{THREAD}
#FPL winner season review - Myth buster

Congratulations Alexander @TooGoodFPL! Winning FPL is an extra-ordinary achievement, well done!

Scanned through his GW history and couldn't help but wonder why some of us are too worried about rules/protocols to play #FPL

1. Captains -

I was always of the opinion that captaincy success rates define the season. While that is true, you cannot nail captain all 38 GWs, in fact, Alexander's captains were successful (at least one attacking return or CS) only 23/38 GWs(60%)...

...In weird comparison, I had captain success for 24/38 GWs(63%) but finished 15,800 places behind the winner. So if you have a team who scores good overall, captain failures can be covered. Also, we should focus more on huge captain haul(Salah/Sterling) than safer ones(Jimenez)

2. Captaining a defender -

Biggest "don't" in the #FPLCommunity is putting an armband on a defender. Alexander captained defender 5 times (TAA(3) and Digne/Lundy) out of which 3 were double digit hauls. Yes,a defender can lose a CS with one mistake but high risk, high rewards!

3. Wildcards -

Wildcarding early in the season has always been a popular choice for many managers. Alexander played his WC as early as GW2. That moved his OR from 2.3 million to 1.7k and he never looked back. He played his second WC in GW24, before the usual BGW-DGW galore...

...In next 4 GWs, his rank improved 10 folds from 473 to 47. Now one could argue that had there been usual DGW and BGW, final tables would look a lot different but WC are probably best used when your team needs. Other chips are surely best used for DGW/BGW but not wildcard.

4. Patience vs aggression-

Keeping faith in your player has advantages of its own but this season probably was different. Managers with risk appetite and probably lack of patience have been rewarded.
Till GW11, Alexander had KDB, Sterling and D. Silva as man city triple up...

...By GW 16, he had zero city coverage and Son-Alli-Martial triple. You need to act on form/fixtures quicker than the most to consistently climb up the OR. You can get many such examples if you scan through his GW history.

5. Essentials
Absolutely no one is essential, as long as you cover them with same/more points by going another player or combination. Alexander had Mane over Salah whole first half(bar GW1). Considering Mane's price at the start of the season, it would definitely have helped...

...him managing other resources in the team. In GW16-17 where Salah hauled, Son, Alli and Martial made up for the points.

Alexander didn't own Ings in GW15-22 where he was scoring for fun!

Conclusions:
You can't nail captain every week, however, keep selecting captains with huge upside, defenders included.
Do not get into ownership %, no player is essential.
Nothing wrong in selling players shortly after you bought them. Game changes fast!

#FPL #FPLCommunity