Next this Saturday, we catch up on the member’s area statistics over the last three rounds of fixtures with our usual post-Gameweek article.
We assess the lay of the land at Arsenal as a result of Olivier Giroud’s first-team return before analysing Tottenham’s man of the moment and Manchester United’s pair of form players.
West Ham and Everton also play a part in our thinking ahead of some fine upcoming fixtures.
Sorry, was just watching Jaws - The Revenge.
Does the shark win in that one?
I'll let you know. Ake's pushing his luck at the minute though.
Michael Caine does him.
God this pesky Chinese super league is worrying, apparently they bid 128mil for Aubameyang. I want players like him in Europe, why cant they just take people like Rooney ffs. Only sell outs like Oscar would go there mind you, what a way to destroy your career. Hope that league implodes
Don't worry, FPL will just transform into FCL.
oh god no 🙂
They said the same about Man City a few years ago
Maybe that league will eventually become the top league
Sounds like the government are about to step in and put an end to it.
It's going to get bigger. Witsel turning down Juventus for China is a big one. A couple more big players turning down massive European clubs for China, then suddenly you could see a lot of redistribution of the big names around the world.
Costa accepting offer would be seismic.
What about Champions league though, what are they thinking I dont get it. Are they not rich enough, how much money does someone need it. It baffles me, I cant tell you if I was one of them no matter how much China ofefred I wouldnt move til im past it and achieved everyhting I wanted in Europe
Easy to say this when you'll never be in that position. How many of us would turn down that kind of pay increase for doing the same, easier even, job
It really hits the fan when they tempt a top class young manager. We will all be playing CFF then.
Anyone who follows snooker knows that China wanted to be a global super-power in that sport too, backed by the Chinese government...and the world championship was gonna move from the Crucible to China in a few short years, 1000s of players were being trained in every city, etc. etc.
Effectively they wanted to buy the whole sport...much like this CL.
10 years past.
Aside from staging some big-money tournaments, they've had little impact.
A couple of players breaking into the top 32 (admittedly one very good), but the big tournaments are still over here, most of the top players are still British/Irish/Austalian, we're still dominant in the sport.
So nothing's inevitable...some things might take off in China (table tennis, gymnastics, swimming)...but other things won't.
Yup, exactly the same with basketball and football. Over a decade ago it was common knowledge that the chinese government were planning to be a football powerhouse. A decade before that they were going to be the next dominant basketballing nation.
If a country has no history/culture behind the sport, it probably won't take off...it's forced, and fake and superficial.
Like Darts...why is it only Brits and the Dutch that play that in general...what a random sporting base that is. History and culture behind the game.
Chinese football will only be a success if there's homegrown decent players making up significant parts of the squads...if it's all overpaid foreigners on 10,000,000x your wage, what's there to cheers about?
The big difference in China unlike USA is there is a big fanbase there for football.
In Australia we are about 10 years into a complete revolution of football. They rebuilt the entire sport from the way 6 year olds are being taught in the local park to a rebuild of the national professional competition. Coaching, facilities, standards, finances, refereeing, governing bodies all overhauled all based on researching the game in Europe.
It's a long term plan to get football to the standard it deserves. When I was young it was very haphazard. The focus here was always league, afl and cricket. Now football has by far the highest child participation of any sport. The constant improvement I'm seeing in the junior comps and the way ref's are trained not to mention the A league improving every year is mind blowing.
China do it backwards. Throw money at the top end won't do anything other than for entertainment. You are right though they don't have the passion for it anyway.
Chinese government supposedly cracking down on the frivolous nonsence investments:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/sport/2545814/chinese-super-league-government-oscar-carlos-tevez/amp/?client=ms-android-samsung
800k a week for Alli i read today!
Unless I were a Messi etc. playing for a Barcelona, Madrid or a Bayern, I would go too. No chance of winning the CL. Only a small handful of clubs can win each domestic league. HUGE pay increase and when/if the league collapses, they can still go back to Europe anyway. They only have a few years to earn enough to support themselves for the rest of their lives. I'd do it.
