GW Points: 93
Overall Points: 93
Overall Rank: 62,694
Transfers: None used
On the whole I thought I’d made a fantastic start to the new season. All of my players scored points other than the two Liverpool defenders (this didn’t bother me that much as I’d assumed most people would have gone for at least one of their defenders) and B. Silva (who didn’t play). The rest of my team all scored well in terms of points and some of them scored very well. 93 points on the board appeared to be a fantastic opening game week. I was soon brought back down to earth when I checked my position on the overall leader board. It’s very early days and I know I’m jumping ahead of myself by judging my game week on the leader board but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Not even making it into the top 50,000 teams was a big surprise. I appreciate there were a lot of clean sheets and the big names all got goals but to be outscored by over 62,000 teams was a shock given the points I’d scored myself. Having said that it’s only game week 1 and things need time to settle down.
Positives:
Clean sheet for Patricio. Very happy with this because in all honesty I didn’t expect him to get one against Leicester. I only really picked him because I didn’t see a huge amount of value in Ederson and Alisson at 4.5m and didn’t like Chelsea’s early fixtures.
Clean sheet for Zinchenko. I expected him to start but it was a relief when he did.
Star man, assist and clean sheet for Maitland-Niles. This one was particularly satisfying as I’d had my doubters about this selection. 15 points from a 1.5m defender was way more than I expected. I didn’t want to shout too loud about it but I just didn’t fancy Newcastle to score despite how bad Arsenal are defensively. With regard to his long term prospects, there’s still question marks next to his name for me. I don’t suddenly think he’s now going to be the pick of the season and if I’m being honest I don’t really see him matching the same points total in a game week again any time soon but I’ll happily take the 15 points for now. I mainly picked him because he came out second on my points per million spent calculation and had a good opening fixture. My gut instinct was not to go with him but the numbers suggested he was a good choice, so I just went with it.
Hat trick for Sterling. I’d imagine most people have him but he couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Moura picked up 5 points with an assist and 7+ rating. For a 3m midfielder a 5 point return wasn’t too bad but I think I’ll probably be moving him on before long.
A goal and assist from Salah. Good to see one of my big price tag strikers get off the mark. When it was 4 – 0 so early I was hoping he was going to be able to add a second and perhaps pick up the star man but it wasn’t to be.
A couple of goals and a star man for Kane. Very happy with this result – towards the end of the game I was thinking it might not have been the best pick but Kane came good in the end.
A goal for Aubameyang. Good to see Aubameyang get off the mark but I was surprised he didn’t get 8 points. I’m falling into my usual trap of judging him too early (he’s a player I don’t seem to have much patience with for no rational reason) but considering Rashford managed to get two goals against Chelsea, I’m wondering if there’s more value in him already.
Potential Issues:
The Premier League got underway on Friday evening and the clean sheet for Robertson and Gomez got taken out in the second half. This isn’t something that overly concerns me at this stage but I do think it highlights that Liverpool probably won’t keep as many as they did last season. Alisson picking up an injury wasn’t a bad thing for me directly as I won’t need to waste a transfer to take him out, however I do now wonder if they will be as strong at the back without him. Just something to keep an eye on at the moment. With Liverpool playing Southampton at the weekend, I certainly won’t be rushing into any transfers to take either of these two out just yet.
B. Silva not starting was the biggest surprise to me over the weekend. He looked like one of Pep’s favourite last season and I’d assumed he would be one of the first names on the team sheet after his performances last season. At 4.5m I won’t have a lot of patience with him should his game time look limited in the long run. I’d want at least 225 points from this position and he just about achieved this with a lot of minutes last season. If he’s being rotated a lot I think there are better places to invest these funds. Having said that, I also won’t be rushing into making a transfer just yet.
Tips for Game Week 2
If I was giving advice for game week 2, I’d personally say stick by your choices unless they are injured. If you felt like a player was good enough for selection before game week 1, he’s probably still good enough for game week 2. Things will change again by the end of next week and it’s very early days to be making any transfers. Alisson will be the main player of concern for those who have selected him. For me it’s a fairly straightforward decision if he’s out for a while – swap him for Adrian or simply move over to Ederson (depending on the balance of the rest of your defence). I wouldn’t be overly concerned at looking at upcoming fixtures at this stage – on the assumption that you did this when you picked your starting lineup. My personal strategy will be to gather some data up until the end of game week 3. If it works the same way as it did last season, at this point, players will rise or fall by a maximum of 0.3m. This could be a swing of 1.8m for the value of your team. I’m personally going to use my three transfers to move on players who I think are likely to drop in value and bring in some in form players who are likely to rise. This will help grow the value of my team but it will also ensure that I get rid of players who aren’t performing and bring in three who are. This will obviously be subjective to upcoming fixtures and who the players play for but I think the patient approach should work well.
