Out: Hazard (7.8m)
In: Salah (9.7m)
Given Salah’s recent form I’ve decided to go for him over De Bruyne. Liverpool have a much easier tie in the Champions League than Chelsea. I’m also concerned by Chelsea’s form of late. Although this hasn’t really effected Hazard’s point scoring consistency, I think Salah is a better option for the remainder of the season. It doesn’t leave much in the bank (0.1m) however I couldn’t see any good options for upgrading Keane either way when there was more to play with in the bank.
As always, feel free to share your own progress, suggest any players to look out for or provide any other useful comments below.
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The thing is that because you are quite a long way behind you need players with a good differential to attempt to make up ground, it’s nailed-on that every manager above you will have Salah also, so you won’t be gaining any advantage
Personally I would have taken a punt on B.Silva or even Miki as to free up funds to upgrade your lousy(sorry)defence
I think the mistake was taking out Salah in the first place. ( As i’ve previously said. ) now you’ve had to use up budget, to bring him back in, for a player of Hazard’s potential, that can rake up the points & possibly outscore Salah, in the coming weeks.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Salah, had a bit of a quiet period due ?
What’s your current team?
Thanks for keeping me updated with the transfers whilst I was away DTT š
Managed to make the Salah transfer at the airport in the early hours of Friday morning, so made it just before the transfer deadline.
This transfer is admittedly a frustrating one and had we been in a better position would not have needed to take Salah out, but I still think it was the right move in the position that we were in, gaining some momentum, initial assessment at the time was that Salah would be out for longer as well. Annoyingly, I think the team is weaker now that it was a the beginning of Jan š
No problem Dean. After how my season has gone you would have probably been better off if you hadn’t got the transfer updates. I’d agree that the team is weaker now than at the start of Jan. I’d have preferred Sane, Hazard, Salah over Eriksen, Sterling and Salah however we had to take a risk with Sterling.
Dean, are you copying DTT’s team / transfers ??
Firstly good luck everyone with their changes.
DTT what I would say is that I think bringing in one of salah/KDB was a good decision. I know everyone has him but every week he scores and you dont have him it kills you. I have found this out with KDB and sterling who i dont have. It would appear now having the core team of salah, KDB, sterling, aguero and some city defence representation is key to hanging onto the coattails of the top dream team folks. But with it being so late in the season, if you dont have them already you get priced out and are left with fringe players in top teams or only decent players in average teams.
I have aleady used up my 3 and decided to gamble. I switched d.silva to b.silva. Reason being d.silva was due a drop of 0.3 whilst b.silva went up 0.3m so purely for funds reasons. Personally i am not sure b.silva is much of a differential. Whilst he plays in the front 3, he is not an incisive winger. I see him more of a creative no.10 ironically in the d.silva mode. However, as its his first season and KDB is the main fulcrum of the attack he hardly gets the ball which means he doesnt really rake in the points as a result.
My last two transfers were davies and christensen out and smalling & Danilo IN. Davies has one or two tricky fixtures and i really wanted to get man u coverage. Danilo will hopefully get some games in due to the fixture pile up. Smalling and Danilo also went up by 0.3 and 0.2 respectively so ticks boxes of both fixtures and team value which will be my strategy moving forward.
My team is now:
Ederson
walker
smalling
VVD
danilo
B.silva
salah
hazard
kane
sanchez
aguero
Cheers!
Thanks Steve, looks like you’ve got a strong team going into the end of the season. Completely agree regarding Salah/De Bruyne, it’s bad enough not having one of them but not having both of them wasn’t a great position to be in. There’s no point in having a differential if they aren’t going to exceed points scored by these better players. It will just create a bigger gap. I understand it’s about taking a risk but I just can’t see any of these cheaper options outscoring Salah.
Ok, you have brought in Salah to prevent a bigger gap. So I see it’s as a damage limitation transfer. So my question is what is the next move to reduce the gap?
It’s almost impossible to close the gap between the top teams. Much bigger budgets to create a team with any players they want. I’m simply trying to get as many points on the board as possible.
