January Wildcard

extra gravy

Thought it might be handy to have a separate thread again to discuss when people will be using it and what players are on your watchlist.

The January Wildcard can only be used after Gameweek 20 starts (1 Jan 11:30) until Gameweek 23 ends (7 Feb 11:30); as the January wildcard isn't available until after the Gameweek 20 deadline, the earliest these transfers will be active is Gameweek 21. (to keep CSF happy )

I had intended to leave it as late as possible but now considering using my GW20 transfer for a one week punt and then activating the wildcard as soon as it's available. Will be keeping a core set of players: Zab, Terry, Sanchez, Hazard, Silva and Austin. Players on my wishlist are Hutton, Boyd and possibly Kane. Also need to decide whether I will be continuing with 3-4-3 or making the switch to 3-5-2.

So when will you be using yours, what players are you keeping and which ones are on your watchlist?

Lemlin

Am I right in thinking this is the first season where the wildcard has been available that late into February?

Looking at my squad:

Hart
Terry Naylor Hutton Wisdom Dummett
Yaya Eriksen Hazard Sanchez Marney
Austin Costa Bony

I'm in no rush to make any major changes. Yaya and Bony have to go in the next two GWs, Yaya for Silva and I'll see who for Bony.

Other than that, there are no immediate concerns I have. I'll be going for a cheaper keeper than Hart, who has been an unmitigated disaster, and will try to sneak Zab in if I can.

Players I have me eye on are:

Pantimillon
Phil Jones
Sterling
Jovetic until Kun is back

Paully D

extra gravy wrote: »

So when will you be using yours, what players are you keeping and which ones are on your watchlist?

My plan is to wait until Aguero is ready to go and use it to assist in bringing him back in.

I'll be going with Aguero, Costa and most likely Austin up front. Hazard, Sanchez, Silva, Sigurdsson (Sterling is under consideration) and Boyd as my 5 midfielders. Terry, Neil Taylor, a mid-priced defender around the £5.0m-£5.5m mark (Manchester United options under serious consideration), and a couple of cheapies to round off my defence. Pantilimon's fixtures really pick up again for a couple of months around about the time I plan on using it so he'll be my goalkeeper.

All going well I'll have:

Pantilimon

Terry + £5.0m-£5.5m DEF - then 1 from Neil Taylor/Cheapie/Cheapie

Hazard Sanchez Silva Sigurdsson

Aguero Costa Austin

Dramatic changes are tempting and often necessary with a wildcard, but it would actually only cost me a -12 point hit to get this team at the minute which I think is a good sign.

evancmurphy00

Currently have this:

Fabianski
Skrtel Terry Bertrand
Eriksen Downing Hazard Fabregas
Jovetic Austin (C) Kane

Szczesney Clyne Chadli Ward

Probably going to get rid of both Bertrand and Clyne and replace them with O' Shea and Hutton. Then going to swap Szczesney with Pantilimon. Then thinking of getting rid of Chadli and Downing and bringing in Sanchez and Isgrove (won't play, just really cheap).

Shedite27

Probably looking to keep it a few weeks, there's not many game weeks in Jan anyway (10th, 17th, 31st Jan). Want to see what returning players (Aguero, Walcott, Sturridge) can be fitted in.

Rearranging the bench fodder also, cheap defenders. Hopefully there'll be a nice 9m keeper combo that rotates well for the second half of the season (think it was Foster/Mannone last season)

Iused2likebusts

WBA have approached Pulis. 3 WBA defenders in the wildcard now:pac:

jimmii

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

WBA have approached Pulis. 3 WBA defenders in the wildcard now:pac:

Hang on yet it looks like it could still be Sherwood! Imagine three Sherwood defenders. Shudders.

Ziegler1988

I feel like I could do a -4 next GW (Yaya, Benteke, Bony out for Cesc, Kane, RvP) and be happy with my front 8, but my defence would not be what I want. I'll have to think about it since I would need to save my FT this week and not go for the one week punt as I planned.

Rikand

jimmii wrote: »

Hang on yet it looks like it could still be Sherwood! Imagine three Sherwood defenders. Shudders.

3 WBA attackers

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Obvious shortcomings but that front 3 has serious potential.

alchemist33

I aim to to do it mid-Jan. My list so far says...

