Here’s another early article where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their Fantasy Premier League teams GW2. There’s Scott Taylor, Rick Porter, Ben Wooton and Andrew Whitfield.
Fantasy Premier League teams GW2 – 4 FFGeek Contributors teams part 2
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Introduction
This is part 1 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
Rick Porter
Rick’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 29k, 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW1 points: 73 (FPL average 50) Total points 73, Overall Rank: 638k, Team Value: £100.0m
I had some luck with a red card being revoked and an own goal being disallowed but I’m pretty happy with coming in 23 points above average – especially as I gimped myself a bit by holding back 1.5m. I probably had a few too many let downs, but I could at least see potential where I was missing returns and, fortunately, my captain choice made up for a some of the weaker performances.
Issues
As mentioned, I had a fair few disappointments but I don’t think there’s much wrong with my team as a whole. Doherty was ridiculously close to scoring, Mitrovic was hungry for a goal once he made it onto the pitch, Walker-Peters looked decent for his price, and I don’t see Alexander-Arnold as any less of a threat just because he had one bad match. Based on what I saw, on another day, those same players could have easily returned and there are plenty more days coming up for them to prove that. In short, nobody deserves to be shipped out. Not urgently, at least.
Transfer
No deliberating this week. I had a plan and I’ll be sticking to it – Son to Bruno using the 1.5m I squirrelled away. I’d have made the move regardless of Son’s performance, but him blanking made it easier. This was done on Saturday before any potential price shifts ruined things.
Captain
I’m guessing Aubameyang will once again be the safe choice and this week I think I’ll be going along with that. Bruno’s is the other option but his ownership is low enough to benefit from any points he gets regardless of captaincy. This is likely to be Aubameyang ‘s last week in my team before I swap him for a Man City asset, so it feels right to trust him with the armband.
Transfer summary: Son out Bruno Fernandes in
Here’s the team with the transfer completed
Scott Taylor
Scott finished with an overall rank of 15k last season, 1k 18/19 and 12k in 17/18
GW1 points: 35 (FPL average 50) Total points 35, Overall Rank: 4,399k, Team Value: £100.0m
I got spooked by the Alli transfer rumours so did Alli to Rodriguez last night to avoid Ali’s price drop.
Transfer summary: Alli out James Rodriguez in
Here’s the team with transfer completed
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 132k last season and 6k in 18/19 and 19k in 17/18
GW1 points: 74 (FPL average 50) Total points 74, Overall Rank: 577k, Team Value: £100m
– Well the season is up and running. One down and thirty seven to go !! Two penalties each for Salah and Vardy, ten goals conceded by the promoted sides, but this week was all about that man Mo – whether you captained him, simply owned him, or left him out, pretty much defined your week.
My GW1 review:
– 74 points . Five “returners” and a Captain goal is a reasonable start. Any individual gameweek rank of under 1 Million is usually a pleasing week and is usually a green arrow week, wherever you are rank wise, so a gameweek rank of 577k i will take, especially when I didn’t captain Salah !!
The wrong armband:
– I went with the “safer” poll leader, Aubameyang. The armband on Salah would have got me to 87 points. In fairness, Aubameyang could easily have had three himself and two of Salah’s goals were from the spot so it could have gone either way. You should always look at the quality of your decision, not the outcome. It was a solid decision to captain Aubameyang, he was in form pre season and Salah wasn’t. So a 13 point Captain swing against me but still a captain return. More importantly, I didn’t captain Salah but I still owned him !!
– I also had Vardy over Werner in my early drafts until the very high ownership of Werner reigned me back in. But I am a cautious “risk based manager”. If I had put the armband on Salah and gone Vardy and then the highly owned Auba and Werner had both gone nuts, I would have been staring down the barrel at a 3M rank, so my “controls” serve their purpose. So a GW1 rank of 577k by “playing it safe” is a great place to be.
I love Morocco:
-My gameweek and rank owed itself to one man in particular – Romain Saiss of Morocco !! A welcome “15 pointer “ that offset my 13 point captaincy “loss” on Auba over Salah. Remarkably, it could have been a phenomenal score. As well as his goal, Saiss put a free header narrowly wide and also went rampaging forward from open play and had a shot pushed onto the post by Ramsdale’s fingertips. That 15 pointer could have been an astonishing 27 pointer !!! His 4% ownership represented a great differential, especially as I am a strong template manager with only 2/3 significant differentials. He was certainly that.
– I was on Vinagre until the last few days, until doubts emerged about Vinagres starting place, with speculation of a move away and a possible replacement in. I really wanted Wolves defensive coverage so decided to invest the extra 0.5M for the gametime security of Saiss. I almost wavered on it in the last 24 hours but my decision to go with Saiss was ultimately the big decision I got right.
My other GW1 troops:
– Trent Alexander Arnold.
A very poor performance from a player still finding his feet and fitness after injury. Only a linesman’s flag prevented the embarrassment of a comic headed own goal. But this is Trent. I find it remarkable that people are selling him. A 200 point player for 7.5M. You know you will want him back soon. It will only end in tears. Remember that 24 pointer at Leicester ??
Justin
A clean sheet and assist from Justin was useful. Its not an ideal situation, with new full back signing Castagne in, and Ricardo Perreira just “a few weeks” from returning. So a possible transfer waiting to happen. But Justin does like to get forward and has good short term fixtures, apart from Man City in GW3. When I thought about going back from Saiss to Vinagre, I also thought about Dier instead of Justin. So all in all, my 50-50 captain call was more than offset by the returns of Saiss and Justin !!
