Captain Poll – Gameweek 30

Gotta be Kane!
Easy decision this week

Has to be Kane.

Was thinking Siggy to be clever but that might fail...

Hazard or Aub for me. Deeney is tempting though as is transferring in Mahrez and handing him the armband

Probably kane but I'm still tempted with Salah. Pool on this form will send the UTD bus off road and into a ditch.

I captained Kane as a major differential back in 2015/16 when he scored a hattie away at Bournemouth: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/34632727. Turned my season around.

I'd never go anywhere else this week! Personal context but that always weighs on decisions 🙂

However - could be something in an MNF captain for City v Stoke, or maybe as you say a hail-Mary on Mahrez/Vardy could really bear fruit if Kane falls flat against the Cherries.

I hate myself already but I'm going to captain Hazard 🙄

Hazard for me.

How can you not captain salah in gameweek 31?

Kane plays Bournemouth, not gonna bother over complicating it this week.

I think you mean GW30.. and yeah, will be Kane for me again

Kane is the obvious choice. Kun or KDB away to Stoke is a risk given rotation fears and Stoke's newfound relative stubbourness.

For me it depends from Wednesday's game. If Tottenham qualify in the next round then Kane would be my captain.If not then probably Salah again.

Annoyed with myself for not going Son over Salah this week, so i'm gonna go Mahrez. Still 30 points behind in my ML.

Bournemouth always find a way to concede. Kane for me.

I'd love to go Aubameyang, but with Arsenal's current form I haven't got the balls. Trying to find differentials has hurt me badly this season. Need to be more boring - will put the armband on Kane.

Sane could be a better choice, but I don't own him and can't spend a transfer with GW31 close now.

Its a tough one this week. The form tables aren't much help either.

Man U conceded 5 goals at home in the last 8 v Liverpool who have scored 22 away in the last 8
Bournmouth conceded 15 goals at home in the last 8 v Spurs who have only scored 12 away in the last 8

Salah may well hold onto the armband over Kane.

Mahrez could be an interesting one, not sure whether he is as good away though, and WBA are reasonably solid, its their attack which is awful. Hazard is a troll and has Barca away 3 days after - avoid. Stoke also decent at home defensively and City are not so potent away from home.

Kane for me

Alonso for me

On Hazard(C) & Mahrez(VC) currently.

Was always gonna be Kane.but now mahrez tempts me.

I think Alonso may be a decent shout, going forward passes the eye test with threat and Palace are fairly ineffective up top.

May haunt the sellers.

It has to be Kane regardless
Hazard’s minutes is a worry with Barca in mind
Maybe Auba but Arsenal in really poor form and Alonso could be a good differential captain but again too much risk involved
So an easy Kane captaincy choice here

May go with Bernardo Silva as a differential. He's done well for me since I've got him and if Sterling is injured I may captain him. If not, it might just end on Salah.

Maybe we will see a strong reaction from Chelsea after a poor performance. Alonso could be a good shout for an assist and clean sheet against Palace.

But Kane is the obvious choice.

RP: I've been targeting GW31 players since GW25 too and my rank has gone from 47k to 21k. I could get 12 in GW31 without taking a hit. I might be a one-off, but blaming getting GW31 players for poor recent performance probably needs to be looked at in a wider sample.

This should be a hot topic. Similar case here and I think it applies to many others. Oh well, we live and learn but only time will tell.

did he captain aguero against leicester ?

Too much is being made of GW31 in my opinion. As long as you have 3 Liverpool players and captain Salah you can't go too far wrong. The average will likely be mid 20s and the diefference between a great score and a decent one probably only 15 points or so.
People bringing in Siggy, Walcott, or Huddersield and Stoke players seem a but mad to me. They'll only outscore the non-players by 1 or 2 points

I'm still up for preserving my free hit for GWK 35 as makes navigating the double gameweek sandwich easier.

But do also think that GWK 31 can be better planned for focusing on only the best blank assets early. Stocking up early on Everton players for example is proving costly - a trap I've fallen into with Niasse.

Also a mixture of strategies is a good idea - focus on some non blankers as well. So for example while I did boo-boo with Niasse I've used my latest transfer on a Spurs asset - Davies - as I think he'll reward me v Bou and already has against Hudd.

I kept hold of my three city too....in Otamendi's case that's worked, less said about Sterling the better.

Those that got Mahrez in last week have also done well.

GWK 31 is really all about Salah (c), Firmino and another Liv player plus Shaqiri. The rest are so poor or low owned that swerving them certainly won't harm rank that week.

tbh im bored of thinking bout it. No strategy is prefect and they will always be dominated by hindsight. Some will nail it by planning for 31 some won't.
Ive planned for 31 and Shaqiri bauer deeney all done ok. Pickford Wilson not so much but at the time they were both decent options regardless of 31. I just cant get excited bout fhc 31 coz the differentials just aren't that explosive

You should have an advantage going into double gameweeks without the worry of navigating gameweek 35 blank although that is much easier now
considering city have been knocked out

My rank has also fallen but the players I have signed have done ok (Mane last 2, Coleman this week) and the players sold have not scored any better on the whole. It's my lack of Firmino for ages and poor defence of non GW31 cheapies which has hurt my rank the most.

