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.

Blog Roundtable

Because you haven't demanded it, the return of your least favorite blog feature.

[12:57] JSpitzberg: ok...
[12:58] JSpitzberg: kpb/sonko --> sidwell/mears
[12:58] Neal J Thurman: who does Mears have this week?
[12:59] JSpitzberg: home to hull
[12:59] Neal J Thurman: seems reasonable
[13:00] Neal J Thurman: although Sidwell got killed in F365's winners and losers feature for just not being very good for pretty much the entire duration of his post-Reading career which makes it hard to pull the trigger on that today
[13:01] JSpitzberg: ha
[13:01] JSpitzberg: that's what made me look at him
[13:01] Neal J Thurman: the reverse Sports Illustrated/Madden Jinx?
[13:01] JSpitzberg: buy low
[13:01] Neal J Thurman: if those guys tend to start underperforming as they regress to the mean, then Sidwell should be better as he progresses back toward the mean?
[13:02] JSpitzberg: sonko @ 3 something....
[13:02] JSpitzberg: hate that
[13:03] JSpitzberg: enablers should be a buck
[13:03] JSpitzberg: hate a midfield enabler too
[13:03] JSpitzberg: but at 2 per match...
[13:03] JSpitzberg: that's 4 v. sonko's 0
[13:03] JSpitzberg: assuming you don't bring him back having kept a cleanie
[13:03] JSpitzberg: then i like mear's matchup and return
[13:03] JSpitzberg: i dunno
[13:04] JSpitzberg: don't like anything about this
[13:05] Neal J Thurman: I'm hoping to just write this weekend off as picking around the points (DBent over Saha, Cesc over MPet, took risk on Bily, etc) and try not to stress about it
[13:05] Neal J Thurman: Milner looked a good bet but did f*ck-all
[13:06] JSpitzberg: yup
[13:06] JSpitzberg: but gotta ride him through the 2 games
[13:06] Neal J Thurman: yup
[13:07] JSpitzberg: then maybe he becomes bily?
[13:07] JSpitzberg: so sidwell becomes someone decent...
[13:07] JSpitzberg: well 1/2 decent... as well
[13:07] Neal J Thurman: will have to see what the prognosis for Bily is (between health and Pienaar coming back)
[13:08] JSpitzberg: and osman being out
[13:08] Neal J Thurman: right
[13:09] Neal J Thurman: Everton a bit of a mess really
[13:09] JSpitzberg: and of course saha scores
[13:09] JSpitzberg: after we all loaded him up and then bailed
[13:10] Neal J Thurman: yup
[13:11] JSpitzberg: collison interesting
[13:11] JSpitzberg: but that might mean gutting kranc instead of kpb
[13:11] JSpitzberg: and i'm 1 for 1 betting against Ars ;-)
[13:13] Neal J Thurman: guys who take kicks always seem to be a good bet against ARS - lots of bad penalties and scrambles at the back that lead to corners
[13:13] Neal J Thurman: penalties = fouls
[13:13] JSpitzberg: some of both
[13:13] Neal J Thurman: but the occasional penalty too
[13:20] JSpitzberg: kightly off the schnide...
[13:20] JSpitzberg: into the black for the year ;-)
[13:21] JSpitzberg: @stoke (wouldn't have him this week anyway)...
[13:21] JSpitzberg: ars (taking kicks against)....
[13:21] JSpitzberg: @che (ouch)
[13:21] JSpitzberg: brm, bol, @spurs, @man, burn, @liv, mac
[13:22] JSpitzberg: *sigh*
[13:28] Neal J Thurman: gonna be tough to pick him - especially now that he's shown that he's a big YC guy
[13:29] JSpitzberg: but for the cost...
[13:29] JSpitzberg: gonna be hard to stay away :-(
[13:29] Neal J Thurman: true

Champions League Post-Mortem

[07:45] JSpitzberg: guy at work all proud to call ronaldo "cron"

[07:45] JSpitzberg: "see, i'm reading you!"

