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FPL Ramblings

FPL Ramblings

FPL Ramblings

Welcome to FPL Ramblings: Here we go again, another game-week and another ramble. Don’t worry though this is unlikely to become a weekly edition, as I am unreliable as heck. There were a couple of things that struck me this GW, probably none that are relevant to what you care about. I noticed that Lloris is not very coordinated when it comes to heading. That Sterling does run like Velma (Scooby-doo character) as someone pointed out on twitter. Liverpool mids take turns trolling us, that Alexis was obviously going down the middle Panenka style. That KdB is interesting, considering their fixtures and Jesus is worth getting excited about until you reach the FPL site. Oh and Costa…sorry, the words I have for him would get edited out, so I won’t bother. That edited out part also goes for West Brom defenders, as I personally own Foster and I am sick and tired of Brunt and McAuley. So let’s commence with a lot of randomness and virtually no help for your team at all.

Lloris is my favourite epl keeper. That however doesn’t make him immune to ridicule. What was that vs City? Look everyone has an off performance, it happens. But if you told me before the game someone was going to look like a clown playing keeper in this game, there was only one real candidate, Bravo. As egregious as the dropped ball was that led to the KdB goal, it was the other mistake that left me rolling in laughter. I seen videos of Ronaldo heading a cross in the dark (which is remarkable) so heading a ball in daylight for a professional should be simple enough, assuming it is not too high or something. Maybe he is good friends with Pep? No matter what went on though, one good look at the fixtures says trust in Lloris, even if he can’t head a ball.

Sterling is such a promising player, but he runs a bit weird. I have been thinking this is for a couple of seasons now. Unfortunately, neither of those things have changed. He is still 22 though so he can still improve on his game in particular his end product. He puts himself in great positions, he should be FPL gold. Maybe that will improve, but it hasn’t yet and despite his youth it might be something he never gets right. His running form definitely has no shot of improving, that will be with him until he is done. Guess in the end I should not criticise him that much considering that he is very fast. He gets where he needs to go really quick and then forgets he is good at football when he gets there.

Michail Antonio was in this article last week and he made it again. As I mentioned last week, if you have him just take the good with the bad. He might start up top, or on the left or on the right or etc, etc… Does it matter? You know one thing with this bloke. He is goal hungry and he will figure out a way to get opportunities. If you lined this guy at keeper he would still get a shot on goal even if that meant scoring on his own team. Manuel Lanzini might be a big beneficiary of the Payet situation. He should be asked to do more and he is certainly talented enough to do it. His returns along with Antonio merit attention and if their fixtures were a bit better, I be all over them, well one of them and not in a dirty way. Big Andy Carroll also deserves a mention, yep, that was it.

Liverpool midfielders are a bunch of trolls. Look if you are going to be switching around between Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino and Mane you will go insane. Sure, Bobby looks like the guy right now, he just scored a brace and he is back up top. Right until the moment Coutinho shows off and drops a double digit haul and Firmino blanks. Then Mane comes back and he looks like he is unstoppable. Not to be outdone the cheaper Lallana will likely surface again and when he starts chipping in with goals (which he should have had vs Swansea) or assists he becomes the man to have. STOP!! letting these fools troll you. Pick one and stop jumping around LFC partners. Enter into a monogamous relationship with one of them and stop being such a cheat. Well either that or just go flirt with Spurs mids, those are the marrying type.

KdB rides again. Sure his goal was a gift this past GW. It was still deserved considering his output. Personally I think de Bruyne is the best player at City. Now, now, I know some will protest and wonder how could I overlook Bravo or Stones. Trust me, I didn’t and for that matter Kun. This guy is the engine that drives this team. When he is right, City is right. Well from an attacking perspective, you can’t expect KdB to fix that failed experiment they call a defence. 3 goals and 12 assists now for Kevin and with the fixture list City has now, maybe this guy should be getting some consideration. Yeah, he is pricy, but if you have some cash and need a differential this fella could be the next big thing. Sorry, I thought I was still on the Sterling paragraph. 😉

