fantasy premier league – Q and A

After one of the most tumultuous and divisive fantasy premier league game weeks that wasn’t a double gameweek that I can recall I thought it was time to instigate a Q and A session.  Despite a game week that was either very difficult or a very profitable  (depending on  even who you had in the Arsenal team!)  Its times like this that its worth remembering that there are 33 rounds and 330 games to go and that there really isn’t any reason to panic.  Ok so here goes

 Q1 

Whats your opinion on Soldado? He’s got no goals from open play and no return in 3 games. How about Suarez as a replacement?

A1

At the moment I think Soldado has alot of questions to answer. 2 goals in his first 5 games (both pens)a fantasy premier league point every 21 minutes and a consistency return rate of 40%, none of which really scream out hold especially when you consider 4 of the fixtures were pretty tasty. The next game is home to Chelsea which is a good selling point as well. the games after that are West Ham home, Villa away, Hull home and Everton away. not too bad. The positives are that he has done everything except score in the last 2 games getting plenty of shots in the box and he also creates chances for others. Secondly Eriksen will definitely give him more chances to score. He’s already in the top 5 of chances created per minute. Thirdly Soldado will start there wont be any fantasy premier league rotation and he does take pens

Lets not panic Soldado will score. He is a goal scorer. Last season he scored 24 goals in 33 starts for Valencia. Its just how patient you are and given a natural selling point whether there are better alternatives. Personally I think there are at the moment, an absolute ton of alternatives (providing they are fit!) and for me the Chelsea time is a good time to exit. He is a sell

Suarez is one of my favourite fantasy premier league players.  The only thing he doesnt do is take pens.  He shoots alot he creates chances he’s heavily involved.  At the moment it’s very interesting.  On the one hand he cant be match fit so will he start from the bench and if so where will he play.  There’s some talk he will even play on the flank although Rodgers hasn’t been quoted as saying that.  I said it last season that Rodgers would be mad to play Suarez on the flank it would be a total waste of talent and  that’s how it panned out.  There’s a big however though with an away game to Sunderland and a home game to Palace as an incentive so big its hard to just dismiss.

I haven’t decided myself yet.  It may depend on the injuries.  My first reaction is its a bit of a high risk high reward strategy for my liking but I haven’t ruled it out yet

Q2

Me too, would like to know your opinion on Soldado? And what about Hazard?

What are your thoughts of hazard & soldado out and eriksen & rooney in?

A2

Above are my views on Soldado.  Hazard is a definite sell for me.   Saturday at home to maybe the worst defence in the league said it all.  Here’s a reminder of my views on him then.  Loads of touches but no penetration and another game with no attacking output whatsover and no underlying stats to give anyone any hope.  Mourinho blames it on the groups of defenders as he calls them surrounding him whenever he gets the ball restricting space between the lines but Chelsea just aren’t moving the ball with any pace whatsover for me .  Considering some of the opposition 1 assist in 5 games is just ridiculous.  A sell if there ever was one before they face a tricky game away to Spurs in GW6.  I kind of think that Michu is possibly a better bet at the moment than Eriksen as the fixtures are reasonably comparable and Michu looks more of a goal threat.  Rooney I’m a fan of although he doesnt shoot enough for me at the moment although he does create chances and there are a number of good options at striker at the moment such as Giroud, Sturridge, Benteke Negredo

Q3

I just want to say a tips, I know all guys want a good strikers but Baines 7m5 or a good strikers it’s around 9m…
The best striker (at the moment Giroud) won 38pts… Baines 42pts.

I don’t need to talk about RVP at 14 …

I like your blog there is a lot of good advice, but you can tell that Baines is a IGNORE and RVP… HOLD when you see that.

A good defense is the best to earn easy point (buy big defenders of big team with offensive skills).

