Negotiating DGW28 & BGW29 Part 1

Welcome to Negotiating DGW28 & BGW29 Part 1

We last asked the team this sort of question ahead of DGW25 and BGW26. We felt it was pertinent to go to the well again, with similar (ish) GW’s incoming – albeit with a much less enticing double and a much blanker blank.

Let’s go see how they fared after the last debacle one and how they intend to tackle these upcoming ones.

Rosco – £1.7m ITB – 1FT

It’s fair to say things have not exactly gone to plan. That being said, anyone who has played this game long enough knows full well that planning often means very little. The ‘Man plans, god laughs’ quote comes to mind. My transfers in the last double-game week (selling Saka and Solanke for Darwin and Jota) blew up in my face. 2 weeks after taking a -4 in preparation for the game week I found myself some 40 or so points down and a rank drop back to 300k. I’ve since reversed those moves and find myself wary not to repeat the same mistakes twice, so please forgive me if I seem less than enthusiastic about the upcoming double!

Plans for DGW28

I’ve got one doubler in Solanke, I’ll probably add another if no major injuries crop up. Sensie or Doherty were in my original thinking, Sensies injury has now brought Neto into the equation. Goalkeepers are often some of the highest-scoring yet often overlooked players in a double. Bournemouth are not exactly rock solid defensively, but their double looks good on paper and the benefit of going with a keeper means less chance of rest, rotation or injury.

Plans for BGW29

With only 3 players for GW29, I will be playing my FH chip. Despite my recent woes, I do like my team (or at least some of it!) I’ve always found the FH best used in a blank, and whilst the fixtures are poor, I still think some opportunities could give free hitters the advantage over those who have planned for the blank, particularly those who will be taking hits to field a full 11 or less. Many seem to think that a FH can be more powerful in a double, more often than not you will find a handful of single GW players who outscore doublers and it’s hard not to go ‘all in’ when playing a chip. In a blank you’re not just looking at the gains of a single week, there are the game weeks that proceed and follow and I can’t help but look at some of the teams who have been building for 29 with their transfers and not seen how they’ll not find themselves using a Wildcard in GW30 to dig them out for a team full of sub-optimal players. I’d rather play my WC in a position of power, not weakness. All that being said, my team is having a poor season and it’s hard not to lay at least some of that blame on my poor decision-making! So who knows how the next few weeks, and the weeks that follow will go. As ever I live in hope, even if they do say it’s the hope that kills you!

Jamie Mc – £2.1m ITB – 1FT

Blank Game Week 26

I had two free transfers in game week 26 and brought in Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Wolves’ Max Kilman for two blank Liverpool players (injured Jota & Robertson). This gave me eleven players with Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite warming the bench as back up.

I scored an impressive 80 points which was 156,640 for the whole game week.

My two free transfers earned 16 points (Saka with 10 points and Kilman with 6 points). Further points successes include 11 points for Phil Foden, 9 points for Ollie Watkins and a best of the game week; 20 points from hat-trick scoring Jarrod Bowen.

Failures in the game week were captain Haaland with only an assist away at Bournemouth and Jarrad Branthwaite laughing at me with 9 points from the bench.

A nice green arrow as my overall ranking increased from 1,027,745 to 661,652.

Double Game Week 28

The TRIPLE CAPTAIN chip is active.

I managed to resist the triple captain chip on Haaland for his game week 25 double. What is the point in going with the masses when you are trying to catch up on people ahead of you in the league!!!

The weight of the armband is sitting on Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke for his double game week 28 with fixtures at home to Sheffield United and Luton Town.

I need Solanke to score at least 10 points from his two games to determine whether this was a sensible decision or not.

Being short-sighted, I really want to bring in the Bournemouth goalkeeper; Neto as my free transfer for the above-mentioned double game week fixtures for Pickford who has a difficult fixture at Manchester United.

The sensible play would be to transfer in a Luton Town player for their double game week 28 at Crystal Palace and Bournemouth and who will also play in game week 29.