Alexis you cheeky Chilean. Big moment in a game that Arsenal wants to win badly and what does the guy who missed from the spot for Arsenal in his two other attempts do? Panenka style penalty kick of course. How did I know he would do that? Well, watch him versus Argentina in the final of the Copa America in 2015. That’s right, he won the Copa for Chile (their first ever) with a similar penalty. Sure he could have went differently, but I was absolutely sure he would repeat that style. Only regret I have was not tweeting it right before he did it. In the end he deserves credit for having the balls to do it in a big moment. My only wonder is why did the keeper or someone from the staff at Burnley not have an inkling of what was likely? Maybe I am wrong and completely off my rocker by thinking that people should know where he was likely to take it. Then again I saw Ghana lose to Uruguay on penalties in a World Cup and when I saw Sebastian Abreu score on a panenka, I wondered how could Ghana not know that was coming? That was something he loved doing and in particular in big moments, him and Alexis are not similar players, but they are from the spot in a big moment. Van Gaal proved that if you are ready for takers it can really work to your team’s advantage and sure regular season games are not decided on penalties at the end…until they are.

Gabriel Jesus seems to have made a big impression on many in his first minutes. He in many ways is what he showed in those few minutes. I have watched him with the Brazilian national team and have been impressed. Work rate is great, although he tends to foul a lot and is prone to yellow cards. If he kept onside he be a City hero right now, well at least until the next game, it wasn’t a coincidence he was offsides though. He has a problem with offsides and a lack of awareness when it comes to that. He is 19 however and his future looks promising, Wait!! Am I on about Sterling again? 😉 This kid will deliver if given the opportunity, he has already shown the capacity to do so on the big stage. He is currently a starter on the Selecao and that is a big accomplishment for someone his age. Expect a high octane player who can play virtually anywhere across the front line. He is a very good dribbler and he will get assists. His style demands attention and he will set up a mate when 2nd defenders overcommit. Now we just need Pep to give him a real go and FPL to lower his price and change his position. The first will happen, his talent will force Guardiola’s hand sooner rather than later the second and third won’t. So J-Zeus might not come into our thinking for a bit, well at least until Aguero slips on a banana peel and is out for a month.

Thanks for reading FPL Ramblings. This article was written by Mito21

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279 Comments

  1. 25
    Papyrus says:

    Hi guys,

    Red arrows for several weeks despite small surgery transfers…
    Below my team. I had 2FT, already done Hazard to Alli but still tempted by the WC… Please share your thoughts.

    Valdés Pickford
    Cédric Williams Yoshida Daniels Amat
    Sanchez de Roon Stanislas Lallana Alli
    Aguero Lukaku Negredo

    Thanks smile

  2. 26
    IanDouglas says:

    Morning all.
    Thanks Mito21 – another great article!

    So I tend to go against common opinion – that you should take your time with transfers… I like to live dangerously and generally make my transfers early in the week to take advantage of the weekly price changes. Admittedly, it does occasionally catch me out if a player gets injured midweek, but generally it pays off and means that I build up quite a valuable squad.

    This week has been no different… Following Hazard’s failure to register above the basic 3 points for a midfielder – I’ve opted to make a move I’ve been planning ever since I sold Costa 2 GW’s ago before his rapid price decline: this morning I sold Hazard for Tom Davies (of Everton) and brought in Costa for Crouch.

    And I’m liking the way my team is shaping up! I’ve confidence in my powerful frontline of Costa, Kane and Ibra – all are in fine form and have great fixtures from now until the end of the season; I think I’ve got a strong midfield; and probably the most reliable goalkeeper in the league. If there’s one area that I’m a bit weak in, it’s my defence, but I feel like I’ve got good options to alternate each week based on fixtures.

    Here’s how my team is shaping up for GW23 following the 2 transfers I made this morning (see pic).
    I have 0.2m ITB.
    My current squad value is 105.6m (not including the 0.2 ITB).
    And my ACTUAL squad value at ‘sell value’ is 104.4m (including the 0.2 ITB).

