Premier League: GW8 Retrospect

What a disaster! Just 2 weeks ago as GW6 came to a close I was in the top 29k, following 3 green arrows and back to back 69 points. My team was averaging 59 points/week, just one off the 60 point average I am targeting for the season. Two weeks later, a poor decision on my GW7 transfer and an ineffective group of players and just when I thought I could not score worse than 24 points, I post another poor score. GW8 has me pegged with 26 points and Valencia going on Monday vs Liverpool. My team has drop 210k spots in 2 weeks down to 239k, but my value is holding steady at 102.1m.

After spending the better part of 2 weeks playing the waiting game, while the EPL was on their international break I had time to research, read articles and decide how to use my 1 FT for GW8. With defenses playing so poorly and inconsistent, I could not bring myself to spend more defensively, only to get less. Valencia is my highest priced defender at 5.5m and his time is nearly up. Foster and the Baggies have terrible upcoming fixtures, but just like defenders and the lack of clean sheets I couldn’t see replacing him. While names such as Grant, Boruc and Vertonghen were in my find, I wanted Walcott. However, with West Ham playing Boro I decided to give Antonio one more chance at success, after starting the season so strong. As we know now a 10 point difference between the 13 points scored by Walcott and the 3 points by Antonio. My 1 FT went unused this week as I could not pull the trigger and make a decision.

Defensively, Foster was better than expected conceding one goal, making 7 saves and recording 4 points, best score since GW3! I finally put Collins on the bench in hopes Van Aanholt would help justify his start. He didn’t, left after 39 minutes for 1 point. Everton was looking strong versus City after Lukaku put them up 1-0, but that clean sheet was quickly erased and Williams put together another 1 points performance. Valencia plays Monday and with Liverpool scoring at a good clip I haven’t set my expectations very high.

Defensively I am hoping to get to the Christmas break with the same defenders and goal keeper. Foster hasn’t been bad, but the Baggies have leaked one goal the last 3 games. This can be said for quite a few defenses, right on the edge of being a superior defense and just average. As for defenders, Spurs have been posted 4 clean sheets, while I don’t want to spend the money on Walker, Vertonghen currently tops my want list. After GW8, I am also looking at adding a Southampton defender, Fonte or Van Dijk. Valencia is on the short list, but I have been considering adding an Arsenal defender, but outside of Cech at 5.5m, it’s going to cost 6.0m to get Gunner coverage in Monreal or Mustafi. One defender I am considering highly, Cresswell, as he posted 6 points on his return to the pitch in his first game this season.

A once prominent part of my squad has left me scratching my head wondering where I went wrong. I probably rode Antonio and Capoue a week too long. Both players have been hit by the law of averages and are not returning as they did a few game weeks ago. On a positive note, both recorded 3 points by virtue of keeping clean sheets. Sterling (2 pts) and Snodgrass (1 pt) were both ineffective. While I intended on holding on to Snodgrass, Sterling will be dropped in place of De Bruyne who surprisingly returned for GW8, playing 90 minutes, recording a zero, as he missed a penalty. Finally Sanchez, whom I captained only returned 10 points, but that was my best performing player of the week thanks in part to an assist. As it stands now, Sterling and Antonio will make way for KDB and Walcott for GW9. Capoue will most likely fall to being a 5th midfielder.

Up front it was a nightmare! Defoe, boom or bust took the later and couldn’t score against Stoke City. Even worse the performance of Aguero, of all players. He did not start, missed a penalty and ended up with a -1. This is the same Aguero who hit for 5 last year in 20 minutes! What the hell is happening this year? I have no intentions of adding Lukaku or Costa, both players scored this week, however I am considering Austin to replace Rashford, which was potentially a “rash decision” to bring in just to get the price increase. He is not starting on Monday for me, as I played a 3-5-2 formation.

After 6 strong weeks I am sitting on 356 points, averaging 59 points/week. Just two week later I am at 399 points with a 49.8 points/week average (81 points short of my 480 points I was hoping to have). How the mighty have fallen…and quick. Still I am in a better position than I was last year at this time, but I am not sure how to stem this downward spiral and to turn things around. GW9 will see two transfer with a possible third at a 4 point cost. Although I have a hard time taking another -4 point hit it might be warranted, although in fantasy sports, there are no guarantees.