Here’s our FPL team tips GW18 article where the 1st group of the FFGeek contributors show their teams for GW18. In this article there’s Joseph Crilley, Rob Reid, Costas Chari, Ben Wooton, Sergio Torija and Kev in Canada
FPL team tips GW18 – FFGeek contributors show their GW18 teams part 1
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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.
Joseph Crilley
Joseph’s last 3 seasons OR were 28k, 7k and 13k
GW17 points: 70 (FPL average 56) Total points 1,009 Gameweek rank 1,255k, Overall Rank: 73k, green arrow 24k, Team Value: £105.3m
A quick look back at GW17 and it was a solid score of 70 points which hinged on some early team news and a penalty miss. Having found out through Twitter that Robertson was going to be on the bench for Liverpool, I had decision on whether to move him onto my FPL bench. I decided to leave him in the starting XI in the hope that he would either remain there or be able to produce attacking returns during a cameo (and he did create one decent chance). In doing so that meant Grealish was on my bench so I was fearing the worst as he lined up to take a penalty against my keeper, Henderson, which would have also reduced the Lundstram haul. Fortunately, he hit the bar meaning he was ultimately outscored by Robertson and Sheffield United hung on to preserve the double clean sheet – a significant factor in my green arrow.
The blank week is finally upon us and I have had a rough idea of the transfers that I had wanted to make in this gameweek for some time now; happily, the plan hasn’t changed! I have been very patient with the Spurs midfielders by waiting a few weeks to bring one in so I can fully assess the Mourinho effect which also allowed me to decide who out of Dele and Son that I preferred. I have ultimately elected to go for the latter as I like that he can give another captain option and he seems to have upped his assist threat since the Jose appointment. Tielemans has been replaced by the South Korean while the funds have been raised by downgrading Robertson to Rico who has a decent fixture this week.
With no Liverpool match and Leicester travelling to City, it is a very tricky week to decide the captaincy with there being the opportunity for a differential. In my mind, I have four options – De Bruyne, Vardy, Jimenez and Son. The armband is on the Spurs man at the start of the week as Mourinho finally has a full week to work with the team and he will be sure to have them fired up against Chelsea! Plenty of time for that to change though and I will likely post my final team on Twitter.
All the best to everyone this week and may your arrows be green!
Transfer Summary: Robertson and Tielemans to Rico and Son
You can follow Joe on twitter here
Rob Reid
Rob’s last 5 seasons overall rank were 148k, 94k, 22k, 4k and 7k
GW17 points: 75 (FPL average 56) Total points 1,009 Gameweek rank 724k, Overall Rank: 74k, green arrow 47k, Team Value: £105.5m
GW17 review
A strong gameweek, undoing most of the damage of 3 consecutive red arrows – very satisfying. To add to this, I actually made it through the first round in the cup – almost unheard of in my FPL history!
Things actually looked a bit ominous on Saturday evening. I was treading water rank-wise, with Captain Vardy having returned just a solitary assist and Mane likewise, being eclipsed by Mo Salah (who looks to be finding his form again.) His Lordship Mr Lundstram did produce a double digit return (Kris – I told you you should have captained him lol!) but seeing as he’s owned by every manager and their dog, this didn’t do much to my overall rank. Things changed over the rest of the weekend though. De Bruyne was unplayable on Sunday afternoon and was unlucky not to have had a hat-trick. Jiminez had added an assist to this earlier in the day and on Monday night, Zaha finally produced a return although to be fair this was a bolt of lightning in what was otherwise an evening of being becalmed for the Ivorian.
So I ended up with a handy 7/11 returns and my 6th 6-figure gameweek out of the season. I even had the luxury of leaving a Rico clean sheet on the bench…again! Lundstram and De Bruyne’s hauls have also spurred further transfers in (seriously – does any one really NOT own His Lordship now?) so I have the privilege of a healthy team value of 105.5m! I’ll enjoy this week, but must look forward now to what looks like a very tricky GW18 and festive period….
GW18 Team
1FT and 2.4m in the bank for this week. No games for Liverpool and West Ham, so I’ve got 2 players without a fixture in Mane and Alexander-Arnold. I also have a bunch of players facing off against each other. De Bruyne vs Soyuncu/Vardy and Alli vs Abraham. I’ve no injuries, but I suspect Chambers place is at risk after Arsenal’s diabolical defensive performance on Sunday afternoon. Even if it wasn’t, I’m keen to move him on anyway – we’ve a busy festive period coming up and I need players in my squad who are able to come off the bench with a chance of a return and at present, Chambers doesn’t offer that.
I’ve a few ideas floating around as to what I can do. The sensible option is to sell Chambers, with a variety of choices available – Kelly and Targett the most obvious ones. More aggressive defensive transfers could be thinking outside the box a bit. Someone like Matt Doherty for example could be a fun one week option for example. Then there’s more exciting transfer options elsewhere. My 2.4m in the bank could produce a nice upgrade on Dendoncker, or could give me a nice sideways move on either Zaha or one of my strikers. Richarlison is certainly a tempter this week with a new manager in place and a fixture against a toiling Arsenal team and Man United have some nice fixtures coming up, so working Rashford, Martial or James in.
