GW7 Wildcard thread

[dino1980]

After much back and forth I have hit the wildcard button, anyone else wildcarding this week?

My first draft is below, players that I'm most unsure about are in red.

Pope/4.0
TAA/Söyüncü/Aurier/Tomori/Rico
Sterling/KDB/Maddison/Mount/Cantwell
Aguero/Abraham/Pukki
0.0 ITB

Some thoughts on selections:

- I've taken three slices of the City attacking and gone #NoSalah. I looked at the fixtures and decided that I'd captain a City asset over Liverpool all the way up until at least GW13. With Aguero and KDB locked in, it was then a straight-up decision between Sterling and Salah. With 12th Man Insurance salesman Todd Cantwell in the squad, I feel covered for any out of the blue rotation/suspensions. Salah likely returns GW 13/14 for Raz, but six weeks is a long time in FPL. Until then it's perma City captain. Going without any Liverpool attackers seems odd, I think I've owned Salah for at least the last 50 gameweeks, but here I am.

- Maddison and Aurier are the two players who I'm most unsure about. Maddison's bad GW8 is covered by Cantwell and after that he has good fixtures all the way up until GW17. It's more if there's a better use of that budget e.g. Maddison + Pukki can = Hayden + Firmino with Cantwell then doing more than riding pine. Or moving him down to a base price allows for upgrades in defence. However, he's in for now.

- Aurier is obviously a rotation risk and also a risk to himself as a walking red card but he's rising so is in there as a placeholder. The rotation between the five defenders isn't amazing, so he might go for someone like Diop as WHM do the best job of plugging that rotation gap in GW's 8, 10 and 11, trouble is despite three clean sheets in a row they've been very fortunate to keep them. However, that would provide enough in the bank for Rico to become Lundstrum, who also would do a job in GW11, and so the squeeze might be worth the juice there given that neither combination is exactly going to make or break the season.

- Whilst Cantwell would rarely play I think he's useful as a fifth mid not only as a good 12th man but also someone who can legitimately become the 11th man. He allows for easier formation switches down the road or even just if more funds are needed in defence or attack as I can downgrade M3 or M4, move those funds elsewhere and still play a 3-4-3.

Other players I'm considering/random thoughts
- Firmino
- Bilva instead of Sterling allowing for one big change elsewhere (e.g Pukki to Auba) or a couple of upgrades.
- Going back to the Liverpool FB double up, by downgrading Maddison to a base price mid
- Boufal's (5.5m) stats are encouraging, fixtures stink though

[Nailer6245]

Interesting thread thanks. I've been considering pulling the trigger, but it really depends on Sterling - if I sell him to shift to Aguero, I'll be making 6-7 changes and it feels 'worth' it. If I don't, it will be some useful changes (Ryan to Pope, Dendoncker to Cantwell) that will be good in the short-to-longer term, but doesn't really scream wildcard territory.

In waiting, I've missed rises on Otamendi, Cantwell, Abraham & Aguero. I know sunk costs shouldn't factor in to it, we can only make decisions from where we are now, but again it seems like a kind of golden rule I've broken (always wildcard the minute the GW opens!) and it makes me slightly less reluctant to pull the trigger.

I'm hovering though. I'd never considered selling Salah, and see your logic, but at the same time: he got 15 points against Arsenal, 5 against Chelsea, and in the next five I could see him scoring well against Sheffield United, Leicester, Man United (who are awful) and Villa. Even Spurs at home, would anyone put it past Liverpool to score two or three in that?

[StroudGreen]

I've done it. Now going from:

Pope, 4.0
VVD, Robo, Rico, Lund, 4.0
Salah, Sterling, 4.4, Cantwell, Dendoncker
Kane, Pukki, Rashford

To:

Pope, 4.0
TAA, Robo, Rico, Lund, 4.0
Salah, KDB, Mount, Cantwell, Dendoncker
Kun, Pukki, Abraham

Acknowledge it's not that radical, but I kept my wildcard for no good reason last year, so might as well use it.

[Blue Fire]

Triggered it.

Currenly on:

Pope, 4.0
TAA, Otamendi, Lundstram, Tomori, Soyuncu
Son, Kdb, Cantwell, Mount, Hayden
Auba, Kun, Pukki

Don't know if Auba and Son will be worth it, but I'm struggling to figure out what to do with the funds if I take them out

[Highlander12]

Debating whether to wildcard from this team or wait a couple more gws, what do you think?

Ryan, button
TAA, Digne, Otamendi, Lundstram, Kelly
Salah, Sterling, KDB, Ceballos, Dendoncker
Abraham, Pukki, Barnes

[Stevieste]

Debating whether to wildcard from this team or wait a couple more gws, what do you think?

