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The FPL season from Hell: Where did it all go wrong?

It’s the end of gameweek 1 in the 2018/19 season and my gameweek/overall rank is 33,602. My team has scored 95 points – 20 points more than Adam Levy’s team, the eventual winner of FPL. I am giddy. I have achieved the coveted, much sought-after “strong start”. I am even briefly entertaining thoughts of winning the whole thing. Such hope. Such  optimism.

This was my third season playing FPL and after finishing 5,042 in the first season and 20,822 in my second, I thought I had this FPL lark sussed. Little did I know that, fast forward 38 gameweeks, and my overall rank for the season would be forever etched in stone as 506,041. I didn’t even make it into the top half a million. My gameweek 1 rank of 33,602 would be my highest rank of the entire season and it would never be bettered.

Gameweek after gameweek, it felt like I was spiralling down a big black hole and it wasn’t until 5pm on Sunday, May 12th that this season finally had mercy on me and spat me out, dishevelled, distressed and thoroughly downbeat. But where exactly did it all go so disastrously wrong? And how can other FPL managers avoid my annus horribilis? Let’s look at my 4 biggest mistakes from last season.

Mistake Number 1: Wildcarding Too Late

I like the idea that we have 3 wildcards a season – the third one being the in-all-but-name wildcard we get before the season starts. I don’t like “wasting your wildcard” and scrapping your carefully planned GW1 team after just a handful of gameweeks. This season I activated my wildcard in gameweek 15, which was far too late. In retrospect, I should have gone in gameweek 5, when Hazard scored a 20 point hat-trick and cheap Wolves assets like £4.4m Doherty (who by now had revealed himself to be extremely attacking) went on to score 12, 2, 12 and 15. It was the perfect time to restructure your team for Hazard and to release funds with those cheap Wolves enablers. It wasn’t until gameweek 9 when I finally brought in Hazard. After he had scored 14, 10, 3, 20, and 11, I simply couldn’t take it no more. Hazard then went onto to score 1, 0, 4, 3 and 1.

Mistake Number 2: Triple Captain Fail

Let’s not beat around the bush. I triple captained Leroy Sane in gameweek 25. Going into 25, I had 2 free transfers and I knew I was going to bring in one of Aguero, Sterling or Sane and stick the triple caption chip on them. Things got so serious I even got the ole notepad out to make my decision: https://twitter.com/mbison22/status/1091477646666551296. Unforgivably, I didn’t do what The Iceman from FPL Surgery did and look at the stats to make my decision (Aguero was posting the most attacking stats at the time). I also ignored something I had noticed in gameweek 24 when Man City were losing to Newcastle and chasing the game. Pep brought Jesus on, but didn’t take Aguero off. That should have been the sign that Pep now relied upon Aguero for goals and he was likely to play him in both games during the double.

I’ve always thought the Sane triple captain chip was particularly cruel. Almost any other sequence of events would have got me more points. If he had stayed on the pitch for 2 minutes longer and hadn’t been substituted on 58 minutes, that would have been 3 x 3 points. If he had missed both games instead of just one, my Salah vice captain would have come into play, which would have been 3 x 2 points. The only scenario that would have gotten me less points than I eventually got (3 x 1 point) is if Sane had been yellow carded in the first 58 minutes of the Everton game.

Mistake Number 3: No Jimenez

The only time I owned Raul Jimenez was when I wildcarded him in in gameweek 34 and I proceeded to enjoy just 1 of his 13 goals this season. At times, it felt like I was the only FPL manager in the world who didn’t own him. It seems crazy – why did I go through most of the season without him? The answer lies in his gameweek scores. When Jimenez got attacking returns, he never scored more than 12 points. When a player you don’t own gets 5 to 12 points, it hurts, yes, but it’s not the same level of panic as when Manchester City trounce Southampton 6-1 at home and Sterling gets a 21 point haul. Now THAT makes you react. Whereas 5 to 12 points makes you wince but it doesn’t make you override your other pressing transfer plans.

Obviously this is a huge mistake. The steady drip-feed of points from a consistent player makes things so difficult. The same thing happened when I didn’t own Phil Jones two seasons ago and he kept scoring 6 to 9 points every week. It leaves you without the head-start that everyone else enjoys. It’s like beginning each gameweek several points behind everyone else and you need something exceptional to outscore everyone else and get ahead of the pack.