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Nice one DTT. I’ve got a similar team to yours and whilst I’m not top of my main cash ML, I’m not far off so am happy to remain patient as pleased with my team on the whole. B.Silva will surely play again soon and can always score points when he does… He also didn’t score for 30% of other managers as well which helps. Patricio clean sheet, Moura assist and AMN performance very pleasing. Rashford and Jesus both on my watch list for now. Roll on GW2.
Yeah B. Silva was the most disappointing part of the weekend. I thought he was nailed on to start but as you say hopefully he’s back in the starting line up before long.
I have already made the bold move of replacing B Silva with Pogba as Man Utd appear to be in a happy place at the moment and Pogba is a guaranteed starter plus I dont expect City to over run Spurs TBH. I may be wrong but the squad depth at City is simply too risky with Pep and his rotation game
‘Happy Place’ after 1 game. This transfer is the definition of Kneejerk.
Knee jerk perhaps but at least
Pogba will play and how often do premier league sides put 4 past Chelsea.
Pogba is the key man at UTD when things run well
How often do premier league sides put 4 past Chelsea with Frank Lampard in charge? 100% of the time so far!! Joking aside I think this is a decent transfer. Pogba (when happy) is virtually a walking 7 rating and there is no guarantee Silva will play the next game where as clearly Pogba will. Don’t do this transfer yet tho is my view. Man City play Sunday and Man Utd play on Monday, if you do the transfer before Friday it will be irreversible and you will be stuck with it. You can wait for the Man City line up then if there is no Silva you can do it then, as I’m sure a lot of other people will do too!!
*Man City play on Saturday
Good point District
Pogba isn’t a bad option but I’d personally be tempted to give it a bit of time – it’s very early days.
Good Start DTT, do we think Gomez will always start over Matip
I wouldn’t imagine so for the entire season but he would be easy enough to move on. There’s some good options at 3.5m.
Have to tip my hat to that MN pick, I certainly was sceptical about arsenal away. As a Arsenal fan I watched the game and MN was in fact the best player on the day, brilliant defending and a quality assist.
Liverpool may/may not keep as many clean sheets but it’s worth thinking about putting in Adrian? Most will probably opt for Ederson.
Will you be sticking with B.Silva and pray he gets the start dtt?
Cheers Marc, do you think it might be worth sticking with Maitland-Niles in the longer run? I was thinking about moving him on when Arsenal’s fixtures toughen up but maybe he’s worth a punt? I didn’t watch the game but assumed he must have played well. If I had Alisson I’d probably go for Adrian but as I haven’t I don’t think I’ll bother using a transfer to only have to use another in the long run. With regards to B. Silva, I think I’ll have to wait it out for now as I’d rather gather a bit more information before making any changes.
Maybe for the Burnley game. It’s gets tougher after that, however for his price the assists could be there as a potential?
Yeah for 1.5m it might be worth holding onto him. Will see how they get an against Burnley first.
Good assessment DTT, you had a very good start there. I am also a little skeptical on the Liverpool defense going forward as i opted for 2 defenders and Alisson as my keeper.
It’s a tough decision to make in terms of who to replace Alisson with, would you stick with the 3 Liverpool defenders and swap him with Adrian, hope they shore it up at the back in the next few GW’s or go less risk and swap him with Ederson?
Ederson would be my pick – they’ve got some decent fixtures after they play Spurs. With Adrian – you’d only have to use another transfer to take him out before long.
Yes I’d agree with that, much better long term option.
Allrite is anybody who hasn’t got kun or mane thinking of bringing them in?
Not for me at the moment – obviously can’t be ignored but I’ll monitor who starts against Spurs first.
I’ve got KWP from spurs in my side, although it’s early is it worth getting rid cause of the Man City fixture?
Using a transfer for one fixture seems to be a bit wasteful imo Lewis.
Almost certain to concede but they’ve got Newcastle the week after so I’d stand by your decision to pick him.
with regards to B.Silvia. Hes needs to be starting games to get points. I think mahrez is more likely to score from the bench. Also with Sane out for a long period hierarchy changes but pep is the most unpredictable.
Yeah if it becomes obvious that he’s not going to be starting enough then he will be gone. Can’t have 4.5m tied up in a non starter but I’m not worrying about it at the moment as it’s very early days.
Good stuff DTT. I think I’m doomed already. I finished with 59 pts. I went with a Liverpool block and no Sterling!!! I don’t know what to do. Everyone in my mini leagues has him. I was thinking of dropping VVD. Change to 3-4-3 add Mane , drop B Silva and add Sterling. Doing all of That, I need to add Adrian and using up all my transfers 😭 Any wise suggestion?
