What the Hell Have I Done? Week 26 Devil’s Advocate Edition

By now, you’ve all just about been beaten to death with the logic of the Double Game week ahead. Everyone and their Mum has been telling you that you should take as many Liverpool players as possible, all the while remembering that they won’t play in week 27 at all. There have been endless lists of pundits telling you that if you have Michu still, this should be his last go ‘round, as he’s badly out of form and only has value in that he’ll start both games. You’ve heard about strategies for taking the appropriate number of players in each position, how best to spend points if you have to, and where the possible Captains picks are.

Frankly, it’s getting BORING. You’re all saying, ”Yeah, yeah, we get it already. If we’re gonna have more than 4 players from either side, we should have 2 defenders, so rotation next week is easier. Any more than 4 and we’ll likely have to take a points hit or only field 10 players. We got it. We can all read, that’s why we’re here, right?”

So I’m here to tell you what you might want to do INSTEAD of loading up with Reds and Swans. If you’re just sick of all the nonsense, and you’re looking for some strategy outside the box, you’ve come to the right place, my friends. Outside the box is what we do best here at What The Hell Have I Done?, so let’s take a look at some possible players to add who won’t have two bites at the apple in the same week, but two nice looking meals back to back.

The biggest differential out there over the next two weeks, not to take away anything from Mr. Barry Grimes, our resident expert in such matters, is Wayne Rooney. He’s prohibitively expensive at £11.9mil, and frankly, his returns this season haven’t warranted that price. But Roo has always been a streaky player, and when he’s in form, he’s absolutely red hot. That form has arrived in very recent weeks, having scored three goal sin two matches since his return. This is a very Wayne Rooney thing to do, frankly, and the next two weeks look tempting. Now, you might be saying, “What the Hell HAVE You Done?” when you look at this week’s matchup. Rooney and the Red Devils host Everton, a solid side contending for Champions League places. But United are unbelievably at the Theater of Dreams, as we all know, and even Rooney is no different than most players. He’ll be running on heightened emotions as he faces his boyhood club, but won’t feel bad about celebrating the brace he’s likely to score in front of the United fan base. After that, he’ll be headed to London to face ‘Arry and QPR, and while the clean sheets have come thick and fast for the R’s of late, they won’t withstand the Rooney – RVP onslaught. With so many out there owning RVP, and so many more adding either Suarez or Sturridge this week, it might be time to invest heavily in the Reds OTHER striker, and wonder how Roo got that nickname some other time.

Here’s another out of left field pick, and it works as an assist of sorts for the Double Game Week. If you need to clear up some cash for a move for Suarez or Gerrard, and you’re willing to take a points hit with two transfers, consider the Super Sub of the Season, Adam LeFondre at Reading. Now, I know what you’re saying. “During a DGW, you’re recommending we transfer in a player who doesn’t even START for a squad who’ll only play once?” I know, it seems I’ve gone completely bonkers on this one, but LeFondre is the best bench player in the business, and he’s dirt cheap. He’s only played 98 minutes combined in the last 4 weeks, but in that time he’s put up 29 fantasy points on the back of 5 goals and 5 bonus points. How he keeps getting left out of the starting lineup is unfathomable, but it hardly seems to matter. Reading will face Stoke on the road this week, and while that used to sound like a death sentence, Stoke have become uncharacteristically porous at the back of late, having not kept a clean sheet in their last 7 matches while conceding a whopping 17 during that span. The week after this, in Gameweek 27, Reading are home to Wigan, both teams with something to play for, so there’ll be goals on offer here as well. Frankly, with LeFondre’s form of late, I don’t see how he’s be kept out of the side much longer, but again, it hardly seems worth worrying about. He always sees playing time, and then sees the back of the net as well, and he can help facilitate other moves you might want to make due to his £4.9mil price tag.

My third and fourth crazy non-DGW punts of the week are both Frenchmen, Olivier Giroud and Moussa SIssoko. Giroud is similar in price to Daniel Sturridge, just as likely to get game time, not under the threat of injury, and a lock to start in the central striking role. Despite Theo Walcott’s brilliant performances in that spot pre-contract, Arsene Wenger likes his fellow countryman up top, and Giroud has repeatedly stated of late that he finally feels comfortable in an Gunners shirt. Is that worthy of a start instead of a Liverpool man, with two bites at the apple. Well, I love the DGW, but to play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, a striker who scores a goal in one game is worth more than one who doesn’t score at all in two. Giroud will face a poor Sunderland side this week, and a miserable Aston Villa side the following week, and there are no worries that Giroud will play both games. Sissoko, meanwhile, has taken his debut in the Premier League rather seriously, with two goals against Chelsea last week in a stunner. He’ll certainly be riding high on emotion, and while his Spurs opponents this week are daunting, the same could have been said last week, and Sissoko just wasn’t listening. Spurs will score, but they’ll concede as well, and a red hot iron is always ready to strike, DGW or no. After that, while the reds and Swans players sit at home and watch games on their tele (or play elsewhere) SIssoko and the Magpies will welcome Southampton to their grounds, a team that’s also likely to concede a few.

There you have it. If you are just bored to death with all this DGW talk, and really want to think outside the box, here’s your chance. Even I’m not certain it’s the BEST strategy going, but it’s certainly worth a try, especially if you’ve got ground to cover and want to find a different way to do it. Enjoy your apples this week, be they one bite or two, and best of luck to all.

Article by Jeff Rider

Jeff has written 46 awesome articles.

Jeff Rider was once described as "a right back with amazing potential, a player who's value could well reach dizzying heights," by his 4th grade soccer coach. Then again, that was in the United States, where every kid who doesn't fall down a lot makes the squad, and his youth team was named "The Weasels". Seriously. Jeff lives in San Francisco and loves comic books, Men's fashion, Liverpool FC, and his wife and step-daughters, despite their insistence on being vegetarians. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @cloudwrangler

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