Mistake Number 4: Trusting Premium Forwards

One of the best articles that stood out for me in preseason last season was this from FPL Guidance  He essentially concluded that premium forwards offer poor value for money and this really struck a cord with me. Of course, once the season was underway, this was completely forgotten and I held players like Kane and Aubameyang for long periods of the season. This was perhaps the most disappointing of my mistakes because it was so dully predictable. Indeed, looking at the top 10 scoring players in each position, it’s clear that defenders once again offer much better value for money than forwards in FPL:

  • Top 10 Defenders > Average Points 172 > Average Starting Price £5.8m
  • Top 10 Forwards > Average Points 171 > Average Starting Price £8.7m
  • Top 10 Midfielders > Average Points 199 > Average Starting Price £9.0m

In Conclusion

Regrets? I’ve had a few.

Unless you have gone through a nightmare FPL season, you won’t know how it feels to be pummelled week after week with no recess. When you take the game extremely seriously and devote so much free time to it, you almost go through the five stages of grief. Denial (“I can turn this around, there’s plenty of time.”), anger (“That’s it – I’m quitting FPL!”), bargaining (“Just one lousy captain haul, please, that’s all I’m asking”), depression (which FFS brilliantly covered on one seminal scoutcast this season) and acceptance (“I don’t care what happens now; the season is a write-off.”).

96 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Geoff
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Nice one, thanks for submitting 🙂

    Rough season. I had my season like that last year, finishing 78k and feeling so so frustrated. When nothing feels like it's going right, it's really hard to stay objective and not make things worse with bad transfers and captaincy choices!

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Thank you so much for publishing, Geoff.

      Did you have to choose that image for the article, though? 😥 😉

      1. Geoff
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 11 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        I think I did 😀

        We'll get all the pain out now, so next year can be painless

  2. The Rumour Mill
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Hope Richard Lewis has been paid his royalties for using this Article Title 😛

    1. RedLightning
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Was he the waiter who asked George Best that back in the sixties?

      1. The Rumour Mill
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Haha you've focussed on the second part of the title, and yes you're right on that front! I was referring to the first part though, the use of "the _____ from hell". Actor and comedian Richard Lewis claims to have invented that phrase and it was the subject of a curb your enthusiasm episode in the 2000's in which that claim was amusingly disputed!

        1. Mysterion
          • 6 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          The nanny from hell "she's full of non sequiturs" 😀

        2. RedLightning
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 13 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          Did he pay any royalties to the writer of the 1888 letter giving the address From Hell and claiming to be from Jack the Ripper?

  3. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    You only made one real mistake - thinking you had FPL sussed.

    I did similar in 17/18 thinking I could get by without Salah the season before last ruined a fifth straight top 7k finish and my cherished place n the HOP top 100. Betting against certain players is effectively betting against the house with similar consequences...

    1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      HOF not HOP!

    2. diesel001
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      It would be useful to see how much 'value' a player priced over £11.5m adds to a team.

      There is the captaincy, but in every season there are cheaper players who are better captaincy options than those priced over £11.5m. Take Kane, Vardy, Salah, Sterling as examples in recent seasons.

      Salah in 17/18 was a bargain. But he was overpriced in 18/19.

      1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Yeah 9.0 was the bargain of the century. I think I just though he was a wide player that would be unable to be consistent and how wrong I was. I pretty much had Salah/Mane all this year and I feel with pens at times he was worth the outlay, it was Mane who was the bargain.

    3. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Yep. I got too complacent and didn't appreciate just how ruddy difficult FPL is!

    4. Jack Burton
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      I did the same went without Salah had dreadful season

  4. Warby84
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    I feel that everything in this article relates to my season, I also took a silly amount of hits, and finished 120k... Kanegate and Walcottgate were a waste of transfers, and I think I need to be a lot more patient next season with some players and not overthink.. Eliteserien is helping me I’ve only taken 1 hit in 7GW and I’m in the top 6k

    1. Eze Really?
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      This^

    2. circusmonkey
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      There will be fewer players of that, what does 6k translate to in fpl rank?

      1. Fit of Pique
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Eliteserian has about 55k players in total.

  5. Je suis le chat
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Made a horlicks of this season after a 99 point gw 1, ahead of eventual winner after 4 weeks yet finished nearly 400 points behind him! Couldn't explain to a work colleague who I beat in a mini league that it was my worst season ever, lol!

