Latest / FPL Pod / S3 Ep24: Off The Bench: Underwhelming Double Gameweek returns

Transcript

S3 Ep24: Off The Bench: Underwhelming Double Gameweek returns · FPL Pod

0:16
Speaker 1: Welcome back to this week's Off the Bench podcast from
0:19
Speaker 1: the Premier League. I'm FKL Harry.
0:20
Speaker 2: Hey Harry, this is press well.
0:23
Speaker 1: Game Week thirty three. What feels like one of the
0:25
Speaker 1: biggest game weeks of the season is almost over, but
0:27
Speaker 1: it feels like we have some of the biggest games
0:30
Speaker 1: of our seasons left to play. So just as a
0:32
Speaker 1: bit of a timestamp, we are recording before Manchester City
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Speaker 1: play asen Villa tonight and of course Arsenal play against
0:38
Speaker 1: Crystal Palace as part of the double game week in
0:40
Speaker 1: Game week thirty three, and like me, you had a
0:43
Speaker 1: chip active, a different chip active, but for a lot
0:46
Speaker 1: of people listening, this was the week that we'd all
0:48
Speaker 1: planned to play one of our chips, and there were
0:50
Speaker 1: almost two million managers with a chip active this week.
0:54
Speaker 1: Seven hundred and sixty thousand played their bench boost, almost
0:56
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand had their free hit, almost three hundred
0:59
Speaker 1: thousand with triple captain, and almost three quarters of a
1:03
Speaker 1: million had the assistant manager still to play at some
1:05
Speaker 1: point over the past three weeks. So we'll have a
1:08
Speaker 1: look at our scores brief you let me know how
1:10
Speaker 1: your game has gone. But of course there is still
1:11
Speaker 1: so much football to play.
1:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was interesting indeed, Like you know, before
1:16
Speaker 3: the game week started, I was I was thinking, you know,
1:18
Speaker 3: so many chips in play, and actually, like you said,
1:20
Speaker 3: unusually so everybody had, you know, different variations of chips active.
1:25
Speaker 3: So you had assistant manager, I had bench boost. I
1:27
Speaker 3: saw lots of people with triple captaincy hasn't worked out
1:30
Speaker 3: so far, I don't think apart from assistant manager Arteta,
1:33
Speaker 3: which of course Harry is on, anything has worked out
1:35
Speaker 3: so far. So we will see most of the times
1:38
Speaker 3: when it's a double game week, it's really about the
1:40
Speaker 3: other games, right, because your doublers haven't doubled yet. But interesting, indeed,
1:44
Speaker 3: how's your season going, Harry, Yeah.
1:46
Speaker 1: Season's going well, particularly over the past few weeks with
1:49
Speaker 1: the assistant manager. I had to look enviously while everyone
1:52
Speaker 1: else played it a few weeks ago, a few months
1:54
Speaker 1: ago now, and to finally get the points in the
1:56
Speaker 1: bag that I feel like everyone got a while ago
1:58
Speaker 1: to push me into the tops and k good. I
2:00
Speaker 1: am just on your tail. We can't get away without
2:02
Speaker 1: you plugging your rank as well though.
2:04
Speaker 3: Well, I've been sort of between five to ten K
2:08
Speaker 3: for the last six seven weeks, so it's almost been
2:11
Speaker 3: like push a little and then lose in a couple
2:13
Speaker 3: of weeks. But you can't complain. I think both of
2:15
Speaker 3: us are having good seasons. And I would also say
2:18
Speaker 3: this is the first time we're putting together. So some
2:20
Speaker 3: of you know Harry through his channel, some of you
2:22
Speaker 3: know me through the FBL wires. So it's a nice
2:25
Speaker 3: little collapse. So good to actually have a final or
2:28
Speaker 3: for the first time, have a chat with you and
2:30
Speaker 3: part with you.
2:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I feel like we've spoken enough. And then
2:33
Speaker 1: when you filled in this morning, I was like, oh,
2:37
Speaker 1: this must be the first time you've actually ever spoken
2:39
Speaker 1: on something like this about FPL. So it's gonna be good.
2:42
Speaker 1: So we'll leave our scores for now, given there are
2:45
Speaker 1: still two massive games to go, and most of us
2:47
Speaker 1: have got you know, eight nine, ten players still to play,
2:50
Speaker 1: plus our captains to go, So we'll dive into the games,
2:53
Speaker 1: and we'll dive into what felt like one of the
2:56
Speaker 1: big games of the weekend. One of the big captaincy
2:59
Speaker 1: debates of the was was mar Moose the favorable option.
3:02
Speaker 1: We'll talk about some of the options later on. Manchester
3:05
Speaker 1: City left it late. They got there in the end,
3:07
Speaker 1: but most of the popular FPL assets didn't really come
3:10
Speaker 1: away with anything apart from those of us who have
3:12
Speaker 1: gone on with Gavardi ol if you've gone on with
3:15
Speaker 1: or Taga, if you've gone in with one of the
3:16
Speaker 1: other defenders as well. Defensively, I feel like this season
3:20
Speaker 1: I found it really difficult to predict clean sheets, and
3:22
Speaker 1: I found defenders really difficult to predict. This feels like
3:25
Speaker 1: the only week where I've actually had quite a few
3:27
Speaker 1: clean sheets to show for it, and Manchester City where
3:29
Speaker 1: with one of them. What did you make of this?
3:31
Speaker 1: Because we've seen Gavardi are playing sadly at center back
3:34
Speaker 1: over the past few weeks. Right, I bought him for
3:36
Speaker 1: the doubles. I've bought him because he's this marauding left back.
3:38
Speaker 1: He's getting me clean sheet points. But actually the left
3:41
Speaker 1: back where we want him to play in O'Reilly is
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Speaker 1: the one scoring and playing really well. Sadly, he's a
3:46
Speaker 1: midfielder in FPL though, and.
3:48
Speaker 3: To rub salt into the wounds pep even after the game,
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Speaker 3: basically he goes you know, when Guardiola used to play
3:52
Speaker 3: left beck, he's scored a lot of goals and now
3:55
Speaker 3: Nico is our left beck and he will scored a
3:56
Speaker 3: lot of goods, so thanks beeB for that. But it
3:59
Speaker 3: is one of those things, right, I mean a couple
4:01
Speaker 3: of things here. So first people had given up on
4:03
Speaker 3: man City's clean clean sheet potential, and here they are,
4:06
Speaker 3: you know, clean sheet after clean sheet since people loaded
4:09
Speaker 3: up on them on wildcards. So Guardiol still has worked out. Okay,
4:13
Speaker 3: is he worth that price?
4:14
Speaker 2: Well? Who cares? Right?
4:15
Speaker 3: In a world where Harland isn't an option, Palmer is
4:17
Speaker 3: not performing, we'll talk about those guys. But it's fine.
4:20
Speaker 3: I think Guardiol is good. Some people have doubled up
4:22
Speaker 3: in defense as well, so I think man City have
4:25
Speaker 3: gone back to In this game, I felt a little
4:27
Speaker 3: bit like the Manchester Derby game, where it was more control,
4:30
Speaker 3: it was not losing possession and not basically getting caught
4:32
Speaker 3: out on the counter, which Everton loved to do undred moist.
4:35
Speaker 3: So that's where we are. I think de Bruyne. A
4:38
Speaker 3: lot of people went for de Bruyne. I had de
4:39
Speaker 3: Bruyn in my team. You know, they had this false
4:42
Speaker 3: nine format in the previous game where he did so
4:44
Speaker 3: well against Crystal Palace. They didn't really go with that
4:46
Speaker 3: this game. So it was Mahmoush as the forward which
4:50
Speaker 3: they normally have, and then Savinio, Bernardo Silva and debrun
4:53
Speaker 3: basically the three behind. So did it work out? Not really,
4:56
Speaker 3: but it was Everton. Everton have given everyone a tough game,
4:59
Speaker 3: so I feel like it was one of those you
5:01
Speaker 3: go again and see how they do tonight.
5:05
Speaker 1: Yeah. I actually have Phil Foden in my squad, but
5:07
Speaker 1: I actually benched him for the double, which feels really
5:09
Speaker 1: strange to bench a player with a double, but just
5:11
Speaker 1: coming back from the injury that he picked up a
5:13
Speaker 1: few weeks ago against Manti United, his minutes aren't secure
5:16
Speaker 1: and I feel like people with Savino will have very
5:19
Speaker 1: similar sort of regrets on maybe their Manchester City midfield.
