Supercoach EPL Strategic Downgrades | Finding gold in the bargain bin


<p>Up and down season, but a decent week has me climbing to 1,267 overall. </p>



<p>Want to be inside the top 1k soon. </p>



<p>My team value stalled last week at £124.2m &#8211; happy the squad is worth almost 25% more than the start of the year, but I need to keep building. </p>



<p>The trades have been solid overall, though Thiago this week hurt badly. </p>



<p>Missed out on a massive 22-pointer and loads of cash. </p>



<p>The decision to sell was sound, with him losing minutes prior to this week, but wow, did I get punished.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Immediate Problems</strong></h3>



<p>Ballard has to go &#8211; no idea why he didn&#8217;t start on the weekend, but that&#8217;s the final straw. </p>



<p>Dewsbury-Hall is suspended for the weekend match due to five yellow cards and has made his money. </p>



<p>Time to cash out.</p>



<p>Looking at replacements, I&#8217;m hunting for three types of players: those making money fast, those who&#8217;ve lost value and might rebound, or reliable base point scorers who tick over consistently (check last week&#8217;s article for the full breakdown on base stats strategy).</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Defenders: High Risk, High Reward</strong></h3>



<p><strong>The Wolves Gamble</strong></p>



<p><strong>Hugo Bueno (£5.64m)</strong> is a base stats monster. </p>



<p>When playing 90 minutes, he&#8217;s delivered 9 and 8 points. </p>



<p>The problem? He&#8217;s only done that twice in six weeks. </p>



<p>Still managed 34 points across six gameweeks despite playing over 70 minutes just three times, with zero clean sheets or attacking returns. </p>



<p>If you could guarantee minutes, he&#8217;d be massive.</p>



<p><strong>Santiago Bueno (£5.80m)</strong> exploded for 24 points last week &#8211; 12 from a goal plus heaps of base points. </p>



<p>Similar minutes risk to Hugo, starting only twice. </p>



<p>The upside is huge if he nails down a spot.</p>



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<p><strong>The Risky Guys</strong></p>



<p><strong>Quiindschy Hartman (£6.19m)</strong> offers great base stats, averaging 6.7 points per game, including all the points lost from Burnley&#8217;s leaky defense. </p>



<p>My worry? More games like the City hammering are coming. </p>



<p>At £6.19m, you need more security.</p>



<p><strong>Maxim De Cuyper (£4.89m)</strong> had loads of preseason hype for his attacking potential rather than defensive solidity. </p>



<p>Got a goal on the weekend, but that accounted for 12 of his 14 points. </p>



<p>Would need a big uptick in attacking stats or clean sheets to justify the spot.</p>



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<p><strong>Sven Botman (£6.46m) </strong>represents my dream scenario &#8211; access to Newcastle&#8217;s defense, looking like one of the tightest in the league. </p>



<p>But he comes with risk, only really playing when they go three at the back. </p>



<p>Was massive against Arsenal though, so maybe he starts more often and becomes a genuine bargain.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Fallen Premiums</strong></h3>



<p><strong>Milos Kerkez (£6.36m) </strong>has dropped £2.1m but is not picking up the stats he had last year. </p>



<p>Avoid for me.</p>



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<p><strong>William Saliba (£6.51m)</strong> is down £1m due to a 5-minute appearance in week 3. </p>



<p>Also, only played the second half on the weekend. </p>



<p>He&#8217;s tempting with Arsenal&#8217;s upcoming run. </p>



<p>Won&#8217;t get the same points as Gabriel, but could see him averaging 7-9 points, making him undervalued. </p>



<p>The question: can he play Premier League and Champions League?</p>



<p><strong>Nathan Collins (£5.74m)</strong> has crashed £2.5m thanks to shipping goals against Forest and Fulham (random teams&#8230;) and conceding a penalty against United (sorry Bruno owners). </p>



<p>I&#8217;m not buying with City and Liverpool in their next three, but one to add to the watchlist.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Midfielders: Slim Pickings But Some Potential Gems</strong></h3>



<p><strong>The Money Makers</strong></p>



<p><strong>Sean Longstaff (£6.56m)</strong> has a -20 breakeven, so he&#8217;s about to skyrocket in price, having gone up £2.5m last week. </p>



<p>Not bad base stats in the last four games he&#8217;s started, with only 16 of his 33 points coming from 1 goal and 1 assist. </p>



<p>He isn&#8217;t a long-term hold, but you might squeeze a couple million out of him &#8211; just might be banking another trade.</p>



<p><strong>Daichi Kamada (£5.49m) </strong>is up £1.5m and scoring solidly around the 7-point mark without any attacking stats yet. </p>



<p>Won&#8217;t be a huge scorer, but should make money over time. </p>



<p>I&#8217;m interested.</p>



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<p><strong>The High-Risk High-Reward Options</strong></p>



<p><strong>Jhon Arias (£4.56m)</strong> &#8211; Now we&#8217;re getting spicy. </p>



<p>Big signing for Wolves, but his minutes are being eased in as he gets used to English football. </p>



<p>But what a game against Spurs &#8211; 10 points without attacking stats, someone who gets back on defense to help out equals SuperCoach points. </p>



<p>Took 7 corners and got positive words from the coach. </p>



<p>I&#8217;m tempted, but so risky.</p>



<p><strong>Mathias Jensen (£5.03m)</strong> &#8211; Ignore the juicy breakeven, he played 9 minutes on the weekend for that 12-pointer. </p>



<p>No thanks.</p>



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<p><strong>The Fallen Premiums</strong></p>



<p><strong>Martin Ødegaard (£5.19m)</strong> is down £2.7m, and I won&#8217;t be rushing back. </p>



<p>Got 6 points for an assist, but still only 9. </p>



<p>Imagine without the assist.</p>



<p><strong>Harvey Barnes (£4.32m)</strong> has dropped £3.7m due to poor minutes played. </p>



<p>I would need to see him start a few before launching, but so cheap for his ability. </p>



<p>Wait and see.</p>



<p><strong>Rodri (£4.20m)</strong> &#8211; Highly owned, clearly underpriced, yet only gone up £450k with a top score of 5. </p>



<p>Averaged over 10 two years ago, so there is value there, but not showing it yet. </p>



<p>Wait and see for me.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Making The Moves: My Current Plan</strong></h3>



<p>Unfortunately, Dewsbury-Hall to Arias doesn&#8217;t make me enough on top of Ballard to get anyone I&#8217;m desperate for.</p>



<p>So thinking maybe a fly at Saliba for points with Arsenal&#8217;s schedule and/or Longstaff to make some money for bigger moves later. </p>



<p>The Saliba play is purely for points &#8211; Arsenal&#8217;s fixtures turn golden, and even without the ceiling of Gabriel, he should tick over nicely. </p>



<p>Longstaff is the cash generation play &#8211; that breakeven is too juicy to ignore, even if I&#8217;m just holding for 2-3 weeks.</p>



<p>Remember: the deadline is Saturday 5am this week due to the Friday night fixture. </p>



<p>Don&#8217;t get caught sleeping on these moves.</p>


Supercoach EPL Strategic Downgrades | Finding gold in the bargain bin

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