As Dave’s complex math reminded us on this past week’s podcast, we are at the one-quarter mark of the season, which feels like a good time to do something a little different.
I (Scott) went through the bottom of the scoring barrel to find the best possible squad of zero-point players. Through one-quarter of the season, this is my take on who the best of the worst is so far.
Now, obviously, most of these guys are on this list because of injury. But that’s not the point. The point is that they have zero points, and so we have not been able to bring them into our lineups for any good reason. There’s some quality that we are missing out on.
As always, there is room for debate here, which is what our social media forums are for!
GOALKEEPERS: Nick Pope and Adrian - Pope is still hurt, and Adrian is now Lukasz Fabianski’s backup. Still, if you were starting a new club and you could woo these two guys away from their existing clubs, you would feel okay about things at the back.
DEFENDERS: It starts with the Manchester United duo of Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones. Rojo is understandable since he’s hurt, but Phil can’t find the pitch for United. Scott Dann and Christian Fuchs are veterans who you have probably transferred in at some point in the last year or two. Yerry Mina rounds out my defender row. He was That Guy after the 2018 World Cup. Since That Guy always bombs wherever he goes next, it is no surprise that he makes this squad.
MIDFIELDERS: When Manuel Lanzini returns from injury — whatever season that is — he will be a legitimate FPL option. Cesc Fabregas brings name value to our squad, and quite frankly, it’s shocking that he hasn’t made even one appearance this season. James McCarthy and Jason Puncheon are additional veterans whose better years are behind them, which is why they are on this list. Finally, injury-prone Robbie Brady could probably help Burnley if he can get back on the pitch.
FORWARDS: This position lacks depth, which is a good thing for forwards in the Premier League but bad for my blog post. Andy Carroll is no shocker here; when he gets healthy, he’ll light up the scoresheet for three gameweeks before returning to the injury list. Stefano Okaka has shown flashes of brilliance for Watford; under Javi Gracia, Gray and Deeney have stolen all the opportunities. Dominic Solanke is young but has taken a step backward on Liverpool’s depth chart this season. This is probably not what he was hoping for when he moved from Chelsea.
There you have it. If I had to pick a team of zeroes, this would be it. Thankfully, I don’t. We will see how many of these guys remain at zero during the second quarter of the season, which starts this Saturday.
