Three New Signings for FFS

Kane exit did for me and generally crap at picking captains

Main desired improvements ... patience with transfers and avoiding early transfers chasing those 0.1's

Got bored half way through the season and started taking hits for that reason alone...need a more disciplined approach

Hope you have better luck next year!

Only my second season, last year 1m (didn’t pay much attention)
This year I’ve been full bull, hit 6k but currently sitting in 9k.
Had some really good calls, but then some terrible ones also, only got my captain right once the entire season.
Won my ML last year and 56points ahead this year, so pretty happy.

My only wish is that Chelsea will do better next year!

Ps. Big thanks to the community for the help! Hoping to finish inside 5k

Wrong - No Salah until GW20 due to my stubbornness.

Wrong - TC Kane back in the double in Jan.

Right - Not to be boastful but most other decisions I am happy with, sitting inside top 500 and should hopefully finish there. No hits all season.

Truly unhappy! Fought back to lead ML (not sewn up yet), 65k OR, will be happy with 50k and ML victory.

Biggest regrets - wasting FH early, Kane TC22 and, not jumping on the Man U defender bandwagon early.

Standout good (lucky) points: Catching Sanchez' relative hauls on WC32, Tadic haul in 36.

Patience and conservatism has been my theme this season, can't say I've enjoyed it as much as maverick.

Finished as 3100 and 6100 the last two season. Frustrating end to last season as I somehow went without Kane during the doubles, cost me a top 1000 finish.

This year I've been struggling at 200k-400k, but the doubles have brought me up to 66k. Hopefully TC Jesus can take me inside top 50k, which I'm happy with considering how awful the 2/3 of the season has been.

I've had Salah all season, had Kane for most of his hattricks and also Aguero for a lot of his hauls. So where did it go wrong? Mainly getting all the wrong defenders at the wrong times, captaining Kane time after time over Salah and ignoring Sterling for far too long (had Sane instead).

First half of the season, rubbish captain picks. Trusting Harry Kane with the armband, falling into the "why have the most expensive player in FPL if you're not going to captain him" trap.

Second half was much better for captains.

What doomed my season was the GW32 wildcard. Disaster.

Looking at some of the players I brought in compared to players who were overlooked (most of them because they had a single game week or deemed rotation risks) the difference is staggering.

GW32 - GW36 (GW35 scores have not been counted, as many featured in the free hit)

Alonso 1, 1, 4, 0, 0
Morgan 5, 1, 1, 0, 0
Willian 2, 2, 4, 0, 1
Son 5, 2, 1, 5, 3
Mahrez 3, 2, 2, 3, 2
Bailly 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0
51 points

Azpilicueta 1, 11, 1, 2, 9
Tomkins 0, 0, 8, 6,
Zaha 5, 7, 14, 14
Arnoutovic 16, 5, 2, 2
Sterling 7, 4, 10, 12
Smalling 6, 7, 2, 14, 2

167 points

Just picking Smalling over Bailly and Sterling over Mahrez would have left me 50 points better off and top of my main mini-league.

Very fine margins.

The times when I've "lost" points this season were when I made transfers I didn't need to make.

KDB to Mane in GW4 made no sense when I had the opportunity to save FT, and it resulted in an 11 point swing and a forced transfer with Mane's red card.

Early season I had 2FT and nothing to do, so did Ramsey to Zaha. This cost over 20 points over the coming weeks as Ramsey continued his great form.

I had 2FT again and nothing to do around 27-28 and so did Mili to Ibe as Ibe's stats we're better. This cost a LOT over the coming weeks as I was starting my cheap mid most weeks. Ibe getting randomly injured and so on meant I got quite a few 1 point autosubs as well.

Usually I select next week's captain as soon as the game updated and only change it if there is a compelling reason to do so. Twice this season I had the captaincy on Salah all week and changed it so Hazard on Saturday morning. Both times Hazard blanked and Salah hauled.

These are small details really, I've had my fair share of good fortune as well (getting Salah, Sterling, Firmino very early for low cost) so it's just a case of trying to minimise errors as much as possible next season.

Kane, Willian and KDB basically. I've had them during their blanks (and captained them) and sold them before their hattricks, braces and hauls. It's quite funny really.

It's all about getting more decisions right than wrong, so here's some of my key ones:

Right:

Gross,Alonso,Salah at the start of the season
Got in Otamendi and Davies when they weren't very highly owned and was rewarded with quite a few CS's and goals
A well-timed first wildcard
Generally quite well timed formation shifts, from a big defence - to 3 premium strikers - to a heavy midfield
Listening to my 'gut' more than in other seasons - ignoring Kane captain for some of his 'easy' home games and being rewarded with some differential captain hauls, ignoring Kanexit, starting with the wingbacks, ignoring Willian

I'd say the second half of my season has been more wrong than right, and it's cost me a really amazing rank which was in my grasp. Slipped from 700 to 6k but managed to claw my way out of the mire.. but can clearly see what I messed up with.

Wrong:

Lingard (c) when Kane and Salah both hauled (I was 700 in the world at the time, what was I thinking?)
Taking a -8 and not getting Aguero in around the time he hauled massively.
Pope -> Pickford for a -4 cost me about 20 points.
Wilson was a complete fail and expected a good return from him - he blanked in every game.
Bringing in and then benching Milivojevic for 2 GWs in a row when he scored.
A dismal triple captaincy on yellow flagged Kane who got 3 points.

