Fantasy Premier League: One "do" and one "don't" for the new season

FutureGuy

Ok, this thread is for posting the best piece of advice you have ever been given for playing FPL but also for posting the worst advice you have ever been given. Let's avoid tips like "the worst piece of advice was captaining Rooney last year in gw32 when he score 1 point!"

They don't have to be earth shattering revelations either!

Best Tip: When in serious doubt regarding captain choice, choose the player with the most votes in the FFS captains poll.

Worst Tip: Never ever take a point hit! It's a waste of points!

froog

best tip: don't hang on to underperforming players hoping for that big haul. get rid!

worst: wigan have great starting fixtures and a great new striker! (two years in a row!)

froog

FutureGuy wrote: »

Ok, this thread is for posting the best piece of advice you have ever been given for playing FPL but also for posting the worst advice you have ever been given. Let's avoid tips like "the worst piece of advice was captaining Rooney last year in gw32 when he score 1 point!"

They don't have to be earth shattering revelations either!

Best Tip: When in serious doubt regarding captain choice, choose the player with the most votes in the FFS captains poll.

Worst Tip: Never ever take a point hit! It's a waste of points!

just to build on that - when i'm in doubt i go to the bookies (for clean sheets and goal scoring odds). takes a lot of hassle out of it.

going with captain's poll is good advice tho, as you minimise risk, but also your gains are diluted a bit.

grohlisagod

Best tip: It's better to be 1 week late on a bandwagon than 5 weeks early.

BKC

Do: Get Fernando Torres.

Don't: Forget to log on in time to make changes to your squad for the weekend.

Mr. Guappa

Do not over commit to DGW players. By all means get in a few who are good points scorers but don't go out of your way to bring in some average fantasy player who will stink up your team for weeks after the DGW has passed.

Do not over value the wildcard and hang onto it while your team of no-hopers slides down the rankings. Bite the bullet and use the wildcard early if you get off to a rocky start. I've used the wildcard during the first international break for the past 4 seasons and last years 7k finish was my lowest in that period. Price fluctuations are at their most severe around these early weeks so there is money to be made getting on the early bandwagons while revamping your squad and setting yourself up for the rest of the season. I tend to pick my squad with a focus on the first 3 GWs only as I know I'll be using my wildcard early.

Do not be put off too much by a tough looking run of fixtures: Form > Fixtures. Especially for the likes of RVP, Rooney etc.

Three "Do Nots" there I know. Guess I'm just a negative thinker

Degag

Do Not leave it until the night before kickoff to pick your team for gameweek 1. Lets hope last years fiasco was a once off.

alchemist33

Don't assume an expensive player is necessarily better than a cheaper one.

Do pick the obvious captain week in, week out, and you'll score higher than picking the high risk candidate every week.

RB100

Nice Thread OP

Rikand

Do Not troll boards members who all left it to the last minute to update their team on gameweek 1 at the start of the season. I trolled them and it's just not nice.

massdebater

Do: Make sure all 15 of your players are guaranteed starters every week. There will be weeks when you need your full squad.

Don't: Hold onto a player longer than needed. Don't hold onto a player becuase they're "due" a good week. They may have a massive week but you could be 5 or 6 weeks waiting for that to happen.

Lemlin

Do: Pick players who are guaranteed their place at their clubs. Steer clear of players like Kagawa, Ashley Youing, Valencia and Nani. I've already seen arguments on the Board over which 2 will start. I'll be steering clear of all 4 and will transfer in one when its confirmed who Fergie favours after the first or a couple of games.

Don't: Pick cheap players who won't play to fill sub positions. You never know when you'll suddenly have three or four players out and need a sub. A QPR defender coming in and getting you a point could mean a big difference if its over a couple of weeks and is avoiding you taking a four point hit.

Brussels Sprout

Do: Keep an eye on the various tracking websites around to ensure you time your transfers right. Ideally you want to purchase players before they rise in value for the first time in a week and obviously you want to get rid of a player before his value falls.

