A Glimpse Inside

A glimpse inside my Friday, in blog round-table fashion.  You'll see a lot of back-and-forth, some hemming-and-hawing, a fair bit of over-thinking and a pinch of... well, a lot more over-thinking.  In the end, I think my team will look like this this weekend:

PRobbo // Bale Zhirkov Boateng // VDV Brunt Walcott Obertan // Drogba Hernandez Gyan

Or maybe...

Fabianski // Bale Zhirkov Boateng // VDV Brunt Milijas Obertan // Drogba Hernandez Gyan

As for how I got here (where ever that is)...

 Neal Thurman: any late Friday trades?
Jeremy Spitzberg: just back from lunch
Jeremy Spitzberg: did a lot of over-thinking
Jeremy Spitzberg: to whit...
Jeremy Spitzberg: bale will be marked out of the game by steinsson/mulumbu and maybe lee
Jeremy Spitzberg: that leaves things open for modric
Jeremy Spitzberg: and...
Jeremy Spitzberg: wait, it gets better...
Jeremy Spitzberg: drogba/gyan?
Jeremy Spitzberg: how about dbent/berba king?
Jeremy Spitzberg: not mulumbu...
Jeremy Spitzberg: who's the m-guy on bolton?
Jeremy Spitzberg: muamba?
Neal Thurman: so what you're saying is that Bolton will figure out what the European champions didn't?
Jeremy Spitzberg: or do what they didn't
Neal Thurman: or that?
Jeremy Spitzberg: floma 50/50
Neal Thurman: I have no idea what to make of FloMal - I've seen maybe and I've seen definitely yes
Jeremy Spitzberg: http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/2010/11/malouda-fit-for-liverpool-trip.html
Neal Thurman: I'm also pretty sure that Zhirkov is a definite yes (saw Anceloti's press conference where he said as much)
Jeremy Spitzberg: floma to zhirk gets me berbs from gyan
Jeremy Spitzberg: or... hmm
Jeremy Spitzberg: milijas? not enough for nasri
Jeremy Spitzberg: unless hmmm
Neal Thurman: HA
Jeremy Spitzberg: nasri with obertan instead of gyan?
Jeremy Spitzberg: grrr
Neal Thurman: unless DBent is hurt, I'm not down with Gyan
Jeremy Spitzberg: when they've played together in the past, bent moved to mid
Neal Thurman: but still scored the goals
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: hmm...
Jeremy Spitzberg: probbo bale boat zhirk vdv brunt obertan nasri hernandez drogs gyan
Neal Thurman: Fab21, Bale, Zhirk, Sal, VDV, Brunt, Obertan, FloMal, Adam, Drogs, Chicharito
Jeremy Spitzberg: sigh
Neal Thurman: a little unsure over FloMal but equally uncertain about Nasri who could easily do squadoosh if he doesn't score (see Champions League match)
Jeremy Spitzberg: if only i hadn't sold zhirk
Jeremy Spitzberg: sigh
Jeremy Spitzberg: could sell brunt to keep floma
Jeremy Spitzberg: brunt to NRC to get Fab4
Neal Thurman: wow, DBent is HORRIBLE value
Neal Thurman: only one match this season where he's outperformed his current price
Neal Thurman: (oops, two matches)
Neal Thurman: but still
Jeremy Spitzberg: he's well valued
Neal Thurman: he's only been over 10 three times
Neal Thurman: compared to someone like Kalou who is averaging over 11, he's tremendously overpriced (Kalou is priced under 11)
Neal Thurman: Kalou over 10 points 4 times and that's despite not playing at all 4 times
Neal Thurman: (if only Kalou was a definite starter :-) )
Jeremy Spitzberg: pick one!
Neal Thurman: Bale and DBent are priced almost the same - which would you rather have had all season?
Neal Thurman: hell, Theo is only down 10 points on him (total for the season) despite having missed half of ARS's matches
Neal Thurman: I'm getting pretty close to hanging DBent with the "all he does is scores goals" tag (apologies to Buddy Ryan and Cris Carter)
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: only tevez, nolan and floma have more league goals
Jeremy Spitzberg: though he's tied with berb and drogs
Neal Thurman: fair, but somehow all of those gentlemen have a minimum of 15 more points than DBent for the season
Neal Thurman: Even Elmander has more fantasy pointsJeremy Spitzberg: yes, i'm not arguing
Jeremy Spitzberg: trying to support your case
Neal Thurman: got it
Neal Thurman: btw, I hate to say it but I really liked the kid striker on RBNY that I wrote about in I&S today - 17 years old and some serious understanding of the game to go with his talent
Jeremy Spitzberg: and starting over TH14
Jeremy Spitzberg: that's got to be a confidence boost
Jeremy Spitzberg: but he's no Chris Wondolowski
Neal Thurman: definitely although the injury to TH14 was the main culprit there
Jeremy Spitzberg: oh
Neal Thurman: and certainly no Bobby Convey
Jeremy Spitzberg: my level of interest ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: great showing from little bobby convey
Neal Thurman: all of my knowledge was gained during the broadcast last night so I'm only THIS much ahead of you on that front
Jeremy Spitzberg: i only saw highlights
Neal Thurman: Wondo was actually pretty terrible for most of the match but he was there when it counted
Neal Thurman: (and by there I mean either floating intelligently or completely out of position)
Neal Thurman: wow, Olbermann suspended by a second network covering a second major topic #BroadcastEquivalentofRandyMoss
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: milijas has been $
Jeremy Spitzberg: against CHE and MAC
Jeremy Spitzberg: pick him over nolan or nasri?
Neal Thurman: definitely over Nolan
Neal Thurman: over Nasri for the price
Neal Thurman: question is whether he'll continue to start - fantasy $ doesn't necessarily translate in to real $ in McCarthy's eyes :-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: fab21 boat zhirk bale vdv oberan milijas brunt hernandez drogs gyan
Neal Thurman: who made way to allow Milijas to start?
Jeremy Spitzberg: you're the one following wolves closely ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: He's earned his place in the team because he's got himself fitter and I think he's grasped what it's all about.
Neal Thurman: ha - not so much since they started a) losing and b) bludgeoning only instead of playing and bludgeoning in tandem :-)
Neal Thurman: from Mick?
Neal Thurman: could be the third guy in a triumverate of productive Ms on mediocre teams with Adam/Brunt, I thought it was going to be Barton but maybe Milijas takes the crown due to more propensity to shoot and fewer YCs
Neal Thurman: 7 SOTs in two matches is pretty crazy
Jeremy Spitzberg: yeah...
Jeremy Spitzberg: guessing he plays behind doyle
Jeremy Spitzberg: with jarvis & hunt wide
Neal Thurman: should see him play tomorrow to make a BD call
Neal Thurman: but not ready to commit to @MAN even if he's been doing well
Jeremy Spitzberg: dave jones making way, now that henry is back
Jeremy Spitzberg: (i think)
Neal Thurman: ok, off to dinner to ponder any ill-advised last-minute moves - see y'a online/on SMS tomorrow
Jeremy Spitzberg: will do
Jeremy Spitzberg: gonna do the milijas/adam/barton dance for a bit
Neal Thurman: enjoy
Jeremy Spitzberg: grrr
Jeremy Spitzberg: sigh

