GW30 Review: Top 100k ..finally

In the end the free hit did pay off, and it propelled me into the top 100k.

Gameweek Points: 73

Gameweek Rank: 259,279

Overall Rank: 82,082

I'll keep it short, as it's quite a while until the next deadline and I'm not 100% certain what my plans will be. So I'll just bask in my five digit rank while I have the chance and hope it continues.

Currently I'm thinking about keeping Son in for the next two fixtures - i.e. going without Salah. Meaning I won't have Salah for the scary Watford home fixture, but also the less scary City away tie. I can then use my free transfer to bring in Calvert-Lewin for Jimenez. With Everton's poor form and Calvert-Lewin's recent injury history this doesn't fill me with confidence, but it does mean I'll get an extra game this week. Plus potentially two more extra ones later on.

Gambling against Salah again feels foolish though, so fortunately I have plenty of time to think things over.

I'll probably be using my second free hit in GW33.

Overall Points: 1973

Overall Rank: 82,082

GW29: Survived Without Salah

We're halfway through GW30 and I still haven't posted 29's score.

Gameweek Points: 87

Gameweek Rank: 1,980,861

Overall Rank: 115,373

I gambled on continuing without Salah and it paid off, with TAA outscoring him by 3 points. This was quite lucky, what with Salah picking up that slight injury in the first game. So I survived just about, and ended up with just a minor red arrow.

Anyway, moving quickly on I've used my first Free Hit this week.

This is how it's looking so far:

I gambled on a Wolves clean sheet, and that clearly hasn't paid off. I don't have too many regrets though, if they'd have kept one it would've been nearly 20 points straight out the gate. So I thought it was worth the punt.

I then picked up two more blanks from today's Villa/Arsenal match.

It would be fair to say the free hit hasn't worked out so far. However, I like to keep things simple. This was a blank gameweek. If I pick up a few more points than most other players by using it then I'll be happy. Even with just 18 points on the board I'm on a green arrow, albeit a small one. So it's good enough, if dull.

I'm a little more worried about my team for GW31 at the moment. I need to bring in Salah, but Jimenez is out and Trent is flagged. Meaning I'm considering a minus 4 (or 8 even). Something I do not want to do.

Luckily we have a bit of a wait until the GW31 deadline, so hopefully I'll have more information and a clear plan of action by then.

Overall Points: 1900

Overall Rank: 115,373

GW28 - Bench Boost Disaster !

Good week, bad bench boost.

Gameweek Points: 104

Gameweek Rank: 778,011

Overall Rank: 101,137

3 points for the bench boost ..that's quite bad isn't it.

😅

To be fair in some ways I actually got quite lucky again too, so it wasn't all bad. My original plan on the Friday was to bring in Reece James and captain him. With that plan I wasn't going to bench boost at all. However, when I saw later in the day that Dias was definitely out for Manchester City that all changed. Suddenly Laporte and Cancelo seemed almost nailed on, so the bench boost became an option.

I then brought in Coutinho instead of James, captained him instead, and hit the BB button.

Meaning I got better captain returns and missed out on the Reece James injury.

Still though, the bench boost failure was a little annoying.

Instincts

I didn't feel instinctively good about using the bench boost. I wasn't focused on fpl last week, and I think I used it lazily, feeling that sooner or later I had to use it.

"I guess it makes sense to use it now."

Looking back though there simply wasn't enough upside on that bench. I was a little unlucky that Konsa missed both games, though in my original line-up it was Bowen on the bench and not him. Bowen against Liverpool was never a great fixture. Likewise the Pope fixture against Chelsea wasn't ideal.

I rarely feel bad about making mistakes, but when I go against my instinct that's when it gets me. I like my logic and my instincts to be synchronised. People often view 'instinct' as something wishy-washy or illogical. However, I believe our instincts are responses to the information that our bodies are receiving - i.e. they're a way of processing information. Albeit a way that's quite different to the logical, chain-of-thought, monologue way our brains work through information.

Our senses receive a constant flow of sensory information, and our bodies respond with a feeling that this flow is good/bad/normal/weird/etc. Our instincts aren't always right of course, but they can act as a good guide, and are definitely worth paying attention to.

So my gut was telling me "This doesn't look and feel quite right," but my brain was too lazy to take the time to think about why that was.

Anyway, still, I got very lucky and had another green arrow. Pushing me to just outside the top 100k - I'm literally teetering over the edge of a decent rank now.

GW29.

As for this week I'm currently planning a minus 4. To take out Raphinha and the injured Bowen, and bring in both Saka and Kulusevski. Currently there's talk that van Dijk might miss out because of Covid, so that's giving me a little pause for thought. However, my instinct is I'll just leave him in there whatever the case is. I don't think it's worth moving my team around and taking hits to bring in someone else.

I'll also still be without Salah (I plan on doing Son to Salah in GW31 - GW30 being free hit time). It's a concern, but again I don't think Son to Salah this week is necessarily worth a minus 4.

Trent Alexander-Arnold will be my captain. So I'm hoping for a bit more luck this week too.

Overall Points: 1817

Overall Rank: 101,137

GW27: Top 100k just about visible now..

