Here’s our FPL team tips GW2 article where the 1st group of the FFGeek contributors show their teams for GW2. In this part there’s Rick Porter, Kev in Canada, Scott Taylor, Stephen Troop, Andrew Whitfield and Rob Cosgrove. All these managers have finished in the top 1% of teams last season.
FPL team tips GW2 – 6 FFGeek contributors show their GW2 teams part 1
Geek note: If you join our Patreon site you will get access to an FPL contributor tracker team which combines the contributors individual teams each week to show their favourite players, transfers and captains. It will always be completed on a Friday/Saturday in a normal gameweek. There will also be a spreadsheet of each managers teams, transfers and captains so you can drill down further.
You also get:
Joe’s interactive transfer planner and points projection tool
Weekly podcasts with myself and the contributors
FFGeek private leagues
Access to the FFGeek Slack channel for discussion with the contributors and members
$2 and $3 tiers per calendar month. No commitment beyond 1 month
Rick Porter
Rick last 3 seasons overall rank were 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW1 points: 92 (average 65) Total points 92 Gameweek rank 216k, Overall Rank: 216k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
Well, that was exciting, wasn’t it? The usual 35-55 point weeks are going to seem a little underwhelming now.
In my mind, I only had three players that let me down – Vardy, Perez and Ings. However, like most people, I did expect more than a single assist from Wilson. I’ll take it though, especially as none of the other popular Bournemouth assets delivered anything.
Ings was always a 6.0m punt and Perez is also cheap enough to let it slide – especially as he was very involved and I can still see the potential points he could pull in.
Vardy, on the other hand, really wasn’t great. At a cool 9m he’s my third most expensive player and, while I’m sure there will be plenty of matches where he achieves double digits, in a week where premium assets delivered across the board he really sticks out as a mistake.
Of course, one match isn’t really enough to establish whether it really was a mistake or not. He could well put a few past that surprisingly gappy Chelsea defence. It all comes down to whether I’m willing to wait and find out or not… Turns out, I’m not.
I realise that patience is a virtue and should be exercised wherever possible, but I went ahead and switched Vardy to Rashford on Tuesday before his price went up. There are currently over 6 million live accounts knee jerk transferring all over the world and they’re not waiting for mid-week matches or press conferences. The prices of popular/injured players will move quick this early in the season and, for me, this is less about overall team value and more about having access to the money I need at a time when 0.1m might as well be 0.5m.
I knew I wanted Rashford in my team and he’s likely to be very popular over the next few weeks – especially as he might be on penalties. I also wanted the full 0.5m saving from the transfer for an upgrade next week. It would just be annoying if I had 0.4 in the bank when most players are still sporting their early .0 and .5 tags. For those reasons the transfer had to made early.
Ings is my only concern right now. I still think he was the best way to spend my remaining 6.0m, but now that I have 0.5m going begging the siren song of the 6.5m gang is pulling me in. Ideally that’ll be my transfer for next week, but I haven’t ruled out a -4 if the more tasty 6.5 forwards look likely to be 6.6m before deadline.
As it stands, Ings has moved to the bench anyway. He’s against my two Liverpool defenders, will only play 60 odd minutes, and I feel there’s a reasonable chance Rico could squeak a clean sheet.
Salah will almost certainly be leading the charge as captain. Though, after a gruelling mid-week match, any negative news from the press conference might see me switch to Sterling.
Transfer summary: Vardy out and Rashford in
Scott Taylor
Scott finished with an overall rank of 1k last season and 12k in 17/18
GW1 points: 76 (average 65) Total points 76 Gameweek rank 1,443k, Overall Rank: 1,443k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
Kev in Canada
Kev finished in 6k last season and 195k in 18/19
GW1 points: 78 (average 65) Total points 78 Gameweek rank 1,230k, Overall Rank: 1,230k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
GW1 recap
☆ Keeper
I will take 78 pts and 1.3m rank in a week where my keeper goes down due to injury early. It seemed to happen in a week everyone else’s keeper got a clean sheet.
☆ Defenders
Holebas is rotating with Dunk. Classic home field rotation and the away match to a tougher team is laughing at me on the bench. I spent 0.5m over Cathcart for Holebas’ attacking returns/set pieces. I am fine with this. We wont get clean sheets from everyone each week. The other other two are template players. No Man City sucked but my forced transfer solved that issue.
☆ Midfielders
Salah/Sterling are still my favourite premiums in a two premium side. Barkley with the early substitutions stunk but my view is Chelsea looked horrid as soon as he came off. They also scored the minute he was subbed on for Supercup and he scored a nice penalty kick. Chelsea are still the most fascinating ‘watch and see’ squad no matter what your opinion on any of them are at this point. Dilva 3 pts is a shame but I love the guy and he can get a haul in any week. He has rotation risk sure, but even Bilva does these days so whatever. He’s the Captain. Hoping that matters for Pep minutes. There was one more mid.. I forget who. Oh maybe because he was playing CF… for Manchester Friggin United. Happy times with Martial ahead I hope. At least one differential panned out week 1.
