2021/2022 Wildcard thread.

What do you mean he was unavailable for the first two games? He's been on the bench for every game this season including the super cup. He didn't play at the Euros' either, so dunno how he's not match fit if he's making all these squads. Other players that were at the euros have played these games - Mount and Jorginho for example played in the super cup, and then started first game of season, James is another player at the euros but was fit and played. I think to say that he wasn't is just ben nice to him, instead of saying that he's out of favour at the moment.

There must be something up with Chilwell as to why he hasn't played any minutes so far this season and none at the Euros.

Surely he will be integrated into the side soon. We'll find out with time I guess.

I’m looking at something similar & my structure is of similar balance except for the defence (Trent).

Curious, why Trincao over Traore - it’s probably similar to my thinking :) but the stats are pointing towards Traore & with 4 of their next 6 away it might suit Traore’s game more.

Also, Benny R.. are you contemplating jumping off double West Ham attack & going with someone like Sarr (Watford have nice fixtures coming) or even Antonio to DCL?

Im going with Marcel over Coady and Double Chelsea over Trent.

I love watching Traore play and think he has great qualities as a player in real life (power, pace, direct) but for me his finishing is really poor so I don't see him as a great fpl pick. Also he tends to look really good against the better teams as he can break against them but I'm thinking Trincao will have more trickery and composure in the final third for their good fixture run. The 0.1 difference helps too as I'd have to go Coady or Ayling down to White to free that up! Podence coming on for 20 mins v United back is a worry I have. Maybe Gray would be the better option...

Marcal v coady is interesting. I don't really know enough about Marcal to pick him. Was he a signing they made last year? From looking at the FPL site he only played 618 mins and hasn't got a goal or assist for them yet. I'm open to any insight on Marcal :)

Not having DCL is bugging me and I'm even thinking or downgrading Lukaku to him (I don't think I will though). I got Antonio at 7.5 and like his fixtures so will keep him with Benrahma. West Ham are flying and I don't want to come off them just yet.

I hope the double Chelsea defense works out for you but even as a Chelsea fan I never have a clue how they will line up. Rudiger would be my best guess as the most nailed defender.

Marcal was signed as cover for Jonny who has another long term injury so he should be good in the short term to keep his spot. I think he can match Semedo in attacking returns. Semedo is similar to Traore in his end product which explains Wolves lack of goals.

I do feel like this Trincao/Traore thing might be a case of overthinking it. In the 3 games so far Traore has an xG of 1.50 and an xA of 0.61, where Trincao has 0.63 and 0.17. I also expect players with lower volume to be more efficient than Traore, because Traore is inefficient, but how much more efficient does Trincao need to be than Traore to compensate for that volume difference? It doesn't feel that likely to me. Feels like Traore will be a reasonable pick for the price through sheer volume alone. He will underperform his xG (he can't underperform his xA only his teammates can ruin that on him), but it shouldn't really matter.

I've the stats here. 2.08 xG and 2 goals. So yeah, not much regression, but its also difficult to talk about (due to the tiny sample size) considering he had such a low xG to begin with. He has acccumulated already 3 quarters of his total xG from last season in 10% of the minutes played. So it is clear that in the small sample size that is Lage's time as Wolves manager, that Traore has had a hugely elevated role compared to under Nuno.

If there is no dropoff (which feels somewhat unlikely), he'd have an xG of 19 goals and an xA of around 7/8 this season. So evaluating how effective an asset Traore will be this season ultimately comes down to how inefficient a finisher he is going to be relative to xG and whether he can maintain the same important role in the team throughout the season. I mean it feels logical that he will not get 26 goal involvements this season, but at 6.0, he will not need to, to be a good option. He is really in my thoughts at the moment. I mean I'm not compelled to stick with him if his role does diminish anyway and the fixtures are great.

Brother is an Everton fan & he is telling me to go with DCL. They’ve been creating chances & he has been getting into good positions. I also feel he is a 20 goal a season striker now on pens and with that his price is very appealing. I’m on Antonio & Benny since the start myself but I’m just weary they won’t return 4 goals every week & they are starting to get more options/scorers.

I think having 2 of Cr7/Lukaku/Kane will be a big differential as unless you Wildcard your team won’t be setup to accommodate that strategy & with that if the premiums take off we could be ahead of the curve.

There is also plenty of mid-priced midfielders who’ll score & potentially cover some of the budget strikers.

I agree with you on Traore/Trincao & my thoughts exactly. Big worry is Podence coming back & Trincao coming off before Traore.

I think Chelsea defence looks nearly settled & Christensen is more a nailed starter for me. I think Alonso will play more then Chilwell - when Tuchel came in there were signs he didn’t fancy Chilwell too much with Emerson getting time over him. Alonso looks to be back to himself - Alonso will play the more attacking games & im happy for a 4m defender to come in should he not start as there are good options there. Will Alonso + Livramento (subbin in) plus 2mil outscore Trent (4m defender on bench 11.5m In total) this year? I just think Chelsea are taken off this season and we need to have some assets.

I wouldn't be doubling up on a team that haven't scored yet this season. Wait until Jiminez scores before he comes in, that was an awful injury he got. Like Carragher said last week, he needs to score a header to prove to himself he's over the fear.

All good picks, and as someone who likes to spread risk....

If ya already have Salah I'd go Raph/Benrahma

If ya already have Antonio I'd go Jota/Gray

If ya have both of them, I'd probably be swayed for Jota/Gray. Leeds possibly hitting second season syndrome, West Ham have signed the Croatian lad, and have Europa league headaches

Thats a tough one. If we knew Firminos injury is serious then I think Jota + Gray could just shade it over the next 5 or 6 GWs. If Firmino is back in GW5 then it becomes a different proposition. I have my doubts about Benrahma continuing on his hot streak but Im going to hold him this GW at least.

Raphinha is an interesting one as I saw some Leeds fans chatter about the signing of Daniel James meaning that Raphinha likely plays as a no.10. If that happens he could be one of the bargains of the season, a no.10 in an attacking Leeds side for just 6.5m. Raph was always a season long set and forget for me and he could become even more so.

Good points I could do Laporte/Allan/MacArthur to Williams/Gray/Smith-Rowe

You've seem to sacrifice most your team to keep TAA - who do you plan to bench most weeks?

Bissouma, Gallagher and Gilmour - your going to have to play at least 1 of them every week, given how your defense looks. Is Gallagher worth it at 5.5 to be playing every week?

Feel like you've also decided to ignore Antonio - despite his great form,

Son over Antonio feels misguided to me. Especially since the money saved could save your problems.

The thing is though, majority of other teams are going to have 4 premium players, so in this instance, your relying on that 1 other player to perform along with the cheap players, over someone who has a more stable team. Is TAA, Livramento and Gallagher for instance going to outscore Christensen, Matip and Torres. And you can see that's two 5 mill defenders and a 7.1m midfield player. You might choose a cheap mid that is returning big, and spread the extra dollar further. Picking Matip removes the CS benefit of TAA,

Ultimately there is no right or wrong, but i personally wouldn't be playing a WC and having to be relying on Bissouma, Gallagher, Dennis each week in my starting 11, along with one of Duffy/Williams/Livramento, that's not even considering what the bench is like.

If it goes pared shaped, the next WC is over 3 months away and there are a lot of passengers in the team to sort out.