Chelsea’s rout of the Villa back four generated some impressive statistics for Rafa Benitez’s men, whilst over the way in West London, Martin Jol’s Fulham are stacking up numbers on the other end of the spectrum. We take a closer look at the team statistics involved, along with a focus on the form of David Silva, Steven Pienaar and Demba Ba as we plunder the members area for the key statistics from Gameweek 18.
lack of rafael news is infuriating. even more so with him playing the full 90 in his last appearance
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man utd forums say he could be back for newcastle game but equally in the dark. Say as unknown return date could be out for 5-6 weeks, nobody really knows.
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5-6 weeks 😆 😆
If SAF said he last week he should be back for next game (which he wasnt...) then how on earth have you plucked the figure 5-6 weeks from?Open Controlsmembers on man utd forum said as it unknown situation regarding hamstring could be back next game or could be more serious. There is no update so nobody knows.
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Will he get back in the team when fit do you reckon? Jones has looked far better than him in the past two.
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got to be a windup.
Open ControlsNope! Jones offers similar attacking potential with far more defensive ability.
Open ControlsI don't even know where to start.
Jones is an abomination, mostly anonymous going forward, when he isn't, he's crossing it out for a goal kick. Defensively Rafael is better, and that's saying something.Open Controls
Seems to me SAF ran Rafael into the ground because he was reluctant to drop him.
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Any ideas on Rafael starting against Newcastle ?
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I would like it to happen. He's one of my favourite players 🙂
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yaya to pienaar (free)
or
sterling to pienaar and rafael to cameron (4 pt hit) - already got begovicOpen Controls
seriously, does anyone think it's a good idea to buy a dead keeper (for jaas) for 3.9 and just play begovic all the time?
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Yes, the average will probably work out the same as a rotation.
Open Controlsswings and roundabouts
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im starting to like that idea... only because i never play bego when i should!!
but id rather a 4.0 that plays regularly as backupOpen Controls
I'm thinking that to fund Nolan > Walcott. Will only be until WC where I will probably get Foster in (5 home CS vs 3).
Only worry is playing Begovic vs City (away)Open ControlsWhere Jaaskelainen has Norwich (home)
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Yes, make sure it's a dead one though. I was enticed by Bunn this week :,(
Open Controlsmay get sorensen in the jan WC. last 2 weeks with foster and begovic has been like aperfectly scripted nightmare, especially if you benched begoivc correctly last gw
Open Controls(last gw meaning the everton game before that reads too violin like)
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btw did you start Sess in the end? I know you were debating it during the week. He returned quite nicely!
Open Controlssold for mata, 3 points down the toilet. my logic was i had the exact money for mata so couldn't wait on it, stupidly forgetting that i could have raised the extra 0.1 by selling verm in a free double transfer
Open Controlsoooo bad luck. I was very close to doing Sess > Mata/Bale myself but didn't want to take the hit. Worked out well in the end.
tbf if i knew Chelsea were going to destroy Villa in the way they did i'd have got Mata in a second. Amazing that he only managed an assist. Plus Sess's 'assist' looked very jammy to me. Small margins...Open Controls
+1
Exactly what happened to me. Felt quite pleased with myself until i saw the WBA teamsheet 🙁Open Controls
none alas
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Could I have some suggestions for where to go next? 1FT, 0.8m in bank. Cheers!
Save transfer??
Foster – Begovic
Jose Enrique – Hughes – Clyne – Davies – Gorkss
Mata – Silva – Walcott – Michu – Sterling
RVP – Suarez – Berbatov
Thanks!Open Controls
Yes, just save it.
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What to do with my FT this week ? Was going to use my it to do Cazorla to Bale, but I’m .1 short of being able to afford Bale. Is there any other midfielders you would suggest to replace Caz. Or is it worth taking a 4pt hit anywhere to raise funds ?
Begovic, Jaaskalinen
Enrique, Nelsen, Cuellar, Ridgewell, Rafael
Cazorla, Ramirez, Michu, Yaya Toure, Sterling
Jelavic, RVP, Ba
Thanks for any suggestions.Open ControlsIf you have the funds, Hazard or Mata. Or maybe Rafael to Luiz/A.Cole.
Open ControlsUnfortunately don't have the funds for Mata or Hazard either. Need to take a hit to afford them.
How about Rafael to A Cole and Cazorla to Pienaar ?Open ControlsDon't take a hit. A.Cole. Nailed on, adds 4-5 assists a year and Benitez has tightened it up at the back. Season keeper type guy.
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Is a defence of Clyne, ShawX, Demel, Morrison and Nelsen way to crappy?
If I do Ridgewell to Nelsen I have the funds to buy Bale and can get a front 8 of:
Cazorla, Bale, Mata, Michu, Sterling and Suarez, RVP, Tevez. Worth having the crappy defence for that front 8, or should a rather look for a more balanced team with maybe two of these three in defense: Enrique/Nastasic/Azpilcueta?Open ControlsI think the 5-6millers are the way to go: Gibbs/Enrique/Nasty. Two of them in your team and you can rotate the other 3 4.0m options.