☆ Forwards
I will take 5 pts from a non-captain forward any week. Wilson isn’t getting enough GW1 love. Ings was a gamble. He not going to score 38 goals. I still like him. Even against his old club he signed from..
Changes
☆Musical Chairs
Alisson to Ederson. I jumped on it early, as I thought the price would change on both of them.
☆Captain
Mo. Last 4 gms against SOU: 1g, 1g, 1g+1a, 2g.
☆ Substitute decisions
Ings in over a fourth D. I am hoping nostalgia of the old club that sold him puts a fire in his boots. Also, Dunk and Holebas rotate as planned. I guess that means it is time for an 11 point haul from Yellowbas on the bench.. lol.
☆ Quick side Note
I am now in a weird spot where I am now hoping LFC concede. Not only do I have Ings, I only have 1 defender instead of 2. I am starting to sense the LFC clean sheet panic and I love it lol. If they concede to SOU, twitter and the slack will explode with groans. I realise I am most likely to be on the losing end of it.. Realistically, if anything were to change by the deadline it would be Ings to a defender due to this double differential underweight to LFC multiple. I may ease off of it.
Good luck and congrats to Prakhar for kicking my ass in game week one of the head to head..
transfer summary: Alisson out Ederson in
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 6k last season and 19k in 17/18
GW1 points: 83 (average 65) Total points 83 Gameweek rank 750k, Overall Rank: 750k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
Well what an eventful first gameweek that was !!
If anyone had offered me 83 points in week one, with seven “returners”, including a hat trick , plus 24 points off my captain, I would have snatched their hand off.. so its surreal to feel only “ moderately pleased “ but I will definitely take it and move on to week two.
Salah and Sterling put me in a good place by Saturday afternoon, backed up well by my supporting troops, only for Kane , Auba and Rashford and a United clean sheet to really shake things up and take the gloss off my gameweek. It seemed like all the premium big hitters came to the opening day party !!
What went well :
1 – I had to sacrifice my premium keeper Ederson as part of a late craving for Wilson, so very happy with the 9 points from Ryan. I fancied him on fixtures v Pope, so his clean sheet was very welcome, especially now that he has West Ham, Southampton and Burnley all at home in the next four games, while Pope has Liverpool and Arsenal. There is every chance that Ryan could match Ederson until I plan to give Ederson the set and forget gloves in my first wildcard.
2 – I kept faith in the Everton defence when all around people were wavering due to the loss of Gueye and Zouma. Probably a good thing based on Zouma’s horror show at Old Trafford. They kept 6 clean sheets out of the last 8 games last season, they kept clean sheets in pre season too. Digne holds great attacking potential in a team that keeps clean sheet.
3 – Trent recovered from his Community Shield frailties to offer a lot of attacking threat. He could easily have had more attacking returns than his single assist. I accept there will be some rotation but he is locked firmly into my team barring injuries.
4 – I also kept faith in the City defence. All City defenders come with some doubts attached, with Cancelo and Mendy poised and Pep being Pep. Hence my intentions for Ederson to occupy the City slot. Zinchenko offered a surprisingly good attacking threat too which was a bonus. It’s a monitor and he seems like a transfer waiting to happen, but happy with him so far if he can hang on until Ederson comes in on wildcard.
5 – Many of the experienced and top performing FPL managers are playing the two premiums strategy and firmly behind Salah and Sterling over the premium strikers. It couldn’t have gone much better on Saturday. A hat trick from Sterling and 24 captain points off Salah. They both look incredible. I am not unhappy I captained the wrong one. I was always going to captain Salah. There were plenty of people not on Sterling at all. Lots of captain points to come if they stay fit.
6 – Promise on the bench. Dendoncker, Lundstram and Greenwood all got gametime. Dendoncker had a goal disallowed which offers hope.
7 – Eleven starters and no injuries !!!
What didn’t go as well :
1 – A double Liverpool defence and no clean sheet against Norwich at home is disappointing . The Liverpool defence looked worryingly shaky.
2 – VVD scoring. The most owned player in FPL scored and I don’t have him !! I went Trent and Robbo. Too early to switch Robbo to VVD but I can’t have Van Dijk doing that too often and Robbo needs to match him – or beat him as VVD is 0.5M cheaper.
2 – Leicester had one shot on target. Surprising given the array of attacking threat. Again, too early to panic. Perez stays.