It feels like you have given up. I don’t see the gap reducing as 0.1m doesnt leave many options for third transfer. That is why Salah transfer was surprising to me and i didn’t see the logic. It provided no tactical advantage as very likely your mini league rivals above you have him in their team. Instead, it benefits them more than yourself.
Eriksen move was a good one, he is good differential but i feel more are needed. But analysing your tactics, they are unlikely to come.
RR,
Its a damned if you do damned if you dont situation.
You are right differentials are needed, but look at this weekends results, who in your opinion would have been the differential to outperform salah? Salah got a goal and assist and has high ownership. Who else fared better in midfield? I think this is where it gets really tricky.
You need a core team of KDB SALAH Sterling Kane and Aguero to even come close to climbing the leaderboard. If you dont have them now and try to buy them it leaves you broke with 0.5m defenders for example, but the downside is if you do get them, youll only have other players who may close a gap of 5/10 points a week, not enough to do significant damage. stuck between A rock and a hard place comes to mind.
If i really had to think of a differential or two who could make an impact I can only think of Hazard but chelsea have neither the fixtures nor the form, erikssen/ozil are more of an assists based player (watered down version of KDB in my opinion) alli would have been one but has fallen off a cliff, pogba too,
I can only genuinely think of hazard and sanchez (upfront) hence why is stuck em in and hope they get their act together. Another one maybe is firmino, but his price has skyrocketed.
Ive lost ground in my mini league purely because my opponents have KDB and sterling and i dont.
Any suggestions would be welcome RR.
I have made my suggestions on differentials on the January transfer three post so i not going go repeat myself.
DTT last week said ‘ Iām not overly bothered about Salah because itās so late on in the season.’ His words, not mine. So i am just surprised he put him in.
Maybe it just me whose got my tactical thoughts wrong, maybe i should put in the same players as those in the teams above me.
I agree with Steve. To be honest I think you’ll just look to criticise at any opportunity – if Salah is going to keep scoring the gap just gets bigger without him. Simple as that.
DTT,
I fully expect you to agree with Steve.
Obviously, me having 4 teams of 5 between 1875 and 1925 points (before tonights game and fifth team on 1773) and being top of your DTT league leading by 33 points with a team value of around 80m and three feb transfers left shows that i know nothing at all about player selection, tactical strategies and building team value. I guess i just got lucky.
I just dont come here to critise (although it may be naive to think you wont get praise or criticism depending on outcomes when on a public platform). I have offered my strategies (in Jan) on how i play the game, maybe you ignored those as you didnt comment on them. I praised you on your ranking jump to over 110k from 170k recently and I didnt criticise when you got 23 points in the last game week.
Quite frankly, i find it boring if every person/post agreed with you. There are different ways to play the game. I may be wrong but i dont think there is any magic formula for success. I like to play the game my way whilst being open to discover other people's opinions and what strategies they use. I am not of those that follows your every move, copies your team and then says hey what's happened here, i not doing well in my mini league. I stand by own decisions, not blame others or external factors.
Anyway, if everyone thinks Salah is a great move then the majority must be right, I however unfortunately dont see it that way.
I’m not bothered about criticism, it’s not something I worry about or let bother me otherwise I wouldn’t have put this blog in place. I fully expected it. My issue is the time it takes to reply to comments – I simply don’t really have the time. But I do my best to respond to all comments, however I’m going to have to stop replying to comments that are provocative because I don’t have the time for pointless debates. I appreciate your comments and feedback (most of the time) but occasionally I wonder what the point of your comments are. I really don’t understand people who come on here to pretty much say “I’m doing far better than you, I don’t agree with that” and especially when the comments are almost sarcastic. I wouldn’t visit someone else’s website/blog and keep making digs at their decisions. I’d join in with the comments and enjoy the platform but I certainly wouldn’t make provocative comments. As I’ve said in the past this is a free platform, I’m already having to consider whether to keep it going next season because I simply don’t have time to write the blogs and have long drawn out debates in the comments section. My decisions are clearly explained, you may not agree and that’s absolutely fine, as you keep reminding me – you’re doing much better. But that doesn’t mean I want to keep debating decisions I’ve already made.
