, or I just used all my mojo on the Collison pick.  Did I mention that I was happy with that one?
• Johnny Heitinga (4) Another solid, if unspectacular return from a cheap defensive option.  Nothing thrilling, but I can't complain in the least.
• Thomas Vermaelen (3) I'm not sure I understand this one. From the game I saw, Verm got his head or his boot (albeit just barely most of the time) to almost everything that came near him! I was expecting a big phantom day from him based simply on passes intercepted if not tackles won. I guess I don't know what counts for those categories because he's listed as only having intercepted a solitary pass. He did get the clean sheet points, but "ruined" his day with a silly yellow card.  This one puzzles me, and I'm looking forward to Verm getting back on the goal trail soon.
  
• Steve Sidwell (2) The only reason this isn't "ugly" is that 2pts is his average, and I wasn't expecting much more.  Hoping, sure.  But not really expecting.  He was my enabler so any points is some points.

And now...

The Ugly

• James Milner (0) Taken of injured at hafl time but with nothing to show for 45mins of football.  Milner was running the show for Villa for a few weeks but then has just fallen off a cliff since his cameo for England.  This is no way to impress Don Fabio or fantasy managers.
  
• Brad Friedel (0) Ugh.  Zero, really.  Ugh.  And this is the week that Given gets back to form and returns 25 frickin' points!?!?!?!  Ugh.  I can't even think about this pick without feeling sick to my stomach.  Shay, I'll never doubt you again.  Well, at least not until Howard has 2 games later this month.
  
• Alessandro Diamanti (-1.5) So, his not starting wasn't just an attempt to be bigger and more solid against Arsenal last week.  And of course, this week he didn't conjure up 14 points out of no where.  Sigh.  Hopefully with Kovac suspended, and playing at home, Zola will play Diamanti from the start.  I still have faith in him for this week, but don't like the looks of his role going forward.  Especially as West Ham continues to struggle.  I may keep Collison, but two Hammers may be one too many.

Looking forward, ManCiteh host Burnley, so I've brought Given back (never, NEVER should have sold him.  Sad face.) and put Tevez in for Diamanti.  In the midfield I've rid myself of the Villans and picked Dunn (home to Pompey) and O'Hara (@Blackburn).  And in the last defender spot, I've got Emerton who at least is playing in midfield.  I'm going to ignore is poor return over the last few weeks as a quirk of the schedule.  So I'm at:

Given, Verm, Heit, Emerton, Reid, Collison, Dunn, O'Hara, Drogba, RvP, Tevez

How did you do this week, and whom have you brought in for next?