Latest / FPL Pod / S9 Ep3: FPL Pod: Can you go without Erling Haaland?

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S9 Ep3: FPL Pod: Can you go without Erling Haaland? · FPL Pod

0:00
Speaker 1: We are now officially one week away from the Premier
0:03
Speaker 1: League returning. I'm getting nervous, and Sam, maybe Jiles is
0:06
Speaker 1: getting nervous.
0:08
Speaker 2: I think so. I think he's decided that it's all
0:10
Speaker 2: got a little bit too much and he actually needs
0:12
Speaker 2: to take a holiday, cause yeah, he is still on holiday.
0:15
Speaker 1: And we've got a message a day before the record
0:17
Speaker 1: saying my WiFi is not going to hold out, which,
0:19
Speaker 1: by the way, we're quite grateful for because normally get
0:20
Speaker 1: that message ten minutes before the record. So I'm not
0:23
Speaker 1: even going to call you superside because I'm going to
0:25
Speaker 1: call you regular on the show.
0:26
Speaker 2: Ian. It's been a while, but a while being Yeah,
0:29
Speaker 2: where's the last time you're on? I was trying to
0:30
Speaker 2: think about this.
0:32
Speaker 3: I can't remember, that's how long it's been. I don't
0:35
Speaker 3: know if I was.
0:35
Speaker 2: The season before last.
0:36
Speaker 1: But anyway, you're very familiar to all of our listeners
0:38
Speaker 1: who often ask us about you. How are you, how's
0:42
Speaker 1: life and importantly, how's FPL planning going?
0:45
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean my someone was going fantastically well, nice
0:48
Speaker 3: and relaxing, been away chilled out a little bit. Yeah,
0:51
Speaker 3: the Premier League season's coming. And then I started to
0:54
Speaker 3: make my FPL draft, and I've done something I think
0:57
Speaker 3: quite silly with my first draft, which I'm sure we'll
0:59
Speaker 3: talk about at some point. So I actually feel the
1:02
Speaker 3: same as you. I feel a bit apprehensive, nervous, and
1:04
Speaker 3: don't really want the season to come now. Game Week
1:06
Speaker 3: one could be watched from behind the sofa. FPL is definitely.
1:10
Speaker 1: Back, that's the spirit. Didn't anyone tell him we're meant
1:12
Speaker 1: to be a positive, upbeat podcast. He doesn't want to
1:14
Speaker 1: play FBL doesn't now want the season to come.
1:17
Speaker 2: Thanks for coming on and we'll speak to you another time.
1:22
Speaker 3: Sam.
1:22
Speaker 1: What we are going to be missing this week is
1:24
Speaker 1: without Jews is kind of a little bit of an
1:26
Speaker 1: update and what's been happening in pre season, because I mean,
1:28
Speaker 1: I was working for five Live last night and I
1:30
Speaker 1: was working on the PSG Villa game on the Super Cup,
1:34
Speaker 1: and I was intrigued by seeing what Villa looked like.
1:37
Speaker 1: And I feel like at this point it's a bit
1:39
Speaker 1: more like when you can start the players are starting
1:41
Speaker 1: to come back, or be at Villa didn't have the lights,
1:43
Speaker 1: somebody Watkins asrie concert. Players are starting to come back
1:45
Speaker 1: and we can get a little bit more of an
1:47
Speaker 1: idea if you can. I'm not expecting it to be
1:49
Speaker 1: Jewels' style. What have you taken away from what you've
1:51
Speaker 1: seen so far?
1:53
Speaker 2: I have written something else because I decided that the
1:56
Speaker 2: big pressure, decided that if Jews wasn't here, somebody was
1:59
Speaker 2: going to have to stand up, and so I sat
2:00
Speaker 2: down and I wrote, I've written something about because actually
2:03
Speaker 2: yesterday was quite a big day for preseason. So let's
2:05
Speaker 2: start with Villa because you've mentioned them so obviously they
2:08
Speaker 2: lost in the Super Cup to PSG, and as you mentioned,
2:10
Speaker 2: they were without a number their first choice players. They
2:12
Speaker 2: didn't have Martinez and a Concert they have Watkins, but
2:14
Speaker 2: they did have mad Jo, who was available for Villa
2:17
Speaker 2: in this one. He originally signed for them back in January.
2:19
Speaker 2: Started this game. Scores the goal assisted by John McGinn.
2:22
Speaker 2: That's on the back of four previous goals now in preseason,
2:25
Speaker 2: so five goals in three hundred and fifty two minutes
2:28
Speaker 2: for him. He actually had three chances in the first half,
2:30
Speaker 2: so he's definitely one to watch despite being super young,
2:33
Speaker 2: and looked really impressive last night. Also, Gimarez made his
2:36
Speaker 2: debut for Arsenal in their one one draw with como
2:39
Speaker 2: interesting Arsenal team to start with, had five academy graduates
2:43
Speaker 2: in the starting eleven. After an hour it was much
2:46
Speaker 2: more like the Arsenal team that I think we'll probably
2:47
Speaker 2: expect to see in Sunday's Community Shield. And in the
2:51
Speaker 2: last half an hour of that game we started to
2:52
Speaker 2: see the partnership that might exist between Erdagard and Gimarez.
2:55
Speaker 2: So I think that might be quite interesting for us
2:56
Speaker 2: as FPR managers as we all look for a route
2:58
Speaker 2: into that Arsenal midfield. Maybe isn't socker levels of investment.
3:03
Speaker 2: It was Mirles Lewis Kelly with the goal for them
3:04
Speaker 2: in that one. I'm sure Ian I'll talk more about
3:07
Speaker 2: it in a minute. But Manchester United and Leeds also
3:09
Speaker 2: played last night. It was a one all draw over
3:11
Speaker 2: in Ireland. Bruno f Andanders came off the bench. He
3:13
Speaker 2: was very much well received by the Irish crowd when
3:16
Speaker 2: he came on, had a goal ruled out for offside,
3:19
Speaker 2: also had one off the bar which would have been
3:21
Speaker 2: assisted by Yuri Tineman's and he did though mister penalty,
3:25
Speaker 2: which was starting to get a little bit more usy
3:26
Speaker 2: now with Bruno Fernandez after last season, no McGuire in
3:29
Speaker 2: the squad for this one. There was another all Premier
3:31
Speaker 2: League match between newcast and Everton last night. That one
3:34
Speaker 2: happened in Edinburgh. Everton, looking very impressive, came out three
3:37
Speaker 2: to one. In that one, Travis started in goal, with
3:40
Speaker 2: then Die starting and Barry leading the line up top.
3:42
Speaker 2: Barry scored the opener. Newsbury Hall won a penalty which
3:45
Speaker 2: in Die took interesting because it was despite Barry still
3:48
Speaker 2: being on the pitch at that point to make it
3:49
Speaker 2: too nil. Newcastle we're in a bit of disarray, changed
3:52
Speaker 2: all ten players at halftime. They did look a little
3:56
Speaker 2: bit better in the second half, but to be honest,
3:57
Speaker 2: Everton was still quite dominant. George put them three. Barnes
4:00
Speaker 2: pulled one back for Newcastle also last night, notting a
4:05
Speaker 2: forrestpeat by a Leverkus in two to one. Chris Wood
4:07
Speaker 2: wasn't there, but it was a very strong team from
4:10
Speaker 2: Glasner and Die scoring from a Gibbs White assist in
4:13
Speaker 2: a goal that very much looked like it has come
4:15
Speaker 2: off the training ground, and Calamandu scoring the winner in
4:18
Speaker 2: the ninetieth minute for them. Igle Jesus was actually quite
4:21
Speaker 2: unlucky not to scoring this one. He had one that
4:23
Speaker 2: went just over the bar just before halftime. Fulham also
4:27
Speaker 2: played last night a two two draw with Malaga Iwobi
4:30
Speaker 2: and cessin On with the goals in that one. A
4:32
Speaker 2: Wobe that has two goals and an assist in preseason.
4:34
Speaker 2: He's only played three hundred and sixty seven minutes, so
4:36
Speaker 2: definitely want to keep an eye on. And then we've
4:39
Speaker 2: also seen Benjamin Cesco and Earln Harlan back in training
4:42
Speaker 2: this week, so some interesting ones for what I film
4:44
Speaker 2: managers to keep an eye on.
4:45
Speaker 1: Yes, anything you've taken away in I'm intrigued about what
4:48
Speaker 1: you've learnt from Manchester United because I think there's a
4:50
Speaker 1: lot of interest in them, isn't there, given the fact
4:53
Speaker 1: that they've had quite a stable preseason and everyone said,
4:56
Speaker 1: no Europe they're going to be great.
4:59
Speaker 2: No, you're sorry, sorry, last season was.
5:05
Speaker 3: Sorry. Come on, they've got the passport.
5:09
Speaker 2: Well, what's a lot of excitement because of that? I think,
5:12
Speaker 2: isn't it really?
