Gameweek 31 Captain Poll

roryc

Its a two horse race for me. If in doubt, captain Suarez. If chasing a big lead and ready to take a risk that could make or break your season, captain Sturridge. I might not be as big a risk as you think, the last two gameweeks have skewed opinion in Suarez's favour. Sturridge generally outscores him when they play together. Already posted this previously but might help the debate a bit.

Sturridge has played in 21 games this season, some of them for as little as 20 minutes. He has scored or assisted in 17 of those, failing only at Southampton (twice), Fulham and Arsenal. His average points per game is 7.5, so his expected return for the DGW would be 15. He scored 14 points against Sunderland earlier this season (was injured for the Cardiff game). And that's not taking into account the fact that his opposition are both in the relegation zone! I would say his expected return is probably 20, only topped by Suarez who could hit 25/30. Luis scored 29 in the same 2 fixtures already this season.

Captaining anyone else is suicide.

John83

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Chasing leads of 100 points and 85 points in two paid leagues. I think I've only taken the captaincy of Luis twice in the last 20 GWs.

Sturridge's frightening scoring rate was making me think about switching the armband. But Joe Allen has come back into the Liverpool team for the past two games and it looks like Liverpool are playing more of a diamond. This has seen both Luis and Danny Boy both playing centrally. This coincides with Luis outscoring Danny Boy. However I think Rodgers will revert back to the 4-3-3 which sees Luis play a bit wider. The diamond setup seems to have been a deliberate tactic for Southampton and Utd.

So maybe Danny Boy is the right option this week. Or not!

8-10

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

John83 wrote: »

Chasing leads of 100 points and 85 points in two paid leagues. I think I've only taken the captaincy of Luis twice in the last 20 GWs.

Sturridge's frightening scoring rate was making me think about switching the armband. But Joe Allen has come back into the Liverpool team for the past two games and it looks like Liverpool are playing more of a diamond. This has seen both Luis and Danny Boy both playing centrally. This coincides with Luis outscoring Danny Boy. However I think Rodgers will revert back to the 4-3-3 which sees Luis play a bit wider. The diamond setup seems to have been a deliberate tactic for Southampton and Utd.

So maybe Danny Boy is the right option this week. Or not!

I would expect Lucas to start one of the games ahead of Allen

John83

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

8-10 wrote: »

I would expect Lucas to start one of the games ahead of Allen

That would move Gerrard out of his new deeper role. And with Henderson one of the first names on the team sheet I reckon that would mean a diamond and therefore Suarez remaining more central.

GAH!

Lemlin

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

IMO sticking to the tried and tested is the way to go in this game. What happens if you're 20 or 30 points behind and you take a chance on Sturridge and Suarez greatly outscores him? You could now be 50 or 60 points behind.

If 77% of players, according to FFS, are going with Suarez then there's no debate for me. And I'd say that even if I wasn't leading leagues.

There are still 8 GWs left to catch people. Unnecessary risks don't work in this game. Making the most of your selections and your budget does.

8-10

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

John83 wrote: »

That would move Gerrard out of his new deeper role. And with Henderson one of the first names on the team sheet I reckon that would mean a diamond and therefore Suarez remaining more central.

GAH!

All depends on his fitness. He made his return v United after a knee injury but that was off the bench. I think one of the next 2 would be good for him to get 90mins but that's just my opinion, we should wait and see until nearer the weekend when press conferences have happened.

CSF

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

I was 100% on Suarez but those posts in here have given me food for thought. If Suarez was to be played wide I would be on Sturridge, but I don't really know how to second guess Rodgers so Suarez seems the safe bet so I'm going with him for now at least.

Sooner or Later

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

93% for Suarez :eek:

Surely a record.

roryc

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

CSF wrote: »

I was 100% on Suarez but those posts in here have given me food for thought. If Suarez was to be played wide I would be on Sturridge, but I don't really know how to second guess Rodgers so Suarez seems the safe bet so I'm going with him for now at least.

Yeah I narrowed the lead on my opponent to 4 points last week. Have taken an 8 point hit this week for DGW players while my opponent is currently on a 4 point hit, although I think he might also join me on 8. I'm at 3k in the world and its unlikely I'll drop out of the top 10k at this stage, so it's now a purely heads up battle against my rival. He generally picks the flavour of the month as his captain, which is currently Suarez. There's no need for me to take a risk so I'll be doing the same. His performance doesn't really matter then. I'm hoping both him and Sturridge score big, but not much between them. 90% will captain Luis.

