iHoops

A little in the way of apologies and self-promotion. 

I've been missing 'round these parts for the better part of a month and I'm sorry.  I started several Monday Morning Manager posts, but didn't finish any of them.  And while I've continued to pour everything I could into playing the game, I just didn't have the time or attention span to also coherently and entertainingly write about it very much.  The reason is iHoops - a new venture my company has launched together with the NCAA and NBA (some of the big boys in the sports world here). And tonight is our coming out party! The following commercial will debut at halftime of TNT's broadcast of the Celtics/Cavs game and we're really excited about it.



We're going to be adding a lot to the site very quickly, so if you are interested, please check back often. Otherwise, thank you for your understanding about why blogging has been a little light. Hopefully I can get back up to speed quickly, maybe with more smaller items and fewer of the big features - which Neal is better at anyway.

Figueroa out with injury

via Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is facing several weeks on the sidelines after damaging knee ligaments during the 3-1 win at Burnley on Saturday.

Figueroa had to leave the field after only 28 minutes at Turf Moor having sustained the injury, while team-mate Paul Scharner required 10 stitches stitches in a facial wound he picked up creating the Latics' third goal for Emmerson Boyce.

The damage to Scharner is only superficial, but Figueroa's condition is more concerning for manager Roberto Martinez, who told the Wigan Evening Post: "Maynor has a grade two medial ligament problem in his left knee. We will assess it further to see how bad he is, but it doesn't look too good."

He added: "Normally with this sort of injury, you are talking about weeks rather than months - but the signs are not nice.

A few thoughts as Wigan travel to Pompey so are perhaps more fantasy-relevant than usual...

If as happened on Saturday, N'Zogbia drops back into defence then his value will be reduced.  The winner there would be Gomez who came on in the more attacking role.  However, the other option is that we might see Erik Edman (6.04) get a run at left back.

UPDATE: N'Zog set for defensive role as Edman is concussed. He'll be back in a month; Figueroa in three to four. So, could it be "Go time" for Gomez?

Dude, Where are my points?

If there's one question I don't miss from the Yahoo! gig it's, "Where are the points?" We'll leave that to the Fantasist. But without knowing a definite number, how did you do? I had a much better day today, getting goals from RVP and Diamanti to add to Saturday's Drogba strike and Sonko's clean sheet.  It remains to be seen how Given holds up having allowed two goals and unless my midfielders earned any phantom points that was a total lost cause.  Grrrr!  But overall, a VERY depressing weekend.  You?

A Few Thoughts...

It isn't my intention to steal the MMM's thunder but I figured I'd throw out a few observations from my weekend of watching a pretty crazy amount of footie...

1. This is definitely the year where forwards are re-establishing themselves as the league's goal-getters.  In recent seasons we've seen the ascent of CRon, Lamps, Gerrard, Ashley Young, and others among the league's top goal scorers.  This year, the strikers are doing their work.  As fantasy managers, this is certainly worth noting as you choose where to spend your money.

2. The Pretenders Struggle - As usually happens, there are some pretenders to the Big Four at the beginning of every season.  In this case Villa, Everton, Sunderland, and Spurs (plus Citeh who are yet to play this weekend as of this writing) and all three have dropped points to inferior opposition (Wolves, Bolton, Birmingham, and Stoke respectively).  If they're serious about challenging, that just can't happen.

3. My biased view of Arsenal's chances at the title.  Thus far they've lost twice to very good competition on the road.  That these matches happened early and consecutively gave the impression that they aren't ready.  That said, if they win their match with WHU later today they will be 3 points behind the leaders (as ManYoo are currently trailing Liverpool 1-0 and hardly looking like they are going to take the full points from Anfield) with a match in hand.  It will certainly come down to how Wenger's team does in its remaining matches with the rest of the Big Four but thus far, they haven't done anything to distance themselves from the title.

4. Really?  Does it depress anyone else that with Gerrard injured that the best central midfielders in the ManYoo/Liverpool match-up are Masch and Lucas?  I'll grant you that Masch is a pretty strong holding midfielder but Lucas is average-at-best and there is no one fr ManYoo that seems likely to punish Liverpool for not having a better alternative.  Could get ugly when Chelsea's midfielders are the opposition.

