As ‘the time that bears no fruit deserves no name‘, so I have used my time to set aside any boring thoughts about international breaks and check some specific stats for defenders that have low ownership (that is under 10 per cent).
In this article I will be discussing my own criteria for selecting differential defenders, give my reasoning behind that selection criteria, and then make a list of the selected players.
Theory of the All Rounders
Thankfully, the creators of the FPL game have set it up to find a balance between attacking and defending skills. This is so clear when examining how players earn both direct points and bonus points.
Players earn direct points through scoring goals, making assists, and achieving clean sheets.
Also, players can be awarded bonus points for other footballing skills: successful tackles, blocks, interceptions, clearances, recoveries, saves, completed passes, shots on target, key passes, creating chances, successful crosses and dribbles.
Hence, an ‘All-Rounder’ is a player who is good at a wide range of the skills mentioned above – one more likely to attract FPL points, whether directly (goals, assists, and clean sheets) or indirectly (bonus points).
So, a possible differential candidate has to be able to demonstrate that he has a mix of attacking and defending skills in order to be considered for a position on the ‘All Rounders’ list.
For a defender to be an all rounder he should have a reasonable number of the attacking skills (goal attempts, key passes, creating chances, successful crosses, and aerial threat), make a reasonable number of completed passes per game, and also have as many as possible of the defending skills, but not necessarily all of them.
Putting theory of All Rounders into operation
In order to find the differential all rounders I will be using some tables that are available in the Members Area, and examining some specific stats which, in my opinion, are the most important for that purpose. The defender should appear in the top ten list for these stats to show that he is a candidate for the ‘All Rounders’ list.
1) Finding the differential defenders who have reasonable attacking skills
Involvement. Stats to be examined:
- Touches in the final third
- Successful take ons
Distribution. Stats to be examined:
- Successful passes
- Successful crosses
- Chances created
Goal Threat. Stats to be examined:
- Touches in penalty area
- Goal attempts
Set pieces. Stats to be examined:
- Attempts from set pieces
- Successful corners
As this article uses a lot of members stats, only those with a valid Fantasy Football Scout subscription can access it in full.



4 years, 2 months agoA really interesting exercise El Estadístico, thank you for posting.
I think the simplicity of the process works very well, but I also wonder if it could be refined at all. For instance, there's some duplication of data - successful corners are included in successful crosses - should both be counted? And what about when a player does very well in a particular category - Cresswell has created 17 chances, significantly more than the others - should that be given more weight? Also, I wonder if the stats should be weighted in terms of FPL points - a defender scoring a goal is worth twice as many points as an assist, should attempts at goal be worth double chance creation stats?
I'm not sure about the answers to those questions, just some thoughts, and if you started to weight stats differently you would end up with your own ICT Index!
Thank you again and good luck this GW.