GW13 Could Be Tricky

GW12 went really well for me. Though the (-4) to bring in Mbeumo ended up costing me four points, as he only scored one point, and I'd have had one point from Calvert-Lewin anyway. Still, it puts me in good stead going forward.

59 points - the minus 4 making it 55

The average was thirty-nine, so I got a decent rank boost: up to 190k.

GW13 could be tricky for me though, as it seems like a week where people will be using chips.

I've already made my transfer - taking out Senesi to get Nico O'Reilly. There's a bit of risk here, what with Senesi being so good for defcon and having attacking threat. There's also the constant worry that Pep rotates. However, I'm playing the fixture. With us getting new transfers when Afcon starts it seems over-cautious holding onto them now. So I may as well try to use them to maximise individual gameweeks.

Having Salah, who goes to Afcon, means I'll have plenty of money to splash around when I do start making bigger changes anyway.

Now would be a good time for Salah to do something come to think of it. His remaining fixtures are superb on paper. It's reached a point where I'm not expecting him to do well, but I know that the potential is there to be explosive. Obviously I'd love to see this differential go off. It really is a huge differential. I feel lucky to be in the position having it ..but again, with Liverpool being how they are at the moment, I can't afford to get my hopes up.

Van Dijk Back

GW11 feels like ages ago, it was also quite boring. Though I did get nine points from both Anderson and Dewsbury-Hall, which made it feel like a slight victory. I dropped about five hundred places, emphasising the averageness.

41 points (avg. 38)

Anyway, into GW12.

The flags in the above picture tell the story.

I've switched out Gabriel for Van Dijk, and I've used my second free transfer to move Agbadou to Esteve.

The obvious move would've been Semenyo to Rice (yes, I'm still talking about getting Rice). However, there was a slight snag. Caicedo's played two lots of 90 minutes during the international break. Plus, he got back late ..and it's the early morning Saturday kick off. So there's a good chance he could get rested.

With my bench looking rather sparse it would've potentially left me a little short. So I took the decision to strengthen my bench (a tad - it's not the most impressive upgrade). The move also freed up another £0.4m. Meaning I can potentially do Semenyo to Mbeumo next week if I decide he's a better bet than Rice. So I could end up avoiding Rice again - against my better judgement.

Mbeumo is the player I most fear not owning at the moment. Especially looking at the fixtures. So that's going to be a tricky decision. It would leave the third Arsenal spot open for a Gabriel return too. So it would make a lot of sense.

Captaincy

Oh, and I've captained Salah this week. So all this talk about transfers and benchings is just decorating around the edges really. As it's highly likely it'll be this decision that defines my gameweek.

[five minutes later..]

As I'm typing I'm feeling very tempted to take a (-4) to do the Mbeumo move.

..No, I'm not doing it. Be disciplined. Semenyo could start and it's a great fixture. You can make the Mbeumo move after the deadline. Don't be wasting a precious 4 points!

/////////////////////

UPDATE: I was weak, I took the (-4)

It does look a lot better without the flags though.

GW10 - Going Well Again

Okay, so another week and another return for Salah. This week he looked good - I thought he was Liverpool's best player against Villa. Meaning the doubts I was expressing in my last post have largely disappeared.

I did sell Van Dijk however. I switched him out for Timber (I also did Porro to Munoz).

So ..in GW9 I ended the week with 44 points (average was 46).

And in GW10 I did much better: 86 points (avg. 65).

I'm pretty happy with my team now. The only frustration is that I've now locked myself out of getting Rice by brining in Timber. Rice really is ticking over nicely - assists, goals, defcon points. He has a lot of routes to points. In a way it's six and two threes given how tight Arsenal are at the back. Plus Timber also gets the odd return himself. So Timber's arguably the better option anyway. However, I spotted the potential of Rice at the start of the season, and it's left me with the feeling that I haven't followed my own instincts. I did start the season with him, but then wildcarded him out.

Now with Rice out of the picture the obvious midfield upgrade is Gravenberch. My plan is to downgrade Calvert-Lewin to someone even cheaper in order to upgrade Dewsbury-Hall. I'll have to wait another week to do that though. I like the idea of doubling up on Liverpool as people begin to move back to Salah. Again, Gravenberch and Timber is probably a better combination than Rice and Van Dijk on the whole, so things have worked out well really. Though there's always the chance Liverpool step it up in defence and Van Dijk starts nicking a goal or two.

My current rank is: 328,321

What to do with Salah.

