Is It Time To Revamp Bonus Points?

the Carrick conundrum indeed. I think there's definitely a case for rewarding defensive midfielders somehow, either in extra points or bonus for pass completion.

I think they should get additional points for recovered balls, like on the UEFA site (I think it's 1 for 3 ), it does give defensive midfielders and defenders a better appeal.

As for the Baps, I liked them the most this year compared with the previous ones, but as anything they can always be tweaked.

For the most part, the best or most influential players in the game are the ones who have got the goals/assists. Yes you have your Carricks and your Matics etc but generally it makes sense for the bonus to go to Aguero and Silva who got the goals and assists.

Biggest change should be to decrease pass completion importance and increase CBI importance for defenders so in a 0-0 it's the defending/underdog team gets the baps rather than attacking CBs who have not been involved at all except from passing the ball accurately to their midfielders.

Great, thought provoking article. I, for one, don't think that the BP system needs much changing - I like it the way it is. But, as always, could do with a little tinkering. Two things I would propose:

The propensity for dishing out bonus points for the square pass across the back four needs looking at. It is far easier for a defender to complete a pass than it is for a midfielder/forward, yet they are rewarded the same. Also, a defender's main job is to defend, not necessarily to provide a simple sideways pass. So I would weight the points allocated accordingly - something like giving defenders/gks 6,4 and 2 BPS points for 90%, 80%, 70% pass completion, with the others getting 9,6 and 3.

The other is more radical. As Deadstar says, the BPs tend to go to those who already score well. I would think about not giving BPSs for goals/assists - but instead just include a goal as a shot on target, and an assist as a key pass. This way the goalscorer/assister still gets credit, but it doesn't automatically give the BPs to them. However a player who scores a hat-trick or provides 4 assists is still in pole position to get the 3 BPs, which I think most people would agree is still a good thing.

I totally agree with this and would love to see a bonus system based on otherwise non-point scoring actions. It would go a long way to reward the influencial players that now get nothing, deep lying playmakers being a prime example. (Carrick is mentioned in the article. Modric was another one in previous seasons.)

The number of players that could have potential fpl value would increase, which for me is a good thing.

I can see the arguments both ways. I wish defensive midfielders weren't excluded from the scoring system and in some ways I agree that rewarding players twice for scoring is daft.

On the other hand, one of the reasons FPL is so successful is the explosive format of scoring. Rather than players gradually racking up points over the game, FPL players wait for and cheer isolated big events. It's hard to cheer a recovered ball. You would end up with players like Carrick getting basically the same points every single week because those things he can be rewarded for are so stable and predictable.

On the whole I like the current system. I do also like games like Yahoo! which are much more rounded in their performance scoring, but I think they have a more niche appeal than the "big moment" scoring system of FPL.

How about taking away the point attacking mids get for a CS and giving DM's 2 points?

Actually, I mentioned this to Greenwindmill on this topic - if Opta actually went ahead with their April Fool's Joke, DM's would be the prime beneficiaries of points for "Full blooded tackles" 🙂

https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/583207320001339392

I like goals and assists being rewarded. That's what football is all about.

There are some problems with the bonus system though, IMO:

In a 0-0 or low scoring game, it seems defenders from the more attacking team are often rewarded due to pass completion. I think it should be the defenders who through themselves on the line to bravely salvage a draw who should be rewarded (Classic case was Sunderland drawing 0-0 with arsenal to stay up, and koscielny getting 3 baps for pass completion!)

Also, there are times when a moment of absolute magic should be rewarded just for the brilliance. of course, this is difficult because of the subjective nature.

As for DMs, I am sorry but let them rot as fantasy options. OK, so they are all doing a job for their team, and they are all valuable on the pitch, but... we are watching football for entertainment. In a fantasy game, let's reward those who let us fantasize.

This would also be boring as the same players would score well in bonus points taking the fun and need to pick and take cheeky punts on who you think may score in any given GW would you pick bolasie if you knew Carrick or matic were a safe six points?

Regarding rewarding successful passing - a previous fantasy game I played rewarding only completed passes in the final third. I really liked that.

