Scout’s General Manager and one-half of FPLFamily, Sam, has the Wildcard active ahead of Gameweek 22. In this piece, she explains why.
Well, what a difficult season this has been. I’ve been playing this game for a very long time and have never had a season that has been such a rollercoaster – and it’s a rollercoaster that never seems to go anywhere!
Gameweek 21 was especially difficult. After the Wednesday evening fixtures, I only had Patrick Dorgu‘s (£4.2m) assist, Erling Haaland‘s (£15.1m) goals and a smattering of ones and twos from everyone else. It did improve somewhat on Thursday evening, with six-pointers from Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.7m) and David Raya (£5.9m), as well as three points each for Bukayo Saka (£10.2m) and Florian Wirtz (£8.2m). But honestly, there was an overwhelming feeling that something drastic needs to change.
Heading into Gameweek 21, I was expecting to pull the Wildcard trigger as I had a number of assets such as Dorgu and Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m), whose nice fixtures were coming to an end. I was also carrying an injured Josh King (£4.4m) and Marc Guiu (£4.3m), who has been missing in action for a while. It felt like the FA Cup weekend was the perfect moment to reset my team and find a way to improve the trajectory that this season is taking.
Gameweek 21 v Gameweek 24
For a lot of Fantasy managers, Wildcarding now might seem mad. There will be Blank and Double Gameweeks to come, and while we may have an idea when they’ll be, we don’t know which teams will be affected.
But for my team, it was very much needed.
As a rule of thumb, when Wildcarding, look at how many players you have in your team that you don’t want any more. For me, that was eight. Generally, five is my threshold for playing the chip. Yes, I could have taken a -4 each week and fixed my team slowly, but that still left me with a nightmare-ish bench and a feeling of chasing my tail.
Gameweek 24 is maybe the obvious time in the coming weeks. By then, we will know the teams in the League Cup final and likely the implications on FPL. But even with a Wildcard now, I can do some of the prep needed for that.
Gameweek 24 is also a nice moment for understanding the impact of new managers. Chelsea’s fixtures are lovely for an extended period but they are particularly favourable from this point, while we’ll also have the benefit of watching Liam Rosenior’s new-look Blues before investing. In my case, it should be fairly easy to move between the picks if I do pick the wrong one on a Wildcard.
The same is also true of Manchester United, who still haven’t confirmed who their new manager will be. With Manchester City and Arsenal up next, maybe we can afford to wait anyway. The reality, however, is that Bruno Fernandes (£9.1m) is the likely answer to the United question, regardless of who the new manager might be.
Price chasing over ‘drafting’
For me, the first few days of having a Wildcard active are all about riding the price changes and not ‘drafting’. The FFScout price change page has become my new best friend. I am looking at it more than I am looking at my husband right now! Why? My team value is weirdly good for someone having such a disastrous season but with every price change, my team value can be bettered. With better value comes better investment.
In these early days of the chip being active, when people ask to see my team, I am always reluctant. At the moment, there are a number of players who I own who are unlikely to still be there next Friday. Why? Because they were rising in price, so I caught the rise, hoping that they might rise again. Then, I get to bank that value before I swap them for the player I actually want.
An example of this is Igor Thiago (£7.1m). He rose in price on Wednesday evening, so I brought him in. I am hoping to catch another rise from him in the coming days but will likely end up either with Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) or taking a punt on Liam Delap (£6.2m) instead. There is a chance that Thiago stays but if he does rise twice, then I have increased the money I have to spend across the rest of my team.
Thursday next week will be when I really start to formulate my team, as it is likely to look for Gameweek 22.
Core Wildcard ideas
There are a number of players that feel like they could be season-defining if I opt for them on Wildcard. Bruno Fernandes and Cole Palmer (£10.4m) have ownerships of around 12% in the game. Both feel like players to target on a Wildcard to try and get ahead of the curve.
However, I also fancy a punt on Delap from Chelsea as their fixtures are great. I am expecting some new manager bounce, while Delap has worked with Rosenior previously at Hull City and the incoming Blues boss has already spoken positively about the striker.
Doubling up on Chelsea, changing up my investment in Arsenal (Raya out!) and opting for a cheap pairing of goalkeepers will be at the heart of this Wildcard. Hopefully, this can restart my season.
It’s going to be a big climb – no pressure on this Wildcard at all!
