Blog Roundtable

In which we discuss Fabregas, Aston Villa and their upcoming double match week, and look at keeper choices for the remainder of the season.


[07:41] JSpitzberg: good morning
[07:42] Neal J Thurman: and to you
[07:44] JSpitzberg: Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard could face an FA investigation after he appeared to flash a V-sign at referee Andre Marriner.
[07:44] Neal J Thurman: but he still finished 2 points ahead of Nando yesterday :-)
[07:44] JSpitzberg: ha
[07:45] JSpitzberg: that's what he was indicating
[07:45] Neal J Thurman: I"m sure that will be his defense
[07:47] JSpitzberg: As well as confirming that Cesc Fabregas would be unable to play against Porto and is unlikely to return for Saturday's trip to Hull, Wenger also acknowledged that Andrei Arshavin was not yet fit enough to play ninety minutes after his recent hamstring injury.
[07:49] Neal J Thurman: hmm
[07:49] Neal J Thurman: diaby?
[07:49] JSpitzberg: contrary report... Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas says he wanted to play through the pain barrier against Porto, but took the advice of doctors in a bid to return to action at the weekend.
[07:49] JSpitzberg: Scans have revealed that there is no major damage and there is a chance Fabregas could make his comeback against Hull this weekend.
[07:50] Neal J Thurman: AAAAHHHHH
[07:57] JSpitzberg: i think theo is a keeper
[07:57] Neal J Thurman: what price?
[07:58] JSpitzberg: 6.13
[07:58] Neal J Thurman: definitely
[07:58] Neal J Thurman: at least for this week
[07:58] JSpitzberg: yeah
[08:01] JSpitzberg: time to start playing the trade machine
[08:01] JSpitzberg: cesc to milner...
[08:01] JSpitzberg: then what?
[08:01] Neal J Thurman: good question - Villa guys are all REALLY expensive
[08:01] Neal J Thurman: already loaded up on ARS and VILLA
[08:02] Neal J Thurman: rather ARS and LIV
[08:03] JSpitzberg: wilshere to maxi?
[08:03] Neal J Thurman: Maxi has been just barely worth what I paid (which was around 5)
[08:03] JSpitzberg: at 6
[08:04] JSpitzberg: we'll see what wilshere does today
[08:04] JSpitzberg: i'm guessing he gets to play central mid
[08:04] JSpitzberg: w/o cohen
[08:04] JSpitzberg: next weekend home to Wigan
[08:04] JSpitzberg: so no hurry to sell him
[08:04] Neal J Thurman: agreed - and BOL are playing a bit better so I'm inclined to keep him on the BD
[08:05] JSpitzberg: no cheap villa defenders
[08:05] Neal J Thurman: guessing that I'll be pretty static until later in the week when injury reports come out
[08:05] Neal J Thurman: don't think I'll be able to get from THo to BBBF [ed. note - Big Bad Brad Friedel]
[08:05] JSpitzberg: so it just becomes a question of torres to randomly generated villa player
[08:05] Neal J Thurman: but that's probably the play if Cesc is out - Cesc to Milner and THo to BBBF
[08:06] JSpitzberg: he's 12
[08:06] Neal J Thurman: yup
[08:07] JSpitzberg: could do cesc/almun to downing/brad
[08:07] JSpitzberg: but not milner
[08:07] Neal J Thurman: cesc @ 18; Milner @ 14 and THo 8; BBBF 12 - even money swap that gets 4 games from good players
[08:08] JSpitzberg: add torres to gabby to make it happen
[08:08] Neal J Thurman: yeah - have to decide what to do with Gerrard after 2 meh weeks in a row against mediocre-at-best competition
[08:09] JSpitzberg: almun at 8 has been pretty good
[08:09] JSpitzberg: back to the keeper rotation that served us so poorly so far this season?
[08:10] Neal J Thurman: will have to look at what the next few matches look like for Howard - easy enough to get back to him at 8
[08:10] JSpitzberg: yeah...
