B84jwh. Good luck.

I try not to pay much attention to OR in the first few GWs tbh as its all so close & probably a lot of chip burners up top still.

I think there is a valid sense of opportunity cost in midfield, but I'm thinking of that more in terms of patience with Martinelli til Jesus is back or patience with Man Utd mids til they sort out their bigger issues, rather than just hopping on the seemingly "form player" of last week. Could be guilty of the latter myself but I intend to be patient with Son.

I actually have a fairly big-at-the-back setup currently (Trippier, Chilwell, Estupinan, Digne, Porro) which I'm quite happy with especially as it allows rotation by fixtures & should allow me to direct FTs on other parts of my team.

Not too worried about defensive rotation for Newcastle at the moment & looking to exploit any patterns in attacking rotation (eyeing up a Wilson punt for a few weeks)

Early days. Does OR really matter much? I've had 4 awful weeks (one 2.5m, one 2m, two 7m+) and one good week yet I'm at inside 800k. If you don't agree with the narratives being put out then just do your own thing. I've been doing my own thing often to my own detriment (captaining Haaland just once, waiting on transfers until last minute until this week and rolling FTs a few times, etc.) but other things have worked out well for me (holding Bruno until his haul, Diaby GW1, not backing Chelsea apart from Colwill GW1, etc.)

Don't worry what everyone else is doing, especially if you think they're making mistakes. Be glad of it

Yeh it's been a difficult start, my OR has yo-yo'd a lot but you can still make massive gains in a week. Regarding your points:

1) I think there are some legitimate concerns about Foden & Chilwell - my personal view is that Foden has never been clinical enough, plus there's the obvious rotation issue, and Álvarez is clearly Pep's 1st choice behind Haaland. The way MCI play, dominating possession, means that their wide players are *usually* level/outside the box and their 8s/9s/10s get the main opportunities. With Chilwell obviously we need to see what happens next week. Maddison is only not a WC pick at the moment because people are thinking short-term - he'll continue to be the fulcrum of Spurs' attack and will stay in my team. With Son I brought him in for more than 1 week too - I'll only be concerned if he doesn't pick up returns against ARS & LIV.

2-3-4) Unless you have Salah & Haaland it's quite possible to invest in both defence and mid. I have 4x 8-9m mids and 5x decent defenders (Cash, Salida, Estu, Botman & Chilly), but you could easily upgrade/downgrade some of them. My tactic over the last 3 seasons has been to have a strong 15 and rotate - it's won me a top 10k and (almost) top 20k finish. This year's pricing has made it easier.

I think it's clear there will be fewer CSs this year, so defender value will be more weighted towards attacking returns - there's a glut of teams who now have more attacking WBs, which has helped this issue. You're right - patience is key and definitely worth holding onto that WC to see how rotation works out. TAA & Tripps could be worth it, but hard to tell still.

5) Yep, this could change of course, although Alvarez has been nailed for 5 GWs in a row now. There will obviously be rotation, but it's fairly clear that he is Pep's preferred choice to support Haaland right now - at least until KDB is back in the fold or Pep changes formation again. Make hay while the sun shines.

I think it's just a case of braving the next 2-3 GWs, then a GW9 WC with much more CL/EL rotation info could work nicely, or even save it till before Xmas period.

I think there is far more 'clickbait' rhetoric floating around FPL content this season, hence 'Essential' being banded about so much. Opinions for opinions sake.

4 and 5) yeah absolutely agree with you.

3) agree that the narrative is presumptuous, but with defenders I do always feel that there is more time to assess their swings in form than attacking players; I rarely feel the need to get "ahead of the curve" with defenders who haven't been performing. Newcastle defenders for instance; let's see them bash out a couple of cleansheets and then hop on. Wouldn't expect to have lost too much ground by waiting. Attacking players, however, can smash a hattrick in against poor opposition whilst you are "waiting and seeing"; that's where I like to make more rash assessments!

1) "essential" banded around way too much. But of those you listed, I would have considered Chilwell "essential"as recently as Sunday morning! That benching hit hard. Only haaland should be considered "essential", but madisson is fantastic value as the linchpin of an attacking looking spurs. One blank shouldn't change that. He should be in people's wildcards despite the 2 upcoming fixtures.

2) I haven't been playing this way so much, but it COULD have worked out for those transfer-hoppers. Small sample size so far. Reassess based on another 5 gameweeks. I reckon jumping on midfielders based on fixture runs will pay off inyhe long run.

I’m playing, then going to town with two tades the following week.

Ideally, bench this week & reevaluate for Fulham & Burnley

I'm not falling for the "good fixtures" trap. Chillwell will be a NEW defender come deadline.

Sold. Done with this situation.