2021/2022 Wildcard thread.

Surprised it's not busier in here this week...🤨

Feel like my team is going stale but not quite dead ended yet maybe (?)

Sanchez | Steele

Alonso | TAA | Shaw | Coufal | Tsimakas

Salah | Raphina | Torres | Gilmour | Benrahma

Antonio | Ronaldo | Maupay

Feel like I urgently need to get rid of Shaw and Torres.

TAA, Tsimakas, Gilmour, Benrahma and Ronaldo also teetering close to the chopping block as well.

Would you wildcard now? Or hold fire for another bit...don't want to take hits if possible but open to feedback either way

I'd definitely get rid of Shaw anyways. Man United have only kept one CS is all comps all season, and that was against the 2nd worst scorers in the league who missed a lot of chances to score in that game. Only has 1 attacking return. Not enough enough returns for 5.5, there are much better options for that price, or cheaper. And that is while Man Utd were playing their 'easy' fixtures. Upcoming games up until GW15 are Everton, Leicester, Liverpool, Spurs, City, Watford, Chelsea, Arsenal. At the moment, I would see 3 CS games from 8. Rudiger for a start who has 4 CS and has more attacking return points.

Tsimikas is an odd one. Personally, as a Liverpool fan, I would prefer to see him start the Man City game as I think he has played better than Robertson this season. But I'm not manager of Liverpool! I hope he plays the CL game tonight, and plays so well that Klopp has no choice but to start him Sunday. Robbo has been below par this season. Fixtures are not the best, while there is still CS & assist potential. But it's only around 50% on paper currently, and Tsimikas is not currently starting. 2 that are currently starting are Livramento & Duffy, and are the the standout choices for replacements in that price point as they are starting every game. Lamptey returning should not affect Duffy's place in the team long term, unless there is a formation change. Tsimikas is only really a problem if you need the 14th player. He's not taking up funds.

TAA depends on injury really for me personally, but there's a willing replacement in Alonso who has the fixtures. You already have Alonso, so you're good here. Until last Saturday, TAA was a mainstay for me, but now with big breach in defence and the injury, I have some doubts. A defence of Alonso, Rudiger, TAA is strong. Coufal is a strong rotation option with the 4.1 Duffy/Livramento willing to fill in when needed.

Torres is really susceptible to Pep Rouletter but is also not returning. I would suggest one of the 3 Arsenal MIDs, and some cash to play with.

Personally, I would hold Benrahama for a few more GWs anyways but that should change around GW11.

So overall, I would think that Shaw & Torres are really only your 'problems'. Easy fix with 2 FTs or a -4. This squad is strong for next week. Then can move Ronaldo -> Lukaku the week after (or this week for a -8 if you go that way). Should have around 1.5 extra ITB with those moves too.

TAA Rudiger Alonso Coufal (Tsimikas)

Salah Benrahama Raphinha Saka (Gilmour)

Ronaldo Antonio (Maupay)

Thinking of wildcarding (will also save me a -4 I took to get ESR and Lukaku in):

Sanchez/Steele

TAA, Rudiger, Livramento, Williams, Ayling

Gray, Salah, ESR, Benrahma, Gilmour

Lukaku, Antonio, Ronaldo

to:

Foster, Ramsdale

Alonso, Rudiger, Cancelo, Livramento, Manquillo

ESR, Douglas Luiz, Salah, Benrahma, Gray

Antonio, Lukaku, Ronaldo

Opinions? I'd have nothing in the bank.

Sanchez

Taa rudiger Alonso coufal white

Benrahma Salah greenwood Jota klich

Antonio Lukaku perica

Not wildcarding this week used my 2 frees to get Alonso and rudiger for James and Shaw. Had hoped to carry it to gw13/14 but very tempted to pull the trigger next week after playing around with the idea I came up with

Ederson

Cancelo Alonso rudiger taa livramento

Salah raphina saka Gallagher doucoure

Antonio Lukaku and a 4.5

+1m itb

I feel like the GW that TAA scores a goal and a CS is the GW folk will be saying this is why you don't sell TAA etc, yet Liverpool conceded 3 against Brentford with their strongest defense on the pitch. They should have conceded against Leeds only for bad finishing. TAA played most of last season and got 2 goals. He's never been a prolific goalscorer, so this idea that going without him is an unnecessary risk is just hype and usually by pool supporters. If you went for Matip for instance he's 2.6m cheaper and he'll get you the CS points that TAA would get.