3 – I went triple Bournemouth attack . Yes I know !!! In reality it wasn’t as big a punt as it seems. I was always going to be on Fraser and Wilson against two promoted sides. A lot of people had double Bournemouth too. I probably shouldn’t have gone triple I know . But the journey that led me there might explain. Right from the game launch until the final week, I was on Fraser and King for those two delicious fixtures. Then I saw Wilson pre season and I knew I had to have him over King. But having held King all that time, I knew if I ditched him he would screw me up with a double. I looked at Wood, Deeney, Delofeu and Jota but came to the conclusion that King was the best 6.5M option for those two games. The fact the aforementioned four strikers all blanked meant the plan didn’t fail – and we all know that Bournemouth can blank at home and go score 3 away. It’s a two game punt and they still have Aston Villa !!
4 – Kane scoring a double in the 86th and 90th minute !!! Just when I thought I had ridden out that particular hazard. He was five minutes from blanking. That had a big negative effect on my rank. At least he now has City away. Advantage to the “three premiums” strategy in week one.
5 – Man Utd assets are so highly owned due to their popularity worldwide. So a Rashford double , a 4-0 win and a clean sheet was the last thing I wanted. That was always going to hurt me.
My current thinking :
Barring injuries, I want to roll over my free transfer this week. It’s easy to be impulsive and make mistakes. It’s easy to jump on players on the basis of one game. Don’t do it. Take stock. Show patience. If a bargain emerges over 4-5 games, he might cost a bit more, but he will still be a bargain with a track record and without the risk. Now is the time for PATIENCE. Wait for the Friday press conferences before making a change. There is far more to be lost than gained by making a transfer. Wait til Friday when you also have a clearer head and will make a better more reasoned decision every time.
I want to roll my transfer to have TWO free transfers in GW3 when Bournemouth play City. King could go to Jota or any of the above 6.5M strikers, or the emerging new strikers. Wilson could go to Rashford. Fraser could go to Pulisic or Zaha or Martial. Having two transfers gives that wriggle room and flexibility in case a 0.5M adjustment is needed rather than a like for like. I don’t rule out retaining two Bournemouth as their fixtures beyond City look appealing. Wilson also scored v City last season.. price rises might mean waiting until GW3 results on missing out on intended targets.
So – Happy with 83 points in week one. It’s a firm foundation. I am happy with my team. I am positive and optimistic.
Week two captain is between Sterling v Spurs and Salah at Southampton. Sterling is at home. Salah is playing away and has a midweek trip to Turkey too v a rested Sterling. I fancy Sterling a lot but the poll seems to be favouring Salah decisively. I have no desire to get into a battle against clear poll leader.. so it’s Salah again..
Good luck everyone in GW2 !!!
Transfer summary: carrying over a free transfer
Robert Cosgrove
Rob’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 45k, 40k and 23k
GW1 points: 83 (average 65) Total points 83 Gameweek rank 750k, Overall Rank: 750k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
I made a few changes last minute to my team which were Deeney for Deulofeu, Pope & Heaton for Lloris & Guaita, VVD for TAA and KDB for Pulisic. I am happy I made these changes, however….I changed my captain from Sterling to Salah last minute!! I seemed to be the only person not captaining Salah which worried me so I caved and switched it (call me Mr. Sheep!) But like I said on the Slack channel on Saturday, you can’t win them all!
Dunk for 11 points on my bench hurt as I thought Watford would beat Brighton! Deeney and Holebas are on my out list already!
I plan to make 0 transfers this week and play Dunk & Heaton and bench Holebas & Pope like originally planned.
Captain will be Salah due to fixture ease VS Sterling
Transfer summary; carrying over a free transfer
Stephen Troop
Stephen’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 43k, 52k and 64k
GW1 points: 83 (average 65) Total points 83 Gameweek rank 750k, Overall Rank: 750k, arrow n/a, Team Value: £100.0m
Strong score but only made for a 750k rank which isn’t worrying me too much now in hindsight given how 1 more point would be almost 100k increase.
Trossard not starting an immediate concern but i’m making no transfers this week as given his managers words on his omission there is every reason to think he could start this weekend. I want an extra week to make a decision. Fraser and Vardy disappointed with the latter having no shots on target so I feel 2FT will give me flexibility on where to prioritise and give me more options.
Transfer summary: carrying over a free transfer
FFGeek contributors League
You can see the contributors tracker team on our Patreon site got off to a good start with 91
Geek note: If you join our Patreon site you will get access to an FPL contributor tracker team which combines the contributors individual teams each week to show their favourite players, transfers and captains. It will always be completed on a Friday/Saturday in a normal gameweek. There will also be a spreadsheet of each managers teams, transfers and captains so you can drill down further.
You also get:
Joe’s interactive transfer planner and points projection tool
Weekly podcasts with myself and the contributors
FFGeek private leagues
Access to the FFGeek Slack channel for discussion with the contributors and members
$2 and $3 tiers per calendar month. No commitment beyond 1 month
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See our bandwagons and sinking ships article, fixture ease article 10 top FPL managers article, gameweek 1 review article and the early FFGeek team thoughts article.
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