Saturday 27 March 2010

My Week 28 Team - Update


As much as I wanted the Tottenham set-piece taker in my team, I just couldn't work out if Bentley or Kranjcar will start so in the end stayed away from both. So in comes S Gerrard in place of Bentley.

I like the idea of taking a gamble on Fox who was a consistent points scorer before his injury. Fox is back fit and I am assuming will re-take his place in Burnley's S11. Certainly Burnley's form han't been great whilst Fox was out so don't see why Fox wouldn't reclaim a starting slot. So out goes Maxi, formation changed from 343 to 433 to make room for Fox.

Finally the upgrades of Gerrard & Fox meant I had to downgrade either Jags -> Agger or Crouch -> Eidur. It's a 50/50 cal but in the end decided to go with Agger as

1) Wolves are in good form so I don't think the Toffess will keep a CS.
2) I have a hunch about Crouch up against his former employers.


So my final Week 28 Team;

Myhill
Agger     Bale     Ferreira     Fox
Malouda    Arteta     Gerrard
Roo     Bendtner     Crouch


Barn Door Options for week 29:

2 fixtures standout for me in week 29, Arsenal at home to Wolves and Everton vs West Ham. So I will take Jags on BD and will monitor the likes of Howard, Campbell, Cahill, Fabs, Arshavin and Anichebe. Look out for posts on chatroll as I will post my BD moves in real time.

So what are your thoughts for week 28? How does your team compare to mine?

Thanks
SK

My Week 28 Team


Week 27 is one I'd like to forget fast. I missed out on the likes of AYoung, Arteta and Carew  resulting in a poor return of 128 pts meaning I dropped 160+ places to 305th overall. No point crying over spilt milk so looking forward to week 28.

Week 28 fixtures:

Sat, Mar 27
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Birmingham v Arsenal
Bolton v Man Utd
Hull v Fulham
Wolves v Everton
West Ham v Stoke
Tottenham v Portsmouth

Sun, Mar 28
Liverpool v Sunderland
Burnley v Blackburn

Mon, Mar 29
Man City v Wigan


I'm sure you've noticed the Fulham-Wigan fixture which was scheduled for Apr 2 has been moved due to the Cottagers run in Europe. So week 28 turns into a single gamer for all clubs. The standout fixtures for me are Spurs at home to Pompey, Liverpool vs Sunderland, Man U away to Bolton and NW derby in Man C & Wigan.


Player Picks:

Goalkeeper:

Myhill
Given
Jensen

After Howard's injury, it's down to a choice from 3 imo. It really depends on how much you have to spend. If you need bargain basement, Myhill @ under 2 is a great pick up as I feel Fulham are on the start of a bad run so it's a good time to be playing them. If you have more to spend look at Jensen but if money was no object Given is the safest pick.

Defenders:

Bale
Jagielka
Ferreira
Bassong
Agger
Kaboul
Fox
Vidic


How jealous am I of the people with Bale @ 2.75? Answer = Damn jealous (insert crying noise)! Even at 11, Bale is the pick of the defenders. Injuries mean Bale may well start at left back rather than in midfield but I feel he plays better coming from deep so I still expect big points @ home to Pompey.  Jageilka has scored well since returning from injury and with Everton on a hot streak, I expect another good FF day for the ex Bolton player.  Ferreira is nailed on for a start due to Chelsea's injuries at the back. Home match against Villa isn't a straight forward fixture but one which Chelsea should come through if they are serious title contenders.

If you can't aford Bale but want to cover off  potential Spurs CS points, Bassong or Kaboul are bargain buys but be wary the former faces the dreaded late fitness test so would take Kaboul over SeaBass. Agger and Vidic are ridiculously cheap at under 8 and under 9 respectively. Finally a curve ball pick in Burnley's Fox who was on FF fire before getting injured. Reports suggest Fox is in line for a recall this weekend. Fox is the set-piece taker for Burnley and has an attractive home game against Blackburn so I am seriously tempted.