I don't really know how having Alonso, Rudiger, and Cancelo would constitute of a weak defense, coupled with livramento who has decent fixtures.

Also the idea that someone in the 7-9m range is going to be a must have doesn't really stack up when you look at the players in that range :

Sancho, Pogba, Greenwood - if you have Ronaldo your unlikely want any of these players - also rotational risks with them.

Mahrez, Grealish, Foden, Gundog, Torres - Most of us don't want to play Pep roulette, even if one gets a hattrick this GW he could be on bench for the next.

Havertz, Pulisic, Ziyech, Mount - most are on the double Chelsea defense and Lukaku so won't be jumping on these players, who again are rotational risks.

That leaves Jota - whom folk are transferring out and are uncertain about starting, Pepe - who is not value compared with ESR/Saka.

I've an awful lot of issues in defence though. It's also saving me the -4 I've already taken - I changed Torres to ESR & Ings to Lukaku.

Last year I held onto my WC right up until Xmas and it ended up being a hindrance more than a help - I ended up playing it setting my team up for a week where City were due not to play so I dropped my City players and then City were added to the GW.

Nope, the keepers are the same price. TAA is going to Alonso and I'm also getting Cancelo for Ayling.

So I'm getting Cancelo/Alonso over Ayling/TAA.

5 games isn't exactly a decent sample size. Naturally enough he will run through hot and cold spells. At the end of the season will he be the top pointscoring defender? Who knows but it would be a suprise if he's not in the top 3 imo..

He's ranked 8th of all players on the ict index and is the top defender so it wouldn't be a stretch to think that the assists are unsustainable. And if he is going to be getting bonus for every assist then the matches he's involved in are going to be uncomfortable watching. Himself Alonso and cancelo are in a class of their own in terms of the ceiling they have in any given week

I think if you can definitely try to fit Raphina in (injury concerns aside), Leeds have good fixtures and he tends to keep the points ticking over nicely. Hes also a midfielder who takes shots on goal so extra points there when he does score. I like Saka and will likely get him in myself next week.

Im not sure if White goes up for Arsenals corners but Tierney seems to be a lot more attacking than him and might get a return on top of a clean sheet. Sarr and Benrahama are good now but Id look ahead 5 or 6 games and ask yourself if they can continue returning against the teams they are facing. Both Watford and WH are going into slightly more difficult fixtures. It doesnt mean they wont return but does make it less likely. I have Benrahma at the moment but will likely sell him on WC GW8 and just keep Antonio.

Wc time baby

Vardy and Son are returning and probably should be looking to fit at least one of them into a WC team imo.

Was playing with a big at the back build. Don't hate it but it's a bit all over the place if I needed to suddenly fit in Vardy or Son

Yeah I've went from a non playing bench to spreading them around too much. Will tinker a bit during the IB, haven't pressed the button yet.

Hwang lots set to rise which would price me out of that already :)

Yeah that would be the idea. After looking at some drafts on Twitter Son seems like the popular pick. Might revamp it and follow suit

He wasn't horrendous, but he wasn't what you would be hoping for from a captain, If you compare him to say Werner, Werner was involved a lot more imo and looked sharper. I wouldn't be selling Rom, given his fixtures especially with Norwich on the horizon, but I don't think I would be like some folk who are blindly captaining him for the next few GW's, expecting him to score purely based on his fixtures, he needs form, and probably the right service, I mentioned in another thread, would it be mad to think of doubling up on Werner/Rom - if you knew they would both start? something to ponder

I do think Son is the one to have, His form last year and even this season is a joke - he returns so much, double digit scores for fun. Vardy is on a great run atm, but would you say there are legs left in him, or have most of us missed the boat with him?

When Mount and James come back into the team Rom should get a lot more big chances.

I’m giving him the next 4 games and can reassess then and switch if needs be.

Vardy has a nice run of fixtures from weeks 13-16.

Terrible start to the season has me hitting the WC button already....

First Draft

Mendy (Foster)

Rudiger Cancelo Semedo (Pinnock, Duffy)

Son Salah Tielemans Gallagher Townsend

Lukaku Maupay (Davis)

Thoughts on that?

I don't personally like the Chilwell pick. High points ceiling but too much of a rotation risk for my liking. Azpi or Rudiger 'safer' IMO, Reece James coming back from injury too I'd prefer over Chilwell.

Strong bench so maybe that negates the Chilwell pick but with Foden too always a risk. Similar(ish) to mine so I do like it.

Townsend might be a better pick than Mbuemo in short term but might give yourself a benching headache!