Today’s Elite XI: Team Reveal blog is a special one indeed. Here we have the honour of introducing the two newest members of our Elite XI team, Andrew Neave and Tim Walpole, and (of course!) take the opportunity to look at their current Fantasy Premier League (FPL) drafts. But first, let’s find out a little more about our newest additions.
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Up first is Andrew. With a best ever finish of 589 in the 2015/16 season, Andrew has a much sought after Top 1k finish to his name. Something of a veteran to the game, Andrew has been playing since 2011 and, in that time, has racked up 5 x Top 5k finishes, and 7 x Top 10k finishes. Last season, he finished painfully close to getting his second Top 1k finish, with a final rank of 1,022.
Andrew describes himself as a straightforward and safe kind of manager, foregoing bold moves in favour of making the correct decision. He is a fan of taking hits but only when fixtures and form converge for a long-term pick. Not the biggest user of stats, Andrew uses his own intuition and footballing knowledge to guide his decisions.
I like to keep it simple and take a fairly safe approach for most of the season. When looking at transfers, if it seems like the most obvious move, even if it's a boring one, it's probably the right move. I prefer fixtures over form and I believe fixtures bring form. I'm not really a stats man, but I do enjoy doing a bit of research and seeing if the stats back up my thinking. I set up my squad with certain "price points" to make it easy to move for in-form players and adapt to any surprise performers. I do chase price rises at the very start of the season, but only if I know I want that player regardless.
In terms of chip strategy, Andrew likes to play his first Wildcard early, but keeps his chips for the later stages of the season where he deploys them to gain a rank boost, when the blank and double Gameweeks hit. To help with his planning, Andrew uses the Squad Planning section of the Fix website, utilising tools such as Assistant Manager and the Fixture Planner. He also keeps an eye on the Price Change Predictor to effectively manage his team value.
Andrew’s team is currently set up in a 3-5-2 formation and, as per his playing style, it is set up to be flexible with a good spread of price points accommodated for. With a lot of budget pumped into his midfield, Andrew has had to go with Brighton defender Joel Veltman (£4.5m) instead of his favoured choice, Pervis Estupiñán (£5.0m).
Such is the number of options available in midfield, Andrew has joined the 75% of managers who are going without Mohamed Salah (£12.5m). This has enabled him to take a punt on one of his more curious picks, Darwin Núñez (£7.5m), currently selected by just 14.5% of managers.
Currently, I've opted to start with Darwin up top, but will have to keep a close eye on whether we get an indication of his minutes for the opening game. He could be gold and would be my only Liverpool player. I've set my team up with great price points across the defence, midfield and forwards to give myself the opportunity to jump on any Chelsea players before their great run of fixtures from Gameweek 3. Foden in midfield is a bit of a risk, but we may get early team news given they play the opening fixture of the season. I have my eye on Sterling as a possible transfer depending on his form in those first 2 games. Steele's performance this week has caught my eye, and Onana and Veltman could easily become Steele and a 5.0m defender. With the exception of Salah, I think Martinelli, Saka, Fernandes and Rashford is as good as it gets. I'll be keeping an eye on Son as a possible replacement if he starts flying. The price points also mean I can easily react if Mbeumo, Mitoma or Eze get a good start.
Next up we have Tim who boasts 7 x Top 5 finishes and 8 x Top 10k finishes, as well as a best ever finish of 496 in 2020, placing him in the elusive Top 500 Club. He can often be found perusing the Opta Stats Sandbox or using the Opta Player Heatmaps tools.
Somewhat different in style to Andrew, Tim describes himself as a ‘steady opportunist’; the sort of manager who likes to keep things straight and simple, but will move in a totally different direction if he thinks it will get his team more points. He is a big fan of analysing statistics and these form an important part of his decision-making process. In terms of hits and chip strategy, Tim had this to say:
Taking hits is neither inherently good nor bad. You are trying to get the best team you can. If you are a long way from that, then a hit or two is probably worth considering. Put another way, you are trying to get the ideal team out each week, while also minimising the hits taken across the season. Having said that, it's rare for a -12 to pay off! My general chip strategy is to save them for later on in the season when the reward is potentially greater. However, I don't always play them at the consensus 'best time'. I find it best not to get too hung up on the chips. Don't let them dictate your season too much.
Like Andrew, Tim has adopted a 3-5-2 formation and has foregone any Liverpool assets. Gabriel (£5.0m) and John Stones (£5.5m) join highly owned Estupiñán in a back-three.
A double Manchester United attack sees both Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) join Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze (£6.5m), who is owned by less than 13% of managers.
Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) spearheads a double Arsenal attack, while Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) makes the bench in Gameweek 1 as Chelsea get their difficult fixture against Liverpool out of the way. With news of Jesus' injury, Tim could look at bringing in similarly priced options, such as Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) or Callum Wilson (£8.0m).
Currently locked in players: First is Saka. No brainer for me; a great player, on pens in an Arsenal team likely to carry on from last season. Mbeumo is another one. Again a no brainer for me in Toney's absence. Rashford finally started delivering last season in the way he's always promised. No others are currently completely locked in, some more than others. Foden is potentially on the chopping block, for example. Perhaps a bit too much playing time uncertainty to start the season with.
This, of course, is merely a first draft and will be subject to change. Our Elite XI managers like to tweak and refine as much as the rest of us.
If you want to keep up-to-date with any of our Elite XI manager’s moves, then head over the Elite XI: Team Reveal area and be sure to turn on notifications and alerts to find out when our managers have updated their squads.
You can check out the Elite XI: Team Reveal tool by clicking HERE.
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