Based on B. Silva being out for the weekend and Richarlison facing Cardiff, I’ve decided to make this change. It was a swap I was considering doing anyway as it would allow me the funds to upgrade Schmeichel to Kepa, if this is something that I wanted to do. Also with three transfers in the bag for November still, I think it’s worth taking a punt on this transfer. Should I regret it by next weekend, I can always reverse this transfer and put Silva back in. Obviously this will use another transfer, however I’m in the fortunate position where I don’t really feel like I need to make any changes to the team at the moment despite still having all of my transfers left. As a result the change is (assuming B. Silva is definitely out for the weekend):
B. Silva out
Richarlison in
Can someone please answer this, do we get our transfers back next week Saturday 1st December to use them or is it the following week?
Following week, The friday 7th
Thank you 👍
There does seem to be some confusion about when the deadline is for when you can use your November transfers though. Someone I know heard it was the end of the month and then you lose any remaining. District is in touch with DT trying to clear it up though so hopefully hear something back soon.
As per usual they did not bother replying to me, burying their head in the sand as they have given out conflicting information yet again and don’t want to admit to it
It would be useful to know one way or the other as I’ve got a couple of transfers left if anyone is certain on the rule?
Evening all,
Would you hold transfer this week with the following team. I have 2 transfers left:
Ryan
VVD
Robertson
Laporte
Doherty
Sterling
Hazard
Madderson
Kane
Aguero
Salah
Any advise and thoughts welcome.
Cheers all
I’d personally probably hold them, unless you can swap Maddison for Richarlison or significantly upgrade Ryan.
Strong team for this week that mate. As DTT says, if anything I’d be going Maddison to Richarlison bit with Maddison having a clean bill of health now, and with good fixtures, it’s not a straightforward decision.
Cheers both, that’s what I was thinking so let’s see how it goes. Good luck with your teams.
Any advice guys please 0 in bank , 2 transfers left
Kepa
Gomez
Doherty
Laporte
Hazard
Maddison
Mane
B Silva
Kane
Aguero
Salah
Obviously b Silva missing West ham game but could be back midweek, not sure if worth getting out or not
If you’re going to make the switch for B.Silva I reckon I’d be doing it now. With KDB getting close to a return also, his game time might reduce a little moving forward as well. Decent team though that bud. 👍🏻
I’ve decided to give D.Silva a run in my team for Mane. Seems to have a good level of consistent returns right now. Mane can explode at any time though so it’s a tough call.
Thanks Chris, I like the idea of mane to D Silva and if B Silva wasn’t injured I would do it. Leaning towards swapping B Silva to mahrez today as need to maintain man city coverahe and holding 1 back
Plus no one bar 1 around me 20 points back has Mahrez or B Silva so could always drop B Silva back in
I’d wait until the line-ups before making the switch though as I have a feeling Sane will start on the left today, then it’ll be between Sterling and Mahrez for the other spot. Of course I could be completely wrong…😉
Any thoughts about adding Martial?
I like Martial: form and fixtures. Perfect fantasy football combination.
Im running a 442 at the moment and debated swapping Mendy for martial or laporte.
In the end I went for laporte in the hopes that clean sheets will garner more points over the festive period and as a cb laporte will hopefully be less subject to rotation.
Can’t say I feel it was definitely the right decision but it’s how I have decided to play it
If you had no other City defensive cover Tech I’d probably say you’ve made the safest and possibly smartest choice.
Martial has tempted me also recently. If he was classed as a midfielder (as he is in FPL) I’d probably go for him. I’m reluctant to break up the big guns up front for now though.
Whoa, didn’t see this one coming so soon. Gomez has been emitted from the Liverpool squad altogether! Get ya boots on Arnie, you’re playing today!
Richarlson or Mahrez for B Silva , I know mahrez on bench but Got the extra game this week ?
Tough call. Go with your gut.
Gomez injury not serious travelled with squad only 1 game , kick on ankle don’t panic
I was always going to do Gomez to Arnie though next week so might as well get him in now and see what happens.
What you think Chris- Richarlson or Mahrez for B Silva , mahrez has extra game and even though on bench should get game time in them, I know Richarlson has Cardiff but Liverpool next week
Sorry AJF, only just seen your message. Which did you opt for?
Causing me a bit of a headache pep is!!
Currently have b.silva, was going to transfer him for Mahrez but now he isn’t even starting! Sane ahead of him. Do we think Maherez will be back in starting line up for the champions league?
Or Wanted to do Gomez – stones as well due to Liverpool’s fixtures… but stones isn’t even starting either!
Apparently it’s a knock on the ankle for Gomez but nothing serious!
Leave b.silva in a keep one transfer? Or gamble and Mahrez comes off the bench gets some points and then starts midweek!!
25 minutes to make a decision 🤔
Lol! Some last minute scrambling today for us all it seems!
What did you end up doing? I took Silva out for Richarlison which didn’t go to plan.
Maddison sent off, not what I needed today!
Arnie off injured. Urghh….. 😫
What!!! I thought that you were going to wait next week to put Arnautovic in. Strange before the city game and with his price going down.
With Gomez not being in the squad, thought might as well do it now. May have backfired big time. 🤞just a knock.
Ok. Hopefully Arnautovic back soon. I took out Gomez as well but knowing my love for differentials I went for a Utd defender in Lindelof. I thought he had a decent chance of getting a clean sheet today and also against Young Boys if he plays. Furthermore, I thought his confidence will be on a high after scoring for Sweden last week.
Nice move RR
👏 Worked our nicely that move mate. Sounded like United were very poor in the main but if they can keep clean sheets at the back it could work out well. A very cheap price for a Man Utd regular now is nothing to be sniffed at.
Thanks King of the North and Chris. So far so good. Didn’t plan to make it a long term transfer as Man Utd are poor and lindelof offers not much attacking threat nor goes he get rated much. Just looked at the short term and thought he might have a chance of picking up 16 points which will do nicely.
Damn, Lindelof is now injured. Oh well.
