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?

44 comments:

  1. Andy Reid is just screaming for the nickname...

    ... "BFAY^2" BFay squared/Big Fat Blog Favorite

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  2. All I can think is that rather than "squared" it should be rounded!

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  3. Anonymous1:39 PM

    Is it crazy from me to pick Nasri. I mean, he could play against Wolves, couldn't he?

    SF

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  4. I wish i can get Collison asst back. Hey, I don't have RvP cheap asst to cover that... Biggest mistake is to drop mears for cuellar assuming the beast would not start. I can't complain that i drop Bily @ 4.71 to get Collison though.

    Next week: Given, Verm, Heit, Zaba, Cesc, Boating, Dunn, BFAR, Drog, Dindane, Bellamy

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  5. Apologies for missing the BDL. That should be my last family commitment on a game day for a while now hopefully! 93 points with 8 players left to play! Looking to hit at least 130pts by the Wednesday night update..or knowing Y! it will be Friday afternoon once the points come in. And Collison should have definitely had an assist.

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  6. @ketz & @giazola... let's start a movement! Assist for Collison!

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  7. Jeremy, how to do that? Just keep whining here? Assist for Collison!:) BTW, this is GiaZola using a different login.

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  8. wait, RvP got an assist?!? how many touches did fab4 take after the deflection--five? six? he beat the entire spurs defense on his own, and there was an assist??

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  9. @Joon... and yet Collison goes un-assisted after CCole takes one, maybe two touches around a single defender.

    It isn't fair!

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  10. 110 points but only one two gamer. I thought Petrov not playing for man city midweek was an indication the Hughes wanted to rest him for the weekend, but he ended up starting... on the bench. I had Dempsey barn door from last week. He looks good at the moment.

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  11. The assist for CCole was valid and counted in yahoo... but under wrong name. It was counted as Kovac's assist.

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  12. Thanks, Brian. But I don't know if that gives me more or less hope of it being corrected.

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  13. Looks like the Fantasist is getting a small taste of "Assist for Collison"'s anger.

    http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/fantasy-football-blog/article/23895/#user-comments

    Let your voice be heard!

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  14. @Brian, does the confusion speak to an over-abundance of peroxide blondes in WHU's midfield? Collison, Kovac, Behrami...

    Out of the salon and on to the training pitch, lads! It's the way out of the relegation zone.

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  15. Anonymous4:50 PM

    One bad and three uglies...no wonder I had a crappy weekend. Thank heavens for Alexander or my plummet in the rankings would have been even more precipitous. Those 12 points I lost when I let you talk me out of EvDS would have helped...grrrrrr

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  16. @Jeremy, obviously the yahoo blog has some kind of lagging for posting a message. So I ended up with speaking twice ... hope that will be helpful.

    Yeah, all those blonde guys are confusing. That is why they wear number on the back. :D Is that why Diamanti went bald? And is that why he lost his starting position? I am glad that Yahoo didn't put the Kovac RC into Collison's bag. :)

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  17. Hi Jeremy - I see you suffered the same Friedel/Milner/Diamanti nightmare as I did! Also, I notice our barndoor teams are almost identical...spooky! :)

    Cheers,
    AM

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  18. Benj :D5:43 PM

    80 points with 5 left to play, I should be happy enough but the guy winning my private league at has the eye of the tiger at the moment, he's 100 points ahead, 104 for the week with 4 left to play :'(

    Has anyone got the grapes to hang on to Bily for 3 weeks with an eye on the long term? You'd probably not be missing out on /too/ many points since they've got @whm @manu liv for their next three fixtures.

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  19. lbarroso6:35 PM

    143.5 with 4 two-gamers. Back on top of my mini-league and Ranked 215 in the Fans Of Other group. No complaints from me this week. Still surpised at my weekly score considering I dropped RVP.

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  20. Nice work, Ibarroso!

    Y!AsstManager -- not spooky, Halloween has passed. Great minds and all that.

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  21. Anonymous7:25 PM

    Juss wondering if someone can give me the Down Low on the Portsmouth player who just bagged all those goals. I've missed the boat on him now but just curious where he came from and all that?? Cheers

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  22. Anonymous7:51 PM

    Gutted I dropped RVP. Convinced myself he wasnt worth the cash in a derby game....then spent said cash on 'upgrading' O'hara to milner and Crouch to agbonlahor....ouch.

    joshtottenham

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  23. Aruna Dindane is on loan from Lens. He's Ivorian and has had a really nice partnership with Drogba for the national team over the last few years. However, he's been oft injured which has kept him off the radar - and the pitch.

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  24. I've had a howler of a week. Dropped BFAR for Joe Cole (had a hunch he would explode on the scene after all those injury problems) only to see him explode on his bench. Also had Friedel, Cuellar, Milner and Diamanti not to mention Billy who at least got me 9.5 points. Total of 51.50 so far with 3 to play on Wednesday. If Milner miraculously heals then 4. Still...the 2 gamers have not paid off it seems. Most of the other guys in my private league went with 1 gamers and have about 100 points average. I guess you win some and you lose some huh. He he.

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  25. I've also barndoored Dindane at 7.23.....maybe I'll keep him instead of a city striker??? It's almost unheard of that a unknown striker scores 2 hatricks in consecutive weeks but ....you never know hehe. In any case I got to start taking these chances if I want to catch up with my group leader.

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  26. 90 points with Wednesday's match to go for Dunne and Diamanti.

