Here’s another article where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their Fantasy Premier League GW19 teams. There’s Harry Vernon, Andrew Pratt, Andrew Whitfield and Stephen Troop
Fantasy Premier League GW19 teams – 4 FFGeek Contributors teams part 2
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Introduction
This is part 2 of the FPL managers who contribute to the FFGeek site with good histories who show their teams each week. This will give people a feel for what other managers are doing. It’s a fairly informal thing with no obligation on anyone and these teams may change at anytime before the deadline without further notice. It won’t cover transfers in real time either. It’s just to give an idea of the trends for the week no more. The teams are shown as their “final-ish” teams so they could change. Where they have twitter accounts I have shown this and they may update them there or on our Slack Channel which is part of our subscription Patreon site but this is not guaranteed
See part 1 of the FFGeek Contributors teams here
Harry Vernon
Harry Vernon’s last 4 seasons are 22k, 6k, an incredible 224th and 6k
GW18 points: 51 on Free Hit (FPL average 30) Total points: 1,114, Overall Rank: 45k, green arrow: 9k Team Value: £103.3m
Follow Harry on twitter here
This GW showed yet again that it is important to have as many players on the pitch who can return. My defence saved my GW.
I doubled up on City and Arsenal defence. Cancelo (6) and Stones (6) and Leno (6) returned clean sheets. Unfortunately, Tierney did not play and I put Yedlin (2) ahead of Mitchell (8) on my bench.
Kane (8) was my top scorer and only goal scorer. KDB (6) and Rashford (6) both got an assist. Captain Bruno (4) Saka (3) Son (2) and Wilson (2) all blanked.
All in all, I scored 51 points and a green arrow, lifting me into the top 50K for the first time this season.
The landscape has changed massively since I played my WC only 3 GWs ago. The plan was to bench boost with all 4 benchers playing DGW fixtures. As my team stands, I am looking at a maximum of only 7 DGW players.
I will be waiting until the pressers have taken place so I can get an idea of which players will be playing twice and I recommend you do the same thing.
The players I am interested in buying are Stones and Antonio and they have strong fixtures after the DGW as well as hopefully to chances to shine this GW.
As usual I will tweet my final team.
Good luck everyone and keep safe.
transfer summary: To be confirmed
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made:
Andrew Pratt
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 313k last 8k in 18/19 and 1k in 17/18
GW18 points: 50 -4 (FPL average 30) Total points: 1,112, Overall Rank: 50k, red arrow: 3k Team Value: £104.2m
This week I managed 46 points without deploying my FH chip, thanks mostly to the Manchester United defence delivering. I’d hoped to lose at most 15 points on those who used the free hit. Those in the top 10k who used the free hit averaged 52 points, so I’m content to only fall back 6 points on them. I’m seeing my small red arrow as a successful week. I had frustrations with Cancelo again missing out on attacking returns, Shaw’s assist (and all the bonus points) to Maguire’s perfectly good goal being chalked off, and Sterling ruining captain KdB’s would-be assist (and probably all the bonus points). However, I was relieved that Arsenal did not punish me further for not owning them.
I go into the new look DGW19 in reasonable shape and I have 1 FT. The rescheduling of games has been a nightmare to try keep up with. As of writing, Leeds and Southampton do not have a double anymore. Villa keeps their double but will play City and Newcastle (instead of City and Everton as previously planned). Everton has a blank. Newcastle has a double against Arsenal and Villa (and both are away games). The Leeds v Southampton game being postponed affects 4 of my players, so the bench boost is far less appealing for me now. I’m not really interested in Newcastle assets. I’m mindful that Villa have outstanding games yet to be rescheduled so Martinez will stay for those upcoming doubles. I’m wary of bringing in other Villa players until the impact of their Covid outbreak is clearer.
As the fixtures and injury situation are right now, I find myself on the fence between:
Not playing the bench boost
– Bringing in Antonio for Welbeck and not playing the BB. This option means that I’d field 8 doublers and 3 strong single fixture players (i.e. Son, Kane and Bamford). Saving the BB for DGW26 and using it in combination with WC2 in GW25 is very appealing – but things could be even more volatile then and I might regret not having taken the BB points in front of me right now. I figure that not playing the BB this week could lose me 20 to 25 points on the top 10k managers who do use the BB. It would require me to go with the GW25 WC2 / DGW26 BB combo and for things to go very well in that DGW26 BB to make those points back. At this point I shift uneasily in my seat.
Playing the bench boost?
– Bringing in Antonio for Welbeck and Coufal (or Ogbonna) in for Walker-Peters for a -4 hit and playing the BB. This option means that I’d field 10 doublers and 5 strong single fixture players (i.e. Son, Kane, Bamford, Dallas and Raphinha). Although I’d only have one doubler in the bench boost (Martinez), this seems a reasonable option to get the BB out of the way and the bench should return well. My Leeds players should keep their place and Walker-Peters should also play. The strategy is vulnerable to (i) my single fixture players being rested / rotated and (ii) further fixture disruptions over the gameweek. I have a nagging doubt about playing the BB now since I feel that I could probably field a very powerful bench in DGW26 and that there may be further disruptions over this long (8-day) DGW19 gameweek, potentially diminishing the impact of the BB, though this might equally apply in DGW26.
