Due to mid-table mediocrity, O.G. Elmo did some dealing on the transfer market to try and put some pep into the squad. Click here for the original team.

Rationale for the cuts: Lennon is done for months with a knee injury, Nobby Solano hasn’t been performing well, Makelele should have been dropped the minute I realized he wouldn’t count as a defender, and Bellamy isn’t playing as much due to Rafa’s squad rotation system. The next one I’m ready to let go is Xavi Alonso. He’s a fav of mine but he’s also being damaged by the squad rotation system.

Rationale for purchases: They’re all performing and, more importantly, they’re more likely to play. Andy Johnson up top is a no-brainer since he doesn’t have much competition, and Hleb was always supposed to be a messiah for the Ars*. I thought long and hard about signing up Cahill from the start and can’t think why I didn’t. Rochemback has put up a ton of points in the opening weeks and while I bet he will fade, he’s certainly going to play. So he’s got that going for him.

Other problems: Um. My defense sucks.

ESPN’s fantasy site, first for the World Cup and now for the EPL, really sucks. Lots of down time and other silliness. I went in yesterday and made these changes before any values had gone up or down for the season which meant I saved myself some money. And someone might want to inform the dear folks at ESPN that Jimmy Bullard (valued at a 9.1 out of 10) and Aaron Lennon (9.0 out of 10) both have serious knee injuries that are going to keep them out of the campaign. Since there are no substitutes allowed (you pick 11 players only) maybe it would be unfair for their value to bottom out, but surely it should drop somewhat? Wouldn’t it make more sense to manage this like a real team where you have 20+ players that you rotate in and out of the lineup? (The answer to that last question is “yes” by the way.)