The DEFCON Daddy | FPL Nightmare

Summary

Above Average FPL Podcast: "The DEFCON Daddy | FPL Nightmare"

Episode Date: August 7, 2026
Host: Above Average FPL (Adam & Baker)
Guest: Andrew (FPL Nightmare), Fran

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Episode Overview

In this deep-dive, strategy-packed episode, Adam and Baker welcome Andrew from FPL Nightmare to dissect pre-season FPL planning, chip strategies, and the difficult art of navigating the game’s emotional rollercoaster. The conversation centers around robust long-term FPL planning, the impact of new player and manager moves (notably at Newcastle and Arsenal), and the evolution of FPL strategy in the new DEFCON era. Andrew shares an introspective look at his turbulent last season and unveils his unique, risk-laden chip strategy for the year ahead.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Newcastle: An Era Ends, Uncertainty Begins ([02:32]–[07:27])

• Andrew (a Newcastle fan) discusses the upheaval at Newcastle following the departure of Isaac, Eddie Howe, Gordon, and Gamares.

  • New manager Matthias Yeissler is a mystery, and the club is in reboot mode, pulling in young players and risking inexperience.
  • Quote [04:44]: "It's like a complete reboot but that is always inherent with risk... Will we get experience?"

• Debate about the excitement of new beginnings versus fear of loss of stability; Adam pokes at Andrew about coping with the exits.

2. FPL Impact of Transfers: Gamares, Arsenal and Emotional FPL Picks ([06:32]–[12:35])

• Emotional responses to players moving (Gamares to Arsenal): loyalty versus rationality.
  • Andrew admits he won’t ban Gamares, but doesn’t see him as an FPL pick with Arsenal’s setup.
  • Quote [08:00]: "Alexander Isaac is on a lifetime ban from my team."
• Discussion of Arsenal midfield options and whether Gamares, Rice, or others become essential.
  • Fran weighs up Arsenal’s options: "Does Bruno come in?... I'm really interested to see what they do with that left type space."
• Bonus points and their redistribution in Arsenal's new setup.

3. Chip Strategy: Planning for Late (Gameweek 17) Wildcard ([18:14]–[39:59])

• Andrew presents his bold plan:
  • Bench Boost in GW15, Free Hit in GW16, Wildcard in GW17.
  • His draft is built for long-term stability, not for early explosive gains like a GW1 Bench Booster.
  • Quote [21:47]: "This is the biggest risk I've taken in FPL: to plan these chips so far down the line."
  • He’s prioritizing durable, proven players, accepting he may fall behind initially.
  • The approach is influenced by last year’s unlucky run and emotional ups and downs.
• In-depth discussion on the advantages and risks of late vs. early wildcarding:
  • Flexibility, value of information gained from early weeks, and differing risk appetites.
  • Fran and Adam highlight the mental toll and planning “burden” of holding chips late.

4. Draft Dissection ([18:24]–[54:14])

• Andrew’s Sample Draft:

  • GK: Kinski, Leno
  • DEF: Gabriel, Mukiele, Tarkowski, Muharramovich, Thomas (Coventry)
  • MID: Bruno Fernandes, Szoboszlai, Elliot Anderson, Gross, Sangare (Brentford)
  • FWD: Haaland, Oscula, 4.5m striker (Aston Villa target)

• Each pick is scrutinized for robustness, FPL “glue”, minutes risk, and backup rotation strength.

• Notable moment ([25:41]): "For all of the wild risks I took last season, I actually think this is the biggest risk: to plan these chips so far down the line."

• The group debates bench structure, the risk of “over-planning,” and the psychology of accepting red arrows early for later gain.

5. The Psychology of FPL: Emotion, Content Creation, and Self-Analysis ([39:59]–[64:56])

• Andrew talks candidly about managing emotion—wrestling with bad luck, content pressures, and community feedback.
  • Quote [62:21]: "For me, a lot of FPL, it's not just about squad management, it's about emotion management and I feel this strategy will really help with that."
  • Last season’s experience (including infamous “shed rants” and the pitfalls of content-driven picks) informs a more mature approach.
  • Emphasis on analytical thinking while embracing the natural rollercoaster of emotion the game brings.

6. FPL Tools: Using Solvers and Data ([16:11], [17:21], [94:08])

• Frequent references to using SOLIO (an analytics tool powered by Opta data) for planning:
  • Adjusting team strengths, fixture planning, data-backed beliefs.
  • Acknowledgment that projection models can’t account for every variable.
  • Quote [37:47]: "With any kind of solver you've got inevitable decay—what we know now is outdated in 10 weeks."

7. Player Focus: Elliot Anderson, Rodri, and Man City Assets ([71:58]–[80:34])

• Elliot Anderson: Analyzing heat maps, defensive contributions, and goal expectation with a Man City move.
  • Comparison with Rodri's FPL viability.
  • Fran: "I just don't see him dropping performance for me."
• Candid debate about Foden’s prospects ("New contract in the friendlies, I've not seen it"), O’Reilly’s potential, and the broader risk of banking on Man City assets.

8. Rotation and Moneyball-Style Picks ([83:39]–[98:54])

• Andrew reveals rotation ideas to maximize fixture value for cheap assets:
  • Example: Truffet (Leeds), Coyote (Brentford), Igor Jesus (Brighton) rotation offers strong fixtures with bench robustness.
  • Alternative options with Gross, Lef, and Lewis Hall.
  • Emphasis placed on squad depth versus star-power inflexibility.
  • Quote [90:32]: "It’s almost like Moneyball… could really work quite nicely."

9. Robust Squads & Fixture Runs ([94:35]–[98:54])

• Potential double-ups and rotations (Brighton/Newcastle/Sunderland)
• Risks and opportunities presented by European commitments and fixture congestion.
• Planning is always provisional—robustness with an eye on adaptability.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On emotional FPL:
  Andrew (62:21): "For me, a lot of FPL, it's not just about squad management, it's about emotion management and I feel this strategy will really help with that."

• On unique chip strategy:
  Andrew (21:47): "To plan these chips so far down the line... I actually think this is the biggest risk I've taken in FPL."

• On Gamares leaving Newcastle:
  Andrew (07:04): "He left everything on the pitch for four and a half years and it's just such a shame he's gone. I can't. Yeah, like, you know, no offense to Arsenal fans offend them."

• On being a content creator:
  Andrew (23:49): "My YouTube last season kind of affected my performance... what is the best thing I can do that's also entertaining and engaging?"

• On Anderson at Man City:
  Fran (74:24): "Even if they do [drop defcons], do we not think that his goals and assists will just naturally increase a little bit just purely by the fact that he's playing for Man City?"

• On squad depth vs star power:
  Andrew (90:32): "It's almost like thinking of it as Moneyball... something like that could really work quite nicely."

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Highlighted Segments (Timestamps)

• Newcastle Rebuild & Emotional Fallout — [02:32]–[07:27]
• Impact of Gamares at Arsenal — [06:32]–[12:35]
• Intro to Chip Strategy & Draft Reveal — [18:14]–[25:41]
• Reflections on Last Season’s Disasters — [21:47]–[25:41]
• Emotional vs Analytical Play — [39:59]–[64:56]
• Deep Dive into Player Rotations — [83:39]–[98:54]
• Elliot Anderson & Man City Discussion — [71:58]–[80:34]

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Memorable Moments & Podcast Chemistry

• Jokes and Banter:

  • Andrew’s "Isaac is on a lifetime ban from my team" ([08:00]).
  • Playful confusion as Adam accidentally renames himself as "Baker," leading to the "Double Baker" gag ([07:47]).
  • The recurring phrase, “I’m above average”—a running self-aware joke and affirmation.

• Community Love:

  • Live chat shoutouts, acknowledgments to known FPL personalities, and a warm, communal vibe ([69:08], [70:19]).

• Honest Introspection:

  • Andrew’s candor about his prior mistakes, emotional struggles, and desire to evolve as both an FPL manager and a content creator pervades the episode.

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Takeaways for FPL Managers

• There is no "right way" to play: Andrew’s late chip, robust squad strategy is high-risk, but fits his temperament—and the discussion offers a window into whether managers should prioritize planning, flexibility, or emotional stability.
• Transfers, bonus points, and set piece takers—especially in changing teams like Newcastle and Arsenal—are always fluid and require reassessment.
• Analytics tools like SOLIO are helpful, but shouldn’t completely override gut, context, and enjoyment.
• Embrace the emotional side of FPL; manage it, don’t suppress it.
• Fixture analysis, good bench depth, and rotation strategies are as important as premium picks—especially when planning beyond the first international break.
• Don’t lose sight of the fun, the journey, and the FPL community’s spirit.

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Final Thoughts

Andrew’s appearance on Above Average FPL is both instructive and relatable for seasoned pros and casual FPL managers alike. His strategy may not be for everyone, but it’s backed by introspection, data, and a clear understanding of his own FPL psyche. The hosts provide a supportive but critical sounding board, ensuring each planning philosophy is stress-tested for practical pitfalls. Whether you’re optimizing for boring consistency, wild swings, or emotional equilibrium, this episode distills the art—and difficulty—of FPL decision-making in the DEFCON era.

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Further Listening/Watching

• Catch Andrew and Adam live for more FPL deep-dives and emotional therapy sessions!
• Explore more on chip planning, data tools like Solio, and squad-building strategies as the season approaches.

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If you're invested in FPL planning, strategy, and the joys and sorrows that come with it—this episode is essential listening.

Transcript

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

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[Adam]

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Go out there.

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

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[Adam]

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

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[Adam]

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Right?

[Adam]

Guys, welcome back. This is the above average FPL podcast. My name's Adam. As always, I'm joined by Baker. And also we welcome Andrew. FPL Nightmare. How you doing, Andrew?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Hello, everybody. I feel like a giant here. I feel like Andrea the giant against a bunch of rare Mysterios. It's great. I feel like putting a bit of reverb on my mic.

[Fran]

Hello.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Let's talk about fpl.

[Fran]

Do you think this is what the Big Cam does? We. We. This is like an indirect benefit. We didn't realize. We introduce a big Cam and it creates the. Because this created a monster, I think

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

it's sending me a bit loopy. That might be the Vimto I had earlier.