Which team to stick with, on WC?
A)
Heaton
Walker Pieters Chambers
Hazard Alli Phillips Lallana Sanchez
Ibra Costa
(Randolph Evans Barnes Love)
B)
GRANT
Walker Chambers BAINES
Lallana Alli Phillips Sanchez
GIROUD Ibra Costa
(Heaton STANISLAS BRITOS Evans)
B
B. But u don't need heaton. Keep the extra cash in your bank. You may need it.
Can someone bring me up to speed on talk of Aké heading back to Chelsea? Was he not a season long loan?
Yes but Chelsea have a callback in the contract. Will have to pay back half the loan fee and Howe has all but confirmed it's happening.
Seems greedy of Conte. Can't see ake getting anywhere near the game as he would at Bournemouth.
He isn't paid to do the best for Ake.
Pulis interested in Schlupp. Only 4.8 in fpl. Could he oust Nyom?
I figured his interest was mostly based on fears that Nyom would be off to AFCON for the month. Clear of that, I think Nyom is mostly safe...but we'll see.
Damn it just saw the ake news!
Now i have 3 useless defenders, holebas, amat & ake! & he had great fixtures coming up uswell!
Was planning on ditchin holebas next week but im guessing fpl will flag up the fact i have 4 chelsea players
Yep next transfer will need to be a Chelsea player. Unlucky
Breaking: West Ham have just offered Man City Zaza for Aguero
Finally gonna get a game of footy tomorrow for my junior team after being p-p every week since the beginning of December (just that one game in two months now).
I've wrote many times about the nonsense of junior football being played in winter and how so many kids pack up due to it. It turns out my own son has now damned near decided he's had enough.
He started playing badminton a few months ago and is quite good at it...and now he's started saying "what's the point of trying to play football when it keeps getting called off".
I've said it before at FA meetings and I'll keep saying it. PLAY JUNIOR FOOTBALL IN SPRING AND SUMMER.
Just relocate to China, it's the future
I bet if they start from scratch with a youth policy it will be a lot better than our nonsense.
Probably more chance of an Olympic gold in badminton, than representing England at football.
I watch the conditions that our kids play in, the crappy frozen pitches or mud, and it amazes me we have any players at all in the prem.
The last high profile player to come out of our league (high standard) was Phil Jones....that tells you everything you need to know about what sort of football prospers in W Lancs.
Kids these days need toughening up. It won't always be sunny and warm for a game/training. Do you mean infrastructure to allow winter games, decent pitches with drainage, undersoil hestimg, proper grade Astro with lights etc?
No they don't need toughening up. That's exactly what's making so many of them leave the game at an early age.
No kid (and very few adults) want to play football at 10.00 am on a Sunday morning in the middle of January on a bog of a pitch.
The quicker we forget that nonsense the quicker we will end up with better players.
Depends on how serious you are about your sport and how far you want to go. If you are a player that only wants to play on a dry sunny day I'm not sure that particular player will be entirely reliable when the game is in the melting pot the last 15 minutes of a championship game.
If you're talking about facilities fair enough and games being called off as a result grand, otherwise we will have to agree to disagree.
It's not me that needs to be serious about the sport, or not, it's the kids.
So many young players walk away from football in Lancashire because they get fed up of games getting P-P. Some are really good players but in the end they just find something else to do.
It's a waste of time for them....and it happens over and over again.
Not you Doc, "you" generally, I can tell you're serious about your sport 😉 . Well they would need to upgrade the facilities and put money into the sport. So competitive in the last few years sports wise, kids have s great choice now and will just move on to another.
My son just did a football tour of Belgium and was amazed at the quality of the pitches and facilities they played on....and they're hardly renown for it.
Some of the pitches and conditions we ask our kids to play in are absolutely archaic...like something from the 1800's.
