Fantasy Football FF247 Team Gameweek 4 WILDCARD!
Ok, so errrm, well, how do we put this, we have a small confession to make! We are on a WILDCARD! It wasn’t planned and it took us a bit by surprise to be honest but when we settled down around the boardroom table and took a look at our squad, or rather what was left of it after the international break had done it’s worst, there was a unanimous verdict and only one answer. And so ensued the usual mayhem. You think it’s difficult wrestling with yourself on these matters, but when it’s a committee decision it can get funny, ugly and surreal all in the space of a short hour. Anyway we are pleased to say that the majority of people came out alive. Some scarred for life, more mentally than physically we hope. We await the police and psychologists reports though. The end result is this. Our wildcard team…
Why a wildcard?
On the face of it we’ve actually had a pretty decent start to the campaign. We have 179 points and we are ranked in the top 1.5% overall. 46,529 in old money to be exact. So while we are fairly satisfied with that – well, we have had a few issues to say the least! We had Jovetic and Sturridge succumb to injury over the break which meant 2/3rd’s of our ace strike force were probably out which wasn’t a great start. We had Ramsey who looks like he or may miss out or is at least a minor doubt. We had Caulker who is away at Man Utd this week but also doesn’t look a great prospect going forward with QPR’s form so far. We had Dummett who lost his place last week. And to round it off we had El Ahmadi who disliked our team that much that he actually upped sticks and left the FPL altogether! That all seemed too much to attend to within the standardly accepted bracket of a -4 or -8 hit and so we hit the wildcard button with reckless abandon! It wasn’t reckless to be fair, it was well thought out and considered and we are not alone this week as many have done the same. Here’s what we landed on after much debate…
Goalkeepers
We wanted a pair of keepers who would rotate nicely with home and away fixtures, who had a fairly solid team in front of them and held a good chance of keeping some clean sheets along the way and who weren’t too expensive! Krul and Mannone fit all of the above and come in at £9.0m for the pair.
Defenders
Our first port of call when considering the defence was to see which teams had the best or more favourable run of fixtures in the short to medium term. Liverpool have a great run and we were uber impressed with Moreno last week and feel he will be good for more goals and likely to be chipping in with assists. Whether Liverpool can actually keep any clean sheets is another matter but surely their comedy defending from last season will be helped with the addition of two new full backs both of whom are fairly experienced. Southampton, Stoke and Swansea likewise have decent fixtures. Ideally we would probably have gone for Clyne and Pieters but our budget was a tad constrained which you can appreciate given our midfield and forward lines! So we are giving Southampton new boy Alderweireld a chance along with Wilson, who seems to have cemented a slot in the Stoke team and is a budget £4.5m as is Taylor of Swansea. Moore makes up the backline as Leicester haven’t got the worst run but obviously we hope he sits on our bench for the most part anyway!
Midfield
We had Ramsey. We like Ramsey. We agonised over Ramsey. We no longer have Ramsey. The reasoning was fairly simple in the end. He’s a doubt for the weekend but may play and we hope he does for those that have him but we decided to take the opportunity to give Angel Di Maria a run out or a trial if you like. He’s got QPR at home, will play for sure, he’s had an outstanding international break with three assists and a goal in that Germany game so he’s in form and he has a new look team around him. The positives outweighed the negatives for us and in reality if he stinks the place out he’s an easy switch back to Aaron. Sigurdsson needs no explanation, he’s going nowhere. Fabregas is a world class player playing for one of the best teams. He will get goals and assists all season and we envisage keeping him for the duration. Sterling is red hot at the moment and cannot be ignored especially with Liverpool’s favourable run of fixtures. We had £4.5m left for our 5th midfielder and in all honesty there’s not a great deal out there but we hope to never see whoever it is in our team anyway! Anyway, we went for King.
Forwards
To Aguero or not to Aguero, that was the question. We expected this to be a hard fought battle but the reality was that there was little resistance. He’s prolific, he’s almost fixture proof and you’d probably have no hesitation in captaining every week if there were no other more outstanding cadidates. Those were the reasons given and so Kun takes pride of place in our team. Costa was an easy one of course. He’s on fire, even when he’s definitely not playing! We will add a caveat to this though – he’s still not been confirmed as fully fit for the game and was having a training session this afternoon to ascertain whether he was or not. We suspect he’s fine but we will be keeping our eyes peeled and eyes to the ground this evening and in the morning for any news. The final piece of the jigsaw is Arsenal new boy Welbeck. This was one that possibly we could have sat and taken a view on, especially as Arsenal’s fixtures aren’t ideal but we felt that we would be transfering him in eventually anyway so in for a penny, in for a pound.