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Peer Gynt: dude
Jeremy Spitzberg: sup?
Peer Gynt: just starting on the team
Jeremy Spitzberg: fun
Peer Gynt: yeah
Jeremy Spitzberg: everyone is out
Jeremy Spitzberg: or maybe not
Jeremy Spitzberg: yes, definitelly probably out
Jeremy Spitzberg: unless they're in
Peer Gynt: Mad Hatter
Jeremy Spitzberg: what's the race they "run" in AiW?
Peer Gynt: AiW?
Jeremy Spitzberg: alice in wonderland
Jeremy Spitzberg: the caucus race
Peer Gynt: that was on Tuesday
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: A Dodo decides that the best thing to dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no clear winner.
Peer Gynt: while screaming about muslims and bears
Jeremy Spitzberg: maybe i'm confusing it with the red queen's race
Jeremy Spitzberg: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
Jeremy Spitzberg: or maybe it's just Calvinball
Peer Gynt: ha!
Peer Gynt: all seem accurate to the given task
Jeremy Spitzberg: I'll set the stage:
Jeremy Spitzberg: probbo boat coleman bale vdv brunt floma obertan hernandez drogs gyan
Peer Gynt: we are kind of in the same space
Jeremy Spitzberg: we all are
Peer Gynt: jara got his red card
Peer Gynt: which means i have to find another cheap defender
Peer Gynt: but that's about it
Peer Gynt: probably a DNHer
Jeremy Spitzberg: jacobsen?
Jeremy Spitzberg: he's been in the green
Jeremy Spitzberg: ibanez is cheap now ;-)
Jeremy Spitzberg: coleman or salcido?
Jeremy Spitzberg: coleman in mid, but salcido at home to villa with delfunso as their only striker
Peer Gynt: dunno
Peer Gynt: the one time i saw slcido he looked good
Peer Gynt: but not much production since
Jeremy Spitzberg: pts were 16 -so i bought him
Jeremy Spitzberg: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 - so i sold him
Jeremy Spitzberg: 20
Jeremy Spitzberg: fuck you very much
Peer Gynt: ha
Peer Gynt: typical
Peer Gynt: great
Peer Gynt: ibanez is the ONLY defender i can afford
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: well, that was easy
Peer Gynt: team is currently foster, zhirk, bale, _____, floma, vdv, silva, brunt, chamwow, drogs, pea
Peer Gynt: silva the most likely to give way to get a couple bucks
Peer Gynt: and, of course, the obvious choice would be Obi
Peer Gynt: oberton, not mikel
Jeremy Spitzberg: ha
Jeremy Spitzberg: so obvious we'll all have him and he'll sit
Jeremy Spitzberg: we've seen this movie before
Peer Gynt: then we sell, then he gets 20
Jeremy Spitzberg: *nodding*
Peer Gynt: you know who will be the pick of the week? gibson
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: scholes
Peer Gynt: but scholes is easy for me. i have a better chance of talking myself into gibson than scholes. i have a better chance of talking myself into putting my head in the microwave than in buying scholes
Jeremy Spitzberg: lol
Jeremy Spitzberg: which almost guarantees him a goal
Jeremy Spitzberg: i'm going to get out of here for a bit
Jeremy Spitzberg: be back in a while
Peer Gynt: k
Peer Gynt: smalling in
Peer Gynt: i doubt he'll play
Peer Gynt: but i need to fill the spot and everything else at the price range has a decent chance of going negative
Peer Gynt: plus there is a good chance he'll get a few minutes in the game

