After a nightmare season were I finished outside the top 500,000, I was determined to redeem myself in the upcoming season. I wanted to learn how the very best FPL managers avoided bad seasons. So I spent the summer listening to the brilliant meet the manager videos on FFScout and I also re-listened to ubiquitous top tips for FPL success and various season review podcasts. Here are 10 important notes I jotted down when I was digesting all this FPL content.
1) Be aware of the ownership of highly captained players.
Some people say stick with your premium players and be patient – they are quality players and they will come good. Don’t chop and change them. But be weary – not having a highly owner player who tops the captain poll is dangerous.
2) When the game updates for a new gameweek, make a note of your initial transfer thoughts. Don’t overthink it!
Often your first impression of your team is a good one. As the week goes on, the firehose of FPL noise may cause you to forget what you had planned when your mind was fresh and unclouded.
3) Don’t spend transfers in defence.
Get the best defenders from the best teams from the outset and let them do their thing throughout the course of the season. There is a good chance they will get a clean sheet every other week, while trying to predict clean sheets for cheap defenders is tough – especially when you’re using precious transfers trying to hop from one to another.
4) Ask yourself FPL General’s 3 questions before making a transfer.
- Is the player a rotation risk?
- Is the player injury prone?
- Has the player you’re selling been given enough time? Are they showing encouraging stats?
5) Break down the season into blocks of 6 games.
Within each block, divide the teams into those who have good, middling and bad fixtures.
6) Have a clear captaincy plan
Know well in advance who your captain will be for the next several gameweeks. If it is a 50/50 split with the captaincy, go for the home player. When playing away, the opposition team can do things like not water the pitch to make things difficult.
7) Use RMT tool to see when your team is weak in future gameweeks.
Do what Mark Sutherns does and use the RMT tool on FFScout to see how your team is projected to do in the next 6 gameweeks and get ahead of the curve with a bad gameweek. If you have 60 to 70 plus points for 5 gameweeks and let’s say 40 or fewer points for one gameweek, prepare a plan of action now for that low scoring gameweek in the future.
8) Remember Numb’s 4 Principles
One: Planning (avoid transfers just for the current gameweek), Two: Research (e.g. regional papers have great inside info about local teams, will a player keep his place next week? – look at player ratings), Three: Team Management (continuously improve your team) and Four: Risk Management (avoid bandwagons).
9) Minimise Transfers
Will you have to sell the player you are bringing in any time soon? Does the player you are transferring in have good fixtures to come? Avoid hits but use your free transfer aggressively.
10) Look at the most important stats.
There are hundreds of different stats you can look at. Don’t lose track of the most important ones, as identified by Adam Hopcroft: Shots in the box. Big chances total. Penalty area touches.
4 years, 8 months agoGood stuff, thank you Virg.
Number 4 is one I especially try to follow - I'm prone to impulsive transfers that have me thinking too short term, meaning I end up with another player that gets rotated out of their teams starting lineup and another problem I have to deal with - a la Pedro.
Equally number 10 - spot on.