After assessing the Defenders, our series of members articles analysing the opening month of fixtures continues with a look at some of the stand-out statistics in midfield. Summer signings from Swansea, Crystal Palace, Man City, Chelsea and Norwich come under focus, whilst Arsenal’s premium big hitter offers many reasons for optimism.
Brought in Drogba in MLS Fantasy for his starting debut for the Montreal Impact.
Scored a hatrick. 😎
Good call, are you holding for the mid to long term?
DGW in two weeks so holding for now
good luck with him.
That champions league final goal he scored....... Never forget that goal.
Quality 😀
I like the first one
Pelle and Targett --> Wilson and Cresswell. Yes or no?
Alternative would be Sakho but I also have Payet so not very sure about that.
Better options than Cresswell in that price bracket imo
Like who? Has nice fixtures and good attacking potential.
Depends on who you have. Would stick to the usual top 4 clubs plus Liverpool, Swansea and Southampton for premium defender spot. Everton when fixtures turn. Only one you cannot get at 5.5 from this list is Chelsea, but given current form not worth having.
Cheers. Have Williams, and I don't trust Lpool's defense so Bellerin it is.
I like the Pelle transfer but I don't trust West Ham defence.
Who's the better 5.5 option? I already have Darmian and 3 city players. Maybe Bellerin?
Bellerin, Naughton/Williams, Clyne/Skrtel, Fonte/Cedric
Hey guys, looking to take a good book on holiday and it got me thinking, what football/sports related books would you recommend?
For those that like to read original research, what sports/sports psychology journal articles have got your attention?
Last year I really enjoyed 'The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Football is Wrong' and I've really enjoyed reading some of the original reasearch into home team advantage.
The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Author_ Christopher Hitchens.
Ruth_NZ's thesis on "How FFS influenced the FPL market price".
Even though I have never got into baseball, I enjoyed reading Moneyball.
Thanks!
You could check out the William Hill Sports books of the year-there's been some good football books in the past.
The biography of Brian Clough written by a local reporter was a great read that revealed an insight not previously seen.
The Tony Cascarino wrote a really good book on his time in France and the life of a professional footballer.
I'm currently reading a book about the football scouts.
Ooof so much to choose from, here's a good link to start off - http://www.optasportspro.com/about/interesting-links/
Going in a different direction, The Amateurs by John Niven is a fictional golf book which I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend - its hilarious
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chimp-Paradox-Management-Confidence/dp/009193558X
You need to read 'the chimp paradox'. It will be a life time the opener for you. I can safely say that after reading this, I am now well in control of my chimp (you will understand what I mean once you read this book).
Oooh, time for breakfast. Slaterz 🙂
Thoughts? FTs used. 0.8 ITB.
Hart
Darmian / Williams / Bellerin
Alexis (C) / Payet / Toure / Ayew
Wilson / Aguero / Diouf
McCarthy -- Hoolahan, Richards, MuniesaSound.
Diouf out, Hoolahan in.
Was thinking about that. I could also use my AOA chip and drop Williams who's away at Watford, it is Watford but it's still an away fixture and Diouf is likely the main man to score if Stoke do score at the Emirates. Or should I still just drop Diouf?
I will play Williams, Watford seems lacking on the front department.
Very strong. Good to go.
Who would you bench ?
A: Wilson (nor)
B: Mahrez (AVL)Wilson but surely there's someone else who could be benched?
Are you kidding?! Neither!
Haha that's what I'm saying. Wilson if you had to choose but there has to be someone else that could be benched instead of those two!
Yes. The rest should be played.
2 Swans (wat), 2 Cities (cpl), Pedro, and Sanchez.This may be the time to use your AOA chip.
Hahaha great minds and all! Got any holiday read suggestions for me (see above)?
Eh. I'm not much of a reader haha. On the odd occasion yeah but never really any sports books.
You should read 'The Numbers Game' fascinating.
I've been considering that AOA too.
It probably depends on Mahrez.
If he's fit to play, I might try.
Bench Mahrez imo
What defenders have you got? Maybe a good time to play all out attack?
Yep. Thinking about that chip and playing only Kolarov + Shaw and bench Ward (MCI), Targett (wba), Richards (lei) too.
Sounds the best option to me. Targett the only defender of the latter 3 I would say has a good chance of a CS but he's not likely to play now Bertrand is fit.
Yeah. I'm weighting between AOA and Ward (MCI).
He has scored already against Arsenal and Chelsea. He might fancy a chance to complete scoring against all last year top four. 🙂
Who is your other players?
Pedro - Sanchez - Ayew - Yaya - Mahrez
Agüero - Gomis - Wilson
Bench one or AOA, I may.AOA then.
So, which defender gonna be on bench?Ward (MCI) + Targett (wba) + Richards (lei)
Does it sound like a good timing ? 🙂Yeah, it could.
