Latest / FPL Pod / S9 Ep10: FPL Pod: Premiums, Punts & the Back Four Debate

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S9 Ep10: FPL Pod: Premiums, Punts & the Back Four Debate · FPL Pod

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, there may still not be any Premier League football
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: this weekend, but of course, we're back at FPL Pod
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: as promised throughout the break. And I know everyone's going
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to ask me about my wildcard. I'm having a break
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from the wildcard as well. I'm only joking. I'm not
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a complete break.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: I knew you were going.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: To hammer me about that, Jules. But come on, we
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: all need a few days, don't we?
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: We do. You're absolutely right. And you've got plenty of
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: time as well, as long as you're checking the price
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: rises or price drops.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Because you do that all the time, don't you?
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: All the time. I'm on the app.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Yes, I do.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Before I go to sleep, in the morning when I
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: wake up, just to check.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have been checking those. I have been checking those.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And of course, I have been keeping across it, perhaps
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: with a little bit more interest than I would have
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: been was I not wildcarding because you don't want to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: miss out on anything happening or miss those price rises
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: or price falls. Sam, Jules, you both okay? Sam, you good?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all good. Thank you. Do you get a great MFPL?
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Not really.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Like FPL is life, isn't it? So there's no, there's no,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: there's no breaks from FPL.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So I basically have just continued to think about FPL constantly.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: So I've got about a million because I don't want
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a wild card. So I've got about a million different
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: potential transfers that I could do and three that I
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: will do. So I just need to keep thinking about
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it over the break. The trouble is every time I
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: watch an international game, my thinking changes ever so slightly
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: depending upon what we see. And depending upon what we
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: see in terms of injuries as well, because we've seen
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: quite a few of them over this international break. So, yeah,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: what I may or may not do seems to change
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: every other day of the minute.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the case for most people. I'm sure
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: we'll touch upon Sam's updated plans later on. But Jules,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: we know what you do in an international break. Just
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: watch loads of football. So Sam mentioned injuries and stuff there.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: What have you noticed that could be useful for FPL football?
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and Sam said there's been a few already. So
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: we knew the players who didn't go on international duty
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: despite being called up, for example, like Cole Palmer or
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Declan Rice, Collins, Joel Pedro, Semenyo, Rich James. So all
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: those players obviously clearly had a bit of an injury
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: at some point, but that felt like a long time
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: ago because we're already 10 days into this international break
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: pretty much. So if you have those players in your team,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: make sure that you just listen to the the manager
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: of their club, their press conferences, when we all come
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: back before the following weekend, when we'll have the Premier
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: League back, to see where those fitness are. For some,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: I don't think it was a serious injury that prevented
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: them from playing with the national team. So you would
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: expect probably a Cole Palmer to be back. I think
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Declan Rice could be back. Some others, maybe not. But
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: we also had injuries during those international games. Kai Havertz,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: for example, picked up an injury with Germany against the Netherlands.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: We saw Cody Gakpo, who scored in that game for
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: the Netherlands against Germany, but then coming off injured in
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: their next game. Same with Alexander Isak in Sweden. Graham
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Potter was saying that it doesn't seem to be too serious,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: but he left the camp and has gone back to Liverpool.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: So if you were thinking about Isak as your third forward,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: for example, again, make sure that you check what Anthony
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Raul says when he has his press conference before the
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Liverpool game against Man City, when the Premier League is back,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: to see what kind of fitness Isak is in. United
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: lost Dogu. They lost, I mean, they might have thought
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: they lost Bruno Fernandes, who missed Portugal's last game. But
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: he's back for their game against Serbia tonight, as we
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: record this on Thursday morning. So it should be okay,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: even for United when the Premier League comes back. But yeah,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: and there's more games to come, by the way. So
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: we could have even more little issues with some players.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So make sure you keep an eye across all of that.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I wanted to pick up on a few of those
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: injuries that you did mention there, Jules, actually, because the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Kai Havertz one, is one that's a blow for Arsenal. Obviously,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: like you said, we don't know the full severity of
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: all of them yet. And it is worth keeping an
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: eye on whatever Mikel Arteta says when Premier League does return.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: But how will that affect Arsenal, do you think? Because
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of people speculating over who will
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: play through the middle, how that could affect Saka and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: their other attacking players.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. So again, we don't know. Kai Havertz is
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: back in London. He's at the Arsenal training ground. He's
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: getting some treatments. We don't know exactly how serious the Injury-wise,
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: it looked like it's a muscular one, so it could
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: have just been by precaution that he was taken off
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: by Germany. Maybe it's a little bit more serious. Again,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: we don't know. But if he could not play the
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: next game when the Premier League is back, which is
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: against Leeds at home, then there's the Gokeres option, obviously
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: for Arteta, who hasn't featured that much so far this season,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: but played with Sweden, scored, by the way, already with Sweden.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: So he's showing decent kind of signs of form, really.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Or you could have a Mikel Marino, you know, coming
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: in into that fourth number nine position role that he
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: played before when Havertz was injured, for example, where he
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: could do a really good job certainly on a short-term basis,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: which is an option. So if you were thinking, okay,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Havertz is out, let's bring Giocares in, just be wary
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: that there's also the potential option of Mikel Marino playing there. Yeah, okay.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: And Sam, I think the Liverpool one's interesting, isn't it?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Because people were probably thinking about, particularly Gak, well, not Gak, Isak,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: But I mean, Gakpo as well, if he is fit,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I know perhaps interest waned on him a little bit
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: after he missed out for Liverpool a little bit before
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the break. But that's going to be one to watch,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: isn't it? Because a lot of people will be considering
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: him as a forward. Yeah, and a lot of people
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: that wildcarded back in game week four did get Isak
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: on their wildcard. So they'll have him sitting there and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: they'll be kind of thinking about what they do with it.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: The suggestions from Graham Potter, as Jules mentioned, suggested it's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: not that bad. It's a minor injury to his thigh.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: So we will just have to wait and see what
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: happens with that one. Liverpool's fixtures over.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: The coming weeks are quite mixed. They sit right at