We're midway through GW9 and I have a return from Salah. However, I watched the game and it didn't fill me with confidence. (The goal itself was beautiful though.)

The problem wasn't so much Salah, though he looked uninspired in the first half, it was more that Liverpool looked very average and Salah just wasn't getting the service. They just didn't seem to be playing in a way that utilised him. So it looked like more of a Liverpool problem than a Salah problem.

Watching the game also increased doubts over Van Dijk, (who I also own), though he did once again get defcon bonus. He didn't look imperious, and Liverpool didn't look tight defensively in general.

If I was going purely on eye test I wouldn't own either of these players. However ..it's Liverpool. It's Salah. And the fixtures are great. Leaving me with a bit of a conundrum.

I'm not sure what I'll do, but I feel it could be a big decision in regard how my season goes.

I captained Salah..

Bad week. I got a little too cocky, and went for the differential play. Things didn't work out.

I'm disappointed, but at least I can console myself with the fact that it wasn't a truly terrible idea. I put 2-0 to Man City on the Super6, so I was thinking the damage Haaland would do wouldn't be too punishing - which I was half-right about. I was also expecting goals in the Liverpool game. (I put 4-2 to Liverpool for that one - wrong result, but not a million miles away from the xG.) So it was brave, and only a tad foolish in hindsight.

52 points (avg. 56)

Also, I should be grateful really, as although it was a bad week it could've been a lot worse, as originally I was planning to roll my transfers. Which would've meant keeping Romero and Evanilson - both of whom didn't play. I brought in Calvert-Lewin and Gabriel. So it was a twelve point swing. I'd have really dropped in rank had I not done that.

Going forward I'm not really sure what the plan is ..other than switching the captaincy back to Haaland, which I've already done. Though the away tie to Aston Villa is looking a little less favourable now.

I still like the idea of brining in Declan Rice, though I'd need to free up some cash to do that, and I've only got the one transfer. So things will have to stay as is for the coming week.

The question mark over Salah is getting bigger, but I don't want to kneejerk. He remains a very big differential potentially. Had I captained Haaland I'd probably be feeling fairly happy with my team. The way these things psychologically frame your perceptions is fascinating really. I knew it was a gamble. I knew it came with a high degree of risk. Yet still there's an emotional aftermath that makes you feel down about the entire team, even though it was literally just the captaincy move that swung things for the most part.

Overall Rank: 436,894

12 Points on the Bench Boost

Lucky. That's the word that springs to mind. I'm very grateful to get twelve points. In hindsight it was a silly week to use the bench boost, and I could've ended up a lot worse off.

Both Porro and Agbadou didn't start their games. When they both came off the bench it really saved my blushes. Especially Porro, as if he'd have completely missed I'd have gained the Senesi points anyway.

68 points (avg. 46)

So, in a week where many triple-captained Haaland, I still got a nice green arrow. Up to 107k in rank now.

Going Forward

With all my chips out of the way I can concentrate fully on my team. I have a little plan/watchlist, though I'll probably just roll my transfer this week.

The players I'd like to bring in are Gabriel, Gravenberch and Declan Rice. I still feel that Rice offers a lot of value and I partially rue not keeping him on the wildcard. Gravenberch also looks like great value. I just wonder what happens with these players once Champions League truly gets underway. Reijnders is another in that similar midfield bracket.

4-5-1

I think one up top is probably my preferred plan for this season too. With strikers the roots to points are so limited. So even though Evanilson is a decent pick, it always feels like it's more hope than certainty. I expect two points. However, with midfielders and defenders there are now little bonuses that soften the blanks. A clean sheet bonus or some defcon points knocking a two-pointer up to a three or four-pointer makes all the difference.

To reach this destination I'll probably downgrade Evanilson to a cheap bench striker. Perhaps the Bournemouth bench striker Kroupi.Jr (that full stop in the name is hard to get used to). Then Dewsbury-Hall can become Rice. Anderson can switch to Gravenberch/Reijnders maybe, and Porro can become Gabriel.

There's no rush though, and with both Salah and Haaland I don't feel like I'm missing anyone unmissable. Though had Fernandes scored that penalty I'd no doubt be wondering how to fit him in. He remains a great option. (That United defense is truly awful though. The players aren't good enough, and they have no pace. The worst possible combination.) Cunha still looked decent too I thought when he actually got the ball. Mbeumo had an off game, but overall he's looked good. So Manchester United as an attacking option is a puzzling one. After the last game it's easy to say "avoid," but I'm not so sure.