5. On a lighter note, I really enjoyed the ManYoo supporters use of beachballs at the opening of the match today - fun stuff and it put to rest the notion that Mark Hughes had signed the Liverpool Beach Ball to a contract ahead of the January Transfer Window. 

The Barn Door Live - Oct 24

Welcome back...

A few things to keep in mind...West Ham and Villa (despite not appearing as such on the Yahoo game) will be two-gamers next weekend; Stoke host Wolves; and ManYoo host Rovers.  Arsenal and Spurs face-off so they'll be good candidates for you to drop them.

Here's my line-up...Given, Verm, Heiti, Ivanovic, Fab4, Kranj, KPB, Bily (I don't know if he'll play but I'm willing to take the risk to keep him at that price), Milner, DBent, and Drogba

Injuries and Suspensions

The Injury Files: Friday October 23

Not too many explicit updates of note...

The big guys - Gerrard, Nando, Johnson, Rooney, and Fletcher - from the big game are still all facing the dreaded "late fitness tests".  Given the match-up and the doubt, that rules all of them out of my line-up for this weekend.  What does it mean? Berbs becomes more valuable...Owen becomes a possibility (although there's no guarantee he'll start over Giggs playing a deeper lying striker role with 4 midfielders behind him)...Evra IS healthy which means he'll play over Fabio who had a chance to be an interesting option this weekend.  Hard to pick any of Liverpool's reserve attackers given their quality, the quality of the opposition, and the uncertainty surrounding the starting line-up.

Elsewhere...EdS is available for Arsenal and there's a chance he'll slot into the spot Walcott's injury is opening up.  With Sicky and Bendtner no better than 50/50 to play, there aren't too many other choices unless Wenger is going to start Eboue or dip into his Carling Cup squad (Wilshere? Vela? Ramsey?).  What does that mean to me? Too much doubt to pull the trigger on any of the above...

At Chelsea, Bosingwa is confirmed out which means that Ivanovic is a strong bet to get a start either centrally or on the right.  He is available at a good price.

At Citeh, Robinho is still out increasing the chances that MPet will get another start (and he's been very good when he's played).  No word on K2 which is very odd because PhysioRoom (see the widget to the right) has him listed, like Bellamy and Toure as "Doubtful" - not sure what to make of this.  I saw someone on the TWA comments thread indicate that he should have been in the "Best of the Rest" category for the week - I'd tend to agree if I had a better sense of whether he was going to play.  Like Arsenal, this situation is a bit of a mess so unless you have strong convictions on a specific player (you're SURE he's going to play AND do well) then I'd stay away in favor of guys who are going to start.

Finally, the news that we all feared - while at no point do they actually say Bily WON'T play for Everton this weekend, they do call him "the latest casualty" of Everton's injury crisis.  Could just be me reading too much into word choice but that seems incredibly vague.  Also odd that between Football365 (thigh) and BBC (calf) they can't even agree on what's wrong with him.  In any event, the low-risk move is to change him out of your line-up.  That said, the injury certainly doesn't seem like a major one so if you have him for less than 5.00, you might want to suck up the 0 for this week and hope he comes back next week.  Sort of depends on your financial situation.

Finally, the virtually useless information that Jummy "might" get his first start.  Will he? Who knows.  If he does, I'd imagine he'll do well for fantasy managers.  That said, at his current price, he's definitely a risk of having another weekend like last weekend where he came on as a sub and did very little.  This also impacts the value of Geovanni and Hunt who will be more valuable if Jummy starts the match on the bench and JVoH who will probably be more valuable if Jummy starts.

Sorry not to be more helpful but the information available this weekend isn't the greatest or the most certain.  I guess maybe my best advice is to go with the guys from places like Villa who you know are going to start and have a good match-up.

Good luck with your final moves of the week and I'll see you on the Live Chat tomorrow if you can make it.

