Semi-ghost team: possible?

[SirMattBugsby]

For next season, I want to try creating a semi-ghost team that I'll log in to change on only 4 occasions:

1) 1st WC (probably GW 4)
2) Christmas schedule
3) 2nd WC (probably GW 28)
4) GW 38

BB probably GW 1, FH 38. Not sure when I'll TC, just a tentative idea..

Has anyone done this? If yes, is it possible? I basically wanna do this because I'm average at the game but enjoy it, however spending too much time and mental space is draining. Want to enjoy football first.

Can a balance be created this way? Or will I just relapse and be better off making a ghost team?

[Football Hero]

This is a terrible strategy, do not do this if you are thinking that this might actually increase your chances of doing better than your current strategy is doing.

In addition, you ask if it is possible, and I would pose a question back to you as to why wouldn't it be possible to undertake this 'ghost' strategy of yours that merely involves you just sporadically logging in and making the occasional tweak to things?

Also, you should have said ''If no, is it possible?'' because if the answer is 'yes' that someone else has done this before, then by definition it is possible and so you don't need to ask whether it is possible or not.

[SirMattBugsby]

I'm not asking its credibility as a strategy tbh. I had a team once on another site which allowed transfers only once, in the winter transfer window. I enjoyed that balance.. GW to GW is draining, esp if you're average at the game like I am

My question was correct because I want to know if it's possible to 'occasionally' play the game. Don't get caught in logistics FH

[Football Hero]

I'm not asking its credibility as a strategy tbh. I had a team once on another site which allowed transfers only once, in the winter transfer window. I enjoyed that balance.. GW to GW is draining, esp if you're average at the game like I am

My question was correct because I want to know if it's possible to 'occasionally' play the game. Don't get caught in logistics FH

Your question was not correct, because you said ''If yes (that someone has played this strategy before), is it possible (to play this strategy)?'' which makes no logical sense.

It would have made more sense for you to have asked ''If no one has actually played this strategy before, is it actually still at least possible to do it on the FPL site?''

However that would still be a dumb question, as why would it not be possible to play a strategy that involves logging in sporadically a handful of times a season? Does FPL force all players to log in and change their team each gameweek? Surely you are aware of people that only log in once to set up a GW1 team and then leave it as it is to see how it does during the season?

[raoul]

Ignoring the semantics and answering your point can I suggest an alternative?

Pick a core of 10 starters you could keep all year. Pick a bench who will at least play.

For starter 11, use this as your weekly transfer and then you will have a fairly short list of options.

[blahblah]

I'm not asking its credibility as a strategy tbh. I had a team once on another site which allowed transfers only once, in the winter transfer window. I enjoyed that balance.. GW to GW is draining, esp if you're average at the game like I am

My question was correct because I want to know if it's possible to 'occasionally' play the game. Don't get caught in logistics FH

My guess is that it could doquite well ie top half. If you go by Points per Game per Million (or just Points per Million you would have had Lpool 3 Defs, Sterling, KdB, Vardy and a decent Keeper.

You wouldgain on kneejerk stuff inc dumping the Lpool3, when they did come good, roatating Captcy etc, but lose on Form players and injuries ie Kun\Kane if you went there.

[SirMattBugsby]

Ignoring the semantics and answering your point can I suggest an alternative?

Pick a core of 10 starters you could keep all year. Pick a bench who will at least play.

For starter 11, use this as your weekly transfer and then you will have a fairly short list of options.

Thank you for understanding Raoul, and having an EQ
I'd considered what you said but if I login every week, I'll be switched on mentally for the game. What I really want is for FPL to be a bit of an after-thought, if that makes sense..

I'm not asking its credibility as a strategy tbh. I had a team once on another site which allowed transfers only once, in the winter transfer window. I enjoyed that balance.. GW to GW is draining, esp if you're average at the game like I am

My question was correct because I want to know if it's possible to 'occasionally' play the game. Don't get caught in logistics FH

My guess is that it could doquite well ie top half. If you go by Points per Game per Million (or just Points per Million you would have had Lpool 3 Defs, Sterling, KdB, Vardy and a decent Keeper.

You wouldgain on kneejerk stuff inc dumping the Lpool3, when they did come good, roatating Captcy etc, but lose on Form players and injuries ie Kun\Kane if you went there.

Not really thinking on those terms Blah. My potential is to probably touch 10k.. what I really want is to enjoy football, with a bit of FPL. There was a time when I would be watching a match, Eriksen would score and I was like, "Oh yeah, he was in my team! (I think)" Looking to recreate that.

[Football Hero]

Ignoring the semantics and answering your point can I suggest an alternative?

