Fantasy Football Live Match Chat Gameweek 38
THANK YOU
Hi, Init here. Or Adam, whichever you prefer. I don’t often break cover from the ‘FF247’ facade but there’s a good reason to right now. Which is simply to say thanks to you all.
Thanks for following, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting. Thanks for being involved.
It’s been a long and difficult season, for a number of (bleedingly obvious) reasons.
From an editorial POV it’s been an absolute nightmare. We usually post about 5 or 6 articles a week but given the ‘new’ TV schedules the GW’s have been running into each other with alarming regularity. The fixture schedule itself has been altered so many times it almost became a joke to even attempt to follow it.
As such we have done the best we could. Which is to react to every GW announcement and post an article or two accordingly.
From a personal POV I still felt like we were letting people down (and I hate that), by not providing a regularly consistent flow of articles.
On reflection, we simply did what we could.
Regardless, any time I looked at the comments it was nothing but consistent and supportive.
Which leads me back to the title; THANK YOU.
Brilliant community, brilliant ‘family’.
As for GW38….
The games in full…
Keep track of all the action, the goals, the talking points, right here at FF247 Live Match Chat, an interactive chat which encourages you to keep involved and share your thoughts and emotions as the matches take place.
Good luck to absolutely everyone for Gameweek 38 from all at FF247!
Some great results on the boards – well done, folks! Without sounding overly gushing, and with a slight echo of what’s gone before, this really is the best place on the web for our little hobby – an informative, good-spirited and brilliant site to be a part of. So thanks for making it special!
My season was a tad on the ‘meh’ side with an 884k finish, but it’s been fun all the same. My son though, in his second season, finished at 265k! I’ll ride his coattails as long as I can.
And what’s more, his younger sister wants to join in next season! She’s already a bit miffed she can’t have more than one Salah on the pitch. We’ll see how that goes…!
See you for the Euros
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Tell your daughter to captain him every gameweek as that’s virtually the same thing.
Finished on 2546 (-92) points for an OR of 28k which is a big improvement on my first 3 seasons averaging 800k. Thanks to everyone here for your support. Now I’ve just got to work on taking those hits.
Nice stuff Otieno.
Thanks for helping out with the fixture rearrangement comments you provide
Hi guys just want to thank everyone here on this site. These 9 years being here has been an awesome journey. The time has come for the eagle to fly free and retire. Yes my friends, I have taken the decision to quit FPL and focus on other things. I felt like quitting about 2 years ago but I feel that the time for me has come. This year FPL just felt like a chore, I didn’t feel that fun and passion like I first had. I can sense that it has had a toll on me. Thanks for the fond memories I shared with you all since the days of FFC. Warm wishes to everyone and I hope all of you continue playing and enjoying FPL. Farewell everyone
That’s sad to hear Eagle, but also totally understandable. Thank you for your kind words, we shall miss you. We’ll still be here should you want to drop in and say hello occasionally and who knows having a break may be good and one day you will feel like getting back your wings. Probably in about August I’d imagine
Happy retirement eagle. Hopefully see you around some day.
Sorry to hear it, Eagle. Have a happy retirement but feel free to pop in and say hello from time to time
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Eagle,
I completely understand that as I myself feel (or more likely now ‘felt’) about taking a year out of playing to try to find enjoyment in it again. I’d still be around here but just take my own team out for a year. Anyway, I’ll be fine come August and hopefully one day again you might be but if you don’t then you don’t have to justify yourself to anyone.
As Init says though, keep us in mind and say hello if you can.
Good luck in the future pal.
@Eagle, best of luck in retirement. Still drop in though and talk football if you decide to not play fpl. Think you will find watching games where you have nothing to lose or gain in fpl a lot easier and more enjoyable.
Thanks guys your words mean a lot to me. I guess I might just drop by from time to time. Now I will be able to watch and enjoy games better.
Well I ended up oddly disappointed having won most of my mini leagues and a rank of 12k. Disappointed, as I got inside the top 3k in GW33 and decided to go for differentials to chase down Little Red Lacazette in the regulars league, which massively backfired. Oh well. Anyway, at the moment I’m leaning towards another sabbatical to recharge the batteries. We’ll see. Either way, many many thanks to everyone on here for constantly providing top notch guidance and banter along the way. I don’t know about you lot, but I’m very excited to watch some football this summer without studying fixtures, and bonus points and all that.
Great OR, banjo! No shame in 12k (most of us can only dream of such dizzying heights!). Enjoy the Euros
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Must be good just to fall back in and make 12k banjo
That’s a tremendous season which I’m sure, from the outset you would have taken, that you were 3k does show it in a different light but if you had just climbed to 12k you would be delighted I bet.