In case it’s useful here’s a couple of examples of comments, which in my opinion are unnecessary:
– “Maybe it just me whose got my tactical thoughts wrong, maybe i should put in the same players as those in the teams above me.” – sarcastic comment which appears to be aimed to spark a debate.
– “Obviously, me having 4 teams of 5 between 1875 and 1925 points (before tonights game and fifth team on 1773) and being top of your DTT league leading by 33 points with a team value of around 80m and three feb transfers left shows that i know nothing at all about player selection, tactical strategies and building team value.” – another sarcastic comment and very self promoting.
– “I am happy that DTT put in Salah, it makes my job a bit easier to win the DTT mini league set up in October. One less thing i have to worry about.” – provocative
Will it be bad luck if Hazard outscores Salah, for the period ?
There we go, completely proving my point with a pointless provocative comment.
DTT, why get rid of Hazard, for Salah, leaving you with 0.1m ??
No doubt you needed Salah – best player in the game right now so painful as it is I think you made the right call.
I am ranked 176 in the world which is way higher than I hit last year but need to make some moves to catch up the top 100 who all have similar teams.
Questions:
Do I switch Azpilicueta out as Chelsea looking terrible?
Is it worth moving on Lukaku as would like an Arsenal attacker for their upcoming fixtures?
Is Otamendi open to rotation now?
Any help/thoughts appreciated
Thanks Andy, I’d agree. No point in having a differential if they aren’t going to score anywhere near the points that Salah does. You’re probably much better placed to make the decision regarding your own team, being that high up in the leaderboard, you’ve obviously made the right decisions so far. But I probably would consider replacing Azpilicueta. I’d personally favour Lukaku over an Arsenal striker, at least until we see what kind of team they put out in the Europa League.
Id keep Lukaku over arsenal attackers. Aubaymeyang cant play in europa and lacazette is off form. Whats the rest of your team like?
I am happy that DTT put in Salah, it makes my job a bit easier to win the DTT mini league set up in October. One less thing i have to worry about.
In a mini league, it always good to be one step ahead and even better when your rivals chasing bring in players already in your team.
What is your team name in DTT mini league RR?
I am SOTV currently in 3rd
My team is The Big Guns, currently in 1st position and planning to stay there. Happy with the team but still have 3 transfers left and 1.2m in the bank. I like to have funds in the bank i.e. greater flexibility and more options to choose from.
SOTV is a good team and now in 2nd place.
DTT, you haven’t got the time to answer criticism, but you have the time to answer the posters that agree with you, or praise you, why is that ??
I make time to reply to people who appear to appreciate that the website is here without looking for long pointless debates over nothing.
I appreciate the website & if people give their opinion, then i don’t see that as pointless, especially if they are trying to help you.
To reply to DTT above,
Yes my posts are self promoting, i admit that. I dont think there is nothing wrong in that. You promote about your team in the top 500 last season. The difference i promote my team in the present, not the past. Anyways, My points total is high (even higher thanks to Hazard 18 points and chelsea clean sheet) which shows a relative amount of success and indicates my strategy is working or leading in the right direction. Of course, i like to be higher (unless we are first we are not totally happy)but i am content with my progress. I love it if someone from the top 100 tells what i am doing and how to improve. The problem is that no one will, everyone kepts all secrets themselves, big money is involved. Maybe my comments are criticism but i always the best way to silence the critics is by actions and getting a result. Criticism spurs me on to do better so i dont see it as a negative myself.
Now, with due respect and no offence intended, everyone wants to read about success. Human nature: we all want to win. I want to win my mini leagues: the cash ones or free ones, I give no preference myself. I want to finish in the top 1k (winning the whole competition is a tad unrealistic for me and most but nothing wrong in having that ambition). Everyone has opinions but the harsh reality is we generally tend to give more weight to those who are having successful seasons.
People copy your team and fully expect to win their mini leagues as they see you as an ‘expert’ they dont want to do the hard work themselves. They then blame you rather than themselves if things are not great. Those posts are funny even though they may not meant to be.
