#i need everyone to appreciate kdb

[kiwiorcore]

kdb posting while tumblr is distracted by martin and his pretty girlfriend

[uniteds]

In my stream they were talking about how sometimes in football the players struggled to be good at the most simple task and abilities (like what you were talking about the passes) they do amazing in things that are more difficult but that doesn't translate into bettering the team and creating a good chance. The most needed skill in a midfield is being able to pass the ball to your teammate successfully. And I agree bc it's like the basics but somehow not everyone can do the most easiest?

yeah, like, this is my personal bias because i've always been a midfielder supremacist and i often think their roles aren't respected enough unless they turn into a CAM/10 who scores goals. sorry, i'm gonna go on a little rant rn.

But, just talking about a pivot or midfield three, the most important thing is to pass well and either get on the ball a lot or take up space with your off the ball movement. like, think of all the great center midfielders in history (modric, kroos, xavi, iniesta, pirlo, scholes, keane, kante, busquets, verratti, rodri etc etc), they don't actually have incredible numbers when it comes to quantifiable metrics, especially not early in their careers (which mason still is in and i'm not saying he's in that talent bracket). the thing they did really well was move off the ball, rarely miss a pass, and had good technique that when space opened up for them to dribble, they can. they read the game well enough that they can quietly get a job done without needing to do anything more than the basics.

tbh, there's no need for marcus or hojlund to be able to pass well. like, don't give the ball away cheaply, but i don't really care if they can't pass. their skillset is being able to get in the right positions to score, dribble well, cross well, hold up play well, and have an eye for goal. a player like bruno can get away with not making most of his passes because he's one of those players where the brilliance often outweighs the misplaced passes (see kdb for another), but when that brilliance to misplaced passes ratio starts swinging in the other direction, it's frustrating. for the fullbacks, they need to be able to get the ball into the box and to track back. but for everyone else, to be good in their role, they just need to pass the ball and move off the ball well. it doesn't have to be fancy (that's where bruno comes in). it just needs to get the job done. mason does that very well. so does amrabat. eriksen was really great at it a long time ago, but nowadays, he'll make the right pass but then he just doesn't have the energy to move, so he's effectively missing unless he physically has the ball. i just wish this skillset was appreciated more lol

[fmlfpl]

Lineup Lamentations - GW13

Our Transfers, Captains, and Starting 11s for the week!

And if you missed it for subscribers Friday My Life episode just came out!

—

WALSH

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Salah, Pukki, Nketiah

IN (for -4 points hit): Dendoncker, Kane, Vardy

Time to shake up the squad with my first hit of the season.

Mo and this ankle situation feels like not something I want to be monitoring or thinking about in the near term so once I decided to bin him the moves made themselves.

I am back in on Kane.. my lover and FPL mistress will always be welcomed back to both either of my bosoms. I am all in on Mou bouncing them and sticking Kane back to traditional nine as he has done in years past. I have idea who will play in midfield or where but I do believe that Kane will be back up top with no fucking about and he will get them to feed the machine. I've got most of my other bases covered and this just felt like the best way to give me points. Gives me a horse who will start and play all these games as well as strengthening my bench with that Livp blank on the horizon.

Let's go Harold you lad.

Vardy still sucks.

GK:

Pope (wat)

Pope somehow got points last gameweek so maybe it will beget more points in this. He only has two more good fixtures before they turn so hopefully he can put some more points on the board. Been feeling antsy with him but not sure I'll have a transfer to spew on GK in the near term. TBD.

DEF:

Alexander-Arnold & Robertson (cry)

Trent and R0bbo still plod along game on game as Livp do their best Fulham impression at keeping cleans. Robbo knocked is a worry but meh he'll prob play. Whatever.

Good fixtures run for these so hoping that they finally kick into gear and keep some cleans to repay my faith.

Lundstram (MUN)

Pointstram obviously is in there as he will be for the rest of the season assuming he doesn't die or get dropped. Not a great feel with Manchu rolling in without Hendo and possibly with Jagz in there but whatever. Who knows which version will show up? I do not.

Rico (WOL)

Last is Rico. Ugh vomit poop. No faith in him and I hate him for the points he has gotten me on the bench. Somewhat reasonable on paper fixture so he's going to try his best to get me two points instead of one point. Time will tell.

MID:

Only three lonely mids as I have an eye to turn this trio into a duo.

Sterling & De Bruyne (CHE)

Raz and Kev are still chilling and I feel fine holding them both for a while. I believe in City and I think that points are coming for these two.

