2021/2022 Wildcard thread.

howareyakid

Playing the WC this week. I have two drafts done out more or less: one with Salah, Ronaldo and Lukaku; and another without Ronaldo. There’s no doubt having the three of them weakens the team in other areas so I’ll have to weigh it up before making a final decision. Ronnie is the one I’d go without I think - he could become someone like ASM or Bamford and then Dan James (who I have in the Ronnie draft) could maybe become a Greenwood or Jota for example. Decisions!

Eldoco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117929118#Comment_117929118

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117929118#Comment_117929118

cheers , i was trying to get alonso in with changing DDG jsut dont have the funds..

so went shaw and shancez for duffy and ddg.

which i think is better options for me with 2 better defenders to play each time

Fitz*

WC active. Here's to a week of fun and changes!

COH

Looking at the following WC:

TAA - Cancelo - Alonso - Rudiger - White

Salah - Raphinha - Benrahma - Sarr - Luiz

Lukaku - Antonio - ASM

Anyone see any glaring omissions? Decent squad flexibility... 442/433/343 depending on fixtures.

White could be Duffy/Livramento. Could also downgrade one of the defenders and upgrade ASM to the likes of Bamford if he's fit.

Ace2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117941678#Comment_117941678

Could probably do with a keeper or two 🤣

On a more serious note, Arsenal have some great run of fixtures, and everything good comes through Saka - at 6.2m is decent value.

Maybe keep an eye on how Son gets on today - he stated the season really well before the injury.

Fitz*

I have Odegaard in my WC team. Have had Ben White already.

But I might have to rethink my Odegaard pick and maybe go with ESR or Saka instead? I can afford the difference in price. Which is the best option from the 3 of those? Saka I'm thinking because he's closer to goal generally.

munster87

Saka is the best of the 3 imo. I’m on wildcard and think I’m going to go Saka over Sarr as Arsenal have better fixtures coming up.

COH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942010#Comment_117942010

Doh! I have Sanchez (Steele)

Dont think Ill be touching any spurs players ok current form... ESR is an interesting one though for sure but not sure Id have him or Saka over Sarr or Raph

Ace2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942990#Comment_117942990

Is Sarr good, or is he just returning against poor teams, scoring two against Norwich doesn't mean much, and likewise scoring against Newcastle isn't that hard either. Looking at his fixtures, it's probably close enough - Leeds should be an open game, but 3 wins on the bonce for Arsenal and Saka has been at the centre of them.

Would you consider Ramsdale over Sanchez - fixture wise Sanchez is probably only getting 1 CS in their next 4 games if he's lucky.

Also Ralph's "injury" has to be of some concern, he asked to be subbed at the weekend.

Lemlin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942990#Comment_117942990

ESR is only 5.3 so a lot cheaper than the other options you have listed.

Cartman78

Surprised it's not busier in here this week...🤨

Feel like my team is going stale but not quite dead ended yet maybe (?)

Sanchez | Steele

Alonso | TAA | Shaw | Coufal | Tsimakas

Salah | Raphina | Torres | Gilmour | Benrahma

Antonio | Ronaldo | Maupay

Feel like I urgently need to get rid of Shaw and Torres.

TAA, Tsimakas, Gilmour, Benrahma and Ronaldo also teetering close to the chopping block as well.

Would you wildcard now? Or hold fire for another bit...don't want to take hits if possible but open to feedback either way

dr.kenneth noisewater

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117949120#Comment_117949120

Have a similar team and similar issues but think I'll hold until after the international window now. Shaw/Ronaldo could score decent at home to Everton so Torres is the most urgent transfer for me

Fitz*

I'd definitely get rid of Shaw anyways. Man United have only kept one CS is all comps all season, and that was against the 2nd worst scorers in the league who missed a lot of chances to score in that game. Only has 1 attacking return. Not enough enough returns for 5.5, there are much better options for that price, or cheaper. And that is while Man Utd were playing their 'easy' fixtures. Upcoming games up until GW15 are Everton, Leicester, Liverpool, Spurs, City, Watford, Chelsea, Arsenal. At the moment, I would see 3 CS games from 8. Rudiger for a start who has 4 CS and has more attacking return points.