I had sincerely hoped that your team was a success story even after a bad start. i honestly believe some teams can recover, i did so in my first season. It’s uplifting to read about a team’s journey from the bottom to the upper reaches encountering difficult moments and then succeeding against the odds. But as you said you feel like giving up. If that is the case, that is a pity considering the amount of time and effort given to the game.
I don’t see discussions on player selections as pointless. Every decision made has an outcome – good or bad and each can be used as a learning tool on both counts.
Transfer decisions also have a chain reaction effect – on the next immediate transfer (how much funds has previous transfer left in the bank) and/or those further down the line (selling for a profit or a loss).
im a bit confused as to why this RR chump doesn’t go create his own blog? although he seems to have the people skills of Colonel Gaddafi… you’re doing a great job DTT let the haters hate – alot more difficult with only one team to make decisions on especially after a tough start. I see the logic behind this transfer as without one of Salah or De Bruyne there’s no moving forward
Just because i have a different opinion to DTT doesnt mean I hate. A lot of respect to DTT’s blog but I like to look to all things from both sides – good and bad. The same way i look at player selection. I look at the pros and cons. Eg. Salah Pro – big point scorer, Con – Expensive, highly owned. Anyways, i need to work on my people’s skills as well as my game technique.
Gaddafi had differing opinions too, it’s all about how your portray them!..
I’m not too sure anyone gives a toss whether you’re winning the current DTT league or not (Which is just for fun by the way), alot of folk have cash leagues they’re in and appreciate the tips given and the logic behind them.
I am up there in the top two in a couple of competitive cash leagues, I don’t go along with all of DTTs tips but I see the logic in everyone one of them and it helps me make my own decisions.
I imagine that a fantasy footballing deity like yourself must find the site helpful too
Thanks – appreciate the support and that it’s not only me that gets rubbed up the wrong way by some comments.
Thanks to Hazard last night, I have just hit a 300 point lead on 2nd in one of my leagues. Reckon I could have that one in the bag now, lol.
Time to give my full undivided attention to my other league where my lead is just 104.
overall rank?
Hi Phil,
283 at the mo (2002 pts).
nice
Why is RR such a bellend?
No need for personal insults. I have got no agenda against DTT or anyone on here. I am trying to put across a different opinion but obviously the way i have put it has not been ideal. I shall refrain from posting on here. I wish everyone especially DTT all success in the game. Keep up the good work. I shall enjoy reading DTT’s blog in the background.
Hallelujah
For those that follow the blog, you know that I am a supporter of DTT, try not to get involved too much with the negatives and tend to focus purely on his team – following the progress of the team and joining in on the discussions around transfers etc…
I do think that RR has got a bit of a bad ride on this post. For those who haven’t read it, go back and check the previous 2 posts on the blog where he provided some great analysis on the way that he picks his players and categorises them into 4 groups. It is interesting and shows the tactical side to the game. Also, unlike others around here, he has been pretty consistent with his feedback of picking differentials to close the gap. DTT has chosen not to take that approach instead believing that Salah is more important at this time.
This game is all about opinions. You wont always agree with the decisions, but at the same time in football, we never know what will happen! There is a huge amount of good luck, and good timing in this game – that is what makes it enjoyable and keeps us all engaged! The frustrations come when people slate DTTs “bad decisions”. None of his decisions have been bad, all have been logical. Some have worked – most haven’t! That has been the nature of it this season for DTT. But the way that Salah is scoring at the moment, is bringing in and Alli or a Pogba going to help when he is steaming the points board? Prob not! Was it wise to take him out in the first place? Prob not! For what it is worth, I made it clear at the beginning of Jan that DTT should have started taking some risks and some gambles on players to hit form rather than picking the high scorers – that said, I cant see a team without Salah making much ground on the leaderboard!
I think RR has been a little bit misinterpreted and also think that RR is a bit me me me, which is very annoying š Both have excellent opinions and RR (on the whole) is a great contributor to the blog!
