Cakey's

[cakey]

I'm pretty happy, but my main concerns are:

- Southampton's fixtures
- Siggy's form/price drops
- Welbeck's form.

The options I'm toying with are:
Forster -> Green
Betrand -> (Moreno/Dummet/Taylor/Coloccini)

I also had the idea of: Betrand-> Cheap Newcastle Def, Siggy-> Hazard, Welbeck-> Kane

Also any assistance with captaincy/bench choice for next week would be appreciated.

Thoughts?

[Mav3rick]

I'd chose which cheapie out of Downing, Sakho and Sigurdsson you don't want and sell them for a base price player, so that next week you have two transfers to start shifting Southampton players and a bit of extra cash to play with.

[cakey]

This might be blasphemous, but I'm not convinced by the minimum price bench for my current situation.
Considerations:
1. Even if I found 1-3m... who would i spend it on? I'm a long way off aguero or hazard.
2. I dont mind spending a bit extra to get fixture flexibility... sure siggy is on my bench this week, but its against arsenal, so is that such a loss?
3. The bench can capture price rises - sakho, siggy and downing have all gained me team value, offsetting their extra cost in the long run...

My point is that having a cheaper bench works out well if it facilitates an improvement. What would that be?

[cakey]

Didn't use my transfer in the end. In hindsight should have used the transfer on bringing in a newcastle defender for a southampton one (wasting a transfer is similar to spending 4 points for a transfer...).

Benched siggy too, but overall pleased with 69 points.

The fixtures aren't particularly kind right now - arsenal vs manutd... still considering Green/Krul for Forster and Yun/
coloccini for bertrand or clyne.

I'll wait for the international though.

[cakey]

I think Fabianski has decent enough fixtures that it's not worth 0.5 on a Guzan/Green rotation, so a 4.0 bencher seems the best option.

So I think I want to downgrade di maria in three game weeks for welbeck->Aguero.

I'm deciding between:

Clyne -> Yun
Di maria -> Chadli

and

Clyne -> Cahil/azpi
Di maria -> Boyd

There's also a city defender/keeper option with Lei/cpl/wba/bur/sun looking very tasty...

[cakey]

34 Points, with Forster, Clyne and Bertrand still to play. Pretty average it seems. I'll take it considering 3 of my first 11 didn't play.

I'm eyeing Welbeck -> Aguero for gameweek 14.

The question is how to fund it.

I'm set on forster -> 4.0, but that's not urgent this week as fabianski will play. I'll likely bring in Yun too.

The questions is then either downgrade di maria and then go with a premium chelsea defender, eventually looking something like:



Or downgrade siggy and go with someone like dummet.



Thoughts?

[cakey]

Sahko is the main injury I'm concerned about. I'm worried he'll miss the next 2-3 GWs, due to the midweek schedule.

Toying with:
Forster Elliot (Get the backup for Krul incase I bring him in for fabianski)
Clyne Yun (With a higher ownership, clyne will likely drop further if these fixtures go poorly)
Sahko Bony (Swansea's fixtures look good)

The alternative is:
Forster Elliot
Clyne Azpi
Sahko Austin

Thoughts?

[cakey]

Went with Elliot, Azpi and Austin in the end. Turned out well - 51 points with baines to play.

Costa is out. Doesn't seem worth pulling him out, and if Di Maria is injured then that seems to settle:

DiMaria Boyd
Welbeck Aguero

I'm just worried about no decent subs going into this period. Maybe by downgrading Bertrand/Chambers I can squeeze in a crystal palace midfielder in place of Boyd...

[cakey]

I'm pretty happy with those transfers! 80 (-4) points brings me to 13138th place

I'll likely save the transfer this week, but toying with some ideas:

A
Costa Kane
Boyd Hazard

B
Baines Hutton
Downing Silva

There's also some sort of Fabregas Hazard option, but I'm not sure where I'll make up the funds...

Some of the players I'm watching:

GK

• Courtois
• Guzan

D

• Clyne
• Cresswell
• Dummett
• Hutton
• Yoshida
• Yun
• Wasilewski

M

• Walters
• Jedinak
• Bolasie
• Oscar
• Hazard
• Eriksen
• Silva

F

• Bony
• Sahko
• Kane
• Bojan

[cakey]

24 with siggy and fabianski to go. Not ideal, but still a green arrow - hopefully none of the teams tomorrow bite me. Rooney, soton cleansheet, aston villa cleansheet and a big westham/bony win have the biggest potential to really ruin the week for me.

Sadly benched wisdom over chambers, hoping benching downing and bertrand don't bite me.

Injuries and suspensions have hit me hard this week. Aguero in particular is frustrating due to my recent purchase but it affects everyone.

City still have great fixtures... Yaya, silva and Dzeko surely have to be in the mix. Seems like a good time to bring Hazard in too, using raised money from Aguero who obviously has to go if it's more than 1 fixture (which is looking very likely).

Chambers is not such a rush as I have great options for next game week. 4 at the back is even an option and let austin sit for week.