Let's see how GW7 goes.

I can't resist...

BENCH BOOOOOST!

I've just hit the bench boost. It's not an ideal week, but I have no flags, no injuries, and my history of playing the game tells me that sooner or later they start piling up. So I might as well go now and hope for the best. Plus, it's fun isn't it.

I've made one transfer, switching Dubravka to Darlow, as Perri remains out for Leeds. In fact, that was the swinger really. With Dubravka in goal against City I'd be fearing a negative score. With Darlow at home to Bournemouth it's not quite as scary.

Darlow, Senesi, Agbadou and Foster make up the bench.

Foster against Man City is highly unlikely to get anything. Agbadou could possibly get defcon, but not much more. I'm not expecting a clean sheet from Darlow. Meaning Senesi is the only player with a bit of real potential.

You could argue that Anderson should be on the bench instead of Senesi. However, I genuinely had Senesi on the bench. I've really liked Anderson this season. So for me this is the honest bench.

The question then is, what contributes a good score for the bench boost?

If everyone plays over 60 minutes you're getting eight points. So that's the baseline. A single return then takes you past the ten point mark. Unless you've got a very good bench expecting more than that is probably a bit greedy. (With my bench expecting one is unrealistic.) Then on top of that you might get the odd defcon/save point/clean sheet point.

I'd be happy with ten points. I say happy, grateful is perhaps the better word. You probably need a bit of luck to get four playing bench players in a single gameweek. One injury or real world benching drops you down a player from the get-go. Plus, you're potentially wasting transfers and cash getting the bench right for just that one week. And it means you have to swerve players (I'm looking at you Man City) that get rotated randomly.

All this is no doubt just me justifying myself using it this week. Still, I've never been greedy in fpl, so it does feel good getting it used in a pragmatic way. I just hope everyone starts. After that I'm just going to enjoy it.

Last Week

60 points last week (avg. was 42). Another good rise in rank. Meaning I'm up to 134k as we go into GW6.

6 points on the bench last week. And they all played over 60 minutes. So perhaps I need to lower my expectations even further.

I'll Just Have Chips..

I finished up with 81 points on my free hit. Very happy with that.

Anyway, I've now hit the wildcard on the eve of GW5.

It's been a last minute decision. My team didn't look ideal for this week, so I started a hypothetical wildcard and it just went from there. Once I started I couldn't turn back.

This is it..

I'm sure I should've done more research. No doubt there'll be some mistakes and regrets. However, at the moment I'm feeling pleased with it. I've done it with one eye on a possible bench boost. No idea what particular week, I'm just hoping if I have a rounded squad things will fall into place. I must remember to be flexible though, as injuries and whatnot always crop up. So I may have to leave the bench boost on the backburner if things don't work out.

After last week I was up to circa. 340k, so hopefully this week goes well too.

/////////////////////// UPDATE //////////////////

Before the morning deadline I made a few changes. Namely Raya in goal and Agbadou in.

So this is how I went into GW5..

(we're currently halfway through

the 3 o'clock kick offs)

In the end..

Post deadline update, as promised. Post 3 o'clock kick off update in fact.

In the end I changed out Elanga for Barnes, just for the certainty of start. Given Elanga is sat on the bench right now this seems like a call that was worth getting out of bed for.

Currently things are looking like this as we head towards half time.

A goal from Woltemade, an assist from Semenyo. Very nice.

I'm also pleased with what I got from my Arsenal players earlier on. Nothing spectacular, but a goal from Gyokeres and a clean sheet for Calafiori (minus a yellow card - which was coming all through the game to be fair).

Nothing but a clean sheet point for Madueke, but he was so attacking and exciting to watch I still feel vindicated in the choice.

Now let's see how the rest of the gameweek goes..

GW4 - Free Hitting and Flip-Flopping

I'm free hitting. Another chip on the table early.

I think I've finally settled on my side as we go into the weekend.

Three Newcastle, three Liverpool, two Arsenal, two Palace, and Semenyo.

The only major fear is that I've had to exclude Haaland because of price constraints.

The Newcastle picks are the biggest risks, but also the biggest differentials. Woltemade starts up front for his debut (hopefully). I have no idea what he's like, other than that he's six foot six. So hopefully he scores a debut header. The rest of the team is more or less in the general ballpark of what most people will be going for on free hit.

