Gameweek 8 wrap-up

Calling the weekend eventful would be an understatement. It’s a bit hard to summarise it all neatly, but here we go: 

1. Two managers gone in a day!

Dick Advocaat and Brendan Rodgers were the first and second manager casualties for the 2015/2016 season, one resigned, one getting fired. It does make selecting their players a bit more tricky, as we will not be sure how the teams will be set up at first, although with the Stadium Astro game, we get to at least see their line-ups. However, on a positive note, statistically speaking, Premier League teams with new managers tend to win, or at least perform well for the next match, so they’re worth considering fantasy-wise, but exercise caution. It’s important to note that Sunderland have a useful set of fixtures in the near future.

Meanwhile, Tim Sherwood of Aston Villa will be looking over his shoulder uncomfortably in the weeks ahead. Funnily enough, I don’t see Steve McClaren having such concerns for now!

2. Chaos at the top

Manchester City powered back up to the top of the table courtesy of a Sergio Aguero masterclass and a Manchester United capitulation under an Arsenal assault. It’s no coincidence that City’s domination happened with the return of David Silva, however, the fact that they did it WITHOUT Yaya Toure is something to think about. To Newcastle’s credit, they did well in the first half, but,like many times before, they self-destructed. Also note that Raheem Sterling was substituted out at half-time, raising doubts as to his future starting chances.

Arsenal were in top form yesterday as Manchester United’s makeshift defence was found out. In short, the Red Devils were torn apart. Both Memphis Depay and Darmian (two key summer signings) were tellingly subbed off at half time. Meanwhile, Rooney was once again lambasted by Manchester United fans online to the point that they were actually hoping he would get sent off. How long will LVG persist in labelling his captain as an ‘untouchable’?

Meanwhile, Sanchez continued from where he left off last week, this time with a well taken brace. Walcott made another solid case to solidy his starting status over Giroud.  It’s happy days at the Emirates.

3. Crystal Palace

Moving on, Alan Pardew’s men quietly sneaked into the Top 4, courtesy of Yohan Cabaye who scored one and assisted one. Despite the fanfare of Bolasie, Puncheon, Zaha and Sako, despite playing in a deep-lying position, Cabaye continues to be a key asset for the team. He is definitely a step above in terms of quality, so much so I can see him being courted in the winter transfer window.

The other development for Palace is that they’ve started to keep clean sheets as well, making their team an all-round opportunity for fantasy football.

(It’s hard to be objective about them when I got burnt by Sako myself!)

4. Euro tracking

Lewandowski continues to excel as he added two more goals to his season, breaking records in the process. At the start of the season, I tipped him as a possible alternative over Messi and/or Ronaldo, but instead he has emerged as the best option instead so far. 

In the La Liga, Ronaldo blanked once again, and Benitez’s penchance for negative tactics in the face of quality opposition (in this case, Atletico Madrid) is beginning to show. It won’t be long before the fans start baying for his blood. Believe it or not, Ronaldo’s only La Liga match where he scored was the 5 goal against Espanyol. On the other hand, a Messi-less Barcelona lost again, with a Neymar penalty as consolation, making it hard to justify using an Euro Scout code for him.

Incidentally, equalling Ronaldo’s record is Gonzalo Higuain, someone whom I have not really given much attention to but is available to us. His goal-scoring is a lot more consistent at the moment and should be worth looking into as a cheaper Euro option. He is currently the cheapest Euro striker in the game at 14.5m.

5. Don’t ignore the supporting acts

We have the blockbusters in Aguero and Sanchez, but we can’t ignore the solid cheap supporting acts such as Vardy, Mane and Payet, all whom delivered once again. Mahrez for the first time was on the bench and never took to the field, but Mahrez holders shouldn’t worry too much about it as it is unlikely to happen often, if ever again.

If these players are consistent enough, we can leave them permanently in our team and use the transfers to rotate in as many heavy hitters as much as possible during each weekend to ensure we get as large a slice of the pie as we can each week.

And that’s it. On a personal note, after stagnating in the previous week, I managed to climb 100 spots in the ranking, from 330 to 220+, thanks mainly to captain Aguero and Sanchez. Frustratingly though, all my 3 transfers (Deeney, Hazard and Sturridge) did zip, otherwise a shot at the Top 200 would have been possible. In any case, it’s a marathon, not a sprint (unless you’re hunting down the monthly prize of course!)

Time for the International break, I think it’s a good time for a breather given what happened during the weekend. Similar to what was done for Period 2, in my next article I will likely do a rundown of Period 3 with regards to getting the most out of the next round of fixtures.

Till then, enjoy the break, and may none of your players ‘break’!