Gameweek 3 seems a long time ago with the early season international break. It’s given us some time to reflect on our teams and plan ahead. Many managers have hit Wildcard this week, giving them unlimited free transfers as a way to reconfigure their team. It seems a good idea given the first few fixtures have been really informative about who the top performers might be this year. While I’m tempted, I’m also doing my best to hold out for a couple more weeks to when I think it’ll pay off more.
Back in gameweek 3, my team finally got an above average score, mostly thanks to the free-scoring Haaland. I held fire on transfers and now have 2 available but price changes have really started to take effect so will need to come into our thinking as we plan for the next few weeks.
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Gameweek 3 review
80 points in total finally gave me a green arrow in the overall rankings. Long let that continue.
Henderson finally returned with save points but still no clean sheet. At home to Leicester this week looks good on paper but I’m doubtful Palace will keep them out.
Poor returns in defence with Hall now clearly having lost his place in the Newcastle team meaning he’s basically deadwood in my team. Having learnt from the Barco debacle (where I transferred him out because he was loaned out by Brighton, only to effectively waste the transfer because it would have been more useful to roll the transfer for another week) I won’t be rushing to change him – I have 4 starting defenders in Gvardiol, Robinson, Harwood-Bellis and Faes so no need to panic.
Image source: transfermarkt
Robinson got an attacking return at last to vindicate his inclusion and with more good fixtures ahead, he’s a solid long term pick and going nowhere.
Midfield was solid for me with Eze bagging a goal at last and getting all 3 bonus points. His value has dropped because so many managers have quickly given up on him but his underlying numbers don’t warrant this reaction. He’s put up xGA so far has been 0.44 which is solid for his price point and his next 3 games are Leicester, Man United and then Everton. Not exactly the best defences.
Bruno Fernandes remains an issue for me…another blank and Man United look pretty poor so far. He’s central to any plans I have to change up my team.
Upfront Isak got his goal and despite being the most sold player this week (I suspect many wildcarders are cashing so they can get Salah and Haaland in one team) I have no intention to sell ahead of a trip to Wolves.
Back to back hat-tricks for Haaland are beyond expectations but also not overly surprising. Selecting him as captain was the obvious choice but it’s paid off beautifully.
Gameweek 3 team and transfers
So far no transfers made and I’m on the fence about my plans. I’m leaning towards Luis Diaz in for Bruno Fernandes but Man United play Southampton and feel there might finally be some points for Bruno there. At this point I may be being delusional!
The only change to my team selection (before transfers) is that Hall is dropped to my bench for Faes. Not that exciting but with limited options without a transfer there’s not much else to do.
Haaland keeps the armband. Obviously. It’s hard to do anything else right now.
Like so many I’ve considered Wildcard this week. The reason is I want Salah (like everyone), Palmer (although currently flagged as an injury doubt) and several other popular picks like Joao Pedro.
However, I’m trying to be patient. It’s paid off in previous years and is generally the best strategy over a long FPL season. Although there’s been some big scores already this season making managers chase players after a haul, I’m keen to fight the desire the make too many transfers too early. Isak, Bruno, Eze and Gvardiol still have good points in them and decent fixtures ahead so to switch them out, it’s got to be worth while.
I’m leaning towards a gameweek 6 Wildcard. This does mean any transfers can be fairly short term but if I choose to hold some back they will carry through to after the Wildcard. For example if I have 2 free transfers before playing Wildcard, the week after I’ll still have those 2 transfers.
Saying all that, my potential transfers this week are Bruno to Diaz and Szoboszlai to Minteh/Mitoma. I think there’s a high chance they’ll pay off within 1 week but almost certainly within 2.
Image source: theanalyst.com
Conclusion
While my team has scored ok so far, I’m far from happy with much of it. Isak needs more time and I think it’s too early to judge him as not worth having. Bruno Fernandes has got to go soon, I don’t see Man United or him being consistent enough this year based on their early performances and even if they do improve I think there are other better options at that price point or lower.
Wildcard is on my mind but the longer I hold out the more fit for purpose my team will be in the weeks ahead, even if it means missing out a little bit in the short term.
Get your thoughts over to us, tell us what you plan to do and any questions you want answering to @FPLwithStu on X.
