Review of Game Week 4

GW Points: 97
Overall Points: 351
Overall Rank: 2,356

Really frustrating game week 4, mainly due to my Chelsea players. They came good last week – which resulted in a big jump on the leaderboard but really let me down this week. Fortunately, I didn’t lose too many places on the overall leaderboard. It’s also worth remembering that the cheaper players are allowing me to have the more expensive players such as Haaland, Salah, Saka and Fernandes so they are playing a part even when they don’t score big. We also need to remind ourselves of their overall value. The best way to illustrate this is below:

Haaland: start value: 8.5m – points: 48
Salah: start value: 7m – points: 31
Jackson: start value: 2.5m – points 21

Haaland is worth over 3 times as much as Jackson but hasn’t scored 3 times as many points. Salah isn’t far off 3 times Jackson’s value either and only has 10 more points. If we look at it from a points per 1 million spent, Jackson is actually on top:

Haaland: 5.6 PPM
Salah: 4.4 PPM
Jackson: 8.4 PPM

I think it’s worth a reminder that we need to judge these players on their relative cost rather than expecting someone like Jackson to keep up with the premium players when it comes to points. That’s not to say that I’m not heavily considering moving him on, as I wish I’d picked someone like Eze instead. However, it’s not as clear cut as saying he’s been awful and has to go, as 21 points isn’t an awful return from a 2.5m player, not the best but it could be a lot worse.

Back to the game week itself, I was delighted to get instant returns from Maddison who I went for over Man City midfielders despite Spurs not having European football. He’s made a cracking start to the season and with two transfers per week I don’t think we need to worry too much about what’s around the corner when it’s not even hear yet. I’ll certainly be getting two European players in for the next game week but I’ll be holding onto Maddison considering Spurs are at home to Sheffield United.

Here is my breakdown of each player:

Sanchez: Disappointing start in my team, was really hoping for a clean sheet but he will stay in my team for now as Chelsea still have good fixtures and I’ve got other problems to resolve.

Saliba: Despite his initial value being appealing, Saliba has actually been one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far. Only 17 points from a 3.5m defender – and most people are more worried about Colwill who is 1m cheaper and has only scored 2 points fewer. Stays in my team for now as Arsenal have made a good start to the season and have a good fixture for game week 5 but a big question mark next to him already.

Estupinan: only 2 points this week after a great start to the season and a good performance against Newcastle. Fixtures are patchy until the end of October but he’s the 7th highest scoring defender at the moment so I can’t really complain overall. Stays in for now.

Colwill: Big questions marks against Chelsea after a poor result at the weekend. I don’t think I need to double up on their defenders so Colwill will make way at some point. He could well be one of my transfers as we approach game week 5. I also can’t believe he didn’t go up in value with 9 points last week considering he’s only worth 2.4m.

Saka: Good start to the season. Stays in my team.

Sterling: May have already served his purpose in my team with a good performance last week. Could be someone I take out going into game week 5. 

Maddison: Very happy with 15 points from Maddison in his first game in my team. Haven’t decided if I’ll keep him longer term with no European fixtures but he will definitely stay for another week. 

Fernandes: Not a great week but overall he’s done OK. Stays in my team.

Haaland: This week summed up why he’s going to be captain most weeks. Stays in my team.

Salah: Everyone seems to be moving away from Salah but I’m happy with 13 points this week. Stays in my team. Will monitor if he plays in Europe. 

Jackson: Not great this week but should have scored. I’m almost certain to take out Jackson, Colwill or Sterling with my transfers but as documented above, it’s not a straightforward decision. 

Player watchlist

Foden – I feel like I need more City players given their Champions League draw. Foden would probably be top of my list to bring in as one of my game week 4 transfers. I’m just not sure if I’ve got the funds to upgrade Colwill to a player I want if I bring Foden in. Something to ponder.

Rodri – could be a cheaper way into City’s midfield.

Cash – could be a decent upgrade on Colwill although Villa haven’t been overly convincing at the back. Also depends on whether Cash players every week in Europe. Not 100% convinced on this one yet. 

Eze – would have been a much better pick than Jackson from the off and he keeps scoring big every week. Tempted to bring him in but I’m wondering if I’ve missed the boat with European fixtures kicking in soon.

Mitoma – could come back to Mitoma once we get a clearer picture on who will start for Brighton in Europe. Worth noting they don’t have a favourable draw though. 

Bowen – would be great to get him in but he’s quite expensive and faces Man City and Liverpool in West Ham’s next two PL fixtures. 

Diaz – might be a good alternative for Salah at some point but has gone slightly off the boil the past 2 game weeks.

Ferguson – I’m not a knee-jerk reaction kind of person, so he definitely won’t be coming in this week however after a hat trick at the weekend, he’s certainly caught my attention. If he’s starting every game in Europe as well he’s going to have to be considered. 

Alvarez – another cheaper Man City attacking asset, if he was certain to play every game I’d be more tempted but he’s likely to be rotated a lot.

Plan for game week 5

At the moment I’ve got no solid plans for my transfers. As we don’t need to confirm our transfers until 11:30am on Saturday 16th. 

However, if I had to make a decision now, I’m most tempted by Foden. The problem with this is, bringing in Foden would only leave me with 2.5m for a defender to replace Colwill. Ironically, going into game week 5 I think Colwill is the best option at this price range. I certainly wouldn’t be able to pick up a regular starting defender in Europe for this price. Alternatively, I could go Diaz and Cash but both are fairly certain to drop in value and other than his goals I’m not sure about Villa at the back. 

Either way, there’s a long time to go between now and having to make that decision. There’s also international games to get through without injuries so I’m going to leave this decision for a week or so and come back to it when we’ve got more information.