Even as I type this in the early hours before bed I'm tempted to bring in a third Arsenal player. I feel the Mateta and Semenyo picks are basically just me copying the obvious moves. Of course, both are great picks - I've always been a huge fan of Semenyo in particular, as past blog posts on here will show. However, this week I'm not quite feeling it. Brighton are decent, and Sunderland, though newly promoted, haven't been too bad defensively. So I worry about that Palace game being a boring 1-0 win. Arsenal are a bit more exciting. Though that may be bias, as I'll be sitting down to watch that game tomorrow morning.

[This morning given we're now past midnight.]

Eze? Madueke?

[Actually, I'm going to go and make another cup of tea so I can mull things over for one last half an hour.]

Okay, Madueke in, Mateta out.

Risky, but this looks more like my team.

Perhaps I'll have to share a final variation after the deadline if it changes again. That's if I can get out of bed before the deadline.

With Arsenal being the early kick off I should really make the effort in the hope of early team news.

[I'll finish this cup of tea then gets some 'zzzzzzz 😴😴😴]

Chips As Problem Solvers

Two posts in one day - I must be enjoying this season. (It also probably helps that Middlesbrough are top of the Championship.)

At the start of the season I made a post saying that the first round of chips could be used on the fly, as problem-solvers. As opposed to a planned use of them.

Here we are, heading towards GW4, and we see a good example of this.

In GW4 I have problems..

• Liverpool have the best fixture, but I only have one Liverpool player and I don't own Salah
• Anderson is away to Arsenal (though that could well be where he finally gets defcon points)
• Cunha and Fernandes face City (though, again, that maybe looks worse on paper)
• My bench is poor, so I don't have good replacements to bring in

Either way, the main problem is NO SALAH.

And I can't get him without taking a points hit.

Fortunately, however, I have all these chips to use, and they won't cost me any points.

So I have solutions.

Option 1: Wildcard

Option 2: Free Hit

The question then is whether I need Salah long term, or just for this single gameweek.

(It's also worth bearing in mind that the Wildcard could be useful when it comes to using the Bench Boost.)

I still like the idea of waiting to get Isak as my Liverpool attacker, and I'm actually fairly happy with my first eleven in general, so the likelihood is I'll be free-hitting.

But, yeah, I like this on the fly approach. It was very much that sort of thinking/feeling when I used the triple-captain on Bruno Fernandes last week. It felt like an opportunity - there might have been a bit of a backlash after the Grimsby game. The fixture looked good. So I thought, "Why not? I have to use this chip sometime."

Obviously, I was lucky to get something in the end. Although, saying that, I still feel Man Utd were decent in attack. They look very capable of scoring goals this season whenever I watch them play. So instinctively the decision still feels right to me. Hopefully I can continue the season in this mode.

GW3 - Triple Captain Late Luck

I've actually had a good gameweek. It's been a long time coming after last season, but I finally feel like I'm back and playing the game the way I like to play it.

I used the triple captain and got a bit of luck. The very late Bruno pen netting me 21 points, if you include the 2 bonus points it secured him. Ideally you'd like more than one return when using the chip, but I'm more than happy with that. 10 points for Bruno (including 2 all-important defensive contribution points, minus a yellow card), tripled to 30. That'll do nicely.

The rest of my team also did fairly well:

85 points (avg. 48)

I brought in Anderson and Cunha, who both failed to return. Apart from that everyone else contributed something. Anderson was unlucky to miss out on defcon points, making eleven defensive contributions for the third week in a row. Cunha went off early.

Along with Bruno I also got defcon points from Porro, Tarkowski and Rice. I get far too much joy from picking up these points. I celebrate them more than I do a goal.

GW2

I should really share my GW2 performance as well, though that wasn't quite as impressive.

39 points (avg. 51)

Lacklustre, with a touch of bad luck. Though the West Ham players I've selected have obviously just been a mistake (Wan-Bissaka was dropped this week).

Anyway, after GW2 I was sitting at 6,319,989 in rank. Now, after GW3, I'm up to 772,668.

Going forward..

Looking ahead I'm contemplating a Free Hit next gameweek. Mainly to get Salah for Liverpool's trip to Burnley. Though with Isak looking like he's on his way there that's getting a little less straightforward. With the dreaded international break here however there's no rush in making any decisions.

GW1 - Almost in Review

Okay, I have a bit more time now ..relax.

The Leeds v Everton game is just about to kick off. Other than that we're all in for GW1.

