Review of Game Week 33

GW Points: 85
Overall Points: 2,013
Overall Rank: 39,475
Transfers: De Gea out, Mendy in
Rudiger out, Alexander-Arnold in
Sterling out, Diaz in
Kane out, Jota in

Game week 33 was another solid game week, it was risky to make four transfers and go so heavy on Liverpool players but I think it paid off. It’s a shame that we are running out of games, as I think this team has slowly turned around and would finish in a decent position if we were a bit earlier in the season. Either way, I’ll keep going until the end of the season to finish as high as possible. I can’t make any changes going into the final game week of the month as I’ve used all of my transfers but as long as everyone remains fit, I’m not sure that I’d want to. Despite Chelsea being out of Europe, they still have a good number of fixtures so I’m happy enough to hold onto Mendy and Mount. The same goes for Maddison while Leicester are still in the Europa Conference League. 

Positives:

8 points from Mendy, much more consistent than De Gea. I think the biggest mistake of my season was trying to play the fixtures early doors with a number of Man Utd players. Their poor form really cost me a good start and I’ve been playing catch up since.

41 points between Robertson and Alexander-Arnold. Delighted with those returns.

Glad to see Silva getting another 8 points, his point scoring form appears to have picked back up again.

7 points from Maddison with a star man performance in the Europa Conference League.

10 points for Salah and another goal and 7 points for Mane.

Potential issues

I don’t see any issues as such with the team, as long as everyone remains fit, I think the team is set up to perform well for the rest of the month and for May. Having said that, I may tinker with the team when we get fresh transfers. This will all depend on what happens this week. 

Tips for Game Week 34

Looking ahead to the short term, I’m happy with the fact that I’ve got so many Liverpool players in my team. They face Newcastle and then Villarreal, which for me are the best fixtures of any team this weekend. I’m hoping they don’t rest players against Villarreal as a 2-0 lead in a Champions League semi final probably isn’t enough to rotate too many players. They’ve also got good fixtures in May and a lot to play for. Man City players are also worth considering, however, they do have one less fixture than Liverpool players already – as they aren’t in the FA Cup final. If they also don’t make the Champions League final that could be two less fixtures for the month. If I was looking to bring players in for May, I’m not sure I’d be looking beyond these two clubs. Chelsea do have a similar volume of fixtures but they’ve got less to play for. City and Liverpool are both going for the title and with little between the clubs, every game is must win. I’ll still personally hold onto the Chelsea players that I’ve got – but I just won’t be considering bringing any more in. 

I think for most, the rest of the season becomes about mini league tactics. If you’re way out in front, I’d be looking to block off your opponents when they make sensible moves. If they make less sensible moves, I’m not sure I’d always follow them. For example, if they took out Salah for someone like Havertz – just to try and gain ground. They would have to have a huge slice of luck for Havertz to outscore Salah by the end of the season. If you’re chasing the pack, you’ll be forced into making some drastic changes to play catch up. This is always a difficult position to be in as the chances are the differential players are likely differentials for a reason. However, if you’re in second place, you should still be able to find some good options that the player in first place won’t have. As an example, they will only have three spaces for a striker and they cant fit Salah, Mane, Jota, Kane, Son and Ronaldo all into one team. If you can find the striker who fits a huge score in just one game, you could easily gain ground on them. Just look at what Jesus did last weekend as an example. 

I’ve updated the fixtures tracker, it’s all done manually so if you spot any errors please do let me know.

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