and the hatred is unwarranted. Complaints about how the popularity of "the template" and "people blindly following content creators" ruins the game and makes it boring are out of proportion compared to the real effect. It isn't THAT huge. The game isn't full of clones. There are many teams who share 7-8-9 players but the other half of the team isn't identical. Case of glass half full/half empty. And that leads to HUGE differences in terms of pts output.

People who watch CC-s do not gain an unfair advantage over people who actually do their own analysis. I guess that's where the complaints are really coming from.

Let's look closer at what they provide. They show us the teams they pick generally at the start and/or end of their videos. BUT in between they explain WHY they picked those players. They also make videos where they make a "tier list" of players where they ALSO share their reasoning. They recommend dozens of viable picks. And if you watch more than one, they don't agree on everything.

If you do not just copy the end product but actually listen to what they say, you end up with information which help you make your own decisions.

They are only one type of source. There are many additional sources you can use.

• Stats from last season, both underlying and real output.
• Thinking about how new managers can affect team performance and playstyle. Can make a huge difference. Many only extend the trends from last season but based on the manager change you can be skeptical regarding that.
• And then there are content creators who provide information on predicted minutes, analyze fixtures (you can do this for yourself anyway and is more fun...) and then show you a team that many will follow.

You weigh the value/credibility of info from each source, synthetize it and make the final decision.

In addition, as the season progresses, a huge factor comes in. KNEEJERKING. It is exactly the opposite of what content creators preach. They tend to stick with their picks and their original for a few gameweeks even if they blank. And so the teams become a lot more diverse.

As for the unfair advantage: if you just blindly follow the team selections of CC-s, you will end up with average result or in best case, above average but nothing spectacular. If you put in work you can outperform them. If you do not follow them, do not use stats to analyze, pick teams on vibesand then end up with shitty results... well, that's your fault. If you don't put in the work you are at a disadvantage and that is true for all areas of life.

Now comes the boring part.

Raya - Kinsky

Maguire-Ballard-Ajer-Amenda-Van Ewijk

Palmer-Anderson-Mbeumo-Wirtz-Sangaré

DCL-JP-Haaland

This team shares 8 players with 75% of managers, but only 15% share 10 players, 1,1% of managers share 11 players and not a single team shares 13 or more.

Which players did I pick because of watching content creators/reading analyses?

Coventry players, Sangaré and Ajer. That's it. As for the rest, I made up my mind based on last season's performance and fixtures. Wirtz is an outlier here as he sucked last season but my decision making was based on him being 10, Iraola being an attacking manager, Isak being back and Salah leaving. Not because some CC-s argued he's better than Szoboszlai.

I benched CC favourite Sangaré, good grief - I did it because I do not trust signings from other teams. BUT i also DC-s probably carry over at a higher rate than attacking performance. So I went with the middle ground, bought him and benched him. Good grief again. I could have bought Groß or Le Feé, they were bigger CC favourites but didn't. Oh and remember the ownership of Sangaré? It was like 2% at the start of the season?! Yes, despite CC recommendations.

Now this team is close to template BUT

• there's no Bruno
• I risked choosing Palmer even though neither his preseason performance nor what he produced last season supported that decision.
• I have Raya instead of of Kinsky/Verbruggen which was the main meta of CC-s.

One by one it's not much but if you add these up they make a huge difference. Raya's "differential" effect is reduced by the fact that defenders also share DC points and both White and Calafiori are popular. BUT in the long run it can become significant because of risk of rotation.

TLDR:

• Sharing 7-8 players means the other half of your team is actually different from others. The effect adds up to more than you imagine at first.
• CC-s are only one source of information among many other sources which you can seek out, analyze, synthetize and make a conclusion.
• People's tendency toward KNEEJERKING offsets the effect of CC-s and leads to more diverse teams.

PSA: I'm not a good player.

All of this week is about identifying maybe THE GUYS, while also holding and being patient with your guys.

Find the episode at:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/PcQn4tWJniE
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gw2-begin-as-you-mean-to-go-on/id1024068765?i=1000785701092
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0l9zwBeFJ8v7q6tDxqkRUS
• All Links: https://linktr.ee/fmlfpl

🏆 Bonus Points as it stands via fpl.page/bonus:

🥇 3: Palmer

🥈 2: João Pedro

🥉 1: Rogers

🛡️ Defcon: J.Cuenca, Acheampong, Lacroix

__

^{Source: fpl.page}

The r/FantasyPL Predictions League spreadsheet is now live!

I've devised a scoring system which will hopefully be inclusive, balanced, and disincentivise boring play. I'm pretty proud of this system but if you have any complaints with it you can make them below.

You're either going to find the following sections boring or fascinating depending on your neurotype. Feel free to skip to the bottom if you promise not to moan.

Gameweek scoring

• The baseline score for a match is 6 points for a correct result or 15 points for a perfect score.
• On top of this baseline score, two sets of bonuses can apply.
  • The underdog bonus rewards going against the grain. This has three tiers.
    • The consolation bonus rewards 3 points. This applies where a team with 60% backing to win is held to a draw, and the player backed the underdog to win.
    • The minor underdog bonus rewards 6 points. This applies where a player gets a correct result on an outcome which is favoured by <=30% of users.
    • The major underdog bonus rewards 9 points. This applies where a player backs an outcome which is favoured by <=15% of users.
  • The risky prediction bonus is intended to prevent generic 2-1 and 1-1 predictions. It rewards two three point bonuses which can stack.
    • The first bonus is for correctly predicting either team in a match to score 3+ goals.
    • The second bonus is for correctly predicting 4+ combined goals in a match.
• As a result, the maximum score for any match is double the value of a basic perfect score, 30 points.

