With Small Rocks and Very Small Rocks drafts almost winding down, I was wondering how you all felt you did and which players you feel you missed out on? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Picking 8th, I'm reasonably happy with the middle-of-the-road team I managed to assemble. Not one to go for the big-money names, I almost always get the players I pencil in for myself; as I tend to gamble on them a round or two earlier than most people..... then rush to use the wildcard in Gameweek 2, when my fantasy didn't become the surprise real deal I was hoping for. But that's the fun part; drafting a fantasy. [LINEUP-3-5-2]Berbatov, Chamakh, Albrighton, Benayoun, Lennon, Nani, Nasri, Dawson, Evra, Vermaelen, Jaaskelainen[/LINEUP-3-5-2] Players that were under some consideration. 3.3 subbuteo - Windsor Wanderers - Defoe, Spurs, Forward, 9.0 Having lost out on this one (intended as my 2nd striker), I changed tack and went for defenders first, then came back for a slightly cheaper forward much later - Chamakh of Arsenal at 8 million with the 7.8 pick. 4.5 lobomojo - ColdDogSoup FC - Bale, Spurs, Midfield, 6.5 I would have prefered Bale as Defender, but the 6.5 midfield price did catch my eye in the initial build. As did 5.1 tarvinodos - Sasha Juniors - Petrov, Bolton, Midfield, 6.0 except for the dodgy knees (I told myself afterwards). I didn't realistically expect them to still be around until after I bagged my three starting defenders though. On the goalkeeping front, I had already decided to go with a cheap strategy here and felt I could wait. But obviously felt wrong. 5.3 subbuteo - Windsor Wanderers - Schwarzer, Fulham, Goalkeeper, 5.0 I was hoping to grab Schwarzer (as 2nd choice) but subbuteo chose him as the main man (early); maybe based on the Arsenal rumours, or kopiteinkc's early plump for Stoke's Sorenson (5.0) with pick 4.4 followed by tarvinodos diving in for Reina (6.5) with his 4.8 pick. Either way. Too early for dodgy keepers, so I waited it out. When it got back to my midfield slots, I splashed the cash a little in what might just turn out to be some cap-holding space, or a stroke of genius (Pick 6.1 - Nani, Man Utd, Midfield, 8.0). I felt pretty confident I could make that up on my cheap midfielder sleeper a little later; one that shows plenty of promise and might even get to start (Pick 10.1 - Albrighton, Aston Villa, Midfield, 4.5). 10.7 djangone - Pork Soda - Al-Muhammadi, Sunderland, Defender, 4.5 I was a little surprised to see him go and thought I might get to snag this one before the big spenders started running out of cash. I should have seen it coming though, when djangone's 9.2 pick was Ferguson, Birmingham, Midfield, 4.5. Oh well, I had my two cheapos too - Jaaskelainen and Albrighton. Would I have lost them had I gone for Al-Muhammadi? Is Al-Muhammadi a better snag than Albrighton? I really wanted them both. With Schwarzer gone long ago, it was getting close to me getting my back-up keeper with the 12.1 pick. 11.6 Eddie26 - Pittsadelphia - Foster, Birmingham, Goalkeeper, 4.5 I couldn't believe it! Eddie26 already had Cech and bettermirror (to pick 11.7) was holding Van Der Sar; surely neither of them would do a Hal and grab a second keeper before they'd even secured a starting eleven? Boy did I get that wrong.
I don't know about missed out on but a few mistakes I made. 1) Take Boswinga as high as I did. He would have lasted awhile I think but when a lot of the top defenders went I frantically picked him. 2) Carew, probably could have waited as well on him but got worried once I looked at the list of forwards. 3) I currently have three players who are injured or coming off injuries; Cech, Bosingwa and Jagielka. Not a good way to start. Finally, not necessarily a mistake but I really wanted Barton all along. Low risk/High reward pick. 4.5 for a midfield who is capable, with his head straight, of having a 120 point season.
