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The Watchlist – Demba Ba

8 December 2011 719 comments
Paul Paul
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A strong set of upcoming fixtures for Newcastle sees Demba Ba elevated in our recently updated Watchlist rankings. With a single point in their last three matches, Alan Pardew’s side will be looking for a return to winning ways, having previously remained unbeaten in the first eleven gameweeks of the season.

The Senegal hitman struggled to make an initial impact at St James’ Park and, with just a single assist in the first five gameweeks, dropped from 6.5 to 6.1 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). This lack of form, as Pardew later admitted, was down to religious beliefs; Ba, a devout Muslim, fasted during Ramadan and looked anything but the barnstorming striker he has subsequently proved to be.

A hat-trick against Blackburn in gameweek six started a run of games that has seen Ba score or assist in all but two of his last nine appearances and demonstrated one of the most impressive levels of Fantasy consistency so far this season. A total of 9 goals leaves him fourth joint–top scorer alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney and a return of 12 bonus points has been bettered only by Robin Van Persie, Rafael Van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor.

With 3 assists also added to the mix, Ba currently sits on 80 FPL points – in terms of “value” for the season, he’s top of the rankings for any outfield player so far and his average of 6.2 points per game is the same as David Silva. Priced now at 7.0, Ba still looks an absolute steal.

Next up is a run of games (nor, SWA, WBA, bol) that looks hugely promising for Newcastle. While the back-four has been decimated with injuries over the last few days, Pardew may have no alternative but to attack more, if solidity at the back is less assured. Those four fixtures offer plenty optimism before things stiffen up in gameweek 19, with a trip to Liverpool followed by a home clash against Man United.

Ba is, of course, participating in this season’s African Cup of Nations and will be unavailable over some, if not all of January dependant on Senegal’s results, but will be looking to plunder the points before he heads off, starting at Carrow Road this Saturday.

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719 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. charliec1903
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    When does everyone play there WC ?

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    1. QPR expects... glory!
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      GW4 if you sh*t the bed the first 3 GW's 🙂

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    2. Epic Fail
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      GW37

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    3. Tim Canterbury
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      must play one between 2nd of jan & 4th feb

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    4. heartsattack
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      As soon as I can. I can't help it.

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    5. lespaul
      • 16 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      after the transfer deadline in september

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      1. No1Joker
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        Spot on.

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  2. xtina
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Hey RMT and which should I do for GWK 16?

    A) Larsson-> Mata
    B) Wilkinson-> Smaling
    C) Allen and Larsson -> Lennon and Yaya Toure
    D) Allen -> Lennon

    I have 3.6 in the bank.

    Current team:

    Krul/Vorm
    Richards, Verm, Enrique (Monk, Wilkinson)
    Silva, Bale, Walters, Larsson (Allen)
    Ba, Ade, VDV

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    1. Tim Canterbury
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      B sounds best

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  3. Podge
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Just noticed that bar the dodgy peno against United Ba has only 2 assists in the last 4 weeks !
    Tough fixtures for sure but I thought he had been doing really well lately.

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    1. Scroobius Mac
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Dodgy penalties are still points. Bonus of having penalty takers they can have a poor game (not saying Ba was poor vs Man U) and still get points.

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  4. Paul
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    okay the champions league injuries have thrown my plan wayward.....i had planned to bring in vidic after the match....glad i waited.....my team right now is

    vorm westwood
    wilko naylor delaet simpson enrique
    silva drenthe richardson vdv dyer
    ba rvp adebayor

    i've got no free transfers and 5.5 in bank....what transfer should i do????

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    1. charliec1903
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Richardson,Wilko and De laet. Richardson first though !

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      1. Paul
        • 15 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        dude to say honestly richardson is the one who has been consistently giving me point for the past 2 weeks which is when i brought him....and with bendtner injured i think his potential might have risen....apart from that i also was thinkin bout removing wilko and de laet my question was for whom???...do you think united defence worth investing right now????...or should i go for the verminator???