5:22
Speaker 1: It was just I suppose for those of us who
5:24
Speaker 1: didn't find a way to go to someone like a
5:26
Speaker 1: Kevin de Bruyne to not see him punish us yet.
5:29
Speaker 1: Of course, across the double was quite nice, but Savino
5:32
Speaker 1: was put out on the left wing in this game.
5:34
Speaker 1: He definitely didn't feel like it fits him nearly as
5:37
Speaker 1: well as when we've seen him play on the right.
5:39
Speaker 1: I think when a lot of us played a wild
5:41
Speaker 1: card and they had Lester at home and he played
5:42
Speaker 1: out in that right wing. I thought we had a
5:43
Speaker 1: fantastic game, and that felt like it was going to
5:46
Speaker 1: be his spot. It was going to be where he
5:47
Speaker 1: was going to play and he was going to profit
5:49
Speaker 1: a lot from an FPL point of view from that position.
5:51
Speaker 1: But he's seen himself on the bench the past couple
5:54
Speaker 1: of games. He's come back in and played on the
5:55
Speaker 1: left wing instead of Docu who has who came on
5:59
Speaker 1: and played really well in that position as well. So
6:01
Speaker 1: there's a lot of still PEP team sheet we lett
6:04
Speaker 1: going on when we see the assen Villa lineup this
6:06
Speaker 1: evening to see where if you have sevenia if he starts,
6:09
Speaker 1: but also what position these guys are playing in as well.
6:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know the thing is this is going
6:14
Speaker 3: to be a theme in this episode and episodes going forward.
6:17
Speaker 3: Their league is in a state where not a lot
6:20
Speaker 3: of teams have motivations, but Man City are not one
6:23
Speaker 3: of those. Because Champions League is tight. Last night Nottingham
6:26
Speaker 3: Forest one, we'll talk about them. And so between them
6:29
Speaker 3: Villa Chelsea, you know there is you know, it is
6:32
Speaker 3: sort of heating up for that fifth position or the
6:35
Speaker 3: fourth fifth position, so and Newcastle as well, I should add.
6:38
Speaker 2: So it's going to be.
6:39
Speaker 3: Interesting and these are the teams that we can consistently
6:41
Speaker 3: at least back. But you know, Man City don't really
6:44
Speaker 3: have a third pick. People have tried to force it,
6:46
Speaker 3: like you mentioned with Savina, with de Bruyne, with Forden,
6:48
Speaker 3: even a double defense. We'll see which one wins out.
6:51
Speaker 3: But I think for the moment, I think people on
6:53
Speaker 3: de Bruyne, people on double Defense, I think those are
6:56
Speaker 3: the ones that are slightly okay.
6:57
Speaker 2: We'll see if Debern does anything tonight.
6:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I'm looking for Phil Foden replacements over the
7:02
Speaker 1: next few weeks. Of course, myself and you, with a
7:05
Speaker 1: lot of us, are planning on playing our three hits
7:08
Speaker 1: in game week thirty four. We'll leave too much of
7:10
Speaker 1: the discussion on that for the main pod on Thursday,
7:13
Speaker 1: but I won't be needing to deal with that problem
7:15
Speaker 1: until we get to the other side of that, so
7:16
Speaker 1: I can just leave him sadly, probably dropping in price
7:19
Speaker 1: a few times between now and then, and then I
7:20
Speaker 1: can review it when we get to get to game
7:23
Speaker 1: week thirty five. One of the other probably the big
7:26
Speaker 1: Champions League Race match of the weekend came at five
7:30
Speaker 1: point thirty on Saturday, with Villa taking on Newcastle in
7:33
Speaker 1: a result that I just didn't see coming. I thought
7:36
Speaker 1: Newcastle had been absolutely fantastic recently, Villa had just played
7:40
Speaker 1: in Europe sadly been knocked out of the Champions League
7:42
Speaker 1: for them, there was a little bit of you know
7:44
Speaker 1: who's going to start for them, and just Newcastle had
7:46
Speaker 1: looked absolutely fantastic across the double in game week thirty
7:49
Speaker 1: two where we'd all own them for and then Villa
7:51
Speaker 1: come in and beat them for one and just feel
7:54
Speaker 1: like they just hit the ground running and Newcastle didn't
7:57
Speaker 1: even have a chance to get in the game. Ollie Watkin,
8:00
Speaker 1: we didn't know whether he was going to start. He
8:01
Speaker 1: looked like he was out of favor. Sounds like he
8:03
Speaker 1: spoke to Unyamory and said, I want to play. Why
8:07
Speaker 1: am I not playing? I feel like I should be
8:08
Speaker 1: in there, and had a chat with him and he's
8:10
Speaker 1: back in and it was one of the best performances
8:13
Speaker 1: I'd seen for Mollie Watkins probably this season. And Fabian
8:15
Speaker 1: Share and some of those new cast defenders who've been
8:17
Speaker 1: great just absolutely struggled to deal with them right.
8:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a bit.
8:21
Speaker 3: I mean, Villa have been difficult this season in general, right,
8:24
Speaker 3: I mean, apart from Rogers, there hasn't been a pick
8:26
Speaker 3: consistently starting I mean Ti Liman, yes, but less for
8:29
Speaker 3: an FBL point of view. So yeah, I mean, if
8:32
Speaker 3: we knew Watkins is starting, I think a lot of
8:34
Speaker 3: people would have considered Esak to Watkins. A lot of
8:36
Speaker 3: us got cold feet because you know, Rashford started both
8:39
Speaker 3: the PhD legs and more importantly the middle game against
8:42
Speaker 3: Southampton even that Rashford started, So it's you know, Emery
8:46
Speaker 3: completely threw us off the scent and none of us
8:49
Speaker 3: went for Olli Watkins. If you did, congratulations, he had
8:51
Speaker 3: a great game, and they actually Villa, you know, deserved
8:53
Speaker 3: more goals. Essensio hit the post, McGinn hit the post,
8:56
Speaker 3: Rodgers hit the post. They all had good chances. So
9:00
Speaker 3: it was an unpredictable game. But as I said as
9:02
Speaker 3: a theme for this podcast, there are going to be
9:04
Speaker 3: a lot of unpredictable games this year, even though these
9:07
Speaker 3: teams are also fighting for the Champions League. It was
9:09
Speaker 3: just one of those games where you didn't see it coming.
9:12
Speaker 3: Like you said, yeah.
9:13
Speaker 1: Villa, do feel like a team with still quite a
9:15
Speaker 1: lot to play for, of course out of Europe, now
9:17
Speaker 1: still in the FA Cup to play this weekend, but
9:20
Speaker 1: with four games to go after the blanking game with
9:22
Speaker 1: thirty four of Fulham, Bournemouth, Spurs and Man United, still
9:25
Speaker 1: feels like they are absolutely in the hunt for Champions League.
9:28
Speaker 1: So if you had your time again, would you start
9:32
Speaker 1: to consider Watkins? You feel like Morgan Rodgers is just
9:35
Speaker 1: the safest. And the issue is is we all buy
9:37
Speaker 1: into their defense because we see them with a double
9:39
Speaker 1: and we all love a double, despite what defensive data
9:42
Speaker 1: for the team might look like and what the actual
9:44
Speaker 1: output for someone like in Ezrie Kansa might look like.
9:47
Speaker 1: But it doesn't stop me buying him. It doesn't start
9:49
Speaker 1: a lot of us buying him, and we play the fixtures.
9:51
Speaker 1: But I'm happy to have him. I'm happy to have Rogers.
9:54
Speaker 1: I do wish I had done that. He's had to
9:55
Speaker 1: Watkins move.