I'm currently sat on 48 points with two players to play. It's not a great tally, and I'm currently sat bottom of my mini league. However, I'm actually quite happy so far. Had I stuck with Ekitike and left Haaland as captain I'd have been sat on 67 points now. Instead I switched out Ekitike (and King) for Fernandes (and Fullkrug), and switched my captaincy choice to Palmer. Fine margins.

Still, I don't regret these decisions as I was following my instinct. Ekitike was only in there as a stand-in for Isak, (I knew very little about him before Friday). So those points would've been quite jammy had I got them. And the choice of Palmer was a mistake in hindsight, but a brave and well-felt one.

Here's how things stand before this last game.

(I'll post an updated one below

after the final game)

Watchlist

I already have a little watchlist:

Salah (naturally, not having him)

Kudus

Wood (especially for GW5/6)

Elliot Anderson (likewise)

Reijnders (unsurprisingly)

Cunha (I really thought he looked great - top target currently with Reijnders)

Semenyo

Elanga

The other thing that stood out was West Ham, especially how poor the keeper looked. It could just have been a one-off poor performance, but it instantly knocked them down a notch in my thinking. Wan-Bissaka looks less worth owning, and it makes holding Palmer (who faces them this week) easier. Also, Forest face them in GW3, so Wood and Anderson have a nice little run ignoring GW4, where they face Arsenal.

GW2

At the moment I'm not planning on making transfers this week. I'm just jigging the bench players around. It isn't the perfect team, but it's not too far off where I'd be if I clicked the wildcard button.

Three at the back feels a lot better than five at the back too.

Thinking longer term I'm hoping to switch Palmer, Dewsbury-Hall and Fullkrug for Reijnders, Cunha and Wood. Things may change though, and the midfield options this season seem endless. So we'll see where we are come GW3 :)

////////////////////////////////

57 points in the end (average was 54). God bless those Tarkowski defcon points.

Though somehow I seem to have lost a Cucurella point between now and when I posted 😡

New Season.. can't stop, busy-busy

Quick post. New season - yey! 😀

I'm going to have to post quickly. I'm in work the next three days - meaning I'll miss the GW1 deadline, so I probably won't get a chance to post properly before then. I'm aways late to the party every season, so it's nothing to worry about. I'll still have plenty of time to tinker. It's just late (and warm 🌞), and I need to go to bed.

Here's my team as it stands. It'll likely change before Friday.

I also have two million in the bank. My thinking being that Ekitike could become Isak once the drama settles.

I won't explain my picks to save time, as what I do want to make a quick comment on is how I think the extra chips will wreck the template.

In the past I've mentioned on here how the first half of the season is very template.

Most clued-in FPL managers copy the template to a large degree at the start of the season. They then tend to use the first wildcard to re-adapt to the changing template as the season takes form. And, as the games aren't coming thick and fast in the opening few months it's easy to use free transfers to follow the changing template as well, due to the fact that injuries and suspensions haven't racked up so much.

So everyone tends to be quite samey until around Christmas, when all the small divergences really begin to show, and it gets harder to just copy what other people (generally the big accounts/AIs) are doing.

Now though, these extra chips really eff things up. Already you have divergence in the first gameweek, as some people choose to bench boost. Then the free hit adds a further potential for people going different in upcoming weeks. I like it.

How To Use These New Chips

There's also the interesting question of how to use these chips. For me the big question is: To Plan Or Not To Plan.

With the second half of the season it makes sense to plan, as you can plan for the double and blank gameweeks - where there's a clear advantage to having a chip available. However, these new chips are to be used in single gameweeks, so the advantage isn't so clear.

Therefore, should you plan? Or is it perhaps better to play it by ear?

To use the chips to solve arising problems - a free hit to cover a week where you have a few injuries and suspensions perhaps. Or just when a nice opportunity presents itself - we've all had moments in previous seasons where we've looked at our bench and thought, "This wouldn't be a bad bench boost." But we rarely hit the button, as the potential double further along in the season is so much more enticing.

As you can probably imagine, I'm choosing not to plan.

So I'm actually really excited by this season, as I can freewheel from the start, not just Christmas. It should be much more difficult now for players who just copy what others are doing. So, good for me, and good (and fairer) for the more casual players too. (Though, given how bad I did last season, it might be unwise to get my hopes up too much.)

(I like the addition of points for defensive contributions too. It makes the game feel more rounded. It also adds even more opportunity to explore different strategies.)

Anyway, must dash.

