How my Gameweek 8 transfers cost me 38 points

In the Gameweek of ‘no-shows’, impressively I managed six zero-pointers across my squad of fifteen.

With Marcos Alonso (£7.0m) and captain Mohamed Salah (£13m) the only players to score more than two points, my rank plummeted from 194k to 289k. Ouch!

Not surprisingly, Callum Wilson (£6.6m) continued the trolling…

But, there is no point dwelling on bad Gameweeks, the key is to remain patient, avoid making knee-jerk transfers despite the temptation to do so and put a plan together to bounce back.

Isaac the key to Success?

Watford’s £4.5m striker Isaac Success is an intriguing option. A goal against Huddersfield in his second consecutive start has caught the attention of FPL managers.

With so much value in defence this season, Success can facilitate a switch in formation.

This is something I’m looking at possibly doing this week, downgrading the misfiring Danny Ings (£5.6m) and investing in the Man City defence in a move to 4-4-2.

Benjamin Mendy (£6.4m) vs Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m)

A City defender/goalkeeper is a must, given their run of six consecutive clean sheets. They’ve conceded just three league goals in the opening ten matches with Jon Stankovic (£3.9m), Willy Boly (£4.6m) and DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m) the only players to have beaten Ederson (£5.8m).

Mendy is the FPL favourite this season but Laporte offers a viable alternative. He’s played every minute, racking up seven clean sheets. Pep Guardiola labelled him the best left-footed centre-back in the world recently, which bodes well for his security of starts for us Fantasy managers.

As well as his clean sheets, Laporte is a goal threat, scoring against Wolves in Gameweek 3 and in the 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

With six assists in seven matches, Mendy is hard to ignore. There is always the worry with him though that he will do something to upset Pep and be banished from the first team setup.

There’s no doubt he’s the more exciting FPL pick, but for those who are strapped for cash, Laporte is your man.

There’s a case to be made for doubling up on both Mendy and Laporte or pairing one of them with Ederson.

Transfer headache

One route I could go this week is Ings to Success and Ryan Bennett (£4.2m) to Laporte for free, which would set me up with four premium defenders for Gameweek 11 (Alonso, Robertson, Trippier and Laporte).

A switch from Kieran Trippier (£6.3m) to Matt Doherty (£4.9m) would then be on the cards for Gameweek 13.

Anthony Knockaert (£5.5m) is a problem though. An alternative to the above moves would be Bennett to Fabian Balbuena (£4.4m) and Knockaert to Ross Barkley (£5.8m).

Barkley is worth a punt. He’s got the form and the fixtures. Chelsea have three favourable home ties in their next four (Crystal Palace, Everton and Fulham).

He was rested for the midweek Carabao Cup tie which should see him retain his place in the starting XI for the Palace game on Sunday. His price is what is most appealing, playing an attacking role in a high scoring team. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world given his price tag.

Good luck to all in Gameweek 11.

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