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Posts Tagged ‘Yaya’

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Champions League Recap | EPL Fantasy Impact

In Sorted, Strategy on November 7, 2012 at 2:46 am

EPL Fantasy saw a number of fine performances from Barclays Premier League players in their midweek Champions League encounters. Both Arsenal and Manchester City finished the day with 2-2 draws, one leaving the Gunners in second place and the other all but closing the book on the Citizens European aspirations. We’ve already published one post this week, yesterday’s Up The Tweets!, and will endeavor to have more new content tomorrow.

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Manchester City 2-2 Ajax
Yaya Toure 22′
Sergio Aguero 74′

Manchester City starting XI: Hart; Nastasic Zabaleta Kompany Clichy; Nasri Garcia Barry Yaya; Tevez Aguero
Substitutes: Balotelli (Garcia 45′); Dzeko (Tevez 66′); Kolarov (Barry 85′)

While the result does nothing for Roberto Mancini’s side but stave off the inevitable, the goals for Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero are a welcome site for a side with two goals in their previous three fixtures. In Barclays Premier League action, City was held scoreless against West Ham last time out and managed only one goal in their 1-0 home win over Swansea the weekend before. Read the rest of this entry »

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Africa Cup of Nations

In Strategy on December 16, 2011 at 7:57 pm

We’ll expand upon the impact that this tournament has in later posts but it is important to remember that this is fast approaching.  This kicks-off on 21 January with the final group stage match being played 2 February. The tournament ends with the Final being played on 12 February. Prior to that same span of time there will be training camps (Guinea has theirs in Abidjan from 9-16 January:

According to the Guinean Football Federation (FEGUIFOOT), Coach Michel Dussuyer and his charges will be in the Ivorian capital from 9-16 January, 2012. During their stay there, they are likely to pitch their strength against some local division Ivorian sides in search of their rhythm.
 
The team is expected to return to Conakry where they will face Sudan in a friendly match on January 18. The match is to inaugurate a new stadium ‘Stade de Guinée’ constructed by the Guinean Government.

You should plan on your African players participating in the Cup to be absent starting gameweek 20 – the Tottenham v. Everton rescheduled match is the 11th fixture of gw 20, scheduled for 11 January.  Game weeks 21-24 (ending 6-Feb) will likely be missing all Group Stage participants.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Champions League Days 7-8

In Squad Sheet on November 3, 2011 at 5:05 pm

We’ve been off for a bit so apologies for the lack of new content.  We’ll have a couple posts up, plenty of Tweets and our usual Two Part on Friday with Last Minute Tinkers.

The selection news from the Tuesday and Wednesday matches all point to good things from a Fantasy Premier League perspective.  The decision of Arsene Wenger to rest Robin van Persie is a good one for managers looking to see him in the starting XI this weekend against West Bromwich.  Van Persie’s recent form has been nothing short of magical and his hat-trick against Chelsea ensured that he claimed top spot in the FPL with 73 points on the season.  We’ve been advocating RvP ownership from the start and continue to point out that his upcoming schedule is a great one with the West Brom match followed by Norwich, Fulham and Wigan.

While we understand Arsene Wenger’s feelings that the rotation backfired, the 0-0 draw still kept Arsenal on top of their group and we can hope that results fall in such a way that RvP also gets to rest in the final group stage match.  There were no other surprises in this match as Ramsey, Gervinho, Walcott, Song and Arteta all started.

Chelsea also earned a draw, 1-1 at the Cristal Arena, as Anelka and Malouda joined Fernando Torres in the attack.  Ramires was the only starter in the midfield to get the nod here, and returned a goal for AVB’s side. Read the rest of this entry »

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3 Changes @bainesontoast

In Strategy on August 31, 2011 at 12:06 am

From @bainesontoast we get the team on the right.  As it’s currently comprised, this team has suffered from a couple of poor defensive outings, with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City all conceding goals in their emphatic home wins on the weekend.  The gaff’s by Jamie Carragher and Hilario allowed soft goals (though still well taken in each case) by Klasnic and Grant Holt.  Those teams will be fine, and we’ll look at the upcoming fixtures later.

Manchester City, specifically Micah Richards, is another issue.  This is a team that looked excellent in game week 1 against Swansea only for that clean sheet to be tarnished by a lax defensive effort against Bolton and Swansea total inability to find the net.  Richards own participation the attack game week 1 may not have drawn the plaudits as Dzeko, Silva and Aguero have stolen the headlines, but he’s earned an assist in each of the first two weeks and often is ahead of the holding midfielders, playing in the ball from the wing.  Fantasy Gaffer considers him one of the best potential bargains in EPL, despite his high price, because of his role in the Manchester City attack couple with a defense that led the EPL with 18 clean sheets a season ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Aguero Opens His Account

In Player Projection, Squad Sheet on August 16, 2011 at 2:04 pm

"This way?" "That way!!" "Don't go..."

Sergio Aguero came into a one-sided affair between Manchester City and Swansea and sparked a route that left the Blues top of the table, and Swansea shaking their heads at how fast the Premier League moves.  With a full 45′ under their belt the Swans may have been counting themselves a bit fortunate to have escaped with a 0-0 scoreline.  Full marks for their effort and a little bit of luck will be necessary for them to stay up.  But the second half of the match illustrated exactly how vast the gulf in talent is between the newly promoted and the mega-rich.  Perhaps the most telling was Roberto Mancini’s ability to reach onto his bench and draft into action Aguero, Stefan Savic and James Milner.  The changes all came after Dzeko had already put their side up 1-0 and sent the match from narrow, if unfortunately so, lead to well in hand in a matter of moments.

With the Fantasy Premier League granting a transfer amnesty to amend their technical issues leading into the opening weekend many fantasy managers will be moving Kun and Liverpool’s Suarez into their regular lineups.  However, in the wake of all the adulation for the two strikers, it would be foolish to ignore other options in their respective sides.  We’ve covered the Liverpool side in our post from yesterday but the Manchester City match hadn’t yet wrapped.  We have covered Aguero once previously this season and remain confident that he will score more than 15 goals. That prediction is certainly easier to make today with two in the bank, but he remains a potent threat.  The more interesting part of his game was his link up play with David Silva and Yaya Toure.  Roberto Mancini started the match with just Dzeko as an out and out striker, playing Silve, Toure and Adam Johnson together with Nigel De Jong and Gareth Barry in the midfield. Read the rest of this entry »