  6. Snevitz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Does this mean there will be less condescending posts from you next season?

    1. Wrong Captain Choice - Ag i…
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      😀

    2. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      I've been well and truly humbled and emancipated.

    3. HTL
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      * fewer

  7. Je suis le chat
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Anyone else have the attention span of a goldfish and not read the article! Prefer if the site had a continuous feed that we could contribute our streams of conscious to, rather than be interrupted by new article postings.

    1. Geoff
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      That's actually something I'm looking at.. it would mean that the articles could support directed chat about whatever the article is about

      1. circusmonkey
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Good idea

        1. Geoff
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 11 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          Just a matter of getting it implemented, basically, at this point

  8. Wrong Captain Choice - Ag i…
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Another mistake fpl virgin made was falling into the 'fpl celebrity' trap.
    The constant emails of his every move to the scoutcast. Which they read out one after another as there was a proliferation of them.
    All that stuff must have been very distracting, rather then focusing on the basics of the game and what moves those around you are likely to be making

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Fair point. I definitely didn't focus on my own game enough.

      1. Geoff
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 11 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        I think Captain Choice has a decent point here, not just for you.

        FPL is a rollercoaster even when it's going well, and being humble and having low expectations (I think) actively helps out your play. If you come out with strong unbending opinions you can get stuck in them, and not be willing to change. And if you perceive others as 'watching' you all the time you can feel more pressure to make decisions, which are often bad.

        None of this is to say you shouldn't have opinions or share your team - you should! That's what the site is about. But having a moderate approach where you admit always that others could be right takes the stress away. Also, there's nothing better than being right when someone else has been insistent you're wrong and you've not engaged angrily or confrontationally. At least for me 😀

        1. RoysCallerAnne
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          This is spot on.
          FPL is indeed a rollercoaster and even the best players have bad seasons.
          Being humble is crucial.

          What has soured the FFS boards in recent seasons (imo) is the proliferation of guys who think that they have "solved" FPL after only one or two good seasons.

          If they also happen to be prolific posters and able to string a few sentences together they suddenly become self-appointed gurus, or worse still, hindsight heroes. Add in a pinch of pomposity and it spells a recipe for disaster, driving newer posters away through feelings of inadequacy or making the better FPL managers with consistently good histories stay away from the place.

          1. Wild Rover
            • 13 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            ‘Being humble’ Hahahahahaha!

            You know where this is going. 😛

            1. RoysCallerAnne
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 14 Years
              4 years, 10 months ago

              😀

          2. Wild Rover
            • 13 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            All true though. So many one season wonders suddenly thinking they are King of FPL

            1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
              • 14 Years
              4 years, 10 months ago

              Yer the only Kings of FPL are the ones that have won it. No one else comes close. 10 top 500 finishes or 1 top 5 finish and a prize. I know what I would rather have

          3. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
            • 14 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            Chapter two of this bring a blue teardrop to my eye

          4. Geoff
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • Has Moderation Rights
            • 11 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            'A pinch of pomposity' 😀

            1. Skonto Rigga
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • Has Moderation Rights
              • 6 Years
              4 years, 10 months ago

              That's my aftershave

              1. FPL Virgin
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 10 months ago

                Smellovision on the scoutcast?

        2. Kenzoblu
          • 11 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          Had my most dullard season ever with my OR not moving much whole season.

          1. TorresMagic™
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • Has Moderation Rights
            • 14 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            At least you cracked top 10K and peaked in GW38.

    2. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      As did possibly the HOF No 1

      1. NorwichCityLad
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        What I’ve learned is not to take stats to seriously very rarely pay off I shall play as casual next season

        1. Wrong Captain Choice - Ag i…
          • 14 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          The stats only tell part of the story they should be used in conjunction with actually watching the types of shots (hacked at, straight at keeper), body language, types of run etc

          1. NorwichCityLad
            • 9 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            Thanks your OR are very good.

