General Chat 2020/21

Gus Ivey

CSF wrote: »

It doesn’t strike me as a good move. Who are the great players we would be going for in GW1 that we would want rid of immediately?

I am guessing he wants the likes of Bruno, KDB, Martial and others long term, but doesn't want to select them for GW1 for obvious reasons. I would say a lot are planning to use an early Wildcard

Mr.Nice Guy

eh i dunno wrote: »

Anyone considering wildcard for gw2? Pick the strongest team possible for gw1 and then load up on city and utd lads with the wildcard. Want a good start for once instead of playing catch up

I've been thinking about it. Most of the GW1 drafts I'm seeing have Son + 1.5m in the bank in order to move him to Bruno in GW 2, and then do Auba to KDB or Sterling for GW 3. Some have this plan as well as Greenwood on the bench for GW 1, to be brought in for GW2.

I was thinking along these lines too - and may well go for it - but a problem I'm having is it seems to necessitate trusting in more budget options than I'd like. And there's always a risk in FPL with planning moves too far ahead. I see several advantages to an early wildcard:

1) you can treat GW 1 as almost like a free hit side and load up on guys that might be overlooked because of a poor overall run, e.g. West Ham players. They've a nice opener to start with but the run afterwards stinks. That might turn people off the likes of Antonio, Soucek, Cresswell. Antonio though could be explosive vs Newcastle. In a WC, you can move them on for GW 2 after a one-week punt.

2) You can bring in City and United players much easier for GW 2. A lot of players seem to be overlooking City until GW 3, but I think that carries a risk. City can blow any team away, and Wolves will be without their two first-choice WBs from last season. Having KDB or Sterling or Aguero for GW2 could work out very well. And the only way you can have double United vs Palace on GW 2 is by leaving a player on the bench for GW 1 - or taking a hit. But a wildcard solves the problem and allows you to do it without cost.

3) Wolves' fixtures take a nice turn on GW 3, but if you're locked into a transfer plan that means using a GW 3 transfer to get in a City player then you have to bide your time (unless you take a hit). Again, the wildcard solves that because you've made your moves GW 2 and so can use your transfer in GW 3 as you please.

4) We should have an idea about which players are starters based on GW 1. If you've gone for defenders that it turns out don't start (Vinagre? Saliba? Lamptey?) then there will be a natural temptation to rectify that. WC will help you do so and take advantage of whatever bandwagon is up and running which you won't be able to do if you're locked into a week-by-week transfer plan.

My biggest concern right now with the above is the pandemic factor. We've seen in France games having to be postponed due to Covid-19 cases. If things start to spike in England in the winter, does that see a whole raft of postponed fixtures? Obviously you would want a wildcard in that scenario to manage the chaos.

I think if that threat wasn't there, I'd be much more tempted by an early wildcard. The chap who won the game last year - before he got deactivated for his comments - he did his wildcard in GW 2 after an opening score of 68, a wildcard brought him 103 pts and he never looked back.

CSF

Gus Ivey wrote: »

I am guessing he wants the likes of Bruno, KDB, Martial and others long term, but doesn't want to select them for GW1 for obvious reasons. I would say a lot are planning to use an early Wildcard

It’s way better to bench them and maybe have a slightly weaker GW1. The future value of a wildcard is likely to be much bigger if used properly.

Shedite27

CSF wrote: »

It’s way better to bench them and maybe have a slightly weaker GW1. The future value of a wildcard is likely to be much bigger if used properly.

Agree, worst case scenario a -8 gets you those 3. You’ll almost certainly want to replace more than 3 players in a wildcard

Gus Ivey

Shedite27 wrote: »

Agree, worst case scenario a -8 gets you those 3. You’ll almost certainly want to replace more than 3 players in a wildcard

True, but the previous long post makes some really valid points

Gus Ivey

CSF wrote: »

It’s way better to bench them and maybe have a slightly weaker GW1. The future value of a wildcard is likely to be much bigger if used properly.

