Étienne Capoue

[SFC_Fan]

The stats being unsustainable argument is fair enough - he's obviously not going to score or assist every game for the rest of the season.

As it is though he's played some pretty tough game and came away with points. Stupid to ignore that.

[Stemania]

With one shot (his only touch in the box) and one goal today he certainly is 'doing a Yaya' at the moment. 1 chance created too.

A share of indirect freekicks is useful though (and the odd corner).

[Football Hero]

He hasn't had one favourable fixture so far, yet he is the top scoring player in the game.

I'm contemplating playing him next week away to Burnley instead of Redmond who's away at West Ham.

[Nozbit]

Had him since GW1 and he was benched every week. Thought I would take the 'gamble' with him this GW and it has paid off.

[Football Hero]

Had him since GW1 and he was benched every week. Thought I would take the 'gamble' with him this GW and it has paid off.

I was thinking the same, but because he had Man Utd I thought I'd wait a week before playing him more regularly.

He'll probably go on a run of blanks now against easier opponents.

[mad dog]

I was considering putting him in then saw him wearing those earrings on match of the day so it's a no from me

[beanz_swfc]

Was interested to see the mention of Yaya a few posts back. My mate is a Watford season ticket holder and told me to 'get Capoue in, trust me' before the season started, as Mazzari was playing him in a far more advanced position. I did trust him, have played him every week, and am glad I did.
Chatting to my mate yesterday, he actually compared Capoue to Yaya in that he is a big strong mid, who once or twice in a game will happen to be in the right place to 'just tw*t it' in to the net! Perhaps this goes some way to explain why his underlying stats can look poor, but his points are good, and it may also be evidence for why this hot streak surely cannot last?

[DragonSwag]

I ignored michu, yaya, mahrez and now capoue. I just enjoy that sweet feeling of regret every week

[I Am Ville]

He cannot be ignored.

Great run of watford fixtures coming up.

He is in!

[Resonare]

Decided to rotate him as a 4th mid.

[Cliffard]

Having started the season with him and never played him nor gotten him on from the bench, then wildcarding him out in gw3, I've now taken him back in. And he'll be a starter. And I've no idea if he'll keep getting half the points per game, but his price makes him a great enabler with those fixtures. Now I'm gonna see if I can find a heatmap for his positioning. I think Behrami has been playing as the sole defensive mid, with Capoue and Pereyra ahead.

[matmutte]

Still not convinced to be honest. Capoue's stats and conversion rate are just ridiculous but it's hard to ignore 5 in 5. For all you know the guy could be walking on water this season.
This could be a turning point of the season : either going with the crowd and play him as 4th midfield, hoping he remains decent VFM and investing the spare cash upfront. Or betting on a return to normal (ie no goals for the next 50 games) and investing in a "better" 4th midfield (Antonio, Sterling etc...) for a nice differential.

[scarletjim]

...investing in a "better" 4th midfield (Antonio, Sterling etc...)

£8.4m for a long term 4th mid? Blimey, your formation / area spend must be somewhat different to mine.

FWIW I'm with you on the Capoue bit though. Yes of course he might continue to score heavily and end the season with 20+ goals, but I'm happy to bet he won't, and I'm happy to bet that he won't even score well enough to become a regular 4th mid (though in my opinion still very good value at £5m where he will be very soon). I'm not as happy about those bets as I was a fortnight ago, as every time he scores another I wonder again whether us 'stats people' are missing something - does he have that rare knack of just knowing how to be in the right place at the right time for example? - but surely it can't go on. It's very different to Mahrez etc - he isn't running games and embarrassing defenders and keepers etc. So I'm (nervously) still sitting out (though if I was on WC I'd probably take him, not sure whether 4th or 5th mid though...)

[Mav3rick]

The interesting thing is that it might be Ibra's apparent sudden fall from grace that might mean fewer people play Capoue than were going to (as a 4th mid). I can't believe Capoue will keep on Toure'ing it up, but the next 5 games do look good for him.

[matmutte]

...investing in a "better" 4th midfield (Antonio, Sterling etc...)

£8.4m for a long term 4th mid? Blimey, your formation / area spend must be somewhat different to mine

Well for the time being my midfield is underperforming (i have Redmond/King) but with the likes of Lukaku/Costa/Benteke upfront you can have a nice strong midfield on a wildcard.
Good point from Maverick on Ibrahimovic's star fading out and the impact on Capoue.

[scarletjim]

Slightly off-topic I know, but what exactly is Ibra's 'fall from grace' - he got an assist last weekend, and has two home games coming up next, one against surely the poorest defence in the league... Presumably it's more about selling him being the only realistic way to afford Aguero than him having played badly recently or done anything wrong.

But anyway assuming that's what you are referring to, why do you guys think it will impact whether or not people choose to play Capoue? (Sorry if I'm being thick and missing the obvious ).

