When should you play your wildcard? By @evertoniandy
If you only play FPL to see how many points you can make on a week-by-week basis and aren’t really interested in playing the long game then you won’t get much out of this article as every week might as well be wildcard week for you. However if you’re planning to see this FPL season to the death and want to squeeze out every point you possibly can from your team, then you might very well benefit from reading my articles. I tend to write with the long term game in mind, though this one is more of a one-off.
The wildcard is an interesting creature. Even from as early as Gameweek (GW) 2 it sits there, tempting FPL managers with its promise of unlimited transfers for a whole week. Not easy to resist after you’ve scored 30-odd points while everyone else in your mini-league has 70+ thanks to that striker you were going to put in but didn’t, or the superstar midfielder you weren’t brave enough to captain.
The problem with the wildcard is that you only get 2 of them, and one of those can only be used during the January transfer window. Bearing in mind we have 38 long Gameweeks ahead of us to navigate through, choosing the right time to play yours can be a big decision. Indeed get it right, and it can turn your fortunes around completely.
So when should you be using it? Well first of all, when should you NOT be using it? In my opinion FPL managers are guilty of mistakes which some will make over and over. Firstly, they have no patience. As a result of this, they want to make several transfers at a time. They’ll make 2 transfers one week, another couple the following week, 3 the week after that... that’s 7 transfers in 3 weeks and only 3 of those were free. That’s 16 points thrown away there. Not even a RVP hat-trick will get you those points back.
Another common mistake is when a player unexpectedly grabs a bunch of points in one game, more often than not as a complete one-off. Plenty of FPL managers will panic-buy him immediately and they’ll do this over and over throughout the season with many different players, only to ship them out again a week or two later. All because they didn’t bother to notice that their new hero was playing 2 of the top 4 away from home in successive weeks, picking up a grand total of a maximum of 4 points in the process, and that’s only providing he didn’t get booked.
So where does the wildcard come into these mistakes? Well it doesn’t. That’s because these sorts of managers will have already used it in GW2 or GW3. Sometimes this can be necessary to do as I will discuss later, but often it’s not. Don’t be using your wildcard unless you need to. Don’t throw it away just because you fancy making 3 changes to your side but don’t want to take the 8 point hit. A wildcard should be saved for when drastic changes are required. I’ll go into when the best times to use it are in a moment.
Firstly I’d like to point something out. I think it’s generally accepted that 2000 points is a good score on FPL. If you manage to exceed that target then you have a good shout of emerging victorious from your mini-leagues. 2000 points is only an average of 52.6 points per week. That’s less than 5 points from each player. As I said earlier, many FPL managers tend to lack patience. One week they’ll have a good week and hit 75 points. The next week won’t be so good, let’s say 35 points, even 40 or 45. They’ll still think it’s horrendous. Total those 2 weeks up and you get anywhere from 110-120 points. You would only require 106 points to remain ahead of your target of reaching 2000. Bear that in mind.
This is where a lot of wildcards are thrown away. People will think “I’ve had a nightmare week there. That’s it. WILDCARD TIME!” But if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, yes, you might’ve had a bad week, but how were you doing before that? What are your players’ fixtures like for the next GW? Weigh these things up before you go lunging for the wildcard.
So when should you be using it? In my opinion there are 4 ideal times. The first may already have passed you by to be honest. It’s very early on when you’ve got it completely wrong at the start of the season and picked players who you though would be tearing up the league but instead are warming up the bench. When you’ve thought “I don’t care if everyone’s picking him, I’m not. He’ll definitely flop” only to see him pick up goals and assists galore in his first few games for his new club.
The second is when you have a player crisis. You might have several players injured, suspended, not being selected or maybe games have been postponed leaving you well short for the next GW. Obviously this is the perfect moment to play your wildcard. This is what wildcards are made for. You don’t want to end up in this situation having already used it. I can tell you that from experience unfortunately...
The third ideal time is when you have a bad team. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But it can creep up on you all of a sudden. Out of nowhere you might end up with a team full of out-of-form players who are losing value, and fast. They might be playing, but all they’re doing is picking up their 2 points for playing 90 minutes and not offering much else. These players have to go as soon as possible.
Finally, the one other time I would recommend using a wildcard is when your circumstances call for it. I’m generally referring to mini-leagues here. If your friends are pulling away even though you think you have a half-decent side then clearly it’s not decent enough. It might feel like you’re wasting it, but the only thing you’re aiming for is to beat your mates and you feel you need sweeping changes to keep with them, then be bold and go for it!
In summary, just choose your moment wisely, because if you don’t think it through, I guarantee you’ll be wishing you hadn’t wasted it later on in the season. Weigh things up – who are your players facing in the next 2 or 3 Gameweeks? Could they turn things around against those teams? Are any injuries your team has only short term? Don’t rush into using it, but don’t be afraid to either. Just make sure the time is right and it’s not a rush of blood to the head.
I’ll be more than happy to answer any of your FPL questions on Twitter at @evertoniandy.
