Having got away with prising the armband from Luis Suarez on Boxing Day, this morning presents another dangerous scenario for myself and other lagging Fantasy managers to ponder – the alluring possibility of a “flair” or “flash” transfer.
Man City’s home fixture with Crystal Palace is the definition of a “banker” – an outcome that’s almost settled before kick-off. Manuel Pellegrini’s side have scored a staggering 37 goals at the Etihad, averaging over four goals a game. Palace, while revived under Drill Sergeant Tony Pulis, are surely set to repel one-way traffic and will be battening down hatches as this typed.
Pulis has seen it all before. Ironically, almost a year ago to the day he took his Stoke side to fortress Etihad and played eleven men behind the ball for almost the entire match – even when 3-0 behind. While Fantasy managers may be letting their expectations run riot, we should be under no illusion: Pulis is a manager who rather concede defeat and limit the damage rather than chase unlikely points and risk an humiliating hiding.
Even so, a home win looks likely and, given City’s goal power this term, we’re fully expecting double figure hauls to be on offer. The problem, however, is predicting the source of those points.
Rotation tosses a major spanner into the works, with Pellegrini laying down heavy hints that he’ll tinker with his lineup ahead of Wednesday’s early kick-off at Swansea. While Alvaro Negredo is currently the preferred option in City’s frontline and is ranked second in our captain poll, the City boss appears to be preparing us for disappointment on that score. With Stevan Jovetic set for a bench role, Pellegrini seems to outline his selection strategy ahead of today’s encounter…
“He (Jovetic) is an important player for us as Aguero is out and we can’t play every game with Negredo and Dzeko. That is why we split them, as we have to play Crystal Palace, then again Wednesday and Saturday.”
Talk of “splitting” his strikers would indicate a start for Edin Dzeko – potentially over a tiring Negredo who could be preserved for Wednesday’s Welsh trip.
Typically, that would hand Dzeko another cameo role in our Fantasy thinking. For me, rather alarmingly, this is a regular occurrence each season. While I’ve reservations on Dzeko as a all-round player, I’ve no doubt he’s a goalscorer who has the natural instincts and direct threat to earn points – sadly, he’s never really been allowed a consistent run of starts to prove that without the underlying threat of rotation.
Today Dzeko is again lifted to the status of a differential and a potential “flair” transfer, compounded by the possibility that the armband could be handed to the City striker over Suarez at Chelsea in expectation of another big City victory and a Uruguayan blank.
Such a transfer, backed with the captaincy, carries risk and reward in equal measure. Equally, it would be a “flash” transfer – a move that could earn big dividends in one Gameweek, only to be rendered almost useless the next: Dzeko would seem unlikely to start at Swansea on Wednesday should he be unleashed today.
So now, my dilemma is to decide whether my current situation warrants such a risk – this just 48-hours after narrowly escaping paying the price for overlooking Suarez. Just as that was a move that carried more appeal for those looking to bridge a mini-league gap, the Dzeko trade treads similar ground.
Gameweek 19 is perhaps too early to take such a gamble but situations like this – home bankers with flair differentials capable of double figure hauls – are rare. Grasping such opportunities takes some mettle but part of me can’t help but wonder whether a flair move is my only possible way of gaining ground and putting things back in the balance.
With an hour to go, I’m still pondering. Still calculating the potential risk, whilst attempting to shut out wild imaginings of Dzeko clutching a match ball. Somehow, at least once a season, I always end up pinning some hope on the Bosnian’s shoulders. Rarely have I been more desperate for the gamble to pay off.
