You're probably right (on all counts). Maybe I'll just ignore Schwarzer's injury and play Vorm throughout and save myself 4 points. That way, even if Vorm only gets 2, it'll still feel like 6 .

I don't follow Everton closely but have read a couple things recently on Rodwell as being a "center back" who's currently playing midfield. Does this mean he plays the holding midfield role?

The few times I've seen him, he seems much more involved in the attack than most holding midfielders. And is he a starter when healthy?

MU will bid for Rodwell next month,to boost their MF now Fletcher's out.
Stockdale's a good keeper -would be playing for Swansea if Premier League rules had not prevented him going there on loan, albeit Vorm's proved an ideal alternative. Tough fixtures looming though.

With very little forethought, I've decided to put myself in a position where I'm going to take some points hits in order to bring Rooney back in. It may have been a mistake, but I've already taken one hit and will need to take another to get him in next week (Van Persie's going nowhere, especially with Wolves & QPR at home after their trip to Villa).

I may have jumped on this too quickly, and I hate the thought of following the crowd who are bringing him in just because he's scored three in two against Wolves & QPR, but that's what Rooney does; score mulitiples against weak teams (forget what you hear about him being streaky, he's actually very consistent against the weaker defenses). Holding to form, I would expect him to get one against Wigan & two against Blackburn.

And so I've planned an 8 point hit to have RvP & Rooney in for weeks 18 & 19, and then possibly dropping one to bring Ade back in for the double.

Given my poor transfer decisions of late, this is probably complete lunacy. But I have to remind myself that its just a game, and its more fun to go all in than it is to grind out the points (queue the poker crowd laughing at my foolishness).

If my memory serves me right, this is exactly the attitude I was berated for only last week...

Bringing Rooney for GW18 means tonight... is that your schedule?

According to this morning's Daily Mail headline, Chelsea are planning a £20m swoop for him next month.
As he's injured presently,that could mean he won't wear an Everton shirt again !

Yes.

Once the window closes tonight, I'll be able to do:
VdV Bale
Ade Rooney

Before I pull the trigger on this 2nd hit though, I'd like the luxury of seeing who's hurt and who isn't, but will have to watch price drops & rises very closely. If VdV looks to fall again, or Rooney to rise, or any other combination, I'll have to do it early (if I decide to do it at all). And I'll still be ignoring Raylor's yellow & Schwarzer's red flag.

There's a lot of scenarios I can envision, but all else will be forgiven if the best I get is that Adam pays for the points needed to bring him in for Mata. If Mata scores (goal or assist) against Tottenham & Adam fails to score (goal or assist) against Wigan, I may be in for a very disapointing end-of year run.

But these moves will give me Sturridge, Van P & Rooney up front, backed by Bale, Silva & Adam, which is a line-up I really like going into 18 & 19.

And this would then leave me the option of bringing in Ade & Drenthe for the double in 20 (hit free).

It's like someone is watching and just looking to piss me off.

ouch I have had Larsson and Ade both miss pens for me the last few weeks

Atleast you got your captain right

That was the 2nd of three weeks that I had Larsson in as another differential. It seems I'm getting the right bodies in place, but have severly pissed off the Karma Queen.

Shouldn't hurt too much though. Your team looks good for the next few GW's...

Are you keeping hold of VDV and ADE? Or is it ADE Rooney tonight?

Yes:
Vdv Bale, to fund
Ade Rooney

Oh, the heartbreak of a missed penalty.

While everyone else was bringing in Mata, I finally got rid of him, in part, to fund Rooney. But I thought my choice of Adam was inspired. He hadn't done a lot recently, but Liverpool were coming into a couple nice fixtures and I thought Charlie Adam was just the guy to cover my hit for Mata. And how close was I?

Mata, one of the most enjoyable footballers to watch, just isn't living up to his fantasy potential, and he did his "part" by only getting two points this week.

Had Adam converted the penalty, he would have been on 8 points, with another 2 or 3 bonus to come, and my whole week would have been made (even with the other problems my team had this week). But that's twice in the last month that I've picked a differential who could have been real value, but who missed penalty shots.

These are the moments you play for (the "outlandish" call), and I should be 2 for 2, but instead am 0 for 2.

Still got Adam?

Who's your captain this week?

Still got Adam, and will have to put the band on RvP.

He wants the record, and I really hope he gets it, because I want to give the band to Rooney in GW19. But if RvP is still chasing, it will be a tough call (four against Wolves would be nice).

STILL got Adam .

I can only believe that it's some kind of cosmic joke that I brought in Adam to cover Mata's abscense, and he's now missed a pen and scored an own goal for a total of zero points. And the really sad thing is, I plan to keep him (at least for one more week).

All my planning to have Rooney in for this week and what happens? A cameo.

Gower played a half last week, but of course never got off his ass today. What a great find he was.

Any my game-saving VdV Bale move was really nothing more than a way to raise funds for Rooney, and so I can't even feel good about that.

And if that wasn't all bad enough, I've had McAuley as my third sub the last two weeks, leaving his goal and 10 points on the bench last week, and getting his clean sheet points this week only because Jones & Taylor were no-shows.

