Picking a suitable squad with early wildcard in plan???

Bleating Lamb

What do seasoned veterans of game think of idea of picking your team with plan in back of mind to WC during first international break?...in theory would that squad differ much at all to the best squad any player thinks will do well anyway in first month of season?
Suppose what I'm saying is who do people reckon stand out as lads that will rise on price from start of season to start of International break (to leave you able to sell them and raise money to stick in bank for later in season).
I wildcarded during Int break last yr and did v well out of it.
Any replies appreciated,only sitting down tonight to start putting squad together and might go with this tactic again.

Dont be at yourself

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

What do seasoned veterans of game think of idea of picking your team with plan in back of mind to WC during first international break?...in theory would that squad differ much at all to the best squad any player thinks will do well anyway in first month of season?
Suppose what I'm saying is who do people reckon stand out as lads that will rise on price from start of season to start of International break (to leave you able to sell them and raise money to stick in bank for later in season).
I wildcarded during Int break last yr and did v well out of it.
Any replies appreciated,only sitting down tonight to start putting squad together and might go with this tactic again.

It's basically what I've done. Prioritised teams with decent enough starts (United), and avoided teams with difficult starts (City). Also means I can factor in players like Chambers, who aren't guaranteed to stay the course.

manual_man

i don't get this way of thinking at all, to be honest. i want to get off to the best possible start, and if this happens then why on earth would you want to wildcard when your picks are doing so well. there's far too many factors/variables to be planning your use of wildcard in advance in my opinion, just aim to get off to the best start possible, and take things on a week-by-week basis...

tom_k

manual_man wrote: »

i don't get this way of thinking at all, to be honest. i want to get off to the best possible start, and if this happens then why on earth would you want to wildcard when your picks are doing so well. there's far too many factors/variables to be planning your use of wildcard in advance in my opinion, just aim to get off to the best start possible, and take things on a week-by-week basis...

Agreed. Ideally the Week 1 team would be good enough to remain largely in place for longer than the first international break.

Factors affecting this will be actual starters versus expected starters, "must-have" players arriving toward the end of the transfer window or producing surprising performances or a rash of injuries but ideally these would be covered by the weekly transfer or calculated points hits.

I'd be most interested in having the wildcard for later on in the season when teams have settled in.

manual_man

tom_k wrote: »

Agreed. Ideally the Week 1 team would be good enough to remain largely in place for longer than the first international break.

Factors affecting this will be actual starters versus expected starters, "must-have" players arriving toward the end of the transfer window or producing surprising performances or a rash of injuries but ideally these would be covered by the weekly transfer or calculated points hits.

I'd be most interested in having the wildcard for later on in the season when teams have settled in.

like i said too many variables. think back to the weather mayhem of a few years ago. oh what i would have done to still have had my wildcard then

Dont be at yourself

manual_man wrote: »

i don't get this way of thinking at all, to be honest. i want to get off to the best possible start, and if this happens then why on earth would you want to wildcard when your picks are doing so well. there's far too many factors/variables to be planning your use of wildcard in advance in my opinion, just aim to get off to the best start possible, and take things on a week-by-week basis...

Reasons are as follows:

- You have the luxury of taking short-term punts on players. Chambers is a perfect example: over 38 games, he's a poor pick, but he's a cheap way into the Arsenal defence in the short-term.

- By the end of GW3, you have a better handle of how teams will set up, particularly those with new managers. Who will Van Gaal play in defence? Is Lamela or Erikson going to be the main man for Spurs? We can divine some of that by following pre-season, but we'll have much more to go on by GW3.

- Similarly, see how new signings are settling in. Where are Sanchez and Cesc going to play? Is Costa going to hit the ground running? Is Hart or Willy going to be City's #1? Are Lovren and Luis going to be starting defenders?

- Emergence of young or squad players: Look how Barkley came from nowhere last year. His price was going up by the day, and if you don't get these guys in early, they'll soon be out of reach

- End of the transfer window: if United sign Di Maria (yeah, right...), or Liverpool bring in Cavani (yeah, right...), you may want to do some shuffling around to accommodate them.

- International break gives you 2 weeks to capitalise on price rises, and the prices normally go bananas during this break.

Lemlin

There's no right or wrong time to use your season long wildcard in my opinion. You use it when the time is right.

