GW Points: 80
Overall Points: 1,245
Overall Rank: 4,470
Transfers: None used (Shaw out, Lindelof in. Richarlison out, Sane in transfers made just after the game week ended)
Slightly delayed write up following on from game week 18 so I’ll keep it brief. Again the team seems to have stabilised position on the leaderboard with a slight improvement in overall position. This can only really be seen as a positive considering I’d held back on two transfers and the team sits within the top 5,000 teams.
Positives:
Kepa picked up 13 points with back to back clean sheets. I’m hoping he is now going to be a pick and stick keeper for the rest of the season.
Shaw managed 7 points with a clean sheet against Newcastle.
Two goals and a star man award for Kane resulted in 22 points.
A tough game week for Liverpool resulted in 8 points for Mane and 10 for Salah.
Potential Issues:
Having just made my final two transfers for December, I don’t see many issues with the team currently. My main concern is not having Aguero, however I do currently have the threee top scoring strikers so it’s hard to justify putting him back in right now.
Tips for Game Week 19:
Having made a like for like swap with Shaw and Lindelof and upgrading Richarlison to Sane, I’m now fairly happy with my team going into January. The problem with cup games is selection is a complete lottery and I’m not one for gambling for one game week. I did however feel like it was worth putting Sane in considering Man City have additional fixtures against Burton. If you’re looking to make some changes it’s worth checking line ups before games kick off – if you spot a regular starter who has already gained a good amount of points this season it may be worth taking a risk with an early transfer.
To keep up to date join our mailing list:
Excellent piece as always . I agree with the decision on transfers, I would say unless you are looking for extra Chelsea/ spurs or man city coverage then don’t bother this week, also bearing in mind next transfers aren’t until 8th February.
Our teams are similar except you had Shaw mane and Richarlson – I have maddison sane and pogba that’s it. Now you have added sane. My next moves im planning are doherty for lindelof and maddison for B Silva giving me this team for rest of January ;
Kepa
Laporte
Robertson
Lindelof
Hazard
Sane
Pogba
B Silva
Kane
Auba
Salah
With laporte possibly next for transfer possibly for Gomez when he comes back
B Silva was immense in that City Liverpool game. He covered 8.5 miles during the game! The rest of his stats were very good too:
1 assist
2 chances created
2nd most dribbles completed(4)
2nd most tackles won(3)
Most interceptions(4)
Most ball recoveries(10)
Excellent performance!
I think the move for Sane is a correct one. Whilst Mahrez will get game time this month, long term, Sane will be the wiser choice as you could easily keep him for the rest of the season I reckon. Whilst the Shaw to Lindelof move isn’t one to get the pulse racing I can see logic in that as well to free up extra cash, as you has the luxury of those transfers. Just have to hope he keeps his place once Smalling and Bailly get back.
Whilst myself and many others ran out of patience with Mane a while ago it wouldn’t surprise me to see your patience in him rewarded at some stage DTT. Liverpool have great fixtures without the burden of League Cup games so I’d expect Mane to in on the goal scoring act during this period.
There seems to be a shift in the tide against Doherty right now. Are you sticking with him DTT through this tricky period? All season, just when you think his points may be drying up, he comes up with the goods. Hoping this can continue. Wolves also tend to do well in the tough fixtures bizarrely.
Great update DTT.
Sorry, that post may seem a little confusing. The first paragraph was intended for AJF whilst the rest was in response to DTT’s review.
Hopefully the Sane transfer pays off – as you say he could be one to keep for the rest of the season. With regards to Mane, I’m just waiting on some movement in my mini league. There’s over 300 teams entered and the top placed person was 2nd overall the last time I checked so it’s a competitive league. I monitor player movement manually every Monday – Mane is still highly owned so it’s a big risk to take him out. It’s a really negative way to play the game but I’ve been testing out this idea this season and it seems to be working OK at the moment. If I’m undecided about a transfer, I sort each position by most selected and that normally helps with my thinking. For instance Mane is still currently the third most selected midfielder in that league – as I’m not convinced myself about taking him out it makes sense to keep him in. Unless his ownership suddenly drops and someone else becomes more popular – they then become more of a risk not to have. I don’t use this for every move I make, as I want to make my own decisions but it’s a useful risk assessment.
Looks a very strong team to me – I’m personally going to hold onto Laporte for the time being. City will surely turn a corner defensively.
Made my first transfer of the month going from Richarlison to VVD. whoscored website seem to think Richarlison will be rested whilst VVD will play, so I’ve gone for it now. Team stands as:
Ryan
Doherty VVD Laporte Robertson
Sterling Hazard Sane
Kane Lacazette Salah
Total points: 1229
Position: 9432
Transfers left: 2
Money ITB: £0.2m
I’ve left Lacazette in for this week as I (as well as whoscored) believe he’ll start against Blackpool whilst Aubameyang is rested. Pretty much all the first choice keepers are expected to be rested for the cup games except Kepa but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him rested too.
I’ll probably make my final 2 transfers before the next Gameweek going from Lacazette to Rashford and then Ryan to whichever keeper I decide upon.
As a side note, do we think Muric will be play cup games this week for City?
I definately think muric will play one of the cup games yes.
Sorry, meant to say BOTH cup games.
I think Muric will play, I’d agree that Kepa will probably be rested as well. Fairly sure you’re right about Lacazette playing and Aubameyang being rested which will be frustrating. Van Dijk is a solid long term move though.
Morning chaps, just wondering what your opinions would be for the January transfers.
Current team,
Ryan
Robertson
Laporte
Doherty
Anderson
Hazard
Sterling
Mahrez
Kane
Salah
Lacazette.
Obviously i want to get rid of Ryan, so i am currently looking at multiple options. I’m hoping Mahrez can get some points this week before moving him on. The same goes for Laca. Currently debating the options below.
Opition 1
Ryan – Etheridge
Mahrez – TAA
Laca – Auba
Option 2
Ryan – Ederson
Mahrez – Sane
Laca – Rashford
Thoughts and opinions welcome.
Option 2 for me C&B. Although Etheridge has scored reasonably well all things considered, I’d be a nervous wreck every week!
Thanks for the opinion Chris.
How about option 3 😂
Ryan – Ederson
Mahrez – VVD
Laca – Rashford
My only worry would be Rashford. Do you think he can match the like of Auba for points? A lot of people have him in my mini league and he’s killing me at times.
Similarities there with some of my potential moves C&B.
There is an element of risk with every transfer but I just feel Rashford really has the bit between his teeth right now, especially with OGS heaping praise on him. I think his potential for Star Man awards is very high.
Maybe Aubameyang can continue his scoring form, but I think it could be equally as likely that he may hit a barren spell somewhere along the line. Arsenal are not the finished article yet, not by a long shot.
Yeah good valid points them Chris, also they still have a good run of fixtures. I have to say i was impressed with him against Newcastle.
