Week 1 Redux

And so Week 1 has come and gone, except for the Chelsea-Reading game later. I’m lying in 3rd place with 105 points and 8 players (potentially!) coming on tonight.  

It was only the first game of the season, but WBA’s 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool gave me a familiar sinking feeling. But I guess it is better that the alarm bells start ringing now, so that the wrongs can be made right. Rodgers has warned the fans to expect more defeats while rebuilding. Let’s put the trust in him for now. I was expecting Gerrard to shine this season, but his lackluster performance in this game is giving me second thoughts. I’d stay away from any of their players for the next 4 games at home to Citeh, Arsenal, Man U and away to Sunderland.

Big surprises for Fulham and Swansea. Both teams won 5-0! If you had not barndoor-ed Michu (stil affordable 9.68), do it now! Siggy’s gone, but looks like Laudrup got another gem in Michu. Petric’s value skyrocketed after Fulham’s game. But with the Man U game coming up, it won’t be wise to pick any Fulham players. Man U will rip them apart at home after the loss to Everton. Will be keeping an eye on Petric for Week 3 and 4, if his value goes down.

Chelsea did an ok job against Wigan. Cech and Ivanovic will be my season keepers. Will be watching Hazard closely in tonight’s game. His price (7.74) hasn’t gone up too much. Ramires should be back too, after suffering from an illness and missing out in the first game.

Kun will be out for at least a month with the knee injury. I’m guessing Tevez to start in Citeh’s games till end September with either Dzeko or Why-Always-Me beside him. From the Arsenal-Sunderland highlights, Carzola was the midfield spark (reasonable return of 8.50 points for 5.66 market price) and will be a potential season keeper for me.

That about wraps it up for Week 1. Hat-tricks for Hazard and Torres (haha!) tonight! And a clean sheet for Cech and his defenders.

Week 1: Investing on New Imports!

Greetings!
Looks like we will be getting an overdose of Chelsea players since it's a double game week for them and Reading.  No difference from the other 2 fantasy-ers, I have loaded my probable team with Chelsea players as well.

Its always exciting to kick off a new season mainly because investing in new imports could bring great returns! So I picked 6 new imports in hope of striking gold!

Of course with additional funds from picking cheap new imports, I can afford to bring in high-scoring players like Terry and Gerrard!

Looking forward to the new season! Good luck fellow fantasy-ers!

WEEK 1: PLAYER PICKS

Hooray hooray ... after some tough work by MelG, he finally manage to invite me in as Author / Admin, so here I am. Well, just wanna start things of by congratulating Man U as WE finally gotten RVP and we have managed to assemble a lethal strikeforce, reckoned to be the best in Europe and some say it's as good as the old Fantastic Four!! Naise, okay ... I am a Man U fan so you will see many of these here and there ... if you hate me, I'm sorry but it's time to support the WINNER, not LOSERS!

The wait is finally over and we are just 24hrs away from the season opener. Note that Chelsea and Reading have a double game week so whack your fortunes on the players from these 2 teams to return the points. Here, I will be giving you the options that actually gone through my thinking hat .. just for reference :)

GK:
Cech
Federici

I was originally comtemplating of opting for Federici as 1, he has a double game and 2 he has the best stopping-goal conceded ratio out of the 3 teams that were promoted. Well ... not until I saw many others start choosing Cech that convinced me that he is the better choice ... a proven guardian between the posts and at his peak, he is stopping everything that comes towards him.

DEF:
Ivanovic
Cole
Harte
Terry

Ivanonic, Cole and Terry are guaranteed starters for Chelsea for both games and that will be two games in the bag for each of these players. But wait, there is the ever great Ian Harte that scores free kicks and penalties at will ... At the age of 36, there might be a concern of whether he will starting both games but I will just take the gamble. Life is a gamble anyway.

MID:
Ramires
McAnuff
Kagawa
Cazorla
Nolan
Marin

Ramires and Marin were the only confident picks I had a week ago until I learnt that Marin could be an injury doubt. That prompted me to look elsewhere for good midfielders to fill this week as the other Chelsea mids do not really appeal to me ... Mikel do not pick up any points imo and Lampard could be rested for a game after England's midweek friendly.

Kagawa and Cazorla are two exciting players brought into EPL this season and I certainly hope that both will carry on where they left off in their previous clubs and turn in a dream performance on their debuts.

I am not that familiar with the players from the promoted clubs but I have heard good things about McAnuff and Nolan. Your choice, your bet ... 

FWD:
Aguero
Hazard
Torres
Tevez

Man City has an easy game against Southampton and I am certain that Aguero/Tevez will score at least a goal or two (maybe even a hat-trick). At this moment, I am still wondering why SAF did not challenge Chelsea for Hazard's signature as he is the hottest prospect in recent years but well, life goes on and I will continue to support him in fantasy soccer. Torres is a certain pick in the forwards department as he is the only out and out striker for the Blues and yes, he has a double game too ... I am keeping my fingers though as I am not certain if he can rediscover his old form (during early Kop days).

My team so far:

Week 1 - Possible vs Probable

Possible team for week 1.
Reading and Chelsea play 2 games this week.

Cech is a no-brainer. 
Probably will swap Podolski for Tevez or Aguero.
Ditto Fabio and Kagawa, for 2 gamer Harte and Noble/Gerrard/Park/Silva.
Hazard may possibly make way for Mata, depending on team news.

<Updates>
After reading up on some team news and bearing in mind that this is the crucial first week, I have made the following, and hopefully, final changes.

Harte for Fabio - Fabio can wait. No way can I miss out on 2 gamer Harte along with the potential set pieces and penalty points. Fabio will be good barn door material for the coming weeks.

Tevez for Podolski - Not too sure about Podolski. Unproven in EPL and all that. Tevez is a seasoned EPL forward, looked really fit in pre-season, will be playing at home against EPL newcomer and most importantly, release the moolah to capture my next player...

Gerrard (he's getting a new car!) for Kagawa - With Lucas back together with Allen to protect the back four, Gerrard will once again be free! Free to do what he does best! Torment the opponent and score goals, lots of it! See season 08/09, when they had Alonso and Monsterano. He had 24 goals, 54 SOTs and 11 assists in all competitions. I'm hoping he rediscover that kind of form this season.

Still unsure about "dead" Torres...

Some random barn door targets for Week 2 - Lallana, Michu, Garrido, Park, Bosingwa (QPR! News just in!)...

Good luck for the season opener!