Midfielders:

Bentley
Arteta
Malouda
Gerrard
Fabs
Lampard
Bullard
Maxi

MF pick of the week is Bentley..... well I did think so until I read he may be struggling with an injury. It's still unclear as to whether Bentley is available for today's game. My feeling is if he is fit to play, Bentley will start. If not, Kranjcar will take his spot in team & take over set-piece duties. I am glad to have BD Arteta  as his price increased from under 9 to over 17. The Spaniard has been a FF gem in past seasons so may well keep him for rest of the season as his form is getting better game by game. Malouda is in the best form of his Chelsea career, getting more set-pieces and now finding the net on a regular basis. It's a tough decision on whether to keep him in week 29 where Chelsea are away to Man United but in week 28,  the Frenchman stays in my S11. My final spot goes to Maxi whom I expect to start as he is cup-ted in Europe and with a Europa match midweek, I expect Rafa will make most of Maxi in the Premiership.

So I have ignored the big 3 of Fabs, Lamps and Gerrard. Quite simply I couldn't afford any of them. If I had to take one, its SG @ 15 with a home game against Sunderland. Finally Bullard is back for Hull, if you BD him @ under 8, it's a great pick up, but even at full price, he is decent value.


Strikers:

Rooney
Drogba
Torres
Tevez
Crouch
Gudjohnsen
Bendtner

So when the season finishes and I analyse the mistakes, its likely to show the optimum week to sell Rooney was last week as I wanted Arteta & Carew but didn't want to lose the discount with Roo so went with him & Mikel instead. Off course keeping Roo may turn out to be the right decision if boy wonder goes on a scoring spree over the coming games. However keeping Roo cost me over 60 pts last week so expecting loyality bonus payment from England's best player to make amends haha. Bendtner was an injury doubt but Wenger confirmed in Friday's press conference that Bendtner should start against Birmigham and as I have him @ 5.8, he stays. Finally I really wanted a Spurs striker in my team and spent most of  the week cursing myself for not taking Pav on the DB @ below 10 but as it turns out the Russian is likely to start on the bench whilst recovering from a hamstring injury and with Defoe still out, Crouch and Gudjohnsen should start. Either one is worthy of  a place in the team but I've gone with Crouch as he is up against his old team and as you know strikers always score against their former clubs.

I may live to regret selling Drogs @ 22 but he has 2 tough fixures (Aston Villa & @ Man United) so decided to spread the money across the team rather than on one player.  Torres is on form again but is too expensive for my liking. In my opinion Tevez is a better option for week 28 but I am staying with Roo.


My Week 28 Team:

Myhill
Ferreira     Jagielka     Bale
Malouda     Arteta     Bentley     Maxi
Roo     Bendtner     Crouch

However I am still not decided on my team. For example, I will monitor the Bentley/Kranjcar situation and still not sure whether to take Maxi out & change formation to fit Fox in. I will confirm my final team by 11am.

At this stage in the season you don't want to be eating any bagels so please let me know if you have latest team news & how does my team compare to yours?

Danke
SK aka The Worst Fantasy Football Blogger Ever lol!

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Barn Door for Week 28 Part 2


So Week 27 comes to a close with a 5-0 beating for Pompey at the hands of Chelsea, an impressive 2-0 away win for Everton against Man City, disappointing home draw for Villa and Blackburn grinding out a home win vs Brum. FF wise, Malouda and Drogs came good for me but boy do I regret not taking Arteta and Carew. Oh well can't win em all!

So the big BD decision for me was do I keep Drog or not. In the end, I couldn't justify 22% of my budget on the beast. My aim each week is to get point per unit return and I just can't see Drogs scoring 22 points against Villa. Famous last words lol!

My Week 28 Team atm (I have 3.9units left so the team is likely to change);

Myhill
Ferreira     Jagielka     Bale
Malouda     Arteta     Kranjar     Dunn
Roo     Bendtner     Kalinic


So how did you do in week 27 and what are your thoughts on week 28?

