Here’s an early article where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their FPL teams GW10. There’s Scott Taylor, Andrew Whitfield, Kev in Canada and Ben Wooton
FPL teams GW10 – 4 FFGeek Contributors 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. 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
Scott Taylor
Scott finished with an overall rank of 15k last season, 1k 18/19 and 12k in 17/18
GW9 points: 83 (FPL average 55) Total points: 531, Overall Rank: 777k, green arrow: 710k Team Value: £103.2m
Scott has used his wildcard
It’s been a nice run for my team since I wildcarded in GW5 both in terms of overall rank (up from 4.1 million in GW4) and team value (up from £100.6m in GW4). I’m hoping it continues!
I have £4.8m in the bank. My transfer decision this week is therefore whether to do J Rodriguez to Salah (who I took out last week!) or C Wilson to Vardy. There are pros and cons of both. Rodriguez has a nice home fixture against Leeds and all his returns have been at home. However I do have Calvert-Lewin. If he’s fit, Wilson has a trickier fixture away at Palace. Wilson’s future fixtures are better than Rodriguez‘s though. Salah’s and Vardy’s fixtures this game week are both good with Vardy’s clearly being better. However, Salah’s future fixtures are better.
Overall, I’m leaning towards Salah at the moment. I just trust him more and know I’ll want him in soon so getting Vardy in just means I’m committing to 2 transfers in the future to change him to Salah. It also means I can change Wilson to another £6 million forward in the future if I want to.
A brief word on Man City for my team – you’ll notice I don’t have any City players. It’s a calculated risk. They haven’t hit form yet. Whilst players in other teams have, I’m keeping/targeting them and waiting for the City players to hit form. That may result in one or two painful game weeks but it’s a risk I’m prepared to take. My route into City would be Kane to Aguero or 2 transfers to get in KDB or Sterling. I could also go Robbo to Cancelo/Dias.
Captaincy this week is interesting. Vardy will obviously be one of the favourites. Man City players (specifically De Bruyne) will be too. I will likely have neither. So my choices will be Bruno, Salah, Calvert-Lewin or Kane. At the moment, I’m leaning towards Salah although Calvert-Lewis is tempting (returns in 8 out of 9 games and playing Leeds) as is Kane (also returns in 8 out of 9 games and playing in a London derby which he loves albeit against one of the current best performing defences). Bruno’s 3 away games this season have all resulted in double digit returns and he’s in great form but he’s playing against one of the better defences so far this season.
Transfer Summary: Transfer likely J Rodriguez to Salah
Salah captain with Calvert-Lewin vice captain.
Enjoy the game week.
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew finished with an overall rank of 132k last season and 6k in 18/19 and 19k in 17/18
GW9 points: 61 on wildcard (FPL average 55) Total points: 518, Overall Rank: 1,147k, green arrow: 44k Team Value: £101.2m
Andrew used his wildcard in GW9
Follow Andrew on twitter here
Gameweek 9 review:
– Well plenty of drama and VAR controversy this week, particularly at Old Trafford, with penalties given, not given and re taken, as a hop skip and jump from Bruno at the second attempt was the big talking point, particularly as he was such a popular captain. A 20 point swing for Bruno armbanders from the retake !!
– Operation “target Fulham “ is in full swing, as it took Calvert Lewin just 42 seconds to break through. Fulham now have Leicester, Man City and Liverpool, so Vardy, KDB and Salah will be fancying their chances. It’s not a bad idea to set those three loose on them is it ??
– Calvert Lewin now has the same number of goals as Man City as they continue to underwhelm. It’s given FPL managers plenty to contemplate as they target the GW10 fixture swing for Man City, particularly with Spurs looking like they could defy their tough schedule.
My GW9 score:
– 61 points on wildcard is a bit disappointing with just four “returning players”, from Fernandes ( C), Calvert Lewin, Chilwell and Coufal. I certainly expected better with the 11 players i sent out to do battle.
– It was particularly surprising to have five blanks in my “power front seven “ from Vardy, Bamford, De Bruyne, Ziyech and Grealish. I am hoping that won’t happen too often. On another day, Bamford would have had a hat trick as his header against the post in the last minute summed it up after Leeds battered Arsenal with 24 goal attempts !!
– The best time to wildcard is probably now in GW10, rather than GW9 when De Bruyne had Spurs away and Vardy had Liverpool away. But it made sense to get it done during the international break with the extra time and injury insurance. With the sharp fixture swing now seeing De Bruyne v Burnley and Vardy v Fulham, it could actually be GW10 where the international break wildcarders get their rewards, rather than last week. At least we beat a number of significant price changes both ways.
Latest rank:
– With so many FPL managers taking points hits and struggling to put 11 players on the pitch, it’s disappointing not to get an immediate uplift in rank against those other managers. It feels like a real missed opportunity.
– But to escape with a small green arrow from just four returners is a silver lining, up about 44K. That’s three successive green arrows now from 1.8M to 1.1M so it’s moving in the right direction. It’s still incredibly early and I have seen a lot of people halve their rank this week, which shows what one really good week can do. It’s very very close in those ranks at such an early stage. It’s possible to move up very very quickly.
