Good night, and good luck.
Showing posts with label rafael van der vaart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rafael van der vaart. Show all posts
Week 7 Team
After lots of thought, but surely little understanding, here's my week 7 team.
Good night, and good luck.
Good night, and good luck.
Injuries and Suspensions
No big intro today, other than to highlight the fact that Rooney and Chicharito being back probably has us all scrambling to figure out how to align our teams to get as many United players as possible into our line-ups against Norwich.
Good news for Van der Vaart
- He "is expected to be back in action ahead of schedule."
- He "could play some part in the game [against Liverpool] at White Hart Lane."
- He's married to this woman:
Van der Vaart out for Six Weeks
Things just go from bad to worse for Spurs.
Via Yahoo!/Eurosport:
Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart will be out for up to six weeks after tearing a hamstring in last weekend's 5-1 defeat against Manchester City, his club Tottenham Hotspur said on Saturday....
He will miss at least the next four Premier League matches for Spurs as well as their opening Europa League fixtures against PAOK Salonica and Shamrock Rovers.My money would be on Spurs pairing K2 (Emmanuel Adebayor) and Defoe in a classically 'arry "little/large" partnership. However, we could see Niko Kranjcar - who has started both of Spurs' matches so far - move into an advanced role with Tom Huddlestone (THud) coming into the midfield.
[In fact, THud should start regardless!]
For fantasy, this could see Gareth Bale reclaiming set-pieces and increasing his value. Luka Modric could also see more of the ball as (if) he gets integrated back into the team.
However it plays out, Van Der Vaart has been Spurs' stand-out player since his arrival at the Lane, and he will be missed. Spurs aren't likely to be as good of a team without him, and sitting at the bottom of the table having scored one goal and shipped seven... that's a scary prospect.
After the Window: Spurs
Spurs late summer looked a lot like the one experienced across North London at Arsenal. What the acquisitions lacked in romance and long term strategic benefit they more than made up for in being effective near-term band-aids. Spurs needed something new at forward and a deep-lying player to both win the ball and start the attack. It certainly would have been nice to find a reliable partner for Michael Dawson but presumably the combination of Ledley
King and William Gallas will be able to get the job done for 80% of the matches over the course of the upcoming season.
Season Preview - Tottenham Hotspur
Quick Reminder, Real Life
With Manchester City a stronger outfit it was always going to be difficult for Tottenham to repeat their Top 4 finish - especially with their first Champions League campaign running in parallel - but they didn’t do themselves any favours in the Premier League. They added quality/experience in Van Der Vaart and Gallas and had Bale, Modric, Dawson and (the underrated) Assou-Ekotto performing at the top of their game much of the time, but failed to invest in a 20-goal-per-season-striker. The result was a season of missed opportunities; raising their level to compete against the top teams and having a decent run in early 2011, but lacking a clinical finisher (Defoe was never the same after his early season ankle injury) they failed to put away the sides in the bottom half, gaining just one win in six games against the three relegated clubs and 9 home draws in total, the most in the league. Harry Redknapp could be accused of tactical naivety due to his inability to change things when they weren’t going to plan, Gomes’ erratic form didn’t help and in the end 5th place and a Europa League spot was as good as they could muster - and the most they deserved.
Quick Reminder, Fantasy
Van Der Vaart was a fantasy sensation throughout the season, taking set pieces away from Bale, taking on penalty duty, scoring/creating goals and making those of us who picked him up cheap early in the season very happy indeed. Much like his league form, Bale was a better producer pre-Xmas and quickly became very expensive in Yahoo’s game but popped up with his fair share of big weeks thanks to a return of 7 goals. Gomes scored consistently despite the catalogue of mistakes referred to earlier but it was slim pickings aside from these three, with Defoe, Pavlyuchenko & Crouch rotation risks and in poor form when given opportunities. Lennon had a disappointing year and Modric has never been prolific when it comes to Yahoo’s scoring system, although he did OK in the Official PL game thanks to a plethora of attacking bonus points. Defensively there was very little to get excited about in either fantasy format.
