Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 32 – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
Since I don’t have to write an MLS article this week because of their extended DGW schedule, I figured I may as well write up the weekly FPL captains article. Also, I wanted to get my turn on the capo’s doorknob done quickly so that I didn’t get stuck having to write the DGW version of this piece. That’s just too much pressure. And I feel that my tendencies in picking capos ranges from the obvious to the completely unexpected – and I honestly believe that if I were to write this all out for a DGW… people may think it was a satire instead of an actual advice column.
If you remember correctly, I picked Sergio Aguero and Enner Valencia as my top two picks for GW24. Neither was a bad pick on the whole, both scored 5 points and should have had a bit more against their competition. But I completely whiffed on picking either Kane or Barkley that week. My bad. Prior to that, I wrote up an article for GW17 that had Vardy, Mahrez and Lukaku as my top picks – and they scored a combined 29 points. But that same week I had to be some kind of fantasy hipster, and I also included Wijnaldum as a potential pick against Villa. He scored 2 points that round. What can I say folks? I call ‘em like I see ‘em, and I love to bet on the underdog pick every now and again. Expect more of that here today.
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#1) Sergio Aguero (away vs. BOU) – The most obvious pick
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Aguero is consistently the most obvious pick isn’t he? And we fall for it more often than we should. Full disclosure: I add Aguero to the top of this list because if I left him off of it, the Kun apologists would be in an uproar about how much ‘potential’ he has. And they’re right. Nobody besides Aguero could have pulled off the 5 goals in 65 minutes trick he did earlier in the year. And yet, the frustrating thing about Aguero is that his capacity for hitting his potential on a weekly basis (hell, a monthly basis) is almost nil. He’s been wildly inconsistent this year, and there just isn’t any way around that fact.
Only once this year has Aguero scored more than 10 points in a road fixture (12 points vs. WHU) – yet Aguero has 8 road fixtures in which he’s scored 2 or fewer points. But we hold onto that potential don’t we? We absolutely love his potential to do the magical, and so we continue to give him the armband expecting a fireworks show. And maybe he’s due. His last three road fixtures have been totals of 5, 2 and 2 points (SUN, LIV, NOR). Surely he can’t give us another blank on the road can he? But here’s the thing, those teams I just listed aren’t that great. Maybe Liverpool have a bit of talent now, but how much better are these teams than this week’s opponent in Bournemouth?
Plain and simple, Aguero tops my list this week because he really could do more than anybody else on the board if he chooses – but we’re betting on his potential this week, not his actual stats.
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#2) Harry Kane (away vs LIV) – The “never leave a heater” pick
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Do Euro folk have that saying, ‘never leave a heater’? If you don’t, it’s a gambling term that advises against walking away from a slot machine that just can’t miss. When you think about it, it’s probably a saying that the casino made up themselves to get people to give back their winnings – but that’s an entirely different story.
I think the term applies here rather nicely though. Who is the most in-form striker available right now? It has to be Harry Kane. Over his last three matches, Kane has 5 goals and an assist. But maybe more importantly, Tottenham look good as a whole right now – so their cohesive play probably makes Kane look like a better pick than Aguero. Aguero will probably have to snatch chances on his own, Kane has the benefit of great team play to give him a boost.
Also, as of the writing of this article, Kane is owned by 46.6% of all managers. And that’s saying a lot considering the fact that Tottenham don’t have any doubles on their horizon. If that many managers own Kane, he’s at least the safe pick to keep pace with the crowd.
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#3) Alexis Sanchez (home vs Watford) – The powderkeg pick
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I’m not an Arsenal fan at all, but I’ve seen enough of them to know a couple of things. The first thing is that they’ll always be more injured than any other team in the league – and just looking at their fantasy team sheet, eight of their players have red tabs indicating serious injuries. But the second thing I’ve come to know about Arsenal is that they always have the talent to be explosive, and they can really have strong stretches when they figure things out.
Look at last year for example, they won all six matches they played in March (all competitions) with a GD of +10. And in April of last year, they won three and drew a match with a GD of +5. They always have the ability to pull off runs like this, and it will be interesting to see if they can replicate their previous Spring this time around. And if something great is going to happen for them, Alexis will have to be at the centre of that push.