    Next week I have Brown in after I dumped Moko (finally) and either will trade up to Bent or go with Reid, I think, instead of Diamanti. Also got rid of Chung-Yung (didn't do swell for me) and got this guy Etherington.

    Still not sure about that. Really am not pleased with my midfield outside of Dunn and Bily and am running a 3-4-3.

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  27. Anonymous12:34 AM

    I'm doing terrible so far but have 4 players to go. I've made up my mind for the weekend...AND THIS TIME I won't friday changes(it always screwa me up). Currently I'm sitting on:
    Given
    Michel Salgado, Vermaelen, Heitinga
    Fellaini, H. Thomas, MTay, Palacios
    Drogba, Rooney, Defoe

    I'm trying something new with Palacios and Thomas, I hope it doesn't come and bite me in the Assss. In any case I wouldn't care, I'm proud of my 2 Honduran's,Palacios and Thomas that is, they got us to the world cup...and also USA, they helped completely and therefore converting me to a USA lover! I LOVE USA BABY!!! Cheers to you Jeremy and Neal!!! "to futbol fanaticS"

    Best of luck for the Concacaf from: Saul

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  28. @jspitz (or neal too i guess..i jus like saying jspitz)

    what do you think the odds are that aquilani starts this week? i feel like pool needs him to spark a fire under their behinds

    ps. burnett pitched terrible today. its a shame that pettite is such a big game pitcher and wednesday will bring title #27 =D

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  29. - I barndoored Givet. was cheapish, had a decent game and a double coming up in a few weeks times.
    - I got rid of Bily. Maybe a bit too early. He'll miss 3 games but that one week he has a double and misses the Man Yoo game, which is prolly a bonus. BUT Arteta might be back soon. (I've read from 6 weeks on Oct. 9th, to 'nowhere near coming back" on Oct.28) Injury reports are not very accurate.
    - I like Aquilini at 5.61 (my move from Bily to him). AQ had a 'virus' last week so not injury related =)
    - Stephen Hunt at 7.73?! Home to Stoke. or has Hunt had his entire yearly fantasy production in a few weeks?!

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  30. @carefree fc... Aq is in the squad for the must-win CL match @Lyon. We'll see if/how he's used, but I can't say I'm rushing to pick any Liverpool players right now.

    @Owen_Williams... Everton's health will be watched closely with the double match week coming up but like you said, I don't know that I'm going to trust the injury news until I see the player on the pitch. And of course, by then it's too late.

    As for Hunt, maybe he gets back to a more attacking role with Geo out. Unless Jummy is healthy.

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  31. Frustrating week..urgh..

    3 players did not even played..
    Giggs,Sonko,Myhill..and Milner just played 45 minutes= 0point

    2 players with red carded..
    Cuellar and Bily..with Diamanti also give -ve points..Whatthefish?

    Luckily i dont drop RvP..

    So, i lost mt 1st place in my group..
    I hope Noble,Milner and Diamanti will do well in the 2nd game..

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  32. I think Jummy was "struggling to overcome a knock" for the Burnley match, so should be back.. maybe not good for Hunt, but Geo out, so maybe gives him that space to get some points.

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  33. Anonymous5:05 AM

    It's been excellent for me, with a 126 point return.

    Myhill (0, thank heavens. If he had played... Anyway, he's only there so I can afford others)

    Alexander (31.5), O'Shea (10), Collins (2)

    SWP (7), Ballack (2.5), Milner(0), Reid(24.5), S.Petrov(9.5)

    Drogba (28.5), Cole (10.5)

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  34. Anonymous5:38 AM

    I picked up Fab4 on the barn door at just over 17, he is a keeper for me for a while now.

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  35. Think Aquilini will get the start then? And what is this about Bily missing 3 games soon?

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  36. 91 with 6 to go (gaby, AY, milner, dunne, collins, diamanti), although they won't necessarily all play (milner? diamanti?). also barndoored fab, and went bily->aqui... it may bite me in the ass, but i picked up kyrgiakos, too. he pretty much has to play with skrtel still hurt and carra/degen both seeing red, no? liverpool are a mess but home to brum ... i can't resist.

    to me, the real story of the premier league season, albeit not the fantasy season, is drogba. he has been unbelievable, but weirdly irrelevant in fantasy because everybody has him. the ACN will be a huge decision, though.

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  37. Anonymous9:46 PM

    Milner will play or not tonight?

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  38. I barndoored Dindane for this week's match against BBurn. First, I'm not sure he'll score good this week. I'm leaning on Eduardo but he might not start if Wenger opts with a 5-man-midfield squad of Arsh-Fab4-Diaby-Song-Nasri with Song playing in front of the back four.

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  39. What about Crouch against SUN? If he starts he's sure to gurantee SOTs like he did against Stoke (when he was very unlucky). Maybe McFadden to score against an off-form LIV without StevieG and possibly Torres.

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  40. Anonymous3:59 AM

    Carn Gabby, bag me a hat-trick!!

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  41. aargghh..... forced to sell Billy!!!! My 5mil investment!!!!!

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  42. Anonymous10:53 AM

    Please Milner...please play tonight..give me points and my 1st place back..

    Michelle, what 2 do..we just have to sell bily..im going to buy Aquilani..because only him i can buy with Bily price..huhu

    -The Rock-

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  43. Anonymous11:25 AM

    Had Dindane and Alexander last week, took them out for Owen & Cueller, missed out on 80 points.

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