All Out Attack / Bench Boost / Triple Captain : Description / Strategy / Guidance / Help

[baganboy]

So I did not play last year, and it seems that the world has changed dramatically while I was gone. New terminologies abound...
So why don't you give this returning brother a helping hand, folks?

1. All Out Attack: Seems this is the permission to play 2-5-3 for one gameweek. When did you play it? Is there an ideal time? I'd assume one will like to hold on to it right up until the DGWs come into the picture. Non? Do tell.


2. Bench Boost: Bench scores will be added to the GW points. Again, as a greenhorn I'd think the best time to use this will be in January, ideally with a DGW and right before a WC. What strategy worked for you? What didn't?


3. Triple Captain: Ah, simple. Hold till DGW. Right?


Basically, it seems that none of these are early season ploys. Did anyone use this differently? What worked? What works?

[Smurphy Paw]

Towards the end of last season there was a thread comparing our various approaches to Chip usage. I logged on just now to try to find it and spark this very conversation - basically, did we draw any conclusions about the best order for Chip usage?

[Smurphy Paw]

In the meantime, for me
1: AOA: When I had injury troubles. My third defender and 8th mid/attack otherwise had similar predicted points most weeks.

2. Bench boost: Intuitively to be used straight after the second wildcard and for a double game week (wild card usage to definitely be included in your thinking)

3. Triple Captain: When there is a good double game week

However I think that we concluded that those who TC'd during a double game week actually did better than those who Bench Boosted. Probably

[Stemania]

AOA pretty much everyone agreed was not of huge value. Perhaps save it for a defender injury crisis or use it opportunely? The points gain either way is very low anyway.

TC pretty much everyone agreed is best used in a DGW.

BB, let's just say passions ran high (though for me it will almost certainly be saved for the DGW period too).

[Smurphy Paw]

Mr Clarinet's 'Wildcard Strategy...' thread contains the discussion, the heat and the analysis

[Mav3rick]

I don't think there was clear winner in the TC/BB vs BB/TC combinations over the DGWs last year, but it's probably not that important which of those strategies won as it would have been largely down to luck.

The main contentious issue seemed to be whether or not to use your wildcard and BB in close combination, or whether you should just wildcard into a DGW and play your best pick 11.

My personal experience was that my WC (GW36) and BB (GW37) worked well together, and got me to the verge of the top 10k. I was able to navigate a fixture swing and didn't feel that I lost out selling on some of the season's mainstays at the time. I did fine in GW36 and 37 and was set for a final push in GW38.

Unfortnuately, I was absolutely destroyed (3m+ GW rank) in the last GW by benchings of all the players that I'd brought in, I think I only started about 8 players in GW38. It's hard to say how I would have played had I only had 11 players in the DGW37 rather than 15. It's likely I would have had some different options on the bench, probably SGW players, that may well have let me field a team in the bench carnage that followed.

However, again, I think I would put that down to luck. If Sunderland had still been in danger on the last day last year, then I'd have been fine. It wasn't a "tactical" error as such in my opinion.

The alternative strategy would have been an earlier, convenient BB, perhaps when happenstance gives you a good set of fixtures, perhaps in GW1-3 if you fancy chancing your arm before the early wildcard. Effectively, you are four players down (on a 15 player BB) but I think it is fair to say that 15 player BB are not necessarily guaranteed. I'd assume that you're getting 3 extra players.

It doesn't feel like a big difference on paper, and you could get some benefit back from being able to wildcard IN your chosen DGW rather than the week before. Perhaps that adds up to two extra players from a (possibly) restricted set of choices.

Unfortunately, the critical information that helps decide whether you'd want to play your BB in combination with a WC is fixture based, and depends on the type and number of DGWs, and we won't know that until its potentially very late.

For me, I would stick with the idea that saving your chips for combining with DGWs is the way to go. I think there's a chance of really big returns from a favourable DGW BB, and issues around fixtures in the week that you play your wildcard are as likely to be favourable as unfavourable - we just don't know what the circumstances will be.

