Fantasy Football 2014/15 (EPL - kicks off 16/8/14)

[Ybbon]

It's FA Cup w/e though so no point picking until just before next weekend - save picking someone who the gets injured in the cup. I've had Eriksen in all along, should have had Kane but may try a swap next week for him.

[Tim1988]

I was thinking of getting Kane as well. Got to replace Bony in my team as he's off to ACN and am tossing up between him and Pelle. Based on current form, Kane seems the best option, but will wait till after FA cup weekend in case of any injuries.

[Ybbon]

Yeah I'm losing Bony, though he has gone off form recently I think, but also Jedinak is off for a month, and my backup goalie is out I think - never rains but it pours!

[Adar]

It's FA Cup w/e though so no point picking until just before next weekend - save picking someone who the gets injured in the cup. I've had Eriksen in all along, should have had Kane but may try a swap next week for him.

Just remember that he is likely to rise in price, so it is budget management vs risk management in cases like this. This year I've been leaning heavily on money management which is starting to pay off.

I use: http://www.fiso.co.uk/crackthecode.php to keep track of imminent price changes.

[edse]

I was bored so I made some statistics.

Everyone's total points for each week compered to our average.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Everyone's rank in the TWC classic league for each gameweek.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Adar]

So:

The Player: Santi Cazorla, he is a brilliant player and I would really love to get him into the team. But with Giroud and Sanchez already in the team it is a really tough trade off. I can either get a strong Arsenal attack, avoid a triple up or get a strong Arsenal attack and a cheap defender.

Really tough choice which I will abstain from making this week.

[Tim1988]

Sanchez had better be out injured tomorrow, or I will not be happy. Got 19 points from Jon Walters sat on my bench and, although Sanchez is my captain this week, I've got Kane as my Vice Captain, so I'll get another 13 points there.

[Adar]

Sanchez had better be out injured tomorrow, or I will not be happy. Got 19 points from Jon Walters sat on my bench and, although Sanchez is my captain this week, I've got Kane as my Vice Captain, so I'll get another 13 points there.

Yeah, my gameweek felt a lot less impressive after I noticed what was coming off your bench .

[Ybbon]

Gah, what a horrible week, Sanchez captain - didn't check the injury reports - so no joy there, Bertrand gets himself sent off - mind you I started off with 7 on injured list when I checked on Thursday so I was always going to lose some players.

[edse]

Horrible week you say, I ranked 3,240,721st of 3,444,027 this week. Sadly I'm out of the cup with that result


And for next week I have 3 players suspended and perhaps two injured.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Tim1988]

Remember you get an extra transfer wildcard that can only be used in January. Might be worth using if you have that many injuries/suspensions.

[Ybbon]

Did that thanks, but gutted - 63 points mainly because I made Kane my captain - but he got those points against Arsenal - how can I take joy in a Spud scoring twice against Arsenal.

[Adar]

This year have been remarkably free of blank and double gameweeks up until now and given Arsenal and Citys hardships in the Champions league I think that blanks and DGWs will have a relatively low impact this year.

Nevertheless it is a good idea to be prepared as Chelsea got at least one DGW upcoming and this week will feature QPR and Tottenham squaring up in an extra game.

Candidates for future blanks and DGWs due to fixture congestion.

The FA cup
Aston Villa, West Brom, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal

Champions league
Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City

Chelsea already got a spare DGW which make them a natural target for tripling up on their players while Arsenal run a a risk of filling up your bench if they manage to do better against Monaco. In most cases 3 solid bench players and a free transfers is more than enough to deal with blank weeks so I really recommend to load up on solid bench players as they can really make a difference even if my last week was a bit absurd with Naughton, Hadira and Downing combining for 17 pts off the bench for Gripen FC. Downing is of course a luxury bench player but Naughton, Hadira and Jack Cork seem to be the perfect bench at a low cost right now.

I must also give a small shout out for Grøfteknuserne who seem to be coming on like Petter Northug for a final sprint towards the end of the race.

[Ishoss]

I am following Liverpool's example. Took no interest in the autumn but come 2015 I suddenly decided to care...

[Ybbon]

Looks like the Champions League teams will have no further congestion! Must get rid of Rooney given the fixtures coming up for Utd.

[Tim1988]

I feel I need to drop Aguero from my team - he's done nothing for a while now. I'm in two (well three) minds about who to replace him with though:
1) Rooney - playing well at the moment, will give consistent points, expensive
2) Benteke - Villa are having a resurgence under Sherwood, and he will score goals, but so many others have him in the league.
3) Glenn Murray - 5 in 5 now for Palace, a few easy upcoming fixtures, cheap option, but very much a gamble as to whether he can maintain his form (plus I have serious man-love for him)

If I chose either Benteke or Murray, it will give plenty of funds to upgrade the team elsewhere next week as well.

[Adar]

I feel I need to drop Aguero from my team - he's done nothing for a while now. I'm in two (well three) minds about who to replace him with though:
1) Rooney - playing well at the moment, will give consistent points, expensive
2) Benteke - Villa are having a resurgence under Sherwood, and he will score goals, but so many others have him in the league.
3) Glenn Murray - 5 in 5 now for Palace, a few easy upcoming fixtures, cheap option, but very much a gamble as to whether he can maintain his form (plus I have serious man-love for him)

If I chose either Benteke or Murray, it will give plenty of funds to upgrade the team elsewhere next week as well.

I went with Benteke before this week. Not sure on if Murray is the real deal (never seen him play but a proper centre forward backed up by 3 attacking midfielders seem to work for Arsenal) so I went for Benteke.

[Ybbon]

So good weekend for Arsenal and absolutely crap for my team. No idea why I put Cazorla in but worse I'm pretty sure I dropped Rooney or Ozil - certainly dropped them both fairly recently and yet I carried Schmeichel as an injured goalie all year.

[Adar]

Great week by the Flying Eagles last week which made me a bit worried for a while.

This week I took an 8 point hit to compensate for injuries, the double gameweek and Liverpool being . Out of 4 DGW players, Patrick van Anholt (priced at 4,1) outscored the combined talent of Hector Bellerin, Alexis Sanches and Oliver Giroud in the first game of the DGW. So I guess I got Ybbonitis as well right now .

Next step is to bring in a replacement for Jordan Hendersson for less than 6,6 million. I am really tempted by Sadio Mane despite him facing Manchester City for the final gameweek. Could be interesting to see a Southampton who try to end the season nicely fight against a shaky City defense.

[Gallus]

Will we have a TWC minileague this season?