Here’s our FPL team tips GW21 article where the 1st group of the FFGeek contributors show their teams for GW21. In this article there’s, Kris O, Rob Reid, Andrew Whitfield, Costas Chari, Kev in Canada and Mikael Danielsen
FPL team tips GW21 – FFGeek contributors show their GW21 teams part 1
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.
Kris O
Kris’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 44k, 46k and 23k
GW20 points: 77 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,196 Gameweek rank 191k, Overall Rank: 27k, green arrow 25k, Team Value: £105.9m
So a decent last gameweek of 2019; halving my rank and moving back inside the top 30k – something to build on.
I have 0m itb and 1FT. In terms of injuries I have Lundstram flagged and will leave this week even if looking long term as no plans to play him and my key defensive target is Gomez where I need extra cash.
Considering the rest of the team my key question marks are Zaha and Abraham. Zaha away to Norwich doesn’t feel like the exit point so will hold. Abraham didn’t do much at Arsenal but took his goal really well – I’m thinking of switching to Jimenez but now wondering if Watford might be a sterner test for Wolves. The other alternative is the goal machine Danny Ings which has the added bonus of giving me extra cash to upgrade a defender. On balance I’ll probably roll the transfer and have two transfers for gw22. Captain Kane.
Good luck in 2020 everyone!
transfer summary: Carrying over a free transfer
Rob Reid
Rob’s last 5 seasons overall rank were 148k, 94k, 22k, 4k and 7k
GW20 points: 52 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,173 Gameweek rank 4,194k, Overall Rank: 72k, red arrow 26k, Team Value: £105.6m
GW20 review
A stinker of a gameweek after the high of GW19. To be fair I was expecting this, I commented after the Wolves v City game that my GW19 score was kind of papering over the cracks of a squad that was starting to falter. One off performances from Alexander-Arnold and Jimenez had probably masked a number of issues that were building on my team and so it proved.
A couple of things did go well. Trent Alexander Arnold and Mane both provided good points again, transfer in Maupay returned albeit only an assist and De Bruyne was, well De Bruyne. But the bad far outweighed it. Captain Salah blanked and Vardy got an evening off meaning that De Bruyne came into play as VC for many and meant that his 14 pointer actually cost me overall rank. Jimenez only made a brief cameo and Gazzaniga and my Palace assets were as rubbish as ever. To add to that, the outgoing Abraham trolled me with a late goal and I’m still getting hurt every week by returns from Martial and Rashford who are players I’ve wanted to get into my squad but never really found a way to do it. To add a final nail to the coffin, my cup run came to an end this week – to be fair though, I’m actually just glad I qualified in the first place!
So a real shame to be heading into 2020 off a red arrow, but I’m feeling positive going forward despite this week’s setback. 72k is the best rank I’ve had going into the New Year in a few seasons. I’m top of my main mini-league for the first time in a while and miraculously managed to stretch my lead slightly this week. I’ve got a high overall team value which should stand me in good stead later in the season. And finally, Liverpool have a double gameweek in GW24 and I already have the 3 assets I want for these fixtures. Much to be happy about – let’s see what I’m going to do to my squad for New Year’s Day.
GW21 Team
1 FT and £0.9m in the bank this week. I thought I’d step back and try and take a broad overview of my squad as it stands so here’s how I’m looking:
Goalkeepers:
Gazzaniga – been terrible since coming in, Spurs defence looking very shaky. Major target for a sale with Lloris due to come back in January.
McGovern – 4.0 bench fodder.
Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold – likely season keeper.
Soyuncu – got the day off last GW so should start GW21 and good fixtures moving forward
Lord Lundstram – injury risk, bad fixtures in next 3 of next 4 but great run after that. Not going anywhere.
Rico – hugely frustrating player to own. When needed off the bench scores a point. When not needed, scores 9. Cheap though so stays a filler, but possible transfer target.
Kelly – rubbish since come in, fixtures get tricky after this week, target for a transfer out.
Midfielders:
De Bruyne – likely season keeper
Mane – likely season keeper
Salah – happy to own him, but under-performed for his price so far. Will be staying until GW24 at least for the double, GW25 could see him swapped out to free funds though depending on form, double Pool defence would tempt me then.
Zaha – 1 return in 5 weeks, poor stats through this period. Looks like he can’t be bothered. Good fixture this week but major target for a sale.
Dendoncker – as for Rico!
Forwards:
Vardy – frustrating to see him rested but we knew this would happen at some point. Now looks a safe option for GW21 minutes and for captaincy, should be on a high after welcoming a new baby to the family!
