Our Fantasy Picks for GW1

Schmeichel

Ivanovic Mertesacker Cedric

Walcott Lallana Hazard Barkley

Costa van-Wolfswinkel Rooney

Leicester are a good shout to keep a clean sheet against Sunderland.
Chelsea are the big guns and can't / shouldn't be overlooked.
Lallana & Walcott are fantasticly good pre-season.
S'hampton play the dreadful Newcastle, who will be booed off their home park in GW1.
Everton are likely to put a few past Watford & Barkley is good value.
van Wolfswinkel put a few away in preseason & knows where goal is.
Man Utd have epic mids now, and Rooney is the sole forward.

Is It Ronaldo Time?

Ronaldo is back, and priced higher than ever. There is no doubt that he is a phenomenon in FF terms. But is he worth the £14.2 (and climbing!) pricetag?

Lets see what else £14.2 could buy you:

Liverpool defender Arbeloa (£6.0m) AND
Everton midfielder Arteta (£8.0m)

Liverpool look like they are mounting a serious Premiership challenge this season, and are keeping several clean sheets along the way. Arbeloa has played almost every minute this season which means guarenteed Clean Sheet points - however he does have 4 yellow cards. Between now and Jan 31st, the 'Pool face only 3 Top 4 games: Chelsea twice and Arsenal just before Christmas. Favourable times ahead.

A lot of people predicted big things for Arteta this season, and he hasn't disappointed so far. Two goals, 4 assists, 8 bonus points and a maximum compliment of minutes played points to a regular points-accruer. Everton face the tough line-up of Arsenal and Man Utd as their next two games, but then have fairly easy sailing until 22nd Dec.

Villa striker Carew (£7.7m) AND
Chelsea defender Bosingwa (£6.5m)

Carew has scored in 4 of the 7 games played this season, chalked up a couple of assists, and also made away with 7 bonus points. Villa's fixtures list through till Christmas isn't perfect, but whether they keep a clean sheet or not is of little concern to the in-form Villa striker's points tally.

Chelsea, like Liverpool, are shaping up to be contenders for Most Clean Sheets this season. And since Bosingwa is playing practically every minute for Chelsea, he earns lots of juicy Clean Sheet points. He has also potted a goal, and its likely he will pull in some assists over the course of the season as well.

But will these two combinations add up to more points than Ronaldo's total? He has started with a bang, but I do not believe he will repeat last season's heroics of 280+ points; it was such a freakishly outrageous performance I do not think anyone can do it two seasons back-to-back.

There is definately an element of "Keeping Up With The Joneses" in FF, and if loads of other players have Ronaldo and he DOES start to look like he might repeat his mammoth points tally, then it will become important to have him in the squad. But by then his price will have risen even more...

It is early days yet, but Man Utd have a good fixture list between now and Christmas. However, that £14.2m will buy a lot of other quality players. It is a tricky decision.

What do you think - buy Ronaldo early, late, or not at all? Let us know your thoughts on the issue in the comments below.

ps: Apologies for the lack of recent posts; I've been in Australia visiting me Nephews. Normal service is now resumed!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A major issue to consider is the fact that you can make Ronaldo captain where as you cannot captain the two players you replace him with.
I discuss this in my blog (http://premierleaguefantasy.blogspot.com/2008/10/wildcard-part-ii.html).

Anonymous said...

Plus you must remember that along with Ronaldo you also need to buy a scrub to fill your roster. So if you were to buy Ronaldo (14.2) and the cheapest defender available - 3.9m - you would actually have 18.1 to spend elsewhere, ie any other midfielder and any other defender costing less than 6.7m. When you put it that way, i think he is less appealing. However, with bargains to be had up front (Cole, Davies, Zaki, Zamora, Heskey) I think he is affordable when you consider the issue of captaincy.

Anonymous said...

Ok I've decided it's time to play my Wildcard, as I'm seeking to pick up Ronaldo and move Lescott, plus the 2 week layoff gives me time to rework and see how guys do outside the league.

I plan on swapping out Clichy, Lescott, and Upson in favor of Turner, Olsson, and Traore and holding on to Laursen and Figueroa. This is mostly to clear up money so I can stack my midfield and forwards.

In the midfield I plan on keeping SWP and Reo-Coker plus Cole and Defoe attacking. I also have Denilson, but I think the time has come for me to take the money and run with him, so I will be swapping him for Ronaldo.

My dilemma comes with what to do with the 3 other players in order to afford Ronaldo. In addition to those already named, I have Valencia and Arteta with Adebayor up top. I have come up with what I think are the three best options:

1. Stand pat with the 3 players already named. I know that I should probably just collect my money with Arteta and Adebayor since I have had both since the beginning of the season and can make a nice profit, but both are in good form right now.

2. Keep Valencia, swap Arteta for Lampard and Adebayor for Zaki. This seems like the safest option, but it will give me 3 Wigan players, plus I hate to part with Arteta.

3. Keep Arteta, swap Valencia for Lampard and Adebayor for Davies. This is very attractive to me right now because I would have an amazing midfield, especially with City's fixtures and Cahill being sketchy at Everton. The only downside is Davies could be risky and Zaki seems like a tough deal to pass up.

Sorry for the (very) long post, any input is appreciated.

Anonymous said...

I just realized if I transfer Hart (5.0) for James (5.9) at keeper, I can afford option 3, but with Zaki instead of Davies. This is sure looking tempting...

Anonymous said...

Hi

Change Links??

Futbol de Lujo

http://futboldelujo.com

guestblogger said...

Excellent site you have here. Would you be able to email me when you get the chance? There is something I would like to run by you.

My email is in my profile.

Thanks a lot,

Thomas

Recent Posts:
Sites We Like
Mens Football Kits
Rubber Crumb Sports Pitch
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Join our reader's league using the code: 1555536-568293 .

Premier Fantasy Attackers
Premier Fantasy Defenders
Premier Fantasy Goalkeepers
Premier Fantasy Midfielders
Premier Fantasy Others