5:14
Speaker 3: And that's maybe the that's all right, that's maybe the
5:16
Speaker 3: complicating factor a little bit with United. But you'd have
5:19
Speaker 3: to worry about that just yet because obviously the Champions
5:21
Speaker 3: League doesn't start for a few weeks and the first
5:23
Speaker 3: two matches been Hulling Ipswich means that you need to
5:26
Speaker 3: be invested in United in my draft. I'm tripled up
5:28
Speaker 3: at the moment Bruno Fernandez given his form last season,
5:32
Speaker 3: given what he showed off the bench in that Leads Friendly.
5:34
Speaker 3: He's not had much time back with the team after
5:37
Speaker 3: the World Cup, but he's an absolute certain starter in
5:39
Speaker 3: game week one, There's no question about that, and there's
5:41
Speaker 3: lots of question marks with some of the World Cup
5:43
Speaker 3: players across the league. I don't think he's won. The
5:45
Speaker 3: other player I think he will definitely make my draft
5:48
Speaker 3: is Brian and Boomo. Now he had he had a
5:51
Speaker 3: decent first season for United last season. It certainly started well,
5:55
Speaker 3: it drifted a bit and then it ended okay by
5:57
Speaker 3: the final few weeks. But in preseason he's played in
6:01
Speaker 3: three different positions. Last night he played in the number ten.
6:05
Speaker 3: Obviously that's Bruno's position, so he won't be there for
6:07
Speaker 3: much longer. But he played right wing and sent it
6:09
Speaker 3: forward in some of the other games, and he did
6:10
Speaker 3: that last season too. I think Carrett will find a
6:12
Speaker 3: way to get him in the team. One assist last
6:16
Speaker 3: night against Leeds three goals in pre season prior to that,
6:18
Speaker 3: so he's going to be a pick for me. Also
6:21
Speaker 3: with Leeds as well. I was quite impressed with James Trafford.
6:23
Speaker 3: He looked the part in goal for them, and their
6:25
Speaker 3: defensive record last season was pretty strong. His distribution is
6:29
Speaker 3: definitely an upgrade on what they had previously. I feel
6:31
Speaker 3: like he's going to get an assist at some point
6:33
Speaker 3: this season because his long range passing is so good
6:36
Speaker 3: and Leeds opening fixtures are quite strong as well, so
6:38
Speaker 3: he's actually coming to my thinking after watching the match
6:40
Speaker 3: last night too.
6:41
Speaker 1: This brings us quite nicely on to something that we've
6:44
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about in the last couple of parts,
6:45
Speaker 1: but I haven't had time too because of well, there's
6:48
Speaker 1: just been so much to talk about it, but fixture
6:50
Speaker 1: runs because Manchester United are very high on the Fixture ticker.
6:53
Speaker 1: In fact, they're second behind Liverpool. In case you haven't
6:56
Speaker 1: checked out the Fixture Ticker and you're new to FPL,
6:58
Speaker 1: it's available on Fantasy Premier League dot Com more on
7:01
Speaker 1: the app, and it just enables you to see the
7:04
Speaker 1: teams that on paper have the best fixtures the Premier
7:07
Speaker 1: League ranked them by difficulty and it just helps us
7:09
Speaker 1: chunk the fixtures kind of into little blocks and then
7:12
Speaker 1: we can use our chips around it, or we can
7:13
Speaker 1: target players. You could say, well, I'm going to have
7:15
Speaker 1: them for the first four game weeks and I know
7:17
Speaker 1: their fixtures get a bit tougher, and then I'm going
7:18
Speaker 1: to switch to another player. You might be seeing managers
7:21
Speaker 1: say that a lot at the moment, because that's how
7:24
Speaker 1: often we pick certain players over other ones. So as
7:28
Speaker 1: I said, Manchester niced a second, but let's start with
7:30
Speaker 1: the team at the top.
7:31
Speaker 2: Liverpool.
7:31
Speaker 1: I thought Aonia Rola's comments last week were really interesting
7:35
Speaker 1: after they let two games in a row, they let
7:38
Speaker 1: a lead slip and he said, at the moment, basically
7:40
Speaker 1: they're not able to do kind of what he wants
7:42
Speaker 1: to do.
7:43
Speaker 2: They don't.
7:43
Speaker 1: They don't almost have the legs for it. At the moment,
7:46
Speaker 1: I have suppose LII Sam, do you still have suppose
7:48
Speaker 1: on your draft?
7:49
Speaker 3: Yeah?
7:50
Speaker 2: I do, Yeah, in any Liverpool players in your draft.
7:53
Speaker 3: Alexander Esak At the moment, I really like those fixtures
7:57
Speaker 3: to start the season. I've not got Earling Harland. Let's
8:01
Speaker 3: just get it out there straight away. I don't have
8:05
Speaker 3: Earling Harland. I can't believe that's a sentence I'm actually saying,
8:09
Speaker 3: and whether that sticks for the week. It is the
8:11
Speaker 3: only reason why I'm nervous and apprehensive about game week one,
8:13
Speaker 3: basically because the most owned player is it's something like
8:17
Speaker 3: seventy five percent ownership, is not in my team at
8:19
Speaker 3: the moment. But a plan on wild card in early,
8:22
Speaker 3: a plan on using a bench boost early, so if
8:23
Speaker 3: you don't have him, you can spread the funds and
8:25
Speaker 3: really have upgrades elsewhere. I suppose the player who'd be
8:29
Speaker 3: replacing him in my line up is Alexander Esach, So
8:31
Speaker 3: it's just whether you think he can match early in
8:33
Speaker 3: Harland in the opening games. Now, last season unquestionably was
8:36
Speaker 3: a massive disappointment for him. His form suffered, obviously, he
8:40
Speaker 3: suffered badly with injuries at Liverpool as well, but Newcastle
8:45
Speaker 3: away game Week one, a Newcastle team that's a bit
8:47
Speaker 3: all over the place at the moment. Esak going back
8:50
Speaker 3: to his old team after all the controversy this time
8:52
Speaker 3: last year, he says he's back fit, he says he's
8:55
Speaker 3: back confident. What a prospect that could be. And then
8:58
Speaker 3: after that not ticking for Hiss, which full and Bonnbouth.
9:01
Speaker 3: It's a pretty kind start for Liverpool. So in some
9:04
Speaker 3: ways I feel like so buzzli of it on their
9:06
Speaker 3: own is not enough.
9:08
Speaker 1: I am leaning more towards Berts now, Sam. I mean
9:11
Speaker 1: you and I are going to go with earning Harland,
9:12
Speaker 1: aren't we? So reseek is going to be non impossible
9:15
Speaker 1: to get into our teams. But everyone I think I
9:18
Speaker 1: think there's more noise about Burts than there was, but
9:20
Speaker 1: obviously we've said it on the last show.
9:22
Speaker 2: Supse is that bit cheaper?
9:24
Speaker 3: Yeah?
9:25
Speaker 2: And I think there is, And I think we talked
9:26
Speaker 2: about it last week, like there is definitely potential to
9:29
Speaker 2: double up with those two, and that's something that I
9:31
Speaker 2: haven't ruled out having Verts and s Boslie together because,
9:34
Speaker 2: like Ian was just saying, I do like their attacking threat.
9:37
Speaker 2: It's just that for me, Alexander Esek is just a
9:39
Speaker 2: bridge too far because I don't want to be going
9:41
Speaker 2: without Alan Harland. And I think Ian is writing what
9:43
Speaker 2: he said, like your strategy going into this season in
9:47
Speaker 2: terms of your chips, it's going to be really important
9:49
Speaker 2: in deciding how you start the season because maybe given
9:53
Speaker 2: that we've only just seen Harlan come back into into
9:56
Speaker 2: training this week that we we could be in a
9:58
Speaker 2: position where some managers decide, well, the opening a few fixtures,
10:02
Speaker 2: particularly game weeks one and two are much nicer for
10:04
Speaker 2: Manchester United and Liverpool than they are for Manchester City.
10:07
Speaker 2: So do we go with the situation where you are
10:09
Speaker 2: happy to early wildcard in game into game week three
10:12
Speaker 2: and then you can bring him in for the game
10:14
Speaker 2: that they have against Coventry or do you just go,
10:17
Speaker 2: you know, go in with him from the outset. Now
10:19
Speaker 2: for me, I just think Arlin Harlan is too important
10:22
Speaker 2: and I don't want an early World Cup because I
10:25
Speaker 2: just feel like we're going to get a lot more
10:28
Speaker 2: knowledge by the time we hit the first international break,
10:30
Speaker 2: which is five game weeks down the line. So I
10:32
Speaker 2: want to get through the first five game week. So
10:34
Speaker 2: I'm looking at a fixture run of five weeks. And
10:37
Speaker 2: that's why Liverpool the double up with Vertzu and s
10:41
Speaker 2: of Bosli and also the double up with Manchester United
10:44
Speaker 2: midfielders with probably Enbomo and and Bruno makes a lot
10:48
Speaker 2: of sense because those five fixtures for those two teams,
10:50
Speaker 2: they're they're the best, the best ones to start the season.