– The International break wildcarders generally came up a bit short this week, as they set up early for the GW10 fixture swing, ditching Son and Kane and bringing in Vardy and Man City assets early. Robertson and McCarthy were also popular wildcard sales too and dished out some wildcard pain. The hope now is that careful international break wildcard planning will bear fruit with fixtures now in our favour.
– With a front seven of Bruno, KDB, Grealish, Ziyech, Vardy, Calvert Lewin and Bamford, there is much room to be optimistic !!
So what next:
– I am putting this together before seven Premier league teams play midweek European games, so after what happened last week, anything could happen with injuries and Covid, so it’s probably best to hold back on transfers to avoid the ensuing chaos and points hits. Any midweek injury could significantly affect any of my plans below.
– I have 1.7M in the bank and one free transfer. That money is there from last weeks “Salah to Bruno “ switch, so I am reluctant to spend it, particularly as I probably want him back soon, especially with that Fulham v Liverpool game looming soon, in a week where Man City play Man Utd. A switch to Salah that week from Bruno or KDB looks the likely move.
Keep Bruno or back to Salah ?
– A lot was made about how lucky Bruno Fernandes was v West Brom. There can be no disputing the fortune of his second chance from the spot. However, but for poor finishing from his team mates, he could have had three assists too, in which case those captain points would have been 40 rather than 22 !!!!
– I transferred Bruno in on wildcard with the intention of switching back to Salah after his covid problems. Now of course there is a dilemma. Salah is elite and I can’t imagine going into the weekend with no Liverpool players after how good they looked v Leicester, especially as I don’t have Robertson !! I really didn’t enjoy watching Liverpool with none of their players when usually I have been used to owning two or three !!!
– I think if Bruno had not been afforded a re take and scored just 1 point including the miss, he would be a popular switch back to Salah. Fine margins. It seems the momentum is actually this week even further towards Bruno, who is also much preferred to Salah in the Elite manager template too. It doesn’t seem like last weeks landslide switch from Bruno to Salah was a one week Hokey Cokey move.
– My current thinking is to maybe keep Bruno for these two away games. He is averaging 13 points in away games this season !! But then when he plays Man City in GW12, switch him back to Salah who plays Fulham. Sound like a plan ??
Are Man City going to explode ?
– That’s the question we are all asking. Man City have been poor so far but you can’t avoid those fixtures, with Burnley, Fulham and West Brom all at home in the next four !! An attacking double up is a great differential with such low ownership, but it’s also a big gamble on what we have seen so far. Classic form v fixtures.
– Will people wait to transfer Man City attackers in until after they win 4-0 and 5-0 after the ship has already sailed ?? I got KDB in on wildcard for these games. I won’t be doubling up this week but I definitely want De Bruyne as a minimum. I can’t quite stretch to a City defender but if you can get in Cancelo or Dias easily, you should.
– In an ideal world, I would want Fernandes , De Bruyne AND Salah. I had all three at the start of the season. But if I also now have Vardy for Fulham at home next, followed by Sheff United, and I also have Ziyech and Grealish, you can’t have them all !!!!!
Time to sell Spurs ?
– There is no way I can sit here and advise you sell Kane and Son when they have been outstanding all season, particularly when they both had an attacking return v Man City at what was supposed to be a tough run, even a nightmare run. If you think they are fixture proof , then it’s perfectly viable to keep them. The high ownership of Kane and son makes selling them high risk stuff. They can hurt you. However, it’s also important to consider the fixtures….
The big fixture swing ?
– Kane and Son now have Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester and Wolves..
– Man City now embark on a dream run of fixtures in which the goals could easily start flowing. City now have Burnley, Fulham and West Brom, all at home in the next four.
– Leicester now have three of the next four at home, with Fulham at home next, followed by Sheff Utd ( beware, Vardy is a Sheff Wednesday fan too )
– My own view is that KDB and Vardy can outscore Kane and Son during this run. If they can, based on the 17% ownership of KDB and the 25% ownership of Vardy, compared to 44% and 57% for Kane and Son, if it goes the right way, it represents a huge rank rise opportunity.
How is GW10 looking:
If I roll my transfer, I have some good looking fixtures. KDB v Burnley, Vardy v Fulham, Calvert Lewin v Leeds, Bamford v an Everton side who haven’t kept a clean sheet for eight games, Fernandes averaging 13 points away playing at Southampton. Then there is the attacking threat of Ziyech, Grealish and Chilwell. If Justin keeps his place, he has potential at both ends v Fulham.
– My team has points potential on paper. I just need one of those “rank halving” weeks when they all click.
– What I don’t like about this week is having no players on Friday, only three each on Saturday and Sunday, and then five and my potential captain on Monday !! I much prefer putting the points on the board, looking at green arrows all weekend and then hanging on, rather than looking at red arrows all weekend and having to wait until Monday to put it right. At least there will be hope right up to Monday night with five players involved. I better order the Pizza and a few beers for Monday now as it could be an interesting and pivotal night !!