[07:45] Neal J Thurman: HA

[07:45] Neal J Thurman: so long as he also called him no better than the 4th best player on the pitch yesterday

[07:48] JSpitzberg: fair placement

[07:48] JSpitzberg: manu got it all wrong

[07:48] Neal J Thurman: agreed

[07:48] Neal J Thurman: and finally paid for lack of a midfield

[07:48] JSpitzberg: or at least, they didn't have a plan b when the long balls over the top didn't pressure the 2nd string D

[10:10] Neal J Thurman: so, if you were SAF, what would your shopping list look like for the Summer?

[10:11] JSpitzberg: working on a post, i hope ;-0

[10:11] Neal J Thurman: not yet - just starting to think about it

[10:30] JSpitzberg: how much does it depend on hargreaves' health?

[10:32] Neal J Thurman: good question

[10:33] JSpitzberg: set at GK and D

[10:33] JSpitzberg: fair assumption?

[10:33] Neal J Thurman: not 100% sold on the GK situation but I think SAF is

[10:34] Neal J Thurman: D could use an additional CB but that's engineering at the margins - no starters needed

[10:34] JSpitzberg: rio/vidic

[10:35] JSpitzberg: evans the backup and brown, neville, oshea can all play in the middle

[10:35] JSpitzberg: left back - evra, fabio, de leat (sp?)

[10:35] JSpitzberg: right - neville, rafael, oshea, brown

[10:36] Neal J Thurman: yup - if it were me and i had the money, I'd still buy one additional CB - I like evans but Brown/Neville/OShea is trouble (IMO)

[10:36] JSpitzberg: try convincing the glazers ;-)

[10:37] JSpitzberg: mid - fletcher, carrick, anderson your starting 3?

[10:37] Neal J Thurman: not good times

[10:38] JSpitzberg: scholes, gibson, hargraeves, giggs can also play centrally

[10:38] Neal J Thurman: have to assume scholes is done

[10:38] JSpitzberg: djemba djemba, kleberson

[10:38] Neal J Thurman: lol

[10:39] Neal J Thurman: honestly, I'd try to sell Carrick

[10:39] JSpitzberg: man... the ghost of steve sidwell

[10:39] Neal J Thurman: Giggs has to be treated like Bergy was the last year (we might get something from him but we should consider it a bonus)

[10:39] JSpitzberg: bigger fall from grace in the last 2 years?

[10:39] Neal J Thurman: who? Carrick?

[10:40] JSpitzberg: sidwell.

[10:40] JSpitzberg: best player on a crap team to...

[10:40] JSpitzberg: end of the bench guy on a great team...

[10:40] JSpitzberg: to middle of the bench on a good team

[10:40] JSpitzberg: though if barry leaves...

[10:40] JSpitzberg: "bide your time, steve. your time will come."

[10:41] Neal J Thurman: will be interesting to see what happens to Petrov vs. Sidwell if Barry leaves

[10:41] JSpitzberg: spet just signed a new deal

[10:41] JSpitzberg: all the buzz about how great he's been in a deeper role

[10:41] JSpitzberg: who has fallen further - sidwell or nrc?

[10:42] Neal J Thurman: excellent question

[10:42] Neal J Thurman: I'd have to say NRC because he isn't even in contention for his preferred spot

[10:43] Neal J Thurman: and there isn't even an above average player blocking his path

[10:43] JSpitzberg: sidwell?

[10:44] Neal J Thurman: I meant at right back

[10:44] Neal J Thurman: but I guess the CM answer is that NRC has fallen farther since Sidwell seems to be ahead of him in the midfield pecking order

[10:44] JSpitzberg: but this is a tangent

[10:45] Neal J Thurman: agreed

[10:45] JSpitzberg: is diarra happy at madrid?

[10:45] JSpitzberg: he's been there a couple of months...