So what to do this week? Nothing. I'm sitting pat, and will almost certainly make the wrong captain choice between Rooney & VdV.

On the other hand, I'm going skiing.

If it's any consolation, I've brought in Walcott instead of Mata...

Suely RVP will be your captain?

Stop whining and enjoy your Raylor and Bale points

What are your plan until dgw 20? Im feeling abit of lack of tottenham power

I don't think it's that easy.

Rooney & Van Persie have the same odds to score, although VanP has better odds for a multiple goal game, but Man Utd have the better odds to score multiple goals.

And maybe even more importantly, Van P played a full game, while Rooney was rested (for this next one?).

Van P took 12 shots this week and couldn't score, and so although it seems obvious he wanted to break the record, I think it probably took a lot out of him to try so hard and fail.

On top of everything else, weeks 18 & 19 were always supposed to be Man Utd's weeks, it just that Berbie was "given" Rooney's hattrack this week. I don't believe Rooney would have done much worse than Berbatov had he been given the opportunity. Man Utd always perform well at home against lower-table teams.

And so no, I don't think it's a simple decision. I think Rooney deserves the band, but will I "buck the trend" and give it to him, knowing that everyone else will have it on Van Persie?

I will likely bring in two players to agument Jag/Bale for the double, but don't feel this is a make or break move. There are too many games being played in such a short time that even with multiples, you're still likely to get only one game from many of them due to rotation.

And fwiw, I didn't think Spurs looked very sharp. Their passing was off and without Modrich on the field, could have lost the game as easily had they won it.

With all the fatigue, I'm wondering if the defensive players aren't maybe a better pick for the double.

Good analysis, and good point re. Rooney less likely to be rested, though it's not that unlilkely that Fergie gives him anoethr game on the bench in my view - depends how tired he was.

Yea, my fear is that he tries to "make nice" with Berbie and give him another start. On the other hand, if he was putting him on display in order to "shop" him, he'd be smarter to quit while ahead.

Did we see the same game?

Agree that the first half was dull, and tottenham wasnt Barca-style.

BUT:

Both Walker and Ekotto had loads of spaces on the wings, and bombing them all the time. Bale, vdv, modric and ade was threatening central and gave them loads of space. Saw an analyzes on tv after the game where the commenters focused on exactly that fact. Pondering of kneejerking one of em in

I'll admit to paying closer attention to the first half than the 2nd, but I saw a lot of passes go to places where there weren't any players (maybe made all the more obvious by the fact that everyone seemed to have space, so why weren't the passes more accurate?). I thought they looked fatigued.

I completely agree with this. Liverpool created so many chances against Blackburn last week.... they just couldn't finish them! They could of had 2 right at the end which would of been a very different story.
This week at OT I expect there will be dozens of chances and if Rooney is up for it he could easily get 2-3 goals.


Also about Tottenham. I agree 1st half they didn't look too clever and apart from Bale & Modric having decent games it might not of gone their way.
This 4-2-3-1 formation does mean that the full-backs will be joining the attacks more.... Walker could be a good option for the doubler.

Nothing like a short holiday to take a person completely out of the game.

Having just returned from the slopes, I spent a couple hours yesterday trying to catch up on all the latest (Sturridge hurt?, Rooney in hot water?, is Donovan available?, Drenthe?), and realized I really didn't have a clue as to what's going on.

I had planned before I left to either bring in either Walker and Drenthe or Adebayor & someone, but then saw that Donovan should be available. His availability, along with Drenthe's few minutes, have prompted me to take yet another hit in order to try and get (nearlly) 4 full games from whatever two players I brought in.

With Sturridge a doubt and Raylor's decline, I decided Ade & Walker was the way I wanted to go, and funded this move with a four point hit to bring in Rodwell for Adam. I don't expect much from him, but if he could get even 4 points over two games, I'd be happy enough.

Rodwell has just returened from injury and looked somewhat deflated and 4 points might indeed be all you get from him, but... he is young and will recover quickly and might very well surprise you with a few extra points.

Donovan could have been an inspired choice and he will inject lots of energy into that tired looking team. Wanted to bring him in myself, even at the expense of Drenthe, but restricted funds prevented that. I just can't understand Moyes who insists on playing the same lathargic squad GW after GW.

Just imagine if he had the balls to field Drenthe, Donovan, Billyaletdinov and Osman in midfield with Vellios & Anichebe up front. Benching Useless Saha, MIA Cahill and Aliens Neville & Fellaini to create a whole new dynamic team, let alone notifiying the 'old guard' that they're not untouchable.

Anyhow... good luck this GW, though with your luck so far, I doubt you'll need it.

With any real luck this year, I'd be top 500 .

I can't believe how some of the relatively smart moves I've made this year have turned out so bad (including an 8 point hit for the absent Rooney over the last two weeks ).

I know right! And with a Coleman and Baines in the fullback positions ...if only

I've not yet made the decision on whether to wild card or not, and so without using a transfer, this is how I would set up my team for GW21. I might be able to find a replacement for Moses, Gower or Rodwell (assuming Gower continues to be AWOL and Rodwell doesn't look like he'll get many starts or ends up playing the holding role).

As long as everyone remains healthy, I think I could live with this. Any thoughts?