9:56
Speaker 3: In hindsight, yeah, I look, I'm completely with you, and
9:59
Speaker 3: we had similar decisions to make at the time. I
10:02
Speaker 3: don't regret it. I think we played the hand that
10:04
Speaker 3: was sort of dealt. What I would say on Villa is, look,
10:08
Speaker 3: they will obviously have an eye on the on the
10:10
Speaker 3: FA Cup semi final. That's huge for them, that's a
10:12
Speaker 3: chance for a trophy, and it will also have big
10:15
Speaker 3: implications on what we see going forward because the winner
10:18
Speaker 3: could potentially have a future double game week if because
10:21
Speaker 3: the final clashes with Game Big thirty seven, so we
10:24
Speaker 3: will see. We don't know how where that where that fits,
10:27
Speaker 3: but it does have implications in the future. I don't
10:29
Speaker 3: see much rotation tonight or you know, even for Palace
10:32
Speaker 3: tomorrow because I feel you know, those teams have you know,
10:36
Speaker 3: they will have one eye on the FA Cup, but
10:37
Speaker 3: when we talk about it, you know, the league is
10:40
Speaker 3: still important, especially for Villa. I think the team that
10:42
Speaker 3: we should spend a little bit of time on is Newcastle. So,
10:45
Speaker 3: like you said, they have been inconsistent, but a lot
10:47
Speaker 3: of people are looking to still load up on them
10:49
Speaker 3: on free hits in Game Big thirty four because they
10:51
Speaker 3: have that very juicy home fixture against Ipswich and also
10:55
Speaker 3: you know, people who are not on free hit will
10:57
Speaker 3: want to continue to keep them, So your thought on
11:00
Speaker 3: I guess people who were on ESK but too else.
11:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like this is Newcastle for like one
11:05
Speaker 1: of the teams where I could name eight nine players
11:09
Speaker 1: in their starting eleven that you could realistically pick, and
11:12
Speaker 1: particularly on a free hit this week, I think there'll
11:14
Speaker 1: be a lot of appeal for Eazac and I think
11:16
Speaker 1: he's one that will just go in, so I don't
11:17
Speaker 1: think we need to discuss too much of that about that.
11:20
Speaker 1: You can then have a look at basically all of
11:22
Speaker 1: the attackers. The issue is you've got Harvey Barnes, who's
11:25
Speaker 1: been playing fantastically recently, but generally he's not considered their
11:29
Speaker 1: first choice front three. He might be now you've got
11:31
Speaker 1: Jacob Murphy and of course you've got Anthony Gordon as well.
11:34
Speaker 1: If they'd have won this game comfortably, you would expect
11:37
Speaker 1: that they line up with a very similar team as
11:40
Speaker 1: they had done in the double Barnes and Murphy and
11:42
Speaker 1: Eazak as their front three. But when you come off
11:45
Speaker 1: a result like this, you do wonder if they'll start
11:48
Speaker 1: to change things and maybe Anthony Gordon will find his
11:50
Speaker 1: way back into the lineup. Will that be in the
11:52
Speaker 1: place of Harvey Barnes and go out to his natural
11:54
Speaker 1: left wing, or will it come in for Jacob Murphy
11:57
Speaker 1: And where they've played with a couple of them before.
11:59
Speaker 1: So it does feel like this fixture screams a lot
12:02
Speaker 1: of goals and one that we can really look to
12:04
Speaker 1: target going forward. But it does feel like all of
12:06
Speaker 1: those picks come with a slight bit of risk. I
12:08
Speaker 1: do think it's hard for him to drop Harvey Barns though,
12:11
Speaker 1: look at how he's played over the past few weeks.
12:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you make a good quess, and I
12:15
Speaker 3: think it's very hard for us to sit here and
12:17
Speaker 3: predict this because Eddie how is not going to tell us.
12:20
Speaker 3: He's not going to tell us how well advanced Anthony
12:23
Speaker 3: Gordon is or you know what he's thinking in terms
12:25
Speaker 3: of his lineup for Ipswich. And second thing is just
12:28
Speaker 3: general fitness, right, I mean, we don't know how bad
12:30
Speaker 3: the injury was for Gordon. He's getting some minutes, but
12:32
Speaker 3: he's still not starting, so I think it muddies all
12:35
Speaker 3: three in terms of picks. You know, Murfy should be okay,
12:38
Speaker 3: he started every game since Kimbig thirteen, but he's again
12:41
Speaker 3: probably going to get sixty to seventy minutes, so it
12:43
Speaker 3: depends if you want to go for that. But these
12:45
Speaker 3: are the picks, right, I mean, I'm still tempted by
12:47
Speaker 3: their defense. Despite them shipping all these goals at home,
12:50
Speaker 3: they're still solid. And I have this nostalgia with Tripier
12:54
Speaker 3: which I can't get rid of. And you know, even
12:56
Speaker 3: though he's not on all the set pieces anymore, he's
12:58
Speaker 3: still a good FBO big with the volume of crosses
13:01
Speaker 3: that he puts in.
13:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have that sort of nostalgia pick with Fabian Share.
13:06
Speaker 1: I feel like he's the one. If I'm going to
13:07
Speaker 1: pick one of those Newcastle defenders to come up with
13:09
Speaker 1: a fifteen pointer, it feels like Fabian Chare has got
13:12
Speaker 1: that long range shot or the goal from a corner
13:14
Speaker 1: in his locker, and he's actually hauled twice over the
13:16
Speaker 1: past four weeks as well. This is why it feels
13:19
Speaker 1: quite nice. And again we don't want to dwell too
13:20
Speaker 1: much on those on three hitters. We're aware that not
13:23
Speaker 1: everyone will be playing it this week, but there are
13:25
Speaker 1: so many different picks and it doesn't feel like in
13:27
Speaker 1: previous weeks where we've looked to play the free hit
13:29
Speaker 1: that we've been narrowed down to maybe fifteen players and
13:33
Speaker 1: we're picking eleven out of that possible fifteen that we
13:35
Speaker 1: could choose from it feels like there is an absolute
13:38
Speaker 1: abundance of picks, for example, which is, you know we
13:40
Speaker 1: want triple Newcastle, but izak, you've got Barnes, you've got Murphy,
13:44
Speaker 1: you've got Gordon, you've got all the defenders. You could
13:46
Speaker 1: look at Nick poping goal. There is a real way
13:48
Speaker 1: that you can differentiate your team this week if you're
13:50
Speaker 1: looking to chase, and even if you're not, it's not
13:53
Speaker 1: going to be that easy to maybe protect because of
13:55
Speaker 1: quite how different some of those teams are. If I
13:58
Speaker 1: had to pick a defender, I think that be Faban
14:00
Speaker 1: Shared just because of what I know he's capable of doing.
14:03
Speaker 2: Interesting.
14:04
Speaker 3: Let's move to Ipswich Arsenal so one of those games
14:07
Speaker 3: which you know, again motivations for Arsenal, people would question,
14:10
Speaker 3: you know, how much they will be interested in, you know,
14:13
Speaker 3: scoring goals or will they protect their players. They put
14:16
Speaker 3: out a pretty much a full strength team and here's
14:19
Speaker 3: the stat there was only one player out of the
14:21
Speaker 3: eleven that started that didn't get an fbield return. Everybody
14:25
Speaker 3: else either got an assist or a goal or a
14:27
Speaker 3: clean sheet. And it turns out to be Bukai Osaka.
14:30
Speaker 1: Okay Soka and not only no return taken off just
14:33
Speaker 1: before the sixtieth minute, so no second appearance point and
14:35
Speaker 1: no clean sheet as well. I'll throw some stats back
14:37
Speaker 1: at you. He was the second biggest XGI underperformer in
14:41
Speaker 1: the entire game week. Yeah, just the amount of data
14:44
Speaker 1: that he's putting out one point three to nine expected
14:46
Speaker 1: goal of moments this week across just fifty seven minutes.
14:49
Speaker 1: If you predicted that he would start, I wasn't one
14:51
Speaker 1: of those. I didn't think he'd be fully raced back,
14:53
Speaker 1: given they have Madrid, given they have a Champions League
14:56
Speaker 1: semi final coming up as well. But yeah, he looked.
14:59
Speaker 1: He looks fully back. Makaisaka. He looks like a player.
15:02
Speaker 1: I don't want to go without the.
15:03
Speaker 3: Moment, absolutely, and I think look, Arsenal will manage minutes
15:07
Speaker 3: because you know they have the Champions League and pretty
15:09
Speaker 3: much this you know the league should be wrapped up
15:12
Speaker 3: this weekend and so after that, you know even more
15:15
Speaker 3: so aarsdon will look to look to rotate. But I
15:19
Speaker 3: think I think soccer is a good pick regardless because
15:21
Speaker 3: you also have to look at opportunity costs. Who else
15:23
Speaker 3: if you don't have soccer, who else are you going for?
15:25
Speaker 3: We'll talk about Chelsea, we'll talk about other picks like Liverpool.
15:30
Speaker 3: So I think Soccer is a good player, and I
15:32
Speaker 3: think if you're on captaincy, even if you just owned him,
15:35
Speaker 3: it was just very very unlucky. And these things happen
15:37
Speaker 3: in FBI.