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: the bottom of the fixture ticket because they have a
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: couple of really difficult games coming up. But the ones
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: in between that are actually quite nice. It's one of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: those fixture swings that's a little bit skewed by seeing
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: a couple of really difficult fixtures. So, yeah, I think
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: we're just going to have to wait and see with him.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: But hopefully for those that have him already, he'll be OK.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: But I do think there will have been a number
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: of people on wildcard that were thinking about going for
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: that kind of more heavy front three with Haaland, Jal
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Pedro and Isak. And obviously with Jal Pedro still flagged.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: and missing the international break and missing the game just
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: before the international break with Chelsea, and now Isak flagged
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: as well. It does throw a little bit of doubt
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: in terms of what you do with that forward line
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: over the next few weeks.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the forward line is probably one of my trickiest
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: parts on wildcard, to be honest, because it's like Haaland plus,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we'd go Haaland plus Pedro if we knew Pedro was
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: going to be fit. Obviously, the same situation as last week,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: we still don't know anymore, and we probably still won't
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: even at the time of recording next week, depending on
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: when we hear from Xavi Alonso. I said the right
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: manager this time, by the way. I've drilled it into
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: my head.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: It's not my rescuer.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: It is now very much Alonso. Talking of wildcards then,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, I've not had a break from
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: looking at my wildcard because I do check the price
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: changes every night. But I've just found this middle week,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if people listening to this, if you've
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: got this chip accent, you might feel the same as me.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: This middle week is a little bit more like, okay,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: you had the initial excitement where you got rid of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: all of those players that might have fallen. You brought
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: in who you wanted to, and you started to look
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: at your team structure. And now we're seeing more of
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the internationals play out. And it's almost like waiting to
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: see where the land lies. I think I've made two changes, maybe.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Should have had my team up before now. Let me
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: just get it up. I did have it up.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Here we go. I forgot as well, just quickly, that
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Brian Broby also picked up an injury. So again, going
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: back to that forward line, the third spot, Broby who'd
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: scored a hat-trick for Sunderland against City in the last
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Premier League game that we had, then picked up that
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: injury with the Netherlands too. So it seems the miscolor
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: injury too. So again, let's check what Regis Lebris says
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: about Broby. But if you had Broby, if you have Broby,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: if you were thinking about getting Broby after the hat-trick,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: there's obviously a question mark over his fitness and availability.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure you're gutted about that because he's your
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: favourite player after selling him for the hat-trick.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he needs a rest. He can have a rest.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: It's all good.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, then going back to my wildcard. He's not on
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: my wildcard team, Ashley Jules. But yeah, from last week,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the only things that have changed is I said I
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't sure about Gavardial I really wanted him but Jules
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: you made some really valid points about City's defence maybe
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the fact that he's still getting points is because the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: attacking returns is that a sustainable for him to keep
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: those up when City are conceding goals so I actually
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: used the opportunity I saw Tarkovsky was going to go
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: up in price so I just brought Tarkovsky in as
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a placeholder there while I work out if I want
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to spend that much because I think 6.2 is is
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: a lot um and I think the Everton fixtures are
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: mixed so I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: keep him but He's just in there at the moment.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I think the only other change I've made, I'm more
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: sure than ever that I need to sort out the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Semenyo spot, but I knew that was going to be
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: an issue. The only other change I've made, oh, I've
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: got rid of Dominic Calvert-Lewin for Barry because again, Barry
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: was going to go up and I'm not sure what
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: to do, as I just said, with the forward line.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: So they're the only changes I've made, but this is
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: still very far away from where my team will look
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: next Thursday and by the deadline ahead of the return.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: of the international break. Sam, I was wondering if you've
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: had any more thoughts, if you were wildcarding any essential
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: players or anything you would definitely do.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think it's become really difficult with essential players
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: because so many of the players that I would have
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: kind of said are essential. Like I would have had
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Van Hecke in the essential category on a wildcard, to
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: be honest, because I think he rotates really nicely with Konza.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: But then obviously he's withdrawn now from the international squad.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Come back, he's at Spurs. We'll have to wait and
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: see what happens there. And I think it's a bit
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: like you said before with the kind of replacing Havertz
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: with somebody else in your team and going for a
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: bit of a punt. Until we hear from Deserby exactly
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: what's wrong with him, obviously you've got Marcus Seneci who
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: can play in that position as well. I don't think
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: you could go there because you don't know exactly what
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: that situation is. So Haaland I still think is essential.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: I know there's some debate around whether he's worth the 15.6
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: that you have to pay for him. I still think
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: he is. I i think he's one of those players
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: that i just wouldn't want to have wouldn't want to
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: go without i'm starting to think that the double arsenal
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: defense is the right way to go with califuri and
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: with konza which rules out raya which feels a bit of.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: A that's still one of my conundrums sam i've still
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: got the first one as i did last week And
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: there's still three of them there, but I don't want
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to treble up. And it is still working out which
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: way to go from there. Who do you drop?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: It's so hard.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: It is quite difficult.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's difficult.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: And I think when you look at the goalkeepers, unless
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: you're going to go for a rotating pair, which I
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: know you don't like Cowles particularly... It's quite hard to
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: pick a set and forget goalkeeper because when you look
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: at what we've seen in the opening weeks of the season,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and we always see a lot of goals conceded in
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the opening weeks of the season, but we haven't yet
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: really seen consistency from any of the really expensive goalkeepers.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Ray has been great, but then you've got that issue
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: with how do you select three? You've got Pickford, but
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: then as you've mentioned, you've also got the Tarkowski pick
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: and maybe he's better because he offers you the defensive
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: contribution points that we see so regularly from him, plus
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: the upside of attacking threat. So 6.2 is a lot.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: For him though, isn't it?
