Here’s our fantasy premier league teams GW11 article where we outline our early thoughts on the FFGeek team for GW11. We review GW10 and talk about potential transfers, captains and lineups for GW11
fantasy premier league teams GW11 – early thoughts on the FFGeek team
I outline my FPL strategy along with 10 other FFGeek contributors in our new EBook.
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Introduction
Firstly if you’re new to the site my last 4 seasons overall ranks are 17k, 36k, 17k and 21k.
GW10
GW10 points: 57- 4 (FPL average 44) Total points 549, Overall Rank: 1,679k, green arrow 214k Team Value: £100.3m
I used my wildcard in GW9
Here’s the points:
Another really disappointing gameweek despite a 214k green arrow to a still lowly 1.679 million
The disappointment was more due to the transfers being a hindrance rather than a help. I would have put De Bruyne as captain if I hadn’t taken a 4 point hit to get Vardy in. It could have been so much worse though had Watkins not missed a penalty and then have a goal ruled out for offside so guess that’s something I should be grateful for.
FPL Team Structure
My general strategy is to cover the template as I define it to de-risk the team and then rely on the other players in my FPL team to make overall rank gains
Regular readers may want to skip past this section but this is how I classify players in my team:
Template – 7 of the 10 top FPL Managers I follow own the player or defence. You can see this in yesterdays 10 top FPL managers article
Template replacement – If I don’t own a template player then a player who is the designated replacement who will fight it out weekly for points
Bench – a player who will primarily sit on the bench
Difference maker – the rest. These will generally give you the rank boost. Not defined by ownership so not called differentials
Again my returns came from my template players which are really players to stop you moving back. My 5 difference makers got 1 assist between them although De Bruyne who is a template replacement for Son got 10 points vs Son’s 3 but even that was of minimal benefit as he was captained by many other FPL managers which worked against me.
Going down with my FPL Strategy Ship
As you can see from my last 4 seasons overall ranks my way of playing has served me pretty well. This season will be the ultimate test. Last season I was 1.2m at this stage and finished at 17k overall rank so I’m not in that different position. Doing it once is 1 thing. Doing it twice is another. I’d like to get into the top 50k which at the moment is 95 points away.
If I’m trying to take positives out of this it will be an interesting test of my playing theory. For this reason I’m pretty relaxed about the current situation. That strategy in simple terms is to cover the template to avoid backward drops and then move forward through your difference makers.
I do believe that FPL is a game of 50/50 decisions and that as many will go right as they go wrong so eventually you will get those calls right. For that reason I’m not changing strategy I’m going to go down with my FPL strategy ship and if I need to review it at the end of the season I will.
1 of the FFGeek Contributors who had bad starts have been testament to patience. Kev in Canada was 3.15m overall rank in GW5 and is now 764k. He kept his nerve and patience and things turned around for him. I’m hoping this happens for me.
Transfer thoughts
1 free transfer and £1.3m in the bank
My plan this week has been to carry over the transfer so in GW12 when Liverpool are playing Fulham I can get Salah into the team. Likely to be for Fernandes and Van Aanholt who are the fall guys although there is an alternative option of Vardy and Grealish out for a £6m striker and Salah.
So this week I propose to carry over the free transfer.
There is the possibility of the postponement of Aston Villa v Newcastle due to the Newcastle squads Covid problems which wouldn’t be the end of the world but would leave me without a GK. I could use that transfer to bring in say a £4.5m GK (either Meslier or Sam Johnstone) which would allow me to do the Fernandes to Salah transfer for free with £0.1m spare. McCarthy would be £4.6m and no wriggle room. It would be a very annoying postponement though as my GK plays one of the worst attacks in the league. The transfer out would also mean I didn’t get the benefit of the GK for the double gameweeks later. Villa already have 1 postponed game as well. Would I go as far as replacing Button with Meslier and keeping Martinez. That would solve that problem but mean I would need to take a -4 to get Salah back in GW12.
A few things to ponder before Friday and the Martinez issue is only an issue if the Villa v Newcastle game is postponed
Captain
I’ll probably go for De Bruyne v Fulham. The vice could be important. I can’t really risk Cancelo although I’d like it to be a City player given the fixture. It could be Grealish v Newcastle, Vardy v Sheffield or Fernandes v West Ham. Fernandes is the most likely vice.
Lineup issues
Relatively straightforward. Bissouma is probably always going to be last so the choice is then to have the 2 West Ham players on the bench. I probably think there’s more chance of a West Ham clean sheet than Soucek returning but I can make that decision later.
Here’s the lineup prior to any transfers
Other posts
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