Here’s our fantasy football tips article where Andrew Ferguson reviews his GW4 teams in FPL , TFF, Sky and Sun and outlines his plans for GW5. He also gives his International Break strategy review. Andrew finished top 1k in TFF, Sky and FPL plus 15k in Sun in 17/18.
fantasy football tips – Andrew Ferguson reviews his GW4 teams in FPL, TFF, Sky and Sun plus outlines his plans for GW5
International Break Strategy Review
So my strategy of taking money out of attack and investing elsewhere is working so far and I am very pleased with my overall ranks in all formats particularly as I am generally a slow starter and better finisher. The break has come at a good time as it has allowed me to reset my thoughts and continue with this strategy as big-priced striking options were beginning to become tempting particularly in FPL and TFF.
My teams are well set with strong defences and Aguero up front and I feel this will be the way I will stay for the foreseeable future. In FPL lots of people are wildcarding into my team so I am content to sit and wait it out until I really need to wildcard which should give me a big advantage when I do eventually wildcard. I see a lot of overthinking and panic around wildcarding and transfer strategy particularly on Twitter so I just wanted to remind people to think about the following transfer principles:
* There should be 2 elements to a transfer… the need to take someone out and the want to bring someone in. If both of these criteria aren’t ticked, don’t do it. How many times has the player you have taken out gone on to smash it…
* Good team value is a by-product of a high-performing team, NOT the other way around. Don’t focus on team value, you can’t buy points. Focus on bringing in the right players to maximise your point-scoring over the next few weeks and nothing else. This will naturally build your team value if they perform as you expect. There is no point building a great DGW team in GW34 with your great team value if you are 150-200 points behind where you want to be.
* A 0.1 drop is generally less than 0.1% of your overall team value. It really doesn’t matter if your team is performing well as your good players will get that back for you anyway. Suck it up, it doesn’t matter.
* Don’t make early or rage transfers. These transfers are often not thought through and will bite you at points throughout the season
* If you can, bring in a key player before their good fixture run starts. This will give an advantage in point scoring but also allow you to stay one step ahead of the market and the masses and focus your next transfer on another pro-active move rather fire-fighting each week.
* Focusing on getting in ‘differentials’ just for that fact is a bad strategy. Even if you have the most template team ever, every week, you will rise and rise if you have the right players. Focus on players who you think will score you the most points regardless of ownership levels.
Fantasy premier league
Weekly score: 54 Total points: 299 Overall rank: 9,838
It’s all about defence again with only Wan-Bissaka not performing whilst Patricio rewarded my patience with a good return. Mane and Aguero chipped in to help me finish above the average for the week and another green arrow into the top 10k. Bernardo is on borrowed time whilst Walcott, my transfer in this week, was injured for a 1 pointer. I am hoping he returns for the next game against West Ham, especially with his mass sales. Arnautovic returning was welcome as it probably saved me a hit, a dodged Zaha shaped bullet and he has a good fixture against leaky Everton next week.
Transfers and captaincy
I have a strong team for this coming week so I am tempted to save especially if Walcott comes through. I am looking at Moura, Tripper and maybe even Kane for Spurs’ good up-coming run so this will allow me to take stock and make a couple of pro-active moves next week. Hazard is also attractive although he is an expensive non-captain option.
Aguero will skipper the team at home to a leaky Fulham.
Telegraph fantasy football
Weekly score: 34 Overall rank: 4,547 Transfers left: 38
A poor week and a subsequent rank drop this week although my team still looks decent on paper. Zaha’s injury is a pain although I will hope he will return quickly for his great run of games. Davies, Van Aanholt and Bernardo didn’t deliver again and I am considering bringing in Alonso and Hazard in somehow for their upcoming run of games. Holebas is also proving incredible value at £2.7m and is on set pieces so he may form part of the trade-off.
My strategy is to make these transfers to see me up until the next international break before reassessing to the long period of games up until Xmas. I don’t have any Spurs players which is a worry so Moura, Trippier and Kane are also on the shortlist to come in although I am reluctant to have Kane and Aguero together.
Sky Sports fantasy football
Weekly score: 38 Overall rank: 1,305 Transfers left: 34
A poor week with the highly owned enablers doing well particularly on the Sunday which dropped me significantly down the ranks. I am still very content being in the top 1500 but from being in the top 150 2 weeks ago it’s a bit of a blow. I have started overhaul planning but still have some big decisions to make. My current plan is to again invest heavily in defence and in midfield with Aguero probably as a lone striker to start with due to his fixtures.
It is a risky strategy but I am sticking with my ‘value’ approach for a well-balanced team to conquer a top-heavy team with cheap enablers. My current draft is below although will be very much subject to change right up to the kick-off on Saturday morning.
Transfers and captaincy
Aguero for Saturday at home to Fulham, probably Boly for Sunday and I’m not sure I will be having a Monday captain but if I do it will likely be Ings or Ryan.
Sun Dream Team
Weekly score: 45 Overall rank: 48,325 Transfers left: 3/month
Pedro returned immediately along with Mane again being the main man for Liverpool. Aubameyang finally returned and another clean sheet for Kepa returned an average week. I made my final 2 August transfers just before the deadline bringing in Hazard and Maddison for Arnautovic and Bernardo. Hazard is on fire and Maddison has great fixtures until November at a great price.
Transfers
For September I am eyeing up Moura, Alonso and Kane but will let the first couple of weeks play out first in case injuries find me a way in. Salah at 8m is looking expensive for his returns but I keep having memories of Liverpool scoring 5 and 6 in Europe last year…
Good luck everyone for GW5!
See also the bandwagons and sinking ships article Rob Reids August review the FFGeek contributors imaginary wildcard teams part 1, 10 top FPL managers article, the underlying stats GW4 article, Jordans wildcard team, the early thoughts on the FFGeek team article and thefixture ease article
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