Pick a core of 10 starters you could keep all year. Pick a bench who will at least play.

For starter 11, use this as your weekly transfer and then you will have a fairly short list of options.

Great strategy, until one of your 10 'starters' gets injured and then it creates issues. Or do you advocate just taking a -4 for every injury that occurs to your 10 starters, and a -4 to get them back in when they are fit again?

Also, if you weren't to ignore semantics in this case, whose side would you be on? Mine or the topic creator?

[Bernd Leno’s Garage]

Someone posted on Twitter on Friday/Saturday that the highest ranking 'dead team' was something like 29k in the world. They hadn't played a single chip nor a transfer the whole season, and had beaten >99% of the entrants.

If they had played their bench boost, and even a reasonably well timed triple captain, they may have made the top 20k.

A large number of managers would be devastated to discover that their constant tinkering often reduces their final scores below their original, if left alone, team score. That much is obvious by the number of people who use Twitter polls to make decisions. Possibly a good example where 'wisdom of the crowds' does not apply, or at least getting rid of the laymen in order to calculate a considered average is difficult.

To answer your question, or at least the one I think you've asked...

Yes, it is a plausible strategy that millions of others do every year (not necessarily by design). I would not expect to be successful with it however.

[blahblah]

It would be interesting if one of the Geeks could set this up. eg we enter GW1 with BB and fixed XI and Capt then maybe a WC... but I guess the subs would be difficult.

It is certainly possible in TFF with just 1 or 2 Transfer Windows....

[Mo Bot]

I’d suggest you skip the game to enjoy football properly. With your planned approach you’ll probably get to Christmas and be so far behind that you won’t bother.

A couple of seasons ago my lad missed a deadline in gw3 or 4 and left his team for dead. He picked his team up again around the DGWs and finished about 3.3m.

[RomynPG]

I haven't spent that much time on my team for a few years now but keep up enough that I'm not completely out of touch and still enjpy it.

I read most threads here in the main forum and occasionally dip into STC. I don't really know what all the latest stats things are (xG etc) so don't spend any time analysing stuff to that level. FISO is the only source for everything and I don't use any apps related to FF or access anything related to it on my phone.

I try and keep to my free transfer - so as to limit my options - and the first thing I look at my transfers page is "transfers in - round" to give me ideas if I don't already have something in mind. I try not to overthink things and can often get away with a 30min umm and argh session before the deadline. The most obvious transfers are usually fine.

I think it's possible to cut time right down while still being relatively competitive and getting fun out of it without ghosting completely.

[Football Hero]

A large number of managers would be devastated to discover that their constant tinkering often reduces their final scores below their original, if left alone, team score.

This never actually happens though, (outside of extreme levels of tinkering and tonnes of hits whereby the person will likely have a good feeling that they are destroying their points totals with too many hits that aren't paying off). So I will just address 'normal' reasonable levels of tinkering which I think you were also implying with your comment.

Now why do I say that this never happens to reasonable tinkerers?

Let's look at an example, someone plays FPL over 10 seasons:

Season 1:Tinkering gains them 300 points
Season 2: Tinkering gains them 50 points
Season 3: Tinkering gains them 150 points
Season 4: Tinkering loses them 100 points
Season 5: Tingering gains them 200 points
Season 6: Tinkering gains them 600 points
Season 7: Tinkering gains them 50 points
Season 8: Tinkering loses them 200 points
Season 9: Tinkering gains them 100 points

Total points gained from tinkering: 1,150 points
Conclusion: Always tinker (in a reasonable manner with regards to transfer hits)

You think a manager is served well by looking at an arbitrary 38 gameweek period over a 380 gameweek horizon, and evaluating the success of their strategy over a short 38 gameweek interval?

Golden Rule Number 1: Keep things long-run focused
Golden Rule Number 2: Don't keep things short-run focused

Now it may well be that you are aware of this and that you were actually just scoffing at some manager's irrationality if they were to learn that their tinkering had caused damage in a given season. However your post doesn't really imply this, you imply that you would see these managers as being rational and that they should indeed change their strategy and tinker significantly less.

[Mo Bot]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

[blahblah]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Shar(r)on, and was closer to the top 10 I think

[Football Hero]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Who are the safe picks for next season?

Was Laporte a safe pick going into 2019/20?

Was De Bruyne a safe pick going into 2018/19?

[Mo Bot]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Shar(r)on, and was closer to the top 10 I think

Should’ve remembered that- it’s my sister’s name

[blahblah]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Shar(r)on, and was closer to the top 10 I think

Should’ve remembered that- it’s my sister’s name

But your name is Mo for Maureen?

