GW Points: 115
Overall Points: 2,065
Overall Rank: 1,000
Transfers: Schmeichel out, Mendy in
Foden out, Mount in (at the end of the game week)
Aubameyang out, Salah in (at the end of the game week)
Game week 27 was another half decent game week. I was expecting to take a hit on the leaderboard as I only used one transfer and didn’t make a move for Salah at the start of the week. I just didn’t feel comfortable rushing into three transfers over the course of a long month. Luckily it didn’t pan out too badly, however I would have been better off making the changes. As a result, I decided to make some transfers at the end of the game week. I bought Mount and Salah in for Foden and Aubameyang. Foden did well this week and only made way to create the funds for bringing Salah back in. Overall I’m still still with the performance of the team over the course of the season and I’ve consistently hovered around the 1,000 mark of the leaderboard, which isn’t a bad result at all. I’d obviously be delighted to make the top 1,000, however it doesn’t really matter too much to me where I finish. I don’t tend to aim for a really high finish, I prefer to consistently perform reasonably well with one team rather than having 10 teams and taking risks to get a high finish.
Positives:
After a disastrous start it was good to see Mendy bounce back with a star man performance in the Champions League.
It was good to see Maguire pick up another 10 points, not ideal that he will miss the second leg of the Europa League though.
De Bruyne, Fernandes and Foden all picked up double figure points.
Kane and Rashford also picked up double figure points.
Potential Issues:
For me Aubameyang was an issue, only 2 points across two fixtures isn’t a good return for a striker position. I felt like this had to be addressed quickly and the only person I wanted in was Salah. As a result, I made this move at the end of the game week before prices changed.
The only real problem I’m left with at the moment is Moura. He did well for me during the first couple of weeks but with Spurs out of the Europa League it’s time to move him on. The problem I have is that I have no funds in the bank and no ideal replacement at 3.1m or less. As a result, I may be stuck with him for the time being. If it was closer to the end of the month, I’d probably take Maguire out for a Chelsea defender and use the funds to upgrade Moura but I’m not using all of my subs with so many fixtures still to play in the month.
Tips for Game Week 28
As always it’s worth keeping an eye on the fixtures, using the link below. Despite bringing in Salah it’s also worth noting that Liverpool may well crash out of the Champions League. This will leave them with less fixtures for the rest of the season. I’d also be avoiding bringing in any Spurs players with no Europa League fixtures and a game against Man Utd at the weekend. Chelsea still look like the team with the best fixtures, followed by Arsenal. However, I’m not entirely sure I trust Arsenal to put in consistent performances against anyone at the moment.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8-J8t2NKmHWDepR-Sf4Dqbd7oo7KcCkzR3ij4Fi3FU/
What Chelsea defender would you consider Paul?
One of the cheaper ones. Probably Chilwell
Reece James would be the best pick due to being on set pieces and he’s very attacking. Only thing is he gets rotated quite alot. Azpillicuata is the safest option though.
It’s just the price tag that puts me off Azpilicueta. Desperate to get Moura out as well
For me Christensen is the no brainer. He has been playing regularly, ok he was dropped weekend, but so was mount after the internationals. Cheap as chips as well.
I went for chilwell in the end 🙈😂😂
Transfers are precious even more so at this point in the season, so making the right decisions becomes more important, not necessarily selecting the best player in a particular position, but maybe picking a player to nullify a close rival, trying to get players in who are invariably going to play most games not every other game is key, but as always the Man city lineup causes problems, I took out Cancelo last week for this reason, 2 games later, Cancelo 3pts, Salah who I transferred in 16pts, even if Madrid knock out Liverpool, Liverpool trying to get top 4, & Salah competing for the golden boot, unless he gets injured he stays in the team for remainder of season, thinking Aubamayang will start this weekend, & you would think away to Prague on Thursday, as they need goals, going to give him another week, then the template upfront will probably be, Kane, Salah, Rashford, Maguire to Wan bissaka, could be a good move only about 25pts between them, but a saving of 1.3 million.
