How to handle a defensive disaster in Fantasy League?
How to handle a defensive disaster in Fantasy League?
Here we sit just 38 games – and four game weeks – into the Premier League season and already there have been an almost unbelievable 144 goals scored. Last week was definitely a rough one, with both United and Liverpool conceding 6 and 7. Unbelievable.
So, perhaps it is time to reshuffle the backline away from the bigger names? Let’s find out.
Goals, goals, goals
So, we’ve already touched on the 144 goals scored this season. It’s a staggering 40 higher than at the same stage last season. Speculation as to the reason is rife. Is it the lack of fans? Is it the lack of a proper pre-season? Frankly, we couldn’t care less. We love entertaining football and that is what we are getting.
That all said, we also want to win our personal battles where Fantasy Football is concerned. With games now seeing an average of 3.8 goals, there have been very few clean sheets and no goalless draws. We urge you to think about how much your back line has cost. There might be better areas to invest.
The top scoring defenders
It’s not all doom and gloom for defenders. Timothy Castagne has scored one and assisted three in his four 90 minute outings for Leicester. He’s the top scoring defender on 28 points. The next closest are Romain Saiss (24), Aaron Cresswell (24) and Tyrone Mings (23). Given that Castagne is the most expensive at £5.7m, with the other trio say between £4.9m and £5.1m, there may be value to be had.
By contrast, players like Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold who are priced at £6.5m and £7.5m respectively have gained just 14 points – half of Castagne’s tally. With TAA, there is an argument for the long game as he will chip in offensively at some point – or so you would think. Even so, at £7.5m, he’s only £0.1m cheaper than Dominic Calvert-Lewin who has bagged six league goals already this season.
Picking a defence today, it would be tempting to switch out your TAA’s and Van Dijk’s for the likes of Castagne and Mings. Castagne has proven he’ll be a threat going forwards and Mings will cause problems from set pieces. Such a switch would save you over £3m.
What about new defensive arrivals?
It’s true, the main transfer deadline has just passed. With that comes a few defenders who might tempt you to draft them in. Ben Godfrey, who swapped Norfolk for Merseyside, is one but his scoring is likely to be reliant on clean sheets. That feels unlikely with Jordan Pickford dropping clangers right, left and centre behind him.
Ruben Dias is another player who, whilst he will play regularly at Man City after his near £60m move from Benfica, will be largely reliant on shutouts to build up his points. So, who else is there?
The first club we turn to is Wolves. First, we have Rayan Ait-Nouri who has joined Wolves on loan from Ligue 1 outfit Angers. The 19-year-old is a highly rated, attack minded player but there are question marks over how much game time he’ll get at Molineux whilst the right back slot is being filled by Nelson Semedo.
The ex-Barcelona man is a decent player and will do well under Nuno Espirito Santo but he’s unlikely to contribute on the offensive side as much as their former wing back Matt Doherty.
The more interesting potential comes in the shape of two left backs. Sergio Reguilon has already made a positive start to life at Tottenham – albeit he only has two points to his name. Don’t be surprised if that changes in the coming weeks though.
Then, in positive news out of Old Trafford, they’ve wrapped up the signing of Porto man Alex Telles. The odds are that he’ll take Luke Shaw’s place in the team. Given he provided 57 assists and weighed in with 26 goals in 195 games for the Liga NOS giants suggests he might be a good punt.
Finally, what about the keepers?
Of course, the lack of clean sheets is having a big hit on the goalkeepers too. Our stance is fairly simple here. Pick a keeper who will play regularly and who tends to be busy. The likes of Ederson and Alisson are fine when they’re not conceding goals, but they come at a hefty price.
Alternatives such as Emi Martinez, Alex McCarthy and Illan Meslier may well offer better value at circa £4.5m whilst we’re witnessing goals galore.
There you have it, an insight into how you can reap the rewards of the defensive crisis. Even if you are watching games with as many goals as points in the first quarter of an NBA game, there is still some hope to score a few points with defenders.
