GW38: Season's End

A good last week, but it couldn't rescue the season.

Gameweek Points: 82

Gameweek Rank: 395,449

Overall Rank: 114,631

I finished outside the top 100k, but not too far out, so I can't complain. Plus there was a fair bit of luck this last week. Coutinho off the bench with 8 points was a huge bonus.

I'm now firmly focused on next season - with my "gamemonth" plan. Having finished with a disappointing rank this season I'm slightly tempted to have another crack at playing normally, but I think that's just my ego feeling slighted, so I'll stick with the program. Playing a different way will definitely freshen things up for me. I really have just been going through the motions these last few seasons.

This rank added to my others gives me an average of -  85,039  - for my five seasons playing fpl so far.

I updated my graph to illustrate things.

(I didn't have the full season data for my first season, but that year (17/18) I finished 109,229.)

So 85,039 is the benchmark against which I'll be judging next season.

Overall Points: 2494

Overall Rank: 114,631

GW37: Good, but not enough

A decent week, but not enough to turn things round.

Gameweek Points: 78 (-4)

Gameweek Rank: 760,434

Overall Rank: 134,065

The captaincy did half the work, and Vardy did half of the other half. So my transfers, which included a minus 4, paid off.

For the rest of the team it was a little disappointing. Coutinho has really disappointed since I brought him in. Holding on to him for the doubles has really cost me. With Konsa I feel I've been unlucky. Not just this week, but there was also the week where I bench boosted and he was dropped for both games. Plus my original plan to bench boost way back in GW23, where I was planning to hit the button after wildcarding but had to change tack after Konsa picked up a minor injury. He then went on to play the game anyway. Meaning I'd have got 20+ from the bench boost had I have stuck to the plan.

He wasn't a great pick in hindsight, but it's very easy to say that in GW38 - at the time he seemed nailed on and freed up some cash.

GW38 - the final dice roll

As for this last week I think 34k is far too much to make up in a single week, so I'm virtually resigned to a sub 100k finish. I have toyed with the idea of really going for it with some differential moves, but that's not really my style, so I wouldn't be feeling it. Plus I do want as high a rank as possible so I have a good average to compare my first "gamemonth management" season to.

There's not a huge difference between 95k and 105k when it comes to averages. It's mainly psychological. So I need to be sensible and try my best to have a solid final week. Finishing 200k won't be much use to me.

With that in mind I'm going to remove Konsa (finally) and bring in a Spurs defender.

There are quite a few options: My instinct is to go with Emerson Royal. I'm not quite sure why, but I just have a gut feeling. The sensible choice is Ryan Sessegnon. So it's currently a choice between head and instinct. There's also Davinson Sanchez who has notched a few times this season. I'm thinking Norwich v Spurs will be quite open with it being the last game of the season, so maybe any goals that come will be from open play, making wingbacks a slightly better bet than players needing set pieces.

If I was going to make the transfer right this moment I'd go Emerson Royal, I might as well go with instinct at this point. There's still a fair bit of time to rethink things however.

I was also tempted to switch Coutinho to Bowen, but with the last day normally being so chaotic I think I'd rather have a couple of players on my bench, even if they are facing City, just in case there are line up surprises. Reece James is never nailed on to play, so that's already one player that makes me wince when I check the team sheets, so there's no harm in having a little extra cover.

Anyway, hopefully I'll end on a high note. Good luck everyone.

Overall Points: 2412

Overall Rank: 134,065

GW36: Disaster

I'm out of the top 100k ..well out of it :(

Gameweek Points: 75

Gameweek Rank: 4,790,797

Overall Rank: 138,952

My season has totally collapsed. I peaked too early. With my team not being optimum for these final two gameweeks there's little hope I can claw it back too.

My main quandary now is whether to keep Coutinho or not. My week's been that poor I haven't even kept up with the various podcasts and whatnot. I've completely switched off. So I've no idea what's going on or what anyone else's thinking is. I'm guessing it's unlikely he'll play both games, but with him at least having that double potential my current thinking is that I'll keep him. Meaning I can use my two free transfers to bring in a few more doublers. Possibly Richarlison and Coleman for my two flagged players.

Hopefully I'll get my act together before the Sunday deadline though, so I can at least get a bit of information under my belt before I make any decisions.

The way things are panning out I won't be able to bring in Son for that last game against Norwich too, which isn't great. With my flags beginning to stack up however I think I'll have to just make do and mend with my remaining transfers and hope for the best.

My ego is suffering too much, so I'll leave it there.