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: It is, but you have got cheaper options. You've got
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Branthwaite who's a million less. You've got Mikalenko who's 2
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: million less. So you can pick an Everton defender based
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: upon the price that you have available to you. They're
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: quite an easy defence to invest in. And so therefore,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: would you really spend premium prices on Pickford? I'm not
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: sure you would because I think the defence or the
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: defenders probably look a bit better. um so I think
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: it is that goalkeeper spot and I think that's why
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: you find it hard cows because taking out Raya for
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: one of the other goalkeepers it almost does feel a
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: bit like a compromise unless you're happy to go for
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: a rotation pair.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I love that we've got Konza at that price obviously
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: it's such a gift but it has made it harder
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in a way because I probably yeah if then I
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: would have just gone Calafiori Raya and then either left
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: my other Arsenal spot while we still work out how
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the attack's going to look or just gone Saka I
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: don't know but that would have been my two defense.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Whereas at the moment I'm holding all three in there
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and just hoping that I have an epiphany overnight at
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: some point and go, that's what I'm going to do.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Because at the moment that's just, that's just not happening. Yeah.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And in terms of my midfield, I think I'm still, yeah,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: I'm still happy with Sharder. I thought a lot about
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: what you said on last week's show, Sam, in terms
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: of using a wild card to get ahead in terms
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: of the players that have the underlying stats or maybe
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: showing signs and getting on them early. But Sharder, I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: just really like Brentford. I don't want a team without
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: any Brentford cover. I think I could move off him
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: very easily. I've not had the best start. So, yes,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: there is an argument then for punting. But actually, that
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: feels a little bit scary when you've had not the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: best start as well. Harvey Barnes is one I'm still
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: not sure about as well. And the same with Lewis Law, really.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I'm still not... I think Newcastle have been good, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I think I'm still not quite sure how they look,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. So.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: You saw against Leeds, Newcastle can have an off day easily.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: The inconsistency, isn't it?
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Lewis Hall played really well with England.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he did.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Schadler played two games with Germany, by the way. Not
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: that he was outstanding in those two performances, but because
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Klopp selected two squads, you know that Schadler is not
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: going to play anymore now. He's going to come back
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: to Brentford. Yeah, that's a good point. So there's no
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: risk of him playing again with Germany and getting injured.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: He can get arrested before... before the Premier League restarts,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: which is not the case of others who still, for
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: some of them, have two more games to play, by
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: the way, of the four that this international break offers
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: to every team, every country and all of that. So
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: at least with Shadrach, we mentioned last week the Shadrach
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: numbers who are very good in terms of his returns
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: and goals and things like that. But also, we were
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: not sure how sustainable it was. Remember, three goals out
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: of 1.5 xG six shots on target out of the
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: 13 shots he had. So in terms of conversion rate
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: and the efficiency that he showed so far, outstanding, one
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: of the best in the whole of Europe, including all
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: the top, top, top players, which he is not really.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: So I don't know how he will sustain that. But
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: if he does, I think a 6.2 is a great
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: pick to have in New Midfield.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Have you thought about Thiago instead, Kels?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I have actually, because actually the whole confusion
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: around forward line And when I took, I didn't think
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I was going to take Dominic Kabat-Lewin out of my
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: team because he's been so good for me. But when
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I did, I kind of then was like, I don't
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: really want Barry. And actually all of a sudden it
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: made me go, maybe I've got two forward slots available.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Well, the forward line is suddenly really confusing, isn't it?
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Because so one of them's probably gone with Harlan. So
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: then you've got to decide on the other two, like
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Joe Pedro, if he's fit, he'd be there. So we
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: just have to wait for news on, on his availability.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: But it does mean that that third spot is up
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: for grabs. And as we've seen with the injuries that
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: we've had over the international break, it does feel like
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: there's an opportunity in that third forward spot to go
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: a bit different, particularly as the Leeds fixtures. I mean,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the next couple are difficult. Obviously, it's Arsenal straight after
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: the break. You can't get much more difficult than that.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Then it's Manchester United. They have a nice little run
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: in the middle, but then it's Chelsea again. So there's
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: some difficult games in there for them. So I do
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: think there's an opportunity to go against Calvert-Lewin and maybe
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: somebody like a Thiago or a Garcia from Fulham is
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the right strategy because Thiago, he hasn't had the best
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: start to the season for sure and his returns aren't great.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: But last season, we've seen consistency from him before in
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: previous seasons, so I suspect we'll get back to that.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: And maybe we get more consistency out of him than
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: we do from Sharder over the next five or six weeks.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Because as Jules was saying, can Sharder really sustain those numbers?
