Monday, 31 July 2017
Three Common FPL Mistakes To Avoid
The new Premier League season is less than 2 weeks away and to millions all over the world that means one thing: Fantasy Football! Whether you’ve been playing the game for years or you’ve decided to give it a go for the first time this season, there are some mistakes that often go over-looked by a lot of managers that you need to avoid if you want to win your office’s mini-league. These are three of the mistakes that I made last year that I definitely won’t make this season.
Taking unnecessary points' hits
Since the dawn of FPL, managers have debated over spending those extra few points in order to sign an extra player or two in the weekly transfer window. For many, the logic is “I can spend the 4 points on this player because he’ll score at least that many points this week”. Unfortunately, though that may work out occasionally, a lot of the time it does not.
You may be 100 points in front of your mates in your mini-league but at the end of the season those extra 4 points could be crucial in winning you a top 10% finish. Also managers make a habit of taking point hits much like I did last season. It got to the point that I spent 16 points in order to have 11 starting players during a cup weekend last season. Though I may have beaten the majority of managers that week, the next week I realised my squad was full of Middlesbrough and Sunderland players so I had to take yet another points hit. It’s important to avoid this mistake as often as possible.
Following the crowd too much
Last season everyone knew that Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku scored goals and therefore were in everyone’s fantasy team. Unfortunately I was no different and only at the end of the season did I realise that having players like them didn’t gain me any extra points over my competition. It is vital that you take the risk and invest in a few shrewd differentials. This season, promoted players like Anthony Knockaert and Dwight Gayle could be worth the gamble to potentially score goals and earn bonus points that most of your opponents won’t be earning.
Picking players by their name, not by their points potential
Kante won PFA player of the season and is just £5.0m in FPL. Bargain right? Not so fast. Kante is known worldwide for his pace and positioning but do you know how many points a player earns for staying in Ander Herrera’s pocket for 90 minutes? 0. Though he was undeniably a superstar for the champions last season, N’Golo scored just one goal and made just one assist. He also didn’t frequently pick up bonus points. Kante is just one example of a player that may be brilliant in real life, but fails to deliver in FPL.
Other FPL mistakes to avoid:
Don’t use your chips too early.
Don’t be stubborn – allow yourself to pick your rival teams star player.
Don’t have a defender in your team that’s playing your star striker.
Don’t pick players that frequently get booked.
~ A.P. Schmitz
Lessons Learnt from the 16/17 FPL Season
Taking risks can be beneficial, but do so sparingly
For FPL managers, there’s no better feeling than taking a big risk that pays off. Doing so can see a steep ascent up the rankings. However, more often than not, big risks fail, resulting in a steep plummet down the rankings. As a result, it worth tossing up the risk vs reward of a decision. In terms of captain choices, there are two options FPL managers can take; ‘sword’ or ‘shield.’ For the most part of the season, the safest thing to do is...CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE
Friday, 28 July 2017
Chief's Football Survivor League Is Back!
Competition
Join the best of the FPLHINTS' community in our '10-life' Survivor League and prove you've got what it takes to be crowned champ!
Basic Rule
Click here to read the rules in more detail.
Prize (via Football Survivor)
Join the best of the FPLHINTS' community in our '10-life' Survivor League and prove you've got what it takes to be crowned champ!
Basic Rule
Click here to read the rules in more detail.
Prize (via Football Survivor)
Have you read the latest edition yet?
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Dealing with FPL burnout
Burnout is something that can happen in almost all walks of life. Even in fantasy football. Setting high standards and then failing to achieve them can make you feel beaten and bedraggled which makes quitting the easiest solution. Clearly you should only take part in a recreational activity for the fun of it.
Doing something and hating it is never a good thing. In fact, it's unhealthy and a symptom to a problem. You should enjoy playing fantasy football. Accept that there will be highs and lows. It's never going to be 100% 'fantasy', despite the name. What if there were ways to deal with 'FPL burnout'? Would that help you?