Panti/Krul
3 cheapies (incl. Duff if he gets back, Yun if fit), one mid, one premium (?Zab)
Sanchez, Hazard, Boyd, 2 others
Aguero, Austin, Costa (Costa's spot may go to Sturridge or another)

So as you can see, still under construction.

extra gravy

This managerial merry go round is another reason to hold onto the wildcard until we see how these teams shape up. Current first choice players may not be for too much longer.

CrabieCrawford

Plus theres always a few new signings in January. Even if you're not interested in signing them, they can directly/indirectly cause your players to be dropped.

kevinroche3333

Does anyone have goalkeeper/defence rotation pairings from January onwards?

Is there any info out there regarding who has better home matches for the second half of the season? I read somewhere here that QPR remaining home matches are nearly all against current top 10 teams.

Iused2likebusts

kevinroche3333 wrote: »

Does anyone have goalkeeper/defence rotation pairings from January onwards?

Is there any info out there regarding who has better home matches for the second half of the season? I read somewhere here that QPR remaining home matches are nearly all against current top 10 teams.

Che qpr
Ars spurs
Utd city
New sun
Liv eve
Villa wba
Bur hull
Sou Leicester
Pal wham
Sto swa

Shedite27

Currently I have 2 cheap inform strikers (Kane/Austin) who allow me to stockpile big hitters around the rest of the team. Their form will run out eventually and it's then that I could do with a wildcard.

dahat

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Che qpr
Ars spurs
Utd city
New sun
Liv eve
Villa wba
Bur hull
Sou Leicester
Pal wham
Sto swa

Villa/WBA could be interesting especially if Pull is gets the WBA job.

CSF

Slowly gravitating towards not playing it immediately. This would be a first.

Ziegler1988

CSF wrote: »

Slowly gravitating towards not playing it immediately. This would be a first.

I'm leaning this way too, although I'm going to take a beating on team value if I wildcard at the end. It would allow me to monitor Siggy more, I have Heaton in goal who has nice fixtures in Jan and then terrible after, and I could use it to rearrange my team if Costa and/or Studge fire.

kevinroche3333

CSF wrote: »

Slowly gravitating towards not playing it immediately. This would be a first.

2 week break between GW22 and GW23 looks ideal time, with Aguero due back around then and new appointments like possibly Pulis settling in.

Shedite27

I'm looking at leaving it late also, Man City have a horrible Jan, Man Utd a lovely Jan, so looking at keeping RVP/ADM and then swapping them around with Aguero/Silva towards the end of the month.

Scorpion Sting

This is an early draft I came up with. The 0.4 left over would allow some wiggle room for price changes. I could downgrade De Gea and Gilks to a rotating keeper combo of say Panti and Green and upgrade the defence. Terry and Hutton are certs for the premium def and cheap def spots respectively. Haz, Sanchez and Fab are nailed on as my big hitters and Boyd is the ideal cheapie mid. Apart from Kun the two other forwards and the last remaining midfield spot are up in the air atm.

There are some questions I have to ask myself. Go with Downing, Siggy, Mirallas or Hendo for the mid range option or splash out on ADM when he's back fit? ADM would make for a dream midfield 4 or a mid range would give more balance. What do I do with Kun? Is he a must-have or are there other viable alternatives?

There's just so many flippin' options that we're spoilt for choice!

I don't think it would be crazy to go with 3 cheap forwards from the likes of Austin, Ings, Kane, Carroll, Ayoze etc. This would mean going without Aguero and opting for a 3-5-2 which is intriguing. Imagine a midfield of Hazard, Sanchez, Fabregas, Silva and Di Maria!

kevinroche3333

jebforever wrote: »

There are some questions I have to ask myself. Go with Downing, Siggy, Mirallas or Hendo for the mid range option or splash out on ADM when he's back fit? ADM would make for a dream midfield 4 or a mid range would give more balance. What do I do with Kun? Is he a must-have or are there other viable alternatives?

There's just so many flippin' options that we're spoilt for choice!

I don't think it would be crazy to go with 3 cheap forwards from the likes of Austin, Ings, Kane, Carroll, Ayoze etc. This would mean going without Aguero and opting for a 3-5-2 which is intriguing. Imagine a midfield of Hazard, Sanchez, Fabregas, Silva and Di Maria!