Chris any update on the seriousness/length of that Laporte injury
According to Ben Dinnery:
Reason
Other
Further Detail
Knock
Potential Return
No Return Date
Condition
Currently Being Assessed
Status
50%
Would imagine it’s nothing serious and I’d expect him back in the fold after the FA Cup game. Could potentially sit out the League Cup game too as a precaution. Anyone’s guess though as no official line from the club yet.
Following on from the previous thread:
Kepa
Robertson
Doherty
Laporte
Richarlison
Sane
Pogba
Hazard
Kane
Salah
Auba
1,257 points
Nothing in the bank!
My main aim was to secure VVD but this is proving difficult following my Maddison – Pogba transfer. No regrets however!
Potential transfers:
Laporte and Richarlison for Lindelof and Sterling
Or
Doherty and Richarlison for Lindelof and B Silva
With Doherty facing Liverpool and City in the next two games, there is a chance I may opt for this if Lindelof starts today.
However, im comfortably top of my mini league so no reason for me to take risks for the FA Cup, and nobody can predict City’s lineup in the Cup games!
Good luck everyone
Lindelof not starting so not making these changes. It does worry me not having further City representation for their next two games.
Schlupp is another player I was looking at which will make the changes work, but feel like I may be making transfers for the sake of it at this point.
Morning Chaps !
I’m a little annoyed as I had one transfer left for Dec but didn’t get to use it but anyway any suggestions ?
3/3 0.9m 1284
Kepa
Robertson,Laporte,VVD,Digne
Fraser,Richarlison,Hazard
Salah,Auba,Kane
Comfortably top of my mini league ideally want Sane but difficult to accommodate him also not sure to do the swap back to Aguero just yet.
Appreciate any views/options.
Thanks.
Fraser is starting today so I’d be happy with him for now. Richarlison and the only other one I’d have a question mark against but they do have good fixtures. You’re not in bad shape with that team Marshey. Think Digne’s attacking threat could outweigh Everton’s habit of leaking goals but with good fixtures, you never know, they may get the odd clean sheet. Good luck!
Mind you, the lack of Cuty coverage would be a slight concern Marshey. Maybe look at drafting in Sane?
Hi Chris, appreciate the input mate I did initially look at getting sane in as I did see him as a big point scorer and pretty much a must due to their fixtures. But trying to juggle funds to get him in remained an issue, I will take a look and see what I can do and what sacrifices/compromises I can make.
thanks again.
Struggling who to replace Mahrez with… Sane or Van Dijk…
Can we have a vote? 😂
Lacazette benched. 😩
That lad must have splinters in his backside from the amount of time he spends on the bench!
Unbelievable 😡😡😡 so frustrating, thought he was jailed on for a start today. I hope they lose 😂
*Nailed on… Bloody phone.
The two main regrets of my season so far?
1. Bringing in Arnautovic when there were injury concerns around him.
2. Bringing in Lacazette. Not his fault as he’s done well when he has played. Emery just doesn’t fancy him as much as some of the other players.
On the subject of regrets so far this season. What would you all consider to be your biggest regret of the season?
Transferring VVD to Laporte around 10-12 games ago. Don’t think Laporte has kept a clean sheet since 😂
Or not going with my instinct a few hours ago and changing Doherty to Schlupp when i saw the lineups. Schlupp clean sheet and assist 😂
I won’t be getting rid of Doherty yet after Liverpool and Man City fixtures they have Leicester, West Ham, Everton, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Cardiff. Not to bad I don’t think unless his points do dry up. My biggest regret is taking VVD for Lindelof in September to free up funds.
Yeah, that VVD to Laporte transfer must sting a bit.
I wouldn’t right off Doherty just yet though mate. From what I see he’s still getting forward well. Wolves are having a tremendous to say they are a newly promoted club. Hopefully they can kick on again once they’ve negotiated the next two horrible fixtures.
I think I’ve only made two: Missing Hazards hat trick against Cardiff. I wouldn’t really count this one as a mistake but it did cost me a few points at the time – swapping Maddison for Shaw – ultimately I’d have taken Maddison out anyway but the timing was off slightly.
Yeah, not really huge errors DTT so you’ve got to be happy with your season so far. It’s those errors that can rumble on for a few weeks that stick in the throat.
Remembering back now, I used up my transfers too early one month and had an injured Mendy for a few gameweeks. There’s my number three.
I tend not to think much about the transfers I never made. I spend a great deal of time thinking about fantasy football so it would be impossible to think about decisions I never made. I do jot down the transfers I made and look back at the end of the season and where I made bad choices and how can I improve my selection process. I’m not one that considers luck on a big factor. Very few decisions of mine are done to bad luck. Right now, the Lindelof transfer I made in November is one I put in the unfortunate events category as at the time I spent a lot of time considering him and my whole strategy was based around him. He only lasted one game and then I had to revert to plan B which is never as good.
People I know don’t like to admit mistakes and blame bad luck for decisions not doing right and their genius when a move works out. Everyone makes mistakes even previous fantasy football winners have made bad decisions. The difference is that they make fewer than most people. Maybe admitting mistakes is seen as a sign of weakness. Now on DTT’s blog, I have probably written more about my mistakes than my successful moves. Now I am enduring a bad season, I don’t it blame on bad luck, I made some bad decisions which ultimately set how my season will go.
In this game, you either win or you learn.
Out of interest, if you had to put a percentage on the luck factor – what would it be?
Last season, I put three decisions into the unfortunate events (in otherwise bad luck) mostly transfers I made and then player got injured or red card straight away. So 10% for me but maybe I am overcritical so I would say the luck factor is 20% overall. So people who are doing well will say luck play very little in their success and that’s it is skill, others doing badly will blame luck. Ultimately our decision making processes determine our season and sometimes these need to be adjusted as no season is actually the same (the fantasy football game does change as different rules are introduced).
Luck (or variance) is a factor in the game that (apart from letting off steam occasionally) only weak managers make a big issue out of as far as I am concerned. I think that your skill/competence gets you in a certain ballpark and that luck may put you high/low/middle in that range. But the range is primarily set by how well you manage your team.
It’s a tough one to put a figure on. I’m with you that people can be better than others and that doing your research and being well informed will usually make you more successful than people who don’t. However I think it can only take you so far and the rest is down to luck. I’ve always been a fan of dedicating time to looking at fixtures and trends as it definitely contributes to a better overall score. With most of the friends and family leagues this alone is enough to win comfortably as other people simply don’t invest the time in keeping on top of transfers or even remembering to make transfers. However I don’t think there’s a clear formula for winning the whole thing or even getting close. It’s a fairly slim chance of coming in the top 100 teams, especially considering there’s over a million teams entered. If football was so easy to predict we could all just place bets at the weekend and make a lot of money but it doesn’t work like that most of the time.
