Baganboy’s 38-week FPL journal

[No Way Jose]

Keep at it mate! I’ve just gone down a gear or two in terms of dedicated time and brain space

[raoul]

So, a little bored with FPL already. Too many close decisions not going my way. This is not a complaint about poor ol' me really - I know that if I stick on, the luck generally would even out by end of season - if I am completely honest.
The sticking on is a bit of a problem.

It's easy to motivate one's self if one is at 10K. It's not too tough to motivate one's self if one is at 500K. 100K is the worst. I know that if I keep my head down and play seriously, I would make 10k or thereabouts by end of season. But getting around 10k is not much motivation - I get there most years anyway.

So we would see, okay? I might just play the WC for the kicks next GW - though I was really planning to have it after GW19.

We shall see.

Oi.

Stop that. Go for a run. Smile. FPL is a bit of fun with a nice element of challenge. Keep it going. People like me get great inspiration from your musings.

Give yourself 15 mins for this week's transfer activity, do it, then take a week off.

Come back fighting my friend:)

[Ironfist]

So, a little bored with FPL already. Too many close decisions not going my way. This is not a complaint about poor ol' me really - I know that if I stick on, the luck generally would even out by end of season - if I am completely honest.
The sticking on is a bit of a problem.

It's easy to motivate one's self if one is at 10K. It's not too tough to motivate one's self if one is at 500K. 100K is the worst. I know that if I keep my head down and play seriously, I would make 10k or thereabouts by end of season. But getting around 10k is not much motivation - I get there most years anyway.

So we would see, okay? I might just play the WC for the kicks next GW - though I was really planning to have it after GW19.

We shall see.

Oi.

Stop that. Go for a run. Smile. FPL is a bit of fun with a nice element of challenge. Keep it going. People like me get great inspiration from your musings.

Give yourself 15 mins for this week's transfer activity, do it, then take a week off.

Come back fighting my friend:)

Golden advice and words by Raoul!
I wholeheartedly concur.

[baganboy]

Thanks a lot, all of you.
Just slowed myself down a bit, but will bundle through the winter. Not quitting. Will be back in full earnest soon hopefully.

[Joccki_10]

Hi bb, how are you doing? Missing you around the RMT board lately.

[raoul]

+1.

[baganboy]

Hey All. Hope you are well. Glad to see the messages here.

Sorry (especially to Ironfist and my 5AS team) for dropping out somewhat from the game last year. Lost my best friend from college on the 13th of December, 2018 - we had joked about being the Simon and Garfunkel's Old Friends-like old friends at 70. She didn't even make it to 40.
Kinda thought that I would give in on the game, and a few other things I do - 2018 had been rough - but well, it's a habit. And the shrink says that the game is a part of me, and it's only good. So I am running in the morning again, I am participating in pub quizzes again, I am writing again, binge-watching series on Netflix and Prime, and I will be playing the FPL again.

But let's not talk about the sad things - let's talk about the happy ones. FPL is back!
I will of course have to read all your posts, your ideas and your plans, and look at your teams. The STC is back I saw - glad! To all the old friends - hope you have all been well? PS: I did indeed check ol' Stemania's rank - well done, mate.
Going in raw, no analysis so far, but indeed, a fair few hours of planning - this is what my team looks like. On the right are the others in the consideration set. In the full British 4-4-2. Would you tell me what you think about my team please?

Capture.JPG

[Neath boy]

Welcome back! Hope things have started to pick up for you.
Nobody in the selections I wouldn't consider. It's too early yet to offer any real advice ( you are better player than me anyway). I will pm you closer to the deadline mate.

[Pirlo's Beard]

Sorry to hear about your sad year, baganboy, but it's great to have you back here and back playing FPL again. Could you be tempted to give Draft another go?

[From4corners]

Sorry to hear about your sad year, baganboy, but it's great to have you back here and back playing FPL again. Could you be tempted to give Draft another go?

I second that. Sorry about your loss. Here's to hoping 2019/2020 (that's how we measure years yes? ) will bring you happier times.

[Stemania]

Yay!!!! Delighted you're back bagan.

Very sad news on the reason for hiatus.

[baganboy]

Thanks a lot guys for being so nice!

