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.
