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A Colour Wheel to Classify Styles of Play in FPL

The traditional way to play FPL has often been taken for granted. So much so that, in a podcast aimed at beginners that contained almost no other controversial material, podcasters FML FPL casually mentioned (language warning) that the usual way to use transfers in FPL was to shuffle around your £6.5 million midfielders while treating your heavy hitters as set-and-forget. There were always a few managers who did things differently, but overall, using most transfers to shuffle around budget attackers was thought by many to be as basic a part of FPL as “a legal formation consists of exactly one goalkeeper, at least three defenders, and at least one forward.”

The traditional approach has been challenged in recent years from two directions. First, we have Upside Chasing, and second, we have a loose cluster of ideas centred around value, patience, and conserving transfers. I’ve organised these into a colour wheel, with the three approaches represented by the three primary colours, allowing for combinations of the approaches to be represented by the secondary colours. I’ve chosen red for Upside Chasing, the colour of aggressiveness, and blue for what I’ll term the Blue Philosophy, the colour of coolness and calmness. That leaves yellow for Traditional FPL. Personally, I subscribe to elements of both challenges to the traditional approach, so I might be in the purple zone, but closer to blue.

What are the basic elements of each philosophy? I’ll start with the two challenges to the traditional philosophy, and then try to describe the traditional philosophy more precisely. In general, all can agree that there are three basic types of FPL assets: premium attackers (that is, midfielders and forwards); non-premium attackers (referred to as budget attackers in this article, but also including mid-priced assets below the premium range); and defensive players (defenders and goalkeepers). The approach to the best use of transfers is one key distinction among the three philosophies, but by no means the only difference.

Upside Chasing (Red)

Upside Chasing primarily challenges the traditional approach by suggesting spending more transfers on premium attackers. Upside Chasing conceptualises transfers of premium attackers as having the highest potential value, especially insofar as they can be used to transfer in the optimal captain choice for any particular gameweek. Since there is already a manifesto for Upside Chasing, I won’t try to describe it in detail myself, but will simply refer you to the excellent article from Lateriser, its chief proponent. One thing worth special comment is that Red managers like a different kind of budget and mid-priced attackers compared to especially Yellow managers. Since Red managers don’t like to spend many transfers on budget attackers, they laud consistent but not particularly explosive players in this price range as perfect examples of “glue guys”. Meanwhile, Yellow managers at best damn the same players with faint praise for “ticking over”, or at worst label them “frustrating”, preferring to own an explosive budget attacker and move him on quickly.

The Blue Philosophy

Meanwhile, the Blue Philosophy is perhaps somewhat harder to define (it’s more of a state of mind), but generally emphasises being very patient with virtually no hits in single gameweeks, owning players that provide a high points per million, and usually spending more money on defenders. Originally I thought of calling it Value-Focused FPL, but I’m not so sure anymore that finding great value is necessarily the most central aspect of it. The Blue Philosophy naturally attracts people who don’t mind being considered mavericks, but hate “chasing last week’s points” and jumping on bandwagons for players who will probably not maintain form for long. Proponents of the Blue Philosophy tend to expect a premium defender to outperform attackers at the same price point, while preferring to cut back somewhat on spending on premium attackers in order to upgrade budget attackers to more consistent mid-priced options in the £7.0m to £9.5m range. Compared to other types, these managers are more open to playing formations with four or occasionally even five defenders, while owning just two premium attackers, or even one, when others own three or more.

Although the “very patient” aspect of the Blue Philosophy may seem strongly opposed to Upside Chasing, the two challenges to the traditional philosophy actually can complement each other in certain ways. The Blue Philosophy can easily beg the question, “If you’re not going to spend your transfers on budget attackers, what should you spend them on?” and Upside Chasing provides a ready answer, “Switching around your premium attackers”. If you own fewer premium attackers, you also have to swap them around more if you want to have the best captain choice a large share of the time. Meanwhile, proponents of Upside Chasing may learn from Blue managers, being keen on becoming better at avoiding transfers they regard as low-value, but which might constantly seem tempting to make.

Since originally drafting this article near the start of the 2020-21 season, I’ve moved somewhat away from the big-at-the-back and intense focus on value that I originally considered most central to the Blue Philosophy, but in some ways I’m even bluer than before. For example, I’ve borrowed the price point idea from Traditional FPL, but given my approach to price points a distinctly Blue cast, with a strong desire to avoid wasting precious transfers by maintaining a consistent structure throughout a mini-season.