[Adam]

How's your. How's. How have you been? Obviously, like, it's been a pretty sort of turbulent time. I guess as a, as a Newcastle fan, I, I know I'm cutting straight to the chaser.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's. It's a very interesting summer. We can certainly say that the End of an era without a shadow of a doubt. And you know, I mean Bruno Gamares, I mean as he officially signed yet, I don't know but I mean it's tough because we've lost the three big players, we lost Isaac last summer and obviously Eddie Howell's gone as well. And it's, in a way it's kind of good because it's, it's like a complete reboot but that is always inherent with risk because you know we've brought in all these young kids. Will we get experience? I was just reading an hour ago there were looking at Hberg used to play for you lot. I like really, but then he dominated in the Champions League against us in midfield. So it's tough and you know, you wake up and you see Eddie Howell's gone and he's being replaced by Matthias Yler who I'd never heard of. I'm like, who's this block? You know what I mean? It's like, is it an inspired appointment, you know, like Wenger or Herzler or Deserby when he went to Brighton back in the day? Or is it, you know, the PIF have checked out and they're doing things on the cheap, you know, just like an internal promotion from Al Ali or wherever he was and you know, it's a recipe for disaster and that's, that's the exciting thing in a way because as much as I love Eddie Howe, it was not exciting. Looking forward to the season with another year of, of how ball. He's, he's tired, you know, he was, it's tough. And the good thing about a new manager when there's such a big turnover of players is there's no baggage. Like it's not like if it was Eddie Howe and all these young players had come in to replace Tonali, to replace Gordon, Isaac and, and Gamares, Eddie Howe is going to be looking at them, he think, well I had world class players, now I've got kids. Whereas this Yler is coming in and it's all an opportunity to him. This is his chance to cement himself on the big stage and you know, I could go either way.

[Fran]

I mean it doesn't appear to be like a corporate man though, to be fair. Doesn't he? Like I've seen like videos of him on the sideline of stuff and like he looks fun. I mean he's young, he's 38, I have to say that young because that's like nearly 10 years younger than me. Have you seen his arms?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

First, first Newcastle manager younger than me. It's. It's a seismic moment in my life. Reassess. See the.

[Adam]

Did you see the comments of. I don't know whether it was. It was a joke or someone. I didn't fact check it, but. Did you say they asked Labrice about this or there was something going around about Liberty?

[Fran]

Complete parody account.

[Adam]

Honestly.

[Fran]

Oh, you complete parody.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

You've been franked.

[Fran]

You've been done by the Discord there. Someone posted that. Absolutely done by the Discord.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

He's the one that. He's the one that started the room about Sean Longstaff having a month off to go traveling with his brother. They worked it into like an Adidas video when they took over the club. And oh, he's great for them.

[Fran]

But I love the way you still give him a he when you just know that person does not exist. Like there's quite a few of them now nowadays, isn't it? And obviously may I get even more. More so like. But the deep fakes of, of transfer rumors and football stuff, now we need some of those to get into the leaks. We need to get some big boys to get into FPL leaks. That

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

same book was the one that said about Matt Target being left in South Korea when Newcastle on 2 is. He's so good at them. It's. It's Francis Trippy's girl. Definitely worth a follow, but don't take him seriously.

[Fran]

Well, not true.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

But yeah, I mean, when to get back to Gemara. It's.

[Adam]

It's.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

It's. It's quite a sad one. I'm. I'm gutted. Like, I'm not going to be. Like, I see a lot of Newcastle fans on. On Twitter and it's, it. I'm not. I'm not impressed. You know, they're all like. You get half of them calling him a rat and it's like he's, you know, it's. He's not. Four and a half years. Could have went to Man City two years ago. Obviously that move didn't happen. He could have done a garden and sulked for 18 months until he got a move. But he. He give everything, you know, he captained us to the trophy.

[Adam]

He.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

He left everything on the pitch for four and a half years and it's, it's the club that can't give him what he deserves really. You know, because he deserves to be fighting for the titles. He's, you know, 29 in a couple of months and he's. He's a world class midfielder and it's Just such a shame he's gone to them. I can't. Yeah, like, you know, no offense to Arsenal fans offend them.

[Adam]

It's fine that you're. You're in a safe space here to do that.

[Fran]

Look, you're in. You're in the. You're in the world of people around my team, my emotion and stuff. So we'll ask the questions here because. Because we need to answer these questions. These are the ones people I know. Will it impact you buying him this season? And same for us also, Adam, I just noticed you're also calling yourself Baker.

[Adam]

Oh, am I?

[Fran]

We've got Baker. Baker. Double Baker.

[Adam]

Double Baker.

[Fran]

What I've always wanted take over the world.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

The question is, who is the master Baker?

[Fran]

You can tell this is Friday Night After Dark. I have average FPL

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

to go back to your question. It's funny you should ask that because Alexander Isaac is on a lifetime ban from my team.

[Fran]

Is it?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah. Isaac and Ben Brereton Diaz both have got lifetime bands, but I don't think Bar and Diaz is one to worry about bbd. No, it was that, that carry on when he. He took that dive off the share. It's just like I thought, no, I can't have. I can't have someone like him representing my FPL team. Isaac is obviously a bit more personal. I just don't want to celebrate anything he does. I want to. If. If he goes off with a two pointer, if he get. Gets injured, I want that to benefit me in every possible way in my life. But Gama Rish, I probably won't have him in my team for the simple reason. I just don't think he's going to be a very good pick this year because he's, you know, he's not going to take corners off Race and Saku, he's not going to take free kicks. I actually think he'll be the one that sits deeper for us. Yeah, I think him and Rachel dovetail a bit, but yeah, I just think I could because he did. He played deep for Newcastle at times and like dictated the tempo a bit more, but I just see it. But the thing is, Arsenal, such a. A good team, much as it hurts us all to say that, that they're going to be on top a lot. So when you talk about him sitting deeper, he's like 30 yards from goal, not 50 yards. So still a good pick, but I'd just rather have Declan Rice.

[Fran]

Yeah. I think the thing with just obviously like most recent memory of the World cup though, when they had let's call him a lump up top in Tiago is. They put him right up by him. You know, it's an extended. I'm like oh yes is a bit of a lump. Like maybe, maybe they could use him in that space. We've obviously got other things like that left sided channel which we've seen Shaka recently when. When in his final season score a lot of goals and we've seen Marino do it. He's used Kai Havertz there a lot in preseason in that space there's still just a huge. I mean they've just got so many options. You're like does Bruno come in? Just mean. I think Odegaard's legs have kind of gone a little bit. That's pretty. Feels a bit harsh because he's definitely nowhere near old enough for his legs to have been gone. But it's just I feel there are times when he's too slow on the ball for certain games and I think there's other times where he's really useful because obviously the ball loves him and he loves the ball like as it were. But I, I thought maybe he would be in more of that right eight type of role quite a bit for. For them and I'm really interested to see what they do with that left type space and. Or. Or do. Or does. Do we see what we saw most of times start the season is does he sometimes do that holding piece and does that actually mean that we might see more goal fret from Rice for example.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Certainly one to keep an eye on. But I think as well it's like it'll depend on the game.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

You know because it could be times when you play they have Rice, Gamarrais and you know Zubamendi or whoever the holder midfielder is and they go without an autogada and as a against Man City you can't really see them. You could. You could see Gemarace and Rice just being like in front of a. Of a six. Just have to see. But one thing's for sure, I will be looking forward to him. I'm hoping he fails because well, do you know what I say that I don't even it. This is the worst thing. I don't like Arteta, you know and a lot of it goes back to a previous defensive midfielder and of Arsenal how they managed that situation. And I just.

[Fran]

We don't mention his name on this podcast. Thank you very much.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I didn't, I didn't. You know, obviously well done. Obviously I'm on about Patrick.

[Fran]

So on Brand So on brand, love it.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

But you know, well, you know, I have to. I have to be sharp, you know. This is not called the half assed podcast. This is the above average podcast. Yeah, but no. So I don't really want to see Arteta succeed, but I do want to see Gamare succeed and it's. It's just a bit of a weird conundrum really. But if Man City beat them, then Elliot Anderson succeeds. I suppose that's nice. But who knows, Maybe Newcastle surprised them all. Willasula fires us to the ultimate glory. You just never know. I've got my mug. Even I haven't got my coasters.

[Adam]

Good stuff.

[Fran]

I do wonder about, like, obviously I think what did he get something like 16 bonus points last season and I wonder if that then means that, you know, he's going to steal him off some other guys. So people we saw who weren't like big in the bonus really anyway, like Ry, for example, and timber, guys like that. There'll be times when obviously if Gabrielle scores and they clean, then it's hard, it's hard to beat. But Calor, who was not particularly great a bonus anyway, mainly because the doesn't tend to make the full 90 minutes. Yeah, it does. Does make me wonder like it's not like he's never going to score. So having players like Rice and Bruno, these kind of all action heroes and obviously we know Saka as far as wingers go, is incredible on bonus. Then you add in that you've got strikers in that team. Yeah. I do wonder if they will take a lot of the bonus out of the defense. And then I also just questioned, am I trying to in my head rationalize that none of us will go with Gabrielle for £8 million?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I will.

[Fran]

Will. Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, I think I will.

[Fran]

Will you?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll get on to that shortly. Hopefully. Hopefully sooner rather than later because I'm starting to get a bit freaked out by my big head being twice as big as yours too.

[Fran]

Do we wanted. Do we want to do a draft straight away? No. Adam, would you reckon.

[Adam]

Can we start there? I. I was just going to go through the normal. The normal thank yous to people and all this sort of stuff. If you want to do that first

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

we have to shout. We have to shout out. Crypto blocked on.

[Fran]

We still shout him out. It doesn't pay us anymore. But we still shout about, we love you, Dan.

[Adam]

We do. We do. So, yeah, first thing, first thing, very important is that if you haven't seen You've been living under a rock because Baker's just been running and running and running and running. And he's gonna do the marathon. He's gonna do the London Marathon. We've spoken about that. He is obviously hated by all people that have gone in the ballot and never succeeded.

[Fran]

But everyone gets it first time, don't they? That's. It's easy. You just enter it and you just get in.

[Adam]

And you just get in.

[Fran]

I'm not. I'm not helping the case that people are going to sponsor me, am I?

[Adam]

No. But if you do want to sponsor Baker, if you want to support Baker and support Cancer Research uk, you can do so by scanning the QR code on the screen. The link is also on the. In the description. It'll be in Spotify and on the podcast, and it'll be in the YouTube description as well. So, yes, good work, mate. Like, just unbelievable work.

[Fran]

And I haven't done it yet. I haven't done it yet.

[Adam]

I mean. Yes, but how many. Look, how many kilometers have you put? How many miles have you put in already this year?

[Fran]

Miles. About.

[Adam]

Which one's? 800, I was gonna say.

[Fran]

Well, yeah, use kilometers. I do kilometers because it's my.

[Adam]

More.

[Fran]

We are about 1200.

[Adam]

1200 kilometers is insane.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Adam]

How many kilometers did you run at this time last year?

[Fran]

None. That's a lie. That's a lie. I did 10 kilometers.

