Here’s part 1 of our FPL teams GW3 article where 4 FFGeek Contributors show their teams. There’s Andrew Whitfield, Rick Porter, Alex Ball and Costas Chari. Between them they have 11 top 0.5% finishes in the last 4 competitive seasons.
FPL Teams GW3 – 4 FFGeek Contributors With Their GW3 Teams Part 1
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Andrew Whitfield
Andrew’s last 4 seasons overall ranks were 34k, 132k, 6k and 19k
GW2 Points: 83 (FPL average 56) Total points: 183, Overall Rank: 118k, green arrow: 259k Team Value: £100.4m
My gameweek two review:
Well another action packed gameweek and it certainly feels like the Premier League has arrived with a bang.
Free scoring Westham have eight goals and six points and are putting their stamp on FPL. Champions Man City are off the mark with a 5-0 win, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Brighton and Spurs also on maximum points.
The hot debate all week had been Salah or Bruno for captain but in the end it mattered not as they both blanked !!
My GW2 score and rank:
83 points with 7/11 “returners” again. Antonio 16, Trent 12, Tsimikas 11 and Greenwood 10 the highlights, with returns also for Sanchez, Raphinha and Ings.
I said last week that an individual gameweek rank inside one million will usually result in a green arrow. I followed last weeks 377k week with a GW2 individual rank of 216k, so two pleasing opening weeks have me sitting at an overall rank of 118k which I am delighted about at such an early stage.
My GW2 talking points:
The captain heavyweights of Salah and Bruno were amongst my four players that blanked, which was largely irrelevant as most people owned them both and captained one. I think I claimed a moral victory in the debate with Fernandes mostly quiet and Salah having a goal ruled out for a marginal offside and another hacked off the line, so just missing out on a haul.
Antonio followed his 13 points with another 16 !! He looks totally unplayable in this mood. Let’s hope he is spared the gruelling Euro campaign with his glass hamstrings. The only “hammer blow” to my rank was a certain Mr Benrahma who is looking equally unplayable. Well done if you have both !!
The Liverpool full back double up of Trent Alexander Arnold and Tsimikas has proved a goldmine of 35 points with two clean sheets each. My deadline call was Tsimikas over Jota, and whilst they are covered by a point, “going Greek” allowed me to get Greenwood too. Of course Tsimikas is now on borrowed time with Robertson poised to return. More on that later.
Greenwood has looked very sharp with 18 points so far and two goals. Plenty of competition for his place lurks near, but he has certainly put a marker down and he is going to be hard to dislodge.
Danny Ings scored a wonder goal so that’s two in two for Danny boy too. The fixtures turn fierce soon so I would still like to turn him into the impressive Calvert Lewin from GW4 which is going to be tricky with prices on the move.
My Sanchez over Bachman call is bearing fruit with Watford shipping goals. It’s a slice of bad luck for those who hedged the Brighton clean sheet with the stricken Veltman. But Brighton are looking good with six points. I will possibly switch out Sanchez on my planned GW7 Wildcard.
My decision to go Raphinha over Harvey Barnes also brought rewards this week. A masterful performance from Raphinha that sets him out as one of the best value set and forget players in the game.
Toney and Shaw were my other two blanks. Shaw continues to be a threat going forward but no clean sheets so far. Dias and Rudiger are tempting and will likely be part of my wildcard. I certainly wouldn’t panic sell Shaw, especially with his sky high ownership. Toney was the one player I didn’t have confidence in but took him for ownership rank risk protection. He probably gets another game at least.
I survived the 5-0 Man City result with no City players, despite the high ownership of Grealish and Dias who returned 20 points between them. So it shows you don’t have to bust your team up for one worrying game. If your own players do the business, you just take other games on the chin. You can’t own everyone.
So what next:
** The usual caveat. I am drafting these notes on Tuesday so a lot can change with transfers and injuries, so bear that in mind when reading**
I prefer to get my article out early and then sit back and take stock and have a few days to think my possible moves over up to the deadline, rather than make a last minute decision and a rushed article. So my GW3 plans are very much still in the balance.
I have two free transfers and zero in the bank. Ideally I want to carry two into GW4 to deal with the possible fall out from the international break with injuries and possible Covid or quarantine issues likely to bite us in the bum.
