Introducing new FFGeek contributor Andrew Pratt

Contributors, Fantasy Premier League

Here’s an introductory article to new FFGeek contributor Andrew Pratt.  Andrew has an excellent history finishing in 8k overall rank last season and 1k the season before that.  Andrew talks through his FPL strategy, reviews GW6 and shows his team for GW7. 

Introducing new FFGeek contributor Andrew Pratt

GW6 points: 68 (average 52), Total points 380, Gameweek rank 925k, Overall Rank: 94k, green arrow 55k, Team Value: £101.7m

Firstly, thanks for the warm welcome to the FF Geek Contributors team. I’ve found these articles a helpful sounding board for a while so I hope my contributions are useful.




My Current FPL Strategy

Before getting into the detail, I should mention that my general strategy is to go after OR and I’m less concerned about mini league rankings. These are two pretty different approaches and they can get in each other’s way, for example chasing mini-league monthly prizes or towards the end of a season where a mini-leaguer might need to reshape their team to cover their main competition rather than simply putting in players who they think will score the most.

I’ve played FPL for about 7 seasons and the experience of the last 3 seasons has moved me from being a conservative manager (trying to plan in detail say 6 moves ahead) to now being bolder and more flexible. I think it’s sensible to take hits if the changes are likely to provide better returns over a number of gameweeks than if they had not been made. It’s a horrible feeling seeing that the weeds have grown and you’ve lost points over a number of weeks because of your inactivity and you need a major clean-up (i.e. several hits or the WC), a double whammy.

I believe in clinical housekeeping tactics: if they don’t fit, ship them out. I’m not defensive in my approach and look firstly how to use transfers to improve my team and keep it current, including by getting in players who I fear not owning over the next say 5 weeks. Similarly, I used to hold onto my WC for as long as possible but found that at about GW17 my team was fine and that I’d wasted better opportunities to use it. I’m convinced now that the use of the WC early in the season, when the more essential players come out of the woodwork and their prices rise quickly, is generally preferred.  This season I used it in GW4.

I make early transfers if the risk is low in order to help build team value, which is quite important going into the final straight. I don’t subscribe to consciously balancing your funds across your team (i.e. following rules of thumb which prescribe x mil across your defenders, y mil across your midfield and z mil on forwards).

I’m not a big fan of differentials this early in the season, unless you are chasing a mini-league or have started disastrously and need to roll the dice. For every fairy-tale differential haul there are 100s of failures which don’t get airtime. My aim in the first half of the season is to stay with the pack and hopefully be in a position later to make advances through best use of the chips in the double gameweeks. Good use of the chips along with captaincy choices are absolutely critical to getting into the top 10k, so I save those chips. So right now I’m mostly going with my head and not my gut and mostly picking players I think will score the most, rather than left of centre picks.

Thoughts on Gameweek 6

Here’s my points:

FFGeek contributor

Before the season started, Big Defence was touted as the way to go but it hasn’t worked out. This is possibly down to new strikers (Pukki, Haller, Abraham, Wesley, etc.) being really good or maybe that defences are underperforming. It may be that defence becomes attractive again in due course but apart from Lundstram and premiums TAA and Robbo, I now see most value in attack.

I can’t complain about a green arrow and being back in the 100k. The explosive but rotatable City attack from the Gameweek 4 WC still feels right; I’d be uncomfortable without any one of them. At his price De Bruyne is essential. Aguero owners might feel disappointed after he failed to capitalise on the goalfest. I was lucky that Lundstram points arrived courtesy of Kelly not playing … but maybe not as lucky as Sterling captainers who would have been praying he didn’t come on for the last few min. Digne has overstayed. My makeshift cheap Liverpool double defence intended to cover TAA and Robbo is on notice.

Thoughts on Gameweek 7

Teams with standout fixtures: Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, City and Leicester.

I had 2 free transfers this week. I moved Digne out for Tomori before his value dropped. I looked at Ricardo Pereira, who I really like, but Leicester double defence seems too much and the spare Tomori funds can be used elsewhere. I also considered Digne to Lowton but I intend to bring in Pope when Adrian’s time is up and don’t want a Burnley double up. I’m not overly excited about Chelsea’s defence but I’m figuring they’ll probably get a few clean sheets over their sea of green run so Tomori could be good value while he features. Lampard was full of praise so hopefully he stays for a while. I also considered Alonso but I think Lampard will rely on others for goals and favour more solid

Here’s my lineup:




Other posts

GW7 analysing 10 top FPL managers

GW6 review

Early thoughts on the FFGeek team

Form stats

Bandwagons and sinking ships

Fixture ease schedule

Defender and GK player rankings

The captain and transfer poll

FFGeek contributors teams part 1

Joseph Crilley’s wildcard

Andrew Whitfield’s wildcard

More content

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