AndyM3000

Two very good blocks for our goal when pinning them back in.

McGinn is awful on the ball, like really bad.

This is a pen

Can't say I'm surprised. We took our best CM out and shafted our best CB to RB. Insane.

It will help, I suspect he comes deep a lot to get the ball when ideally him getting it on the edge is a lot better. We will see, I think Ali is pretty lazy so hopefully Naka and McGinn aren't constantly pressed.

McGinn playing again and Luiz on the bench baffles me. Konsa at right back was a disaster last year. We have absolutely no ball players in the middle of the park, worrying.

I don't know how Bruno has been given an assist and that Cancelo foul, he's not done anything? Welbeck is jumping over him. Am I missing something? How's that a red?

Hmm, tricky spots. I think Kane is going to have a field day against us so I do want to go with him again over Salah but the EO is going to be super high again on Salah so I'm likely to bottle it. It will also be high on Fernandes who I do not own, would be nice to see him sit out. I'll need Bamford back in next week for Calvert Lewin, so I'm not sure I can take him out for Antonio now. I think Rodrigo will start but likely in that midfield slot, meaning Bamford will be safe.

That's a nice graphic, certainly raises a few more concerns. Yeah pretty much, he's only got 90 mins in 2 games of the last 9 games. Scored against Spurs but didn't get a look in v Burnley and Rodrigo coming on with 2 goals makes me think there's a good chance he gives him a run out next game. I could bench for Saint Max but just saying that out loud sounds crazy, Antonio would be a straight swap option. West Ham and Leeds have the same opponents the next 2 games, Saints and WBA, so nothing there to sway the decision.

Mitchell first sub gave me a green arrow or else it would have been a breakeven week for me. 61 points with no hits and average hit in the top 10k was 3.51 points! Bit annoying to sort of guess correctly how the Spurs and Pool games would go but lose the Kane v Salah captain battle. Kane with his 1.7 xG v Salah 0.3 xG and Salah comes out on top. Up to 2.1k rank and my team is pretty much set for next week, was hoping to hold 2 transfer going into the final week but I may have to ditch Bamford. Anyone holding their City players now? Mahrez surely has to play the next game along with a number of others.

I get Mitchell off the bench for Mahrez. Nice insurance because I need Salah to blank.

These aren't dead games to Smith, he will want to finish as high as possible and is unlikely to give these kids a run out for the sake of it. I don't think we will see Barry this season or next season. A lot of these lads are still too young, there's only one 18 year old getting a decent chunk of prem minutes and that's Fabio Silva for Wolves and only because of Jimenez's injury.

A lot of hits this week, I managed to jump 15% in rank without a ball being kicked.

I ended up with just Mahrez figuring he may be on pens/corners/freekicks and I couldn't trust the others. Plus it was likely a short stay for City players anyway. This is what you get for going against the template . I captained Kane and Salah is 170% EO so that won't be a fun watch if Kane bricks the game before him.

If you could take the top x active accounts at the end of season and group them by total hits taken (-4, -8 etc) then weighted them to average position I'd like to see what the most optimal hit strategy is. The data must be available in an excel file somewhere I'd imagine.

3.5k now. A lot of luck in this game, I haven't had any huge issues throughout the season as you can tell if I still have my 2nd WC to play! Used the first in GW5 as well. The second half of this season has been very template, it's hard to get that big boost up the ranks because the template team has just been rewarded.

131 with a -4. Last nights games really helped, points everywhere for me with Digne, Martinez, Salah, Jota, Trent, Bruno all returning. Salah didn't outscore Bruno like I thought he might but he was fairly fortunate with a pen and one that could have gone down as an own goal. Wildcard now active while we wait for the pressers. Was planning to avoid City but hearing they might be at full strength tonight so Mahrez, Foden, Stones on the radar again.

Yep, he would have been. I actually think we have some of the worst fans in the league, our away fans are class mind. Too quick to get on the players backs, zero chance we beat Pool 7-2 at home, the minute Salah pulls one back the place would go tense and any slight misplaced pass would cause a groan. Anyone who directly sends or even comments abuse on a players social media needs to be banned from Villa Park. Nobody would say any of this stuff to his face.

Keeper has to save that as well

So many soft pens now though, rather than trying to play the ball they are just trying to get a leg in front of any tackle. City on yesterday wasn't a pen either, stupid challenge though, just don't tackle in the box anymore.

What a surprise

Only Fernandes for me from Utd. Would have liked Greenwood but wanted Salah and went Trent over Shaw. I just can't predict what will happen with the defence and these are hard games. Bruno (c) purely because his EO is going to be through the roof and if I can't enjoy a TGW then what's the point!

The difficult games are 2 days apart though, I think it's unlikely he's totally rested for our game and then gets 180 mins Tue/Thur. There's also a good chance he's off at HT/60 mins tonight, if the games go smoothly for Utd he may start all 3 but get subbed after an hour.

Was pretty happy with how things were before this change. Zaha and one other were coming in but now I'll need to get Salah in. Looks like Son > Salah, Dias > Trent and Kane > Watkins but wont make any decisions until Friday. I have wildcard but would rather take a small hit and then be able to wildcard after this DGW as I already have a lot set up for it. On the face of it I do think Utd's fixtures are a bit of a trap. 3 games in 5 days against us, Leicester and Pool. These are tough games and they will be heavily rotated, they also have no striker options which doesn't help me as I need to shift Kane for the funds. Shaw, Bruno and Greenwood are the only real options and I don't think any of them start all 3. Fully expect Telles, James, Mata and even VDB to get 90+ mins over this period. Not sure what to do with Jota given he was benched when the line ups were announced on Sunday, Liverpool might well change their plans though as they will face a very tired United on the back end of this 3 game stretch. I reckon Salah is a better captain option than Fernandes, need to check the expected EO though to see if I want to punt on that. I don't fancy watching Fernandes potentially play 3 games if his EO is 150%+ and he's not my captain. Utd game tomorrow is all but done but I think they play a strong team, sit tight and wait for the Friday pressers!

Im on 47 with Lingard to go and Coady will come off my bench if the Utd Pool game doesn't end up being played this week. Thought they might have done it today but Utd have Roma on Thursday so impossible now. I only have Jota and Fernandes so worked out okay for me. Bit of a shame this season is such a shitshow though.