    Over the next couple of weeks I have am considering 2 transfers that might finally give me the squad that can effectively see out the majority of the season (give or take 1 or 2 transfers, if necessary):

    Firstly, I will be keeping an eye on Pogba, Coutinho and Firmino.
    Pogba’s next fixture against Hull is pretty much his last chance with me – if he doesn’t get at least a goal or an assist, then I will almost certainly bring in Coutinho or Firmino in his place as I’d like to have a bit of attacking Liverpool coverage. (This move might depend on whether or not both United and Liverpool progress to the EFL Cup final.)

    Secondly, I’ll be looking to see if Holgate can hold down his starting position in this new look Everton.
    If he can, I’ll almost certainly bring him in for Nyom in the next few weeks (probably GW24). Partly because of Holgate’s great value (currently at 4.1m, probably soon to be 4.2m), but also because Everton are beginning to look a lot tighter in defence and have a good run of fixtures coming up.

    What are your thoughts? How do you think my squad is shaping up? Do you think Hazard OUT and Costa IN was a good move? Would you make those 2 transfers that I’m gearing up to?
    I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

    • 26.1
      Milburn says:

      Sounds like a well thought out plan Ian.
      What I’d be cautious of however is any potential upcoming blank game weeks that might occur due to the FA cup. We should know more about these after the draw is made but I’m certainly keeping my FT for the time being to try and organise around those.

      • IanDouglas says:

        Good point about the cup Milburn. I think blank weeks and double GWs will be a big factor in shaping the team over the rest of the season.

        Looking at the forecast fixture weekends for the remaining rounds of the cup. There definitely won’t be any PL games on the 18th Feb (when the 5th round will be played).

        The Quarter Finals take place on 11th March. Current games that can definitely go ahead:
        Everton vs West Brom
        Bournemouth vs West Ham

        Semi-Finals are on 22/23 April. These games will definitely go ahead:
        Swansea vs Stoke
        West Ham vs Everton

        As you say, after this weekend we might be able to anticipate a couple more games, and definitely after the fixtures on 18th/19th Feb.

    • 26.2
      Andy says:

      I’m going to stick with Haz for the season over Costa but I’d still be pretty happy to have Costa over him as I don’t think it’s worth carrying the two, squad looks good with none of the obvious holes, Davies game time might be limited when Gueye? returns from the AFCON as Morgan ain’t be bought to sit on the bench.

  3. 27
    Rogueblood says:

    So having a poor season have no idea what’s going on this season only watched one game all season due to work and learning to drive, Currently sitting 6th n my ml 110pts behind the leader thinking of wildcarding not sure if the changes i’ve made are good it will leave me with 0.5itb. 1st is what i have currently second is the potential wildcard. All suggestions are welcome.

    • 27.1
      • IanDouglas says:

        Rogue,
        I have to agree with Cookie, I wouldn’t wildcard. You have the makings of a very good side. If you spread your transfers over the next few weeks you could transform your team with minimal hits.

        I think you could start Courtois, Jones, McAuley, Smith, Lallana, Matic, Eriksen, Capoue, Sanchez, Costa and Kane as a 3-5-2 most weeks and be fairly confident of a getting a decent score.

        That said, I do think you could make several changes that would greatly improve your options!
        The players I’d be concerned about in your squad would be:
        – Kingsley
        – The fact you’ve doubled-up on Bournemouth in defence (Smith and Daniels
        – Matic
        – Capoue
        – Origi

        Here are my suggestions for players you could replace these 5 with (I’m working on the assumption you don’t have any money ITB):
        1) Let’s start with Origi, because I think he is wasted money atm. He’s currently worth 6.5m to you – but for less money you could have Callum Wilson (6.2), Andre Gray (6.2), Andy Carroll (6.2), Llorente (6.1) Abel Hernandez (5.9) or Crouch (4.8) – to name a few. I think you could pick any of those guys and they’ll give you a better return than Origi. If it was me, on current form and fixtures, I’d probably lean towards Andy Carroll. Let’s assume you take my advice and based on current transfer values – that would give you 0.3 ITB.