10:53
Speaker 2: So I think the reason that you. The reason why
10:58
Speaker 2: fixtures are so important is because it helps you to
11:00
Speaker 2: define what your chipstrash she might look like and when
11:02
Speaker 2: you might play things. And in that case, I can
11:04
Speaker 2: see why if Ian's going to get early with chips,
11:07
Speaker 2: whether no Harlan thing is attractive for the opening two weeks.
11:11
Speaker 3: Yes, that's kind of the thinking. The problem is that
11:16
Speaker 3: the more you look into it. And obviously Earling Harland
11:19
Speaker 3: is a great pick. There's no question about that. He's
11:22
Speaker 3: the best FBO player available to us, so going without
11:25
Speaker 3: him seems a bit mad. And then you start to
11:27
Speaker 3: look into his history in the Premier League as well,
11:29
Speaker 3: and yeah, August is the month he's scored his most
11:32
Speaker 3: goals in for Manchester City, so he is a traditionally
11:36
Speaker 3: strong starter to the new season. And I thought I'm gone,
11:40
Speaker 3: But does that actually apply to the opening day? And
11:42
Speaker 3: then you have a look last season two goals against Wolves,
11:44
Speaker 3: the season before a goal against Chelsea, season before two
11:47
Speaker 3: goals against Burnley, and then his Premier League debut back
11:50
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two, two goals against west Ham. So
11:55
Speaker 3: the argument to say go without him becomes weaker the
11:58
Speaker 3: more you look into the data from August. But like
12:00
Speaker 3: Sam said, he's only just back in training. But then
12:02
Speaker 3: the other side of it makes me think, well, Enzo
12:05
Speaker 3: Maresca's knew at Manchester City, does he really not start
12:10
Speaker 3: early in Harlan from the very beginning in the Premier League?
12:13
Speaker 3: I guess the Community Shield is gonna actually tell us
12:16
Speaker 3: quite a bit about what we what we might see
12:20
Speaker 3: from Manchester City in the opening weeks of the season.
12:22
Speaker 3: It certainly will be a more serious team selection than
12:25
Speaker 3: the ones in pre season. By that point Harlan would
12:28
Speaker 3: have had about a week's training maybe, so maybe that's
12:30
Speaker 3: too early for him to start, but even even maybe
12:32
Speaker 3: an hour against Bournemouth on the opening day would be
12:35
Speaker 3: enough for him to score. But then again, at his
12:37
Speaker 3: price point, he has to score almost scoring his power
12:40
Speaker 3: for him because he's so expensive. I'm sort of talking
12:44
Speaker 3: myself in and around this an. I mean the other
12:46
Speaker 3: side of it as well is where the other shore
12:48
Speaker 3: Fire picks in the league. Where are the other players
12:50
Speaker 3: that you can absolutely hang your hat on to say,
12:53
Speaker 3: these guys are definitely one hundred percent got to deliver
12:56
Speaker 3: for me. There's not many of them, yeah, but then
13:00
Speaker 3: Bruno aside, namely two or three more because I would
13:03
Speaker 3: have Bruno as well. I suppose if I had Harlan. So,
13:06
Speaker 3: you know, looking at my draft as people like Brian
13:08
Speaker 3: and Bumo, Florian verts has been in and out of it,
13:12
Speaker 3: as said at Alexander esak So. And then there's the defense.
13:16
Speaker 3: Obviously he can spend a bit more money on defense.
13:18
Speaker 3: But maybe it is a bit silly to go without
13:21
Speaker 3: him because he is probably the only guarantee aside from
13:24
Speaker 3: maybe Bruno Fernandez. But then again, his form last season
13:27
Speaker 3: was extraordinary. Can he do it again when there's Europe
13:30
Speaker 3: to contend with as well? The big questions, But it
13:34
Speaker 3: would only be for two or three weeks, you know,
13:36
Speaker 3: it would only be to play bench boost to game
13:38
Speaker 3: week one get a good start. The idea of going
13:41
Speaker 3: without him for the Coventry game in game week three
13:43
Speaker 3: again makes me even more nervous than going without him
13:45
Speaker 3: in game week one. So you know, if you're thinking
13:47
Speaker 3: that he needs to be and you've seen by game
13:49
Speaker 3: week three, then maybe it's just stupid not to have
13:51
Speaker 3: him in game week one. But you see my dilemma.
13:53
Speaker 3: You see me trying to work out whether this is
13:55
Speaker 3: a good idea or not.
13:56
Speaker 2: I tell you what I.
13:57
Speaker 1: Runners through the draft that you have come up with,
13:59
Speaker 1: because on this pod so far, myself, Sam and Jones
14:02
Speaker 1: have had Harland throughout, and I'm sure listeners are intrigued
14:05
Speaker 1: to know what you can get by spreading those fans around.
14:08
Speaker 3: I guess the main thing is it helps you to
14:10
Speaker 3: beef up midfield and have a few more different options
14:12
Speaker 3: in there. Who are you know, a bit more expensive.
14:16
Speaker 3: So the midfield is Bruno, Fernandez, Antoan Sa, Menuo, Brian
14:20
Speaker 3: and Boomo at the moment. At the moment dominates the
14:22
Speaker 3: Boslai although that's been Florian verts it it's too and
14:25
Speaker 3: throwed a little bit. And then Elliman and Jai from
14:28
Speaker 3: Everton up front his e site. Like I mentioned before,
14:31
Speaker 3: Joo Pedro, who I think is just an easy pick
14:33
Speaker 3: for everyone really to be honest. And then Tieno Barry
14:37
Speaker 3: currently is my third attacker. He was very much a
14:40
Speaker 3: bench boost option. He's only five point five. Like you
14:43
Speaker 3: mentioned before, he scored in pre season for Everton. He
14:45
Speaker 3: looks like he'll start the season up front quite like
14:47
Speaker 3: their opening fixtures as well. Although a double Everton attack
14:50
Speaker 3: to begin the season is brave considering some of the
14:53
Speaker 3: issues they had with scoring goals. Last season. But then
14:56
Speaker 3: in defense, I've then got a triple up of the
14:59
Speaker 3: Arsenal defense for the opening couple of matches, so David
15:02
Speaker 3: Dryer in goal, Muscare and White in defense that could
15:05
Speaker 3: be Calor Fury as well. I've got Harry Maguiree United
15:08
Speaker 3: again the fixtures are good for them, Polestra who's a
15:10
Speaker 3: bit of a left field pick at the moment from
15:12
Speaker 3: Chelsea new signing Michael Polestra from Italy who's really advanced
15:17
Speaker 3: in pre season and the formation for Chelsea under Dabi Alonso.
15:21
Speaker 3: If he's going to be a wing back, I think
15:23
Speaker 3: that's I think that's an interesting pick at at five
15:26
Speaker 3: point five, and then there's just filler then after that
15:29
Speaker 3: really Leif Davis from MIPS, which could be any of
15:32
Speaker 3: the Ipswich guys at four million. And I've also got
15:35
Speaker 3: Roofs as well from Sunderland just because their first couple
15:38
Speaker 3: of matches are pretty good as well. So again it
15:40
Speaker 3: enables me to have a good strong bench boost one.
15:43
Speaker 3: In some ways it's wasted money, but then that's another
15:45
Speaker 3: reason why I want to play the wild card early
15:47
Speaker 3: because at the moment there isn't a certain pick for
15:51
Speaker 3: a four million goalkeeper, so you know, just want to
15:55
Speaker 3: empty the value out of the team, basically out of
15:57
Speaker 3: the bench. Sorry, when we get to game week three
16:00
Speaker 3: something like that, where it doesn't matter as much about
16:02
Speaker 3: your fifth attacker, it doesn't matter as much about your
16:05
Speaker 3: goalkeeper because the bench boost has already done and dusted
16:07
Speaker 3: by them.
16:08
Speaker 2: Interesting, Sam, your thoughts on Ian's team. Does it tempt
16:11
Speaker 2: you to go?
16:13
Speaker 1: No?
16:13
Speaker 2: Harlland I mean so I like it if it's for
16:17
Speaker 2: I can understand. I do understand the temptation for bench
16:20
Speaker 2: bees Flyine.
16:20
Speaker 3: It's a very complicated way of saying no.
16:22
Speaker 2: Sa I'm just going to say, I'm just I'm gonna
16:26
Speaker 2: I'll be the one that says no. I like.
16:28
Speaker 1: I love Esak, and I love the fact that you've
16:30
Speaker 1: managed to get a premium goalkeeper in there, and it
16:33
Speaker 1: feels more balanced than my team. But I'm an FBI
16:35
Speaker 1: plansant never has a balanced team, so to me, I
16:38
Speaker 1: can't go with that, Harland. But that's also because I'm
16:40
Speaker 1: a sheep. But I understand the logic of not going
16:42
Speaker 1: with him, and I really respect it. I also thinks
16:45
Speaker 1: that one of the things we have to consider is
16:47
Speaker 1: is that so bench bees should it should bring you
16:51
Speaker 1: a loads of extra points, right, it should be the thing.
