Welcome back to another Q&A. I hope these questions can answer a few of the problems going around!

A power forward line looks vital. However where do we spread the rest of our budget? Evenly or stack the defence/midfield? How are you guys setup?

Andrew

At the moment it looks best to use your cash up front and at the back. With the upcoming fixtures, even the defenders can be cheap. West Ham and Swansea are showing great defensive form and you can pick up really good options at 5.0mil. Southampton have been incredible at the back, however, their fixtures may prove to be a little too tough to maintain this. The big midfielders just aren’t firing. I’ve always preferred to have 3 premium mids, but I just can’t justify having more than 2 at the moment. I’m stacking up on the Forwards and going cheap on the midfielders at the moment.

Baysie

I’d keep him for another week or two. Swansea play Cardiff, Stoke and Fulham in the next three and he will have the chance to explode. Swansea are playing attacking football and it’s a matter of time before he gets in on the points. Should he fail to produce in the next few, I’d swap him out for Silva. Possibly Walcott if he’s back. I’m still keeping an eye on Hazard, but he hasn’t completely convinced me yet.

Liam

Nick

Matt

I think it is important to set-up a defence that works for you before moving onto midfield. In my case I have gone with an even spread throughout my defence, but have no one worth over 5.3. This has allowed me to gain an extra midfield premium, however Michu hasn’t returned the goods so far. I’m still hopeful that he can turn it around and that set-up will become more fruitful.

Is it time to give up on Michu and if so, who for?

Andrew

I’d keep him for another week or two. Swansea play Cardiff, Stoke and Fulham in the next three and he will have the chance to explode. Swansea are playing attacking football and it’s a matter of time before he gets in on the points. Should he fail to produce in the next few, I’d swap him out for Silva. Possibly Walcott if he’s back. I’m still keeping an eye on Hazard, but he hasn’t completely convinced me yet.

Baysie

No way. Swans have a great run coming up and he’s as good a chance as any midfielder to score points in the short term.

Liam

Nick

Matt

Look I’m going to stick with him because I was on-board before the bandwagoners arrived. As soon as you turn your back on a guy like Michu, he bags a brace. I’ll be giving him every opportunity to impress, at least until someone else comes banging down the door, which isn’t really the case at the moment. Walcott could change things.

I’m after a budget defender. Who are the best options under 5?

Andrew

Williams for Swansea, Shaw/Clyne for Southampton and Rat for West Ham are all great calls under 5.0mil. All 3 have good fixtures and form on their side. If I had to pick one, I’d go for Ashley Williams at 4.8. After returning from injury, he walked straight back into the Swans’ defense and grabbed himself a clean sheet and maximum bonus points against The Hammers.

Baysie

This is never an easy question on the run… To get a really definitive answer you need to study the run of games for all 20 teams and try and ascertain clean sheet chances. And as we’re only looking at the cheapies, we ain’t looking at any top teams. Since I’ve already done Swansea, and am pretty confident in them, I’ll put up Williams and Taylor (depending on how long Davies is out for). Southampton have been fantastic but their run is not great so maybe look at offloading soon.

Liam

Nick

Matt

I think you need to have 2 Southampton defenders, whether one of them is Boruc depends on your keeping set-up. Shaw and Clyne are just insane value. Other than that Williams seems to be the hot pick this week, while I think Rat is sliding nicely under the radar at 4.5. He has settled in and looks to be great value.

Answer honestly. How many hits have you taken this season so far? How have they worked?

Andrew

I’ve taken just the one. I guess you could say it worked because Van Persie grabbed a goal, but it’s generally something I avoid unless I absolutely have to. If you’re dying to get a player in and just can’t do it with 1 transfer, then go for it. I remember towards the end of last season wanting to get De Gea in when he was at a really good price. I chose not to take the hit and he ended up getting a clean sheet and rising in price. In fact, I think he ended up with 4/5 clean sheets in a row and I couldn’t bring him in because the finances just didn’t work. I should have grabbed him.

Baysie

That would be 2 and neither have really worked out well. The first was Hazard out for Silva. Silva got injured the game I traded him in and was on the sidelines for 3 weeks. Hooray. The latest was Michu in for Ben Arfa which I had to do. Jury is still out on that one.