            1. Wrong Captain Choice - Ag i…
              • 14 Years
              4 years, 10 months ago

              I got lucky with a late charge in the last few weeks gw34-38
              I went double city defence which was cruical as most has Man City attackers.
              I also took -12 on gw16

              Son IN --- Mané OUT
              Schindler IN --- Peltier OUT
              Rondón IN --- Arnautovic OUT
              Trippier IN --- Duffy OUT

              I did make a bad call getting Firmino gw36 then he was injured suddenly.
              Otherwise I would have got TAA instead for - I worked it out I would have been top 2k if I got TAA in that week.

  9. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Chelsea already in Champions league.
    Arsenal could give a quick 40 mil and have it sorted.

    1. Andy'81
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Probably be better for Chelsea to keep Arsenal out of the CL rather then let them in it. 40 mill's still pocket change to Abramovich.

  10. NorwichCityLad
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    I’ve never finished in top 100k very sad

    1. G-Whizz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      There's always next season 🙂

  11. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Captain: Good or bad decision can cost or gain 15 points per week. The TC probably 20+ Get rid of the chip.
    Bench Boost: I can have anything between zero and 30 points on my bench and t id NEVER obvious. BB in DGW's is an aim of many but kicked straight into touch with Sterling, Kun Salah Mane and co rested. GET RID OF THIS CHIP.
    Free hit: Takes a massive part of planning away. Not guaranteed to work either. Another waste of time IMO.
    A WC I can agree with. If you have woeful luck and end up with 8 injuries and TV free fall the why not offer a WC. NOT 2 THOUGH and 90% of discussion is about chips.
    Buying TFRS: Nothing wrong. It will probably hurt anyway.
    My worst year to date and created by sheer bad luck and a few beers Friday nights.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Luck is a massive factor. 40 or 50 players are capable of scoring heavily and events can conspire against you so that you keep missing the points with your starting 11.

  12. Amey
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Tough luck mate.
    I made few similar mistakes too like Sane TC, No Jimenez till gw34, kept Auba for gw 23-28 instead of Aguero, Sane Raz pair in Christmas instead of Salah Son pair.
    Huge learning curve for me this season.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Thanks, friend. 🙂

  13. Christina.
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    The top top FPL manager(Mark, Ville Rönka, Lateriser, Champ) all have a couple of things in common:

    -Don't spend hours on social media, especially fantasy football sites
    -Dont write a book(Dont try and make money from others because you think you have figured FPL out)
    -Don't start a podcast/website
    -Write an article about why they were unlucky.

    You have a choice.

    1. Wrong Captain Choice - Ag i…
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Ronka needs to rethink the way he plays the game - too conservative. He fell like a stone after a great start.
      But I take your point the people who make most noise ended up crashing and burning. With a few exceptions like Will Thomas from fpl hub. He seems to be a level headed type of guy anyway so I suppose that helps.

  14. RedLightning
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 13 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    I made a number of mistakes this season, but these were the biggest ones.

    1. Two rubbish wildcards, both played impulsively and far too early (in GWs 6 and 21). They also weakened my squad and spoilt my TV. A hit or two would have been quite sufficient, and they could have been used far more profitably if I had saved them for later as originally planned. These had serious knock-on effects on subsequent game-weeks, not owning or being able to afford enough of the right players and not being able to take full advantage of the double game-weeks.

    2. Poor captain choices. If my captains had been as successful as Adam's I would have been close to the top thousand.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      You're still a colossus of FPL though. Whenever I think I have got a really original point, you trump it with your crazy knowledge of the game.

      1. RedLightning
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 13 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        I only wish I could turn my 'crazy knowledge' into the odd top thousand finish.
        I thought this was going to be my season after really nailing my initial squad for once, before messing it up with too many mistakes.
        If I ever get another start like this season's I hope I won't waste it like I did this time!

        I thought I had got the game sussed when I had a 5k finish in the 2010 Fantasy World Cup followed by a 3k finish in my next FPL season, and that it wouldn't be long before I was in the top thousand - but I've only managed one more top 10k finish since then and am still waiting for my first top thousand finish.
        I now realise that there are a lot of players out there who are better than I am and have deeper insights into it or make fewer mistakes. Still fun to play though!

        1. FPL Virgin
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 10 months ago

          You deserve credit for playing the game your way. It's easy to "template-up" and difficult to do your own thing - especially when it goes against the general consensus.

          1. RedLightning
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • Has Moderation Rights
            • 13 Years
            4 years, 10 months ago

            I'm still trying to find the right balance between following the consensus and looking for ways to beat it.
            Haven't quite got it right yet.