I'm not happy taking shots in the dark with incomplete information, so I'll certainly be holding the BB for a combo with the second WC again.

The other chip, AOA, was pretty pointless for me. I tried to plan to use it last year and arranged the fixtures, but honestly it was pointless doing so as there were a number of random occurrences when I could have played it. I'll make no plans at all for AOA this year and will just play it when I feel the fixtures work.

[baganboy]

Excellent.

Thanks so much! Really appreciated.

[Roope]

Play your TC whenever theres a best single fixture in a DGW, e.g. Aguero vs. a weaker team + someone else. Save your BB for a DGW with no standout fixtures. BB is probably slightly less useful than TC, since the guys on your bench will be weak anyways. Much of it is down to luck anyways. WC+BB sounds awesome but it didn't score me that many points last season (although it did spark a run of green arrows) -- I'll probably try again this season, though.

AoA is quite useless. Last season it actually cost me points. Save it for an injury crisis, and if unused at the end of the season either use it or don't.

[maradonash]

Central to people's planning last season was the fact that we knew from the start that there would be at least 2 x DGW's, as the PL fixture list would not be cleared to accommodate the FA Cup Quarters.

It's the same again this time. GW28 will lose a number of fixtures.
GW34 will likely be missing 2-4 games as well for the semi's.

There will be no FA Cup 1/4 Final replays this time.

[MoSe]

imho TC is also likelier to fizzle than BB
potentially slightly more rewarding, but with more variance in it as it's committed on the performances of a single player
as all delusional Lukaku TC-ers remember too well
iirc in DGW34 there were two players earning 27p and 26p (or 26p and 25p)
in GW8 Aguero got 25p tho, some had TCd him then, I don't know on which basis, and while they had to endure being called lucky rather than skilled for the rest of their season, they got practically the same reward as those who saved it for a DGW

[Mav3rick]

Also, AOA, whilst fairly pointless, is the only chip that I saw cost points on average in some weeks (according to FPL Discovery).

If you bench a playing defender, there's no guarantee of more points, unlike the TC and BB.

[sunbather]

Agree with most of what's been written here: Triple Captain should probably be prioritised over Bench Boost if there is a big player with good fixtures. A lot of people got burned by ignoring Aguero and Sanchez last season.

Bench Boost could be interesting this year. I'm one of the many people that got burned by Klopp's Liverpool rotation making GW34 a huge anticlimax. However, if the bench players got a few CS or something like that this year then it could prove more worthwhile. I think defenders are often underrated in DGWs personally.

Although it didn't prove hugely successful for me last year I still think I'd be tempted by the WC one week then Bench Boost the next week (DGW) for potential points bonanza, but it obviously depends on how the DGWs fall.

[Beerfuelledman]

My experiences last season taught me this for this season:-
AoA - Keep it until your defence is bigger and you can only field 2 defenders. Its a facilitation option not a tactical advantage.
BB - More likely to be rewarding than TC, but one does need ones players on the bench TO BE PLAYING to benefit - so after a wildcard seems good, not when still carrying Reece Oxford & Matt Targett (forgotten 4.0m men as many were last year)
TC - A DGW seems best. Last year we were blessed with two so it was a which chip to play in which DGW was the argument. This season could see a TC or BB chip in a DGW argument. With two DGW's Id pick the one suiting the TC first. With one DGW the BB is likely to be more rewarding.

[gallus]

DGW bench boost didn't work for me last season, but that's because I did it wrong. This time I'll keep the big hitters with no DGWs.

[The Real Slim Shady]

I ended using my chips in the last three weeks of the season and didn't really pay off, I really hate them and wished they would've gotten rid of them, there is no right time to use them and I might just get mines out the way early this season, not to mention we have 2 wildcards too.

[Pirlo's Beard]

If you bench a playing defender, there's no guarantee of more points, unlike the TC and BB.

Technically the TC and BB don't guarantee more points either. There's always the chance that your TC or bench players might all be sent off.

