blahblah wrote:
You're still in the top 1m, so they is plenty of scope to drop further.
Ah, blah hits the nail on the head in his own compassionate way. As someone once observed,
"no, you haven't hit rock bottom, you only just fell off the cliff".
TheBigLewandowski wrote:All the time I have spent researching players and trying to improve pre season has just knocked the stuffing out of me after a GW like this sorry guys.
Very understandable to have the
why do I bother? thought, TBL. Let it pass for a couple days and then make the best plan you can for your team going forward without looking backwards at what you can't change. This would be my analysis (without looking at what anyone else has said).
The first glaring problem is a completely unbalanced squad. 3 cheap defenders, 2 base-price mids and a cheap-as-chips forward; in my eyes that means you are fielding 7 proper outfielders every week and having to make up the team with the best you can cobble together from the others. It's not that Livramento/Duffy aren't worth having (they are, and they also happen to rotate pretty well as long as neither gets dropped) but the reason we have players like those six is to bring efficiency into our structures; that's good when you have three, maybe four at a pinch, but when it's six it begins to look like malnutrition and will certainly cost you points overall.
Therefore the absolute first step before considering anything else at all would be to decide which super-premium player to remove and when. I don't count TAA as a premium for this purpose; yes, he's the most expensive defender but he can also justify 7.5m without captaincy; my definition of a premium asset is one who cannot validate his price-tag without sometimes being used successfully as a captain and essentially that means any attacker that costs 10m+.
OK, so, Ronaldo is the obvious one to lose given the upcoming fixtures. The next question is when? In my eyes that could be immediate, it could also be GW8. So I'd make a plan for what to do with him gone and look at sequencing the transfers the best way, that will also perhaps offer a guide as to whether CR7 should leave now or whether there is more advantage in waiting a week. The plan should also give an idea how many hits will be needed (if it's two, say, then it doesn't matter when you take them, they can be as early as will help you).
Then I'd come to the other end. What are the immediate weak links in your squad and what structure do you want to move towards? So, the initial focus would be on the six cheap players. I'd say that Livramento and Duffy are fine. Dennis is OK for this week at least and he could serve as a somewhat expensive rotation player for you in a 4-4-2 type of structure. Brownhill is perfectly serviceable as a base-price midfielder (so is Sissoko but you only need one and if you have both Sissoko and Dennis it doesn't extend the rotation options). Marcal would certainly be on my out list because he'll very likely lose his place once Ait-Nouri is fit again after the concussion protocol.
So, that's Marcal & Sissoko to go from the cheapies. Ronaldo is going. Who are the other weak links? Shaw, for one, United's fixtures are toughening quite significantly. Greenwood is a similar case, plus there has to be a doubt how long he keeps Sancho from starting (the BvB technical director has been saying how
it hurts me in my soul to see Jadon getting so little opportunity at United). The rest seem OK for now; maybe not what you'd choose on wildcard but certainly not weak links. Good. So the out list is Marcal, Sissoko, Ronaldo, Shaw & Greenwood if you are heading towards a 4-4-2 structure with Dennis perhaps to follow later if you want 3-4-3. 0.6m is in the bank. So now a plan can be devised.
Right, well, who is going to replace Ronaldo, that's the first thing to get an idea about? Seems too early for Toney to me. Aubameyang and Vardy probably don't save enough. So that means it will be someone around 8m. Could be Bamford if he's given the all-clear, or Antonio, or DCL (who should be back for GW8), or Watkins. The final decision can be made later but it's enough to know the price point for now, it means that something in the region of 5.2m will be available for upgrades. Marcal, Sissoko, Greenwood & Shaw will be leaving, that's around 22m. So you will have around 27.2m to spend on those 4 slots but let's hold 1.2m or so in reserve to allow Dennis
Toney or similar later. 26m to spend then with 2 defenders and 2 midfielders to find.
For the defenders, I can't see better than adding 1 Chelsea and 1 City to TAA, Livramento, Duffy. The Chelsea first and the City in GW8/9. That means Shaw
Rüdiger would be a definite GW7 transfer and as he is about to rise and Shaw fall I might well take the risk and do that today. Marcal you might get another week or two from but Marcal
Dias/Cancelo would be planned for GW8/9. That's 12.7m of your 26m spent leaving 13.3m or thereabouts for 2 midfielders. This is where the options widen, there are so many ways you could go, but let's assume for now we look at two in the 6-6.5m range. Saka looks great; Raphinha looks great but in Raphinha's case only from GW9 because he could well miss GW8 as things stand.
With that, a plan begins to fall into shape:
GW7: Shaw
Rüdiger
GW8: Ronaldo, Greenwood, Marcal,
DCL/Antonio/Watkins, Saka, Dias/Cancelo (-8)
GW9: Sissoko
Raphinha leaving around 1.7m banked.
I'd also note that if you went with Watkins as the CR7 replacement you could probably take Grealish instead of Raphinha. Also, Greenwood
Saka could come forward to GW7 (bringing one of the hits forward a week) if Greenwood looks less likely to start. Like I said, there are a lot of combination options once you get to choosing the midfielders.
You maybe can't stop the bleeding instantly but with a plan like that, things should look far better from GW9 onwards. That would be my analysis anyway. GL.
All the time I have spent researching players and trying to improve pre season has just knocked the stuffing out of me after a GW like this sorry guys 
