Wilde Card

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”

A surreal end to the EPL 2019/2020 in uncertain times but let’s admit it Project Restart worked in seeing out the season albeit with no fans. For those of us who can’t make it to the grounds, that easily, it was a treat to watch football on a daily basis.

As the new season will soon be upon us and with very few if any pre-season friendlies for new recruits, new tactics for EPL Managers to bed down then I can see the use of the 1st WC been more prevalent in the early stages. Naturally current FPL thinking is that the form of players finishing the 2019/2020 season will be key to how you balance your squads. But will they? The chalkboard has been erased, every team is starting a fresh, new objectives and fresh starts will be in EPL Manager’s minds.

Therefore, a theme of switched identities is in store for FPL squads and hence why this poet and playwright sprang to mind when I first put thoughts into words for the new season.


⚽ Strategy for 20/21 Season ⚽

For regular readers of this blog they will know that at the start of the FPL 19/20 Season I started out with my “ITB” Strategy. The strategy was based on starting with £2.5m in the bank (ITB). Why?

In previous years where I started with £0 – 0.5m ITB, the fact is that I needed to downgrade to upgrade which can therefore take 2 moves instead of one and if you’re trying to avoid hits then it can be 2 weeks instead of 1 to have a balanced squad. I wanted to remain nimble and flexible at the start and pick up the players in form once the dust settles.

This worked to an extent and I did start better in 19/20 than previous years however in hindsight my start was based on my successful Captain Picks, a strong midfield/defence and a punt up front. The ITB strategy did allow me the flexibility I was looking for but in my "end of 19/20 season" review I noticed some fundamental traits which form the basis of my starting strategy for the 20/21 season. This will be discussed in more detail next week.

KDB, Bruno et al are missing in GW1 as we all know and there are different strategies bounding about on how to deal with that. One of which is the early use of the WC, which I would strongly advise against for a number of reasons. The global pandemic is still cause for concern and as such we could be entering into unchartered territory for the season ahead. The transfer window is open until October 05th this year and if you pay close attention to the fixtures GW4 starts on Saturday Oct 03rd and GW5 starts on Oct 17th after the first International Break in the season. Therefore, by holding your WC until the after GW4 deadline you have the opportunity to see if Messi arrives or not and it gives you 2 weeks to play with your WC. More thinkering heaven!!

Back to KDB, you can also easily setup a team to play the first couple of weeks and bring back 2 of the Manchester boys with a simple -4 hit in GW3 ( a mini WC as such). This approach is my current thinking, I have built a team and opening strategy for this purpose and this iconic team will have an influence on that particular strategy.


⚽ Energy, frequency & vibration ⚽

This season will see a new format in weekly posts prior to the start and fortnightly posts once we are underway, on Friday evenings lifestyle permitting of course. It should be only a maximum 5 minute read but it will retain references to Pop Culture, Hip Hop, the Beatnik Generation, the arts and some oddities of course.

From an FPL viewpoint it will focus on my strategy and how it is developing over the season but will also feature tips and tricks e.g. how to spot that “form” player before the bandwagon starts and to help you decipher the FPL conundrums throughout the 2020/21 season.

In the coming weeks I will be taking a look at some of the following topics:

  • Starting Strategy
  • Early navigation with WC retention
  • FPL Venn Diagram
  • Aspects of last season’s highest points scoring FPL Player
  • The enigma of PPM and will KDB under-perform this season as a result.
  • Over-Performers from last season
  • .....and more.

⚽ The Magic Number ⚽

I will be highlighting 3 Differential Players over 3 GW’s, not necessarily in my team. I will also be looking for FPL Players to compete against my picks over the course of the season. There will be prizes of FourFourTwo subscriptions in store for a few categories which will be given out over the season.

For GW1-3 I will be up against the well-known @or_fail

⚽ Rogue-grams ⚽

Oscar Wilde was best remembered for his epigrams and plays, but whereas Wilde’s epigrams were statements my blog posts throughout the FPL Season 19/20 contained a brief, memorable, and sometimes surprising storyline from my past.

This season in keeping with a 5-minute read those storylines will be interwoven over a number of posts and referenced under the Rogue-grams section.  Feel free to skip that section or follow the intrigue along the way.

⚽ Next Post ⚽

Next week I reveal my starting strategy for GW1-3 so until then enjoy the FPL madness, interact with the Community and remember rule no.1 “Play your own game”.

#RogueAgainstTheMachine @FplRogue


 







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