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe he does and he surprises us all. But I
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: don't know, if I was wildcarding, I think I'd be
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: tempted on a bit of a Tiago punt.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I'm just not very good at punting as we know.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: But yeah, the forward line, the fact that the forward line,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't even be considering Tiago if the forward line
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't so up in the air. But It is at
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the moment. So yeah, I think there's still quite a
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: lot of things to be decided. And like I said,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I'm sure listeners listening to this.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Will have the same.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I've also this week, because Bruno Fernandes has gone down
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: in price, I've got a little bit of money in
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the bank. I actually thought, you know what, with three
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: transfers after the breakup, I, like you guys said, I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: can see there's an opportunity for him, sorry, Sam, in
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the fixture against Spurs when the Premier League returns. So
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not against having Bruno Fernandes for one week,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: one more week, and then dipping him out because I've
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: still benefited from the wild card in terms of I've
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: not had his price fall. That said, it is still
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: quite a lot of money to get to and it
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: might affect the rest of my team. But that's maybe
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: in the back of my mind. Although I hate planning
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: a transfer. Is there anything worse? You know, when you
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: see people say, well, I'm doing this for one week
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: and next week I'm doing that. Yeah, but mate, what
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: about if half your team get injured? Like, it's a risky,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: it's a risky strategy.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've been thinking about Bruno all week, I
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: promise you. And by the way, if you followed Portugal
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: in this international break so far, and the incredible soap opera.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: It's amazing. It's mixed with Coronation Street and Emmerdale or
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: whatever the things you have on English TV. It was
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: that with Cristiano and everything and Bruno was there. He played.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: He didn't play that well. Then he got that little
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: injury that ruled him out of the second game. Now
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: he's back, but Cristiano isn't. Cristiano has gone home and
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: you're thinking like, wow, okay. So Bruno, I think a
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: lot of the managers in FPL, a lot of people
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: who listen to us and watch us will have the
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: same what you do with Bruno because he's forming the
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: Premier League before this international break outside of the Ipswich
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: game obviously which was special it's not worth that money
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: it's not worth a place in our team even even
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: if he was a seven million midfielder he would not
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: for what he's shown so far he would not be
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: he would not deserve anything in our teams you know
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: he hasn't been good enough compared to others that you
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: could go for far less money so It's just that
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Spurs game, which obviously, you know, it's Spurs. We know
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: it's Spurs. I'm kidding, Sam, I'm kidding. But I really
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: don't know what to do with him. I'm so tempted
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: to get rid of him. But then it's always the same.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: You think, okay, Spurs, this should be an open game.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: United have to react now and they have to go
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: for it. It's our traffic too. So you would think
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: that he should be good. And yet I'm not really
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: sure what to expect from him.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I probably won't do that. But I was
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: just saying, That is one thing that was in the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: back of my mind because that Semenyo spot, I mean,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Semenyo's only 8.4 million. That's still quite a lot, isn't it?
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: But he's not fully in that premium thing. And I
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: still don't know if it's worth going to Bukayo Saka.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I think Cole Palmer is now, for me, whilst we
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: don't know what's happening with Pedro, and I don't want
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: to spend more on Palmer because I think if there
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: is no Pedro, then all of a sudden if I
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: go in post-international break on a wildcard with Palmer and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Pedro and Rodgers, I wouldn't go all three. and there's
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: no Pedro, then I think that actually affects three players
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: rather than just one. So for me at the moment,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not going for Parma. But I'm just wondering... I'm
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: surprised you're not going for Saka. Yeah, I'm leaning towards...
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: It surprises me. What, just because I'm obsessed with him?
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because at the start of the season.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Because at the start of the season, you were going,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I really want him, and then you didn't go there.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Is he definitely worth it?
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: But what's your worry? That you don't think he could deliver, or...?
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: He's not in good form for you?
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Well, at the moment, I've got three Arsenal players in
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: my blooming defence, haven't I? So that's stopping it anyway.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Which I've said I won't have. I don't know. I just,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know what's stopping me. Maybe it's the fact
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: that I know that how angry I'll be if Odegaard
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: continues to return. Although obviously he's had a bit of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: an up and down international break, hasn't he, Jules, really?
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was good with Norway. But yeah, you're right.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: He's fully fit now, is he?
