Here’s a few thoughts on using the first wildcard over the international break. We also show you our poll on what FFGeek readers are doing.
fantasy premier league wildcard – some thoughts on using the wildcard over the international break
Firstly here’s the poll:
So pretty even with a surprising number still undecided
So I’ll go through my particular thoughts and reasoning on using it at this time. I will talk in the context of my own team
Here’s how it looks for GW4:
There are 5 reasons to wildcard over the international break in my mind:
- Team needs radical surgery
- Form players have started to appear
- New transfers
- Increasing team value
- The Aguero factor
Team needs radical surgery
The early season injury’s, suspensions, form, team selection issues plus the possibility of injuries while on international break mean now is the time to drastically change your team
From my perspective I have injuries to Stones and Friend (appears both will be ok though) and Aguero (discussed later)
I also have Aguero likely to be suspended for 2 games over an elbow incident with Winston Reid and Andre Gray likely to be suspended over previous homophobic comments on twitter.
That means 2 being Aguero and Gray will likely be out for GW4.
From a form and fixture perspective I could probably get rid of Firmino and Redmond who have difficult fixtures next.
However there’s no prospect I will be changing Foster, Shaw, Stones (if fit), Hazard, Barkley with Sunderland next, Ibrahimovic and I’m still keen on Kone Friend and Amat
So I would probably change 4ish players. At the moment that doesn’t seem worth it
Catching the form players
Arsenal after the win at Watford are a real target. Sanchez and Ozil especially in focus.
Sanchez is playing in South America for Chile I believe so whether he will be rested or a sub for GW4 is a question? Home to Southampton is a good fixture but it’s not home to Bournemouth at least.
A Chelsea defender and a West Ham attacker maybe is another player but apart from them and Arsenal I’m not that inundated with players I need
New transfers
New transfers to teams can either be a player you want or a player who potentially will cause gametime problems to one of your players.
From that perspective the West Ham striker Zaza will have good fixtures and he is a possibility. There does seem to be some questions over fitness and Bilic doesn’t seem to take any chances on that front.
On the gametime problem perspective. The only transfer I can think of that could cause problems for me is Southampton attacking midfielder Sofiane Boufal who could cause Redmond some issues. Jakupovic is an issue with Marshall in but I’m not bothered. Foster will play every game unless injured and if that happens I’ll deal with it.
A Liverpool striker could cause Firmino some issues but that doesn’t seem to be likely
Increasing team value
In the past you could just pick the most transferred in players and then sell them for who you really want at the end of the window making a healthy profit. That seems to have changed and wildcard transfers don’t cause price rises I understand. Price rises now seem to be far less and this is less of a motivation. There are lots of price drops though and they can be worth avoiding. At the moment Sanchez rising is my main dislike but very little players of mine seem to be falling. Alot of fallers are focused on players with gametime issues.
Team value could really be an issue though this year with the fabulous foursome of Ibrahimovic, Aguero, Hazard and Sanchez looking a possible attacking core if you have the value to not ruin the rest of your team
The Aguero factor
Lets assume Aguero is banned for 2 games and the injury isn’t serious. Assuming I don’t wildcard then I will probably deal with Aguero by either benching him (seems a little extreme) or selling him and keeping the money in the bank or banking a transfer with a plan to get him back in 2 transfers when he returns. Getting someone back at that price isn’t easy so if you do sell work out how you’re going to get him back.
What is the FFGeek team doing and when will it wildcard?
While I think I can field a full team for GW4 I probably won’t wildcard. I feel I’ve missed the boat already in some ways. I don’t feel I would make the number changes I want to. Weather could cause postponements later in the season also fixture congestion around Christmas. I’ll know when I want to use it
However events such as injuries still could change things
Good luck what ever you do. Please plenty of comments on your view below. This is just to start the discussion.