I'm relying on differentials like Evra and Skrtel to bag me points. Really fancy one of them will score or assist this GW. In many games Evra has been the furthest forward, as shown again last night. He had a cracking header into the top corner saved, and had some decent crosses into the box which could have been goals. Skrtel loves a header two, scored two against Arsenal! If he can outscore Gerrard I'll be a happy man.

The Norwich v Sunderland game is actually massive for me. Need a clean sheet for Mannone, and anything from Colback.

Iused2likebusts

roryc wrote: »

Yeah I narrowed the lead on my opponent to 4 points last week. Have taken an 8 point hit this week for DGW players while my opponent is currently on a 4 point hit, although I think he might also join me on 8. I'm at 3k in the world and its unlikely I'll drop out of the top 10k at this stage, so it's now a purely heads up battle against my rival. He generally picks the flavour of the month as his captain, which is currently Suarez. There's no need for me to take a risk so I'll be doing the same. His performance doesn't really matter then. I'm hoping both him and Sturridge score big, but not much between them. 90% will captain Luis.

I'm relying on differentials like Evra and Skrtel to bag me points. Really fancy one of them will score or assist this GW. In many games Evra has been the furthest forward, as shown again last night. He had a cracking header into the top corner saved, and had some decent crosses into the box which could have been goals. Skrtel loves a header two, scored two against Arsenal! If he can outscore Gerrard I'll be a happy man.

The Norwich v Sunderland game is actually massive for me. Need a clean sheet for Mannone, and anything from Colback.

I think there is a fair chance of evra not starting the west ham game . Assuming buttner starts the CL game that evra is suspended for they will need to give him some gametime to get him up to speed. Also with the league not being important for utd anymore evra probably deserves a bit of a breather he is able to get up the pitch but is really struggling to make it back of late. Id expect a good few changes from utd on sat they have had 2 tough games this week and then face city on tuesday. The west ham game is the game to give some players a breather.

roryc

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Good point - lets hope you're wrong! I wouldn't say the league is unimportant though. Chances are United won't get further in the CL so while this is still the priority I would expect Moyes to still be looking at 3 points from West Ham. They're currently 7th but 5th is not that far a stretch if results go their way. Whether they even want to qualify for the Europa League is another question (I would say no tbh).

Vidic is out, Smalling and Evans are doubtful. You think it could be Buttner, Ferdinand, Rafael and Jones against WH? That defence will get destroyed. I agree Evra needs a rest but I would assume that rest will be the forced one from the Champions League.

Lemlin

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

roryc wrote: »

Good point - lets hope you're wrong! I wouldn't say the league is unimportant though. Chances are United won't get further in the CL so while this is still the priority I would expect Moyes to still be looking at 3 points from West Ham. They're currently 7th but 5th is not that far a stretch if results go their way. Whether they even want to qualify for the Europa League is another question (I would say no tbh).

Vidic is out, Smalling and Evans are doubtful. You think it could be Buttner, Ferdinand, Rafael and Jones against WH? That defence will get destroyed. I agree Evra needs a rest but I would assume that rest will be the forced one from the Champions League.

The United defence in a make-or-break CL match last night contained 3 of that 4.

Man Utd v Olympiakos (Agg 0-2)
Man Utd: De Gea, Da Silva, Jones, Ferdinand, Evra, Welbeck, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia, Rooney, van Persie. Subs: Lindegaard, Hernandez, Young, Fletcher, Kagawa, Fellaini, Januzaj.

Ziegler1988

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

ManU v Villa on 29 March would seem to be a better opportunity to give Buttner match time with the 1st leg of the quarters on 2/3 April

roryc

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Evra is the strongest part of that defence. Its like taking Kompany out of the City defence and replacing him with Boyata. Weakens the entire defence. And yes I know Evra and Kompany play in different positions...

the incredible pudding

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

roryc wrote: »

Evra is the strongest part of that defence.

Not defensively!

Lemlin

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

the incredible pudding wrote: »

Not defensively!

I'd have to agree. The centre halves generally give a defence stability e.g. Terry for Chelsea, Kompany for City, Mert/Kos for Arsenal, Agger for Liverpool.