So I can use one transfer or zero transfers in GW3 and still have two in GW4. Effectively I have a “use it or lose it” so I can even use it to cosmetic effect in my bench in that situation.
Benrahma is teasing us. I think if you can get him in one move and have a player who is underperforming, he looks great. For me, I would have to lose Greenwood or Raphinha so I won’t be doing that. I could get Benrahma in two moves by going 352, losing Toney to a non playing striker and upgrading Brownhill to Benrahma. But Toney is still highly owned, I don’t fancy a non playing bench player and I lose my two transfers for the international break. So I will just have to sit on it and hide.
Holding your discipline and sticking to your plan and structure against such bandwagons is a key FPL skill.
I really don’t have anyone I want to change which I suppose is a consequence of a great start. Ben White I can keep benched until he is fit. I wasn’t playing him this week anyway.
So in that “use it or lose it” situation, I might take the opportunity to sell Tsimikas. I can’t believe he is the most bought defender when he is almost certain to give way to Robertson now. I wouldn’t play him GW3 anyway v Chelsea and then his time will be up. So I might change him to a playing 4M defender and bank his price rise. It also frees up that third Liverpool slot in case I want Robertson or Jota. So Tsimikas to Livramento of Southampton is a possible transfer this week and then retain two for GW4.
Son is a danger at home to Watford. I saw some people debating bringing him in for Salah who plays Chelsea and then could miss GW4, which has its merits. But I have never been one to play premium Hokey Cokey. It’s good in theory until other fires break out and you can’t get Salah back for Crystal Palace and Brentford. Besides, Salah can easily score v Chelsea !!!
I survived the Man City 5-0 with players more highly owned than Son returning. There are games you just have to hide from and hope. It’s the nature of the game.
Lukaku made an impressive entrance but he can wait until the fixtures turn in GW7. Chelsea have Liverpool Spurs and Man City in the next four. It’s not worth busting your team up and taking out the likes of Bruno Fernandes. I think Calvert Lewin can match the returns of Lukaku until GW7.
Harry Kane is a daily monitor. Kane v Watford is dangerous and that move to Man City is a potential game changer. But when budgets are tight at this stage of the season, having three premiums is not an optimum strategy for me. My premiums are Salah and Bruno. Yes they both blanked in GW2. Remember GW1 when they went nuts. It’s what they do. Two players who can wipe your rank away in the blink of an eye.
My GW3 set up:
There are plenty of sofas needed this weekend. Kane and Son v Watford, no Man City players against a point less Arsenal, Harvey Barnes plays Norwich and of course Mr Benrahma plays Crystal Palace. I would not be surprised to take a step back this week.
But if I stay true to my plan and hold out for two transfers to deal with potential GW4 carnage, I have to trust my squad to continue delivering.
Captain is currently on Bruno Fernandes but it could switch to Antonio after his Monday master class. That provides a degree of coverage against Benrahma too.
Coufal will step in from my bench to play alongside Trent Alexander Arnold and Shaw, now that the Tsimikas fire has likely burned out.
I will update my team on Twitter before the deadline and my captain choice too. Still lots to consider !!
Transfer summary: to be confirmed
Here is my team BEFORE any changes
Good luck in GW3 everyone !!
Rick Porter
Rick’s last 5 seasons ORs were 1k, 29k, 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW2 Points: 78 (FPL average 56) Total points: 180, Overall Rank: 167k, green arrow: 86k Team Value: £100.4m
GW2
With the main captain picks both blanking and popular midfielders like Mahrez, Grealish, Raphinha and Jota all bringing home points, I was reliant on Greenwood and Barnes to help keep pace. Fortunately, Greenwood’s 10 points helped do exactly that, while Barnes disappointed for the second week. Two blanks aren’t normally the end of the world for a 7.0m asset but, with so many points being scored by alternatives, it’s really standing out.
GW3
My starting team for GW3 is looking okay, but my bench is too ropey for me to be comfortable with. White is facing a price drop and is certain to be out until GW4 at least, Tsimikas could have already played his last 90 mins, and Brownhill isn’t guaranteed to start either. If Greenwood sees any rotation then I’m already firefighting – any other surprises on top of that will really start to cost me. In short, one of my transfers must go on bolstering my bench this week.