Agreed Doc 😉
*opens popcorn* 🙂
It is ridiculous. I coach kids team too. Winter footy here is perfect. There it should be summer
Where are you based Champ?
Tomorrow's match here will only favour the great big lumps of defenders...you simply can't pass the ball on the pitch we will play on.
Sydney mate. Yeah that's the worst. We are very lucky weather wise here. On the flip side I doubt our local ground are as good with drainage. Even when the rain isn't heavy enough to stop a game chances are it's already closed the ground.
Some Saturday's I have to walk our pitch when it's frozen to try and decide if kids will hurt themselves if the go to ground at 10.00 am the following morning....if we decide they will get hurt then we call it off....
What the f are we doing thinking that's the right conditions to even consider a match.
A) Grant, Baines, Giroud, Stanislas and Britos
or
B) Randolph, Pieters, Barnes, Hazard and Love
Some of these impressions are brilliant
https://twitter.com/ImpressionistAL/status/817751423563792384
So this Ake back to Chelsea is fairly concrete. https://twitter.com/squawkanews/status/817793085350563840
Absolute disaster, only after getting him in. Great value at 4.4.
I got him this gameweek 🙁
I feel your pain Champ. Was just settling on my defence too.
At least I got one of his goals. And 0.1 profit.
Nice going away present 🙂
I feel your pain, I also transferred him in this week
Me, too. I notice that he is still being bought. I'd be funny if he goes up. I think I'll end up keeping, don't think it'll be worth a hit to get him out. Can afford a straight swap to Baines next week.
Wildcarders who are currently none the wiser I'd imagine....He is also being sold.
I'm considering Baines, Coleman or Rose next week. This article really raises Coleman's appeal.
hillsborough on gogglebox. i can only vaguely remember it as a kid, but my god that was horrific.
Shocking day...absolutely shocking.
Wach the doco on it, a stain on our country and should never be forgotten
one can only hope the sun newspaper does less well, but it hasn't really worked out like that alas. how any english person buys that rag disgusts me
I bought it once but only coz the shop had run out of toilet paper
Watched it live on Grandstand. Traumatic.
Got 6.2 itb for Ake replacement, back line is Alonso, Brunt, Pieters, Amat.
Rose, Baines or Coleman next GW ? Trailing mini league in 3rd, rivals have Walker and Rose, currently no Everton.
Walker. Better bonus potential than Rose and also less of a card magnet.
Walker makes sense too but Rose looks such a goal threat at the moment ! I know he is 2 yellows off a ban but still so tempting.
You've answered your question there.
Baines for me although Coleman is a Goalman. Baines being on pens is always a great bonus.
Rose next GW.
After that (City for Everton) Baines has an amazing run of fixtures. Would expect him to match or even outscore Rose/Walker over those 5 GW's.
12 of the next 14 Spurs fixtures looks tasty, though, if you're looking for a get and forget option.
If Baines wasnt on spot kicks would you still opt for him over Coleman ? I'm leaning towards Everton cover from here on I think
Where's the Captains Poll? I want to vote for L'âne.
Best defender for £4.3m?
They get so much better at 4.4
Such as?
Friend and Nyom. Can't remember who is 4.3 just remember they suck. Maybe taylor?
Rediculously good at 4.5
I wonder if the shock Ake news is due entirely to Chelsea conceding 4 goals in the last 2 games?
That would be the kind of kneejerk management that belongs here.
It's because he's good, he's ready, and he's needed.
Do you think he could oust Alonso soon, who isn't that great? Bad defensively and wasteful at the other end.
A lot of despondency and negativity surrounding Ake right now. Any chance he could become even more of a bargain by usurping Moses or Alonso?
Doubt it. More likely for cup and cover
Can't see it. He will warming their bench. Such a stupid move by Chelsea. He was getting regular, first team football at a top-tier club.
Why's it stupid? Conte obviously feels he's needed
I think it's more about getting him in now rather than end of season. That way he will be ready to play first team football next year, he is one for the future
He won't ever play. Surely playing at B'mouth is better for his development and he would go back to Chelsea at the end of the season a better player for the experience and ready to fight for a first team place if he stayed there?