In hindsight, I think I got carried away trying to be 'different' after Xmas. I went too maverick with some of my decisions when I needed to chill out and play it safer. Not getting Aguero was a killer though, as this would have fit my strategy perfectly - especially as I took a -8 to bring in Lingard, Pope (and others) who ultimately were really bad decisions.

It's a bit like playing poker when you have a lot more chips than everyone else and start playing completely differently. I think because it's quite rare for me to be doing so well at Xmas I didn't really know how to play! Definitely some lessons to be learned.

Been my best season ever in 10 years. Been as high as 37 but slipped back a little this week as people have played their TC. Even if one of the popular TC choices goes crazy still have enough pts in bank to guarantee a top 500 which would be my best ever.

Good: Salah from beginning
Been very lucky with captaincy choices.
Played with gut.
Taken hits (64pts) but nearly always as part of a long-term planning (players coming in at least for 3 or games) and a lot due to injury/suspension.
Hit Aguero at the beginning of his run and captained him only for his hauls (luck)
Started Lukaku over Kane. Figured Utd would start strong (though he went after a pen miss and 0pt captaincy)
Started DDG then went to Pope. Good keeper pts for much of season.
Good start enabled late 1st WC (GW16) which allowed for a fixture switch and set-up for Xmas period.

Cons: Never been this high and "froze" last few weeks over-thinking things. e.g. free hit - knew Lacazette would probably be starting. Didn't think he'd do much and that Auba would come on for him with Europe in mind. Sub didn't happen that way and Laca hauled but mainly because Auba changed the game. Followed the crowd and i'd have been top 20.
TC blown GW22 on Kane. Wasn't sure about Swansea game but figured he catch up against a West Ham defence that hadn't been keeping CSs particularly away from home.
Every season I miss a bandwagon player or 2. This season just couldn't see Shaqiri.
Played a decent bench on paper all season but had nothing in terms of autosub pts.

Very Satisfied my performance this year. It's only my 3rd year playing FPL. Finsihed 18k last year and currently sitting at 4k. All Mini Leagues settled except one where I have a 10 point lead and Rival has TC'd Kane and I have Jesus(c).

When you ask what went well, it was the time period from GW19-GW27 where I moved from 66k to 1k, and the major decisions that helped with this were not falling for the first Kanexit trap and in this very time period, I did follow the Kanexit 2.0 and went Aguero over Kane from GW24-GW27 and bagged in his 8 goals, plus making full use of the heavy back-line of Alonso, Otamendi & Jones really helped in defensive returns every week. The value picks like Firmino & Sterling require no mention. Had Hazard at the right times. Had Salah since GW1 and went without him for just 2 Gameweeks up untill GW33 where I got rid and now probably will get back for GW38.

So I was smelling Top 1k by GW27 then dropped to 10k by GW34 as I tried to follow the template too much, faced injuries and the 2nd Wildcard did not help much. It has to be highlighted that the Free Hit chip helped massively to gain back ground as my OR went from 10k -> 4k.

Finally, the thing that needs to be mentioned is the captaincy pick as from GW18 till now, my captain has only blanked once which was Kane in GW30 where he got injured after playing 33 mins (And did not look the same again). G-Whizz's DS Stats Hot Topic has largely influenced my captaincy decision which I think has to be highlighted here.

Best of luck DAVEBENSONPHILIPS for the remaing matches of GW37 and GW38. Cheers.

Very disappointing season so far.
Did well last year in my first season finishing 500k after starting 3 weeks late.
Taking too many unnecessary hits has been the biggest mistake for me. Spent 108 points in hits so far. Captained Kane for a lot of his blanks,and sold him out just before the double hatties. Sitting at 200 k currently. But,with BB active and a decent 38 team,hoping for a top 100 k finish.
Will look to improve next season. Reducing the unnecessary hits and nailing more captains will surely help.

I finished top 5k in my first serious season playing FPL last year. I'll be lucky to finish top 200k this season. I've played similarly and put the same amount of time in. The three main reason I probably are:
1. Being late to the Salah party.
2. Not having a bit of patience with Firminho at the start.
3. Probably the main one this. I held onto two assets for way too long as they blankety blanked, namely Sane + Alli.

I've been consistently doing very well all season and reached a high if overall rank of 36. Was in top 1k for months and top of my mini league for 90% of the season. My issue? Changing my tactics to prevent my rival from catching me and that has led to some awful decisions and him being from over 100 points behind to just 40.

Long story short I just have just carried on the way that was winning...

What a season!
Pep's rotation between Aguero and Gabriel, Aguero is my top front man. Pep kept switching them up, I think this some how affected Aguero but still there was some positives.
Undermining Salah, I didn't sign him from the go.
Missing out on signing KDB earlier.
Poor captain calls.
Missing using my wildcard chips.
Playing risky does hurt, taking -40 hit.

The good.
Did well in the cup, managed to beat 7 teams, this has never happened in my FPL history. I would be knocked out by the second team.
Won the draft head to head before GW 38.
Let me wait for the this the end of this GW 37, miracles do happen.

Im happy with my season. On 2.1k overall so far, will win a couple of my mini leagues.

Good:
- Didnt have Kane for most of the season. Even when I didnt have him and he scored back to back hat trick I got 2 GW scores of 100k.
- Playing most of the season with 4 good defenders. I will be tempted to do the same next year.

Bad:
- Horrible start with to many unsure starters like Iwobi, Danilo and Moreno. Will play with more assured starters next year.

Good: captain picks, differentials from GW6-16, patience with transfers
Bad: missing out on so many bandwagons thus such a low TV, and also my rank dropping as a result of injuries/rotation unexpectedly, and I'm too scared to take more than a -8 to get the team I actually want