Season Preview - Wolves

Quick Reminder, Real Life

Despite a load of money spent on transfer window signings, Wolves found themselves in the relegation zone on the last day of the season but miraculously survived - finishing the season with 40 points - only one more than both Birmingham and Blackpool. Despite a -20 goal difference on the season, Wolves had some memorable wins at home (they beat Manchester United and Chelsea) and the form of winger Matt Jarvis and (when fit) striker Steven Fletcher went a long way in cementing the club’s Premier League status for one more year. The likable Mick McCarthy has won more games than he’s lost at Wolves - dating back to his time managing the club in the Championship, and despite the poor results for a majority of the 2010-2011 campaign, always displayed a sense of calm and confidence in his players.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

Starting at the back, George Elokobi was a decent 5th defender in the Official PL game - coming in at a bargain basement price and chipping in with a few goals and assists but it was further up the field - specifically Jamie O’Hara on loan from Tottenham - who really provided the fantasy spark. When fit, O’Hara was instrumental in creating chances for his Wolves teammates and his delivery from set pieces earned him much praise. His strike against West Brom was a ‘goal of the season’ contender. The well-known forwards Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher combined to score 15 league goals but lacked the season-long consistency necessary for prolonged fantasy investment.

Summer Changes

Jamie O'Hara Signs for Wolves

Hazing the new guy

Note: This was written yesterday, but didn't post for whatever reason.

Sky Sports is reporting that Wolves have finalized their long-expected signing of Jamie O'Hara from Spurs.

Owner-chairman Steve Morgan has revealed Wolves still have other targets in mind this summer after completing their move for Jamie O'Hara.

The Midlanders wrapped up a £5million deal for the midfielder on Tuesday, signing him from Tottenham on a five-year contract.

Reading centre-back Matt Mills, Wolves central defender Roger Johnson and Liverpool left-back Paul Konchesky are also thought to be on manager Mick McCarthy's wishlist.

This is a great move for both club and player. O'Hara finally knows where he will be playing - and that he will be playing regularly. And Wolves get a player that fits their style and their ethos, and who brings real skill to the midfield.  When healthy, Hunt, O'Hara, Henry, Guedioura and Jarvis - assuming Mick sticks with five across midfield - could be a real handful for opposing teams. There's a little speed, a lot of bite, and some talent in that group.

I wonder if this move spells the end of Milijas' time at Wolves. Aside from a good run mid-season, he hasn't even played regularly for McCarthy. I hope he could find a better fit somewhere else in the Premier League, though I suspect he'd find himself somewhere else. Turkey or Germany, perhaps.

Update: The Season is Live With Sane Pricing and Cleared Out Rosters...

For all those of you who rushed to create a team of Galaticos for under 60.00 yesterday, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.  Yahoo! reset everyone's rosters at the same time they re-adjusted prices to better reflect reality from last season.  As you confront this new reality and start piecing a roster together that doesn't include Rooney, Gerrard, Lamps, Cesc, EvdS, Bale, RvP, Elk, and whichever other defenders you filled in the rest of the places with I'll give you my first few observations...

The new guys will obviously be important in getting you to a few premium proven commodities: Koscielny, Chamakh and Silva are the only three obvious ones who are in the system so far but I'm sure Citeh will contribute one or two more options before the season starts.  All we have to do is figure out who Citeh will start in central defence - Toure? Lescott? Boateng? Onuoha? Richards? (I'd assume Toure and Boateng but who knows really).

Punch-up at Portsmouth

O'Hara turning the other cheek, but that was then.

Portsmouth's troubles boiled over on to the training ground on Monday when a practice match erupted into fisticuffs between midfielders Michael Brown and Jamie O'Hara.

With the cash-strapped club's future hanging in the balance this week, the tension was palpable at their Eastleigh training complex and Brown was making his presence known with over-zealous tackles.

But when he jumped in on O'Hara, the Tottenham loanee punched Brown to the ground. Team-mates rushed to break up the melee, with Brown coming off worst with a black eye.

One player said: 'It was all over pretty quickly. Brown had been flying in with a few challenges and he just caught O'Hara with a nasty one. It was a possible leg-breaker. O'Hara just snapped and punched him. He didn't take any messing.'