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Is there a defender cheaper than Cameron you prefer to him?
Open ControlsThis is a close one, but I am OK with Cuellar @ 4.5.
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begovic getting 8 more points than foster is infuriating too. home to norwich v away to spurs. 2bps with just 14ppi was the cherry on the icing of the pisstake cake. cue hindisght heroes
Open ControlsWe/l to be honest it was a no brainer. West Brom only had 1 CS since GW10, 2 since GW5.
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Yup, especially after I did the same last week only to see a Myhill 8 pointer. Textbook.
Open Controlsseriously, 9 pointer even. even worse was foster's 1 goal he did concede (to a player loads of people now own who also got 3bps with it) was arguably down to rust thanks to not playing v west ham. yuck yuck yuck
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but you'd ,make same choice every time. shouldn't be pissed off about this.
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Daniel..
Your crowing today was cringeworthy after all your bitching and crying about Benitez ever since his appointment.. 🙄
#WorstfanseverOpen Controls+1
Open Controlscaller on 606 last night was saying benitez had to be sacked as chelsea had slipped to 7th, as if mourinho or guardiola could get chelsea up the table without playing a match
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Agreed! The rafa out 'fans' should be too embarrassed to celebrate today
Open ControlsThey are shameless....
Open ControlsAs a Liverpool fan, I thought it was a pretty good appointment for Chelsea. And so it is proving. He's getting the best out of Torres despite his obvious loss of pace; he's tightened their defense w/o Terry, and he's restored the clubhouse by bringing Lampard back into the first team. Moses over Oscar was an obvious move, long-time coming this year. Benitez is a good manager, maybe a great one.
Open Controlsalways remember an interview with steven gerrard talking about when rafa's valencia knocked them out of europe and him saying it was the most impossible game of football he has ever played in. he said no one could do anything, every angle was cut off, and it was 90 minutes of torture
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"Having" to play Moses over Oscar, to provide some natural width, is a massive shame, because Oscar is a vastly superior footballer.
Open Controlsoscar deserved to be dropped imo, no form either side of some sexy backheels and ludicrous champions league strikes and rather than a straight swap it's one which allows mata to play more centrally as well. fully with you on the oscar is more talented part though, makes his lack of domestic input more bizarre
Open ControlsYou don't normally talk nonsense. What's going on?
Open Controlsjust don't think oscar provided enough for the team which suggested he should walk into the team every week. looking at it from a horridly simple viewpoint 0 goals and 2 assists from 10 starts in that role (the most blessed position on the pitch) is unforgiveable
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Chelsea forums were pretty embarassing when he was appointed. I had to go read RAWK instead just to get some sensible opinions. 🙁
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This. Guardiola did his business - and it was good business at Barca. Just another manager at another club, imo.
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So i cant convince myself to bring in mata now as his team involvement took a massive dive today in terms of points returns. Thanks benitez for throwing your spanners. O wait torres as scored 5 in 25 wait hes awesome lets all get him in. Jeeeshhh
Open ControlsToday was a carnival...Mata is still the biggest creator and assisted the assister several times...unfortunate not to score also. Meh I say...they aren't going to let their reserves run wild every game while Mata puts his feet up after 70 mins
Open ControlsDifferent system new point scorers.Points is what u want in ff
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2 of which were rebounds one tap in and a penalty. Torres is shite trust me. People need to watch him play hes so 1 dimensional.If he played for any other club he would have been shipped a long timw ago.But Roman refuses to be beaten on the most disastrous signing in the history of the club. Even if he scored 20 more for the rest of the season he still would be a fail. Thats the price you pay for a 50 mill transfer fee and 150 thou a week its all relative. Sooo many strikers in the league are better
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Is anichebe guaranteed to start against Wigan?
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Happy xmas eve everyone 😀
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Lads best striker 6.4 or less?
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DEFENCE QUESTION : YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE
After a long project I have almost got my defence to a place where I am happy with all of them.
Only Emmanuel Boyce has still to go, and I am planning on doing it tonight I think, but do I need to?
This week I could play:-
Zabaleta(sun) Enrique(sto) Bassong(CHE)
Even before today's 8-0 I was already thinking I should bench Bassong and transfer out Boyce for a 4.9 def.... I have 0.0 in bank.
Other def is Morrison, who may be fit to start at home against SWA
SHOULD I....
A> stick, play Bassong, and save FT or use it on a mid or fwd
B> stick, play Morrison hope he is fit
C> sack Boyce (hooray) and bring in Cameron, or poss Fonte or Clyne for the extra cash - or someone else
Any thoughts appreciated..Open Controlsa,
not worth transfer, especially for a scabby defender. a spare transfer could prove crucial over chrimboOpen Controls
My main thoughts are of hoping for a world where Reading play 'Return of the Mack' when Morrison runs out for his next game. It's hard work scrabbling around the lose-change defenders. I've been trying it in the Player Exchange and only rarely get the right one.