            Following the consensus can only take you so far, preventing you from dropping too far behind others who do the same thing but missing opportunities to move ahead of them.
            I prefer to make my own decisions, taking the views of others into account but not always agreeing with all of them.

            Personally, I think RMTs are overrated. No-one else is going to put as much thought into my squad as I would myself, and replies are often influenced by group-thinking or by the prejudices of the responders. That's not to imply that the Wisdom of the Crowd and the opinions of experts aren't useful - but they aren't always infallibly right either.

  15. Studini
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Well, I won my ML for the second year in a row (by 150 points no less) and finished around 50K so I'm delighted. I feel for you, I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with my inevitable nightmare season next time around, and the endless bantz that will inevitably follow from my fellow ML players.

    But what I can say is that there's no way I would have done anywhere near this well without all of y'all. For the insights, the camaraderie (Brighton DGW especially), the endless RMTs, the podcasts and articles, I thank you. It's a great community.

    1. G-Whizz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      *Thumbs up*

  16. Spoox777
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 12 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    My FPL season was going ok until the last quarter of the season. I played my wildcard earlier which was a good decision. I took the lead in the mini-league at the end of August & kept that lead until GW36. Leading by about 95 points early in 2019. I eventually finished 2nd, 90+ behind.

    Mane & Alexander-Arnold helped my opponent catch up. I had Salah but we both had Robertson. I should have got rid of Rashford & Pogba sooner aswell as Lacazette. My opponent switched to Zaha. GW37 i had Doherty in my team vs FUL but switched to Wan-Bissaka vs CAR on the Friday. AWB scored 1 point while Doherty got 12. Oooops!!!

    Hovered around the 100k for quite a while then dropped like a stone to finish 737k+ which was very disappointing.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      I feel your pain. It's horrible isn't it. Good luck for next season though. I hope you do a complete 180.

  17. 7shadesofsmoke
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Great article FPL Virg. One i'm sure a lot of people will relate to!

    2 things i would do differently:
    1) Absence - i missed a couple of deadline this season - amateur error which cost me a few points but comes with playing semi-casual
    2) Bottle - Missing the Aguero 3© because I read too many doubts over his starts in the first double gw. Had i just followed my (blissful) ignorance, I would have hauled. Instead i flopped it out on the GW38 lottery and got sweet FA.

    2 things i did well:
    1) Hits - i only paid for 4 trannies this year.
    2) Time - i invested a fraction of the time in decisions as i had done in previous 'proper' seasons. No overthinking meant i caught the 'obvious' players (think Jimenez, Pogba golden patch, Son streak) nice and early without worrying about the 'differentials'. Focusing on safe picks made my season incredibly consistent (and helped with point number 1)

    Moral of my season - don't overthink/plan.
    Follow your instincts, reserve hits to a minimum and get your house in order before you start punting on differentials. Consistent hitters might not be exciting but they'll make the top 10K if you get them early enough. Save transfers if there no obvious move, a mini-wildcard every other week can work wonders.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Some great insight there. No reason why you couldn't turn this into a community article yourself. It might help a few FPL managers going forward.

  18. Numb
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    As I’m sure you know, you’re in good company having a bad season with the likes of Jay and Mark McGettigan having absolute stinkers as well.

    It can happen. I suppose when you start doing badly, you start changing the way you okay to try and catch up, even if subconsciously, taking more risks etc.

    I’m probably due a season like that myself - could happen next season.

    Happy to give you a few pointers if you want but you probably already know all the theories given that you listen to all the podcasts, watch all the videos, etc. Maybe you’ve consumed too much and it’s confused you.

    1. RoysCallerAnne
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      But when YOU start doing badly (in a given season) YOU don't start changing the way you play - YOU don't let your subconscious dictate. Most of the rest of us succumb to the temptation to punt in order to gain lost ground. You rarely, if ever, do.
      Even though you berate yourself occasionally for not being more aggressive or risky, more often than not, your more patient and logical approach works.

      That's why you're the world's best player.

      1. Numb
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Haha, thanks 🙂

    2. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Very true, but you and Mark seem to be immune to it. Different class. Which is why I'll always listen to anything you have to say. I plan to go over your meet the manager video again in summer and take some notes as I prep for my comeback next season.