16:53
Speaker 2: That it doesn't it. I mean, yeah, that's well normal
16:58
Speaker 2: because I was seemed to put it in the wrong week,
16:59
Speaker 2: but it's should right. So going into game week one,
17:02
Speaker 2: you should be in a position where if you have
17:03
Speaker 2: your benchboost actor with four additional players to most of
17:06
Speaker 2: the game, you should have a really good start to
17:09
Speaker 2: the season. But my issue is is that without Arlin Harlan,
17:12
Speaker 2: if Arlin Harland does what he usually does in August,
17:15
Speaker 2: if he starts on a high, if he opens his
17:18
Speaker 2: account under MORESCA looking really promising, you could wipe out
17:23
Speaker 2: all of the benefit that your bench boost has just
17:25
Speaker 2: brought you in just not having one player. And so,
17:28
Speaker 2: whilst I understand the value that you can get by
17:31
Speaker 2: having Ruth Sandrea for the opening week of the season,
17:35
Speaker 2: whilst I can see the value that you get by
17:37
Speaker 2: having a bench Likingan's just discussed, my worry for people
17:42
Speaker 2: that go without Harlan is that all the gains that
17:45
Speaker 2: you make by having the bench be sector are just
17:47
Speaker 2: lost by not having Harlan in your team if he
17:49
Speaker 2: does anything, Because at seventy percent ownership, that's going to
17:53
Speaker 2: massively hurt in terms of the impact that that has
17:56
Speaker 2: on your your starting position.
17:59
Speaker 3: Scholarship could be something one hundred and fifty percent because.
18:02
Speaker 2: He's going to be highly captain captain. Yeah exactly, yeah exactly,
18:06
Speaker 2: And so I think, you know what, the other thing
18:09
Speaker 2: that puts me off is that it almost certainly guarantees
18:12
Speaker 2: that game week two or into game week three, you're
18:15
Speaker 2: World carding. And I said last week the thing that
18:18
Speaker 2: massively puts me off that is that we don't have
18:21
Speaker 2: those additional Afcon transfers this year at Christmas that we
18:24
Speaker 2: can use as a mini wildcard. Instead, we're going to
18:27
Speaker 2: have to wait till the second World Card becomes active,
18:29
Speaker 2: and feasibly, you don't want to play that straight away.
18:32
Speaker 2: You want to wait for the blanks and the doubles
18:34
Speaker 2: that we will get later on in the season around
18:36
Speaker 2: the Cup matches. So you could have twenty plus weeks
18:40
Speaker 2: of not being able to wildcard your team. And yes,
18:43
Speaker 2: people will say, well, you can use your three transfers,
18:45
Speaker 2: and you can, absolutely, but if you have injuries to
18:48
Speaker 2: your team, if you have other things to contend with,
18:51
Speaker 2: that's a problem. And this team does not have a
18:54
Speaker 2: spare eight million around to start upgrading Esak to Harlan,
18:58
Speaker 2: so you're going to have to move money elsewhere, so
19:00
Speaker 2: you could then be taking points it if you don't
19:02
Speaker 2: want to use that worldcard early. So all of these
19:04
Speaker 2: things are things you have to massively consider if you
19:08
Speaker 2: go without hard and I think you have to accept
19:10
Speaker 2: if you go without hardening one and two your wild
19:12
Speaker 2: carding into three or you are taking a point to
19:15
Speaker 2: it to bring him in at that point, and well
19:17
Speaker 2: you'll have to be comfortable with that.
19:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can just swap Bruno Fernandez and Alexander Esach
19:22
Speaker 3: to a five point five midfielder and Harland. That's been
19:25
Speaker 3: something I've thought about for game week three. Then again,
19:28
Speaker 3: Liverpool have got ipswich away in game week three. It's
19:31
Speaker 3: not commentary at home, but it's still a pretty good
19:33
Speaker 3: fixture for them, so there is potentially a bit of
19:36
Speaker 3: coverage there. But you are going into the season with
19:39
Speaker 3: an absolutely mammoth gamble to kick it off, and like
19:43
Speaker 3: you said, your plans could be in tatters by Sunday
19:46
Speaker 3: evening basically of the first weekend. It's retrievable, obviously. You know,
19:50
Speaker 3: it's a roll of the dice. It's a bit of fun,
19:52
Speaker 3: but it is something I'm seriously considering. Whether I do
19:54
Speaker 3: it or not, I don't know, but I thought, let's
19:57
Speaker 3: start on the front foot, let's come on the podcast.
19:59
Speaker 3: Let's give people different ideas and different things to discuss
20:02
Speaker 3: and think about. I definitely think it could work. I'm
20:06
Speaker 3: not saying it will, but it could.
20:08
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, and people will do that, and I can
20:10
Speaker 2: completely understand why. Sam. Let's see where your draft is
20:13
Speaker 2: at them. So actually I haven't changed that much in
20:16
Speaker 2: the last week or so. I feel like I am
20:19
Speaker 2: starting to settle. The goalkeepers are still the same at
20:22
Speaker 2: the moment, Kinsky and Brushworth. I am still thinking about
20:24
Speaker 2: taking that point five out. At one point this week
20:27
Speaker 2: I did have a Kinsky to brav could double up.
20:29
Speaker 2: But the back of my head, I'm thinking, if Spurs
20:34
Speaker 2: do play well, if we start the season well and
20:37
Speaker 2: we look like it's going well, do I want to
20:39
Speaker 2: have used two spots up on two Spurs goalkeepers. It
20:41
Speaker 2: doesn't leave me with much flex across the rest of
20:43
Speaker 2: my team, so I'm not keen on that. And as
20:45
Speaker 2: Ian said, we don't really have a four point old
20:48
Speaker 2: goalkeeper just yet, so hence the double up with the
20:51
Speaker 2: two to four point five Masquerrera, Garvardio Mitchell. They haven't
20:56
Speaker 2: changed since last week. They're all still there. I am
20:58
Speaker 2: still thinking about taking point five again out of Mitchell
21:01
Speaker 2: and going down to a four point oh. Have bought
21:03
Speaker 2: in Luke Shaw this week. Decided that I just felt
21:06
Speaker 2: like the opening two fixures what for Manchester United were
21:09
Speaker 2: two good to not have a Manchester United defender in
21:12
Speaker 2: pondering on whether I spend the extra Maguire, but sure
21:14
Speaker 2: just feels like really good value for those opening two fixtures,
21:16
Speaker 2: So probably go there, and then I've moved to isadop
21:21
Speaker 2: just feels like a slightly better pick defensively then going
21:26
Speaker 2: for somebody like Giles again, he could yet be any
21:29
Speaker 2: four point zero and depending upon what I do with Mitchell,
21:32
Speaker 2: I won't look for a nice rotating pair there. The
21:35
Speaker 2: midfield barely changed Bruno Fernandez, Phil Foden, Pascal Gross and
21:39
Speaker 2: Domsa Bosli. Those guys have stayed. Have bought in Fulham's
21:43
Speaker 2: new signing, say Charles, I like the look of him
21:46
Speaker 2: a lot, and at four at five point oh, I
21:49
Speaker 2: just think he looks like really great value for money.
21:52
Speaker 2: Last season in the Championship he averaged eleven point three
21:56
Speaker 2: defensive contributions in a game. So Clearence's blocks, inceptions, tackles,
22:00
Speaker 2: recoveries eleven point three we need twelve in a game
22:05
Speaker 2: obviously to get deaf Con. I expect he'll end up
22:07
Speaker 2: doing a little bit more defensive work in the Premier League.
22:10
Speaker 2: So if he's averaging almost hitting death con every week
22:13
Speaker 2: as it is, then it feels like he could be
22:16
Speaker 2: another Elliott Anderson style player that you're kind of always
22:19
Speaker 2: starting on four, which always feels like a really nice
22:21
Speaker 2: place to be. So currently with him, I would like
22:25
Speaker 2: to find a way to have a better to have
22:29
Speaker 2: an extra Manchester United player in that midfield. I can
22:32
Speaker 2: get easily to a seven million, I can't easily get
22:34
Speaker 2: to an eight million. I was really hoping that Cesco
22:37
Speaker 2: was going to be the one because it's so much
22:38
Speaker 2: easier to get there, but I just don't think it
22:40
Speaker 2: will for the start of the season, and then up
22:43
Speaker 2: top it's still jel Pedro Harlan and I'm back with Selankee,
22:47
Speaker 2: I'm Solanki, igor Jaesu Slea. It's backwards and back and
22:51
Speaker 2: forwards between the two of them, that is the position.
22:54
Speaker 2: And Ian was talking about going for somebody like Barry
22:56
Speaker 2: who's slightly cheaper Olie McBurnie in the same boat. That
22:59
Speaker 2: is a place where I could find another point five
23:02
Speaker 2: which would help me to upgrade the midfield and maybe
23:05
Speaker 2: then that moves me to playing five in midfield and
23:07
Speaker 2: two up top most weeks rather than four in midfield
23:10
Speaker 2: and three up top mast week. So I just need
23:12
Speaker 2: to decide on what that team structure is going to
23:14
Speaker 2: look like and go from there. But I feel like
23:16
Speaker 2: I'm settling. I feel like I'm I'm nearly there now. Yeah. Weirdly,
23:20
Speaker 2: my team hasn't changed much either.
