Here’s the 2nd of our FFGeek Contributor FPL season review. This time it’s Costas Chari where he breaks down his season and talks about his style of play.
Costas Chari – FPL season end review
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
Join the FFGeek FPL Patreon site
* access to the FFGeek Contributor tracker team incl live transfers (52k OR)
* Weekly podcasts
* Joe’s interactive transfer planner & team incl live transfers (32k OR)
* imaginary wildcard articles
* Slack channel access
$2 & $3 tiers.
No commitment beyond 1 calender month (sign up now on August 1)
https://www.patreon.com/fantasyfootballgeek
Introduction
Costas’s last 4 seasons overall ranks including 19/20 were 17k, 84k, 29k and 27k
GW38+ points 89, total points: 2,340, overall rank: 17k, team value: £103.8m
Here’s his GW38+ points:
Firstly congratulations to everyone that met their goals in FPL this season. I always aim at winning my mini leagues with my friends, finishing in the top 0.5% (which I have done 3 out of the 4 last seasons) and doing better than last season- in that order as Gareth bale would say 😀. Also finishing in the top 5 of the contributors league is something phenomenal as I have huge respect for the fellas.
A big thank you to the contributors for offering their minds whenever I needed them and also to the small community we have created in the slack channel. I have to say that it is my morning ritual with my coffee checking the slack channel and price changes before I starts seeing clients.
As John aka Geek has mentioned there are a million ways to play fantasy football and it is remarkable that we finished on the same points even though we play in different manner. What is also worth mentioning is that even though I don’t play FF conservatively I have been finishing in the top 1% the past 4 of the last 5 seasons (17k, 84k, 29k,27k, 47k) which makes me think that sometimes I may overdo it on the maverick moves and captain choices (food for thought for next year definitely).
My style of play in regards in how it affected me this season
Template
As I explained on the contributor’s notebook is that I don’t really follow the template. Most managers may be close to the template and have 2-3 differentials, I usually have around 4 differentials. I think this affected me more negatively this year that it probably might have benefited me in the past. For example I was late on the De Bruyne train and stayed with Sterling for too long – I only got De Bruyne GW9 on my wildcard! I also left the Liverpool double defence after GW3 transferring Alexander Arnold out and getting him back in GW25!…. so finishing on 17k without owning these 2 for most of the season is pretty good.
Captain picks
I will go with the one I think will score the most points and I rarely check the polls. I always want my captain to be used as a sword rather than a shield. This has a down and an upside. Downside being that if you own a highly owned player that is a captain favourite and you do not captain him then you are sitting on the couch hoping he doesn’t do anything. On the other hand in gameweeks where your captain outscores the captain favourite you are in huge green.
Transfers
I really don’t mind taking hits. If I have a gut feeling that I will cover for it I just go for it. Examples include getting Son in on GW5 for an 8 point hit (he ended up with 16 points, wood for his brace in GW6 who had not scored by that time and Alonso in GW9 for his 14 point haul. This year I made 56 transfers which translate in a whole lot of hits around 48pts if I am not mistaken. To be fair (and I will moan a bit) I was very unlucky to have 5 sending offs and 9 long term injuries to my players so most of my hits where reactive transfers.
If you play the way I play then you are in for a roller-coaster ride, lots of up and downs or frequent downs until one huge up! As I always say I like to enjoy the game and not playing as though it is a mathematical or statistical analysis. You have to keep in mind that either good or bad luck don’t last! Having touch on the “luck” factor is good to clear out that yes there is also an element of luck to the game. For example captaining Sterling on GW35 was not luck- getting that 3rd goal however was! Or bringing Pieters instead of Bardsley or Long for GW37 and 38 and getting those 2 assists was no luck but to be fair I went for Pieters as I did not have the funds for Tarkowski.
Breaking down the season in parts
Part 1 GW1-10
Everything work out pretty well and I touched on 4k OR
Part 2 GW11-22
The ups and downs I mentioned earlier I was around 303 k after having 9 red arrows
Part 3 Gw22- 29
This is where I usually pick up pace as I always play my 2nd wildcard around GW25 that gives me a good edge for the next 5-6 GWks. I always play my second wildcard having in mind form and fixtures for the next 5ish game weeks in the sort of a Free Hit and bank transfers and change the team accordingly.
I had a mediocre Triple Captain here in Firmino for the GW24 Liverpool double however.
Part 4- Covid
I used this time and the free weekly transfers in my benefit as I set up my team with 6 transfers how I wanted it to be.
Part 5- post Covid
From 76k to 17k is pretty good if you take in mind that my Free hit resulted in a 24k rank drop and my bench boost just gave me 2 extra points. I had 3 differentials that really salvaged my season which shows why it is good sometimes to go away from the template. These where Sterling, Ings and Martial. I also took the risk (although calculated as they had nothing to play for) and got rid of my Liverpool assets early allowing me to spread the funds in my team. Pulisic and Jimenez although he started late where also good point contributors in the end.
So that was my 2019-20 review. I hope I gave you a good insight of how I play and gave you some food for thought. Just 6 weeks to go until the start of the new season and can’t wait! Make sure to monitor the friendlies they really show more that you think! The past 2 seasons I was early from GW1 on Wan Bissaka and Lundstram who was £4.0m just by following the friendlies.
Enjoy the summer and see you soon
Here’s Costas’s season history
The FFGeek Contributors League
Other posts
Andrew Whitfield season review
For more FPL season end review articles follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
