When you spend as much time researching, thinking, obsessing over this game as I do, when you get it right, it is so truly satisfying. A 74 point week gave me clear breathing room in my minileague and took me to 3300+ in the world. I used my Jan window WC in GW21(more later) and brought in Sessengon and Valencia and used my free this week to bring in Dempsey for Nani. The Portugese tormented Johan Djourou to no FF effect; Dempsey, of course, went all hat-trick on Newcastle. That threesome were able to cover a backline that garnered me zero, zip, nada, this week - Clichy, Williamson, Enrique - my only defensive points coming from Sunderland's Mignolet. A few thoughts on the GW . . .
1. Norwich keep Chelsea off the board. I haven't been a believer in Norwich; I've felt they would fall to earth sooner or later. Not so sure after a steely display and well-deserved point v. Chelsea (and learned Zak Whitbread is American by birth; Klinnsman you clueless f***, give this guy a call!!!). Unfortunately, the Norwich midfield is a Lambert roulette wheel in terms of selection. I really, really like Andrew Surman in this team at 4.4; his attacking statistics are good and in the games I have seen he looks a proper EPL winger, but Lambert has had him in and out recently. Morison is still the guy to look at in this team if your forward model is 2 elites/1 budget, but I've also been impressed with Grant Holt too.
As for Chelsea, pffft. They look positively ponderous in attack. I have Sturridge, who still seems the best way in to a team 4th in the league in goals scored, but my patience is running out, especially with so many budget options producing goals, 2 on offer in this one. Meanwhile I was blown away that nearly 70,000 managers brought in Gary Cahill on his switch to Chelsea. No reassurance of a starting role and Chelsea kept a CS w/o him. Strange waste of a transfer for a guy who definitely should be on your Watchlist, not on your bench, just yet.
2. Everton 1 v. Backburn 1. The only thing interesting to me about this game was how dangerous David Dunn looked. At 6.2 and with a looooooooooooong injury history, he's a gamble. But when fit,well, he scored 9 league goals in 1700+ min 2 years ago and had 113 FF points. And could easily have had a hat-trick Saturday. If you are rotating a couple of budget guys in midfield, Dunn's not the worst punt as one of the 2.
3. Fulham have a crazy second half. I'm not going to say much here; I bigged up Dempsey in November and talked him up last week; I have reservations about being invested in Fulham's attack on the road but I put those aside and took my own advise and invested in the American. I bigged up Zamora and Ruiz last week; Senderos and Kelly are worth thinking about in this team. Danny Murphy is on pens and free kicks, and has terrific numbers in terms of possession and passing and is 2.5 cheaper than Dempsey or will be as the Dempsey bandwagon leaves the station.
4. Neither Chelsea, nor Liverpool, nor Arsenal seem worthy of grabbing the 4th CL spot. I've spoken about a Chelsea performance best described as, well, plodding; but Liverpool were carved open and then outworked by Bolton (go on you Wanderers !!!) and created next to nothing over the 90 minutes. I'm keeping Enrique but it's hard to look at Liverpool's attacking players and think 'I need him in'. It's a team that desperately needs Suarez back; if not to score, at least to create.
And Arsenal look an RvP injury away from 15th. I thought Ramsey might offer some FF value but he can't hit the ocean from the fucking pier; Walcott seemed to have been under the impression that Arsenal were in blue yesterday, and Andrey 'dead man walking' Arshavin came on for Oxley-Chamberlain in perhaps the most inexplicable substitution I've seen. Ever. The outside back situation is not of Wenger's creating (6 injuries) but it's hard to invest in a defense which gets beat like a drum down the left and right for 90 straight minutes. Wenger's also got a bit of a dilemna ahead; Villa in the FA Cup on the weekend and then 2 league matches in the 7 days that follow. Since Wenger appears to have no one not named van Persie or not in Africa who can, you know, score a goal, will he preserve RvP for league or throw him in v. Villa in an effort to grab some hardware ? If he plays in the FA Cup, RvP won't be my captain in GW23 v. Bolton because I don't think he'll play.
5. Phil Jones injury. It looked bad, but he is listed as out for 2-3 weeks. Whether that's an honest assessment who knows. Man Utd's schedule may scare some, but I expect a Jonny Evans bandwagon. If Evans (4.5) wasn't nailed on before, he is now. You can get access to 3 starters (most games) in the 3 meanest defenses in the EPL for $15M (Evans, Agger, Clichy). I'm just sayin'.
I wildcarded in GW21 and I'll try to do a post on those I brought in and those I considered as many (much more patient) managers have waited, and maybe my thought process might help you to think through your own WC.
Great post as usual. I really like reading your ponderings.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the Dempsey bigging ups; it helped convince me to transfer him in for Nani in my wildcard last week.
I had a similar week to you, if less satisfying. No goals from my defence, with Dempsey, Sessegnon, Silva, and RvP producing my points.
I share your thoughts on Cahill and feel it's too early to bring him in. Similarly, I can't see it being valuable bringing Evans in with United's fixtures. I don't think they'll keep many clean sheets.
I finally gave in and got RvP in (the stubborn mule I am) and have a forward line of RvP, Fletcher, and Rooney.
Do you think it's worth keeping Rooney and Walters? I could swap Rooney for Welbeck and go Valencia for Walters or simply get Aguero in.
I'm with FPL Chris on Walters. I just don't see him recreating his first half points haul. Besides the statistics, you watch Stoke and Walters is a very mediocre player. Rooney's attacking numbers are still pretty strong, but at that price . . . with Balotelli looking like he may have an enforced layoff, Dzeko might be worth looking at and I don't think Adebayor has forgotten how to score. Welbeck is SAF's flavor du jour right now, don't know long that will last, then you are forced into another transfer.
ReplyDeleteOne other point, I do have Evans and will keep him. I've changed my thinking a bit on Man Utd; I think they will continue to get their fair share of CS and I rate Evans as a pretty significant bargain.