It took just 10 weeks before I made the decision to take a -4 point hit last week. Looking ahead, the 5-2-3 formation is morphing into a 5-man midfielder, but it’s going to cost me a few points. Last week started the dominoes toppling, which should continue through the international break, into GW11. Ideally, this would have been a great time to activate the wild card, but that played out in GW5. By shifting players now, I feel I am setting myself up for a run through December.

As mentioned in my Think Differently series at Fantasy Football Geek, formation hasn’t been the issue, captaincy points have. Not so much poor decisions, but poor performances from premium players wearing the armband. Putting faith in my 5-man defense paid dividends through 10 weeks. The 5-2-3 formation has outproduced both 5-3-2 and 4-3-3 through 10 weeks. Due to benched players and injuries, automatically substitutions changed my intended 5-2-3.

Last week I lost faith in Ben Davies, transferring him for Stephen Ward. Burnley has a favorable schedule through GW16. While Spurs are solid through GW17, there is some risk of rotation, thus Davies was move, which helped free up my budget. The -4 hit came in the name of Richarlison, for Jack Cork. Unfortunately a 1 point return didn’t bode well but finished 4 points better than if I would have held the transfer.

This week continue the trend as I look to take another 4 point hit in conjunction with my FT. While Jesus has played well, I am done with Pep and the rotation at City. His £10.5 price and that of £4.5 of Dale Stephens allow me to introduce Mohammad Salah and Tammy Abraham with £0.3 ITB.

After the international break, I look towards GW12 and GW13 to continue the transition to a 5-4-1 (or 4-5-1).  Hazard was going to be one of the first players in, but ends up being the last piece for GW13, based on fixtures. GW12 sees Marcos Alonso giving his walking papers in favor of Charlie Daniels, while Sead Kolasinac drops out for Phil Jones due to fixtures.

These moves free up £2.4 to bring in Eden Hazard and Mame Biram Diouf to complete the change in GW13. The “Vardy Party” would be over and Tom Carroll would be sacrificed, but in return I would have a 15-man squad that all start for the holiday period, reducing the change of playing shorthanded.