Cheers - Neal

Everton Down to Bare Bones

Everton lost badly today, but their injury situation is what will worry fantasy managers.

To add to Moyes' injury woes, Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov ended the match with a strapping to his thigh and is doubtful for the Barclays Premier League match at Bolton on Sunday.

Moyes added: "We will need to assess him when we get back as well. I am not sure either yet who might be fit for the weekend."

So that just adds to the long list... Neville, Arteta, Jagielka, Pienaar, and now Yobo and Osman. Bily was a very popular pick up - attacking middie, taking kicks - especially after his goal last weekend. At Bolton was a decent fixture as well. But now, we'll likely have to look elsewhere for that spot. If you got him at 4-something your options are VERY limited. Rodwell, Kightly, Mok... Brown is suspended. Is Scholes back yet? Something to look at. Kilbane playing at center back? Sidwell?

The Week Ahead (with baseball interruptions)

With all apologies to the footie-mad world, I have to say I'm a bit distracted by more provincial sporting pursuits this week.  As I write my hometown Philadelphia Phillies (that's Major League Baseball if you aren't into the American sports scene) are in a best-of-seven series with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the right to go to the World Series (to presumably face the New York Yankees). 

Is this significant? I'll let you be the judge.  I am about to turn 40 years old (in January).  I have been a rabid fan of the Phillies (and all other Philadelphia sports teams) since I realized what sports were (I'd estimate that was somewhere around age 5).  In the 35 years or so that I've been following them they've won 2 championships (one when I was 10 years old in 1980 and the other last year).  They have gotten to the World Series and lost on two other occasions (once in the early 80s and once in the early 90s where they lost in heartbreaking fashion).  The rest of my life, they've been bad far more often than they've been good.  The chance to win back-to-back championships is unprecedented in my lifetime.  In fact, the only team that I support that has won back-to-back championships at any point is DC United (Major League Soccer).  Technically the Philadelphia Flyers (National Hockey League) did it when I was barely aware of what sports were but I'm not going to count that.  So, like I said, this is an opportunity for my sports fandom to navigate into uncharted waters. 

So, if you aren't a Dodgers or Yankees fan, and you happen to see a baseball game on wherever you are then think fondly of your favorite fantasy footie blogger and pull for the Phightin' Phillies. 

OK, I'll try to put the baseball aside and concentrate on this post for a bit...

Note for O'Hara fans

The Salady Bits Gossip

Also, quick line from The Daily Star - they report that Jamie O'Hara will be allowed to stay at Portsmouth after his loan deal runs out in January.

I know it's just gossip but worth reporting just so you have it on your radar.  Maybe he's not necessarily going back to Spurs in January.  Anyway, resume your normal activities.  And for those of you who follow American Baseball, you'll know that I'm about as fired up as one can be after last night's Phillies game.

Cheers - Neal

How did you do?

I have a respectable 95 points with Geovanni and Sonko to play. Neal wrapped up his week at 105.  The totals were mostly thanks to strong midfield picks.  Neal fielded Krancjar, Fabregas, Prince-Boateng and Bilyaletdinov while I got points from Dunn and Prince-Boateng as well.

How did you do this weekend and who was it that did the business for you?

The Barn Door Live - Oct 17

Neal's Line-up: Given, Verm, SeaBass, Heitinga, Cesc, Bily, KPB, Kranj, Drogba, K2, Saha

Something to Think About

Stan Kroenke increases Arsenal stake yet again - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet

I'm not really a conspiracy theorist and I'm usually not one to give much credibility to one + one = three "Journalism" but here's something for you all to ponder as we head back into Premier League matches after the International Break. 

Fact 1: The link above shows that Stan Kroenke - owner of the Colorado Rapids (MLS, where current Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis was Deputy Commissioner before moving across the pond) among other US-based sports franchises - has been steadily increasing his stake in the club.  He is very close to the 30% threshold that will require him to make a takeover bid.

Fact 2: The St. Louis Rams of the National Football League are up for sale and Kroenke owns 40% of that club.  That club is valued in the neighborhood of $500 Million.  I read that as Stan Kroenke coming into about $220 Million in free cash in the not too distant future. 

