GW22 Review ..not a spectacular score, but fairly pleased

GW22 turned out okay, and it was only really the Kane/Ronaldo captaincy swing that stopped it from being a great week (I was never going to go with Fernandes on the wildcard).

Gameweek Points: 56

Gameweek Rank: 3,210,427

Overall Rank: 289,849

Other than the points tally I'm fairly pleased with the wildcard overall. My team's looking in much better shape than it was. I decided to do Jota and Ronaldo to Salah (plus an Antonio-bracket striker) for my Salah plan in the end, so that's why van Dijk came in. I think that makes it a bit easier to get my three Liverpool players going forward.

Also, we've just had double GW23 announced. Meaning we now have the extra fixture of Burnley vs Watford in the mix.

Bench Boost Abandoned

The fact that it's Watford and not Villa means I've had to cancel my bench boost plans. Though with Konsa picking up a knock that was already in doubt anyway. Had he remained nailed-on to start I'd have just switched Emerson Royal to Digne and then hit the button. However, the yellow flag meant a minus 4 may have been in order - and a minus 4 to bring in Matty Cash wasn't particularly appetising. Especially after wildcarding.

It's all moot now anyway though, and fortunately with both Pope and Dennis in my squad I'm set up fairly well for this turn of events.

With my free transfer I think I'll just do Emerson Royal to Dias. I like the City double-up at the back with the forthcoming fixtures. There's the temptation to bring in another double-game player of course, but the options aren't electric. In fact, when I was anticipating the potential doubles last night I'd already decided that a minus 4 for Dias would probably be better than one for Cash long term.

The bench boost does give me a headache going forward though. I guess it's nice to have, but it's going to be so hard to fit it in. One of the problems with it is that you have to have a fairly nailed-on first eleven to use it. Otherwise your bench options come in anyway. So with City players in your starting eleven it's always going to be a gamble in a single gameweek - that's actually partly why I removed Dias last week; to avoid the bench boost risk this week. Thankfully it was last week he missed though, so I got the benefit.

I'll now have to keep my eyes peeled for another bench boost scenario over the coming weeks and months.

[Update: I'm having doubts about Dias, so I may just roll the free.]

Overall Points: 1325

Overall Rank: 289,849

GW21 Review - GW22/23 MASTERPLAN

Behold, I have a plan. It may not work, but it is a plan.

Firstly I'll quickly cover GW21. It still hasn't finished yet, so I'll update the points and rank retrospectively once it has - I'm currently on 44 points, with just Bowen (as captain) to play his second game.

It's a little bit frustrating that the Everton game has been cancelled, as it means I'll only get 1 point from Pickford. I didn't have huge expectation for his double, but I was hoping for at least a little more than that lol. Still it could've been much worse. Some people brought in two or three Everton players, so I can't complain too much about the week overall.

Gameweek Points: 76

Gameweek Rank: 702,792

Overall Rank: 274,048

Anyway, on to my plan. I'm Wildcarding this week - in fact, I've already hit it. Then next week I'm planning on Bench Boosting. With Villa now being out of the FA Cup they should (hopefully) have a double gameweek in GW23. So I'm filling my bench with cheap Villa options (and cheap options from whoever their opponents will be - Leeds or Burnley).

I have a few problems though. Firstly, this double hasn't been announced yet, and may not even happen. Secondly, I'm working on Friday when the deadline occurs, so I'll have to finalise my wildcard on Friday morning and hope I don't miss any salient information.

If all goes well I'll then bring Salah in when he returns from the African Cup - removing either Kane or Ronaldo. Then I'll be all settled for the final run in, with two Free Hits in the holster to deal with any big blank or doubles that crop up.

One of the things I like about using the wildcard now is that it basically means I get three free hits. With this set of doubles being so poor I can get the team I would've picked anyway had I used a free hit, and I can keep the core players I want going forward - Cancelo, TAA, Jota, Bowen.

If I used a free hit I'd probably drop Cancelo, but I'd still keep those other single gameweek players. So my free hit team would be more or less identical to the one I'll be going with. With the wildcard I can also plan for the bench boost too though. So I'm getting a double use from it.

Obviously there's always the danger that both the wildcard and the bench boost will be more useful later in the season, especially given all the Covid cancellations we're seeing. However, I really like the look of this opportunity. I feel like it's the moment to pounce. Plus I fear the bench boost will be a huge headache if I leave it until further down the line.

This is how I'm currently looking at the moment:

There's still a lot of tweaking to do. Especially with the bench and keepers. Also, I'll probably take out Alonso, mainly as Chelsea have blanks coming up.

If Burnley get a double in GW23 then I like the idea of brining in Pope and maybe another Burnley defender, as I'll effectively get a double-double. There are still a lot of ifs and maybes though. So if things don't pan out how I'm hoping I have no idea what I'll do.

Overall Points: 1269

Overall Rank: 274,048