DGWks etc

[Billy Bongo]

Am I right in thinking this season could be a wash out?

The schedule seems to be the current doubles will be during the supposed winter break, will be lots of rotation and most managers will have 3 from City and UTD anyway, who will want to bench boost in a dwk that will be riddled with rotation?

Also, haven't they left 3 midweeks this season for extra games so there not even be another dgwk?

So early WC now, second one for the first double if you need it and bench boost in a single game week?

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[fixers]

this is the best guide i've seen to this season.

as you say there is a 'catch-up' slot built in following the coca cola cup final, FA cup semi-final, and FA cup final.

but for some reason, not the FA cup quarters. so as well as the 2 missing GW1 fixtures, there are still going to be some doubles.

also need to consider the weirdness around GW18 being split in two, and the potential for postponements due to Covid-19.

[Billy Bongo]

Thanks , this is why I think an early wildcard now is optimum as we know what we are using it for

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Luxmonk]

Probably a lame question but...

From the official rules...

“ Gameweeks where teams play no fixtures or play more than once

What happens when a team is playing twice in one Gameweek?”

If the worst happens and there are multiple postponements due to covid cases, is there any provision (or precedent) for teams to play THREE times in any given gw?

[Billy Bongo]

Yes we've had triple game weeks before

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[DavidLloydIsAHero]

Didn't Ben Crellin reckon we'd have blanks and doubles at some stage 2nd half, GW 28 or so I think

[Billy Bongo]

Didn't Ben Crellin reckon we'd have blanks and doubles at some stage 2nd half, GW 28 or so I think

He thinks the first doubles will be the so called winter break over 18 19, it's weird because the teams are split and 18 be a blank gwk , half the teams will then miss 19 but there will be 4 teams with a double. I think anyway

And then there are 3 midweeks reserved this year for over spill

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[DavidLloydIsAHero]

Yeah but I thought there was another set later on. Will have to dig through content to find it

[Stemania]

Yep, (inferred from BC) it's looking something like: (Edit: a couple of points fixed )


------GW18-19 fixtures announced between GW4 & GW5 (Edit: it turns out this announcement will be later than usual, in mid Dec)------

Blank GW18: (10 teams on their 'winter break') - might yet get GW1 rearrangements reducing the number of blankers
Double GW19: (10 teams after their 'winter break') - might yet get GW1(/LC Final?) rearrangements increasing the number of doublers

------FA cup QFs determined between GW23 & GW24------

Double GW26(/27/28): (Probable/potential places for GW29 blanks and any backlog) - clashes with Europe midweeks or LC final, so may be spread
Blank GW29: (FA Cup QFs and their opponents)

------FA cup SFs determined and DGW37 fixtures 'known' between GW29 & GW30------

Double DGW30/31/33/34: (Another potential place for any backlog) - clashes with Europe midweeks, so may be spread

Blank/Double GW32: (FA Cup SFs and their opponents, but some fixture can be kept in the midweek) - could end up with blanks, doubles or both
Double GW37: (The usual not-so-'Main' DGW to close) - contains FA Cup final, so finalists probably won't have a double here!

[Billy Bongo]

18/19 looks impossible , do you Wildcard for the doubles in 19 early say before Xmas , and free hit 18? Looks like a wash out to me and nor worth saving the wildcard for

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

Seeing as the FA needs to rearrange the GW29 FA Cup clashes before it knows the outcome, I would guess that GW37 could be slightly smaller than normal, as, apart from any backlog of unarranged games from earlier in the season, in theory it only needs to house the two/four FA Cup Semi-final clash fixtures. Edit: actually, it won't even have all of those as GW37 bizarrely clashes with the FA Cup final! Some FACup QF clashes can just stay in GW32, watering down the disruption there.

We could then see the standard 'biggest' DGW of the year split over the three 26/27/28 gamesweeks (depending on when each team in Europe is free) - edit: most are due to be in GW26 but that gameweek itself contains the LC Final. Also 30/31/33/34 could be used. So, we could realistically have as many as five DGWs (or more!), with most of them being small and the biggest one occurring in GW19.