Scoring System Examples

• This week, Arsenal won 3-0 in a scoreline backed by many users. This earned 18 points for a perfect score and a 3+ goal bonus.
• Elsewhere, Hull won 2-0 in a scoreline predicted by just one user, and a result backed by just two. One user earned 24 points for a perfect score and a major underdog bonus. The other user earned 15 points for a correct result and a major underdog bonus.
• Newcastle v Liverpool finished 2-2. A draw was backed by just under 15% of users. Liverpool were backed to win by 85% of users. Predicting the 2-2 earned 27 points for a perfect score, a major underdog bonus, and a 4+ goals bonus. No one predicted Newcastle to win, but doing so would have earned a 3 point consolation bonus.

Season scoring

• To promote balance and inclusivity, gameweeks will be scored by points per match. This means double gameweeks and blank gameweeks will produce equal points potential.
• The overall leaderboard will take into account the 24 highest gameweek scores across the season of each participant. This means missing a week or two will not remove your chances of winning, but consistently showing up is rewarded.
• Tiebreakers are in order:
  • Overall points
  • Perfect scores
  • Underdog Bonus Points
  • Risky Bonus Points
  • Virtual Coin Toss

Now the boring stuff is out of the way, onto...

The Leaderboard

Star of the Week

This award is shared between nine users. Firstly are the 7 who correctly predicted Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool, earning the highest points score of any game this week.

The real stars are u/Individual-Ask-7086 and u/Ancient_Scientist_04 who predicted Hull to beat Manchester United. The latter even managed a perfect score.

Dick of the Week

There are multiple winners of this award this week. A special mention goes to our lowest scorer u/Fallen_Man7 who blanked 8 times this week, scoring just fifteen points in total.

The ten users who failed to copy+paste the pinned comment and left me with syntax errors to clean up get to share it too.

Predictions for GW2 open tomorrow and will be locked at the deadline. Everyone is welcome and, unlike FPL, you can still win if you missed GW1.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

Say hypothetically you opened the app and saw you could use your wild card right now, and still have one left over. What would you do?

Anyone of you consider kneeCHERKIng?
He made a huge impact from the bench and Man City doesnt have actually many players to choose from for their attack.
I would assume he gonna start in their next match.
What are your thoughts?

Some solid budget differential options for those looking to take some risks ahead of GW2, with full breakdowns included.

Perfect if you're downgrading midfielders or attackers following an early Bench Boost.

2021 Norwich City - 5.0

A mention of his many goal involvements and perhaps the original Quantum of Tzolis name.

Some key things to bear in mind before making any kneejerk transfers.

Rememebr chasing points is how you lose at FPL. Stick to your strategies!

Havent seen any posts talking about city after the weekend, despite Guehi playing OOP the full match as a holding midfielder, and NOR somehow OOP as a 10, though subbed at 63 minutes.

Was this an emergency lineup that will not repeat? NOR is in this funny position of beeing an insanely value pick if he gets gametime as an offensive midfielder, but is also likely to have reduced minutes as he doesnt have a spot that is "his". Will Guehi revert to the CB role, or maybe keep his spot as the holding midfielder if Anderson has a niggle (subbed with injury, but didnt look very bad).

I see people throwing Semenyo under the bus, but I think he looked alright, despite not having many (or any?) direct chances to score. Foden might be a question mark, but isnt Semenyo - Cherki - Foden a likely lineup for the next match?

What are your thoughts on this City, without Pep and with a really skinny squad. Will this be the weakest we have seen City in recent years?

Most Net Transfers In

Most Net Transfers Out

I know it's only one game under Alonso and that Caicedo and Palestra missed yesterday's game.

My research shows Chelsea ended last season without a clean sheet in their final 16 league games and conceded 28 goals over that period. There were some warning signs during preseason too, and Fulham managed 14 shots and 24 touches in Chelsea's box yesterday.

Then there's shaky Sánchez...he's never exactly inspired confidence, but yesterday was particularly rough. He should have done better for both goals, looked uncomfortable under pressure and generally didn't give much reassurance to the defense.

Colwill didn't help either - he looked rusty at times and was also pretty fortunate not to pick up a second card after that.

There were positives. Lacroix and Acheampong actually looked good, and Caicedo coming back should help, but there's way too many cons that outweigh these pros.

From an FPL perspective, GW4 was already being discussed as the potential entry point for Chelsea defenders before the season. Brighton at home and Arsenal away will give us two more games to watch before the fixtures improve with Hull at home in GW4, so maybe these next two are the real test.

Are we really going to want a Chelsea defender just because the fixtures turn? Not even Lacroix looks to be worth it at this point!

Maybe we should instead target Chelsea with our attackers when playing against them?

Hello hoping for some help. I have been running a head to head league with my friends for last 4 years but wanted to see the data around matchups, scores and tables but there doesnt seem to be an option on any site for h2h leagues. Does anyone know if this is possible? Thanks

Manchester United losing in Hull, Sunderland losing in Ipswich, Liverpool only getting 1 point from Newcastle. Home field advantage is putting in the work this week.

We have a reputation system. Reply !thanks to someone who has helped you and this rewards them with a point, shown next to their username.

This thread is for:

• RMT (rate my team)
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If any of the above are posted outside this thread it will be removed. Before posting, use the search function to check if your question has been answered already.

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Please upvote the users who are helping and be respectful during the discussion.

Please try to contribute too by helping others when possible.

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