Cheers Jonty

Got Mane Lukaku & Llorente but still undecided who to Captain

There were lots of questions on this for the scoutcast, but we ran out of time sadly.

For me I'm keen on the DGWK 37 bench boost so will be aiming for a GWK 36 wildcard.

34 for me, 36 is a bit too late. there isnt as much of a risk as there was last season as the inform teams have the dgw's whereas last year we all ditched our spurs/leicester assets

I'll probably focus my FTs on teams With an extra DGW (Southampton, mun, arsenal) to try to get a few good options for their first dgw, then wildcard for the big DGW.

I will take no decision on the matter before we have more information on the scheduling of matches.

I'm looking at wildcarding once the double gameweek fixtures are announced. We all know we will need the big hitters for gameweek 37 anyway so may as well get them in now.

Spurs fixtures look great. I'm also planning on taking advantage of my team value over my mini league rivals. pricing them out by getting the expensive heavy hitters in. If I wait until game week 36 it only gives me 3 weeks of making use of these more expensive players.

I'm also trailing so will have to make a move soon lol

Gw 36 wildcard and gw 37 bench boost here, hoping for a miracle. If you wildcard for the earlier DGW you might be stuck with a team well set up for the dgw but not for the last 6-7 gameweeks. Wildcard gw 36 and set it up nicely for gw 37 and just roll out gw 38 imo

Gw 37 (as in for Gw 37)

Don't have bench boost so will go all in with a the dgws hat week

Triple captain in the previous double gameweek

Yes the plan is Kane back for Ibra next week, Phillips out for Pedro, then sit on my hands using FT's until GW36.

A well used wildcard can still claw back a 100 point deficit. I did it last year in my ML on the DGW. The following week my rival in sheer desperation made a 32 point hit! I knew I had him lol.

A lot still have their TC chip to use as well remember. Many won't even get the 9 points off Aguero that most of us had with it. Still plenty to play for.

Was just thinking about that, I'm pretty well set for this GW (10 playing + Amat), but was looking at the coming games and GW 29 looks like a good one to WC indeed. Anyone knows when are the postponed games dates being announced?

I'm going to wait until the doubles are announced next week hopefully and take it from there. An early one is doubtful at this stage but not beyond the realms of possibility

DGW 34 will be another disappointment so a wildcard in 36 is almost guaranteed.

Unless i fall far too behind in my cash ML and need to WC earlier out of desperation.

WC 36, BB 37. Sometimes the more you over-think and prepare early it doesn't help.

Wild card this week and have 4 DGW players on the bench and use FTs to get up to a full 11 in 37 which is 9 weeks away. Season could be over by GW37, seems a gamble to wait until then and not sure why the blank isn't seen as an opportunity when so many won't have a full 11 plus lots of hits flying around

Lots are saying 36, but most won't have the patience to hold out that long. Those than do hold their wad until 36 could have a massive differential in their back pocket.

All chips and WC left.

WC 33.
TC DGW34.
BB 37.
AOA between DGW34 and DGW37.

Might go earlier in GW32 or something.

There are likely to be at least 7/8 players I want for 37 that I currently don't have and would also benefit my team between now and then (thinking Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal in particular).

So waiting until 36 to wildcard might cause me to miss out on valuable points in the few weeks up until then.

Couldn't think of a bigger waste of the second wildcard than waiting for gw36.

It would be like benching Sanchez at Anfield and bringing him on at half time when you're two nil down. Very effective but not if you leave it too late.

Probably between GW30-32. Will sort my team out for GW37 with one or two hits.

Thinking of gw30. Mainly because i have a full XI this week and no Spurs at all. Will be able to get Sanchez, Gabbi, Costa, Valencia too. One of Boro or Watford should have a dgw34 so could get 3 of them and use FTs to get rid of them between 35-37 for 37 doublers, still getting 15 for BB

I'm WCing in 29 or once we have an idea of when the DGWs are likely to be. I know it's not the 'right' time to do it per se, but I'm doing really, really badly and I'm doing it for the same reason I TC'd Aguero; cos it's fun and I've not been having any of that lately.

