When is the right time? There are many sides and arguments. I’ve been playing this lark for many years and I’m still not certain on the optimum moment to lay down the Wildcard.
My current view is a simple one, with no real hard fast rules to govern our thinking: look for a window that presents the best opportunity to score a lot of points and, if that happens to fall at a time when your squad seems to require repair, all the better.
Mine was played last night; Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie are holding hands for Christmas and I’ve hopefully got fifteen players who can take on the bloated burden of the festive spell; give or take some carefully planned free tweaks along the way.
It may seem an inopportune time to shake-up my squad with the January Wildcard beckoning but, for me, the next five matches look to be that “window of opportunity”. The fixtures for the likes of United, Liverpool, Arsenal and to a lesser extent City and Spurs, look to be far too convenient; there’s a possible advantage to be had setting up a squad for this spell, knowing that in five or seven Gameweeks time, a second Wildcard becomes available to plaster over the cracks.
There were other factors. With so many games in such a short period of time, rotation is bound to bite, injuries mount and inevitable points hits will be drawn. Going into this with some uncertainties and with a list of transfer targets is difficult. Very quickly, those planned moves can evaporate as new priorities crop up. By acquiring an assured squad of starters, with my chosen heavy-hitters already in place, I felt I could perhaps give myself the best chance of avoiding this circus.
For me, today was the last opportunity to play the Wildcard before the January option: it was either play it now, or risk a series of hits over Christmas to cope with the casualties and rotation. Rooney’s form, coupled with the fact I may have struggled to get an assured, or at least decent, eleven out this weekend, sealed the deal. There’s also the hope that I can now delay the January Wildcard until Gameweek 24, perhaps squeezing out a slight advantage once the English transfer window is closed, while others could be gasping to get it played in Gameweek 22.
This could all be straw clutching. Rooney could fail to turn up against Sunderland and, indeed, falter over Christmas and be rested to the bench once or twice. Injuries and suspensions could bite me just as hard; I could suffer rotation just as bad as the next man. There’s no certain method of proofing against these risks and there’s no real certainty that the Wildcard gamble will come off. Like so many decisions in this game, you have to go with your gut sometimes. The success or failure of such decisions are what make this game so compelling. The real trick is to learn to live with the frustrations when things go awry – come back to me on that one later this evening.
The morning papers are at least a distraction from the nagging Wildcard jitters, although they offered me little reassurance at first glance.
It makes disconcerting reading to find a number of reports suggesting that Rooney would go into this weekend a slight doubt following a stomach virus in midweek. Sir Alex has confirmed that Rooney is in his squad, while the player himself has apparently declared himself “feeling a lot better” so I’m staying optimistic on this one. The weekend papers have Rooney safely snuggled with his Dutch friend up front for United – all except the Daily Mail: those scaremongers have Anderson pushed up behind Van Persie in a 4-5-1. A pinch of salt is perhaps required – Anderson is thought to be out with a hamstring injury until January.
Other reports are setting Rooney up for big revenge returns today, pointing out that, in his new biography (no doubt a tome of some significance), the striker has identified the clash with Sunderland as a key match after suffering the cruel chants of the Black Casts’ faithful on the final day of last season…
“When the fixtures come out I look for three games — City, Liverpool and Everton. This time I checked the Sunderland game. If there is one team that I want to beat this season, it will be Sunderland.”
Determined words from an in-form striker and a lovely big straw for me to cling on to.
Elsewhere, the Sun stand alone in thinking that Vincent Kompany will be fit enough to face Newcastle, with a number of this morning’s papers giving Scott Sinclair a start ahead of Samir Nasri. The Frenchman was subject to a plenty of Twitter scorn last night after the Guardian listed him as a doubt with a “headache”. Reports this morning has since quoted Roberto Mancini as stating that Nasri has returned to training this week following migraines – he’s in the frame, then, although he’ll be carrying several tweet wounds thanks to the Guardian’s unfortunate prognosis.
There’s no sign of Gareth Bale in any of the morning’s lineups, while Michael Dawson shows his face in the Independent and Guardian Spurs XI at the expense of William Gallas. The Telegraph also recall Dawson, although they choose to omit Steven Caulker in the rotating Tottenham rearguard; a situation that will soon worsen with the return to fitness of Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
Like Bale, Theo Walcott also goes into the Gameweek a doubt and is listed in only two of our papers this morning: the Independent and the Guardian have him on the Arsenal right flank, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain takes his places in the other four sources. Finally, Raheem Sterling is in every Liverpool predicted lineup: the “bib theory” rumour has clearly escaped the press.
With little else of note to be found, the papers present us with the calm before the storm. No doubt we’ll be treated to some unexpected teamsheet events, with this Fantasy manager just hoping that none of the potential skullduggery knocks the wheels off my Wildcard before it’s even started rolling.
The doubts and uncertainty are circling; I feel a headache of Nasri-like proportions looming.