[10:45] Neal J Thurman: main question is whether ManYoo has ANY midfielders worth keeping

[10:45] JSpitzberg: that's when he usually moves on

[10:45] Neal J Thurman: lol

[10:45] Neal J Thurman: especially since they won exactly as much as Pompey did this season :-)

[10:46] JSpitzberg: all the talk about wigan losing palacios and heskey...

[10:46] JSpitzberg: no one talks about pompey losing diarra and defoe

[10:47] JSpitzberg: and utaka dying some time last summer

[10:49] Neal J Thurman: well, in truth, he really died in November of 2007

[10:49] Neal J Thurman: was only really alive for about 8 weeks

[10:49] JSpitzberg: lol

[10:50] Neal J Thurman: he was Zaki before being Zaki was cool

[10:51] JSpitzberg: careful, you're talking about the best striker in international football

[10:51] Neal J Thurman: heh

[10:51] Neal J Thurman: Utaka or Zaki?

[10:51] JSpitzberg: the latter.

[10:52] JSpitzberg: Wigan have finally concluded the loan signing of Egypt striker Amr Zaki, currently ranked by Fifa as the best striker in the world.

[10:52] JSpitzberg: 27 goals in 48 games for his country put him at the top of Fifa's player rankings

[10:52] Neal J Thurman: wow - and who knows more about the game than FIFA?

[10:53] Neal J Thurman: wonder where Healy sits on that list :-)

[10:53] JSpitzberg: lol

[10:53] Neal J Thurman: scores by the bucket for Norn Ireland

[11:03] JSpitzberg: @ sun now, right?

[11:07] JSpitzberg: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6380258.ece

A Cautionary Tale

One of the stories of the last 12 months or so that has really disappointed me is the path and trajectory of West Ham United. Was it really just 13 months ago that they played one of the more compelling FA Cup Final matches ever to cap off a triumphant return to the Premier League? Who could ask for more? They were young, scrappy, offensive-minded, and the team was comprised predominantly of players who had come up through the ranks. Throw in the fact that they recruited one of my favorite young English players in January of their promotion campaign (Dean Ashton) and they had cemented themselves as my second choice team behind Arsenal (I generally tend to have one other team I enjoy following each year because there is a player or storyline I gravitate to as opposed to my long term loyalty to the Gunners).

The spending spree following their rise to UEFA Cup participant started innocently enough - some low-profile defensive fortifications (mostly a lot of right backs). I think the moment it all went bad was the moment they recruited Lee Bowyer. That was followed up with the two Argentines who, while having undeniable quality, were always going to cause a massive change in the composition of the team. What followed was a drastic transformation from lovable overachievers to annoying mercenaries. Sure, they survivied but the young players regressed and the new acquisitions seemed poorly thought out and more typical of the way Newcastle tends to build teams (throw money at the biggest names available) than the prudent way they achieved promotion and then managed to not only stay up but prosper at the highest level.

The reason I mention this is that Reading supplanted West Ham as the 2nd place team in my heart this past season with a storyline similar to that of West Ham the year before. As they start to evaluate transfer dealings, hopefully they will look at the example the Hammers provided and avoid the same mistakes. Certainly, they haven't done anything to ruin their vibe so far but at some point they'll have to recruit a replacement for Steve Sidwell [um... what about this guy? -js] and make a few more moves to ensure that they consolidate their position in the Prem. Hopefully, they will at the same time manage to maintain their wits and recruit the right type of player who will enhance their dynamic rather than ruining it.

My advice, buy young and avoid guys who bring in a feeling of entitlement to the team. It will be difficult enough to keep the team level-headed now that they've proven they belong.

Steve Sidwell agrees Chelsea move

Chelsea have confirmed that midfielder Steve Sidwell has agreed to join the club on a free transfer from July 1. The 24-year-old midfielder has quit Reading after rejecting a new £25,000-per-week, four-year deal.

Look for him to get his first start in January '08 when Mikel and Essien go the African Nations Cup. But in the mean time, he can get sodoku help from SWP and Bridge on the Chelsea bench as the three look for something to do on Saturday afternoons.