Fact 3: Kroenke's recent purchase of .2% (or 90 shares) of the club cost him $1.2 Million.  That would value the entire club at approximately $600 Million. That puts the cost of the remaining 70% that Kroenke doesn't currently own at $420 Million.  I don't know too much about Kroenke's personal fortune but the fact that more than half of the cost to buy the balance of the club is coming free leads me to the conclusion that he is at the very least in a position to make it happen despite the difficult economic times.  This wouldn't necessarily be the highly-leveraged type of transaction that we saw at ManYoo or Liverpool.

Like I said, I'm not saying that this IS going to happen (per the article, Kroenke says it isn't his intention) just that the facts line up in such a way that you can't help but think that there's a good chance that it will happen.

Just something to ponder on a chilly, rainy Friday evening (at least here in DC).

See you tomorrow for the Live Chat

Injuries and Suspensions

The Injury Files: Friday October 16

As you'll see on the other side of the link above, there are some huge names missing...

Gerrard, Nando, and Rooney are all confirmed missing for the weekend.  Huge deal all around for Liverpool as they are on the road to a pretty solid opponent with no firepower.  My thinking is that this diminishes the value of ALL Liverpool players as there is less chance of a clean sheet (they'll have the ball less) and fewer attacking options.

Also uncertainty around Berbs whose wife gave birth.  Old guys Owen and Giggs may be asked to produce the attacking numbers.  This means Giggs MAY justify his price and Owen is probably a bargain.  Might be worth looking at someone like Obertin (sp?) who might get a run as well.

Clichy and Bendtner are out for Arsenal and apparently Alumnia is healthy although there's no definitive word on whether he'll get his spot back. 

More later as it comes in but those are likely to be the big stories that impact your roster.

The Week Ahead

Well, Jeremy stole a little bit of my thunder with his post on what to do about O'Hara/Rooney for this weekend. The fact that he points out some excellent options in midfield and at forward combined with the fact that work has been very busy this week is going to lead me down the path of writing my first Lightning Round TWA column of the season...

So here we go, Larry King-style (from his column in The USA Today for those not familiar)

Great comeback from the USMNT to win their qualifying group last night here in DC...All of our thoughts and prayers here at blog central for US Forward Charlie Davies who was in a terrible car accident on Tuesday night - we hope he heals and if footie remains a possibility, all the better...

Where were we?

Ah, yes...

It's hard to come back from international break. But re-focus we must. So to get us all up to speed - and yes, there are games today so no due dilligence can start in earnest until tomorrow - let's look at my O'Hara issue. ;-)

I have O'Hara at 4.23 and he's averaging 5 points per match. However, he's ineligible to play against Spurs this weekend and he's being played in a more withdrawn role in the midfield. So naturally I'm desperate to sell. But 4.23 doesn't get you very far. Good news then that Rooney is a doubt for the Bolton match. Well, maybe not as he's expected to train with United this week. But still, the door is open! So between Rooney and O'Hara I have 22.77 to spend. What are my options?

• Keep the both. Maybe not the worst idea ever. Take the hit this week but know that points are coming.
• Keep Rooney and sell O'Hara for Kightly.  I like this option because I feel like I would be buying low on Kightly.  Surely his playing time will only increase and last week's -2 will be seen as an anomoly.
• Blow them both up and replace them with two mid-priced players with good match-ups this week.  This is the fun option because of how wide open it is.  Who might those options be?  Let's take a look.
  
  At forward:
  
  • Saha  - home to a poor-traveling Wolves team.
  • Diamanti - West Ham aren't in good form, but Diamanti is taking kicks and getting points regardless.
  • Bellamy - Robinho not back yet, and Bellamy's form would probably keep him out of the side anyway.  At up-and-down Wigan.
    
  • Defoe - wait for word on his hand injury and thus his prospects to start, but playing at another of his old clubs he'll want to get on the scoresheet.
  • A.Johnson - home to Hull. 'nuff said.
    