I’d say that’s spot on. The vast majority of RR’s posts are useful. However occasionally the odd provocative, sarcastic or heavily critical comment get dropped in which I think is unnecessary. I like that everyone has different opinions but I don’t want to waste time getting drawn into long winded debates. There are a lot of people who come on here who probably don’t agree with some of the moves I’ve made but as Kristobisto has pointed out it’s all about the way you put these comments are worded. I’d rather RR continues to contribute (with useful comments) but ultimately it’s up to him if he wishes to do so.
Big respect to DTT for keeping the blog going and explaining his decisions on here, i really enjoy the content and discussions.
Im also a big fan off RR, he contributes alot of very thoughtful insight. I value his opinions and really enjoyed his anaylsis, he speaks alot of sense.
Keep up the good work lads!!!
Variety is the spice of life
š
After all this make sure you keep this blog going next season. Up the DTT!
I’m hoping to. Got a lot to prove next season after this one.
Was not going to post anymore but Dean wrote such a good piece I thought it would to good to reply. Yes, I admit I am maybe too harsh on DTT, he works hard on his game and give him credit for that. Maybe my mindset is negative, I am my own biggest critic, I firmly believe that critical analysis is the main way to improve. I spend more time analysing my mistakes and learning from them. One quote from real life football that I apply to my game ‘I watched the replay of a game where we won the European cup one or two times but the game where we lost in the final I watched it 50 times’ (I think it might be from Sir Ferguson but not 100% sure). I don’t look at my good decision making but I know I make a good number as my highest team is on over 2015 points (good old Mane, more on him later). Sorry another me comment. I like to think most of comments are useful but I do go overboard. Sorry about that. Constant criticism is bad but I think constructive criticism should have a role. I could offer in depth player analysis but I like others to make their own decisions. I am surprised that Dean wrote comments
One flaw is that I don’t praise DTT enough. This blog is very good and I appreciate the time and we all enjoy it. I really liked the choice in selecting Eriksen, good differential and a step in the right direction. Salah a very fantasy football asset but I felt his selection offered no tactical advantage especially with only 0.1m in the bank. I thought a Liverpool player would be DTT choice given their fixtures but I had thought Mane or Firmino would be chosen since they are good differentials and would have funds in the bank to replace Keane in defence (Pieters could be replaced but I’m not too KEEN on having two Everton defensive assets. I had Mane in mind even before his hat trick yesterday as I felt he, like Alexis Sanchez, can be a really explosive player picking a high number of points in a very short period of time and Mane was due a goal/performance. He also leaves 3m in the bank. Happy to see Mane scores well, he is my differential in my top team (just got my highest ranking of 290 overall). Might need another if I want to rise any higher.
Another strategy of my game I like to leave sufficient funds in the bank just makes future transfers happen more smoothly and gives a bigger player selection range. I am more of a tactics person myself, selecting players is good but my biggest buzz comes from tactical play. I like to outwit my opponent like a game in chess and like to think several moves ahead. When I make a transfer, I taking my next transfer in consideration. I plan my transfers in advance. For example, in Jan when I decided I had enough of Morata (his red card finally told me to get rid although I should have done it earlier) I put in Arnie from West Ham, seemed to a great differential at the time and very cheap. When selecting him, I then planned my February transfers at the same time: Arnie to Sanchez and either Cahill or Christensen for Van Dijk (could’nt decide which at the time but I knew one of them plus Christensen started to have niggling injuries). So I like to plan moves in advance and I usually devise a plan A but have a good back up plan B if some reason plan A doesn’t work (mostly likely injury or price rises and falls not in my favour – I don’t really like to over pay for players – value plays a big part). Right now, I know my final feb transfer but I also have an idea of my next two transfers in March).
