Berate my team please

[Mo Bot]

Thanks for the comments all. They are most welcome and pretty much confirm that it isn't a clear cut decision. I have selected a fair amount of "chaff" recently so I'm not too confident in my abilities at the moment.

I'm just going to splurge out my thoughts and see where that takes me.

Do nothing
Ryan
Otamendi Mustafi Christensen Zanka
Salah(c) Walcott Lingard Alli
Kane Firmino

No Chelsea v Bournemouth. No City attacker v West Brom. No City attacker v anyone doesn't seem the best idea.
Spurs might beat United. If so, Kane/Alli should be involved. Having to play Zanka shouldn't get many points.
Christensen is by no means certain to get game time. Another 1 point whilst his defensive teammates get 6+ would just be typical.

My GW 26 team wouldn't be looking too clever with Zanka and my Spurs duo not looking great.

The hit
Kane to Aguero just takes out one playing player and replaces him with one with better fixtures. I may still end up playing 8 or 9 depending on rotation so it doesn't really solve any problems.
It also doesn't fund Sane to anyone desirable like Sanchez or Hazard. DCL, Masuaku and Elliot are pretty much base price so I don't like this option.

Wildcard
Starting up front, Firmino would stay and be joined by Aguero and a cheap striker. If Ulloa to Brighton either happens or is looking very likely that that would be my move.
In midfield, I'd be wary of taking Salah out before Huddersfield as that seems like a -13 deficit to the field waiting to happen.
Hazard has always disappointed me but I don't see a better Chelsea choice and their fixtures are too good and they seem to finally be hitting a bit of form.
I like Walcott's fixtures. Home to Leicester and Palace look like decent opportunities and surely he has to score at Arsenal.
Sanchez or no Sanchez? I can't really afford him if I keep Salah. Will he score 5.4's worth over Lingard? He'll outscore him probably, but not by enough.

Defence - Bauer and Simpson rotate well up to GW31

Keepers - I'd keep Ryan and add Adrian. He's cheap and rotates perfectly.

This leaves 24.9 for 1 midfielder and three defenders. Sanchez + 3x4.4 or Ramsey + Jones + Alonso + 5.0 (or a cheap bench fodder guy like Francis for 4.3. That extra 0.7 could fund Ramsey to Mkhi)

I'd line up:
Adrian
Alonso Jones Simpson
Salah Ramsey Hazard (C) Lingard Walcott
Aguero Firmino
Bench - Ryan Francis Bauer Ulloa

All thoughts, comments and alternatives welcome

[Ruth_NZ]

If we are discussing the wildcard option...

• You'll need to take a look at the FAC5 draw on Monday evening (19:15 GMT) because some attention will need to be paid to GW31 unless you intend to use the FH then?
• Take a look at Foster/Adrian as a pair. In my view that's about the best pair you could have and it saves you 0.1m. In addition, there's a decent chance that Foster has a GW31 fixture (depending on the draw); Ryan and Adrian are less likely to as it stands.
• The defence looks fairly good but isn't Chilwell a better shout than Simpson? Also I'm not convinced by Francis, might Tomkins be worth a look for that slot?
• The players I'd question in attack are Lingard, Ramsey, Ulloa. It might be slightly early but I'd switch it to a 3-4-3 and take J-Rod instead of Ulloa. GW25 & 27 aren't great fixtures but otherwise it's plain sailing right through to the first DGW.
• According to me that leaves around 13.3m for 2 mids, one of which could be a 4.3m bencher (Carroll, McArthur). So around 9m for the additional midfielder, lots of options there.
• I don't know if you left yourself money for Aguero Kane in GW27/28? If not that's probably needed.
• You could even use that money for Hazard Sanchez next week (when Sanchez will be a brilliant captain) and then look to downgrade Sanchez and upgrade Aguero Kane together in GW28. Something like that anyway.

I don't know if any of that strikes a chord but those are some ideas around your initial plan anyway. Personally I'd consider going without Salah in order to have Sanchez but I'd probably be in a minority of one with that so I won't suggest it.

I do think the wildcard is a realistic option because it looks like a -8 or a -12 otherwise and that still won't resolve all the issues really. If we take 24 points as a value for the wildcard then I think you should achieve that now.

[Mo Bot]

cheers Ruth
I will pay attention to the FA Cup draw but I intend to FH in 31 unless the big teams are pitted against each other in the next round.
Foster/Adrian looks decent. As I'm not that worried about GW31, having non-playing keepers might actually be better as that helps prepare for the DGWs
Chilwell seems to me to be the spare defender who only comes in when someone is injured. That might not be correct but it's how it seems to me.
West Brom are looking at Deeney reportedly so I'm not sure what that would mean for JRod. Ulloa at least would be the new manager's selection therefore should play. I'm not overly keen on Ramsey as an option but as an indication of what he'd do to my defence over Sanchez, the price point gives a better team IMO.
I hadn't left myself money for Aguero to Kane. Alonso would probably be the fall guy in that situation.
Ha I did consider going Salah-less but really not before Huddersfield.

The draft above was just a quick tinker. Some more thought will go into it later.

[skip]

I think you should wildcard. FH in GW31 is perfect so you don’t need to worry about who might not play then. As long as you can move some of Alonso/Hazard/Aguero to Kane + others in GW28, which you can, it looks really strong.

Have you thought about taking VVD or Monreal over Simpson by downgrading Ramsey? His role and injury record is uncertain, and there are a few MF at 5.5-6.0 who look handy. Mainly from Stoke.