Very interesting to read your thoughts on luck RR and DTT. As you say RR, the people who put ‘their own mistakes’ down to bad luck with probably never learn from those mistakes. I think it takes more thoughtfulness to admit mistakes made (in life as well as in DT) and that way you can hopefully learn from them and reduce the risk of repeating them moving forwards…………whoa, went a bit deep there. Feeling very Zen all of a sudden. 😉
It’s a tough area to consider. For me it’s hard to admit mistakes when it comes to fantasy football. If I used a hypothetical example, we could easily look at two players such as Mane and Eriksen – both have traditionally scored well over previous season and for arguments sake say they are the same price. We’ve got a transfer left and it’s a choice between the two of them. Mane is playing against Man City and Eriksen is playing against Cardiff. So we go for Eriksen as it makes perfect sense – he could then end up being rested and Mane could grab a couple in a high scoring game against City. Most of the time it’s a complete lottery – you just can’t predict football. If we could, then we could all make a lot of money from the bookmakers. The research and time spent looking at fixtures and stats certainly helps but it can only take you so far.
Just got the results back from my Twitter poll asking which keeper will score the most DT points for January.
Results:
Alisson 40%
Ederson 30%
Lloris 20%
Kepa 10%
Do you reckon I should go along with that consensus guys? It’s certainly between those top two for me now. Alisson clears me out of funds. Genuinely swaying between the two on a constant basis.
I think Ederson, now at 4m is good value for money. I’m expecting City to get back to the early season standard and keep some clean sheets. I could probably just about afford Allison but then i would have no budget left for Febuary.
Yeah, I don’t like the idea of having no “wiggle room” going into February with £0 itb. If City can match Liverpool in terms clean sheets he seems to be the Keeper that offers the most value.
If Chelsea had kinder fixtures I’d be considering Kepa as well.
Thanks for your thoughts C&B. Much appreciated mate. 👍🏻
A possible problem is that Ederson and Alisson’s future prices are going in different directions.
I think that could quickly turn around though as he’s (Emerson) still got more points than Lloris and he’s going up in price. A clean sheet or two will put him back on track I’d have thought. I’d sooner have that £0.6m buffer I think so I’m going to plump for Ederson. Gives me two Liverpool defensive assets and two City. Reasonably happy with that.
No problem mate. It seems you are in a similar position to me all round with your January transfer dilemmas.
Guys, do you think it’s worth shelling out the extra for Stirling above Sane, wish I knew City lineup for cup game against Burton, either leave Mane & hope he does something against Wolves, or take him out & put in City midfielder for Cup game, appreciate any advice.
I reckon it’s pretty much impossible to predict that one mate, sorry. According to whoscored, they predict both Sane and Mane will start the FA Cup games. That means very little though as its very difficult to predict line-ups for FA Cup round 3 games.
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe time… 🤷♂️
Thanx for feedback Chris, as always trying to predict future not easy, if you had to retain Richarlison or Maddison for January who would it be, both out of form, but will have to keep one.
After Southampton, Leicester’s fixtures get very sticky. Add to that the fact that they’re now out of the FA Cup also and I think you have your answer right there.
Richarlison still has good fixtures coming up so could easily hit form again. My patience has run out for him in my team but if I had both players and had to keep one, I’d be keeping Richarlison.
Good Luck David. 👍🏻
Had a mare yesterday! I lost my lead and slipped to 2nd in my ML!!
I knew it was coming…. the momentum has been with 2nd for weeks! I had a 55 point lead and now find myself 15 behind because of Luiz and Schlupp!!
Knew I should have got Chelsea defensive coverage earlier!
My biggest regrets are not listening to my own gut advice! I’m now hoping they concede having Spurs, Arsenal, Spurs in their next 4 games!!
Don’t worry Lee. It will even itself out. Chelsea have some solid fixtures coming.
I needed to make a move as losing ground in my mini league. Transferred Laporte out for Stones. Freed up a bit of funds, Stones starts majority of games.
Trailing 1st place guy by around 50 odd points. Killed me with his Liverpool defensive block of 3. I may double up on Man city defence, possibly bring in Ederson for Kepa. Also thinking about Sterling.
2 transfers left. On 1298 points. Current team:
Kepa
Stones, Robertson, Doherty
Eriksen, Sane, Hazard, Lingard
Salah, Auba, Kane
Option 1
Kepa —> Ederson
Eriksen —> Sterling
Option 2
Auba —> Rashford
Lingard —> Sterling
Any other suggestions welcome!
Gone over those options a few times KOTN and I can’t honestly pick between the two. Both have equal risk/potential reward in my mind. Sorry I couldn’t be of any use with that one mate. Sterling is hitting good form again it seems so he’s a very attractive choice right now.
Thanks for the feedback CS. I’m thinking I need to get rid of Lingard as it doesn’t seem like he will be a regular, especially with Sanchez, Martial, Lukaku all back and fit. Hope your team is doing better than mine!
Yeah, as well as Chelsea have done in defence recently, I can see them coming unstuck in some of those near future fixtures. The fact that they’ve been toothless going forwards as well will only add to the pressure on that back line. Now if they played Kante in that deeper lying midfield role (where he should always play imo) I think he’d really help make that defence extra difficult to break down.
I’m getting increasingly worried about the teams around me in my mini leagues transferring in Aubameyang and Aguero. Sane as well is looking more and more essential.
I just can’t see Rashford matching these for points so again i’m contemplating going Ryan to Etheridge, Mahrez to TAA and Lacazette to Auba/Aguero.
Had a terrible day, thought I’d made the Richarlison transfer to Sane, went to check the points after the game and I hadn’t made it 😩 hoping he fires blank against Burton otherwise I’m going to get my fingers burnt.
Bit annoying to see Ederson start today and bag 5 points for my ML rival when I’ve just held off bringing him in this week. Hopefully they will rest him for the EFL cup game and bring Laporte back in. 🤞
So good to see Sterling and Sane get amongst the points again. Really hoping these two can offset the risk of not owning Aguero moving forwards.
Klopp plans to rotate. “[Mignolet] will play, of course. I can say [Moreno] will play as well, there is no doubt about that. He has to, that’s clear. Yes, we came through the intense period now somehow okay, but of course we have to make changes. How many I don’t know.” #LFC
Looks like Robbo is sitting this one out then. With Salah probably sitting this one out too I’d love a drab 0-0 to be honest and for VVD and Doherty to get the CS, plus extra fixture.🤞
Christ, look what DT has made me become. I need to apologise to the footballing gods in my prayers tonight. 🙏🏻😂
Chris thanx for earlier reply on who to keep regarding Richarlison/Maddison, I held off on Lacazette, Richarlison, Maddison, thinking they had lower league opposition & would pick up some pts for me, a grand total of 0 Pts, I have Liverpool defensive cover in Robertson & City midfield cover in Sane, using up my last 2 transfers on Thursday evening coming gives me the option of going for.
Option A
Van dyke
Richarlison
Option B
Maddison
Stirling
Any ideas.