Liam

Do I have too…24 points I have taken a hit on. The season didn’t start too well for me and the initial trading was not much better, Dzeko, Nani and Moses amongst the worst. FPL is all about being able to reevaluate the situation having had my worst start ever (this is my 8th year). My initial point hits were to cover lost ground the next two lots were to consolidate my team to save my wildcard for later in the season. The latter was a great success and I have a decent team value (105.3) and a strong team moving forward. The change in bonus points system has been a killer to the premium midfield bracket, this is something which has caught me off guard. (it did the last time they changed it too). From here its onwards and upwards with minimum hits (double gameweeks, injuries and the occasional budget squeezer aside).

Nick

Matt

Well coming from the knee-jerk hater, you’d hope I have taken minimal hits. I taken 8. Oh that’s not bad, 2 -4 hits is workable. No I meant 8 separate 4 point hits… Yeahhhhhh. A few I must admit can be looked back on as rash, however I tend to try and trust my judgement and think long-term. Whilst I regret some, I’m so glad I pulled the trigger on a couple of them and you can’t just pick and choose the best ones. Take the good with the bad, and risk taking is how I choose to play the game. If I see a player I really want long-term, he’s in! However I don’t advise this to all and I think more often than not they won’t work out, so be careful.

Who is your pick of the premium defenders?

Andrew

Baysie

Baines. He has been a little off his game in recent weeks but the return of Pienaar will bring him back. It’s amazing how well they play together and how much more attacking Baines becomes when the little South African is in the team. That said, I’m not going near any premium defenders.

Liam

Terry has been a lock in my team since the start and has a strong reputation from set pieces so too Ivanovic although Terry is more nailed on. Evra is consistently returning I might have to find a spot for him if Vidic can keep fit. Vertonghen is an interesting one it the left back role I have to say yes. At CB I would rather go for Walker in the spurs side although they have a rough run coming up so best to avoid at the minute.

Nick

Matt

I pose this question as, to be honest, I can’t pick one. None of them are even worth it in my opinion! The reason is that whilst one may go on a storming run (Baines GW 2-5, Zabaleta 1-4, Ivanovic 1-3) they rarely keep it up. In the long term none of them really stand out, and as such they’ve all been overtaken by the budget Southampton options. Perhaps look at Terry if you’re after one short-term as he looks the most likely to go crazy over the next month of fixtures, but be warned, you are playing a dangerous game with expensive defenders!

Aguero or Suarez? Or both?!

Andrew

Both. The midfielders have been terrible this season and there are plenty budget options at the back, so you can use the cash up front. Should you want to jump onto an inform midfielder at the later stage, they can easily be downgraded to a cheaper option like Rooney, Sturridge, Lukaku or Giroud.

Baysie

It’s getting to the point now where you can’t ignore how well Aguero is playing. Suarez is a must have so you’d need to look at if you can have both. 11.3m is a lot of coin and would depend on your 3rd striker and your team balance. If it means having to skimp somewhere else in your team, weigh up the point scoring ability of Aguero and that player, against the two you would have otherwise. Sometimes putting your eggs all in one basket doesn’t work as well as spreading the risk.

Liam

A mark of my season is that I don’t have either, I have gone with Rooney with the potential to move for either one of these two shortly. I would say Suarez he can return week in week out both home and away. Aguero is a gun but City also have european distractions which sees the team changed on a regular basis. Aguero seems nailed on but City have lacked a fluidity this season as seen by their dismal away form. Personally I am jumping back on the Silva train and will look firmly at Suarez if his great form continues.

Nick

Matt

I’m comfortably on both. Lock and load and don’t even worry about captaincy options for the future. Well, apart from separating these two that is! They should have the points flowing in most weeks and will be an area of your team that remains unchanged for most of the season. There isn’t many set and forget players this year, but these two look just like that. Gold!

That’s it for this weeks Q&A! I hope that helped… The captains will be back for revenge tomorrow whilst Andy will be back with his brilliant preview as always! Cheers.

mattcraigdt