[Mav3rick]

Slightly off-topic I know, but what exactly is Ibra's 'fall from grace' - he got an assist last weekend, and has two home games coming up next, one against surely the poorest defence in the league... Presumably it's more about selling him being the only realistic way to afford Aguero than him having played badly recently or done anything wrong.

But anyway assuming that's what you are referring to, why do you guys think it will impact whether or not people choose to play Capoue? (Sorry if I'm being thick and missing the obvious ).

By his "fall from grace" I mean the transfers out by the masses - 2nd most transferred out player today (with Aguero obviously the main beneficiary) and 85% to a drop.

(Also, that assist should never have stood, and I say that as an Ibra-captainer).

[matmutte]

Yes Ibra is being transferred out massively, people tend to think only Aguero is essential not Ibra + Aguero considering the bad shape of ManU and the form of Lukaku/Costa both cheaper. If you dont go Ibra+Aguero you are less looking for cash elsewhere and Capoue becomes a bit less sought after although it still helps a lot.

[scarletjim]

If you dont go Ibra+Aguero you are less looking for cash elsewhere and Capoue becomes a bit less sought after although it still helps a lot.

Aha, that makes sense. When I read Mav's clause "...that might mean fewer people play Capoue than were going to (as a 4th mid)" I took it to literally mean whether or not people would play Capoue, as opposed to whether or not they would own him at all.

[sstaffsw]

Ibra is projected to be a big points earner across the next three gameweeks according to FFF. Personally I'm keeping hold of Ibra to go alongside Aguero and Lukaku. KDB in midfield too with Capoue.

[math!]

Also keeping Zlatan. If he drops he may just rise up again next week. Of course this may be influenced by the forced Nolito to Sterling transfer anyway.

[ricardo68]

Stop looking at his price. Would you play the highest scoring player in the league with an excellent run of fixtures? I might give it a go

[scarletjim]

Stop looking at his price. Would you play the highest scoring player in the league with an excellent run of fixtures? I might give it a go

I don't think it's his price that's putting off many people here - it's many other things, including his ability, his position, his past performance over many years, and above all, the underlying stats for this season that suggest that he's been 'fortunate' (not sure of the right word here, but that's been adequately discussed by others - you know what I mean) so far to convert so many chances, i.e. to score so many goals from so few chances. Is he just a brilliant finisher, and just turned into one over the summer? I guess it's possible, but for some on here it feels unlikely. I'm one of them.

I guess we really need to establish what questions we all want to answer here:

- Will he continue to score at his current rate? (Surely not)
- Will he continue to score better than most £5m or below midfielders? (Quite possibly, but not necessarily)
- Is he worth his current price (which tomorrow will presumably be £5.0m)? (Depends on your squad structure - if you'd hardly ever play him then maybe no)
- Should we all have him in our squads? (Depends on squad structure and whether or not we'd play him)
- For those who have him, should he be 4th or 5th mid? Or used in an 'equal 4th and 5th' rotation? (The $64m question... ???)

There are brighter bods on here than me who have discussed various scenarios in relation to that last question in a much more useful manner than I ever could, but I think those are the main questions, and it is really that last one that causes the problems... Well for me anyway.

[Gambit]

I'm going to keep avoiding him.

I don't think he will maintain his current form or even form good enough to warrant being my 4th choice midfielder, and at 4.9 (soon to be 5m) he's too expensive to be the 5th choice bench fodder.

* my one concern is that they do have good fixtures (even brilliant fixtures) so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that for 4-5 GW's he is a genuine option to be the 4th choice midfielder. But this creates the bizarre situation that because he's so cheap I can then upgrade my 5th choice midfielder and then Capoue becomes the weakest option so it's back to the bench where he is too expensive to sit! it's all very strange

[maradonash]

Just by way of a clumsy attempt to benchmark Capoue's shot conversion rate: Had Kun had the same success last season, he would have ended up with a cool 116 goals from open play.

[RomynPG]

Just by way of a clumsy attempt to benchmark Capoue's shot conversion rate: Had Kun had the same success last season, he would have ended up with a cool 116 goals from open play.

...so that week where some of us managed Aguero (cx3) = 78 could have been really

[Football Hero]

In terms of using him as a rotation with another midfielder, my current 4th midfielder is Redmond who I feel is too expensive to be sitting on my bench a lot.

[Stemania]

Not the best day for our Capoue in an open 2-2 draw today:

Shots 0
Penalty area touches 0
Chances created 0

Is anyone who is/was planning on using him as a regular in their 11 starting getting nervous? I was hoping he'd at least show some signs of life today as I could have done with a decent AOA option next GW. I don't think I'll ever field him at this rate.

[gallus]

what did I tell you, you can't expect to have a player who averages 1 shot and 1 touch in the box per game as your starting mid.

[From4corners]

Yup, nice to see him repaying my faith in him doing diddly squat. Happy about that.