Keegan’s Team Sheet In Tatters
Kevin Keegan has major problems with his team selection for the daunting trip to Old Trafford this weekend, as it was revealed that both Martins and Owen are likely to be ruled out of the clash.
Owen got involved in Newcastle’s midweek training session but only went through light training and was clearly struggling following a calf injury. Martins meanwhile, was absent from both training sessions this week and is also a major doubt. It is believed that his old knee injury has flared up again and he has flown overseas for treatment.
With Ameobi said to be in talks with Ipswich and Viduka and Carroll both sidelined, Alan Smith appears to be the only option up front. Even he has been involved in recent transfer speculation.
There are also doubts over the fitness of Habib Beye and Claudio Cacapa as they missed a midweek training session in which Keegan had just 12 outfield players.
Added to that, Newcastle could also be without new signing Jonas Gutierrez who is still waiting for his registration to go through following protests from his former club Real Mallorca. The Fabrizio Coloccini situation is also a mystery - with still no confirmation as to whether he has signed and will be available to Keegan. All in all then, it’s a bit of mess and not the scenario you need before a trip to United.
The moral of the story - United could well have a field day. Tevez may well miss a game this month due to the postponement of the Fulham game, but in the short-term, he looks a very strong bet. Judging by his performance in the Community Shield, he looks well and truly ready for the kick-off. The same can’t be said for Newcastle.
Got 2 United players for Newcastle, Scholes and Vidic, and then just Vidic for Pompey. But I might put Tevez in for Bent.
I think Newcastle will be terrible this season. Terrible manager, they have made terrible signings, and the current team is terrible. 14th or 15th this season, and can’t see any players being worthwhile fantasy football players, unless Duff does well.
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And I thought injuries were bad for L’Arse…
Well, you know what? I’d love it if they beat them now. I’d love it.
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who would you have as captain in the first week? adebayor or tevez?
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Reply by Alexi on August 14, 2008 1:32 pm:
Sounds like a coin flip to me…i might be in the same situation!
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hmmm, Torres out, Tevez in then, swap them over for game week 2 when the ‘pool are at home. I have the same puzzle as Dan. Ades or Tevez as capt? I’m on Ades at the mo as newcastle “should” be stiffer oposition than the baggies, however they are a newly promoted team so will really be fired up for it, against a weakened Arsenal, Man U Vs a weakened Newcastle….. I think i’ve answered my own question - Tevez it is!
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Carvalho & Ashton or L. Young & Tevez? And finally who would you rather have Carvalho or Clichy (i have Cech in goals)?
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Reply by Steve on August 14, 2008 2:15 pm:
carvalho over clichy, based on chelsea keeping more clean sheets although clichy will get more assists and maybe bonus points, sorry prob haven;t really helped you there.
Young And Tevez if you are talking week1. Prob carvalho and ashton if you are talking long term
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I’d go for L.Young & Tevez…i’m still eager too see how big Phil has Chelsea play, maybe more attacking football will mean less of the 1-0’s and clean sheets….but who knows…
Also Tevez looked good against Pompey, and i can’t see many in the team being able to out do him for Bonus points and they’ll be looking for him to get the goals so a good move there…
Villa have got a much better defence this season, plus there is talk of a possible 5-3-2 so both Shorey and L Young could benefit this…
One last point at least for gameweek 1 we are against a Man City with issues and erm how many fit strikers? Benjani, Vass are out, i think Mark said Bojinov was a doubt, Jo is at the Olympics…so its def not going to be their first choice strike force…
Having said that i could be wrong lol
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Reply by Juzzie on August 14, 2008 2:35 pm:
I’d say City’s threat comes not from their strikers, more of Petrov. Villa’s new-look defence might just need time to settle in and get their act together.
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how much is Tevez in FPL?
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Reply by Akers on August 14, 2008 1:57 pm:
10Million
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Reply by Dr. Rog on August 14, 2008 2:22 pm:
hmm must say it is tempting to start with ade and tevez now
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bentley and van persie or bullard and adebayor?????