With my team in reasonably good condition, I’m leaning towards this BGW/DGW strategy:
– DGW19: use no chip and hope to not lose too much ground on the many managers using chips
– GW25: WC2
– DGW26: BB
– BGW29: FH
– Triple captain: not sure when to use it (possibly DGW19 on KdB, but he looked very tired towards the end of the game v BHA) but this chip mostly disappoints so it’s not high on my agenda
This week the armband will be on de Bruyne and vice on Fernandes or Antonio. The absence of Salah is worrying but it’s too expensive to bring him in now. Hopefully United gives him a tough game.
I’ve seen a few FPL articles about the importance of flexibility and being able to react quickly to the current flurry of changes. I can’t help thinking how far easier this is said than done. I’d say don’t beat yourself up if you’ve had bad luck with fixtures and things are going badly now, many have seen their plans ruined and even the seasoned veterans are finding it difficult. Have a good fixture planner like Joseph Crilleys on the FFGeek Patreon site to know what’s ahead, try hold onto a reasonable bench, and don’t make rage or rushed short-term transfers but instead delay transfers until as late as possible (getting the correct players is now more important than trying to catch price increases).
Transfer summary: My DGW19 non-BB team assuming Welbeck -> Antonio:
Here’s the team assuming the transfer is made
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 132k last season and 6k in 18/19 and 19k in 17/18
GW18 points: 52 on Free Hit (FPL average 30) Total points: 1,100, Overall Rank: 80k, green arrow: 20k Team Value: £104.2m
Follow Andrew on twitter here
– Well it’s certainly eventful right now in FPL world, with so many late changes to the fixtures meaning those carefully constructed plans for the “ blank” and “double” gameweeks are all going out of the window. Who would have thought that a Covid outbreak at Shrewsbury Town would have pulled the plug on so many “bench boosts” !!
– It’s said that one of the most important skills of an FPL manager, apart from planning ahead, is the ability to change and adapt those plans and react calmly at short notice. Well plenty of opportunity to develop that skill right now !!
Gameweek 18 review:
– The six fixtures in “blank” GW18 produced only eight goals, so not the most thrilling of weeks, but try telling that to Sheff Utd fans who got their first win and Man Utd fans who went top of the league. Only four players hit double figure scores and with Salah not involved, both Son and Bruno blanked, an assist from KDB and a single goal from Kane was as good as it got for the big four premiums.
My GW18 score and talking points:
– 52 points on “free hit“ with just five “returners” was a little underwhelming when all the focus was on four sides with seemingly very favourable fixtures and full of points potential. My Man City trio all returned including a “captain assist” which produced my only double figure scorer. De Gea and Kane chipped in too but that was as good as it got.
– The blanks for Bruno and Son probably helped rather than hindered as they were highly owned and well captained so slight rank losers for me. With so many free hits in play and all looking very similar from a small pool of popular players, it was the 50-50 calls that defined the week. De Gea over Lloris was a tick, as was double Man City defence over double Man City attack, as was KDB captain over Bruno. But Lacazette over Rashford, and Tierney over Holding were ones that went the wrong way.
– A last minute penalty for captain De Bruyne would have had a very positive effect on my week but he handed the ball to Sterling and the less said about that the better. So fine margins all over as always.
– I feel like the big opportunity for free hitters was the Arsenal game as my three Arsenal players were all under 10% owned and they were the ones that could have really driven home the advantage over non free hitters, and made a very significant positive impact on rank. I wouldn’t have thought it possible to go backwards on the Arsenal game, but blanks for “Lacca and Saka “ and the absence of Tierney meant I lost out to the other Arsenal defenders as well as Mitchell of Palace who also came off a few FPL benches too !! My one week love affair with Arsenal is over and it wasn’t meant to be. Good riddance to one game of Callum Wilson too.
My current overall rank:
– A green arrow at least. Up from 100k to 80k this week. That’s now 11 green arrows in the last 12 weeks which is very pleasing indeed. That’s real progress.
So what next ?
– Well back to my “original team “ after the one week free hit. I have 0.7M in the bank and one free transfer.
The bench that lost its boost:
– I had been methodically building up my “doublers“ that have two games in the double gameweek next. I did have 13 doublers, and my plan was to use the bank to upgrade to a 2nd playing keeper, and then switch in KDB to get 15 doubles and then play “bench boost”. I had good value players with great double fixtures. I was all set to go. Everything was in place for the perfect 15 man bench boost with eight games off my bench.
– But the announcement that Leeds v Southampton is being postponed to now free up Southampton to play a delayed cup tie, has scuppered my plans. My doubles are now down from 13 to 9 and it’s not feasible to take a hit for a keeper and bench boost if my full bench no longer play twice. I did consider still bench boosting but with two Southampton players now on a single fixture at Leicester, and no sub keeper, there are going to be much better opportunities, even in a single gameweek.