15:38
Speaker 1: It does feel like we're going to have slight bits
15:40
Speaker 1: of those Arsenal risks going forward though. Game with thirty
15:43
Speaker 1: five if they play Born Withou at home, which comes
15:44
Speaker 1: right in between their two Champions League semi finals against PSG,
15:48
Speaker 1: and then in game with thirty six they go away
15:51
Speaker 1: to Liverpool. So I suppose the question is we've all
15:53
Speaker 1: invested now for the double. Those of who went on Kivir,
15:56
Speaker 1: on Saliba on Ry are probably the ones winning at
15:59
Speaker 1: the moment, unless you took a part on someone like
16:01
Speaker 1: Leandro tross Art He has been saying his returned spike
16:04
Speaker 1: over the past few weeks. If you haven't invested now,
16:07
Speaker 1: where where do you think you'd be looking?
16:09
Speaker 3: I think I think it'll be defense, to be honest, like,
16:12
Speaker 3: no matter what rotation, Arson will continue to play the
16:16
Speaker 3: shape that they're used to. They will want to stay fresh.
16:18
Speaker 3: Arteta after the game also talked about you know rhythm
16:21
Speaker 3: and so it's not like he'll put out you know kids,
16:24
Speaker 3: So I think you will see some rotation. If you
16:26
Speaker 3: want to play the roulette and this is the Arteta roulette,
16:29
Speaker 3: then yeah, Trossad looks a good option because he is
16:31
Speaker 3: not then their first first team. It looks like it's Murreno,
16:34
Speaker 3: Martinelli and Soaker up top. So in the games that
16:37
Speaker 3: are less important, Trussard will get those minutes and we
16:39
Speaker 3: like that from an FBL point of view. But I
16:41
Speaker 3: think the safe play is pretty much Saliba kiv Or
16:45
Speaker 3: to a lesser extent and definitely Ria. So I think
16:47
Speaker 3: you still want them whether you can sell them. So
16:50
Speaker 3: let's say if you're not on a free hit this
16:51
Speaker 3: week and you're looking to sell them, I think it's
16:52
Speaker 3: okay to sell one. You don't have to have a
16:54
Speaker 3: triple up once you've once a double game week is over.
16:57
Speaker 3: So it's you know, we have to it's that time
16:59
Speaker 3: of year. We have to think about these things which
17:01
Speaker 3: are outside of what our belief system is. That you know,
17:04
Speaker 3: Arsenal second best in the team in the league, how
17:06
Speaker 3: can you sell their players? Maybe you can think about
17:08
Speaker 3: it a little bit.
17:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Kivio is a really interesting pick. Of course,
17:11
Speaker 1: he's much cheaper than Sleibra, and actually his unlined bonus
17:14
Speaker 1: points because there were so many goals he didn't actually
17:16
Speaker 1: return any, but he was the highest of all the
17:18
Speaker 1: defenders outside of Zinchenko, who, of course his baseline was
17:22
Speaker 1: high than Zinchenko, but Zinschenko picking up and assists. So
17:24
Speaker 1: if you don't have the money for Salibra, and if
17:26
Speaker 1: you didn't have it, actually looking at someone like a Kivo,
17:29
Speaker 1: even though he's you know, he's a center back, it's
17:31
Speaker 1: slightly less appealing overgoing with someone who's maybe slightly more
17:35
Speaker 1: rotation prone, like a Timber, who has been a great
17:37
Speaker 1: pick this season. Felt like, looking back at it looks
17:40
Speaker 1: like a really good pick and at such a nice
17:42
Speaker 1: price as well, the cheapest way into the ARS defense.
17:44
Speaker 1: It feels like we'll have for many many seasons to
17:46
Speaker 1: come as well.
17:47
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think a quick word on Ipswich, because yes,
17:50
Speaker 3: we're not picking Ipswich Blazz as such, but I think
17:52
Speaker 3: one important point that happened in the game was leif
17:54
Speaker 3: Davis got a got a red card, and so what
17:57
Speaker 3: that meant was Jacob Grieves moved to the left hand
17:59
Speaker 3: send that probably from a matchup perspective, helps Jacob Murphy.
18:04
Speaker 3: So if you know, if Leaf Davis isn't bombarding forward,
18:08
Speaker 3: then maybe he gets a little bit more joy in
18:09
Speaker 3: that right hand side. And so you'd think that, you know,
18:12
Speaker 3: one other vote for Murphy if that was if you're
18:15
Speaker 3: into matchups and things like that, because obviously you guest
18:17
Speaker 3: host Ipswich.
18:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, let's move on and talk about my team
18:21
Speaker 1: and two teams that have you know, a lot of
18:23
Speaker 1: implications on game week thirty four, and that is Chelsea
18:27
Speaker 1: versus Fulham, the s W six derby as it's known
18:31
Speaker 1: the two local clubs. It was not the best first
18:34
Speaker 1: half from Chelsea and to you know, come into that
18:37
Speaker 1: second half really clor it back with two late goals,
18:39
Speaker 1: but still nothing for Cole Palmer. I think that's it
18:42
Speaker 1: feels like a long time since he's had any sort
18:44
Speaker 1: of Premier League goal or assist. He had a few
18:46
Speaker 1: weeks ago, but still really drying up in terms of returns,
18:49
Speaker 1: not looking nearly as confident on the ball. We're seeing
18:52
Speaker 1: similar for Jackson. It feels like if we got to
18:54
Speaker 1: a week where Chelsea had Everton at home and we
18:57
Speaker 1: were on free hit, we'd be saying, which Chelsea would
18:59
Speaker 1: it be? Is col Palmer captaincy contender? And now it
19:02
Speaker 1: feels like is even worth including in it at the moment.
19:05
Speaker 1: And actually there's a lot of Fulham players going away
19:07
Speaker 1: to Southampton this week, none more than four point one
19:10
Speaker 1: million defender Ryan Session currently playing right wing at the
19:13
Speaker 1: moment for Marco Silverside providing the assist for the Fulham goal.
19:17
Speaker 1: Actually feels like the biggest FPL takeaway from this game
19:21
Speaker 1: is him rather than any of the Chelsea players.
19:23
Speaker 3: Well, I think I think both these teams are important
19:26
Speaker 3: for you know, people on free hit on or not
19:28
Speaker 3: on free hit because you know, these are two teams
19:30
Speaker 3: with good fixtures in game meek thirty four.
19:32
Speaker 2: So let's break it down. Let's first talk about Chelsea.
19:35
Speaker 3: So look, I think, yes, they're not in formed, but
19:39
Speaker 3: the motivation is there, right, So the things we've talked
19:41
Speaker 3: about Chelsea have all to play for Champions League. No
19:43
Speaker 3: Champions League is going to be so huge for the
19:46
Speaker 3: transfer budget, for the club, the growth, and so I
19:49
Speaker 3: refuse to think that Palmer is not just just not
19:51
Speaker 3: going to do anything for the rest of the season.
19:53
Speaker 3: So let's break it down first for him, he's still
19:56
Speaker 3: on penalties, he's still taking set pieces. What's gone wrong,
19:59
Speaker 3: what's different to last season or first stuff of this
20:02
Speaker 3: season on him?
20:02
Speaker 1: So for me, I think it's a little bit of
20:04
Speaker 1: a positioning thing. He's moved with Enzo Fernandez coming into
20:08
Speaker 1: the team. He's playing a lot Enzo on that sort
20:10
Speaker 1: of right ten side and he's meaning Palmer's being pushed
20:13
Speaker 1: out to the left hand side a little bit more,
20:15
Speaker 1: which for someone who's a left foot to and we've
20:17
Speaker 1: seen a lot of those Palmer goals where he's been
20:19
Speaker 1: in that sort of right ten pocket shooting to the
20:21
Speaker 1: far post. He scored an awful lot of goals for
20:23
Speaker 1: us in that position, and he doesn't look nearly as
20:25
Speaker 1: natural in that sort of left ten role. He doesn't
20:27
Speaker 1: quite know how to shape his body to try and
20:29
Speaker 1: fit himself into that position to try and score, and
20:32
Speaker 1: he's missing a lot of big chances. So if you
20:34
Speaker 1: look at the underlying data, he's getting the chances. So
20:36
Speaker 1: in theory of thinking, the chances will come, the goals
20:39
Speaker 1: will come. But the issue with it, he doesn't look
20:41
Speaker 1: natural when he's trying to shoot from that point. And
20:43
Speaker 1: actually I think his link up with Noni Madwake, who
20:45
Speaker 1: plays on that right hand side, is really good, and
20:48
Speaker 1: his positioning when he's that side does feel like it's
20:50
Speaker 1: a lot better and a lot stronger, whether it's shooting
20:53
Speaker 1: or whether it's crossing it into the back post. So
20:55
Speaker 1: if it continues that way, I do think the returns
20:58
Speaker 1: will be slightly more difficult for Parma to come by.