[Sutter Kane]

AOA is absolutely sh*t. All your front 8 have to play. Swapping a defender for a likely pants midfielder (Boyd excluded) will hardly ever work. We'd need a 4.5mn genius mid this season, jumping on him early doors could be very useful.

With regards the other chips, I'm very dubious about taking any info whatsoever from the results of last season - it's highly probable this season will provide completely different results. BB'ing S'land defenders last season gained so many points (didn't Kone score twice??) with the clean sheets; it's just not going to happen again - as mentioned above, the captains getting 25 each is ridiculous and more than they'd average by far - it was so skewed. My WC/BB combo was a spectacular failure but only for the bench players - I kind of expected that because they're generally not really very good even though they have 2 games. I'm still of the opinion that I'd actually like to choose when I WC instead of being forced into it due to the inferior BB chip, just not sure how many points that's worth in theory. Also the single game week players showed the unpredictability last season with Kane, Alli, etc doing the business in GW34. On paper, I really don't think there's a lot in the big decisions we are discussing and as Mav says, those fine lines are going to basically be down to luck. Still seriously considering a GW1 BB if I can get enough info pre-season.

[PleasedToMichu]

I used my AoA-chip in GW30 last season (one of the reduced GW's - few teams played) with some degree of success. The thing about AoA is that the extra attacking player you get is for most teams a 4.5 mid. To really benefit from AoA the fifth mid should be upgraded.

Therefore i think AoA should be used towards the end of the season, where hopefully extra funds can upgrade your fifth mid. Of cource there could be earlier GW's where fixtures makes AoA more interesting (or a defence crisis occurs), but in general you should think about upgrading your fifth mid to really benefit from it.

Perhaps using AoA at the start of the season before first WC could be one route to explore.

I will also save my BB and TC chip until the DGW's - as i think the potenital for more points are in these weeks. I'm not sure that 15 DGW-players when playing BB is necessary the best strategy - as there probably will be some SGW-players with great fixtures aswell.

As last year i will try to identify the best DGW-fixtures for one premium before choosing when to play TC or BB.

BTW: does anyone know how the removal of FA Cup quarter-final replays would affect DGW's? Do we expect it to just be the one DGW this year?

[Triggy]

I used my AoA-chip in GW30 last season (one of the reduced GW's - few teams played) with some degree of success. The thing about AoA is that the extra attacking player you get is for most teams a 4.5 mid. To really benefit from AoA the fifth mid should be upgraded.

Therefore i think AoA should be used towards the end of the season, where hopefully extra funds can upgrade your fifth mid. Of cource there could be earlier GW's where fixtures makes AoA more interesting (or a defence crisis occurs), but in general you should think about upgrading your fifth mid to really benefit from it.

Perhaps using AoA at the start of the season before first WC could be one route to explore.

I will also save my BB and TC chip until the DGW's - as i think the potenital for more points are in these weeks. I'm not sure that 15 DGW-players when playing BB is necessary the best strategy - as there probably will be some SGW-players with great fixtures aswell.

As last year i will try to identify the best DGW-fixtures for one premium before choosing when to play TC or BB.

BTW: does anyone know how the removal of FA Cup quarter-final replays would affect DGW's? Do we expect it to just be the one DGW this year?

Probably two DGWs this year, possibly three.

League Cup final is in GW26 but there is a midweek slot immediately after so in theory the matches could be played midweek in the same gameweek. Of course, something similar was an option last season (final in GW 27, could have played the games midweek in GW25 but chose to not even think about rescheduling at that point and created havoc later on in the season for a couple of teams).

FA Cup QF are in GW 28 and there is a great slot for postponements in GW34 midweek. No replays so no additional worries there.

FA Cup SF are in GW 34 and the logical slot for postponements is GW37 midweek. Again no replays so nothing extra to worry about. With European competitions, etc. there aren't really any other "free" midweeks although in extremis, matches could be played early on a European night like the QF replay this season.

