And that's before we get to the transfer news.
Consequently, I'm trying to be patient.
That City Central Midfield
Firstly, I need to make note of the City midfield situation. They've signed Enzo Fernandez. This is after signing the Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi. So now they have options in that department. Especially with Fernandez, who's a readymade Premier League midfielder. This all makes my concerns over that area of the field a bit redundant. (Though I guess it remains to be seen how things pan out. Anderson remains a question mark - is he title-winning quality? Will Fernandez gel and fit in?)
Nevertheless, it's looking better, and the odds on City being truly impressive have improved.
On top of this they've also signed Ndiaye. This means there's now more competition in the wide areas. Making the minutes for Foden/Semenyo/Cherki less certain.
The one position where there isn't clear competition is up front. Where it's essentially Haaland and no one else.
So Haaland's minutes seem to be the one bankable option. Making him look even more essential.
(I wonder if Semenyo becomes the second choice in that position? That's an interesting thing to keep an eye on. He hasn't looked like a great FPL asset in the first two gameweeks, but if he starts on the right then moves up top after 75 minutes when Haaland gets taken off that's a bit more attractive.)
All in all my "No Haaland" strategy is looking less attractive. I basically need City to be bad in general for it to work. As if they're good it might be even harder to cover Haaland now. Even if he isn't quite worth the £15.5m price tag when compared to captain options from other clubs. And that in of itself is a big and quite unlikely if.
That Said..
..I'm still going Haaland-less this week.
My plan was to just do Mbeumo to Cherki, and I think that's what I'll stick with.
After Tzolis getting taken off I have considered other options. One was to upgrade Tzolis to Cherki and downgrade Joao Pedro to Wissa. Then wildcard in GW4 to get Joao Pedro back.
I'd lose a bit of value selling Joao Pedro though. Plus, I'd essentially be wasting an extra transfer just to improve my team for this week. Furthermore, I'd probably be wildcarding into a non-Haaland side! (As, in spite of everything, I still like taking the other side of the ledger on this one.) Then I wouldn't have a wildcard left to fix that problem going forward.
(I've also considered the option of getting Haaland this week by downgrading Fernandes to Gross and upgrading Isak. But, likewise, that instinctively doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather keep Fernandes and Isak this week and still have two free transfers next week to get the Chelsea guys.)
A really bold move would be to make no transfers. I'm a little loathe to take Mbeumo out. Everton haven't looked great defensively.
I also don't think Coventry have been as bad as the results have suggested. They weren't too bad against Arsenal. They were just outclassed. In fact, the game was very similar to the Community Shield game where Arsenal outclassed City. I didn't watch the Hull defeat, but from the highlights and the stats it seems that Hull did a bit of a smash and grab on them.
Coventry bullied the Championship last season, now they're having to adapt to being underdogs. Whereas Hull were undogs for the entirety of last season. Perhaps it'll take Coventry a few games to get going.
The problem with not making a transfer though is the lack of captain. Cherki looks in form, whereas Semenyo and Foden look a bit too lightweight. Isak has Ipswich, but surely they won't concede another hatful.
So I think it has to be Cherki. I need to be patient, but not so patient that I don't bring in any City players at all. That might be going a bit too far with my wait and see strategy.
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