All In

Final Rank: 2,239,174

A green arrow, but a lacklustre one. I think the final week really summed up my season. I gave very little thought to my transfers, then just copied the most picked players when I tuned in to Let's Talk FPL earlier, lol, (though dimly I went with Saka as opposed to Bowen).

I did start the season saying I was going to copy the template, and weirdly I've ended up doing just that. Though badly. I've became a very casual, uninvested player. Of course, I'll most certainly play again next season, but the question is: Can I Find The Required Enthusiasm?

And, more to the point, should I? Perhaps it just isn't as high up on my priorities these days. Maybe it's in the realms of Super6, where I do it, but with little thought. Though, saying all this, I have been a little distracted this season. [...]

Either way, I have to get back to playing my own way - and to my own instincts.

Last GAMEWEEK of the SEASON

Well, last week of the season. My team actually looks fairly decent. I've just transferred out De Bruyne and Wood to bring in Evanilson and Saka with my two frees.

The captaincy is currently on Salah, but I might change that. Hmm?

My wildcard and subsequent bench boost weeks went so-so. 58 points on the wildcard (avg. was 43), 68 points on the bench boost (avg. 39).

Technically you could say the bench boost earned me 23 points, but in reality I'd have started Cucurella, so it was a measly 10 points in truth. Still, I got a decent rank boost overall.

I'm now sat at around 2.3m in rank. Could I sneak into the top two million?

Obviously, as I've lamented repeatedly on here, this season has been a washout for me. Hopefully next season will be a fresh start though.

I'll post once more this season to show how it all ended up.

(I've just switched the captaincy to Mbeumo as a fun final week differential!)

Two hours 'til kick off.

Late Season Wildcarding

Okay, so I've knocked up a little wildcard team for GW36. With a view to bench boosting in GW37. I'm liking the look of it, though obviously, given how the season's trailing out, it's a tad half-hearted.

(click to enlarge)

I'll no doubt tinker a little between now and the deadline.

No Doubles, Big Troubles

Well, since my last post we've had four gameweeks. Three where my Assistant Manager chip was active; then the latest week where I had to navigate the blanks. Obviously, my season was over anyway. However, I've still managed to climb a little bit, so it's going well within that overall more disastrous context.

I've climbed from 4.1 million

to 2.6 million since GW28

I had Glasner as my AM. He scored 8 points, 2 points, then 15 points in the final week. So 25 overall. I was fairly pleased with that, especially given I got a little bit of table bonus with that final draw against Arsenal.

I'll share my team for blank GW34 below. I would've had eleven playing if Robinson had played, so I got a tad unlucky there. In the round it was pretty decent though, given many people were free hitting.

Plans, plans, plans..

My plan was to wildcard this week, in preparation for a bench boost in the "double" of GW36. Alas, that cannot be though, as there are no doubles. So it's a change of plan. This week I've left things as is, as my team doesn't look too bad (though I have used my free transfer to switch Gordon to Mbeumo - who I've captained). And next week I'll wildcard instead, to then bench boost in GW37. There'll be no doubles, but still, it'll be a luxury bench boost, as I'll be able to pick strong single gameweek players. So I'll get a bit of fun and enjoyment.

With the season coming to a close I can then start looking to next season. I'll need a plan for then too.

Another Good Week :)

My GW30 went pretty well. 60 points.

Given so many people were wildcarding this week it feels like a big win (or let off). I'm now up to 3.4 million in overall rank. Not impressive, lol. However, that's up from 4.1 million two gameweeks ago.

60 points (avg. 44)

The Robertson clean sheet was particularly welcome, as it was my defence that was worrying me, and where I thought I'd lose most ground with other people. So I've been very lucky.

Assistant Manager

Now I have the Assistant Manager chip active.

Glasner is selected.

It's a little bit disappointing that there'll be no table bonus on offer in this first game. If Brighton had been a single place higher there would be, but it didn't fall that way sadly. With cash and transfers at a premium though I can't be chopping and changing chasing games, so over the three weeks I'm happy with the fixtures.

Brighton (H)

Man City (A) - probable table bonus

Newcastle (A) - probable table bonus

Bournemouth (H)

Arsenal (A) - table bonus

So I've got a few lottery tickets.

I'm quite happy with my team too. I should be able to manage the blank fairly easily, and I'll have enough doublers in GW32 and GW33 to make things interesting (injuries allowing). I'm glad I kept Palmer too. That minus 4 for Foden I was considering would've added a bitter edge to things.

Hopefully I can now keep climbing.

I'm still here..

