Fantasy Football Tips Gameweek 2
Two phrases I’ve learned and hated my entire adult life – ‘think outside the box’ and ‘introspect’. As though it mattered much, since my own life was involved in finance and statistics, where you actually look inside ‘boxes’ (and not those of the nice kind mind you) and introspecting gets you called a lackadaisical weirdo. We left that to the office shrink. But a new season of fantasy football is upon us. A lot of bets have been placed. Some (unjustifiable) ego and pride are at stake. Many of us are just a tad bit short of a suicidal Japanese-workaholic. And the only thing keeping us from tearing our hair out and sticking a pen in Slick Joe’s eye, as he lathers up yet another pretty new intern with his smooth words, hair, gestures and just the right touch on the elbow, is the fact that we get a few wry smiles and some resentful gesture of congratulations from those in the office pool every now and then. Then so be it! Think-out and introspect we shall.
A few things to deliberate right off the bat. Gameweek 1’s total average score of 53 from nearly 4.87 million accounts registered in Fantasy Premier League is quite high. Someone who is fantasy-football-geekier needs to help us out here with past years’ Gameweek 1 numbers. Regardless, the advice to new entrants is to keep close to the weekly global average (a little below it, match it, or even outdo it) if you want to salvage any of the things that you’ve wagered above – wages, pension, pride, wives, etc. It’ll keep your personal scores respectable, and might even help you win your office or ‘friends’ pool. The average score of total players is not always going to be this high, believe me (or don’t).
A lot of early punts have paid off. This is for those of you who are mesmerized by the person(s) who Triple-Captained United’s Shaw. There’ll be many such miracles over the course of the season. Not that Shaw is a bad player. He actually is a decent fullback, when he is off his KFC addiction. The fact that his dining-mate Rooney is no longer at United also helps. But the thing is – a lot of such accounts are one-week punts. Keep an eye on the number of Total Players. It will keep increasing every week from now on as these ‘one-week punters’ keep creating new accounts, buy the Gameweek’s most in-form players with the best fixtures, and outscore all else for just that one week. Or better still, keep an eye on the account(s) that triple-captained Shaw, or are in Gameweek 1’s Top Ten. They will disappear faster than the fifteen seconds glory that they had. Forget the miraculous punt on Shaw, even those of us average-Joes who took a chance with Neves, Jorginho, Kante, Jota, Fraser, any of Southampton’s defenders, Wan-Bissaka, Pereyra, etc (not Fulham’s Cairney) paid off significantly. The midfield looks especially attractive this year. And, not only because no forward player scored more than 8 points in Gameweek 1.
One last thing about punts, check out Gameweek 1’s Top 10 players – all with 131 to 137 points each. Every single one has used their Bench Boost tickets. Now this could be a viable strategy to get an early lead in the short run or they could be one of these one-week-punters. But, the Bench Boost and Triple Captain tickets better serves you at the end of the season, in my humble opinion. Like yesteryears, there’ll be a backlog of games due to the weather, cup competitions, internationals, Pogba’s hair, Kane’s claims, Mourinho’s moans, etc, etc. Therefore, if planned properly, boosting the bench or triple-captaining during those Double Gameweek (DGW) games will certainly raise your standings locally and globally. Comeback szn, Wrong Direction, SAZ F.C., my choice’ Jarcia’s PDAFC, #hashtagproblem, Lion UTD, Team_2, Clownprinceofcrime and Have it! FC … the current Top Ten, will make interesting case studies for an early Bench Boost (if nothing else) I’m certain.
Another phrase that I’ve learned and hated my entire life – “be patient”. It’s hard to be when FPL drops and raises its players’ prices every single week. Where you find you can afford Kun, Auba and Lukaku one week, you find you can’t afford any of the three the next week. But in the wise words of Master Yoda, “Patient, you must be”. If you have set up your GW1 team a certain way using nearly a month’s worth of research, tinkering, discussions, FF247’s feedback, downright kneejerk reactions, shamans, soothsayers, at 1 am in the backseat of your car after a fight with your missus; chances are the returns from this team will be better and bigger than just a few days’ tinkering. The caveat being that – if the players who have performed big in GW 1 are going to keep doing so in the middle and long-terms, then you’ll be priced out of a chance to cash-in on their price, points or form. I myself have been a fan of setting a team out for the mid and long terms and seeing how that plays out. It has served me well sometimes, and not so the other times. This year though, it seems the usual bets are going to pay off. A lot of fantasy leaguers have tripled-up on the big teams of Manchester City and Liverpool. I also see at least two players from other top teams like United, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal; and from good safe bets like Crystal Palace, Everton? Sounthampton? and Wolves. Which is why, if I were given an option, I would wait, save those Free Transfers (FT) over a week or two before pulling the plug.