Saturday 20 March 2010

Barn Door for Week 28


The big news for Week 28 is Fulham's Europa League fixture scheduled for 1st Apr means the Fulham-Wigan game on 2nd April has to be re-scheduled. This means week 28 is a single gamer for all 20 clubs.

Week 28 Fixtures;

Sat, Mar 27
Birmingham v Arsenal

Bolton v Man Utd
Chelsea v Aston Villa
Hull v Fulham
Tottenham v Portsmouth
West Ham v Stoke
Wolves v Everton

Sun, Mar 28
Liverpool v Sunderland
Burnley v Blackburn

Mon, Mar 29
Man City v Wigan



The standout fixtures involve teams fighting for the 4th placed finish. Spurs at home to basement club Pompey, Liverpool vs Sunderland and Man City's game at the Eastlands against Wigan.

My Week 28 atm (although its likely to change);

Kirk
Verm      Hutton      Corluka
AJ      Malouda     Arteta     Bullard
Roo     Bendtner     Drogs

My Week 27 Team


Week 27 Fixtures:


Sat, Mar 20
Aston Villa v Wolves
Arsenal v West Ham
Everton v Bolton
Wigan v Burnley
Sunderland v Birmingham
Stoke v Tottenham
Portsmouth v Hull

Sun, Mar 21
Man Utd v Liverpool
Fulham v Man City
Blackburn v Chelsea

Tue, Mar 23
West Ham v Wolves

Wed, Mar 24
Blackburn v Birmingham
Aston Villa v Sunderland
Man City v Everton
Portsmouth v Chelsea


As you can see, 10 teams (Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackburn, Chelsea, Everton, Man City, Pompey, Sunderland, West Ham and Wolves) have Double Games in  week 27. So my strategy for the week is clearly to maximise DG players.

From the single gamers, Arsenal at home to West Ham and Wigan hosting woeful Burnley standout. Fixture of the week has to be Man U-Liverpool but in FF - stay away unless you have huge dicounts.

My Week 27 Team;

Kirk
Verm     Hutton     Warnock
Milner      Malouda     AJ     Mikel
Roo     Bendtner     Drogs

Goalkeeper:

For me it was a choice of Kirk or Turnbull. Chelsea team news suggests Cech could be back for Blackburn game so at most Turnbull will play just once and maybe not at all so Kirk is the safer bet. If you have more money to spend, Fridel must be considered with two home games but I think you are better off saving money on Kirk and spend elsewhere.

Defenders:

Verm - I have @ 6 & season keeper. Hutton is a DGer, good getting forward and @ 3, is a no brainer. My final spot goes to Villa's Warnock. I wnated to get a Villa defender in my team, ideally I'd choose Dunne but I was just short of cash so went with the Ex Pool player. Others I considered were Ivanovic, JT and Jageilka.

Midfielders:

I think many of us will have the combo of AJ, Malouda and Milner. Ideally I wanted Arteta to finish the quartet but couldn't find the cash. So in the end, I've gone with a water carrier in Mikel. DGer, should start both games and @ 3 is a good filler who should return is value in pts. Others I considered were Ballack (will he start?), Zhirkov (will he score enough pts from left back without CS pts?) and AYoung (out of form) but discounted in the end.

Strikers:

Roo is a season keeper for me. Tough match up this week but I still expect a goal & 15pts from boy wonder. Bendtner is another fixture in my team. Strong match up at home to West Ham should see his recent scoring run continue. The final spot goes to the beast! Sick of betting against the Drogs so I have splashed 22% of my budget on the DGer. The only other striker I considered was Carew but to be honest I was never going to change by forward line up.

So in summary, I have 7 DGers (3 Chelsea, 2 Aston Villa, 1 from Man City and Sunderland), Sunderland with the singletons made up from 2 Arsenal, 1 Man U and 1 Wigan.

So how does my team compare to yours?