I would keep Maitland Niles. At 1.5 ,He could be the bargain of the season.
I’m hoping he becomes a good pick for the season. I’d do what you can to get Sterling in but it’s probably not the best time to do it with Man City playing Spurs at the weekend. I’d be tempted to hope that you’re block becomes good against Southampton.
Thanks Paul. Appreciate the feed back. What about the keeper situation?
I wouldn’t be too keen on Adrian if you’ve got other areas to fix – if they don’t keep a clean sheet at the weekend he may drop in value. Also you’ll only need to replace him – which could be difficult if you use up all your funds.
Maybe a straight swap for Ederson. His value should go up. And then swap back once Alisson is fit again.
Could be a good option – Man City have decent fixtures after the Spurs game.
There’s so much knee-jerking going on in here after just one game, that Sane isn’t going to be the only one with an ACL by the end of this week lol.
Unless someone is injured (i.e. Alisson) I wouldn’t even dream of using any transfers yet.
Agreed – I wouldn’t be making a transfer unless I was forced into it with an injury. We’ve spent weeks planning our teams – all that consideration can’t go straight out the window after 1 game week.
Hey DTT & All,
So far so good for me, my team isn’t too different from yours – I ended with 96 points.
I went 442 with Pickford at the back with Digne over Gomez. Then I added Mane to the Midfield although he scored 0! And went with Kane & Salah in front.
I was considering a move back to 433 which would drop Moura/Silva and pick up Rashford, what do you think? I’m not sure if I should just wait and sit on my hands for another GW and see what happens? Rashford plays Chelsea next which might not be so fruitful, wherea Moura plays A/V!.
Thoughts?
I’d personally wait and see what happens as it’s early days. Rashford faces Wolves and Moura faces Man City at the weekend though?
Sit tight, it’s a long old season. I’m expecting both Moura and Bilva to start this weekend and that game can produce goals at both ends.
After Mane signalling his return last night in style I am getting a bit edgy on how to get him into my team, my gut tells me not to panic but I need a plan at least even if it’s for next week, so all help welcome – current team ;
Patricio – happy with
Robertson – ?? 2 games no clean sheets for liverpool
Walker Peters – good value it seems probably stick with for bit longer
Zinchenko – great value, lucky charm for city and a stayer I think
Sterling – no words needed
KDB – ?? is he essential
Moura – good value and gathers points but ? long term
Barkley – have I made a mistake?
Auba – happy with , really feel he will score well
Kane – no words needed
Salah – is he dispensable if you have Mane? – 1 or the other?
0 money in the bank.
My thinking is swapping KDB for mane (1 transfer) or Jesus for Salah and then Barkley for Mane.
Dont want to do a knee jerk decision so early so seeking intelligent, constructive advice/help. Having won my ML for 5 out of last 6 years I am keen to maintain my dominance ha ha.
Sort of on the same boat as you AJF. I have Barkely to as I thought for 2mil would be a snip for a few points. I’m not sure he will start next game as Chelsea looked good before he even came on.
I will keep an eye on team news, however I’m unlikely to make any moves this early. Potential players for me are Rashford, Mane… And possibly Adrian purely because of how cheap he is.
I’ve got the same feeling about Mane but I’m going to have to wait it out for now. With regards to your team my personal opinion would be:
Patricio – stick
Robertson – give at least another week
Walker Peters – stick
Zinchenko – stick
Sterling – stick
KDB – stick
Moura – replace but not yet
Barkley – give another week
Auba – stick but if Rashford looks like he’s going to have a decent season consider swapping to free up funds.
Kane – stick
Salah – I’d prefer Salah over Mane
I wouldn’t personally be taking Salah out. If you wanted to swap KDB for Mane you could but I think over the course of the season they should score roughly the same so I can’t see the value in using such an early transfer on this yet.
Thanks DTT I appreciate the advice
Come back home from our Cornwall break tomorrow. Just using rare bit of spare time to listen to The Football Daily podcast as I wash the pots. Mentioned Robbo came off last night potentially with an injury. Anyone have any news?
I checked up on this as well – as far as I know there was no injury.
I’ve had a mare, i was under the impression wolves game in the Europa League counted this Thursday but DT twitter have confirmed that’s not the case 🤦♂️!
Very frustrating as I chose Jimenez over Rashford with that in mind.
They should make it through and the next round will count – which takes place before the end of August.
Thanks for clarifying DTT 👍!
Will hold on that transfer until those games are finished!
Loving the posts/thread, keep them coming!