Thursday, 27 July 2017
Tips From A Top 10 FPL Manager
Jatin Arutla sensationally finished within the top 10 of the world last
season out of four million FPL managers (0.00025%!). He also finished top of the FPL Hints League. A die-hard fan of
Manchester United, he started college this year and was born at the turn of
this millennium. This article provides some insight into the tactics that he
followed which catapulted him right up into the FPL stratosphere.
Formation
I favoured 3-4-3 for the majority of the season and
averaged nearly 63 points over 28 gameweeks. I believe that forwards have the
highest chance of returns as they get into more attacking positions than
others. Obviously, it works only when there are at least 3 forwards who are in
good form. However, I've seen many other managers use different formations
through the season and achieve success. It depends on the players you're
picking. Also, I tried to spend the least possible amount of money on bench
players for two reasons. Firstly, it allowed me to spend the remaining cash on
my starting 11 and have the best chance of fantasy returns from premium players.
Secondly, it decreased the dilemma of squad rotation every week and saved me
from the frustration of having points on the bench.
Stick with your players and watching lots of footy
There is an underrated relation between these two.
It is important that you stick with your players even if they're going through
a rough patch. You can't judge the form of a player just by looking at his FPL
points. I feel that this is the main difference between the casuals and the
more serious ones. The player who isn't getting returns might be getting into
good positions but be unlucky with the final product. You can't tell this from
looking at stats. I drafted Townsend in my GW1 squad and he didn't return in
the first few gameweeks. But I saw that he was getting forward well and started
looking more comfortable on the ball as the games progressed. Then he returned
with a double-digit haul. Sticking with a player might not always provide the
results you want but I think it does more often than not.
Early transfers, hits and team value
I always tried to avoid making transfers early in
the week as the player may get injured and you have to take a hit later in the
week to replace him. If you wait until the end of the week, you can watch the
press conferences and get to know which players are unfit for the weekend. This
tactic was fruitful for me in the last gameweek when King declared that he
would be unfit and I transferred in Stanislas who scored. I've never fussed too
much about team value as the main goal is to score the maximum points. But
having a decent team value helps in the back end of the season when the prices
of players are generally higher than the start. I take hits only when a player
is injured, suspended or out of form and I can recover it in the long term.
Also, saving a free transfer and spending 2 transfers the next week has worked
out well for me this season.
Double Gameweeks and chips
Double Gameweeks (DGWs) are that time of the season
where you have the best chance in improving your overall rank. Thus, it is
important to plan ahead and bring in players who are more likely to play both
the games. Also, it may not be wise to ditch in-form single gameweek players
for doubtful DGW players. I took a hit to bring in Sterling expecting that it'd
be only a –2 as he had a DGW. And then Pep did his rotational masterclass. It
is also important to see if players have the right motivation in the final
stretch of the matches, be it for either Europe, a relegation battle or even
individual achievements such as the Golden Boot (7 goals in 2 matches). I
played my wildcard before GW 36 and Bench Boost (BB) before GW37. Triple
Captain (TC) chip and BB are quite a handful but are certainly not season
enders. Generally, the players on your bench should be the four weakest players
from your team. So, it makes sense to wildcard before you BB and bring in four
DGW players who have good FPL potential. The TC chip can potentially be used
during a gameweek where there are fewer teams with DGWs.
Wednesday, 26 July 2017
Sunday, 23 July 2017
WFC's FPL Super Differentials - Five Less Than 3% Ownership Players To Free Up Funds And Help Separate You From The Crowd
Alli, De Bruyne, Coutinho, Lukaku, Kane, Lacazette. The list goes on and on. This Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season, there are a lot of expensive players, most of whom justify their price tag with regular goals and assists. Due to this vast array of expensive options at our disposal, there are a significant amount of players with high ownership. Although the ‘template squad’ (where everyone owns the same players who score well each week) may not play as great a role this season as previous ones, it is still imperative to mix up your squad with high and low ownership players to stand out from the crowd and separate yourself from the rest. In this article, we at WFC have selected five super differentials (players owned by less than 3% of managers) who have the potential to obtain large hauls this season, whilst simultaneously acting as budget enablers allowing us to select more premium players.