Captain
Now this was a close call. Aguero had many suitors but was narrowly ousted by Sterling. The fact that he’s in form and at home against Villa swayed it plus there’s a small chance he may be deployed even further forward in Sturridge’s absence. Even if he’s not we felt that he had as good a shout as any at getting in on the goals and assists this week and Liverpool looked like they may be hitting some serious form if last weeks demolition of Spurs is anything to go by and he will be central to that.
hey guys, care to RMT…
kept my WC and have 1 FT which I am bringing in sterling (probably for mata- but debating ousting ramsey because of injury and tough upcoming fixtures…) although thinking to keep ramsey for some arsenal coverage… as ive already got utd cover in rooney. hmmm…
also want to get rid of debuchy too (will be for a -4), so who’s the best replacement for 5.5 or under? Liv, soton, tot? any others…???
cheers!
Looks a lot like my team, hahaha. A whole lot. I think if I did not just transfer out 2 players just now we would’ve fielded the same team, almost (apart from Naismith maybe).
Anyway, I just took out both Mata and Ramsey for Sterling and Di Maria. A bit risky, I know. But for some reason I think it will pay off. 😉
So that’s my first hit, -4. I think Sterling and Di Maria will do well though. Di Maria is really in form, scored a goal and got 3 assists versus Germany.
I know about the similarities Raz… I was thinking the same thing before I posted! hahaha..
any other opinions most welcome!
Papercut why do you want Debuchy out? It shouldn’t be for a hit unless it either enables another transfer or if you won’t be able to afford the player you want to replace him with later due to price changes.. I’m also debating the whole Ramsey/Mata/sterling thing and haven’t come up with an answer yet so can’t help you there!
Wisdom, Duff or Moore ?
If pressed then probably Wisdom, but all three are risky.
Hey guys? Anyway word on the STerling might not start theory? That can’t be true, can it?
Especially now Sturridge is out, you will take out another key player?
Thoughts on Ramsey + Mata out, Sterling + ADM in for -8pts, or just do Ramsey to Sterling for -4pts + keep Mata, cheers.
Elle
I would keep Mata and maybe do the other one if you are desperate. Although I think Ramsey will play tomorrow you know.
I took out both Ramsey and Mata for Sterling and ADM. However, I did that for a 4 point hit, don’t think I’d be willing to take an 8 point hit. They pickle you’re in. Scroll up. Look at them blue balls, maybe they can enlighten you. Lead you to the right answer. Let the balls guide you!!!!!!!!!!!!
This one will keep me awake all night Elle. I can virtually guarantee that whichever one I do transfer out will end up playing and the one I keep won’t. I am thinking I may just keep both of them and hope for the best, but that’s very risky given I have two non-starters on my bench, and with Costa very possibly calling upon the third bench-warmer :-/ No idea what to do yet..
Attention all: I have TWO free transfers available. Yep, 2FTs I have, you heard me.
Jones —–> Taylor is 99% done in my head now.
Who should make way for Sterling?
Oooh, you have both Ramsey and Eriksen. Hmmm. Don’t know, sorry, I really don’t.
I think Ramsey out? Aaargh, no. Scroll up, touch them blue balls and let them guide you. You must have touchscreen though, or it won’t work.
Raziel my friend… it’s killing me.
Ramsey is 10x better than Eriksen but I NEED the one I keep to start!
My iPad is touch screen (of course) and, I must confess, I had a quick touch…
Haven’t watched any Spurs games but I noticed Eriksen started out very quiet this season. Don’t think dude is bad and he still takes set pieces right? I wonder if Wenger is willing to risk Ramsey? I remember a few seasons back RvP was like almost fit but he only got 20 minutes versus United (or another big team).
Yep Erik’s started quiet, but hit the post, and looks to be on set-pieces with two good fixtures ahead of him.
Ramsey, in my opinion, is unlikely to start.
Sod it, might just make my balls turn blue and ditch Rambo, in the name of monkey madness!
James
I would say Eriksen if it were me.
That was my plan before this injury ‘niggle’ as Wenger would say.
I’m just wondering if I can get away with no Ramsey in the short-term and buy him back with spare cash in a couple of weeks or so…
Ok I’ll ask in a more direct way…
Balo and hazard or
Aguero & tadic
Let the balls guide you…
Actually not a fan of 1 but with Sturridge out Balo might do well and well Hazard, I still think the dwarf is overrated but he can always come with a huge score. Though, this season will be about Costa I think.
Second, Kun is always a must (hard fixture though) and ummm Tadic has great fixtures. With the addition of Mané I think he will be their best scoring midfield player. On that note, Mané’s addition might mean JWP won’t be a starter no more which will mean Tadic takes all set pieces?
SHrugs, it’s a f-ing headache. By the way? Are we certan Hazard is still the main penalty striker at Chelsea?
Balo and Hazard!
I don’t like it, it’s itching like crazy but I have to agree with Calvin. Fixture wise, that’s the smarter move. Must it be Hazard though? I see a few midfield players that could do/should do better, also easier fixtures.
Who else then Raz… My team is posted.
Aguero to Balo gives me 10.7 ITB…. Who should I pick as my 4th mid ?