I haven't posted in a while. Don't worry, I haven't quit. My season's been appalling, but I'm going nowhere. I do tend to quit football entirely during the international breaks though, so I've had a little sabbatical.

My string of bad gameweeks continued, however, last week (GW29) came off very nicely. I used the free hit and it went fairly well, so I've gained a bit of ground back.

Here's the lowdown since my last post:

GW27: 36 points (avg. 53); end of week overall rank: 3,608,018 😡

GW28: 32 points (avg. 52); end of week overall rank: 4,163,093 😡

GW29: 69 points (avg. 40); end of week overall rank: 3,646,011 😁

With an overall rank of three and half million that grinning emoji isn't really justified, lol. Still, I have to take the small victories at this point.

Onwards and Upwards

Going forward it's all plans and strategies now. The way the doubles and blanks have fallen has suited me. I should be able to navigate blank GW34 fairly easily. Meaning the decision to play the free hit last week didn't come at too large a cost.

Now my general plan is to:

Switch Wood to Mateta this week.

Play the Assistant Manager chip in GW31 (probably putting it on Glasner).

Navigate the GW34 blank with transfers.

Wildcard GW35.

Bench Boost GW36.

Potentially I could also take a minus 4 to bring in Foden for Palmer this week. It would make sense to get the extra game. Plus, this week's Man City fixture (Leicester) is very nice. So that's feeling likely at the moment. Then next week I can bring in Dan Burn to get the extra Newcastle fixture (and cover for GW34, where Newcastle play Ipswich).

So it's all systems go.

I only come to share pain..

Another week where I can safety say it's a disaster after the first round of fixtures, lol

9 points :((

To be fair there's some bad luck here as well, so I can't self-flagellate too much.

- Semenyo blanks (and gets a yellow card), as Kluivert scores (just looked - he's on three bonus too).

- Robinson doesn't start, then comes on and gets a yellow.

- I bring in Cunha and bench Rogers. Rogers scores, Cunha blanks.

- Captain Palmer. Chelsea score four, he gets nothing.

😅

There's nothing more I can add really.

My Season Is OVER :(

Okay, we've finally reached the point: my season is over.

It's been a terrible season for me, comfortably my worst ever. However, up until this point I'd always held out hope that I could somehow turn it around. That with a good enough run and a bit of application I could somehow propel myself to somewhere near the 100k mark. Nothing spectacular, but a respectable rank, on a par with my other lower-end circa 100k ranks. Now even that is in the realms of fantasy. Actual fantasy that is, not fantasy football fantasy.

I ended up with a bit of a red arrow in GW25, thanks to Watkins and Trent Alexander-Arnold scoring. It's the current week - GW26 - that's delivered the fatal blow though. Just look at it !

Just twelve points so far :/

I made the mistake of gambling on the captaincy. I did have it on Salah yesterday evening. As I watched the Let's Talk FPL deadline stream though it occurred to me that my opportunities for differential moves were running out. 'Salah away to Man City' - if I can't gamble with the captaincy then when can I gamble?

I was already thinking in terms of differentials with my transfer of Luis Dias to Semenyo. Obviously Kluivert was the popular choice, so I thought I'd go different and hope for the best. (I have always been a big fan of Semenyo, so it felt apt.) Luckily, that didn't damage me as well, so I guess it could've been even worse. Of course, it's possible that Salah could blank tomorrow. With just twelve points it barely matters though at this point. Many will have Isak captain too.

Going Forward

I will still keep trying. And I'll stick with my general plan in regard the chips. I do still have a lot of chips to play, so you never know (oops, I'm getting my hopes up again - stop that!). It's the hope that kills ya. When I was sat watching Everton 2-0 up with three Everton defence I had my hopes up. The triple clean sheet and the Palmer hattrick was very much in play at that point. The minute Fernandes stepped up to take that second freekick I had the feeling it was curtains though.

Anyway, I'll switch off for the rest of this weekend. Write it off - along with the season. Then come back raring to go on Tuesday. Do I captain Palmer against Southampton then? I stuck it back on Salah when I did my bus team after the deadline. Perhaps I should switch it back now I've really got nothing to lose?

[2 minutes later]

I've put it back on Palmer,

 - Let's go for it!!!

On the March ..and another double gameweek.

We're still in GW25 and we've now finished GW24 ..and it's actually going fairly well.

Triple captaining Salah in GW24 saw me finish up with 145 points. It was my best week of the season so far, and it got me quite a large green arrow (up around 800,000 places to circa 2.5m).