Mount (mci)

Mount somehow is still in my team despite drawing a lot of my disdain recently. Not much to say about him other than he is biding time in my team for me to build up an extra transfer to turn him into fodder and go 523.

FWD:

Kane (whu) & Vardy (bha) & Abraham (mci)

Forward group looks like point central with Kane Vardz and Tamela.

I guess Tam and Vard at this point are just like empty spots since everyone has them? Kinda? Either way, I guess it's good to have the good players who get points.

CAP:

Kane (whu)

Silly if you thought I wouldn't back big Harold in his first Mou game.

Come on Harry! Show us old Harry new manager bounce come on harry be a great guy i love you harry get me some goals assists and points come on harryyyyyy.

I can see the headlines now: "Mourinho struggles to a 0-0 draw at the Olympic in first game as King of the Potatoes" yipeee.

—

ALON

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Hudson-Odoi, Kelly, Lowton, and Pukki

IN (for -8 points hit): Maddison, Guilbert, van Dijk, and Connolly

WOW.

Here we are.

I think Walsh being very mad and very frustrated for two weeks and on the last normal pod has rubbed off on me a bit. I mean hits are also in my nature and I have a good track record of hits... It’s not that much of a stretch considering for two weeks I’ve been basically nailed on gonna take a -4 to get to -8 just one more click ya know?

My team was very flagged and in trouble as you can see I’ve removed a red flag backup in CHO, a backup in Kelly (Ward is fit), a player bombed out of the 11 in Lowton, and the old bald shtity guy who plays for the worst team in the Premier League... As far as -8s go pretty fucking good to get rid of a total of 2 points.

As for the guys I brought in Connolly was a panic like two weeks ago when Pukki was dropping again I made the early move of bringing in the now red flagged Connolly but it’s fine he’s gonna ride the bench anyway and should be back soon... The last trio came together literally last second right after Friday My Life I found a set of three that I like and all fit perfectly and just fucking did it.

Maddo is good, despite being down on him (or at least MORE down then most people) I still always said yes he’ll tick and get points, and Goodman kinda convinced me more on him from the Fireside.

I back Liverpool to start keeping cleans now that they don’t have the ridiculously bad fixtures anymore and VVD will start every single match in the pileup. He’s also kinda cover for me since the ownership between Trent/Robbo/Alisson is very high.

And lastly Guilbert Fred Gilbert comes in. He’s been pretty good and attacking since GW3 when he started starting but more importantly for my team he rotates very well with Soy/Tomori so the upcoming fixtures that I’ll be starting Guilbert in are home Newcastle this week, home Southampton in GW18, and home Norwich in GW19. Maybe more, who knows, but that’s the plan.

Alright long transfers section is done and I still feel good about the hit. I’m happy (for now).

GK:

Gazzaniga (whu)

Fortress Mou cometh. Cleans cometh. Let’s go.

DEF:

van Dijk (cry)

Oh hey bro welcome to the squad you almighty being.

Not feeling fantastic about a clean away and Liverpool usually play like shit after international break but it’s certainly possible with Palace’s shitty ass attack.

Lundstram (MUN)

Really hope that Egan comes in so it’s not a Jags absolute shit-show disaster. Still worried about no Hendo. Worried in general about this one have a bad feeling about the clean but you know Lund can get attacking returns vs. anyone and it’s home so let’s go Lundy.

Söyüncü (bha)

One of four guys that I’ve had since GW1; I fucking love Soy.

Away is tougher then home for this clean but I still expect it and expect Leicester to control and kill the match.

Guilbert (NEW)

Another new bro getting in there.

Newcastle somehow have been generating attack lately (Saint-Maximin in) but I still consider them the worst attack or at least bottom three attack in the division so home vs. Newcastle to me is as good a chance of a clean as any.

And maybe Fred is feeling saucy and gonna throw in an assist???

MID:

Salah (cry)

No words... if he plays then he’s captain material. If he plays but isn’t fit then fuck me. If he doesn’t play then really fuck me... Sweating the teamsheet a lot on this one as he might go from not a problem at all to a big problem very quickly tomorrow morning.

Sterling & De Bruyne (CHE)

I still back the MCI guys to score lots of goals and points and haven’t thought about ditching either yet. And I think that City are gonna score a lot of goals vs. Chelsea like at least three in my opinion so I love this match from FPL perspective.

Maddison (bha)

New friend.

Passes into the box / key passes / Casino merchant / cunt, he really ticks every box for me. Just gonna sit back and watch the points trickle in... Or the points’ll dry up and I’ll fucking hate myself for not backing myself.

TBD.

FWD:

Vardy (bha)

Duh.

Abraham (mci)

Duh Part 2.