[Adam]

I was gonna say you did two park runs.

[Fran]

Did two park runs.

[Adam]

Incredible.

[Fran]

Did two part runs in May last year, then gave up.

[Adam]

Amazing. So, yeah, 1200 kilometers so far this year. And QR codes on the screen. Go support Baker for the London Marathon next year. And if you want to do the good thing and support both of us, you can hit, like, on the video, subscribe, all that good stuff. And if you want to join us over in the Patreon, you can do patreon.com forward slash, above average. FPL gets you into the discord and, you know, fantastic games going on.

[Fran]

We'll.

[Adam]

We'll start at the start of the season, but just some absolutely fantastic chat in there. Lots of planning, lots of. Lots of going back and forth on draft. Everyone's really engaged right now. Like, the next two weeks are going to be chaos. People are jumping in, voice chats together and, you know, it's kind of like a. It's kind of like a space, but just with like. Like a Twitter space, but with just people that you know and talk to all the time, which is really kind of cool. And you can do video Chat if you want, etc. So if you're, if you're extremely lucky, you'll see, you'll see Colin in a hot tub at some point because he's promised that he will do one of the, one of the chats from the hot tub. I'm not sure whether that's going to encourage you to jump into the discord, but if you do want to, code is AAFPL 26, 27, 25 off all memberships. Make your first FPL decision of the season an above average one. And then finally we should shout out Solio for supporting us this year. So Solio analytics doing some fantastic work with Opta. Their tool is just getting better and better. You can, it's about using your beliefs to. I can't remember the phrase, I need to remember that before we do this again. But it's belief backed by data.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Right.

[Adam]

And so, yeah, you can go in and change team strengths, you can change minutes, you can do all that good stuff. And then behind that you've got all the fantastic Opta data. We've got a couple of heat maps. We're using some of the data from that today as well. So, yeah, shout out to Solio for this season and then we can.

[Fran]

If you're not, even if you're not like a solver user, there's a button on the left hand side that says plan and there's a butter. I believe it says data. You know, and even just being able to like, I've got it out right now and I can just look at last season's league table. Expected numbers for everybody, Expected numbers for non penalty set pieces. Loads of clean sheet stuff. Map it all around like that. That's like, that's not alien stuff to any of us. We've all used or seen that sort of sort of data. So use it as well as you. You want to use it.

[Adam]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So we're digging straight into your draft then, Andrew. Let's get in, undo, get in there, read it out for the lovely people.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Right, I'm just gonna have to try and remember I've just got like a little tele. Teleprompter thing to. So I can look in the camera, I can barely see it. So I'm just stalling for time until it comes up on my YouTube on the other monitor. And here we are. It's Kinski and Leno as the goalkeepers. Gabrielle Mukieli, Tarkovsky, Muharramovich and Thomas from Coventry. And defense, Bruno Fernandez, Zobazlai, Elliot, Anderson, Pascal Gross and Sangare from Brenford in midfield and then Harland Oscula and kusi asar. Any 4.5 million striker up front. I want that, the big lad, that Aston Villa, all that hype about him. If, if he comes in at 4.5, I'll stick him in. So I can't remember his name but like 6 foot 5 or something and the reckon he's a great goal scorer. So yeah, that's my draft at the minute and you know, it's not my final one. It's actually my thinking has changed as you'll see later in the show. Adam asked me to put together a few rotations and already I wish I had them in my team as it is now because. But this team, I love it, I really do now to understand it because I know a lot of people are going to say, well you know, this is not a good team. This is, you know, you're too late in midfield. You've got Gross, Anderson, Sangar, you know, there's not a lot too much in defense with Muk, with Gabrielle Tarkovsky. And you know I get all these criticisms but what you've got to realize is my strategy this season is bench boost gameweek 15, free hit gameweek 16 and wildcard gameweek 17. And that is a long way out. That is a lot of game week, game weeks to have to navigate. So I have to manage the transfers and what I want is these solid, proven performers that'll just tick over. You know, I accept I'm going to be behind as we approach gameweek15. I accept that we, I'm going to be, you know, other people are going to have a great start to the season when the, you know, the bench boost one or two, the free hit, wild card four, that's fine. You know, this season for me, last year, if you don't know, last year I finished 1.3 million. I can't remember who came lower out of me and Adam, but it was neck and neck, you know, neck and neck, you know. And you know, the, the, the big thing, you know, like it's hard because I really like, I give it all. I had a bad start last year. I had a red card Frontly Gordon as captain in game week two. I got two injuries to Saka and Palmer that week. Wild carded brought in Cuna and then he went and got injured after like 10 minutes and on Bumo and Fernandez got the big points that week. It was just everything that could have went wrong did go wrong and I need, I could just blame look, I could say, you know, look, I, I could have been better, you know, on another season. These 50 50s go the other way and it's just one of them years. But I am an introspective person and I instead chose to spend the summer evaluating my season, where I went wrong, what I did wrong. And I think the main thing was I was just flying by the seat in my pants.

[Fran]

I'm above average.

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I'm above average I think as well and this a lot of people might not relate to this but it was like my first year when anyone was really paying any attention to my YouTube channel. And you know when you you're competing in a space with such Great people, like above average fpl, you know, and the Black Box and the YFPL wire and, you know, all these other great people. Trig talks fpl, who, you know, I can see he's in the chat. He's like, give me credit for having Leno on the bench and I'll get to. I will. But, you know, when you're competing with these, all these great people like to such a. How do you stand out as a YouTuber? Why should people listen to you? And for me, you know, the Guardian captaincy, it was a bit of a, you know, pay attention to me thing. But also I genuinely believed he would do well against them because I thought they'd just conceded twice to Bournemouth and I just thought that Liverpool defense looked really poor. And then, you know, he could have had a hat trick in about 90 seconds and then he goes and gets himself sent off and it was just one of them. But you do. And I feel like my YouTube last season kind of affected my performance as well because I wasn't just thinking, what is the best thing? I'm thinking, what is the best thing I can do that's also entertaining and engaging to people and it helps me stand out and that's a. It's a very strange thing to. To try and navigate, I think. And this year I just want to be a bit more mature. And it's like, you know, everyone's got Zobbers, like everyone's got gross, everyone's got Fernandez and Harland and whatnot. And it's like, yeah, it's a bit boring, but the reasoning isn't. I don't. I actually think for all of the wild risks I took last season, I actually think this is the biggest risk I've taken an FPL to plan these trips so far down the line.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Because.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit, so I'll let you come in and ask your questions.

[Fran]

So just, just for, for, for those that aren't aware then. So just go again, where are your. What's your plan? As in chip strategy right now? And how nailed are you to that mast?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

My plan, I built it around my wild card and I'm going to wild card in game week 17. That is my plan. I did a, a 45 minute video on Wednesday breaking it all down. And then, you know, I was like, I was. It was quite worrying as well because I had a bad season last year. And you think, are people going to think you're an idiot or people gonna laugh at you? But then, you know, yesterday I saw James from Planet FPL's CHIP strategy and he was saying, you know game week 16 looks good. I actually think game week 16 looks really bad for a wild card. But 17 I think looks bad. Brilliant. And the reason I want to to go that you know I've got so much stuff up on my screens except for me fixture ticker that I did for myself. So right, I've got it up now. So game week 17 is massive swings. You know. Game week 17 you've got Arsenal, they're coming to Crystal Palace, Fulham, Ipswich, Brenford hall, you know that's I, I, I. When I did my fix year breakdown for myself I had a group of four teams. Hull, Coventry, Ipswich and Fulham. And I know Fulham's a bit contentious but I just think they're really going to struggle this season. I think a point now below is a risk. I think they could do it. You know, all he's doing is bringing in all these kids from Real Madrid. It almost seems like some sort of money laundering scheme. It's like when Graham Sooners took over it Newcastle and paid £8 million for dramaland boom song or something. It's, it's a risk and it's very similar risk to what Newcastle are taking. But I don't know. I think Fulham, they've lost Harry Wilson, they've lost Raul Jimenez. And I mean to be fair I could be describing Newcastle here but those four teams, Ipswich, Coventry hall and Fulham are the teams I'm targeting this season. And game week 17, you've got a big fixture swing for Arsenal. You've got a decent fixture swing for Man United. You've got a good one for Liverpool and Chelsea and spurs they all start playing like game week 17. Liverpool have Hol and Coventry in gameweek 19. Chelsea have got Coventry and Ipswich in 17 and 18. You know it's a big swing but also the, the kind of like mid table teams, they get a horrible fixture swing. And my thinking is if I can get to gameweek 17 and then wild card, it's Boxing day as well. So it's a little Christmas present for myself. Wild card, all the best players from the best teams. Then that sets me up for not just game week 17, 18, 19 but all the way to like gameweek 24, game week 25 and I think that's a time when I look at where the opportunity is to, to gain points on the field. I think people are going to wild card early game week four, game week six seven seeing a lot of early wild cards. But there's no AFCON transfers this year. So they're gonna have to wait till about game week 32, game week 34 to play the second wild card. It's like 27, 30 game weeks without a wild card.

[Fran]

What.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

What state are the teams going to be in by the end of it? That's, that's what I'm thinking because there's so many fixture swings. There's not a lot of good runs for teams. There's a lot of swings. So people are going to have to use transfers or go without good players and. Sorry, I'm rambling again.

[Fran]

Yeah, no, no, I was just going to say the thing. Yeah, it's good. You know, the, the. The thing I always think about the. If you're going to go chips early, then you're going to go chips early. Like, it's like it's going to happen. Like, like if you're going to bench boost in gameweek one, you're going to bench boost in game week one. Yeah, it's the, the chances of it, you backing out of it are very, very slim. If you bench boot. If you say I'm going to wild card in game week 17, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get wild card in game week 17. It doesn't nail itself to that mask. That's not how. How this game works. Because you could have like, like these things can happen. You could have nine injuries in a week. Like in a most dramatic sentences, you could have those things happen or just the landscape changes. So if you think about last season, a lot of us didn't think necessarily or really consider just how that stylistically the football would go. Like, FPL didn't think that that's why they priced it as they priced it. Like, they didn't understand the impact that defcons would have because they couldn't possibly foresee it. Like in every model, you know, they'd done lots of modeling of working through like what could possibly happen, and it was off the charts of what happened. Those sort of things could also stylistically change the other way or any form of way. There's, there's stories to every season that presents an opportunity that says, well, actually I now know some information that makes me think, actually I'm ready to go earlier. There might be teams, there might be like we're all seeing, like say for example, Chelsea and Spurs without Europe and thinking, well, those are teams that historically have either spent lots of money or are spending lots of money and therefore might arise. But they might also just Be crap again. We don't know that. There's very, very little that we really, really know at this point, I think. So anything. I'll just obviously, as I say, what you're absolutely saying is you're not going to push your team towards that early bench post. That's like your number one thing is you're not doing right now everything else could happen. Like you could. Still, Fran was saying to us the other day about the fact of like he got, I think, two injuries in game week three, and suddenly it was like, oh, I'm wild card in ridiculously early. Well, he wasn't planning to do that, but he had to adapt on the fly and still had a fantastic season. And that's a guy that does, you know, humongous amount of planning and it all gets. All gets stuffed, you know. And one of the ways is, is how do we. How do we make sure, like. So I guess the thing for you is how do you make sure your team is as robust as possible, that you can survive for as long as possible?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, well, that's.