Blank Game Week 29

Currently I only have two players (Bowen & Watkins) for the mega blank game week 29.

I am not free hitting as the fixtures are not the greatest and I feel that more benefit will be made by free hitting on a double game week later in the season where eleven double game week players far outweigh the free hit chip being used in single game week 29.

I am looking at bringing in Sonny as my free transfer for his away fixture at Fulham.

I will only have three or four players for game week 29 which will not be much fun, but I am comfortable with.

Gear – £0.2m ITB – 1ft

DGW25 Review – 85 points

This was a slightly disappointing result all things considered. After bringing in Jota with this game week in mind, he lasted all of 43 minutes. The only positive being the assist he manged in that time.

Saka, Watkins, Gordon and Alvarez all returned, but ultimately the robot let me down with 10 points (30) in 2 games and a TC down the drain.

My strategy for GW’s 28 and 29 is to have two Bournemouth players for 28 and FH in 29. Therefore, between GW 26-28, I didn’t worry about building towards 29, mainly because of a very low starting base (4 players) and the fact I just didn’t want to build a squad with players from the teams playing.

With the above strategy in mind, these have been my transfers and rank moves.

Transfers and rank movement

GW25 – 85 Points

Transfers: Gusto out > Ake in – Immediate Net Gain: 0

Ake stitched me up as he only played one match and managed to concede in it.

Rank Movement: 137,733 > 135,304

GW26 – 64 Points

Transfers: Jota out > Hee Chan in – Immediate Net Gain: 3

Another disaster here. Hee Chan doing nothing in the 85 minutes before he got crocked. Lucky Bowen smashed a hattrick and my rank went in the right direction.

Rank Movement: 135,304 > 103,337

GW27 – 61 Points 

Transfers: Alvarez and Richarlison out > Solanke and Son in (4ph) – Immediate Net Gain: 1

First hit of the season taken as I went early on Alvarez to Solanke with an eye on the price switch. I suffered as Richarlison got injured and was concerned my bench would not allow me to field 11. So, in came Son. Whilst the gain is only 1 point, I’m hopeful that Solanke repays it all in GW28.

Rank Movement: 103,337 > 168,974 (Disaster)

GW28

I plan to captain Solanke for his great double and bring in a Bournemouth defender. It was due to be Senesi, but he is likely out now. Therefore, I’ll probably go Zabarnyi for Estupinan, who has been useless since I brought him in.

GW29

As stated earlier, its FH and easy street for me. I would show you my potential team, but I’ve not even done a draft yet!

Smash – £2m ITB – 1FT

My rank has been gradually rising since GW12. I’ve had my worst ever season and heading for my worst ever rank but I have gone from 6 million in GW12 to now just around 600k. GW26 was a red arrow but that was expected with only 10 players and KDB on the bench it was a GW I was not too well set for. Most teams are starting to look very similar now so I have to hope I have gone with the right strategy and I pick the right players on my next wildcard Salah etc. 

GW28 I think I add Bowen for Foden as he plays Burnley at home and has a game in GW29 while Foden as good as he’s been plays Liverpool away and then blanks. Neto for a hit for Dubravka is possible as he plays twice but does Neto (-4) outscore Areola at home to Burnley I’m not sure. 

GW29 I bring in Toney for Solanke and I don’t use a chip. Richarlison injury news is also key as if he’s not back I’d sell him for a hit. I won’t be playing a chip I don’t see the upside once you have the key core. I will have 10 players and go with that and I don’t see many FH teams looking that different to what I have. They may have Maddison who I expect I will be short on. I am hopeful Porro, Pau and Richarlison are all back by then. I then expect to WC in GW31 as GW30 looks decent for most of the players I have. 