Ryan, button
TAA, Digne, Otamendi, Lundstram, Kelly
Salah, Sterling, KDB, Ceballos, Dendoncker
Abraham, Pukki, Barnes

I like that team, id be tempted to swap Digne for someone though, he is class but Everton are not.
Maybe swap Dendocker for cantwell as well if possible

[Highlander12]

Debating whether to wildcard from this team or wait a couple more gws, what do you think?

Ryan, button
TAA, Digne, Otamendi, Lundstram, Kelly
Salah, Sterling, KDB, Ceballos, Dendoncker
Abraham, Pukki, Barnes

I like that team, id be tempted to swap Digne for someone though, he is class but Everton are not.
Maybe swap Dendocker for cantwell as well if possible

Already used a FT on Otamendi for zinchenko this week. But yeh Digne would be one to go in wildcard, stupidly got him in last week with Barnes. Just not sure if it’s worth a wildcard yet? Or perhaps wait 2 more GWs for Liverpool fixture turn and redistribute Salah funds.

If done now would probably wildcard into something like

Pope, Button
TAA, Söyünchü, Tomori, Lundstram, Diop
Sterling, KDB, Son, Mount, McGinn
Aguero, Abraham, Greenwood

Or maybe Otamendi/Auba for Tomori/Aguero

[Turd Ferguson]

Looking at a pretty standard team:

Pope/Button
TAA/Otamendi/Aurier/Soyuncu/Lund
Salah/KdB/Mount/Cantwell/4.5
Aguero/Tammy/Pukki

Digne is gone until Everton cut the mistakes in back. I have 1 mil ITB to upgrade Aurier but I don’t see a good option.

One way I’m looking to beat the template is by losing Salah for 6 weeks. Son for 3 games and then Martial/Pepe for 3 should be able to match him. But there’s nowhere good to put the extra funds.

Pope/Button
TAA/Robertson/Ota/Soy/Lund
Son/KdB/Mount/Cant/4.5
Aguero/Tammy/Pukki

This looks nice but the whole point of swerving Salah is because Pool’s fixtures aren’t great so how much do I expect from Robertson?

[Toucher6]

Who do we like more tomori or soyuncu?

[Bixer]

Looking at a pretty standard team:

Pope/Button
TAA/Otamendi/Aurier/Soyuncu/Lund
Salah/KdB/Mount/Cantwell/4.5
Aguero/Tammy/Pukki

Digne is gone until Everton cut the mistakes in back. I have 1 mil ITB to upgrade Aurier but I don’t see a good option.

One way I’m looking to beat the template is by losing Salah for 6 weeks. Son for 3 games and then Martial/Pepe for 3 should be able to match him. But there’s nowhere good to put the extra funds.

Pope/Button
TAA/Robertson/Ota/Soy/Lund
Son/KdB/Mount/Cant/4.5
Aguero/Tammy/Pukki

This looks nice but the whole point of swerving Salah is because Pool’s fixtures aren’t great so how much do I expect from Robertson?

Conversely I'm actually avoiding Liverpool defence rather than their attack due to their poor fixtures over the next 6. TAA and Robertson is overkill for that period imo.

Salah's the type that can score against anyone and is on pens too so may even score in the odd game where he doesn't deserve to, but I think an argument can be made for downgrading him to Mane too.

[TriXaM]

Think I'm almost there with my WC, but it's basically coming down to a decision between Sterling & Wood, or Aguero & D.James. I prefer Burnley's fixtures and think the first combo could get the better points, but there doesn't seem much in it - I am quite afraid of Aguero at the moment too. Decisions, decisions!

[math!]

I am thinking about wildcarding into this team. I have 2.1m remaining and not sure where to put it. I could change Greenwood to Pukki ad go 3-4-3 but I would have to make up 0.2m. This is possible if I swap Cantwell for a 4.6m like Douglas Luiz (he is on loan from Man City and is captain of the Brazil U-23s) though he was left out of the squad against Arsenal for 'tactical reasons'.

[danzku]

Very similar to my team. 0.0 ITB.

Pope Button
Rico Soyuncu Tomori Lundstam TAA
Son Sterling KDB Cantwell Mount
Pukki Firmino Abraham

Not sure Rico will play but the only option would be downgrading Cantwell to 4.5 and get someone like Diop/Lowton in.