But if he's better than Chelsea current back up then they'd be daft not to recall no?
Short-term maybe. Mid- to long-term I still think it would be better to leave him on loan. They could still recall him if something happens to their first choice
The way these kids are developed at that level is a science micro managed to the enth degree.
There is a point when playing regular football is the most important thing but he is past that
Yea I udnerstand his logic, in an ideal world it would be ncie to leave Ake at Bournmeouth til the end of the season. But if he can assist Chelsea in winning the title then obviously that needs to come first even if he is jsut back-up. But tbh I actually think he will be a starter eventually
He's got a season and a half prem experience now. Great move to bring him back.
He has only started 8 league games this season and wasnt in the watford team for a few games in the last part of last season
Doesn't matter. He has immersed himself in their training and their methods all closely supervised by chelsea. Ake is developing incredibly so I think maybe they know what he needs.
Homegrown title winning the PL with the team is a nice selling point, though 😀
Talent, even ^^
Eventually sure. I reckon alonso and cahill are the weakest links. Great back up for like 7 positions though
Cahill is rubbish. I wonder if Zouma will take over......
That's a when not if I think.
Hopefully it will be this season. He'd be a bargain at the price.
Can't see it happening instantaneously, even if it eventually does. He is pretty cheap, so I guess some will give it a few weeks while they address other bits of their reams.
Which front 8 would you prefer?
Lallana, Sanchez, Sterling, Hazard, Ali
Crouch, Giroud/Lukaka, Ibrahimovic
Or
Lallana, Hazard, Ali, Phillips, Stanislas
Aguero, Giroud, Ibrahimovic?
Cheers
What is the maximum you'd recommend on spending on a 5th defender?
4.5 I guess
4.5
3.9 personally.
Rarely play even your 4th defender so that money can just be saved/used elsewhere.
4.5sh.
Like to have a playing back 5 if poss.
Personally, I'd say the cheapest playing defender no matter who he turns out for. If your budget doesn't stretch that far, there's a couple of 3.9m bench fodderers.
Depends on your formation really...
343 = 4.5 or less
352 = 5.5 minimum
Sorry mis read as 5th midfield
Yeah okay mate
Not sure about keeping Sanchez now it looks like he will be playing on the wing again. What are other people's thoughts?
Walcott expected back may see Giroud benched & being used as super sub (although doubtful he'd be dropped given his form).
Can't see Giroud going to the bench for Walcott. I think Theo better buy some thermal underwear for the foreseeable future.
Things people said the last time Giroud found some form tbf .
I'm keen to get Walcott when he's back and double on Arsenals good run of fixtures. Is he back next game ye?
I'm very sure bout keeping him
I'll almost definitely keep him. I am just sounding out ideas. If I flogged him, I could get Costa though giving me Aguero, Costa and Ibra as my front 3.
Keep
Great fixtures
He's Arsenals best player, absolutely nailed on and has an unbelievable run of fixtures. Giroud will troll you because Wenger will play him one week and not the next.
He always played on the wing before and was an FPL god lol. You come up with some magic
I know. I'm just sounding ideas out as I said above. I will almost definitely keep him as 1) he is trying to justify a really high new contract and 2) fixtures are in Arsenal's favour.
For about the 32nd time in the last week Arsenal traditionally play 4231 With no injuries and Giroud in form that he is the 3 is likely to be Sanchez Ozil Walcott and Giroud as striker. Does no one remember the failed experiment of Sanchez as striker last season????
Yeah but he has done well as striker this season.
29 goals 13 assists last 2 seasons as AML
Hull won against Swanse. Are they good now?
I bet both teams were hoping to lose to be honest.
Top 4 defo
Nope. Their fixtures are bloody awful as well
Yes, looks like they've turned the corner. Reckon they'll do a Leicester and win the league next season. (Diomande FTW!).