I did Lindelöf in this week too. Out for a while by the look of it and no transfers left, I put D Sanchez in earlier this month and he got injured and I also have Maddison, playing with 8 going into a double gameweek for everyone, absolute disaster and will probably have to use most of my transfers at the start of the busiest month, not ideal!!
As soon as I saw this, I looked up his price and thought it was a great spot. I was tempted to follow suit and go Maddison out for Lindelof. Which would then have made funds available for Schmeichel out for Ederson but it’s not to be with Lindelof picking up that injury.
Kicking myself for the knee-jerk Arnie transfer yesterday. After seeing Gomez was missing yesterday it seemed like the logical thing to do at the time.
However:
– It was always likely he’d blank against an unstoppable City team.
– Gomez may still make it for the European game anyway.
– Ran the risk of an injury to Arnie (which came to fruition)and having used up my last transfer for the month.
– Now facing the inevitable price drop for Arnie on Friday.
Should have waited on this one until the end of the Gameweek. Not my finest hour… 😬
It’s ok mate. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. You are doing very well in your first season. The Gomez-Arnie move was an attacking one and one I usually would do (it’s just that I had a few doubts about Arnie as discussed earlier and I had already made different plans for Gomez). Still the Arnie move can still work out yet so all is not lost. Fixtures and position are a real positive.
I have to say I did enjoy the discussion on Arnie and also I find your range of player selection to be good: Ryan, Doherty, Richarlison come to mind. Your timing is usually good as you tend to get players before they hit big points and so are being proactive rather than reactive and getting ahead of the curve which can be very rewarding but difficult. It’s good to hear about players that are undervalued or not well known. Keep the good work going. I read all comments here but I find yours the most interesting maybe because I recognise a similar sort of game play.
Thanks for the kind words RR. Appreciate your thoughts as always.
Yeah, but of a meh kinda Gameweek truth be told. 40 points. I would imagine a fair few folks had a tough week also mind you. Hazard has been disappointing over the last few weeks and Chelsea looked way off the pace against Spurs.
Glad I stuck with Kane as he seems to be getting back to his best now. Found this interesting stat on Twitter:
Fun fact: over the last 4 gameweeks, Harry Kane has had more shots on target than any other player (joint 2nd are Morata, Martial and Salah).
He’s also had more attempts than any other striker.
Back in the game(?)
Very frustrating to have Brighton concede that daft penalty when they should have seen that game out against ten men.
Disappointed that Aguero blanked also. I think Sterling is almost becoming essential now as he’s consistently bringing in big hauls. The city midfield seem to be bagging more of the goals than Aguero right now. I’m sure his time will come again though. Sane could become a good alternative also with Mendy now facing a good while out on that left hand side. It’s almost not worth looking at the fixtures for City as it doesn’t really matter who they play, they are just too good.
Hope you all had decent weeks, though I’m guessing most of you will have had meh kinda weeks too. 😉
I think 40 points is a decent score. My team got 53, happy with that. I guess 30 points was the average so far. In these gameweeks with European games or when teams play twice like next week, I tend to aim 100 points and least around 50 points for a single weekend of games.
The most satisfactory aspect of my season so far is that my team has gone from 281k rank in game week 4 to just outside the top 10k. I give credit to that post on traffic light system which really helped in turning my season around. Just got to find a few more gems (differentials) to climb even higher.
Always good to head in the right direction up the leaderboard. I’ve slipped slightly to 4094 but given that I’m not best pleased with the Gameweek and my decisions, I’ll take that.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news RR, but just found this on Ben Dinnery’s twitter feed and thought you’d like to know:
Mourinho confirms Lindelof has a “proper injury” which is likely to result in significant time loss. The problem exacerbated by playing on vs Palace….. #MUFC
Similar scenario to Vertonghen [hamstring] at Huddersfield earlier in the season. Resulted in 56-days on the sidelines.
Thanks for the info, Chris. It’s a blow, was hoping for 16 points this week from him which I would have been happy about. Not regretting the move as I feel it was the right move but the outcome was poor. Also lindelof would have been for my team a small but important part in my master plan in planning future transfers. Now got to go plan B and make a plan C as well.
Bad weekend for me as well. Dropped on the overall leaderboard after a decent game week before.
I think Deli Ali could come under consideration, back fit & in form, Chelsea couldn’t cope with the intensity & physicality of spurs, their ball retention midfielders were man marked out of the game, they are still in league cup & can give anybody a game were unlucky to lose to City recently & might of been without Ali & Erickson for that game, if he can reach heights of last season could be a snip, currently costs 4.5 million cheaper than Arnautovic, Leroy Sane 4.7, Mendy out for 10-12 weeks, could get alot more gametime, Pep tended not to play Sane, when Mendy was fit, more of a gamble than Ali, as will be competing with Mahrez at least for gametime, garnered 20pts at weekend, pause for thought.
Definitely. Spurs have flown under the radar this season and it’s one of their best starts. Poch has to take a lot of credit for this as they’ve had to deal with quite a few injuries so far as well. I’d expect Spurs to really kick on now many of the injuries are subsiding. Good shout David. 👍🏻
Good and bad with my subs this weekend.
Shaw to Doherty didn’t go quite as planned. Didn’t see a 2-0 win for Huddersfield coming. I was hoping that Doherty would have at least got me a 7 given that WhoScored seem to like him.
On the other hand, Mendy to Sane couldn’t have worked out much better.
Just a shame that it was tarnished with Maddison being sent off!
Now I have to consider where I will be using my final sub for November. Do I lose Maddison before the price drops this Friday? I don’t exactly have a huge budget for replacement (3.1M), so might have to lose him for a defender!
Thoughts?
Mendy to Sane = Inspired choice 👏
One that perhaps more of us should have considered. Hoping the Huddersfield result was just a blip for Wolves. I’ve not seen any of it but I hear Wolves were pretty poor.
Remember Maddison only misses the League Cup game this week through suspension, so you could give him another go? Reckon he’ll be very determined to make up for his pathetic dive (of which he’s publicly apologised for).
Cheers Chris.