Finally, I come to the word ‘Logic’. People think they can justify all player selection decisions with just this simple one word. I think I can make a case of logic in selecting nearly all the players in the game but that doesn’t the application of logic makes a decision automatically the right one. I could find logic in selecting Rojo, Alli and Kompany but doesn’t necessarily mean I have to pick them for my team. Logic can be selective but maybe there is more benefit gained in looking at player selection from a objective viewpoint. Sure, some decisions are ‘no brainers’ and very easy – like when Aguero got injured, it made sense to pick Jesus and vice versa when Jesus got injured, it made picking Aguero an easy decision. When both are fit, you then have a bit of a problem (minutes are shared, major rotation) that’s why I personally avoid both when fit although it was always in my mind to introduce Aguero in January as my research showed that Aguero tends to score more goals in the second half of the season than the first. Jesus injury just made me put Aguero in my all teams earlier than planned.
Now logic can be applied in taking out top players like Salah and Hazard but one must be aware of the risks. I fully expected Hazard to perform well on Monday night, I recalled his last performance earlier in the season where Chelsea won 4-0 at WBA with Hazard scoring two goals and gaining a star man award. I couldn’t exactly predict a similar result but I was genuinely optimistic about his chances given his quality and form. It has been noticed that Chelsea’s form was very poor but looking at Hazard closely, his performances were quite the opposite. Now, with his ownership I noticed started to dip slightly mainly due to fixtures (but sometimes I am a form over fixtures kind of person – I think in fantasy football you have to be flexible – you have to many strategies in hand. This season I would been more successfully in adopting a 442 formation as midfielders have done very well and Kane and Aguero at times are the must have strikers. Anyways losing track… back to Hazard) so he might just make it in the differential category as his price will increase making the job harder for those that want his services for their team(s).
After categorising players in groups, I rank them in terms of consistency, higher consistency and explosiveness. With cheap players, I looking at their consistency of picking up points if they showing more, they are over performing expectations and can make good additions. The key in this strategy is recognising early enough before they become expensive and/or highly owned. Salah has been my top ranked player, he scores well in every category. That’s why I never entertained the thought of removing him from my team. Kane scores slightly less but is top for explosiveness. Aguero did well in terms of consistency but quickly excelled in explosiveness terms probably because to finding his goal scoring rhythm by becoming City’s undisputed number one striker and playing more minutes. No one beats KDB in terms of higher consistency.
Differentials like Eriksen and Mane carry risks but if they are just might be worth it. But one differential can’t make a difference, you might need to settle a team of misfits to stand a chance of winning.
The only thing that annoys me is that you must be able to see why Iāve made the decisions Iāve made in pretty much every transfer I make but never seem to see it from both sides. I can see both sides when it comes to Salah – I completely understand that without a differential that doesnāt close the gap. So Iāve never disagreed with you. However I had to make a decision one way or the other. My decision was that I see Salah outscoring any differential between now and the end of the season. I find it hard to make decision that go against a trend or stat. Salah has consistently scored points this season – I just donāt see anyone else beating his points total between now and the end of the season. I can only see whatās in front of me. As a result I decided to bring him back in to ensure the gap doesnāt get bigger. I donāt think many people who already have him would decide to take him out at this stage, I had the option to bring him back in so I did it. But I completely see the other side of the coin. My issue sometimes with your comments is that youāre challenging something where you must see my point of view, but you almost say that Iām wrong.
With regards to Mane, he was due a good game but who could have predicted when that was coming as heās not been that great this season. I donāt recall his name cropping up on the blog this week. Coming onto Hazard, yes it looked likely he would have a good game on Monday and his performances have been good despite Chelseaās not. However I also like to plan long term. I looked at the two clubs (Chelsea and Liverpool) and saw Chelsea going out of the Champions League and Liverpool progressing so decided to risk taking Hazard out.