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Have to say I fancy Van Persie over Ade this year assuming he stays fit. Cheaper and I can see him having a good yr. has more involvement in set plays than Ade too. Even if you take last season, if you do a minutes played comparison between Van and Ade (as in project Van’s score to Ade’s minutes played), RVP was only 14 points shorter. And remember RVP had serious injury problems last yr and a lot of his games were as sub.
if he plays he will do damage. and if he is fit, he plays. looked v good at euro and no injury fears in pre season.
i reckon RVP cud well outpoint Ade this yr. putting my neck out saying that i know but i reckon early doors he is a good shout!
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Not sure about that as United are in tatters too. I wouldn’t go for him unless Berbatov signs as Tevez never seems to play well up front on his own. United are also missing alot of attacking players as well.
They should keep a clean sheet though!
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Yeah agree about RVP, while strikers look to score the bigger points I am striggling to spend 11M on one as the midfielders hitoricly score bigger throughout the weeks as they are involved in the game more so 9.5M is better value.
Striker 4 points a goal
Midfielder 5 points a goal
Plus if you spend big on a striker that doesn’t get many assists and Adebayor doesn’t as he’s normaly goal hanging then you are banking on him to score more then one week in week out to make it worth it.
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What about Darren Bent, he’s had a good pre season and only 7.5 mill..
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Can he carry it into the Premiership? that’s the big question.
After game week 2 I’m going to change down to 2 out of Crouch, Defoe, Agbanlahor and Yakubu to free up funds to boost the midfield but can’t see past the Arsenal West Brom match at the mo as can see a goal fest (will probably be nil nil)
I think 8M on a striker is about right value, its not too often that players break the 20 goal mark and if they do then you will weaken your team as you’ll be paying for it to get them in.
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Can people who are in FPL mini-league check the forum and read the topic Teams Names -> Website Nicknames.
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cole, ballack or deco?
oy young!!!
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Q:”cole, ballack or deco?
oy young!!!”
A:Lampard
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Reply by Barry on August 14, 2008 4:02 pm:
ha ha!!
already have him mate.
got 9mil in bank after bringing in tevez so need a mid….
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modric, essien, adebayor and alves
or
duff, arteta, van persie and rooney?
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RED PILL
or
BLUE PILL
?
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im gonna go with the GREEN PILL
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Reply by Bedknobs and Boomsticks on August 14, 2008 7:12 pm:
OK, I’ve been trying to work this out for a while.
Which is better; Daddy or Chips.
I think Unhealthy Food could do really well this year but Daddy’s done really well for Relatives in the pre-season. Any advice is appreciated.
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The trio of Villa’s top points scorers YOung, Agbon and Barry are performing well and I might have to do more tinkering! sigh.
Also, I didn’t know Derby County got into the UEFA Cup.
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Reply by Akers on August 14, 2008 6:58 pm:
Oh wait, they aren’t Derby, they’ve scored.
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Villa cruising
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Had to ditch Ashley Young. With Barry staying he won’t monopolise set pieces, plus I’ve got the other Young from Villa, and you can’t have 2 Youngs from the same team in your squad. What are the chances they’ll both do well?
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Reply by phil on August 14, 2008 7:11 pm:
You’re ditching the wrong one!!
A Young is a must have because he’s very likely to improve on last season’s points haul now that he’s classified as a midfielder, regardless of Barry staying.
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Man City are losing to FC Midgetland in the UEFA Cup.
C’mon you munchkins!!
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Reply by yer dad on August 14, 2008 9:04 pm:
Not a bad team and a nice website.
http://www.kansasoz.com/infomunchkins.htm
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Reply by puffinboy on August 14, 2008 9:10 pm:
Maybe they should sign Aaron Lennon.
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Reply by Old Gregg on August 14, 2008 9:12 pm:
As a deformed creature of little vertical stature- I take offence to this.
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Reply by higgo on August 14, 2008 10:21 pm:
thats some squad they have, surely their wage bill must be through the roof
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Figueroa and Tevez vs. Sagna/Clichy and Bent?
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Reply by Giner Jesus on August 14, 2008 8:02 pm:
clichy bent I’d say
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My team is finally settled, and looking pretty similar to everyone elses. But I have one query: Howard and Bentley, or Cech and a 7.5 man (Downing, Giggs, Petrov, Modric, Nasri etc)?
I have Carvalho at the moment, so I suppose it depends how many eggs I want in Scolari’s defensive basket.
