Five Tips to Have a Good 2021/22 FPL Season by Ryan(OR-274, 20/21)

This is an allaboutfpl special blog written by Ryan(@fplcomeback) who finished with an overall rank of 274 in the 2020/21 FPL Season. Ryan has shared the top five FPL tips that will help us, FPL managers, in having a successful 2021/22 Fantasy premier league season.

Before that do check out our FPL Team Structure Guide series where we make a case for each of the structures including big at the back ~ A Guide to FPL Team Structure | 21/22 FPL Season (Pre Wildcard)

We have also made an elaborate guide covering every rule and chip available in FPL for the 2021/22 FPL Season ~ 2021/22 Fantasy Premier League Season Rules, Tips | The Ultimate Guide

Five FPL Tips to have a successful 2021/22 FPL Season

1. Take minimal hits / try to roll a FT

This will always be my number one priority going into a new FPL season. It’s so easy to see a player in form, a Twitter account pushing to ‘go out at all costs to get a player in, or your min league rivals creating a gap with different players to you. However, you need perspective and FPL is a long, 38 game week season. In my opinion, the optimal time to take hits happens at two different stages of the season:

A) Right at the start. I say this because you are less likely to lose vital ground early on and this enables you to jump on to players getting into some sort of form/ currently on the points train that you’d like to join. I would however advise this still with caution.

Last season, I took a total of 7 ‘-4’ hits over the course of the season. This is a number I’d like to still reduce but one that would be a lot lower than previous seasons. 3/7 of these came within the first 9 GW’s, so there is a huge scope for hits to be taken really early on. 

B) When you play your ‘bench boost’ chip. In my opinion, you are almost playing the game wrong if playing the bench boost chip doesn’t coincide with taking hits. As I’ve just said, I took 3/7 hits within the first 9 GW’s. I doubled this by taking 4 hits within GW19 when I played my bench boost chip. This seems extreme, but when I look at the numbers, I’d do it again. I scored 138 points which was my highest GW score of the season and my rank shot it from 9k overall to 2.4k.

There’s again a perspective with this. My maximum number would probably be taking a ‘-16’ when you play your bench boost, anything more then I’d say it wouldn’t be worth it. If you also use this in tandem with 2 free transfers, then you are possibly setting your team up well for the next 4/5/6 GW’s too, whilst absorbing the hits all in one Gameweek, and also you’re likely going to be getting close to having the optimal 15 DGW players. Most keen FPL players will play their Bench Boost chip alongside one of the bigger DGW’s of the season. 

Alongside taking hits, I’d put rolling a transfer. These are interlinked because there’s patience involved with both. Rolling a transfer is a difficult thing to do without FPL. We all like to browser Twitter 1 hour before the deadline and we will see someone has just punted on a total out-of-the-blue pick. This seems endless waves up to our brain doubting if we also need to do this.

What I’d say is this, don’t change your team if it’s not broken. If your system, whatever that may be, is working then keep at it. If this involves trying to roll a transfer then carry this on. I give this advice because this allows a lot of flexibility. If there’s a last-minute injury, 2FT allows you to shuffle your team around to sort this out. One other powerful use of 2FT + a possible hit would be when you went to switch over a premium asset. In particular, if this is, for example, taking out Bruno for Kane. One is a Midfielder, the other a Forward. Having the 2FT should allow you to switch them around without just hassle. 

Further Read: FPL Season Review – How I became a Top 500 FPL Manager! | FPL Tips

2. Try to save your first WC for as long as possible- huge upside. 

Within FPL we are blessed with getting a wildcard chip, twice a season! This chip allows you to make a total overhaul of your team at no expense! This is a very powerful chip that shouldn’t be used in vain. I know there are a lot of views that sway with playing it early if needs be.

I wouldn’t really be in this camp but what I would say is, you have to take your team at the time into consideration and try to be as flexible as you can. If I’ve started the season awfully, and am ranked 1m+ for example after 5/6 GW’s, then I may consider playing my first wildcard. There are likely 3/4/5 players that I’d need to get in and I’d really make good gains in the short term. 

However, last season, I played my first wildcard in GW16, which I think was the last GW we could play it in. Playing it as late as possible, alongside already having a good rank, could pay huge dividends for you. If this also coincides with a BGW/DGW then you can plan smartly with your wildcard and reduce the hits needed in the future/ you could save on playing a chip. I know just off the top of my head that my wildcard produced a green arrow but more importantly I was able to jump on key assets.

I know I got in Raphinha just before the surge came in for him and I profited really well in the next 3 GW’s before everyone else jumped on to him. So there’s a huge benefit to be had if you can keep patient and wait it out on your first wildcard. 

Further Read: FPL Now vs Then | How Has FPL Evolved since the Early Years

3. Captaincy is key 

Last season my total points tally for captaincy was 594 points, which equates to 15.6 points per game week. My total score was 2585 points, so my captain points contributed to 23% of my total score. I think if you’re in the ballpark of 22%-26% you are in good standing for the season.

This was a figure I actually ended up being slightly disappointed with as there were some key captain decisions last season I missed out on. There were plenty of 600+ captain points total. So I’d also go out and say that an aim for 600 total caption points *should* put you in good standing. However, this is only clearly about a quarter of the battle and getting the rest of your team right is clearly the overarching aim here. 

