Fantasy Football - Midfielders

Mr Moon

All talk about Midfielders to be kept in this thread.

Thoughts on Cazorla? Could be good depending on his price

dahat

AdamD wrote: »

Thoughts on Cazorla? Could be good depending on his price

He is a must for me,the way Arsenal play he will create chances and with little challenges for his role he will get plenty game time..
11 goals and 6 assits last season,pretty good
Anything under 9 and he is in...............

Lemlin

As with all new mids, I'll hold firm and see how he does. There's no doubting he's a quality player but he could take time to find his feet.

I'd imagine Arsenal will start him but I'm waiting to see how they play with the new additions as well.

spurskiely

Allen Swansea 5.5mil very good option.

dahat

Michu has scored for Swansea in a pre season game,Siggy mark 2 maybe?
At 6.5 he could be tempting

Special Agent Oso

Snodgrass could be an outside bet as well 13 goals and 14 assists in the Championship last year, it'll be interesting to see how he does in the Premiership

keano_afc

With Silva not fit for the start of the season I'll be getting Cazorla in.

smokingman

Special Agent Oso wrote: »

Snodgrass could be an outside bet as well 13 goals and 14 assists in the Championship last year, it'll be interesting to see how he does in the Premiership

Don't think Norwich will be as good this year but don't know their new manager at all so could be talking out me ar$e there. If I was to take a gamble on one of the new teams midfielders, I'd go with Lallana. Best player on their team from what I'm told by a lifelong Saints fan.

Any more news on whether Hazard will be eased into the Chelsea team instead of starting both first games? Thinking I could use his money elsewhere now...

OctavarIan

smokingman wrote: »

Don't think Norwich will be as good this year but don't know their new manager at all so could be talking out me ar$e there. If I was to take a gamble on one of the new teams midfielders, I'd go with Lallana. Best player on their team from what I'm told by a lifelong Saints fan.

Any more news on whether Hazard will be eased into the Chelsea team instead of starting both first games? Thinking I could use his money elsewhere now...

He'll definitely start, the only question is how long he'll take to settle in. Have heard he's been totally average so far in pre-season. I had him in my team but removed him the other day in favour of Mata.

There are so many brilliant options in midfield

Hogey007

2 questions - first one, looking for a very cheap midfielder to try put a bit more money into my defence. anyone know much about danny guthrie? worth a shot at 4.5?

second question. are many people going with gerrard or lampard this year? lampard is tricky given how many midfielders chelsea have but thinking i'll put in a tried and trusted player like gerrard to begin with giving me the option then to swap him for hazard, kagawa etc once i see how they settle in (or keep gerrard if he's doing the business) I know liverpool have a couple of tricky fixtures to begin with but gerrard often shines in these type of games anyway.

OneColdHand

Hogey007 wrote: »

2 questions - first one, looking for a very cheap midfielder to try put a bit more money into my defence. anyone know much about danny guthrie? worth a shot at 4.5?

second question. are many people going with gerrard or lampard this year? lampard is tricky given how many midfielders chelsea have but thinking i'll put in a tried and trusted player like gerrard to begin with giving me the option then to swap him for hazard, kagawa etc once i see how they settle in (or keep gerrard if he's doing the business) I know liverpool have a couple of tricky fixtures to begin with but gerrard often shines in these type of games anyway.

If you're looking to play a 4.5m midfielder all the time, and are looking for points from him, I don't think there's many options.

I wouldn't go with Lampard or Gerrard. You seem to be favouring Gerrard, but there's no way I'd go with him. If you don't fancy the untried lads like Kagawa or Hazard, I'd still go with Bale/Walcott/Sigurdsson over Gerrard.

If you don't like any of those players, I STILL wouldn't pick Gerrard. I'd go with someone cheaper like Sess or Yaya, and put the extra money into your 4.5m midfielder.

Darkglasses

keano_afc wrote: »

With Silva not fit for the start of the season I'll be getting Cazorla in.

David Silva? Nothing on FantasyFootballScout about it

Paully D

I'm pretty set on my goalkeeper, defence and strikers, but the midfield is the one position causing me a lot of doubt. I think the midfield is the key to challenging at the top of the leaderboards this year, but getting it right is so hard.