We're only in the 2nd Round in Sand, but after taking Lampard with the first pick I was praying van Persie and/or Ashley Young would still be available at the bottom of the 2nd round. Class Acts comes along and takes both with picks 8 and 9
I missed out on a wackload of players! Glancing google docs.... Round 1- Knew I wasn't going to miss out on anyone particularly star-like with the #7 selection, so drafting Ashley Cole wasn't a big deal. Drafting 7th means I need solidity each and every week, which means 3 quality defenders. Nonetheless I passed on Torres and Drogba! Round 2/3 - Can't say I lost out on anyone the 2nd round have the 2nd pick, but waiting all the way until the end of round 3, I was really disappointed to see Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia selected, which relegated me to my third choice "star" MF in Tim Cahill. Round 4/5 - Bale was the only player I really missed out on here, but got my preferred Striker in Agbonlahor. Was counting on Bales corner kick points though etc. Round 6/7 - When Gomes was drafted I had to replan my GK set-up, and my draft order. Then I will always wonder if I had picked Chamakh at 7 would I still have had N'Zogbia available early round 8? I think Chamakh will be a star at Arsenal, so we'll see! Round 8/9 - Swimmingly! As planned based on previous missed players and draft adjustments. Round 10/11 - Ben Foster was snatched immediately before my 10th pick, but I settled for Tim Howard in round 11 and think I will do just fine with him as my #2! Round 12/13 - Kicking myself for not having selected Heitinga and Kolarov earlier! But probably would have missed out on other "key" players anyway... Round 14/16 - Thrilled to grab Robbie Keane! Wonder if Villa will buy him thanks to the Milner cash....but what then of my selecting Milner so early while he rotates through the City MF!? Didn't miss out on anyone here either. All in all, although I lost 3 of my first choice MF, the draft went just about as expected, short of not getting Foster or Chamakh. Feel I have 15 players all capable of starting and performing. Very interested to see how Henderson does for Sunderland....will he be another Agbonlahor and just get better and better??...
I was really sweating the long break between my first pick at #2 and my next two picks 15 selections later. I wanted a front line this season, never had one, always over-weighted defense, and the season I won VSR it was because I lucked into the midfield of dreams, not because of my strikers. But what happened? I was overjoyed each and every round to pick from guys I thought would be taken. Some strange names went early. I didn't rate Malouda as first- or second-round, nor Ashley Cole, Barbatov or Nasri. So I was overjoyed to get Adebayor and Arteta where I did, expecting to choose from among Defoe, Milner, Valencia or Anelka. But the guy I wanted and wanted badly was Arshavin. He went right before me, frustrating! So we all feel we missed out on Bale, me too. Having him classed in MF pushed him back a round on my list, and he does tend to get injured a lot. For the second year in a row I missed out on Modric, gonna cry about that one all year. But this was a relentlessly strange draft. For the first time in five years I can't think of that many guys I wanted but didn't get. Whoever I wanted was there to choose, from Dunne to Gomes to Rodallega. The guy I didn't want was Kuyt. But there he was, and I realized that nobody left on the board had his upside. I'd rather forgo having cash left in order to steal a seventh-round pick of a regular 150-point guy who scored 190 two years ago. In the vicinity of his pick at 7.2 were guys with fewer points or far higher injury / rotation / fluke risk (I'm lookin' at you, N'Zogbia!), and a lot of GKs who don't count. This starts out as my best drafted team ever, but there are so many ways to go from here, and Adebayor is far too shaky for my liking.
Well Dj you got to lifetime contract CDS defender Dunne though Villa has more questions now. Arteta stung deeply as well but I could not pass on Drogs in the 2nd round, despite some concern over his injury, especially as last year choosing the then shortly again re-injured Artreta ahead of Drogs last years seduced by how late Drogs went elsewhere cost me oh so dearly, so could not make the same boo-boo twice hope this is not the vicey-versy yingy-yangy reverse this year, And Rodallega might be the steal of the draft and caused me a re-statergizer of my draft Love my mf but had real designs on Malouda and Valencia both who I see having monster years. Jagielka was an inked in player though I hoped he would drop more because of the calf Milner and RVP or Arshavin would have been nice but Mr. Wu's pigs and Eddie's -poo-head caused the most sheet tearing this year, plus my own self-caused early budget woes
Of the team I ended up with I originally had Lampard, Modric, Essien, Dawson, Jagielka, Bent and Foster penciled into my squad. One player I did not expect to go so early was Paul Robinson (5.8, 40th overall). I spent the extra .5 and got the (IMO) superior Schwarzer so that ended up well enough for me. I think I already posted van Persie in this thread, but he was nabbed early in the 2nd round before I could partner him with Bent. I missed out on Sagna, but ended up with carbon-copy Clichy (hope he stays fit for once and doesn't allow Gibbs to steal minutes). Hitzlsperger was my 5th midfielder but he slipped away so I've ended up taking a flyer on Victor Moses. All in all, I really didn't miss out on much of who I really wanted. Whether my draft strategy ever pays off is a completely different story
I feel the same. Maybe, one year..... my surprise draft picks will actually turn around and surprise me.