Van Dijk Back

GW11 feels like ages ago, it was also quite boring. Though I did get nine points from both Anderson and Dewsbury-Hall, which made it feel like a slight victory. I dropped about five hundred places, emphasising the averageness.

41 points (avg. 38)

Anyway, into GW12.

The flags in the above picture tell the story.

I've switched out Gabriel for Van Dijk, and I've used my second free transfer to move Agbadou to Esteve.

The obvious move would've been Semenyo to Rice (yes, I'm still talking about getting Rice). However, there was a slight snag. Caicedo's played two lots of 90 minutes during the international break. Plus, he got back late ..and it's the early morning Saturday kick off. So there's a good chance he could get rested.

With my bench looking rather sparse it would've potentially left me a little short. So I took the decision to strengthen my bench (a tad - it's not the most impressive upgrade). The move also freed up another £0.4m. Meaning I can potentially do Semenyo to Mbeumo next week if I decide he's a better bet than Rice. So I could end up avoiding Rice again - against my better judgement.

Mbeumo is the player I most fear not owning at the moment. Especially looking at the fixtures. So that's going to be a tricky decision. It would leave the third Arsenal spot open for a Gabriel return too. So it would make a lot of sense.

Captaincy

Oh, and I've captained Salah this week. So all this talk about transfers and benchings is just decorating around the edges really. As it's highly likely it'll be this decision that defines my gameweek.

[five minutes later..]

As I'm typing I'm feeling very tempted to take a (-4) to do the Mbeumo move.

..No, I'm not doing it. Be disciplined. Semenyo could start and it's a great fixture. You can make the Mbeumo move after the deadline. Don't be wasting a precious 4 points!

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UPDATE: I was weak, I took the (-4)

It does look a lot better without the flags though.

GW10 - Going Well Again

Okay, so another week and another return for Salah. This week he looked good - I thought he was Liverpool's best player against Villa. Meaning the doubts I was expressing in my last post have largely disappeared.

I did sell Van Dijk however. I switched him out for Timber (I also did Porro to Munoz).

So ..in GW9 I ended the week with 44 points (average was 46).

And in GW10 I did much better: 86 points (avg. 65).

I'm pretty happy with my team now. The only frustration is that I've now locked myself out of getting Rice by brining in Timber. Rice really is ticking over nicely - assists, goals, defcon points. He has a lot of routes to points. In a way it's six and two threes given how tight Arsenal are at the back. Plus Timber also gets the odd return himself. So Timber's arguably the better option anyway. However, I spotted the potential of Rice at the start of the season, and it's left me with the feeling that I haven't followed my own instincts. I did start the season with him, but then wildcarded him out.

Now with Rice out of the picture the obvious midfield upgrade is Gravenberch. My plan is to downgrade Calvert-Lewin to someone even cheaper in order to upgrade Dewsbury-Hall. I'll have to wait another week to do that though. I like the idea of doubling up on Liverpool as people begin to move back to Salah. Again, Gravenberch and Timber is probably a better combination than Rice and Van Dijk on the whole, so things have worked out well really. Though there's always the chance Liverpool step it up in defence and Van Dijk starts nicking a goal or two.

My current rank is: 328,321

What to do with Salah.

We're midway through GW9 and I have a return from Salah. However, I watched the game and it didn't fill me with confidence. (The goal itself was beautiful though.)

The problem wasn't so much Salah, though he looked uninspired in the first half, it was more that Liverpool looked very average and Salah just wasn't getting the service. They just didn't seem to be playing in a way that utilised him. So it looked like more of a Liverpool problem than a Salah problem.

Watching the game also increased doubts over Van Dijk, (who I also own), though he did once again get defcon bonus. He didn't look imperious, and Liverpool didn't look tight defensively in general.

If I was going purely on eye test I wouldn't own either of these players. However ..it's Liverpool. It's Salah. And the fixtures are great. Leaving me with a bit of a conundrum.

I'm not sure what I'll do, but I feel it could be a big decision in regard how my season goes.

I captained Salah..

Bad week. I got a little too cocky, and went for the differential play. Things didn't work out.

I'm disappointed, but at least I can console myself with the fact that it wasn't a truly terrible idea. I put 2-0 to Man City on the Super6, so I was thinking the damage Haaland would do wouldn't be too punishing - which I was half-right about. I was also expecting goals in the Liverpool game. (I put 4-2 to Liverpool for that one - wrong result, but not a million miles away from the xG.) So it was brave, and only a tad foolish in hindsight.

52 points (avg. 56)

Also, I should be grateful really, as although it was a bad week it could've been a lot worse, as originally I was planning to roll my transfers. Which would've meant keeping Romero and Evanilson - both of whom didn't play. I brought in Calvert-Lewin and Gabriel. So it was a twelve point swing. I'd have really dropped in rank had I not done that.

Going forward I'm not really sure what the plan is ..other than switching the captaincy back to Haaland, which I've already done. Though the away tie to Aston Villa is looking a little less favourable now.

I still like the idea of brining in Declan Rice, though I'd need to free up some cash to do that, and I've only got the one transfer. So things will have to stay as is for the coming week.

The question mark over Salah is getting bigger, but I don't want to kneejerk. He remains a very big differential potentially. Had I captained Haaland I'd probably be feeling fairly happy with my team. The way these things psychologically frame your perceptions is fascinating really. I knew it was a gamble. I knew it came with a high degree of risk. Yet still there's an emotional aftermath that makes you feel down about the entire team, even though it was literally just the captaincy move that swung things for the most part.

