Only options available to me are:

P Robinson BLA
R Green WH
M Schwarzer FUL
J Hart MC
B Jones MID
S Given NEW
C Kirkland WIG

Was thinking about the rotation of Kirkland & Jaaskelainen?

Poss Hart?

Suggestions welcome..

Jaaskelainen – Bolton vs Stoke
Reina – Liverpool vs Middlesbrough
Jaaskelainen – Bolton vs West Brom
Jaaskelainen – Fulham vs Bolton
Reina – Liverpool vs Stoke

That gives a very good likelihood of at least 3 clean sheets out of the 5 games, possibly more. Following that, i will probably alter Reina for Cech or keep him in, depending on how Liverpool are coping.

Thoughts?

Just a thought…

On the other hand I feel the guides will be of little use, although it makes interesting reading, as our office league is one player from each club using the telegraph league for scoring and managers added in to restrict your budget further. Makes for far more permutations and so is more interesting.

Maybe we’re all wrong and it’s Toure! Two goals, three assists, ten bonus points. Shame about that injury.

Maybe people remember that Clichy represented good value last year, and his selection was almost an automatic choice. He was good value last year because he was playing in a top defence and was 0.5M cheaper than the CB’s. I think he will be get less points per game, than all his defence partners.

In games like Yahoo and therefore the Guardian which include scoring methods like tackles, blocks and crosses Clichy isn’t just the best defender at the Emirates, he ranked third overall.

Across the games then, I currently consider Clichy to be the best option. In the FPL it’s very close, however I will say that Clichy picked up more bonus that Gallas. True enough, he played more games but the bonus started arriving at the end of the season. It was almost as if the FPL “powers that be” had just discovered Clichy even though he performed well over the entire season. It could be that Clichy has become one of their Bonus point darlings and that could carry over into next season. Just a theory that though.

For example, if you were wanting to bring in a player because he has just scored, or emerged as 1st team player, then by all means buy them soon. However, if you are bringing in a player due to favourable fixtures and not because of last weeks performance then the chances are they will not increase in value.

I advise this because at numerous points last season I made changes on Sunday and Monday, and then the player gets injured mid-week in Champions League/Uefa Cup/League Cup.

I advise everyone to pay attention on Friday’s by waiting to see the managers press conferences, as they give away alot of team news.

These are just guides that offer some theories behind the selection process rather than a list of players you should sign. Ideas like the home/away rotation of keepers and the theory that a top tier keeper is perhaps a wise choice when rotation can be prominent amongst top tier defenders (certainly with Liverpool and Chelsea), are the main points I’m trying to offer.

By the end of the three guides the player recommendations I mention won’t fit within your budget – they are just included as examples to help me explain the processes behind selection. It’s up to the reader whether they apply these theories to their own selection and even if they do, it’s very likely (hopefully) they will come up with different players.

As an example, in the strikers guide last year I was tipping an Anelka/McCarthy pairing to illustrate that two mid-price strikers could be the way to go rather than a high price/budget option. As it turned out the player recommendations were off beam but the theory was sound – Adebayor/Santa Cruz were the mid price strikers to go for.

I appreciate that Clichy is an excellent player and certainly did well with assists last year but Gallas is worth consideration.