So, here are who we believe to be five of the top super differential picks for the 2017/18 FPL season.
Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Brighton FPL Preview - Soaring Seagulls or Hexed Hove Albion?
Brighton sealed their promotion to the Premier League on
April 17th, 2017 from the Championship. Over the last 8 years, their
chairman plugged £250 million into the club to make them a promotion ready
side, including funding the construction of the 30,750 seater Falmer Stadium,
currently the AMEX Stadium due to a sponsorship deal. 34 years ago, Brighton
were relegated from the old First Division, the last time the featured in
England’s top flight. 20 years ago, whhile the Premier League format was
finding its feet, Brighton were homeless after the club ran into financial difficulties
and their stadium was sold – fans were forced to drive 70 miles to Gillingham
to attend home matches instead. They were deducted points during the 1996/97
season due to fan protests about this very issue. Needless to say, the Seagulls
have come a long way from that season, when they barely held onto their
Football League status.
Opening Fixtures
1. Manchester City (H)
2. Leicester City (A)
3. Watford (A)
*International Break*
4. West Brom (H)
5. Bournemouth (A)
6. Newcastle (H)
*International Break*
7. Arsenal (A)
8. Everton (H)
9. West Ham (A)
10. Southampton (H)
With FPL managers traditionally deploying their first
wildcard after the second international break, it’s reasonable to select one,
if not more, Brighton players in your initial squads. I’ve highlighted Albion’s
favourable fixtures by underlining them.
Manager Profile
Chris Hughton is a man we’ve seen in the Premier League
twice before with two different teams. He first took charge of Newcastle in
2009/10 when they won promotion from the Championship under his stewardship. He
was sacked in December of the 2010/11 season, with the team in 11th
position. His sacking was greeted by widespread anger given that the side
hadn’t been performing badly for a promoted side.
That season in the PL with the Toon, he had primarily relied
upon a 442 formation once his attempts to use a 451 failed were unsuccessful.
In his next job at Birmingham City, he led the then League Cup champions in a
Europa League run, to the FA Cup fifth round and to fourth in the Championship.
They subsequently lost a playoff semi-final. In that job, he once again relied
on 442 for the majority of his tenure, while occasionally experimenting with
the same formation but deploying two defensive midfielders instead – a so
called 442 “double six”.
That solid season led to him being poached by Norwich City,
who he led in the Premier League for almost two full seasons. His first season
promoted saw him deploy 2 defensive midfielders in almost every game he played,
usually as part of a 4231. They finished a credible 11th in that
season, a feat he will hope to replicate with Brighton this season. However,
about a year later he lost his job in charge of the Canaries as the club
battled relegation. He had switched between a 4231 and a 442 double six all
season. He mainly used the latter in games where Norwich could reasonably be
expected to take all three points such as home games against weaker opposition.
Since then, he has been rebuilding at Brighton. Last season,
he switched between a 442 and a 442 double six.
Career Record:
Total: 357 Games || 156 Wins || 98 Draws || 103 Losses || 43.7%
Win Ratio
Brighton: 126 Games || 63 Wins || 33 Draws || 30 Losses || 50.0% Win Ratio
So what can we
expect?
It seems to me that Hughton is unlikely to experiment with
the new 3 man defence with wing-backs that is currently in fashion. Instead, we
can expect a traditional 4 at the back, with 2 defensive midfielders for
solidity. Two strikers also seems to be his preference, though his quotes back
in May suggest he will play with a 4-4-1-1 to start:
"I think it's
difficult to go through a season playing 4-4-2, particularly as a new club.”
"Leicester play
it generally but they are more established. I would see myself at times playing
it but also very much a 4-4-1-1." [Source]
New summer arrival Pascal Groß, previewed below, is expect
to fulfil the Number 10 role in the new system.