They looked quite good for a couple of games already.
I agree. I can't believe they sacked Phelan. What were they expecting with that squad? A push for European football?
I wrote the same last week. They look committed and really together as a team...
Hopefully Phelan will get another job in the PL when they sack the next manager.
I hope so.
They've got the best LB in the league. He'll be fantasy gold next year when he moves to a bigger club.
Still got a lot to learn on the defensive side of things though.
Yep he's only a nipper though.
I like him Timbo, a lot, but he has looked very suspect at times. He gives Scotland great threat on the left and if he can smarten & toughen up on the defensive side he's got a great future.
I'm sure he will, he's still learning his trade. One thing youngsters don't have is consistency.
Robertson?
Yep. Superb from what I've seen.
Heaton (Pickford)
Valencia Alonso Brunt (Amat, Jones )
San(C)hez Hazard (V) Alli Philips (Sims)
Costa Ibra Carroll
0 FT £o.o ITB
What you think guys?
Surely you've got to squeeze l'âne in there somehow given his form (sorry, luck) and fixtures.
I think either Costa or Hazard might go for me soon, I have Alli so I think he's my Spurs cover... if I change Costa il probley try to get Kun to be honest or Lukaku If I can't squeeze the funds. I don't like Kane , he always trolls me.
I'm dropping Hazard from my Chelsea trio.
Forgive me if I am being dunce but who? I assume Lallana but his fixtures are up and down
Do we know when the DGWS will be yet approx?
34 and 37, supposedly.
Cheers mate, gonna be tough to hold for that long
Ben Crellin's spreadsheet will give you the full picture...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AXOuLIzI4un4adZxpsTCN7amF8Go81NHAPZcbi51ZbI/edit#gid=0
Who on earth is La^ne?
Any new injuries for the more popular players?
Ake suffered a broken loan
I was very close to transferring him in because Evans got injured.
Bellerin
This one I know. Thanks anyway.
So I've already taken a -8 this week, which involves taking Crouch for just one game in order to keep Hazard in for GW21 whilst also avoiding the Benteke price drop which I couldn't take so that I can do Hazard & Crouch > Coutinho & Lukaku for a -4 next week. Was happy to take a -12 over the two weeks to make the changes.
But now, with the Ake situation I don't know what to do... Pop my wildcard and do Ake > Chambers as well this week, and then next week take the -4. That'll mean that the wildcard will save me 12 points - is that more than I'll get from a late wildcard + bench boost???
The alternative is to keep Ake till the week after next, playing Nyom till then. He may get a decent amount of game time at Chelsea though.
Stop doing early transfers
Early transfers is why I have a squad value of £105m, and it had to be done simply because I wouldn't be able to get my target team unless I took Benteke out before the price drop and also Zaha had to go anyway and again before his price drop.
Prices shouldn't be as much of a concern now, Lukaku has as good a chance against City of scoring as Crouch done. Woulda saved you 8 points or at least 4 and 1ft. And yes wildcard in for the dgw's is hopefully worth a lot more than 12 points.
A) Origi and Stones > Giroud and Chamber. B) Origi and Stones > Bellerin and Wilson?
Bellerin flagged and details scarce. Delay on that one.
Probably been asked today, but what happens if Akes recall is confirmed and you then have 4 Chelsea players? Will it force me to take a hit?
You can't make a transfer that doesn't involve removing a Chelsea player
Your next transfer would have to take a chelsea player out
No, but whenever you do your next transfer, you have to get back down to three Chelsea.
Awesome. Would you reccomend taking a -4 or just transferring him out for free?
Nothing confirmed yet.
Jurgen Klopp: “We have a special kid. I won’t name him. But everyone was asking about him... now, now, now.“
Hope it's not the one from star wars. He was rubbish
Flanagan?
Just what the world needed: a bearded, 6-1/2-foot-tall German tease.
Kid that scored against leeds I guess. Woodburn or something
7 years, 3 months agoAke's shark bate!!