Palace v West Ham team news: Zaha returns, Benrahma benched

It has been like this a bit before.

Haaland makes the captain decision simple. Although we did have that with Salah recently tona very similar degree.

The pricing of some mids (ARS especially) has helped everyone have a quote optimal team - as has the underperformance of some premiums.

It's happened before and it'll happen again 🙂

It only gets worse and worse I feel... one of my friends showed my nr.1, 2 and 3 in a ML he's in. Exact same team for multiple GWs.

Well there wasnt as much content to help people had to make their own decision:)

It was brilliant before you started!

Same story since last couple of years and only going to increase.

In all seriousness...

You had to select all for the raw data and crunch your own stats. No drop down menus in the main game nevermind the rest.

Would do so on a train home from work on Friday and I did finish higher up than now.

The BBC has a FPL article each week, the Twitter FPL account which is retweeted by the main PL account has 5.1 million followers and regurgitates the same community info that is found on here and YouTube etc.

So basically half of the entire game userbase follows an account that will tell you the exact sensible template to use, and if you don't use Twitter then the national broadcaster will tell you instead. Then you have The Athletic etc and more 'sports focused' places that will do articles (and podcasts).

There is no way back from this unless the game changes the core functionality.

Arguably makes it even more tactical. You have to be thinking differently again to move away from the pack. However, you also need far more luck.

I think this is naturally true, regardless of player performance and prices, due to the increased attention to FPL content.

It seems to be reflected in the relatively huge team values for anyone who's playing a very conservative game and factoring in EO, a cult that basically all content creators seem to follow. I actually took a lot of early and seemingly unnecessary risks no transfers and hits this year, and still I'm way behind many in financial clout.

I really hate the money side of the game, it's so boring by itself, and makes gameplay even more boring. Unfortunately it creates a loop, as it's another reason to follow the flow and copy everyone else.

I've played since 2006/07...

At that time you had a real edge from being engaged, knowledge of teams/players managers, etc. None of which is knew...but to be engaged you had to work a lot harder to get the information. So far more people didn't bother.
So there was a big correlation with how much time and thought you put into it and how well you did.
Also, working things out tactically yourself was important. Now you can find someone else who has done that for you.

I suppose you could see how many points off OR1 you are. If it's 100s, there's still wiggle room to play your own game.

This season hasn't played out the best, for FPL. Haaland is a no-brainer. Brighton, Arsenal, Newcastle too good value not to have. Fulham, earlier on. Shaw, Rash probably as well. Kane is Kane. LFC, Chelsea, Spuds underperforming has limited other options.

Plus it's kind of like online poker. In the early days it was beyond easy to make money, now there's loads of "how to" materials out there. Nevertheless the top players have levelled up again to bring forward optimal strategies to beat the masses

It’s my 9th season too and it definitely feels the most template but as mentioned already, it’s sort of a perfect storm - extra WC after the World Cup, Haaland breaking records and underpriced, more people following same content creators that encourage same picks. All the teams are extremely similar and it’s often a matter of only two-three players that make a difference. Won’t be the same next season - no extra WC and I’m sure they’ll fix prices.

A little but the big name players were so much harder to fit in as they were so much more expensive. No way you’d be getting in RVP, Lampard and Drogba.

This argument only holds water if you're doing well. If you aren't, why not when there is such convergence and good info everywhere?

You are all the problem by giving these people their YouTube views and likes. Fight against them or accept it will never change

yes, it is, yes

I risen from 1.9million to 97k since GW16. It possible to play your own game to a certain event. I think the content creators create more FOMO on certain players or strategies around chips, BGWs and DGWs.

I remember back before even FFS had a fixture ticker, i had coded my own, even including defensive rotations.

It was much easier to gain an edge on others back then before content creators and free opta stats were pervasive

Last few years everyone has had the same team. Winners are those who get lucky with the occasional punt or rogue captain. Agree, it’s much easier to copy the template - makes for a dull second half of season for sure.

Who could have seen Brighton actually scoring to back up xG through the season? Who could have seen flaky old Arsenal as City's chief rivals? Who would have thought Haaland would have a chance at breaking Dixie Dean's single season record?

Pricing can only be based on past performance at the start of the season, so all of the above mean that it's been easier to get a squad full of point scorers.

It's also driven a need to jump on any prospective bandwagon ASAP to avoid lagging behind too much, hence casuals/non-planners have stayed in the game longer.

The pricing was abysmal.

Hopefully better next season, but won't hold my breath.

So called "Casuals" have learned the rules and are now equal to "Regulars". Now it's just down to luck.