Crikey David, the options you give always seem to be very difficult to choose between! 😂🤔
Sterling may just about outscore VVD I’d say but then I’d expect Richarlison to outscore Maddison as well.
Maybe you could write down all the fixtures for the month, write down your predicted result for each game and estimate who will play which game and you may get a rough figure for a projected score for each player. All purely guesswork but at least you’ll be able to pin down one of the options.
I’m thinking of making a Maddison to Lingard switch which will leave me with 1 transfer for January. Thoughts? I currently have..
Fabianski
Robertson, Laporte, Lindelof
Hazard, Mane, Sane, Maddison
Salah, Kane, Aubameyang.
I have 0.3M in the bank and 2 transfers left.
Leicester have some tough fixtures coming up after Southampton this weekend and although Man Utd’s fixtures are tough in Feb they are good for the rest of January after Spurs this weekend. So was thinking of sticking with Maddison for this weekend then switching to Lingard after the Spurs game. Thoughts? I would also like to switch out Fabianski but I’m struggling for options?
Is Lingard a regular? I have not seen him in the united team in the last two games. Surprised he didn’t play FA cup. Might be one of those bandwagons that scores 20 points vs Cardiff, then everyone brings him in and then nothing for a while. Lots of competition for places in that wide forward position: Mata, Martial, Sanchez, Rashford.
Agree with RR. I jumped on the bandwagon. Got me 0 points in last two games. I’m chasing in my league so had to go for a few punts!Bad move in hindsight. Looking to move him on now
I think Lingard will have his part to play but I can’t see him playing week in week out. You could argue that City players face similar rotation but with the City (attacking) players, more often than not you’re guaranteed a return when they do play. Not sure the same can be said about Lingard.
I ended up making a sacrifice yesterday to get Sterling into my team, by downgrading Doherty (who I wanted out anyway) for Odoi…. so, imagine my joy when my new 0.5m player scored!!
It’s a shame that Fulham didn’t keep a clean sheet, otherwise 18 points would have been on the cards and for a player of that price, it would have been HUGE. I’m just glad that he got me any points at all.
It has to be said, that going forward I’m not expecting anything but minus points from him (in spite of Fulham’s relatively easy fixtures). Anything from 0+ points, will be a bonus. He was put in purely as a dispensable strategic pawn that will be changed as soon as possible.
I believe that 0.5m is the lowest a player can go (please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) and given that he has scored a few points recently, he can only go up, right?
He’s good enough for the guy sitting in top spot Lee so why not. He also has Gündogan and he picked him up 11 points! He’s certainly thinking outside of the box.
Exactly Chris.
Would I choose Gündogan as a season long prospect…probably not, but given City’s fixtures at present, he’s a bargain at his price.
Although, I’d be a bit p*ssed if I had him after they awarded the star man at the final whistle to Otamendi! That’s a joke!! 4 assists and didn’t get star man!
The team in second has Clyne and Jesus in it as well. Maybe we all need to rethink our strategies?!
I thought I was fairly open to taking risks but these guys are the Mavericks of all Mavericks.
I think that Clyne has gone on loan to Bournemouth which would explain that particular move.
Personally, I’d want to see how he develops into the team before throwing him into the mix, especially seeing as Bournemouth are leaking goals for fun.
That move is a bit gun-ho for me. One man doesn’t necessarily mean that their defensive woes will stop.
The person in 2nd has had him in for a few weeks when TAA was out I believe.
Long time lurker on here and really enjoy the conversations/discussions you all have – definitely makes me reassess some of my decisions before I do them as well as egg me on to follow some through.
I have a quick query and could do with your views. I stupidly thought the additional EFL game was next week, and not this game week so missed the boat in bringing in Aguero (for Lacazette) in case he features against Burton. Now I’ve missed that one, he’ll only have one extra game so I’m slightly reconsidering transfers…which doesn’t normally go very well. Team is as below;
Ederson
Stones
Robertson
Lindelof
Hazard
Sterling
Mahrez
Maddison –> Pogba/Taylor (Bur)
Lacazette –> Rashford/Aguero
Kane
Salah
I would have shifted Mahrez but for their extra fixtures this month, so as you can see instead I’m trying to weigh up which pairing will get the most points this month. Pogba/Rashford or Aguero/Taylor (I have 8m to spend)? I always feel uncomfortable NOT having Aguero and only took him out due to his injury – that and Burnley’s fixtures aren’t awful for this month at least. However, Man Utd obviously looked to have turned a corner and don’t have bad fixtures except for their next game vs Spurs. I am torn as I just know Aguero at any point could grab a hatful.
Apologies for the ramble but appreciate any of your views!
I’d personally be tempted to go for the more premium striker option in Aguero or even Aubameyang. I also took Aguero out when he got injured and since then Aubameyang has taken over him in terms of total points on the board. As result for the time being I’m sticking with Aubameyang. Could you not make a similar move and then use whatever funds you’ve got left on the Maddison slot?
It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out for Rashford this month with the likes of Lukaku and Sánchez coming back. I’m personally pinning quite a lot on him this month and whilst I accept it’s a gamble, from the sound bites I’ve heard from OGS, I’m hoping he’ll still be one of the first names on the team sheet given his form. If his good form does indeed continue there is no reason why he can’t match the likes of Aguero and Aubameyang I reckon. At the price he’s at I’ve just found it too tempting to resist.
Thanks for both of your inputs – I’m still struggling with a decision but I am leaning towards Aguero just because every time City play I’m worrying he’s gonna bang in a hatful.
I had considered Auba but their fixtures aren’t as great as City’s so if I’m going to go for a premium striker it’d have to be Augero this month. Will have to just deal with a proper basic enabler in the form of Taylor/Bernard/Albrighton if so…which worries me a tad.
Do you not fancy Rashford DDT?
Chris, thanx for comment above, on Thursday lose Maddison & Lacazette, bring in Van dijk & Rashford, with January transfers wanted City & Utd offensive assets, so transferred in Rashford & Sane, also wanted another Liverpool defensive player, so acquired the linchpin, Van dijk, happy ish moving forward would of liked to double up on City midfield like yourself but not possible, taking a risk with no transfers left by Thursday, the ominous threat of De bruyne looms heavily, hope he doesn’t smash the rest of January.
Always glad to offer my two pence worth David. Sound like good, solid moves to me mate. 👍🏻
Just looked on whoscored and they reckon Fabinho starts as centre-back alongside Lovren tonight! Really????
They also reckon Alisson, Mane, Salah and Robbo will be rested too. That must mean no Liverpool players starting tonight for most of us if they are right. Has Fabinho played centre back before?
I can see Wolves having a decent chance of progressing tonight if that team prediction is correct.
Fabinho played quite a bit at right back for monaco last season, Dont think ive ever seen him play CB before but reports seem to think he will start there tonight.
