EARLY BIRD CUP UPDATE

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AjjtGjCCBpZvdHpodVVxWWFsV3dsYnpKeHRkT09kZUE&output=html

The group stages have now ended and 16 skilled players will compete in the last 16. Apologies to NTFM who qualified but I forgot to add due to adding Aliminator twice! (No this does not mean you have two attempts in the next round).

Good luck to everyone left - and if this could get a sticky, that would be great.

I know its transfer deadline day and attention is on that but I've just had a look at the situation with players rising in price and I think its safe to say TotalFPL are calculating the % increases wrong. In the past the required NTI for price rises has always been based on a set threshold for all players. Assuming this is still the case then we would expect to see consistency between the % increases shown and NTI for each player.

Taking a couple of examples with players that haven't risen this GW, Fabregas has gone up 3.6% today with 8,950 NTI whereas Shawcross has risen 11.6% with 9,483. If the price rise thresholds are the same for each player then TotalFPLs workings are incorrect.

There were 6 players that rose in price overnight - Siggy, Costa, Dyer, Sterling, Weimann and Dier. Using MVTaylor's excellent work here http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2014/08/31/the-community-round-up-56/?hc_page=13#hc_comment_8159927 the following players were over 100% for a rise last night - Costa, Guzan, Wisdom, Dyer, Ramsey and Lloris.

As you can see, only 2/6 (Costa and Dyer) that were expected to rise actually did and 4 (Siggy, Sterling, Weimann and Dier) that were not predicted to rise did. I think the key to explaining this is the number of transfers. I wildcarded last night and studied the data on TotalFPL and FPL carefully. I know that none of the 4 expected risers which didn't (Guzan, Wisdom, Ramsey and Lloris) were receiving high NTI. If memory serves they each gained between 1-4k NTI yesterday.

On the other hand, 3/4 of the unexpected risers (Siggy, Sterling and Dier) all received a high number of NTI yesterday. The reason they were not close to 100% appears to be an error with TotalFPLs current formula or data.

This leaves Weimann, who started getting transfers in following his haul yesterday but not large amounts like the other 3 unexpected risers and he wasn't anywhere near 100%. Looking at his history on FPL it shows NTI of 55k up to the GW3 deadline. Based on this I believe he was actually close to 100% prior to his performance yesterday and the rise in transfers in following this took him past the threshold.

In summary, when looking at price rises pay little attention to the % bar on its own, the key is the number of net transfers in.

Looking at the current data I suspect Fabregas, Shawcross and Schneiderlin could be closer to a rise than they appear to be.

Hello, friends!

Thought I'd inform you that I've updated and released the Gargatron, the FPL stats machine for the 2014/2015 season.

Some of you will have used it last season and if that is the case you just need to re-start Google Chrome or update your extensions and it

will work just as it did last season.

If you have not used the Gargatron before then here is what it does and how you use it.

In short, it's an extension for the Google Chrome web browser that allows you to look at some stats for any FPL team.

The current version can show you this:

- Total captain score
- Captain score if you swapped all C / VC
- Captain score as % of overall score
- Highest possible captain score
- Captain score as % of your highest possible captain score
- Number of different captains
- Number of different players
- Three most owned players
- Most captained player
- Total score of autosubs
- Total score of unused subs
- Unused sub score as % of of overall score
- Points spent on transfers
- Total points between team and rank 1, 100, 1 000, 5 000, 10 000, 50 000, 100 000

If this interests you then you can install the Gargatron by following this link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gargatron-the-fpl-stats-m/kpbaoamnogjcokjojimpmbdkdgobdhoe .

Once there you click the blue button in the top right corner that says FREE and you're done. Chrome will ask you whether it may access your browser TABS, but it only does this to show the calculator icon needed to run it when you're on the FPL website on a points page, and nowhere else. You do NOT have to be logged on to FPL to use the Gargatron if you don't want to. You will automatically get any future updates.

To use the Gargatron you need to go to a POINTS page of the FPL team you're interested in. It can be any gameweek, and it can be run on any team. Once you're on a points page you will see a small green calculator appear in the right side of your address bar. Click it!

Here is a screenshot of the stats tab, if you're curious: http://i.imgur.com/5KpC5n0.png
Here is a screenshot of the rankings tab: http://i.imgur.com/zE395MM.png

If you have any questions, problems or feedback I will stick around here for a while now and try to help you out, or you can find some contact information in the About the Gargatron tab.

I'd also like to mention that the Gargatron is free of charge, free from ads and banners, does not need or use any personal information of yours and is not affiliated with any website, company or person except me.

Oh, and sorry to have taken up your time if you're not interested. Enjoy, and good luck everybody!

Garg's post about the Gargatron reminded me of another Chrome extension that I like:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fpl-mini-league-stats-cal/ofjikfigpedfahjpninpbegobibogbda

@ManUtd: #mufc is delighted to announce that Daley Blind (@BlindDaley) has completed his transfer for a fee of £14million. http://t.co/hpGhRx9hRc

@SpursOfficial: We have reached agreement with Crystal Palace for the transfer of Zeki Fryers. We wish him all the best. http://t.co/NKDABZ3mVK

Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 32s
CONFIRMED: @gasramirez10 has completed a #deadlineday loan move to @HullCity until the end of the season. #saintsfc

Liverpool FC ‏@LFC 1m
#LFC can confirm that winger Oussama Assaidi has joined Stoke City on a season-long loan deal

Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 1m
CONFIRMED: #SaintsFC have completed a #deadlineday deal for Toby Alderweireld. Welcome, @AlderweireldTob! #SaintToby