..thanks to another decent week.

Gameweek Points: 59

Gameweek Rank: 788,122

Overall Rank: 128,599

Bringing Son in paid off nicely. This was always potentially going to be a hard week for me, what with me not opting to use a chip to navigate it. So to get a green arrow is a huge bonus.

It's now a question of what I do for GW28. Bench Boost is a definite option, but it's a tough call. I'm currently leaning towards saving the bench boost until later, but I'll have a strong bench this week even if I use just my one free transfer. My bench as it stands will be Pope, Laporte, Bowen and Maupay. I'll be kicking myself if those players pick up a decent amount of points and I don't use it, but at the same time if Cancelo and/or Laporte get rotated it'll be equally annoying if I do hit the button.

With double-games there's less chance of players completely missing out through rotation, so using it in a week where Man City double is the most appealing course of action at the moment. So it might be best to wait. Either way I'll make my mind up about all this later in the week.

Overall Points: 1713

Overall Rank: 128,599

GW26: Lucky Season: Part Whatever

In the end I brought Salah in and triple-captained him. Had Jota remained fit it's quite likely I'd have just left things as is and went with Trent. So once again I've had a huge amount of luck. I'm not complaining :)

Gameweek Points: 146 (-4)

Gameweek Rank: 205,868

Overall Rank: 147,540

My rank's beginning to look a lot more healthy too. The top 100k now just about within reach.

Next up is GW27. This is how I'm looking:

Once again my original plan was to just leave things as is, and hope for the best. I'm half-planning on bench boosting in GW28, so saving a transfer would be very handy. However, with Spurs playing Leeds I think I'm going to have to do Salah to Son. Leeds are conceding so many I really can't go without.

I'll also probably captain him. I've been lucky enough with Pope, so I don't want to push it any further. In fact, I've had 47 points from my keepers since I wildcarded in GW22. So that's paid off very nicely.

GW22: Sánchez 4

GW23: Pope 19

GW24: Pope 3

GW25: Sánchez 8

GW26: Pope 13

Average: 9.4

Anyway, with so many people free hitting this week it could be a difficult one for me. Especially if I end up with less than 11 players on the pitch. In fact, this is the issue facing me in GW28 too. If I use that week's free to do Pogba to Coutinho (who has a double of Southampton and Leeds) then I'll be set up perfectly for a bench boost. However, with two of those players being Cancelo and Laporte there's always the very real danger of rotation. Making the bench boost somewhat redundant.

Ideally Laporte to a double gameweek player would give a little security, but would that really be worth a minus 4 ? Doubtful. So I might just hit the bench boost and hope it really is my lucky season.

There's still GW27 before then though. So I better check the team news, then get Son in my side.

Overall Points: 1654

Overall Rank: 147,540

GW25: Time To Gamble ??

Another good week, and another solid-looking green arrow.

Gameweek Points: 69

Gameweek Rank: 839,900

Overall Rank: 201,354

Ronaldo came good in the end, so that pulled me over the line; though Fernandes scoring late in injury time dampened his effect. I'd have happily taken that at the start of the week however.

Maupay and Pogba also outperformed Calvert-Lewin and the injured Gray too, which was nice. Meaning my transfers didn't backfire the way I feared they might.

No Salah.

I'm now pondering the unthinkable ..going without Salah.

My original plan was to bring him in for a minus 4, along with a double gameweek striker. Taking out Ronaldo and Jota.

I really like the look of this team just the way it is though:

Leeds are awful defensively, so I like the idea of having Pogba and Ronaldo - even though both could potentially not start. They could be big differentials. They also have Watford in blank GW27. So if I just leave things as is I can use two free transfers in GW28 to bring in Salah and take them both out then.

I also like the idea of bringing in Cornet for Jota in GW27 as a potential captain option.

It is Salah though, and going without him in this gameweek of all weeks is a massive, massive gamble.

It could destroy my season.

Overall Points: 1512

Overall Rank: 201,354

GW24 Review: Steady As She Goes

Decent week, no complaints.

Gameweek Points: 72

Gameweek Rank: 1,358,480

Overall Rank: 229,131

The safety captaincy of Cancelo sort of paid off and sort of didn't. Personally I was quite pleased - it seemed sensible to take the almost guaranteed clean sheet, so it felt vindicated in a way. However, I can't really claim victory when both Jota and Bowen outscored him.

It was good to get captain points either way though.

I'm now fully focused on the weeks ahead. Especially so this week ..and I'm just about to make my transfers. I should really wait until the morning, but that would mean setting my alarm clock, so I'll just hit fire now.

I'm bringing in Pogba and Maupay for Gray and Calvert-Lewin. I don't feel great taking Calvert-Lewin out before Leeds, bit it's the only way I can free up the cash to get Pogba. Plus, ideally I'd rather not have Everton players in place by GW27 as they face City - conversely Maupay and Pogba will have decent fixtures that week.

It does mean I'll be forced into a minus 4 next gameweek when I get Salah back however (I'll be downgrading Ronaldo to Weghorst most likely). Hopefully all these extra games I'm getting will win that back though.

Overall Points: 1443

Overall Rank: 229,131