GW20 Takeaway Part 2; and a bit about the WC

A drop to 12,000+ in the world, but more importantly, my minileague lead has shrunk to 31 points.  And my chief rival, ForzaInter is within 47.  There were a few lessons in the final game of GW20 and we are into the January window Wild Card.

1.  I did not see the Assou-Ekottu freight train coming.  He has now matched his prior career total for goals scored and exceeded his career assist total.  With a 24 point GW he is now within 3 points of his highest previous season FF point total.  I think I spent some time in a previous post slagging off AE and Walker vis-a-vis Friedel.  I'll just throw some salt and pepper on that crow . . . but I want to point out a really interesting bit of minileague strategy exercised by my minileague rival ForzaInter.  We went into the GW with Friedel; I had Bale and Adebayor as well.  I had fairly advertized I was captaining Friedel.  Forza performed a neat bit of neutralizing any advantage I might gain if Tottenham kept 2 CS - which, of course, they did.  He selected Bale and AE for a 4 point hit and captained Bale.  Pure upside for him; if Tottenham kept 2 CS, he had doubled down on TOT defense, while also maximizing his chances to take advantage if TOT broke big.  And then it was pure gravy when AE broke big.  No doubt in my mind Forza planned that bit.  I guess the lesson here is to take a comparative look at your rival's team to see if you can find away to neutralize an advantage and maximize a differential.  Clever.

2.  Stay invested in Tottenham ?  Certainly for another week.  Tottenham won the reverse fixture 2-0 and Wolves have come in for a few tonkings away.  Wigan comes to town in GW23.  But, in general, the TOT near-term schedule looks reasonably difficult (WW, mci, WIG, liv, NWC, ars, MUN, eve, STK, che).  That said, it's not a bad bunch of home games (and attacking titans Everton).  I guess I might continue to run with Tottenham defenders if I have them in and you can rotate them, unless you are a true believer in Tottenham and then let them ride as you might with MNC, MUN, or LIV defenders.  A guy who might have passed under the radar this week in all the AE excitement is Michael Dawson.  A Redknapp favorite, a BP in his first game back and 5.2. If Tottenham add Samba . . .

3.  Everton demonstrate not all DGW teams are worth sweating over.  There is always a belief that somehow, someway, there is a good investment in any DGW team. I spent a lot of time turning over various options, and settled on Drenthe. Suffice to say, had Drenthe stayed on the bench I would have added 1 more point with McAuley as an autosub.  Think.

4.  A few WC thoughts.  I pulled the trigger this week on the January window WC, in part, because I couldn't look at Drenthe (and my doofus selection of Grant Hanley) in my line-up anymore.  And because, well, . . . I'm weak.  Had I stayed with my team, I had 9 of 11 players at home and a few really good captain options.  So, a bit of buyer's remorse.  At the same time, with a couple of players with orange "i"s and 2 players I definitely wanted out, and with 3 important (to me) targets, it felt like now was as good a time as any.  But I think a few of the things you should have in mind in making the "when" to WC decision - (i) injuries, obviously; (ii) targets - guys you are really looking to add but can't get them in w/o a 3 week plan; (iii) you went all-in on Everton for the DGW; (iv) your present team is not diversified in terms of having access to points from most or all of the high scoring teams; (v) in terms of your squad players you don't have a good rotation mix, or; (vi) you are looking to change the structure of your team (heavy rotation system to stars/scrubs set-up).  But the most important point is, whether you want to go early in the January window or late - have a plan.