[mandoncare]

Joining the party. Horrible start to the season so far (rank 3.6 mil) but means I can abandon my normal conservative strategy (I’ve taken just 1 hit over past two seasons lol) and have some fun with it now. I’m fairly set on;

Pope 4.0
TAA Alonso Otamendi Aurier Soyuncu
Sterling KDB Son Mount Cantwell
Haller Abraham Greenwood

0.0 itb. I’ve been meaning to try going with just 1 super premium for the past few seasons. Now is the time since I view Son as a legitimate captain option. Sterling will become Salah when the time is right. Punting on Alonso with the hope that Frank goes back to 343 again and that Kante’s return plugs the leakage at the back. Aurier is a short term punt too. I will be itching to get rid of Abraham, Mount and KDB since many rivals would have got a price advantage on these but there are just not many alternatives that project better in my opinion. Keenly monitoring Jota, Maddison and Pepe among others. I also always prefer to have 15 active players but throwing that out the window with a disgusting team value of 99.6. Yuck. Goodluck all!

[mandoncare]

Who do we like more tomori or soyuncu?

Really depends on if you think Tomori is nailed don’t it. I personally don’t think Chelsea’s defensive record so far this season is anything to worry too much about. If they finish in the top 6 as expected they’ll stumble into some cleansheets eventually. Leicester look like a good team too and are posting encouraging underlying stats defensively. The more I think of it the more of a coin toss it seems. I’m currently on Soyuncu with the aim of downgrading Alonso to Tomori when the time comes.

[mandoncare]

I've done it. Now going from:

Pope, 4.0
VVD, Robo, Rico, Lund, 4.0
Salah, Sterling, 4.4, Cantwell, Dendoncker
Kane, Pukki, Rashford

To:

Pope, 4.0
TAA, Robo, Rico, Lund, 4.0
Salah, KDB, Mount, Cantwell, Dendoncker
Kun, Pukki, Abraham

Acknowledge it's not that radical, but I kept my wildcard for no good reason last year, so might as well use it.

Good team. Just not sure about the RIco, Lundy and 4.0 combo. Rico will start this coming gameweek but can lose his place in the 11 anytime. I still don't even understand how Lundy is suddenly nailed for SHU after never playing regularly for them at any level. It's not like he's some emerging youngster either. As well as the 4.4 you have in midfield (Nakamba looks like the best 4.4 btw) you could easily find yourself struggling to field 11 very soon.

[mandoncare]

After much back and forth I have hit the wildcard button, anyone else wildcarding this week?

My first draft is below, players that I'm most unsure about are in red.

Pope/4.0
TAA/Söyüncü/Aurier/Tomori/Rico
Sterling/KDB/Maddison/Mount/Cantwell
Aguero/Abraham/Pukki
0.0 ITB

Some thoughts on selections:

- I've taken three slices of the City attacking and gone #NoSalah. I looked at the fixtures and decided that I'd captain a City asset over Liverpool all the way up until at least GW13. With Aguero and KDB locked in, it was then a straight-up decision between Sterling and Salah. With 12th Man Insurance salesman Todd Cantwell in the squad, I feel covered for any out of the blue rotation/suspensions. Salah likely returns GW 13/14 for Raz, but six weeks is a long time in FPL. Until then it's perma City captain. Going without any Liverpool attackers seems odd, I think I've owned Salah for at least the last 50 gameweeks, but here I am.

- Maddison and Aurier are the two players who I'm most unsure about. Maddison's bad GW8 is covered by Cantwell and after that he has good fixtures all the way up until GW17. It's more if there's a better use of that budget e.g. Maddison + Pukki can = Hayden + Firmino with Cantwell then doing more than riding pine. Or moving him down to a base price allows for upgrades in defence. However, he's in for now.

- Aurier is obviously a rotation risk and also a risk to himself as a walking red card but he's rising so is in there as a placeholder. The rotation between the five defenders isn't amazing, so he might go for someone like Diop as WHM do the best job of plugging that rotation gap in GW's 8, 10 and 11, trouble is despite three clean sheets in a row they've been very fortunate to keep them. However, that would provide enough in the bank for Rico to become Lundstrum, who also would do a job in GW11, and so the squeeze might be worth the juice there given that neither combination is exactly going to make or break the season.

- Whilst Cantwell would rarely play I think he's useful as a fifth mid not only as a good 12th man but also someone who can legitimately become the 11th man. He allows for easier formation switches down the road or even just if more funds are needed in defence or attack as I can downgrade M3 or M4, move those funds elsewhere and still play a 3-4-3.