Certainly food for thought there! But I think going without a fit Aguero for the remainder of the season is at best gambling and at worst....... (no bad langauage allowed!).
Have to love the wildcard possibilities though!

Iused2likebusts

I think i'll be going Aguero 2 cheapish strikers and 4 premium mids.

manual_man

Currently thinking Aguero, Pelle and a cheapie! Things can change, but that makes sense to me as a good setup to have for the end of January.

Lemlin

jebforever wrote: »

This is an early draft I came up with. The 0.4 left over would allow some wiggle room for price changes. I could downgrade De Gea and Gilks to a rotating keeper combo of say Panti and Green and upgrade the defence. Terry and Hutton are certs for the premium def and cheap def spots respectively. Haz, Sanchez and Fab are nailed on as my big hitters and Boyd is the ideal cheapie mid. Apart from Kun the two other forwards and the last remaining midfield spot are up in the air atm.

There are some questions I have to ask myself. Go with Downing, Siggy, Mirallas or Hendo for the mid range option or splash out on ADM when he's back fit? ADM would make for a dream midfield 4 or a mid range would give more balance. What do I do with Kun? Is he a must-have or are there other viable alternatives?

There's just so many flippin' options that we're spoilt for choice!

I don't think it would be crazy to go with 3 cheap forwards from the likes of Austin, Ings, Kane, Carroll, Ayoze etc. This would mean going without Aguero and opting for a 3-5-2 which is intriguing. Imagine a midfield of Hazard, Sanchez, Fabregas, Silva and Di Maria!

Let's pretend you didn't mention going without Kun and move on.

Scorpion Sting

Yes sorry folks, what was I thinking? Going without Aguero when he's fit and in form wouldn't be recommended and especially not when I'm at 2k and his ownership percentage likely to be over 90% in the top 10k.

sheroman01

I also did my draft WC team. Plan to play it maybe mid-Jan.

So my thoughts with this team are:

1. Team would look drastically different without Augero but he's a must. If he isn't fit soon, can also throw in someone else like Austin.

2. Would love a premium defender but have opted for a "premium" 4th choice midfielder instead. Sterling playing as a striker is too tempting for me and I think his points will come.

3. Defence isn't the best but I have plenty of variety for rotation. Davies and Taylor should be fairly solid at the back.

4. I know Krul and Duff are currently injured but Krul will regain his place soon and Duff is a 5th choice defender who will hopefully regain his place.

5. 0.2m in the bank so I could use this on a GK/Defender. (Just after thinking McNair in for Cameron...hmmm...)

Thoughts and advice is VERY much appreciated

TaytoCrisps

The League cup final is on the 1st of March from what I can see, If Chelsea beat Liverpool then its Leicester V Chelsea that will be off and Spurs should win the other leading to QPR v Spurs being off that weekend as well in GW 27 . I will try and play my wildcard late with that in mind so I wont be in too much trouble that weekend . There are enough game weeks between to plan around it but no harm being able to make tactical transfers rather than forced ones.

Saying all that, my wild card will probably be used on the 2nd of jan

Paully D

Here's my messing around, draft attempt:



The front 3 and midfield 5 don't need any explanation really. If Austin starts to slacken off with his home fixtures getting more difficult, I would consider someone else but other than that I'm happy with that midfield and strike force. I don't really want 5 top options in midfield as you're likely to be faced with a tough decision every week and thus leave points on the bench. With 3-4-3 it's as handy to have Boyd who we all now by now can and will contribute, often when we need it most.

Terry in defence to play every week. Sunderland and Newcastle obviously rotate every week and offer some very, very tasty home fixtures. In fact far more than I actually thought initially. This would of course depend on who the new Newcastle manager fancies in his back four and how van Aanholt comes back from his serious shoulder injury, but the plan would be to have Sunderland and Newcastle defensive coverage to rotate in any case. I was a big fan of the Swansea/Stoke rotation at the start of the season (even though Stoke ended up giving me virtually nothing :pac:) and would be quite happy to go with that again to give me Terry + 2 home defenders every week at the back.

With the above I had £5.5m left for a goalkeeper. An extra £0.2m would have allowed me to get De Gea in which would have been perfect, but even though I'm not a big fan of Foster, Southampton kept plenty of clean sheets in their early run and the fixtures turn that way again from the start of February.

