A Newbie’s Journey into FPL Episode 3: GW-17 Head-To-Head MiQ vs Paul

Paul

Game-week 16 so far has been frustrating for me, but not a total disaster. The first unforeseen issue was the postponement of the Everton vs Manchester City fixture. My transfer leading into this game-week was Kevin De Bruyne -> Son Heung-Min, so I felt lucky until Tottenham vs Fulham was postponed also! So now I await Captain Mohamed Salah to feature away at Newcastle.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jose Cancelo were the other casualties for me due to the Man City postponment, Soucek and Justin coming in for a total of five points in their place. Injury and rotation, as expected have also stifled my team this week, with Burnley’s Charlie Taylor coming off in the 9th minute and West Ham’s Vladimír Coufal being rested (both missing out on their teams’ clean-sheets!).

I currently have one eye on DGW-19 as I continue to build my team this week (with my Free Hit to be played in blank game-week 18). I have also made 1 free transfer (with 1 remaining) which is Calvert-Lewin -> Vardy; this is in respect of Vardy’s recent rotation and the enticing two fixtures he faces in the DGW. I have one further transfer to make, although I do need to ensure I’m concentrating on the now as well as the future. Ward-Prowse has frustrated in recent weeks, but he’ll remain in my side due to the DGW. West Ham’s Michail Antonio is also on my radar as we near the DGW.

Here is my current team for Game-week 17:

MiQ

Looking back on GW-15, Son and Kane again blanked, leaving my team at a mere 42 points. PPQ beat me with by five points. The main reason must be not listening to all the advice I received to save the transfer for a double swoop before GW-16. I used it to bring in Tyrone Mings who was sent off for -2 points! The transfer was basically made because I knew that I had the wildcard to play before GW-16 so there is a lot to report on:

MiQ vs PPQ final scores

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In order to avoid feeling overwhelmed, I have restrained myself from following the news of the EPL as heavily as I follow UCL team news. I decided that the best approach to like a game is to enjoy its content first. I am starting to warm up to watching EPL, but I still feel the lack of tactical implementation in games. Physical fitness and hunger for goals is apparent and cannot be found in any other league at the same level, and this is where my focus is right now. Following the loss to PPQ, I activated the wildcard and ran with the numbers. I thought that I needed to go for a strong midfield and give up having Kane so I ended up with this:

Already at 40 points collected in GW-16 pending Andrew Robertson and (now postponed) captain Hueng-min Son. Make that 41 when vice captain Vardy’s point is doubled. You must all think that Davis is a bad choice. He may well be, but the real bad choice was that I put him as a starter. That was a newbie’s mistake! Going into the next GW-17 against Paul is going to be difficult again, and I have no clue how I can strengthen my squad with one transfer or if I should save it ahead of the blank GW-18 and DGW-19.

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Newbie’s Journey

Team Name: MiQsters.

Current Level: Newbie (25/100)

Current Rank:

• Globally: 7,625,684 —> 7,605,300
• Own Country: 46,220 —> 46,119
• NMA: 5,012 —> 5,008
• GW14: 5,012 —> 3,612 (Apparently this compares me to other players who started on GW14 as well)

Self-imposed criteria to become “Competent”:

• 10 Points: Prepare for GW14 and select initial 15-player squad
• 15 Points: Score more than 70 points in one GW
• 10 Points: Defeat one NMA blogger! (Current Score Wins 0, Draws 0, Defeats 1)
• 10 Points: Defeat two NMA bloggers! (Current Score Wins 0, Draws 0, Defeats 1)
• 10 Points: Successful selection of Captain/Vice Captain 2 GW in a row (GW15 captain was a failure Son with 6 points after the double)
• 5 Points: Play a total of 5 GW (Current progress 2/5)
• 10 Points: Play a total of 10 GW (Current progress 2/10)
• 20 Points: After 70 points are collected, NMA blog readers to vote MiQ as a competent EPL fan and FPL manager (90%)

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