Werner
It was a pleasing debut from Werner. He looks to have genuine pace and an eagerness to put himself about. An assist from earning the penalty and he could easily have found the net too. Liverpool at home should not scare him and this is followed by West Brom, followed by home games against Palace and Southampton. He is a monitor following a “dead leg” but it looks like he should play. If he was injured, I might switch to Martial for a hit, but probably not. He is my sole route into the Chelsea attack until we see how Pulisic, Havertz and Ziyech bed in. I am looking forward to seeing more of Werner. I think the goals will come. But if it didn’t work out, he is an easy switch to Jiménez or Martial.
Salah
It was a big surprise to see Salah go into the gameweek with only 30% ownership. That’s 70% of managers without Salah !! Yes he had a quiet pre season but this is Salah. I will find it hard to drop him when he is simply fixture proof. Fortunate to get two penalties but it will do wonders for his confidence. Nine efforts on goal !! Managers who left him out completely or went with Mané instead had their fingers burned. It will be interesting to see how many pre planned Salah to Fernandes moves now get cancelled. I expect Salah to be in my side every week !!
Aubameyang.
The plan was a two week cameo v Fulham and West Ham and then a switch to De Bruyne, when Arsenal fixtures really toughen. That’s still the plan, even if Auba delivers. I can’t believe the number of sales of Aubamayang ahead of a home game against a porous West Ham, when Auba is going to be a huge captain favourite. That could be very costly if he hauls. Choose your time to sell. West Ham at home is as good as it gets. That’s a better fixture than De Bruyne at Wolves right ? But regardless of what happens, Auba will be KDB in GW3.
Son
was always a one week place holder with 1.5 in the bank to turn him into Fernandes in GW2. I could have just benched Bruno and played one of my likely two pointers off the bench, and left myself more flexibility, but I fancied the potential upside of a return from Son. Not to be. Son will be Bruno Fernandes in GW2.
Saint Maximin.
A pretty disappointing performance with a lack of conviction in the final third. He floats like a butterfly and stings like one too. But he will stay until the first International break at least. Fixtures remain good, with Brighton at home in GW2.
Mitrovic and Adams both blanked.
Disappointing to see Mitrovic benched following a lack of match fitness, but he is a proven striker and deserves time to prove it. He scored midweek in the cup. A day to forget for Southampton and both Adams and Ings. But again, patience is the key. Southampton looked great post lockdown and pre season. If Mitrovic and Adams don’t find their shooting boots, then there are lots of strikers lurking in that 6-6.5M bracket, like Wilson, Watkins, Wood and Maupay to name just four. I expect Mitrovic and Adams to stay in my team until the international break when I can then review.
My template:
– This season I have re defined my definition of “template” that strongly guides my team structure and selections. I am following 20 top FPL managers with outstanding track records. Any player who makes it into 60% of their teams, is in my template. I am also including any player who makes it into 60% of my fellow contributors teams. That will generally give me around 8 “template” players. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will have high overall ownership. I will then look to three “differentials”, with low ownership and where possible with a potential for explosive returns.
– The template players captured by one or both of the above are – McCarthy, Trent Alex Arnold, Justin, Taylor, Salah, Aubameyang, Saint Maximin, Mitrovic and Werner. Within those players, there are still low ownership players – Taylor 5%, Justin 14%.
– Outside my template players, I have some very low ownership players – Saiss and Adams are currently only 4% owned.
My premiums:
– I am going a bit heavier than most with my premiums. I am tripling up on Salah, Aubameyang ( De Bruyne GW3 ) and Fernandes. I also have Werner. Which means I have a talisman from the “big four” and should be able to hold the leading two captain candidates and if necessary, shuffle them easily to do so. It also means I can move to just about anyone, such as Aguero or one of the Chelsea mids that emerge.
So what next:
– I am going to stay true to my plan. I have already done Son to Fernandes to beat the price rise with the 1.5M set aside. It’s a great first fixture at home to Palace and beyond too. I think it’s essential to have some United attacking coverage. Ideally I would love to double up on the United attack. I see a lot of teams going in to this week with no plan to get a United attacker in. That could be dangerous.
– If Werner was to be definitely ruled out, I would look at Werner to Martial, for a hit, but only if he is confirmed out. Werner is firmly in my plans.
– My plan will be to switch Auba to De Bruyne in GW3.
– If I can roll in GW4 and be lucky with injuries, it will give me two transfers going into the international break and give all my players a fair crack of the whip. I can then make two in the international break and possibly do a “mini wildcard” with three changes for a -4.
– One downside to the “Manchester problem” is having to book in advanced moves for Fernandes and De Bruyne, which prevent jumping on bandwagons and opportunities. It comes at a sacrifice to building team value.
But I value points more than team value. Points on the board will take care of team value. I am not spending points on “hits” just to boost team value.
– Besides, I see some strange, almost comical band wagon transfers. Some incredibly rash transfers. If you spent five weeks studying every angle of form, listening podcasts and doing the analysis, to find strong reasons to select a player, are you really going to dump your players after one blank ? Really ? Take -4 and -8 ? Rage wildcard ? Think about it and think about why you chose these players.
Captain and line up:
– Captain will be Auba. He is a fiat track bully and loves scoring goals against bottom half and bottom six sides. He is also a strong poll leader so a huge rank risk if he catches fire.
– After his GW1 heroics, I will probably bench Saiss against Man City and play Taylor instead.
Transfer summary:
Son to Fernandes made as planned with my saved 1.5M.
Good luck everyone !!!!
Here’s the team with transfer completed
Ben Wooton
Ben’s last 4 seasons overall rank were 5k, 61k, 26k and 31k.
GW1 points: 50 (FPL average 50) Total points 50, Overall Rank: 2,644k, Team Value: £100m
Carrying over a free transfer
Here’s the team assuming no transfers made
Other Posts
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Analysing 10 top FPL managers teams
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