I’m going with the dullard option though as it sets me up better for the Xmas fixtures, so Kelly comes in for Chambers. This allows me to bench Soyuncu against City, with the plan looking forward being to get Rashford for Jimenez in GW19. I’m then going to probably try and find a route to get Salah in for GW20 or 21 for a Liverpool midfield double-up.
This is a really interesting gameweek I reckon and could be a bit of a moving week. GW17 was quite high-scoring but I could see GW18 being a lower scorer, so there could be scope for some good gains in OR. It looks like there’s also going to be a split captain choice so it could be a nice week for a differential captain pick. The main options look like De Bruyne and Rashford, but I’ve put the armband on Jimenez for an away trip to Carrow Road and unless De Bruyne picks up a heavy backing in the polls, I think this is where it’s going to stay.
Best of luck for GW18 folks – hope you enjoy the games!
transfer summary: Chambers out Martin Kelly in
Follow Rob on twitter here
Costas Chari
Costas’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 84k, 29k and 27k
GW17 points: 68 (FPL average 56) Total points 1,002 Gameweek rank 1,553k, Overall Rank: 101k, green arrow 23k, Team Value: £102.4m
Gw17 review.
I was looking at a red arrow all weekend until Zaha and Tomkins (assisted with his hair) came to the rescue. It was about time Zaha scored and Tomkins has got me a clean sheet and an assist in 3 Gwks that I have owned him (Palace however were very bad v Brighton)
I captained Vardy in GW17 and he only gave an assist. Thankfully he was the captain favorite and it did not matter much. Sterling and Salah scored and Lord Lundstram gave another double digit display.
What went wrong….
Transferring out Jimenez for Tammy Abraham although with the schedules I dont regret the decision. Kane blanked and Gazzaniga returned to his usual 3 points (good thing he makes saves). Saiss, he is even a worse decision than bringing in Maguire as he always gets booked. Ricos 6 points on the bench.
Looking forward…
The highly anticipated GW18 is here. Luckily I planned ahead and only have one Liverpool asset (Salah) who I will bench for this GWk. Not having a Liverpool defender all this time did not hurt me and neither did not going double or triple Leicester as Vardy brought in the good generously. Leicester face city and Liverpool next so I did not want a team full of Leicester and Liverpool.
Transfers…
I did not want to get a hit as I think a lot of FPL managers will take hits after owning 2 or 3 of Liverpool and Leicester players. I couldn’t leave Lascelles in for a 6th week being flagged and dropping in price. As Kev from Canada noted in the FFGeek podcast for every price drop you need 2 price rises and I already have a low value team. I also needed a player who actually plays as owning Lascelles and Dendoncker do not leave me any options. I got Targett in as he has a good schedule and gets forward a lot. He is a bonus magnet as well. If he gets a clean sheet and an attacking return in the next 2 home games he will definitely get a price rise as well.
The second transfer is a huge risk and since I am 101k I think its a good time in the season to take one. Its Vardy out and Rashford in 🆘. Both players are in form and both are on pens but I think Rashford will outscore Vardy in the next couple of weeks. Man U are at a turning point of the season and I would like to take advantage of it. If it doesn’t work out I can get Vardy in for Rashford with just an extra transfer or just downgrade Kane.
During the next 7 gws- Until gw 25 (feb 1)
Rashford: wat A, new H, bur A, ars A, nor H, liv A, bur H, wol H
Vardy: City A, liv H, whu A, new A, sou H, bur A, whu H, che H.
Bench: Saiss and Dendoncker with Salah sit on the bench
Captain: its between Rashford, Kane and Sterling. I am currently on Rashford but might change after I see the polls. I will have made my mind up until the captain article on this site which is usually on Friday.
Good luck!
Transfer summary: Lascelles and Vardy out. Rashford and Targett in
Ben Wooton
Ben’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 61k, 26k and 31k.
GW17 points: 70 (FPL average 56) Total points 1,000 Gameweek rank 1,179k, Overall Rank: 108k, green arrow 35k, Team Value: £104.0m
Here’s my team for weekend.
2 transfers made
Targett in for Robertson. Led by the Liverpool blank and fixtures for Villa. Banks some cash too
Then Martial in for Dendoncker, ummed and arr’d on Mount out too but Dendoncker seemed more sensible. Grealish or Alli other options to come in but decided not to go there.
