Hi everyone, I’m FPL EZE, the 2020/21 FPL season was crazy for me. I finished 493rd in the world, 136th in England, and number 1 in the Crystal Palace league. In this article, I will be analyzing my season including captaincy, formations, transfers, chips, and conclude how I achieved my best ever FPL finish! I will share my best tips for achieving a brilliant rank in FPL.
Let’s start off with a few key highlights from my season. I finished with 2573 points. My highest total ever by a big margin. My highest scoring Gameweek was GW19 where I used my bench boost to get 143 points! My best captaincy return came in Gameweek 1 where Mo Salah scored a huge 40 points. My triple captain was used on Harry Kane in DGW26 where he returned 24 points. Finally, I used my free hit in BGW 18 for 51 points.
Now let’s dive into where I was successful and my tips for the coming seasons of FPL.
Let’s take it right back to the start. I had never been as successful as I hoped in previous FPL seasons. This year I wanted to change that, so I told myself that I would take fewer hits, make less rash decisions and ensure I had better plans when making transfers. Looking back now I can safely say I stuck to these rules and it definitely had a huge benefit to my FPL rank. So my first tip for everyone is to set yourself a few realistic rules to follow throughout the season. Anyway, now the initial rules are out of the way, let’s look further into the key aspects of FPL and how I managed them to achieve a top 500 rank!
My Captaincy Analysis from the 2020/21 Season and Tips
One of the most talked-about parts of FPL, players want nothing more than to make the best captaincy choices each week. However, I think captaincy is often overthought and can lead to bad decisions. Captaincy is luck-based and cannot be controlled, so my tip for captaincy is don’t overthink it, pick who you think will get the most points on that given week, and stick to it. More often than not, it will work out for you. Below I will show how I go about picking my captains.
To emphasize how unpredictable and ‘luck’ based captaincy is, the captain that scored the most points for me this season was Mo Salah in GW1, his score of 40 points beat any other captain I chose, including many captains who had double gameweeks and even my triple captain who had a double Gameweek. The lesson to be learnt here is that anything can happen. All you can do is make your best-educated guess as to who will score the most points each week.
In my opinion, premium players are where you should be putting most of your captain armbands. During the 20/21 season, I captained Salah x11, Kane x9, KDB x7, and Bruno x5, meaning I put my faith in premium players 32 times out of 38. The players aforementioned are premium for a reason, they have a history of scoring a load of FPL points so they are always more likely to get big returns. They are the main men in strong attacking teams so are more likely to score. So sticking to premiums is a good ploy when debating captaincy in your FPL team.
My last tip regarding captaincy is to plan to have the best captaincy option each week. If you think a player is the best captaincy option in the whole game that week then aim to have that player in your team. As long as it doesn’t ruin your teams structure or require big point hits. Also planning ahead will be hugely beneficial. Knowing when you want a certain player for captaincy gives you the time to structure your team to ensure you have the players you need and the captain you want. So keep your thought process simple, plan ahead and trust your gut when it comes to captaincy. Stick to premium players who have a history of scoring goals and play for teams who like scoring goals.
Transfers and point hits
Another important part of FPL is the use of your transfers and the risk of taking hits. Most FPL players aim to not take any hits and use their weekly transfer to manage their teams but it never seems to be that simple and many managers tend to make many hits in their search for the perfect team. This is where some managers have their downfall. My first tip is to not search for the perfect team. In FPL it is nearly impossible to have the perfect team every week so there is no point searching for it. Instead of taking point hits just stick with your team, more often than not your original team will outscore the players you were going to bring in.
The 20/21 FPL season was not a normal one, the football calendar was packed which meant for injury and rotation so on average players took more hits last season than usual. However, going into the 2021/22 FPL season things will hopefully be back to normal and the fewer points hits you take the better you should do.
I am not completely against taking hits, I myself will take hits if I think they are necessary. The reasons I might take points hit are if one of my players has a long term injury, one of my players has fallen out of favour and has been dropped and if there is a player I really want for the next 3 or more game weeks and could be a potential captain for my team. But I would only take a hit if it didn’t impact my team structure.
Exceptional circumstances can impact decisions. For example, when Man United had their triple Gameweek I took an 8 point hit, it felt appropriate and I wanted to exploit the three fixtures as much as possible. So there are always pros and cons to every decision but unless there are a significant amount of pros I would avoid hits as much as possible.
To summarise, avoid hits where possible, plan your transfers in advance, use every transfer wisely and try to roll a transfer if possible as it will help you avoid hits down the line.
My FPL Chips Analysis from the 2020/21 Season and Tips
The usage of chips is always a highly debated and discussed topic within FPL. However, I think the chips are not as important as most managers think. You can only use chips for three-game weeks out of 38, so from my point of view, the other 35 weeks are way more important than the 3 game weeks of chips. So my first tip regarding chips to not stress about them, if you focus on having a solid team structure throughout the season you will have a good season, this way you can use the chips to build on a solid score. Whereas most FPL managers use chips to try and make up lost ground. So don’t panic, use the chips when it feels right for your team, and don’t overthink them.
My other tips regarding tips are simple, use them in double and blank game weeks. The bench boost and triple captain chips are effective when your players are playing more than once. Using these chips in these bigger game weeks will maximize your chances of big returns. In the season just gone, I used my bench boost in DGW19 and scored a huge 143 points. I didn’t overthink it, I knew most of my players were playing twice so I activated my bench boost. This worked well for me and the fact I didn’t overthink it is why it was successful. Regarding the free hit chip, this is where you can be flexible. My advice is to save this chip for unexpected blank game weeks. That way you can target that one week where your team may be looking weak to ensure you don’t lose rank before having your original strong team back the following week.
To summarise, do not overthink the use of chips, try to use them in blank and double game weeks, and don’t rip up your team structure just for the use of a chip, they are there to compliment your team, not destroy it.
Formations in FPL
The last point of interest I want to discuss is formations. More specifically, which formation is best to use in FPL? During last season I didn’t have a set plan on what formation to play and I don’t think that is a bad thing. I don’t believe in a one-formation-only approach. I would much rather pick the players I think will score the most points than be forced to pick players just because I am set on playing one formation.
However, my tip for you is to work out early what structure you want your team to have, and then a regular formation will naturally reveal itself to you. For example, I played last season with a strong midfield, more often than not I wanted all five midfielders to start, therefore I naturally played 3-5-2 most weeks. This allowed me to have cheap enablers as a third striker and a fifth defender. This worked for me and my team structure. However, if one of my midfielders had a tough fixture I was more than happy to switch to a 3-4-3 or a 4-4-2. I think flexibility is key when choosing formations for your FPL team.
To summarise, my tips are to make your team structure and be flexible with your formation. Three at the back is usually the way most FPL managers go because the players with the higher ceiling do play in midfield and attack, but be flexible. Also, have at least one solid sub, having bench players that barely play could be a mistake, as you never know when one of your players can get rested or rotated.
In Summary
When you first make your team decide on a team structure that you are going to stick to. If you need help with structure, check out a previous article on AllAboutFPL. But once your team has a structure you will then be able to decide about captaincy, formations, transfers, and chips. Remember to plan ahead, don’t overthink decisions, go with your gut and most importantly enjoy it! The 20/21 season was the first one I really tried to enjoy, I interacted with more people in the FPL Community and watched more content creators. This extra effort was because I enjoyed the game. As soon as I started to enjoy FPL I had my best season ever. So sit back, relax and enjoy the crazy ride of an FPL season! I wish everyone the best of luck, may your arrows be green.
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