21:00
Speaker 1: But I do think that, of course there's a confidence thing, right.
21:02
Speaker 1: I think a lot of those Chelsea attackers are just
21:04
Speaker 1: struggling and once that first one goes in, you might
21:07
Speaker 1: feel like there's a little bit of a sigh of relief.
21:08
Speaker 1: But until that happens, it's difficult to see. When he's
21:11
Speaker 1: on the ball, he doesn't have that sort of desire
21:14
Speaker 1: to shoot and take chances on that maybe he would
21:16
Speaker 1: have done earlier on in the season. He's passing a
21:18
Speaker 1: lot more.
21:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough for look.
21:20
Speaker 3: I think from a free hit perspective, I know non
21:23
Speaker 3: free hitters probably will struggle to get to him.
21:26
Speaker 2: I just think it's an opportunity.
21:27
Speaker 3: Like I know he played recently Southampton at home, Ipswitch
21:31
Speaker 3: at home and at home got one assist out of those.
21:35
Speaker 3: But Everton at home is basically it's it's not as
21:39
Speaker 3: easy as the other ones, but it's still a good fixture.
21:42
Speaker 3: So I think I would still back him because I'll
21:44
Speaker 3: be on a free hit, but I can understand people
21:47
Speaker 3: not on a free hit basically having lost faith. So
21:50
Speaker 3: who else from Chelsea? So Coo Corella, I like a
21:52
Speaker 3: little bit like he's getting forward a lot. Is that someone?
21:57
Speaker 2: Is he someone you're considering on free hit?
21:58
Speaker 1: Yeah? Koker is actually in my after at the moment.
22:00
Speaker 1: When you look at the Chelsea positioning, he seems to
22:03
Speaker 1: be the one sort of edge of the box. He's
22:05
Speaker 1: playing in that sort of front line a lot of
22:06
Speaker 1: the time, and we've seen him being our highest goal
22:08
Speaker 1: scoring defender for Chelsea so far this season. I really
22:11
Speaker 1: like him as a pick. And again he's one of
22:13
Speaker 1: those if you're on free hit, you have a lot
22:15
Speaker 1: of budget going around, right, But if you're not on
22:17
Speaker 1: free hit, he's probably one that you're unlikely to go
22:19
Speaker 1: and get to you. So I quite like him for
22:21
Speaker 1: that point of view. From a differential, we have controlled
22:24
Speaker 1: games quite well. The goals conceded over the past few
22:27
Speaker 1: weeks has been a little bit less. Yes, we concede
22:29
Speaker 1: it to Fulham here, but I do think he's one
22:31
Speaker 1: of those defenders this week. Of course, you know Everton
22:34
Speaker 1: don't have Tarkowski available for this game as well, so
22:37
Speaker 1: there is that sort of added threat through the middle
22:39
Speaker 1: for Chelsea that Palmer and maybe Koukarea could could look
22:41
Speaker 1: to exploit. So those are the two that I think
22:43
Speaker 1: are worth considering from Chelsea this week.
22:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, and those not on free hit.
22:47
Speaker 3: I think if you've if you're holding on to a
22:49
Speaker 3: Enzo Fernandez or any other defender, even centers, I think
22:52
Speaker 3: it's okay, and I think it's a good fixture or
22:55
Speaker 3: good enough fixture for you to hold through the through
22:58
Speaker 3: the blank. So let's talk about Fulham then. So you
23:00
Speaker 3: talked about Cessignon. Now it's complicated with him, so let's
23:03
Speaker 3: suspend a second with him. He's been playing right wings
23:06
Speaker 3: out of position while Wilson has been out and Tete
23:11
Speaker 3: has now also come back for Castania playing rights handed defender,
23:14
Speaker 3: so that right wing has basically completely changed with Tete
23:17
Speaker 3: and Sesignong playing on the right. Cessigjong has been one
23:19
Speaker 3: of their better attackers. He had I think the most
23:23
Speaker 3: successful passes and he provided the assist for Iobi. He's
23:27
Speaker 3: been involved in attacking returns throughout you know, while he's
23:30
Speaker 3: been playing. So a couple of complications. Wilson was back
23:34
Speaker 3: on the bench in the previous game. Second complication, you know,
23:38
Speaker 3: you get these match alerts, so a couple of websites
23:41
Speaker 3: basically mentioned that he walked off with a limp, so
23:46
Speaker 3: we don't know if he was taken off, you know,
23:48
Speaker 3: because of an injury, or he has just taken off
23:50
Speaker 3: because Wilson is back and he wanted to give him
23:52
Speaker 3: minutes anyway. And there's a third complication actually to add
23:55
Speaker 3: to this, there was one game to two game weeks
23:57
Speaker 3: ago when he was taken off on the fifty eighth minut,
24:00
Speaker 3: which later was revealed that it was an accidental. Robinson
24:04
Speaker 3: was the one who was supposed to be taken off.
24:05
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of complication with Seignon, but he's
24:08
Speaker 3: still very appealing right.
24:10
Speaker 1: It feels like one of those that if the complications
24:12
Speaker 1: fool the right way, he could be the highest scoring
24:14
Speaker 1: defender going into this double. Southampton away is a nice fixture.
24:17
Speaker 1: He's playing as part of that front three. He's had
24:21
Speaker 1: four returns in his past five games. I'm just counting them,
24:24
Speaker 1: so really getting forward. Fulham do like to score goals,
24:27
Speaker 1: but you do have that added complication that if he
24:29
Speaker 1: doesn't start, you're going to really regret going there. That's
24:32
Speaker 1: the only issue.
24:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
24:33
Speaker 1: The other one that I really like it, Sorry gon no.
24:35
Speaker 3: I was saying, and he will came you as well
24:37
Speaker 3: if he doesn't start, because Wilson won't play all the minutes.
24:40
Speaker 1: So maybe you just go safer with this season's pick
24:42
Speaker 1: in defense with Anthony Robinson on the left hand side,
24:45
Speaker 1: who is more than capable of getting his attacking returns
24:47
Speaker 1: on that side as well. Or you could go with
24:49
Speaker 1: Leno and goal if you don't quite fancy the risk
24:51
Speaker 1: that the Cessigon provides.
24:53
Speaker 2: Yep.
24:53
Speaker 3: And I think one other pick from Fulham because Muniz
24:57
Speaker 3: was injured in this game and revealed that he was
25:00
Speaker 3: indeed injured, he got a tackle it in the game
25:02
Speaker 3: against Bournemouth. Ral Human has becomes a decent pick as
25:05
Speaker 3: well because he should get eighty plus minutes. He played
25:08
Speaker 3: eighty five minutes in this game against Southampton, and you
25:11
Speaker 3: want your strikers to play Southampton. So that's another one
25:13
Speaker 3: that is coming under the radar for free hitters.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really like him again, He's in my draft
25:19
Speaker 1: at the moment, currently on my bench because I'm playing
25:21
Speaker 1: five midfielders, but he's one that I really want to
25:23
Speaker 1: find a way into my starting eleven. If we get
25:26
Speaker 1: confirmation that Money's is going to miss this Southampton game
25:28
Speaker 1: as well.
25:29
Speaker 3: Indeed, indeed, let's move on to Liverpool. You know, a
25:33
Speaker 3: team that could be champions by the weekend or actually
25:35
Speaker 3: even even this midweek. If if Arsenal lose, let's hope
25:38
Speaker 3: that's not the case. In Liverpool get to celebrate the
25:40
Speaker 3: title at home. So they played Lester. It was looking
25:44
Speaker 3: quite cagy. I mean, they were getting chances, but you know,
25:47
Speaker 3: we expected a lot more goals and Salah to not
25:49
Speaker 3: blank essentially.
25:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and he was Actually I was looking at it.
25:53
Speaker 1: I was finding captaincy this week quite difficult because you
25:55
Speaker 1: had players like mar MOUs and Saka where the minutes
25:58
Speaker 1: weren't certain. The double was great, and I actually just
26:01
Speaker 1: wondered should I just put it on salary away at Lester?