Alexis hasn’t done anything really spectacular in league play since late fall, but he seems to be turning that corner now that he’s fully back from injury. In the past three weeks he’s provided a goal and 2 assists – and those scores came against better competition than Watford. Now I know what you’re saying, “Watford have a better defence than you’re letting on.” And you’d be right. Watford have been fantastically consistent this year, only once have they given up more than 2 goals in a league match. But that one time that Watford was really hurt was a 0-3 loss… to Arsenal. And in that match, Sanchez had himself a goal and 2 BP. So here’s to thinking history repeats itself.
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#4) Gylfi Sigurdsson (away vs Stoke) – The pick that makes you question my credentials
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I know what you’re thinking, of all of the players I could put here, I put down Siggy? This is kind of my thing, folks. I don’t put this pick here as a joke, either. There’s some method to the madness.
Let’s start with the obvious, Sigurdsson’s last three scores are 10, 9 and 5. And as a part of those scores, he’s done enough to earn himself 2 BP on two occasions. So we can at least agree that he’s on some kind of form, right? Now the piece that makes this all look a bit suspect is the away fixture to Stoke, and I totally get it. So let’s start out with the fact that Stoke have just lost their keeper, Butland, for the foreseeable future. This match will be the first start for whichever of their backups they choose to go with. But even with Butland in, Stoke haven’t been performing well in defence over the last ten rounds anyway.
Stoke have only kept two clean sheets over the last ten rounds – and on three occasions they gave up 3 goals. Add that wrinkle of poor form to the uncertainty of having a new keeper in the mix, and you start to feel a bit better about a pick like Siggy. And then when you consider that Shawcross and Pieters are still coming back from injury and won’t be fully match fit for a while… you have a perfect storm brewing which will leave Stoke open to an attacker in form.
Look, we all know that you’re going to pick Aguero or Kane (or maybe a Leicester player) as your capo. But if you want to shoot up the saloon and dance on the tables, Sigurdsson might be your guy.
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Thanks for reading Captain Picks Fantasy Football Game-week 32. This article was written by Guy Sanchez
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Anyone have an idea if Kennedy will start for Chelsea this weekend? Considering a punt on him.
Pancho, I’m pretty sure Hiddink doesn’t even know! Traore could be a lovely OOP punt vs Villa.
Yeah, that’s a good call. Hmmmmmmm
It’s not necessarily a good call Pancho. It’s a complete punt, which could turn out to be useless
Better call than Kennedy though probably. I wonder if Pato will finally get a start?!?!
I doubt it – don’t think he will play for them. There was talk that Falcao may even be fit.
I have 3FT between now and GW34.
If I save my WC, does this team look ok? Think it would give me 8DGW players + would give Aguero TC
Melon, I’ll be honest with you and say it looks “ok”. I woudn’t say it looks great and to continue my bluntness I think I would want more from DGW34 if I was still holding my wildcard.
Melon cat, at the least I think that you should feel justified in taking a -4 to get Lukaku in for Vardy ahead of GW33. He should be able to more than make up for the hit with 2 DGWs back to back. Team would look a lot better with him in it IMHO.
ACTIVATE MY WC
TEAM1
Any issue with money will downgrade vardy- welbeck
And Coutinho-willian next week ,
TEAM 2
save transfer and Firmino-barkley dgw34
save 1 transfer and bring 2 player for gw 35 left with 10 player available
Okay Init (and anyone else interested) here’s our GW32 WC team and the plan!
GW32 bench Migs-Rojo-Simpson-Rashford/Barkley
GW33 bench Adrian-Rojo-Kosc-Rashford
GW34 Willian-> Coutinho and BB
GW35 Lukaku & Rashford -> Pelle & Long (vs Villa)
GW36 Long -> Ighalo
GW37 Pelle -> Martial
Thoughts on this???
It’s that Rashford pick I’m really unsure about. Not only the game time but the price is a double edged sword in terms of allowing good / better stuff elsewhere but also then unraveling it later if and when he suddenly loses his spot. I’d be very nervous about him. Not saying it’s wrong or won’t work, just nervous.
What say the Man U fans on him?