This is the reason the general murmerings that it seems a good idea to try (maybe in vein) to save the first WC all the way to GW16 to relieve the pressure on using the second one early. FH in GW18 or 19 could well be the way to go.

Looks like there might be bucket loads of places to TC if all the DGWs are indeed spread.

[DavidLloydIsAHero]

18/19 looks impossible , do you Wildcard for the doubles in 19 early say before Xmas , and free hit 18? Looks like a wash out to me and nor worth saving the wildcard for

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

I think the optimum is to WC as late as you are allowed (GW16 I think?), FH 18 in the blank and then make a late decision on BB 19 if your players make it through the FA cup and Carabao unscathed but as you say the time of year makes it harder than it would be normally.

[Billy Bongo]

Yeah so the biggest dgw will also be a blank for 10 teams ,

So to very anything from this you'd need to wildcard for one of 18 19 and freehit the other

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Billy Bongo]

18/19 looks impossible , do you Wildcard for the doubles in 19 early say before Xmas , and free hit 18? Looks like a wash out to me and nor worth saving the wildcard for

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

I think the optimum is to WC as late as you are allowed (GW16 I think?), FH 18 in the blank and then make a late decision on BB 19 if your players make it through the FA cup and Carabao unscathed but as you say the time of year makes it harder than it would be normally.

Well only if you want to load up on Burnely and Villa players will will play UTD and City

Hardly seems worth waiting on

We will all have the best City UTD players in our squads anyway

Free Hit 18 seems sensible , but I think using a WC early now seems to be getting more from it than just saving it for 19 where a hit or two will suffice

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[DavidLloydIsAHero]

The potential best double gameweek fixtures

Ars - CRY NEW
Lee - SOU BHA
Liv - BUR MUN
Mci - BHA CRY
Shu - NEW TOT
Tot - avl shu
Whu - WBA BUR
Wol - EVE WBA

Obviously depends how the fixtures get split but if you get 2 from Arsenal, Liverpool and City plus 3 of the others you'd have about a good a bench boost team as you could ever get.

I do see the value in the early WC though, especially sitting here contemplating a -8 with only 31 points on the board but am I just chasing points now where I could major some serious gains by being patient?

[Billy Bongo]

The potential best double gameweek fixtures

Ars - CRY NEW
Lee - SOU BHA
Liv - BUR MUN
Mci - BHA CRY
Shu - NEW TOT
Tot - avl shu
Whu - WBA BUR
Wol - EVE WBA

Obviously depends how the fixtures get split but if you get 2 from Arsenal, Liverpool and City plus 3 of the others you'd have about a good a bench boost team as you could ever get.

I do see the value in the early WC though, especially sitting here contemplating a -8 with only 31 points on the board but am I just chasing points now where I could major some serious gains by being patient?

Why do you think they will be the doubles?

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[DavidLloydIsAHero]

I don't, I just pulled out the best pairs of 18-19 fixtures. Some will end up with the first in 18 and the second in 19, some will blank then double, hence the depends how the fixtures get split.

[Billy Bongo]

I don't, I just pulled out the best pairs of 18-19 fixtures. Some will end up with the first in 18 and the second in 19, some will blank then double, hence the depends how the fixtures get split.

I don't understand why Ben Crellin is so sure 18 will be a blank, 19 may be a dgwk yes with the gwk1 but why does he still think the games will be split?

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

It's a real minefield towards the end of the season - if we end up with a fixture backlog (or a team does well in Europe and in the cups) then it could be chaos.

I hadn't even realised GW37 will house the FA Cup final!! Above edited to take into account.

I don't, I just pulled out the best pairs of 18-19 fixtures. Some will end up with the first in 18 and the second in 19, some will blank then double, hence the depends how the fixtures get split.

I don't understand why Ben Crellin is so sure 18 will be a blank, 19 may be a dgwk yes with the gwk1 but why does he still think the games will be split?