My plan was always going to be either Mahrez or Sane since I didn’t quite have the funds for D. Silva so when Mahrez was benched it kind of made my mind up for me.
West Ham have always take a bashing from City at home, in fact, in their last 4 meetings since Jan 2017, City have an aggregate of 17-1 (0-5, 0-4, 1-4 & 0-4), so I could only see more of the same.
Thanks for the insight on Maddison. I might leave it another week. At the moment, he and Doherty are the weak links in my team, but I guess it makes sense to be prudent in the event of an injury if both Maddison and Doherty are playing.
I’m hoping Doherty can return some points against Cardiff on Friday.
I’m considering the same with my final transfer. I had planned to take RR’s advice and go Maddison out for Lindelof and then bring in Ederson for Schmeichel but that’s gone out the window already. Keen to move Maddison on myself as well though.
Considering VVD > Lindellof and Madderson > Sane
Current team:
Ryan
VVD
Robertson
Laporte
Doherty
Sterling
Hazard
Madderson
Kane
Aguero
Salah
Other options and thoughts would be welcome….
Or perhaps Shaw rather than lindellof
Lindelof injured (see my message above to RR).
Yeah, I was expecting VVD to pose more of a threat from set-pieces this season but it hasn’t really come to pass (yet). You already have Liverpool coverage with Robbo so could be a good move if United keep it tight at the back. You have the option to go three at the back as well?
Sane could be a good move because with Mendy out, he could get more game time down that left now with Mahrez now perhaps having to sit out a little more. With Pep though it’s anyones guess.
On the subject of DTT’s transfer, Richarlison – I’m actually contemplating giving him the chop!
When you look at his stats, he has basically had 3 good games which account for 43 of his total 59 points! The other 9 or 10 performances have been pretty poor.
Also, when you consider that Everton face Liverpool, Man City (both away) and Spurs in their next 5 fixtures, I’m not convinced he will get too many points.
I might hang tight for the Liverpool game because then they have two fixtures at home against Newcastle and Watford, but after that I think I’ll lose him ahead of his fixtures against City and Spurs.
Yeah, he certainly has blown hot and cold hasn’t he. I think the timeline you give him to prove himself is a wise one and one that I may go with too. (And the fact that I have no transfers left right now.)
I have three players with injury concerns too.
Ryan, Hazard and Arnie.
My transfers tend to be to spread out risk. I’m in a mini league with around 350 teams entered. Currently sitting just outside the top 20 but each week I log selection numbers for the key players – I then aim to get coverage of all of the most selected players across the team. In theory this should mean I won’t massively fall behind the pack and if I cover more key players than most I should rise towards the top. It’s working OK so far but it’s not as risky as other approaches. Richarlison was selected by over 100 people – had he got a double or worse against Cardiff, then I’d have taken a big hit.
Interesting. My question to DTT is: can this approach win mini leagues? (which is what we care about)
I’m not top of the big mini league I’m in – but the first placed position is just outside the top 10 overall so it would be unrealistic to expect to be top of that league. I’m top of the other mini league I’m entered into with people I know personally. Sitting inside the top 6,000 teams overall so yes I absolutely think this approach will win mini leagues. Ultimately what I’m trying to achieve is as many points on the board as possible. The mini league I pull the stats from is very competitive with some very experienced players (and previous overall winners). It seems like a good place to monitor players which are being heavily invested in. All I care about is winning mini leagues so not sure why I’d be approaching the game not to win them? To me it seems like the best approach to finish as high as possible. I’ve never really been a fan of picking differentials – the main reason being that they aren’t highly selected because they probably aren’t going to consistently do well. Previous stats suggest all of the top scoring players are from the top teams and all of the names we would generally expect to see there.
It’s fascinating to see two different approaches at play here. One being sticking to the template and the other chucking a few differentials in. I can see merits in both approaches to be fair and I can see both DTT and RR doing well in their respective mini-leagues.
With this being my first season in the game I’m still finding my feet somewhat, trying to find an approach that suits me. I do like the thought of bringing in players ahead of the up-turn curve before everyone jumps on the bandwagon, whether they be a differential or not. Even Sterling was a differential at the start of the season if memory serves me right!
I get a lot of enjoyment if I manage to get one of these right but I also (obviously) get enjoyment from topping the leagues I’m in. I reckon the best/most enjoyable approach is to simply go with what your gut is telling you, whether that be sticking to the template and getting satisfaction from rising the leagues that way or being one of the first to bring in the next big points scorer.
As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. (Whoever came up with that one!?)
My approach is different from DTT. Not suggesting is altogether wrong (DTT is doing good this season) although I feel nowadays to win competitive mini leagues you have to be think a little different from the rest of the pack. The most common way is to play safe, get into that comfort zone and playing not to lose – most adopt this approach now. The gap between top and your team is not increasing but somewhat remaining in limbo. Let’s say for example, Hazard scores but everyone has him so it does not really make any difference at all.
My approach is to go on the attack, get in those players first before everyone jumps on them. I think to competitive mini leagues nowadays you have to finish in the top 1,000 and to do this involves an element of risk taking. Majority of people I have witnessed do this at the end but sometimes it is too late, they got their timing wrong. This season I have posted the template team from the current 100 teams on the overall leaderboard, it is interesting to see which the most selected players are in this group but I am not targeting those. I am looking at those players who have the potential to be in the template the following month.
I find that DTT best player this season has been Bernardo Silva who has consistently picked up points and his overall ownership has been around 12%. Even less in the top 100. So differentials even though we can easily dismiss them, they can have a significant impact on our season.
Furthermore, as seen in the example above, differentials can still come from top teams, I would say all players from Man Utd and Arsenal are differentials, all players from spurs apart from Kane are also likely differentials with Dele Alli and Eriksen looking like future bandwagons. In form teams, Liverpool and City have a few in Firmino and Mahrez. This weekend, one of the teams in mid table went high up in my mini league having Sane, D. Silva and Sterling which has acted as a differential as most teams will have at least one city midfielder but not many with three. Tripling up on attacking assets from one team can be seen as a differential as the safe approach could be to select one player from each team in order to maintain coverage. Risky to put all eggs in one bag.