I'd never pick a team for the season start with using it in mind but, that said, I'm always prepared to use it if needs must.

The January wildcard, on the other hand, should be held as late as possible.

manual_man

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

Reasons are as follows:

- You have the luxury of taking short-term punts on players. Chambers is a perfect example: over 38 games, he's a poor pick, but he's a cheap way into the Arsenal defence in the short-term.

- By the end of GW3, you have a better handle of how teams will set up, particularly those with new managers. Who will Van Gaal play in defence? Is Lamela or Erikson going to be the main man for Spurs? We can divine some of that by following pre-season, but we'll have much more to go on by GW3.

- Similarly, see how new signings are settling in. Where are Sanchez and Cesc going to play? Is Costa going to hit the ground running? Is Hart or Willy going to be City's #1? Are Lovren and Luis going to be starting defenders?

- Emergence of young or squad players: Look how Barkley came from nowhere last year. His price was going up by the day, and if you don't get these guys in early, they'll soon be out of reach

- End of the transfer window: if United sign Di Maria (yeah, right...), or Liverpool bring in Cavani (yeah, right...), you may want to do some shuffling around to accommodate them.

- International break gives you 2 weeks to capitalise on price rises, and the prices normally go bananas during this break.

Sorry pal but i really think your over-thinking things. The ideal scenario like i said is getting off to a flyer, in which case using your valuable wild-card is probably the last thing on your mind. There's SO many variables, some of which you've mentioned above, and depending how things play out, and how your own personal team fares over the opening gameweeks, using your wildcard early COULD be the right thing to do. but as for actually PLANNING to use it early? Madness!

skippy15

OP I am planning on doing the same as yourself, am picking teams with good opening fixtures and guaranteed gametime (3 Man U and 3 Chelsea), with team focused on first 11 mainly.
I think if WC is used right will give you close to million extra to play with.

So yes plan to use it early on, but if team is scoring and rising well I may just take 2/3 early price hits instead but plan is to use it early

Dont be at yourself

manual_man wrote: »

Sorry pal but i really think your over-thinking things. The ideal scenario like i said is getting off to a flyer, in which case using your valuable wild-card is probably the last thing on your mind. There's SO many variables, some of which you've mentioned above, and depending how things play out, and how your own personal team fares over the opening gameweeks, using your wildcard early COULD be the right thing to do. but as for actually PLANNING to use it early? Madness!

Not at all. Playing the wild card is a balance between:

- having enough information on form, trends and bandwagons to select the right players

and:

- getting in early enough to capitalise on price rises

After GW3 is the sweet spot: you have 3 league games to see how teams set up, who's in form. The transfer window has closed, and crucially, you have a 2 week window to capitalise on price rises before they rocket. Prices for emerging players will be a lot different by the start of GW4.

8-10

Lemlin wrote: »

The January wildcard, on the other hand, should be held as late as possible.

If disagree with that in the case where you still have your season wildcard by then. I've found it's useful to use the Jan wildcard early as you get a lot of early wildcarders driving up the price. Then use the second one around the end of Feb/start of March.

If you haven't wildcarded all season and you have 2 available, I don't see a point in waiting until the end of the month. If there's important signings at the end of Jan you can use the 2nd one earlier in Feb if it's really necessary

Mr. Incognito

I have nearly always played it at the first international break and have shot up the rankings in the second half of the season due to team value and having all the top players

Iused2likebusts

Deep down most people pick a team based on the first few weeks fixtures anyway. Hence there are lots of teams with 3 chelsea, utd players and not many going with city players. The last couple of seasons when their was a dgw in week 1 this was even more of an issue. For me there is no point in picking a team with more than the first 6-8 weeks in mind anyway as we all have a free transfer each week so you are better off getting the points on board as early as you can and that involves picking the players with the best fixtures and points potential.

Lemlin

8-10 wrote: »

If disagree with that in the case where you still have your season wildcard by then. I've found it's useful to use the Jan wildcard early as you get a lot of early wildcarders driving up the price. Then use the second one around the end of Feb/start of March.

If you haven't wildcarded all season and you have 2 available, I don't see a point in waiting until the end of the month. If there's important signings at the end of Jan you can use the 2nd one earlier in Feb if it's really necessary

Can't agree or disagree tbh. I've never hard my first wildcard past Xmas