The Captaincy dilemma

I wanted to spend a bit of time discussing the Captaincy choice in this article.

I usually don’t spend much time discussing the captaincy in my player picks, but I really should. Let’s face it, choosing the right Captaincy can really make a difference to your points, if done properly.  Case in point, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring 30pts in Gameweek 5, nets you 60pts with the captaincy. I didn’t have him, so my ranking dropped like a rock.

I have always maintained a policy that more often than not, your captain is usually your Euro player, which would be either Messi, Ronaldo or Lewandowski (the players with the biggest potential to score multiple goals). Historically, they have an excellent record of scoring fairly regularly, not to mention the capacity to score more than 1 goal.  Unfortunately, last weekend only Lewandowski returned dividends, with Messi getting injured and Ronaldo blanking.

In fact, the best player last week was Sanchez, whose hat-trick meant he scored 24pts in total (5pts x 3 goals + 7pts for the hattrick + 2pts for playing more than 70 minutes). Unfortunately, very few picked him considering he had yet to score before last weekend, and they were playing Leicester City, who are still nowhere near the relegation zone. The only other player to have achieved such heights was Ronaldo as mentioned above, however, many had him as Captain back then and profited immensely. This means that the potential for a Premier League player to do better than an Euro player is there.

Criteria when considering a Premier League player

So how do you choose between one of those Euro players mentioned above and a Premier League player? For Premier League players, you need to consider the following:

1. Position: Firstly, forget defenders. The points for clean sheets is only 3 pts and although you get 6 pts for a goal, that will be rare, and the chances of him scoring more than 1 goal in a match is even rarer. You want a player who is always looking to score.

Obviously, you are looking to pick a midfielder or striker that regularly scores goals for the huge upside potential. Midfielders actually get an extra point for each goal compared to strikers but there are not many out there who are capable of exploding in terms of performance. Sanchez, Hazard and now Mahrez are among the few capable.

2. Match-up:  Your player should be playing against a team with a shocking defensive record, even if that team has a decent win record. A team might be great at defence, letting in very few goals but are still near the bottom of the table because they can’t seem to score either. Check the opposing team’s goal against record. Sunderland are looking ripe for plucking at this stage

3, Injuries: Make sure none of his key teammates are injured, not just him. There are players whose potential is so much better when playing with certain teammates. David Silva for Sergio Aguero for instance.

4. Home: Most goal-scorers are just that more prolific and sharper when playing at home with the crowd behind them.

5. Penalty-takers:  Always a factor, but beware the goalkeepers with good penalty save records. Adrian of West Ham is one of them.

If you can’t find any players that fit most of these criteria in any given week, then the safe option is to hand over your captaincy to the three Euro players mentioned above (okay, not Messi for now). Funnily enough, Sanchez last weekend did not meet criteria 4 and 5, but this is usually an exception.

Disparity between leagues

The top-scorer in the La Liga last season was Ronaldo, with 48 goals. The top-scorer in the Premier League last season was Aguero, with 26 goals. The difference is glaring, and while credit is due to the La Liga player and his team, it gives you an idea of the disparity of quality between teams in the La Liga compared to the Premier League.

For the next few months though, Neymar comes into consideration for the Captaincy. He is likely to be up top in a partnership with Luis Suarez. Neymar will want to prove that he can step up as the main leading man during Messi’s absence. That didn’t happen last night against Bayern Leverkuesen though, so the jury is out.

Reminder!

Once again, always remember that your Captain chosen at 7pm each Saturday will score points for the whole week. So if there’s a double week for some teams, try to ensure your Captain is playing two matches for maximum potential benefit.

Got it? Good luck (to me as well)!

P.s: It’s just too bad that Suarez isn’t an option though :(