[Adam]

People are doing that anyway, right? People are going to do that anyway. People. Anyone that's thinking about putting in an early wild card understands they've got to do that. They've just got to do it from game week four. So we're all going to build a team that's going to. Gonna have to be, you know, minutes strong as much as possible and gonna have to sort of ride some of those waves. And we're all gonna have to hope not to have nine injuries in a week for examples. So I think a lot of teams will, I'm not going to say move into a team exactly like this because the fixtures will be slightly different when the wild cards happen, but everybody is going to be looking at it and trying to set up from 4, 6, whenever people are planning it early to. To be. To be more robust. And I still go back to. I think we. We used. We acted the way we did last year with five transfers because we had the parachute and the way we act this year is going to be different because we don't have it like we're not. We're not just going to wake up and they're just going to be. Just going to be there. So I think it will be slightly different the way we. The way we play it this year anyway. And I say if you are going to plan an early wild card though, you will.

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[Adam]

You are more likely to set up to sort of try and leverage the best, best of the first three or four weeks, right?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

You see, I think I can, I don't think I'll, you know, have a great start. I obviously think I'm gonna, it's, it's about limiting the damage as much as anything. But it's like, you know, when you, you watch a marathon, Mo Farah doesn't sprint out in front of everyone for the first hundred meters. You know, he, he sits back, he bides his time, he sees where the opportunity is to, to move up through the pack. And you know, I'm not saying I'm gonna definitely have the ability to do that, but that's, that's my plan now I've got my graphic on my screen properly now, right? This is why I like game week 17 Arsenal game week 1214 and 16 they play man City Tottenham and Man United. Man City the play Arsenal. Game Week 12 Chelsea Game Week 15 Liverpool Game Week 14 Chelsea Game Week 16 Spurs Chelsea Game Week 14 Liverpool Game Week 15 Man City Game Week 16 Aston Villa Spurs Gameweek 14 Arsenal Gameweek 16 Liverpool they're really tough fixture runs for the big teams. Just for that little short window and that's, that's the area I'm really planning to attack in that gameweek15 I'm looking at for the bench boost now. It's going to be difficult, it's going to take a bit of planning. But if I make two transfers every three game weeks, which is a decent amount of transfers, you know, it keeps the team fresh. I might not need to make them, but you know, if there's an emergency, an injury. If I make two transfers every three game weeks, then by game week 15, I've got five free transfers and I can sell Erling Harland who plays Chelsea and then I can spread that money on the bench for that one week, you know. Tottenham player Hull Villa player Coventry. Brentford play Fulham. Newcastle play Ipswich. You know, these are fixtures I can bring in. Maybe just for one game. Game week 16. This is the big one. I really feel people have overlooked game week 16 when they're thinking about these plans. Certainly the early free hit in game week 16 Arsenal player man United. Aston Villa play Chelsea and Tottenham play Liverpool. Like that is a horrible game. And teams are going to be full of players from those six teams and they all play each other. If you free hit there, I can free hit. Sell harland again week 15 to maximize my bench boost. Game week 16 free hit man City back in. They play a Hull. They've got Bournemouth against Coventry at home. Brighton at home to Ipswich. Leeds at home to Fulham and Notam Forest at home to Everton is another nice fixture. And nobody's going to have a lot of these players because they've coming off bad runs. You know they've coming off these bad fixture runs and everybody's going to have the big six teams playing each other apart from Man City, big seven teams. And this is an opportunity I feel where I can target these mid table teams against the promoted teams at home. And Fulham, it's nothing personal against Fulham it could be, you know it might be Brentford against Newcastle instead of Leeds against Fulham. You know if Newcastle look bad that's a real good game week. And then wild card in game week 17 and then Arsenal's bad fixture runs over Liverpool's bad fixture runs over Chelsea and Spurs. Their bad fixture runs are over. And then in the next seven weeks they all play two or three promoted teams plus Fulham. You know that that group of four teams they all play them in that seven game weeks. I can have the best players from those teams to target those fixtures and that's the kind of period that I hope to make up the ground that I will inevitably lose. And I will say this. Solio hates this plan, doesn't hate it but you know it's probably about 60 projected points over 19 game weeks off Solio's preferred thing. But I think the thing you've got to remember with Solio is that any different plan you put in is probably going to be ranked lower than their projections because that's why they project. This is why the team and the plan they produce is designed to be the best from their projections. It is a bit of a risk but at the same time 50 points over 19 game weeks is two points a week. Two and a half points a week. It's. It's a worthy risk.

[Fran]

Yeah obviously with any kind of solver you've also got the inevitable decay type stuff like we know more now than you know in 10 weeks time. So therefore is is. It's really hard to judge that over these sort of period of times. Interestingly there's a couple of questions in the chat which was one from or two from JC which is asking about hey if you're like you know the late wild card then how will you assess like whether an early wild card became becomes more necessary or better. And then the reverse question if you're early like how you assess whether you hold on to it for a little while. And then Joseph Robinson says about planning way too far in the future for my pea brain and I'm like that's more me. I'm to an extent to the center of one of the things of almost to an extent of one of the things that puts me off the later wild card and always has done of playing FPL is the. I just can't be asked with continually thinking to myself like it's, it's exhausting to an extent of, of, of every week of doing that that I'm like actually for my own, some of my own sanity doing a wild card in the first seven or eight weeks of a season, I just think and just get on with whatever I need to do next. And actually that appeases my brain actually more than anything else.

[Adam]

At some point as well. You, you're, you're also saying to yourself that I'm going to pick up because we go into the start of the season with limited information, but you pick up so much information from the first six weeks about how teams line up, how they play, who's getting the most minutes. Obviously injuries aside. So you feel like at that point, even on, on an early, while on an early wild card, you feel like at that point you've got enough information to say, well, I now know what I think is going to be best for the next X amount of weeks. I feel like I'm more confident in, in picking a brand new team on a longer horizon. Whereas when you do it at the start of the season you're like, well I can, I'm not sure I can get myself to look 20 game weeks in the future without the information you're almost taking. You're shifting that in that, that decision four weeks down the line to make sure you have the information to do the same, the same thing.

[Fran]

I think they all. What you're saying makes huge amounts of sentence but I'm almost like, almost my, my bit of like Andrea's my friend. Just make sure you understand that this is, this is work.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I enjoy it.

[Fran]

You know, if you enjoy it then that's great. Do you know what I mean? Like you mentioned a bit about, you know, James mentioned it from Planet FPL and like, you know how much effort he puts into that planning side of it. And I'm just like that bit doesn't float my boat as much as, as the player stuff. I definitely, you know, a strength but also some weakness to my game is that I just love thinking about players and I spend too much time thinking about players and not necessarily enough about the plans and stuff like that. But I'm like, well actually if I can just keep my plans Relatively simple then that enables me to do a bit more dial up bit of stuff that I enjoy. Yeah. So if you really enjoy that plan then I think that's just a bit of saying well what does it. What does it need from me in order to be able to achieve my plan? And I think a lot of that is robustness in the players. Like how do I avoid the. It's about nine injuries but like. Like it doesn't actually require nine. It's like three. And then you're like well okay, what do I know. So fullbacks get injured more often than center backs in general. That's a pretty reasonable rule. Yeah. Is the fullbacks tend to play a lot of games so they're more nailed. So would I want to try and keep myself like very forward, center back heavy. Yes. Points we know pretty robust. Get some defcons, all that stuff. And then actually similarly in midfield is. Is. What have I got here? Do I have guys that I really trust the minutes of? Well Gross is 35 now but one of the things I thought was incredible was even the fact they came in at 34. He was still playing 90s because just scrolling around the pitch and now we don't know with Europe whether that's exactly the same but we'll get some sign hopefully from this initial one that comes before game week one. But it's. They look robust those four. Osula. Am I. So you're gonna have to talk to us about Azula.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well that was just to get people really.

[Fran]

When I'm looking at this bench here. When I'm looking at this bench is I don't obviously trust the Fulham guy like the minute so I think that's fair. You know we're not expecting it to play minutes. Sangari is new to the league now we all expect him to. I think I saw the transfer flow doing the other day saying that they feel like he's the next 100 million pound player of what we'll see. I fully expect, you know he's going to be a guy that you probably can sit around but it's not unusual for people to be nervous with new transfers and Brentford. Think about Brentford with Thiago like they hid him for a very long time. I think he did injury but they. But they. They certainly aren't like they don't buy people to be like bang, get in you go. Wouldn't. Wouldn't surprise me if they just keep rolling out the Yan Outs and the Jensens. You know is. Is for a little bit longer and then the other one says Thomas. I'm really interested to see these friendlies to be absolutely sure. Like I said, everyone's absolutely sure that Thomas is playing. And my brain is can't. My brain can't quite get over the line with this one. One is because they play Arsenal first up. So let's just say, just say Arsenal go out and score eight goals against them. I'm being huge. But they beat Leeds 5 nil, didn't they? Was it game week two last season. Arteta is good at beating the promoted teams. I'm above average.

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[Fran]

But then you go, okay, so Thomas is a right footer and Amender. They've signed a right footer. Okay, everyone has assumed that Kitching is the guy that misses out, but Kitching's the left footer. Why is everyone like in any other team? You don't play two right footers. When you've got a left footer, you play left with right. But we've just decided no Thomas and Amenda because Thomas's figures look good for us. Because we're FPL players. Is and they translate well. And then. And then they've signed this new guy who they've signed today. Your memory. You're Emmy, but signed as potentially a midfielder but also played left center back in a free. So maybe yeah, Urenki. But. But played left center back definitely left sided. So again you're like, well, is it the new guy? And in game week one, do I think probably Thomas plays over Amenda? Yes. But I come back to if Thomas gets absolutely bullied in that first game and they get beaten, maybe he doesn't play game week two. They might, they might, they might. If they've signed this guy who play left center back, maybe they play three center backs and then maybe the wing backs go. They go wing backs. And then I'm like, well, I want Van Albert probably some. Maybe we want one Van. And I'm like, you can't afford any of these. You can't. You can't afford some of this stuff to go wrong for you. So I would just, I'd almost be like, if you're not planning a bench boost, I'd just go o' Shea probably from it switch because you know he's got a defcon and you definitely know he's definitely. He's 100 gonna play. So I would be more tempted.