I've been calling for this for most of this year - bonus points based purely on non-point-scoring-stats being measured. So you don't earn BAPS for anythkng that gives you FPL points directly, but all other stats are eligible. That way the goal scorers / as sisters and clean sheet keeping defenders/goalkeepers (and penalty-saving keepers!) are rewarded directly with points, and everyone else could be given bonus points for their other overall play.

tl;dr - don't accumulate BAPS for things that get you FPL points directly.

do you happen to have any data showing the amount of times non scoring players got baps?
not that i have any, but I am sure there was a lot more occasions when players who didnt score or assist got baps over top of ones who did score. Granted many of these were for defenders passing ball amongst themselves, but it seemed to be an approvement on previous years when goalscorer almost always got baps.
I think costa and giroud are best examples last season , where they virtually had to score at least an assist with their goals to get in bap world.

I disagree with this. So what if Carrick doesn't get rewarded? There's players who are good for fantasy football and there's players who aren't.

The fact that that make it even worse when you don't own a player who gets a haul is exactly the reason they're a good thing. They make goals and assists matter more, especially in tight games, and they also reward defenders when they shut teams out.

Interesting article, Deadstar. Plenty to ponder.

General consensus seems to be that the current Bonus Point allocation is the best/fairest/most accurate that it has been to date. I have been playing FPL since 2008 and get the feeling that complaints about who got what after matches have finished have been fewer and farther between.

This discussion centres primarily on what you feel is the purpose of bonus points themselves. Are they to further reward players whose outputs (goals and assists) have had the greatest tangible impact on the match or are they to acknowledge the intangibles and bolster those individuals who have an influential underlying impact on the game (passes completed and balls recovered).

Finding a balance between predictably pandering to those big-hitters who invariably score or set up most weeks and over-compensating those unsung heroes (we all remember Barry Ferguson's weekly maximum BP haul for doing seemingly very little) is the optimum.

There are clearly arguments on both sides and no system (1) is perfect or (2) will ever be universally popular. Understanding the mechanics of the game helps but, in any case, having fruitless arguments with friends over the allocation of Bonus Points is part of the FPL charm. We may think we are in control but in reality are simple mortals at the whim of the Fantasy gods.

ToD32

I'm in favour of anything that adds more skill to the game. Perhaps we could have 2 separate sets of criteria for bonus points (the current one and a revised one) and the manager has to choose which one applies to his team each GW.

What I would do is apply the following criteria for all players:

3 saves = 1 point
3 tackles/interceptions = 1 point
1 goal = 6 points
1 assist = 3 points

For forwards and midfielders:
30 passes = 1 point

For defenders and goalie:
1 clean sheet = 6 points
1 penalty save = 6 points

Keep the bonus point system the same, the game is still quite simple and you can cheer all the major incidents in the game such as goals and assists as well as a successful tackle or timely interception.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the BPS system because a hat trick rightly deserves motm, it's just the game itself doesn't reward individual defensive contribution and the BPS isn't gonna change that.

I think DMs just need to be priced correctly from the onset - I believe players like Coquelin, Lucas, Flamini, Blind and can be priced at 3.5-4.0 even though they play for top 8 teams. That should take away the debate about rewarding DMs for their performance because it is impossible for FPL to differentiate what kind of MID the player is in order to keep the game structure simple.

That being said, FPL has yet to price a regular starter at 3.5 so that in itself is a big ask.

https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11392981_1088923641121756_6514240576565615915_n.jpg?oh=96b72a902cc2432435be895e374e5884&oe=560B15A7

This is disturbing.

Nice article, 100% agree with this!

Fpl was set up with a points structure where for example forwards get 4 points per goal. But the season before this it was almost 7 points a goal in a 1-0 win which has skewed the points allocations. This year some defenders have been getting 6/7 points per clean sheet because of it.

Just don't see why a goal should get Fpl point AND Bps points.

Not necessarily the Carrick issue that bugs me but the games where a player is clearly the best player on the pitch but no one can finish the chances created and then someone else waltzes up takes a pen and gets 8 points from it.

It won't happen though because it would mean less points for each team which to most casuals will probably mean less exciting

I would like a bonus point system where already rewarded items are not rewarded at all - So goals, assists, clean sheets for example do not affect the BPS at all.

The World Cup Fifa game was the worst fantasy football game I ever experienced. Creativity and goal threat were over shadowed by predictable DM and defensive recovered ball merchants. the suggestion in the article is not unreasonable as I agree bonus tend to becream on an already good score but any suggestions to go down a stats based pts for recovered ball would ruin this game. Up their worth in the underlying bps if you must but no further