It's not just BC, it's almost certainly what will happen. EPL have announced the split (Edit: e.g.: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53767120)

[Billy Bongo]

It's a real minefield towards the end of the season - if we end up with a fixture backlog (or a team does well in Europe and in the cups) then it could be chaos.

I hadn't even realised GW37 will house the FA Cup final!! Above edited to take into account.

I don't, I just pulled out the best pairs of 18-19 fixtures. Some will end up with the first in 18 and the second in 19, some will blank then double, hence the depends how the fixtures get split.

I don't understand why Ben Crellin is so sure 18 will be a blank, 19 may be a dgwk yes with the gwk1 but why does he still think the games will be split?

It's not just BC, it's almost certainly what will happen. EPL have announced the split.

I still don't understand why 19 is anything more than gwk1 doubles , why does BC still think 18 games will be spread over 2 weeks?

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

Because they almost certainly will be.

[Billy Bongo]

Hmmm, why though, what's the reasoning in thinking that?

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

Half of the original 20 GW18 fixtures will occur after GW19.

[Billy Bongo]

Half of the original 20 GW18 fixtures will occur after GW19.

That was the thinking BEFORE the fixture release, there isn't any confirmation that's set in stone, BBC doubting it will happen

All points to the free hit being essential in 19 and ride 18

I'm just not sure whether saving the early WC will help because if there are loads of smaller doubles the second wildcard is reduced in power

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

It isn't just the thinking before the fixture release, it's also the thinking now. Nothing changed. The BBC weren't doubting the fixture split (and their article was from before the fixture release) - it's as set in stone as any scheduling is, ten (edit oops, five, thanks hjr) original GW18 fixtures will be played after GW19 - they were simply pointed out that in the worst case they might be a need to use the winter-break gap in the blank GW for a backlog of other fixtures (potentially leading to fewer blanks in GW18 and/or more doubles in GW19).

This has/was/is also pointed out by BC and in the post above as a potential place for the GW1 rearrangements. It doesn't change where 5 of the 10 GW18 fixtures will move to.

It seems just about impossible that any FA Cup-based rearrangements would move to GW18/19 since the determination of the clashes doesn't occur till after 18/19 has happened - presumably the BBC didn't know this.

[Billy Bongo]

Ah ok, it's a mess and of course we may get snow and covid adding to it.

Looks like a late wildcard at 16 makes sense the although the fantasy website still doesn't show who or when the half of 18 games will move

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Nailer6245]

Thanks for that Stem, very helpful. It's such a strange oversight that they didn't move the first WC deadline back to align with the later start time. Keeping it before christmas puts it was GW16 instead of GW19, which is the natural halfway point in a 38-gameweek season.

Trying to wildcard for GW16 and hope your team lasts until some doubles in 18 or 19 is going to be frustrating!

[Stemania]

We could, of course, very well see the LC Final postponements of GW26 get moved forward into one of the GW19 midweek at very short notice leading to even more GW19 doubles (I think the 1 week to GW18 would be too soon). The problem with WC16 then could be, we may have wildcarded into a squad we are happy with only for two massive teams to suddenly have a DGW19 at a gameweek's notice!

It would be sensible from the EPL to pull the fixture forward in terms of the potential for a later pileup, but it may not even be possible if those teams already have a DGW19 schedules. Also, since there free midweek in GW26 itself might be too obvious a safety net for them (not that it will be a sensible safety net). Who knows, we may even find that the FA try to allocate as many of the 'bigger' teams (those more likely to reach the LC final) as possible to the group of 10 with 'normal' SGWs18/19?

[Billy Bongo]

Could of course just ride 18 with a hit or 2 and then FH 19, if a wildcard is needed you'd use your 2nd one

Personally I think I'll Wildcard early as the players I want are from teams that have doubles anyway

Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

[Stemania]

It's such a strange oversight that they didn't move the first WC deadline back to align with the later start time. Keeping it before christmas puts it was GW16 instead of GW19, which is the natural halfway point in a 38-gameweek season.

It's such an odd change that I think it can only be intentional - to try to increase the variation in chip use? Otherwise WC18 or 19 would have been so common.