Tsimikas is an odd one. Personally, as a Liverpool fan, I would prefer to see him start the Man City game as I think he has played better than Robertson this season. But I'm not manager of Liverpool! I hope he plays the CL game tonight, and plays so well that Klopp has no choice but to start him Sunday. Robbo has been below par this season. Fixtures are not the best, while there is still CS & assist potential. But it's only around 50% on paper currently, and Tsimikas is not currently starting. 2 that are currently starting are Livramento & Duffy, and are the the standout choices for replacements in that price point as they are starting every game. Lamptey returning should not affect Duffy's place in the team long term, unless there is a formation change. Tsimikas is only really a problem if you need the 14th player. He's not taking up funds.

TAA depends on injury really for me personally, but there's a willing replacement in Alonso who has the fixtures. You already have Alonso, so you're good here. Until last Saturday, TAA was a mainstay for me, but now with big breach in defence and the injury, I have some doubts. A defence of Alonso, Rudiger, TAA is strong. Coufal is a strong rotation option with the 4.1 Duffy/Livramento willing to fill in when needed.

Torres is really susceptible to Pep Rouletter but is also not returning. I would suggest one of the 3 Arsenal MIDs, and some cash to play with.

Personally, I would hold Benrahama for a few more GWs anyways but that should change around GW11.

So overall, I would think that Shaw & Torres are really only your 'problems'. Easy fix with 2 FTs or a -4. This squad is strong for next week. Then can move Ronaldo -> Lukaku the week after (or this week for a -8 if you go that way). Should have around 1.5 extra ITB with those moves too.

TAA Rudiger Alonso Coufal (Tsimikas)

Salah Benrahama Raphinha Saka (Gilmour)

Ronaldo Antonio (Maupay)

Cartman78

Cheers guys....that's pushed me away from the Wildy button for now ;-)

Torres to anybody this week will be the move this week

Lemlin

Thinking of wildcarding (will also save me a -4 I took to get ESR and Lukaku in):

Sanchez/Steele

TAA, Rudiger, Livramento, Williams, Ayling

Gray, Salah, ESR, Benrahma, Gilmour

Lukaku, Antonio, Ronaldo

to:

Foster, Ramsdale

Alonso, Rudiger, Cancelo, Livramento, Manquillo

ESR, Douglas Luiz, Salah, Benrahma, Gray

Antonio, Lukaku, Ronaldo

Opinions? I'd have nothing in the bank.

The real mccoy 91

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953245#Comment_117953245

Personally I'm against the threemium because I feel your quite stuck in midfield with the price points and if any midfielder in the 7-9m range starts firing it'll take a bit of surgery to work out how to get them in. Going without taa seems like an unnecessary risk too in terms of the chances of it backifiring are quite a bit higher than the risk paying off.

Your defence looks on the weak side for this week but I think I'd just ride it out with a 3-4-3

The real mccoy 91

Sanchez

Taa rudiger Alonso coufal white

Benrahma Salah greenwood Jota klich

Antonio Lukaku perica

Not wildcarding this week used my 2 frees to get Alonso and rudiger for James and Shaw. Had hoped to carry it to gw13/14 but very tempted to pull the trigger next week after playing around with the idea I came up with

Ederson

Cancelo Alonso rudiger taa livramento

Salah raphina saka Gallagher doucoure

Antonio Lukaku and a 4.5

+1m itb

Ace2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953245#Comment_117953245

The only difference in your front 8 will be Luiz for Gilmour? that to be seems like a waster of a WC.

Ace2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953548#Comment_117953548

I feel like the GW that TAA scores a goal and a CS is the GW folk will be saying this is why you don't sell TAA etc, yet Liverpool conceded 3 against Brentford with their strongest defense on the pitch. They should have conceded against Leeds only for bad finishing. TAA played most of last season and got 2 goals. He's never been a prolific goalscorer, so this idea that going without him is an unnecessary risk is just hype and usually by pool supporters. If you went for Matip for instance he's 2.6m cheaper and he'll get you the CS points that TAA would get.