Jimenez – form is good, cameo off the bench in GW20 should see him secure gametime-wise and good fixtures in next 3. Target for a sale in GW24 when fixtures get tricky again.
Maupay – returned this week and is doing ok for his price. A swap across to Calvert-Lewin could be considered though if latter continues his good form.
Players I’m considering – Rashford, Martial, James, Mount, Maddison, Calvert-Lewin, Ings, Fabianski, Sidibe
So my top targets for transfers out are Gazzaniga, Zaha and Kelly. From the list, both have ok fixtures – Palace away to Norwich, Spurs away to Southampton. I don’t really fancy a clean sheet from either and I’ll have probably have to play both Kelly and Gazzaniga as it stands so they are my targets for transfers out. For Kelly, there’s not really any options that I like at his price point so I’d have to look at someone like Sidibe. I can just afford him, but this would leave me no wiggle-room on Gazzaniga later on and I know he’s going to have to be transferred out soon or I won’t have a playing keeper. I’m therefore going to sell him and bring in Fabianski, which also gives me the added bonus of having another double gameweek player in GW24. West Ham’s defence hasn’t been great, but their fixtures are alright and I’m hoping that Moyes will manage to lock things down a bit.
For my team, I’m going Rico over Kelly for the start (in the battle of the 1 pointers) with my bench being Kelly, His Lordship and Dendoncker in that order. Lots of good captain options this week. I’m slightly wary of De Bruyne, Mane and Salah getting reduced minutes and Vardy should be coming in fresh (well as fresh as you can be with a new baby in the house I guess.) Vardy gets the armband therefore.
A very Happy New Year to you all and I wish you all the best for 2020. Also many thanks to everyone who continues to read the contributors posts and who follow my ramblings on Twitter. You make FPL what it is. Good luck!
transfer summary: to be confirmed Gazzaniga out Fabianski in
Follow Rob on twitter here
Here’s the team prior to the likely transfer
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 6k last season and 19k in 17/18
GW20 points: 68 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,152 Gameweek rank 975k, Overall Rank: 156k, green arrow 37k, Team Value: £103.7m
Gameweek 20 summary:
Well what a bonkers gameweek that was !! A lot of FPL managers were left in total panic mode after Saturdays seven games, some of them with single figure scores, only for some much needed relief on the three games on Sunday !! Crazy stuff !!
68 points looked extremely unlikely on Saturday when I almost took up drinking whiskey !! My first five players blanked and that looked certain to be a full set of six Saturday blanks until Marcus Rashford scrambled in a 95th min goal !! With the prospect of Tammy Abraham and Mane being rotated on Sunday and Salah running wild, I was in meltdown and almost considering quitting FPL.. before an incredible turnaround on Sunday saw me with a green arrow !! Tammy Abraham got a late winner, captain Mane scored the winner thanks to VAR, Trent Alexander Arnold managed a clean sheet thanks to VAR, and De Bruyne does what he does !!
So a 37k green arrow to go with the 50k green arrow the week before. So over two weeks, that’s up from 243k to 156k which is momentum after being around 107k back in GW13 and having a few setbacks.
The score would have been a lot better had it not been for losing a double Palace clean sheet to a late goal, plus a certain Leicester manager !! You could say I was rogered by Rodgers !! Maddison and Soyuncu left on the bench, together with Mrs Vardy giving birth, leaving my triple Leicester with zero Leicester !!
I was happy with choice of captain on Mane. Vardy was the stand out choice and the most popular, but he was widely expected to be rotated if he had been available. As it happened, many Vardy armbands went on to De Bruyne, Rashford, Kane and Mane all scored. It was just the Salah armbanders that suffered.
So what next:
I have one free transfer and zero money in the bank.
The two transfers for this week that I was considering before the last games were Tammy Abraham to Jiménez and Mane to Salah. The fact that Tammy Abraham and Mane scored, and Jiménez and Salah didn’t has given me much to think about !! Salah has been looking right back to his best and becoming well owned by a lot of top managers. Prior to the weekend, Tammy Abraham had blanked in six of the previous seven, and Jimenez returned in eight of the previous nine games !! That’s compelling stuff. Jimenez also has a proven FPL track record compared to Tammy Abraham. One of my biggest mistakes this season was when Tammy Abraham got injured, I moved to Jiménez – but then switched back to Abraham two games later when he was fit. Just look where I would have been now with those last few games !!!
I can’t afford the slight upgrade from Mane to Salah without a hit, and after what happened on Sunday, it looks crazy to take a -4 when who knows whether either of them might even be rested. Making the Abraham to Jimenez switch frees up cash to do the Liverpool switch the week after and see how the Liverpool pair perform and look on Thursday.