I remember that last season I wrote about how I go about my player selection process, how I classify players into groups: first class (where most selected players are), upper second class (players from top clubs with lower ownership), lower second class (cheap good players usually from teams outside the top 6) and third class (junk – players you got in your team but don’t really want but they are so cheap that shifting them is proving near impossible). The category that interests the most is the upper second class – players that are cheaper than their most expensive players but can deliver a similar amount of points. These are the differentials that can see my team rise. So overall, I don’t see low ownership as being a negative statistic. For example, Dele Alli has a ownership of 4.5% and is high on my shortlist. Nowhere to be seen in the top 100 or my mini league but that doesn’t influence me as he is a player that ticks a lot of boxes.
To summarise, we have seen two approaches to the games. After three season playing the game, I still a bit clueless on how to win in fantasy football, I haven’t discovered the winning magic formula. Maybe there isn’t one or the best approach is a combination of both the described strategies or adopting different approaches at different times. When to go on the attack or when to defend. Most of the time, our mini league situation dictates our game play. Top of our mini league we defend what we got whereas bottom of our mini league, we got nothing to lose and likely to go for risky picks which can either spectacularly fail or succeed.
As Chris has highlighted, I think that both approaches have merit.
If I had differentials and didn’t own Kane ahead of a simple run of Spurs home fixtures, you can be damn sure that I would get Kane in! Yes everyone is likely to own him and yes it would be a damage limitation / play it safe move, but sometimes in this game, ‘gaining ground’ isn’t about ‘gaining ground’… it’s about not losing ground.
Once again I make reference to the Telegraph league that I’m in. Anyone who has played this format will tell you that the strategical format provides a whole new dynamic since you cannot see each others teams. It’s open for debate on whether The Sun should adopt this approach. Again I can see merit in both formats.
I also think that a lot of people overthink this game (including myself at times). People run themselves into knots studying form and data that could prove to be meaningless the very next day. Research is important, but luck plays a huge part and the sooner that people are able to accept that, the more chance they will have at success. Judgement can become very cloudy with so many variables and obsessive decisions.
There is no magic formula to winning dream team, it is a combination of research, judgement, timing and luck (that dreaded word people hate mentioned on here it seems!). From what ive read on here the last couple of seasons, RR had a better season last year and DTT is having a better year this year so its impossible to say which approach is better.
I agree with RR that just basing your team on “the template” is not going to win you a mini league because in order for a player to get into the template team he will have been a differential and then people start bringing him in cos he has started to play well. For example if Sane gets another couple of big scores and everyone in the top 1000 gets him in he will become part of the template. If DTT, or anyone else, then brings him in to cover against any more big scores they will have missed out on the, lets say 40-50, points he scored as a “differential”.
In my opinion timing is everything with Dream team. This season I have picked Davinson Sanchez as a differential, he played 2 games, got injured, Foyth came in in his place and scored 18 points, I bought Lindelöf in this week (for Mendy, could have got Sane who got 20 points), he played one game and got injured, Jones comes in in his place and gets 8 points. Lindelöf could have had 16 points at 1.9m to Sane’s 20 points at 4.7, this is just bad luck, its not poor judgement.
I’m doing ok this year, I’m 2nd in both my money leagues, I’m 5th in DTT’s league and approx. 2,500 overall but my differential picks are killing me (Keita, Digne, Tosun, Sanchez and Lindelöf) so I can see why people take the “safe approach”.
With the money saved from doing Mendy to Lindelof I had planned to do Sanchez to Eriksen (as previously mentioned by RR as a future bandwagon, good price, good fixtures etc) but the safer approach will now probably be to switch it to Sane, what I will do I have no idea, but like I said before timing is everything, I would be absolutely buzzing if I’d done Mendy to Sane, instead I’m gutted that I now have another injury in Lindelöf and rueing his missed points as they get a sheet the game after I lose him.
Just picking up on all four of your comments about tactics and differentials.
Firstly I wouldn’t overly say we’ve got two different approaches. Our teams probably aren’t that different. I wouldn’t also say that I necessarily stick to the ‘template’. I’d say I try to stick to players who I think are going to score well. The likes of Schmeichel and B. Silva weren’t high ownership when I chose them. Even Laporte wasn’t highly owned when I put him in, I’d just noticed he seemed to be playing every game for City. Doherty and Maddison weren’t overly high in terms of selection either.
In terms of sticking to the template to ensure winning mini leagues. I wouldn’t be suggesting simply blocking moves and being a step behind. The way I approach it sometimes is that if you can get as many of the popular choices in as possible (because everyone thinks they will do well) then you will gain ground on everyone else who isn’t able to accommodate as many of them. For example sticking with the highly owned Aguero, Kane and Salah has been fairly successful at time – a lot of people went for Lukaku. For anyone who put him in, they’ve got to be missing one of the big three so whenever the player they don’t have does well the gap has got bigger. This can work throughout the team.
I keep my approach very simple, which is simply to pick the players I think are going to score well based on their value. Ultimately all that matters is points on the board. If you get the most points on the board, you will win. So logically I just pick the players that I think will achieve this. Having differentials could easily backfire if they are way out of the box. We know based on the stats that all the big scorers are the usual names from the big clubs. My approach is simply to cover as many of those as possible.
I think Lee hits the nail on the head with overthinking the game and the luck factor. There is no exact formula for winning the game. Football can’t be predicted and looking at fixtures and stats will only take a team so far. Luck plays a huge part. District uses some great example of this where logical choices have backfired through injuries.
I think where this thread came from was my decision to put Richarlison in. For me it was an easy one – ticked a lot of the boxes. His price and the fact that he’s a midfielder playing up front came into it. The points he’s got on the board already based on his value. The funds the transfer put in bank for upgrading Schmeichel or Maddison. And finally the fact that over 100 people out of 300 in the big mini league have him when they were facing Cardiff. All of these factors said it was the right time to make this move. Obviously it didn’t pay off but on another day he could have got a couple. It now puts me in the position where I’ve got some good options for replacing Schmeichel and/or Maddison going into December. To be honest I think we are all on the same page but just word our thoughts slightly differently.