[cakey]

Preliminary Ideas

Fabregas Hazard
Downing Yaya Toure
Chambers Yun
Aguero Dzeko

-8 points. Leaves me with 0.0 in the bank, so I'll have to pay attention to price changes tomorrow.

[cakey]

Literally nightmare scenario. Hutton goal, Westham/Bony win and Fabianski gets sent off!!??

[cakey]

OK. Nightmare. 4 Transfers made for a (-8).

Fabregas Hazard

Gets the price changes and lets me play a Chelsea midfielder at home to Hull

Fabianski Hart

I had planned to keep Fabianski until the Jan wildcard. But having no starting goalkeepers means that getting Hart's great fixtures seemed a good choice.

Chambers Hutton

Chambers will still likely get playing time but Hutton has good fixtures until the WC

Aguero Sahko

By far the hardest decision. I would have liked to wait a bit, but I needed to free up the money. I was also considering Bony/Benteke/Kane/Rooney/ManCityStriker.
My thoughts are, bring in a hot west ham striker for Sunderland and Leicester before transferring out before Chelsea, and use the time to see how City line up. If Dzeko is starting then he is likely to come in.


This leaves me with 6.1m in the bank, and playing a 4-4-2. But should be good for next GW.

[cakey]

73 Points. Not too bad.

Baines keeps on disappointing. Away to Southampton next is hardly inspiring either.

Shame about Azpi too, but lots of people in the same situation. Siggy is keeping quiet too, but can't expect huge returns every week for 7m.

Eyes on Zabaleta, Kane and Giroud still. Boyd->Silva/Nasri/Eriksen/Dimaria still seems like a good option, but will probably just bank the transfer for now.

[cakey]

I have absolutely no idea who to captain though. I miss Aguero!

[cakey]

63 with Sanchez, Azpi, Hazard, Costa to go. Pretty good.

Make a straight up mistake - boyd behind a WBA defender on the bench.

Boyd-> Silva and Zabaleta were transfers I nearly pulled the trigger on, so painful to see them do so well, but then I captained Austin, so can't feel to hard done by!

Tempted to do Boyd, Siggy Eriksen, Silva

[cakey]

80 points, up to the top 10k!

Transfers made into GW18:
Boyd Silva
Hits the nice man city fixtures with Silva in an advanced role. I have money to spare.

Sahko Kane
Sahko has tough fixtures at Chelsea/Arsenal. Kane looks good, and more importantly is cheap. Hopefully I'll bank some money from the rises.

Zabaleta and Fabregas both tempting.

Captaining Sanchez, vice on Silva.

Also starting to look towards a WC on gameweek 22.

[cakey]

Analysis of my GW11-GW14.

Into GW11
I lost a transfer by not using it. Perhaps should have brought off one of the southampton players, but none of their replacements did too well.
Perhaps should have been more aware of man city/chelseas favourable fixtures. I just didn't have the funds.
A bit unlucky that siggy outscored away at Arsenal compared to downing and Sahko home to an out of form villa, I feel.
8/10

Into GW12
Again lost a transfer.
I discussed bringing in a chelsea/city defender, and perhaps should have paid more attention to hazard as a proven asset.
In hindsight should have transferred out Di Maria 2 weeks earlier than I did, but I think his injury was quite unfortunate.
Also, quite unlucky that all of Baines, Sahko and Downing didn't play. They were all 75% going in.
Overall I think this GW was just quite unfortunate.
7/10

Into GW13
Made 3 solid transfers:
Forster Elliot
Clyne Azpi
Sahko Austin
Again in hindsight, could have taken out Baines, but he'd just come off of 4 huge GWs so hardly obvious that it was the right move.
Unfortunate that Costa got me 2 points as captain and Di Maria was injured, but many people would have been in the same position.
I regret transferring out Clyne rather than Bertrand. I mistakenly assumed Clyne would drop in value, but he didn't.
7/10

Into GW14
Inspired Transfers with
DiMaria Boyd (9)
Welbeck Aguero (c34)
Again, Baines at home to Hull was surely not a sensible time to pull him out.
Curious decision to play wisdom when their defence had been dire.
Equally Austin away was perhaps not the wisest of choices, but he had just scored against Chelsea.
Perhaps poor team selection, but 80 points so...
8/10

Anyone have any other thoughts on my decisions these game weeks?

[cakey]

Screen Shot 2014-12-26 at 6.11.40 PM.png

100 points!
I'm pleased.

Concerned with Baines/Bertrand. Eyeing Fabregas/Zabaleta/Mangala/Debuchy. Happy to keep Costa until Aguero is back.

[Mav3rick]

You should be happy. Lots of similar teams climbing the rankings the last two weeks. Presumably you're around 3k now overall?

[cakey]

You should be happy. Lots of similar teams climbing the rankings the last two weeks. Presumably you're around 3k now overall?

Yup 2904

[cakey]

Up to rank 1936, but pre Bony/Taylor/Fabianski/Siggy/Sterling, so expect to drop back down.

Have no idea what to do next really. I was gearing up for a wildcard GW 22, but don't have any real plans.