CAP:

Salah (cry)

Well here we are... Part one of what I said about Mo was that if he’s fit then he’s cap material and so I’m taking that risk... I have vice on Vardy just in case.

I didn’t feel good capping Kevin or Raz or Vardy this week which I guess puts me largely in the minority but I don’t know Brighton have been really solid at home (5th best NPxGA) and Vardy shoots like 1-2 times per match and I’m just like meh maybe Liverpool just win 3-0 and Mo double returns. I can picture that a lot easier but maybe that’s just me.

Hate captain.

As Pod Partner said you gotta go with your balls and your penis sometimes. Alas.

—

RANDOM SLACKER OF THE WEEK: JEFFD

The words of Random Slacker are not officially endorsed by this website nor any employees of FML FPL LLC.

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Pukki & Salah

IN (for -4 points hit): Jiménez & Mané

Fear-based transfers IN. I’m taking only my second hit of the season in Gameweek 13, which represents massive personal growth for me as an FPL manager. My transfers this week were inspired by a Mourinho quote:

“…during my career, I made mistakes, and I'm not going to make these mistakes, I'm going to make new ones.”

The Pukki to Jiménez move doesn’t need much explaining. Canaries linger in my team because while I was foolishly shuffling KdB out and back in, I should have been dealing with stagnant assets like Pukki. Getting Jim isn’t the most titillating move, but after looking at the options at or below this price, he seems like the most sensible option in both the short- and medium-term.

I decided on the Mo to Mané sideway shuffle very late based on the landscape of my money league with my mates. I’m near the top of the league, and we’re all bad, but I’m the least bad historically. I noticed that I’m the only manager of 12 that still owns Mo, almost everyone has Mané, and I can’t tolerate this risk any longer.

Given health and recent form, I think the probability that Mané outperforms Mo is so much larger than the other way around this week — and over the next few weeks — and I'm prioritizing keeping pace rather than owning a differential. So I’m conceding the 4 points now to correlate my team a little more with the rest that own Mané. If I miss out on a run of Mo hauls, please refer to the José quote above.

GK:

Pope (wat)

His 9 points last gameweek were very unexpected and appreciated. Still, this is a player I’m looking at “downgrading” for a few extra coins before the blanks in GW18.

DEF:

Alexander-Arnold & Robertson (cry)

I can’t say enough about these guys. I look forward to owning them both for the rest of the season. I’m praying for Robbo’s health — because I love him — and my bench is loathsome.

Lundstram (MUN)

Looking forward to his 2-21 points this week. This is not new information, but the positions that Lundstram has been taking up in the past few matches are preposterous for someone classed as a defender in FPL. I’ve been almost forced to start him every week based on my personnel, which has proved advantageous since some other managers with deeper teams ended up benching him and missing out.

MID:

Mané (cry)

New guy gets a haiku:

Senegalese stud;

scores with both feet and his head;

welcome to my team.

De Bruyne (CHE)

I spent a lot of transfers and lost some value getting him out and back in. If he would repay the faith, that would be great. Note that if Kevin is going to score against a previous club that spurned him any time soon, it surely has to be this week.

Mount (mci)

As a Yank, I’ve watched Pulisic a lot, and this not the player I’m used to seeing. I think he’ll regress or get hurt, and then maybe the proverbial pendulum will swing back to Mount. Chelsea have some home bankers coming up, so I’ll reassess this spot frequently in the coming weeks.

Tielemans (bha)

I used my two frees last week to get this guy and Vardy, so I was obviously buzzing when they linked up for that goal. I opted to get him over Maddo and invest funds in my bench down the road, so I’m perversely desiring to see Youri keep pace with or outperform Maddo.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to imagine him having a license to get farther forward and score in a match like this where Leicester may be bossing possession for long periods.

FWD:

Vardy (bha)

I’m a math/stats guy for work, and I enjoy FPL since eye-test is often so much more illuminating than stuff like xG. That being said, Vardy can’t keep up what he’s doing statistically, but I’m here to embrace and benefit from his unsustainable scoring record for as long as it lasts.

Abraham (mci)

Starting double Chelsea attack away to City does not inspire confidence in my squad, but City defense is a shadow of its former self, and we’ve seen Tammy get behind and punish mistakes, so I have optimism here.

Jiménez (bou)

The third pillar in the VAJ frontline. Do something, you donkey.

CAP:

Vardy (bha)

We may very well see a beleaguered Brighton side given injuries and Dunk’s suspension. We know what Vardy can do with limited chances, so this seems like the sort of match where he can actually get a volume of quality opportunities and maybe even a jammy pen.