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it should be okay yeah apparently it should
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: be okay yeah so I guess for me it's like
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: because we've all season had those cheaper options in the
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Arsenal attack I'm kind of going I'm going to be
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: so angry if I go and spend on Saka and
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: then Odegaard or Solis return I mean I don't think
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: Solis is quite the option that we thought he was at.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: The beginning now potentially anyway but yeah it'll probably be
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Saka won't it it'll probably be Saka but I don't
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: know I'm just The fact that I'm not going in
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: this row, I think, is, I don't know, it's just
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: me being weird, isn't it? Let's talk through team structure, actually, then,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: because I've touched upon it then. I almost feel this
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: need to have a premium midfielder. And we often do that,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: don't we? We set up our teams with a Harland,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: maybe a premium midfielder, maybe two. Maybe then we look
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: at premium defenders or whatever. We're five weeks into the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: season now. And when you look at top scoring players
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: in the game, for everything I've said about Harland and
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: wanting to have a premium midfielder, four of the top
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: scoring players in the game are defenders and one is
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: a goalkeeper. And Sam, this is a bit of a
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: different trend, isn't it? Because often we go towards playing
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: three at the back. Yeah, if you think back three
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: or four years ago, we always played four at the back,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: didn't we? It was like, right, we're going to go
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: big at the back. We're going to buy the really
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: expensive defenders. So we had Trent and we had Robertson
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: when he was really expensive and we would go for
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: the expensive Arsenal defenders. We'd have Gabriel and that would
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: just be the way that it was. And you'd invest
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: loads of money there and you would find budget elsewhere
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: to allow you to do that. But over the last
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: few seasons, things have really changed and we've moved away
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: from playing the big at the back strategy and we've
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: gone towards playing that more often than not, playing three
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: up top or playing five across midfield and having just
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: three at the back. But I think this year, when
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: you look at the underlying data and when you look
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: at the performances and the players that are actually in
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the top scoring, so not only are we seeing defenders...
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: rank very highly in the top 10 scoring players in
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the game. But we are also seeing cheap defenders rank
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: very highly in the top scoring players in the game.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: So it's not like we're having to go really heavy.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: And obviously defensive contributions are playing a part in all
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: of this. And we've known that for a couple of years.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: We saw that with Elliot Anderson last year, with Senesi,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: with Tarkovsky. But it's not just that anymore. We are
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: seeing the attacking threats and things like that come good
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: as well. So when you're looking at points per start,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the defenders are ranking really well for the amount of
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: points that they're getting per start, which is weirdly unusual
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: because normally in the early weeks of the season, we
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: don't see as many clean sheets. And so because of that,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: we normally see a slight dip in defender points at
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the season. And then they escalate as
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: we go through the campaign until they become really good
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: by the end. when the defences are fully settled. So yeah,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: interesting for me. And it is definitely something I'm looking
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: at because when I look at my team with the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: two Arsenal defenders sitting in it, every week I think
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I want to play both of them or at least
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: every other week, every time Arsenal are playing at home,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking I'd like to play both Calafuri and Konza.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: But it's difficult because I also have other defenders that
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I want to play. And I've kind of got in
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: my head that when I play three at the back,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: and I do think we need to look at There
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: are going to be weeks where we should be playing
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: four at the back, especially if what we're seeing with
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: the forward line and the difficulties in picking a forward
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: continue after the international break. Because at that point, going
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: for four at the back might just ease our worries
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: with our forward line.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Doesn't help me with the defence though, on a wild card,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: because I just can't knock out.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: It does, surely. It does, because for example, I went
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: with Job, who is family.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Me too.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: I said to him, I bring you in. and Von Herwig,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: because there were two cheap players who would play with
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: their teams. But I didn't expect really to play them
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: that often in my team. And I didn't expect, no
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: offense to the boys, that they would get me, they
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: would get many points anyway. But now, if I was
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: world-carding like you, Kels, if I was doing it again,
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: of those two, one would become a really good defender,
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: as in they're very good defenders anyway. But you know
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: what I mean?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: An expensive one.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: And then maybe the last one would still be a
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: cheaper player, like a Diop, for example, like Kip Diop.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: But the other one certainly would get upgraded to something better.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: So I think Sam is spot on. There's a couple
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: of times where I thought, let me play four at
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: the back. And I just could not get there because
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: I was not too happy with the other two defenders
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: that I had outside of the three main ones, being Calafiori,
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Konsa and Guardiola. So definitely, I think with your wildcard,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: for me, I would have four very strong defenders. And
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: then the fifth one, okay, a budget one, no problem,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: but who still play.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: But Lee Davis has been brilliant in that one for me.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: So you could just go for him as your fifth.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: To be fair, as it stands on my wildcard, looking
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: at it, my cheapest defender is Konza. I haven't actually
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: got one, but that's more.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Who are your five?
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: They're not set, as I mentioned. So Lewis Hall... who
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty likely to keep because I quite like their fixtures.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: And like you said, I covered the England game on
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Tuesday and I thought he was brilliant. And that was
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a big moment for me because I was like, if
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: he plays well for England, I just think that's quite
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: a good sign. Although Newcastle's defence hasn't been the best. Konza, Calafiori,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: if I go with Rea, one of those could go
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and easily be downgraded. De Kooiper and Tarkovsky.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: I think that's great. It's even too strong, maybe, because... Yeah,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: I think Tarkovsky.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I don't want 6.2 in Tarkovsky. Imagine if I could
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: bring him down to a defender within the four millions.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. But then again, there's a case for at
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: times maybe playing even five at the back. You know,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: if the fixtures are aligned and they're good for your defenders,
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: I think you can easily go there without any problems
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: at all. Like we did, like Sam said, like we
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: did a couple of years ago where at times we
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: played five at the back because those defenders were just
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: very strong returning attacking-wise, strong defensively. We've got big holds
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: from them. And then it looks like this season, when
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: you look at how many, five teams already on three
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: clean sheets out of five games, there's a few more
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: with two out of five. That's, you know, three in
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: five is 60% of your games already. You don't concede.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: So if you, you know, if you bring a bit
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: more attacking wise on set piece or Defcon, you know, whatever,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: already those defenders look like perfect for your teams week in,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: week out.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: When are you going to bench boost, Kels?