  
  At middie:
  
  • Benayoun - If Gerrard is hurt, Benny is Liverpool's most creative player and even @Sunderland, there could be goals.
  • Giggs - bit of a reach in price, but rested he should star against Bolton.  Especially if Rooney is limited.
  • Geovanni - much like last season, he's at the heart of whatever Hull do (and yes, that's damning with faint praise).
  • Lennon - @Pompey
  • Osman or Cahill - @Wolves
  • Andy Reid - facing Liverpool, but taking kicks for Sunderland and averaging 10 points per match.
  • Dunn - home to Burnley, though this is a local derby so it takes a bit of the shine off
  • Gera or Duff - home to Hull. 'nuff said.  Well one more thing, Dempsey is injured so they're more assured spots.
    

Honestly, I'm at a loss right now. Anyone have any thoughts?

Robinho is ten days away from Manchester City return

via Yahoo!Sports:

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has revealed that Robinho could be ready to make a return to first-team action in ten days time.

A stress fracture of the ankle has kept the Brazilian forward out of action since City's game with Portsmouth at the end of the August, but Hughes is hopeful that he could return against Scunthorpe United in the League Cup.

"'Robi' is not far away, he's probably got about ten more days and then he can be back in the group," Hughes told City's official website.

"He's working every day, we're trying to get him back as soon as we can but with a bone injury there is a certain length of time to give the injury."

Hughes also had good news regarding Michael Johnson and Roque Santa Cruz, who have both made returns from long-term injuries in recent weeks.

He added: "They are both back in the fold, but they still need games and we are looking to get some more match-play into them, if we can, in between being involved at first-team level.

Injured Rooney out

Gerrard, however, is ok.

via Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

Wayne Rooney has pulled out of England's World Cup qualifier with Belarus on Wednesday. The Manchester United forward picked up a calf strain during Saturday's 1-0 defeat away to Ukraine. After having the injury assessed at England's training base in Hertfordshire, he has been released back to the Old Trafford club.

The news is a shock because if anyone was expected to pull out, it had been Rooney's close friend, and Liverpool skipper, Steven Gerrard. Whereas Gerrard only lasted until half-time at the Dnipro Arena yesterday, Rooney got through the entire game...

But whereas Gerrard has been given the all-clear to remain with the England camp for the final match of a successful Group Six campaign, Rooney must now undergo treatment in the hope of being fit for United's Premier League encounter with Bolton.

Van der Sar hoping for Bolton return

Edwin, give us a wave

from Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

Edwin van der Sar is certain he will be ready for Manchester United's Premier League clash with Bolton on October 17.

The 39-year-old has been out of action since breaking a couple of fingers in a pre-season encounter with Bayern Munich in July. However, the former Holland skipper returned to action in Tuesday night's reserve team triumph over Everton at Widnes.

"I will be ready for Bolton," he told MUTV.

"I feel good and I haven't had any reaction. The match is still 10 days away so I have more training to do, then I will be ready for my first start of the season."

So be sure to ship out Foster if you're still on him.

Aquilani could debut against Sunderland

Soon to be a game worn souvenir?

Telegraph UK:

Sunday's 2-0 defeat against Chelsea highlighted Liverpool's need for a creative force alongside Steven Gerrard in the middle of the park and the upcoming international break should serve as enough time for Aqualini to complete his rehabilitation and take his place in the match-day squad on Oct 17.

From the bench one would assume.  But everytime I say that they start. Regardless something to keep an eye on as we come out of the international break.

UPDATE:  Or, maybe not.  Don't pencil him in until the end of the month, @Fulham in the League at the earliest.

And speaking of @Fulham, Jummy might be back for Hull's next match!

Bily to get a run in the side

... even if we won't "see [his] true quality... for some time yet."

from Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

"In truth, it could be six months or even next season before he's totally right. But the situation we've got at Everton means we've got to play him," the Toffees boss told the Liverpool Echo.

"From that point of view, maybe it will help him in the end. I think the games that are coming up he will be more than likely put in, and he'll have to pick up the pace a little bit.

Guess I should have picked him up as my O'Hara replacment under 5. Insert sad face icon here.