Review of Game Week 30

GW Points: 62
Overall Points: 1,749
Overall Rank: 59,175
Transfers: Bowen out, Mount in

Game week 30 was another massively frustrating week, despite some players performing well, the team remained in roughly the same position on the overall leaderboard. More annoying was that I’d read Bowen probably wasn’t fit to start for West Ham at the weekend and he had also been out of form, so I took him out. He then went on to score twice across two fixtures during the game week. Mount, of course, ended up scoring nothing across two games. At this stage, I’ve got very little to lose and I’m half tempted to simply take out anyone who isn’t left in Europe and bring in a split of Man City and Liverpool players – more on that idea below. 

Positives:

Double figure points for both Cancelo and Roberton. Looking at Robertson’s value now, I definitely bought him in at the right time as he’s been in great form since. 

12 points for Sterling was a good result, considering I had plans to take him out.

5 points for Maddison was OK.

A goal for Mane was a welcome return after a fairly quiet patch for him.

Potential issues

My main issue is that most of the teams above me are likely to remain stable and have very similar players. Trying to catch up at this stage in the season is a lottery as I would need to take a punt on players who traditionally don’t score overly well and hope for an explosive return. The chances are that the same names will keep scoring points though and I’d likely fall further behind. In terms of individual players, if Chelsea were to crash out of the Champions League, I’d want to remove Rudiger and Mount. If I could free up enough funds, I’d also like to replace De Gea. 

Tips for Game Week 31

Looking at my team, I’m tempted by a knee jerk reaction by making four changes this weekend. Taking out De Gea, Mount, Rudiger, and Kane and bringing in four Man City/Liverpool players. They are the two teams who will have more to play for towards the end of the season as they both look likely to progress in the Champions League. It’s looking like Chelsea are out so their players are less desirable. At the same time, I’m slightly torn on this with Man City and Liverpool playing each other at the weekend so I may hold off doing anything too radical until we see what happens in those remaining European fixtures. It would also be useful to know if Leicester and West Ham progress. Chelsea have a decent Premier League fixture this weekend and have a lot to play for in the Champions League so I think it’s worth holding onto Mount and Rudiger for now. If you’re having a much better season than I’m having, we are probably approaching that stage in the season where if you’re top of your mini league and want to stay there, it’s worth looking at what the chasing pack below you are doing. In the past, I’ve often blocked off my rivals by bringing in the same players that they do when I’ve had a really big lead as it gives them no chance of catching you. Unfortunately, I won’t be finding myself in that position this season. My problem is that to make up any significant ground I’d need to find some differentials. The biggest issue with this is I just don’t see players from West Ham or Leicester (who still have a lot of fixtures) outscoring the likes of Mahrez, De Bruyne, Alexander-Arnold, Jota, etc so it’s difficult to make a case for taking too many big risks. I’m going to ponder what to do until tomorrow, but based on the fixtures for the week ahead, I’m considering sitting tight and then making a number of changes this time next week. I’d be interested in hearing what others have planned in the comments below. As always, the fixtures for the month can also be seen on the spreadsheet below.

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