In terms of criticism, I really donāt mind criticism however it is more helpful when itās constructive. Obviously my season has been a disaster, and Iām sure many people have disagreed with some of the moves Iāve made, however they donāt put this across with comments that can come across as sarcastic or provocative. I donāt think this kind of comments really help, and usually result in a long winded debate for no real reason. I enjoy the fact that the posts get a good amount of engagement and comments but thereās no real point in challenging me on decisions Iāve already made when itās usually well documented in the post above. Happy for comments such as āIād have probably made this move or that moveā but comments like āWhy have you done that?ā always tend to annoy me slightly as Iāve already explained my choice – whether you agree or disagree is fine but I donāt see the point in explaining my decision twice. Iāve also been accused of being defensive and not liking the criticism, I donāt think this is true in the slightest. I defend my decision – absolutely. However this isnāt because I canāt take the criticism, itās genuinely because I never think Iām wrong about anything. I get that thatās not a good quality to have but if anyone thinks Iāll ever hold my hands up at the end of the season and say I got it wrong then youād be waiting a long time for that post. Obviously points on the board and final position is where you can judge how well someone has done over the season and I canāt really argue with that. However I genuinely donāt regret any decision Iāve made – I think theyāve all been well thought through and were right at the time. If things didnāt go as planned, I donāt ever think it was a mistake or have any regrets. Iāll tend to put it down to the same the system works or bad luck, and thatās not me looking to make excuses itās because I genuinely believe thatās how it is.
From what youāre saying it sounds like we approach the game in a similar way. I also like to plan in advance and if transfers seem to be a bit ad hoc, their is usually a bigger plan. What you canāt see when I make my choices is the mini league that Iām bothered about winning. This obviously has an impact on what moves I make. Ultimately after a poor start, I believe clawing it back from being over 300,000 in the leaderboard to almost breaking into the top 100,000 isnāt a bad performance over the past 3-4 months. I find that Iāve been scoring as many points as teams at the top (and beyond what theyāve been scoring at times) despite being limited by a smaller budget.
Finally Iād say if you enjoy and appreciate the blog that you should continue to post as youāre one of the most consistent contributors. Itās probably just worth keeping in mind that comments that are sarcastic or critical to the point where they are almost mocking my decisions arenāt really welcome. Itās not because I find it offensive, itās purely because it takes up a lot of time to keep the blog going and responding to such comments doesnāt really prove a good use of my time. That doesnāt mean I canāt take a bit of stick if something goes wrong, I like to build up some competitive rivalries and gain bragging rights to have a laugh with it but Iād rather not get into debates that are boarding on arguments with people. It should really be seen as a bit of fun.
I acknowledge the reasons for putting Salah back in the team but it is a decision I would not have been 100% happy with if I had your team (although I wouldn’t have taken him in the first place but I have previously already discussed the dangers of short term moves). It have been the easy decision but maybe that doesn’t make automatically the right decision considering the circumstances. You are paying more to bring back Salah (1.2m, if memory serves me right Salah sold for 8.5m and brought for 9.7m but have to confirm), mini league rivals already have him and not taken him out so financially and transfer wise they are better off, only 0.1m left in the bank so difficult to upgrade other players and reducing the pool of players to choose from. Two or more transfers may be needed to bring in player you want in the future (you might want to bring Hazard back after two weeks when Chelsea’s fixtures improve again and they are still in FA cup). The way I would have played is to have two essential players (Kane and Aguero) and then four differentials behind them (Mane, Eriksen, Sanchez etc) then these differentials would tend to be lower in value allowing funds to upgrade defence which can add something extra to the party. Now do you see why I wouldn’t have put in Salah. For me, the bigger the gap the more differentials I need. I know I am going against the trend but when behind unfortunately that’s what to have to do to any chance of winning. You sometimes have to make the hard decisions.
I also don’t necessarily think that a differential needs to outscore Salah over the rest of the season. He only needs to outscore Salah over a certain period of time (month). So an approach I would use is have a rolling rotation of differentials in the aim to outscore Salah. So this month could be for example Mane, next month Hazard and then Alli (not this order but needs to look at form and fixtures in detail). Also with funds available, an upgraded defender could help out so differential + defender could outscore Salah. Risky but when behind, you have to do things in a different way and think outside the box.
