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Opening Observations

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CptPugwash
Grumpy Old Man
Posts: 1042
Joined: 20 Apr 2012, 10:41

Opening Observations

Post by CptPugwash »

First thing - its going to be a damn site harder to bring a decent team in budget than last year. Last year there was a number of very attractive cheap midfielders, that particular well has dried up this year.
Anyway on to team selection. More than any other game (mirror aside) careful observation has to be paid to what day of the week fixtures all falling on. I want to pick a squad which in theory doesn't need any tweaking (subject to selection & injuries) and all 15 (possibly 2nd GK aside) can play every week for at least 6 or 7 weeks.
AT the start of last season I was unsure whether 352 or 433 was the way to go, but very early all my teams went 352, (cheap midfielders scoring highly, injuries/lack of form to top strikers) on top of that it meant that i was using most of my transfers on the strikers and getting lots of 3 for 1 captaincy switches up front.
This season I'm going to start 433 for 2 reasons firstly the lack of stand out cheap midfielders and secondly to make rotation and the inevitable early season transfers that little bit easier.

Observations on the fixtures:-
Week 1&2, easy for rotation Spurs Chelsea & Man City cover both these weeks
Week 3 Liv ManU Arsenal & Spurs again easy for rotation
Week 4 -The first Key week: Southampton v West Ham & Swansea v Liverpool.

Southampton & West Ham both have appealing opening fixtures, unfortunately both teams play 9 out of their first 10 fixtures on Saturdays, which limits their use in terms of rotation. Further the obvious Rat aside I'm struggling to spot much value in either squad. Please let me know if there is value to be had in either team, because there are ways to get full rotation using players from these teams. On the other hand Swansea have a few attractively priced players, but their opening fixtures are horrendous. That leaves Liverpool. Fortunately Liverpool also cover week 6 which is another slightly awkward week. Last year i didn't start with a single Liverpool player in a single team in a single game. But this year Liverpool are my key team in the Daily Mail (and the Mirror if i can be bothered). Coutinho is the obvious midfielder but i really could do with advice on which defender and striker to go with. At the moment i'm lining up Enrique & Aspas (who i know next to nothing about).

Liverpool & Man City combination means you have automatic full rotation for the first 6 weeks.
Liverpool & Chelsea or Tottenham & Arsenal or ManUtd combination means full rotation for at least 7 weeks minimum.

Unfortunately this season full rotation for the opening 6-8 weeks means either players from the big7 and thus expensive or players from middling teams with horrendous fixtures or weak teams with poor fixtures. There are couple of exceptions to this, which i will have a look at.

I'm going Arsenal over Man U, easier opening fixtures, can't afford Van Persie, and haven't a clue what the first choice ManU midfield is. Carrick is the only nailed on and he's far too expensive for what he does . Zaha may well prove the bargain of the game if he gets playing time. So Kos, Walcott & Giroud in most of my teams.

So on to the main dilemmas over selection.
Most of my teams are looking at 1defender, 1 midfielder, & 1 forward from Spurs or Chelsea or Man City. I'm only concerned with relative short term here, I want my initial squad to be playing the vast majority up to week 6to8, if i get to week 7 or so with most of my transfers intact I'll be delighted.
My thoughts are:-
Forward. I want to pick Soldado, is he going to start straight away or possibly Dzeko who appears to have first shot at City. Chelsea, well i don't have a clue.
Midfield. Silva or Mata or Hazard. Paulinho where i'm on a budget. (I'm assuming Bale is offski)
Defender. Really don't have a clue where the value is here (Wish they'd listed Rose, because I'm sure he would have been excellent value).

Thoughts please anyone

CptPugwash
Grumpy Old Man
Posts: 1042
Joined: 20 Apr 2012, 10:41

Re: Opening Observations

Post by CptPugwash »

THE CORE TEAM
In a competition like this I like to generate a core team, which may well be over budget. From this a couple of teams will simply be downgrades in 1 or 2 positions. 1 team i will have to find room for Van-Persie, so will have to have a few tweaks. 2 teams will have some sort of left field change to them.

GK
TOT Lloris 5.4
LIV Mignolet 5.2
DEF
ARS Koscienly 5.4
LIV Enrique 5.3
CHE Terry 5.7
TOT Kaboul 4.4
WHM Rat 3.3
MID
ARS Walcott 9.7
LIV Coutinho 8
CHE Mata 11
TOT Paulinho 6.5
FWD
ARS Giroud 9
LIV Aspas 9.1
TOT Soldado 9.6
EVE Kone 8.3

Total 105.9

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