        2) The next weak link for me is definitely Kingsley. Not only is he not guaranteed game time, but he’s also defending for Swansea who cannot keep a clean sheet for love nor money. With the extra money in the bank, the 2nd transfer I would make this week would be Holgate (at 4.1m) IN for Kingsley. Holgate’s looking really good in that reshaped Everton starting line-up, and gives you another starting option over the dead-weight that you currently have in Kingsley.
        ———————-
        Points 1 and 2 would be my suggested transfers for GW23. Then in GW24, I would look to 1 or 2 of your other weak links:
        3) First up, Capoue started on fire and frustrated me with so many wasted points from the bench. But he hasn’t produced anywhere near what that little spell early on suggested he might. For me, you could bring in a cheaper 5th choice midfielder and free up some cash to improve elsewhere. My suggestion on current form would be Tom Davies (4.4m, Everton) or Darren Fletcher (4.4m, West Brom). Neither are going to be your top points-scorer each week, but with Capoue currently valued at 4.7 to you, Davies or Fletch would free up 0.3m and provide just as good a 5th choice midfield option as you currently have.

        4) With the money you’ve gained from that transfer (and the remaining 0.2 from the first transfer) you would now have 0.5m to spend. I would suggest bringing in Stanislas to replace Matic. Matic is a great player but not a great fantasy football player. He a frustrating option because Chelsea will have a lot of seemingly easy games, so you won’t want to drop him, but he’s not going to be the guy you can rely on to pick up significant points week in, week out. Stanislas is much more likely to contribute goals, assists and bonus points and this is shown by is far superior PPG average. Stanislas is currently 0.3m more than Matic, but a positive move in my opinion!
        ———————-
        So in 2 weeks (GW23 and GW24), at a cost of -4 points for hits on each week, you could bring in 4 new players and have 0.2m left in the bank, assuming price changes work in your favour!
        My last suggestion to you would be to upgrade one of your Bournemouth defenders, to give you a bit more flexibility in defence – because let’s be fair, Bournemouth are certainly no Chelsea at the back.
        Therefore, in GW25 I would suggest either of the following moves:
        – Daniels OUT for 5.3m, bringing IN either: Valencia (5.5), Bertrand (5.4), Zouma (5.3, if he gets a run in the Chelsea team), Fonte (5.3), Keane (4.9). My pick would be Valencia, doubling up on United defenders. The keep leaking the odd goal, but you know they have clean sheets in them! OR,
        – Smith OUT for 4.5m(?), bringing IN either: Mee (4.6), Wimmer (4.6), Funes Mori (4.6), Chambers (4.5) or Pieters (4.5). My pick would be Wimmer, if he keeps his place in the Spurs defence whilst Vertonghen is out. Otherwise I would probably go for Funes Mori or Chambers.
        Of those two options, I would probably sell Smith, keep Daniels – and look to bring in a defender from another team to give you plenty of defensive option to be flexible with fixtures each gameweek.

        My proposed squad for you in GW25 would then look like this:
        Courtois Jakupovic
        Jones McAuley Daniels Holgate Chambers
        Sanchez Eriksen Lallana Stanislas Davies
        Costa Kane Carroll

        I think that is a much more flexible squad! Hope some of those suggestions are helpful!

        • Rogueblood says:

          Thank you for the indepth comment gives me a lot to think about At the time of posting i have 0.3itb with 1ft.

        • db says:

          Wow Ian, that’s a great answer. Might ask you to analyse my stocks and shares portfolio smile

        • Mitro says:

          Ian – really good post!

          Any chance you could RMT? smile

          1FT & 0.9 ITB

        • saloba11 says:

          Outstanding analysis there Ian. Good on you!

        • IanDouglas says:

          Thanks guys! I really enjoyed reviewing another member’s team and offering some advice/suggestions. Was good fun!

          Mitro, your team’s looking very strong – if you can share an image of your team in the transfer page (so I can see sell values), I’ll offer a few thoughts. To be honest though, your team looks really good – maybe just one or two worthwhile tweaks.

        • IanDouglas says:

          Mitro, that said – as an immediate flag – having Love, Amat and Ake (now that he’s back at Chelsea and not looking like getting a guaranteed starting place anytime soon) is risky and probably costing you a few extra points each week. And as with my summary of Rogue’s squad, Capoue doesn’t look likely to offer much more than 2-3 points per week from now until the end of the the season, except the occasional bit of luck (in which case, he’ll probably be on your bench).

