The Scoreboard – Gameweek 20 – Sunday

Might get a "proper" 5th midfielder soon, because Alli is obviously one of the 4...

That's what I am trying to decide

Whether to replace Ramsey with payet or a cheapie

I never worry about benching anything.

Except Lukaku. Or Kolarov. 😉

bought ben watson after benching one of mahrez's hauls several week back. no headaches, bench an assist here and there

This is how I see it: the more good players, the better. Alli is on my bench because all my midfielders had better fixtures or have been in better form, but if say Özil got rested, I'd have Alli coming on instead of Westwood. Same thing with defenders and forwards, and even goalkeepers. I want the best players in my team, as many of them as possible.

Not sure why anyone has a problem with it. If I bench a haul that's my bad decision/luck. I'd rather have someone who can fill in when required, and have the option of benching when I think someone had a tough fixture.

Benched KDB away twice a couple of times, Barkley this week. Not going to be too bothered if I make a bad choice along the way.

A good fifth midfielder is like a safety net in case one of your other players is really off form. Eg I had Mané who couldn't buy a goal but was able to leave him on the bench until I had a spare ft to get rid

If you bench them every week and they score well then they'll go up in price.
I don't see it as points wasted, but more of an investment in TV.
That said, I have Gosling.

I prefer a 3-4-3 with a 5th mid bench fodder. Last year I benched Kane's 18 points v Chelsea and this season I once benched Mahrez.

3-5-2 never again.

It's a headache benching Ighalo too. There's no way around it...just better to have a good front 8 to cover injuries/surprise omissions. Sometimes you'll bench points, but it's better than having a designated 5th mid/3rd striker who's been bought not to play ever, on the basis that they're crap.

Alli had a very good fixture today though, Everton are very leaky at home as we saw Stoke put 4 past then last week.

Think all the points have been covered below, and this season with money not being so much of an issue having a power front 8 is easy to achieve so maybe there is no harm to it even if you bench points a lot.

Till now, this question was a bit irrelevant as many big hitters were not in consideration. So instead of having a bench fodder, we could afford to buy a decent and bench him - irrespective of his return

Now that Aguero/Costa/Kane look like good choices, I think we need to use our budget less lavishly. and hence, I am in favour of a bench fodder as my 5th Mid. Will be buying King or Watson very soon

Having a strong 5th mid like Alli also gets you price increases. Better than having a useless 5th mid that will always drop in price. I just thing the benifits in spending 0.5 more on a solid 5th mid like Alli far outweigh the negatives (are there any negatives really? bench points is a reality regardless)

I don't see much point in a 5th mid when your 4th and 5th defenders can be much more useful. If you pick your defenders well, your first sub can always be a defender with a good chance of getting returns.

In the last 3 gameweeks my first subs have been defenders and they've scored 8, 8, and 7.

If you get rid of Alli and put in a cheapie 5th, you're exactly as well off as if you benched Alli anyway.

Sure it sucks to bench points, but this way at least you have the option of rotation (eg. when KDB plays someone away from home), and a good backup when someone doesn't play.

Once I traded Wijnaldum for Alli, as my boring 5th midfielder, I was glad getting rid of rotation headache.

But instantly I realised how much I miss that 'headache'. Because headache means choice and that can't be bad.

And now that Alli has scored scored, it all went back to headache-normal. It's all part of the fun.

This argument only really comes into effect when you are desperate for cash to fund expensive heavy hitters, and when the "too good" 5th mids you're referring to are quiye expensive. As things stand, for most people neither of these are an issue at the moment - alli does not cost that much more than your rubbish bench fodder