[Adam]

For me, I was like, I've always been putting a lot more money on my bench and players that play, that create decisions every week, I guess, I guess it's just like how much weight do you put on? Like you want him for the, you want him for the game against Hull, obviously, but is that the end of the world if he doesn't play and then he's just disappears on the bench forever? I. It might not. It might just be unlucky for that one week and then you just move on and leave him there forever.

[Fran]

It might just be that JC says what I play creeps and Diop.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Oh, John Egan is the way.

[Fran]

John Egan is the one. But I'm almost like, if you're not going to do the early bench boost, don't overthink it. Get the guy that you 100 know that they're almost like he just has to play. There's just not a way which he doesn't play. Rather than this guy's going to be good and he's going to be the 4.0. That might be the gold for me that occasionally get. I'm like, I, I still think it a little bit unlike Mohammed is. Is that I'm like, I would, I would just go Joe Roden. I just could just go Joe Roden.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, well, he he is in my thinking, you know, there's a lot I can do with this team. The main thing about it is I want different players from these, like, you know, with the. You've got like the glue players, but from the other players, you know, Muharramovich, Tarkovsky, Kinski, Grilla, Sangare, Thomas, they're all from different teams. And that's part of the robustness. I want different teams for those players so that if there's a week where there's tough fixtures, I'm not forced into playing. Like my first plan had Austria, I had Calvert, Lewin instead of Osceola and Muharramovic. But then there's a week where I needed to play and I just didn't want to play both of them, like against Man City or something. But so, like, this could all change as well. You know, if I don't go gross, I could get Ghana. Ghana's the one I really want. I'm not gonna lie. I've gotta, I've gotta. I don't know why. I've just got an affinity to Ghana and. But then if I get Ghana, I wouldn't want Tarkovsky for the same reason. So it all kind of this. They aren't set, these players. But the other thing as well, when I'm talking about two transfers every three game weeks, the first one would probably be in game week four to replace Fernandez with Cole Palmer. And then I could, you know, this is where I can strengthen elsewhere. You know, I don't really want Bruno Fernandez, Gabrielle and Harland because it's. It's hard to make that last long term with such a weak bench. But I do want him for these, this early fixture. The problem is, you know, that was my plan when I put this draft together. But the problem was I was looking at Solio again earlier. And it's not just game week two where Fernandez is clear as the best captaincy option. Game week six, he is 0.66 points clear of Harland. Game week eight is 0.64 points clear of Harland, and game week 12 is like 1.7 points clear of Harland for captaincy. And then it's like, well, when I get to that time, if Cole Palmer's had three blanks, Bruno Fernandez has done the business in three games running. Am I really going to follow through with that transfer? Yeah, you know, it's a tough one.

[Fran]

It's really interesting doing this as one, as a stream, but two with just staring at a draft rather than like, what's your draft? My draft, Everybody's draft. This is actually quite useful I think as an exercise to do it because we've got Friday night seems to be they've got some good boys in the chat but like Benji talked about like not sure if a SULA is a. Is a just striker and I'm like yeah, new manager maybe is not like it and where there is just a lot of things you know that could possibly happen. James has come back. Like what if they play Justin? You're like. And even, even Taco for example, they were linked to the Celtic right back. Was it a couple of weeks ago?

[Adam]

Alistair Johnson?

[Fran]

Was it Alice Johnson? And then I'm like, well the future was always deemed that o' Brien would come in as the right center back. I watched Taco last season just look like just. I just felt he was on last legs last season. I really did. Now we know that Brown Point is just struggle to stay fit but if somehow Bram Point and o' Brien were there. You know, I was chatting to a friend of mine who doesn't play fpl. He's an Everton fan, goes a lot of games and, and said. I said do you think Taco's in his last season? Like do you think he's gonna get phased out this season? He said if we can get Brown Freight and o' Brien fit and we get a new right back, then I don't see the reason that we play Taco. I'm like, we just see him as absolutely nailed. But I'm like, well you do this now and they do bring someone in. Maybe he's not mobile enough.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

But then, you know, looking at it from that draft, Sangari and Tarkovsky could be Ghana and Nathan Collins for the same money or a. For a million pound cheaper. BU could be Ballard, that's 1.5 million and then OS. OSA could be Joao Pedro. And I feel like that that's the main one. I don't really want Jo Pedro. I don't really like Joao Pedro. But Chelsea don't have Europe and if I've got Joel Pedro, I'm not going to feel the same pressure to bring in Cole Palmer if Bruno Fernandez starts like a house on fire. Because I can just captain dual Pedro in game week four if, if I need to. And then, you know, it might not be as spectacular but you know, maybe it will be. You know, maybe that'll be the difference. But it's, it's really the structure more than anything. Like most of those are solid, you know, Mukieli, Gabrielle Fernandez, like they're all proven they're in similar team, similar systems. I'm not worried about them. And like for the longer term that's really what I need.

[Fran]

You talked earlier about like damage limitation and things like that. And I, I have in my. My of being friend to Andrew here say what's just with the like it's not about damage limitation because damage limitation means that you'll try stuff to try and limit the damage. Yes. By literal terms. And my scare with that that you go, okay, what I now need to do is is find the 0% owned guy, the 2% owned guy, the 5% owned guy or I need to switch my captaincy because it might offset this. Oh, they're bench boosting. And these ones, I think it's just a case of your expected points are going to be lower and that's just what it is. And that's very different to limiting the damage. Like, like is. Is the outcomes. The outcome. Yeah. That we. We have fluctuations every single week in what. What happens is you have. They have more opportunity if they play a triple captain, if they play a free hit. If they play. If they do a bench boost, they've got more players with it. So if you are going to go like my game is just like just play it as if nobody has any chips that's. You got to try and play it like. Like nobody has any chips until this period of time that I've done it. And this is what would I do is is because then you're not trying to force this onto yourself because if you try and force it and then you don't get to game week 17 because of these things, then you're like, well I've. I've now double it.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I actually think this is a really solid team.

[Fran]

You know, it's a really solid team if you like. So let's just say a SULA here was either Calvert Lewin or Ja Pedro. Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Zeus is the one. I'm quite.

[Fran]

Yeah. But I'd say you guys is in a similar bracket to a SULA where he just. He won't be your template template but he. But he could be fantastic.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

And.

[Fran]

And it could be risky. Is if you were like okay, this is one more. Then I'm like, well, I think there's going to be a huge amount of teams that have Bruno Sobbers like Anderson Gross. I think those four plus one other is going to be sensationally popular and they're not Gabrielle. Now the interesting part here is I've seen a lot of people with this four plus say for example, say for example, Verts say, for example Bumo Cunha and, and I'm looking at this and going, well, if there is a five and a half million pounds defcon guy or a five million like a Norgaard, for example, an Andres Santa, a guy that we're just like, yeah, he's going to defcon. I wonder if Gabriel is just better than all of those guys.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well, I think he is. You know, he got 200 points last season and what have we seen that's going to change that? They've brought in Bruno Gamares who's going to strengthen in front of them. The big thing is obviously Saliba's injury and you know, that is, that is the big problem that they're gonna have. But and also you have to wonder if the hunger will still be there when they get a lot of teams, when they get that first big, they have that first big moment that it's not the same the next season. So that there is that sort of factor. But at the same time, if I'm going to be wrong about one of these players, I'd rather be wrong and then be able to sell him and get an extra two and a half million in the bank, then be wrong about Gabrielle and suddenly have to find two and a half million, which would probably mean selling Bruno Fernandes anyway. You know, it feels like it's a very old school FPL strategy to start with the most expensive player in each position just in case. But I think, you know, it's a good strategy.

[Fran]

Well, people always talked about if you have the most expensive guy, you can move to anyone type stuff. But I, I'm going to question that a little bit because I'm like, if you've got two five and a half million pound midfielders and somebody, because there's a big pool, somebody comes out in that six, six and a half bracket. Where do you go? Who goes to enable you to do that? I think Bruno Silver's line Anderson are hard sales once you've got them in.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

See, I'm not sure about Zobizla. Yeah, I can't decide if I've just kind of been bullied into believing he's a great player, great pick, or. Or if I actually genuinely think he is. But again, I just don't really want to take the risk. You know, I would say that is my, my pick for Trout. Trout from Solio. Loves him and you know that. It just gives me a bit of Trout in my heart at all times and I'm happy with that.

[Fran]

I definitely need to watch it. But. But I would say on that I listened to Praz did a pod with Alon for FML and again, whether you are audio. I've said this a lot but. But for us. But audio. Now most people are now using Spotify video. Using Spotify video. Andrew.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, I am. Thanks. A wonderful man who hooked me up

[Fran]

with Spot Social and we're getting. Getting the Spotify video up and running and they've got timestamps on their audio. So a lot of people have FML and the majority of people who listen to FML do it audio. There's not that many actually that do the YouTube compared to the audio. But even on the audio you got video. Therefore you can skip the timestamps. And they did a good section, a really good section on Liverpool obviously. Alonzo Liverpool fan and they talked about Sai and as they were talking about it I was like I think I'm overthinking it because I've been questioned, really questioning it. Adam, you've been really hot on top of lie. Use the E words.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think he's essential. I do think. I do think. I don't think. There's not many. There's not. There's not many there that really like seem to tick all the boxes. Like I, I still can't. I still won't believe that he sacks the penalty taker until he takes the first penalty and so is on the pitch with him.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

He's not going to be on the pitch long enough to take penalties.

[Fran]

And that's the other thing.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

He's going through within five minutes on the first day of the season and that's going to be easy.

[Adam]

Fantastic. I'm all for that. I just. I just don't think there's this.

[Uber Eats Advertiser]

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[Adam]

He's got. He's got all of the. He's got all of the things that we want as a player right. From. From an FPL perspective. And yes, you have to assume at that point that he is on pens. Right. That that's obviously a. Because I would. I would probably think. I would probably say that Verts is a better asset than sobuslay. If Soboslide didn't have pens. Like I would probably go. I would probably find 0.5 to go up to Verts if he didn't have pens.