Traditional FPL (Yellow)

At the risk of sounding biased against Traditional FPL, I’ll try to describe its key features from as neutral a point of view as possible. As mentioned already, Traditional FPL favours a set-and-forget approach to premium attackers, with most transfers spent on shuffling around budget attackers to get more out of cheap slots in the team by rotating based on form and/or fixtures. (Interestingly, none of the three philosophies suggests using many transfers on defensive players, although all types of managers are prone to do so in moments of weakness.) Critics of this philosophy may cringe at seeing a budget attacker from a promoted team in page after page of preseason RMT’s, but the Traditional FPL manager is not concerned, as this slot will soon be filled with the best attacker at the same price point once more information emerges. Traditional FPL managers usually want to stay close to the template to avoid ever having an extremely bad gameweek, and can often benefit from hopping on bandwagons by gaining an increased team value, which can be harder for other managers. One statement they often make, which I’ve reluctantly had to concede is mostly correct, is “Don’t go for differentials for the sake of differentials.” Nonetheless, Traditional FPL managers are not averse to turning to a few carefully chosen differentials when necessary to make up ground.

The Secondary Colours

On the colour wheel, you can see that combinations of the primary colours can be identified with the secondary colours. Orange represents a manager who combines elements of Upside Chasing and Traditional FPL; green represents combining Traditional FPL and the Blue Philosophy; and purple represents combining the Blue Philosophy and Upside Chasing. A manager in the Orange zone, such as Mark Sutherns, might combine an emphasis on flexibility and quickly jumping on form players with somewhat more willingness than a Traditional FPL manager to perform premium attacker transfers. These types of managers are sometimes the most aggressive in pursuing a very high team value early in the season to be able to own a team that others simply cannot afford. A manager in the Green zone, such as Tom Freeman or Zophar, might combine relatively few premium attacker transfers with an interest in value, trying hard to identify the best budget attackers but also being strongly averse to hits and possibly spending somewhat more on defence than a typical Traditional FPL manager. A manager in the Purple zone might enjoy having a fairly differential team, combining more of a “blue” component of budget “glue guys” with strong skills at pursuing the right “red” differential premium assets. The ultimate Purple manager has to be Magnus Carlsen.

Conclusion

I think these colours cover most FPL managers, aside from some of the most unusual styles. There are great managers in all parts of the colour wheel, so you can emulate some of the leading exponents of your style while also borrowing elements you admire from other styles, as long as they are compatible. For example, I’ve borrowed some of the thinking surrounding price points that appears to have originated from Traditional FPL managers, reducing the number of transfers I need to use and preserving my precious transfers for luxury moves when possible. I think it’s primarily die-hard Red and Blue managers who reject the theory of price points, often preferring to spend maximum funds in one position if that’s where they think the value is. However, very few managers are complete purists to any one philosophy. Some managers probably wind up near the centre of the colour wheel, being about equally influenced by all three styles. Which is your preferred style?

FPL Theorist (Formerly Major League Shocker) Contrarian stock market investor (which might creep into my FPL thinking a bit too much at times). Main FPL research interests include how to use transfers, styles of play, season planning. Resisting groupthink. Overcoming cognitive biases to make more rational decisions. Twitter: @FPLTheorist Follow them on Twitter

47 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Colour Wheel of Style - what kind of manager are you?
    FPL Theorist
    • 4 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    I hope this article was helpful to understand where your style fits in relative to those of other managers. I've tried to make a survey that people could take to classify themselves, but first I'd like to hear what your gut feeling is about where you fall on the colour wheel.

    Does one of these colours resonate with you particularly well? Or do you find yourself agreeing with elements of all the different philosophies? Is there a famous FPL manager that you agree with almost all the time? Or have you constructed a very distinctive style of your own?

    1. Rotation's Alter Ego
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Cheers MLS!

      Enjoyed reading this, very good piece.

      Think I'd fall into the yellow category and have been for years.

      I'm reluctant to spend big on defence and would much rather invest all of my money into my front 7. Historically I've been poor at timing when to jump on / off premiums (hello Lukaku / CR7 double up in GW7) and I much rather hold my premiums long term and instead waste FTs chasing fixture runs with my mid price attackers. Wish I could be better at upside chasing, just I can never manage to justify these risky transfers as my pessimistic / low risk thinking can't fathom anything other than a net loss on average

      1. FPL Theorist
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        Cheers RAE!

        It's interesting to listen to Yellow content creators and how they react to the challenges to their thinking, especially from Red managers. It's great that you have conviction that this is what works for you. I think the budget attacker transfers can pay off nicely, and it's important for Yellow managers to stick up for their value.