I don't really know how having Alonso, Rudiger, and Cancelo would constitute of a weak defense, coupled with livramento who has decent fixtures.

Also the idea that someone in the 7-9m range is going to be a must have doesn't really stack up when you look at the players in that range :

Sancho, Pogba, Greenwood - if you have Ronaldo your unlikely want any of these players - also rotational risks with them.

Mahrez, Grealish, Foden, Gundog, Torres - Most of us don't want to play Pep roulette, even if one gets a hattrick this GW he could be on bench for the next.

Havertz, Pulisic, Ziyech, Mount - most are on the double Chelsea defense and Lukaku so won't be jumping on these players, who again are rotational risks.

That leaves Jota - whom folk are transferring out and are uncertain about starting, Pepe - who is not value compared with ESR/Saka.

Dempsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953245#Comment_117953245

What you really want to do is change the keepers & TAA to Alonso to fund it?

Lemlin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953606#Comment_117953606

I've an awful lot of issues in defence though. It's also saving me the -4 I've already taken - I changed Torres to ESR & Ings to Lukaku.

Last year I held onto my WC right up until Xmas and it ended up being a hindrance more than a help - I ended up playing it setting my team up for a week where City were due not to play so I dropped my City players and then City were added to the GW.

The real mccoy 91

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953673#Comment_117953673

Not a Liverpool supporter by any means but considering he has got max bonus 2 out of the 3 times they have kept a clean sheet justifies the extra money over a matip? He's ahead of vvd points wise even after missing out on a clean sheet?

I didn't mention having Alonso cancelo and rudiger would be a weak defence I was talking about his lemlins current defence without a wildcard. If you looked at my own post I actually have them 3 defenders in my thoughts for when I wildcard.

I think it's slightly naive to completely shut yourself out of 14 players in that price range all playing for top sides given the volatility we see from week to week. Greenwood had 6 shots in the box last week pogba had 4 Ronaldo had 1. Not as if united have a plum run of fixtures coming up and if your not capping ronaldo is he worth the extra money? Not in my opinion..

The Chelsea argument may be valid for right now but again with the run of fixtures it's not inconceivable that one of the mid price mids hits form?

Lemlin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953717#Comment_117953717

Nope, the keepers are the same price. TAA is going to Alonso and I'm also getting Cancelo for Ayling.

So I'm getting Cancelo/Alonso over Ayling/TAA.

Fitz*

Have 3 'issues' I'm debating on my WC - GK, TAA & mid priced-MID

Currently have an underperforming Schmeichel & Sanchez in GK. I rotate them, and it worked for the first few GWs but both are conceding every week now. Happy enough to keep Sanchez as my 4.5 but looking into replacing Schmeichel. Not convinced by Leicester's defensively anymore and conceding 2 at home to Burnley was the final straw. Looking at Sa as replacement, Wolves have decent fixtures and while I know the monster 14 score is a ceiling and probably won't happen again, I'm happy to tick along with a few 6's over the next few weeks. Also looking at Ramsdale but slightly apprehensive about double Arsenal defence, and Arsenal overkill at the moment as they are a bit hit or miss.

The TAA news has me re-thinking my WC plan now, slightly. I wanted to keep him as Liverpool still have a strong defence. At the moment, Brentford was a blip not the norm. Of course that could change over the next few weeks, but that is hypothetical at the moment and the only data we have is 4 CS in 6 games. The main reason of wanting to keep TAA is the attacking returns, and bonus. He has 3 bonus in 5 games, coupled with his CS & attacking returns. Liverpool are free scoring at the moment so you would expect him to be involved in some of those. The fixtures are not the worst upcoming, and TAA has returns against both Man Utd & West Ham in previous seasons, which are the tricky 2 games. I'm looking into bringing in Alonso over TAA for GW7, but keep the money ITB and bring back TAA in GW8. I will have Rudiger, so I will still have Chelsea DEF coverage, along with Cancelo & White. I'm going big-at the back.

