Last seasons top 1k Telegraph Fantasy Football overall finisher Stephen Troop reviews January and looks at what February has in store for us and his teams
TELEGRAPH FANTASY FOOTBALL PUNDIT STEPHEN TROOP REVIEWS JANUARY AND LOOKS FORWARD TO FEBRUARY
Hi all. This is the sixth instalment in my monthly series of articles covering Telegraph fantasy football. I will give an overview of my team’s performances to date and reflect on the last few game weeks. I will then look ahead to the next month and outline current plans and players on my watch/transfer list. Please leave feedback in the comments after so I can improve these going forward.
January saw the first involvement of premier league teams in the FA cup. 2 rounds have been and gone and there are 3 replays involving premier league teams (Spurs, Swansea and Huddersfield)
Team Review
Team Season Points Season Rank Last month’s rank
Transfers remaining. 16-20
My top team almost moved into the top 1k Tuesday evening but it’s fair to say yesterday was a disaster with Chelsea’s shock 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth and no City defensive coverage. To compound matters I sold De Bruyne for Mahrez a couple of weeks back for extra games/points boost potential. I also had other issues to deal with meaning I was short of cash to bring back. Other teams moved up slightly though it’s fair to say I’ve neglected these somewhat which happens when you have multiple teams and play FPL, Dreamteam etc in addition to TFF. I completely forgot to add Salah back into a couple after ditching for some bonus games.
January Review – The winners
Rodriguez
The very cheap 3rd striker choice has scored 5 goals in his last 7 games and his underlying stats predicted an uplift in returns. West Brom remain in the cup but are battling for relegation. it’s unlikely we will be considering him as a long term option now though with Sturridge in the team.
Aguero
As predicted, with the injury to Jesus and good fixtures we have seen a significant upturn in Aguero’s points. 6 goals in the last 5 games (with one blank being in the cup where he was brought on at half time).
Bournemouth attack
Last update I commented on the fantastic underlying shooting/creation stats of Ibe and Wilson. Ibe has gained 1 goal and 3 KC’s in his last 5. At £2.8m he could be a possible Richarlison replacement if, like me could be looking for one. Wilson has had 3 goals and 3 KC’s in his last 5 and has been looking impressive. Unlikely to be room in my squad for him though.
The usual suspects
These players have been on form for most of the season and make up the core of many of our teams. Salah, Firminho, Kane, Alonso have all continued January much like the rest of the season.
January Review – The losers
Stones
Stones returned to the City team at which point went through 4 games without clean sheets. Arguably this was unlucky as I watched a couple of their games when the opponents scores with the only shot they got. The Newcastle game springs to mind. New signing Laporte will surely take away a lot of his gametime and is priced similarly.
Sane
Had started to pick up form again after 2 goals and 4 KCs in 4 games before being subject to a bad tackle in the cup game. Looks to be set for a good few weeks on the sidelines. This may give Bernardo Silva a run of games, who could be a shrewd differential should you need one. Sterling the obvious replacement for those who somehow don’t have him.
Masuaku
He gets forward, impresses with the ball and good fixtures on the horizon meant I brought him into a team, only for him to get a 6 game ban for spitting at an opponent during the last cup game.
Cheap Defenders
With Burnley not keeping as many clean sheets the defensive bargains seem to have deserted us meaning I’ll be struggling with a Christensen replacement should he be injured longer term.
January Preview – Ones to watch
Aubameyeng
Could be a good differential if he can hit the premier league by storm. Always a risk bringing in a new player to the league, even with his quality and I think we need to assess how he fits in with Lacazette and Mkhitaryan. Arsenal are out of the cup but fixtures generally are good and so if Jesus returns earlier than expected could be a sensible Aguero swap.
Sturridge
Made the switch to West Brom with the sole intention of earning an England place at the World Cup. This gives him motivation and he should get games. West Brom are in the cup to. £5.0m seems very steep for a West Brom striker though.
Slimani
On loan at Newcastle until the end of the season, a team that creates chances but have no ability to convert. Joselu and Gayle have been poor so he should be guaranteed a start and he will need to start firing to get Newcastle out of trouble. Not one to risk straight away but we can assess over the next two games against Palace and Man utd.
Sanchez
Will be hoping to hit the ground running at Man Utd (although hasn’t yet). We know how explosive he can be and I have no doubt will get points. The issue for me is 7.0m is expensive for a winger and there is no room currently in my team to get him in. He may improve the prospects of cheaper players like Lingard though.
January Plans for my teams
No immediate transfer plans as I wasted some in January on what felt good plans but didn’t work out. I brought in Mahrez which gave a short term boost but after other issues arose means I am stuck with him instead of getting KDB like I planned. I also gambled on Kane not playing in the cup, meaning I’d get a 3-1 with Sanchez (cup game, Spurs and Huddersfield) over Kane (the 1 being against Utd). Kane did start so I had to reverse, getting just 5 points for my troubles.
I also have issues with Christensen who could be injured (and doesn’t play until Monday) and Richarlison who is just a 2 point magnet but with the prices I see no obvious solution. With Spurs playing on Sunday there is a 3-0 opportunity with the FA cup replay over many teams. However I already have Kane and I doubt others will play all 3 especially with Champions League coming up too.
Considering Richarlison to Phil Jones but this may become Doucore if I need to gain an extra £1m to improve Mahrez and Christensen.
Good luck this weekend
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