Not necessarily. It's a risk either way

And you can't bench them all if you are planning to have 5 or 6 players between both Manchester clubs.

liamoreilly

...Think this season more than ever, keeping a WC is crucial... It can almost be assumed that matches get postponed at some stage this season... Also think bench is more important this season than ever... Any players could be in quarantine for 14 days... So I think the pandemic will affect the league in several ways...
... Off topic, but would you rather have Greenwood & Jimimez, or Fernandez and Mitrovic?... Finding it very touch to choose...

CSF

Gus Ivey wrote: »

Not necessarily. It's a risk either way

And you can't bench them all if you are planning to have 5 or 6 players between both Manchester clubs.

You don’t need to, you can make transfers. A wildcards value is much higher than the cost of those transfers.

Green&Red

liamoreilly wrote: »

...Think this season more than ever, keeping a WC is crucial... It can almost be assumed that matches get postponed at some stage this season... Also think bench is more important this season than ever... Any players could be in quarantine for 14 days... So I think the pandemic will affect the league in several ways...
... Off topic, but would you rather have Greenwood & Jimimez, or Fernandez and Mitrovic?... Finding it very touch to choose...

Not ever close


Greenwood and Jimi


(Disclaimer: provided United don’t sign anyone else to take Greenwood’s place )

Pete_Cavan

I made the point before and I'll make it again, ManU fixtures aren't that great; after CP they have Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal in the next 5 GWs. City and Liverpool probably have better runs of fixtures in that time. ManU are far from consistent under Ole, I'd by wary of over-investing in their assets. If they struggle against CP, having multiple ManU assets might not look so great, particularly if you have used your WC to get them.

Trimm Trabb

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

I made the point before and I'll make it again, ManU fixtures aren't that great; after CP they have Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal in the next 5 GWs. City and Liverpool probably have better runs of fixtures in that time. ManU are far from consistent under Ole, I'd by wary of over-investing in their assets. If they struggle against CP, having multiple ManU assets might not look so great, particularly if you have used your WC to get them.

I agree - my drafts/planning is a lot simpler when I forget Man Utd and all I really want them for is that Palace home game and to a lesser extent Brighton away in GW3 - and for coverage.

But they still haven’t convinced me against higher quality teams. I do think a few bad results are confidence could evaporate quickly.

Also I still haven’t got my head around the amount of penalties they are getting - is there a chance they will get only 4/5 this season or could it be double/treble that again? Like I understand that they were in the vast majority of cases legitimate penalties that they won but does having fast forwards explain why they won so many more than say Liverpool or pretty much any other top team given that they all have fast forwards?

Green&Red

IMO part of the appeal with united assets is that you’ve a captain for GW2 & GW3

Without any united asset you’ve Auba for GW2 and probably Werner or Kane in my case. So it’s a decision on whether you’re happy with that

Looking at it I might actually be happy enough with it and it might decide on Auba or Salah for my GW1 team

Pete_Cavan

Green&Red wrote: »

IMO part of the appeal with united assets is that you’ve a captain for GW2 & GW3

I'd say City, Chelsea and Spurs have better options for captain in GW3.

Necronomicon

I hit a major patch of FPL malaise last year, and didn't finish the season for the first time in longer than I can remember.

Swore I'd take a break this season.

I've just registered my team, and hardly know where to start reading :pac:

shineon23

eh i dunno wrote: »

Anyone considering wildcard for gw2? Pick the strongest team possible for gw1 and then load up on city and utd lads with the wildcard. Want a good start for once instead of playing catch up

I'm going to TRY hold off on the wildcard as long as possible.

Especially with the transfer window not shutting until October and then the possibility of postponements and DGWs.

I think ill be happy to have 11 starters each week and taking the odd hit.

Fitz*

https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1301596563605803008?s=19

Porthallian

Confirmation today that this PL season only 3 subs will be allowed again. I think that's probably a good thing for FPL right? Players are more likely to either finish games or not make cameos for 1 pointers.