What this does mean is that GW34 looks to be critical because there are postponed games for SF teams and their opponents but there will be DGW games for teams who were in the QF (or their opponents) and don't have a postponement in GW34! Also, as these are the last of the postponed games, going into this game could well be the best time to wildcard as players brought in won't be missing any more games.

[PleasedToMichu]

Probably two DGWs this year, possibly three.

League Cup final is in GW26 but there is a midweek slot immediately after so in theory the matches could be played midweek in the same gameweek. Of course, something similar was an option last season (final in GW 27, could have played the games midweek in GW25 but chose to not even think about rescheduling at that point and created havoc later on in the season for a couple of teams).

FA Cup QF are in GW 28 and there is a great slot for postponements in GW34 midweek. No replays so no additional worries there.

FA Cup SF are in GW 34 and the logical slot for postponements is GW37 midweek. Again no replays so nothing extra to worry about. With European competitions, etc. there aren't really any other "free" midweeks although in extremis, matches could be played early on a European night like the QF replay this season.

What this does mean is that GW34 looks to be critical because there are postponed games for SF teams and their opponents but there will be DGW games for teams who were in the QF (or their opponents) and don't have a postponement in GW34! Also, as these are the last of the postponed games, going into this game could well be the best time to wildcard as players brought in won't be missing any more games.

Thank you, much appreciated

[Beerfuelledman]

Definite Blank Gameweek: GW 28.
Possible Blank Gameweeks: GWs 26 & 34.

Definite Double Gameweek: GW 37.
Possible Double Gameweek: GW 34.
(@BenCrellin)

[baganboy]

Was reading through this thread again...
Thanks a lot, everyone of you who contributed!

[BobMem]

I agree the AOA seems the least valuable. My theory last season hinged on the DGWs though. Wildcarded gw36, for a gw37 BB. This meant I actually had 8 decent attackers (rather than 7 +1 bench filler), so AOA in the final GW seemed the best use of it, especially coupled with the (unproven) theory that there are fewer clean sheets in the final week.

[MoSe]

Was reading through this thread again...
Thanks a lot, everyone of you who contributed!

As you bumped this up,
re: the dgws, did you manage to get my post in the pub?

viewtopic.php?p=2968923#p2968923

FPL DGW preview 2016_17.xlsx

[baganboy]

No. Wow, thanks a lot! Will take a detailed look now.

[MoSe]

It's just the schedule on the calendar, with color codes

Ben Crellin had last season a detailed sheet with all the possible dgw schedule options for every club and match, with the relative odds depending from cup qualification odds

Not having twitter it's hard to me to search for this season version and whether he has it ready and online already

Wait tho... I can still access this https://mobile.twitter.com/BenCrellin
and find this...
https://mobile.twitter.com/BenCrellin/s ... 8910186496
with a link to this
https://t.co/6L4pYi9sNy
which is what I was thinking about.

My version of the calendar is more compact tho and easier to scroll and assess at a glance, and I came up with it on my own 2 seasons ago before I even learnt about Ben's work

He's the way to go to follow latest developments and fpl impact about cups/dgws

[baganboy]

Just PM'ed you. Below is the spreadsheet created by Ben Crellin. I hadn't heard of him till 5 mins ago. Very interesting stats. Will follow him on twitter, going forward.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

[MoSe]

Thanks, I gave it another try and found out that with some proper googling I could access the relevant tweets even without being subscribed

Hadn't resolved to take the effort till I needed to share it with you.

I found a link to his DGW sheet last season here on fiso

[MoSe]

Definite Blank Gameweek: GW 28.
Possible Blank Gameweeks: GWs 26 & 34.

Definite Double Gameweek: GW 37.
Possible Double Gameweek: GW 34.
(@BenCrellin)

I hadn't heard of him till 5 mins ago.

you didn't pay attention to BFM post you just bumped, then

[baganboy]

True. haha.
Well, I saw some numbers, and I saw a twitter handle. Guess what I'd look at
But the googling was not difficult. There was more screenshots there. Perhaps worth getting a twitter handle just for that