As I’ve said above, I was thinking about doing the same but I’d be scared of legal action from the powers that be.
You can’t go hunting for little red Lacazette, you should know that.
Congratulations on a job well done people. You did awesome even though this season was one of the weirdest ever in the history of both EPL and FPL.
Hope you can enjoy your well deserved vacations to the fullest. Aah yes, sadly there is a euro’s without big Virgil so another nightmare for us. Win em for us. Actually did England ever win the Euros? I know you won the worldcup once. ^^
With the way this season has been, I would have thought you have an advantage.
I have a question to all…..How much time do you spend in a normal GW on an avg. for your own team (that includes analysis, strategy, monitoring, transfer etc.)?
Do not include watching the matches or, general footie discussion or, review others’ teams or writing articles.
@GM, barely any time on any fantasy team and I play a ton of fantasy games. The only way I could play them is if I was a bit relax about how I pick my team. I don’t look at Bundesliga until the first team sheet comes out and it usually takes me about 15 minutes tops to come to some sort of conclusion. It is the same exact thing for UCL fantasy. FPL I usually wait until deadline day and then come to sort of conclusion in about 15-20 minutes a little longer if there are blanks and Doubles on the horizon but even that only adds 10-15 more minutes so about 30 minutes at the longest, but most GWs just 5 minutes.
probably why I take so many hits, the lack of preparation shows. Fantasy MLS about 30 minutes and that is only because of their dumb rules with a wildcard every week otherwise it be like 5 minutes also.
I am doing well in MLS, did really well in Bundesliga although missing those 42 points that one week because I missed the deadline to sub will haunt me, at the time I was in the top 10. I did ok in FPL and are doing ok in UCL. It doesn’t take a ton of time if you have a system and know what you are looking for.
For FPL
I look at transfers in (see if I am missing an obvious move)
Captain poll
upcoming fixtures
For MLS
fixtures
odds on games to see where to invest on cheap defenders for my bench
set pieces/form
I pull that up and make a choice quickly. In fact I would have probably already made a decision on a fantasy team in the time it took me to type this.
About 10 minutes on the actual decision.
The rest would be disingenuous to say really as I used to spend ages on the lot, hours in fact, but that was pre-FF247. My ‘old FPL’ time is now taken up doing all of this but realistically and probably subconsciously the research is now all there on tap without me having to even think about it. I will always give the Scout line-ups a very quick once over within that 10 minutes as they are often fairly accurate.
Probably more of a genuine answer would be CL for me as I do actually have to look around for info, tips, team news etc. But even all that wouldn’t probably go beyond an hour in total spread over a good few days.
Think that in part is it, I gather info while not actually trying to gather info for my team it ends up making my decision tons quicker. Grant it, I don’t help a lot with FPL but by doing the tracker at times and doing the poll I am forced to quickly examine fixtures and captain candidates.
UCL fantasy is helped massively by my viewing of La Liga as that is the only league I usually watch, playing fantasy Bundesliga and fpl makes my decisions a lot easier as I sort of already know most of the better teams.
I was doing set pieces and trackers for Bundesliga for about half the season or more and that helped.
MLS is still the game I can’t explain in that manner. I did well last season and currently doing well again. Guess if it is not broke don’t fix it.
Doing any of that stuff still entails a level of research, so the basics are there without you even realising. Unlike Kop who still to this day is surprised when we tell him the deadlines
MLS was always odd to explain, maybe it was thinner in actual choices but like you I always threatened the top 10 / 20 overall without really having to spend much time on it. I’d mention our ‘joint’ 2nd finish but I’m as you know I’m still bitter about that to this day
As long as it takes to copy whatever moves the site team makesNot very long. I tend to quickly set my team up for the following week as soon as the new GW begins – in particular the captain, vice-captain and the bench order – then have idle ponders before the deadline date about who may come in. Given that I try to roll transfers where possible, sometimes this all takes less than 5 minutes.
I spend far too much time rabbiting on on here – an utterly ridiculous amount of time – often trying to talk people off window-ledges etc, which is why I tend to take extended breathers every now and then – just tune the whole thing out. It’s a great community but the balance between people seeking advice / needing urgent psychiatric evaluation / trying to wind other managers up (mercifully little of that here) etc etc and those giving it is a tad uneven. Someone like Smash deserves an OBE for his efforts. It can take it out of you a bit.
I used to play the WC and Euro games but found the deadlines got in the way of family life. I prefer now to just watch the games now and not worry about fucking bonus points and clean sheets and goals scored, etc.