    2. Jerse
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Decent article that really resonates and I could agree with all philosophies as this illustrates there is no one best strategy. That said I am sure there will be some stats "geek" out there who will provide the research/stats to say what the optimum strategy is.

      There will be those who say never do early transfers which from an information point of view is sound enough, but it can also prevent you getting a player before his value increases. I am no expert, but do generally move early especially early in the season and am not averse to early season hits, with a definite eye on team value which does come in handy later on when using maybe the second wild card. That said, "hits" can become a moreish habit, which I try to curtail after say GW12ish.

      Above all, the game is there for enjoyment and there are huge dollops of luck (good and bad) involved. You can do as much research as you like but luck needs to follow that research !

      Good article.

      1. FPL Theorist
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        Cheers Jerse! Yes, we saw in Virgin's article that some stats folks had said Fabio's (very Blue) strategy was the optimal strategy. But there are certainly years that favour Red managers, like 2019-20.

        Early transfers are an interesting topic. Although I feel I could emulate Blue/Green managers who just never make them at all, I'm trying to understand better how Mark succeeds at them. Obviously part of it is having a bench that can cope in case of injuries, but I think he also has to have a method for making sure his early transfers are well thought through and aren't hasty transfers. I get the impression he has a rhythm where he can roll a transfer and then make two transfers early the next week, which he's been thinking for a whole week about.

    3. FPL_Crisis
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      nice one, good read.
      I feel like I float between yellow and purple!

      1. FPL Theorist
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        Interesting combination. Does it depend on your rank -- you go more Purple when you have to chase? Or is it about the time of the season, or variation from one season to another?

        1. FPL_Crisis
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 13 Years
          2 years, 4 months ago

          Yeh various factors including picking the timing of when to be different.
          I started the season with too many differentials and it completely backfired and only now gaining some momentum.
          If I’m planning ahead, I often like to bring that player in a bit earlier (like Kane right now) to try beat the herd.

          I’d say the darker colours can be somewhat linked to your appetite for hits and if you’re happy to revert back if things don’t work out vs taking a punt and sticking with it for a bit longer (like many who still own Havertz)

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

      Joe is one of the most traditional yellow managers and certainly used to regard himself as a dullard. This has resulted in frequent high finishes, but not in challenging for the very top.
      I would regard Fabio as a strong adherent to the blue philosophy - he was one of the first to recognise that a strong defence with four at the back could sometimes be a winning formation.
      And Minus Four was a strong advocate of upside-chasing with regular hits.

      I'm probably a blue or green manager myself.
      I try to maintain flexibility by keeping an open mind and adapting to different circumstances rather than by using fixed formations or price points or concentrating purely on just one area of the squad or taking too much notice of ownership except insofar as they might affect price changes, and I'm happy to play 4 or even 5 at the back if that appears likely to produce the best returns at the time.

      1. FPL Theorist
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        Yes, I definitely think that Joe and Fabio are the prototypical Yellow and Blue managers, respectively. For me, Yellow also encompasses some less purist approaches too, like for example Andy LTFPL has been influenced by some other styles, but still falls within Yellow as generally pro-template and rarely seeking differentials for their own sake. I wouldn't necessarily call all Yellow managers dullards.

        Good to hear you've had good success with the Blue Philosophy!

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

          Some success, but many others have had more.
          I still make too many mistakes or don't analyse situations deeply enough.

          I used to aspire to be a dullardinho - playing fairly safely and conventionally on the whole, but hopefully with some occasional inspiration.

    5. Sharkytect
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Great article.

      I'm probably a brown....

      A combination of all three approaches at different times of the season.

      ...and I'm also sh**

    6. Collie01
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Great article and a great way to think about FPL managerial styles.

      I'm not sure if I've fully established a definite style, but I think I'm probably a natural blue. Traditionally having good premium defenders appeals to me, and I rarely play 3 forwards, preferring 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 or even 4-5-1/5-4-1. I've never done much upside chasing so probably closer to blue/green than blue/purple.

  2. Now I'm Panicking
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    I haven't read the article yet, but I strangely do fancy a game of Trivial Pursuit now.

