The Dugout Discussion – Monday

Sneaky midfielders are the way forward, but differential status is relevant to ML.
I am still only one with hazard in mine.
But to balance that out I am only one with sessegnon.

Now this is a post.
Up vote for you good sir, well done.

100% agreed. Lots of differentials in midfield for us to defeat those pesky Ramsey + Yay owning casuals!

Differentials seem mostly to be for people that don't have the team value to squeeze in the top performers.

Great post Smokey.

Ultimately differentials are there for those who are miles behind in their mini leagues and need something to explosively elevate their rank. More often than not this results in a greater drop while the template team does its thing.

For those wanting Ozil, Michu, Walcott, Coutinho, Silva, etc. can't afford 3 expensive forwards and if they chose to use a Long or Crouch to fill a cheap spot then there are options... but you're right, you can't afford not to have SAR/L

Differentials are good when there is no clear alternative. Taking strikers for example it would seem odd to pick any from Lukaku, Aguero, Rooney and Suarez at the moment. None are likely to be better picks at the moment. But apart from Hazard and Ozil there are no must have midfielders. This is why you can take a risk and go differential. #the same is true of cheap midfielders.

'A midfield with, say, Michu, Walcott and Silva could prove fruitful in the coming week'

haha, that's the mid that got me in this mess. Rival had Hazard, Ramsey, Yaya 😀

Imho - you make a lot of sense - 7shadesofsmoke

I have lost faith in pricey defenders - midfield is where its at !

"City don't travel so 50% of their games are a right off.! I like you smoke you are one of my fav. posters on this site but that statement is like the Tory party telling me they care about the working classes. Fraud and laziness.

100% right about up front differentials. I think the same pretty much applies to midfield as well though. None of the options you listed are scoring good points yet. Until they are it's pointless to even consider them.

The key thing to remember is that your differentials need to be scoring more points than the more common options. If they aren't you're just falling behind - like Mark was at the start of the season.

Nice read man

René Meulensteen's Fulham

Early days, but René looks like he may favour a 4-3-3, opting for the solidity of Parker, Sidwell and Karagounis in midfield. Against Villa, Fulham played with width; both Riise and Riether averaging a higher position on the pitch than Sidwell and Parker in the middle. Up top, Berbatov has a free role and is allowed to drop deep to collect the ball, while Kacanaklic and Dejagah give him options with inside forward runs and offer pace in behind. Both wingers took up a more advanced position than Berbatov on average, .

http://espnfc.com/uk/en/gamecast/367345/gamecast.html?soccernet=true&cc=5739

My pick (and for those looking for a Brady replacement) is:

Dejagah

- priced 5.1m
- just back from injury, started the last 2, averaging 4 PPG.
- starting price 5.5m

Kacanaklic comes in at a more wallet friendly 4.6m but may be competing for pitch time with Damien Duff.

Agreed on the forwards, it seems silly to even consider anyone else!

At the back it is much the same, I am sticking with Everton and Arsenal right now as the only consistent source of clean sheets from now on (ignoring terrible initial fixtures for Arsenal)

I like the idea of getting in Walcott, so much so I have deliberately put money aside to switch Coutinho to him in two weeks time when Liverpool's fixtures become worse, and Arsenals become better. All of this can be dashed, but it is the only major differential I can think of. Same can be said for Silva.

That said, Fulham's fixtures become a lot nicer soon, and I hope that Kaciniklic can nail down a consistent starting role as another cheap starting option