I’m tempted to move Cancelo on as well just to free up funds. The problem is he’s always a contender for star man
First time poster just want to say thanks Paul and all on site for getting me to my highest position ever by some distance. I logged on here early last Friday morning having forgotten I still had 3 of last months transfers to use up. Thanks to you guys I managed to shift out stupid punts Bale and Giroud for Salah and Jota in the nick of time. Up to 137th in world now 😲
Maguires been absolutely brilliant for me but he’s going today for a Chelsea def when the team sheets come out. No idea which one yet. If only Alonso was nailed…
No problem at all and always good to see a first time poster. 137th is a fantastic position to be in. How many points are you off top spot?
Oh yeah, and how do I get on the WhatsApp thing?
Thanks again.
Cheers.
Phil
You can join the WhatsApp group using this link https://chat.whatsapp.com/DMrmUDHns8CII21Re9sJ6o
Well done Paul, keep up the good work.
Agree with the consensus, transfers are precious especially as this is a long month.
I’ve only used one so far at outset which was to bring in Salah for Bale which has worked out great but whisperings he may be rested against Villa… tempting to sub him out for Rashford if so as Pool could drop out of the Champions League but will probably hold as he could still come on a score a brace… remember Palace people!?
Maguire is my main focus today… he misses the 2nd leg v Grenada through suspension and also plays spurs this weekend and could concede… I don’t have any Chelsea defenders so could be tempted to switch him to one of them. James or Chilwell top of my wish list there if so. AWB also an option as he’s not suspended like Maguire (and Shaw) but again Spurs could score and a weakened Utd could also concede midweek.
Other than that my team is in great shape, 4 transfers in the bank and sitting 278 overall which I’m over the moon about!
P.s. Enjoyed the Int break to switch off for once! Good luck all!
Must admit I did enjoy the break as well. 278th is a great position to be in. I don’t think I’ve ever been that high up in about 5 years of playing the game. Did you make any changes for the weekend?
Thanks, really happy with how my season is going tbf. Yes, I did do Maguire to Chilwell in the end for the reasons above and freed up £1m in the process. Hopefully Chilwell plays again & delivers v Porto as only 1 point better off so far… I still have 3 transfers left to play with and ideally want Maguire back in but now who for is the problem!
P.s. I may wait another week though as Utd don’t have a DGW next week whereas most others do.
So I need to take out Maguire to be able to get Mount in, but I’m torn between Bissika or Chilwell. Who would you guys pick?
I’d say depends on who your other defenders and GK are…
I’ve got Schmeichel, Walker and Dias. I can take out one of the man city defenders instead but would then have to go with Shaw to be able to afford mount
I don’t think Shaw is too bad an option. Think he goes miss the second leg of the Europa League game this week though.
Great points there by David above. Transfers are precious but I am looking to use them in an aggressive manner – take the game to my opponent. At the start of the month, I went heavy with three Chelsea defenders – not a good start vs WBA but I saw them having the best defence, cheaper and better fixtures than Man City. They also have less ownership than city defensive assets so can be a good sword to push up rankings. My overall aim is to finish as high as I can (not looking at a top 1k as it won’t help me win mini leagues, people are getting quite good at this game now) got to aim for 500, 250 or even top 100. Whilst I am doing my own thing, I am becoming more aware of my surroundings. Until recently, I didn’t look at my mini league teams (the only teams I paid attention is DTT team of course, online friends who are not in my paid mini leagues like Chris Martin – I miss that guy here, a very good scout and like his playing style, good balance of safety and attack and current number 1 – Andrew Ferguson even then it is a passing interest as I spend most of my time on my team and how I can improve it). Now as David suggests tactical thinking plays a bigger role in player selection.
