Please excuse me taking up loads of space with this post. As I have so many things to get done at work I naturally put all them off and wrote this-

As I am getting towards being fairly happy with my own team I thought I would share my thoughts on the 5.0 and 5.5 defenders. Aside from a few I am struggling to see real value in these this year

Player- Smalling/Evans/Jones 5.5
Cons- With injuries to the defense and to other players I am not confident of clean sheets. The new system from Van Gaal seems to encourage scoring at the expense of defending.
Alternatives- Get on Mata/Rooney even Young short term for involvement in Man U

Player- Jagielka/Distin/Stones 5.5
Cons- Play Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in the first 6 weeks
Alternatives- None really, wait and see on Everton. Some people love Baines regardless.

Player- Shawcross 5.5
Cons- A lot for a Stoke defender
Alternatives- 5.0 Begovic plays every week. Can wait to see if Wilson, Muniesa or Cameron get starts for 4.5

Player- Sagana and Clichy 5.5
Cons- No where near nailed on with Kolorov and Zabeletta about
Alternatives- Man City defense looking a mine field for rotation. Fixtures not great, only really want to be involved in their attacking assets

Player- Debuchy and Gibbs 5.5
Cons- Poorish fixtures but Debuchy is one of the viable options at 5.5. Gibbs will be injured in a matter of weeks. Will Mertsaker and possibly Kosch being out affect their ability to keep a clean sheet?
Alternatives- Going for Debuchy is an ok option. Chambers for a short punt until we see how the 4.5 defenders settle is how im going.

Player- Lovren and Johnson 5.5
Cons- Poor fixtures
Alternatives- Lovren is another who is an ok (ish) option at 5.5. Many new signings at Liverpool and if Manquillo or even Enrique get starts then rotation for Johnson?

Others at 5.5
- Fonte. Way too expensive for a Southampton defender. Clyne a better option
- Nastic. Wont play much at all
- Rafael. Injured? Rotated and MU not looking tight at the back
- Sakho. Just no
- Creswell. 5.5 For a West Ham player?

Too many 5.0’s to go in depth with. Will look at some of the popular/ most talked about-

- Jenksion,Reid,Demel,Tomkins- Rotation risks, poor fixtures, poor defence
- Olsson, Lescott,McAuley. 2 are injured. Other options at 4.5, maybe even 4.0. Play for West Brom
- Rangel and Williams. Other options at 4.5.
- Bardsley, Pieters and Huth. Rotation/ starting place risks. Begovic available for 5.0. Some 4.5 options may be available
- Dawson, Davies, Rose, Kabul, Chireches and Dier. Big uncertainty over who will start.
- Clyne and Bertrand. Clyne in particular is one option at 5.0. Some questioning how Southampton will be with so many players gone. If no new center back Yoshida is an option.
- Isla and Caulker. The Caulker love confuses me. He plays in defense with Ferdinand and Dunne, leaky. Other options at 4.5. Isla may be an option later, supposed to very attacking.
- Janmaat. Cheaper ways into the Newcastle defence. Many have Krul already.
- Manquillo and Enrique. Worth watching but you don’t want to start with them
- Davies (Hull). Loads of other options at 4.5
- Dann, Ward, and Delaney. These are all good options. With that said if Marriappa or Kelly get starts then they are available at 4.5. Pullis leaving now casts doubts?

This year the consensus on forwards seems to be split between having 2 big hitters and one 6/5.5 or 2 big and one medium up top eg Rooney, Costa and Dzeko . Similarly the midfield seems to be split between 4 big and one 4.5/5.0 or 3 big and 2 medium eg Hazard, Mata, Ramsey, Young, Siggy. Either way there are loads of choices.

These are just my rambling thoughts, please feel free to disagree completely. Out of all those defenders I only really see Dubuchy, Lovren, Ward and Clyne as players I would have.

(Apologies for spelling, layout,player names and grammar errors, knocked this out double quick before a meeting)