Considering something like:

Downing Boyd
Hart Heaton
Baines Virgini
Wisdom Clyne
Austin Aguero

In the mean time, I really shouldn't waste my transfer, but I feel my team is set for the next two weeks. A 1-2 week Wisdom Skrtel punt?

[cakey]

Some ideas I've been playing with:

Wildcard at 22 option:

20 - Wisdom :Arrow: Skrtel (whmHUL->LEIsun)
21 - Hart Heaton (eveARScheHUL -> QPRCPLsunWBA; Cash)
22 - Silva Fab (Avoids ARS/che)
22 - Siggy Dimaria (United have great fixtures)
22 - Costa Bojan (Short term punt on leiQPRnew)
22 - Baines Alderweireld (Cash)
22 - Skrtel O'shea (Cash)
22 - Elliot Gilks/Best 4.0 GK
23 - Downing Boyd (Cash; downing has poor fixtures anyway)
24 - Austin Aguero
25 - Bojan Giroud
25 - Heaton Guzan (-4)

Final:
Guzan (Elliot)
Azpilicueta O'Shea Hutton Bertrand Alderweireld
Hazard Sanchez Fabregas DiMaria (Boyd)
Aguero Giroud Kane

I think I'd prefer a WC@24 option - a chance to see how the window plays out. Also feel like I want Siggy, but I bought him at 6.3, and he sells for 6.5 and hard to see which of those 5 he would displace.

Aguero is a must when he is back, Kane too for the Value. Not entirely settled on Giroud either. O'Shea could easily become Davies too.

[cakey]

Went with Wisdom Cresswell, hoping to get a .1 price rise which might make the difference. Alternatively I might have just blown .2 stored value if I want Wisdom back due to Pulis's iron fist.

[cakey]

39 points. Pretty bad. Cresswell turned out decent with 7 points though. A shame Hart didn't play -but over the long term probably world the .5 saved on the backup. Of course the real story is Kane on bench. I don't think it was a poor decision as evidenced by most of the top 50 benching I'm too, I'm mainly annoyed that it's come just at the wildcard and so everyone will switch to him, while I was hoping for a few more weeks as a differential.

Did Baines Vertoghen as a short term punt before the wildcard. I'm eyeing up Azpi Terry due to a price fall/rise respectively. But would cost a transfer, and surely Terry has to be rested too? He's like 46.

Otherwise, happy with my team.

My main WC decision is still Costa+Davies/Alderweireld or Azpi/Terry+Giroud/Pelle etc. I think Fab/Haz are a must.

[cakey]

I did Azpi Terry in the end, and neither had any price changes. I'm going to feel quite silly if Terry gets rested. Also slightly regretting selling Wisdom.

[Carlos Kickaball]

When I saw your last week's transfer I thought you might regret selling Wisdom, it surely paid off with Cresswell's assist and bonus however. I wouldn't be worried about selling Wisdom, Foster + Myhill looks like a really attractive keeper for the wildcard anyhow, and there are plenty of defensive options.

I'm surprised you bothered to get Terry in, rather than roll over the FT, though I suppose you're buying the WC choice of Chelsea defender early to avoid future price rises.

[cakey]

Yeah those were my thoughts too.

My main decision left for WC is Costa+4th Cheapie (Dummett?) or Giroud/Pelle+Terry.

I'm pretty Set on the Standard template:

Foster/Myhill
Bertrand, PvA, Hutton, Keane?
Hazard Sanchez Boyd
Kane Aguero

Likely rounding out with Giroud Terry Fab Dimaria.

I would like to keep Siggy. But where does he fit?
I could possible go with Dimaria Siggy, Giroud Costa, Terry Alderweireld, Keane Debuchy. But meh.

The others in my thinking are Eriksen and Silva and Walcott. Maybe Boyd makes way, and I use Burnley's Barnes up front which allows me to keep Terry. But it all seems fairly sideways.

[cakey]

Screen Shot 2015-01-04 at 3.34.52 PM.png

Or

Screen Shot 2015-01-04 at 3.53.51 PM.png

With easy Hop on/off of Di Maria/Silva/Walcott/Eriksen for fixtures and form

[Carlos Kickaball]

I'm a bit suspicious of Walcott and Di María, don't think Walcott is ready to explode yet, and Di María is a bit of an assister rather than a scorer to be worth so much. I may be wrong on both however, as they do both have the potential to explode.

Foster/Myhill
Bertrand, PvA, Hutton, Keane?
Hazard Sanchez Boyd
Kane Aguero

Likely rounding out with Giroud Terry Fab Dimaria.

I would like to keep Siggy. But where does he fit?
I could possible go with Dimaria Siggy, Giroud Costa, Terry Alderweireld, Keane Debuchy. But meh.

You could round it out with Costa, Terry, Eriksen, Sigurðsson. Depends if you can do much with the extra cash. Perhaps get Trippier instead of Keane and/or another first choice keeper for a rotation, such as Pantilimon, then you will have a more nailed on and attacking defender, and amazing keeper fixtures until the very last week.

Sometime cash in the bank is useful in the future, as it makes switching players around very easy.

Might also be worth considering how your team will look like week 27 if Chelsea play Spurs in the League Cup final.