[SirMattBugsby]

Some good suggestions on here!

Someone posted on Twitter on Friday/Saturday that the highest ranking 'dead team' was something like 29k in the world. They hadn't played a single chip nor a transfer the whole season, and had beaten >99% of the entrants.

If they had played their bench boost, and even a reasonably well timed triple captain, they may have made the top 20k.

A large number of managers would be devastated to discover that their constant tinkering often reduces their final scores below their original, if left alone, team score. That much is obvious by the number of people who use Twitter polls to make decisions. Possibly a good example where 'wisdom of the crowds' does not apply, or at least getting rid of the laymen in order to calculate a considered average is difficult.

To answer your question, or at least the one I think you've asked...

Yes, it is a plausible strategy that millions of others do every year (not necessarily by design). I would not expect to be successful with it however.

Yeah, I agree, can't expect to be successful. Looking for a middle ground between enjoyment and going cold turkey I guess..

It would be interesting if one of the Geeks could set this up. eg we enter GW1 with BB and fixed XI and Capt then maybe a WC... but I guess the subs would be difficult.

It is certainly possible in TFF with just 1 or 2 Transfer Windows....

I'm up for it! Will have smashing subs to account for the 'Laporte' injury.

I’d suggest you skip the game to enjoy football properly. With your planned approach you’ll probably get to Christmas and be so far behind that you won’t bother.

A couple of seasons ago my lad missed a deadline in gw3 or 4 and left his team for dead. He picked his team up again around the DGWs and finished about 3.3m.

Probably the most sensible advice Mo. Maybe an year on sabbatical to recharge

I haven't spent that much time on my team for a few years now but keep up enough that I'm not completely out of touch and still enjpy it.

I read most threads here in the main forum and occasionally dip into STC. I don't really know what all the latest stats things are (xG etc) so don't spend any time analysing stuff to that level. FISO is the only source for everything and I don't use any apps related to FF or access anything related to it on my phone.

I try and keep to my free transfer - so as to limit my options - and the first thing I look at my transfers page is "transfers in - round" to give me ideas if I don't already have something in mind. I try not to overthink things and can often get away with a 30min umm and argh session before the deadline. The most obvious transfers are usually fine.

I think it's possible to cut time right down while still being relatively competitive and getting fun out of it without ghosting completely.

That's nice to hear Romyn! Looks like you've cut out the overthinking and beating yourself up part of the game. Gives me hope

[Mo Bot]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Who are the safe picks for next season?

Was Laporte a safe pick going into 2019/20?

Was De Bruyne a safe pick going into 2018/19?

I’ll tell you in gw5 after spending all preseason studying friendlies, getting it completely wrong and wildcarding

A core of Salah, KDB, TAA will probably leave about 65m on the other 12. As long as the other 12 are in the mould of more certain starters than a more traditional light bench then autosubs should kick in when needed. Choosing a 35 game a season Egan/Basham over a flashier but more rotated Lundstram for example would mean getting 11 out most weeks.

If you started this squad of reliable players this season then you’d probably have done ok.

Pope/Foster
TAA/Robertson/Maguire/Tarkowski/Basham
Salah/KDB/Zaha/Grealish/Dendoncker
Jimenez/Vardy/Ings

Not sure if that would have fitted the exact 100.0 but wouldn’t be a million miles away. I think all of these guys are fairly safe, dependable, rarely rotated players who would do a job.

Another way to play would be to set up your team with a defined wildcard date in mind - split the season in three. GW1-13, 14-DGW time then play for a few weeks around any DGWs to maximise your chips.

[blahblah]

I'll see if my preseason stuff is on this laptop or the dead one, but I think I was on

Foster\Fab
TAA, VvD, Robbo, x, x
KdB (cheap as injured last season), Sterling, Rich, x, x
Vardy, x, x

The Def's could have been Wolves\Burnley and a forward Wood\Jimi and DeaDonkey in midfield.

[Football Hero]

Wasn’t there someone called Maureen or something like that who made no transfers and was in the top 50 at Christmas.

I’d guess that any set and forget GW1 team would be full of safe picks and no punts.

Who are the safe picks for next season?

Was Laporte a safe pick going into 2019/20?

Was De Bruyne a safe pick going into 2018/19?

I’ll tell you in gw5 after spending all preseason studying friendlies, getting it completely wrong and wildcarding

A core of Salah, KDB, TAA will probably leave about 65m on the other 12. As long as the other 12 are in the mould of more certain starters than a more traditional light bench then autosubs should kick in when needed. Choosing a 35 game a season Egan/Basham over a flashier but more rotated Lundstram for example would mean getting 11 out most weeks.