Definitely have Mane over KDB any day. Can’t see how KBD is priced at 6 mill considering he missed most of last season. Mane on the other hand scored almost 300 pts and they both cost the same. Strange!
I think he’s overpriced at 6m considering the points he scored last season. However if they are both fit, I think De Bruyne has the potential to match or outscore Mane.
AMN for Wan Bissaka and
Auba for Rashford after this game week?
Maybe but it depends how Aubameyang gets on against Burnley or if Rashford draws a blank against Wolves. I won’t be going for Wan Bissaka though. If it was any Man Utd defender it would be Shaw as he’s cheaper.
Price changes have happened this week. Is that an error or is that how it is this year?
It’s an error, price changes won’t take affect until completion of game week 3! I had a real panic moment!
Remember last season around similar time you could make unlimited transfers for a while 😂
what do you mean it’s an error?
It seems to have affected my balance as i now cant get mina into my team
They’ve gone back on that now – the price changes will remain in place.
I thought it was an error but looks like this is how it’s going to be this year.
The players in my team have also changed in price so don’t think its an error. Assume they have changed it this year! Luckily up 0.5m all in all!
Anyone else got any confirmation that this was definitely meant to happen this early?
They meant for it to happen but I don’t think anyone else was aware it would work like that.
It’s on dream team.support Twitter feed price rises are a mistake and will be rectified and reset, they take place after game week 3
It isn’t an error unfortunately. Official DT twitter account saying it’s genuine, and that the Ts and Cs were a copy error and it was always the intention to start pricing from GW1.
Very frustrating if that’s the case. I still don’t think I’d have burned a transfer this early but does create early swings that I’m unable to capitalise on
I’d planned for the game week 3 price changes so that I could get an advantage over those who moved players on too early. Very frustrating.
what a joke, how can they give out so many mixed messages, all liverpool defenders that scored zero gone down by 0.1 for zero points, yet maddison & barkley get zero points and stay the same price surely that’s a better reflection,
Maitland-Niles only went up 0.1m and he probably had the game of his life last week lol
Unfortunately I think they can only go up by 0.1m regardless of their performance.
Thats disgusting and totally unacceptable if they’ve done that. As the T’s and C’s said rises wouldn’t happen until after GW3. Hence why I had planned out some changes round that time to use my August transfers up and to ensure I brought in players who were going to increase by 0.3 each (i.e. potentially changing Wilson to Rashford to get the 0.3 increase and two easy up and coming fixtures for Rashford while Wilson has two tough ones and my not go up as much as Rashford)
These have to be reversed and done on GW3 as many will have planned their sides based on the published rules and T’s and C’s!!
Totally agree citizen , its put a huge dampner on it and screwed many people tactics up, I have to say
I’d made the exact same plans – really frustrating.
Agree with you and think most people are in the same boat. Unfortunately the Twitter handles seem adamant that they’re sticking with the GW1 price changes as this was their intention all along When called out on the T&Cs they just say that’s an error on their behalf! Shocking
Totally unacceptable. They should have informed people if it was a know error as people could have made changes before the price increases.
Dream Team is rapidly going down hill now with mistakes being made every season that cause issues for people taking part.
If it’s their error then they should reverse it as everyone was expeting rises on GW3. Leaving it as is just punishes those who were playing to the terms laid out!
It just baffles me how they get away with this shambles every year.
1. Say in the T&Cs that price changes start in GW3
2. Start the price changes in GW1
3. Say the price changes shouldn’t have started in GW1 and they are looking into it.
4. Change the T&Cs to say price changes start GW1
5. Tell everyone that the price changes were always meant to start GW1 and the T&Cs was a copy error and the rule always existed, despite the fact no one knew about it and they changed the terms and conditions after it had happened.
My apologies to Simon for advising him to wait on doing Silva to Pogba
Think we’ve all fell into the same trap – I was waiting for the end of game week 3 before making any changes. Got to feel sorry for those who waited until today before deciding on what to do with Alisson. They now won’t be able to swap him for Ederson.
That’s what happened to me 😤
Onto Pickford now.
Absolute shambles that has completely ruined my plans. If it wasnt for the mini league I’m involved in I would steer clear.
Just doing my first season on the FPL game and must say it seems to be managed a whole lot better.
It’s as if DT have different people running it every year so they don’t actually have a grip on the rules, maybe they throw all their first year apprentices into the DT lions den.
They’ve pulled a fast one by changing the T&Cs to cover up their mistake, surely that’s against the law.?
It is odd – they don’t seem to be in touch with their audience. Never communicate the important bits and tend to leave people unsure rather than just being clear what’s going to happen in advance.
Ha! Alisson has dropped by 0.1 and he didn’t even let in the goal against Norwich. Silly fools