Thanks
SK

Sunday 14 March 2010

Barn Door for Week 27


Rooney!! Boy wonder has saved my week which has yielded 82.5pts so far, leaving me on 2997.5pts up 35 places to 142nd in rankings.

My Week 27 team atm

Turnbull
Verm     Hutton     Jagielka
Milner     AJ     Malouda    Henry
Roo     Bendtner     Drogs

Friday 12 March 2010

Week 26 Team


My wife is waiting for me to take her out for dinner so I'm going to make this a short post.

Week 26 Fixtures;

Sat, Mar 13
Hull v Arsenal

Stoke v Aston Villa
Chelsea v West Ham
Burnley v Wolves
Bolton v Wigan
Birmingham v Everton
Tottenham v Blackburn

Sun, Mar 14
Sunderland v Man City
Man Utd v Fulham
Liverpool v Portsmouth

Tue, Mar 16
Wigan v Aston Villa

So as you can see Aston Villa and Wigan have 2 games in week 26 with the remaining 18 teams playing just once so my team is loaded up with players from these 2 teams.
 
My Week 26 Team
 
Kirk
Verm     Hutton     Dunne
Downing     Young     Milner     NZog
Roo     Bendtner     Carew
 
Goalkeepers:
 
For me DGer Fridel was too expensive, so the decision was Kirk or Hilario. In the end, there wasn't  a decsion to make as Hilario is ruled out for Chelsea's home game with West Ham.
 
Defenders:
 
Regular readers of my blog know Verm and Hutton are permanent fixtures in my S11 and probably season keepers. I did have Fox @ 6 for the last few weeks but decided to sell as Dunne was too good a buy to turn down. Fox has been fantastic but his price is only 1.2 above what I had him for and with Burnley only playing once in week 27 where 8 teams have DGs, I thought it's the right time to sell. If Fox does well tomorrow, which is probable with a home match up against Wolves, I'll more than likely BD him.
 
Midfielders:
 
I was plesantly surprised by the price drop of the Villa middies on Tuesday so decided to take advantage by buying Downing, Milner and Young for a combined price of 35units. The big decision I had was whether to hang onto Arteta @ 7.9. In the end, I decided to go with DGer NZog as it's getting to the point in the season where discounts don't really mater. You need to play for the week ahead.
 
Strikers:
 
Roo is a season keeper for me and has a great match up home to Fulham who travelled to Turin mid-week. Bendtner is probably another season keeper. Hat-trick midweek means he must be on cloud nine and will surely spearhead Arsenal's title charge to the end of the season.  The final spot goes to Carew who will surely start after scoring a hat-trick in last weekend's FA cup.
 
OK, can't delay my wife any longer!

What do you think of my team & how does it compare to yours?
 
Thanks
SK
 

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Barn Door for week 26


So yesterday turned out to be a nightmare for my ff team. Bolton being on the end of a 4-0 beating by Sunderland meant minus 6 pts for Jussi, a merger 1.5 pts for yellow carded Lee and the silver lining was Wilshere with 7 pts. Moving onto my single Sunderland player, Hutton, returned a decent 7 pts. So overall, I am on 115.5 pts for week 25 with Fox to come tonight. Overall I am 177th.

The big news for FF managers was the price drop of Aston Villa players with the combination of Agbon, Downing, Milner and Young being 10+ units cheaper. The price drops has completedly changed my strategy for week 26 as the previous prices, imo, were too much so initially I wasn't planning on buyingVilla's DGers.

I fear their prices will go up after today's Burnley game as managers must be loading up on these chaps. Therefore I have bought the lot!

My Week 26 Team atm;

Kirk
Verm     Hutton     Fox
Arteta     Downing     Milner     Young
Roo     Bendtner     Agbon

If you want any of the Aston Villa players mentioned above, I strongly recommend you to buy them before today's points update. There is a doubt about Agbon as he sat out the FA Cup game due to flu. If Friday's team news confirms Agbon is still a doubt, I'll more than likely switch to HRod.