I was fortunate enough to do the Mendy>Sane switch, but yin and yang always seems to find a way to restore the balance because I also subbed out Shaw for Doherty, which proves your point on luck.
Shaw was suspended whilst Doherty had Huddersfield at home. Twin this with the fact that prior to the International Break, Shaw was due to drop in price whilst Doherty was due to rise, it seemed like a no brainer, right…. wrong (so far).
Not only does Doherty get minus points against Huddersfield, but Shaw manages to keep his first sheet in 10 games.
You just cannot account for things like this. Doherty might get a clean sheet and star man on Friday, which would tip the decision back in my favour.
Does anyone know when you have to use this months transfers ? still got 3 left
Friday (7th)… by about 7am I believe.
Did you manage to get any clarification on this point District? We’d heard from a previous source that it was use then by the end of the month or lose them.
I didn’t I’m afraid, they didn’t bother replying to me as per usual unfortunately. It does state in the rules that the transfer period for November finishes at 6.59.59 on December 7th but I appreciate they have since said differently. They have said they need to be used by the end of the month before and it was wrong, same thing happened in August in the dt coach article and they told me it was incorrect and transfers could be made up until the 7th Sep, seems the same thing has happened again. I would suggest making the transfer on friday after the price changes just in case and then hopefully you can reverse it on saturday should you need too
Cheers District. Yeah, I’m sure you’re right in saying that November transfers will count UP TO the 7th. Anyone taking the risk and leaving it until we’re into December though? #howbigareyourballs
They have been doing it on the first Friday of the month for well over a year or two.
Why is there confusion over it now, after all this time?
There was a tweet earlier this week where dream team stated that you will use any remaining transfers if not used by the end of the month
Hart
Stones
Robertson
Mendy
Hazard
Mane
Sterling
Willian
Ageuro
Lacazette
Martial
Need help on transfers. was thinking of trying to get D.Silva, richarlison or a spurs player in but also need to upgrade hart and do something about mendy. Any idea’s please?
Any money in the bank? How many transfers do you have left? Who do you definitely want to keep and who are you happy to get rid of? It’s Difficult to suggest anything without knowing a bit more information I’m afraid
I have no transfers left and 1.4 in the bank. I am preparing myself for the next transfer window…
I am thinking Hart for Alisson, Mendy for Wan-Bissaka and Willian for D.Silva..
Thoughts?
I reckon I’d be tempted with Trippier for Mendy if I were in your shoes. Fixtures getting better, big players coming back from injury (including Trippier himself) and more importantly Vertonghan is back so I reckon Spurs may begin to keep a few more clean sheets.
With regards Hart’s replacement if you have to go for a cheap option, I’d probably have a look at Hennessy. Palace’s fixtures pick up now also and I’d expect their form to improve.
Good luck!
Would probably offload Hennessy when the City game comes though.
Found this on Twitter:
Marko Arnautovic is fit and available to face Newcastle on Saturday. He has trained all week. (via @ExWHUemployee)
Fingers crossed this is correct. He does tend to be right from what I’ve seen so far this season. Fancy Arnie against Newcastle. ⚽️⚽️⚽️🇦🇹
Chris, starting from the 8th of December, through till 1st Friday in January, West ham Arnautovic 6 fixtures, Spurs Deli Ali 8 fixtures, can’t afford Erickson, can’t decide, also trying to find cheap defender, not sure of severity of lindleof’s injury debatable if he would go straight back into team if injury is minor, looking at possibly Shaw or Doherty, also need to get rid of Hart sometime in December, 2 transfers initially, out Gomez, got Liverpool cover in Robertson, & also Maddison out, options for both mentioned above, I’ll also have a look at Hennessey as a bargain basement keeper, what’s ur plans for December.
There are pros and cons to both selections and it could honestly be a coin toss who ends up scoring more points.
I love the look of Arnie’s fixtures and with him playing as an out and out striker that’s what swung it for me, along with West Ham’s recent resurgence (excluding the City game of course). There do seem to be injury concerns on a fairly regular basis with him though so I have to admit, it’s a gamble in that respect.
Alli could be a great shout though too. Spurs are looking the real deal after flying under the radar some what but still winning games. Post Chelsea though, Alli spoke about dropping deep when needed and allowing others to get forward (or something along those lines) and that kinda put me off slightly but I still think he’ll score well points wise. Spurs fixtures also turn for the better.
Cheap defender wise, short-term option, Wan-Bissaka would be a good choice for a four game punt. Doherty is also a decent choice but I’m just hoping Huddersfield was a blip and not the beginnings of a dip in form. I do wonder if other teams have sussed them out now with how they play and are now countering it.
Myself, I have a 2/3 players I’d like but I’m struggling to find a way to get them in.
Players I want: Trippier, Sterling/Sané.
I’ll probably also have to replace Ryan in December as Brighton’s fixtures stiffen and the clean sheets appear to be drying up for them of late.
Anyone getting twitchy with Hazard yet? His form appears to have dropped off and he seems to be getting lots of ‘niggling’ injuries lately.
Thanx for in depth response, all pts taken on board, Hazard probably would not have played tonight anyway, but ur right, need him back playing at weekend & scoring heavily, Vertonghen back for spurs last night, star man & clean sheet, Alderweirald only 3.2, but will increase tomorrow, going to stick with Mane for now, but Stirling & Sane would be great acquisitions to your team.
Hi DTT, followed you every step of the way so far but missed the B. Silva – Richarlison transfer, luckily it didn’t cost me. Currently sat in 2nd out of 75 in my mini league so what to keep on with your advice. Should I make the same transfer before the weekend or hold off?
It was the Cardiff game I really wanted Richarlison for (which didn’t pan out well). So I’d be tempted to stick if B. Silva is fit.
Some great replies on the guys above on tactics and differentials. Player selection is about 80% of the game but it is important to discuss general tactics and strategies.
