Phil Brown is the definition of a wildcard. Who's talking in his ear? Why is he so orange? WILDCARD!
I found out some crazy news last weekend, I spent the past week on a vision quest high up in the mountains to try to figure out what this all meant. I’m still contemplating what it all means.
That’s right, for the first time ever in my life I was wrong. I know, you probably think that’s impossible, but hey, we all have our downfalls.
I was wrong about how many transfers you can make with your wildcard. I thought it was just 1 extra transfer, as it’s been in previous years, but it turns out that it gives you a week of unlimited transfers. This changes the whole dynamic of the wild card. I used mine already early in the season because I had 1 player that wasn’t producing and one that was injured and I needed to sell both to afford someone, so I figured no time like the present. Was I ever wrong.
Well that was a huge mistake. I’m sure I’ll have a week soon where I’ve got 5 injured players and wind up stuck with a couple of guys who’re out that end up playing. Since the wildcard is so very massive and important now, when is the best time to use it?
1. When your team is starting to suck-Ok so maybe those guys you transfered in after they had a monster week or two haven’t exactly continued to have those awesome weeks. No worries now, just make a bunch of moves and start with a (mostly) fresh team.
2. When you’re saddled with injuries-So maybe you’ve got a good team, but you’re hobbled with injuries. Well the best thing to do is use your wildcard to get a new, healthy squad that’ll actually score you points.
3. Making a planned out move in one fell swoop-Perhaps your team isn’t doing terrible, but you’ve made yourself a long term plan. You’re going to drop one guy for someone this week, then next week you’re going to drop someone else for someone, and so on. You’re probably better off just hitting that with your wildcard right away and not second guessing your choices just because one player didn’t do much the previous week.
Add/Drop’s of the Week
Adds
1. Richard Dunne, Aston Villa £5.5 million-Leading scoring defender and he’s cheap as dirt. This one’s easy.
2. Darren Bent, Sunderland, £7.8 million-He’s averaged 10 points a week over the last 5 weeks, though I doubt he’ll have any more beach balls aiding in his incredible scoring.
3. Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal, £11.1 million-Cesc has gradually gotten pretty costly over time, but he’s the leading scorer this season and he’s scored at least 6 points in the last 4 games and has had two 22 point performances this season.
Drops
1. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, £12.5-Yes the Liverpool captain has been doing well, but this latest injury concern could wind up being rather frustrating fantasy wise, you’re better off for the time dropping him for Lampard, Fabregas, or Kuyt/Benayoun if you’re a Liverpool fan and can’t stand with not having one of your boys on the team.
2. Jamie Carragher, Liverpool, £6.5 million-Not to pile it on Liverpool fans, but he’s not lived up to his price this season, simply because Liverpool have struggled and he’s not seeing the points from clean sheets that he used to.
3. Robinho, Manchester City, £9.0 million-I highly doubt you have him still, but if you do, it’s time to get him the hell out of there. He’s been injured this season and there really isn’t any reason you want to keep him sitting on your bench when there are much better options.
Team of the Week
Season: 240 points
Last Week: 60 points
I’m happy to report that this team was the second highest scorer in the AtD league last week (obviously I’m doing something right lucky). Jermaine Defoe had to go though, you don’t get a red card and survive on this team, especially when you’ve only scored 10 points the last 4 weeks.
As always, questions in the comments, and feel free to yell at me for making you use your wildcard.
The wild card’s been for unlimited moves all 4 years I’ve played, I believe. You’d have been better off skipping one week’s transfer and using the carryover the week you wanted to make two moves (although you probably didn’t know you’d need to). FYI, I found out the hard way that carryover’s don’t continue past one week, as we discussed awhile ago. Ie, if you don’t make a transfer one week, you need to make two the very next week to use your carryover; if you only make one move in week 2, you don’t get 2 in week 3. Hope that makes sense.
Aw crap, that means I’ve used it wrong 3 years in a row now. I don’t know how I never noticed that part.
Good to know about the carryover. It’d be nice if it was just so you could skip a week and sit on it forever till you needed 2 in a row.
I would totally dump Johnson this week, honestly. First off, he might not be fit, secondly his assisting ability relies on someone being there to finish, which doesn’t seem to exist.
I also dumped Torres from my team last week (due to injury) for the cheaper, more productive Drogba, and I’d imagine people should do that if that haven’t already. The only Liverpool player I still have is Kuyt, and I want him off too.
how often do you guys make transfers that cost you points? do you think it’s worth the risk to make them?
It can be worth it. Specifically if your players are out with an injury. You’ve got to consider then that it’s really only a 2 point loss, because provided a player plays 60 minutes you get 2 points out of him.
Unless I had multiple players who were under performing I’d be hard pressed to want to pull that trigger. It’s not a terrible thing to do though.
Apropos of nothing, I can imagine Phil Brown popping up in the back of my van, which is full of gasoline barrels, shouting “Wildcard, bitches!” as I realize he’s cut my brakes and I’m careening to certain doom.