You really are TM, you really are! 😀

Just had a BBQ, very nice. Never stuffed in FPL. 😛

The result of scoring good points is a good team value. Would be surprised if it wasn't high.

Not always.

Evasivo has a team value of 104.6 to my 107.2 and is a point ahead.

True, some people play both games though. I started off well but haven't played the money game for awhile now. Never jumped on the VDV train etc. Not looking forward to the 2nd wildcard having around 2 million less than you to spend.

Again, you don't seem to realise what I'm saying. He had easier fixtures for that spell where he had NINE occasions scoring 5+ points. I ended up collecting most of those points too.

However, I don't think he will score at the same rate over the next 14 games, and this FPL game is about looking into the future and not looking back into the past and noticing all the points that you may have had if only you'd got so-and-so in.

Sheesh!

No, but you have to play them most weeks to get the couple of big scores they do get.

Reason to think Carroll won't continue = he has tougher fixtures coming.

Stats agree with SuperDunny.

DA and Nibbsy, you're basing your argument solely on fixtures, and to be honest, the quality of the player is always, always more important.

Carroll has had more shots than anyone in the entire league last I checked! Suggesting he won't be able to continue his form just because of his "tougher" fixtures is naive.

Again Camzy, you're basing your stats on his easier start to the season, rather than what might happen over the next 14 games.

You can't use his points and shot statistics when they are during an easy run otherwise you could point to Rooney's goals versus Hull and Pompey and argue that he can do it all the time. Only after GW27 can you compare Carroll correctly, where you can look at his shot stats, his goal stats and his assist stats.

I'm gonna have to leave you to deal with this heathens Camzy

We're just over a third of the way through the season. He has 8 goals and 4 assists.

Do you really think that Carroll will finish the season on 22 goals and 11 assists, (multiplying by 38/14 = 2.7).

That is some output!

He is more likely to finish on 16 or 17 goals, and 8 or 9 assists, which is still pretty hefty, but Carroll is due a barren spell to bring his stats back into allignment with where his end of season stats will finish up.

He will get his (relatively) barren spell during the tougher games.

Just wait till Carroll returns 3 lots of 2 pointers in a row, then see how you feel about starting him in a tough away game.

And that will happen, unless you think he's going to score 6+ points in the majority of games all season?

Hey Nibbsy, the games that you would expect decent returns from Carroll are primarily the home games right?

Well his next 6 home games are Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, West Ham, Tottenham and Arsenal. They may only win 2 of them so he won't get much bonus points there, but will probably get the odd goal.

His away games are ok, although there are still trips to Tottenham, Birmingham, Sunderland and Fulham which are not super easy.

There's no way Carroll will get anywhere near 83 points over these games. 😀

It's hard to keep a good player down.

Fixtures aren't everything. By all means look to play them while you can, but replacing Carroll when there are loads of other areas to address is most probably a mistake.

Why look to get Carroll out who's a consistent point scorer versus rejigging a flagging midfield or improving your defense? You can't "play the fixtures" on all the players because you only have 1 transfer a week.

Too often, I see people make rash transfers to get form players in only to realize that they've left a key component of their team unimproved (no Nani, Van Der Vaart). At this point, I refuse to believe (unless you're wildcarding, and even then...) that your squad is so good, that Carroll > Elmander/Davies is the only move that would see you improve your team.

I have just done my wildcard last week, (after playing the fixtures from GW1 to GW13). I wildcarded as different teams starting going on better runs of fixtures and it's time to get some of those players in.

My team is now nicely set up till Christmas where I don't need to do many transfers.

Foster, Hahnemann
Evra, Konchesky, Coleman, Steinsson, Bramble
Nani, Fabregas, Cahill, Jarvis, Malouda
Elmander, Odemwingie, Torres

It should see me score well over the next 6 or 7 weeks, and then we will almost be upon another wildcard! 😀

I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

Obviously, you place a lot of weight on fixtures and good rotation, but I don't. I believe in a superb starting XI with proven players who you can rely on over the season even through tough games and a purely supplementary/almost dead bench.

I wouldn't have Hahnemann in my team even though he rotates well with Foster/has good fixtures simply because he's not playing in a good defensive team.

Odemwingie likewise in offense. I think Newcastle are a better attacking force, and even though their fixtures might be harder, I can see Carroll doing better than Odem.

A well spread out defense like yours is appealing, but I'd rather have 1 or 2 really high-end defenders and a few cheap rotatables than have a whole backline of mid-price, mid-table team playing defenders.

You have a different way of understanding and playing this game, and I respect that, even if I don't agree with it. We'll see at the end of the season who's strategy worked better I suppose.

Yeah, we will indeed. At the moment you have 829 and I have 747, so I guess your way is better, but then that is because I haven't had the benefit of some of these good early scorers like Carroll, going through an inevitable dry spell yet. After 28 weeks, it may be a little clearer, and I might be ahead of you at that stage.

I don't like the strong 11 and weak bench idea, as you can't rotate as much, although it does have the advantage of not having players scoring well that are sitting on your bench. Most weeks I seem to have at least one player with 5 or more points on my bench, and the trend continues this week with 11 points from Foster!

Odemwingie will only occasionally play for me, even though he is crud. 😀

'Big four' was just an example. There are lots of other tough fixtures where Carroll is unlikely to score big.

Well apart from the opening day when i didn't own him he's only played at Arsenal and i played him and he got me 9 points. Besides you're talking about 4 games in a 38 game season!?!

I just think you are too scared of the value that you'll lose if you sell him and the good old ''Oh, what if I want him back in?''

Just take the plunge Dunny and boot him. You're replacement will surely outscore him over the next 14 games.

Wow, you really have no idea about my management syle then! Anyway, i really am off to bed now 🙂

By the way Nibbsy, Carroll has already played 2 of those scary 'big four' away games so you'd only have to bench him for 2 out of the next 23 games. Not too shabby

Night Dunny, you'll have to tell me your management style sometime! 🙂

He's this season's Darren Bent (or for the older posters, Andy Johnson at Palace) - cheap and relatively fiture-proof.

No one's saying that he won't be involved when Newcastle score, but the fact is that Newcastle will score less goals in the next 14 games, than the 22 goals they have already scored in the first 14 games.

Less goals from his team, means less output from Carroll, and if you want to finish high in this game, you have to forget about team value, and get your players in that have better chances of scoring during any given run of fixtures.

Well then why are you asking "What evidence is there of a form turn-around for Drogba?"

Surely having watched the game today you could see that he was a different player to the one turning up for the last month. Isn't that evidence enough?

He played much better than in both those games you mentioned above. I'm guessing you're just going off highlights. I was at Stamford bridge for the wolves game and he was absolute gabarge, literally the worst performance i have seen from him in years.

Anyway it's bed time so bye bye

You're right there, essien and lamps will massively improve dog and maloudas scoring.

You seem to have a good handle on fixtures, any tips on who to rotate with everton or Liverpool fixtures for the next few weeks (apart from each other)?

*drog