Disclaimer: *FPLH reserves the right to change this team at any time. Any changes made will most likely be confirmed on FPLH's Twitter account.
2 TRANSFERS (-4 Hit):
Aguero & Vorm: OUT
Dzeko & de Gea: IN
Don't you hate it when you score 70+ during a Gameweek and still see a red arrow beside your overall rank? Grrr. Alas, that has happened to me twice in the space of three gameweeks! In Gameweek 14 I captained Suarez, yet the rest of my team let me down. As for Gameweek 16, only a handful of my team did well, yet I didn't captain Suarez (I chose Rooney) and effectively lost out on 17 points. Another lesson for the season thus far...
CAPTAIN SUAREZ, CAPTAIN SUAREZ, CAPTAIN SUAREZ!
It is all the more frustrating when comparing my current position with how I was doing in previous FPL years:
2013/2014 - GW 16 Overall Rank: 130k - Points: 977 (need to make up ground!)
2012/2013 - GW 16 Overall Rank: 23k - Points: 887 (finished 5,038th overall)
2011/2012 - GW 16 Overall Rank: 28k - Points: 906 (finished 110th overall)
As is evident with the above stats, the bar has been raised for points scoring and I need to keep up to speed pronto. I was hoping to break into the top 25k by now; ah well. As for GW 17, it came as a blow when I heard the news that Aguero is out for up to 8 weeks. Then came reports that Rooney has a short-term injury. This was followed by Vorm being ruled out for a while. I have kept Rooney in the team, but have replaced Aguero with Dzeko. Now I know the Bosnian hasn't had much game time of late and Negredo is above him in the pecking order. However, with so many games over the festive period I think Dzeko will be involved. Sure, I won't captain him, but he certainly is a differential. How many other top teams have quality strikers valued less than £7.0M? Not many.
My other transfer was also forced upon me and as a result I incurred a -4 hit. In fairness I haven't taken a hit since Gameweek 10. With the FPL Cup starting in GW 18, I thought it best to take a hit now, prior to the cup. I wanted to sell Vidic for P. Jones due to the latter's OOP potential. But the Vorm injury is problematic in the event Hart re-appears over the busy festive period. I decided to buy de Gea as Vorm's replacement. United haven't had many clean sheets this season. However, they have favourable upcoming fixtures. Moreover, he actually rotates quite well with Pantilimon. My captain for the Gameweek is a no-brainer - Suarez.
PS - This week's @FPLManager app competition will involve my #HotPick (Suarez). Can you find a player that will out point him in GW 17? The competition will star tomorrow morning on Twitter. Stay tuned! Here is the promo pic for it (designed by Matej):