Whilst DTT does make some great points on our approaches to the game and there is overlap, my strategy is somewhat different. I feel that last transfer by DTT and myself best demonstrates this and really sparked this debate.
So DTT brings in Richarlison this weekend, the reasons to bring him are a bit vague at the beginning of the post but maybe it is a simple approach and don’t want to overthink about the move (to be self critical, I tend to overthink in this game and look at the pros and cons of every move i make but this way I done it since day one and unlikely to change now). In fact, whilst DTT was thinking about bringing Richarlison in, I was thinking about taking him out. Obviously not before the Cardiff game (that would be poor timing) but at the same time as suggested by Lee H when Everton’s fixtures get tougher. I even planned the exact date – 15th December. I don’t have a replacement but will be making on shortlist of players (most likely to be cheap differentials) near the time. So Richarlison blanks vs Cardiff, I am surprised but not shocked because in my notebook (which I carry around with all day as I love writing about fantasy football than actually playing it and it is shocking how much I have written since day one) I had written in red pen, very inconsistent – I write my pros in blue and cons in red. The major factor in selecting Richarlison was that he was highly selected in DTT’s mini league – so there is safety in numbers approach. So I would say that Richarlison is a template player for that particularly mini league. Now, our approaches here differ, whilst I too look at player ownership in mini leagues – top 100 template I posted here at different intervals – I am not looking to bring in template players, I am looking to break the template and hopefully remould it with the players I bring in so really looking at the next in form player that is under the radar. So my last transfer illustrates this point.
Over the international break, I was 100% certain on what transfer I was going to make. I was going to do Gomez to Lindelof. Now Gomez has an overall ownership of 13, even higher in the top 100 and the mini league I am in. Gomez might not be in the template team but he is certainly close to it. Lindelof on the other hand has an overall ownership of 0.8%, 1% in the top 100 and a bit higher in my mini league as part of Man Utd blocks that are firmly rooted to the bottom on around 600 points. So I was bringing him not looking at ownership numbers but my research (looked back at my notes from last year when he first joined Utd) backed the now regular Utd centre back. Whilst we can’t predict football, we can make good educated guesses based on a vast amount of information. The chances of Utd keeping a clean sheet against palace (H) and young boys (H) were much greater than Liverpool’s games vs Watford (A) and PSG (A) plus beyond this week, the Man Utd games are more favourable. I wouldn’t been surprised if Lindelof picked up two clean sheets and 16 points which is why I thought it was a no brainier move. A regular Man Utd defender for less than 2m, you must be joking- now that is a Moneyball kind of move I am all over. It was the perfect plan only ruined by injury. I share District’s pain. My plan A – The lindelof transfer would have a snowball effect on future transfers. If successful, I was looking to bring in De Gea and Shaw in which this semi Utd block would have acted as a differential. Smalling is a bit too expensive for me right now. I just got to go with plan B.
Now DTT and I have always approached the game in different ways. The rules of the game dictate game strategies. Last season with the weekly 0.3 price changes, I was all about making team value. Gaining points was secondary. Every transfer was made on a Thursday night. Every transfer yielded a profit. I had figured the pricing system. I even did the swap of Pope to Ederson which seems crazy but the game encouraged buying cheap players as would rise rapidly whereas out of form big names will do in the opposite direction. This time last season, my team value was over 70m (now I think it is 53.3). It’s only after Christmas where I diverted my attention in point scoring. In March I had a team of superstar players from 1-11 and still had 3.2m in the bank. My mini league rivals had teams valued at 60m and knew the game was over. Now the rules have changed, I can’t play that way so have been to adapt to a different environment. With a poor start, conditions got ever tougher and I had to adapt another strategy (more outside the comfort zone) but I don’t think too badly with my team on 800 points and inside the top 10k.
It’s nice to see DTT doing well in the World Cup and this season. I wanted to spark a debate on whether what methods work best in fantasy football – a safe or maverick or a bit of both. It’s good to see different methods of thoughts here – makes it a interesting place to be.
Very enjoyable to read RR, your thoughts are always very interesting. What does your team look like now? Do you have any transfers left for this month and what do you have planned for December?
On a separate note from all the strategy talk I really miss the 0.3 price changes this season, after initially struggling to get to grips with it the season before last I too absolutely abused the system last season and was regularly making 2-3m each week up until Christmas. I think reducing it to 0.1 has really taken away a key element of strategy and it is almost pointless this season, I hope a compromise of 0.2 difference is reached next season as I think that would then be worthwhile in considering in the strategy of the game but not too high that people with a bad start will be left behind and unable to catch up after a month or two.
Yep, same here… I miss the 0.3 rises.
I think that these rises benefited the likes of most regulars to this thread, who are quite meticulous in their approach to strategy. Conversely, those with a blase attitude (which constituted about 70% of my mini-leagues) tended to fall by the wayside somewhat and were simply unable to populate their teams with the same level of class.
I actually won all four of my leagues last year (over £1000) and maintained top position throughout the whole season, which is quite rare. This season however, I’m having a bit of mare and am yet to hit 800 points!! That said, even overall winners have lapse periods during the course of the season, so I’m hoping that mine was at the start and I will hit some form soon.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the big price rises. I guess this was mainly because I fell behind very quickly and then pretty much had no way to recover. I’m not a huge fan of how the price changes work with Salah dropping so far but being one of the biggest point scoring players. Yet other players just seem to keep going up. When the rise or fall was even bigger it made it even more difficult. I wasn’t overly a fan of bringing in cheap players just because they were certain to rise in value after a good couple of weeks – thought it went a bit against the spirit of the game. For me it’s all about picking players who I think will get points on the board in the future. I wasn’t overly interested in picking players who had done well, who may then rise in value just to grow the value of my squad.
