The Surgeon - Fencer vs Triathlete

Photo from TodayOnline

Today's surgery will be between the 2 Parliamentary colleagues,  Teo Ser Luck, the Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Nominated Member of Parliament Nicholas Fang. Frankly, I'm not expecting their teams to be strong, since they should be quite busy with running the country? Let's look at their selection?

Note: Team selection as at 1st September

Nicholas Fang’s FC Supreme

Nicholas Fang's FC Supreme went with a 4-4-2 formation, spending £54.1m on his team, leaving £0.9m in the bank.

The Diagnosis

• First off, why is RVP in an ARSENAL JERSEY???


• I had to do research on who Danny Seaborne & David Jones are, which goes to show how out-of-the-box these choices were.
Southampton's Danny Seaborne joined the club in Jan '10, but wasn't used frequently during their Championship campaign last season, appearing only in 4 games, while Wigan's David Jones started in 13 games last season after his move from Wolves, but was mainly an unused sub during the end of the season, with Roberto Martinez preferring the central partnership of regular midfield duo James McCarthy and James McArthur


• Luke Modric have moved to Real Madrid in the recently-closed transfer window, while Kolo Toure & Andrei Arshavin are no longer nailed-on starter in their teams. Toure could appear more frequently, but he'll have to battle with Joleon Lescott for the central defence position.


• Roberto Mancini revealed that Micah Richards could be out till September or longer, and with the purchase of Maicon on deadline day, his playing time could be reduced.

The Treatment

If a team needs to make 5 or more changes, I'll recommend the manager to revamp the entire team instead.

With 6 changes to amend, I guess it's back to the drawing board for FC Supreme's Nicholas Fang.

Teo Ser Luck's SL

Teo Ser Luck's SL went with a 4-3-3 formation instead, but also spent £54.1m on his team. With the help of his son, he stated the lineup "is a credible one with a style of play we like." Let's take a look:

The Diagnosis

• Quite an amount was spent on defence, with a Man City-double up on Clichy & Kompany. However, 3 of the back 4 faces stiff competition to break into their team's starting lineup (Kelly vs Enrique, Luiz vs Cahill, Clichy vs Kolarov)


• Scott Parker might be a good defensive midfielder for Spurs, but in this fantasy league, you don't need someone sitting in the middle to defend. Meanwhile, Oscar is an exciting player, but I don't see him starting often, with Mata, Hazard, Ramires & Marin in front of the pecking order. 


• For 6.0pts, I expect a 'striker' like Gervinho to score more than 4 goals in a season. Being deployed as a winger doesn't help his goal scoring tally. As for Ji Dong-Won, 2 starts out of 19 appearances last season, plus Steven Fletcher joining Sunderland means much lesser action for the Korean star. 

The Treatment

I'll leave the defence untouched (even though there's a number of rotation risk), and recommend 4 changes instead:

• Transfer out Parker, Oscar, Gervinho & Ji Dong-Won, and have (0.9 + 3.8 + 4.4 + 6.0 + 5.6) =  £20.7m to spend.





I'll stick with the team's philosophy in 4-3-3, and pick 2 strikers who are starting as lone strikers & penalty takers [Steven Fletcher (5.9) & Nikica Jelavic (6.6)], and 2 attacking midfielders  [Stephane Sessegnon (4.2) & Michu (3.9)]

Summary: Parker, Oscar, Gervinho, Ji Dong-Won OUT -> Michu, Sessegnon, Fletcher, Jelavic IN

Formation (4-3-3): Szczensy, Kelly, Kompany, Luiz, Clichy, Michu, Kagawa, Sessegnon, Carroll, Fletcher, Jelavic

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