Fantasy football is not just about player selection, it involves tactical thought as well. Like in real football, you as the manager must decide when your team needs to attack, defend, counter attack or hold. The tools that allow you to do this are transfers.
Gung-ho: otherwise known as all-out attack, this approach is you use all three transfers at the earliest opportunity. You know the players you need to bring in and go for the goals (points), but the downside of this tactic can leave your team exposed to the counter attack as injuries or bans come into play. Even the player may face a spell on the bench e.g. Lukaku. I tend to use this method when there are too many injuries to deal with or at the start of the season when I want to establish an early big lead on my mini league rivals. The short months (where international games are in play) suits this approach. I certainly wouldn’t use it in December or April where they are so many games to play. Gung ho also makes it difficult to profit from price rises as the player you want to take out may have decreased by a lot at the end of the month. Big problem before with 0.6 and 0.3m weekly price changes, less so now.
Attack: You bring in a big player that not everybody can easily afford, you may need to do two transfers to do this. However, if you can achieve this with only transfer used that is brilliant. Three transfers to just bring in one player you really want is not ideal. Attack tactic is also when got a plan B in mind so giving you an option if plan A goes kaput. Money in the bank can be beneficial so no need to spend all of it if you don’t have to.
Counter attack: A particularly favourite tactic of mine. You wait for your opponent to make the first moves (they tend to make all three in one go especially in my mini league). Some of my mini league rivals have no patience. Transfers can be attractive like sweets in a candy jar, consumed within seconds. You analyse and then try to counter them like a game of chess. Not an easy approach and it requires a lot of tactical thought. Here, you can go Gung ho, attack, defend or hold. A tactic that requires patience.
Defend: otherwise known as the blocking tactic and used when you are top of your mini league and have built a nice lead. Your transfers are dictated by your mini rival’s team. You will need to neutralise his big players and consider the game’s highest scorers. Your rival must go for differentials to stand a chance, he wants to bring in Aguero but know he must go for the less owned Lacazette instead.
Hold your position: Sometimes you don’t need to tinker and use transfers, you might have a good team already or be lucky with injuries. If your player is missing a game or two, it might still be worthwhile to keep him. Sometimes you want to hold because you are waiting for a player’s price to decrease. The same principle applies to players increasing in price in your team. From every transfer, I always try to make a profit. Buy low, sell high is part of the game. I used to do most of my transfers on a Thursday night so I could take advantage of the price rises and falls. Now with 0.1m weekly changes, I am less inclined to do so.
Penalty kick: Remaining transfer(s) this is when you come to the end of the month and you still have transfers left. Use them or lose them. Useful for months where there are many games ahead. I call it a penalty kick as the transfer could be good (hits the back of the net) or be bad (no advantage gained, transfer turns out to be a dud).
Thanks for the contribution RR – greatly appreciated.
My thoughts on the strategies – it won’t come as a surprise to know that I rarely ever go for the gung-ho or attack strategies. Counter attack probably best describes my approach to this season. Last time around I was guilty of having a bad start and then made some rash choices too early which cost me for most of the season. This time around I was very happy with my starting team – got off to a decent start and have been very patient with my transfers. I prefer to let others make their moves and then make my own. This has cost me once this season with Hazard – but I’ve preferred feeling fully in control with transfers left over most month to simply finesse my team. The approach has let me down slightly in the last couple of weeks but signs are fairly good for this week. I’ve certainly felt like after a good start that for the past 3-4 months I’ve been in holding my position mode with very little reason to make any changes. I’ve also been guilty of using the defend tactic towards the end of seasons – if I’ve got a decent lead at the top of a mini league I’ll simply block the player below making it impossible to be caught. I think the attack strategies probably come with greater risk which is why I tend to stay away from them, however the greater risk probably comes with greater reward if things go right as you’ll tend to be ahead of the game.
Fascinating stuff gents. I think I’ve been guilty of being a little too gung-ho a couple of times this season and it’s bit me on the back-side with injuries etc. To counter that however, there have been times when I’ve had a feeling on a player and realised now was the time to get him and it’s paid off (Hazard early season, Rashford recently).
This article really illustrates the full spectrum of approaches and I’m sure everyone reading it will think about where they slot into it. I also think it’s important not to jump on too many bandwagons throughout a season as quite often they fail as much as they succeed. It’ll be interesting to see how many people sign Jota for instance after the weekend. For anyone who got ahead of the curve though and brought him in before his hat-trick (Quinton for example) you can only applaud such moves.
I had Jota for the opening 3 or 4 games of the season after reading so many good reviews on him and he was awful. He got to game 14 and was still on minus points!!
In fact his tally for the season was just 15 points prior to the 27 he earned this weekend, so unless Wolves plan on playing him in a more advanced role on a permanent basis, I will have no interest, even if he has dropped to a measly 1.3m.
I had him at the start of the season too. By Gameweek 2 he was out though. 😂
I won’t be looking at him either but I admire those kind of transfers that pay off. Anything Jota gets from now until that Chelsea game is a bonus for Quinton.
Lee H, that’s one of the reasons I put him in. He’s essentially now playing as a second striker beside Jimenez so figured he could get me a few points during January at least. I noticed this vs Liverpool so took a bit of a gamble and could see he was already on the rise as well which was also a bonus.
That and I needed a cheapish defender or midfielder under 2.0m to enable my Aguero transfer. Nice bit of luck on my side as no one could have expected a hattrick, but one I’ll happily take.
Saying that, I’m normally totally gung-ho and this is the first month I’ve not blown all three transfers in the first week. Just the second week instead.
Fantastic move Quinton!!
It’s great when moves work out as you you’d hoped, least of all when they exceed your hopes!
