GW 21 Wildcard

[hancockjr]

Odd to have the WC thread post the deadline but a few wildcarded and I thought I'd compare teams. I think it's interesting that even though time allowed very little discussion there is still a pretty strong commonality between them:

Note - Red = different players but strong commonality.

[Aldershot Rejects]

Thanks hancockjr - interesting that there was no real discussion between us but we all ended up in pretty much the same place - I guess with Brentford not really interesting any of us, West Ham & Everton were the obvious options for the dgw and given that both teams are better going forward, albeit with limited options, the die was cast. As Gambit said on my blog, it will be interesting to see how different the GW22 wildcards are.

[Ruth_NZ]

Yeah, that is interesting seeing we had no communication.

Part of what will make a difference is how the doubles in GW22 fall, both between us an in contrast with others that haven't wildcarded (though I dare say there will be plenty of wildcards and FHs going down next week). Obviously I am hoping that United get a double but it's by no means certain that they will.

The most striking thing is to see three of us with DCL. I thought it was quite a radical choice, seeing he hasn't played for so long. Everton is actually the key team for me (and Gambit) this week, that's where the edge will or won't be against most other teams.

[Gambit]

Cheers for putting this together hancockjr, I look forward to seeing how our teams diverge over the coming weeks or if they stay broadly the same.

As Ruth_NZ says, it will likely come down to where the DGWs fall.

[hancockjr]

Whilst doing it I decided FPL was a pain in the neck - it wasn't what I wanted to be doing New Year's morning.

However it's now given me a sense of nostalgia for times when there was less assistance in FPL (and I used to be much better at it - coincidence??!!) - no-one could tell us if we should wildcard and little advice was available at the time as to who to pick, though I did post and the Gray pick was based on that advice. I was also advised to go for Laporte not Dias, and that would have me 3 points better off. Apart from keepers it seems double City defence was my biggest "break" from consensus (I guess people were less keen due to no DGWs looming).

That's why I'm surprised at the similarity of the teams, which also gives a bit of confidence they weren't crazy picks.

[hayesag]

if its validation that u are looking for hancockjr - i too wildcarded (as i had a stinking first half of a season) and my team is very similar to yours and the others

difference being steele over guita due to lack of budget
laporte over dias - value factor (got lucky with the assist yesterday but will take it)
Kilman over dier - very similar in price. wolves have been fairly solid at the back but at the same time it could be an oversight by me given how cheap spurs defs are at the moment
KDB over ramsey - long term move for me. with no salah for the next few weeks he was the ideal replacement. will i keep when salah gets back? its one to think about
dennis over kane - i've had dennis throughout his good run and after the news of him staying it made it a keep for now
Toney over DCL - this was a toss of a coin for me. Could have easily gone with calvert but thought it might be a risk too far. Both picks look to be punts as calvert may only get 1 and half games over the two. Toney might grab a goal from two games or do nothing. Toney has only got 4 goals so far but one was against villa so heres hoping

Good luck with your teams anyway fellas

[hancockjr]

Updated! One striking aspect is that despite a likely DGW (though others will have too) and excellent fixtures (best over 7 games according to FFS) only 2xDe Gea and 1x Ronaldo picked from Man U. Clearly we don't have confidence in them!

[hancockjr]

Also curious no player is picked exactly 4 out of 5 times - it's 5 or <=3.

[Aldershot Rejects]

Kilman over dier - very similar in price. wolves have been fairly solid at the back but at the same time it could be an oversight by me given how cheap spurs defs are at the moment

I was very close to bringing in a Wolves defender (and a Spurs one). If Ait Nouri had been fit, he'd have probably been in my squad - Kilman/Coady were next in line. I may well go that way in the weeks to come, depending on how the doubles play out.