What are your thoughts on my team above? How does it compare to your week 26 team?

Finally, I realised my comments settings was making it difficult for people to leave feedback. This has been changed which means its much easier to leave feedback.

Regards
SK


Tuesday 9 March 2010

Week 25 progress




Week 25 has been a good one for me so far with 106 pts leaving me on 2898pts overall and up 73 places to 181st in rankings. The big points scorers for me were Arteta (28), Bendtner (15 - although should have been a lot more!) and Wilshere (14.5). I have 5 players to come - Fox, Hutton, Jussi, Lee and Wilshere so with a bit of luck, I can approach 150pts for week 25.

An injured Roo resulted in a 2nd bagel in a row. The big consolation for me is I haven't lost ground in my private leagues so I should be in good shape once Roo returns to S11.

Torres has to go down as disapointment of the week. There were 3 gilt edged chances which you'd expect the Spaniard to take on a normal day. A yellow card meant minus 1.5 return on a player taking 1/6 of my budget! However I am seriously considering sticking with Torres for wk 26. Liverpool must be smarting after the Wigan loss so a home game against the league's basement club is ideal to get the club back on winning ways and back on track for the coverted 4th place finish. So I can see Pool putting on a show & Torres to be in the goals.

With Aston Villa winning in the FA cup @ the weekend, it confirms double fixture for Villa and Wigan in week 26. I already sense next week is going to be one of the trickiest of the season in terms of how many DGers you take i.e. do you forget about discounts and maximise on DGers or is it too soon to do that?

At present the only DGer I have is Kirk. Others I am looking to bring in are Milner, NZog and possibly Carew.

My Week 26 atm;

Kirk
Verm     Fox     Hutton
Fabs     Arteta     Walcott     Wilshere
Roo     Torres     Bendtner

So how are you doing in week 25 and are you gambling on the DGers for week 26?

Laters
SK

P.S. If you like my blog please follow me (YFF Scout) on Facebook via the Facebook box on left hand side of my homepage.


Friday 5 March 2010

Week 25 Team


Week 25 Fixtures;

Sat, Mar 6
Arsenal v Burnley
Wolves v Man Utd
West Ham v Bolton

Sun, Mar 7
Everton v Hull

Mon, Mar 8
Wigan v Liverpool

Tue, Mar 9
Portsmouth v Birmingham
Sunderland v Bolton

Wed, Mar 10
Burnley v Stoke


As you can see, Bolton and Burnley have Double Games with Aston Villa, Blackburn, Chelsea, Fulham, Man City and Tottenham without a game in week 25. So unless you have huge discounts, I'd avoid players from the 6 teams with a Premiership week off!

So what is a huge discount? At this stage in the season, I'd say the discount needs to be 4+ units. For example, if you have Bale @ 2.75 keep him but A Johnson @ 4ish should be sold.


After feedback I've added Predicted Line Ups:

Arsenal vs Burnley:

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Clichy, Denilson, Eboue, Fabregas, Nasri, Bendtner, Walcott.
Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Carlisle, Cort, Fox, Bikey, Elliott, Alexander, Blake, Fletcher, Paterson.


West Ham vs Bolton:

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Spector, Behrami, Parker, Kovac, Diamanti, Franco, Cole.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Ricketts, Knight, Robinson, Muamba, Lee, Wilshere, Taylor, Elmander, Kevin Davies.


Wolves vs Man United:

Wolves: Hahnemann, Craddock, Foley, Berra, Zubar, Guedioura, Henry, Jones, Jarvis, Doyle, Ward.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Rafael, Carrick, Fletcher, Valencia, Nani, Scholes, Berbatov.

Everton vs Hull:

Everton: Howard, Baines, Distin, Heitinga, Neville, Rodwell, Arteta, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov, Donovan, Anichebe.
Hull: Myhill, Zayatte, McShane, Mouyokolo, Dawson, Boateng, Hunt, Kilbane, Cairney, Zaki, Altidore.