          Show me the values and I’ll offer a few suggestions on transfers to upgrade some of those ‘dead-weights’.

        • saloba11 says:

          Ian any initial thoughts on this team going forward. Ive made my ttansfers early but llooking ahead need to shift aguero giving hes likely to miss gw26 and gw28.

        • IanDouglas says:

          Hi Saloba,
          Thanks for asking for my thoughts on your team. First things first, in my opinion, you’ve built a great squad! You’ve got a good 1st choice keeper, strong options in defence and midfield, and a good frontline.

          If I’m being a bit pedantic and looking for any slight weaknesses in your team then these are the players I would look to upgrade:
          – Amat
          – Pedro

          And if you asked me what my biggest concerns are about your team it would be 1) a lack of Liverpool coverage, and 2) is Aguero going to give you value for all that money..?

          Now, I think the most obvious move is Amat to Holgate. He’s the same price, and as a 5th choice defender – he’s a more likely starter in a team that’s more likely to keep clean sheets. So it’s a no-brainer in my opinion. Make the change on a week when you haven’t got any other changes lined up so you don’t lose any points over it. Everton have a nice little run coming up too.

          With Pedro, I think he gives you good Chelsea coverage (which you absolutely need!) but he is often in the shadow of Costa and Hazard – hence his reasonable price. You I’d flag Pedro as a potential player to transfer OUT.

          Essentially, I think the big question comes down to what you do with Aguero.
          Like you say, he may miss GWs 26 and 28, so maybe take him out and draw up a plan to get him back for those double weeks. But he does have some nice fixtures coming up. My feeling, is that Aguero will definitely have some high-scoring games before the end of the season, but personally, I think Kane, Ibrahimovic and Costa all have equally good fixtures over the next 10-12 games and are in much better form. I think you might want to consider bringing in Costa or Kane for Aguero, which would give you an extra 1.6m (if you brought in Kane) or a whopping 2.5m (if you brought in Costa), to add to that 1.0m you already have in the bank. With that 2.6m or 3.5m you can then upgrade Pedro to a more premium midfielder: De Bruyne/Coutinho/Firmino/Mane/Hazard OR look at upgrading Andre Gray. With 1.7m you could upgrade Gray to Defoe; for the same money you could have Andy Carroll, or for 3.4m you could gamble on Lukaku, given Everton’s significant improvement in form.

          Ask yourself this: would you rather have Pedro and Aguero, or De Bruyne and Costa? Personally, I feel better with the second option, given Aguero’s turbulent form this season, and Pedro not being the main man at Chelsea. (Also, De Bruyne showed glimpses against Spurs that he could be about to pull the strings for City for the remainder of the season).

          If it were me this is what I would do:
          – definitely do Amat to Holgate for same price, and
          – Aguero for Costa (whilst Costa’s price is relatively low).
          With the extra 3.5m, over the next few weeks I would consider:
          upgrading Pedro to Coutinho/Firmino and potentially swapping Andre Gray for Defoe or Carroll.

          My one other pointer – if you find yourself with 0.5m or more ITB and a free transfer going spare, why not upgrade Cech to Courtois? Chelsea’s defence has been a rock this season, and Arsenal still have a tendency to leak the odd goal or two in a game. I wouldn’t bat an eye-lid at doubling up Alonso on Courtois for most of Chelsea’s games, even more so when you look at their run.

          Hope that’s helpful!

        • IanDouglas says:

          Mitro, coming back to your team:
          I can’t see your sell values, so I’m just speculating…
          But I’ve already highlighted Ake, Amat, Love and Capoue as your weak links.

          First things first – get a bit of extra money ITB and transfer Capoue out for Fletcher or Davies (my pick would be – and has been for my own team – Tom Davies).
          With the extra 0.3m(?) combined with the 0.9 you already have in the bank, I think you upgrade your dead-weight defenders. Ake I would transfer for Holgate – which I’m guessing gains you 0.1m.
          Then with the extra 1.0m ITB, I think you exchange Love and Amat for any combination of Friend, Nyom, Pieters, Funes Mori or Chambers.