Overall Points: 2338

Overall Rank: 138,952

Graph Update.. and Game-Month Management Update

I updated my little graph for the first time in a good while. Seeing this season in comparison to the others made me feel a little better about my recent poor gameweeks. Still, momentum is everything, so I need to pick up in these last few weeks to get another sub-100k finish.

(click to enlarge)

My previous finishes were:

17/18: 109,229

18/19: 30,785

19/20: 80,671

20/21: 89,880

I didn't track the gameweeks of my first season, so that's missing from the graph - thankfully, as it would look even more crowded.

I'm hoping for a good finish this season as I really want a good average for the five years. The average of those four seasons is around 80k, so I'd be very happy with something similar. Then I'll have nice respectable record against which I can compare my coming seasons ---->> the gamemonth seasons.

I'll then be able to put those seasons on a nice new graph.

FPL Game-Month Management

I should probably explain my plans for next season a little. I'm planning to do gamemonths instead of gameweeks.

The basic rule is I can only make changes one gameweek per month.

"Gamemonth August" will be the first month (assuming that's when the season starts); which will have to be GW1 of course. Then the second gamemonth will be "September".

So let's say GW4, GW5, GW6 and GW7 all fall in September I can then pick one of those weeks to make changes - but only one.

(Which months the weeks fall in will solely depend up the deadline day - so if the deadline is September 30th that week will be a September week, even if some of the games spill over into the following month.)

Basically this style of playing will be something like a halfway-house between having a zombie team and playing normally. Hands off fantasy football, but not completely hands off. A less labour intensive way of playing.

Pros and Cons

There are some obvious downsides to playing this way. Most notably that it simply massively reduces the options.

• Transfers will have to be burned
• Can't react to team news or injuries each week
• Can't change captain or bench each week
• More difficult to utilise the chips

On the plus side though:

• It'll force me to tinker less
• It'll be fun picking a set and forget captain for 4 or 5 weeks
• The vice captain becomes much more important
• The bench and its order becomes much more important
• I'll nearly always have 2 free transfers in the weeks I do get to change things

So it could be fun. I'll be able to pick a squad of players, set them up, then just sit back and put some faith in them. I won't be constantly fretting about who to take out, or whether to take a (-4).

Rank

It stands to reason that my rank will suffer massively playing this way. You'd think reducing the number of transfers and the ability to react to team news will be enormous. Still, you never know, perhaps restricting things this way won't be as bad as expected.

Either way, I am looking forward to it. I feel like I'm just going through the motions playing the way I am now. The passion I had a few seasons ago just isn't there, and now I almost feel like I'm forcing myself to put the time in each week; mainly just for the sake of rank.

So this is a way of drawing a line under things, but in a way that allows me to keep enjoying the game - albeit with a little less intensity. This is another reason why a decent finish this season would be nice. I'll be able to look back at my time playing weekly (i.e. properly) and say I had a relatively decent record.

....

Oh, and returning to this season briefly; as things currently stand I'm thinking of bringing in Pickford this week, not Schmeichel or Ederson. So that's where I am at the moment.

GW35: Most Definitely On The Slide Now

My season's quickly running out of steam. I'd like to think a few big weeks could turn it round, but with others still having chips to use I'm not too optimistic. Hanging on to a top 100k finish is now the aim.

Gameweek Points: 37

Gameweek Rank: 6,168,610

Overall Rank: 84,443

My Chelsea and Aston Villa players have been especially underwhelming. It's too late to make major changes though, so it's now just a case of trying to tweak the team in the hope of eking out a few more points.

With this in mind I'm planning on bringing in Ederson this week. I already have ten outfield players with double-games, so adding a goalkeeper with a double should be an upgrade.

It does mean though that I'll have to use both my free transfers to find the extra cash (I'm going to upgrade Sanchez, to keep Pope for his double in GW37). I'll be downgrading Maupay - probably to Joe Gelhardt - to get the cash. Though with Maupay getting almost as much game-time as Gelhardt these days it hardly feels like a downgrade.

It's also possible I could just bring in Schmeichel instead of Ederson - he does after all have two doubles, meaning I could switch him in for Pope. That would free up some cash and save a transfer, so perhaps that would be a smarter move. I'd much prefer two City games then two Burnley ones to four Leicester ones though.

GW37

I was looking forward to GW37. With three Villa players I was looking at three potential double-game players to join Pope in goal. However, with both Luiz and Konsa returning to the bench this week that's really thrown a spanner in the works. So I definitely need to rethink things.

I think I'll map out my team for GW37, see how bad it looks, then decide my course of action.

Overall Points: 2263

Overall Rank: 84,443