Which is better to subscribe to? FFS or FFH?

jamesbere

What was the number of players last year when the season started. 2.6m at the moment

patmac

I’m thinking of playing Two 4.5m keepers to guard against fixtures lost to COVID. In fact I’m considering avoiding any triple ups for the same reason.

greedygoblin

jamesbere wrote: »

What was the number of players last year when the season started. 2.6m at the moment

It was at 6124926 just before the GW2 deadline. Not sure how many of those joined between gameweeks 1 & 2.

CSF

patmac wrote: »

I’m thinking of playing Two 4.5m keepers to guard against fixtures lost to COVID. In fact I’m considering avoiding any triple ups for the same reason.

It’s worth consideration for sure. Im also trying to avoid going too far in the other direction, and ending up with a weaker team as a result. Hard to find the balance.

Tiger Roll

One of the biggest conundrums this year is Chelsea. Looking at their squad of midfield/forwards , they have 14 players for 6 positions basically. The Lampard rotation is gonna be worse than Pep

SJIII

I'm not so sure about this, I get the feeling the players you would really want from Chelsea will be fairly nailed on.

For me Havertz, Ziyech, Pulisic, Werner will be the 1st choice used in the League (when fit) with the others such as Mount, CHO, RLC, Giroud providing the depth for the cups / off the bench.

Surely a couple of these players will be looking to move on though, can't imagine these young guns in particular being too happy being on the bench. Also have Abraham to add to the above mix too!

There are enough questions around Chelsea for sure. Pulisic looked electric at the end of last season and would be drawn to him but with the depth now and his injury record that would put me off. Think it may be a watch and see on them for me early doors.

Tiger Roll wrote: »

One of the biggest conundrums this year is Chelsea. Looking at their squad of midfield/forwards , they have 14 players for 6 positions basically. The Lampard rotation is gonna be worse than Pep

Pete_Cavan

SJIII wrote: »

I'm not so sure about this, I get the feeling the players you would really want from Chelsea will be fairly nailed on.

For me Havertz, Ziyech, Pulisic, Werner will be the 1st choice used in the League (when fit) with the others such as Mount, CHO, RLC, Giroud providing the depth for the cups / off the bench.

Surely a couple of these players will be looking to move on though, can't imagine these young guns in particular being too happy being on the bench. Also have Abraham to add to the above mix too!

There are enough questions around Chelsea for sure. Pulisic looked electric at the end of last season and would be drawn to him but with the depth now and his injury record that would put me off. Think it may be a watch and see on them for me early doors.

Yeah, I wonder what the mood in the dressing room is like with all the new arrivals and the young players who Lamps said he would back potentially being pushed aside. Havertz will only have a week training with them and Ziyech and Pulisic have had injuries so probably limited training too. Has Lamps had enough time, and is he good enough to instill a system which gets the best out of his players?

They start against Brighton which could go either way, Chelsea last year could be exposed on the break and Brighton are a good footballing team, they are also quite open and could concede 4 or 5. Then they play a well oiled Liverpool machine. I'm leaning towards waiting for GW3 to bring in Chelsea players once we see how they are setting up, whos starting, etc. It is obviously a big element of risk in that too though.

joeyboy11

Is it certain soucek will miss first gw because of COVID self isolation? He’s not flagged on the site

manual_man

Willian to start gw1 yay or nay?

Shedite27

patmac wrote: »

I’m thinking of playing Two 4.5m keepers to guard against fixtures lost to COVID. In fact I’m considering avoiding any triple ups for the same reason.

Decent logic, but I'd see .5 on a sub keeper as a waste even if it does produce one potential 6 pointer that would have been 0 without the blank.

I get the point on your strongest 10 outfielders

CSF

Anyone else now very worried for Trent in GW1?

Dr. Bre

CSF wrote: »

Anyone else now very worried for Trent in GW1?

He came on for England today ? Did he get injured ?