Now in regards to Mane, I agree he hasn’t been great this season but he is a dangerous differential to own. On experience on previous seasons, he can be explosive in nature. (That’s why he is my highest rated team – another me moment, I have to stop, its very annoying) Should be really surprised he scored a hat trick? He plays as part of a front three for a team that creates lots of goal scoring opportunities. Obviously you were looking at Liverpool’s fixtures in detail but did you take a closer look at Salah’s cheaper team mates Mane and Firmino, they would stood up as very good differentials for me. Now, it’s easy to state all this after the event, no one mentioned Mane this week. Well, I did give out a list of differentials recently and his name was on there. If you want me to tell which players to put in your team well youād be waiting a long time for that post my friend. I don’t suggest players, I want people to make their own choices, I not really into the blame game, ‘you recommended this player, he turned out to be rubbish or got injured, now I’m bottom of my mini league because I followed your every word’. I do on occasions, report of my observations of player, ‘Morata misses lots of chances, I rather keep Lukaku’ comment. I happy to give out tactical advice and once you have made your transfer, say I would done something else or sometimes I would agree (e.g. Eriksen selection).
Finally, I know I come across as Mr. Know it all and me, me and me person. I wish it knew all, I will be the overall leaderboard and winning every mini league I entered. But the same time, I am generally happy I don’t know it all, I can improve my game further. Thanks for acknowledging my contribution to this blog (I will try hard to cut out the bad ones out in the future but we are likely to disagree in the future due our playing nature) but I don’t want to be the only one although Dean does contribute as well. They are other some might be more successful in their ways than me and it will be nice to hear from them. Yes, I am very me-orientated, that’s because I believe my methods are working, I enjoying a good season (like it to be even better but it will do). Despite all my flaws, one thing I never do is lie. I not going to say that DTT is always right with his logic. I shall say my piece (without the bad bits) and still offer some constructive criticism (say that was wrong and here’s what I would have done) and others on here don’t like it, tough. It is easy to agree and follow the herd but I like to stand out from the rest. Like Jose Mourihno, he annoys people with his ego but there is no denying his tactical brilliance. Maybe I am like him and DTT is like Pep. We will never get along. I ‘hate it’ when DTT has a better game week than me š.
I want DTT to have the bragging rights over others as he does a great job with this blog.
Blimey…. they were 2 very long winded apologies! ha ha ha!! š
Haha I don’t think I’ve ever offered an apology in my life
I’ve always seen why you wouldn’t put Salah back in, it was something I considered myself but decided to go the other way. I’d also considered that it would be the combined points scored by the midfielder who came in and the upgraded defender. When it comes to player selection, I think Anthony has been right in the past. Although I always ask for recommendations, it doesn’t mean I haven’t already made up my mind about what I want to do. In the majority of cases, if you see me comment “What would you do?” to yourself or Anthony, I’m not actually asking because I’m going to consider the response. I usually only say it so that comments can’t be made in hindsight with people being given the opportunity to give their opinions before the event. I think we are probably the same in some respects, although the blog is public – I still prefer to make my own decisions and always have my own ideas. I obviously like the comments and appreciate all of the regular contributors and I welcome the constructive criticism. I’d never want anyone to not say what they think, it’s all about opinions.
Evening all. Question on price rises. What movement do you think there will be for sterling, salah and hazard tomorrow? All +3
Salah and hazard increase by 0.3m
Sterling likely to fall 0.1-0.2m I would think.
I don’t think sterling will fall
Thanks both. Do you have an idea on the logic to say sterling will fall? I am thinking of changing him for KDB tonight a son I believe he will rise based on current form.
Cheers
KDB will rise that was meant to say
Kdb will rise more than sterling
Thanks Phil, how do the price rises work?
kdb rises 0.3. sterling remains the same. They haven’t explained the formula but you kind of get an idea if you keep an eye on the changes
Just used my last transfer for February bringing KDB in for Salah as City have 3 remaining fixtures compared to Liverpool’s 1 before the next transfer window so i am looking ahead to March.
My current team is Pickford Walker Laporte Rojo Valencia B.Silva KDB Sterling Lukaku Kane Aguero with 1.9m in the bank. Currently have 2 options, Silva and Sterling out, Salah and Mkhitaryan in or Pickford and Silva out and Ederson and Mkhitaryan in. Any thoughts on which option to go with or any other options as i am chasing a 124 point deficit in my mini league, any help would be appreciated.
Will KDB play against Wigan? I would wait at least to see those line ups