If you started this squad of reliable players this season then you’d probably have done ok.

Pope/Foster
TAA/Robertson/Maguire/Tarkowski/Basham
Salah/KDB/Zaha/Grealish/Dendoncker
Jimenez/Vardy/Ings

Not sure if that would have fitted the exact 100.0 but wouldn’t be a million miles away. I think all of these guys are fairly safe, dependable, rarely rotated players who would do a job.

Another way to play would be to set up your team with a defined wildcard date in mind - split the season in three. GW1-13, 14-DGW time then play for a few weeks around any DGWs to maximise your chips.

But my point is that KDB appeared to be a safe option going into 2018/19, and then after an early knee injury, it pretty much killed his season, (even though he was back well before the end of the season, Pep didn't use him as much as he could have in the second half of the season even). The same with Laporte going into 2019/20, he was nailed on with Kompany leaving but he got injured in GW4, (and whose to say that he couldn't get injured in GW6 or GW7 after your GW5 'assessment moment' that you mention above).

So anything can happen to anyone and this safe 'core' of players is not really a thing in reality.

So if we can't 100% identify any specific players as definite safe picks ahead of time, we can't really talk about it as though it's a thing like you were casually doing in your initial post. Do you understand where I am coming from?

[Mo Bot]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

[blahblah]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

It is a shame that FPL do not do a Starting XI thing like TFF ie the 1 squad, C and VC, with auto subs.....

[Football Hero]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

Yeah, thank you, I understand and I see where you are coming from with this.

[Talkie Toaster]

Along similar lines to Romyn's post you could just discipline yourself to log on 30 mins to an hour before each GW deadline, have enough time to sort out your formation and bench, make a transfer or two, and then the fpl update will kick in and you'll be kicked off, so unable to spend excessive time on it. (Just make sure you remember to save your team first )

You've then got an hour to get the beers and pizza sorted out before the match starts.

[Football Hero]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

It is a shame that FPL do not do a Starting XI thing like TFF ie the 1 squad, C and VC, with auto subs.....

No it's not, because it would be a low skill game that required loads of luck and 9 months of waiting to find out who had chosen 'correctly'. You would get frustrated with a game like this pretty quickly after the first season or so, due to it's lack of interactivity and not having a say on changing things as more information comes to light.

[blahblah]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

It is a shame that FPL do not do a Starting XI thing like TFF ie the 1 squad, C and VC, with auto subs.....

No it's not, because it would be a low skill game that required loads of luck and 9 months of waiting to find out who had chosen 'correctly'. You would get frustrated with a game like this pretty quickly after the first season or so, due to it's lack of interactivity and not having a say on changing things as more information comes to light.

Not at aall, I would know how much my Transfers had added, or taken away. It isn't really a Competition, but a comparison thing.

[Football Hero]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

It is a shame that FPL do not do a Starting XI thing like TFF ie the 1 squad, C and VC, with auto subs.....

No it's not, because it would be a low skill game that required loads of luck and 9 months of waiting to find out who had chosen 'correctly'. You would get frustrated with a game like this pretty quickly after the first season or so, due to it's lack of interactivity and not having a say on changing things as more information comes to light.

Not at aall, I would know how much my Transfers had added, or taken away. It isn't really a Competition, but a comparison thing.

But your transfers will always have added points to you in the long run, (unless you are taking loads and loads of silly hits, which you personally are not doing). So your transfers are adding value to your team, you don't need to worry about that.

[blahblah]

I understand completely where you’re coming from. Where I’m coming from is picking 15 dependable players who play when fit. Therefore when you get a lengthy injury, you have a very solid bench player to come in to keep the score ticking over.

Your point is that this isn’t a viable strategy which I agree with. However, it’s day 1 of close season and I have no suboptimal tinkering to do so I thought I’d give it a little attention.

It is a shame that FPL do not do a Starting XI thing like TFF ie the 1 squad, C and VC, with auto subs.....

No it's not, because it would be a low skill game that required loads of luck and 9 months of waiting to find out who had chosen 'correctly'. You would get frustrated with a game like this pretty quickly after the first season or so, due to it's lack of interactivity and not having a say on changing things as more information comes to light.

Not at aall, I would know how much my Transfers had added, or taken away. It isn't really a Competition, but a comparison thing.

But your transfers will always have added points to you in the long run, (unless you are taking loads and loads of silly hits, which you personally are not doing). So your transfers are adding value to your team, you don't need to worry about that.

You would be amaed at how many do worse the TFF, lol.