– So that’s very disappointing but that’s how the cards are falling for us this season. We can plan for weeks and it can all go up in smoke.
Who do I want in this week ?
– My priority is to get Kevin De Bruyne back in, who I owned on free hit but sold just before, on the basis he didn’t have a double. He now has Crystal Palace and Aston Villa both at home and will be highly captained too. He is as close to essential as it gets fir this double gameweek. He has been threatening a big score and has been very unlucky. He has great fixtures after this week too.
– I can either go Son to De Bruyne and downgrade Grealish to someone like Gundogan to triple up on Man City. But I am wary of losing Son ahead of Sheff Utd, even though he doesn’t have a double. I have been hiding behind the sofa with Spurs most of the season and still getting green arrows from my other premiums matching them. But I just want to line up four midfield premiums and have Salah, De Bruyne, Fernandes and Son. I also have Soucek as a 5th mid and I really like the idea of a 352 with that midfield.
– Which means I would have to lose Vardy, which might punish me when he has two good fixtures in a double now. But I feel it fits my team structure with that golden midfield covering all bases. Son can still go big v Sheff Utd and his ownership is super scary when I don’t own Kane either. I simply have to have one of Kane or Son to sleep at night.
– So Vardy is likely to go to Watkins of Villa. That way I still get the Villa double up by losing Grealish. And Watkins could well be on the end of that Grealish creativity. And I get to keep Son alongside my other three midfield premiums. Put simply, I am more comfortable going without Vardy beyond this gameweek than I am going without a Spurs attacker.
Triple or not ?
– With bench boost off the table for me, I have a decision to make on whether to play the triple captain chip in the double gameweek. There are no European distractions. Fernandes is one booking away from a ban so to get booked in the first game would rule him out of the second. Salah is always an option to trust with the chip and has two home games, as does De Bruyne, who has the best two fixtures if I decide to take the plunge. Ultimately, it can’t go worse than Mane triple captain last season !!
My GW19 line up:
– I am lining up with 9 doubles, plus Son and Bamford, who both have great single games, so it looks a strong position. The bench doesn’t look to be screaming points and I will have better opportunities to bench boost. It’s just whether to triple or not on Salah or KDB !!
Good luck everyone !!!
Transfer summary:
– Likely to be Grealish to De Bruyne and Vardy to Watkins, for a -4.
– Captain currently on De Bruyne. Still undecided on whether to hit the triple captain and will decide closer to the Saturday deadline.
Here is my squad if I make the changes:
Stephen Troop
Stephen’s last 4 seasons overall rank were 86k, 43k, 52k and 64k
GW18 points: 48 on Free Hit (FPL average 30) Total points: 1,117, Overall Rank: 39k, green arrow: 2k Team Value: £104.6m
Follow Stephen on twitter here
You can also here Stephen on this weeks FFGeek Podcast
GW18 Review
Slightly disappointing to only hold rank on a free hit, but I needed to play it with only a handful of players (and had a longer term plan of a FH then BB so had loaded up on DGW19 players). A lot of ifs and maybes particularly with Foden one of my latest drafts which I then didn’t want to risk. Tierney not playing was a big blow with the clean sheet, and Mitchell’s 8 pointer sitting on the bench one place too far down.
GW19 team
My original BB plans are out the window following the Leeds/Southamption game being cancelled, where I had 4 players. I also have DCL injured/without a game.
I want City defensive coverage, De Bruyne, another DGW attacking option and ideally some Leicester/Chelsea coverage. Unfortunately with 1FT that just isn’t all possible.
In the current climate I won’t be making my moves until very close to the deadline but likely moves are Son>De Bruyne which I can do with my 1FT, however I’ll likely be taking a rare -4 to swap Calvert Lewin out. The options below his price range with a double are pretty slim. Wilson, Watkins, Wood, Antonio. Abraham/Giroud.
Antonio would be ideal but having just returned from injury, and from the FA cup game looking like he’s lacking match fitness I can’t see them risking him for both games, or at least not close to full minutes. Especially when West ham sold Haller, they’re only other real attacking option. Abraham/Giroud aren’t nailed and who knows who at Villa has or has had Covid. So Wilson looks the safest bet, although I’m not thrilled by it.
Captain will be Mo. Bruno on 4 YCs, means 1 in the Liverpool game and it’s a suspension in the 2nd game. De Bruyne is an option but Liverpool have had the rest, and Salah is due a big haul I feel. I won’t be using TC as the fixtures don’t fill me with enough confidence of a haul.
Good luck
Transfer Summary: Son out De Bruyne. Likely to transfer Calvert Lewin out. Replacement undecided
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made:
FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 52k last season is going ok in 3rd place with total points of 1122 and an overall rank of 31k. You can follow that team, including live transfers, on our subscription Patreon site.
You can also follow Joe’s transfer planner team which finished with an overall rank of 32k last season currently in 19th place with total points of 1,036 and an overall rank of, 525k.
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