I’ve scored 88 points for GW1. It’s pretty decent. I am not a regular blogger, expert, commentator, or even writer for this site like Cookie, innittowinit, Raz, AT, Gallant Pioneer, Kop Warrior, Rosco, and et.al. But I have contributed an article before and have been invited to do so again. I guess any gobsmack has a niche these days. I have cracked the Top 1000 once before (it would‘ve been Top 500 but I got cocky). And if all this is not enough credibility, I have a free FF247 T-Shirt to prove it. Cheers and have an awesome season ahead!
Thanks for reading A Midsummer Night’s Fantasy … (Football Musings). This article was written by Punk Dragon
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This was a fun article. Early doors the regular format is perhaps less useful (when we should all be sitting on our hands ahead of GW2) so it’s nice to get a few creative takes on the writing. Thanks PunkD!
i know the captain topic was yesterday but what do you think of putting the armband on mané? his recent numbers are matching with salah and it can be a good diferential. and the gametime of agüero can be limited..
btw, good thoughts PunkD, it’s a pity that i read it after my transfer
cheers
You will be in the minority.
it might pay off but I would not advise it.
I don’t see anything wrong with that on the current form dawids.
Could be a masterstroke actually.
Nothing wrong with this at this stage, seeing as he performed so well in GW1.
I tend to try and minimise the risk on the early stages, so would stick with salah for now
thanks for the comments guys, i will see which mood i’m in on sat morning
Great article PD. Cheers. (I’ll leave it at that Innit 😉 )
After being persuaded out of a knee jerk Jota to Neves move, I’m now getting itchy fingers again.
This time with Mahrez the concern. I’ve a horrible suspicion Pep might go Sterling & Sane this week, with Mahrez getting the cameo.
Is Bilva a more reliable pick? Would Mahrez to Bilva this week be a good idea? The prospect of freeing up 1.5m as well is quite appealing!
Thanks.
I nearly did Ralls—>Neves. Its really tough doing nothing, but my view is to wait and see, on the basis that GW1 may not be the best predictor of long term success.
Not sure B.Silva is any more nailed than Sane/Mahrez… But if you’re fine with B. Silva being a rotation risk (Mahrez is too so the 1.5m is worth it imo)… But I might want to get a nailed player instead!
So, having said that, I’d save the transfer this week and assess next week, it could be a lot better having 2 FTs to get a nailed City attacker instead, for instance you could do Mahrez to KDB/Sterling with downgrading Jota —> Neves!
Save transfer! Silva is no more nailed than mahrez; and KDB may prove to be a better option than sterling after a couple more weeks. Kust hold for now
I’d agree that Mahrez is a rotation risk but B Silva is just as much of one too. The only nailed on City midfielder (ironically because he was a sub last week) is KDB. With City midfielders it’s better to just ride it out or drop them completely, switching from one to another is a waste of a transfer in my opinion
Thanks, guys. I appreciate that B.Silva is a rotation risk as well. But if he’s no less risky than Mahrez then that extra 1.5 would go a long way. And from Pep’s recent words he sounds like he could actually get more minutes than Mahrez/Sane/Sterling!
Obviously, KDB is the safest, but also the most expensive. It probably does make sense to hold fire another week – and then choose whether to downgrade Jota to Neves and do Mahrez to KDB… Or do Mahrez to B.Silva and then potentially Firmino to Auba just in time for GW3.
KDB is 1million less than Sterling so you could look at him as a City bargain! That’s what I’ve told myself anyway….
Sorry Colriles I think I’ve hexxed him because apparently he’s just got a long-term injury in training
https://twitter.com/City_Watch/status/1029738600462778369?s=19
Yeah that’s what I saw Mito, Mahrez now looks like a crucial signing plus his and Bernardo’s value in FPL should rise
Lol, FPL is a game of luck, and my amazingly good luck just continues from last season!!! Going with KDB from the off :dance:
Cheers Punk, great musings indeed.
I wasn’t patient in the end and shipped out Sanchez for KDB.
Not got any Spurs in my team which could hinder me this week
Haha I feel sorry for you there
I drunkenly bet my work colleagues that if any of them finish ahead of me I will give them £50, meaning if I finish bottom I stand to lose £400. So far I’m top after getting 77 points last week. Here’s my team at the moment, how am I looking?:
I’d ‘a’ hold, ‘b’ drink less in future. If they’re all cp;t Salah, then you too to cover the kitty, or Kun is a fine choice. 8 of them? I’d avoid hits at all cost, Intl break post your team link so we can see their teams, but we charge 500 for helping. lmao and joking…
Cheers zorro, my team name is Drunken Transfers FC so that tells you everything really! The Salah plan is probably a good one
Looks well set to me… Hold the FT and stop being so cocky when pissed 😉
Haha I wish