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Next up is two-time Indian FPL champion Lateriser, who shares his thoughts ahead of Gameweek 4.
What a weekend of football that was – such good viewing for worldwide fans. I am here with some macro thoughts that are at the back of my mind.
A lot of FPL managers have had a poor Gameweek and I’ve seen a lot of posts about people falling massively in rank and having Gameweek ranks of around eight millionth. I just want to point out that at this stage, ranks simply don’t matter. The difference between a one million rank rise or fall is one Ivan Perisic (£5.5m) haul. Don’t pay much attention to it.
I am currently ranked at 2.7 million but am only 30 points away from a 200k rank. One thing that has helped me as an FPL manager that plays his own game is setting short-term goals for myself and I’m currently looking to break into the top one million, which is 16 points away.
SHORT-TERM TRANSFERS
For most FPL managers, we’re only three Gameweeks into the season but likely only five away from using our first Wildcard. With this in mind, I think you can be quite short-term with transfers.
The fact that most of us have a very good team composed of players from top sides means we can choose to target individual matches with our transfers, ones where the hauling potential for players is very high.
For example, Manchester City host Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 5 and that game might be worth indulging in some Pep rotation to benefit from an attacker’s haul. Many have three Liverpool and Arsenal assets so I won’t go there but looking at runs of two to four games seems like a good place to start pursuing attacking transfers. Here are some of my favourite fixture runs:
As teams are generally strong right now, targeting players for even one or two fixtures is fine, in my opinion.
Even our back-up bench fodder like Andreas Pereira (£4.5m) plays as a set-piece taking attacking midfielder in a team beaten only by Manchester City for expected goals (xG) so far. I just want to remind you of that late-season mindset when managers are ‘haul-chasing’ before deploying their final Wildcard.
RODRIGO
This also applies to players like Rodrigo (£6.3m) if you’re worried about his expected minutes. Jesse Marsch has been obsessed with him since he’s arrived at the club and has now handed him the captain’s armband.
Given the fact that he’s already had four goals and the fixtures look good until potential Wildcard time, going there is not a bad option. Leeds are a front-foot team just like Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brighton – all of whom are in the top six for xG so far this season – who also happen to have good fixtures.
They will constantly attack and Rodrigo is often lingering in and around the box. He has the underlying stats too but you need to temper expectations in terms of what to expect in the next few rounds.
My main point is that if you’re a risk-averse manager, the time when Marsch could consider dropping Rodrigo for a drop in performance will likely be Wildcard time anyway. So maybe have a higher risk tolerance? Just some food for thought.
TWO GAMES A WEEK
Another factor is that most of the big teams are about to start playing every midweek. Pep Guardiola has already told us that Erling Haaland (£11.7m) is likely going to play just once per week, so we do need to play for the upcoming Gameweeks.
“I tell you now when we have games every three days that Erling will not play, I will play Julian [Alvarez].” – Pep Guardiola
Currently, I am not thinking of selling Haaland because he’s capable of hat-tricking in any game. On a short, self-indulgent note, I feel very hard done by as a Haaland captainer in Gameweek 3. I was right in predicting an expansive game against Newcastle but still lost out to Mohamed Salah’s (£13.0m) captainers. That is just how FPL sometimes works, so I’ll quickly move past that.
READ MORE: FPL Gameweeks 4-6 rotation risk: How much rest does each team get?
IVAN PERISIC
When it comes to the explosiveness of Perisic, he’s definitely worth the risk. He showed a lot of quality in a game where Spurs didn’t do much and the Croat is always looking to make a run behind the last line of defence. His expected minutes are a worry but, if you know where to look on Twitter, you can decide whether to start or bench him in a particular Gameweek. That is how I intend on using him in my FPL team. He’s got double-digit haul potential every time he starts.
Finally, I’d like to end this article by advising that, if you’ve had a rough Gameweek, don’t do anything rash or stupid. A lot of big defenders failed but that is the exception, not the norm. Someone like Andrew Robertson (£6.9m) has a fixture tailor-made for him this week and I’d think twice before selling.
Until next time. If you want to hear more from us, check out this week’s FPL Wire below:
