Why Bruno is a Must at the Start of this Season
August 1, 2021
The arrival of Sancho and a massive pool of 6.5-10M midfielders has led many FPL managers to consider going without Bruno. However, in this article I will to try explain why Bruno should still be an automatic choice in everyone’s team after TAA and Salah.
Although, Bruno costs managers an extra 1.5M, let’s not forget that he was the highest scoring player in the game with a whopping 244 points! His 18 goals and 14 assists last season has confirmed that he is United’s main man when it comes to scoring and creating chances. Furthermore, he is nailed on for all the set-pieces and there’s also the penalty factor which we all know. Man Utd was awarded the highest number of penalties last season alongside Lei City (10) and I expect this season to be more or less the same. The addition of Sancho in the attack will lead to United’s chances of receiving a penalty increase exponentially. Sancho won the most penalties at Bundesliga last season (10). Bruno’s other statistics from last season via @FPL_Salah:
–121 Shots (2nd)
– 51 Shots on Target (2nd)
–48 Shots in the Box (6th)
– 20 Big Chances (4th)
-Created 95 Chances (1st) and 20 Big Chances (1st)
Man Utd have one of the easiest fixtures to start the season and are predicted to score the most goals in the opening 8 fixtures according to the Fantasy Football Hub fixture ticker. Bruno is also a great captaincy pick in GWs 3 and 7 where United play Wolves and Everton, in both these GWs Liverpool play against Chelsea and Man City so Salah is not an attractive option.
The Option of 5 Mids:
Maybe you are still unconvinced because there’s the option of going without Bruno and taking 5 decent mids, for instance Salah, Son, Sancho/Mahrez, and two 6.5M mids. However, I believe this will be a mistake.
Son had a dip in form over this year. FPL Expert @BigManBakar did a good comparison to demonstrate this:
Son Heung Min 20/21
GW 1-19 v GW 20-38
Shots in the box per 90: 1.47 v 1.07
Big chances per 90: 1.06 v 0.28
With an increase in price of 1M and a new manager (Nuno) for Spurs, it maybe, wise for managers to wait and see how Spurs play before selecting Son. There’s also the potential of Kane leaving which will reduce the firepower in attack for Spurs.
Now for the other two, Sancho/Mahrez. Although Sancho is a proven goal scorer in the Bundesliga, it still remains to be seen how he performs in the Epl. Last season I made the mistake of starting with Werner before seeing him play in the Epl. This cost me valuable points and essentially gave my mini league rivals a head start over me. Therefore, learning from last season’s experience, it will be wait and watch for Sancho. Everyone is expecting Mahrez to start, but Pep roulette never fails to disappoint. Picking Mahrez means you will lose a transfer in the upcoming GWs. With Grealish almost joining City, Mahrez owners can only pray before City’s line-up is posted each matchday. The abundance of cheaper mids at better value makes Mahrez a less exciting option, add to that Pep roulette.
The KDB Factor:
KDB will be in most managers mind as an alternative to Bruno. KDB has delivered points every season, but this season is a bit different. Fatigue and injury concerns will be an issue for him due to his knock in the Euros. Moreover, he isn’t guaranteed to take penalties anymore, we saw Mahrez taking them at the end of last season while KDB was still on the pitch. Also, Man City have tough fixtures on paper for their opening games, playing Spurs (a), Lei City (a), Chelsea (a) and Liverpool (a) in their first eight, and he isn’t needed for the captaincy either. With the same price tag as Bruno and 0.5 less than Salah, it seems to me KDB is inferior to both of them at the start of this season.
Conclusion:
The most sensible approach to GW 1 will be to select proven FPL assets with 90 minutes guaranteed and Bruno is the ideal pick. Due to the reasons mentioned above, going without Bruno may cost you a lot. His high ownership means if Bruno has 1 assist you will lose rank. On top of that it is tough to bring him into the team, it may take 2-3 transfers depending on the structure of your team. Bruno adds a flexibility to your squad. If he does not perform well, you have the option to downgrade to any mid you like.
Happy Fantasy!
good analysis
thanks
How many Premiums you can accommodate in a team? Need Salah in GW1 and someone (KDB/Kane) for GW2 to attack Norwich.
To think about point potential up to GW8 is big ask. You need to catch the early bandwagons and may have to trigger Wild card.
Is not it worthy to rotate premiums to have obvious captain picks in every week.
Rotating premiums is a dream scenario in these COVID times. KDB is still not up-to match fitness and I don’t think he’ll play the full 90 minutes against Norwich. If Kane goes to City which will be a late move then we can take a -4 hit. Early wildcard is sometimes good, but why force it rather than use it when necessary.