Yeah I’d agree with all of your thoughts. Definitely don’t approach the game in the exact same way but I think we would all agree on most transfers/players. Interestingly when I saw your comment about Lindelof I looked him up myself and saw him at 1.9m. Thought it was a bargain and planned to stick him in myself this weekend (before I realised he was injured). That would have given me the funds for Ederson in goal. So he’s a player we would have completely agreed on. I think ultimately all we are all trying to do is get as many points on the board as possible. This can only really be achieved in a limited number of ways – basically get the top performing players in at the right time and this tends to be the ones at the top clubs.
Whoa, I bow down to your level of dedication my friend. Great read. 👍🏻
I won’t pretend that I research as much as that, credit where it’s due though mate. I like to listen to a few football and FPL podcasts (if and when I get the time) and pick up things from there which guide my thinking.
Brilliant debate though guys. 👍🏻
I’m currently using the rather cumbersome method of googling each teams fixtures every month to determine who has an easy run and how many games they play.
Surely there is an easier method to this, does anyone know a site I can use? Most I check ignore the European games making them useless for dt.
Dtt are you planning on continuing with your fixture watch articles?
You can click on a players profile on the dream team website/app and click on fixtures but I don’t know of any website that will show you all teams together at the same time
This doesn’t work on the App. There has been a glitch for about 6 weeks where player profiles don’t display their opponents. That said, it does display which ground the game is at so you can usually work it out from that.
Except when teams are at home!
DT are being so lazy with this glitch!!…
Works fine on my app, i’m on android tho so it may be different if your on iPhone. DT not fixing something that is clearly broken, not a surprise in the slightest!! if I had a choice and could enter money leagues or persuade people to play a different game I would do it, the way they run this game is an absolute joke in my opinion
I went through a period where it was just saying ‘null’ for upcoming fixtures but does seem to be working ok again now (for me at least).
I created this for myself: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8-J8t2NKmHWDepR-Sf4Dqbd7oo7KcCkzR3ij4Fi3FU/
Fixtures might not be perfect if things have moved around since the start of the season but it’s a useful point of reference.
Thanks for sharing DTT. Cracking stuff!
Confirmed now:
Manuel Pellegrini: “Marko Arnautovic worked the whole week without any problems. He has one day more to recover for the game, but he’s OK. Marko is fit to play.”
😅Now go and get a brace against Newcastle my son!
Also feeling better after the price changes today with the Gomez to Arnie transfer. Although Arnie dropped (as expected), so did Gomez. So I’m two points better off from the swap and no worse off financially. Kinda feel I’ve dropped pretty lucky there.
Hi All,
I am 2nd on my mini league with 699 pts. I have no transfers and 1.0 in the bank.
Hart
Stones
Robertson
Mendy
Hazard
Mane
Sterling
Willian
Ageuro
Lacazette
Martial
Any ideas on what transfers i should make? was thinking of Son, ali, Spurs defender and D.Silva but don’t know who to go for or who to transfer out.. HELP please 🙂
I think you have a few issues not wanting to be negative , Mendy has to go as injured swap him for laporte or Trent Alexander Arnold perhaps to free up some cash , hart out for schmeical or pickford and lose maybe Willian or lacazette for Sane or D Silva or B Silva if fit as all them in my opinion strengthen the team up and are improvement, good luck
Who would you swap lacazette for?
Maybe go 442 and swap lacazette for any of the 3 man city players D or B Silva or Sane or even Erickson or alli
Going to a 442 wouldn’t allow me to upgrade my midfield as i need to get rid of mendy and ideally upgrade hart… 🙈
Oh yeah sorry maybe just do hart and Mendy for now and stay as you are for the rest , December a long month
Thanks anyways mate. I think i am gonna go:
Willian -> D.Silva
Hart -> alisson
Mendy -> wan-bissaka
Can’t argue with any of those choices mate. Whilst Palace’s fixtures are good short-term, just keep an eye on them after the next four games as I think they stiffen up again.
Hi guys any advice on the following team on 771 points and 4th in mini league 70 points back so need to step it up 500k in bank and 1 transfer left
Ryan
Laporte
Robertson
Rudiger
Mane
Hazard
Mahrez
Richarlason
Abu
Salah
Aguero
Thinking mane for sterling this week as the
The guy at top and 2nd hasn’t got sterling but has mane so could help make up difference
Then next week when new transfers come up Rudiger down to alderweild to free up cash
That will.allow to improve Ryan or swap Richarlson to B Silva as think a man city midfield block could be beneficial.
Any opinions
After all this… all really interesting , planning on making any changes this week before kick off DTT ?
Not surprised by Salah dropping again!! Not sure what the poor sod has to do to just stay even!??… Maddison however…. WOW! How on earth has he gone up?
Not that I’m complaining, but I thought he was a dead cert to drop!
The Salah drop is ridiculous. Is he expected to bag a hattrick every game just to maintain his price?
Chuffed with Maddison on the other hand, makes him easier to replace!
Current squad
Ryan*
Laporte
Robertson
Doherty*
D Silva
Hazard
Maddison*
Richarlison
Aguero
Kane
Salah
£2.2m ITB and one transfer remaining. Thoughts?
I want to make it today just in case you can’t make transfers from tomorrow, although I’m sure we will be able to up to next Friday.
Few I was thinking…
Ryan to Kepa
Ryan was always a short term, cheap option. Chelsea appear to have great fixtures through to January however I’m not overly convinced by their defense.
Maddison to Dele Ali / Willian / Mahrez / Arnie / Anderson
All seem like upgrades to me. Tottenham are in decent form so I can see Ali racking points. Chelsea have decent fixtures so can see the same for Willian. West ham have decent fixtures hence the interest in their representation. Mahrez is picking up points but is always a risk.
I have question marks over Doherty for now but my main priority will be on either upgrading Ryan or Maddison.
Ryan’s fixtures remain decent up until mid December so you could always ditch him next month and do your Maddison swap now? Cash in after his recent value increase?
@DTcustsupport when do November transfers need to be used by, is it this Fri morning 30th Nov or next Fri 7th Dec
Hi Bradders, transfers reset on the 7th December so you’ve got until then to use your November ones! Choose wisely..