Wilson but the cheap 4.5 mid needs benching before we get to this point.
Agree. I just can't make my mind yet for who to drop for 4.5 mid.
Ayew and Mahrez keep delivering points and price rise.
Toure could be a season keeper for me.
I also expect involvement from Pedro and Sanchez to find the net soon.
Bench Diouf (ars) for Hoolahan (BOU) and play Williams (wat) or use my AOA and bench Williams?
Bench Diouf.
Move Diouf to the bench and start Hoolahan, I would.
Hello fellow managers! I could use some help.
Hart (McCarthy)
Shaw, Kolarov, Gomez (Richards, Oxford)
Depay, Payet, Sanchez, Mahrez (Hoolahan)
Gomiz, Aguero, Lukaku
2 FT, 0.6 ITB
Should i get rid of Lukaku, everton fixtures seem really awful..
Same goes also for Depay, but i kind of believe he got more to offer.
Also i want to downgrade hoolahan in order to get possible Pedro in..
Any advice?
I kind of wanna do Lukaku-> Rondon ?Lukaku to Diouf/Wilson and Depay to Pedro
Thanks!
Hmm, definately downgrading lukaku and upgrading depay to pedro.
I dont know should i pull the trigger this round, because Diouf plays against away Arsenal away.
How about just saving free transfers this round and downgrading only Hoolahan to 4.5m and doing double transfer (Depay, Lukaku) next round?It's really up to you how you go about doing it. You could also swap Depay for Silva.
Get rid of Depay first.
A City mid would be a priority. Depay needs booting for Silva.
I'd go: Lukaku->Vardy/Wilson to free up funds.
Butland / McCarthy
Kolarov / Darmian / Williams / Gomez / Richards
Alexis / Silva / Depay / Ayew / Mahrez
Kun / Diouf / Grabban
It's a 352 obviously and Grabban might be dead. 2 FT and 0 ITB. Any ideas? Maybe just Depay to someone?Either Depay out or Richards, up to you. Maybe swap Butland for another keeper
Depay > Coutinho after the Utd game. Do something else now.
Depay to Bolasie/Sako and Grabben to Borini
please help!
Ruddy (Butland)
Williams - Cedric - Kolarov (Richards - Francis)
Sanchez - Mahrez - Silva - Mane (Surman)
Aguero - Wilson - Diouf
Is this team good enough for GW5?
was considering Mane -> Ayew with 2.2itb and 1FT
or should i save the FT?Can you do Ayew and Sakho in for Mane and Surman?
u mean Cry's Sako?
who to play
a. Sinclair
or
b. Huth
1. Mignolet
or
2.Ruddy
1 & B
1
AI like
2
B
more.3B, aaaaand there goes your battleship lad.
It's rare to see you here Zasa. 😉
Aye, just got wifi in the apartment, so you'll see more of me now sadly 😛
How's the season going mate?Good stuff, we can expect you more in fantrax too then! :p
The usual dross; couple of points on bench and captain blank. But doing well in couple of community competition tho.
How's yours?Definitely, sucks I missed the waiver wires though 🙁 Champ took all the goodies.
Aye, seems like that sort of season eh? Doing well in ML's and community competitions is always good, and winning those seems to be the only attainable goal so far for most of us 😉
Alright, at 600k right now, with 2 FT's & the WC. Gonna have to do some research!He's like a lurkers, can see him shoot through the rank now.
Indeed ML always the target, OR just a small bonus. 😉
2 FT during international break always feels like a mini wc, but can't see many people using wc during this period tho - most players that scored last gameweek already been transferred in (GW1-4).
Welcome back online buddy.
Thanks Diva, I'm with my people now.
Glad to see you mate.
Not soon enough to claim Pedro and kdb 😛
Jammy git.
😯 😯 Holy shite man. I still can't believe you shagged them away from me!
Now you can pay through the nose for them if you like 🙂
Gonna have to scavenge Michael Jackson's grave for some then looks like. I only gots the one man 🙁
Also wtf was with that trade? Daylight bloody robbery.
That seems to he the consensus. I honestly think you guys are looking too much at points scored rather than points potential, of which depay has loads.
Still I like it clearly 🙂The art of negotiating Billy my boy. Last year I got hazard for tadic and adebayor. Haz was underperforming the other two were at their peak, then I swapped hazard for Alexis and kolarov 😎
Now, now.
At least my Hazard + Gibbs did well. :pWhen did you do that? Alexis was awful 2nd half of last season.
Yeah Klink got the better overall I think. It was early though so it was looking genius for a while. Alexis got me plenty points.
Still from adebayor and tadic and Gibbs to Kane (claimed him for me empty striker spot) Alexis and kolarov 😉
lurked.....
