Reaching the Top 10 by doing it my way
Guest Article:
Ryan Quinn
FPL is a game of luck and skill (almost in equal measure) and if I'm being honest I’ve certainly lacked some of the skill required over the past few years to succeed consistently at this game that we love. But despite some difficulties in previous years, I’ve changed my tactics and in turn made my best ever start to a season.
I’m currently ranked 6th in the world after three Gameweeks. Put simply, I’ve achieved this by addressing a few key things that I overlooked previously. Some FPL purists and experts may consider my approach unorthodox, but without a doubt my methodology has certainly put me in good stead for now.
Don’t be afraid to use chips too early - This is something I hear people talk about and something I always adhered to. However, in week 1, I played the bench boost and it worked out brilliantly, delivering a total of 130 points including 29 from the bench. That elevated me to 312th to start with and straight away I was off to a flyer and feeling confident about my team. It’s certainly a viable strategy to play them later in the season, as advocated by many FPL addicts, but if it feels right - do it. I hasten to add that I also used my Triple Captain chip in Gameweek 3 on Antonio as I was chasing the number 1 spot. Luckily for me, his fantasy returns easily surpassed some of the popular Double Gameweek Triple Captain scores of the recent past.
Don’t worry too much about the “template” – The T-word is something that you will hear on most podcasts each week when referencing what we should be looking at for our teams. But I’ve found that if you pick the players that you want - and the players that you think will score the most points - you still have a chance of covering the best picks in the template anyway and as an added bonus if you can get differentials that ‘bang’, they then become the bandwagon-turned-template players for the weeks ahead which in turn can boost your team value and overall rank concurrently.
Never get rid of Mo Salah. – This may contradict my previous point, but going against the template can also have some pitfalls. No one in FPL is essential however there are a handful of players you should really just hold on to unless you have a good reason to get rid of them. I lost out on top spot because regretfully I took out Mo Salah and Ivan Toney for Kane and Raphinha who on paper seemed to have better fixtures, and it’s not a mistake I will be repeating. Salah is an FPL points machine especially on current form.
Enjoy the game – I’m a West Ham fan and at the start of this season I wanted one or two of our players, fortunately I chose Benrahma and Antonio and they’ve paid me back in spades. This isn’t something that has always happened when I’ve adopted a similar policy previously but the idea is to make Fantasy a fun game and you just might unexpectedly get your own way. The eye test can also help. In my opinion, Chris Wood isn’t fun to watch so I will most likely not get him, Mason Greenwood on the other hand is great fun, knowing he could score at any moment. Apply that general logic to your team and you’ll generally find the game more fun and not overthink things.
Looking ahead - I’m currently on the wildcard because I feel it’s the right time to make the most of it - maybe it is maybe it isn’t - but It’s my choice and that’s the most important thing. Be your own manager don’t always follow the crowd and you never know you might have a good season while having fun.