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: This is, and I was just about to talk about
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: this as well, because I can't really burn any slots,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: so to speak, on my wildcard. I'm not 100% sure.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: But to be honest, I look at my team at
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the moment and they're all players that I would play.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Not every week. So I haven't got any burner slots,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: so to speak.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: So.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I haven't looked that far ahead yet. Sam, come on.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: I'm sorting a wild card out. I'm not as good.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not as bad as Jules, but I'm not quite.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I will look, actually, because do you know what I'm
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: going to do? I am going to do like a
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: little kind of spreadsheet thing and look at the fixtures
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to work out who I'll be benching over the next
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: few weeks. And also captaincy, because I think captaincy is
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: really important in terms of deciding if I'm going to
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: go with Saka, for example. I'll look at how many
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: weeks I could captain him over Haaland. things like that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: so I will within the next week probably by the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: time we do this next podcast I've sat and worked
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: mapped out the next few weeks and then it will
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: become a lot more obvious because at the moment I'm
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: picking individual players and going going through their fixtures and
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: going oh yeah I like them for the majority that's
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: fine but I do need to go through at some
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: point and go okay that's when I'm going to bench boost.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah because if the fifth the fifth defender probably depends
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: on that week doesn't it it depends on who's got
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: a good fixture in that week of the cheaper four
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: or 4.5 options.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Well, I hadn't realised until you pointed it
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: out there that actually I thought, I didn't realise how
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: big at the back we were going, but the fact
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: that Konza is my, an Arsenal defender is my cheapest defender.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: It's wild.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: What a gift Konza has been this year.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: And a starter as well. He's going to have a
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: big old price.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be doom and gloom, but imagine
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the price rise he's going to have next season.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Enjoy him while you can.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: That's why you can't almost get rid of him because
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: he's just such a gift.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: And Saliba is going to come back at some point.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: And when Saliba comes back, I'm not sure what happens
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: to Konza. So for now, sure bring him into your
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: team everybody should have him really.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah such a good uh such a good price
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: point isn't he if you are going to burn a
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: slot or have a budget attacker I think maybe with
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the conversation the way I'm leaning the conversation we've had
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: about forwards means that I'd be leaning more towards having
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: a budget forward than a budget midfielder at the moment
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Sam just because I think there's so many good options
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: in midfield.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah I'm totally with you on that I think And
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: particularly when we've got some really nice cheap options in midfield. Obviously,
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Pascal Gross has taken a few price rises over the
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: last few weeks because he's been so good. But the
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: fact that you can have Pascal Gross as your fifth
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: midfielder and still budget for all of these other players
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: that we're talking about is a bit like Konza is
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: a bit of a gift in that midfield. But there
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: are some really nice other cheap options. Like I really
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: like Josh King for the next few weeks. Their Fulham
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: fixtures are just really good. And I think he could
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: be a really great differential option in midfield. And super
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: cheap as well. So I don't think there's any need
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: to go right down in terms of the midfielder slots.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Whereas with the forward line, I think if you are
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: looking at your team and thinking, I really need some
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: budget and I'm really struggling, then either burning a slot
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: or dropping just really low sort of into the 5.5.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: uh territory could be the right thing to do because
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: as we've just talked about for a while it is
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: really easy to play four at the back you could
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: quite happily play four at the back and five in
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: midfield to be honest and then just have one forward
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: up top so yeah I think if I was burning
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: a slot it would be the third.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Forward for sure yeah and but also like it feels
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: like it's not almost burning because there are some cheap
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: options that are playing yeah you don't sometimes we go
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: with We go with the players that might be the 4.5
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: attacker at Chelsea or whatever that aren't going to get
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: anywhere near the pitch. But actually, there's a few options
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: there that could potentially still tick over if you were
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: to need them. So I'm sorry, just going back to
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: the bench boost conversation. Off the back of that, I
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: should have asked you, have you earmarked when you're likely
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to bench boost?
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Well, my original plan was to wildcard into six and
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: then do it straight after in seven because I think
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: it makes sense because you are Creating a team that's
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: set for the next few weeks. And I always like
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: to back to back the wild card with the bench
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: boost because I think it puts you in a nice
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: position where you should, in theory, have the best team
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: possible for the coming weeks. I think this wildcard is
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: slightly complex because there's been so many issues over the
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: international break. So many players coming back and they would
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: have been players. Because I think last week you had
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Van Hecke, right?
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: Or you were talking about Van Hecke.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: No, I didn't have him, but I was likely to
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: bring him in. But obviously that's kind of changed for
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: a bit. Yeah.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Whereas obviously that's, yeah, exactly. So that's changed a bit now.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: And all of these players that we're talking about, are
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: they going to be available? It changes not just whether
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: you invest in them, but how you feel about the
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: whole team and investing in them. It's the same at Chelsea, right?
