Fantasy Premier League

What Would Neal Do?

Fri Jun 12 08:47PM

Since my post last night on CRon, I've had a few minutes to think about who I'd buy if I were ManYoo (and I'm trying to stick to spending only the CRon money)...

The first question to answer is whether you think Rooney will partner Berbs or whether his future lies as a Ballack/Gerrard-style attacking midfielder.  I tend towards the latter but since SAF seems to tend towards the former, I'll prioritize ManYoo's needs in the following way...

1. An attacking midfielder (a Scholes replacement)

2. Two wingers (to fill the spots vacated by CRon being gone, Giggs being old, Nani being no good, and Park being limited)

3. A holding midfielder (to fill the spot created by Anderson not developing fast enough or just not being that good, Carrick being mediocre, and Hargreaves being hurt all the time)

4. A third striker (to fill in when Rooney is injured or suspended and SAF isn't ready to rely on the youngsters)

How would I fill these? 

1. I'd wander right back to Madrid with some of their own cash and see what they're planning on doing with whichever of Sneijder or van der Vaart is going to be left out now that Kaka and CRon will require a lot of the ball.  

2. So many names are being thrown around - David Silva, Valencia, Ribery, and the like.  Seems like Valencia is pretty much a done deal so we'll assume that's going to happen and that's not bad business so long as he's the second best winger ManYoo acquires this summer.  As for the player on the right side, I'd save the money on Ribery and stop first at Villa Park and see if I could pick up Ashley Young.  Is he as good as Silva or Ribery, not quite but you have to assume that either of those two is going to head to Barca/Real in a year or two anyway so why not go for someone who might actually be thrilled to stick around at ManYoo for the next 5 to 10 years.

3. Yaya Toure seems to be the name that's making the rounds in relation to Arsenal and Citeh but why not ManYoo? Gattuso is too old to take the risk or spend the money.  Other alternatives to consider are Masch (if he's unsettled at Pool, you might as well try); Palacios (not that you want TOO many ex-Wigan players on your team but he seems to be better than his current surroundings); or Marcos Senna.

4. Let's not repeat last year's problem where we had three (or maybe four) players who all expect to be full-time starters (Rooney, CRon, Berbs, and Tevez) on the roster.  There is room for Rooney, Berbs, Macheda, and one more player.  Rather than being another young guy on the way up (like Benzema) or in his prime (like Zlatan), the wise move might be to bring in someone content with being an extremely strong veteran who understands that he's best served playing in 20 or 30 minute increments most days with the occasional start to rest the top 2 guys.  Honestly, there's one name that would be perfect here but being a Gooner, I'm not willing to type it.  Alternatives that I am willing to type include Emile Heskey, Eidur Gudjohnsen or David Trezeguet. An alternative might be seeing if they can breath some life into the artist formerly known as Adriano.

If there's any money left over after then they could certainly do worse than going after an extra central defender.

Why the above solution instead of the litany of huge names? Because it would consititute more of a team and would likely remain intact for more than a year or two.  Oh yeah, it also wouldn't put ManYoo at risk of running up against the limits of its financial resources.  Who knows, when the insanity of their purchases comes back to haunt Real, maybe Sir can go back in and get some more talent on the cheap next summer.  [No one really thinks that Real can afford this do they?  The other shoe has to drop in the next couple years, right?]

Well, enough of the random musings and back to work.

Enjoy the weekend and remember to check out the summer home of the blog at http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/

Cheers - Neal

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