[Fran]

Let me ask that question. Do you think that Isaac, if he got a penalty at the Gallagher, he would, he would shirk it anyway.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I would actually. I would. I would actually respect him more if he scarred it and then he did like The Cup Final and he jumped up on the barricades and held his arms out. I would actually respect him more for doing that, but I don't think he would like. I think. I think he'd take the penalty. But whether he'd say whether he'd score it, I just don't know. But I would, you know, like Adebayard did. Isaac is gonna, you know, it's. It's a really. It's a really strange game that game because you've got Isaac's return, which is gonna be a lot of negative emotion. But then it's. It's the first game at St. James's park since the wonderful Kevin Keegan passed away. And there's gonna be an awful lot of emotion from that. It is going to be a very volatile match emotionally. I feel like 4:3 is nailed on as the score. I feel like it almost.

[Fran]

I just. I just. I hadn't really played that much. But obviously the fact of both teams, if it's there.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Newcastle, a bunch of. A bunch of teams, you know, old men in defense and then you've got Liverpool with no defense. And I just think it's going to be an absolute. It could be the game of the season in game Week one. It really could

[Fran]

out the pitch, get them all out.

[Adam]

And what will happen is Esac will get. They'll get a penalty, right? And Esac will take it. And then what we will all say after that is he only took it because it was Newcastle.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Right.

[Adam]

And then we'll just continue to build that narrative around it. We'll just keep. We'll just keep self sabotaging ourselves to

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

the point where we, you know. But, but yeah, I mean to bring it back to the draft as a whole. Like you were saying earlier about. Well, you were saying about emotion. You like you would struggle to have it playing on your mind the whole time that you've got this wild card. For me, I actually think that would be a real strength. Part of my problem is that like it's managing my emotion when I have. When things go wrong, it's. It's managing. You know, that's why I do my shed rants sometimes I go for me walking videos to. To get that emotion out of me so I can like calm down. But if I've got my wild card to play, all my trips to play, I think that's going to regulate my emotion. When the bad weeks come, it won't be so bad because like it'll be my turn in a few Weeks, you know, it's everybody else's turn this week, game week one, game week four, game week seven, whatever. But come game week 15, then it's my turn and like, you know, fair enough. If it all goes wrong from game week 15, that won't still be there. That like, kind of like hope will be gone a bit. But I'm a bit the same with captaincy. I always like captain and later in a game week because if my captain blanks in the first match, I just, I hate the game week. I just think it's just negative. I'm just waiting for it all to go wrong.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Whereas if my captain's on like the Monday night, everybody else's captain gets a brace. I've still got in my head, oh well, my captain could get a hat trick here, I could still win. And then when I inevitably don't, well, the game week's over so I can think about the next game week and it's like, you know, so for me, a lot of fpl, it's, it's not just about squad management, it's about emotion management and I feel this strategy will really help with that. Like the players as well, like they might not be the most flashy of names, but like you said, the Hard Sells Double Sly is a hard sell. Anderson a hard sell. Fernandez hard Sells. But that's good, good because my, one of my problems last season was I was selling too many players too quickly, you know, and it's, it's like Trig says, Nick Trigger Lips, he says, have a good reason to sell a good player because otherwise it could easily go wrong. And that's something I need to, I'm trying to re, like recalibrate my brain towards FPL into more of an analytical approach. Not necessarily, you know, press the solver button and just copy it like some people do me mate Gary. But on the podcast they will all be teasing tomorrow night. I'm live tomorrow night as well. But you know, like, I don't want to be like that, but like praz when solely or launched, he described it as an unbiased friend. And like I run this through, I run my strategy through the solver and it says right, 50 points worse off, 60 points worse off over 19 game weeks, it's like two points a week. It adds up. But also, you know, is that enough to get rid of an entire strategy that's going to help manage your emotion? Could still pay off. And you know, so for me it's, you know, because I do think a lot of people try and deny that the game makes them emotional. I think they're like, try and dismiss the remotion around the game. And I'm not like that. I say embrace your emotion around the game, except that you get upset if you captain blanks and just allow that to to be a real thing because you're gonna feel better in the rest of your life if you've not got this thing buzzing away in the back of your head that you're too embarrassed to talk about for whatever reason. So for me, I'm trying to manage my emotion as much as my team while I recalibrate my mindset and my the way I play the game into the modern era. And look, last season I was not a fan of the defcons. By the end of this season I'm in my shed at two in the morning ranting about them. And you know it was a good rant. It was enjoyable.

[Fran]

I'm above average.

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

the same time it's it. Part of the part of me was looking for a scapegoat, you know? Oh, if. If they weren't for the defcons, I Would have had a great season. Well, I wouldn't have done because I, I played it poorly, you know.

[Fran]

Yeah, I think we all do that, that all of us do it. Like, it's like we'll point to that exact move, that that's the reason why that happened or do this or do that. We, we, we love it. We love it.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

And you know, they're not the most exciting way to get points, but what they do actually offer for people that overthink, like I do, you know, spend 20 hours coming up with like this massively. It sounds like a complex strategy, but I really don't think it is. All it is, is by good, solid players who you can leave in your team, focus your transfers on two or three positions based around fixture runs, and then use your chips as late as possible at the best times. I think it's a really simple, effective strategy. It's just. Can it work? Well, if it doesn't, it's an insurance policy. You know, if Harland and Fernandez, you know, both break the legs in the same week, then I've got my wild card and get, you know, game week 11, I've got my wild card. A lot of people are going to struggle to maximize that situation. You know, you've got Johnny in the crowd, in the audience. Last season, Harland missed out from injury and because he'd planned, he had a free hit ready to go, stacked up on Brentford in defense, got 42 points from a goalkeeper and two defenders. You know, that's. I'm not saying I'm going to be as good as Johnny. Like you showed on your end of season stream, he was the best fantasy player in the world last season across about seven or eight games. But I aspire to be that good, you know, in my own way. You know, I aspire to be a better player. You know, I want to be the best, I want to win the game and I, I need to be better at what I do and I need to do things differently if I want to get to that, that stage. And that's partly why, you know, I'm trying to embrace solely in my own way and learn from. You know, Johnny shared a thing on Twitter the other day, something like the top three, three of the top four managers across fantasy games over the last four years are analytics managers. You know, you don't have to use this, you don't have to press the solve button and just copy. But if we don't start, if we want to be the best, we have to adopt these things into our, into our Toolkit, you know, it's like you could be the best uppercutter in the world of boxing, but if you don't do a bit of running on the treadmill, you're not gonna, you're not gonna be in the gate in the fight long enough to hit the uppercut in round 10. You know what I mean? It's like.

[Fran]

So, yeah, Derek's your door still keeps going, mate. He still keeps going, still goes.

[Adam]

You're getting some wonderful comments in the chat, by the way, Andrew. Just so, just so you know, Johnny's, Johnny's sending his love. You've got Mark Southerns. Andrew, you speak so well, love listening to your honesty. So, yeah, I mean, just check you're out. Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Within the draft, Mark Summons is in that crowd. Introduce captaincy changes and rolling subs, man. Although funnily enough, they have that in the World cup game. And then I, I did quite well. I finished like 1700 or something in the World cup fantasy, but I would have been 270th except, you know, it comes to these rolling subs. I forgot to change my captaincy, I forgot to lock it in. I left 22 point Messi on the bench for a zero point captaincy. So, you know, I keep asking for these things. Maybe Mark Summons by refusing these moves is actually in my own best interest. He's looking after Godfather, you know, and it is given us this gift of defcons on the, you know, today, the day of his daughter's wedding. And it's time for me to embrace them and to, you know, calibrate, recalibrate my game around them and become a better player and, you know, that's it. And if, you know, if, if people don't like watching me along the way because, you know, that they like to, you know, point at the fat man about to do something stupid like Homer Simpson in the nuclear power plant, then, then so be it. You know, it's. I can't be the clown. I can't just, I can't be the entertainer for people when I want to be the best. You know, I have to learn and hope people come with me on the journey, you know, and if they do that, then great, and if they don't, then, you know, thank you for being around up to this point. But anyway, feel a bit embarrassed now.

[Adam]

Hey, you're all good, man. You're all good. Look, we all, we all navigate this game in our own, in our own way. You know, I, I am, I am also known for being, you know, you know, my team My emotion came from, came from exactly me, you know, making the picks that I think going to make me feel the best. And picks I think are good picks at the time. And, you know, sometimes they don't come off. I say sometimes, like, I am, I am. Like. I will still say I'm the most unlucky manager out there, but, yeah, you know, you just have to play. You play it your way. And people want to watch. They watch. If they don't want to watch, they don't want to watch. If they want to laugh at someone, they can just come and laugh at me.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

It's fine.

[Adam]

It's all good. It's all good.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Nobody, nobody's gonna laugh at you, Adam. You're a lovely bloke. We all laugh at Gary on the podcast. Your next chance is tomorrow night about 8pm Cheap plug.

[Adam]

That's all good. It's all good. So what, what do we want to. What do we want to look at then? So do we want to look at these DEFCON charts that we've got, or do you want to go into your rotations, Andrew?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well, you might as well bring up the Elliot Anderson thing because I've got a few points to make about him. You've got the Elliot Anderson and Rodri heat map.

[Adam]

Yeah, so, yeah, so I pulled this up. So again, the data here, the heat maps, and the data has come from the opta, the optic side of the data side of the SOLIO site. So please do go and check that out. And one of the big things, obviously people are looking to see is if, if Anderson is going to almost repeat what he did last year. And I think there's a general understanding that he's probably not going to be at the same level because of the quality of the team that he's moving into. Interestingly, I had a look, I wanted to have a look at what Elliot Anderson's impact was in during the World Cup. Now, obviously, small, small sample caveats apply, but he's playing with, you know, a higher quality level of players around him, Declan Rice and Drew Bellingham, and you know that he's playing with, like Mark Gahey, for example, he's going to play with this season. And similarly wanted to look at, like, Rodri's performance last year. And I actually was quite surprised, actually, how high Rodri's defensive contributions were in this. And you can see from the. You can see from the heat maps that obviously a lot of what Elliot Anderson did, a lot of his good work. And to be clear, the heat maps here are the Defensive contribution, heat maps. So areas where he picked up defensive contributions, a lot of it is from very deep and he's going to have to get used to picking up more of those defcons or even if he picks up fewer, it's because he's operating further forward. I still think he's really good at six and a half. I still think he's really good at six and a half and I, and I also only expect his, his expected, his sort of expected goals and assists to increase as well because he's playing in, you know, a much higher quality team. Albeit. Albeit there's a lot of, you know, you can feed Semenyo, feed Doku, feed Foden and they will get the ball to Haaland as well. Depends on how vertical they want to go. But I don't think, I don't think they're as far apart. I think his defcons might not drop actually as far as I thought they would initially because during it through England it was like he was picking up six or seven a game, which is obviously a huge drop off compared to like averaging 14 across the season last year, which is like almost DEFCON in every time.