The tweet below shows a rough calculation for what we can
expect from Brighton as a second placed promoted side. I acknowledge that it’s
a rough yardstick, but it’s the best we
have to work with right now:
🚨 HOW WILL THE PROMOTED TEAMS PERFORM IN THE PL? 🚨🏆Impact of promotion on G/D Home/Away for 5 seasons on average⚡#FPL pic.twitter.com/jZMRapldrM— #FPL Stag (@FPLStag) July 15, 2017
Players to watch
Goalkeeper
Mathew Ryan (4.5)
Given that Ryan just arrived at Albion for a club record
transfer fee, we can expect that he will take over first team duties,
especially given that last season’s number one, David Stockdale, has left the
club. Stockdale led the Championship for clean sheets (20 in 45 games), which
indicates the solidity at the back of this Brighton side last season. They
conceded 40 goals in total, which was the joint-best in the division with
Newcastle. However, it was at home, where they let in just 13, that they really
proved their mettle.
Ryan, 24, has had a stellar career to date. He already has
31 international caps for Australia to his name. However, it’s interesting to
note that his career has stalled in recent seasons. He was signed by Valencia
in 2015, but only played a bit-part role for them, making 10 appearances across
a season and a half. However, he was Genk’s first choice once he arrived there
in the winter transfer window last season as part of a loan agreement. He kept
eleven clean sheets in 24 matches, conceding 20 times in total. Only one of
those cleanies came in the six Europa League matches he featured in. The other
ten came in lower standard domestic games in Belgium.
I think it’s fair to say that Ryan has been overhyped by
pundits in the fantasy football sphere since the fixture list was announced. I
wouldn’t be in a major rush to acquire a player as unproven as Ryan at Premier
League level – search him on google, he’s outranked by a musician. Sure, he’ll
face a lot of shots and make a lot of saves (Brighton hope) but I think that
other goalkeepers at his price level provide a more dependable option for
gameweek one.
Defenders
Lewis Dunk (4.5)
Dunk is attracting a lot of interest among FPL managers
because he is one of Brighton’s many set-piece takers. However, as a man who
stands at 6’3” (192 cm) (some sites say he’s a centimetre taller), he is not
going to be on corners or crossable free-kicks. Most of their direct set-pieces
are taken by Anthony Knockaert.
However, having scored just 2 goals off 31 shots last year,
we’re not talking about a player like Phil Jagielka in April. Instead, what we
have in Dunk is a consistent starting player who does his defensive duties
well. He’s likely to be in line for bonus points if the Seagulls manage to keep
a clean sheet, though he could scupper his chances by picking up a yellow card
– he was joint 4th in the Championship last season with 13 (0.32 per
game).
A quick look at the positives – he was second for the Championship
for interceptions with 125, 8th for blocked shots in the division
with 39 too, which was the best total for the promoted teams. He also won 68%
of his aerial duels (152 won), but you’d expect that given his stature. He
popped up with 14 key passes all season too.
Shane Duffy (4.5)
Duffy is a man that is close to my heart given he’s a
Republic of Ireland player, though I’ll try to stop his international exploits
from clouding my judgement.
I believe Duffy is a much better option in fantasy than
Dunk. He scored twice last season as Dunk did, though he did so in less games.
He betters Dunk’s per game ratio in aerial duels with 5.62 (70% success rate)
and he was also superior to Dunk on a per 90 basis for clearances (8.45 v 7.8),
while he was second among the Brighton defenders in pretty much every other
defensive stat. However, Duffy is more likely to pick up FPL bonuses given that
he’s less of a card magnet, getting 0.21 per game ie. About once every five
matches.
From the matches I have seen of Duffy, he can be a bit rash
and prone to dips in concentration. However from a fantasy point of view, Duffy
is the superior choice – more likely to score and more likely to get bonuses.
Markus Suttner (4.5)
Chris Hughton has already brought in Markus Suttner (4.5) to
take over duties on the left side as part of his two part raid of Ingolstadt.