Doherty benched as well. Literally zero representation tonight for my team (to start with at least anyhow). I suppose at least I can watch the game with realitive freedom (ie not hoping for a dour 0-0). 😉
Wolves deservedly through tonight. Liverpool were always going to run the risk of an upset with that line-up and so it proved. Poor first half from both teams (so much so that I nodded off and woke up just before the 2nd half).
Decent second half though with Neves and Jimenez the stand out players. Lovren off injured early on (hamstring?) which now begs the question who’s going to partner VVD. Looks like Fabinho may be playing there for a little longer until Matip, Gomez or indeed Lovren returns.
Really shocking show from Liverpool and Klopp if you ask me. He already has question marks over him with people saying he hasn’t and can’t win a trophy with them. Why would he field such a weakened side?
Looking at fixtures from now till next set of transfers, Man city have including league cup this Wednesday 7 fixtures compared to Liverpool’s 4, questioning whether it is going to be advantageous putting in Van dijk above Stirling or the rapidly improving De bruyne.
Option 1
Van dijk
Richarlison
Option 2
Maddison
De bruyne/Stirling
Interested in people’s thoughts.
With VVD having to partner an unknown quantity (in that position at least) in Fabinho, I guess that puts another question mark against that choice. Liverpool’s kind fixtures should hopefully help them overcome the injury crisis. I think Fabinho should fill in ok though from what I saw of him tonight. Down to the bear bones at centre half now it has to be said. The lad who replaced Lovren was only 16!
If you go down the City route, I think I’d still favour Sterling at this moment in time as he seems to be hitting top gear again. KDB is such a great player though he could easily start bringing in those huge hauls as well.
More pondering Chris, cheers.
I’ve read that Gomez and Matip are likely to be fit for this weekend, so I very much doubt that the 16 year old will get a starting run out in any prem games.
That will be a welcome boost for them then. That VVD/Gomez partnership was first class before Gomez got injured.
I didn’t for one minute think that the 16 year-old would be getting any game time in the league, just merely pointing out how light Liverpool are in that area to see him thrown on last night. The kid did ok to be fair, a few moments of inexperience as is to be expected but he didn’t look hugely out of place.
A few days out DDT asked me what percentage is the luck factor in fantasy football? I replied 20%.
What do you guys think?
Reckon I’d go for about 30% luck, 70% skill and judgement. Injuries can just obliterate all of your research and judgement in one fell swoop. I guess the same goes for real life managers too where luck is also a factor.
Although I’d say 10% Luck 90% judgement when it comes to real life managers.
Interesting topic on the luck factor.
Personally, I’d go even higher than that at something like 40-45% luck.
There are just so many variables that are out of our control. I am not just talking about injuries, but in today’s fast paced games, teams are much larger with more rotation than in the past.
Also, purple patches can sometimes be anticipated based on fixtures, but are never guaranteed! A player could be tired or have personal issues going on with their managers (Pogba) or at home.
Who would have predicted Son’s burst of life 6 six weeks ago? 100 points in 10 games compared to just 5 points from his opening 9 games of the season. You just cannot predict these peaks and troughs.
I know we all like to think that it’s 80% skill, but that’s just to brush our egos!! In my opinion, it’s nowhere near that! I’m happy to live with the fact this leaves a 55-60% skill factor.
Being a poker player, I can easily relate the two since poker can rely heavily on luck too. The skill comes in knowing the odds/probabilities, pot odds, implied odds, reading of body language (which makes on-line poker very hard) and knowing when to makes moves, but these attributes don’t make your game fool proof if you have a fool willing to call every hand.
I’d completely agree with Lee – anywhere between 40-50% for the same reasons he has given.
You a poker player as well DTT? I tend to relate fantasy football to Chess myself♟ In that you are using different pieces with certain attributes to outwit your opponent.
I’m not a poker player – well not on a regular basis but everything else Lee said I pretty much agree with.
So, we’re now past the half way point in the season so it’s always a good time to reflect. Two questions:
Who do you consider to be the bargain of the season so far in Dream Team?
Who do you consider to be the biggest flop considering their price so far this season?
My votes:
Best bargain so far – Doherty
Biggest flop – Sánchez
I wouldn’t argue with that.
Unfortunately for me, I was late the Doherty bandwagon and only benefited from about 30% of his points. Having now dumped him, that’s where it stops, but I may jump back on him at some point.
Bargain – can’t disagree with Doherty. I’d probably put Pereira in second place.
Flop – can’t disagree with Sanchez either but just to offer a different opinion – Keita. There was a lot of talk about him at the start of the season and he was a bargain price but he’s not picked up many points at all.
Anybody considered leaning towards Aurier of Spurs? He has been pretty awesome since his return from injury (44 points in 6 games), meanwhile Trippier has been pretty awful. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take Tripp’s place.
Spurs have a couple of tricky fixtures in Chelsea and Utd, but otherwise, have clean sheet possibilities until mid Feb.
At 2.9m, and with the goal threat he possesses, I’m considering putting him on my short list of potentials.
Both him and Trippier are always going to be rotated with each other though in the main. If Trippier was to pick an injury though, thus guaranteeing Aurier game time then I’d certainly consider him.
The only team that I find myself tolerating rotation is City, just because they can score so well when they do play.
After reading some of the recent comments from some great contributions recently, I’ve been having a think on how I can improve my strategy playing DT.
One area that I don’t think I’ve made the most of is finding opportunities when players get injured. It’s something that I’ve picked up on from some of the teams in the upper echelons of the standings. For example, say a premium defender (that you don’t own) gets injured for six weeks. The team he plays for have really great fixtures and his replacement is a fraction of the price. This could be an excellent short term move to enable you to potentially strengthen in other areas for those six weeks.
I wonder if this could be a weakness in my game as I tend to aim for the usual first teamers for the big teams. Whilst this tactic should work well overall, maybe the odd “left field” transfer could give you the edge? I’m certainly going to pay more attention to Ben Dinnery’s website and look where injured players can provide opportunity for those bargain replacements. Just a different way of unearthing those differentials.
That’s a great perspective Chris.
A key tactic I generally go for is tried and tested premier league players only. Who scored have there favourites, plus I feel it’s a gamble trying players like Keita at Liverpool when he has no experience in the Prem etc. Secondly, a key point is player pricing. If you can hold your transfers and pick players up when they are going on a long standing run of price increased e.g Doherty, Madderson, Hazard, Auba etc this season, come January you will be in the strongest position to succeed.
Lastly, another key area i focus on is looking for opportunities with players who have had a run of bad form but are from strong squads. Take Man City now as an example, they have kept very few clean sheets in the last few months, meaning the likes of ederson, Laporte etc have become more affordable than ever. Man City’s defensive stats believe it or not are still one of the strongest in the league and whilst the talk recently has been in Liverpool blocks, my next moves will be to bring in Ederson and perhaps Laporte so I covet 2 x Liverpool and 2 x Man City.