Other players I'm considering/random thoughts
- Firmino
- Bilva instead of Sterling allowing for one big change elsewhere (e.g Pukki to Auba) or a couple of upgrades.
- Going back to the Liverpool FB double up, by downgrading Maddison to a base price mid
- Boufal's (5.5m) stats are encouraging, fixtures stink though

Good post mate. Thanks for starting the thread too. Really like your team and would only consider Firmino out of the 4 options you listed last. Does Maddison's injury change anything for you? Can't see an alternative I like in the same price range. Mount and Dilva are the closest but you already have one and can't get the other (3 city). Would be nice if Zaha or Martial made a reappearance.

[dino1980]

With Maddison I will wait for the pressers but have three options all with pros and cons
A) Keep Maddison - If he plays then great and if not Cantwell comes in. He’s in place and I don’t need to considering bringing him in for GW9 when i’d likely want him anyway so it allows for transfers to be used elsewhere.
B) Placeholder in midfield with the best GW7 fixture which is on paper probably Zaha. (Cantwell plays GW8) and then bring him in GW9. This has the downside of building in a future transfer.
C) Take Robertson as the placeholder with a 4.5M mid and use two transfers in GW9. Safer than option b I think, as there is some chance I Keep Robbo, but if I don’t then it includes an extra inbuilt transfer.

[mandoncare]

Not sure about Liverpool defence double up at this time. I did have Robbo and still really rate him. I guess Alonso is my placeholder for now.

Any thoughts on Yarmolenko? Consistent history of scoring goals (pretending BVB didn’t happen). I’m tempted!

[Fantasist]

Wildcard in play for me too and initially have this:

Adrian Pope
Otamendi Soyuncu Ward Fredericks Lundstram
Mane KDB Mount McNeil Cantwell
Aguero Kane King

Players taken out: Heaton, Matip, Digne, Zinchenko, Sterling, Diego Jota
Players out in: Adrian, Otamendi, Ward, Fredericks, KDB, Kane

Adrian comes in because I felt I needed some Liverpool back line for this week and having removed Matip, this was the best way to do it. With a good run of fixtures for Burnley coming up, Pope looks a good starter for a while. I can easily take Adrian out when his place is lost to Alisson, even if it's next week. Potentially I can go to a 4.0 keeper as a back-up to Pope then.

The more expensive defenders are not scoring big points, there seems little value in paying so much more for that type. With European fixtures bound to cause some rotation, it's better to go lighter here and pack it with 4.5 starters. There are even 4.4 starters like Lascelles, Webster and a few others to consider too. I always knew Zinchenko's time would be up and Otamendi is both guaranteed starts for a while and also a decent threat in attack. Soyuncu has looked good, and over time should get enough clean sheets and probably more price rises.

I'm not on a knee-jerk reaction to ditch Sterling just because he didn't play last week. But by downgrading to KDB, it means I still have a very strong Man City midfield threat, plus I can afford to go from one premium striker to two - more of that in the next paragraph. McNeil and Mount have good fixtures and mean I don't need a Burnley or Chelsea striker as much as might be otherwise necessary. Mane is not much less of a points scorer than Salah, and is important to allow me to have four premium attacking players. Salah and Sterling are easy replacements for him though, either by downgrading my second GK or a simple Aguero to Aubameyang striker swap. Cantwell is an obvious fifth pick here.

Kane is in this week as his fixture looks good. Next week I can perhaps change him to Aubameyang as their fixtures look good for some weeks. I could even keep Kane, drop Sergio and put Sterling (or Salah) in for Mane if I want or need to. This is easily changeable depending on European activity if it suggests somebody may miss out, or if a certain fixture looks tougher. King is a regular starter and scores and assists at a decent enough rate, plus I think Bournemouth will get penalties.

[Mav3rick]

I've been considering a rage wildcard all week, the primary driver would be ditching of Salah for a city triple up in attack, however I see a lot of good value in Otamendi too, so I end up stuck on a choice between Sterling and Aguero, which whilst it has been a little one sided since GW1, is still a close run thing and not worth switching over in my view.

Even assessing the options for my LIV fullback double up doesn't leave me hugely compelled to change anything, I could see reason to save 2.5 and upgrade Greenwood, but I think I'd rather have TAA or Robertson rather than my third choice 7 ish striker.

I don't ever remember having a season where I don't feel particularly compelled to wildcard, and yet have been getting all red arrows!

[Smurphy Paw]

Fantasist - having opted for Pope and Adrian on my wildcard I already regret it. The cash had to go somewhere, or so I thought. In reality it went two places, with another ‘spare’ £0.5m going to Boly instead of a £4.5m defender. It’s an annoying transfer or two to have to make to change things around.
Also, the choice between the two is going to be marginal each week for the next few. Granted Adrian looks a better choice for the next three but not by much and only once out of three have I opted for the higher scorer in reality, even though I can defend the decisions in advance.