  3. Fulchester's New Centr…
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Thank you for this. Blue/green here.

    I do usually enjoy these articles and appreciate the amount of work that has gone into them, but still wonder why they are put in their own ghetto rather than being treated as regular articles.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Four premium defenders, nice team! The perfect Blue team, Fabio would be proud.

    2. Ginkapo FPL
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Agree, sometimes the best insights are hidden away on this site. I'm sure many dont know the navigation tab exists.

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

      Community Articles do have some advantages over the main articles, but it is unfortunate that more readers don't make the effort to look out for them.
      The comments on CAs are more relevant and easier to find than those on the main articles, and aren't hidden among a sea of RMTs and other comments that have no relation to the articles.
      Perhaps more of the main articles (some but not all) ought to have hot topics attached like this one does, to encourage discussions on the articles themselves.

      1. Now I'm Panicking
        • 9 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        It's been highlighted as a problem for years and one that no one at FFS has bothered to address, so if you could escalate this officially as something to be looked at, that would be great 🙂

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

          Not sure what the solution would be.
          Many casual users probably just post RMTs or other unrelated comments on the latest main article, sometimes without even reading it.
          But hopefully most established regulars are more aware of such things as Hot Topics and Community Articles.

          1. Ginkapo FPL
            • 12 Years
            2 years, 4 months ago

            Root and branch review required.

            How do users access content?

            Followed by, what content do we want users to see, so how do we achieve that.

            There are probably key times for users and key routes for access. There are probably features going unused because it is never communicated how to use them.

            If the scout tweet tab is never mentioned, does it really exist? This might sound like there is an obvious answer but truth is rarely one dimensional.

          2. Now I'm Panicking
            • 9 Years
            2 years, 4 months ago

            You don't just shrug and say "I don't know so let's leave it" which has been what has happened historically. A proper review is needed throughout FFS on a number of things, and it should involve people whose primary interest and commitment is FFS, rather than those whose focus is elsewhere in the FPL world. Gink has it pretty nailed above.

            1. Ginkapo FPL
              • 12 Years
              2 years, 4 months ago

              Proactive rather than reactive

    4. Rotation's Alter Ego
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      It's a very complex issue.

      "Why are they put in their own ghetto rather than being treated as regular articles"

      There's a number of reasons for this. One, main page articles get lots of comments, but as you know 99.9% of them have nothing to do with the actual article. Community articles, however, have their own comment area which means the discussion below them is actually about the article and the topics mentioned, as well as giving feedback to the writer. Overall, I believe this should be the case for all articles, but I'll touch on that later.

      Additionally, understand that community articles have far looser regulations than main articles. For one, I edit Community articles whereas our proper editorial team edits the main articles meaning the level of proofreading / grammar checking is far lower - anyone that has worked with me in the past will be able to attest that whilst I'm enthusiastic, me no word good. Main articles are tightly scheduled and the quality carefully controlled, whereas Community articles are set up to encourage anyone, regardless of experience, to have a go at writing articles. Fortunately we do have a number of extremely talented writers, MLS being one, and we have been looking to move more of these articles across to the main site when appropriate (You will have seen Greyhead's Great and Good is now on the editorial teams list, as have been some pieces by FPL_BallX etc) however we still have to keep a number in this community section, so it isn't completely abandoned.

      Editorial articles have to fit a strict schedule, have to have a set style. Community articles have no schedule and I make a conscious decision to limit editing sentence structure in order to preserve the writers voice, as I believe that's one of the most important things in giving these pieces character and flavour.

      I've talked to Geoff about this many times and one thing he suggested was we put Hot Topics on Community articles because people check the Hot Topic tab. It's something I do like to do - besides this one, I do mention to writers whether they'd like to add one - but only when I think it would be appropriate and not feel artificial. The issue for me is this is just a temporary solution and isn't actually fixing the root issue, that people check the Hot Topic tab more than the Community tab which is right next to it. Community Articles get more publicity (and we're still increasing it season on season with us now trying to push these articles through multiple media sources and so on, but we're still working on that) than Hot Topics already but people don't see them because they're in the habit of just checking the HT tab and not the community one.

      Personally, I'm in favour of completely changing how commenting works on site and how articles are displayed, and it is something that has been discussed at a rudimentary level. Ideally I'd like to see discussion be separate from main articles so all comments are just based on the article they're under and I think if that was the case you'd see how many view these articles do actually get. However I appreciate such a change would be massive and require a huge amount of time to implement so it's certainly not something I see on the near horizon. As a small company, there's no magical switch we can hit and suddenly have our dream solution, especially as such a change would risk changing one of the core foundations of the site.