I usually play 4 midfielders every week and currently have Kagawa and Hazard as nailed on starters every week along with a £6.5m midfielder who I can't decide on (currently Pienaar) and a £5.0m or £5.5m midfielder being the other player, with a cheap-ish bench option filling up the last spot.

Of course Kagawa and Hazard are new additions and both Manchester United and Chelsea have so many options in midfield it's hard to know how things will start off. Spurs have some great fixtures to start and I do wonder if I'd be better off with Bale over Hazard as we know what he brings to the Fantasy Football table. I'll probably make this change after gameweek 2 anyway when Chelsea have a week off and at least by then we'll have seen how Hazard looks.

As for Kagawa, Manchester United fans have been raving about his performances in pre-season and he seems to be playing ''in the hole'' and as we all know, attacking players in top teams such as United's are FF gold. Rooney has been bigging him up too saying he think he'll create so many more chances for them. Looks an interesting proposition and at £8.5m is the cheapest route into the United midfield.

The £6.5m midfielder is a tricky one. There's so many options with many of them having the potential for great returns. Pienaar, Walters, McClean, Hoillet, then you have the likes of Taarabt (£6.0m) and N'Zogbia who didn't do much last year but look set to have good seasons and then more defensive minded players such as Song who scored well last year. Such a tough choice. Stoke have a horrendous start though, so maybe Walters is best avoided until November. I honestly don't know who to go with here yet but my midfield will contain one of the aforementioned players.

Noble (nice fixtures and set piece taker) and Maloney seem to be the most favoured of the £5.0m options, maybe Joe Allen could interest a few at £5.5m if his move to Liverpool goes through.

Overall I do think Hazard and Kagawa will be up there come the end of the season, the question is whether it will take them a while to settle in and be played regularly. Not much good having them at the start if they only get going in October/November.

So my midfield, praying that Hazard and Kagawa start, will more than likely look like this, with Hazard perhaps changing to Bale after GW2. I may also choose to go four at the back some weeks instead of playing Noble/Maloney:

Hazard Kagawa £6.5m midfielder (Noble/Maloney)

massdebater

^^

If you can squeeze another 0.5m to your team, Ireland could come in for Maloney. Lambert has been talking about how importnat Ireland is to his team this year and is keen to get him playing in a position that will hurt the opposition. Ireland and Noble rotate perfectly until GW16 too, with both teams having tasty fixtures.

The 6.5 mid is a pain in the hole, I have it on Pienaar atm but any of the guys from your list could also do well.

OneColdHand

keano_afc wrote: »

With Silva not fit for the start of the season I'll be getting Cazorla in.

How much do you think he'll be?

darego

OneColdHand wrote: »

How much do you think he'll be?

if kagawa came in at 8.5 i would assume he will be 8.5 as well. looking at siggy i would say the extra .5 was because he had time to proove himself in the prem last year. cazorla/kagawa are new to the prem and looking like the same style of ff player so should be both 8.5

massdebater

darego wrote: »

if kagawa came in at 8.5 i would assume he will be 8.5 as well. looking at siggy i would say the extra .5 was because he had time to proove himself in the prem last year. cazorla/kagawa are new to the prem and looking like the same style of ff player so should be both 8.5

But then Hazard was 9.5m. It's all speculation now but he'll likely be between 8.5-9.5m. Walcott is 9.0m so my guess is Cazorla will be 9.0m too. Either way, he could be a cheap way to shoehorn an attacking Arsenal player into our teams.

darego

didn't think about hazard.. damn yeah looks like we'll just have to wait and see :pac:

Hogey007

OneColdHand wrote: »

If you're looking to play a 4.5m midfielder all the time, and are looking for points from him, I don't think there's many options.

I wouldn't go with Lampard or Gerrard. You seem to be favouring Gerrard, but there's no way I'd go with him. If you don't fancy the untried lads like Kagawa or Hazard, I'd still go with Bale/Walcott/Sigurdsson over Gerrard.

If you don't like any of those players, I STILL wouldn't pick Gerrard. I'd go with someone cheaper like Sess or Yaya, and put the extra money into your 4.5m midfielder.

hmmm yeah I might look at Bale actually, still gives me what i want in having a tried and trusted player in. If Hazard, Cazorla, Kagawa hit the ground running I'll be able to switch them in for Bale or if Gerrard starts off blindingly i could add him in then.