======================

CCR: so.
Jeremy Spitzberg: so
CCR: Once again it's Friday.
Jeremy Spitzberg: and the news is changing by the minute
CCR: (subject to change): Fab21, boat, salgado, zhirk, seb larsson, nasri, silva, adam, drogs, gyan, elmander
Jeremy Spitzberg: probbo boat coleman bale floma obertan vdv brunt drogs gyan hernandez
CCR: keeping vdv? innnnnteresting. i tried to finagle bale (and may yet) but it puts a crimp in my MF
CCR: As always: keeping drogs is the key to it all. Sell and free up cash or hold?
Jeremy Spitzberg: probably worth keeping vdv at 6
Jeremy Spitzberg: i like the drogs play this week
CCR: Perhaps. Current price is what? 9?
Jeremy Spitzberg: and with so much doubt with the other big names...
CCR: True.
Jeremy Spitzberg: if tvz and/or cesc were sure things
Jeremy Spitzberg: maybe
Jeremy Spitzberg: wonder if bale is the sucker bet of the week
CCR: Q: Is Rooney going to the same therapy place Tiger went???
CCR: Bale seems like a sure thing to me.
Jeremy Spitzberg: but i do like the idea that the team goes through him w/ vdv out
Jeremy Spitzberg: and kicks
CCR: Yup. He'll be a point machine regardless of outcome.