Tonight’s Chelsea vs Bolton encounter carries extra significance as thousands of Fantasy Premier League managers are forced to pin hopes on an unwanted captain taking the field at the Bridge. The absence of Fernando Torres from Liverpool’s lineup against Fulham on Sunday has seen the FPL’s auto-captain criteria kick-in for many, with the likes of Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda now picking up the armband.
We’ve seen this feature attract controversy before; it recently provided a gift of Frank Lampard’s four goal haul against Villa to beneficiaries, much to the frustration of those who had selected Lampard through their own judgement. The incident was discussed at length in our recent podcast but in truth I dismissed it rather flippantly at the time. Things are different now – this time I’m at the mercy of this fuzzy FPL ruling…
The scenario is far from ideal. Following FA Cup semi-final exertions there’s every chance that both Malouda and Drogba will have their pitch time cut – there’s even a chance that the latter will start on Carlo Ancelotti’s bench. Should that be the case then can those withy auto-armband Drogba’s claim bad luck? Similarly, if Drogba starts and puts Bolton to the sword, can their mini-league rivals claim blatant fortune?
It strikes me that nobody can win here. Either way the overruling factor appears to be luck. Should the FPL game really include a component that, in the recent case of Lampard, provides substantial reward through more luck than judgement?
Yes there are criteria for the allocation of your stand-in. Both player “Value” and “Form” can be selected to govern the choice but, to me, this is nowhere near enough. Granville was recently in the situation where both of those criteria selected Lampard. He had no choice. Mikel Arteta failed to turn up at Wolves and Frank earned Granville four points as a result. As podcast listeners will appreciate, Granny was miffed.
So tonight myself and many others will sit and wonder how the dice will fall. Will I be fondly stroking the face of Lady Luck or will she be slapping me around the face with a Drogba-sized bucket hand? If that’s the case do I win the right to gripe about the fact that the FPL gambled our captaincy with their stat-based judgement call?
It really doesn’t feel great. At this stage in the season I want my Fantasy team to live or die by my own shortcomings or inspiration.
Maybe the FPL are listening. Maybe they will serve us a vice-captain feature next season and allow us to at least give us greater control of where our points fall when our first choice captain drops from the team-sheet. When the selection of our captains can make or break a mini-league season, let’s not leave it to chance. Nobody loves a hollow victory after all these weeks of commitment.