Overall Rank: 436,894

12 Points on the Bench Boost

Lucky. That's the word that springs to mind. I'm very grateful to get twelve points. In hindsight it was a silly week to use the bench boost, and I could've ended up a lot worse off.

Both Porro and Agbadou didn't start their games. When they both came off the bench it really saved my blushes. Especially Porro, as if he'd have completely missed I'd have gained the Senesi points anyway.

68 points (avg. 46)

So, in a week where many triple-captained Haaland, I still got a nice green arrow. Up to 107k in rank now.

Going Forward

With all my chips out of the way I can concentrate fully on my team. I have a little plan/watchlist, though I'll probably just roll my transfer this week.

The players I'd like to bring in are Gabriel, Gravenberch and Declan Rice. I still feel that Rice offers a lot of value and I partially rue not keeping him on the wildcard. Gravenberch also looks like great value. I just wonder what happens with these players once Champions League truly gets underway. Reijnders is another in that similar midfield bracket.

4-5-1

I think one up top is probably my preferred plan for this season too. With strikers the roots to points are so limited. So even though Evanilson is a decent pick, it always feels like it's more hope than certainty. I expect two points. However, with midfielders and defenders there are now little bonuses that soften the blanks. A clean sheet bonus or some defcon points knocking a two-pointer up to a three or four-pointer makes all the difference.

To reach this destination I'll probably downgrade Evanilson to a cheap bench striker. Perhaps the Bournemouth bench striker Kroupi.Jr (that full stop in the name is hard to get used to). Then Dewsbury-Hall can become Rice. Anderson can switch to Gravenberch/Reijnders maybe, and Porro can become Gabriel.

There's no rush though, and with both Salah and Haaland I don't feel like I'm missing anyone unmissable. Though had Fernandes scored that penalty I'd no doubt be wondering how to fit him in. He remains a great option. (That United defense is truly awful though. The players aren't good enough, and they have no pace. The worst possible combination.) Cunha still looked decent too I thought when he actually got the ball. Mbeumo had an off game, but overall he's looked good. So Manchester United as an attacking option is a puzzling one. After the last game it's easy to say "avoid," but I'm not so sure.

Let's see how GW7 goes.

I can't resist...

BENCH BOOOOOST!

I've just hit the bench boost. It's not an ideal week, but I have no flags, no injuries, and my history of playing the game tells me that sooner or later they start piling up. So I might as well go now and hope for the best. Plus, it's fun isn't it.

I've made one transfer, switching Dubravka to Darlow, as Perri remains out for Leeds. In fact, that was the swinger really. With Dubravka in goal against City I'd be fearing a negative score. With Darlow at home to Bournemouth it's not quite as scary.

Darlow, Senesi, Agbadou and Foster make up the bench.

Foster against Man City is highly unlikely to get anything. Agbadou could possibly get defcon, but not much more. I'm not expecting a clean sheet from Darlow. Meaning Senesi is the only player with a bit of real potential.

You could argue that Anderson should be on the bench instead of Senesi. However, I genuinely had Senesi on the bench. I've really liked Anderson this season. So for me this is the honest bench.

The question then is, what contributes a good score for the bench boost?

If everyone plays over 60 minutes you're getting eight points. So that's the baseline. A single return then takes you past the ten point mark. Unless you've got a very good bench expecting more than that is probably a bit greedy. (With my bench expecting one is unrealistic.) Then on top of that you might get the odd defcon/save point/clean sheet point.

I'd be happy with ten points. I say happy, grateful is perhaps the better word. You probably need a bit of luck to get four playing bench players in a single gameweek. One injury or real world benching drops you down a player from the get-go. Plus, you're potentially wasting transfers and cash getting the bench right for just that one week. And it means you have to swerve players (I'm looking at you Man City) that get rotated randomly.

All this is no doubt just me justifying myself using it this week. Still, I've never been greedy in fpl, so it does feel good getting it used in a pragmatic way. I just hope everyone starts. After that I'm just going to enjoy it.

Last Week

60 points last week (avg. was 42). Another good rise in rank. Meaning I'm up to 134k as we go into GW6.

6 points on the bench last week. And they all played over 60 minutes. So perhaps I need to lower my expectations even further.

I'll Just Have Chips..

I finished up with 81 points on my free hit. Very happy with that.

Anyway, I've now hit the wildcard on the eve of GW5.

It's been a last minute decision. My team didn't look ideal for this week, so I started a hypothetical wildcard and it just went from there. Once I started I couldn't turn back.

This is it..

I'm sure I should've done more research. No doubt there'll be some mistakes and regrets. However, at the moment I'm feeling pleased with it. I've done it with one eye on a possible bench boost. No idea what particular week, I'm just hoping if I have a rounded squad things will fall into place. I must remember to be flexible though, as injuries and whatnot always crop up. So I may have to leave the bench boost on the backburner if things don't work out.

After last week I was up to circa. 340k, so hopefully this week goes well too.

/////////////////////// UPDATE //////////////////

Before the morning deadline I made a few changes. Namely Raya in goal and Agbadou in.

So this is how I went into GW5..

(we're currently halfway through

the 3 o'clock kick offs)