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: The fact that we're not sure about Jal Pedro changes
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: the way you think about investing in Cole Palmer or
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Morgan Rogers. So I think it would put me off
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: a bench boost in seven because I just don't know
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: that you'll necessarily get it right on a wild card
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: this week unless all of the managers are really open.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: So at the moment, yeah, I know, the Premier League
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: managers love to tell us the exact truth about exactly
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: what's happening. Some of them do anyway. Game week 10,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: maybe feels like a good opportunity for a wildcard now
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: that's that's a week I'm looking at and if I
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: do that it'll probably be a bench boost in 11
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: um but then I'm also looking at 16 and 17
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: as good potential wildcard bench boost options so we're just
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: going to see how far the team can stretch and
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: how far we get with the with the free transfers
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: over the break and how many of my team come
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: back in one piece because obviously that will affect the
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: decisions I make in the coming weeks but I think
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: if I was just wild carding I would like to
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: bench boost quite nearby but this does feel a bit
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: difficult going into seven I feel like to be honest
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: I feel like at the deadline I'm still going to
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: be unsure about my wild card because of all the
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: reasons you mentioned because of injuries and stuff I don't
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: regret pressing the button because my team really needed it
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: and what I actually last night looked back at because
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I had a bit of a wobble of oh I
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: made a massive mistake here and I did look back
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: on my team and think oh no there was still
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: a lot that needed to be sorted and so anyway
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: I've pressed it now.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: I can't go back.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: So it is what it is. But yeah, the bench boost,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the bench boost is certainly interesting. In terms of premium,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: just a quick word on it. Do you still think it's,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: is it two or three that you would go with
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Jules or more?
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: So I think Haaland, I would still keep Haaland and
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: I agree with Sam. I think there's a bit of
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: a debate on his value and why he brings you.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: I still think it's, it's indispensable to have Haaland in
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: your team right now and also because of the ownership
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: that he has. So you'd go there. After that, for
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: a lot of the premiums, the most expensive players, you
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: have in the same team another guy that you could
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: go for less money so far this season, and that
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: might not stay the whole season like that, but so
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: far has been as good as your premium anyway. So
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: we mentioned Saka, but look at Odegaard. You can have
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: Mbomo instead of Bruno. There's the Rodgers-Palmer kind of duo
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: too here. that you could go and same defensively even
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: more probably in Gabriel and Konza which is crazy the
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: difference of value and price between Gabriel and Konza when
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: they play next to each other in the same team
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: and that Gabriel hasn't really hasn't returned attacking wise yet
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: so you get the same things pretty much so Haaland
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: for me 100% and then if you want a second
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: premium and you want to go for Saka or Bruno
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: ahead of those replacements that we mentioned, sure, you can.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: But I don't think there's anything wrong by just keeping
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Haaland and for the rest, spreading your money and not
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: having any other super expensive players.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Agree, Sam?
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to take a little while for
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: us to all get our heads around the fact that
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: it's okay to have quite a chunk of money in
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: the bank this year because normally we don't. Normally in
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: our teams, you create a team, you spend all the money. um,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: because you spend it on, you have Harlan and like
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: last season it was like, okay, well I have Harlan,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I have Bruno at times. Maybe I'm going to want
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Salah in there. Maybe I want some Palmer. Maybe I
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: want some Saka. Like you, you know, you would spend
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: a lot of money on premium assets because also you
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: had to have Gabrielle. He was essential. And then you
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: probably wanted to double him up with Raya. This season,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: I think Jules is absolutely right. And what he just said,
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: like you can comfortably go, well, I won't pay Palmer price.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: I'll pay Roger's price. I won't pay Gabrielle's price, or
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: even Califuri, I'll pay Califuri's price, or even better, I'll
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: pay Konza's price. So you could get to a situation
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: where you have quite a substantial amount of money sitting
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: in the bank. And as an FPL manager, or for
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: me anyway, that feels really uncomfortable because there's that reassuringly
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: expensive thing that comes with owning FPL players. It's like, okay, well,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: that player's really expensive, therefore he is going to return
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: me points, so I will buy him. That's kind of
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: the logic that goes through a lot of FPL managers' heads.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: But actually this season, what we're seeing is that you
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: don't necessarily have to spend the most amount of money.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Even if we go back to those Everton defenders that
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: we've been talking about quite a lot during this podcast. Yes,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Tarkovsky is the highest scoring of them, but Branthwaite and Mikalenko,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: they're not far behind. So you can just drop, you
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: can drop down and you can look for the decent
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: value in those picks. So if it was me, I
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: actually would have Saka. If I was wildcarding right now,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I'd have Haaland and Saka together. And then I would
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: go for the cheaper options across the rest. I'd have Rodgers.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: If I wanted Manchester United, I'd go for Mbermo. And
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: that is an option, Kels. You could go for him
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: for that Spurs fixture if you want to invest in
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Manchester United for that one and then move on the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: week after if you didn't want to stay there.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, you know, don't throw another option into me.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: I'm probably going to avoid Manchester United, being honest, and
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: I'll probably end up on Saka, as we all know.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about differentials quickly then, because we're not going
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: to do differential of the week because, of course, there's
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: no football this weekend. Premier League at least. We'll come
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: back to that next weekend. But we just thought we'd
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: reflect on who the best differentials are. A reminder, differentials
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: have under 10% ownership. And obviously each week, Sam and
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Jules pick out who they think is going to be
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: best for that game week to kind of a varied...
