Background
I am using this thread as therapy for myself, I don't expect anyone to read it but if you do, enjoy, it should make you feel much happier about your teams.

OK, this team is my most important team as it sits in a SL full of neighbours and their work colleagues so bragging rights are essential as regular BNO can be so much more enjoyable and as a previous winner of a 100 strong SL where a top 1000 berth would normally assure victory it should be winnable at a canter but it hasn't worked out that way this year where to date I am 10th nearly 100 pts behind and only 13 transfers left and no Gerrard.

This thread will set out the rationale for the initial starting x1 picked when abroad on holiday without access to the latest news, then look at the weekly performance and transfer misery that have taken this team on the verge of FF oblivion.

The Starting X1
Cech
Arbeloa
Dossena
Clichy
Bale
Lampard
Fabregas
Young
M Petrov
Adebayor
Bent

The bold I think were solid picks. Dossena should have been Bosingwa but I was unsure of his starting berth with Ferreira and Belletti there as well. Arsenal had an excellent start so I put in 3 players but was unaware that Fabregas would miss more than one game and had initially got Gerrard in there with M Petrov downgraded to a cheaper enabler. Bent had had a great pre season but never delivered early on of course. Bale was a bit of a punt but as a Saints supporter and really rating him and him playing in midfield pre season I thought it was a risk worth taking as a cheaper enabler even though my instincts were against a Spurs "defender" for obvious reasons !

Weeks 1-7 August/September
Pts 235 Pos 7869 SL Pos 6th 16 off lead.

I got off to a poor start due to Arsenal and Spurs poor starts and Fabregas longer than expected injury and then poor returns when he did return. My hopes of solid midfield points never materialised as only Lampard delivered.

1 Dossena to Bosingwa - acted quickly here as soon as he was a starter.
2 M Petrov to Zaki - injury
3 Bale to Huth - to finance Zaki move and reacting to Spurs poor start
4 Huth to Traore - injury

Weeks 8-11 October
Pts 331 Pos 14088 SL Pos 7th 28 off lead.

5 Fabregas to SWP - Fab not delivering and decided to get Ronaldo in
6 Bent to Ronaldo
7 Clichy to Zabaleta - needed to finance above move but Arsenal not keeping c/s, Man City at the time (until I cursed them) had best defensive record outside of Pool and Chelsea, but of course he got immediately sent off v Pool and a 3 match ban covering fixtures where City kept 2 clean sheets. Still waiting for a c/s I think even now !

The next HH curse, SWP on fire so I put him in and Ireland starts going bananas, SWP does eff all. Dispensed with Bent and although Ronny scores well so does Bent, another timing mare.

Weeks 12-16 November
Pts 580 Pos 7383 SL Pos 6th 12 off lead.

A "daisy chaing injury bonanza" month with 3 transfers wasted in 2 week ends. I also took the opportunity to dump Young after his penalty miss, the final straw, and of course he then went on a point scoring spree. I used the money from that switch to move to the now cursed Geovanni and to upgrade Zaki who was injured to the in form Agbonlahor.

8 Adebayor to Berbatov - injury
9 Berbatov to Torres - injury
10 Torres to Anelka - injury
11 Young to Geovanni
12 Zaki to Agbonlahor - injury

Weeks 17-20 December
Pts 728 Pos 20k ish SL Pos 9th 84 off lead.

13 Ronaldo to Defoe - 4 for 1
14 Defoe to Ronaldo - reversing 4 for 1
15 Geovanni to Ireland
16 Arbeloa to Rafael - Injury

The worst use of 2 transfers for an extra game opportunity in FF history, all he did was grump about (I now know his heart was not in it) getting booked and missing a penalty. The next HH curse was bringing in Ireland only to see him get booked and suspended and also injured. The lack of Gerrard loses this team about 60 pts and of course Drogbas return hits Anelkas return.

Week 21
17 Traore to Davies

The next HH curse, I eventually lost patience and get rid of Traore (watch him play now) and with luke Young my preferred choice injured, decide that davies will do the job, he gets booked and finishes on -1 to add to Zabaleta -1 from their home defeat to NF. All my team bar Lampard didn't play and the others got minus pts with SWp off injured so a magnificent 7 pts for the week.

Planned Transfers
18 SWP to Gerrard
19 Zabaleta to Pantsil
20 Anelka to Cisse

or
18 SWP to Denilson

or
18 Zabaleta to Pantsil
19 SWP to Denilson

Honest opinions on what I should do here and not just to stop me cursing your teams.

Cech
Bosingwa
Rafael
Zabaleta Pantsil +0.7
Davies
Ronaldo
Lampard
Ireland
SWP Denilson +1.0
Anelka
Agbonlahor
49.7 48.0m

Good luck, with that team mate.

Thanks mate, honest you are.


I am hoping I have one last chance to salvage something from it, all guns blazing the Gerrard route (weaker front line) or quietly quietly the Denilson route. Probably screwed either way knowing my luck with injuries.