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So this is it: I think I’ve got sorted - any thoughts on this let me know please
3-4-3
Jaaskelainen
Clichy, Carvahlo, Evra
Lampard, Bentley, Arteta, A. Young
Ashton, Van Persie, Bent
Subs: Schwarzer, L Young, De Ridder, Figs
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howard and bentley , both got decent fixtures plus will be decent points scorers for their clubs.
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Bentley at 8mill or davies at 6. Both will end up with similar points. Despire that ONE pre=season game, bentley wont have a monoploy since other tootenham midfielders are decent. WHereas, davies is top boy for fulham.
??
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Reply by kev on August 14, 2008 8:27 pm:
it wasn’t just one prem league game , and whats to say davies will shine like he did last season ?
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Mark will there be a capt poll this week?
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after tinkering..
any thoughts on the following line-up?
Cech, Schwacher
Clichy, Shorey, Glen Johnson, Bale, Andy O’Brien
Lampard, Downing, A young, Bullard,Geovaani
Adebayor, D Bent, Luke Moore
m also scoutin the likes. of duff, zamora
thanks
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Looks good, just not sure about glen johnson. Portsmouth have some tough opening fixtures.
who do I go for:
Green & Carvalho
or
Cech & Upson??
although the second option is cheaper I think Green might pick up a number of bonus points from saves and Carvarho might even chip in with some goals??
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Reply by Corey on August 14, 2008 10:01 pm:
Green and Carvalho would score more points, I reckon. Especially if bonus points are a factor.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:40 pm:
i’d say green/carv. keepers who save earn you points, ones that just stand there, and then occasionlly drop a cross in an important game don’t so much. plus you can easily swap carvalho for other solid defenders depending on the fixtures/injuries, etc.
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Luke young didn’t start for villa today, injury? or is he just not good enough for a starting place?….any ideas of a cheap defender in the same price bracket to swap for him?
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Reply by BobFish on August 14, 2008 9:29 pm:
Luke Young didn’t start as he was signed after the squad announcement window along with Shorey and Cuellar and they could only add one of them to the squad. Seeing as they don’t have a left back and Gardener could cover right they chose Shorey.
He should be a safe start for sunday, especially with how terrible City looked tonight.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:20 pm:
he’s on the bench for me anyway. I was planning on using him in wk2 though (as no mid-price decent defensive team has a nice home game, much to my annoyance). As BobFish says, he should play. Gardner is not a natural RB and you don’t pay 2.5m and not play them, unless you’re chelsea that is.
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not going for tevez. can’t see the point of getting a player in for just the first match. tevez isn’t a goal machine anyway.
just looked at my starting line-up. It has 10 players with home games (Bentley is the only one away from home). Looks like week 2 could be a bit of a low scoring week….
Ok, one last question before finalising my team.
Van Persie & Arteta OR Adebayor & M.Taylor ????
i know, it’s a tricky one, isn’t it?
Just decided that Alves was a better option than Ashton. Worked out that Alves could rack-up the points if he’s continues his goal hungry ways. Last season he scored 54 points in 9.5 games! at that rate he’d have 200 points in a season! He could well take the number of goals that Yakubu got in his best days at the Riverside. Alves’ career goal record is easily better than one in two. Ashton’s a one in 3.5 man. A no brainer as the fixtures of WHM and Boro over the first 11 are similar.
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Reply by puffinboy on August 14, 2008 9:57 pm:
Hmmm, not sure it’s a no-brainer, Stevie G. Er, B.
50/50 for me, it’ll probably come down to hairstyles, like it always does.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:45 pm:
well, Van Persie & Arteta spreads the risk a bit better, otherwise i’ll have 3 bolton players…but i really think Adebayor is so much more likely to keep the points rolling in on a regular basis…i can always filter out 1 or 2 bolton players in a few weeks time - they do have 2 of their 3 easiest fixtures of the season in the 1st 3 gameweeks, afterall. It would seem a shame to miss ‘em.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:49 pm:
Right, i’m tired and i’m done.
Turnbull, Schwarzer
Gallas, Jagielka, Cahill, Young, Figueroa
Lampard, Bentley, Young, Taylor, Pedersen
Adebayor, Elmander, Alves
+0.5 in the bank.
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Has anyone playing the FPL noticed any missclassified players yet?
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Reply by puffinboy on August 14, 2008 10:11 pm:
I think they’ve misclassed the Liverpool squad as footballers.