Many managers with two transfers seem to be holding their second for flexibility during the break. That’s sensible and I’d probably do that myself in a slightly different situation, but I feel I also need to make a move on Benrahma. I’ve missed these boats before, y’see.
The only route to him is through Greenwood or Barnes and, as I said earlier, one of these two is delivering while the other is one of my few let-downs.
As foolish as it feels jumping from Barnes just before he plays Norwich, I think it might be the right call. It certainly has an element of kneejerk reaction about it, but Benrahma’s ownership is swelling, the fixtures are good, and he’ll likely see yet another price increase this week (whereas Barnes will drop).
At some point soon I’ll want a premium forward, so my aim in these early weeks was to be scouting for value picks to help finance it without having to drop one of my other premiums… I’m not doing that if I just sit back and let an obvious bargain continuously grow in price while sitting on transfers.
Wildcard?
Another thing that’s luring me into using both transfers is I haven’t ruled out Wildcarding in GW4 for a bit of a reshuffle and to bring in Lukaku for Ings. Many are eyeing GW7 for their first Wildcard, but I feel price hikes will make a good team containing Trent Alexander Arnold, Salah, Bruno Fernandes and Lukaku too difficult to achieve by then. The Wildcard I have in mind currently has 0.4m wiggle room and the impending price changes expected for Lukaku, Benrahma, White and Barnes this week will eat through all of that. How Lukaku gets on against Liverpool will play a large part in whether I pull the trigger next week or not, but I need to act now to keep the Wildcard team I want as a viable option.
Transfers
Both White and Barnes could drop tonight, so I’ll be risking early moves to Reguilon and Benrahma. Reguilon has a couple of good fixtures coming up and should be nailed for the foreseeable.
This means I’ll be keeping Tsimikas for another week, but I’m happy enough with that. He’ll be on the bench with Ayling and Brownhill, but if Klopp does decide to give Robertson another week to recover then he could see more action and further price rises.
Captain
Torn between Bruno Fernandes or Antonio. I’ll decide on that later in the week.
Transfer summary: Barnes to Benrahma completed
Here’s the team with the transfer made
Alex Ball
Alex’s last 7 seasons overall ranks were 3k, 312k, 523k, 17k, 10k, 28k and 3k
GW2 Points: 71 (FPL average 56) Total points: 166, Overall Rank: 559k, green arrow: 157k Team Value: £100.3m
Jota to Benrahma done. May use my other free to move Veltman to A 4.0 (unsure who yet) or roll the other.
transfer summary: Jota out to Benrahma in
Here’s the team with the transfer completed
Costas Chari
Costas’s last 5 seasons were 191k, 17k, 84k, 29k and 27k
GW2 Points: 75 (FPL average 56) Total points: 191, Overall Rank: 44k, red arrow: 33k Team Value: £100.4m
Follow Costas on twitter here
Another good week for me with 75pts! The GW looked a disaster as by the time the first 4 players played and Salah blanked I was sitting around 500k. A clean sheet from Sanchez then Greenwood, Shaw and the West Ham boys did their part though and although I got a 33k red arrow from 11-44k OR I cant help but still be happy.
As far as points collection is concerned averaging 95.5 for the first 2 GWs is the highest I have ever had. All of my players gave points in the opening 2 weeks which again is a first for me.
Going Triple west ham from the beginning was seen as a maverick move but as things stand it should become template soon so I am very happy I trusted my gut on this one.
Plan was to get Harvey Barnes in this week but with his and Leicester’s last 2 performances I wont go there.
The decision to go to Gundogan from Jota caused the red arrow. 6 pts gets you very high up during these first stages of the season. Now its probably Gundogan out for Raphinha as I don’t want to play the guess game with Pep and Raphinha is too class and underpriced. I don’t mind the Liverpool fixture that’s coming up soon as he can be benched for White who has a good game.
I will be doing the transfer as late as possible though as with covid cases rising you never know which one of your players can be flagged even at the last moment such as Ben White last gameweek.
Good luck everyone
Transfer summary: Likely Gundogan out for Raphinha
Here’s the team prior to any transfers being made
The FFGeek Contributors League
The highlighted FFGeek contributors combined team finished with an overall rank of 8k last season and 52k the season before. It started ok in 9th place with total points of 174 and an overall rank of 304k. You can follow that team, including live transfers, on our subscription Patreon site.
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