Might try get 1.0 mil from elsewhere to put in Ireland for Guthrie, I'm sold with all the talk about him on here. Or else might go for Noble.

cheers for your input.

redzerdrog

I wreckon cazorla will be around the 8.0 mark, maybe 8.5 at the most

keano_afc

Thinking of swapping Silva/Hazard for Bale/Cazorla. The Spuds do have a nice start to the season and I dont see many teams with the simian included. I think Cazorla might be a safer bet than Hazard, after the DGW of course.

kennyb3

Michu or Pienaar? I'd have said pienaar all day long but for fixtures - home v man u, followed by two away fixtures. Although no really tough fixtures

dahat

kennyb3 wrote: »

Michu or Pienaar? I'd have said pienaar all day long but for fixtures - home v man u, followed by two away fixtures. Although no really tough fixtures

Michu i think will get plenty games for Swansea given his knack for goals so i have chosen him,Pienaar offers good assist potential but Everton are unpredictable early in the season so jury is out slightly on them for me

Mr. Incognito

I dont think you can do this in isolation as it depends on your forwards.

I have agerio roonpig and graham so leaves me looking for chelsea coverage- I have gone with Lampard as he is on set pieces and playing well preseason until the midfield is bedded down.

Tottenham- Siggy.

Both of these offer cover and can change for someone in form- Walcott etc.

Noble, SWP (Who is UNREAL preseason and two soft opening fixtures) and gutherie for the double.

I dont intend changing my forwards or def so midfield is where I will be jumping depending on fixtures and form

Paully D

McClean played superbly well tonight for Sunderland in a friendly against Derby. Yes, I know only a friendly but he scored 1 and had ran rampant for the 80 minutes that he played. He'll start every week and at £6.5m is very tempting.

Once Sunderland get a tough opener to Arsenal out of the way they have games against Reading, Swansea, Liverpool (H), West Ham, Wigan, Man City, Newcastle (H), Stoke, Villa, Everton, West Brom and QPR. Not a bad opening quarter of the season at all.

Is anyone else thinking of forgetting about the high priced players that may not play every week such as Hazard, Kagawa etc and filling their midifeld with the excellent £6.5m options such as McClean, Pienaar, Walters, etc. It's something that is tempting me now although I might see how Hazard gets on for the DGW and use my wildcard if things don't go as planned.

Backstreet Moyes

Any Villa fans tell me what they think of Ireland for this season. Their is talk of him playing behind Bent. If he does for 5.5 million he could be a good pick. Lambert plays nice football.

SpaceCowb0y

Paully D wrote: »

Is anyone else thinking of forgetting about the high priced players that may not play every week such as Hazard, Kagawa etc and filling their midifeld with the excellent £6.5m options such as McClean, Pienaar, Walters, etc. It's something that is tempting me now although I might see how Hazard gets on for the DGW and use my wildcard if things don't go as planned.

Thiking of using your wildcard already!!!:eek:

I dont think we'll be lucky enough to get a freebie in week 2 again:pac::pac:

Paully D

SpaceCowb0y wrote: »

Thiking of using your wildcard already!!!:eek:

I dont think we'll be lucky enough to get a freebie in week 2 again:pac::pac:

I usually always use mine after the first few weeks anyway

manual_man

I have to big up Bale here. He may be a bit of a nonce rolling around on the ground at times, but he's turned into pretty much the best all-round winger in the game at the moment (imo). Great crosser for assists, good shot on him, scores a few with his head too. Slight worry how Spurs might fare if Modric goes (who will they replace him with??), and also their striker situation, but Bale is that good i'm confident to have him from the start. No rotation worries either!!

SpaceCowb0y

Carzola in at £9mil, just changed him for Yaya using my last 1 million in the bank! Hopefully he will be a regular starter! at that price it is ridiculous if he isn't! then again, Kagawa and Hazard are both expensive considering nobody knows if they will be starters from the beggining or not!

