Review of Game Week 9

GW Points: 88
Overall Points: 1035
Overall Rank: 10,088

Game week 9 was a massively frustrating week. Looking at my team I’m fairly happy with it – I had a double up defensively of Liverpool and City players. Four big guns in Saka, Foden, Haaland and Salah. Then two Villa midfielders who have been getting 90 minutes in most games and a cheap enabler with good fixtures for the week in Damsgaard. This worked well while I was away last week and I was fairly comfortable with the direction my team was going in. However, as soon as we got underway, the game week couldn’t have gone much worse. Mbeumo instantly got off to a flyer – he was a player I was desperately trying to get in for the game week but I opted for Foden instead who we would probably all agree is a better long term option. Then very few of my players ended up playing in the EFL Cup, which is a complete lottery with other teams starting their main players such as Eze and Mbeumo again. There were also big performances from highly owned players that I don’t own (as we can’t own them all) – most of which have been hard to predict in terms of form this season but people appear to have taken a punt on them and it paid off – this includes the likes of Fernandes, Garnacho, Isak and Diaz. On Diaz in particular, he’s probably been the main source of my problems this season. I bought him in due to good form and he flopped, so I took him out and he hit a big score, I then put him back in and he’s benched for pretty much 2 weeks, I take him back out and he’s one of the highest scorers this week. Completely unpredictable but very frustrating. 

Here is my breakdown of each player:

Kelleher – awful game week and I’m surprised he didn’t start in the EFL Cup. He’s a good choice though and should get 2 games this week so it’s a hold from me.

Lewis – not too unhappy with 10 points from Lewis, while he’s getting game time he’s a solid pick.

Gvardiol – 9 points from Gvardiol is another OK return, apparently he took a knock at the end of the game but hopefully he’s OK for the weekend.

Alexander-Arnold – awful return from a player who comes at a 6.3m cost. He’s got good fixtures this week but will drop in value. Not sure whether to cash in on him for a couple of weeks.

Tielemans – 5 points wasn’t awful from 1 game but I’d hoped he would play in the EFL Cup. He’s a hold for me at the moment as I’m hoping he plays twice this week. 

Saka – glad I kept hold of him, saved a transfer to get him back in and happy with 11 points.

Rogers – awful 1 point this week and is potentially injured. May need to move him on. 

Foden – 7 points weren’t the returns I’d hoped for from Foden given the fixtures that City had and the fact that he started in the EFL Cup. I’d banked on him outscoring Mbeumo and it didn’t happen. 

Damsgaard – 6 points wasn’t awful but when compared to Mbeumo’s returns it’s a kick in the teeth considering Mbeumo was the player I wanted.

Haaland – good return from Haaland, stays in my team.

Salah – good points from Salah, stays in my team.

Player watchlist

Fernandes – should go up in value and has good fixtures on the horizon after the Chelsea game.

Garnacho – is matching some of the premium options for points but is valued much lower. As with Fernandes, Man Utd have good fixtures coming up and he’s due a price rise so could be worth getting in.

Nunes – scored well this week and should get game time with City’s injuries mounting up. Probably not a long term option.

Kulusevski – should go up in value and would act as a cheap enabler.

Mbeumo – I’m a week too late, with only a single fixture this week I’m not sure it’s worth bringing him in now but he’s obviously performing very well.

Palmer – hard to ignore but with a single game week against Man Utd, I’m not sure now is the right time.

Dalot – if I need to take TAA out to free up funds, Dalot looks like a good value replacement given Man Utd’s short term fixtures.

Plan for game week 10

Another tricky week for transfers and it seems like these 50/50 decisions are going against me at the moment. As far as I can see it, I’ve only got a few options:

Option 1:
Transfer out TAA and Damsgaard
Transfer in Dalot and Garnacho
Potential to 12th man TAA

Option 2:
Transfer out Damsgaard and Rogers
Transfer in Nunes and Kulusevski 
Retaining TAA but no Fernandes or Garnacho

Option 3:
Transfer out Foden and Damsgaard
Transfer in Fernandes and Garnacho
Retaining TAA again
Potential to 12th man Foden

I don’t think any of these options are perfect but I can’t see any other logical way of improving the team. I do like the idea of using 12th man this week though. If I lose TAA, I can avoid the price drop but retain him for the double game week by having him as 12th man. The same applies to Foden, I could swap him for Fernandes and 12th man him to get the price rise from Fernandes and have him in for Leicester and Ipswich on the horizon. I’ll probably make a decision tomorrow morning.