Captain:
It’s a tough one between Vardy, De Bruyne and Fernandes, even Calvert Lewin. I am leaning towards Vardy as if you can’t captain him at home to Fulham, then when can you ? It would be good to see him score midweek in Europe to put that Liverpool game behind him. I will be also following the polls closely.
Transfer summary:
– Currently rolling the transfer.. but that could change !!
– Here is how I am set up for this weekend
Good luck everyone !!!!
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
Kev in Canada
Kev finished 48k last season 6k in 18/19 and 195k in 17/18
GW9 points: 71 -4 (FPL average 55) Total points: 512, Overall Rank: 1,344k, green arrow: 275k Team Value: £101.4m
Kev has yet to use any chips
Follow Kev on twitter here
You can also listen to Kev on this weeks FFGeek Podcast
The transfer choices
The plan this game week is to bring in a Man City defender. The two choices I need to make are:
1. Which man city defender between Dias or Cancelo?
2. Which defender do I take out between Ayling, KWP, or Taylor?
The only other question I need to answer before making the transfer:
Is Diego Jota becoming a must own for value and should I scrap the defender change plan to turn Soucek into Jota for my 5th midfielder?
Dias vs Cancelo:
1. The attacking xG and xA stats do favour Cancelo, but not by as much as you think. How will they score? Cancelo will likely run into the box to shoot and up the wing to pass more in open play but Dias will get decent chances on set pieces. Dias just scored a brace in the most recent International match for Portugal.
2. Gametime looks similar but Mendy and Zinchencko have been hurt. They are both nearing a return and with the wingback position being historically rotation heavy, I think there will be more rotation risk for Cancelo than Dias.
My decision would be Dias for slightly more game time security.
Which defender do I replace?
1. Charlie Taylor is interesting because he has looked great in the last two matches. This is not really a coincidence because they are the first two matches that the very highly rated Burnley starting defensive unit has been fully healthy all season and they got two clean sheets. The problem is that the fixtures get pretty bad until about GW16 now. Also, I am planning on wildcarding around then so I could bring him back. The plan was to sell him before his price drop and get him back later but his price has dropped so to be honest I will likely keep him now. He also has a game in hand.
2. Kyle Walker-Peters has a few difficult fixtures coming up but also some brilliant ones. He is also 4.6M, so I have a bit of value tied into him now which could be useful later. The challenge with him is that I also have McCarthy and the double up for clean sheets is not something I enjoy watching live. That being said Southampton have looked fantastic lately defensively and KWP and McCarthy both have been getting bonus points even when they concede.
3. That leaves Luke Ayling. The fixtures are mixed and he does get forward up the wings and into the box. He should get some attacking returns at some point. The problem is that Leeds are so aggressive and play so openly, even when they have a lead, that I don’t think they will keep many clean sheets. They have 3 so far against SHU who are brutal this year, AVL which was very close to them conceding a couple from their aggressive play, and a 10 men Arsenal.
I am going to change Luke Ayling for Dias.
Man City D or Jota?:
My decision of going with either Jota or Dias is a bit tricky. Dias is for sure the more sensible move. 3 of the next 4 matches for City are at home against Burnley, West Brom and Fulham. They also have a long run of favourable fixtures and still have a double game week at some point. If I go Jota, I won’t have the money to also get a City defender.
Also, if I go Jota for Soucek, it means I have to bench one of Bruno/KDB/Salah/Grealish/DCL/Bamford/Adams. While it will realistically only be between Adams and Bamford, I will never get this right. Both are putting up fantastic fantasy stats and arent really worth of a drop.
Gameweek 12 is when liverpool play Fulham. Perhaps I take the price rises on the chin and buy him closer to then when his price is likely at 7M.
The only other alternative I can think of is downgrading Bruno to Jota and bringing Adams to Vardy for a hit. A bit too aggressive for me.
I will likely go the Ayling to Dias route but I will wait until Friday morning to decide.
transfer summary: likely Ayling to Dias
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made but with the Ayling to Dias transfer assumed
Ben Wooton
Ben’s last 4 seasons overall rank were 5k, 61k, 26k and 31k.
GW9 points: 58 on WC (FPL average 55) Total points: 503, Overall Rank: 1,641k, red arrow: 26k Team Value: £102.1m
Ben used his wildcard in this gameweek
I have gone early James Rodriguez out for Diogo Jota.
To catch rise and then plan to go Salah in next week. Holding Richarlson would then leave cash in bank
I may change capt from De Bruyne.
Subs wise I could shuffle but Watkins or Bamford
transfer summary: James Rodriguez out for Diogo Jota.
Here’s the team with transfer complete:
FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 52k last season is going ok in 5th place with total points of 548 and an overall rank of 429k. You can follow that team, including live transfers, on our subscription Patreon site.
You can also follow Joe’s transfer planner team which finished with an overall rank of 32k last season currently in 23rd place with total points of 492 and an overall rank of, 2,044k.
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