The Austrian got four goals and five assists in his 31 Bundesliga games, so
he’s obviously quite attack minded – 1.7 key passes, 1.5 crosses and 1.4 shots
per game. Intriguingly, he had the second highest shot count by a defender in
the German league (43), although 37 of those efforts came from outside the
area. Furthermore, he provided more key passes than any other defender in the
Bundesliga too with 49. Let’s see how he fits into the system for Hughton and
whether or not he takes set-pieces before getting too excited, but this boy
could be a hidden gem.
The Other Defenders
Brighton’s main man on the right flank, Bruno, is 36 and
should be fading. He played 39 of their league games last season and got four
assists off 28 key passes. It’s unlikely he’ll reach those levels in the PL. Uwe
Hünemeier, Bong, former fantasy favourite Rosenior and Goldson are all unlikely
to feature in the early season starting elevens. That said, if nobody is
brought in to share minutes with or completely replace Bruno, we could see
Rosenior get his chance on that right side of the back four.
You can read the rest of this preview over on the Rotoworld site, where Stag continues by examining Albion's midfield and forward prospects. For Anthony Knockaert and Pascal Gross alone, you're not going to want to miss that! Click this link -> Brighton FPL Preview 2017/18 continued
If you want to hear more from Stag, you can follow him on Twitter for #FPL hints, tips, help and reaction.
Who else is going to make Christmas Island their #FPL nation this season?RT to help ensure the community comes together in one place! pic.twitter.com/K7DmWYx9ER
— #FPL Stag (@FPLStag) July 8, 2017
Fantasy Football Magazine - Penghantaran Asia Tenggara
Fantasy Football Magazine* telah mengurangkan harga pos mereka untuk masa yang terhad!
Sama ada anda berada di Malaysia, Singapura atau Indonesia, mereka telah menurunkan harga penghantaran sementara untuk memastikan pengurus bola sepak fantasi gembira.
Pastikan anda memanfaatkan tawaran hebat ini.
Monday, 17 July 2017
FPL Invite Codes 2017/2018 | 8 Clicks, 8 Mini-Leagues |
Click Here:
2018/2019
Mini-Leagues
FPL HINTS
2018/2019
Mini-Leagues
What's an #FPLDraft?
This year - for the first time ever - the OFPL has
decided to offer draft format fantasy Premier League. Other sites - notably
Togga - have been offering draft FPL for quite some time. Regardless of where
you want to play, there are a few basic differences that you need to know. We
know some of you have played FPL draft for years, so we'll provide a short bit about
the differences in the games and a few players who you should value more highly
in draft formats. For those of you who are going to play FPLDraft this season - head to FPLDraft.com a buy my 38-page Draft Guide. In it you'll find mock drafts, cheat sheets, key stats, and articles from many of your favourite FPLers including Ben Dinnery.
The Basics...
In draft you are only competing in a minileague. Each
manager takes turns selecting players round robin. Most formats use 'snake
format' which means the first manager to make a selection in the odd rounds (1,
3, 5...) is the last manager to make a selection in the even rounds. Once each
manager has selected a full roster - OFPL looks like 15 while Togga uses 16 -
the rest of the players who aren't selected will be available to add to your
roster throughout the season. This means you need to keep track of not only your own selections, but a running tally of which players are selected at which position. You don't want to be left needing a forward when the best one remaining is Jordan Ayew.
Formation!
You might not think it, but formation matters much more
in draft that in salary cap. Why? Because the number of players who are
actually productive in OFPL scoring makes it difficult to maintain tactical
flexibility. Let's say you want to start three up front. Well, you can't just
spend big and use 40M to land Kane, Aguero and Lacazette. In a draft league
you'll be lucky to own ONE of them. So if you're starting three up top it will
more like be Kane, Gabiaddini and Slimani!! Remember, if you play in a 10-team
draft league each team must start a minimum of three defenders - so 30
defenders will start each week. That means players like Cedric, Jose Fonte or
Joel Matip aren't afterthoughts. Those are players who will be starting for you
or someone in your league every single week. If you decide to start four defenders regularly, you'll need to secure at least one top flight defender in the first five rounds.