Thank you Mito and Init. Even I play multiple fantasy ones. This season, I played
FPL – Countless time spent in info gathering and Chips + transfer planning
Bundesliga (first full season) – Around 1 hour entire GW (including info gather)
Scottish Prem (first full season) – 30 minutes before deadline (with minimal info)
UCL – Just 15 minutes before deadline (with minimal info)
MLS – Around 1 hour entire GW (including gathering info).
Euro – 1st Gw need bit more research, then will follow the UCL trend
Apparently seems like, in other games except FPL, we are spending similar time. I have a feeling that I am spending over time in FPL in gathering tons of info (I like Stats – has plenty of data in excels) and then kind of losing out in extracting useful conclusion from the pile. In this process, I somewhat have stopped enjoying the actual matches (the real footie) during the weekend. I would like to change it next season. Hope the fun comes back.
I love the main game but I think it has become far too commodified.
Therein I suppose the appeal of the other leagues – less people playing and less noise and less people trying to draw you and distract you with whatever unique selling point it is they have.
It’s hard to say how long exactly. I suppose most of us do similar to Mito. Let’s say about 30 mins daily. That includes checking the transfers in/out, doing a few drafts with possible moves, compare the mainstream weekly bandwagon vs some possible punts.
GM, I know you for quite a few years and I know that you are running a B (fun) team as well. I have never spent more than 10 minutes with my B team, usually an hour before deadline.
And, the paradox is still there, somehow it always does better than the team you most care
For those who remember, we used have a ML called “My Rules” which ceased while ago. I used that slot for an experimental “Ghost Ship” team. Only allowed to change formation and the captain weekly plus the chips. Regardless how many injured players have been throughout the season I haven’t made a single transfer.
Yet, it still did better that 5 million others
For ‘my rules’ I have a memory it was actually ‘Secret Zorro’s Rules’ and that his strictures dictated whether or not a side was acceptable. Put me right off (I suggested a team of players who had shagged other players’ wives) but that wasn’t quite pure enough an idea.
@Kralin, no the B team is not the “My Rules” team that we made for Secret Zoro’s league. In essence, I used to have 3 teams – main team (which is in all mini leagues), B team (to play for OR) and My Rules Team (with specific rules). As we no longer play My Rules league, that team is scrapped. Also, as mentioned I handed over my B team to my wife.
But to be precise, what you said is correct. After playing 2 seasons with A and B teams (2016-18), I realised that I am either hedging the bets or, having hindsight bias. So it was no longer fun and I inspired my wife to play the game (still she is not 100% inspired and I had to step in from time to time, but I leave the decisions to her).
I tried to delegate my side to my cat earlier in the season, but she just stared at me with lazy contempt.
I tried to get the others in the household interested but they see my interest in fantasy football as a cry for help. Their eyes glaze over in less than 5 seconds.
(This is a serious question) – how different is your B team? Eg if you have Kane and Salah in both your sides do you hedge your bets and captain one in one, one in the other? Or do you have a completely different side? Your B team ‘won’ this year but was it really that far apart from the main side?
I’d be semi-interested to know. I ran a 5/3/2 once as a B side and apart from the 5 the 3 / 2 element was pretty much what I played in my normal side (e.g. obvious and logical picks).
Kralin, the difference I think is that with the main one I am more mainstream/Bandwagon orientated while with the B, tend to play more risky with often a few punts involved.
Of course, now and again and very seldom, the captain choice coincides if a certain player is expected to do extremely well in particular game. In general, two different teams most of the time.
Fair enough, thanks.
I have handed over my B team to my wife for the past 2 years. But she returns it back to me around 2/3rd of the season (when she gets bored). The outcome is very much similar to your case, but more prominent.
): 2494 points (OR: 9k)……….she has the min. info and min. research to make the changes and you can see the outcome.
My team: 2357 points (OR: 175k)
That B team (My wife’s team – a bit combined family effort
That makes me think that over the years I have increased my resources of information and as a result, I am processing too much noises which probably is not required.
There are only a certain number of touches in the box, or shots on target, that the brain can handle. That stuff is all fine and great for a certain type of manager but really I think one can be hugely distracted. The simple stats’ stuff you see on the BBC – possession, shots, corners – is probably enough. And a damn sight cheaper to access, I daresay.
For the new season I am going to try a new experiment.
A team based on extreme aggressive transfers ( almost like daily fantasy).
No care about how many hits are taken, as long they are for players who are hot at the time
That sounds a bit like Terminators’ side, Ivan.
I wanted to experiment with 1 team and no transfer (except WC and long term injuries).
Nobody can match Terminators