[Fran]

But even if they do, do we not think that his goals and assists will just naturally increase a little bit just purely by the fact that he's playing for Man City? Like, I just don't, I don't see him dropping performance for me. The only thing is, is like when we do this comparison of Alison V. Rodri, why was the reason for the last how many times have you owned Rodri in fpl?

[Adam]

Handful?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I have not. I, I have never owned him. However, like the last, it wasn't defcon.

[Fran]

So to be fair, when we would

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

have owned him, I did actually work out the season. When he did the season before he did his cruise ship, he got some like 8 goals and 10 assists. If he had DEFCON in he would have got about 200 points.

[Fran]

So one of the reasons was that we couldn't get to him and the reason we couldn't get to him was because we already had three other city guys and that's still just the only thing is when I'm looking at Anderson I'm still trying to work through and this is a bit similar to the Rice things of last season. A bit the ryer and all those guys have. When you've got these teams which you expect to be good, you also expect there's going to be assets for them and there's some that are just not that expensive. This season. So for example, like Foden at 7 million could or will almost. I'll say he will for a stretch of the season break the game because at some point he normally does.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Fran]

And then you've also got then so we know about Harland but you've got like Doku if he has no competition is still cheap and chug away. You never know. We don't know how like these guys are going to be there. Semeno 8.5 I still think is a very good price for a guy that's a 200 point player. And I'm really hot on Semeno. Just watching him the other day just looked unbelievable. And then the defenders. There's definitely options. Nico O'Reilly if Nick O'Reilly ends up for example playing in midfield and playing every game midfield, potentially even a senate move, you never know. He might be almost getting as many defcons as what Anderson is, albeit there won't be recoveries so therefore he won't get those. Those ones. So. So it'd be hard for him probably to get that kind of level. But if he's scoring lots and he gets the cleans. Anderson at 6.5 a lot. Well, I'll have that. I'll Nico O'Reilly I'll let six my father. I'll have him over him. Then you've got Bardiol at 5.5 which sounds well cheap but it sounds cheap. But I'm still not that convinced with Vardy. All because talk is that potentially Diaz might be captain and gay is gay and therefore I'm like where does Vardy off it? Does he play every game? Does they talked a little bit about managing some pain. So I'm like is he going to be in and out? And I've got a guess whether he's the Europe guy or the north non Europe guy. Pretty difficult. So it. There's potential that there are better assets than him. Do I think he's good value for money at 6.5. Anderson 1 million percent. 1 million percent. Will he earn that price tag this season? I. I just don't have any doubts in that. Yeah. I just watch him. He just looks so good.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah. And you look at his heat map there as well. It's a lot of it is on that left hand side and that's where Nico O'Reilly is going to be going forward like moving ahead of him. He'll cover him deep and you know that is. It seems to be his natural game and you know from people that know more about it than me say that's what Mareska likes. He likes, you know, three defenders to come in at the back and then one full back to. To go forward. Anderson's perfect to cover that. You know, a bit like Jordan Henderson used to do for Liverpool with Trent Alexander Arnold.

[Fran]

Perfect. I think it'd be great. I think it'd be great. I don't see. I don't see a world in which. Which he isn't just need to work out if any of those other guys are also great like you say. If I say Fardiol's absolutely nailed at five and a half. Feels that feels cheap. O'Reilly, Bowden, I'm in mentionship. Turkey ripped up the team, chucked out Semenya. Been so good to me all season just to get Cherk it in because look how good he is. Who knows?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, I do, I do. I do tend to disagree about Phil F in though. I mean, he's had the player of the season and then he's had two years where he's done nothing and like last year he wasn't even in the team. And I feel that it's going to end up happening. I feel like Maresa because it's leaked that he said F and he's the, you know, one of his pillars or what have you. But like, for me, that just feels like something you say to get a crowd on side. Oh, I'm gonna make the local boy the focal point. Guardiola's tried to make forward in the focal point for. For two seasons and then gave up. You know, he barely played him in the running. I don't know what it is with Foden. I haven't seen it in the matt.

[Fran]

New contract in the friendlies. I've not seen it, you know, and I am a. I am like the first to flounce for. For Phil Foden, but I have not seen anything in the, in the friendlies that said to me, God, I better get Phil Foden in my team. Because we feel you've, like, you love him so much.

[Adam]

It's like first name basis always as well.

[Fran]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's either first or full. It's either Philip Walter Foden or it's Phil. Like, it's okay. We only do one of the two, but I absolutely love him. But what I'm watching is not there. But at some point at 7.0 he will be because it's too cheap for that quality of player when he's on. Yeah, but you know, we only get Most of us 19 odd percent of us only get two city picks to play with because you've already got Holland and therefore it's like you want to make sure is that you're, you're leaving yourself that ability to do it. But if your team looks steady enough that you're like, well, actually I don't see me going there in the first four or five weeks and I'm like the wild card. I just, I don't see a real big issue with people starting Gary one with Anderson. Definitely I'm not writing that off myself because just back the player.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, I mean you got 180 points last season. You know it's.

[Fran]

But I question isn't it really interesting that he's six and a half million quid and we're all like, yes, all right. But weirdly we don't do those comparisons with like the Foden Semenya as much necessarily as if I say to you I think Rogers at 7 and a half million pounds is massively underpriced for a guy that is consistently just delivering very, very, very good points. But nobody gives a crap about Rogers because all you're trying to solve is is Carl Palmer okay or not? Who's £2 million? The guy's £2 million more. Who technically from FPL status actually isn't doing what Morgan Rogers has been doing. It's wild, isn't it? Almost seven and a half feels too expensive for him and you're like we just got about 60 more points than, than Car Palmer did last season.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah.

[Fran]

Yeah.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well there is a problem with the transition.

[Fran]

He played like a 60 game season last season. Bear in mind, he played, he got absolutely abused. Morgan Rodgers and now he's got no Europe to play with.

[Adam]

Yeah, that is, that is absurd actually. But I, I always have, I don't know whether it's scars more than anything because we've and one thing noticed about your draft, Andrew, obviously you said you want players from different teams. We've, we've gone on trying to do like double ups on, on team. So we've all been sort of hurt by like the Watkins Rogers stuff where they, they're super streaky and you talked about Foden being streaky and I, I think people just remember the fact that they had Rogers for eight weeks and because he doesn't DEFCON, he goes 222121 16. Right. And so we forget, we forget that he's capable of 16s and we just remember all the twos and the ones

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

he gets to 16s when he's on your bench so you finally have nothing.

[Adam]

That's what he gets sold him at that point. Like it's, it's. It's. It's typical. It's typical.

[Fran]

Yes. These. These can have. I mean, I don't know. Let me see if I can get that for. Can you get results? I can't get last season results but I guarantee if you look at run fixtures for Carl Palmer and Phil Foden, there's also those runs of those ones. That's the nature of the beast of these guys that. That don't defcon every week.

[Movie Trailer Voice]

Yeah.

[Fran]

But yeah, I think Anderson's good pick. Oh. Like you've shown. I really struggle when someone shows me a midfield of Bruno Sobers lie Anderson and gross. It does not excite me at all. But can. I can't fault it. Yeah, can't afford it. Can't fault the Calvin Lewin pick. I can't fault. I can't really fought the jail Pedro pick.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah. I mean the big thing is like if you hit like. Like I'm trying to avoid. If you have two or three of them from the same team, then when the bad fixtures come, it's a bad game week, you know, and it's just. It's just kind of planning ahead for that sort of thing and you know, looking at where possible rotations could be. Could be found to, you know, maximize these kind of cheaper players

[Adam]

and rotations.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I was wondering if you'd pick up on this segue.

[Adam]

I love it. I love it. I was just thinking which. Which one we're going to next. And you just nailed it.

[Fran]

Such a pride.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah. So I came up with a. You know, the boys challenged me to come up with the new Bru because last year obviously the Bruno Gamar Mok home rotation always get them in play, which everyone's at home got over 200 points, which you know is. It's quite a phenomenal thing really. Very rare though. It's very hard to think of instances where that sort of things happen. Unique circumstances as well too. Like one club town cities, you know, very fervent crowds that drive players on at home. But I did, you know, I don't know if there'll be another Brui. We'll. We'll know in a couple of months. I do like, you know, Mookie Sula I call it if Aula gets a start. You know, interestingly about a Sula, it's a bit of a shame from an FPL perspective because a prominent Newcastle journalist in the Atlantic. No, the athletic Whichever one's the sports one. He said. He said Osula was going to be starting Newcastle. Starting striker Andy was going to be on penalties. But obviously Eddie Howell's gone now. But out of interest, when I put in a Sula 75 minutes with penalty share on Solio, he actually was like. He was by far the best of the 6 million strikers. And I know people think he won't get a chance, but I think he will. Because you know, it was seven goals and eight games at the end of the season. And it wasn't just that. It was like he. He was the energy in that team. You know, he's the man with the shirt. Whether the new manager will allow him to keep it, but I don't know. I just think. I think. But we'll see. You know, we'll play Valencia at the weekend, play Everton next week and we'll see what happens there. But anyway, I put together a couple of rotations because obviously for my team as well, I want that robustness. Now this one is Truffet Coyote. It could be Aja or Collins if you wanted to spend a bit more. And Igor Jesus. Now obviously these are three different players in three different positions. But if you look at this rotation that they have, if you play one of them, you've got Leeds, Everton, Sunderland, Brentford, Coventry, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Ipswich, Leeds, Ipswich, Everton, Fulham, Hull, Hull, Fulham, Coventry, Ipswich, Coventry, Fulham. That's the fixture on rotating these three people until gameweek 19. Now you see you can't really do that. But then why not? You know, 16 million pounds, that's the same as UMO. And two 4 million pound defenders in your squad. Instead of that you could have who? Truffet coyote. And eight Igor Jesus. And 11 home games and seven out of your eight away games against Ipswich, Coventry, Hull and Fulham.

[Fran]

I'm above average.

