My article on the roller coaster DGW34 certainly got some discussion going on other FPL managers highs and lows of the season. Here’s an interesting article from regular visitor and commenter to the site Finlay81 (aka Rob Reid). Its a great read from an FPL manager who on Sunday morning was in the fantastic position of 12k overall
EPL Fantasy League Highs and Lows 2015-16
First of all here’s Finlays team as of this morning
It’s probably fair to say that Gameweek 34 was one of, if not the craziest fantasy football week there’s been. I’ve been playing fantasy league in several guises for over 20 years now and I can honestly say that I’ve not seen a gameweek that’s generated as much frenzy or been such a rollercoaster of experiences as the one just gone by.
There were certainly a lot of highs and lows – I hope that luck was one your side. It also got me thinking about some of the highs and lows of this season overall, both in terms of the Fantasy League in general and also in terms of a couple of moments that affected my team in both positive and negative ways. I’m sure you’ve all had them yourselves.
Some General Highs and Lows
Chips
A buzzword in the pre-season, put on the back burner by many of us veterans until few weeks ago, and now unleashed with fury! The chips have been a good addition this season in my opinion but can give you a dramatic high or low. For me, GW34 Bench Boost has kind of worked but could have been better if all my players had played twice. I’ve still got Triple Captain in the bank, I hope it pays off. There wouldn’t be a much bigger low than your triple captain scoring only 3 points…beware rotation those of use who plan to TC in GW37! As for All Out Attack – a bit meh if you ask me. I wouldn’t be disappointed if this one was changed next season.
The Unfashionables
Previous seasons have seen a steady stock of reliable fantasy football figureheads emerge. Hazard, Aguero, Baines, Rooney, Ivanovic and co. Barring Aguero (who’s still been a bit inconsistent and injury prone this year) these guys have been a massive low this season. Enter Messers Mahrez, Alli, Payet, Vardy, Igahlo, Alderweireld and Butland. All previously ‘unfashionable’ FPL players who decided to play havoc with us veterans in the first half of the season! Which leads me on to my next general high….
Leicester City and Spurs
I both love and hate these teams this season. I love the fact that both have upset the Premier League applecart. I also love watching them both – one of the many advantages of being a Premier League neutral is that I can truly enjoy how these teams play. That’s if I remove my FPL loyalties from the equation of course. Watching these teams is full of ups and downs from the FPL managers point of view. I’ve had Mahrez since Week 1 – massive high. I waited until Week 10 to get Jamie Vardy – it cost my overall ranking position every week until I did. Kane, Alli and Alderweireld have all been brilliant since about week 14 onwards – winner. Why the hell did I sell them all in GW33? Cue Double Gameweek Monday spent behind the sofa for many of us as Spurs spanked Stoke! (Confession – I bought Kane back for Lukaku on the eve of GW34 . Not smug about this at all :-) ) Seriously though well done to both these clubs for breaking the norm, a major FPL high if you ask me.
Now a few personal highs and lows. For all of us there will have been many moments during the season where a goal be a certain player will have brought a smile to your face and hopefully not too many where your heart has sunk. Here’s a few of mine and I hope you’ll share some of yours.
Lows
9 consecutive red arrows – possibly my worst run ever in FF history. Went from 146,934 in GW8 to 827,709 in GW17. Looking at my transfer history though I can see why and there’s a lesson in this. I held on to some serious high value deadwood in these weeks – Juan Mata, Sadio Mane, Pedro, an underperforming Kevin De Bruyne and Anthony Martial to name a few. The verdict? Don’t be afraid to ditch players if they 2 or 3 blank weeks. Form is key.
Points lost on the bench – how frustrating are these! I lost 8 clean sheets to this in the first half of the season – I guess the formbook can only get you so far. Key culprits were Joe Gomez and Matt Targett in the first couple of weeks. You’re supposed to be cheap enablers – curse you!
Romelu Lukaku – yeah fantasy football me pretty much hates this guy! When he’s not in my team, he’s a goal machine. When he’s in my team, he’s either injured or can’t hit a cows backside with a banjo! A few years ago his 5 goals on the last day of the season cost me a top 25k finish. Earlier this season I was about 4 weeks too late transferring him in and shipped about 40 points to my main mini-league rival. And to top it off we had DGW Blankaku…again glad I ditched him for Kane in GW34. There we go, I’ve got that off my chest. (Watch him bite me on the backside now for the rest of this season – at least he probably won’t be on penalties any more!)
Highs
The Turning Point – for me this was Gameweek 19. First of all, my thanks to Jack Butland and Riyad Mahrez for keeping me in the Top 1 million until then. Secondly – thank you to Marco Arnautovic and Mesut Ozil for getting me on the comeback trail. I brought Arnie in that week purely on the basis of seeing him on MOTD the week before. I was in work the afternoon of the games and came home to an Arnie goal and assist (should have been 2?!) vs Everton. Delighted! Add to this 26 captain points from the German maestro and finally I was seeing some green arrows.
Differential Captain – Gameweek 26 looked primed for a ‘sword’ captain. Man City were playing Spurs which meant my usual ‘shield’ captains of Aguero and Kane looked less tempting. The captain polls were pretty split. Cue Dimitri Payet. It looked like a terrible option with the Hammers 1-0 down to Norwich with 15 minutes left. 2 minutes of Payet magic later and it was a 26 point differential and I’d taken the lead in my mini-league for the first time this season. Thank you Dimitri!
FPL on Social media – it’s been a real pleasure every weekend seeing the build-up and aftermath on social media and the FF websites. It certainly adds to the excitement and this season had been the best ever for this in my opinion. GW34 in particular has been brilliant with great banter and some sound, and also somewhat dubious advice doing the rounds on Twitter and the internet. It just sums up what an addictive game this is!
A few thoughts on this
For the last couple of seasons I’ve always tried to reflect on what has gone well and what has gone badly, both as the season has progressed and also at the end. The Transfer History and Gameweek History sections of the website are very useful for this find. Did the close call transfer pay off? Did you need to take that points hit? Should you really have held on to Juan Mata for that long? Analysing points hits over 3-4 weeks is very helpful I’ve found. A couple of years ago I won a mini-league by 40 points. My closest rival took 15 more hits than me over the season – ultimately it made the difference.
It may sound a cliche, but one thing I’ve realised as a more season FPL player is that the season is definitely a marathon. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you have a bad week and try not to be too reactive. The highs and lows tend to balance over the season especially if you plan well, looking at least 3 weeks in advance. You’ll get bad luck (like having your Goalkeeper sent off in Gameweek 1, or a defender test positive for a banned substance on a shortened gameweek for example) but there will be good fortune too. Most of all enjoy the ride – it’s a great game!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and I look forward to hearing some of your own personal experiences.
Finlay81 (aka Rob Reid)
Thanks very much Finlay. If you have a similar article or anything else you think maybe of interest I’d be happy to take a look at it and post it
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