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    2. don parcheesi
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      richardson... cheeky.

      I'd say delaet to jones or Drenthe to Mata.

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      1. Paul
        • 15 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        hey Don who's better option at the moment???....jones or vermalaen???

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  5. Last Resort...
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Vorm/Krul
    ShawX,Enrique,Jones,Baines,Tier
    Silva,VDV,Drenthe,Walters,Allen
    RVP,Ade,Stur

    I have two free transfers and 0.3 in the bank… can anyone give me some options on what they think? I was considering doing ShawX to BAE (building up on Eve/Tot for the double) and saving a transfer or maybe VDV/ShawX to Bale/Walker. I was also thinking about doing ShawX to Caulker and save some cash and 1 transfer or swapping Allen out to strengthen the bench this week (due to his red)…. any thoughts on these? Or anything else that I should address?

    * #

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    1. Last Resort...
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      In other words...
      VDV/ShaX > Bale/Walker
      ShawX > BAE
      ShawX > Caulker
      Allen > (Insert a different bench warmer)

      Or something else..

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      1. Matakuko
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        2 or 3
        I have BAE and Caulker.

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    2. tst
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Eve tot is far away plus you will have a wild card to use before that game week if you really want to have 3 eve 3 tot for the double.

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  6. Tim Canterbury
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    team for this week:

    krul (schwarzer)

    kompany, enrique, BAE (wilkinson, brown)

    bale, silva, larsson, walters (allen)

    rvp, aguero, ba

    thinking of doing aguero > ade and brown > jones next week

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  7. 4vets
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Members, is the ticker stuck on gw13 for you? It's not a prblem now but may get very annoying as the weeks pass by.

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  8. Bsal
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    cerny(al habsi)
    vermalean pjones richards (rtaylor brown)
    bale silva walters walcott (pilkington)
    rvp ade ba

    /10?

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    1. Bsal
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      repost

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    2. Bsal
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      or should i play rtaylor ahead of richards?

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      1. Tim Canterbury
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        na richards will be good for an assist or a cleanie

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  9. SPorting
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    huh?

    what happened to the new post?

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    1. 4vets
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      They often disappear and then come back again.

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  10. Mull
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Will Welbeck start at the weekend?

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    1. 4vets
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Yes. 100% nailed on.

      Serious;y, who here really has any idea?

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  11. The Bandit
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Poor from Daglish, but not suprising that the Scottish manager of Liverpool should criticise the FA appealing the ban of the English Utd player... 🙄

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    1. No1Joker
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      In the context of Spearing serving a 3 games ban, Rooney should not be serving 2. Simples

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  12. 4vets
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    New post, btw.

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  13. isacki: full casual
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Just watched all the Lyon goals in the Lyon 7 - Dinamo Zagreb 1 game. I've got to be honest, I can't see any obvious examples of Dinamo letting Lyon score. They all look fairly plausible stuff you would see in any match, the only difference being that goal difference mattered. Got to watch it with an open mind and not begin with the assumption it was fixed.

    Goal 1: Cross deflected by defender such that it perfectly lobs keeper (not fakeable, lol) who can do nothing to stop Gomis from finishing on the line.
    Goal 2: Corner taken, no player left unmarked. Header flicked on near post and finds a Lyon player's run who finishes first-time.
    Goal 3: Dinamo CB puts other CB under pressure with loose pass, doesn't complete clearance and Lyon convert a simple 2-on-1 situation.
    Goal 4: Ball played across box behind decent defensive line to find Gomis who taps in. May have been offside.
    Goal 5: Through-ball finds Lopez whose run beats Dinamo's offside trap and finishes 1-on-1.
    Goal 6: Cut-back finds Gomis in space who's escaped his marker to blast home.
    Goal 7: Defensive line breached by clever dummy releasing Briand to convert 1-on-1.

