Seven-time top 10k finisher Zøphar on Rashford, Leeds, Grealish and disappointment

The FPL manager with six top 5k overall ranks to his name, Zøphar, looks at some statistical trends from the last four Gameweeks.

Gameweek 16 is finally over and for many it didn’t even start, with the postponement of Everton v Manchester City shortly after the Fantasy Premier League deadline passed and then a similar fate befalling the Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham game. 

Rather than lament about how these absences affected our squads, I thought I would rather look forward and discuss some trends I noticed over the last few Gameweeks.

Shot-Shy Grealish 

Dealing with disappointment

Gameweek 16 was a nightmare for many managers, including myself. Many of us, especially those with a strategy not to Free Hit in Gameweek 18, suffered six-to-seven absences with the last-minute postponements, in addition to injuries and rotation. 

It can be tough for us who take pleasure in planning and obsessing over the best strategy and picks, only to have a fixture called off a few hours before the game. All of those hours spent on listening to podcasts, poring over statistics and discussing on message boards can feel like a waste but we can only make decisions based on the information available and this is no ordinary season. Things are likely to get worse before they get better and it’s important that we don’t let this get us down. It’s the FPL process and community interaction I enjoy as much as the actual matches themselves and I don’t plan to change that anytime soon. 

Adversity usually presents opportunity and these postponed games are likely to present more double and even triple Gameweeks in the future. Emotional investment in FPL needs to be low in difficult times like these. The game is meant to serve as a distraction from troubled times and if you are only letting it add to your grief, you’re doing it wrong. We must remember that the health and safety of players and staff is paramount and the Premier League would only call off fixtures if there was no other possible course of action. 

As my fellow Pro Pundit and podcast co-host Lateriser said in his last piece: “It’s just a game”. There is no point worrying about things we cannot control or cannot foresee. Let’s enjoy watching sport while we can, if these postponements etc do not fall our way, we can just shrug our shoulders and move on. 

Keep your chin up. Better times are coming. Take care of yourself and those around you, physically and mentally. 

Wishing you all a happy new year.