Discussions on styles and approaches are very helpful, key to male moves at the right times to do well in these competitions.
Excellent posts by Chris and Dan. I do enjoy discussions on strategy and how we can improve our game. These observations can really make us better players in the future. To be in the top regions of the standings, you have to do things different from many others – think outside the box.
My strategy this season has been looking mainly at the differential players. I tend to have gone targeted players with low ownership. Last season’s strategy was purely on increasing team value.
Taking opportunities when players get injured can be helpful. For example, when Mendy got the long term injury in November, there was an opportunity to bring in Sane as no other left back at City can offer the attacking threat of Mendy. So injury to Mendy greatly influenced Sane’s role. When Arnautovic got injured, I went for Anderson in my best team as he became West Ham’s talisman. Spotting these opportunities is a good skill to have.
I see that Mendy is due back towards the end of this month. Do we think this could impact Sane’s game time? With the form he’s shown of late it’ll be very difficult to begin to leave him out more often. And just think, Germany didn’t even take him to the World Cup!?
Ben Dinnery Tweet:
Pep confirms Benjamin Mendy (knee) will return before the end of the month. The Frenchman should be back in contention within 2-3 weeks. #MCFC
Regarding the point on the Man City defence.
I agree that it’s a good strategy to look at top teams/players who are on an unusually bad run in a bid to preempt them turning a corner, however it has to be said that the City defence seems to have gone way beyond what I would consider the norm in terms of peaks & troughs!
Back in September City kept 8 clean sheets in 9 games. A great run which you’d expect to end very soon, as no team can sustain that level of consistency. Sure enough, they then leaked the odd goal here and there, but those with City defenders weren’t threating at this point since it was expected, however…..
3 games later (no sheets) – People were getting anxious as they was starting to lose ground.
Game 4 – A clean sheet against WHU… JOY… they are back in track. Faith has been reinstalled…..
6 games later (1 sheet) – People were getting frustrated because the Liverpool blocks were causing a lot of damage
9 games later (1 sheet) – Most people (including myself) had lost patience by this point and decided to lose their City defenders for Liverpool defenders, in spite of knowing that a change is on the cards soon… or is it?…
12 games later (1 sheet) – This for me is the tipping point where probability goes out of the window. There is clearly an underlying issue since teams like City do go 12 games without a sheet when their opposition has been teams such as Bournemouth, Watford, Palace, Leicester & Southampton
14 games later – At last… a clean sheet (although it was only against Rotherham), although most people’s last remaining City player, Laporte, typically wasn’t playing.
With this in mind, I can totally understand why people are now swaying towards the City defence since they are SURELY going to kick on with some sheets now, especially with the return of KDB…. aren’t they? Well, I thought this 2 months ago and it never happened, so whilst I’m keeping Laporte for now, I’m still not holding my breath!..
Meant to say…
**teams like City do NOT go 12 games without a sheet
Watch them concede to Burton Albion tonight……
Listening to FFS Scoutcast. Seems to be a whisper that Morata may be on his way to Seville paving the way for Callum Wilson to join Chelsea. 🤔
Hi all,
I need help on a query I have on the game rules if anyone knows:
Will a players value change in a week if they do not play at all?
I want to put Pogba in, and his price will increase for a bit I would have thought with recent point hauls. He is potentially injured though so may be wise to wait to see teams or hear more.
If I pend it though, then I could potentially save 0.1m on Pogba’s value if it changes, but for some reason I seem to think that players prices don’t change if they do not play at all in the week?
Complicating matters further, I would be swapping him for Declan Rice. Now he went down 0.1m last week, but scored 8 points this week, so really anything could happen to his price this week (I think that first game under Ole untied had, Pogba scored about 20 points and then went down in price the following Friday). I know the price changes seem to be for over a period of games and based on their value and expected points, but it seems pretty much impossible to predict them sometimes.
Don’t really want to miss out on potentially 0.2m if I can help it!
Any advice welcomed.
Chris
There is no move in player prices when not taking part in a game week. Pogba will stay at 5.2 but will rise once back playing.
Hi Allan,
Thanks very much for confirming.
Fingers crossed Declan Rice goes up now then! 🤣
Chris
Again no laporte ? He must be injured, he’s becoming an expensive burden , actually thinking of doing the unthinkable and all 3 transfers this week – laporte, Doherty and maddison out for alderweild, Lindelof and B Silva. I accept it might he in a fit of rage after missing out on more points but getting sick of city defence rotation, nearly as bad as the midfield rotation now.
Pep: “Almost everybody is fit so I make a selection to give players minutes who need them.”
Mendy could be back in 2-3 weeks. Aguero (illness) should be okay to face Wolves. No word on Kompany (injury). (Ben Dinnery’s tweet).
Doesn’t sound like an injury, just rotation as you say. Pep is always going to rotate heavily for cup games when involved in all competitions still. That’s the beauty of having a squad so deep in quality. I’m sure Laporte will be back in his starting berth over the coming weeks.
Making decisions on tilt is never a great idea ajf. Its cost me a few times already, although saying that I transfered out Laporte already!
Anyone lucky to have Jesus and/or Mahrez tonight? Guy in my ML had both so he’s made real headway tonight. Watched most of the game and it was just a procession. Muric or any of the defence for that matter barely had a thing to do.
Jesus took his goals well and he impressed me enough to be wary of going for Aguero in the short term with the now increasing chance of rotation with Jesus (now that he’s found his form). That being said, I get the feeling City are going to steam roller some teams in the coming weeks so whoever plays, whether it be Jesus or Aguero, they could be in for some monster hauls.
KDB – although playing well enough, you can tell he’s still not at full throttle just yet.
I have Mahrez and he was star man as the game finished (I don’t know how with Jesus getting 4 goals) but i was very happy with the extra 5 points until i checked again and it was handed back to Jesus. Both got the same rating but can’t argue with him getting it.
Got me thinking if it would be wise to keep Mahrez for this month with the extra cup games City have and save me transferring him to Sane.
I brought Jesus over the weekend, seemed a good differential (8.1%) ownership with two great fixtures in the cups. Made some major jump in my mini league, my rivals never saw that move coming. Not sure, I should keep Jesus though, might bring in Aguero for the other city games.
Well played that man! 👏
A huge score like that from a single player can propel you up those standings. You saw an opportunity with the cup games, took a gamble, and boy did it pay off. 👍🏻
As you say, probably not a long term option but worth owning for the month of January, even if he blanks from now on until February.
Cheers Chris, team doing well now on 1345 points.
We tend to operate in safe mood. We like to be in our comfort zone rather push the boundaries. I think we need to be more adventurous and think outside the box. otherwise we will continue to miss these kind of opportunities. Forget high owned players, differentials is the niche market we should invest in.