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: How do I say this nicely? Success rate. Sam often
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: more successful than Jules.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Hardly.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: I think for the last three seasons.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: Hardly.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, so far, Bogle is the outright winner with 42,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and he's only in just over 7% of teams. But
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: he did have that one big score, didn't he, that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: kind of, I think, has maybe skewed that one a
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: little bit. Then it's Vuskovic, who's an interesting one. Tavernier,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: who I know Sam mentioned last week. We haven't spoken
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: about him on this pod. But, yeah, really good option
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: at Bournemouth. But Loomy Scott, also of Bournemouth, another lovely
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: option there. Barnes, who is currently in my wildcard. Then Trafford, Kostoulas, Janouts,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and Muharemovic. So, yeah. There's some interesting names in there, Sam,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: isn't there, actually? And they're players. There's a few there
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: that I'm considering on my wildcard. And actually, it's quite
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: nice when we see differentials with the number of points
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: that some of those have, because they're genuine options for
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: our teams, not just for one week.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: And the best thing about a lot of these is
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: that the underlying numbers match the performances that we've seen,
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: the data that we've got coming in. So they've got
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: these points. But the data suggests they should have had
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: these points. Like Muharremovic has been fantastic. The defensive contributions
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: have been there. We've had attacking threat from him. He
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: looks like he's set to continue being quite good, with
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: the exception of maybe the Arsenal game that they have
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: coming up next. He looks set to be good. It's
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: been the same with the two Bournemouth boys, Tavernier and Scott.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: The underlying numbers are there to support what we're seeing
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: in the data that we've got in terms of FPL
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: points returned. So that's something that's really good news for
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: people that want to invest in these kind of differentials.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: Because we are seeing something that's consistent from them. So
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: I think you need to be a little bit more,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: it's very easy when you're world carding or bringing in
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: players to either go, well, this player did really well
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: last week, I'll get them. Or to overthink it a
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: little bit and to go with players that are popular
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: in the game. So like Vuskovic is right up there.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: But De Kooijper's been the popular one. And I think
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: if I was wildcarding, I think I said this last week,
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: I'd absolutely have Voskovic over to count for it. I
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: just think that what we're seeing in the numbers from
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: him looks so positive. So, yeah, for me, the differentials
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: are the really important bit of the wildcard and getting
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: them right is kind of critical.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. Have any of us got any
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: of those players?
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we have, have we?
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: No.
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: No.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's where we're going.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: I want to say that. Tavernier was my game week
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: four differentials on the show, I'm just saying.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Congratulations. Did you win that week?
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: No, I'm just leaving that there.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: He did get points that week, yeah, to be fair.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, makes a change. I guess it's also, how many
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: differentials should we be going for, Jules? Because, well, you
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: love a differential actually, to be fair, don't you? Yeah.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: And some of them are really cheap too. So for
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: all the budget chat that we had earlier, you know,
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: not the burner slot per se exactly, but for a
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: cheaper defender, Bogle is great. Mohamovic is not that expensive, really.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: Vuskovic neither, to be fair. Trafford can rotate well in
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: goal with others, like I looked at the fixtures last
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: night between him and Verbruggen and Brighton. There's something potentially decent,
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: but there might be others that you could rotate Trafford
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: with if that's what you wanted. Costolas up front, we
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: were saying about your third forwards, and he's very young
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: and he's still very raw, but he scored in the
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: last three games that he played with Brighton, if you
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: count the Carabao Cup against United at Old Trafford too
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: so he's in great form he's been playing with Greece
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: as well in the international break.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Ruto's back though right?
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: Ruto is back but yeah Ruto is a slightly different
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: he's not an in and out striker like Costellas Costellas
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: is a proper nine Ruto can play any way he's
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: that kind of very versatile profile so yeah I think
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: Hutzler can very much stick with Costulas up front. And
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: then that's it. It could be your third forward. You
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: can play him in some games where you think Brighton
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: are going to do well. And if he doesn't play
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: or doesn't come on at all, then you've got a
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: strong bench. Somebody can come off your bench and be good.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: But Tavernier, for me, if I was wildcarding, he's the
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: one really, even probably ahead of Shadder, because like Sam
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: just said, the Tavernier numbers are... like the data is
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: stronger than shadow in terms of what he's been achieving
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: so far at 6.1, I think for Tavernier, I would
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: have him every day in my work.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Okay. Then who are your best three differentials, Sam?
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: Tavernier. I think he's, I think he's fantastic.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: He's probably four differential. I'm just wanting to say that.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, you've mentioned.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: He's probably, he's probably one that I would, I would
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: get on. Well, he is definitely one I would get
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: on wildcard and he's probably one I'm going to get
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: regardless of the fact that I'm wildcarding. I'd have Josh King.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: And if you want a forward, Garcia is good, but
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: Josh King, I really like. And then Leif Davis, I
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: still think is a fantastic differential dip, which fixes are
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: really good as well. So they, they'd be my three.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: He could get sent off for three matches in a
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: row upon returning from suspension and you'd still pick him.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: That's possibly true.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Jules, best three for you going forward?
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I like Tavernier, one of
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: the Leeds boys. I know they've got a slightly tougher
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: schedule starting with Arsenal away when we come back. Um,
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: But they've really been outstanding. And I like Vuskovic a
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: lot because I think what Brighton are doing is obviously
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: super interesting, as we all know. So I'd probably go
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: for Tavernier, Vuskovic and then Morajmovic. More than Bogle, probably.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's where we'll leave it today, guys. Reminder, we
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: don't have another deadline. until saturday the 10th of october
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: we will of course be back next week when we'll
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: have some actual premier league football to talk about hopefully
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: i'll be a little bit closer with my wild card
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: as we prepare for game week six and beyond enjoy
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the rest of the break and we'll see you then