Just to help everyone I saw this conversation on dream team.support Twitter page, as I suspected it’s always been that way, so if you have transfers left you have until next Friday 6.59am , hope that helps
Good of you to let everyone know mate. 👍🏻
Any advice guys. Struggling to use any subs. 0m in the bank 3 transfers left still. On 830 points.
Kepa
Doherty
Laporte
Robertson
Mane
Hazard
Maddison
Richarlison
Auguero
Salah
Kane
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Good side to be fair. I’d probably look at moving Maddison on maybe and possibly look at getting one of the City midfielders in. Sane could be a good shout as I’d say he’s going to get more game time with Mendy out and he’s cheaper than D.Silva and Sterling. He could possibly match them for points during this period of Mendy being out. Certainly a player I’m considering moving forwards.
You’d obviously have to ditch either Mane or Hazard though, but Sane would give you extra funds to upgrade Maddison?
Good luck anyway mate.
Very good team, I would maybe get a man city midfielder in this weekend mane to sane / mahrez or B Silva when you’ve seen team sheet and then before price changes use cash to upgrade Doherty to alderweild. To be honest you could leave it and see how double game week pans out / injuries etc and use them before reset .
Virtually identical to mine except for Gomez instead of Robertson, mahrez instead of Richarlason and I’m on 794.
I was contemplating switching mane to D Silva or Sane this weekend for my last transfer
Thanks for the excellent feedback guys. Yeh have to ship out Mane or Hazard to free up funds. Should have made the D Silva transfer last week but prices updates have priced me out. Just noticed Shaw is now same price as Maddison.
Kepa
Doherty —->Alderweireld
Laporte
Robertson
Maddison —-> Shaw
Mane —> Sane
Hazard
Richarlison
Auguero
Salah
Kane
Leaves 0.1m in the bank and switching back to 443. Good transfers? I can probably even afford to hold another week. Feel like these 3 transfers I have left burning a whole in my pocket!
Would leave a fairly solid team with weak links Maddison and Doherty moved on.
Looks a better balanced team like that i think with everyone playing in Europe etc
I am tempted by the mane to sane or D Silva transfer, is that sensible do you think as I have Madison and Doherty and on My 1 transfer left ?
Mane to Sane will free up more funds but D Silva has been playing well.
Ideally I would feel more re-assured if I could bring in Sterling but can’t afford him. Sane in recent seasons has been hit and miss for me. Always seemed to bring him in the wrong time. Due to funds though I don’t have much choice to bring in either Sane/Mahrez/B Silva.
I must admit, D.Silva has become a target for me, but I can’t see a way of getting him in without using two subs and I only have one left for November.
Yeah, most of our time is spent looking at which players to bring in but I am more interested in what tactics to use. I know the strengths and weaknesses of most players but I don’t know when to use the right formation: should I go 433, 442 or 343. All three can be useful at different stages of the season.
Anyways, I am not doubting or being negative about DTT approach, he is convinced that it will win mini leagues and maybe it will. He also has a good track record that add weight. Maybe if I was his position I would do the same. Now in my situation, I started the season badly. Because of changes in the game (lower price rises) I can’t use the same approach of last season. I figure I have two options: pick the most selected players in my mini league or just select different players to rival teams – lower ownership. The latter method involves more risk but the potential rewards are greater than the first approach. Now my team has gone from 281k in September to now inside the top 10k so it is working. Will it work in the future or I am just riding a wave of good fortune, I don’t know but so see no reason to change. Furthermore, maybe I have no choice as the most selected players are out of my price range.
The right approach to playing the game is play it your way. You might set tactics, a tried and tested formula that works season after season and refined by experience or having to develop new strategies to keep up with changes to the game.
Sometimes a set method fails badly in one season suddenly becomes successful in another season just because the rules of the game changes. For example, my friend in my mini league always selects very cheap defenders and goes top heavy with the most expensive midfielders and strikers. Every season he does this tactic. I never used this tactic myself as my mentality is kinda set in that I generally like to have a balanced team – good goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attack. Now this top heavy tactic (in the fantasy football referred to the Dolly Parton) didn’t work out for him last season or many seasons before. A different story this season: he started the season with Hart (1.5), Janmatt (1.0), Wan Bissaka (1.5), Smith (1.5) and the midfield was Sterling (6.0), Hazard (6.0), Mane (6.0), Mahrez (4.0) and Salah (8.0), Kane (8.0) and Aguero (6.5). This tactic just took off and is now 1,000 and winning my mini league by a mile. He just uses transfers to rotate his cheap defence depending on fixtures : bringing in Ryan, Doherty and others. Why did this tactic work? Yes selecting the heavyweight players in attack but ultimately his formula fully took advantage of the 343 formation introduced this season. Another mini rival saw this and decided to copy this method but really couldn’t as you can’t make 11 changes to your team and taking out his Man City and Liverpool defenders for cheap defenders only saw his side plummet. Now transfers are being used to reverse the damage. Moral of the story: stick to your own game plan. On a side note: the Dolly Parton method did win someone the TFF top prize many years ago.
Going back to own team, it has been a struggle. I spent many hours of research, thinking (and overthinking) about my moves. Sometimes I feel like giving up. The game can be frustrating. I am even tempted to copy DTT team next season, even though he does not endorse this but I guess many followers do so as he has a good track record, knows the game well and I have can save a whole amount of energy and time in winning my mini league. Also I can take up another hobby. Will I win my mini league with DTT’s team ? Probably yes. Will I enjoy the game? Probably not.
I wouldn’t personally follow anyone else’s team. I didn’t expect anyone to follow mine when I set the blog up – I just thought it might be a useful point of reference and somewhere for discussion. In terms of the similarities between our teams – don’t we have 8 of the same players? I’m fairly sure we think about the game differently but still roughly end up doing the same thing in terms of selections
You are a good player, so I see it as a compliment that some people copy your moves. It is not for me as I like do my own research but for others it would save time and they would be competitive in their mini leagues. This blog is great, it is a good platform to discuss ideas. I really appreciate it as it’s the only place I jot down my ideas online so hope it continues for a long time.