We’ve heard the line many times: Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is getting harder and harder. With nearly 11.5 million players last season and with the proliferation of FPL content everywhere you look, the game is far more difficult these days. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, most of us like a challenge, and, if we do obtain a good rank in such challenging conditions, it is much more of an achievement.
So what’s the problem? Well, the main one is already doing significant damage to the game, in my opinion. It’s the points system. The rules surrounding scoring points in FPL simply weren’t designed to cope with so many global managers. FPL has become a victim of its own success.
Let’s start with a really simple example to illustrate this. You pick a differential forward who is only 10% owned and he scores a goal to get you four points that 90% of the game won’t get. In the 2022/23 season, 10% of the game is 1.5 million managers. In 2017/18, this 10% was 0.52 million managers. Therefore, your differential points are being severely diluted, shared with nearly three times as many FPL managers as before.
The problem boils down to supply and demand. There has been a massive amount of demand in terms of participants playing the game but the supply of points has stayed exactly the same – six when a defender scores, five for a midfielder goal, four for forwards, four when there’s a clean sheet and three for an assist.
We’re talking about minuscule, single-digit numbers being asked to separate 11,447,257 people. Like a tin of sardines, we’re getting compressed tightly alongside millions of others and the only thing that can move us in either direction is a weak drip of points from a knackered, old faucet.
The game could react to its own popularity by increasing the numbers. In other words, additional routes to points and awarding more of them for existing ones, such as doubling the points currently given for goals and clean sheets.
Perhaps they can start being given for things like key contributions, partial clean sheets or even an extra point when a player scores multiple times. So if Erling Haaland gets a hat-trick, his first goal brings four points, his second brings five points and the third is worth six.
New chips could be added such as ‘Park the Bus’, whereby your two goalkeepers and five defenders get the chance to double their clean sheet points in a Gameweek.
There are lots of other ideas like this, aiding a game that – in my opinion – needs a huge injection of points. In recent seasons, about 31,000 have been scored across all Premier League players and that simply isn’t enough for a game with over 11 million managers.
It becomes even more problematic when we think back to 2022/23 and how quickly the template formed. This is not about making FPL easier; it’s simply about acknowledging the gargantuan size of the game and reacting accordingly. When dealing with such vast numbers, four points for a forward’s goal just isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Goals, assists, bonus points, clean sheets, save points and penalty saves. There are currently just six routes where a team can move up through millions of other teams, so a revamp of the FPL points scoring system for 2023/24 could reinvigorate the game.
As more and more people around the world sign up for FPL, it’s only going to get harder. We’re all scrambling for a small, static pool of points that refuses to grow in tandem with the game. Unless something is done for next season, we’re going to quickly find ourselves wedged in and stuck amongst inescapable rank tiers.
11 months, 22 days agoInteresting thought, for sure. Evolving the game is important and a lot of managers probably ended 22/23 on equal points.