Hazard and Carzola in my sqaud now though so hopefully i'm not left with 2 high profile bench warmers!! :rolleyes::pac:

dahat

redzerdrog wrote: »

I wreckon cazorla will be around the 8.0 mark, maybe 8.5 at the most

9.0 which seems pricey but when you put Yaya at 8.0 and the likely hood of him being played in a holding role this season 9.0 is not so bad.
Carzola is likely to be put straight into the gunners team i reckon,i myself have sold Yaya and put him in.
Giroud seems pretty good in front of gaol and should tuck away what Carzola create for him

dahat

SpaceCowb0y wrote: »

Carzola in at £9mil, just changed him for Yaya using my last 1 million in the bank! Hopefully he will be a regular starter! at that price it is ridiculous if he isn't! then again, Kagawa and Hazard are both expensive considering nobody knows if they will be starters from the beggining or not!

Hazard and Carzola in my sqaud now though so hopefully i'm not left with 2 high profiel bench warmers!! :rolleyes::pac:

SNAP!!!!

manual_man

dahat wrote: »

redzerdrog wrote: »

I wreckon cazorla will be around the 8.0 mark, maybe 8.5 at the most

9.0 which seems pricey but when you put Yaya at 8.0 and the likely hood of him being played in a holding role this season 9.0 is not so bad.
Carzola is likely to be put straight into the gunners team i reckon,i myself have sold Yaya and put him in.
Giroud seems pretty good in front of gaol and should tuck away what Carzola create for him

i have a feeling Mancini might play that 5-3-2 for some games though (he's been experimenting with it pre-season), if that's the case Yaya could be great value for 8.0

dahat

manual_man wrote: »

i have a feeling Mancini might play that 5-3-2 for some games though (he's been experimenting with it pre-season), if that's the case Yaya could be great value for 8.0

3-5-2 you mean? would make sense in buying Agger then.......that formation will need a defensive 2,Barry and Yaya or Yaya and Dejong

manual_man

dahat wrote: »

manual_man wrote: »

i have a feeling Mancini might play that 5-3-2 for some games though (he's been experimenting with it pre-season), if that's the case Yaya could be great value for 8.0

3-5-2 you mean? would make sense in buying Agger then.......that formation will need a defensive 2,Barry and Yaya or Yaya and Dejong

Same thing really. Zab and Kolarov were playing in the wide roles, and Yaya much further forward. All the same Yaya scored very well from his traditional holding role in the latter parts of last season. Guaranteed starter too

dahat

manual_man wrote: »

Same thing really. Zab and Kolarov were playing in the wide roles, and Yaya much further forward. All the same Yaya scored very well from his traditional holding role in the latter parts of last season. Guaranteed starter too

Yaya was a big scorer late in the season but that was only after 50 ish minutes when a tactical change was made to win games,not sure if Mancini will do so early in the season tbh.

SpaceCowb0y

manual_man wrote: »

i have a feeling Mancini might play that 5-3-2 for some games though (he's been experimenting with it pre-season), if that's the case Yaya could be great value for 8.0

I had wanted Yaya out of my team for a while but wasn't certain who to bring in for him! I agree if he's playing in an attacking role then at 8mil he is great value but I reckon he will more then likely have more a defensive role, at least to begin with! I'll see after the first couple of gameweeks and if he's clocking up the points with assists or an odd goal will bring him back in then! Carzola should be in an attacking role from the get go!

redzerdrog

9.0 for cazorla is a bit more than i had hoped for, think i will leave him for a couple of weeks to see how arsenal line up. My current expebsive mids are bale, hazard and kagawa so can easily change for one of these if needs be

keithyob

Hi guy can yous please help me.. this is my final team i have so far for gameweek 1 let me know what yous think?

Krul £5.5 sub – (Cerny £4.0)

Evra £7.0 Clichy £6.0 Walker £6.5 Williams £5.0 sub – (Clyne £4.0)

Valencia£9.0 Yaya Toure£8.0 Cabaye£7.0 subs – (Guthrie£ 4.5) (Britton £4.5)

Pogrebnyak £5.0 Torres£10.0 Aguero£11.5

i have 2.5 in the bank

I want to change torres for rooney in gamie week 2 and i want to get kawaga for valancia but ino kawaga isnt going to start at everton so will i wait or just get him in now incase the money goes up or him?

keano_afc

Silva out, Cazorla in. Although his name is spelt wrong on the site.

