GW Points: 111
Overall Points: 2,161
Overall Rank: 1,915
Transfers: TAA out, Shaw in
The team seems to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. This was another game week where I’ve picked up over 100 points. This puts me at the highest position I’ve been on the leaderboard all season – not a bad time to peak with only a few game weeks left. There was one disappointment, Luke Shaw rolling an ankle was far from ideal and he missed a clean sheet last night. He was meant to be my main differential – had it swung the other way and AWB was the player who missed the game and Shaw picked up points, this could have been a 10-15 point swing but it didn’t go my way. If he doesn’t recover quickly, this is going to be a big problem with only two transfers left for the rest of the season and two Liverpool players to potentially move on.
Positives:
Patricio picked up another 8 points. I’ve been delighted with his performance over the season. As a budget option he’s been well worth the investment.
Clean sheets for Laporte and Maguire. It’s annoying that Laporte only appears to play every other game but that’s the nature of rotation at Man City. Fortunately, they didn’t keep a clean sheet in their second game anyway.
28 points for Sterling – this season’s must have player.
11 points for Mane after a couple of quiet weeks.
Rashford and Jesus both came good this week with 20 plus points each.
Potential Issues:
I’ve only got two problems with the team. Firstly, when is Luke Shaw going to be fit. Secondly, when do I move on Salah and Mane. More on both below.
Tips for Game Week 45
Firstly, good luck to those who are in the running for winning the Dream Team Tips mini league. It’s looking very tight at the top – I think I’m 9th and probably a little too far behind to finish first. There are some exceptional scores above me.
Looking at game week 45, for me it comes down to those Liverpool players. Do we stick or twist based on Liverpool not being in the FA Cup? For me, I can’t see the FA Cup games being huge point scorers and if they are, predicting who is likely to pick up points could be a big challenge. I like the look of Liverpool’s last fixture against Newcastle so I’m struggling to make a case for removing Mane and Salah. At the same time, I do like to work the fixtures and I quite like the idea of having two transfers left to target the FA Cup final, in the hope that I can bring in a player who nobody else has. I’m undecided about how to player it at the moment but I’d be interested in other people’s thoughts.
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You’re having another great season DTT. The team was so unlucky with Shaw mate.
You’re right it’s so tough this fa cup business. I can’t see any clean sheets in any of the remaining 3 fa cup games can you?
I know you mentioned Ederson before…I just saw that Bravo is injured so I imagine Ederson will defo play. But a clean sheet against arsenal seems unlikely. He could then get one away at Watford. But Wolves have Palace at home. So I’d forecast the same points for both players this game week.
Might make sense to remove the Liverpool guys now as they’ve nothing now to play for not even any records. It’s a risky move but Auba is going for the golden boot and may get to the cup final..?..
United vs City final, you heard it here first.
I have cut back on my Liverpool players (other than Mane) and have gone UTD heavy. Rashford and Martial up front alongside Jesus. My defense is now a UTD block as they look most tidy out of all teams I have watched recently.
Liverpool have two point scoring games remaining compared to UTD and Cities 3 or possibly 4 if they progress to the final. It is a hard one to guess but guessing right could make a difference in a ML.
Best of luck.
I’d go with a Utd Vs City final as well but if we move to soon and it’s Arsenal Vs Chelsea it will mess it up completely. I’m tempted to go for the Martial and Rashford double up for the weekend but it’s not an easy decision. Salah would have to come out but I’ve half tempted to leave him in just because I think many will take him out and he could get a couple against Newcastle.
Newcastle are struggling to field a defence at the moment as well with all their injuries so Liverpool could well slaughter them.
Exactly – wouldn’t surprise me at all but Martial is in good form as well. Tough decision to be made.
Cheers Badge – I’m fairly happy with how my season has gone. I’d love to break top 1,000 but I’m not sure I can see that happening without a massive slice of luck. I think I’ll leave Patricio – with only two transfers left I think they can be used better elsewhere now. I’m hoping Shaw will recover and that just leaves me with Mane and Salah to consider. Their recent form isn’t the best but I could see them smashing Newcastle in the final game of the season. I also can’t see the cup final being a big point scorer but I really can’t decide what to do.
This week I took the lead of my ML for the first time this season – only by three points mind you.
I only have one transfer left and I’m hoping for a City / United final as I have the same team as you DTT but AWB instead of Shaw.
If it is United / City final then I plan to use my last transfer to switch Salah for Martial. I don’t see a better option to be honest, and think swapping Salah out is a better approach than Mane.
I’m thinking about making the same move but I’m undecided about when to do it. This weekend or before the FA Cup final?
I wouldn’t take Salah out until the last second, don’t see how doubling up on Rashford and Martial before the FA Cup final is worth it? There’s an opportunity to make changes between last game of the PL and FA Cup Final right? You’d kick yourself if Salah got a couple!
It’s a fine line but if we took Salah out now, we might get four gets out of Martial. If we keep Salah, we only get two and one of those is against Chelsea. Bringing in Martial just for the FA Cup final might be a waste, as he might just blank anyway.
Fair point. What do you think you’ll do? Martial is also against Chelsea to be fair
It’s basically a choice between:
Salah:
Chelsea
Newcastle
Martial:
Chelsea
West Ham
Leicester
Potential cup final
I think Salah has the bigger potential to score higher but Martial could have double the number of fixtures. I’ve honestly got no idea what to do at the moment. No idea who will score more out of those two across those games.
I sticking with Salah as everyone around me has Martial. The template front three is Martial, Jesus and Rashford so need a differential to be there.