Summer Changes
Giovani Dos Santos Goal
Johnny Two-Saints finishes off Chicharito's hard work and seals the Gold Cup final for Mexico.
The bandwagon is growing. Why shouldn't GDS be Rafael Van Der Vaart's understudy at Spurs? VDV can't finish matches because he's too fragile. Why not have GDS available with fresh legs to come into those matches? He plays the same free role that VDV excels at - albeit with a preference for the right, rather than the left, but it would allow for a substitution that wouldn't disrupt the formation or the style of play.
Second Thoughts
Great post by Neal, exploding some of the easy myths around Arsenal. And great comments everyone. I think you've hit on some interesting points. Let me add my $0.02:
Van Der Vaart Re-injury
Rafael van der Vaart suffered a recurrence of his calf injury in training and will miss Spurs' match at Blackpool. http://yhoo.it/elb9ei
jspitzberg
Team News
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp received welcome news on Monday when midfielder Rafael van der Vaart was passed fit for Tuesday's Champions League last 16, first-leg game against AC Milan.
Van der Vaart missed Saturday's 2-1 win over Sunderland with a calf strain and with several other midfielders absent Redknapp was desperately hoping the Dutchman would recover.
Gareth Bale, who scored a hat-trick last time Spurs were in the city, when they lost 4-3 to Inter in the group phase, misses the game with a back injury and Jermaine Jenas is suspended.
Luka Modric is struggling to make the starting side as he recovers from an operation to remove his appendix less than two weeks ago.
And...
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will not be "stupid" by rushing back midfielder Samir Nasri for Wednesday's Champions League last 16 first-leg match against Barcelona, the Frenchman said on Monday.
"I will not take a crazy gamble," Wenger said of his compatriot Nasri, who he admitted is "physically ready" after a two-week layoff with a hamstring injury.
"He has worked very hard in the last week...just there is a risk to have a setback," Wenger added on the club's website (www.arsenal.com) before saying Nasri would have tests on Monday and Tuesday.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has no fresh injury worries as his side search for a third successive Barclays Premier League win against Newcastle on Tuesday night...
Former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins could start again while Cameron Jerome is also in contention. McLeish has a full squad to choose from with the exception of long-term injury victims James McFadden and Scott Dann.
Tweets of Interest
This one's for @nealjthurman, the latest to be sucked into the wonderful world of Twitter.
You can follow me @jspitzberg and get your fantasy Premier League news at Fantasy EPL Twitter List, which is featured to the right.
Rafael van der Vaart, Gareth Bale, and Luka Modric all out of the trip to Sunderland.
http://xrl.in/77h0
FFScout
Louis Saha has a hamstring injury and will not play for Everton this weekend. http://bit.ly/KpgS4
physioroom
David Luiz will get a full debut for Chelsea when they travel to Fulham on Valentines night. http://tinyurl.com/63ajxzw
fantasyleague
INJURY NEWS: Cesc and RVP recovered from illness and fit to face Wolves. http://www.arsenal.com/pressconferencedigest
Arsenal
INJURY NEWS: Djourou is fit, Denilson back, Rosicky unavailable, Diaby banned: http://www.arsenal.com/pressconferencedigest
Arsenal
Ferdinand and Evans miss the Manchester derby, city are expected to be unchanged. http://tinyurl.com/5uy2te7
fantasyleague
You can follow me @jspitzberg and get your fantasy Premier League news at Fantasy EPL Twitter List, which is featured to the right.
Van Der Vaart Back
Football365.co.za - All The News
Harry Redknapp's side will be boosted after Rafael van der Vaart completed a week of training, with the Dutch star set to feature.Good news for everyone who's kept VDV in their side at 6-and-change. Now you'll just have to watch the weather reports, with Blackpool's pitch threatening to freeze up again.
VDV Injury Report: Might Only Miss 1-2 Premier League Matches!