I've been deliberately ignoring GW31 and am going to use the free hit, but it still hasn't helped me. I've dropped around 100k places in the last few weeks due to gambling on differentials like Sanchez and Mhki, and Vardy over Firmino. I just think GW35 might see a lot of rotation and it'll be difficult to get the same gains as it will be in GW31. And also I don't have my wildcard so am building now for the double in GW34

I would suspect that your rival will also have 11 or 12 DGW players for DGW34 without needing to even use the WC in 32/33 because he has already stocked up whilst you (in comparison) gather the 3rd/4th def/mid type dross for BGW31.

Liverpool, City/Swansea/Spurs, Arsenal, Burnley, WHU etc all have a double and play in the blank week so he is even covering the GW35 blank 😉

In past seasons I've torn up perfectly good teams for a handful of BWk points.So I decided quite early on to FH31, mainly because I knew I'd get myself in trouble by trying to gamble on dodgy players.

It's gone ok so far. I've brought in Mane, Maguire, Davies and Arnie, and more importantly, I haven't felt the need to sell Son.

But what I like best about FH31 + WC33 is that it allows me to now bring in one or two absolute potshots. Maybe Deeney (ars - FH - BOU) or even Gayle (SOU - FH - HUD) ?

In short, I haven't quite racked up the points like your rival, but it's been fun, flexible and has felt more "normal" than shouting at the useless Walcott on TV.

FH chip seems to have become a facilitating chip rather than a pt gatherer.Whichever week it's being used it's more about preserving points either side of the week it's being used.
Those that used it early were targetting specific weeks with good fixtures to gain pts.
Now it's being used to minimize losses between GWs - particularly DGWs.
Those holding for GW35 could just easily make the same scores as those in 31 if the fixture disruption is similar.
Advantage of 35 simply seems to be the the maximization of WC selections pre-DGWs.
Use it in 31 and you either have to adjust WC selections to allow for 35 or write off 35 as you don't have the time option to prepare for 35 as you've had for 31.

This is the first year we've had the FH chip so we're all still trying to work out the best approach, in combination with the other chips, the DGWs and the "blanks" - it's quite complicated and there are many possible combinations.

We may have a better idea in hindsight which was the better way but even then this might not apply to next season as every season is different!

I think those that have lost rank lately have not done so because of GW31 at all.

There's been some disappointments from GW31 players for sure, but at the same time there's been a lot of players rising in form with GW31. Shaqiri, Deeney, Mané, Milivojevic and Mounie have been on strong runs. Watford, Stoke and Liverpool have been racking up CS while they've been drying up elsewhere. Would you have gotten these players without the GW31 advantage?

What would people have done with Firmino if they didn't know he had a GW31 fixture? I dared to take him out with that knowledge, and that has set me behind in by double digits of points. I'm sure a lot more would've done the same mistake.

I think the main reason people have done poorly recently is the template of GW22. Alonso, Jones, Otamendi, Son, Sterling, Lingard, Arnautovic and Kane have been a disastrous combination, and people had to get rid of the wrong players rather than transferring in the right ones.

*Sorry, in first para should say "with a view to using FH in 35"

Could this be edited please?

I have been trying to calculate or consider best way to approach gw31. This week looking at 66 pts and Alexis to go. Robertson and Mané have been ok. I also have been able to climb with my poor OR and managed to catch others in my mini league.

Mahrez got lucky with very late goal and Wilson has been poor. But even in hindsight Walcott had his chances to score and Wilson might have given the penalty. Had that happened I could smile. Shaqiri in would also have helped.

Atm I have 7 gw31 players and Schindler for Chilwell is likely next move. According to bookies HUD are likely to keep at least one cs in next two. After that is time to think again who are worth taking a hit.

Anyway, risks in taking in players for a hit for bgw is much safer differential than not captaining Kane imo.

I think some people will make the mistake of shipping players for GW31 assets who they're going to want back when they wildcard in GW 32/33 (Mahrez for example) but will have to pay that extra 0.1 or 0.2 for them that time around. Maximising funds is important ahead of wildcarding.

So your ONE example, where you personally came out on the bad side, makes you question your strategy? Are you one of those who always jump on bandwagons, cuz that would be as myopic?

Maybe in hindsight. Maybe if you didn't start it early enough. Maybe.

For me, it has worked fine- my transfers in have been VVD and Bauer, and I've gambled on getting Mahrez in 2 weeks ago with a view to disposing of him (or more likely benching him and disposing of Sterling) for 31.

So it can have worked by now - I already had Shaqiri, Walcott and a benched attacker in Crouch, and will have taken -8 in hits over 4 weeks to have 10 out for 31.

to be fair, this was mentioned on the scoutcast and they unanimously agreed to go for players with good fixtures now and worry about gw31 later on.