I came across this story while trying to find any evidence that O'Hara, and the other Pompey loanees, would have to go back to their parent clubs if Pompey do go into administration at the end of this week. Pompey play @Burnley and are reasonably attractive fantasy picks.  I've only found speculation about the loanee issue, nothing definitive.  However, it does sound like the tension is high on the South Coast.  Perhaps backing Burnley (Jensen, Eagles, Fletcher, etc) is the way to play it this weekend.

Early News on the Double Doors

Wait for me over there, over by the Humber Bridge.

Which is my two-clever by half (get it, two?) way of introducing some important team news regarding our friends with two-matches this week. Wow... never post before you've had your coffee.

O'Hara returns to Pompey

Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara has joined Portsmouth on loan until the end of the season...

The 23-year-old briefly returned to White Hart Lane earlier this month when his loan deal expired but has been persuaded to return to Fratton Park by Pompey boss Avram Grant.

Ancelotti set to rest star pair

It is a measure of Carlo Ancelotti's confidence that he is prepared to travel to Burnley without star strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.

The Ivory Coast pair have returned from African Nations Cup duty but will not be considered for the Barclays Premier League game at Turf Moor.

The Italian coach wants to give them more time to recover from their return journey from Angola and insisted the Burnley game has arrived too early for them.

"Didier and Kalou came back [on Thursday] and they are well and fit," said Ancelotti. "But they need to work for some days and so will not able to play. They will play on Tuesday against Hull.

"Didier will stay here to train. He has come back very well, also Kalou. They are fit but we don't want to take the risk for the next games."

Late Fitness Test

You've all talked yourselves into the Captain, haven't you? Kirkland is (well, was) dirt cheap and he got the clean sheet last week against Sunderland. Well... if he's a good bet this week, hosting Birmingham, here's my thinking: I'll take the money I was spending on Duff (still a good bet, home to Fulham) and get Scharner. He's listed as a defender so he'll do well if Kirkland does well. And hopefully he can continue to get points from his attacking midfield role. It's funny...

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.

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?

Save money. Live better.

Steven Gerrard is currently 21.33 and has been producing well, but there are cheaper alternatives producing better results, especially across the front line. But to get those players - Rooney, van Persie, Kuyt, etc - you'll need that Gerrard money. So as a quick experiment in lieu of the Monday Morning Manager - for now as I just don't have the time to write the MMM at the moment - let's see if we can put together a half-decent midfield for this week's matches spending no more than 21.33.

Bassong given all-clear

Tottenham defender Sebastien Bassong has been given the all-clear by a head and neck specialist after suffering concussion during yesterday's 3-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Which is great news for Spurs as he's their only fit specialist at center back (with Corluka as the jack of all defensive trades). It's also gold for fantasy managers as Spurs have a nice run of games and Bassong is cheap again after the mauling Spurs got from Chelsea. I also found this interesting:

Redknapp has already confirmed that Portsmouth loanee Jamie O'Hara will return to Tottenham in January.

"We will definitely get Jamie back as soon as we can," Redknapp said.

"I like Jamie as a player and I didn't want him to go but Portsmouth insisted on it as part of the deal to sell Kevin-Prince Boateng to them so we had no choice."

Interesting behind the scenes look as Spurs had to loan O'Hara out for Pompey to take KPB. That's crazy talk! Though to be fair KPB has looked dangerous for Pompey. However, it is O'Hara who is the class of that side and they'll have to spend big petro-dollars(euros?) to replace him in January.

Last Rites

Getting the band back together. For fantasy at least.

Okay, so "Last Rites" is a terrible title for this post.  It's just some quick thoughts on a Friday night/Saturday morning.  I wanted something that played off "Early Doors" and well, it's getting late so I'm not as creative as I'd like to be.  Best to get on with the post then, but please feel free to help me name this post properly.

• Late injury news - Schwarzer a doubt
• An intra-blog disagreement.  Neal says,
  

  "No certainty of O'Hara playing for Pompey - I like the thought of him as a cheap option but I'm not willing to go too far out on a limb until I know how (and if) they intend to deploy him regularly.  More a BD option than something for this week if you ask me (and you sort of did by being here to read this column)." 
  

