GW Points: 36
Overall Points: 999
Overall Rank: 116,311
Transfers: None used
Game week 18 was another small step in the right direction, mainly down to Chelsea keeping a clean sheet against Spurs and Alonso picking up the star man award. It’s another case of what could have been in some cases though – De Gea was holding star man until Wolves scored late on, fine margins for success as those points would have been invaluable at the moment. B. Silva also lost star man very late on in the City fixture. Either way, I’m looking forward to the weekend as we get a fresh set of transfers. December felt like a very long month with a lot of disruption due to teams having various Covid outbreaks. January should be much easier to manage, it’s a fairly short month and Salah being away at Afcon should mix things up nicely. Ironically, I’m still not that unhappy with my team, had I made a good start I think it would be easily holding a stable position most weeks. However, as I’ve fallen behind, I’m going to have to be very proactive in January to try and make up lost ground. I’ll come onto my January plans later on in the blog post.
Positives:
17 points for Alonso across the game week, with an unexpected 15 points against Spurs
7 points for Rudiger
8 points for Salah was OK, hoping a few people moved him on before this fixture
Potential issues
I’ll be looking to move on the likes of Walker, Sancho and Salah instantly in January. Obviously, this will depend on who starts in the FA Cup. If Walker starts, this might give him one more week in the team, however, Salah and Sancho are almost certain to come out.
Man Utd are still proving problematic, a lack of clean sheets for De Gea is an issue but he seems to get rated most games anyway and often is in the running for star man. Ronaldo is a bigger problem considering his value, previously Man Utd were poor but he was still picking up points. Now they are poor and he’s not picking up points. I’ll probably leave him in because we know he’s capable of being explosive in terms of points and is on penalties but it’s really frustrating when he keeps blanking.
Tips for Game Week 19
If you’re chasing the pack like I am, I’d suggest in the short month of January to use some transfers to try and get points on the board quickly. I’m going to be looking at having a front 3 again and this might be made up of Ronaldo, Son and Jota but I’m going to want to see who is starting in the FA Cup fixtures first. Liverpool assets are now more appealing if their fixtures go ahead as planned – they’ve now got two EFL Cup semi finals during the month after their fixture tomorrow evening was canceled.
It’s also worth considering that West Ham and Leicester have had fixtures rearranged for game week 19. West Ham in particular have a nice fixture against Norwich. I’ll personally be looking at Bowen as a decent longer term option. Maddison and Tielemans look a good price at 3.4m each as well.
Man City may potentially only have 2 Premier League fixtures during the month as it stands and we know they rotate heavily in the FA Cup. I may avoid bringing in any more of their players on this basis. Chelsea and Spurs both have some tough fixtures in January so I’m not sure I’ll be bringing in any more Chelsea assets – although Kovacic stands out as dirt cheap at 2.1m. I’ve also probably got the opportunity to bring Cancelo in, but unless he’s starting in the FA Cup, I might wait this one out until game week 20.
I certainly won’t be looking to bring in any more Man Utd players this week.
My best piece of advice is to keep an eye on who is starting in the FA Cup. If one of the big name regulars lands a starting place against a lesser opposition it might be a good time to bring them in.
If you wanted to check out the fixtures for the month, I’ve logged them below. I’ll do my best to keep this up to date as fixtures get rearranged. I’d also be interested to hear other people’s plans for January in the comments below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vAtgJN53MKh-u007SOFmPKu8lwbyD7eYVlB1-CLm0qo/
Nice one Paul, your side isn’t looking in bad shape as you say if you didn’t have to attack to climb the rank! My luck still hasn’t turned this season and keep being struck down with Covid players; Lukaku, Gallagher, Matip & T Silva all these last 2-3 weeks with no transfers to do anything about it. Fortunately I only have Salah off to the AFCON so hoping to have a slight edge transfer wise over those who have Mendy 20%, Mane 19%, Mahrez 19% & Benrahma 15% as well as the 16% with the injured James as well but then again I hold some players who are fit but aren’t bringing in any points currently which may need addressing. I said previously I would continue with a sensible approach which I will, but may now take one or two risks to attack January’s fixtures which have now been updated with fixtures added for Chelsea Leicester, Spurs & Utd (for your spreadsheet). If Jota or Antonio start this weekend for Liverpool or West Ham’s cup fixture I may go for one of them in place of Salah as both have double gameweeks and nice fixtures for now… Roll on new transfers tomorrow!
Jota is definitely close to the top of my list of players to bring in. Along with Bowen. How many points are you on at the moment?
A pathetic 1010…
Ederson
T.Silva
Alonso
Maguire
Matip
Fernandes
B.Silva
Callagher
Salah
Ronaldo
Lukaku
It’s been such a frustrating season
man city play Friday night.
west ham play sun and Wednesday.
if I want to take out a man city player who plays
will a transfer to west ham count or would it be pending
till after Friday.
As long as you do it before Man City’s fixture 8pm Friday night it will count… If you transfer a Man City player to a West Ham player after the 8pm kick-off, it will simply show as pending until next Friday and miss both West Ham matches.
thought so its grealish I want to out
but I think he might play.
Some great pts their Paul as per usual, Leicester 5 games, looks appealing for Maddison, but I’ll probably go back to 3 strikers, can Maddison, Bowen, Kovacic, Moura,really outscore, Son, Jota, Antonio etc, in January.
think I shale be on Antonio and Bowen.
good fix not sure about Tot fix.
I’m almost certainly bringing Jota in, not sure about Son with Spurs fixtures. Antonio can be really patchy in terms of form as well.
points thus far 1186.
Good score at this stage in the season
Morning All
Sorry about the absence but I’ve had a lot of shite going on.
Just looking for some thoughts on my team really.
Not the best start but I’m slowly catching up now.
Ederson keeping for season (KFS)
Dias KFS
Matip
Alonso
Rudiger
Sterling
B Silva KFS
Smith Rowe
Mahrez
Salah
Ronaldo
Nothing itb atm. I normally keep something back but needed to press on.
Not sure about Matip but he keeps playing so it’s giving me a bit of cover for LFC.
I gambled on Sterling but his getting good game time now and scoring a few points.
Was torn between Smith Rowe and Saka. Thinking I’ve made a little slip with that atm.
Been tempted to take Ronaldo out for some cash but his likely to score in his next few games and then I’ll be playing catch up again.
My thoughts with these transfers.
Salah out for Jota
Marhez out for possibly Kane if he starts in the fa cup. If not another main line striker who starts this weekend.
Will have some in the bank but the app isn’t letting me do the transfers yet.
Anyone got any thoughts on my team please?
Thanks and a HNY to everyone
Must admit, I wish I’d jumped on Sterling but didn’t see his run of form coming. I’ll almost certainly do Salah to Jota. Who’s your third striker likely to be? Son is the one I’m tempted by but Spurs do have some tough fixtures. Antonio is another but his form can be patchy.
Maybe Kane….
Tough one I reckon.
Not sure who but I see Son was out till February.
Yeah I noticed that as well – it could be Kane not sure he’s going to play at the weekend though
Sorry forgot to say I’m tempted by Maddison as his hit some form and has plenty of games this month.
Thanks