Evening mate. I expect mutton head to fall back into the team once fit. still, if rash is performing then he’ll stay in the 11 i think. Maybe something like mutton up top with Lingard, Martial and Rash behind. Plenty of room for float there. Really would be surprised if anything other than form or injury took him out of the team. This is LVG though so he might end up playing left back, as captain 😉
Hi mate, 2 questions there then –
1. Would you pick him on the above WC team or any for that matter.
2. Where’s Mata come into all this? Is he one to just forget given the price? Does Lingard offer better PPP and would you get him / say he’s also now nailed on? 4 questions for the price of 1 in No.2
I think he’s a worthwhile punt mate. The danger will always be there, what with him being so young and that. As for Mata, i really don’t think Van Gaal is all that pushed on him, whereas he does seem to love Jesse. Martial is nailed as we know. Yeah, i fancy it will be Mata who gets dropped once Rooney is fit. Again, this is LVG though, the man is a nutcase.
NIN, thanks for the responses! It puts my heart at ease a bit as I was planning on just going with him and having to maybe stomach a hit or two if he loses out.
Init, my thoughts were along the lines that NIN says here. I find it hard for any manager to ignore his form. 3 goals and 1 assist in 4 games for a team that has struggled to score all season can’t be ignored. Then when you look at the fact that he assisted and scored 2 of those goals in the win over Arsenal and scored the other one n the win over ManC he has proven to perform against big clubs in big moments. I’m not the United fan, so I don’t want to go against NIN here, but I could see Rash staying as the focal point in the attack, with Martial and Lingard on either side and Rooney tucked in behind int he attacking midfield role he has played a decent amount over the past few seasons. Thoughts on this NIN?
That’s what i meant when i said there’s plenty of room for float with that setup. Any one of Martila, Rooney or Rash could be up front at any given moment.
Who is this Martila character?
Ahem… Martial
Got it, thanks for the clarification NIN! I haven’t seen Rash play a full game but I’ve tried to check out his highlights and he appears to be scoring real “striker’s goals”. He’s putting himself in the right places and finishing when it comes to him. Is that your impression on him (assuming you’ve been watching him play)?
Ok, I’m edging closer to being sold on him now then, thank you. Utd certainly have one of the better DGW34 schedules and I’d like to cover that in some way.
He’s been trying, hard to stay awake these days though I guess
Init, I’m even tempted by Lingard instead of Barkley for 34, which means I could have Martial instead of Rash and forget the headache
He’s like lightning mate, he really is. It’s very early to cast any sort of judgement on him but as a fan i’m very excited by the kid. He’s a great prospect. I just hope that Jose doesn’t come in in the summer and not play him at all. I think he can forge a really nice partnership with Martial and Jesse, a trio that may well be the future of Manchester United.
NIN, would Lingard and martial be overkill? Thinking of something like this…
No i think it’s fine. There’s no guarantee with young players of course.
I’d have Defoe over Martial assuming Sunderland are still playing to stay up.Why no Liverpool ?
Brooky, I have Migs and Willian will become Coutinho for Pool’s double. I’m not satisfied with Rashford as no one knows what his game time will be. I’m just going to plan on him in there as he makes other must-haves possible for me. I may put Montreal in for Kosc because then I’d keep enough in the bank to do Rashford -> Ayoze/Defoe/Deeney for the DGW if necessary.
Ahhh yeah sorry mate missed that.
Amazing article. Thanks for that!
I don’t have a WC left and can have this team by taking 3 hits over the next 2 weeks, in time for GW34.
Is it worth it, or are there better players/options to be had? 4.4m in the bank.
Shrizzine, you’re in the same boat as me mate with no wildcard left. I wouldn’t discourage you from taking hits but it’s impossible to rate those hits without knowing who you have sold to field that team.
The squad looks strong for DGW34 but you will have 5 outfield players and both your keepers blanking in GW35. Therefore you will have to take even more hits!
Awe shite, the blank. The blank! Thanks Cookie. Got rid of Butland for DDG, Alder for Smalling, Hoolahan for Barkley, Alli for Firmino, Kun for Lukaku. Differential is the key word there! Maybe take Cech instead of DDG. But still, more hits to be taken. Sigh.
Take those hits mate