  I think O'Hara will be a direct replacement for Krancjar who moved to Spurs while O'Hara moved the other way on loan.  He seems to agree, telling www.portsmouthfc.co.uk that, "he has been recruited as an attacking midfielder to create and score goals...."The manager sees me as an attacking midfielder who can link up with the strikers."  I think Hart is going to put him right out against Bolton, and I'm putting him right into my fantasy team.  Hopefully I can get out ahead of the mob on this one.
  
• Speaking of bargains, we've all been talking up Tuncay.  I think it's a great pick for Stoke and a big chance for fantasy managers.  However, I'm not on the bandwagon this week.  I wanted to be, believe me.  Thinking Tuncay at forward to get Glen Johnson at the back.  But in the end, I just can't do it.  I'm going to stick with Gael Givet who to this point has been getting points to spite me for not picking him.  I'm going to use that money to go back to Darren Bent.  He disappointed me last when I had him in the team week 2 (against Rovers no less, with Givet scoring) when KWynneJ took all the points.  But I can't get over my "bet against Hull" idea for this season, and especially with Hull replacing Turner with Sonko, I'm going back to the well.

Good luck to everyone and I'll see you on the other side of the weekend for the Monday Morning Manager.

Bargains Galore

Tuncay signs for Stoke City

The Yahoo! Fantasy Football world is abuzz... Tuncay Sanli has been relisted in the game at 1! He's listed as a forward, which isn't ideal because to my mind, he'll play in midfield as he often did for Boro. As I wrote in the Monday Morning Manager:

It will be very interesting to see how they incorporate Tuncay into the squad. But as a striker priced at 1!!... well, that in itself is quite apeallilng. He came on for Fuller at the weekend, but I think it will be Etherington who is most at threat.

Stoke have a pretty rough schedule upcoming - Chelsea, @Bolton, Manchester United, @Everton, West Ham and @Spurs - so you're likely to get what you pay for with Tuncay. However, it may be worth it if you can upgrade another position or two to cover what you think you might lose in that 2nd or 3rd striker spot. For instance, I was looking to get rid of Rodallega as he and Wigan have failed to reproduce their opening day form. I can go to Tuncay and be fairly confident of replicating HRod's 3 points a game but for 6 less. Now I can (with a combination of other cost saving moves which we'll touch on below) move from Givet to Glen Johnson. And while Neal thinks it would be buying GJohn at the top of the market, he's a good bet going into Liverpool's upcoming matches home to Burnley, @West Ham, and Hull.

Other possible bargains exist, but come with real negatives.  Namely cheap players who will now be likely starters on really lousy teams.  Case in point, Jamie O'Hara moves on loan from Spurs to Pompey.  He'll likely take the left-midfield role that Krancjar, um... left to move the other way.  O'Hara is 4.23 and has shown in the past that he can take kicks and get in amongst the fantasy points.  The down side, of course, is that Pompey are terrible but O'Hara may be the best of the bunch and could get 'kick-taker on a bad team' points.

We've bemoaned the lack of quality, cheap defenders in the game.  Sonko is at least cheap.  He's 3.32, one of only two defenders priced below 4.  And now that he's moved to Hull City to replace the Sunderland-bound Michael Turner he'll get on the field.  Of course, as we wrote on yesterday, "you might have been happier had he stayed in Stoke's reserves." But then again, Turner has been averaging 8 points a match almost entirely from defensive work - passes intercepted, blocked shots, tackles, etc. So if Sonko can even get half of that, he'll end up being a good investment.

Matchday Open Thread

My apologies today - I'm not going to be able to host our live chat due to the presence of my in-laws and the need to spend time with them while they are here. As neither of them are big footie fans, that lends itself more to brunch and the like as opposed to sitting in front of the big TV, watching whatever match is on, and them being curious about what it is I'm doing on these here Internets.

Enjoy the international break and check in frequently with the blog for all the news and opinions you'll need to get ready for the next match-week.

Oh, and by the way, Rooney getting 8 little points in a ManYoo win was about the worst possible outcome from yesterday. One final note, one of our loyal readers/chatters (I don't remember who) pointed out that Jamie O'Hara (on loan from Pompey to Spurs Spurs to Pompey) is likely a great bargain for next week. Worth watching today or at least checking stats to see what positions they put him in (i.e., does he take kicks, does he start).

Enjoy the rest of the weekend...

Neal