To use the WC in 36 to get maybe an extra 10 points from BB in 37 is a massive trap.

WC is by far the most valuable chip. I used mine in gw21 when I was 624k. I am now 101k with 11 players on a -8 for this weekend. Generally the earlier it is used the more value you get from it.

Looking at the players we own and the shift in fixtures it is quite obvious gw30 is the week to use it for those who still have it.

This is really simple for me.....

Get this weekend's FA Cup matches out of the way first so we know which teams are due to play FA Cup games in GW34 and so cannot have a DGW34.

It is then much easier to visualise for which teams it will be possible to have a DGW34 and which ones DGW37.

Over the next 6 GW's you then need to work to get in as many DGW34 players in for free, and then post DGW34 wildcard in readiness for DGW37.

I have 10 (11 with Amat:) players this GW and after going Aguero->Kane will have the following 11 for GW29
Heaton (Pickford) - Baines Funes Mori McAuley (Maguire Amat) - Mane Sterling Siggy King (De Roon) - Kane Lukaku Llorente which is not ideal but fine, so I'm waiting with the wildcard for GW36

I am pressing the button tomorrow (before the deadline) with a couple of placeholders for big hitters. Yeah, I know, at least a week earlier than everyone else.

I think an early WC will, if played well and lady luck is with you, will earn you more points over the subsequent weeks than if you bet it all on one gameweek (i.e. GW37). I expect to have all of the key GW37 players anyway in order to maximise the bench boost.

If I had my WC then GW 30 would be the optimal time. You've got 2 weeks of international break to take advantage of price movement and you can draft in as many DGWers as you need. For teams not in Europe their pending games are more likely to be played earlier in GW 32 - 36. You have enough time to plan to put out 15 DGWers for 37 BB while retaining form/ fixtures coverage between them. By 1st April all the information regarding DGWs will be available and then the only variables remaining will be form and injury which is hardly in control for a GW 36 wild card either.

GW 30: minimum 8 DGW
GW 31: bank
GW 32: 1 transfer
GW 33: 1 transfer
GW 34: 1 transfer
GW 35: 1 transfer
GW 36: 1 transfer
GW 37: 2 transfers (BB)

Enough flexibility plus coverage of Liverpool, Everton, Swansea and West Ham assets. The 8 initial DGW players are most likely to be in your squad any case with Sanchez, Kane, Hazard, Ibra, Walker already in most teams. Moving early helps you capture price movements as well.

Even for a team that has played their WC already and with only 4 DGW players in GW 28 the disadvantage is probably 2 hits so saving right upto tGW 36 doesn't make too much sense.

I think wildcarding in GW36 is too late for me. I'll probably wildcard before GW30, and just look at what teams still have most matches to play, especially avoiding those that play their 28th match this weekend (maybe exceptions for Siggy / a Liverpool mid). I don't need to know when exactly they'll get their DGW when I WC.

When to WC is a very personal thing, depending on the current make-up of our teams.

For some it is best now, for some the week after and so on.

Also, there are horror stories every season of the season/team wrecked by using WC just because it was available to be played and trying to be too different to the crowd by looking at fixtures. I did this with Kane the last season winter-WC rules were in place, had to get him back after a month with tail between my legs.

There are a lot of unknowns, but one thing 'almost' for sure is that if you use it around your other chips, you do gain a benefit, only thing is, you don't know if the advantage is large or small when evaluated against other weeks.

Best strategy at present is probably to wait for DGW news. Let us revisit this topic then.

I'd really like to encentuate Ruth_NZ's post above.

This year, there really has seemed to be this idea that the Wildcard + BB is limited to being used in GW 36. Actually to the point where, when I first considered using my wildcard a few weeks ago, I didn't want to post it anywhere for fear that I would be shot down in flames.

Since I used my WC back in GW 26, I have had 2 successive green arrows (rising from 205,000 - 115,000), I have shifted a lot of deadwood who I knew would let me down (Phillips, Benteke, Baines, Sancez/Ibra due to the blanks). Similarly, I brought in players that I knew would do well (Kane, Mane, Lukaku etc.). I would estimate that over these 2 weeks, I'm about 50-60 points better off than if I hadn't wildcarded. Plus i'm in an excellent position for the blanks, with 10 players and the saving of my FT.