Tottenham Hotspur could be without Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul for their next three matches - Telegraph
Important info for fantasy managers trying to decide what to do with the crocked van der Vaart (hat tip @FFLScout on Twitter).
Assuming that diagnosis holds through the team reports on Friday, my inclination is to keep him at 6. If you have him closer to market value, you may be thinking differently.
We've been here before
... alternate title, "First time as tragedy, second time as farce."
In comments we were asked, "Is there any arguement for keeping VDV @ 6?". I was reminded that there is an argument, and it was made, and debated ad naseum, last season when Didier Drogba was set to miss a month of league games while playing for the Ivory Coast.
The best encapsulation of the argument was probably over at Y!AM's site.
http://yahoofantasyfootballuk.blogspot.com/2009/12/drogba-dilemma.html
There have been some excellent posts in the comments and chat in the chat room regarding the game's top scorer; specifically by those who still own him at 10.66. The dilemma people are facing is whether to hang on to Didier Drogba during the African Cup of Nations, where he is likely to miss 4 Chelsea games.Basically the idea was that Drogba at a discount would return more points over the course of the season than any replacement, even with four more game weeks and that analysis proved pretty much correct. Now Van Der Vaart has been an awesome fantasy player. And there is no definitive word yet on the extent of his injury. But if, as rumored, he is out for a month, there is a lot of competition in midfield and a lot of points to be had for not too much money. But that's probably the topic of another, longer, post.
Now, I had already assumed that I would sell him as I didn't think I could afford to take 4 weeks of zeros, but J Dunn and The Tigers have looked at the stats in detail and come up with some very interesting analysis.
On Bale
Well, I said nice things about Spurs (deservedly) and ManYoo (also deservedly) and wasn't particularly enamored with Arsenal's performance despite their win and yet the shouts of "you're biased" still came ringing in the comments section of "First Impressions and Second Thoughts." Honestly, I'm coming to enjoy it a bit so keep it up. To the extent that I have time, I'll continue to discuss my (non-biased) rationale for my opinions. The main subject of displeasure this time around was the fact that I called out Bale as still not being fantasy value on a weekend where the Bale fantasy apologists were still glowing from his 29 point, 2 goal effort. For those who still don't believe me that you should have sold him weeks ago despite this past weekend's outburst, here are the numbers:
Since Bale's last major outburst in Week 2 (33.5 points), he has been averaging 10 points/match and has cost approximately 15. Over the course of 11 matches, you've gotten approximately 110 points from him at the combined cost of about 165. For those of you who had Bale from the beginning of the season, you got those same 110 points for a cost of about 132. So, what else could you have had for your money over that stretch that leads me to believe that you should have spent differently?
Since Bale's last major outburst in Week 2 (33.5 points), he has been averaging 10 points/match and has cost approximately 15. Over the course of 11 matches, you've gotten approximately 110 points from him at the combined cost of about 165. For those of you who had Bale from the beginning of the season, you got those same 110 points for a cost of about 132. So, what else could you have had for your money over that stretch that leads me to believe that you should have spent differently?
Midweek Review - Day One
Day One in the books, and I'm as happy as Sylvie in the photo above. 46 points from Begovic, Van Der Vaart and Gyan. Day Two looks to me much more interesting, with the Manchester derby very much at the forefront - including the Nani's possible early return from injury.
But first a brief look back at yesterday.
Headlines
Nani and Fletcher to miss Wolves clash
Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled Nani and Darren Fletcher out of Saturday's Premier League encounter with Wolves.
The pair both picked up injuries during the3-0 win over Bursaspor in Turkey.
And whilst it is hoped the damage is not too serious, it is enough to keep two of Ferguson's most important players out of a key domestic encounter.
"Unfortunately, Nani has a groin injury and is out for Saturday," confirmed Ferguson.
Balotelli looking to reach the top
Balotelli endured a disappointing first Barclays Premier League start in the defeat to Wolves on Saturday, but could get another chance to impress in Thursday's Europa League clash with Lech Poznan if he shakes off a knock to the thigh in time.