So, overall there's definitely a few things that need to become more clear cut but which should happen between now and late January when I plan on using the wildcard, but I'm pretty happy to have something like the above in mind. There's ways around the doubts too, e.g. downgrading Foster would allow to me to go for guaranteed defensive options from some of the aforementioned teams. As always, I'll probably have something completely different next week. :pac:

Any critique would be most welcomed.

iroced

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

I think i'll be going Aguero 2 cheapish strikers and 4 premium mids.

Will try go 2 premium strikers + 4 premium mids + 1 premium def.
Though it depends what premium really mean? Is Siggy (4th best midfielder half-way through the season) premium?

At the moment I'm looking at something close to this "ideal" setup.


Can Mata be a regular? Maybe Siggy is a season keeper (though since I already sold him and bought back I've no money tied on him so he's easy to move out/in)? Maybe Krelliott will be again my GK combo. Or Guzan/Gilks. I feel I may need a Saints back cover at some point. Forster maybe the cheapest way into their defence now. Keeping Silva long-term? Double up on Hazard/Fab and go cheaper upfront (Kane & Austin form are tempting).

Many many questions. I see 3 main ones though:

1. Costa or Fab?
2. United cover ... or not?
3. Saints defence ... or not?

Ziegler1988

I don't think Silva will be worth it when all of their strikers are back. Costa or Cesc is the big one though; I've been beating the anti Costa drum since I sold him in October. I'm leaning towards Cesc since I'm unlikely to captain either but Cesc is 1.5m cheaper.

Dempsey

Paully D wrote: »

Any critique would be most welcomed.

Instead of the Swansea/Stoke rotation, how about the Villa/WBA one? Stoke are no longer a CS machine & Swansea are poor at the back recently and considering that Pulis is now in charge of WBA and Villa have been more about them when Benteke is involved.

CSF

Genuinely think this might be a wildcard where only one premium priced defender (probably a Chelsea defender) is needed, freeing up the funds for the players that really bring in the points. Between Newcastle/Sunderland, Villa/WBA, and Swansea/Stoke rotations, you can fill those 7 spots reasonably comprehensively for approx 35 mill, leaving approx 70 million (for those among us with decent/good team value) to play with for those other 8 players (with one of them likely in the 4.2-4.6 range anyway, realistically it should either be Gibson or Boyd for different reasons)

65-66 million to form a front 7 is very good going.

manual_man

its defenders that are giving the most food for thought now. too many fecking options if i'm being honest :pac:

Paully D

Dempsey wrote: »

Instead of the Swansea/Stoke rotation, how about the Villa/WBA one? Stoke are no longer a CS machine & Swansea are poor at the back recently and considering that Pulis is now in charge of WBA and Villa have been more about them when Benteke is involved.

Cheers mate, much appreciated feedback.

That's definitely something I am leaning towards now with Pulis in charge of the Baggies. It also helps that it's a cheaper rotation that than Swansea/Stoke one as I'll make a little cash on Taylor if I sell.

FHFC

I'd be an advocate of playing the Jan wildcard late anyway, but surely this year the list of reasons (or questions) for holding it back is long and compelling enough to mean even to the most itchy trigger finger might hold back tomorrow!!

1. Obviously, Aguero due back mid to late Jan.
2. But also Sturridge due back around the same time.
3. A couple of key managerial changes will need to be monitored, especially rio round teams we are looking to for budget defenders. What kind of defence will Newcastle have? who will Pullis favour (or sign) for his back four? What kind of impact will Pardew have at Palace?
4. Walcott, will he get back in the Arsenal team?
5. How will Austin handle a run of tougher games?
6. Will Mata have a role when Di Maria is fit?
7. Who will Uniteds back 4 be if/when all are fit? Is Rafael gonna be nailed on?

I'm sure there are more, but these are a few off the top of my head?

Cantona's Collars

Players going to ACON and Asian Cup.

PREMIER LEAGUE:

CRYSTAL PALACE: Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo+), Mile Jedinak (Australia).

EVERTON: Christian Atsu (Ghana*).

LEICESTER: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Jeff Schlupp (Ghana*).

LIVERPOOL: Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast+).

MANCHESTER CITY: Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast+) .