I don't understand how that could have made such a difference. Players like mahrez Eriksen have not given a great boost and have been matched by Shaq. Maybe u have got Wally but others may have had sterling too. So dunno how?

Numb, I don't think your strategy of planning for FHC for gw35 is wrong,if I had the FHC still that's when I'd play it.
what your rival has done is ignore gw31 players whereas you've probably got 8 already and may have planned to get 10 or 11.
that's the real difference.
a 60 pt gap over 6 weeks from gwk32 will be easy for you to close.that's only 10 pts more per week than him.
how is he going to manage gwk 35 compared to your fhc team where you will get more choice with better players

I couldn't agree more. Of course there will be exceptions (Jarvish etc) but in general the gw31 options have been rough to own. It was exactly the same last season, with people stocking up on West Brom and Bournemouth players for weeks in advance. I think people have been really blinkered on the whole and it's costing us. I wasted my FH earlier in the season (totally my fault) but I've no doubt that gw31 would have been the best option. I posted about this topic earlier with a bit more detail so feel free to see my post history for a bit more thinking on this. Next season I'll be strongly leaning towards FH in the biggest blank gw.

Incidentally I've also out together a gw32 WC team that allows for 11 players in 35 and I think it looks pretty handy...

Personally I'm following the strategy of Numb's mini-league leader and using the FH in GW31, a strategy I think works particularly well if you don't have your WC left. It's something I've tweeted about it a couple of time @Heroes_FPL . My rationale is exacly as Numb says in that by ignoring GW31 it allows you to focus on making the optimal transfers for the here and now (and also for the potential DGW34 if you don't have a WC) without being influenced by the significantly reduced fixture list, containing mostly 'weaker' teams, in GW31. I also think there is a good case for making decisions based on what we 'know' now and then reacting to the changing circumstances as and when the GW35 fixtures are confirmed.

You'll never know until you look back!! You might have had that points deficit anyway?

I think you are perhaps conflating two doubts over the contrasting strategies. The first is using FH in GW31 - as opposed to GW35 - while the second simply asks if GW31 assets have been worthwhile at all. Unless something unusual happens in those two GW (or the FA qtrs), you're more likely to gain from a FH team in GW35.

But undeniably the players who did look decent for GW31 haven't done well apart from a few exceptions.

The issue I had is that a few weeks ago I tried to put together a free hit team in 31 that I wanted and really struggled to find 11 decent players! So now I'm planning to FH in 35.

But the problem is that I've been stuck with players like Daniels, Kenny, and Quaner who I haven't bothered ditching because they all (potentially) play in 31 and that has really hit me hard over the last few weeks with injuries to players such as Jones and Sterling meaning I've got to play these useless bench players. Needless to say they would all have been long gone if they didn't play in 31.

If you look at the top 20 in FPL Form
https://fantasy.premierleague.com/a/statistics/form
it is not exactly the collection of good picks that many are posting have been overlooked, with the last two Dream Teams being an even more motley crew. I'd argue that only a Spurs defender from that list is a clear case of a player with a BGW that might have been missed, though 2/3 CS during their gauntlet against the big clubs could be considered a bit of a surprise.

Yes, many have ignored Ki, Murray, and Antonio at their own peril, but it is hard to justify those picks over a Watford mid, a Bournemouth forward, or an Everton mid, even in hindsight.

Actively transferring for the double that far out is doing it wrong imo. You end up making judgements of average player X for 7 weeks vs good player for 6 weeks. At some point maybe a couple of weeks out it becomes 3 weeks of average vs 2 weeks of better and it'll make sense then but its only when you get close that the advantage of the extra week really emerges.

Taking this into account, you may realise you'd only get 6 or 7 players out without hits in 31 so you'd likely take 3 or 4 hits for the blank week lottery. This is fine and knowing the majority of the payback will be in 31 for the hits you can start to plan them in early if they make sense. With Eriksen my main target last week for Spurs' stretch of 3 good fixtures I effectively took a -8 on VVD and Mane who I knew I'd end up with sooner or later and I've been happy to have them these last two gameweeks. But perhaps most importantly accepting the hits would come I left myself free to get hazard for a couple of hauls weeks earlier.

To tie GW35 back into the conversation, playing it either way we should expect to take hits for the week we don't play the Free Hit. Trying to plot a path between DGW34 and DGW37 I felt 35 would cost me more hits so I chose to Free Hit then and eat the costs of 31.

Cheers. There is a typo when you say “October” instead of February.

Has to be the Eliteserien articles. So much detail and knowledge and yet it also shows the true depths of a fantasy football addiction 😆

The Norwegians for me, but those running the Community Competition (not just Speedy) should get some sort of separate official reward/recognition as (which I know from experience) this takes hours of time and unrecognised hard work behind the scenes purely for the good of the community, and is amazingly popular and one of the USPs for FFS.

Hi Jonty. I've not seen my Amazon voucher for the January Article of the Month. Can you check if it's been sent?

Eliteserien.