Two weeks out for Joe Cole
Joe Cole will be out for two weeks following the hamstring injury he sustained in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Bolton on Sunday...
That means Cole will miss out on facing his old club Chelsea at Anfield on Sunday.
Injured Fabregas out of Arsenal's trip to Donetsk
Arsenal will not risk skipper Cesc Fabregas against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday after the Spaniard strained a hamstring against West Ham United at the weekend...
"Cesc will not travel," Wenger told Arsenal's website (www.arsenal.com). "It's a mixture of caution and his hamstring. We cannot take the gamble. He has a good chance to play (against Newcastle) on Sunday but tomorrow would be a risk."
Alex Song is also doubtful for the Group H clash with a calf strain, as are Andrei Arshavin and Denilson who have groin injuries.
Spurs make it White Hot Lane for holders Inter
Spurs fans were buoyed before kickoff when Van der Vaart was declared fit after tweaking a hamstring on Saturday.
Besides scoring the opening goal he was also at the heart of most of Spurs attacks during a 45-minute appearance before going off at halftime.
========
I know what you're thinking... "What does all this mean?"
And I wish I had good answers. Nani's situation is the most troublesome for me. Van Der Vaart I have so cheaply that it's worth keeping him even if he is out for a game or two. But Nani, while I have him at a discount, is still a significant investment and I'm leaning towards selling him. Not only will he miss the match against Wolves, but there are midweek games (a new gameweek for Y!, however) so you wonder if he'll be fit to play in the Manchester derby on Wednesday. Fabregas is seemingly likely to play so is a good investment, but maybe Nasri is a better bet - he's healthier [at time of writing] and has been scoring well for fantasy. We'll see if he plays, and if so how he fares, in the Ukraine today.
As for the man of the moment, Gareth Bale, he hasn't transferred his Champions League form to the Premier League recently. But if Van Der Vaart does miss any time then Bale could be right back on set-piece duty and the offense will once again run through him on the left rather than Van Der Vaart through the middle. Playing at Bolton and then home to Sunderland is a bit of mixed bag, especially after yesterday's exertions. But I might consider backing him, even at just under 15.
van der Vaart Injury Status
Football365 | All The News | Football News | REDKNAPP DENIES SPURS WERE NAIVE
Spurs' decision to field a 4-5-1 formation paid dividends early on but the formation relied heavily on Rafael van der Vaart, who began to struggle with an injury and was withdrawn shortly after half-time.
Redknapp revealed the Holland midfielder had injured his calf and will be monitored ahead of Saturday's Barclays Premier League game at Wolves.
Who has two thumbs and strained his calf in Champions League action yesterday?
For those of you monitoring van der Vaart's status because you either picked him up on the Barn Door or because you are thinking about him as an inexpensive option in midfield with a good match-up this weekend, it looks like hope is not yet lost. We'll continue to monitor the situation for you up until Friday when team news comes out.
Rafael van der Vaart Vaart is Upset
Like her husband, Sylvie seems very comfortable on the bench.
Rafael van der Vaart Vaart is upset at his treatment by Holland coach Bert van Marwijk | The Sun |Sport|Football
"I gave everything. Also I was playing in a position which is not comfortable for me, I'm not a left winger."
Good news for fantasy managers with Gareth Bale in their side.
... and at this point, isn't that the large marjority of us?
Waiting on the Big News...
If Spurs do get their man, it will make for some interesting selection dilemmas once everyone is healthy at the Lane. VDV will presumably start and you have to play Bale and Lennon/Bentley and then a holding midfielder (presumably Palacios on most days). That would leave Modric, Kranjcar, Jenas, THud, and the other of Lennon/Bentley stewing on the bench and playing cup matches that you know they think are beneath them. Not to mention Jamie O'Hara and Danny Rose who may not even make the bench for said cup matches at this point.
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