Plus there is a element of me thinking Martial is overachieving and Salah is underachieving (been unlucky) looking at a few stats between them from the last five games: Martial – 10 shots, 5 shots on target, 3 goals, Salah – 23 shots, 14 on target, 2 goals. It can be a dangerous move to take out Salah who is capable of scoring high if he take the chances he gets.
I’d agree – although I do have two transfers. It’s tempting to swap Salah for Martial this game week and then put Salah back in for the Newcastle game.
Slight possibility that Martial may not start in FA cup as Ighalo has been a good backup in cup games. Man Utd have had less rest than Chelsea which could be a factor.
That is true – with City going out, I don’t think I’ll bother with that transfer now anyway.
I think it’s important to note that it wouldn’t be twice as many games for martial as you would move salah on for a player playing in the final
I was going to move Vardy out for Jesus with my final transfer this week but after watching MOTD last night I’m going to keep Vardy now until the PL conclusion. I’ll then shift Vardy out for someone involved in the Cup Final.
Maybe for a punt/differential how about d Silva he’s picked up points recently leaving soon wants to go out on a high, he may have limited time in the fa cup games (on form hard to leave out) but they have Watford a Norwich h and most likely fa cup final, peps rotation gives a lot of players game time!
Good shout – I can see him finishing the season well if he gets the game time.
What a lovely player he’s been to watch over the years. I for one will miss him.
15th in the DTM league I have five mu and six ma city players in my team
plus one transfer left came back from the dead to be only
10 points behind the leader me thinks maybe putting another man city defender
in for Luke Shaw, city look to have the best run in.
my thinking is the last game against Norwich could be a cricket
score providing most players I have get selected.
Is there any news on Shaw?
Dinnery has him down as 50/50. Coin toss with the looks of it.
Really annoying at this stage of the season but what can you do. I was hoping he would be the one that helped with my final push.
Shaw definitely out. Confirmed now.
DTT just a thought I have put back Shaw now that Ederson is in.
my thinking is even if he is left out I cant see Chelsea not scoring.
looking at the paper this morning they say that united will
be making lots of changes what they will be is anyone’s guess.
personally I hope he wont play.
ps the reason i am happy with Ederson being in
all those around me have all gone heavy on man u
I think that’s played into my hands ( hopefully )
man city is the way to go rather than united. fixtures are a lot better for city.
I’d be happy with Ederson – he’s about the only Man City defensive asset who gets picked pretty much every game.
Hi DTT,
16 points clear at the top of my mini league with 1 transfer left.
Salah rival martial
Mane rival willian
Laporte rival shaw
I was thinking Salah to martial this weekend and hope they make the final. Chelsea are patchy at the moment, so more likely get some points over Man City in the final, again if they make it.can’t think of any think else?
Blocking not ideal with 16 point gap but seems the logical thing to do and force him to gamble.
My rival has 2 transfers so I can see this going down to the wire.
Thanks guys for your input over the season, I will look forward to the next.
I wouldn’t want to give any specific advice as I wouldn’t want to sway you and end up losing the league for you – however Salah to Martial does logically make sense. It’s going to be a very tight finish though so it could go either way.
Yeah, I understand.
Shaw confirmed out.
Ah crap that’s not ideal – where did you see that?
The manager confirmed it. Source: Sky sports news. doubtful for the midweek game.
Ole confirmed in his press conference this morning
Ah that’s pretty annoying. I don’t really want to take him out as it looked like he would be back before the end of the season but it’s a tough choice.
What’s your thoughts on Mane? I’m thinking either Pogba, Marhez or D.Silva. I think if I’m going to move Mane on it needs to be this weekend.
Depends where you are in your ml Bobby. D Silva and Foden good differentials if you’re chasing mate
Similar to Salah really – I like the look of the Newcastle fixture. I wouldn’t be bringing him in if I didn’t have him but at the same time I’m not sure about taking him out.
It’s a hard one but guess it all depends on who you think will make the cup final.
Salah has two fixtures remaining and only one of those I can see being an opportunity for him to get two or more goals, but saying that, he also fired blank in other games that I’d expect him to score in.
Ive gone with the decision to take risk on who I think will have the extra games. It’s a risk on the basis of my ML opponents.
Martial and Rashford have both scored in their last two games, making me top. Combine that with hopefully the cup final and it may pay off further. I’m also banking on Jesus to at least get a couple of goals in city’s games.
It’s a tough one and a gamble but guess we are now at a stage where people have to take a chance based on where they are and their opponent teams in their ML’s.
Thanks for everyone’s input this season, especially the great write ups DT.
No problem Batman – as we saw yesterday it’s difficult to predict who might make that FA Cup final. My guess was a Manchester derby but it could easily be Chelsea that go through to join Arsenal. Luke Shaw’s injury is a massive pain as I don’t really want to use a transfer to replace him with so few games left.
As a Newcastle fan, it doesn’t look good. We got 5 central defenders injured, recalled a 20yr defender to play the final two games. Expect Liverpool to slaughter Newcastle on the last day as Salah still haven’t scored a hat trick this season. He will surely want to end with one.
I think I’ll end up being stuck with Salah now anyway – looks like I might have to take Shaw out and with City now being out of the FA Cup.
Do we all think Liverpool will play a full strength team in both games? No points record to aim for, Salah 4 goals behind in golden boot race…
I think we can only go off what they’ve done since winning the title and they’ve been fairly full strength since. It’s a good point though, they could well rest players.
Is there transfers next month??
No mate
pope gets 8 as well as the defenders.
can someone tell me the keeper never touched the ball
and defenders never had to defend against 9 men.
I will never get around this system ever.
surly you have to be involved in the game to get points.
The Mighty Harry Kane, you little beauty.