Not sure on capt or Kelly bench Vs Rico so will come back on that one if I change
Regards
Ben
Transfer summary: Targett in for Robertson out. Martial in for Dendoncker out
Sergio Torija
Sergio’s last 3 seasons were 596k, 17k and 21k
GW17 points: 88 (FPL average 56) Total points 998 Gameweek rank 130k, Overall Rank: 117k, green arrow 175k, Team Value: £103.4m
Great week for me, actually the best in the season so far with 88 points and a GW rank of 130K. This builds on also a good GW17 and puts me within easy reach of the top 100K (just 4 points away). All this despite the Vardy half-missed captaincy, had I gone with instinct (Salah) rather than play it safe, I would be well inside 100K by now. Nevertheless, a week to be happy about. There were two clear stars of the show this week, Salah and De Bruyne, and I am glad I stuck with both till this date. My defence also helped this time, with double Liverpool cleansheet and Guaita 8 points (despite no cleansheet), Lord Lundstram’s 11 points I assume make no difference at this stage since he should be in any serious player team.
The coming week is tricky, given the no Liverpool game, and the direct matchups between the top teams. Captaincy should be split as well, so a good captain pick will more than ever probably be enough for a good week.
I’ve got the wildcard still on the pocket, which definitely plays a role on what to do this week. Without it, probably best would be to bench some if not most of the Liverpool assets. However, with Leicester next and wildcard to play in GW20, I will remove 2 if not the 3 of my Liverpool players. Salah to Son I’ve already done, I did consider Grealish, but if feels a bit of a waste to not make use of funds, plus Son is obviously great option. Then in defence I will most likely get Maguire and Targett, purely because United and Villa seem the teams with the better pair of defensive fixtures next. This means taking a -4 which is not great, but the likeliness of getting anything this week from Chilwell at City and Tomori at Tottenham is close to nothing.
If I go ahead with these moves, the bench would then be Chilwell, Tomori and Dendoncker. I expect little from Mount at Tottenham, but you need to play 11.
I was decided on De Bruyne captain before the Arsenal game, so it stays like that, Son Vice.
Good luck for GW18 Geekers!
Transfer summary: Completed Salah to Son. Likely to be Alexander Arnold and Van Dijk out for Maguire and Targett
Here’s the team before the 2nd phase of transfers;
Kev in Canada
Kev finished in 6k last season and 195k in 17/18
GW17 points: 69 (FPL average 56) Total points 963 Gameweek rank 1,397k, Overall Rank: 389k, green arrow 93k, Team Value: £105.2m
A few observations before getting into the player analysis:
• Green arrow. Finally. Amazing how it affects your daily mood.
• I have ended up making an early transfer for the upcoming week. I would have preferred not to but I would be priced out otherwise. As soon as the Palace game ended I went ahead. It would impact the following week transfer. I will be using the funds that were raised this week (5.5M) to turn Zaha into Salah the following week.
• No yellow cards to the players on 4 yellow. It was a big worry going into the games.
Game week player analysis:
☆ Keeper
• Gazzaniga. 3 pts. Traoré trolled me with 10 points on the bench and also wiped out my keeper’s clean sheet! Thanks pal.
• Roberto. 🤷♂️
☆ Defenders
• Alexander Arnold. Clean sheet. Looks an attacking threat as always.
• Rico. Loses Aké. Plays away to Chelsea. Of course he gets a clean sheet. Taking corners too.
• Söyüncü. Still happy with him. Next two weeks he will be a bench player, though.
• Robertson. I guess it was his turn to be benched and then come on before 60 min. What is happening?
• Lundstram. Another great result. Lucky Grealish missed the PK but he would have an assist either way. I am considering captaining him this week.
☆ Midfielders
• De Bruyne. Ya baby. If Pep keeps him on RW, he may be a set and forget Captain going forward.
• Mané. Man that was frustrating. In the end I am net one point ahead over captaining Vardy. That VAR offside was a weekend vibe killer. He probably should have had 2g to go with his 1a to be honest. Its a shame but we move on.
• Zaha. That first half was so boring I almost turned it off. I would have but I was so sick at the time I just laid there and left it alone lol. Good thing, because his goal was decent.
• Traoré. I actually moved him to first sub last minute (ahead of Ayew) because I just think he is the perfect player to counter teams that are better than Wolves. He had 2G against City and he was amazing to watch against Spurs. I was planning to swap him when the fixtures turn but that might actually be the best time to play him.
• Grealish. When he missed the PK that was my ‘woe is me, why does everything always go against me’ moment of the weekend lol. In the end I am just happy he escaped the yellow card.
☆ Forwards
• Kane. Didn’t end up doing anything but he looked OK. The yellow sucked but he had to do it. Traoré was responsible for a lot of Spurs yellows. I was impressed with Kane otherwise. He is getting chances, even if half of Twitter thinks otherwise.
• Vardy. I captained Mané so I couldn’t watch his one haha. He has two tough matches up next but then it is back to a green streak.
• Ayew. Patience is running thin. Fixtures are so great and he is a bench warmer until further notice.
Upcoming GW18
☆ Musical Chairs
Andy Robertson ➡️ Martin Kelly
Sadio Mané ➡️ Son
☆ Captain
Kane. VC De Bruyne
☆ Substitute decisions
Roberto. Traoré. Ayew. Rico.
Good luck.
Transfer summary: Robertson and Mane out for Martin Kelly and Son in
Follow Kev on twitter here
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