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[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Having quality like that on the bench is maybe better than having an 8 million player like an Boom or Acuna or a Semenu if you go a bit more expensive and a couple of like cheap defenders. For me obviously it's different for different people but I think this looks really good but I don't think it's the best one. So if we transfer over to the one I really just Let me just

[Fran]

ask on this as we got it. Yeah because it's up there and so forth but I almost is one of the things I'm just looking at as we plan this out. Like Brentford in the middle there. So through the game week 16 effectively there you've got two green fixtures in the first 15 game weeks. It's not a lot is it? It is like, like, like I've seen people say like why isn't Thiago like in any, any drafts or Dango, you know in the consideration and and sharda around the 6 million but it's pretty tough their fixture run early on. Yeah. I mean their second half of the season must be considerably better than that one. You've obviously you've got Ipswich and Coventry next to each other in, in 17 and 18. They that that I I saw someone the other day say about you know, potentially Andrews could be out of a job by Christmas. I think he'll do a really he'll do really well to be in a job by that period of time. But I think there there was ever an organization that would just be like okay, we'd understand and look at the strength of schedule and think actually we should factor that into our decision making and then it's probably Brentford. I'd back them to actually make good decisions there. But it is I almost like look at it and think to myself should I be banned In Brentford despite the fact that Cody and and I were just, just incredibly cheap.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, I mean well you look at that and like the, the only game in the first seven, you'd say there would be favorites is Sunderland at home and aren't a bad team. You know, they came seventh last year.

[Fran]

Yeah. One of the things of doing sometimes the sort of like these travel up type things and you start highlighting the ones there. It's one of the first things I'm getting is actually can I just, could I just lose one of these? Maybe to an extent. Is, is now Brentford. The guy's cheap so he's the cheapest of the free, free, free here. So it's not really a big problem, but it all counts.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, well, this is it and to be fair, like for my team for game week 17, wildcard instead of Sunderland, Everton and Fulham, it could be, you know, Igor Jesus against Spurs, it could be Truffet against Forest at home and then it's you know, Igor Jesus against Sunderland or you know, Nico Williams or whoever I opt for. But I just think, you know, it's really just to give an idea of what you can do with 16 million, 17 million pounds because there is that big rush to get the, the big midfielder, you know, like the Theos. But you know, it's almost like thinking of it as like Moneyball. You know, I know it's a, almost a cliche now but you know, something like that could really work quite nicely. Another thing I like we haven't got a graphic for is like if I had an 8 million, if I didn't have Gabrielle and I had on Boomer, I had a rotation worked out where basically I switch that player the on Boomer like every two or three game weeks and it's just Ipswich and Fulham and Ipswich and Hull all the way through to you know, game week 17 or something. And it just looks so good, you know. Yeah, it's so aggressive and it's hot. Thing is if it works, it looks great. If it doesn't, you miss all the halls. You know, this is the thing with these big players. The big players are big players because they're performing the big games and jumping between them like that is, is, is fraught with peril. Now this is the one I really like and this is one that I can actually, I actually think I will go with this one because I just think it looks so good like and there's a lot more advantages to this. It's 16 and a half million. So you know, you're talking, you know umbumo and 4.5 million defender. And a 4 million defender or a 4.5 million midfielder. And a 4 million defender. Or you could have Gross Lef and Lewis hall from Newcastle and the fixture on for this. Ipswich, Fulham, Leeds, Coventry, Hull, Coventry, Crystal Palace, Leeds, Coventry, Fulham, Hull, Newcastle, Sunderland, Ipswich, Ipswich, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Hull. It's 11 home games again and again it's, you know, quite quirkily. It's seven out of eight away games against Ipswich, Coventry, Hull and Fulham. This one to go back to your point is a much better balance of fixtures as well. But also if you look at these players you've got the fair. He's on penalties and maybe some other set pieces. I'm not 100 sure Pascal Gross, he's on a lot of set pieces. Penalties in pre season and Lewis Hall, I expect to be on a lot more set pieces this season. You know he's already taken in swinging corners from the right side. I think he was going to step up Marvin with free kicks. Also I read some analysis on Yesler's style and it says the fullbacks. This is from the Ysler era on Twitter, you know so one of them accounts but it says the fullbacks are an integral part of the system used to create overloads coming inside, overlapping and basically says hall is perfect for this system that Yeissler is going to play vertical football count, you know, quick counters. I just think it's a real good season for Lewis hall coming up and I know there's rumors of him leaving. He won't leave unless it's like ridiculous money.

[Fran]

But there was always rumors as well that him and Eddie Howe weren't the best of friends. Yeah, there was. Yeah there was. There was a number of rooms. It was. It started last season when. When he wasn't playing him and saying he wasn't quite ready and stuff like that. But hall for what felt he was. So there. There had been rumors around.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah.

[Fran]

So there might be a case of hey no, no. How is. Yeah quite good motivation for him. He's definitely cheap, isn't he?

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Is 5 million.

[Fran]

Yeah. And I guess with these guys to an extent is what we're actually also looking at here is just Brighton, Newcastle and Sunderland and looking at how these sort of weave in and out because you could be. Although we're looking at Enzo Faye for example here and. And Lewis Hall. It could be. It could be Harvey Barnes and. And. And Ballard. I was hoping you were going to bring us Barnard if I'm honest. Like Harvey Barnes and. And Ballard to make Barnard was the new Barnard. I was like go on bring Barnard for us. Tell me about some other Barnes. But no I can't.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I do like Barnard. You get Gross in front. It's big banner didn't it? So I quite like big banner.

[Fran]

Big bars. Yeah. Yes. Now we're talking.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

But I mean that's a perfectly viable one. But I was just thinking more of the you know Barnes has got more of a goal threat and Ballard's got the defcons whereas Lef and Hall have probably got set pieces and you know

[Fran]

you can play at least two of the like I'm just looking at those opening nine fixtures and you can play two of those certainly in fact virtually all of them up to chemical 11 it starts getting a bit. A bit more wobbly but you can play at least two of those guys in all these ones.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah Game Week 12 isn't ideal but then Brighton have got a bit of a hoodoo over us anyway so I wouldn't.

[Fran]

We're not worried about game week 12 mate. That's that you can worry about that. That's not for us.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Well what I like about it is in game week 15 Brighton are at home to Everton Newcastle play Ipswich and Sunderland are at home to Forest. And for my game week 15 bench boost I've got these two penalty taking set piece takers at home to decent games and then the fullback against Ipswich away and you know that's that looks fine. I mean it's you know, you know that it's not gonna work out that far that perfectly in reality but at the same time why shouldn't we plan as if it might and hope to get a bit lucky Instead of getting lucky with wild picks why not come up with a nice plan and just hope to get lucky that most of

[Fran]

it pays off Some danger with Brighton and Sunderland just. Just about the fact that they're both European teams as well.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, yeah of course you know but this is. You're gonna get this problems every midday we.

[Fran]

This is one of the things of the whole season. It's actually one of the things probably a lot if you're going to do the early wild card should be thinking the other way around without a senses if you wild card before Europe really really gets going well what is there nine teams in Europe? Wherever it is this season it's is. Is so therefore is. It's hard to avoid that. You can't just go I'm not going to pick any team because the teams you want to pick from are guess what they're good teams, that's why they're in Europe. You're going to face into it. But they could be more, say, for example, added injury risk. All sorts of things like that starts to happen. We've seen it before in sort of like after that second international break comes in. So you sitting there holding the wild card, that might be something where you're able to react and see an opportunity to where other people are struggling.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Yeah, well, this is it. You know, there are going to be a lot of. I mean, it's, it's like you said, there's Europe, World cup year and just general fatigue and stress on players bodies that's built up over completely being overplayed for year after year after year. There's going to be issues and it's just about being in a position to adapt, really. And, you know, if I keep my wild card as long as possible, then there's a chance seeing people in the chat saying, you know, about Pascal Gross being 35. Of course he is, but it could be Hinchel Wood, you know, like, Gross gets injured. I'm using two transfers every three weeks, just bringing Hinselwood for him or Carioglu or, you know, whoever. Like, I'm not planning on not using transfers in my plan and, you know, I mean, you could even, like, I'm trying to think the numbers. It setuple. Get six of them. Get six of them. Two from each team and there's half your squad. Get nine of them, go wild. Well, no, I think you're getting a bit silly there, but, you know, there's, there's definitely options. Yeah, I'm getting carried away. Sorry.

[Fran]

Getting carried away. Boys, are we done?

[Adam]

I think we're. I think we're pretty much there, to be honest. I think we're good.

[Fran]

What a treat.

[Adam]

What a treat to start. Oh, get on. Yeah, exactly. Have you enjoyed the Giant camp? We're still getting feedback.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Besmirch my FPL plan.

[Adam]

Exactly, exactly. No one, no one's gonna. No one's going to. Andrew, no, it's been an absolute. It's been an absolute pleasure, mate. Your draft is strong, it's solid. There's great reasoning behind it. I love the fact that you're going to be, you know, you're planning, you're planning all this in advance and you're sticking to your convictions, which you always will do. And your content is fantastic. Your word, your use of words is like, I'm just giving a bad example of how terrible I am at using words.

[Fran]

And you're showcasing how good he is.

[Adam]

Precisely. Precisely. So it's always a pleasure if, if you're not, if, if people watching are not listening or watching FPL Nightmare, you should go and check out his channel. Please do head over, hit that subscribe button and you will see the highs, you will see the lows, you will see the emotion, you'll see the planning, you'll see the effort. You'll see just how genuine and honest you are, mate.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Hopefully you won't see the inside of my shed when my plan works to perfection and I stood storm to overall rank number one.

[Fran]

Exactly. The, the, the bit that look people should take away is anyone who's watched this is don't think that you don't plan like it is is see what you actually this is the beauty. I think a lot of people last season like you say it was, you know, big season viewers as a content creator but a lot of people would have gotten onto your content during the season so they'd worked a lot off the reactions. This is a good opportunity to see actually the amount of work that goes in in terms of you are a serious, very serious FPL player. It means a huge amount to you and you'll get on the journey. We're on the journey.

[Adam]

We're on the journey.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

My only goal is to become so adept at using solely all season that next year I too will be powered by Solio.

[Adam]

There we go. There we go. Guys, thank you very much for joining us and yeah, drop a like on a video on the way out. If you've enjoyed it, give us some feedback, let us know. Yeah, let us know anything you think about the content that we're putting out during preseason. We are now. We're entering a period of lots and lots of podcasts. So up and coming. We've got John McKenzie, we've got FPL Raptor, we've got Andy Miz, let's talk FPL. We've got Harry. We've got the extra inch for some Tottenham deserbi loving stuff.

[Fran]

That's for us.

[Adam]

That's fast. That's, that's, that's a self indulgent stuff and that almost takes us to the start of the season. So lots going on. Yeah, glad you're here for the journey. Any final words, gents? I guess, I guess not. I guess not. Guys, enjoy it. Have a good weekend and we'll see you next time.

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[Fran]

I'm not giving up.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

I am selling the building.

[Adam]

The final season of FX is the Bear. The restaurant is flooded.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

Everything's either going to be open. Okay, no, Stop.

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[Fran]

We are outgunned and we are outmanned, but we have each other.

[Andrew (FPL Nightmare)]

FX's the Bear the final season, all

[Adam]

episodes now streaming on Disney.