23:22
Speaker 1: In fact, I think the only thing that's changes I've
23:24
Speaker 1: come from Moscare to Califuri, but that changes every single day.
23:27
Speaker 3: So and it feels like we can't get rid of
23:30
Speaker 3: early in how and now though, Kelly, aren't you after
23:31
Speaker 3: that argument?
23:33
Speaker 2: I understand the argument, I'm not acting on the argument. No,
23:36
Speaker 2: So I'm still at Kinsky. Sure.
23:38
Speaker 1: I'd like sure to become Maguire if I can find
23:39
Speaker 1: the funds. Cavardi old Califury, Gross Fernandez to Bosli. I've
23:43
Speaker 1: still got Socca. That is the one position, which, as
23:46
Speaker 1: I've said on every single podcast, so far. I really
23:48
Speaker 1: want to have him whether this this next week is
23:51
Speaker 1: so telling and has always been the case with me
23:53
Speaker 1: with soccer. It sounds like he's returned early.
23:56
Speaker 2: He's fit.
23:57
Speaker 1: I think he's got a bit of a point to prove.
24:00
Speaker 1: He's just very expensive. If I don't have soccer, I'll
24:02
Speaker 1: probably go to him Bomo, That's where I'd like to go.
24:04
Speaker 1: Do I want to double up on the Man United attack,
24:06
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think it's bad Calvt, Lewin, Harland, Pedro,
24:09
Speaker 1: Cavallewin could become someone else too, and my benches to Bravka, Conza, Slater, Thomas.
24:14
Speaker 3: Just a couple of things in that Kelly so Harry
24:17
Speaker 3: McGuire missed the game against Leeds. Don't be worried though,
24:19
Speaker 3: that's just a case of manager.
24:20
Speaker 2: Made me feel a bit better, to be honest, I thought, Yeah.
24:22
Speaker 3: He's played a lot, a lot of action in preseason,
24:25
Speaker 3: has been one of the players who's played the most minutes,
24:27
Speaker 3: so he was just rested for that. Don't worry about that.
24:30
Speaker 3: The one thing will Looke sure, obviously, is point five less.
24:32
Speaker 3: There's less of a deaf con there's maybe more of
24:34
Speaker 3: an attacking threat in open place, certainly not from set pieces,
24:37
Speaker 3: though Maguire has been brilliant across the last few years
24:41
Speaker 3: really for United, and no Casimiro means that maybe he
24:43
Speaker 3: would be more of a target for them, because obviously
24:46
Speaker 3: Casimiro had so much success from set pieces last season.
24:50
Speaker 3: The other one was soccer. I mean, I was quite
24:52
Speaker 3: surprised when I had a look he actually scored more
24:54
Speaker 3: goals last season than he did the season before, and
24:56
Speaker 3: I thought he'd had a really underwhelming campaign year. But
25:00
Speaker 3: it's actually the last two seasons that have been lower
25:04
Speaker 3: on output for him. So you go back to twenty three,
25:07
Speaker 3: twenty four, sixteen goals, twelve assists. It was seven goals,
25:11
Speaker 3: ten assists last season. So yeah, you want to find
25:15
Speaker 3: a way into the Arsenal attack, don't you. But at
25:17
Speaker 3: the moment, I'm trippled up on the defense because it
25:19
Speaker 3: just feels like there's a bit more certainty there with
25:22
Speaker 3: the players. But then again, if every concert signs for Arsenal,
25:27
Speaker 3: the most only defender, he w'd be the most own
25:30
Speaker 3: defender in the game at four point five million if
25:32
Speaker 3: he becomes a first pick for them, And obviously people
25:35
Speaker 3: with a scare in the drafts need to keep an
25:37
Speaker 3: eye on that very closely. But four and a half
25:40
Speaker 3: million for an Arsenal defender, and a good one at
25:43
Speaker 3: that as well, who's got potential of deaf cons and
25:46
Speaker 3: attacking returns too and bonus points like he's shown at Villa.
25:49
Speaker 3: He's going to break the game. Everyone will have him basically,
25:52
Speaker 3: So yeah, I just can't see even Jokarez. I sort
25:58
Speaker 3: of looked at for the first couple of weeks because
26:00
Speaker 3: his record against his record against lower teams last season
26:03
Speaker 3: was so good. He scored fourteen times in the Premier
26:06
Speaker 3: League and eleven of those goals came against teams in
26:08
Speaker 3: the bottom half. An opening weekend game against his old
26:11
Speaker 3: team Coventry at home feels like a great fixture for him,
26:14
Speaker 3: But I have absolutely no idea whether he'll get picked
26:16
Speaker 3: or not.
26:16
Speaker 2: So it's really hard with us them. Yeah, Arsenal I
26:19
Speaker 2: find really difficult because I really want to invest more
26:22
Speaker 2: heavily in them because the fixtures are good. They are
26:25
Speaker 2: the reigning champions. I trust them when it comes to
26:29
Speaker 2: FPL picks, and I think that is a really important thing,
26:31
Speaker 2: is that when you're making your first drafts, you look
26:33
Speaker 2: for players or I do anyway, because I don't want
26:35
Speaker 2: to early world card. I'm looking at players and teams
26:38
Speaker 2: that I feel like I can trust for a longer
26:41
Speaker 2: period of time. So the likes of Manchester United, with
26:44
Speaker 2: the fixtures and what we saw under character last season
26:47
Speaker 2: make them trustworthy. The same with Arsenal. Right over the
26:49
Speaker 2: last few seasons, we've seen nothing but really good things
26:53
Speaker 2: from Arsenal, regardless of whether they've ended up winning trophies
26:56
Speaker 2: or not. The performances, the consistency has always been there
27:00
Speaker 2: and in FPL they've been incredibly trustworthy. And I look
27:03
Speaker 2: at these opening set of fixtures that they have between
27:05
Speaker 2: now and the international break, obviously starting off with Coventry
27:08
Speaker 2: and then it's Aston Villa, Chelsea, Sunderland and Brighton. These
27:12
Speaker 2: are fixtures that I want to be investing in them
27:14
Speaker 2: from now and see every other season. Gabrielle would have
27:17
Speaker 2: been the first name on my team sheet, but at
27:19
Speaker 2: eight million it just feels too difficult. I think that
27:24
Speaker 2: we need to so we need to think a bit
27:28
Speaker 2: outside the box. As you just said that, the conversation
27:30
Speaker 2: about the Arsenal defense is interesting and who you go with?
27:35
Speaker 2: I mean Ray is the easy pick, isn't it It's like, well,
27:37
Speaker 2: go with Rayer. You know what you're going to get
27:38
Speaker 2: with Raya, But with Salibau it feels a little bit
27:42
Speaker 2: more complicated across that defense. I want an ask to
27:46
Speaker 2: attack her in my team more than anything, but I
27:50
Speaker 2: keep looking at it and thinking, I actually don't know.
27:53
Speaker 2: I don't know where to go. I don't feel like
27:55
Speaker 2: soccer is worth nine point five right now. Even what
28:00
Speaker 2: we saw from him at the World Cup as well,
28:01
Speaker 2: that worries me. But where else would you go? Because like,
28:07
Speaker 2: is Gumaro is going to be an option? Well maybe,
28:09
Speaker 2: but I don't feel like I've understood that yet. Sunday's
28:12
Speaker 2: game feels really important, doesn't it. Like what we see
28:14
Speaker 2: in Sunday from them in terms of who starts in
28:17
Speaker 2: the Community Shield and how they play might be the
28:20
Speaker 2: decision maker in terms of the Arsenal attacker of choice
28:23
Speaker 2: for us?
28:25
Speaker 3: What about Christos Solis, who has impressed in pre season
28:28
Speaker 3: for them, a new signing from Club Bruges. Again, there's
28:31
Speaker 3: maybe not certainty over whether he starts the season, has
28:34
Speaker 3: a first choice. Perhaps the Community Shield will give us
28:36
Speaker 3: a bit more info on that. Don't worry about the
28:39
Speaker 3: last time he was in the Premier League, which was
28:41
Speaker 3: at Norwich. People might have forgotten about that. Twenty twenty
28:44
Speaker 3: one to twenty two, no goals, no assists. I think
28:47
Speaker 3: you only got sixteen points that season. Don't worry about that.
28:49
Speaker 3: Just look at last season twenty two goals and twenty
28:52
Speaker 3: nine assists in our competitions. All right. The league he
28:55
Speaker 3: was playing in the Belgian league, not as strong as
28:57
Speaker 3: the Premier League, but they are very compelling numbers and
29:00
Speaker 3: taking set pieces as well. A little bit in pre
29:02
Speaker 3: season he whips in a pretty mean corner, so I'm
29:05
Speaker 3: sure Michael Arteta and his merry men will be across
29:07
Speaker 3: that ability. I wonder if he finds his way into
29:10
Speaker 3: our teams because he's only six point five.