26:03
Speaker 1: And I'm quite glad I didn't. He absolutely had chances
26:06
Speaker 1: in this game though. Right up there in the top
26:07
Speaker 1: three for XGI underperformers again this week, along with Bakaari Saka,
26:11
Speaker 1: so he absolutely had the chances. We saw slight changes
26:15
Speaker 1: to the front line for Liverpool in this game. We
26:18
Speaker 1: saw Cody Gapo come back in. We saw Lewis Diaz
26:20
Speaker 1: in there as well, Dioga Jotta dropping to be a substitute.
26:23
Speaker 1: So it does feel like Cody Gapper, who was a
26:26
Speaker 1: great option earlier on in the season, particularly when Liverpool
26:29
Speaker 1: had their doubles, could be coming back to be a
26:31
Speaker 1: pick at the moment. The real question I want to
26:34
Speaker 1: talk to you about Liverpool is there right back, and
26:36
Speaker 1: Connor Bradley has been playing over the past few weeks.
26:38
Speaker 1: People have bought in for him. He got another clean
26:40
Speaker 1: sheet here, but Trent Alexander Arnold came back into the
26:44
Speaker 1: squad and came off the bench for him going into
26:47
Speaker 1: this one. Now, as you said, this could be the
26:48
Speaker 1: game that Liverpool's sealed the title at home in front
26:52
Speaker 1: of their own fans. How do you read into that
26:54
Speaker 1: narrative about whether Trent's ready to go again for Spurs
26:56
Speaker 1: at home and whether he's the pick that we should
26:58
Speaker 1: be going with over someone like pisasin On, over someone
27:01
Speaker 1: like a quick Carier on free here this.
27:02
Speaker 3: Week, it's a very difficult one to answer it. It's again,
27:05
Speaker 3: it's complicated because of a couple of reasons. So number one,
27:09
Speaker 3: you know, obviously we don't know how fit he is.
27:11
Speaker 3: Can he start another game? Slot is usually honest, so
27:13
Speaker 3: if he can start, he will say if he can't,
27:15
Speaker 3: he will also be a little bit you know, he
27:17
Speaker 3: will give us those hints. And the second thing is
27:20
Speaker 3: there's this whole thing of is he going to stay.
27:22
Speaker 3: He hasn't signed the contract, so is it going to
27:24
Speaker 3: be the game where they say, okay, he doesn't need
27:26
Speaker 3: to start with the new wave of right back Bradley
27:29
Speaker 3: is going to start the game or is it going
27:31
Speaker 3: to be Look, when Trent is fit he starts. I'm
27:33
Speaker 3: off the camp that he's going to start because I
27:36
Speaker 3: just think, you know, they will put out a full
27:37
Speaker 3: strength team.
27:38
Speaker 2: Spurs is a good game.
27:40
Speaker 3: It's a you know, it's not the easiest of games,
27:42
Speaker 3: but from an attacking point of view, it's a good game.
27:44
Speaker 3: And I just think, yeah, it's a it's a game
27:47
Speaker 3: where if he's fit enough, he will start. Whether you
27:49
Speaker 3: go there or not is another question. I don't have
27:51
Speaker 3: the answer to that. He's in my free hit team,
27:53
Speaker 3: but on the bench so I'm a little bit playing
27:56
Speaker 3: sitting on the fence on him. But I think as
27:58
Speaker 3: far as upside defender's goal, he's you know, he showed
28:02
Speaker 3: with his goal that he has that, so if you
28:04
Speaker 3: want to go for that upside, I think Trent provides
28:06
Speaker 3: that better than any other defender this week.
28:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, outside of that, it feels like if you wanted
28:11
Speaker 1: to go for a second attacker it probably should be
28:13
Speaker 1: Lewis Das. Trying to predict whether it's going to be
28:15
Speaker 1: Gappo or shot it feels a little bit more difficult,
28:18
Speaker 1: whereas Lewis Das feels slightly more assured for starts at
28:22
Speaker 1: the moment, any appeal for him. Of course, when you
28:24
Speaker 1: look at a free hit, you're looking at the fixture
28:26
Speaker 1: of Spurs. They let up chances to Nottingham Forest last night,
28:29
Speaker 1: but actually didn't look too bad in parts of that
28:32
Speaker 1: game as well. I do think there'll be chances for
28:33
Speaker 1: Liverpool in this one. Of course, this will be just
28:35
Speaker 1: before Spurs do play in their Europa League semi final
28:39
Speaker 1: as well. So Lewis Das is the one that I've
28:41
Speaker 1: got my eye on if I wanted for a doublet
28:43
Speaker 1: But I'm just not quite certain I'm going to have
28:45
Speaker 1: space for him.
28:46
Speaker 3: I'm very tempted. I'm tempted because of the reasons you
28:49
Speaker 3: mentioned that Spurs are going to have. Spurs have basically said,
28:52
Speaker 3: you know, we're playing for the Europa League as in
28:53
Speaker 3: Man United, we'll talk about them as well. So it's
28:55
Speaker 3: a team where you will see a second string Spurs
28:58
Speaker 3: who've been okay defensively. I think we've sort of overplayed
29:01
Speaker 3: how bad they have been defensively. But look, they're at
29:04
Speaker 3: bottom sixteen in the Premier League. So Liverpool at home
29:07
Speaker 3: playing a bottom six team who have an eye on
29:09
Speaker 3: a cup game, and Liverpool could be sealing the league
29:13
Speaker 3: title in front of their home fans. Like this is
29:15
Speaker 3: a good recipe for a lot of goals and so
29:18
Speaker 3: I want a part of it. But I don't like
29:20
Speaker 3: the fact that I don't know for sure which two
29:23
Speaker 3: of Gakpo Yota or DS starts, so it's another one
29:26
Speaker 3: of those which will go down to the wire. I hope,
29:29
Speaker 3: I hope we get something, you know, like if shot
29:32
Speaker 3: us out, then we know Gackpoo and Das are starting,
29:34
Speaker 3: so we'll see. But at the moment, minutes risk it's
29:36
Speaker 3: becoming a theme on this free hit and I don't
29:38
Speaker 3: want too many minutes.
29:39
Speaker 1: Risks, Yeah, but I can't let it feels like the
29:42
Speaker 1: minutes risks relate to the players who could be really
29:45
Speaker 1: explosive this week. So you've got to find the balance
29:47
Speaker 1: between finding, you know, not going with just players who
29:51
Speaker 1: are are going to play ninety but also having some
29:53
Speaker 1: of those on the free head that might be a
29:54
Speaker 1: little bit explosive. On Liverpool's opponent's Leicester not too much
29:58
Speaker 1: to talk about, but maybe it's what talking about their
30:00
Speaker 1: opponents in game week thirty four in Wolves one nil
30:03
Speaker 1: winners away at Manchester United's and with a picture like
30:07
Speaker 1: Leicester at home this week and a few decent fixtures
30:09
Speaker 1: between now and the end of the season, Wolves look
30:12
Speaker 1: like a completely new team under their new manager, and
30:15
Speaker 1: it feels like there was a lot of investment that
30:17
Speaker 1: we could look there now. Matez Kunya, having come back
30:19
Speaker 1: from his suspension, didn't go straight back into the lineup,
30:22
Speaker 1: but we did see him start this game picking up
30:24
Speaker 1: an assist. I thought played pretty well in this game
30:27
Speaker 1: as well. Stran Larson didn't get quite as many minutes.
30:30
Speaker 1: It was Pablo Serabia's goal that came through for Wolves
30:34
Speaker 1: in this game. So if we start with Wolves and
30:36
Speaker 1: we'll start with their attack, it feels like Leicester at
30:38
Speaker 1: home feels like one of those pictures we need to
30:40
Speaker 1: look at. Wolves are really impressive over the past few
30:43
Speaker 1: weeks as well, whether cun You's been playing or not,
30:45
Speaker 1: but it feels like he's back in the team and
30:46
Speaker 1: he's the one to go with.
30:48
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:48
Speaker 3: I mean he ticks all of those boxes that weay great.
30:51
Speaker 3: I mean, he gets one attacking return even though he
30:54
Speaker 3: was just filed for a free kick, ends up with
30:55
Speaker 3: three bonus.
30:56
Speaker 2: That's just how Coonye is.