Don't: Place too much stock in pre-season form. Last year Victor Moses scored 5 times in pre-season. I held onto him for something like 8 weeks on the back of that form. As far as I can recall he didn't score his first goal until well into 2012!

manual_man

Do: Get Adel Taarabt. Just a personal hunch, but i think he could score a rake of points this season..

Don't: Pick too many players at new clubs/or at clubs that have a new manager. A few maybe... but often new players/managers take time to adapt. Bear that in mind

S.M.B.

A Best Tip/Worse Tip thread has morphed into Do's/Don'ts and has left me all confused.

smokingman

Do: keep an eye on bandwagons and jump on a lot of them. My team at the end of the season last year was worth around 115 and it helped me extend my lead in a lot of my leagues as a result.

Don't: keep your wildcard for the end of the season and use it just before a bunch of teams get rescheduled for double gameweeks.

Cantona's Collars

Do pick a cheap 'keeper who has a half decent defence in front of him,plenty of late consolations were scored last season so no point spending 7 mill on Hart & watch City being 3 up then concede in the last few minutes.Save your cash to strengthen elsewhere.

Don't buy players on the strength of last season,remember Nzogbia,went from hero to zero when he joined Villa.Plus don't keep a player 'cos he might come good (Suarez anyone? ),waste of money & costs points.

Mint Sauce

Do...

Go with your original gut feeling for the captaincy.

Dont...

Take any advice from an internet forum.

Darkglasses

Do: Pre-plan transfers for at least one GW in advance. Don't make any transfers just for the sake of it.

Don't: Spend any amount of time thinking about your team name. They're never funny anyway.

DazzlerIE

Mine is called Lesbian Sweat Soup, I like it anyway

Big Don't from me: Don't gamble on new signings in your week one team. Give them a week or two to bed in, then hop aboard

It's for this reason I'll be avoiding Kigawa and Hazard early on

RB100

DazzlerIE wrote: »

It's for this reason I'll be avoiding Kigawa and Hazard early on

Have both of them in my team;)

DazzlerIE

Ah Aguero was a revelation last year, so I could be talking complete pony.

I just want to get a taster of them before I commit

Jimmy Iovine

Don't bother paying any attention to a link that is posted the night before the deadline saying that (insert manager) is thinking of resting (insert star player's name) for a match :P. If you do this then you will find out the next day that said player starts and manages to get a hat-trick and two assists, and it will take you weeks to recover from the emotional and points-based damage.

I didn't fall for it. I captained Van Persie that day. It was a good day .

manual_man

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Don't bother paying any attention to a link that is posted the night before the deadline saying that (insert manager) is thinking of resting (insert star player's name) for a match :P. If you do this then you will find out the next day that said player starts and manages to get a hat-trick and two assists, and it will take you weeks to recover from the emotional and points-based damage.

I didn't fall for it. I captained Van Persie that day. It was a good day .

Jimehhhhhhhhh :pac:

How's tricks

shayno90

DO: Drop the big name players when they lose form as they lose value quickly and may not rediscover their form until the last few games of the season e.g. Silva


DON'T: Change your team based on last minute posts on boards before the Saturday morning deadline! e.g. change your captain from RvP who gets a hat-trick and two assists

3greenrizla's

Don't; believe everything you read on the internet.

massdebater wrote: »

Do: Make sure all 15 of your players are guaranteed starters every week. There will be weeks when you need your full squad.

Do; what he said.

Do; try to keep a few million in the bank at the start. It will leave funds to jump on any bandwagons.

Don't; take point hits whilst under the influence.

do; Play 3:4:3/3:5:2

Paully D

Do - Use your wildcard after the first few weeks when it's somewhat clear who the biggest points scorers will be. There's always a few who come good at a later stage or fade after a while but for the most part I've found players that get into a good rhythm during the first month or so of the season tend to always be there or thereabouts at the top of the points scoring charts at the end. The best example I can think of for this was Lescott at Everton a few seasons back. He had a very good first few weeks and continued on that form for the rest of the year. Shawcross was another a couple of years back, as was Bent at Sunderland.