Delighted and relieved to be back. Will be commenting on the RMT threads as they come, and of course, will do my customary grid this time as well. Had some interesting findings from the last two years of the grid.

[gingafalcao]

Very nice to see you again Banga
This is a sad news that you tell us about yourself. I hope that with time things will be much better for you.

[baganboy]

Thanks gingafalcao, and thanks for propping up the Avenging Muppets in my absence. Great season!

[raoul]

Welcome back bb. Much missed. And I hope time is healing like everyone claims it to be.

Re your picks, look pretty good to me. Only comments might be:

- if Heaton starts then fine. But with Pope as well...

- Kane + Calvert-Lewin = Vardy + Wilson. With Kane traditionally a slow starter, and C-L not a guaranteed starter at all, the latter pairing seems stronger to me

- Redmond + Calvert-Lewin ... lot of potential to alter in this bracket. Pereyra + King?

[Mav3rick]

Welcome back bb - I'm very happy to see you back and just in time for the seemingly inevitable WC semi between England and India which should be a stonker of a match! Did you see the group game? What was MS Dhoni doing at the end of that match

[baganboy]

Hey raoul. Glad to be back! Hope all's well with you!

Welcome back bb. Much missed. And I hope time is healing like everyone claims it to be.

Re your picks, look pretty good to me. Only comments might be:

- if Heaton starts then fine. But with Pope as well...

Indeed a concern. Will keep my eyes open for this. Gunn as the alternative (but with the same concern perhaps). We shall see.

- Kane + Calvert-Lewin = Vardy + Wilson. With Kane traditionally a slow starter, and C-L not a guaranteed starter at all, the latter pairing seems stronger to me
Yeah agree again. I have a preference for the first option, only because I need a second captaincy option along with Salah, and Kane is it. Vardy not quite. But your point is well taken. I had considered Kane+Josh King as well, but that would make me downgrade either of the two LIV wingbacks for VVD, which I am not very keen on doing. We shall see. Maybe even exactly what you say below. As for DCL - I can keep Glenn Murray as a temporary placeholder. He will perhaps play GW1, but will get heavily rotated. Maybe even Sharp.

- Redmond + Calvert-Lewin ... lot of potential to alter in this bracket. Pereyra + King?
Yes indeed. That is a possibility too. This is the big point of flux for me. 12.5 for a MF and FW who are both first team. This is my big play really for the season...

Good to speak FPL again!

[baganboy]

Welcome back bb - I'm very happy to see you back and just in time for the seemingly inevitable WC semi between England and India which should be a stonker of a match! Did you see the group game? What was MS Dhoni doing at the end of that match

Mav3rick, I am very glad to see you back as well. Isn't a gap year such an excellent thing? I had mine, and was grateful for it.

Oh yes for the cricket! I have missed nothing of the World Cup so far (even in office, the Cricinfo and Guardian commentary are open pretty much all the time). Glad to see England make it to the semi finals, though NZ is my second team (and Pakistan of course the least favourite - thought largely in a cricketing sense. I am not a raving Pakistan-hating lunatic as all Indians are assumed to be ), and that one is kinda tricky now. And unless the Aussies make a mess of it with the Saffers, we are pretty much playing England in the SF.

India needs a captain with a backbone, like Dhoni was 10-12 years back when he ruthlessly cut short the careers of past-their-prime ODI greats like Ganguly, Dravid and Sehwag to get the new blood in. Virat is not that man, and Ravi Shastri is a stooge. Young Pant is ready. But perhaps now is not the right time to make that change anyway - way too late into the world cup for it. Whatever we do or not do, we will have to do it with MSD.
Dhoni though is finished. Sadly, especially because I am a fan. It is one thing hitting Axar Patel and Mohit Sharma across the line on the absolutely flat tracks of Chepauk Chidambaram, and something very different to do the same to Lyon and Rashid and Archer and Cummins on either lively, on dual bounced pitches at Edgbaston.

We might still win the world cup, you never know. Every team is flawed - England will choke a chase even with Roy (as could very well India), and Australia seems extremely disjointed for a frontrunner, and the psychological scars of the drubbing in the group stages against us will stay. NZ would not win perhaps - their batting is only one and a half players, and much is the sadness. And Pakistan.. well... which Pakistan would turn up one can never say. And I am anyway betting on Bangladesh defeating them in their last match.