Captain choice:
Captain will be tricky again. De Bruyne and Vardy are both so highly owned and captained, that if you don’t captain either, returns for both can worsen your rank, even as an owner !! That means you end up wanting two of your best assets to blank which is crazy and doesn’t help enjoyment of the game. Mane is not guaranteed to start against a resolute Sheffield United, De Bruyne might be a rotation risk too and comes up against an Ancelloti Everton defence.. so after Vardy didn’t play at the weekend, I am currently favouring him at Newcastle..
Line up:
Lord Lundstram is carrying a niggle. I will keep him in the line up in case he recovers, even at Liverpool, due to his attacking threat compared to Kelly and I already have Palace defence coverage with my keeper..
Transfer summary:
Likely to be Abraham to Jiménez, barring other fires that need putting out.. I want some of that Jimenez consistency.
Good luck everybody – and as the games are on New Years Day, and the deadline is 11.30am, set your teams up BEFORE you head out on New Years Eve !!!
Here’s the team prior to the transfer
Costas Chari
Costas’s last 3 seasons overall ranks were 84k, 29k and 27k
GW20 points: 60 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,143 Gameweek rank 2,413k, Overall Rank: 216k, red arrow 8k, Team Value: £102.3m
For those following me for the past 2 years I am sure you have noticed that I take risks, hits, deviate from the template and I am more of a gut-based player. This has a results of a few bad weeks, some mediocre but also extremely great GWks. It keeps things interesting to be honest as I hate waiting for 2-3 differentials in the team that will dictate my rank.
Gw 1-10. My strategy really worked. I was ranked 4k.
Gw10-20. OR 216k. To be fair it could have been much worse the way a single point this year plays a difference in OR.
I realised how much I played with fire when FFGeek contributor Andrew Whitfield (who I respect a lot) told me he would have nightmares playing the way I do.
HOWEVER. VAR HAS KILLED ME. During this season I have had 2 sterling goals and one assist cancelled by millimeters and just this gameweek a Burn goal and a Zaha assist.
What I should have done differently.
1) To start, once I got to 4k rank I should have just changed strategy and played closer, much closer – attached- to the template.
Instead i stayed “loyal” to the likes of Sterling and Salah instead of switching to Mane and De Bruyne.
2) I should have got Liverpool and Leicester defensive cover.
3) I stayed away from the likes of Maddison and Pulisic when they were on fire. Instead I opted for Zaha 🤦♂️
4) Did not make the McGinn to Grealish switch.
Its small things but if you only compare having Maguire, Saiss and Sterling instead of Alexander Arnold, Soyuncu and De Bruyne that alone cost me 80 points. That would put me in the top 10k.
Moving forward. I will start getting closer to the template and try to gradually make difference with my differentials. I will also plan transfers towards DGW24 and then play my wildcard. This has also helped me last year.
In my view, managers that have issues in the team and wait until DGWs to play the WC will not cover 5-6 mediocre gameweeks leading to the dgws.
Players that killed me so far. De Bruyne, Alexander Arnold and Mane. I already moved Sterling out for De Bruyne and don’t care if Sterling gets a hat trick. De Bruyne is owned by 50% of managers so I have shielded my team.
Next on the transfer out list is Zaha, Targett and Abraham. I will be monitoring Maupay, Sidibe and Firmino.
Captain. Currently on Salah but might switch to Kane due to Salah rotation risk. I will monitor the polls.
Good luck everyone
transfer summary: Sterling out De Bruyne in
Kev in Canada
Kev finished in 6k last season and 195k in 17/18
GW20 points: 50 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,123 Gameweek rank 4,598k, Overall Rank: 366k, red arrow 95k, Team Value: £106.1m
Short one this week. Family are still in town for the holidays and watching/talking/breathing football seemingly 24/7 is starting to get noticed!
☆ Kane Captain because he eats Southampton historically
☆ Roberto to Fabianski will be the transfer as long as there is no injury concerns in the presser.
Transfer summary: likely to be Roberto out Fabianski in
Follow Kev on twitter
Here’s the team prior to the transfer
Mikael L Danielsen
Mikael’s last 3 seasons overall rank were 12k, 100k and 5k
GW20 points: 58 -4 (FPL average 54) Total points 1,104 Gameweek rank 2,874k, Overall Rank: 581k, red arrow 77k, Team Value: £104.2m
Transfer summary: Probably carrying over a free transfer.
follow Mikael on twitter
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