Don't - Pick players that are defensively minded or have defensive roles with their clubs such as Lucas, Mikel, Carrick etc. Regardless of how good these players are they will never score well in fantasy football, are usually fairly costly, and I've already seen quite a few teams with these sort of players in them.

jcunning

Best Tip: Watch as much footie as you can. Trawling through endless stats doesn't compare with seeing the action for yourself.

Worst Tip: Spending points on transfers.

Mr. Guappa

jcunning wrote: »

Best Tip: Watch as much footie as you can. Trawling through endless stats doesn't compare with seeing the action for yourself.

Totally disagree. Use the stats as much as possible and largely ignore what you see on the pitch.

Captain Bob

jcunning wrote: »

Worst Tip: Spending points on transfers.

Completely disagree, depends on situation. If your transfers to last at least 2-3 weeks after, 4-8 points hit is not a big deal really. Refusing necessary transfers- wrong way to prove your team is fine.

carlcon

Do: Remember that you're just a fan of the game. Whether you like it or not, ex-professionals do know better than you. I don't care if you played in the reserves for a League of Ireland team, if you're posting here, accept your own ignorance and embrace professional opinion. The absolute best place to take in words of wisdom is BBC Radio 5 Live. Some of the younger, recently-or-not-quite retired pros (like Robbie Savage and Jason Roberts) won't be great for all-round knowledge, but they honestly provide great insights about current "gossip" they may have heard. Their word is worth 1000 tabloid newspapers, because they actually care about their reputations and don't want to be made look the fool. Then you have all the ex-managers and older players they have on there - if they say a player is about to explode into the game, then take notice. If they say a player is playing poor and may be dropped - take notice. They also make good use of stats, which are key.

If you're used to listening to pros, then you should already know which ones to avoid. If not, I'll make it simple for you: Ignore everyone on Match of the Day. Ignore everyone on RTE. Ignore everyone on Sky except Gary Neville. Ignore everyone that isn't on BBC Radio 5 Live from around 7pm onwards most days.

Watching games is fine. Noticing certain players attacking a lot is fine. But your opinions on the game are generally going to be worth shíte.

Don't: Never ever ever ever continue reading a sentence on this forum that begins with "I have a feeling...". OK, do read it, but do NOT take heed. Feelings are not just worthless in this game, but they're extremely detrimental to your scoring ability. Someone saying "I have a feeling X will come good" is basically saying "Here's an idea I've pulled out of my ass". On the rare occasions when these hunches turn out to be good, it's 100% luck. The key to playing well is in minimizing how much luck effects your game.

TL;DR: Stats are king. Manager interviews on a Friday evening can be extremely useful. Radio 5 Live will take you from being rubbish to average, or average to a competitor. Feelings and hunches will destroy your chances.

jcunning

Good point Captain Bob, you're right. I meant to say 'don't spend transfer points on a hunch' but thought it'd be more general that way. A lot of the top players last season (like SamCity!) averaged around one transfer a week over the course of the season. That's my plan anyway, had awful luck everytime I spent points on transferring in players who I thought 'were due' or 'had a feeling' about last time round. If I was able to go back to the start of last season, I would tell myself don't spend points on hunches. For sure you gotta spend points when your team needs it.

Thatsfootball

Do: Follow bandwagons early! Don't be late when all the rivals have him!

Don't: Be afraid for a points hit, it does work. Maybe not all of the time.

Jimmy Iovine

Thatsfootball wrote: »

Do: Follow bandwagons early! Don't be late when all the rivals have him!

Don't: Be afraid for a points hit, it does work. Maybe not all of the time.

I couldn't disagree more. The problem I find with point hits is that you're lured into chasing players. When I used to make the extra transfers I found myself taking more and more to try and get players in each week to replace the terrible moves I made the week before.