My point isn't to gloat (well it is a little). My point is that if your team is in need of dire surgery, as Ruth suggested, you really should consider playing the card. There's no point in not playing it, losing out on 100 points over 10 gameweeks and then playing it with the BB to gain 20-30 points. It's madness. We are good fantasy managers because we plan ahead. Strategic use of the wildcard now will let us refresh our squads and still look ahead to future double game weeks.

To me, the best time to play it was a few weeks ago. Not helpful for a lot of you - but it does show how if you look at your squad (as I did) with feelings of sadness and desperation, the wildcard can give your whole season a lift.

When your team needs it, it really is as simple as that for me. If you have lots of deadwood to get rid of, use it. All this planning ahead means you lose potential points elsewhere, how many managers (including myself) have amat needed this week where he's not going to play. I may well WC next week and set myself, have plenty of free transfers to react accordingly

I am wildcarding this weekend against popular advice here. I had the ability to put a team out with 7-8 players with a hit. However there were many in that team that I did not want (e.g. WBA assets). I will now have 10 players that I want and 5 players on the bench with future DGWs, including 3 Spurs. Will gradually move out SWA assets for DGW players. So effectively I am going in this week with no hits and a proper team of 10, and well set up until GW33.

Last season I used it a few weeks before the first big DGW when it was clear what the fixtures were. It meant that I was able to have a better team earlier, planned my transfers for the DGW and blank. In the end I was able to save 2FTs for the DGW to cover any injuries or people coming into form. This approach also made me far more wary of shipping in form players who had a SGW.

I did well in the DGW with bench boost, but I was also able to gain OR in the weeks leading up to the DGW.

34 is a possibility.

One minor consideration with an 'early' WC.

Most of us normally see bench players as cheapies in order to maximise our best 11. In DGWs we won't want our normal bench players eg Capoue etc. We'll try for better and inevitably pricier extra players. This means the average price and consequently quality of the initial 11 will decrease. This might mean only one of Sanchez and Hazard for example.

An early WC with the later DGWs in mind might lead to fielding a cheaper/worse 11 each week leading up to the DGW due to the squad being prepared for 15 effective players rather than 11 + 4 cheapies

What an excellent discussion - and one where I think my mind may have been changed.

I was all set to do gwk 36 wc for gwk 37 BB. A key factor in this now is that I'm fine for this wk with a full XI and have firm transfer plans over the next few that fit into the dgwk narrative to come ( eg Kane and gabbiadini in) .

But once I know the dgwk teams it does make sense to load up early.

Although that should only be if the usual rules apply - are their fixtures strong and are they in form?

There will be other dgwks outside of gwk 37 so it makes sense to use a wildcard that factors all of them in.

So depending on announcements over the next few gwks it may well be that my mind has been changed.

A victory for reasoned debate 🙂

This site is great. This is my first season on here and first season taking FPL a little bit more seriously (despite being a football fanatic) and loving the banter!
I was thinking along the same lines as Ruth, as in why leave it so late to use such a valuable tool. It seemed to me that almost everyone on here was leaving it until just before the last DGW. So I almost got brainwashed into that mindset haha.
My plan is to look at a wildcard every week from 29 onwards, weigh up the pros and cons and when I feel it best suits my team pull the trigger. If I can hold it until 36 well and good but I feel that there will be a more optimal time to play the chip to suit my team.Great discussion on this hot topic, cheers Jonty and all here on FFS (especially the DZ as I'm living in Shanghai)!

I plan on using my WC during international break for GW30.

Looking at the fixtures there are a lot of teams who have home matches GW30/31 like utd/southampton/leicester who also have DGWs later on!
Plus i can sell all my everton & west brom players & josh king/holebas all in one go!
I can fill my team with a say 11/12 DGW players then just use transfers to get it to 15 by time GW37 is around. I want to keep SGW players likes of siggy/mane for now

Leaving it until 36 doesnt make sense for me when with the players i have in my team means i just fall further behind.