Have made big changes with mid priced MIDs. Currently have Saka, Sarr, Benrahama & Townsend but I'm thinking that Raphinha should be in here really. Sarr & Benrahama are the main 2 I'm looking into replacing and I would bank a health profit on Benrahama if I did. I could downgrade Armstrong & go bigger on a MID if needs be. Will end up playing some variation of 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 most weeks.

Any advice on how to make better upgrades on this. Have around 1.3 ITB. Current WC squad is this:

Sanchez Sa

TAA White Rudiger Cancelo Livramento

Salah Saka Sarr Benrahama Townsend

Lukaku Antonio Armstrong

joeyboy11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953548#Comment_117953548

One thing to note on the threemium topic is it only takes two free transfers to get out of it. Change Ronaldo or Lukaku to an in for whatever 8ish mill striker is on form and upgrade one of the cheap mids.

Ace2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953807#Comment_117953807

He didn’t get the 3 bonus points for keeping a CS. He got them for getting the assists in those games. The way I view TAA is that for his price tag he needs to be out performing FF points wise than every other defender around him - in the same light as Salah - Salah is miles ahead in the points that anyone else in midfield or his price range. He's returning premium points every game and that's why if you don't have him your going to suffer. TAA on the other hand isn't, there is a brentford lad that costs 3m less than him that has more points. Laporte costs 2m less and is only 5 points behind despite playing less games.

The real mccoy 91

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117955870#Comment_117955870

5 games isn't exactly a decent sample size. Naturally enough he will run through hot and cold spells. At the end of the season will he be the top pointscoring defender? Who knows but it would be a suprise if he's not in the top 3 imo..

He's ranked 8th of all players on the ict index and is the top defender so it wouldn't be a stretch to think that the assists are unsustainable. And if he is going to be getting bonus for every assist then the matches he's involved in are going to be uncomfortable watching. Himself Alonso and cancelo are in a class of their own in terms of the ceiling they have in any given week

Lemlin

I've now made three changes:

Foster, Ramsdale

Alonso, Rudiger, Cancelo, Livramento, Manquillo

ESR, Douglas Luiz, Salah, Benrahma, Gray

Antonio, Lukaku, Ronaldo

to:

Foster, Ramsdale

Christensen, Rudiger, Cancelo, Livramento, Duffy

ESR, Douglas Luiz, Salah, Raphina, Gray

Antonio, Lukaku, Ronaldo

0.4 in the bank now instead of nothing. I could go Gallagher instead of ESR?

So Alonso to Christensen

Manoquillo to Duffy

Benrahma to Raphina

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954240#Comment_117954240

I think if you can definitely try to fit Raphina in (injury concerns aside), Leeds have good fixtures and he tends to keep the points ticking over nicely. Hes also a midfielder who takes shots on goal so extra points there when he does score. I like Saka and will likely get him in myself next week.

Im not sure if White goes up for Arsenals corners but Tierney seems to be a lot more attacking than him and might get a return on top of a clean sheet. Sarr and Benrahama are good now but Id look ahead 5 or 6 games and ask yourself if they can continue returning against the teams they are facing. Both Watford and WH are going into slightly more difficult fixtures. It doesnt mean they wont return but does make it less likely. I have Benrahma at the moment but will likely sell him on WC GW8 and just keep Antonio.

Fitz*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117957920#Comment_117957920

Thanks.

Yeah for sure Raphinha is definitely worth a serious look at. I think I'm gonna put him the team now. Probably at the expense of Townsend. Removing Townsend creates a bit of a benching headache down the line but for this week, it would be ok. One of the appeals of owning Townsend is he is bench-able without a massive fear. Benrahama may have scored tonight, but he also played the full 90 mins and that somewhat worries me. He was going to be an eventual transfer out, so this could be his end point also. This mid priced MID is a really sticking point.

You raise a very good point regarding White - the lack of attacking return potential. Depending on funds, I might be able to afford to upgrade White to Tierney but I could switch to Tomiyasu, the other full back. I really should look into his attacking stats asap as I will be out of action for the majority of tomorrow and fear for missing the deadline!