😀
Don't think you are supposed to announce your lurking 🙂
suppose not....
any reply or are you
A)buzy elsewhere
B)disdainActually forgot to go look. Having now done that, I'll go with disdain 😉
What order would you preference yaya, firmino, eriksen. For my offer considerations?
rec'd
every player has a price
-we'll keep on at it
-you can see where i'm up to
-your turnsoz-not interested in any of these
Yep. It's never easy to get these done. I'll come back to ya. See above
no worries
good banter
long seasonAt any price? Like a straight swap for your worst player you would take them clearly?
Yeah, but it's basically proven points scorers vs potential point scorers (probably at about the same level)
Depay has minimal potential imo.
He doesn't see a pass - he may be good value in two years time but there's a reason none of us have him in our fPL teams
Go away champ. 😆
anyone has a clue what brom back 4 is?
dawson evans olsson mcauley
4 CBs?
No chance for chester?Dawson right back
Evans and mcauley at cb
Is my guess.
Not sure on left back maybe brunt?
Chester will be hoping to push one of Dawson/Evans/mcauley out eventually
Dawson - McAuley - J.Evans - Brunt
But Chester could be a risk to any of them
With KDB coming in, will YYT play a bit deeper now?
Thinking the mci mid to get is either silva or KDB rather than toure, despite price.
However, if I got toure instead then I could afford Sanchez as well.
Thoughts?
Yeah I think its likely, KDB likes to cut inside and probably won't stick to a wide position like what Navas has done so far.
Cheers
Consider Sterling as well. Could be some value there.
Hi fellow members!
How's this for a WC team?
Ruddy / Butland
Darmian / Kolarov / Francis / Ward / Targett
Ayew / Pedro / Silva / Mahrez / Sinclair
Aguero / Gomis / Wilson
3.1 ITB
I have no idea how and where to spread my 3.1; I only know that I can't really fit both Silva and Sanchez without getting rid of Pedro or Ayew.
Any and all help truly appreciated!!
Ward to Williams and Targett to Watford defender?
You could squeeze Sanchez in for Sinclair if you downgraded silva to YYT and went uber cheap defence. But this would unbalance your side.
I've got similar template front 8 and am also trying to work out how to get Sanchez in!Pedro to Sanchez for me or you could go 352 with Gomis to a cheapie and Sinclair to Sanchez
Good front 8 although Sinclair needs to be a 4.5 mid as you are going to bench most weeks anyway.
Def: needs a WBA defender. Targett has limited shelf life so you may as well boot now. Ward and Francis won't keep enough cs to earn their corn.
Gks: a little weak. Coutois and McCarthy will get the jaab done.
Targett's time is running out with Bertrand back soon. I'd replace him
Darmian to Shaw maybe. And upgrade Targett as he is not nailed.
Rest looks good since all 4 MF are in good form. Get Sanchez when he gets going.Thanks for the plentiful feedback guys, yer all great. I do think i'll be sticking with the 3-4-3, see how it goes. Will post again with updated template!
Very good team. Upgrade defence slightly and bank funds. I had 1.8 in bank after my wild card.
Target to Dawson.You don't need Sanchez. Nobody does until he learns to shoot or arsenal get a couple of injuries to play through him more again,
Bench 1 Chadli, Mahrez, Wilson or Payet
Impossible to know. There is no right answer. Payet
Ouch
All out attack...Chadli
Nanu Nanu!
a veritable fantrax party...
champ sensing another chance to fool someone 😆
I'm only jealous Champ - if you don't gain 60 points or more on that trade I'll be amazed😀 seems people are gonna play hard ball on my negotiations now
Balders thinks he is on a winner. He might make you all look very silly. None moreso than me
his argument on the kdb effect on yaya gathers momentum
still think you sit pretty
-pelle to deeney is some distance on my mapI would be stunned.
YaYa over Depay every day of the week ( and as a United fan that's not easy to admit ) and Pelle over Deeney by a country mile.
I hope Balders is right because of Memphis but he's looked pretty poor in the games so far and is in a defensive team.It all started off with him offering yaya for depay. I wasn't keen, prefer depay. I knew he was very keen on getting his man though so pushed for a nice sweetener
I went way high and he talked me down to something he was more comfortable with
understandable
....talk me down.....
haven't i heard that before!
i will give you Shaqiri for Pedro.Great job Champ.
I think you'll win big time on YaYa for Depay but you did well to get more. I don't see much potential in Depay - he seems to lack football nous and doesn't see a pass. The things that worked in Eredevisie don't work in the premiership and he lacks the ability to adapt. He may come good in a coule of years but will probably be in the Bundesliga by then.yup
and i'm talking as a citeh fan!
Geezers need excitement
True enough
How illuminating
Unan
Sometimes when I look in your eyes I can see your soul
Bryan Adams?