      As weird as it sounds, it's like real football. When it's going badly, your confidence goes and this fuels even more bad gameweeks.

      I do think I need to tune out the firehose of noise. So much content out there and, as you say, it makes it hard to come up with a clear plan of action each week.

      1. The Overthinker
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        The second point. It actually breaks down your confidence after couple of bad GW which results in more bad he's due to bad Decisions

  19. pingissimus
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Good read

    This won’t help but my season was pretty much the inverse of yours. I started slowly - being new to the game - then had a great second half.

    But it’s small margins. Three or four decisions turned my season around to something near respectability. I got lucky with Kun in 25 (it felt like a huge gamble at the time with so many doubting his starts), I got Jimmy early and rarely had as much as 25 mill up front - that was his value. I then sold Pogba and Rashford really early to prepare for the big BGW and never stopped hitting with Rondon and Mane. I also lucked out with Vardy

    Those 3/4 decisions made me a good 150 points I imagine. Huge amount of luck involved - I could easily have made completely different choices. I certainly overtook a lot of teams much better set up than mine,

    I like to think next season - which will be my first proper go - I’ll do better. Then I remember my FH32 and WC34 sides. I spent ages on them - they flunked fairly badly in 32 and 34 but hit spectacularly in 33 and 35 when I wasn’t expecting anything.

    1. Annie
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      maybe next season you’ll realise being 25k before chip season isn’t that bad...

  20. G-Whizz
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 6 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    The General might offer some insight for you...

    https://youtu.be/wVOotLMOofM

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Great stuff. He's absolutely brilliant at clearly and concisely summing things up. He boils it all down so well.

    2. Christina.
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Just another guy blabbing on about his FPL team....

      ''you need a good start"..

      Now why did I not think about that?

      🙄

  21. Gnu
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Absolutely this.
    The noise is deafening and this article is part of the noise.
    Self appointed expert in his first two seasons and now an article, really beggers belief I'm afraid.
    Trolling and wumming is now regarded as just part of the norm here then, in fact troll and wum folks and get your articles printed, we might even get you on the scoutcast.
    Jeremy Kyle of fantasy football equivalent these days.

    1. Gnu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      *kind of reply to Christina above*

    2. Poseidon.
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      This! The trolling on here is getting out of hand!

    3. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Fair enough. You have a 9 so I have to respect your opinion.

    4. Fitzy.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Spot on mate. This bloke just loves to be the centre of attention, and has found a way to do it even when he's had a shocker.

  22. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    If you think this is bad wait till you see the price you need to pay to hear where Jay Egg went wrong.

    1. Christina.
      • 14 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      What's it called?

      Bad Egg?
      Egg on my face?

      1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Probably be a few patrons looking at the small print for money back

    2. The Rumour Mill
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      To be honest when you start plastering "no. 1 fpl manager in the world" all over your Twitter profile and start charging people for advice you're not just tempting fate, you're inviting it over for dinner! It's the height of hubris and it's utterly satisfying seeing these guys bought back down to earth. Fpl is a cruel mistress and no-one is anywhere near mastering it yet.

  23. Limited & Mediocre Mana…
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    There's a lot more to it than these points Virg... You're going to have to delve a lot deeper if you want to succeed next season.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      I know mate. So many bad decisions along the way.

  24. Majestic Chanka
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    1) Wildcarding late can be an issue and I think I’m always likely to wildcard within the first 6 weeks. The thing in your first point that seems like the bigger mistake to me is getting in a premium player like Hazard after 4 big returns, no player can keep up a 10+ ppm for a long period and the points are already gone.

    2) Triple captain is max 20 points, it’s a scratch on your overall season, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

    3) Yes, Jimenez wasn’t sexy on big scores but that ticking away was excellent. I think Jimi also links into your 4th point as well as you can put him as 1 up front set and forget.

    4) This one surprised me as I remember you were always heavy in midfield in previous seasons. I’m still amazed by the fact Aguero was so highly owned over Sterling, even in the top 10k when it was clear who was going to finish with more points.

    Lots of the top players storm it after a bad season, chin up, you’ll be back next year!