Paully D

Any advice on which of these midfields you think is best please lads?

Option 1)

Hazard, Kagawa, £6.5 midfielder, Noble, Maloney

Option 2)

Bale, Pienaar, McClean, £6.5m midfielder, Ireland

I'm thinking option 2. There's a bit too much uncertainty with the big priced Manchester United and Chelsea midfielders.

I'll put Torres in for Rooney to get decent Chelsea coverage for the DGW with £2.0m left in the bank to change if necessary.

Thoughts?

dahat

Paully D wrote: »

Any advice on which of these midfields you think is best please lads?

Option 1)

Hazard, Kagawa, £6.5 midfielder, Noble, Maloney

Option 2)

Bale, Pienaar, McClean, £6.5m midfielder, Ireland

I'm thinking option 2. There's a bit too much uncertainty with the big priced Manchester United and Chelsea midfielders.

I'll put Torres in for Rooney to get decent Chelsea coverage for the DGW with £2.0m left in the bank to change if necessary.

Thoughts?

On Bale,is VDV not a better option at 9.0 if ADE does not come,spot kicks etc?
Spurs mid + kagawa with Noble and ANOTHER would be my pick of those,not quite what you asked but so be it........

Dietsquirt

Paully D wrote: »

I'm pretty set on my goalkeeper, defence and strikers, but the midfield is the one position causing me a lot of doubt. I think the midfield is the key to challenging at the top of the leaderboards this year, but getting it right is so hard.

I usually play 4 midfielders every week and currently have Kagawa and Hazard as nailed on starters every week along with a £6.5m midfielder who I can't decide on (currently Pienaar) and a £5.0m or £5.5m midfielder being the other player, with a cheap-ish bench option filling up the last spot.

Of course Kagawa and Hazard are new additions and both Manchester United and Chelsea have so many options in midfield it's hard to know how things will start off. Spurs have some great fixtures to start and I do wonder if I'd be better off with Bale over Hazard as we know what he brings to the Fantasy Football table. I'll probably make this change after gameweek 2 anyway when Chelsea have a week off and at least by then we'll have seen how Hazard looks.

As for Kagawa, Manchester United fans have been raving about his performances in pre-season and he seems to be playing ''in the hole'' and as we all know, attacking players in top teams such as United's are FF gold. Rooney has been bigging him up too saying he think he'll create so many more chances for them. Looks an interesting proposition and at £8.5m is the cheapest route into the United midfield.

The £6.5m midfielder is a tricky one. There's so many options with many of them having the potential for great returns. Pienaar, Walters, McClean, Hoillet, then you have the likes of Taarabt (£6.0m) and N'Zogbia who didn't do much last year but look set to have good seasons and then more defensive minded players such as Song who scored well last year. Such a tough choice. Stoke have a horrendous start though, so maybe Walters is best avoided until November. I honestly don't know who to go with here yet but my midfield will contain one of the aforementioned players.

Noble (nice fixtures and set piece taker) and Maloney seem to be the most favoured of the £5.0m options, maybe Joe Allen could interest a few at £5.5m if his move to Liverpool goes through.

Overall I do think Hazard and Kagawa will be up there come the end of the season, the question is whether it will take them a while to settle in and be played regularly. Not much good having them at the start if they only get going in October/November.

So my midfield, praying that Hazard and Kagawa start, will more than likely look like this, with Hazard perhaps changing to Bale after GW2. I may also choose to go four at the back some weeks instead of playing Noble/Maloney:

Hazard Kagawa £6.5m midfielder (Noble/Maloney)

I'm going to start with Kagawa Hazard McAnuff (5.5m + 2 games) & Noble

Hogey007

what are people's thoughts on Joe Allen at 5.5 now that he's likely to complete his liverpool switch today?

117 points last season.

Lemlin

Paully D wrote: »

Any advice on which of these midfields you think is best please lads?

Option 1)

Hazard, Kagawa, £6.5 midfielder, Noble, Maloney

Option 2)

Bale, Pienaar, McClean, £6.5m midfielder, Ireland

I'm thinking option 2. There's a bit too much uncertainty with the big priced Manchester United and Chelsea midfielders.