    People make out it's an improbable result, but Dinamo Zagreb conceded 22 goals in 6 games and are a CL minnow. Lyon, on the other hand, have reached the knockout round many times and beaten Real Madrid in the 2nd round on multiple occasions. Plus, they did this against 10 men. But of course then someone will say the red card was deliberate...

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    1. Freshy
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 15 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      The Linesman in the Ajax RM game was either blind or paid off. Not even close to being offsides which would have rendered the 7 goals Lyon scored moot.

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      1. eclipse
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        On the subject of linesmen... in the United game, when the Man U went over the line, did the official right next to the goal actually not give the goal? He was maybe 5 yards away and I didn't see him attempt to help the ref! No matter how many there are, they're still useless!

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        1. Pasqualinho
          • 16 Years
          14 years, 4 months ago

          He may have done - they are miked up so he could have confirmed that it was a goal with the ref. He should have done, anyway...

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  14. JoeySamSam
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    So, who are the must have players for this gameweek??

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    1. isacki: full casual
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      They're the must sell players next gameweek! 😛

      Bandwagons this week, with massive health warnings:
      Ba
      Bale
      Jones
      Nani
      Yaya Toure (ish)
      Welbeck (ish)
      Hatem Ben Arfa (ish)

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      1. isacki: full casual
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        And Spurs defenders such as Walker and BAE. Spurs defenders? Against Stoke away?? Madness 😉

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      2. No1Joker
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        Ba - disagree
        Bale - agree
        Jones - agree
        Nani - agree
        Toure - disagree
        Welbeck - agree
        HBA - no idea!

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  15. Big_Andy_GAWA
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Need a 'keeper on the short term until do W/card in Jan (this is when you can do it, yes?) In terms of fixtures, United seems good, but tough to say who will be in nets for them! Plus Vidic out. Was thinking Reina. Is expensive, but will downgrade in Jan, anyway. Has pretty good fixtures, IMO.

    Thoughts...?

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    1. Gigging Order
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Howard?

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      1. Big_Andy_GAWA
        • 14 Years
        14 years, 4 months ago

        Yeah, he was original choice, but just don't like away to Arsenal first game. Reina won it for me on that basis. Almost did Howard, though...

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  16. MikeyMitz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 16 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    So much love for Ba and Yak this week, and I understand it- both can score loads of goals. But has no one noticed the form of Shane Long? Just brought him in for Bendtner- the kid can score...and vs Wigan at home, I think he's a great punt

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    1. tst
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      You could be right. Hmmmmmmm...

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  17. GazPage
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Wellbeck or Drogba? Currently no chelsea or utd players, Who u think is the better option, i have two city players aguero and yaya and currently 7th in my league

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    1. eclipse
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Mata or Nani seem to be better options for attacking coverage for those teams, I don't think either have a striker who deserves one of the three positions when you have RVP/Aguero as expensive options and far better cheaper options (BA/Yak/Ade/Sturridge maybe/Long/Bendy/Fletcher) who are heavily involved in their respective teams.
      Mata would be good after this GW, no matter who gets the points up top for Chelsea, he's normally involved.

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  18. GazPage
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Van der Vaart, who thinks he will start this weekend?

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    1. tst
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Not me but he will come on at some stage if he don't start. So only droping 1point a worse really.

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    2. eclipse
      • 14 Years
      14 years, 4 months ago

      Stoke (A), dodgy hamstring, Defoe in form- tough call for Redknapp, tougher call for people who still have him in their teams!

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  19. PSteady
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Can anyone help, Got asked a question the other day and strugling for the answer.

    Q - Which Senegal player, played for Leeds in the 1982 season ??

    It begins with E and is 5 letters long.

    Can anyone help.

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  20. Access
    • 14 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    Klasnic or Sinclair

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  21. TonyVilliers
    • 15 Years
    14 years, 4 months ago

    OK all, very simple question this week.

    I'm transferring out Bongy. Therefore, I will be looking to replace him with either Ba or Wellbeck.

    Which one should I pull in...?

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