[baganboy]

FPL hypothesis for the season (1)

Kane will do better this season than the last few. Last season was an aberration - Kane had no rest at all pre-season, and had to come back into the season less than 100% fit. Also, Dembele, the player that makes their game tick, was completely off form. Alli too has had his off-season.

So, now this season, Spurs has got a fit Kane, A rested Alli, (both in proper diver mode - remember VAR?), and replaced Dembele with one who is N-times better (horrible joke, I know)

I predict a 220 point season for Kane. Even if Sterling gets a 240-point season, would the 1M gap (which is essentially a 1.5-2M gap with Kane being a forward) be worth it?

[Mav3rick]

I think it's worth giving Kane the benefit of the doubt given his record, but I would feel better about things if they'd sign a DM to free up the forward thinking mids to inturn allow Kane to play higher. My worry is Kane stays that little deeper, and if Eriksen leaves I'l probably avoid as I'm not sure where their creativity will come from.

Moura could also be a reasonable call given Son is banned for the first few (2 or 3 is it?) games, while I also haven't entirely given up on Auba either. Something about the 11.0 striker just fits better, but it is all about getting to (I would say) within 30 points of Sterling.

[jacksosi]

I think it's worth giving Kane the benefit of the doubt given his record, but I would feel better about things if they'd sign a DM to free up the forward thinking mids to inturn allow Kane to play higher.

Ta-da!

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.inde ... html%3famp

“The real point with Ndombele is just how good he is. He has been the star of the most exciting young team in France in recent years. He helped take four points from Manchester City in the Champions League group stage last season. He is clever and powerful and fast and precise, the player they have desperately needed since Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama got old at the same time. He is comfortably the best available player in his position this summer”

[Mav3rick]

Glad you quoted that as I couldn't read the article with my ad blocker on.

I though he was more of a box-to-box mid than a DM?

[TheRumourMill]

Overview of Ndombele here:

https://statsbomb.com/2018/03/identifyi ... -ndombele/

Great ball progressor but he wont be troubling the assists and goals column much himself. However, he may allow others to do so.

I'm predicting Kane to play in a Firmino like manner enabling Son and/or Moura to score the goals before inevitably turning one of those glass ankles sometime in October resulting in a flurry of wildcards.

[dod]

As a Spurs fan myself I think Ndombele is the one player we were linked with that I really wanted. We really struggled in midfield last season. Wanyama is permacrocked, Dembele gone, Dier horribly slow to release the ball and basically a reserve CB. Winks and Sissoko did well but Ndombele is a class above. I think he's a great real life player but not an FPL asset.

Trippier is likely on his way but Spurs FBs are always rotated so not in my opinion an FPL option. The CBs don't offer any real attacking threat unless Verts fills in a FB.

Lloris is a consideration in goal. We'll keep more CSs this season with better protection in front of defence and after years of being hopeless at penalties he's suddenly become really good at saving them which could be good with VAR.

It's wait and see on the attacking MIDs and FWDs. Kane is currently in my squad. I don't buy the "Can't score in August" thing. Kane needs to be fit and rested otherwise he drops a long way below his best, A full pre-season and I'll have no worries. Moura looks tempting at that price but when Son returns Lucas may not even be in the team. Dele and Eriksen could benefit a lot from Ndombele but Spurs could also sell Eriksen with the likes of Lo Celso or Ceballos being bought to replace him.

[baganboy]

replaced Dembele with one who is N-times better (horrible joke, I know)

Nobody liked my Ndombele joke

[dod]

replaced Dembele with one who is N-times better (horrible joke, I know)

Nobody liked my Ndombele joke

I did. In fact I'm planning on stealing it .

[Stemania]

Me too.

[fred1266]

replaced Dembele with one who is N-times better (horrible joke, I know)

Nobody liked my Ndombele joke

yea i did lol

[raoul]

Was tempted by a Mendy and otamendi joke last season.

Chose to pass

[dod]

Like Mendy; only hotter.