Review of Game Week 26

GW Points: 69
Overall Points: 1539
Overall Rank: 43,634
Transfers: None used

Game week 26 was another fairly solid performance from the team, if I were higher up on the leaderboard I’d be happy with 69 points but because I’m still playing catch up it’s not enough to make a significant jump. Overall the team performed well, the backline in particular with a defensive Liverpool and City double up has worked very well during February. I’m not sure I’ll move away from that system just yet as we move into March, although Chelsea are keeping a high number of clean sheets at the moment and do have good fixtures for the month ahead. It also looks like Dias has picked up an injury so he will need to come out either way. I think my main problem at the moment is in attacking positions so I’ll focus on that instead. Ronaldo in particular is overdue to come out and now seems like the right time. I gave him another month as Man Utd as a whole had good fixtures and I still failed to get a decent return in terms of points on the board. Their fixtures now become more difficult and I can’t hold out forever hoping for a big score. Kane is hard to ignore but again he either scores nothing or a fairly big score which raises questions around consistency. However, I’ll cover this in more detail below.

Positives:

Happy with 5 points from De Gea given how few clean sheets Man Utd keep.

8 points each for Robertson and Matip was a decent result in a tough fixture.

Delighted to see Cancelo and Dias play in both the league and FA cup fixtures. Double figure scores for both of them was a great result this week and I’m glad I went with Cancelo over De Bruyne.

Another 8 points for Maddison

Potential issues

Ronaldo will need to come out, as Man Utd have bad fixtures and he’s not been returning enough points for a long time. It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes on a run of form after I make this move but I’ve decided I’m doing it. The players I’m considering bringing in are Kane, Mane, Jota and Son. It’s very tempting to say Lukaku as well but having owned him twice this season he’s done very little for me so can’t imagine he’s going to save my season now but stranger things have happened. 

Dias will need to come out, I’m undecided if I want to swap him for another City defender or go for someone like Rudiger. Chelsea do have great fixtures so it’s tempting to have at least some coverage for their clean sheets. 

Sterling has been in my team for two game weeks and delivered nothing so far. Very frustrating but I may need to take a look at my midfield as a whole and bring in a third striker as I need a player who is going to make a big impact on a game with the potential for a really high score. Ideally with lowish ownership, otherwise I’ll never climb the leaderboard. 

Tips for Game Week 27

We’ve hit the start of March and have a fresh batch of transfers at our disposal. I’ll certainly be making some early changes but nothing too drastic. As I’ve mentioned above, Ronaldo will come out and it’s a question of whether I go for the obvious choice in Kane or a slight differential with Son or Mane. It’s never straightforward with Spurs as they go from Man City to getting knocked out of the FA Cup despite fielding a strong team. As mentioned above, I also need to take out Dias. Chelsea’s fixtures do look difficult to resist, and Rudiger would be an obvious one to come in. I’m personally going to give this one more thought and will make a decision tomorrow. The key at this stage of the season is knowing how much you need to take a risk. If you’re comfortable at the top of your mini leagues, I’d personally be playing it safe and keeping a few transfers back to hold off people below. If you’re playing catch up like me, you’ll need to take a riskier approach.

When looking at the fixtures, Leicester and West Ham have a good number of fixtures, but some are potentially quite tricky. Chelsea have the easiest fixtures and a lot of them. City also have a fairly decent run during the month. The team I’d be avoiding is Man Utd, as their fixtures are terrible for the whole month. As always, check out the fixtures for March below: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vAtgJN53MKh-u007SOFmPKu8lwbyD7eYVlB1-CLm0qo/