Open ControlsBoy, Cameron just seems so obvious here. I keep thinking Stoke aren't THAT good defensively but . . . maybe they are. A few weeks ago I screwed up and doubled down on Reid (GK: Juusi/Bego) - wish now I had doubled down on Stoke. May still do it tonight.
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Is there any better short term buy than Pienaar to replace Sterling? Any suggestions?
Open Controlspienaar is good move, I am considering myself but instead of yaya
Open Controlssnodgrass?
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+1 😀
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Going away Boxing Day for 10 days so need to make my transfers asap - any suggestions on what to do with this lot?
Foster, Begovic
Johnson, Rafael, Cuellar, Wilkinson, Shorey
Mata, Cazorla, Michu, Morrison, Puncheon
Rooney, Suarez, Defoe
1FT, 0.9 in bankOpen ControlsYou need to captain someone for 3 gameweeks? It's hard enough picking for one. Rafael might be rotated or still injured, Not easy to plan ahead so far.
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might be obvious question, but why is Caulker not playing every game for Spurs?
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he's not nailed on. Rotation between him and Gallas. Now BAE back, more rotation between Caulker/Gallas/Dawson when Vertonghen moves to CB
Open ControlsDepends on your defence. If you have decent back up, then sometime his CS as last game is still useful.
Personnally I dont choose himOpen Controls
on this subject dawson is infuriatingly tempting too at 4.5. has started the last 4 games he has been fit for. in terms of shots on target against tottenham are the 3rd best defence in the league
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Just log on, Suarez 3 bonus, very surprised 😀
Open Controlsi'm slightly less surprised that you can't tell 2 from 3
Open Controlsso am i, cos he got 2
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He had just 2 earlier.
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Berbatov or Benteke?
Open ControlsB.
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happened to alot of ppl on here today
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Opinions on this WC team to start the new year:
Bego Gazzingia
Nasty Enrique Cuellar Shorey Nelson
Michu Felliani Silva Bale Puncheon
RVP Suarez Torres
Bank : 0.1mOpen ControlsYou going with it straight away? No DGW'ers?
Open ControlsHmmm forgot about that. Already have Cazorla And Demel so maybe swap those for silva and Cuellar?
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Cheers Parm. No doubt will change come Jan and as JOA mentioned, no DGW players, but I like having a lot of key players from the top teams.
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Is FA going to look into RVP-Williams situation? For those who do not know what had happened, game was stopped and Williams from the middle of nowhere, smacked the ball on to a lying RVP's head. I know both players were already booked for this incident, but surely the FA has to do something on it.
Open Controlsbollix. a ball in the head, get the fook over it
Open ControlsBecause Fergie ranted about it?
Had he got all 3 points I doubt he'd have brought it up, cause that's what he's pissed about.Open Controls
There's no way of proving RVP's head was targeted deliberately. If SAF hadn't made such a ridiculous big deal of it, no-one would even be talking about it. The FA will do FA. And rightly so.
Open ControlsThey were both kind of lucky not to get a red.
I think the ref was quite diplomatic - I don't think it was intentional at all, yet RvPs reaction was kind of understandable. It happened just inside the box, and I think 2YC + free kick just outside box was incredible discretion.Open ControlsIf it wasn't intentional, how was Williams lucky not to get a red?
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They can't do squat, unless they want to of course, but they can wave rulebooks around saying their hands are tied because the ref saw it and dealt with it by a yellow each.
The act of kicking the ball at him is the only thing he'd get punished for and a yellow card is normal for that (kicking the ball away in anger). As mentioned here earlier, the fact RVP slipped when going for Williams could have saved him getting a red since he was pretty steamed up.Open ControlsReplaced slipped by intentionally tripped by Chico, which ironically did save him from going for Williams full on.
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i call it a 'pepe'. watch any real madrid v barcelona game and the second anyone gets fouled near pepe he will go all out to boot the ball at their head
Open ControlsAh Pepe.... The thinking man's defender.
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Anichebe everton player 😀 any crazy one getting him ?
Open Controlsem, no
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1) Sess --> Bale for a hit? (i'd do it anyway next week if not now)
if the answer is no:
2) should i play Sess (MCI) or Puncheon (ful)
cheers!Open Controlsok, well you didn't ask for it but here it is anyways, thoughts please anyone - santi? :-
Federici
Enrique Zabaleta ??Morrison/Bassong??
Sess Michu Silva Pienaar
RvP Berba Suarez
Jussi-Morrisonwba-????-Boyce
FT £0.0
A - leave and play which defender
B - dump BOYCE for Cameron and play himOpen Controls
11 years, 9 months agoMichu-Mata-Bale-RVP-Tevez-Defoe, who would you have as captain folks? And why?