Let’s talk about captain ‘blanks’. Last season I had 12 blanks overall. (A ‘blank’ is deemed as <7 points for a captain.) This may seem like a lot within a 38 Gameweek season, but I’d hesitate to have that opinion. Although I’d like to have had less blanks like that, only 3 blanks between GW21-GW38. I think this is the vital part of this statistic for me. Within the first half of the season, you can almost afford more captain blanks. However, I think this will need to come hand in hand with your rank. Last season, I had my best season ever so I was ranked very lowly from early on. 

Between GW13-20, I had 6 blanks and 2 successful captain picks. I just want to point out how effective a good captain pick can be within a spell of very few successful picks. On the face of things having only 2 successful choices within 8 GW’s doesn’t seem great on paper, however, within GW14 I captained Bruno vs Leeds at home and he scored 34 points (2⚽️, 1🎯) and my rank increased from 60k > 19k which decreased my rank by 66% essentially.

The other instance where I had a successful captain pick was in GW19 where I played my Bench Boost chip. I scored 138 points and my captain was KDB who scored 16 points (and got injured) and my rank increased from 9k > 2k. This was a big push within the middle of the season for me and it goes to show that within a dry spell of captain choices, the good ones can be so effective for your overall rank. 

Further Read: A Guide to FPL Team Structure | 21/22 FPL Season (Pre Wildcard)

4. Follow what your head says- it is usually right.

So I think this tip comes from a place of social media influence for me. If you’re anything like me, you browse Twitter the night before a Gameweek and the morning of and opinions can be so strong from a lot of people. This can be great to help you form a perspective on the Gameweek as a whole, the choices you’ve made, and to have a great discussion.

However, I’d really hesitate with getting too involved in any conversations so close to the Gameweek deadline. Coming from personal experience I know I’ve been burnt late on and in particular with my captain choice. You really have to nail down your decisions for your team and make sure going into the morning of the Gameweek (or evening for a Friday deadline) knowing the decisions you want to make. 

I’d also like to just touch on transfers within this tip. I know going back a few years now, I use to almost hourly track price changes and this wasn’t good. It would almost make me rush transfers into my team and inevitably having to take additional transfers I didn’t want too and taking points hits. What I would say is to still keep an eye on any price changes, but try and wait until midweek cup/CL/EL games have been played and if possible, the last press conferences have been complete.

It can be really difficult to hold on but I do believe that if you do get priced out then you just need to adapt and find a different route to who you want within your team. I do also know that there are a lot of people who may keep back £0.5m in the bank for this situation, but I’d say that you want your team to be the best it can be without wanting to necessarily leave this cashback for the sake of price changes. 

Further Read: 2021/22 FPL Chip Strategy: What to do with the Elusive Boosts and Fixture Analysis For Optimal Wildcard Strategy | FPL 2021/22 Season

5. Plan ahead- but not too far 😂. Have a general idea of upcoming fixtures/ DGW’s/ BGW’s. 

So this tip is a bit ominous but I do think that planning meticulously is maybe a little too much for FPL where there are 38 Gameweeks within the season. I did use to plan with a sophisticated spreadsheet where I’d plan so far ahead with transfers, chip usage and so much more.

There is for sure a use for spreadsheets (I love spreadsheets), however, after my best ever season last year where I didn’t use a planning spreadsheet, I just want to put the caution out there for anyone planning to use one. 

However, there is a real need to be aware of what’s going on within the season. You need to have a rough idea of when the likely double gameweeks/ blank gameweeks are. The best thing here is to follow Ben Crellin on Twitter 👌🏻. This will allow you to then have a good idea of when the best times are for playing your chips. I also think this does help with ‘planning’ transfers.

Again, I throw caution here but if you know a blank Gameweek is coming up, and you don’t want to use a chip then you can plan to maybe save a transfer and use what we call in the FPL community a ‘mini wildcard’ where you could make 3 transfers for a cost of only -4 and you could also be very well prepared for the blank Gameweek then too. 

Bonus tip- follow player form. This isn’t something I’d usually look into much, but there were so many key players last season, that if you had them at the right time- you flew through the ranks. DCL/ Martinez stand out ones for me. 

So this is quite a new thought process for me so this tip may be quite loose if I’m honest. One word we don’t like hearing in FPL is ‘template’ but I do think keeping to a template team will benefit you hugely throughout the course of the season but this has to come with some hesitancy also.

Last season also taught me about keeping an eye on in-form players and players that look like they are about to hit some form. I know a lot of people will look at this with huge statistics and there’s nothing wrong with that, but generally, I’d look at player performances from highlights and watching games to figure this out.

I know last season in particular if you managed to get on papers such as DCL, Martinez, and Raphinha then you were making huge gains on so many people. I know for me in particular, I chose Bamford + Raphinha on my first wildcard and this came at a time before Raphinha hit his mid-season form and I had seen he looked good and points would come soon.

On this occasion, this worked out so well for me and I’d really consider watching highlights on Match of the Day, in particular, to help you make these crucial decisions. Punting on players that haven’t yet hit form can be a difficult decision and I don’t say this lightly but I’d also say that you need to make sure you bring in players who have already hit form and their ownership is increasing.

This happened for me last season in particular and this was to try and ensure I got any more points from that player during their purple patch but also to protect my rank. This may seem a negative way to play but if you have got in a position where you have a high rank you really have to consider ownership when making transfer decisions.

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Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of the 2021/22 Season:

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