Here’s our FPL Wildcard article where FFGeek Contributor Rick Porter plays his 3 premium attacker wildcard. Rick’s last 5 seasons ORs were 1k, 29k, 1k, 30k and 2k.
FPL Wildcard – FFGeek Contributor Rick Porter Plays His Wildcard
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Rick Porter
Rick’s last 5 seasons ORs were 1k, 29k, 1k, 30k and 2k.
GW3 Points: 75 (FPL average 54) Total points: 255, Overall Rank: 55k, green arrow: 112k Team Value: £101.0m
Here’s my points from GW3
“You can’t have them all”
A phrase I read a lot is ‘you can’t have them all’. It’s said so frequently for good reason, of course, as this game is pretty much built on that concept. Players are priced specifically to deliver this quandary and it would be very dull if everyone did, in fact, have them all.
However, that well-worn snippet hasn’t felt wholly true so far this season. A lack of viable premium forwards has meant there’s been plenty of money to spend elsewhere. We’ve also been spoilt with a range of playing 4.0m defenders to fill our benches with. De Bruyne hasn’t even been around to muddy the midfield waters, so there’s been little reason not to have both Bruno and Salah from the start. Sure, we’ve had to pick between mid-priced options like Greenwood or Jota/Ings or Calvert Lewin but, as most of these assets have performed similarly, the difference has been negligible. The biggest rank influencers so far seems to be who you’ve captained and at what point you bothered to pick up Benrahma.
Why Wildcard?
Change is coming though… Lukaku, Ronaldo and Kane are now all options. Many of those 4.0m defenders are surly headed for the bin. Rotation feels more likely, and prices are changing quickly as bandwagons and bargains are revealed. You thought you couldn’t have them all before? Pfft. Well, now you really can’t have them all. It’s this gear shift that’s led me to Wildcard.
Is it a mistake? Maybe. I certainly don’t need to Wildcard, but I do want my team to reflect the changes in the game I mention above. Across the last five seasons I’ve always hit the Wildcard button before GW5 and have done okay, so those feverishly yelling ‘it’s too early’ into their chosen social networking space will have to forgive me if I’m not convinced. There’s no right or wrong time to Wildcard. Just do it when you feel there’s something to gain.
Team
There will undoubtably be changes, but my current Wildcard team is below. I’ll not go into detail on individuals but, in essence, I’m looking to sacrifice the relative security of Bruno and Greenwood to achieve Lukaku and Ronaldo. There’s a host of other tweaks required to make it happen and there are a few luxury changes in there (Brownhill to Sissoko) but that’s the gist. It’s risky considering the ownership of those Man U assets with Newcastle next, but hopefully it’s worth it long term. Greenwood’s probable rotation within a top-heavy team and Bruno’s likely loss of pens does make it easier to swallow. Besides, if he starts, it’s great match for Ronaldo to showcase his ability in front of a home crowd.
My defence is noticeably weaker with Reguilon and Shaw making way for more modest selections with fair fixtures, but a team with Alexander-Arnold, Salah, Lukaku and Ronaldo supported by Antonio, Benrahma and Traore seems more than solid and it’s a combination that I don’t think will be easily affordable come GW7. The below team exhausts my entire budget, but if I manage to gain an extra 0.1m with canny transfers over the break then I can drop Semedo to Marcel and upgrade Traore to Raphinha, which sits better with me.
Issues
The only potential spanner is Jota. I’m happy to go without as long as his minutes are limited, but if Firmino’s injury keeps him out for any real period of time then I’ll need to find a way to bring him in. That means digging up at least another 1.0m from somewhere which will be challenging without losing someone I really want or downgrading to irrelevance.
Here’s hoping the international matches and Covid don’t scupper my plans too much.
Effective transfer summary:
Players who stayed
Sanchez, Steele, Alexander Arnold, Ayling, Salah, Benrahma, Antonio
Price Upgrades
Ings out and Lukaku in
Toney out and Ronaldo in
Price downgrades
Shaw out to White in
Fernandes out to Traore in
Greenwood out to Gray in
Price roughly neutral
Reguilon out and Semedo in
Tsimikas out and B Williams in
Brownhill out Sissoko in
Here’s the wildcard team as it stands
It will change before the deadline. Good luck for GW4 everyone
Other Posts
Analysing the teams of 12 top FPL Managers
The FFGeek Contributors teams for GW4 part 1
Early thoughts on the FFGeek team
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