Obviously I congratulate you on the hall of points gained from Jesus and for having the guts to take a punt on him but for me it was too much of a risk and it still wouldn’t make me change the way I play. I don’t think forgetting the highly owned players is the way to go – after all these are the ones with the biggest points on the board and that’s what matters. Jesus hasn’t done well this season so it wasn’t a certainty that he would do so well last night – also Aguero was ill and I think he may have started if he wasn’t. It could have easily gone the other way and you’re stuck with a player who has shown little potential to score points on a regular basis. Also there’s less risk involved – Hazard’s Cardiff hat trick cost me about 8,000 places on the leader board. I think Jesus cost me about 500-1,000.
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I initially saw Mahrez get it. He didn’t even play that well believe it or not as he kept getting caught offside numerous times. I do like him though and as you say, maybe worth holding onto this month with the cup games as I’m sure he’ll see more minutes than perhaps he normally would.
What’s the thoughts on this plan of action. City of course having the ‘best Jan’ fixtures.
Kepa to Ederson
Doherty
Laporte
TTA
Hazard
Brooks to Redmond (my wild card player)
B silva (I could change either to Sane)
D silva
Auba
Salah
Kane (don’t plan on changing the strikers.
Thoughts or ideas? No one owns Sane in my league
Redmond was one I was looking at also cheap Southampton got really easy fixtures also got the fa Cup replay v derby at home they have improved with the new manager could b a good enabler/differential! Obviously it’s a gamble but could well pay off!
Going back to the FFS Scoutcast I referred to earlier, they also had a discussion on whether Redmond was a viable option. They all pretty much said avoid, as his stats are very poor considering the alternatives out there. I’ve not looked into them myself but thought I’d share what people a lot more qualified than myself when it comes to Fantasy Football, are saying.
You never know though, they sometimes get things wrong he could be one of those hidden gems. 🤔
Exactly, he could have a decent rest of Jan and for me that gives me the whole selection of two players I can pick for the rest of Jan, potentially for this month or going into Feb. I’m looking at City but it’s a lottery with who you pick.
Also anyone know why Laporte was overlooked in both Cup games?
Not injured, just giving other players a run out according to Pep. He’ll be back at the weekend I’m sure.
With my situation it’s a toss up between Brooks or Redmond. Southamptons fixtures are not to bad and they are going to need all the points they can collect. He’s been playing in a more advanced role lately aswel.
Well last night’s game completely pissed on my fireworks!! Guys down in 4th, 5th and 6th had Jesus, so they have propelled up the league and eaten the lead I had on them!!
43 points in 2 games is ridiculous and there’s point jumping on him now because the horse has bolted and he’s likely to be rotated.
I’d be interested to know who they planned on fielding against Burnley in the FA Cup and then Burton in the return leg?
After this weekend, City have 3 games in the following game week to Liverpool’s 1. I’m not sure if it’s worth losing Salah for Aguero or Jesus, since we don’t know who will play?….
With the first leg lead being so astronomical, he could well field a lot of kids in the return leg to give them a run out with the odd experienced pro in there. It is and will always be a complete Lottery when it comes to Pep though.
You’d like to think so. It would be crazy to risk any first team players in a game like this which is dead in the water.
It’s funny because replacing Salah or Aubamayang with Jesus was never on my mind (in spite of the extra games), yet I still kick myself for not doing it!! ha ha!!…
Hindsight is a bitch ain’t it? 😂
at 2.8m is nobody else thinking about rashford?
I am, he’s in as of Thursday in place of Lacazette (which this helped me find Ryan to Ederson). This is one of those transfers that excites me because it’s loaded with possibilities. Rashford has the potential under OGS to do great things in this second half of the season and he really seems up for the challenge. I know the likes of Kaku and Sánchez are knocking on the door again, but I just have one of those gut feelings about this one. Really hope it turns out well because he is one hell of a player on his day and at that price I simply couldn’t say no.
Sorry, as of Friday.
exactly the same move for me at the same time for the same reasons, lets hope.
I could be wrong here and happily will be proved wrong when the points flow in over the coming weeks for you all, but I believe Rashford will ply less centrally over the coming weeks and I think his good form recently has come against not the best opposition, so this is smoke screening united sonewhat….
Good luck with the moves and may rashford bring you plenty of points!!
Went from 38pts from the top in my ml, to 70 behind, double swoop this weekend, Richarlison & Lacazette out, Stirling & Rashford in, initially wanted an extra Liverpool defender in, but feel it will be more beneficial to double up on City midfielders, agree with Chris, they could really do some damage this month, I think Sane & Stirling are the safer bets & the way forward.
Both good moves in my book David. Hopefully they pay off for you. 👍🏻
Interested to hear people’s thoughts on my last sub?….
0.7m in the bank
Alisson
Robertson
Laporte
Odoi
Hazard
Sterling
Sane
Anderson
Salah
Aubamayang
Kane
Part of me wonders whether it’s worth risking Salah or Auba for a differential such as Rashford, which will give me loads of funds to upgrade Anderson and Odoi in February.
It’s a tough call as those two are on form. I’ll be swapping Lacazette out for Rashford but I think I’m more justified in doing so given that he’s failing to nail a starting berth week in week out. Kind of a different situation with Aubameyang.
That being said, I honestly believe Rashford has the potential to match Aubameyang this month so if it were me I think I’d be going for it and then look at the upgrades you mention next month. I’d be tempted to leave it this week though with United playing Spurs at Wembley and Arsenal playing West Ham.
I’ve made my switch though because I wanted Ederson in as well and this move helped fund it.
Good luck Lee.
Cheers Chris.
Yeh, I don’t plan on making any changes this week, but I’m certainly leaning towards taking a gamble of some kind because it could make my midfield and defence very strong.
After last night, I desperately need Salah and Auba to produce something spectacular this weekend….. I’m talking 30-40 points between them and I can’t see that happening! :/
Marcus Rashford has been told he is United’s first choice striker ahead of Romelu Lukaku according to the Daily Star. #MUFC
😎
I don’t really trust newspapers, only sources I trust is Sky Sports news and BBC. Big call to leave Lukaku on the bench. Probably see Lukaku as striker and Rashford on left on right of attack.
Took the plunge and added a 2nd Man City midfielder ready for the upcoming nice fixtures. Hoping my team has a more rounded look about it . Lost doherty ( who has served me well but not sure how much more he can rise ) & maddison . Now with 1 transfer left and zero in the bank my team is
Kepa
Robertson
Laporte
Lindelof
Sane
Hazard
Pogba
B Silva
Auba
Kane
Salah
Hope it works out, any thoughts
Obviously you have to expect some rotation with B.Silva but you can pretty much say that about every single City player now! He’s not the sort to post explosive scores but he’s consistently chugged along all season picking up points on a regular basis. I suppose if you were thinking of losing Doherty, now would be the time to do it as the mood City are in right now, it could be a high scoring game. Wolves are no mugs though so it should be an interesting game.