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Thanks for the positivity fella 🙂

  25. Cok3y5murf
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    Hey, the Virg got his own article despite finishing low. That's a win in my books 😎

    These points won't necessarily help you next season though. Wildcard should be played either when your team is in really bad shape or before a big fixture swing. It's not that wildcarding late is always a mistake, not if your team didn't need it until then. You say you should've wildcarded before Hazard and Doherty started hauling, but if you didn't consider this at that time and are only talking about it now in hindsight, it doesn't matter. You'll realize mistakes in hindsight every single season. TC fail isn't a big deal. No Jimenez could've hurt a bit, but not enough to justify finishing where you did. And premium forwards are generally worse value than midfielders because several midfielders play more like forwards. For example, Salah, Mane, and Sterling have just as much or even more goal threat than Firmino and Aguero respectively. Yet they get an extra point for a goal as well as an unwarranted clean sheet point. However, the forwards this season have been worse than usual. Every season is different. Remember two years ago when Costa, Ibra, Kane, Jesus, Lukaku, Aguero were all tearing it up? For all you know, next season could be like that.

    Your more important mistakes would be these:

    1. Stop blindly following the "elite managers" as you would put it, like Mark, Jay, or whoever else you follow. You don't have their exact teams, you're not going to make their exact transfers, you're not going to get their exact rank. Play your own game. Added bonus is, you'll have fun too. This game isn't a science. It's just applying as much logic as you can to your decisions and praying. Praying that luck is on your side.

    2. Stop blaming others when their advice doesn't work out for you. This is a direct result of point 1. No one has a crystal ball. Every single one of your elite managers make mistakes too. As long as they're mistakes only in hindsight despite having made logical decisions, you're fine.

    3. Stop overthinking. Probably the most important one. Stop overanalyzing stats. I'm a member, but I've been doing a lot better since I started playing more casually and not paying too much attention to stats. They can give you an idea of how a player is performing, but they can also induce overthinking, which can make you look past the most obvious logical decisions.

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      Hey Smurfy-lad, thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed reply. That's actually very, very good advice. I'll be taking this into next season for sure.

  26. POLSKA GOLA
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 10 months ago

    I share FPL Virgin’s love/hate relationship with the FPL this season. Despite a fairly satisfactory 20k finish I was close to deleting my team twice this season. I think the frustration has intensified as I was doing Ok throughout the season, each GW ‚mistake’ felt like matter of life and death.
    I’ve finished the highest of my ‚casual’ seasons. The only higher being 2014/15 when I was FFS member and reached 16k finish. I no longer spend time studying stats, that 14/15 season took a big toll on my marriage with me spening all my spare time immersed in those brilliant stats and features available in the members area.
    Now officially a casual I don’t even watch games anymore as I become a father last year. If I’m lucky I get time to watch MOTD, otherwise it’s just the FFS forum and some podcasts that provide the information.
    Back to the main subject: last season was a total re-think of FPL strategy for me.
    First of all a had a very good start, 122k GW1 was unexpected. Moreover that was the lowest OR I’ve had all season.
    I went really aggressive on use of WC this season to stay close to the dream of top 10k finish. Used 1st WC in GW3, second chip I used was also a WC in GW23 after a disastrous 5million GW22 rank.
    Deprived of a 2nd WC I had to be hyper-careful with team planning for the blank and DGWs. Having sat at 12k in GW34 I had my eyes set on the top 10k finish with an original strategy (Triple Captain Sterling in GW35 and Bench Boost in GW36) and of a team of relative differentials that included Rondon, D Luiz, Wilson, VVD+Matip for a Pool defense cover.
    It didn’t work in the end but I’m not regreting going for it that way.
    In hindsight biggest regrets for the season: getting Walcott and Barkley in (what was I thinking), bringing Digne on a WC in GW34 (scored -1 and -2 before I shipped) and keeping Pogba past GW34.
    I’m historically too much set on fixtures over form. I can only hope I’ve learned my lesson.
    Anyone else can recognise their season in my post? What lessons have you learned this season?
    Apologies for such a long read but this time feels like an opportunity for longer posts without all the chaos of a regular GW questions 🙂

    1. FPL Virgin
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 10 months ago

      You should put this into a community article yourself!

      1. POLSKA GOLA
        • 10 Years
        4 years, 10 months ago

        Thanks, I’m happy knowing that at least one person’s read it lol
        One thing I’m going to take from this season is definitelly the shields v swords theory.
        I can’t remember who posted it first but Joe referred to it on the Scoutcast and it struck me as a perfect way to plan my team strategy