DMC – £4.6m ITB – 2FT

Update

Ahead of DGW25 I was experiencing a steady uprise in ranks from 745k in GW20 to 266k at the end of GW24. As almost everyone else in the game I played the TC on Haaland in DGW25 but what made me rise a little bit more to 202k were 12 points from certain Columbian magician. Finally, Luis Diaz delivered something! BGW26 was always going to be a bit meh as despite being able to field XI on paper one of them was Archer who was flagged and did not in fact fixture. Same could be said about Trippier with his big fat 0 despite playing 90 minutes more than Archer. Hwang was supposed to be my saviour and almost everyone else’s but he all know how that ended so yeah pretty flat gameweek that was which ended my 5 green arrow streak pushing me down to 237k.

Ahead of GW27 I was again down in numbers, with Hwang, Archer and Porro sidelined, but Pau was cleared so I could in theory once again field XI which lead me to bottle a possible move to Solanke (given that he was also flagged) and roll a transfer to better assess his situation ahead of DGW28. Turns out Pau didn’t feature at all and Solanke did which made it for a very nervy Sunday lunchtime but fortunately he blanked so it’s just 2 points I didn’t make and thus I’m glad with the outcome of that as I feel having 2 FT in DGW28 in quite handy. Slight red arrow as expected to be fair leaving me on 256k ahead of DGW28.

DGW28

Buy and captain Solanke and buy Travernier for Archer and Hwang. Bench remains to be seen with Trippier now flagged and also Porro still flagged and Doku being a useless flag himself. A hit may be on the cards and if I do go there then Naughty Doughty is still a possibility.

BGW29

That one is long settled for me as I simply don’t have the numbers (I have four, one of which is currently injured) to even think about not playing the FH. Looking at the available teams and players I’m likely going to field Flekken, Doughty, Porro (Udogie), Reguilón, Son, Maddison, Bowen, Bailey, Watkins, Toney, Muniz. If Richarlison is available then him instead of Muniz and bin the Spurs defender.

Loud Atlas – £1.6m ITB – 1FT

Back in DGW25, I was so confident, like many of us, that Mr Haaland would ‘smash’ the Triple Captaincy. It wasn’t a total disaster, I suppose – one goal and two bonus points shouldn’t be sniffed at, but it was frustrating to see that he saved his best performance of the season (5 goals!) against Luton in the FA Cup. Don’t even try and work out how many FPL points he would have accrued – therein lies madness!

Recent successes:
– Bringing in Aït-Nouri for a 12-point haul in GW26. Nice.
– After weeks of woeful performances, Areola and Dubravka finally had a good week! (I went for the former, luckily).
– Triple Arsenal vs Sheffield.

Recent failures:
– Benching Solanke in DGW25 for his 12-point haul. Ouch.
– Bringing in Alex Moreno for his fixtures against fil, NFO and LUT – a total of +1 point over those three weeks. Strewth.
– Bringing in Hee Chan for his one-week cameo before injury. Sigh.
– Not captaining Watkins. Honestly, why aren’t we?! He’s on fire!

Ever since GW19, I’ve had the pattern of red arrow, green arrow. This week that pattern stopped: two greens in a row, up to 101k, my highest of the year. It’d be lovely to sneak into the top 100k.

Plans for GW28 involve sorting out Senesi and his injury – my transfer this week will probably be a straight swap for another Cherry. I’ve some potential benching problems. I suppose Palmer should be benched. The other candidates have slightly better fixtures and form than he does. Having said that, triple City against Liverpool? Hmm, tricky. Maybe KDB to a Cherry or a Spur for a 4ph?

BGW29 means Free Hit time for me. I can’t rely on Watkins, Moreno and Kaboré to bag all the points by themselves!

I’m thinking along the lines of triple Spurs (Son, Romero…and maybe Werner?!), some Brentford (Toney and someone), some Forrest and some Hammers (Bowen). A mixture of mediocrity.

Thanks for reading Negotiating DGW28 & BGW29. This article was written by Rosco, Jamie Mc, Gear, Smash, DMC and Loud Atlas.

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