The other games are too far ahead for accurate line up predictions.

My Week 25 Team:

Jussi
Verm     Hutton     Fox
Fabs     Lee     Wilshere     Arteta
Roo     Bendtner     Torres

Goalkeepers:

I've gone with Jussi (pictured above). It's a huge gamble as its feasible to get minus double digit return but equally I'm hoping it will pay off big. Jussi is a DGer but both games are away. However both games (@ West Ham and @ Sunderland) are against teams in and around Bolton in the league so it's likely to be tight cagey games. Now I've said that what are the odds on two 4-0 beatings lol!?!

If you don't fancy the gamble, the other standouts this week are Howard @ 8, Gordon @ 6 or James below 4. I also have to mention DGer Jenson @ 5.5 but I'd stay clear as I think @ Arsenal is a huge risk.

Defenders:

My 3 picked itself again this week. I have Verm @ 6 and will be a season keeper, Hutton has a home game against Bolton and Fox is a DGer & set piece taker for Burnley.

Others to consider are DGers Carlisle who is super cheap @ 4.5 after his -9 in week 24, Steinsson and a credit crunched R Ferdinand @ 7.

Midfielders:

Fabs is a must pick for me. I can see him causing havoc against Burnley! Lee is a DGer, joint set piece taker and has been the Bolton player of the season imo. Arteta is returning from injury and has been quiet so far but he is a quality player and with Fellani out & Cahill doubtful, I can see Arteta having a more advanced role against Hull. My final pick was tricky. I went with DGer Wilshere as I think Coyle will stick with a winning line up (other than replacing an injured Holden).

The big alternative to Wilshere was Burnley's Elliott. In my opinion Elliott is the safer pick with likely 6-8pts from his 2 games. Others to consider from the DGers are MTaylor and Eagles but both not sure starters so I stayed away. Gerrard ran Fabs close to pick of the week. If you can find the money to have both - go for it! Finally Nani must be considered as he is fresh, the most likely starter out of Man U's midfield & was on fire before the 3 game ban.

Strikers:

The big news is Rooney is doubtful for the Wolves game & not in Sky Sports' predicted line up above. The last time Roo was doubtful, he bagged 4 goals and 45 pts but I'd stay away @ full price but keep him if on discount. Bendtner is a no-brainer as he has scored in last 2 games and up against a woeful on the road Burnley. My last spot goes to Torres who I BD last week @ 16ish.

Alernatives include DGers Davies and Fletcher but I don't see these guys getting big points. Diamanti is a good shout alongside The Yak.

So overall, I am going with 4 DGers (3 Bolton and 1 Burnley) with the rest made up of 3 Arsenal and singles from Everton, Liverpool, Man U and Sunderland.

Barn Door for Week 26:

BBC Fixtures shows 2 games for Aston Villa (@ Stoke and @ Wigan) and Wigan (@ Bolton and Aston Villa). From the single gamers, look no further than the big 4 who all have attractive fixtures;

Hull vs Arsenal
Chelsea vs West Ham
Liverpool vs Portsmouth
Man U vs Fulham

Players I am looking to BD include DGers Agbon, Downing, Kirkland, Milner,  Nzogbia and Rod.

Moving forward, (again after feedback) I will make a commitment that every player I buy/sell will be immediately posted on this site via a blog post or a message on Chatroll so you can see exactly what I'm doing in real time.

What do you think of my week 25 team? How does it compare to yours?

Good luck to all in week 25!

Over and out
SK

PS Can I ask the one person that has clicked 30+ times into the Google ads to STOP please? I appreciate you had good intention but in reality it has cost me as 1) genuine hits earn less money and 2) I've had a warning from Google as they seen the 30+ hits from the same IP address. For the others, you've seen the ads on my site. If you see a Google ad that interests you, please click it or if you want to buy from Amazon, please go through my site. I hope you feel that's a FAIR deal for my blog lol?!