Managing The Draft
If this is your first year playing FPL draft, you'll need
to know that managing the draft is important. Managing a draft can be tricky and this is why the comprehensive FPLdraft guide is so important to your success. Before draft day you'll want as much information on how to plan your draft
strategy, how to find value players later in the draft and create (or buy) several cheat
sheets for your use during the draft proper. [For example the linked Guide includes a sheet of every player to earn 10+ BPS last season.]
Two rules to remember: always have a plan b and never take a goalkeeper early. Plan B is important because the draft will happen quickly. If you are waiting for you turn so you can select Jason Puncheon and he gets drafted one pick ahead of you you'll be in a scramble and might panic and draft...N'Golo Kante! Whew. Crises averted - he's the reigning Player of the Year. Except in OFPL he doesn't score any points. No goals. No assists. [Note: if you're playing in a format like Togga where Opta stats are used DEF MID have more value as interceptions, tackles won and aerial duels are all worth FPL points].
Don't Draft a GK EARLY
Why does this get its own section? Because it is that
important. Last season Tom Heaton was the No. 1 GK. He scored 149 total points.
Across 38 games that is less than 4 pts per match. The 10th GK was Ben Foster.
He scored 113 points. Across 38 games that is 2.9 pts per match. One point per
gameweek. Meanwhile, you say to yourself 'but Heaton outscored Troy Deeney last
season, I should pick him ahead of Deeney'. It's true he outscored Deeney. But you only need 1
GK. If you pass on Troy Deeney to select Heaton - your next chance to draft a
forward may mean you end up with 10-12 spots behind the Hornets' rotund hitman. Last season that would
be Abel Hernandez and his 72 points. So, before you think of draft a GK think
of it this way "would I rather have Heaton and Hernandez or Deeney and
Foster"? We assume you know what the right answer that is.
Managing the Season
Unlike OFPL salary cap game where you can simply buy and
sell players, in draft you'll need to compete with the other managers to scoop
up value off of the waiver wire. We'll leave that concept to a longer post, but
the short version is that you will be able to add/drop players off of your
roster, it will just be a more competitive process and the players available will
be of much lesser quality. For example, in a 10 team league with 15 roster
spots, there will be 150 players already owned. So players like Salomon Rondon,
Charlie Austin, even Benick Afobe will all be owned by you or a competing
manager. That means if you want to make your side better you'll be left making
moves like dropping Granit Xhaka to add Didier Ndong (he finished last year
87th among midfielders with 67 total points). Making those moves is as important to your draft success as finding a good poundshop defender is in salary-cap.
Trades
The FPL official game will not allow trades of players
between managers. Every other FPL draft format allows this. It is a necessary
part of the game. With a limited pool of players you need to be able to trade
your 3rd best midfielder - someone like Matt Phillips - to a rival to get back
a second striker - maybe Sandro Ramirez. Without the ability to trade, the OFPL
is risking leagues where one manager has a very good draft and wins their
mini-league from the jump. To make sure that you're that manager you should
research a bit beforehand (or find a format which allows trading).
Advice!
Advice in draft leagues is very different from salary
cap, because every team in draft is different. It's easy to say 'Harry Kane is
playing Huddersfield this week, pay the penalty to transfer him in.' It is much
more difficult to manage a roster and starting XI when you need to know how
many shots Etienne Capoue is taking in away games against top half defenses.
Find good FPL draft accounts and ask them questions! We've been doing this for
ages and would love to help you dominate your new league.
Above all - FPL draft is a game which is more
competitive, personal and enjoyable than salary-cap. You'll feel a connection
to your players unlike any other game because they will be your players, and
your players alone. We hope this was helpful. If you're looking for additional assistance with your FPL Draft preparation find the author @FantasyGaffer and find his regular writing on FPLDraft at Togga! And if you are playing Draft - buy a Draft Guide!
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