Some options

Zabaleta Evra (after suspension obv.)
Anelka K. Jones - has been outscoring Cisse since returning from injury

SWP needs to go obviously, if you can afford Gerrard get him in - although his production may be affected by the return of Torres and also if he is asked to play a deeper role if Alonso's injury from Saturday is serious forcing him to play CM and allowing Benitez to accomodate Robbie Keane in the hole. Other options are Steed Malbranque, Mark Noble, Denilson, Geovanni and maybe Albert Riera (although the bandwagon may already have left town and is about to break down)

If you want to gamble ditch Ronaldo and bring in Torres you may need to do something radical like this to make up ground, if your going to go down this alley best to do it early in the hope of stealing a march on your rivals.

Thanks Adrian, interesting points on Gerrard but I can't see the point of doing those transfers really without getting Gerrard in.

I know hardly any have Ronaldo so I really want to hold on to him as he can score big points and he is my best chance however slim it might be.

I don't think the team is far off being ok but it will need to steer clear of injuries and there will need to be few extra game successes too.

Gerrard holders will be pleased to know I am favouring towards othe Denilson route on the basis it gives me the option of bringing in any striker for Anelka at some stage. I may also take the opportunity of dumping Zabaleta for Pantsil and save a transfer but ideally I would have loved to have the big 3 in midfield but it wouldn't have given me many options up front without dumping Ronaldo.

I think it boils down to :-

The big 3 in midfield and cheaper 2nd striker v Big 2 (no gerrard) with Anelka/Agbon and 2m in the kitty.

Shame on the latter strategy that that 2m couldnt upgrade Ireland to Gerrard, 0.2m short, guess i could do Cech to Reina when Southend dump them out of the cup !

I am leaning towards the latter the more i write.............but a feel an urge to do a Chief Wiggsy style transfer frenzy !

I wouldn't go to Denilson until we see whether Wenger carries out his threatened January revamp of midfield.

Denilson I reckon if fit is pretty much going to play now, until the curse of course.

This is the "Chief Wiggsy" eggs outta the basket transfer frenzy strategy:

or
18 Zabaleta to Pantsil
19 SWP to Denilson
20 Ireland to Gerrard
21 Cech to Reina

I'd rather you didn't get denilson or Gerrard if thats okay. My team is already doing badly and i don't need you with your black majic gone wrong affecting things.

Some reputation I have ..............

Pantsil - Was he reasted or was the FA Cup a time for Stoor to bed in and see how things went.? I am worried Pantsil may be seeing problems with first XI. Hope not!
Denilson - Needs to get fit again (?), but should continue his place when is. Though, the dodgy thing here, is cheap def in Pants plus cheap in Denilson could end up rather problematic if both suddenly are not playing. I'm in the same boat(ish). Need to look a this closely uhh ........ could really backfire with limited transfers.
Gerrard - Looks like he is a must have (why why why did I drop him for Ronaldo!!). Ireland may come back an perform though, even if out of cup? But, if you don't have Gerrard, it looks like a slippery slope (pending jail sentance).
Reina - If I was dropping Cech now and money no object, I'd go VDS. In this case though, I'd be eyeing up maybe Villas Yank. Cheaper option and was played in cup? This then could help a little with Pantsil or Denilson problems.

edit - I do this one

Planned Transfers
18 SWP to Gerrard
19 Zabaleta to Pantsil
20 Anelka to Cisse (Cisse price gives enough flexibilty in the lower striker section)

Good thoughts there Chief. Not sure I would want 2 Villa at the back, exposed enough with Davies but it's a good point re flexibility of the cheapest of the cheapies Pantsil and Denilson. Doing as you suggest gets rid of Anelka who is not exactly certain of a place at the moment but they do have a cup replay and Stoke after Man U this week so is it best to hold him for now which makes my 4 transfer strategy very tempting (bar the flex issues) but only 9 transfers left, but that's 2 a month from February, plenty !

Tricky. Do or die, make or break, last ditch, all or nothing..........

Davies looks as gooder option of a cheap def as anyone when looking at fixtures coming up soon, so that would also make Friedel a good un. When the Villa back line sorts itself out fitness wise, I assume Davies may not keep his place, but also that's a bit iffy. So, if he has to go say in a month or so, good timing and drop for another, maybe up to Arbeloa pending injury and other stuff goings on.?

Yeah, Chelksi FA Cup replay is making me stutter on the Anleka front. He still has to go soon though and what if he don't gets played anyways.!! If it were not for Oblongs failure to turn up on Sunday, Anelka would now be history from nearly if not all me teams.

Check out the fixtures. 18 and 19 this month. Good time for switching things around me thinks? Cisse may be not, but Bellamy? West Ham for me have great next half dozen fixtures and even after the Mancs Utd match, things ar enot too bad. If they've gotten into the next round of FA, then possibles are possible. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but even misses the goal Carlton Cole could look tempting instead of a Zaki.!

2 a month would not worry me if I fancied the team was now in a lot better order for continual points improvement.

Cech
Bosingwa
Rafael
Zabaleta
Davies
Ronaldo
Lampard
Ireland
SWP Denilson +1.0
Anelka
Agbonlahor
49.7 48.7m


With only 13 transfers left decided that caution needs to be exercised so I have decided that only DEnilson will come in leaving me with 1.3m to upgrade Anelka to Torres for example.