      One other minor musing I had that I'd be interested to hear peoples opinion on is to highlight the community article box on home page. Community articles are listed on the landing page but they, in my opinion, blend into the listed editorial articles meaning people skim over them thinking they're old, outdated editorial articles. I'd like to try giving it a big purple background or something and a nice bold heading as I do think that might catch a few more eyes to the fact that they're something different. It may work, it may not, but I'd be interested to hear if you think it's worth trialling.

      1. Ginkapo FPL
        • 12 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        Cheers for the considered response.

        One thing to note is that on mobile only the top article is visible on the homepage without scrolling, and scrolling reveals a very messy jumble of things with the youtube links not fitting on the page.

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

    Havertz -> Son or roll a FT?

    1. Fulchester's New Centr…
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Son, he's so hot right now, Son.

  5. Andy_Social
    • 11 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Certainly it's interesting analysis. I try to be flexible rather than adhere to one approach throughout the season.
    At this moment in time, I'd suggest the popular approach of having a Back 4 of defenders from Che, City and TAA is intended to be a 'Glue Guys' defence. Perma-capping Salah whilst other premium attacks such as Kane, Kaku, KDB, CR7 flop rather undermines Upside Chasing - but circumstances might change later on.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Yes, it's worth noting that Blue/Purple managers often have to compromise with a more flexible and less defence-heavy team in GW1. Then it's easier to move to a big-at-the-back team on first WC if it looks like the right year for it.

      I'll talk more about the role of glue guys in different kinds of teams in future articles.

    2. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Regarding your last point, it was interesting to read Lateriser's most recent article and some ways in which he might adapt to what could be a tough season for Upside Chasers -- if Salah remains in this type of form.

  6. JabbaWookiee
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Azpi to (a) James or (b) Chilwell?

  7. Ginkapo FPL
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Nice read.

    1. Ginkapo FPL
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      I'm somewhere between red and purple but without the discipline needed for these approaches. I enjoy a defender captaincy far too much

  8. Nate(U)dog(ie)
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Cheers MLS, interesting read. I'm not quite sure where I'd fall on this chart. Last season (and pretty much all before it) I'd say I was definitively an upside chaser, but it was generally sloppy and in poorly thought-out moves. Last season I said I'd make a better effort to be patient and not take so many hits, yet after the end of last season I saw I had taken nearly -100 in hits over the course of the season, and really I knew I failed with this attempt after 5 or 6 weeks.

    This season, however, I'd say I'm somewhere on the purple patch. We're going into GW11 and I've taken just 2 hits (both in recent weeks, 1 was planned and one that I felt was worthwhile and long-term, the other was being opportunistic) and I rolled last week's FT and am rolling one this week too to give me room to manoeuvre over the IB. That being said, I'm open to a mini wildcard of sorts, but only because two of the three changes I'd make are for premiums and the other change is moving a player I've had from the start (Raphinha) to another for a decent batch of games. So I feel I've been pretty patient in avoiding hits for a good 7-8 weeks, yet I'm not opposed to another if I feel it a necessity or that it could set me up well for future weeks while also hopefully allowing me to conserve transfers later on as well to avoid other hits. Big at the back isn't a defined idea for me though and isn't something I love the idea of unless I see merit in it and see clean sheets coming in regularly enough so I'm not too sure which side I'd even lean towards.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      I think you can be within Purple without a lot of fondness for big at the back, certainly Magnus isn't a fan of it. I don't fully understand why, but maybe he just likes the high variance strategy and doesn't think big at the back would be likely to win FPL.

  9. Piggs Boson
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Interesting theory. It's a useful article in that it prompts introspection, which is always a good thing. I wonder if the theory will evolve over time...

    I'm purple/blue atm. A value-orientated manager, but I'm mindful of how value is a volatile thing, constantly changing over different fixtures. A player may be good value over a particular set of fixtures, but not long-term, most attackers fit here. The bigger the player, the more volatile this value swing is, so I like to move around expensive players when I have a "luxury transfer" to spend, hitting the fixtures. Defenders tend to be better value over the long-term so they make better "glue guys". I am open to going a bit maverick when I can see the potential value, for example, I jumped on Foden early in GW7 despite him playing Liverpool. Ownership doesn't come into my thinking at all, I'm just trying to maximise my points.

  10. Casual Player
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Interesting article. Last year I probably was yellow/green and did really well, this year have shifted more blue. Not sure either was deliberate - just doing what felt right at the time.

