Rate My Teams: FPL and Fantrax Game-Week 2

I always enjoy checking out other managers’ teams ahead of upcoming game-weeks in order to size them up against my own. Well, it’s time for me to give back. Detailed here for your viewing pleasure are my tentative FPL and Fantrax squads going into GW-2.

Look them over, analyze, and evaluate. Perhaps they’ll give you an idea or two, or perhaps you’ll give me some constructive feedback in the comments below. (Okay, okay, so maybe this exercise wasn’t completely altruistic. Sue me.)

~

Official Game

Here’s how my FPL squad is currently lined up for Round Two:

I’m not 100% decided on starting Matt Ryan over Alex McCarthy. Callum Wilson has upgraded Newcastle’s attack, and Ryan faces the Magpies on the road. McCarthy is at home, but Tottenham (at least historically) is a Top-6 contender and will field recognized goal-scorers like Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son. I’ll go back and forth here before settling on a decision later tonight.

I think there’s a very good chance that Chelsea ruins Liverpool’s clean sheet, but Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson are long-term holds, both offering potential attacking returns. Kyle Walker-Peters and James Justin also get forward and offer the chance for fantasy points even if their clubs can’t manage to hold the opposition scoreless.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mo Salah require little explanation. Both are fixture-proof blue-chip FPL assets. But PEA hosts West Ham, while Salah must travel to Stamford Bridge. The Gabonese will therefore wear my armband, as I generally prefer to captain players with home matches (even in empty stadiums). Allan Saint-Maximin rounds out my midfield, the Frenchman enjoying a favorable home fixture against the Seagulls.

I expect Dominic Calvert-Lewin to benefit from Carlo Ancelotti’s midfield renovation project; indeed, he has already opened his account for this campaign. Everton’s favorable upcoming fixtures mean that he’ll be a regular feature of my S11 for some time to come. Timo Werner’s knock is not expected to keep him from starting for the big match against the Reds where I think his speed and guile will give ‘Pool’s high defensive line fits. I don’t love Antonio’s fixture, but with his hunger and work rate he is always in with a puncher’s chance.

This is the very same lineup I put out for GW-1 except for my mistake of captaining TAA for round one. The only transfer I am considering for this week is Salah out for Bruno Fernandes. We all witnessed Bruno’s capabilities last season, and I like his GW-2 match-up better than Salah’s. If I do bring in the Portuguese, I will probably captain him (which tells me I should probably just go ahead and bring him in), but at the same time I generally like to save up transfers until I can do a double for free. You tell me — what should I do?

~

Fantrax-11

Below is my Fantrax-11 team:

The season’s erratic first price adjustment allowed me to assemble this dream team and still have over $6.00 in the bank. Apart from Illan Meslier, who is a one-week play whom I’ll replace on the barn-door, all of these men are players I can seriously consider holding for the long haul. What do you think?

~

Fantrax-17

Finally, here’s my F-17 team:

Again, the quirky Fantrax pricing algorithm has allowed me to assemble an all-star cast of Fantrax studs for GW-2. And again, I’ll hold many — if not all — of these marquee names for the long-term. Anything here you would change?

~

Have my squads given you any ideas? Is there anyone I’ve overlooked? What do your GW-2 squads look like? Please join us in the comments to critique my teams and share your own!

~