In 1984, a 12-year-old Tennis prodigy by the name of Pete Sampras is convinced to abandon his best shot, the double handed backhand, by his coach in order to develop a game style that would give him the best chance to win Wimbledon. Immediately, his junior results plummet, falling behind the likes of fellow up and coming US stars Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, as his erratic one-handed backhand is mercilessly attacked by his peers. Despite this he persists and by the age of 31, it is Sampras who has the last laugh winning seven Wimbledon titles.
So right now you may be wondering what on earth has Pete Sampras got to do with Fantasy Football? Well, there are much stronger parallels between the two than you may think which brings me to my main message- playing your own game and picking the players you think will score the most points. In the above scenario, Pete Sampras stuck to his own game despite everyone else suggesting otherwise. But enough of Sampras, if I analyse the poor choices I have made this year, the root cause common with all of them is me playing safe letting others play the game for me. Here are my top tips to avoiding following the herd and sticking to your guns, like Pistol Pete did.
Lesson 1 – Don’t kneejerk out a player just because everyone else is
With 12 points in the first two games of the season with only one Fantasy Premier League bonus point, people around me are selling Chelsea forward Diego Costa since he is “not explosive” enough. I take a four point hit to take him out for Manchester City’s Stevan Jovetic and immediately Costa scores a brace collecting all three FPL bonus points. He would then go on to score a hat trick but by then I have him back by taking another four point hit.
Lesson 2 – Don’t be fooled by pricey attacking defenders from leaky teams
In Gameweek 8 Leighton Baines scored 15 FPL points and backs it up with scores of 7, 7, & 11 in the next three games. With excellent fixtures to follow, he nevertheless disappointed with returns of 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1 and 2 before I finally sold him in Gameweek 19, many weeks too late. During this barren stretch, many Fantasy managers continued to insist on keeping him due to his excellent fixtures and blinded by his earlier returns.
Another example was in Gameweek 17 when Manchester City’s Pablo Zabaleta scored 11 points and many Fantasy managers were keen to invest in the attacking defender. I was one of those but then under my ownership Zabaleta offered four shocking returns of 0, 0, 0 & 2 before I finally sold him.
Lesson 3 – Ignore price and reputation when deciding on a captain
In Gameweek 17 all week my captaincy was firmly locked onto QPR’s Charlie Austin at home to West Brom until I change it to Alexis Sanchez away to Liverpool at the 11th hour. Despite my gut feel about Austin, I was influenced by other Fantasy managers talking about West Brom’s “strong away defence form.” Austin would go on to score a hat trick in a 3-2 win over West Brom with a haul of 17 points while Sanchez would go on to blank at Anfield.
Conclusion
I could go on and analyse every poor choice I have made this season but it’s unnecessary. But what is clear to me is the common thread that existed in my choices; that is me letting external factors influence my personal decision making.