    Am I correct in that all the philosophies seem to have a reluctance to trade at the back? I think this is actually a bit of a myth - both in terms of where successful managers actually use trades, and it actually being a decent strategy.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Overall, yes. I think maybe somewhat less for Blue, but there aren't really that many outspoken Blue content creators out there, so it's hard to know for sure. I agree that it's not necessarily a bad thing to do either.

  11. SALVA
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    a) Mount to ESR

    b) Mount/Havertz to ESR/Son -4

  12. Flair
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    I think I'm firmly in the purple. Haven't taken any hits so far at 29k and looking to roll this week, however I play with a very fixture focused-playstyle - which has paid off this season so far, most notably with Benrahma and Jimenez. I'm extremely reluctant to take hits but much less hesitant to get rid of a player with poor fixtures for one with great fixtures, such as Antonio for Kane next GW. Use stats much more, most notably xG and xA. A huge change from last season and the season before it!

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Wow, we've got so many Purple managers here! I never expected that, I thought it (and Blue) would be a tiny fraction of managers. Maybe we just needed a name and a banner to rally behind.

      1. Ginkapo FPL
        • 12 Years
        2 years, 4 months ago

        We get laughed at regularly by others in the community so dont express our views as often. Seeing as our play is around individual risk taking we dont need the reassuring hug of others the same way yellow players do.

  13. Thomas Jerome Newton
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    Nice article. Appreciate the effort gone in to that.
    Some articles have a shelf life of a few days, where as others like this one have longevity. I could see myself wanting to read this again in future seasons.
    Feels like there should be an archive, maybe in sections, to scroll through these high effort articles.
    I think I'm mostly in the Blue camp.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      Cheers Terry! Yes, an archive would be nice to have. I do sometimes struggle to find old articles that I want to cite.

  14. fusen
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 4 months ago

    The way yellow has been described makes me think that it's basically someone who doesn't take much interest in the game, as I don't think you'd be able to do that well following it. IMO most managers who consistently finish highly would be somewhere around blue most gameweeks.

    There's also the fact that realistically you need to change styles every season depending on what is happening. Going big with defenders can work some seasons or even parts of seasons and just doesn't at other times due to fixtures (or to a lesser extent form). Few would dare double up on city and chelsea (like so many have recently including myself) if the fixtures weren't so forgiving.

    Come the second half of the season it's highly likely these big 4 defences just revert back to a tried and tested 3 big in def and the money is ferried away into some other position either upfront of in midfield.

    One of the key examples to my thinking is how Ronaldo and Lukaku were the bells of the ball less than a month ago and now everyone has pretty much jumped ship. That is a fairly substantial change in formation and money allocation yet it's the obvious thing to do as the situation changes and everyone needs to adapt to it.

    I'd be very surprised to see anyone who has consistent top 50k finishes to stick rigidly to any one concept every week every season.

    1. FPL Theorist
      • 4 Years
      2 years, 4 months ago

      I used to think more that way too, that Yellow could never be the strategy of an absolute top player, but out of the top 5 Hall of Fame, at least two (Finn and Morten) made positive comments about the template. Tom Stephenson may have as well -- I'll have to look at his Meet the Manager video again since I don't quite remember. In any case, Mark calls him "Tommy Template" on BlackBox and the template ratings from LiveFPL back that up for this season. I'd guess he's had past seasons where he was not so template.

      I tend to think of Yellow as being positive about the template, Green as mildly positive turning mixed or neutral as you get closer to Blue, and Blue as mostly negative about it. It's hard to say exactly where to draw the boundaries between Yellow and Green or Green and Blue. I'd say Tom Freeman is my central example of Green, Zophar is just on the Green side of the boundary with Yellow, whereas Neale is close to the Green/Blue boundary. Sam Bonfield would be probably just on the Yellow side of the boundary with Green.

      Certainly people do have to be adaptable. I think in the middle part of the season, most will show their true colours. Early on, many managers will lean Yellow/Green due to lack of information, then after the first wildcard, they can turn back to their natural Blue/Purple/Red if that's what they are. At the end of the season, they may turn Yellow/Green again if leading, or Red if chasing. Also, Blue managers don't have to use big at the back every season. I just think they are more open to considering it.

  15. FPL Theorist
    • 4 Years
    2 years, 2 months ago

    If you'd like to take a survey classifying which colour your style is, you can find it at https://twitter.com/FPLTheorist/status/1476775543597158406