The wing backs get forward and defend when they have to. It's very rare where you'd hear someone say that taking Ivanovic out of the Chelsea defence, Johnson out of the Liverpool defence, Zabaleta out of the City defence or Sagna out of the Arsenal defence would be taking "the strongest part of the defence" and weakening "the entire defence".

For example, when Kompany went off on Saturday, it was Demichelis, as dreadful as he is, that stepped up and steadied the defence by organising it. Not Zabaleta who is next in line to the captaincy after Kompany and Yaya.

I don't expect Evra to be rested myself tbh (West Ham away, City home, Villa home - none of those are particularly easy games at the minute) but then I didn't expect Moyes to discard Vidic like he did against West Brom. I don't like Moyes at all in terms of FF. Even at Everton he never used to give a smidgen of info regarding line-ups and injuries. For example, how many were caught off guard by Smalling at the weekend?

That's why Mata is the only United player I have. He and Rooney are the only two I'd consider now.

Iused2likebusts

roryc wrote: »

Good point - lets hope you're wrong! I wouldn't say the league is unimportant though. Chances are United won't get further in the CL so while this is still the priority I would expect Moyes to still be looking at 3 points from West Ham. They're currently 7th but 5th is not that far a stretch if results go their way. Whether they even want to qualify for the Europa League is another question (I would say no tbh).

Vidic is out, Smalling and Evans are doubtful. You think it could be Buttner, Ferdinand, Rafael and Jones against WH? That defence will get destroyed. I agree Evra needs a rest but I would assume that rest will be the forced one from the Champions League.

Evra could well play the 2 games as moyes may not plan on playing buttner at LB in the CL game. I just think evra is always nailed on to play maybe not as much due to that suspension. Anyway back on topic Suarez captain for me.

MattHelders

Romelu Lukaku (Swansea home, Newcastle away)

100 points behind in my money league. Its do or die. Gerrard as captain!

wonski

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

2 people captained Silva

What are the odds of him scoring again? He scored one goal in December and one last week.

HighClass

As tempted as I am to put it on Jelavic it'll probably be Sturridge or Suarez.

wonski

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

HighClass wrote: »

As tempted as I am to put it on Jelavic it'll probably be Sturridge or Suarez.

Jelavic may not get full time in each game. Liverpool scores in every game and I can't see Jelavic, Dzeko, Lukaku or Yaya scoring more than Suarez or Sturridge next week. This is the week where there is no need to look for differential when it comes to captain choice.

iroced

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Looking at the polls (FFS, here...) it seems it has to be Suarez (over 75 %). The only thing is the last time the polls were like that Suarez failed and Sturridge had a stormer... That said, don't think I'll have the balls to go past Suarez...

Dempsey

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Dont imagine many will be brave enough to take it off Suarez and with good reason.

You'll want to have done your homework and get alot of luck to get a better captain. The peace of mind over captains choice is very welcome too

CSF

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

Why are people/person tempted to captain Jelavic? Makes no sense at all

thunderdog

Any risk takers thinking of going for Rooney? With VP out, he'll be up front more.

e30fitz

Negredo??????????

HighClass

CSF wrote: »

Why are people/person tempted to captain Jelavic? Makes no sense at all

He could be good for a few goals/assists. Been playing well and good fixtures for the double. Saying that I went with Suarez in the end :pac:

CSF

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

HighClass wrote: »

He could be good for a few goals/assists. Been playing well and good fixtures for the double. Saying that I went with Suarez in the end :pac:

He is terrible!!! With Suarez and Sturridge having the fixtures they have I don't know how that could even been a consideration!!!

Rikand

Daniel Sturridge (Cardiff away, Sunderland home)

CSF wrote: »

Why are people/person tempted to captain Jelavic? Makes no sense at all

he's due!

i have him as my vice incase both pool games are called of

Who_8_Paul?

Squeaky bum time - around 60 points behind in one pay league, we will both have 10 double gameweekers but 4/5 different players. He will no doubt captain Suarez. Should I captain Suarez and hope to somehow pull back 60 points with my differentials this week making a start and the rest over the final 7 GWs or do I go for broke and captain Sturridge with the chance that I could be within shooting distance after this week or 100 points behind...