30:57
Speaker 3: So if you're backing him to start, which I think
31:00
Speaker 3: he should be good for, then you're getting a player
31:03
Speaker 3: on set pieces. You know, we saw that corner goal
31:05
Speaker 3: against Man United in the pre in the reverse fixture,
31:08
Speaker 3: and so I think he's a good pick, very very
31:10
Speaker 3: good pick on a free hit and maybe even for
31:12
Speaker 3: non free hitters, like you said, their fixtures aren't terrible
31:15
Speaker 3: after his head might be. You know, he was in
31:18
Speaker 3: the news for you know, easy going to stay at
31:20
Speaker 3: Wolves or not, and there's a lot of clubs looking
31:22
Speaker 3: at him. But I don't think that matters for a
31:24
Speaker 3: week where you know, they're playing a really nice fixture.
31:26
Speaker 3: Lester is as good as it gets. And I also
31:29
Speaker 3: want to have eight Muri. Like they've been playing three
31:32
Speaker 3: at the back, so Muri has been playing left wing back.
31:35
Speaker 3: And you know, the team that has struggled most in
31:37
Speaker 3: front of goal is pretty much Lester, like Ips, which
31:39
Speaker 3: have been okay in front of goals. Southampton have been
31:41
Speaker 3: also okay. Leicester are the team that have really struggled
31:44
Speaker 3: to score in the previous few games. And I like
31:48
Speaker 3: a Wolves defender, whether whether you go for a keeper
31:50
Speaker 3: or not. And there's complications with the keeper, we'll talk
31:52
Speaker 3: about that, but I think eight Muri sounds like a
31:55
Speaker 3: good pick.
31:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, he's He's definitely one that I've got
31:57
Speaker 1: my eye on. We have histories after your managers with
32:00
Speaker 1: a Nori over the past, well this season and in
32:02
Speaker 1: previous seasons as well. Some of it's gone well, some
32:05
Speaker 1: of it hasn't gone quite as well. But when you're
32:06
Speaker 1: presented with Lester at home and as you say, Brighton
32:08
Speaker 1: at home, Palace away, Brentford at home. Also between now
32:11
Speaker 1: and the end of the season, whether you or not
32:13
Speaker 1: on free hit or not, it does feel like Wolves
32:15
Speaker 1: are ones that you can have a look at. As
32:16
Speaker 1: you say, a little bit of complication with the goalkeepers.
32:20
Speaker 1: Jose Sar replaced just before kickoff with an injury in
32:23
Speaker 1: the warm up, where Dan Bentley, only three point nine,
32:26
Speaker 1: came in to start and kept a clean sheet away
32:28
Speaker 1: at Man she United. Now at the time recording, we
32:30
Speaker 1: don't know an update on Jose Sar, whether he's going
32:32
Speaker 1: to be back available or not, and it feels like
32:35
Speaker 1: on the free hit you might have to end up
32:36
Speaker 1: owning both if you do want to go there, because
32:38
Speaker 1: we might not be fully certain. But it's one to
32:40
Speaker 1: keep an eye out. If Jose Sar was ruled out
32:42
Speaker 1: for a few weeks, for example, and you needed a
32:44
Speaker 1: cheap goalkeeper at just three point nine, Bentley could be
32:47
Speaker 1: the one to look at.
32:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, or you could just go for like a hedge
32:50
Speaker 3: option where you just pick one of those two. If
32:52
Speaker 3: the keeper doesn't play, then you'll have a second keeper.
32:54
Speaker 3: This is I'm talking to the freehaters, of course, and
32:57
Speaker 3: so it's not the end of the world if you win,
32:58
Speaker 3: for like are in goal eight Nouri and Kunia, and
33:02
Speaker 3: then if Sara doesn't play, you have a backup in
33:04
Speaker 3: like Alison or somebody like that, So there are options
33:07
Speaker 3: and why we're fixating on Wolves defense and more importantly
33:10
Speaker 3: Leicester attack is since Game Big twenty one, so we're
33:13
Speaker 3: going back twelve game weeks. They've been only two games
33:16
Speaker 3: where they've scored a goal, which is basically against Spurs
33:19
Speaker 3: in Game Big twenty three and against Brighton in Game
33:21
Speaker 3: Big thirty two. Every other game they've not scored a goal.
33:24
Speaker 3: So if you want to back a team to keep
33:26
Speaker 3: a clean sheet against right now, it's Leicester. So that's
33:30
Speaker 3: just one of those things. So I'll definitely have a
33:32
Speaker 3: Wolves defender or a goalkeeper on defee here.
33:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of those teams that they'd scored against also
33:37
Speaker 1: considered a fair number of goals this week and that
33:39
Speaker 1: was Brighton Brentford for Brighton too. Just when we start
33:43
Speaker 1: to forget about Visa and Brann and Burmo, they do
33:46
Speaker 1: their best to absolutely put themselves back on our FBI radars.
33:49
Speaker 1: Just as we'd all sold them looking at double game
33:51
Speaker 1: weeks and blank game weeks, they remind us why they
33:53
Speaker 1: should be in our team. So consistently, brand and Burmo
33:55
Speaker 1: were two goals and assists. Is currently the highest scoring
33:58
Speaker 1: player so far this game week can maybe it's a
34:00
Speaker 1: reminder that doubles are not quite as appealing always as
34:03
Speaker 1: maybe they could be. And some of these single game
34:05
Speaker 1: week players will of course stamp their authority on the
34:08
Speaker 1: game week, but they of course have a really nice
34:10
Speaker 1: run between now and in the season. They play Forest this week,
34:12
Speaker 1: but then they play Man United, Ipswich, Fulham and Wolves.
34:15
Speaker 1: So whether you're on free here and actually maybe for
34:17
Speaker 1: what some of those of you not on free hit,
34:19
Speaker 1: Brentford feel like they should be right top of freight
34:21
Speaker 1: are particularly the two attackers in Vissa and Obama.
34:25
Speaker 3: I think, especially like you said, the people not on
34:28
Speaker 3: free hit, because their fixtures after are really good. And yeah,
34:31
Speaker 3: I think these are good picks and at various points
34:34
Speaker 3: in the season we've all owned them, and at various
34:36
Speaker 3: points in the season we've been burnt by them because
34:38
Speaker 3: we keep selling them because they're it's just one of
34:40
Speaker 3: those things. They're fixtured. They had blocks of good fixtures,
34:43
Speaker 3: so whenever you sell them, they still do well. Because
34:45
Speaker 3: you know, Brentford have this style of playing five at
34:48
Speaker 3: the back against tougher teams and who plays up top
34:51
Speaker 3: it's always Boom Boomo and Visa so good picks. They
34:55
Speaker 3: don't rotate, they play pretty much ninety minutes. Bomo is
34:58
Speaker 3: on penalties free kicks, or he's a good pick. I
35:01
Speaker 3: don't think it's anything people don't know about. But yeah,
35:03
Speaker 3: I think the decision for people on free hit will
35:06
Speaker 3: be whether you include one or two of them or
35:08
Speaker 3: none of them. I have none of them at the
35:10
Speaker 3: moment because a way to Forest isn't the easiest, even
35:12
Speaker 3: though I know you'll tell me that their defense has
35:15
Speaker 3: not been that great more recently. But yeah, I think
35:19
Speaker 3: it's a decision for people. I can't fault anyone picking
35:22
Speaker 3: either of these players.
35:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's more also that that game. So all the
35:25
Speaker 1: other games in Game Week thirty four are on Saturday
35:28
Speaker 1: and Sunday, and then Nottingham Forest Brentford is until the Thursday.
35:32
Speaker 1: So there is just something quite nice about having a
35:33
Speaker 1: little bit of hope or something to look forward to,
35:35
Speaker 1: even if you don't think they're quite the best picks
35:37
Speaker 1: for a free hit this week. Talking about Brighton chow
35:40
Speaker 1: Pedro read Card, they have west Ham at home this week,
35:42
Speaker 1: which is a fixture that you could look to target.
35:44
Speaker 1: West Ham not being quite as good underground potter as
35:47
Speaker 1: maybe people had hoped to maybe start up next season
35:49
Speaker 1: when he's had a little bit more time. We will
35:51
Speaker 1: see that come to the fore a little bit. It
35:53
Speaker 1: does mean, for example, that Danny Welbeck has liked to
35:56
Speaker 1: be playing up front, he's likely to now take penalties
35:59
Speaker 1: with jar Pedro being unavailable as well. It feels like
36:02
Speaker 1: going into this week there was probably enough slight riscal
36:05
Speaker 1: uncertainty about who's playing where exactly who's going to line
36:08
Speaker 1: up that they probably wouldn't have been included. But I
36:11
Speaker 1: do feel like that John Patrick Redcard has meant that
36:13
Speaker 1: Danny Welbeck should absolutely be on radar.
36:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. But it's a double lid squad, right.
36:19
Speaker 3: I mean you could say, well, book is now better
36:20
Speaker 3: pick because he could be on penalties, but then Brighton
36:22
Speaker 3: attack suffers a little bit. No matter what you say
36:24
Speaker 3: about Joe Pedro, he's still a good engine room. He
36:27
Speaker 3: presses really well, he links up really well, So you
36:30
Speaker 3: lose that a little bit, right.
36:31
Speaker 2: So are they as good? Yes?
36:34
Speaker 3: I think west Ham were terrible over the weekend, so
36:36
Speaker 3: I think you know, picking a Brighton attacker won't hurt.
36:39
Speaker 3: But at the same time, you know, well Bick is
36:41
Speaker 3: competing with about four or five other forwards we've talked
36:43
Speaker 3: about on this podcast already, so it's a difficult one.
36:46
Speaker 3: But I don't think well Big is a bad shout.
36:48
Speaker 3: Neither is a defender like Brighton defense has been disappointing,
36:52
Speaker 3: but somebody like in his opinion, he's starting most games.
36:55
Speaker 3: He takes corners from one side in some games, so
36:58
Speaker 3: it's not a bad pick either. So I think those
37:00
Speaker 3: couple of Brighton bigs they could work out. And if
37:02
Speaker 3: you're not on a free hit leg again, if that's
37:05
Speaker 3: an option, I think Brighton would be even more appealing
37:07
Speaker 3: because their fixtures are not too bad coming out of
37:09
Speaker 3: the blank as well.
37:11
Speaker 1: Blay Yeah, west Ham Newcastle Wolves in the next three
37:14
Speaker 1: so yeah, absolutely they can be looked at the one
37:16
Speaker 1: final game, the Monday night game Spurs one Nottingham Forest two. Yeah.
37:21
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll mentioned my nice stats on notting and
37:24
Speaker 1: Forest defense and actually, as someone who's got to Forest defenders,
37:27
Speaker 1: this doesn't make great reading. Over the past six weeks,
37:30
Speaker 1: they are seventeenth for expected goals conceded, only better than
37:34
Speaker 1: the three teams currently in the relegation zone and in
37:37
Speaker 1: ipswich Southampton and Leicester as well, so it's not a
37:40
Speaker 1: surprise that Spurs did put up over two XG in
37:43
Speaker 1: this game. Rich Arlison right up their top for XG,
37:45
Speaker 1: top for shots and big chances. It doesn't feel like
37:48
Speaker 1: most of us are going to be looking to invest
37:50
Speaker 1: in Spurs this week, going away to Liverpool and of
37:53
Speaker 1: course with the Europa League being their real focus. So
37:55
Speaker 1: let's talk Nottingham Forest going up against that Brentford team.
37:59
Speaker 1: Investing defensively again feels quite difficult. Does feel like we'd
38:03
Speaker 1: more likely expect Brentford to score than not. But let's
38:06
Speaker 1: talk Chris Wood. He's been one of the forwards of
38:08
Speaker 1: this FPL season and actually has been a little bit
38:11
Speaker 1: cold recently with a bit of an injury coming back,
38:14
Speaker 1: hadn't scored, but he looked great in this game, had
38:16
Speaker 1: a goal ruled out for offside and then did put
38:18
Speaker 1: the ball in the back of the net and bonus
38:19
Speaker 1: points to go with it as well. He could be
38:22
Speaker 1: one instead of going Brian and Burma if you want
38:24
Speaker 1: a player in that Thursday night game, going back to
38:26
Speaker 1: Chris Woods, because all it needs is a goal and
38:28
Speaker 1: he's mopping up bonus points to go with it as
38:30
Speaker 1: well as we saw with this.
38:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think again, Chris Wood has shown us
38:34
Speaker 3: all season that if he's when he's fit, he does
38:37
Speaker 3: get involved as usual. He had one shot, one goal,
38:41
Speaker 3: but that's now become you know, it's a season long
38:43
Speaker 3: detail now, so we can't hate that. That's just how
38:46
Speaker 3: he plays. He gets that very big chance in the
38:48
Speaker 3: game and he puts it away. So I think Chris
38:50
Speaker 3: Wood is a good option. Brentford always give up a
38:53
Speaker 3: couple of big chances a game, so if Chris Wood
38:55
Speaker 3: is at the end of one of those, it's not
38:56
Speaker 3: a bad pick at all. And I think one thing
38:59
Speaker 3: I would say for their defense, So in response to
39:02
Speaker 3: your stat I mean, if you look at the teams
39:04
Speaker 3: they've played in the last six right, they've blit Spurs away,
39:06
Speaker 3: Villa away, it switched away.
39:08
Speaker 2: Okay, is not the hardest.
39:10
Speaker 3: But then they've played man City at home, Man United
39:12
Speaker 3: at home, and Arsenal home was just before that as well.
39:15
Speaker 3: In that period they shut out Arsenal, they shut out
39:18
Speaker 3: Man City, they shut out man United, and Everton was
39:21
Speaker 3: inch close to basically keeping a clean sheet as well.
39:24
Speaker 3: So at home they have been absolutely fine. Yes, the
39:27
Speaker 3: data is declining, but I certainly won't be going for
39:31
Speaker 3: a Brentford attacker just because it's a free hit, and
39:33
Speaker 3: why should I if non free hitters are also going
39:35
Speaker 3: for it. So I just think, you know, I won't
39:38
Speaker 3: be getting a Nottingham Forest defender on my free hit,
39:40
Speaker 3: but I also won't be getting an attacker playing them.
39:42
Speaker 3: That's just where I am at the moment.
39:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that seems reasonable. Those are all the fields,
39:46
Speaker 1: like the main games this week, and unless there's anything
39:49
Speaker 1: on Spurs you particularly want to talk about. But as
39:51
Speaker 1: I say, because of their Europa League semi final against
39:54
Speaker 1: Bordo glimpse later on in game WEK thirty four, it
39:57
Speaker 1: feels like they're not top priority for us at the moment.
40:00
Speaker 3: Absolutely no nothing else to add, And you know, just
40:02
Speaker 3: to say that, you know we're going back, you know,
40:04
Speaker 3: going into a blank game week, coming on the back
40:07
Speaker 3: of two double game weeks. So this is a little
40:09
Speaker 3: bit of a different landscape for FPL managers. So most
40:13
Speaker 3: managers that have seen around, you know, speaking to them,
40:17
Speaker 3: a lot of them are on free hit. If you're
40:19
Speaker 3: not in a free hit. We talked about a lot
40:20
Speaker 3: of picks that have good fixtures in thirty four and beyond,
40:24
Speaker 3: so look at that. You know, when we say long
40:26
Speaker 3: term picks, it's not very long to go now it's
40:29
Speaker 3: only five game weeks. But yeah, it's about navigating this
40:31
Speaker 3: game week as well as you can. If you're not
40:33
Speaker 3: on a free hit and on a free hit it
40:34
Speaker 3: should be about your your goals, right if you're trying
40:37
Speaker 3: to catch somebody. As Harry mentioned at the beginning of
40:40
Speaker 3: the podcast, there's about forty forty five good picks, so
40:42
Speaker 3: you know, you can differentiate if you want to, and
40:44
Speaker 3: free hit is the best way to do that.
40:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Kelli, Jos and Sam will be back on
40:48
Speaker 1: Thursday with the main part where they will be talking
40:50
Speaker 1: specifically about game with thirty four. I'm sure they have
40:52
Speaker 1: free hit drafts to go on that pot as well
40:55
Speaker 1: if you're interested in whether you're playing a chip or not, though,
40:58
Speaker 1: they will have stuff for you.
41:00
Speaker 3: If you haven't already joined the FBL Pod Mini League,
41:02
Speaker 3: it's coming to the end of the season so we
41:04
Speaker 3: really should be doing that. The code is Q seven
41:06
Speaker 3: y C zero. I'll repeat that, Q seven y C zero.
41:12
Speaker 3: Lovely to chat with you, Harry.
41:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was nice to have our first part past.
41:15
Speaker 1: Hopefully with it again soon Yeah
41:16
Speaker 2: Look forward to it.