29:12
Speaker 2: So he's looked really good. He's been really impressive in preseason,
29:16
Speaker 2: and f Jewels was was here, he'd probably wax lyrical
29:19
Speaker 2: and give us some nice stats. But I've been really
29:22
Speaker 2: impressed by him. It's one of those, isn't it, where
29:24
Speaker 2: I think, you know, we know what Arsenal can be
29:27
Speaker 2: like from set pieces and he's just slotted into that
29:29
Speaker 2: team super nicely. So definitely want to watch, and at
29:33
Speaker 2: six point five he's super easy to get, so he
29:37
Speaker 2: is definitely the one that is kind of on my
29:40
Speaker 2: on my immediate watch list from the Arsenal attack perspective,
29:43
Speaker 2: because I think he's the cheapest and nicest, possibly the
29:47
Speaker 2: best route in if you don't want to spend the
29:50
Speaker 2: money on soccer.
29:51
Speaker 1: To be honest, he'd be lovely, wouldn't he Because someone
29:53
Speaker 1: like Mia getting the Arsenal attack. I just love the
29:55
Speaker 1: guy a soaker, as you know. So in terms of
29:57
Speaker 1: the fixture difficulty it does going back to that goes Liverpool,
30:00
Speaker 1: Manchester United, then Arsenal, which is actually really nice to
30:03
Speaker 1: have three popular teams at the top of the ticker
30:05
Speaker 1: because it gives us like double reason really or multiple
30:07
Speaker 1: reasons to bring them in. Then after that it's it's Brentford.
30:11
Speaker 1: I know, Sam, they start with Spurs, but they've got
30:14
Speaker 1: nice fixtures. It's sometimes hard to pick brent for players,
30:18
Speaker 1: but actually have some really nice, cheaper options in there.
30:20
Speaker 1: And I know Sangare is one that's caught a lot
30:22
Speaker 1: of people's attentions in the FBL world.
30:25
Speaker 2: Really interests me. He does. Until Charles signed for Fulham,
30:29
Speaker 2: I was all about.
30:30
Speaker 3: Sangari Anderson's aren't.
30:32
Speaker 2: You I and I am absolutely, because but I think
30:36
Speaker 2: that that's really important and we learned we should learn
30:39
Speaker 2: a lesson from last season. Right last season, FPL changed
30:43
Speaker 2: dramatically with the instruction of defensive contributions, and I think
30:46
Speaker 2: for some of us it took a bit longer to
30:49
Speaker 2: get used to the idea that you would pick the
30:51
Speaker 2: center backs over the marauding wingbacks, and that you would
30:53
Speaker 2: pick the more defensively minded midfielders over maybe some of
30:57
Speaker 2: the cheaper but more attacking options in midfield. And this season,
31:03
Speaker 2: I'm kind of determined that we that I try to
31:05
Speaker 2: consider that a little bit more carefully. So I'm looking
31:08
Speaker 2: at how do I invest in those more defensively minded players, because,
31:14
Speaker 2: like I said with Charles when I was talking about
31:16
Speaker 2: him earlier, if you can guarantee yourself four points most
31:21
Speaker 2: weeks out of a player that's your cheap option that's
31:24
Speaker 2: sitting on your bench and that you might need them
31:26
Speaker 2: to come off the bench where you might need them
31:27
Speaker 2: for a bench boost, that's kind of perfect. And Elliet
31:30
Speaker 2: Anderson was kind of all kinds of perfect for us
31:32
Speaker 2: last season. So I don't really want to pay six
31:35
Speaker 2: and a half for Elliot Anderson because it's that little
31:37
Speaker 2: bit more money. I want to pay five or five
31:39
Speaker 2: and a half to find the next Elliot Anderson, because
31:42
Speaker 2: really that's what FPL is all about. It's about finding
31:44
Speaker 2: the value in these picks. Sangari I think is a
31:48
Speaker 2: really great option. We get some attacking threat from him
31:51
Speaker 2: as well, which is always nice, but we also get
31:54
Speaker 2: almost certain defensive contributions in most of the game weeks
31:57
Speaker 2: that he's going to play in. So him, I think
32:01
Speaker 2: he looks great. Now. The bigger question for a lot
32:03
Speaker 2: of FPR managers will be do you go with a
32:05
Speaker 2: Tiago because at eight it's expensive Like last year we
32:09
Speaker 2: were used to having him nice and cheap, But I
32:11
Speaker 2: think Brentford there is a lot of value there. We've
32:13
Speaker 2: got Ira as well at the back, who's really cheap
32:16
Speaker 2: and is a nice enabler as well. You've obviously still
32:19
Speaker 2: got Keller her and Goal who again looks like still
32:21
Speaker 2: a decent option to pick. So I don't think you
32:24
Speaker 2: should overlook the Bees like the fixtures are good. Just
32:26
Speaker 2: because they've got Spurs on the opening day it's a
32:28
Speaker 2: home fixture they want to start well, doesn't mean well,
32:32
Speaker 2: we'll see, but I certainly don't think telling us Spurs
32:36
Speaker 2: are going to be great.
32:37
Speaker 3: Now, where did they finish last year?
32:39
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter. It's all about this year. We look forwards.
32:41
Speaker 2: We don't look back. It's forwards. It's forwards. So I think,
32:46
Speaker 2: you know, you look at the opening fixtures Spurs leads Sunderland,
32:49
Speaker 2: Bournemouth and then Chelsea, then that is not a terrible
32:52
Speaker 2: batch of fixtures to start the season. There's definitely you know,
32:56
Speaker 2: you would expect teams like Spurs, like Chelsea to be
32:59
Speaker 2: very attacking, so defensive contributions could easily come in games
33:02
Speaker 2: like that. So yeah, I'm definitely not put off Brentford.
33:05
Speaker 2: I don't have one at the minute, but they are
33:07
Speaker 2: the team that's kind of sitting there on my watch
33:09
Speaker 2: list of teams that I go. I haven't got a
33:11
Speaker 2: Brentford player, and I probably feel like I should have.
33:14
Speaker 3: I don't have any Brentford players. But the more you
33:16
Speaker 3: talked about there, the more I sort of thought about
33:18
Speaker 3: the fact that the start of this season is quite
33:21
Speaker 3: unprecedented because there's so many managerial changes across the league.
33:24
Speaker 3: I think there's something like nine new Premier League managers
33:27
Speaker 3: who will begin the opening weekend in charge of a
33:29
Speaker 3: club that they weren't in charge of last year, which
33:32
Speaker 3: is absolutely unprecedented. So Brentford do offer a little bit
33:37
Speaker 3: more certainty because we obviously saw them last year under
33:40
Speaker 3: Keith Andrews. We know a little bit more what they're about.
33:43
Speaker 3: And when again, you know, even some of the top
33:45
Speaker 3: sides invested in Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, even Spurs, we
33:50
Speaker 3: didn't see that much of last season deserve me. So yeah,
33:54
Speaker 3: you probably do need a few here and there that
33:56
Speaker 3: you can rely on a little bit more, and you
33:58
Speaker 3: can sort of lean lean on a little bit. I mean,
34:01
Speaker 3: Kevin Sharda's data from last season was great, even though
34:04
Speaker 3: the returns weren't brilliant. He's quite a cheap way into
34:07
Speaker 3: the Brentford side if you think he got Tiago's too much.
34:10
Speaker 3: So maybe he's an option to look at. But yeah,
34:13
Speaker 3: I did find myself when I put the draft together
34:15
Speaker 3: trying to look for you know, Arteta was at Arsenal
34:18
Speaker 3: last year, right, maybe we know a bit more about
34:20
Speaker 3: him Emery at Villa, not so much Brentford, but that
34:24
Speaker 3: that does ring true in terms of him being in
34:26
Speaker 3: charge last season. So yeah, it's a tricky start to
34:29
Speaker 3: the season. This really tricky. I don't remember there being
34:32
Speaker 3: this many question marks over even some of the key
34:35
Speaker 3: assets actually with the World Cup taken into consideration too,
34:38
Speaker 3: So hopefully that means there's lots of variation in people's
34:42
Speaker 3: teams and it's a really fun start.
34:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
34:45
Speaker 1: Actually getting you on and seeing your team actually made
34:47
Speaker 1: quite excited because I thought sometimes I think we can
34:49
Speaker 1: be quite narrow minds and think because we've all got
34:51
Speaker 1: holland everyone's got him, but actually there will be people
34:53
Speaker 1: like yourself, and like you said, there's going to his
34:55
Speaker 1: price point and other price points. I mean, there's going
34:57
Speaker 1: to be a lot, a lot of variety, Sam, do
34:59
Speaker 1: you also target.
35:00
Speaker 2: I won't go through all of.
35:01
Speaker 1: The fixture difficulty rating now because that's twenty teams to
35:05
Speaker 1: go through, but I think the headlines are that those
35:07
Speaker 1: four are the top, Crystal Palace the next, and it's Newcastle.
35:10
Speaker 1: Obviously they're in a bit of transition at the moment.