145 points (avg. 87)

The Tarkowski goal was especially enjoyable. My triple Everton defence most certainly paid off.

Thus far in GW25 I'm looking like this:

I was kinda forced to bring in Wood for the injured Jackson and it paid off; keeping me up with everyone else who has him. My only other returner so far (aside from the ever-scoring Salah) is Luis Diaz, with a haul of thirteen (long over due and very appreciated).

We still have the Aston Villa vs Liverpool game to play on Wednesday, so I'm in with a shout of having a decent week. This one was always going to be hard to gain ground with so many people still having the Assistant Manager chip active, so I have to be pleased that I'm in the mix.

GW32 Double

The good news in regard my own use of the Assistant Manager chip is that we now have a double in GW32, with Palace and Newcastle having an extra game. This is very fortuitous for me, as I'm planning to activate the chip in GW31, so I should get two doubles from it, to match those fpl managers that have taken advantage of the last two doubles.

Eddie Howe looks the obvious choice at first glance, going by the fixtures, but Glasner could have lots of possibility for table bonus, so I could go with him and save a bit of cash too.

With another transfer used up it's really starting to look dicey as to whether I'll be able to adequately navigate the GW29 blank with out taking hits. It's four weeks time, meaning four more transfers, and I have Salah, Gordon, Isak, Robertson, Diaz and Rogers all blanking. Plus flags on the bench 😦

Very tricky.

Gameweek 24: So Far, So Decent

Currently on 94 points for GW24. So it's looking quite nice as I head into that final Everton vs Liverpool fixture. With three Everton defenders you would suspect points will cancel out a little bit. Salah (or dare I hope, Diaz) goals will negatively impact things there. However, anything I get from those Everton players now will just be a huge bonus, as that first game went better than expected: three clean sheets, two assists ..and a bonus point to boot.

I also got a bit of jam with Robertson outscoring the injured TAA by a single point.

GW25

We have the double confirmed for GW25 now too. (Spurs were really awful against Liverpool last night in the cup. Yes, Liverpool are massively better, and you'd expect them to win, but still, conceding four goals and offering nothing going forward was poor. If it was a Championship side up against Liverpool, then sure, a drubbing is excusable, but a Premier League side should put up more of a fight than that. Especially when they're starting the game with a goal advantage. Ally McCoist was way too generous in the commentary ..in my opinion.)

So, Liverpool and Villa now both have an extra fixture.

This is how I'm currently looking:

Three Liverpool - not the ideal three, but it'll do.

One Villa player.

My current thinking is that I'll just leave things as is. It would perhaps be wise to use my free transfer to bring in another Villa player, but nothing really appeals to me. With GW29 on the horizon I need to start removing players that blank in that week as well (Liverpool/Newcastle/Villa/Palace).

I have six players from those four teams. Plus, I'm now down a bench player, as Adam Armstrong has went out on loan. Making seven.

From now until then I'll have five free transfers. So it's not too many. I'll no doubt hold Salah. Likewise, I'd quite like to keep Isak. I'd then have one more bench spot for someone. I also have to start planning for the GW33 double as well (and my planned GW31 use of the Assistant Manager chip). I'm dead-ending into GW33. Therefore it's precision transfer time.

The mention of the Assistant Manager chip reminds me how difficult it's going to be to claw back rank over the next few weeks. The luxury of having Salah triple captain goes after the Everton game, but those with the Assistant chip active still have two more weeks of bonus. One of which is a double. That's going to make a difference.

At the moment I'm sitting on a green arrow of around 400k, my first for five weeks (I'm now at 3 million overall :| ). I really need to keep getting more. Every red from now on will be an absolute killer.

Three Frees Triple-up on Everton

Another red arrow, albeit a minor one. When I saw that Gvardiol had scored and Jackson has assisted in the City game I thought I was on course to have a half decent week, but it trickled away. Certainly not a bad week though, by any stretch. At least when measured against my recent form.

58 points (avg. 59)

Now we're straight into double gameweek 24 ..and I've already made my transfers. All three.

I've used all three of my frees to triple up on the Everton defence. Not wise, but it's at least ambitious. I'll now go into the week with the maximum amount of doubles and Salah triple captain.

Having made the transfers early there's the danger that injuries or team news could do me over. I was little bit worried about price changes though. Plus, it really does feel like time to throw caution to the wind.

Once this week is out the way it'll then be planning for the GW29 blank and my planned use of the Assistant Manager chip in GW31. So it's all stations go.