I have timed a few good moves this season with the likes of Hazard, Sane & Sterling, but then I’ve also mis-timed a few in Richarlison, Anderson and Mahrez!
In spite of having a relatively poor season so far, I am somehow still top of my mini-league, so I guess others are struggling somewhat too. That said, I’m probably only top until tomorrow night when Jesus bags more goals!..
Great to see a guest article. Really good stuff RR.
I personally change my approach through the season based on the situation. Covering many of the strategies above.
Cheers and thanks again for sharing
I’ve discovered that Higuin can now in fact play in the Europa despite turning out for AC Milan in it. There has been a rule change so he is now eligible. 🤔
Mendy in the squad for the Burton game. Let the Sane game time watch begin… 🕵️♂️
I’ve never understood the logic behind this. Yes, Mendy plays in a slightly more advancing role, but he’s still essentially in a wing back position and one which should assist Sane being on the same flank, not hinder his contribution?
Surely, it’s no different to how Kyle Walker would assist Sterling down the right.
Can anyone else shed light on this?
I always believed it was simply because of just how high Mendy presses and plays, even as a supposed ‘LWB’.
Sane isn’t known for his defensive abilities and tracking back so if you’ve got Mendy out of position caining it down the wing (as usual), they’re potentially gonna get in the way of one another and you can bet they’ll be zero cover should it suddenly get booted up the other end.
I do say this knowing neither Sterling and/or Mahrez are exactly known for those defensive traits either, but Walker isn’t as kamikaze going forward and holds his position a lot more (and has the pace to recover). I actually think Mendy is a huge liability when it comes to defending as he’s often caught out of position even when he’s back where he should be. He’s just great in an FPL capacity as even when city concede he often pops up with an assist at the least!
I think from what we’ve seen in the early part of the season, Quinton’s hit the nail on the head with his assessment.
I’m hoping (being a Sane owner) that perhaps Pep can tame Mendy’s kamikaze characteristics, at least a little bit, to allow both to comfortably play and thrive in the same team as each other. If it does become a case of one or the other and rotation becomes even more of an issue for Sane, then I’ll perhaps re-assess. It would be a huge shame in my eyes though as Sane has been tremendous since he broke his way back into the side.
Thanks Quinton.
Assuming you are correct, you have confirmed my thinking on it.
I’m no football manager, least of all a ‘Pep’, but it seems crazy to me that he would allow him that much space and freedom if he is leaving his rightful position vulnerable to attack! And let’s be honest here, it’s not as though Sane doesn’t pose an attacking threat in his own right.
Their preferred formation is 433, so quite why he occasionally sacrifices Sane is beyond me.
Pep has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t like playing 442 with both Jesus and Aguero on the pitch, so to me there is no issue with both Mendy and Sane in the squad and if there is an issue, it’s because Mendy is playing out of position.
I totally agree with you both and hope it can be managed. As Mendy and Sane both coming at you down that left flank is nigh on impossible defend against and even more so that I had intended to bring Sane in next month. However, whether my reasons for understanding the issues with playing them both are true or not – it’s very clear Pep simply does not like it which is frustrating for most fantasy football fans.
I’d been looking at WhoScored and I think the only time he’s gone with both this season was vs Burnley and vs Southampton. They just about won 5-0 and 6-1 respectively though so understandably, that was ignored..
(Oh also Chris, I’m female. Quinton is just the name I use as it’s where I’m from. Though that’s not a dig from me – especially as I’m unsure how many women use this site so it’s understandable you assumed I was a bloke!)
My apologies Quinton, I thought it was indeed your name (and you were perhaps from a very posh background 😉).
I’ve often wondered if there were any women within our ranks on here so it’s great to see there is.👍🏻
Hah absolutely no issues. More offended you thought I may be posh.
👍🏻 🙂
Thanks M’lady. (in best Parker from Thunderbirds voice). 😉
It will be frustrating if Sane’s game time does suddenly get cut down but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. He seems to be a player that managers seem more than happy to bench at the drop of a hat. Might make bringing Kane back in a little easier if I’m forced to take Sane out at some point though.
Also seen Zinchenko been added at 3.0m. Shame he’s wasn’t there at the start of the month before all the cup games.
I’m still struggling to decide on who to opt for as my Kane replacement come Feb, so I’m running a poll on Twitter with 8 choices to see what others reckon (bearing in mind I have Salah, Rashford, Sterling, Sane, Hazard already):
Aguero
Jesus
KDB
Firmino
Mane
Aubameyang
Higuin
Pogba
Aguero and Higuin topping the charts so far. Please feel free to add you opinion/choice. Here’s the link:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Christo83747973/status/1087653438719213568
Cheers folks. 👍🏻
I personally wouldn’t be looking beyond Aguero or Aubameyang. Both proven goalscorers.
Aguero would normally be my go to choice, and if he can cement his place and start scoring again it will certainly be him.
As daft as it sounds I reckon Aubameyang’s goal tally should be even higher than what it is this season. I’ve seen him miss quite a few easy chances but as you say, he’s up there with the top scorers so he has to be considered.
Pogba is probably the only other option that genuinely interests me as I can see both him and Rashford sharing out the Star Man awards for United for the remainder of the season.
Interested to see how that poll works out Chris, going to add Pogba + one of the other’s mentioned, for the loss of Kane & Maddison, going to be tight on funds for Aguerro or Aubameyang, moved upto 4th in mini league, hoping Jesus doesn’t play tomorrow night, gap to the top guy 67 pts, might be able to claw some back on Thursday with 3 chelsea players, the guy out in front has 9 city players.
There is talk Higuain could play on Thursday against Spurs, if they can sort thru the red tape, if that’s the case I’ll be watching the match.