A3

I know a lot of people are questioning RVP at the moment and alot of people are buying Baines so its a good chance to give my thoughts.  Baines at the moment has 3 clean sheets and 2 goals in 5 games. That wont continue though otherwise Everton  would have 23 clean sheets and Baines 15 goals.  to put those figures in context Man city last year had 18 clean sheets and Baines scored 5 goals last year.  So while I think its also unlikely giroud will get 30 goals i think its unfair to compare Baines stats at the moment as they are to date exceptional.  Last his team mate Lukaku who is the same price only scored 18 points less than Baines despite only playing 17 games.

That also ignores another point about RVP.  That’s the captaincy option.  RVP last year scored assisted or got 2 bonus points or more in over 80% of his games.  Only Mata or Walcott came close to that.  So RVP is a default captain option in a team where he wont be rotated as his only other option of Rooney has no one to play behind him as Kagawa seems out of favour, Welbeck just isn’t creative enough and Fellaini is set as a CDM.  Where else will you get a regular captain option. Eto’o, Negredo and Aguero would be if you knew they were going to line up, Giroud, Soldado and Sturridge all failed at the weekend in fixtures you would have thought would be good captain fixtures.  So while there are a number of excellent striking options consistent scorers for a captain option isn’t  fixed yet.  Suarez and Giroud may fix that but its yet to be determined. So that premium is more justifiable when you have a reliable double point option on it.  Don’t get me wrong RVP has to prove he can do it all over again this year but with the fixtures coming up of  WBA H, Sunderland A, Southampton H,  Stoke H,  Fulham A there’s no way I’m selling him and he could be captain in 4/5 fixtures.

Q4

Love the site.

I was just wondering on midfield stradgy I changed 2 weeks ago to 433 formation but even before hand had 3 out of 4 of Hazard, Courthino, Walcott & Silva which have returned very little so far. I know it’s very early on but do you still feel 9 to 9.5 MF’s are good value? I have now ditched Courthino and Hazard and have Silva, Walcott & Erikson. Would be very interested to know your thoughts. thanks

A4

At the moment it does seem that the midfielders are 9ish ie Walcott and Michu who I totally believe in and Eriksen who has definite potential.  Silva coming back also has potential although the performance of Nasri must also put him on rotation watch.  Then there’s little in between down to Ramsey, Brady and Barkley with Paulino and HBA being the only players between.  Personally I plan to  play 2 front line midfielders then rotate the others

So in short yes there is value, Walcott and Michu are unquestionably good options for me in that range and then next  Eriksen, maybe Silva and that’s before you enter the Ozil debate.  But I don’t see the need to play 3 front line.  There is rotation for the 3rd.

Q5

pls help to decide…

migno
collins/ivan/toure/bturner/chester
wally/barkley/oscar/michu/williams
stu/giroud/soldado

3m in the bank
Should I do
A-chester to Baines and soldado to Lukaku (-4)
B-chester to vidic or coleman

A5

I’m not a huge fan of 4 point hits.  You could easily play 3-4-3 leaving Chester Turner and Williams on the bench and put Lukaku in for Soldado.  The risk is that Toure doesn’t play but I still wouldnt take a 4 pointer.  Putting Baines in may give you a tricky choice if Toure plays and end up with Barkley on the bench.

So if it was me I would put Lukaku in and not do the Baines transfer this week.

Q6

Ok. So after a terrible gw only 22pts. no rvp(captain), Walcott or silva. benteke went off injured and chester will be out for a few weeks. I’m definitely considering using my wildcard.

my full team

mignolet, k davis
shaw, distin, turner(Cardiff) ward, chester
Walcott, silva, mirallas, ward prowse, Jarvis
rvp, giroud, benteke
1.2 mil in the bank
Any advice would be appreciated. My gut says don’t wc and just replace chester. It is just hard to resist wc ing and bringing all the form players in.

A6

At the moment I’m hopeful that RVP Walcott and Benteke will all be fit.  If at least 2 are then there’s no need to panic.  It was an exceptional week and there are still 33 rounds to go.

If Silva looks like he will start then a defensive purchase for Chester could make sense, maybe Dawson?  Otherwise Silva for Michu?

Hope that helps

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