NEWCASTLE: Papiss Cisse (Senegal), Mehdi Abeid (Algeria), Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast+).

SOUTHAMPTON: Sadio Mane (Senegal), Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia), Maya Yoshida (Japan).

STOKE: Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal).

SWANSEA: Ki Sung-yueng (South Korea).

TOTTENHAM: Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria).

WEST BROM: Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo+).

WEST HAM: Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate (both Senegal).

NONE GOING FROM: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Burnley, Chelsea, Hull, Man Utd, QPR, Sunderland

8-10

zerks wrote: »

Players going to ACON and Asian Cup.

PREMIER LEAGUE:

CRYSTAL PALACE: Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo+), Mile Jedinak (Australia).

EVERTON: Christian Atsu (Ghana*).

LEICESTER: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Jeff Schlupp (Ghana*).

LIVERPOOL: Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast+).

MANCHESTER CITY: Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast+) .

NEWCASTLE: Papiss Cisse (Senegal), Mehdi Abeid (Algeria), Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast+).

SOUTHAMPTON: Sadio Mane (Senegal), Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia), Maya Yoshida (Japan).

STOKE: Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal).

SWANSEA: Ki Sung-yueng (South Korea).

TOTTENHAM: Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria).

WEST BROM: Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo+).

WEST HAM: Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate (both Senegal).

NONE GOING FROM: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Burnley, Chelsea, Hull, Man Utd, QPR, Sunderland

Is Wilfried Bony not going to the African Cup? And Diame from Hull or is he injured?

manual_man

So, who's pushed the button already then

CSF

manual_man wrote: »

So, who's pushed the button already then

Lunacy to do anything until late this evening when you've the full picture

GetWithIt

Paully D. I have Forster and will most likely be getting rid in the WC.

Strangely the Southampton defence is too good. He gets no save or bonus points so when they keep a clean sheet you actually lose ground to everyone else with Southampton defensive cover. When they concede (which admittedly is not very often) you're left with a 2 pointer.

I'm thinking a Heaton/Clyne combo would be better than a Forster/Duff one, for example.

manual_man

CSF wrote: »

Lunacy to do anything until late this evening when you've the full picture

it may suit some to play it straight away, tho yeah makes total sense to wait til the matches conclude at least, and even then there's FA Cup matches that could throw a spanner in the works b4 the next GW. have 2 F/T myself so think am ok to hold fire for now, tho a couple of injuries could change things

SantryRed

Hang on,

Is Bony not going to the ACON?

shadowcomplex

I played it, I have till the next deadline to finalise

Opinions

Hart
Foster

Terry
Ivanovic
Zabaletta
Wisdom
Hutton

Sterling
Silva
Fabregas
Sanchez
Sigourdsson

Austin
Pelle
Kane

CSF

manual_man wrote: »

it may suit some to play it straight away, tho yeah makes total sense to wait til the matches conclude at least, and even then there's FA Cup matches that could throw a spanner in the works b4 the next GW. have 2 F/T myself so think am ok to hold fire for now, tho a couple of injuries could change things

I honestly can't think of one good reason to play it before 10 tonight.

manual_man

CSF wrote: »

I honestly can't think of one good reason to play it before 10 tonight.

you're not everyone, though

Paully D

For those playing the wildcard now, do you have a specific plan to get Aguero back in or are you just going to cross that bridge when the time comes?

FrClintPower

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I played it, I have till the next deadline to finalise

Opinions

Hart
Foster

Terry
Ivanovic
Zabaletta
Wisdom
Hutton

Sterling
Silva
Fabregas
Sanchez
Sigourdsson

Austin
Pelle
Kane

Too much at the back and too little up front - it'll take a lot of transfers to get the likes of Aguero back in when he's fit. And if you're going for Hart in goal you should only have a 4.0m gk on the bench.

CSF

manual_man wrote: »

you're not everyone, though

Ok then, well let's play the Devils advocate here, tell me a good strategic reason for playing it before all the games have played.

manual_man

CSF wrote: »

Ok then, well let's play the Devils advocate here, tell me a good strategic reason for playing it before all the games have played.

well, if your squad was in bad shape, non-players/injuries, players off to Asia Cup or ACON, factoring in imminent price changes, i can see scenarios where some have pushed the button already