[08:10] JSpitzberg: looks like the best bet
[08:10] JSpitzberg: @brm, bol, @mac, @wolves
[08:10] JSpitzberg: whu, @villa, @rovers, ful, @stoke, por
[08:11] Neal J Thurman: pretty solid run out
[08:11] Neal J Thurman: outside of MAC and Villa there aren't many strong attacking teams in the mix
[08:11] JSpitzberg: 6 road games out of 10
[08:11] Neal J Thurman: so downside is very limited
[08:12] JSpitzberg: tho been avg under 5 this month
[08:12] JSpitzberg: even though they've been playing well
[08:12] JSpitzberg: but i guess factor in the oppo
[08:12] Neal J Thurman: exactly
[08:14] JSpitzberg: jensen?
[08:14] JSpitzberg: stoke tomorrow
[08:14] Neal J Thurman: and then?
[08:15] JSpitzberg: then wolves, @wig, bla, mac, @hull, @sun, liv, @brm, tot
[08:15] JSpitzberg: get the better teams at home, at least
[08:16] Neal J Thurman: certainly a decent option for the next 3 matches
[08:19] JSpitzberg: probably straight through...
[08:19] Neal J Thurman: to LIV?
[08:19] JSpitzberg: they'll at least be playing for something
[08:19] Neal J Thurman: true
[08:19] JSpitzberg: they play mac, liv and spurs...
[08:19] JSpitzberg: but get them all at Turf Moor
[08:20] JSpitzberg: where they've been tough to beat all season
[08:20] Neal J Thurman: they're still Burnley though
[08:20] JSpitzberg: it's a gamble
[08:20] Neal J Thurman: what's his price now?
[08:20] JSpitzberg: $3 cheaper than THo
[08:21] JSpitzberg: THo less likely to drop into the red
[08:22] Neal J Thurman: but hasn't been having great upside either
[08:22] JSpitzberg: right
[08:22] JSpitzberg: again, the oppo taken into account
[08:22] JSpitzberg: 3s and 4s against Man, Che, etc not so bad
[08:23] JSpitzberg: Kirk and James have decent matches
[08:23] JSpitzberg: but no good solid run
[08:23] Neal J Thurman: and their teams are even more unpredictable than BUR
[08:27] JSpitzberg: when do Villa burn out?
[08:27] JSpitzberg: this week?
[08:27] JSpitzberg: after this week?
[08:27] JSpitzberg: ugh...
[08:27] JSpitzberg: you just know they're going to falter
[08:28] JSpitzberg: and we're going to suffer with them
[08:28] Neal J Thurman: good question but like EVE, they've quietly put together a deeper roster than in years past
[08:28] JSpitzberg: really?
[08:28] Neal J Thurman: no "if this guy goes down or tires the season is sunk" player this year (like BFAY in years past)
[08:29] JSpitzberg: but who are they going to put in to rest players?
[08:29] JSpitzberg: delph or sidwell for spet
[08:29] JSpitzberg: they'll be loath to move milner back to the wing to rest downing or bfay
[08:29] JSpitzberg: no cover for gabby
[08:29] Neal J Thurman: depnds on the opponent
[08:30] JSpitzberg: and carew and heskey are almost equally as brittle
[08:30] JSpitzberg: they have cover at the back
[08:30] Neal J Thurman: which means they're well rested ;-)
[08:30] JSpitzberg: cuellar moves in to cover the center
[08:30] JSpitzberg: young and beye
[08:30] JSpitzberg: but do you see MO'N tinkering?
[08:30] Neal J Thurman: move up Warnock for a match
[08:30] Neal J Thurman: he might not do it but he has more pieces to give some guys a rest if he's so inclined
[08:32] JSpitzberg: i'm not convinced
[08:32] JSpitzberg: some good players
[08:32] JSpitzberg: but thin
[08:32] Neal J Thurman: agreed
[08:33] Neal J Thurman: but still feel like they at least have more quality players to compensate if one has an off match or two due to over-use
[08:34] JSpitzberg: jensen may not be so cheap after Stoke
[08:34] JSpitzberg: gonna limit his barn door potential
[08:34] JSpitzberg: could limit
[08:42] JSpitzberg: ok...
[08:43] JSpitzberg: going to cut and paste this
[08:43] JSpitzberg: been a while since a good blog roundtable ;-)
[08:43] Neal J Thurman: :-)