I really wanted to read this but i couldn't 🙁

Must be bed time.

2) I own Aguero - Benteke & Diouf at the moment 🙂

I'm not on a wild card, but if I was I'd lean towards the Aguero and two mid priced forwards. I don't see another heavy hitter being needed in the immediate future when Aguero will be captained most GWs. I don't see Sanchez as being needed though either, I think one of the 8.5m Arsenal mids will offer better value if you just stick with one. Cazorla will start getting pens and Ramsey will start knocking in those chances

Well, at the end of the day, you can't have everyone. Having Aguero in the team forces compromises. It may be that you need to stick with two cheaper striker options, but there's plenty of them about. Sakho, Diouf, Vardy, Wilson, Deeney etc. Can just bring in the form players from that pool of cheaper strikers. And if someone like Kane really does light up, a hit to restructure isnt the end of the world.

Option 2, the cheapo defence is the way to do it, I'm currently template midfield with Aguero/Pelle/Sakho up top

appreciate the thought that's gone into this first of all
would a 4.5/5.0 throwaway striker not solve this issue, you could have a more expensive mid (depay 8.5) and if he flops, swap with the striker next to aguero (gomis/diouf etc)??

I'm betting on those strikers blossoming now. Benteke, Lukaku and kun my strikers on wildcard. Sanchez only heavy hitter...only two city players (kompany being the other)

Very good post and it sums up my problems at the moment as well. Its difficult to know the best route to take at this stage. Aguero, Silva and Sanchez cost 34m, over a third of the budget on 3 players. Does such investment justify the damage done to the remainder of the team. Hard to know.

your first big paragraph says "for the long haul" and its good to plan but you and everyone's perfectly laid plans will be laid to sh!t 2 or 3 weeks from now. they dont ever work out. worry about the present, this week, next week, 2 or 3 weeks after that. i check the 6 week ticker to, and use it as much as the next guy. remember, Aguero's hamstrings are manufactured by Play-Doh Corporation so at some point you will have 13.5 to spend. 😉

I'm counting on Aguero to get injured after a couple of games then getting the best striker at the time and having funds for another one!!

This is a really helpful post. My response to the question you raise is this: I am going 3-5-2 with Depay. Depay is a kind of punt. If he comes good I won't worry about the Bentekes, Kanes, or Costas of the world. But if he flops, or even if he is just OK but big-hitter forwards start to shine, then I will drop him for a 4.5 and have whatever I need to upgrade to the Next Big Thing.

Reasonable stuff, but overthinking it..
I'm on 1) as I started with Aguero and Rooney, and agree, there's no standout Rooney replacement in the same price bracket.
I guess it's the old balance the budget across the positions argument, and price is no guarantee of points..
I generally have expensive candidates on deathrow in each position for flexibility- atm that's Azpi, Mane, and Roo...
Let me know when you figure out who that 2nd striker should be!

I have more cash than I know what to do with. But I guess that's because I neither want Sanchez nor Hazard right now.

My wildcard team will have Pelle in it plus 3.5m banked.

Or you could go without Aguero

I think I'm in the 2 camp. playing Kun/ Gom/ Ighalo but keeping funds to transfer in a striker in the price range you suggest depending on fixtures, except when I want to play 343 when Ighalo gets a good fixture.

i.e will mostly play 352 and use transfer each week, swapping Gom to someone I fancy more if the Swans have a nasty fixture. I have to keep a million or so in reserves to do this.

until a striker stands up and says pick me, im just going with the 2.
which leaves me with three decent midfielders, and more room to move.

My forward line is Aguero Gomis Pelle
The price structure of my team is
5.5 4.0
6.0 5.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
10.0 Ozil 7.5 5.5 4.5
13.0 7.0 8.0
1.5 itb
I prefer Ozil over Sanchez (for now at least). Also that 1.5 itb is really imp for me. I an switch Ozil-Sanchez or Silva-Hazard or Pelle-Benteke/Kane. The whole point is, with an early wildcard you have to have money itb to get the flexibility!

2) I'm on my WC and have gone with Aguero - Pelle - Gomis

I've still got enough for Sanchez Silva Payet Mahrez and Kompany + Darmian in defence so don't really see the budget as an issue

Hi guys,

Struggling to make a decision on who to include..

A.) Sanchez + 4.5
B.) Ozil + Chadli/Shaqiri

If B who would be the better option Chadli or Shaqiri?

Thanks 🙂

bit late to th party but the way I see it is would you want
payet and sakho
or
??? and performing 8 mill forward

its really a decision we make all the time and could easily be influenced by form and fixtures of others

Obvious Option: Drop Aguero

He's only worth 13m because there are NO captain options atm. In your scenario, you'd be bringing in a new captaincy option (a 10m striker).

The value play is to drop Kun and keep Sanchez/Silva/etc

I went for option 2) Pelle. Having a player at that price point in attack gives me far more flexibility. Having said that, it's not on a wildcard. I'm still happy with my team and structure from the start of the season. Took a -4 this week to shuffle the pack a bit but should now be set for the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping not to wildcard until GW13 ideally although that's not set in stone.

On a wildcard and finding balance easier with yaya over silva. I think there scores will be close in the long run and if money is tight the 1.4 will help.

Bit late to the party, but great post.

I definately agree(?) with you if we say your conclusion is to go more balanced. And I think the way to do that is picking Yaya over Silva. At this stage, I wouldn't want to spend 10m on a player I won't even consider captaining given I have Agüero. I also have Sanchez, who will be VC most weeks that I captain Agüero - should form be kept up. Should Agüero for some reason struggle with form, not play, get injured during warm up or whatever I'll want Sanchez as back-up captaincy option. Main thing is I'd always captain Sanchez over Silva regardless of Agüero.

Here's my structure:

4.5 / 4.0
5.5 / 5.5 / 4.5 / 4.5 / 4.5
Sanchez / Yaya / 8.5 / Mahrez / 4.5
Agüero / 8.0-8.5 / 6.5-7.5

I think that's a good budget spread with the defence not being overly great, but far from too cheap either. Having Yaya instead of Silva really is enabling that decent balance thing I got going with another 8.5 along him and a 8-8.5 striker aswell. Now there's some great form mids in the 7m-bracket, but I trust the 8.5s more and it's very much about structure for me. Easy for me to ditch the other 8.5 for a 7m, giving me extra funds should Mahrez need an upgrade in the near future for example. But the key point is that with the current budget spread adapting to an offensive Arsenal double up, and getting in both offensive United and Liverpool cover is easy for me.

I have Pelle - Aguero - Gomis with 0.6 in the bank for the potential upgrade of Pelle or to get Hazard. No need to down grade any midfielders. Provides me with versatility which I like.
Nice piece