I made the decision last year to not make a single extra transfer. I stuck with that until 5 weeks from the end where I took one point hit. Thankfully it worked out but I really didn't want to take it.

The result of my decision was that I finished up 4,000th in the world, and top of all my leagues. One of my friends took point hits the whole time. I eventually bet him by about 160 points. He could have gotten back 140 of those by being more frugal in the transfer market and not taking a hit every time he saw a player score a goal.

If you stick to somewhere between 0 and 3/4 (very wise and calculated) transfers then you'll be ahead of almost everyone else in the game.

That probably ties in with your other point as well. It's all well and good to get on bandwagons early but only if you're very confident that the player will continue his form. There's no point in getting Djibril Cisse in because he scored in consecutive games. Chances are that he'll get injured or sent off in the next match.

If Suarez scores in consecutive games then you should look more seriously at that.

Thatsfootball

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

I couldn't disagree more. The problem I find with point hits is that you're lured into chasing players. When I used to make the extra transfers I found myself taking more and more to try and get players in each week to replace the terrible moves I made the week before.

I made the decision last year to not make a single extra transfer. I stuck with that until 5 weeks from the end where I took one point hit. Thankfully it worked out but I really didn't want to take it.

The result of my decision was that I finished up 4,000th in the world, and top of all my leagues. One of my friends took point hits the whole time. I eventually bet him by about 160 points. He could have gotten back 140 of those by being more frugal in the transfer market and not taking a hit every time he saw a player score a goal.

If you stick to somewhere between 0 and 3/4 (very wise and calculated) transfers then you'll be ahead of almost everyone else in the game.

That probably ties in with your other point as well. It's all well and good to get on bandwagons early but only if you're very confident that the player will continue his form. There's no point in getting Djibril Cisse in because he scored in consecutive games. Chances are that he'll get injured or sent off in the next match.

If Suarez scores in consecutive games then you should look more seriously at that.

Good points too!
Speaking from personal exp. points hit worth more often than not last season.
When Arsenal beat Chelsea 5-3 I'd brought Walcott for a 4 point hit. It worked then, and also on the last day of the season with Boyce who got either 13 or 16 points.
Now obviously you plan long-term if you're taking hits. Not something I'd advise every week. Save a transfer here and there!
The bandwagons are tough to know. Suarez yes and Torres etc. may go on a scoring spree once they begin. Whereas lesser players will not!
Thanks for the reply too!

:pac:

Grasshopper89

I'm relatively new to boards, but not to Fantasy Premier League, what's the website for it again?

God it's so good but what a melter when your doing so well and then forget to keep up with it and then all of a sudden your last :-(

Copper_pipe

Grasshopper89 wrote: »

I'm relatively new to boards, but not to Fantasy Premier League, what's the website for it again?

God it's so good but what a melter when your doing so well and then forget to keep up with it and then all of a sudden your last :-(

Fantasy.premierleague.com

Grasshopper89

yeah thats the one, thanks. Now who will I put in my team?? haha What's everyones thoughts on Torres??

kennyb3

My biggest tip would be to leave an extra €0.5m spare for price rises - you may only need 2/m to get Roo/RVP week 2, but if you want to change a9m midfielder the week after you may need 9.1 - not worth a point hit.

I'll prob cost myself a good few places in the boards league now with that one!

ShagNastii

Do: Find that defender that's being played in third have of the field and buy them ASAP. Very few last year bar Jones. But a good "mis-placed" defender can be a point machine e.g Coleman, El Mahammadi

Don't: Get too smart picking players nobody will have. If it comes off you are no more than grand. If not serious points to be losing.

Iused2likebusts

Do - Play your wildcard either when theres an international break or Fa cup Games scheduled that way you can make an easy profit buying and selling players that go up 0.2 in value even if you dont want to keep them.These are the weeks when most transfers are made as theres two weeks between games.

Dont - As a previous poster said listen to what Gary neville has to say hes part of the england set up so is hardly going to say what needs to be said about the majority of english players.