          That gives you a few more options to mix it up defensively depending on weekly fixtures, but keeps your defensive spend reasonably low.

          My only other major concern for you is your lack of Spurs coverage – which is scary considering how well they are playing and how their games are shaping up. Take a look at what I suggested to Saloba relating to Aguero… I think you have a similar decision of whether to keep Aguero as a potential differential/power-player, or whether you look for better value in Harry Kane. With that extra 1.6m you then have to option to look to upgrade Antonio to either Alli/Eriksen/Sterling/Pogba/Coutinho or if you like Antonio, keep the 1.6m ITB to potentially buy Aguero back for the DGWs.

          Hope there are some helpful suggestions in there..!

        • saloba11 says:

          Ian thanks very much for your thoughts. ive been holding off removing amat until playing my wild card ane feel the other 4 playing defenders are strong enough to get by. Thanks for suggesting holgate hes someone i was considering. i take your point on pedro and aguero and like the idea of kdb and costa however the worry is id be takint aguero out when his fixtures are looking good. Wedt ham followed by swansea. i actually took defoe out for gray as it allowed me to upgrade lallana to alli but its meant i dont have anybliverpool coverage. If city ste likely to miss gw 22 i could pote potentially brin in costa and coutinho/ firminho for pedro and aguero. Thanks again for your suggestions its appreciated.

        • Mitro says:

          Hi Ian – just catching up with your response – thanks for the comments it is appreciated.

          Davies is defo on my radar and I will probably do a hit for GW23 and take out capoue and Ake and bring in Davies and possibly Williams (would prefer to bring in yoshida as he is the cheaper option but Williams does have a guaranteed GW coming up)

          Kun is the one that is causing me the dilemma as 2 of my rivals in either of my ML have Kane however they don’t have Ibra or Costa! I reckon I should stick with Kun and see what happens in the next few GWs.

          Lack of Spurs coverage will hurt me but hopefully a firing Kun will soften the blow

    • 27.2
      Brookyboy says:

      Not worth a wc in my opinion ! You can get by with that defence for a couple more weeks and the main problem players in your front 7 are Origi and Matic.How many transfers and how much cash in the bank before wc ???

  4. 28
    Neo says:

    Finally some green arrows as I scored 59 points! Thanks to whoever helped with the RMT smile

    1. I’m letting Alonso/Bellerin go, but which? I want to keep Alonso for the season but I’m not sure if I should sell and then buy him back (would only cost me 0.2) – Bellerin would need to keep a CS against Watford and I would need to waste a transfer in the future, so leaning to selling Alonso

    2. I have Robles, should I replace my expensive defender with Coleman/Brunt? Not too sure if I should double up but this Everton side looks pretty solid to me

  5. 29
    Pippin says:

    Nice article Mito, a few interesting points in there! Hope everyone’s well and pleased with their score. I have had two 70+ weekends now, so extending my cup run(!) and finally climbing the rankings after a very poor start.

    I have two FTs and 1.2m in the bank. I am concerned that I lack City cover, and also Kane (but I can’t see a way to afford him or KdB, who I’d favour from City). Was thinking that Holebas/Giroud > Yoshida/Lukaku would be an upgrade, and also tempted by Firmino > Eriksen for a -4. Any thoughts?

  6. 30
    Waxys says:

    How’s this team looking for upcoming weeks?

    • 30.1
      Waxys says:

      Sterling to Walcott and Giroud to Jesus is always an option if Giroud no longer starts

      • Colriles says:

        Hey Waxys, FT and cash? Sterling could be genius or crap… Ideally turn Sterling into Sanchez but can’t say how without more info.

        • Waxys says:

          No free transfers and very little cash available. Sanchez just costs way too much good as he is I can’t afford him.

          I have Sterling for city coverage and he’s relatively cheap smile compared to KDB

      • Raziel says:

        Selling GIroud, Waxys? You sure? Damn dude. And Jesus is good but Kun will still be the main man. Kun was awesome in the last game. Just very unlucky, just like City were very unlucky not to win that game. They outclassed Spurs on so many levels in the first half.

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