35:12
Speaker 1: The evertony mentioned before, I think that Everton have some
35:16
Speaker 1: nice fixtures and also some interesting cheap options there, and
35:19
Speaker 1: it goes Chelsea Spurs and we get down to man City,
35:22
Speaker 1: who I don't think we really mind where they are,
35:23
Speaker 1: do we? Sam, do you look at these fixture runs
35:26
Speaker 1: throughout the season and target your chips around them. Yeah,
35:30
Speaker 1: And I also target different clubs for different things. So
35:34
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the opening five weeks. So usually I
35:36
Speaker 1: would start the season with six, but with this international break,
35:39
Speaker 1: the long international break, starting season with looking at five
35:41
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. And then I look for
35:44
Speaker 1: patterns in the fixtures, so I look for I like
35:48
Speaker 1: to use my transfers as carefully as possible, so is
35:50
Speaker 1: there a block of time? Not necessarily for the bigger,
35:53
Speaker 1: bigger players, so Harlem and Brune Fernandez the Arsenal defense.
35:58
Speaker 2: I kin't see them as fixture proof, so I don't
36:00
Speaker 2: worry about that. But with my other players, I look
36:03
Speaker 2: for blocks of fixtures. So, for example, Crystal Palace have
36:05
Speaker 2: a fantastic block of fixtures between game week three and
36:08
Speaker 2: game week nine, So I'm looking at do I get
36:11
Speaker 2: Crystal Palace players in for that block of period, a
36:13
Speaker 2: block of time. It's good because it gives me an
36:15
Speaker 2: opportunity to see how they start the season, new manager,
36:18
Speaker 2: all of that stuff. So it gives me a couple
36:20
Speaker 2: of weeks to assess. Similar with Spurs their block of
36:22
Speaker 2: fixtures that's really good early on is between seven and thirteen,
36:26
Speaker 2: so I'm looking at that. I'm also looking at maybe
36:28
Speaker 2: a potential World Card six bench beef seven strategy. So
36:31
Speaker 2: Spurs fit that narrative nicely because they're about to enter
36:34
Speaker 2: a good run of fixtures, so going heavy on them
36:37
Speaker 2: for a bench boost makes a lot of sense. Liverpool,
36:40
Speaker 2: for example, have a really great block of fixtures between
36:42
Speaker 2: twelve and twenty one. That's ideal because it gets you
36:45
Speaker 2: into the busy Christmas period and gets you through into
36:48
Speaker 2: the second World Card window. So for me, I'm always
36:51
Speaker 2: looking a man City is similar at sixteen through twenty two.
36:53
Speaker 2: For them, that's especially nice. So I'm always looking for
36:56
Speaker 2: those like little chunks of the season where I can say,
37:00
Speaker 2: if I invest in this player now, obviously barring an
37:03
Speaker 2: injury or catastrophic problems, I should have a good run
37:08
Speaker 2: of fixtures where they can sit in my team and
37:12
Speaker 2: do me a good service, and then look to move
37:14
Speaker 2: them on at the end of that block to somebody
37:16
Speaker 2: that's about to start a great run of fixtures. Yeah,
37:19
Speaker 2: it makes a lot of sense.
37:20
Speaker 1: In terms of rotating players, I think we hear a
37:23
Speaker 1: lot of goalkeepers, don't we and do you buy into
37:25
Speaker 1: that theory when you look at fixtures and teams that
37:28
Speaker 1: players that you can swap out depending on how hard
37:30
Speaker 1: their fixtures are.
37:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can. I mean obviously it's been in defense
37:34
Speaker 3: traditionally our goalkeeper where we have done that. But death
37:37
Speaker 3: cons has kind of changed my thinking on that a
37:40
Speaker 3: little bit because when you get players who have got
37:43
Speaker 3: difficult fixtures, the chance of them getting death cons is
37:45
Speaker 3: much higher. So in some ways I don't rotate my
37:48
Speaker 3: defenders as much as I did. There are some nice
37:50
Speaker 3: rotating pairs that you can look at. I've seen City
37:53
Speaker 3: and Manchester City and Coventry City shared quite a lot
37:57
Speaker 3: actually in terms of rotating the defense. So I think
38:00
Speaker 3: Milan van Ewick was the player that this was modeled on,
38:03
Speaker 3: who is four million, so maybe an option there for
38:05
Speaker 3: people who want someone cheap and if he's paired with
38:08
Speaker 3: a City defender like Yascovardiol, you're basically looking at the
38:10
Speaker 3: first nine game weeks of having home fixtures against Bournemouth, Hule, Coventry,
38:14
Speaker 3: Bright and Sunderland, Newcastle, Ipswich, Fulham, Sunderland. So not bad actually,
38:20
Speaker 3: But then for my money, if you've got your Scovardio,
38:23
Speaker 3: Are you really going to rotate him for a Coventry
38:25
Speaker 3: City defender?
38:28
Speaker 1: About this and just think it looks great, But then
38:31
Speaker 1: when it comes to it, I just think it's really hard.
38:33
Speaker 3: Today. Well, Vardio scores away from home in a difficult
38:37
Speaker 3: game for Manchester City, keeps a clean sheet, gets def
38:40
Speaker 3: gone maximum bonus and it's an absolute disaster, isn't it,
38:43
Speaker 3: Because chances are Coventry can see one goal at hole
38:46
Speaker 3: at home to whoever and it ends up ruining it completely.
38:50
Speaker 3: So I think I'm leaning a bit more towards just
38:52
Speaker 3: having shore fire picks once my team is more settled.
38:56
Speaker 3: So if I don't go with this idea of bench
38:58
Speaker 3: boosting game week one so from the start it would
39:02
Speaker 3: be like this, or if I do go with that
39:03
Speaker 3: idea from when a wildcard, it will be a lot
39:05
Speaker 3: more about just picking three, maybe four solid defenders who
39:09
Speaker 3: can play no matter what, and not maybe rotating as much.
39:12
Speaker 3: I just don't like the idea of rotating pairs as
39:14
Speaker 3: much in this death common world as I used to do.
39:16
Speaker 2: Basically, the one thing I would say in is I
39:18
Speaker 2: do quite like the idea of a rotating fifth midfielder
39:21
Speaker 2: and third forward because in that position, I sort of
39:25
Speaker 2: agree with you on the defense, Like I think, if
39:27
Speaker 2: you want to go for two rotating four point zeros
39:29
Speaker 2: and just use them when you use them in defense,
39:30
Speaker 2: that that works, and that still works because then you
39:34
Speaker 2: have them for when they're needed. But I think in
39:37
Speaker 2: the post def corn era that we're now in, that
39:40
Speaker 2: fifth midfielder slot feels like it's going to be a
39:42
Speaker 2: defensive contribution giant. But there will be some weeks where
39:46
Speaker 2: you just think, Oh, I don't really fancy playing them
39:48
Speaker 2: wherever it is, and I would rather play someone else.
39:51
Speaker 2: So that's why I'm kind of pondering on the do
39:54
Speaker 2: I rotate my fifth midfielder with my third forward so
39:58
Speaker 2: that I make sure that I've I've always got one
40:01
Speaker 2: of them I'm happy to play each week.
40:04
Speaker 3: The rest of my accounter again would be if you
40:06
Speaker 3: went with Sangari, for example, would you not want to
40:09
Speaker 3: play him in the difficult fixtures because if you're picking
40:11
Speaker 3: him for death con, if he plays away at the ettyard,
40:13
Speaker 3: is more likely to get more death con, isn't it.
40:15
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so, But I think it depends on
40:17
Speaker 2: how you do it. Because if you've got say you've
40:19
Speaker 2: got Ali McBurnie or Barry as your third forward, then
40:23
Speaker 2: you've probably spent a little bit more money on the
40:25
Speaker 2: fifth midfielder. So you just want to make sure that,
40:28
Speaker 2: like when Barry is a way at Manchester City, for example,
40:31
Speaker 2: you've got somebody who might pick you up deaf con
40:35
Speaker 2: and looks to have an okay game in that one.
40:38
Speaker 2: I think it's that way more than it is the
40:40
Speaker 2: other way. If you want to go for a slightly
40:42
Speaker 2: cheaper third forward, then try to maximize when you would
40:46
Speaker 2: be playing them against who you have in that fifth
40:49
Speaker 2: midfielder slot.
40:50
Speaker 1: Okay, so we haven't got a long left, but I
40:52
Speaker 1: thought we should just quickly go through each position and
40:55
Speaker 1: just pick out quick fire. Not something we're very good
40:57
Speaker 1: at on this podcast, Quickfire Who are the best picks?
41:00
Speaker 1: So we're not gonna have too much of a debate,
41:02
Speaker 1: though it always ends in debate because listeners are going
41:04
Speaker 1: to switch off. Let's be honest, So let's start with
41:07
Speaker 1: the goalkeepers. If you want a cheap four point five
41:09
Speaker 1: who's your best pick?
41:10
Speaker 2: Sam? I still think it's Kinski.
41:13
Speaker 3: I agree, Poh, it's rare.