James surely?
yeah saw them live friday night, still buzzing
Love that song. Such beautiful poetry.
The "eye" is everything!
It's all seeing. Unan
Been away for a week. Any news on Montero and mahrez? Cheers
Pretty sure Mahrez is playing for Algeria today.
Instead of this AOA chip..maybe they should consider having a chip where u can save an extra ft even if u already have 2 in hand
I'd love to see wild cards scrapped and transfers rolled over every week if you don't use them. Would really make the game interesting and stop template teams.
like
This
Yeah good call
Dont mind that
All the chips suck balls. In my humble opinion. As would a 3rd ft.
Santi or Ramsey this week? Can't afford Sanchez and don't want him running my squad anyway.
Neither?
Okay, best 9m or below player this week? Not city.
Ayew, Chadli etc
In what world is Charlie better than ramsey
Chadli
In this new world where Arsenal/Chelsea/Man Utd/Pool mids and forwards don't get points.
Well, this season. And last season.
Ramsey has to compete with Alexis, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud etc, while Chadli is far more central to Spurs. Plus Ramsey is awful on the wing.
Also bench one of shelvey or shakiri?
Shelvey
c)bench shakira?
How's this look?
Myhill
Kolarov Shaw Williams Huth
Sanchez Mane Payet
Aguero(TC) Kane Sakho
McCarthy Grealish Anya Oxford
1.1 ITB
0 FTNo Silva is a bit scary.
Having Kane is also scary 🙁
Payet to Silva and Kane to Diouf over the next couple of weeks could work well
Not for me. Risky keepers with neither the long term number one,
Grealish awful fourth mid and Kane? No. Downgrade to gomis, move grealish to better week in week out top eight player
Or Wilson for Kane and upgrade the hell out of that terrible midfield
How can you not have a City midfielder?
Oh wait this isn't a wildcard is it...
You're screwedThat said, judging by the randomness of this season, you could score 80 points this week...
I just don't think Kane is worth it.
Well, after 4 weeks, one wildcard and a -8pt hit on gameweek 4, I compared my team of now to gameweek one and they had the same score! Learning to keep the faith with my original, time consuming picks, is a lesson I never learn year on year.
My gw1 team scored 72 points this week. My actual team 33. Every year I waste my wildcard in first three weeks. I can't help myself, I just always start so badly,
What do you feel is worse, watching somebody you took out getting a haul or somebody you wanted in getting a haul after deciding to wait one more week? (Both hurt in my eyes) 🙂
The take out I reckon, you did own him whereas the other option was 'dreamy'
Eg Wilson in my case. 🙁
somebody you took out
Ha ha. The former for me. Especially if a rival still has that player. Pelle and mane just killed me this week. Mahrez and coutinho in return, minus one!
Ouch!
Manè (my gw1) really annoyed too (WC)Mane, Wilson and Sterling gw1 have all jumped up and bitten me in the arse!
Keeping faith on hazard benteke until now might not have done me too well though
Any suggestions for this team folks? Have 1 ft.
Courtois
Shaw Morgan kolarov
Mahrez ozil yaya payet Montero
Kun Costa
McCarthy ighalo Gomez WhittakerSave
Gomez over Morgan this week.
I can see 0-0 in the United - Liverpool gameI can't. As toothless as United have been so far I can't see Liverpool keeping them out. They were fortunate to keep clean sheets against Bournemouth and Arsenal.
a couple of hasbeen boxers slugging it out
-I hope brodgers sees sense and starts ings
liverpool to win 3-2=paper defences both of them
I reckon United will score too GK.
This is depays week
I've watched him closely Diab but either Lvgs Philosophy is holding him back or he's overrated, I'm so disappointed with him so far.
He will get a haul maybe even by default but the jury is firmly out for me on both Depay and Lvg.
I hope you're right - just don't see where the threat is coming from
Yea hopefully I was at the Newc game and after about 20mins I said this is heading for a 0-0,
United looked like they lacked the nous (creativity) to break down a stubborn and drilled defence on the day that were putting 11 men behind the ball.
Although in a more open game like the Swansea one which we probably were lucky too with that mata goal, we were cut open by a more oppressing side.
For me Blind/Romero were not good enough on the day and that old 'were never beat' syndrome has long disappeared.
Itb?
0.1m
Courtois (McCarthy)
Kolarov, Shaw, Williams (Richards, Targett)
Hazard, Ozil, Mane, Mahrez, Ritchie
Aguero, Gomis (Diouf)
1FT 0ITB
Suggestions?Bench Huth or Grealish?
Huth
Morning all
Would you play Clyne (manu) or Williams (wat) next weekend?
Cheers mdearsWilliams
b- all week ,swans in imperious form and ki returning
Williams
Cheers all Williams it is
