The "ITB Strategy" – Draft 1 & 2


What have I achieved w.r.t my “Pre player prices musings” in terms of team structure now that the player prices are available, and with my 4-4-3 (SIC) in mind?

·         3 x LIV - X
·         2 x MCI -√
·         6 from ARS, BOU, CHE, EVE, MUN, TOT, WHU, WOL -√
·         Exception - Milivojevic for VAR – X

My FPL 2019/20 reasoning for this draft (at the current time of writing) are as follows;

My budget of £97.5M constrained that for a start, I had no idea prior to taking up this strategy that trying to get a team while keeping £2.5M ITB would be SO difficult.

As a Salah owner for all of last season I do believe he will haul again this year but not so sure that it will be to the extent of the previous 2 seasons. The stats show that Salah is on a decline FPL points wise (303 v’s 259) and Mane is on a rise (147 v 231) so for the extra £1.0M & just 28 extra points is not that strong an argument IMO.



⚽ External Influences ⚽

After establishing the first initial draft (see above) in the days after the new season opened up I have only made 2 small changes. Mane’s prolonged involvement in the AFCON prompted me to start with Salah and as a result I downgraded Kante for Dendoncker (see 2nd draft below).


⚽ Backbone and why? ⚽

My opening backbone of 6 [ Pickford, TAA, Coleman, Salah, Sterling, Wilson] were chosen for the following reasons:

Pickford, last year was the first season where I deployed 2 rotating cheap GKS but my experience lead me to the conclusion that it is too much energy working out which one to pick on a GW basis as opposed to picking a pick and stick GK. The VAR effect could also play a part in the opportunity for Pickford to increase his penalty save ratio.

TAA or Robbo, Robbo or TAA, personally I believe TAA offers more attacking threat than Robbo AND I believe teams will try to stifle the Klopp way this season with a reduced attacking return for both fullbacks so my money is on TAA.

Coleman, as an FPL asset he has always been a good pick over the years, his injury set him back but we saw the real Seamus Coleman in the latter half of 2018/2019. Every man and his dog is championing Digne but the returns last season do not justify the extra 0.5m (when you are on a constrained budgetJ)

Salah and Sterling need no explanations! Or perhaps Mane will cause me some headaches from GW2/3 onwards.

Wilson in a way has been overshadowed by the best bargain last season in Jimenez, who could suffer the dreaded 2nd season syndrome this time around.

⚽ Peripheral Squad ⚽

Based on my ITB strategy and taking into account my 2nd keeper (fodder) plus my 2 x DMS of Kelly and Stephens (warmed the bench in that final slot for the majority of last season) I therefore choose the remainder as follows:

AWB, United are starting to show some positive signs around the club but also their Achilles Heel of late, i.e. defence. With DDG signing a new contract and talking up the captaincy role I see some value in United defensive assets hence AWB.

City don’t have favourable opening fixtures and although the obvious choice in their backline is Laporte if those CL’s don’t materialise I can see a lot of players offloading expensive City DEFs. Zinchenko impressed me in the latter half of last season so I decided to try him out from the start, the late return of Mendy should help him to nail down that WB spot.

⚽ Punts ⚽

The standard 2 punt role of the dice are Giroud and Deulofeu (or King) which concerns me slightly as it leaves my attacking returns open for meltdown mode post GW1 results when Kane, Aguero, Auba haul braces & more in the opening weekend of fixtures.

⚽ 12th Man ⚽

Budget constraints left me with the options of a 4.5m MID which is very limited this year in terms of choice. I opted for Dendoncker again based on watching MOTD highlights last season where he looked to gain in stature.

⚽ Watchlist (Current) ⚽

In order of position, DDG, Azpi, VVD, Fraser, Milo, James, Kane (11), Vardy (9), Rashford, and Aguero (12) are in my thoughts prior to GW1. Players highlighted in Green are accessible with one move and those in Red are my only concerns.

However, a simple change of Giroud, Deulofeu and Tielemans making way for Kane, James, and Greenwood for example will bring my focus from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 hence the 4-4-3 (sic) planning & ITB strategy.

I will make a 3rd and final draft after the shield.

#RogueAgainstTheMachine @FplRogue

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