Aguero’s Potential Ban could mean Money To Burn : GW3 Review

Aug 30

Feeling Fuzzy- The Debut

Gameweek 3 Review – “Clearly, Zlatan and Aguero are Rubbish”

Greetings fellow fantasy addicts. This is your pal, Fuzzy Warbles, here to bring you what could be the first of many FPL weekly review columns for the YIRMA Empire (Ed. More like cardboard box). Or, this could be the only one. (Ed. Quite Possibly) Who knows? That YIRMA can be a fickle fellow. (Ed. Harsh but fair) He’s the sort of chap that will keep you on your toes. (Ed. Agreed) The kind of mate that you want to buy a beer for, then decide whether or not you want you want to dump it in his lap. The beer, I mean. Whatever level of desperation it took to have me recruited to write this column, that is not of my concern. (Ed. Don’t be so hard on yourself – only 14 other people said no first) I simply said “yes”, and I am a man who fulfils his obligations. It’s a House Stark kind of thing. Though I feel I am getting Hodor’ed here.

So where to begin? It would have been nice to start this column after Week 1 or Week 2. I got to enjoy what every fantasy manager hopes for – a very good start to the season. Heading into Week 3, an overall 11k ranking gave me this peculiar feeling, I think some call it “happiness”. But, leave it to YIRMA to wait until now to have me talk to you about the week that was in FPL, as I get to chat about my first stinker of a round. Perhaps it is for the best. Complaining is right in my wheelhouse. You may have heard about some whackjob last season writing a tedious email to FPL about why it was unfair for Southampton’s Cedric to be denied a clean sheet after being subbed off seconds before the clock reached 60:00?

Wrote to FPL Re: Cedric situation. Im including the letter here, broken into 2 screenshots-hope its readable. RT plz pic.twitter.com/E4Xd17lgha

— Steve Rothgeb (@FuzzyWarbles) October 18, 2015

Yeah, that was me. Hey, you tell me how Maya Yoshida gets credit for playing 31 full minutes as Cedric’s substitute if he replaces him at 59:42. Seems like only 30 full minutes to me. Seems like a simple rounding up or down for the minute one player is subbed in, and another out, can be a fair way to award minutes played, rather than always punishing the starter and rewarding the substitute. But, I digress. I need to at least establish being on the track for a minute or two before I can get off it. And trust me, I am prone to getting off it. (Ed: LET IT GO)

Yes, Week 3. This was setting up as an easy round to ready your FPL squad for, wasn’t it? Hmmm, do I captain Aguero or do I captain Zlatan. Well, Aguero is at home. But, less people giving Zlatan the armband could provide a differential. But, it’s too early to worry about differential and risk losing even more ground, so stick with the always reliable Aguero. Yet, according to the most recent reports, Zlatan is indeed – still Zlatan. Oh, the hell with it. If Week 2 proved anything, you cannot go wrong with either one, right?

Wait a minute…I just remembered. This is FPL. This is that silly little game that likes to torture you by having you believe for a moment that you can confidently predict an outcome only to quickly pull the rug from under your feet. News flash: Both your heavy hitting strikers came up empty. To make matters worse, many of you might have sold another heavy hitter or taken a points hit in order to accommodate Aguero and Ibrahimovic. Unfortunate manager: “You know, I can downgrade Alexis to Ross Barkley, and justify a four point hit to upgrade Jamie Vardy to Zlatan.”

OOPS.

Well, that did not work. At least, not for Week 3 anyway. Look, keeping Aguero and Zlatan for now should be the way to go, there is no need for panic. Although, it could prove wise at some point to trust in Wayne Rooney’s current value and price difference in place of Zlatan. That seems to be what we are seeing now, players like Rooney, who stunk on ice last season, now returning to the relevance we once knew.

See: Eden Hazard and Raheem Sterling. Let’s face it, last season was the ultimate fluke in FPL. All credit is due to Leicester for winning the title, but it turned the FPL landscape on its ear and we didn’t know left from right, because clubs we came to depend on for big points, like Chelsea and Manchester United, were flopping more often than not. Well, it appears that last year was an aberration – a completely enjoyable and unforgettable one, mind, but an aberration nonetheless. Players who broke out last season and gave us money to burn with our budgets like Riyad Mahrez and Dele Alli are looking like players no one will have the dosh to afford now. It appears the template is two heavy hitting forwards like Kun and Zlatan, two heavy hitting midfielders like Hazard and Alexis and then finding budget players in the 5.5m-6.5m range to round out the attack.

UNLESS…Aguero sees a ban for the elbow he threw to the face of Winston Reid on Sunday. Honestly, the next two weeks is going to be a serious gut-check time for me, personally. I had it in mind to use this international break to play my “first half of the season” wildcard before the season even started. With Kun’s possible suspension, John Stones limping off the pitch, Mahrez missing another pen and Andre Gray having a Twitter history that even Ryan Lochte would be embarrassed of, perhaps fate has me continuing on this predestined path. Not to mention, all of the player movement at the end of the transfer window which can make several other players suddenly become attractive weapons to own. But, I know the stubborn, prudent side of me is going to say, “Hey Fuzzy, you are off to a fine start. Despite Week 3’s disappointing return, you are still at a solid 38k rank in a game with over 3.7 million managers. You are on the cusp of the top 1%. Why burn your wildcard now?”

Someone tell that logical side of me to shove off.

(ED: Feel free to tweet @FuzzyWarbles to Shove off – that would please me)