I'll put Torres in for Rooney to get decent Chelsea coverage for the DGW with £2.0m left in the bank to change if necessary.

Thoughts?

Option 2. I'd go with proven midfielders over the unknown all day long.

I've seen people on here get caught up in the hype and proclaim Kagawa as one of the best midfielders in the world at playing in the hole. There's no doubting the lad looks quality but he's played 50 games in German football. 21 goals is a tremendous return but I'm waiting to see how he beds in and I wouldn't be seeing him as one of the best midfielders in the world until he proves it at United.

I've also heard he transferred for about 14 million which is relatively modest compared to the sums paid for the likes of Hazard and Cazorla. Then there is all the uncertainty regarding United's midfield/strikers and rotation.

The max I would have is one unproven, new signing, in my midfield or strikers. There's just too many variables with new unknown players. If Hazard, Kagawa or Cazorla starts setting the world alight, you can always transfer them in. The old reliables like Jon Walters and Bale have been there every year getting decent scores time and time again.

dahat

Hogey007 wrote: »

what are people's thoughts on Joe Allen at 5.5 now that he's likely to complete his liverpool switch today?

117 points last season.

He is in my team,looks a definate starter and a that price,a steal,points total from last year was pretty ok.

qwabercd

Lemlin wrote: »

I've also heard he transferred for about 14 million which is relatively modest compared to the sums paid for the likes of Hazard and Cazorla. Then there is all the uncertainty regarding United's midfield/strikers and rotation.

He only had a year left on his contract so it wasn't that modest a fee at all. He is absolute quality and I'd rather take the risk of having him in my team than not having him.

SpaceCowb0y

Lemlin wrote: »

Option 2. I'd go with proven midfielders over the unknown all day long.

I've seen people on here get caught up in the hype and proclaim Kagawa as one of the best midfielders in the world at playing in the hole. There's no doubting the lad looks quality but he's played 50 games in German football. 21 goals is a tremendous return but I'm waiting to see how he beds in and I wouldn't be seeing him as one of the best midfielders in the world until he proves it at United.

I've also heard he transferred for about 14 million which is relatively modest compared to the sums paid for the likes of Hazard and Cazorla. Then there is all the uncertainty regarding United's midfield/strikers and rotation.

The max I would have is one unproven, new signing, in my midfield or strikers. There's just too many variables with new unknown players. If Hazard, Kagawa or Cazorla starts setting the world alight, you can always transfer them in. The old reliables like Jon Walters and Bale have been there every year getting decent scores time and time again.

Ah FFS you are stressing me out ha:rolleyes: I was happy enough with my team but im starting to think you are right about having more then one unknown in your team to begin with! I just brought Cazorla in and already had Hazard. Might swap Hazard for VDV now as Spurs fixtures are tasty to begin with! Just wanted plenty of Chelsea cover for the DGW but i guess its probably not worth it if we don't know he's a guaranteed starter yet! As Arsenal are not in the same boat with a ridiculous amount of midfield options id say Cazorla is a nailed on starter from the get go!

Lemlin

qwabercd wrote: »

He only had a year left on his contract so it wasn't that modest a fee at all. He is absolute quality and I'd rather take the risk of having him in my team than not having him.

But what are you basing this opinion on that he is "absolute quality"? For me, alot of people are basing it on that he has just signed for United and that alone.

I didn't hear too many people raving about Kagawa last year. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places but I wasn't aware of his stats for Dortmund until I looked them up and other than a few small news stories I hadn't heard much about him before now. Whereas I had heard of the likes of Hazard.

The other factor is that United were beaten for pretty much every other signing they've gone for this year but got Kagawa, at a modest fee. If he's that good why weren't Chelsea, City or PSG sniffing around?

And I don't get this whole "risk of not having him". A player can be transferred in any week. If he does well, I'll gladly back down from my words above and bring him in but I can't see him having a cracker of a week where not having him leaves me at a distinct advantage.

I'll be playing my wildcard at the international break in Gameweek 3 as I always do anyway.

darego

dahat wrote: »

He is in my team,looks a definate starter and a that price,a steal,points total from last year was pretty ok.

how deep will allen play though? i think i'd prefer an attacking ireland for villa for 5.5