The reasons for this inactivity are :-

1. Anelka has good run after Man U and a cup replay.
2. Zabaleta to Pantsil releases funds but if this is not being used then this feels tinkerish as Pantsil is hardly a Vidic, after all City have to keep a c/s sometime, of course the Zab will be dropped when that happens which given his performance last week is likely !
3. Gerrards future is a little uncertain although probably very unlikely he will miss any games, I am sure he will get away with a slap wrist.
4. Loathe to drop Cech and Cisse will be a bit hit and miss with Sunderalnd not always likely to score and Jones taking his fair share.


Just have to hope that Ronny starts delivering (and Gerrard doesn't) otherwise I'm doomed.

I think you should cut you losses and replace Zabaleta, I would also consider replacing Anelka with Torres on 19/01/09...

I know, I would be better off with a non playing defender as all he "produces" is minus pts but it's a bit of a luxury transfer given that Pantsil is not exactly "guaranteed" to score better and Citys' fixtures through January are pretty good but then I've been saying this for weeks. Can't believe how bad City have been defensively this year.

Torres, now Gerrard probably won't be coming into this team, is definitely earmarked for the 19th and with Ronaldo is my best chance of making the ground up.

Alternatively you could go Ireland Zaki on 11/01/09, this would then allow you to replace either Anelka or Agbonlahor (I'd still probably replace Anelka) on 19/01/09 with Gerrard...

Having only just cursed Ireland by putting him in I feel I owe it to everyone to curse him a wee while longer, but if he continues in the same vein then he could provide similar VFM to Zaki. A Zaki in a 442 would leave me a little weak too if I did go Gerrard but with the leader having him there would appear to be more mileage going for Torres.

If Torres can remain fit for the remainder of the season then he may well reduce the amount of points picked up by Gerrard (helping you catch your Super League leader) so this is probably the way to go.

Don't think you should completely discount having Gerrard in your team though, he still may be worth bringing in for any 3 for 0s that occur between Liverpool and Chelsea/Manchester Utd...

Conversely, Torres may increase the number of pts Gerrard gets too ! I think with the number of transfers I have left I will have to let all these 3 for 0s etc go, (watch them all be a rip roaring success now) as I will have only 11 potentially if I do Torres and Denilson by the 19th and maybe 10 if I bring in Pantsil for the Zab on the 18th if my patience finally runs out. So 10 transfers for 17 game weeks I think, doesn't sound so bad when you say it like that and very quickly.

Cheers for your input RB, what's your prediction on where I will finish (28k now) ?

Well I don't think that transfer wise you're in as quite a dire situation as you think so I'd say top 5,000 10,000 isn't out of the question...

So if this was your team what would you be doing RB, anything different to what I am now planning ie

Denilson for SWP

Then maybe Pantsil for Zabaleta on 18th and Torres for Anelka on 19th ?

Landmarks

Current Position :- 735 - 28555 (11th)
751 - 19249 (7th) 16 points off
775 - 9713 (5th) 40 points off
792 - 5641 (2nd) 57 points off
824 - 1664 (leader) 89 points off

I know UHH is more experienced than most of the managers above him, so that would give him an edge which you'd expect to gain him several thousand places. In addition to this do you think there are a lot of teams in the top 20k who have used more than 20 transfers that will fall away fairly quickly?

All of the above transfers are solid IMO, I think the only problem is that this team will be reliant on the top priced strikers (Torres, Berbatov, Rooney, Drogba & Adebayor) outscoring those in the £6m bracket which as yet hasn't happened.

If these players start justifying their price tags then you should be able to close the gap between your team & the current super league leader. But if nothing really changes then your team will probably fall further down the league as you've made sacrifices elsewhere to accomodate a premium priced striker.

I do think that this probably the way to go but it is still a bit of a gamble...

I definitely think that there's a lot of teams above UHH that don't have any transfers in hand over his team and there are probably quite a few that are down to single figures.

UHH has experience & FISO on his side so should be able to turn this team's fortunes around over the next four months...

I'm just interested to see how much of a gain a team can make when managed by a good player (ie FISO member) from this point in the season. It would be interesting to know how much my teams could improve without having to do anything really clever, just by virtue of higher teams being poorly managed or being low on transfers.

you would think he has edge, unless you became his doubles partner...

Much will depend on how successful these extra game opportunities will be, which if not, will benefit those on low transfers as I can just use mine to replace injured/dropped players. The key will be Ronaldo and Torres, as RB says, justifying their price tags, if they do then 30 pts a week is possible quite easily. Bear in mind I lost 69 pts in Week 20 on the leader which shows how these things can swing about.

having thought about it since our emails, i think this is your best option. Pantsil may seem like a tinker, but there is the chance of 3 extra games on top of the extra money.

Yeah, if I'm going to end up putting in Pantsil anyway, may do it after all on Saturday as they have nice home game whilst Zab is away at Pompey.

Hoping Pantsil was rested in the cup as I can do without 3 enablers at the back who are unsure starters.