Here’s our fantasy premier league teams GW8 article where we give our early thoughts on the FFGeek team for GW8. We look back at gameweek 7, The monitor list, transfer thoughts plus early captain thinking
fantasy premier league teams GW8 – some early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Gameweek 7
Here’s my GW7 team selection article btw
GW7 points: 58 (average 51) Total points 468, Gameweek rank 1,536k, Overall Rank: 40k, red arrow 6k, Team Value: £101.8m
Here’s the points:
The basics
So 5 out of 11 players returned a goal or assist with 2 double figure point hauls. A small 6k red arrow to 40k overall rank. All of which isn’t too bad. Where my rank is at the moment a single finger red arrow or better I’m happy with. Ideally you want a gameweek rank inside 1 million as a target so I was outside that.
The winners this week were probably those with Trippier transfers or those who swapped Salah for Kane or those like Alex Ball with double Wolves defence.
Eye test vs stats
This week was an interesting one from the so called “eye test” position. I’ve probably said before that I think managers are probably eye test managers or stats managers. Most will use both but I think all will favour one or the other as their primary form of judgement on a player. GW6 I watched both Arsenal and Chelsea live and I thought that Hazard and Lacazette were both poor. Having spent 3 hours dedicated to watching the games their performances were pretty ingrained in me and were a strong factor in my view of both of them. Getting rid of both for Kane and Richarlison was justifiable after 2 such abject performances.
Well this week both Hazard who I watched live and Lacazette highlights were excellent. Ironically both played against better defensive teams than they did in GW6 as well in my view. I guess my point is that the eye test can lead to you ultimately determining the value of a player based on 1 performance given what you’ve just seen and the time involved. With stats you can review as many performances as you want in a relatively short time and get a more rounded picture.
I’m not advocating one or the other. You will naturally be 1 or the other. It’s just an observation based on 1 week. Some of the best FPL managers with the best rank history wouldn’t know what xG was if it slapped them in the face but they are incredibly successful using the eye test as their primary form of judgement. As I say I’m not saying 1 is better than the other it depends on the person which naturally sits best with them.
The GW7 transfer dilemma – did I make the right decision?
You will recall that my primary transfer decisions for GW7 were Hazard to Richarlison and Lacazette to Kane -4 vs carrying over a free.
Well that ended up Hazard 10 points Lacazette 5 points =15 vs Kane 13 points Richarlison 3 points -4 = 12 points.
So very little in it.
The monitor list
So no one really on the out list at the moment. Ward was dropped v Cardiff which was a bit annoying after Warnock praised him and criticised Zohore and then Zohore ends up starting and Ward on the bench?
That’s about it though. I’m still ok with the Watford defence, just worth monitoring though.
I’ve no qualms about Salah. There’s something not right as his finishing was very tentative v Chelsea and although Klopp didn’t outwardly criticise him he wasn’t far off doing so. Salah is still pulling up trees in underlying stats and to transfer him out with these underlying stats would be a betrayal of everything I believe in, if that’s not a tad dramatic. Besides Salah has Huddersfield and Cardiff gameweek 9 and 10 so he’s going no where before that.
I was really impressed with the Chelsea defence. I thought Liverpool would score 3 but a 1.73 xG and 13 shots was pretty respectable so Alonso is going no where. Plus my cumulative xG stats to GW7 show that he has the best underlying stats of any defender.
Transfer thoughts
2 free transfers and 0 in the bank
So this week it’s all about Kane and whether I transfer him in for 1 week effectively and then transfer Aguero back. At the moment I could fund it through Fraser to a £4.5m giving my midfield 2 weeks of 3 £4.5m players which is a bit ridiculous. I expect though I will lose this option with price movements as I can do it now with no reserve. If it does happen then I would then probably replace Fraser the week after with maybe Knockaert. I don’t want to lose Fraser particularly as it was another good performance last night with 4 key passes and an 0.66 xA.
If I don’t go down this route my transfer options are fairly limited and I’m not sure who I would replace. I like the Trippier option but the 3 premium defences I believe in at the moment are the ones I have. So the alternative to the Kane transfer needs some thought.
One of the overall issues you have to get to grips with in FPL though is the constant swapping between premiums vs improving your team overall incrementally step by step and taking a few behind the sofa moments along the way. However this week with nothing screaming out at me with my team it’s one of the better times to swap between premiums.
Captain thoughts
This week is the worst one possible for the Poll as the 2 captain favourites for me apart from Kane if I get him are Hazard and Lacazette. Both are in teams in the Europa League. With a Friday night deadline putting the poll up on Thursday night after the Europa League games seems a tad ridiculous so I may have to put it up after the UCL games on Thursday morning. I’ll give it some thought. Considering Chelsea are playing someone called MOL Vidi and Arsenal FK Qarabag then hopefully neither Hazard or Lacazette will play.
If there’s no Kane in my team then I suspect it will be my 2 old friends Hazard or Lacazette as captain. Interestingly Poll 1 in my captain choice article went up on Monday, before the gameweek had even finished, and currently shows Kane at 54%, Hazard 22% and Laczette at 2%. However that poll is about who you think is best not who you are choosing.
That Kane is the best captain this week is a statement of the obvious given he’s £1.40 to score anytime and the next best are Lukaku and Lacazette at £1.91. However it’s not representative of what people are doing. So to get a handle on the Kane downside I’ll look at my poll on Friday. What ever happens there will be no transfer before Friday.
The poll will only be up 24 hours maximum so make sure you vote when it’s up. Also when you are there vote as well as on the transfer in and out polls. This week all the polls are very meaningful.
No if there’s no Kane it will probably mean Hazard as captain although the captain article will be important.
Lineup issues
Tricky lineup this week. The bench choice is probably one of Laporte, Alexander Arnold or Fraser. If I do the Kane transfers then it’s easy. The Fraser £4.5m transfer goes to the bench. Otherwise I have to solve that dilemma. At the moment it’s Alexander Arnold who goes to the bench.
Here is the line up pre any transfers:
Early gameweek
So this week the gameweek starts 19.00 Friday UK time so best to set your team lineup up now, without transfers, just in case, if you’re in the UK, you’re having Friday night beers and forget or if you’re in, say, New Zealand you fail to get up in time on Saturday morning.
The early gameweek deadline puts alot of pressure on articles as I normally write late on Friday to get all the articles done so depending on how I’m doing some may miss out. The wife loves Friday FPL though as it means we go out instead but it makes the week tricky that’s for sure
That’s it. Hope you had a good week.
See also the fixture ease article, underlying stats for players up to GW7 and a review of GW7 in isolation
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