Mav, you’re right. There’s no compulsion for you to wildcard so long as it doesn’t become a terminal ‘drift’. Plus, better at the start of a GW if there are to be price rises

[dino1980]

I've been considering a rage wildcard all week, the primary driver would be ditching of Salah for a city triple up in attack, however I see a lot of good value in Otamendi too, so I end up stuck on a choice between Sterling and Aguero, which whilst it has been a little one sided since GW1, is still a close run thing and not worth switching over in my view.

Even assessing the options for my LIV fullback double up doesn't leave me hugely compelled to change anything, I could see reason to save 2.5 and upgrade Greenwood, but I think I'd rather have TAA or Robertson rather than my third choice 7 ish striker.

I don't ever remember having a season where I don't feel particularly compelled to wildcard, and yet have been getting all red arrows!

This City triple up was also the primary driver for me rage hitting the button on Monday, specifically getting to Aguero as that would’ve involved waiting another week and also involved another -4. It felt like it tipped the balance over going with the Ota/Sterling/KDB setup which I had in place after using GW7’s one FT.
The second Liverpool FB conundrum is the one that’s been vexing me during the wildcard as i’ve Basically had a Robbo vs Maddison (+ Cantwell GW8) battle to decipher. In the end I went with Maddison over Robertson as it seemed too close to call and also the age old Maddison being .2 pricier means it’s easier to pivot to Robbo down the line if necessary.

[Blue Fire]

Triggered it.

Currenly on:

Pope, 4.0
TAA, Otamendi, Lundstram, Tomori, Soyuncu
Son, Kdb, Cantwell, Mount, Hayden
Auba, Kun, Pukki

Don't know if Auba and Son will be worth it, but I'm struggling to figure out what to do with the funds if I take them out

Took out Son and Auba for Salah and Tammy

[Fantasist]

Fantasist - having opted for Pope and Adrian on my wildcard I already regret it. The cash had to go somewhere, or so I thought. In reality it went two places, with another ‘spare’ £0.5m going to Boly instead of a £4.5m defender. It’s an annoying transfer or two to have to make to change things around.
Also, the choice between the two is going to be marginal each week for the next few. Granted Adrian looks a better choice for the next three but not by much and only once out of three have I opted for the higher scorer in reality, even though I can defend the decisions in advance.

Interesting to have your thoughts on that.I didn't feel the need to go above 4.5 on most of my defence, the higher valued ones just aren't delivering a big enough increase - of course that may change (and I think it will for Liverpool when Alisson comes back in). I'll mull it over for another hour.

[Mav3rick]

I've been considering a rage wildcard all week, the primary driver would be ditching of Salah for a city triple up in attack, however I see a lot of good value in Otamendi too, so I end up stuck on a choice between Sterling and Aguero, which whilst it has been a little one sided since GW1, is still a close run thing and not worth switching over in my view.

Even assessing the options for my LIV fullback double up doesn't leave me hugely compelled to change anything, I could see reason to save 2.5 and upgrade Greenwood, but I think I'd rather have TAA or Robertson rather than my third choice 7 ish striker.

I don't ever remember having a season where I don't feel particularly compelled to wildcard, and yet have been getting all red arrows!

This City triple up was also the primary driver for me rage hitting the button on Monday, specifically getting to Aguero as that would’ve involved waiting another week and also involved another -4. It felt like it tipped the balance over going with the Ota/Sterling/KDB setup which I had in place after using GW7’s one FT.
The second Liverpool FB conundrum is the one that’s been vexing me during the wildcard as i’ve Basically had a Robbo vs Maddison (+ Cantwell GW8) battle to decipher. In the end I went with Maddison over Robertson as it seemed too close to call and also the age old Maddison being .2 pricier means it’s easier to pivot to Robbo down the line if necessary.

Switching Sterling for Aguero does at least save the issue with the non-playing (or maybe not this week anyway) Greenwood so I can certainly understand it from a squad structure perspective. I might have a look at some options today, but I pretty much ignored all price rises and all fpl news all week (such was my annoyance at last GW ) so I'm a bit out of the loop right now.

[Fuzz]

Triggered it.

Currenly on:

Pope, 4.0
TAA, Otamendi, Lundstram, Tomori, Soyuncu
Son, Kdb, Cantwell, Mount, Hayden
Auba, Kun, Pukki

Don't know if Auba and Son will be worth it, but I'm struggling to figure out what to do with the funds if I take them out

Took out Son and Auba for Salah and Tammy

Nice team

[Pirlo's Beard]

I've been considering a rage wildcard

Surely this is an oxymoron?