Fantasy Premier League

Monday Morning Manager

Mon Mar 17 04:43AM

Manchester United's goalkeeper Ben Foster warms up as he prepares to make his debut

You're probably truly sick of hearing about my trailing and hence needed to take risks to catch up. Well, let me just say that when you take chances, chances are you get burned.

Here are some thoughts as the Manager catches up after a weekend away from the computer and the television (Unfortunately not for Neal's bachelor party though. I'm looking forward to those stories as much as you are.)

Ben Foster... England's Number 1. I'm just hoping, as I'm sure a lot of you aren't, that Kuscszak is back in net against Bolton
Where was this Carlo against Derby?
Robbo... i'm not mad. Honest. Knew it wasn't going to be pretty even as I hoped for the best. What happened to the rising star from two (and more) years ago? He's been terrible and for Citeh's two goals - though he probably didn't have a chance to stop either of them - he just stood there watching. As his "owner" in a fantasy sense at least, I want to see a LITTLE effort. Dive, even if you don't get close. Get your hands up and TRY to tip it over the bar. Don't just stand there and watch.
CRon... he really is in a different league, isn't he? I'm just looking forward to next season when no one will be able to afford him.
Speaking of players on a hot streak... Torres. Torres. Torres.
I had both ManU starting central midfielders in my fantasy team! What were the odds of picking that correctly... 2 from 5? And they STILL only came up with 4.5 pts. And only 5 from Rooney. While CRon gets the 30 that was honestly expected were he to start, O'Shea and Foster in double digits... how can I get it so right and so wrong? Sometimes it's just not your day. Or season.

Looking ahead, we've got Villa, Boro, Reading, and Everton host Sunderland, Derby, Birmingham, and West Ham respectively. BFAY, Barry, Carew... Downing, Aliadiere, O'Neil, Tuncay... Oster, Long... Yakubu, Arteta, Pienaar...

The big clubs square up again in another "Super Sunday" so best to stay away unless you're carrying someone(s) at a discount.

Newcastle are home to Fulham. Nil-nil, or 4-3? It's anyone's guess. But you probably couldn't do wrong to pick up Martins. We'll be watching him tonight as they take on Birmingham. Last barn door chance of the week. Sorry we
haven't been on top of the others. We'll try to do better the next time.