41:16
Speaker 2: If you want a premium who's the best pick? Sam?
41:18
Speaker 2: This is obvious as well. I think it's right.
41:24
Speaker 3: I have a look at James Trafford as well. Like
41:26
Speaker 3: I mentioned before, I thought he looked great for leads.
41:28
Speaker 3: The fixtures are good, their defensive record last season was
41:31
Speaker 3: really good, and I think there's a couple of attacking
41:34
Speaker 3: contributions in their assists not goals.
41:36
Speaker 1: Obviously, Anean, if you go for a premium keeper, you
41:38
Speaker 1: go for a four million alongside them, I'm guessing.
41:42
Speaker 3: Yes, unless you do my strategy because I've got roofs
41:46
Speaker 3: in there at the moment. Who's five million? I mean,
41:49
Speaker 3: I don't hate Kinsky and Debravka together to start the season.
41:52
Speaker 3: I know it's using up a precious Spurs spot, Sam,
41:55
Speaker 3: but not everyone will feel the same way you do.
41:59
Speaker 2: It's just it's just whether you want to lock in
42:01
Speaker 2: or not. It's the same with all teams. It's just
42:03
Speaker 2: whether you want to be locked in. That's all.
42:05
Speaker 3: Well, if the fixture swing in game week seven, like
42:07
Speaker 3: you said, maybe you can start the season with those
42:09
Speaker 3: two and then if you're play in your wildcard between
42:11
Speaker 3: those periods, you could then have a look at it.
42:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, premium defenders, Sam, best ones? How many?
42:17
Speaker 1: Uh?
42:18
Speaker 2: Well, the best one's Gabrielle, but I think if you
42:20
Speaker 2: don't want to spend a I like Gavadiol the best.
42:23
Speaker 2: I think. I think at five point five he's really
42:25
Speaker 2: good value. I think probably two if you've got Gabrielle,
42:31
Speaker 2: though you're probably on one premium and then everyone else
42:33
Speaker 2: is cheaper. But I think you can probably have two
42:35
Speaker 2: five point five quite comfortably.
42:38
Speaker 3: I still like them. Sorry for Kelly, I've ruined it.
42:42
Speaker 3: I still like James Tarkowski. I know he's six million,
42:45
Speaker 3: but he was a bit highest scoring, don't you as well?
42:49
Speaker 3: Maybe but it was only Sinessa. You've got more deafth
42:52
Speaker 3: cons than him last season ever since, defensive record should
42:55
Speaker 3: be similar, I would say so again, it's another pick
42:58
Speaker 3: where you sort of know what you're getting. The open
43:00
Speaker 3: weekend fixtures of opening section of fixtures are good as well.
43:05
Speaker 3: He will start. There's a bit of a question mark
43:07
Speaker 3: over Keen or branth Weight depending on bramfw weight's fitness.
43:10
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think Taky's all right.
43:12
Speaker 2: Too budget one seam.
43:14
Speaker 3: I like the it switch lads, so it's a dark
43:17
Speaker 3: Dara o'she or Laife Davis At the moment, I've gone
43:19
Speaker 3: for the more old school maraudering full back pick of
43:22
Speaker 3: Leif Davis because he's scored goals in pre season, which
43:26
Speaker 3: still excites me even in the deaf common world. Probably
43:29
Speaker 3: the two center backs are maybe more sensible picks. Maybe
43:33
Speaker 3: their floor is a little bit higher, but I basically
43:37
Speaker 3: think that invested in one of those three is a
43:39
Speaker 3: good idea at the start.
43:41
Speaker 1: Mid's best premium sam, I mean, it is Bruno, but
43:46
Speaker 1: I outside of that, I think there's plenty of other
43:48
Speaker 1: really good options.
43:49
Speaker 2: I do like the m Pomo double up with him
43:52
Speaker 2: to start the season. I think they're really good. I've
43:55
Speaker 2: gone right off the idea of both Parma and Soccer
43:58
Speaker 2: because I think there's there'st of money to be spent
44:01
Speaker 2: across the Chelsea and Arsenal attacks than in those two.
44:05
Speaker 2: But I think you can definitely go there, and I would.
44:08
Speaker 2: Are we bracketing Verts as a premium, I'm not sure
44:10
Speaker 2: we are at seven and a half. He's probably more
44:12
Speaker 2: more mid price. It's just there's not so many. Yeah,
44:14
Speaker 2: there's just not so many premiums in the midfield. So
44:18
Speaker 2: I think you know you can feesibly having midfield that
44:20
Speaker 2: has Bruno, Enbomo and Verts and it still feels very premium.
44:26
Speaker 3: The thing is that it's like a graveyard and it
44:28
Speaker 3: previium midfielders. And I remember the days where you had
44:30
Speaker 3: like Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Salah, Mohammed Salah. You know, all
44:35
Speaker 3: mixing in doesn't really work like that anymore. That said,
44:39
Speaker 3: once we know what Liverpool's midfield look like, once we
44:42
Speaker 3: know what Manchester City's new midfield looks like, once we
44:44
Speaker 3: know what Arsenal's midfield looks like, once we know what
44:46
Speaker 3: Chelsea's midfield looks like. You're looking at Fernandez, Semeno and Boomo, Kunya,
44:51
Speaker 3: verts A bas Lie, Folding, Palma, Rogers, Soka. We could
44:54
Speaker 3: be absolutely spot for choice. So it's the one area
44:57
Speaker 3: where I'm really intrigue. Need to see what happens in
45:01
Speaker 3: the opening weeks, who end up being the picks, who
45:04
Speaker 3: end up being the form players, because you can take
45:06
Speaker 3: that midfield so many different ways.
45:09
Speaker 1: One word best budget option. Ian, Oh, I've put you
45:15
Speaker 1: on the spot there, Sam, do you want to go?
45:17
Speaker 1: I'm really Charles or Sangari for me. Pascal Gros is
45:20
Speaker 1: in there too.
45:21
Speaker 3: Yeahs Anton Stark.
45:25
Speaker 1: Interesting forwards, I mean, Sam and I are going to
45:29
Speaker 1: say Holland is just a gimme, But is it almost?
45:34
Speaker 1: It feels like most off if you haven't got most
45:36
Speaker 1: people be honest about Horland and Pedro, yes, because even
45:40
Speaker 1: you've got Pedro, so it feels like almost Pedro is.
45:43
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're essential, but it feels like that
45:45
Speaker 1: third position is the one that's most up for grabs
45:48
Speaker 1: and the cheaper forward. So I want to ask you
45:50
Speaker 1: about that. Who's the best cheaper forward at the moment,
45:52
Speaker 1: because this is a position I keep kind of flitting between.
45:55
Speaker 3: This is a public service announcement. FPL needs a price,
45:58
Speaker 3: Brian Madjoe X extremely appealingly please to try and ensure
46:04
Speaker 3: if he's four point five team, yes straight away, even
46:08
Speaker 3: if he's five million, is in my team straight away.
46:10
Speaker 3: I mean, the kid is only seventeen years old, but
46:12
Speaker 3: the form is shown in pre season, the goal against PSG,
46:16
Speaker 3: even the chances he missed the chances, that the fact
46:18
Speaker 3: he was getting in the position to miss the chances.
46:21
Speaker 3: There's obviously a little bit of a question mark over
46:23
Speaker 3: how Oly Watkins affects his minutes, but if he's playing
46:25
Speaker 3: like this, he's clearly got the trust of Unaimory for
46:28
Speaker 3: him to start him in a game like the Super Cup.
46:30
Speaker 3: He was the youngest player ever to start a European final.
46:33
Speaker 3: It broke a record set by Jimmy Greaves in the
46:35
Speaker 3: nineteen fifties on Wednesday Night. He's just been hugely impressive.
46:39
Speaker 3: Even the narrative of Villa having to go to the
46:42
Speaker 3: Court of Arbitration for Sport to be able to register
46:45
Speaker 3: him for this season, it won't take anything like that
46:47
Speaker 3: for him to be registered in my team. Just a
46:49
Speaker 3: very appealing prize from FPL.
46:51
Speaker 1: Please some one way best posit forward? He good, Jay Zus,
47:00
Speaker 1: I think I think that's where I am.
47:03
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm dcl at the moment that could very much change.
47:05
Speaker 1: That's where we're going to leave it though, guys, thank you,
47:07
Speaker 1: thank you Ian for stepping in the last minute.
47:09
Speaker 2: Great to have you back on. As always, Sam, I'll
47:12
Speaker 2: see you next week.
47:13
Speaker 1: A reminder we'll be back with the final Pop before
47:15
Speaker 1: the season restarts in our usual Thursday slots that I'll
47:18
Speaker 1: be with you on Thursday afternoon. The Fancy Show also returns.
47:21
Speaker 1: We're recording today. I don't quite know when that's out though,
47:23
Speaker 1: so I won't say that because I'll probably get it wrong.
47:25
Speaker 1: The Fantasy Show will of course be back every Friday
47:28
Speaker 1: as well, so looking forward to it. Good luck sort
47:30
Speaker 1: in those drafts see sing guys,