EPL Supercoach Gameweek 1 Wrap: 6 things we learnt

Nice to be back for another year – already, frustration is setting in – only Cole Palmer & Martin Ødegaard of the Top 10 owned players went big.

Thankfully I’d been strong on the Arsenal midfielder, but even he is a slight rotation risk!

So the fun of the SuperCoach EPL season begins. A reminder… even more than NRL & AFL – this league is a grinding, changing marathon that is going to engulf you.

August lies to us often – trades are an absolute premium – panic only sets you up for failure.

Take all the learnings from the first 3 Gameweeks with a pinch of salt – we may well be singing from a very different hymn sheet in a month once European football becomes a factor.

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1. Midfielders will be your best early bank builders

As fun as scoring defenders are (and there were plenty of them in Week 1 – Ajayi, Mendy, De Cuyper, Kayode) – there are options through midfield that are going to build your bank consistently for the first couple of months & be legitimate options as season-long holds that have already emerged.

No price changes until players have played 3 games, giving us plenty of time to line up trades.

At the moment – Josh King (3.9mil), Mamadou Sangare (4.5mil) and Julio Enciso (3.9mil) look really promising options – with Sangare the strongest of the 3 given upcoming fixtures and the fact he is a nailed, bolted, signed, sealed, delivered starter for the foreseeable future unless there’s an injury.

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2. Out-of-position Defenders could become season-long holds

Two names to watch here – Myles Lewis-Skelly (3.9mil) & Maxim De Cuyper (6.38mil).

De Cuyper looks slightly more of a sure thing – was played as a winger in the 2nd Half of last season – a strong World Cup and a return to health seem to have convinced Fabian Hurzeler to make that his starting position this season.

He was brilliant against an admittedly poor Villa team in GW1, but scores of 13 against Chelsea & 31 v Wolves at the back end of last season are encouraging as well.

I made Lewis-Skelly a late inclusion after seeing his selection in midfield before the game against Coventry, and he didn’t disappoint.

Exactly the profile of player who should knock up bigger and bigger base stats as he gets more experience.

Not a nailed-on starter yet, but the fact Arteta knocked back transfer offers & then proceeded to start him in the opening game of the season is promising.

If you’ve gone an all-cheap defence, he’s a must-have before the price rises in GW4.

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3. Big scores from guns are not guaranteed

This is the Premier League, and Harry West & Oscar Henderson both wrote of the need to stay patient.

The three pre-season premiums that garnered the most interest didn’t reach the heady heights of last season on the opening weekend.

Bruno Fernandes 7 & Gabriel 7 are both so good because even in relatively poor performances they still score, so there’s no need to panic. 

Hairless Haaland 4 needs goals to score, and he spurned a couple of good opportunities against Bournemouth – the fact he was in positions to score encourages me as an owner though.

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4. Captaincy PODs are often more effective than ones you trade in

Off the back of those 3 not going big – it’s a great example of the fact that if there’s something you find in a matchup – it’s best to back your gut – as many did with Calafiori on the opening weekend. 

I was one of them but got greedy – I got greedy and expected Fernandes to find an even bigger score against a Hull City side that most are tipping to finish bottom – I refuse to feel bad about that. 

I’ll probably double down as they head home to Old Trafford and face an upbeat (and perhaps over-confident) Ipswich Town this weekend.

But given Arsenal’s performance last week and Villa’s open-season approach to defending, if you’re a Havertz owner, that could prove a terrific play.

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5. Get up early…do the work (or watch the highlights at least) [or even better – keep reading the articles]

As much as it pains me to use a Cornes-ism… seeing Florian Wirtz as the most traded out this week necessitates this plea.

He played well on the weekend in a more central position than he was playing under Arne Slot last season and had 2-3 half chances to score… not assist… score.

That wasn’t happening last year…neither was 6 points without scoring or assisting. Patience.

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6. Arsenal are still the bankers

Yes, it was Coventry, but they have looked a level above what the rest of the competition produced this weekend (maybe with the exception of Brighton & Chelsea).

Harry West pushed for an Arsenal stacking strategy (particularly in defence) as price gains flow – there are already a few opportunities there, with Calafiori looking back to full fitness with the help of his assist & I’ve already alerted you to the potential of Lewis-Skelly.

I’ll be keeping a very, very close eye on Kai Havertz (6.1mil) & Christos Tzolis (5.5mil) – both are more complete footballers than the players they’ve replaced – I just want to see consistency of output against some better opposition before jumping on.

Martin Odegaard (6.6mil) could well be the player of the season – he looked re-invigorated after spending so much of last season on the physio table. 

David Raya (8mil) will be the highest-scoring goalkeeper this season, barring disaster.

After these two games against Villa & Chelsea, we’ll know more, but after that – Sunderland (a), Brighton (a), Leeds (H) & Forest (a) look inviting.

Trades

None (pending team news on Palestra – could be moved into a Levi Colwill trade)

VC – Fernandes (vs Ipswich)

C – Calafiori (vs Villa)