Until next week,

The Manager

Comments1 - 26 of 26

You're right to say 'it is just not our season'.
I was top of my league, and now I risk becoming 3rd.
Had Rooney, Tevez, Nani, Anderson, Guthrie, Robbo and Senderos to show you how painful it was.
-----------------------
Not my day.
From simplety on Mon Mar 17 07:44AM
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Hi Neal and Jeremy. Thanks to you guys I've just got to the top of my private league. Cheers. I do have one query for you and all the "comment posters"
I remember Neal saying in one of last year's posts that around +3 was the amount you guys used for deciding on whether to keep or sell a player. Is this still a rule of thumb you'd recommend or do you feel that figure has changed at all? I look forward to everyone's comments.
From hvrcsl on Mon Mar 17 07:49AM
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re 2 - for me its not so much about an absolute rule pricewise as what kind of player i can pick up for the resale value. for example, i have palacios right now at +4ish. i wouldn't sell him not so much coz of that figure as coz there is no-one else to get at the resale value of about 2.
From nickfanfootie on Mon Mar 17 09:17AM
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Jeremy, do you ever reveal your points total (weekly or cummulative)?
I class a good single match week as 100 points, which I acheived until Robbo's usual nega-performance. Also can anyone tell me how many ff managers are 'playing' this season? I say playing but it's much more serious than that - maybe it's just me.
From iansanderson197 on Mon Mar 17 10:09AM
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Oi, why's my full e-mail address been printed - bugger!
From iansanderson197 on Mon Mar 17 10:11AM
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bugger? are u expecting that everyone will start emailing u now or something?? hehe, eejit.
From jiverson2x on Mon Mar 17 11:23AM
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I put Foster in based on him getting 1 game, if he gets another thats a real bonus! Nani getting a run out would be good too, not to mention Carvalho! Anybody else suffer badly from squad rotation this weekend?
From petegoddard11996655 on Mon Mar 17 12:47PM
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I got worked over good this weekend. I made the mistake of checking my team Saturday night at a friends party, clicked log out and walked away. Apparently, the PC did not log me out and someone proceeded to sell all my players. I had CRON, K2, Ballack, Carson, Dempsey, etc all at 3 unit discounts. Yesterday was very painful see my team roster empty and then working out filling it back up with the meager 100 units. My season is officially done.
From piantdj on Mon Mar 17 12:54PM
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With the exception of wes brown [who I sold john terry for because of spurs scoring threat], moek, hutton and Poor Robinson all my players are on +6 and above; with Cron and Torres at + 10.
Although I've turned a 100 point deficit to within 20 points on the leader I really don't have any wiggle room at all in the coming weeks.
I need to buy a striker I just don't know which premium striker to buy and which premium middie to sell [lamps maybe? is that crazy?]
From fansarigt on Mon Mar 17 01:30PM
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What's with the ManYoo Bolton game? Fixtures show it's not played this week. Any news?
From zzzeclipse on Mon Mar 17 04:03PM
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Well, that could have gone worse i suppose, i'm dreading wednesday though, given that Robbo got -2 against a misfiring city, chelsea could be even worse. I guess i knew that when i signed him, you don't get a keeper for under 2 if you expect him to score highly. I really wish Grant would stop playing Mikel, he soaks up Maks spot and seems to get booked everytime he plays. How are people feeling about K2? He seems to look less sharp as the games go on but anyone who bought him at 13 could struggle to find a replacement at the same price.
From hevydevy2002 on Mon Mar 17 04:35PM
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Re 6 - I certainly wouldnt want my email address published on publicly viewable sites. SPAM SPAM loverly SPAM.
Re 8 - Thats harsh. Great friends you have. I suggest you return the favour by guessing secret questions etc just to level the playing field. There's an unwritten rule between my friends and I not to meddle in anyone elses team
From rwcollino on Mon Mar 17 04:48PM
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what the heck happened to the elk? he hasn't been doing much lately anyways so I decided to sell him for VP. Guess we will find out if that was a good decision by the end of the week!
From sockerman04 on Mon Mar 17 04:51PM
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that's RvP, please
From jspitzberg on Mon Mar 17 04:56PM
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Why would you choose Mak? He's a defensive midfielder so all you're going to get off him are yellow cards and fouls given away...that's like picking up Reo 'Coke'r except Mak never scores [either end] nor does he get a game.
The problem with Elk and by association Drogba is that they play for Chelsea.
All the Chelsea midfield want to do is shoot and score so if you're looking for goals from Chelsea I wouldn't look to their two front men.
This isn't the special one's Chelsea nor is it TSO's Drogba and Lamps well he just wants his contract signed.
But saying that I settled on a Chelsea heavy attacking midfield for this weeks two gamers
Joe Cole, Ballack And Fat Frank whose COMBINED output was 10 points shy of Cron's :/
But tell me... how much of a godsend is Hutton?
His team let in 2 goals and he still gives hands me a positive score [albeit a meager 4 points]
Although I still feel Wednesday is going to hurt reaaaal bad with Poor Robinson in goal.
From fansarigt on Mon Mar 17 05:47PM
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I chose mak for the same reason anyone chooses a sub 5 midfielder :P
Hope he plays, hope he doesn't get sent off, hope he scores a wondergoal. If i had a less hilarious amount of money left i'd buy someone who wasn't guff.
From hevydevy2002 on Mon Mar 17 06:08PM
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ha sorry Jeremy, still new at this...RvP is the man!
From sockerman04 on Mon Mar 17 06:35PM
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A sub 5 midfielder that will definitely play?
Robbie Savage: 1.98
All those looking to buy back Cron could do worse [although he did make a mighty half a point vs ManU this week] he'll play more then Moek [and Mak!] and get more points.
Hope that helps!
From fansarigt on Mon Mar 17 07:46PM
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oh Savage is also handy if you are trying to climb out of the Poor Robinson gutter.
From fansarigt on Mon Mar 17 07:49PM
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re (18) I have shane LONG at 1 something, always in starting lineup recently........
From atrofu on Tue Mar 18 12:34AM
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How about Agbonlahar? Will he be the better option than Carew?
From minghui_l on Tue Mar 18 01:29AM
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PRob(lem) didn't disappoint me think weekend letting in two and scoring a -2 with Chelsea still to go. Though he was so tempting to buy and a lot of Fantasy managers had him, I just have such a hard time with people who have let me down which is unfortunately why I passed on Owen this week. I opted for Cudicini this week and couldn't be happier with the outlook for his points total. Also, I have Joe Cole at 4.33 - stuck with him for awhile and he's been paying off. However, didn't get it alright this week - my Tevez, Rooney, MBent, and Nani picks are bringing me down.
From betonjuventus on Tue Mar 18 01:36AM
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this blog is only to ASSIST you guys to select your team, not for you guys to solely depend on it. really, you have no one else to blame but yourself if you didn't do well because you followed neal / jeremy's advices. so give them a break.
From kacakbergaya on Tue Mar 18 10:03AM
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(20) I hope Long will still be in the starting line-up this weekend. I guess Yahoo fixed the fixtures. Still hoping more to come from CRon. Another 30 pts maybe?
From zzzeclipse on Tue Mar 18 03:01PM
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This is @#$%. I chose Cudicini over Foster because I figured that he would get two games since Kuszscak (can anyone say Favre? Fav-rah) would be eligible by mid-week. Now Cech might be back and Foster will keep his spot. Damn!
From dyosh15 on Wed Mar 19 05:56AM
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(25) Yeah Cudicini had his second game and he got less pts than Foster with only one game. So much for 'Foster to keep his place'. DAMN!
From zzzeclipse on Thu Mar 20 01:44AM
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