Looks a strong team AJF. 👍🏻
Thanks Chris, I just feel optimistic about man Utd and aside from the man city game I am not sure how much more Doherty can squeeze out , B Silva scores and assists and regularly at least 5 points a game which is more than maddison and with the extra games could outside both maddison and Doherty. Hopefully I’m right, thanks for your comments
I am considering similar changes which would result in an identical team. For me it would be Doherty and Richarlison out for Lindelof and BSilva.
This also leaves me with funds to make a Laporte to VVD swap if I needed to, but you have to feel that Laporte will start picking points up now….surely?
Has anyone considered Pereira? Been looking on whoscored and his stats are quite impressive. Leicester have been playing him in an advanced winger role to.
A great alternative to Doherty imo. Word of warning though, fixtures get rather sticky after this weekend whereas Wolves’s fixtures improve dramatically. Leicester being out of the Cup goes against him as well.
Well that was a pretty awful game week for me ha ha. Lost a bit of ground at the top but hey ho, that’s how it goes. Laporte dropped for two games and Man City bag two clean sheets 😂😂
At the start of the week I wanted more Man City rep but bottled making the Doherty to Schlupp/Lindelof transfer in order to upgrade to give me the funds. Pretty annoying but not going to kick myself as I’d have only opted for B Silva or Mahrez. Never even considered Jesus.
Will evaluate potential transfers for the weekend tomorrow.
Evening all,
I’ve been really enjoying the in-depth strategy discussions that a lot of people have been having recently and with this being my second season following the last two months have been a real eye-opener! I’m after a bit of guidance in getting rid of Willian before he drops and I have two transfers left.
I’m half tempted to keep him in this week as they play Newcastle and then transfer him out along with another Chelsea defender to maybe D Sanchez and Erikson Or city defender and Mahrez/Jesus until end of January but that leaves me Very City heavy.
Or Willian/Laca for Rashford/Hazard or Erikson/Pogba or maybe just Willian?
Or as I write this I’m thinking to sit on my hands for another week as there are extra cup games and take the hit with the drop.
Kepa
Laporte
Luis
Alderweirld
Azpilcueta
B.Silva
Sterling
Willian
Aguero
Salah
Lacazette
1.9 INB
Thanks in advance and I appreciate anything Feedback
@Cefnstar , i did Pogba for Willian. Willian did well in the opening weeks but has cooled down now. Wanted to do it last week but Pogba wasn`t playing and Willian had an extra game in the Carabao but still failed to register any points. So changing for this saturday.
Willian has been average at best over the past few week so I think you’re right to look elsewhere.
Whilst I imagine those theee defensive assets have paid dividends over the past few weeks, I’d be looking to offload one as fixtures become a little more tricky.
I’ve also offloaded Lacazette for Rashford. A great choice imo if you want to raise extra funds.
@Kurbs, that’s the exact same reason why I didn’t make the change last week.
I’ve been hoping he would bag a goal or a few assists with Chelsea not playing a recognised striker on occasions but he seems to be playing a deeper role since Hazard came back from injury. Even Kante is getting more forward than him these days.
Hopefully holding on to this last transfer for next week will pay off for the extra games.
Just going back to the topic of finding weaknesses in our DT strategy, another I’ve identified in myself is being able to predict the price changes and also getting the timing of my transfers correct to maximise value.
This week for instance, I swapped out Lacazette for Rashford before the price changes. Lacazette dropped in value whilst Rashford’s has risen – RESULT!
However, my other transfer of Ryan to Ederson was also done before the value changes and I’ve got this one wrong. I should have predicted that although Ederson had a CS to his name this week, considering the weeks gone by when they’ve been conceding, there was a high likelihood that his price would drop, and so it came to pass (I think RR alluded to it previously but it failed to register with me). I therefor should have held this transfer back until today (or the weekend) to then be able to pick him up for £3.9m rather than the £4m that I did pay.
Small margins I know, but through the course of a season these can make the difference.
Happy with the look of my team now with plenty of teams covered involved in Europe for when those games roll around again.
Ederson
Doherty VVD Laporte Robertson
Sterling Hazard Sane
Rashford Kane Salah
0 transfers left
£0.6m itb
Great team Chris, lovely balance to it – apart from doherty all involved in europe. Very good team. some similarities to mine – kepa, robertson, Lindelof & Laporte – Hazard, sane, B Silva, Pogba – Kane, Auba, Salah. 1 transfer left but 0 in bank. Possibly looking at last transfer being raising some cash by either Kepa to Ederson/De Gea & then early Feb Laporte to VVD or Luiz maybe.
@Sutton_Chris Yes couldn’t agree more with that . The first few weeks of the season i deliberately used transfers just to gain monetary advantage with lesser players like Fraser, Etheridge, Henessey, etc. I caught on to Doherty quite late. That advantage has helped in being 2nd of my Work Mini League with every chance of overtaking in the coming weeks.
Chris, I made the exact same changes but i managed to anticipate Ederson’s value dropping whilst i knew Ryan’s would hold due to him not playing. Happy days. The Laca to Rashford was a no brainer, happy we managed to save some cash here.
Hi Chris,
Yes, Ederson will continue dropping in value until he gets a run of points from 2 or 3 consecutive games. I can see Ederson dropping down to 3.6 or 3.7 before potentially rising again.
It’s even worse for Laporte!! He is -2 points from his last 9 games!! I can see him dropping from 4.5 down to at least 4.0 or 4.1 before potentially rising again.
Thanks for all your comments chaps. Brilliant stuff.
I guess it was always going to be a bit of a learning curve for me this season with it being my first ever go at playing Fantasy Football. I’d just love to know what the equation is for calculating the player value swings. Is it purely based on points per minutes played over a certain period or could it be more complex?
And there is the million dollar question….
Unfortunately, it’s way more complex and most of us aren’t even convinced that there is a specific formula as opposed to some guy randomly saying yay or nay!
That said, after a while (a season or two) you do get a rough idea of which way it will swing which is usually right 80% of the time if you take the points from their last 6 games and their current price into consideration.
Cheers Lee. 👍🏻 As you say my City defensive assists could fall further then before they rise. Not too despondent with that as I’m happy to keep them long term as long as they begin to get clean sheets again (which I’m confident they will do now more often).
Regarding player value very tricky and complex how it’s calculated there’s a few people on Fiso sun dream team forum who have looked into it and come up with some conclusions! It is worth a read but I think a lot depends on the actual value of the player obviously higher priced expected to score a lot of points (penalised if not) where u have lower priced players whose prices keep rising! There’s a couple of good comparisons think Ederson v Allison
Kane v salah
Worth having a look google fiso sun dream team various forums discussions in there lot of opinions!
Thanks Gurdip.
Yes, that was evident by the amount that Salah dropped earlier in the season! He’d drop every week for scoring 8 or 13 points!! It took a hatrick before they boosted his value and started raising his price again.
Hope you’re right about the City clean sheets Chris. I could do with some points from Laporte.
Have a good weekend peeps.