Thanks for reading.
If you only play FPL to see how many points you can make on a week-by-week basis and aren’t really interested in playing the long game then you won’t get much out of this article as every week might as well be wildcard week for you. However if you’re planning to see this FPL season to the death and want to squeeze out every point you possibly can from your team, then you might very well benefit from reading my articles. I tend to write with the long term game in mind, though this one is more of a one-off.
The wildcard is an interesting creature. Even from as early as Gameweek (GW) 2 it sits there, tempting FPL managers with its promise of unlimited transfers for a whole week. Not easy to resist after you’ve scored 30-odd points while everyone else in your mini-league has 70+ thanks to that striker you were going to put in but didn’t, or the superstar midfielder you weren’t brave enough to captain.
The problem with the wildcard is that you only get 2 of them, and one of those can only be used during the January transfer window. Bearing in mind we have 38 long Gameweeks ahead of us to navigate through, choosing the right time to play yours can be a big decision. Indeed get it right, and it can turn your fortunes around completely.
So when should you be using it? Well first of all, when should you NOT be using it? In my opinion FPL managers are guilty of mistakes which some will make over and over. Firstly, they have no patience. As a result of this, they want to make several transfers at a time. They’ll make 2 transfers one week, another couple the following week, 3 the week after that... that’s 7 transfers in 3 weeks and only 3 of those were free. That’s 16 points thrown away there. Not even a RVP hat-trick will get you those points back.
Another common mistake is when a player unexpectedly grabs a bunch of points in one game, more often than not as a complete one-off. Plenty of FPL managers will panic-buy him immediately and they’ll do this over and over throughout the season with many different players, only to ship them out again a week or two later. All because they didn’t bother to notice that their new hero was playing 2 of the top 4 away from home in successive weeks, picking up a grand total of a maximum of 4 points in the process, and that’s only providing he didn’t get booked.
So where does the wildcard come into these mistakes? Well it doesn’t. That’s because these sorts of managers will have already used it in GW2 or GW3. Sometimes this can be necessary to do as I will discuss later, but often it’s not. Don’t be using your wildcard unless you need to. Don’t throw it away just because you fancy making 3 changes to your side but don’t want to take the 8 point hit. A wildcard should be saved for when drastic changes are required. I’ll go into when the best times to use it are in a moment.
Firstly I’d like to point something out. I think it’s generally accepted that 2000 points is a good score on FPL. If you manage to exceed that target then you have a good shout of emerging victorious from your mini-leagues. 2000 points is only an average of 52.6 points per week. That’s less than 5 points from each player. As I said earlier, many FPL managers tend to lack patience. One week they’ll have a good week and hit 75 points. The next week won’t be so good, let’s say 35 points, even 40 or 45. They’ll still think it’s horrendous. Total those 2 weeks up and you get anywhere from 110-120 points. You would only require 106 points to remain ahead of your target of reaching 2000. Bear that in mind.
This is where a lot of wildcards are thrown away. People will think “I’ve had a nightmare week there. That’s it. WILDCARD TIME!” But if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, yes, you might’ve had a bad week, but how were you doing before that? What are your players’ fixtures like for the next GW? Weigh these things up before you go lunging for the wildcard.
So when should you be using it? In my opinion there are 4 ideal times. The first may already have passed you by to be honest. It’s very early on when you’ve got it completely wrong at the start of the season and picked players who you though would be tearing up the league but instead are warming up the bench. When you’ve thought “I don’t care if everyone’s picking him, I’m not. He’ll definitely flop” only to see him pick up goals and assists galore in his first few games for his new club.
The second is when you have a player crisis. You might have several players injured, suspended, not being selected or maybe games have been postponed leaving you well short for the next GW. Obviously this is the perfect moment to play your wildcard. This is what wildcards are made for. You don’t want to end up in this situation having already used it. I can tell you that from experience unfortunately...
The third ideal time is when you have a bad team. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But it can creep up on you all of a sudden. Out of nowhere you might end up with a team full of out-of-form players who are losing value, and fast. They might be playing, but all they’re doing is picking up their 2 points for playing 90 minutes and not offering much else. These players have to go as soon as possible.
Finally, the one other time I would recommend using a wildcard is when your circumstances call for it. I’m generally referring to mini-leagues here. If your friends are pulling away even though you think you have a half-decent side then clearly it’s not decent enough. It might feel like you’re wasting it, but the only thing you’re aiming for is to beat your mates and you feel you need sweeping changes to keep with them, then be bold and go for it!
In summary, just choose your moment wisely, because if you don’t think it through, I guarantee you’ll be wishing you hadn’t wasted it later on in the season. Weigh things up – who are your players facing in the next 2 or 3 Gameweeks? Could they turn things around against those teams? Are any injuries your team has only short term? Don’t rush into using it, but don’t be afraid to either. Just make sure the time is right and it’s not a rush of blood to the head.
I’ll be more than happy to answer any of your FPL questions on Twitter at @evertoniandy.
Thanks for reading.