One question I usually ask is can holding transfers back to get a head start for the following month be more effective than using them all earlier in the month? I don’t know the perfect answer to this. Both methods have their pros and cons. TFF players are described as hares or tortoises – hares use their transfers early to lead the race whereas tortoises wait and then when hares run out of transfers, the tortoises look to overtake. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s doesn’t as the mountain is too high to climb. We have a similar approach here in this game, hares use their transfers quickly sometimes chasing the latest bandwagon who scored 20 points last week or fixing errors, weaknesses and injuries from the previous month. Tortoises wait, gather more information, injuries are not a problem for them. Myself I am more of a hare in the sun game (different approach in TFF where I am a tortoise) Why? I like to be aggressive, I like to attack the fixtures so I get the points aboard rather than let points sail past (at this late stage point scoring decreases as every game passes and points are gold and transfers are gold dust). Take my strategy in January, it was a long month but I didn’t hesitate in using transfers quickly to move onto Man City defensive assets even though it left me vulnerable to injuries as I had to carry an injured KDB for two weeks. The points on board after Man City kept clean sheet after clean sheet made it worth it (adopted similar strategy now with Chelsea defence). Also I find it easier to generate high team value if I use transfers earlier in the month. For example, I brought Christensen for 2.2m at the start of March, by the end of the month he was 3.1m and now 3.5m and he looks like he could be 4m plus by May. High team value makes it easier to bring quality players that are usually at a higher price and leave money in the bank. My team value for my best three teams range from 58.5-60m and all have 1m in the bank so I have some leeway in bringing players in a straight swap if needed. Sometimes it works the other way for me, keeping transfers back in March allowed me to bring in Salah and Mount in advance for their 16 points this week. Hesitation can be costly. It may be a case of striking the right balance – utilise or hold transfers.
Another strategy I am using in the latter part of the season is trying to retain/bring players with explosive potential. Known as upside chasing, it is targeting players that score heavily in a short period of time. This is a group where a bunch of Man City attackers belong to. Players like Jesus, Sterling and Aguero (seen in FPL as differential captain material) belong in this category and heavily seen as differentials who
may be targeted for the Leeds game today irrespective of them not playing in midweek. Safer explosive efforts can be Foden and Mahrez. I did the move from Gundogan to Mahrez. Nothing wrong with Gundogan who is consistent but I just felt Mahrez has the greater capacity to score heavily as he scored hat trick earlier in the season. He should have at least goals vs Leicester last week. Right now Pep said Sterling can’t get in the team as the form of Mahrez and Foden makes it difficult to drop them. I would look at having two City attackers in teams so I have gone for KDB and Mahrez but it is feasible I feel to have them along with Foden in a 4 man midfield along with Bruno.
Useful analysis, there doesn’t look like too much between us in the Dream Team Tips mini league again this year. Interesting because we approach the game so differently at times. Where’s your best team currently sitting?
Best team sitting 25th overall before Arsenal game, second best team at 223 and the DTT mini league team at 642. Only a very small gap between us in the league = 16 points. Be interesting if you can overtake me (nice bit of motivation for both – a friendly rivalry). My DTT team looks decent with Mendy, Cancelo, James, Azpilicueta, Bruno, KdB, Mahrez, Mount, Kane, Salah and Aubamenyang. Two transfers left, 1.0m in the bank.
Reason for Aubamayang not playing today, illness, I think not, he only came on as a sub against Prague, team captain highest paid player at club, he was sulking, something going on behind the scenes, 5mins before kick-off took him out, put Laccazette in, nice 18pts, & has to play Thursday, transferred used, but on this occasion paid off.
Great move David. I need to replace Aubamenyang myself, Rashford looks the most appealing to me as Utd have got good games ahead and look to progress to Europa league but unsure about Arsenal can make it to the semis.
Going back to my theory of upside chasing above, I talked about Man City assets. So it was no surprise to see that my mini league chasers bring in Sterling and the team in fourth brought both Sterling and Jesus on Saturday morning. The team in fourth is 100 points behind and has used all April transfers on rotating strikers going through the likes of Jota, Cavani, Werner (had all last week) and now the Man City duo. The further behind you are, the more risks you have to play. I always find interesting (and providing learning opportunities) when I see people employ different strategies to suit their circumstances. I was about to follow suit but I was concerned about the Man City creativity with KDB, Foden, Gundogan and Mahrez left on the bench. I will surprised if those moves were not one week punts as they meet Chelsea next and Pep this season prefers to play a false number 9. Still they are dangerous players not to own.
Talking strikers next gw double week for some. Now considering Iheanacho, has some very nice fixtures until the end of April. Just gutted I waited again to bring him in with another brace. Could just be a good patch of form?
I went with Jota this week, purely for his form and double gw. He may even get rotated out for the Real Madrid game.
Son possibly another one to look at for Spurs double gw.