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Reply by Davey on August 15, 2008 12:21 am:
LOL. Too good.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:30 pm:
no, not really, certainly nothing to get too excited about. loads of the usual ‘is he a winger or a forward’? Most wingers are in the forwards section, although bizarely, Ashley Young has done the okey-cokey and is now a midfielder again this season. that’ll be nice…
one or two players may be playing in fringe positions like giovanni at hull and bale at spurs (if he plays), or they’re simply filling in elsewhere, like jagielka at everton. No scoring defenders i’m afraid, unless you fancy shawcross at stoke. No? didn’t think so.
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Hi Guys,
Finally finished my team for the Sun Website. Please let me know what you think and any enhancements.
Cech(5.5)
Arbeloa(3.5), Agger(3.5), Cuellar(2.0), G Neville(2.5)
Lampard(8.0), Bentley(6.0), Dos Santos(3.5)
Van Persie(5.5), Bent(2.5), Adebayor(7.5)
Very worried about Neville and whether he has one season left in him and whether Cuellar will slot straight in for Villa.
Look forward to any words of wisdom.
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X-ray
Davies is not top bay at Fulham and he has as much new competition as Bentley, perhaps even more. Also Bentley has moved to a team that scores lots of goals.
Bullard is back for a full season, as well as Murphy and now Gera. They have all shared the load during pre-season. I can’t see Davies matching Bentley’s output at all.
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Reply by stevie b on August 14, 2008 10:22 pm:
i concur. very very unlikely.
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having a minor concern about Bentley. With Lennon on the bench, won’t Bentley be liable to being subbed a lot? maybe 60-75 mins in, if things don’t appear to be happening? On the one hand, he cost spurs a sh*t load of money, but on the other hand, spurs will have this uber quick winger on the bench, who could unlock tired defences….geeez, this is complicated. Maybe Arteta would be the safer bet? He plays all the time, takes everything, and has the added sweetener of taking penalties, and he’s a tad cheaper…hmmmm……
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Reply by Rex Everything on August 15, 2008 12:19 am:
I’ve gone for Arteta, mate.
I saw you’d gone for Bentley and I was going to post but I figure you know your own mind best. Everton have a great set of fixtures. Later in the season once Bentley has settled, he’ll either be a must-have or another victim of rotation. I just want to see how he does for at least a couple of games before I risk it.
Arteta is due. I just get a feeling!
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Reply by stevie b on August 15, 2008 1:28 pm:
Hmmm, yeah. I think he’ll do better this season, for sure. Just not sure there’s any excitement in the Everton camp. Moyes’ side are workmanlike, with not a whole heap of flair. Just not sure they can keep such a high level as last season. I think an average season for Bentley will be 140-150, and a good season for arteta will be 160, BUT if Bentley has a good season, you’re talking 160 as an absolute minimum.
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But everton have blackburn,who havn’t been that impressive Pre Season. Is it worth starting with Arteta for the first game then keeping 0.5 in the bank for bentley against Sunderland at home.
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Frankly if you pick Arteta you are better leaving him in for the first few weeks. The fixtures are in Everton’s favour until Gameweek 6.
That is if he does the business early on.
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with all this chat about arteta - whats the thoughts on: Arteta or Taylor+cash?
both teams look crap, both teams have easy fixtures (albeit evertons easy ones are away), both take pens
taylor plays in a more advanced role and carries a bigger scoring threat which is tempting me more right now… and he is a less popular pick on FPL
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BREAKING NEWS: Mendes to Rangers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/h.....563028.stm
thats a decent budget option out of the eqaution
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Surely Andy van der Mayde definitely out injured for Everton = Baines definitely starting at left back for Everton? Jagielka holding midfield with Neville at right back?? Can anyone confirm my assumptions?!
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Reply by stevie b on August 15, 2008 7:45 pm:
He will play left back for a number of games because of their limited squad. Valente also plays left back, so i wouldn’t assume that Baines will play regardless of what he does when he’s out there doing his stuff. Moyes isn’t shy from taking players off after an hour if they’re looking carp.
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I feel for all those Geordie fans with their high expectations ,
it seems they`ve got no-one up front to bang in the goals .
I think all the North East teams will struggle this season .
cyki 945-234
FPL 114-81
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