Free Hit Draft and Final Thoughts

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Hi folks, welcome to the Blank Game Week 34 preview episode of the 59th Minute Podcast, which is brought to you as always by Fantasy Football Scouts. I'm Mark McGedigan, you'll find me across social media at FPL General. Blank Game Week this weekend, no fixture for Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Chelsea. Thankfully no fixture for Chelsea. They can't disappoint us again. Leeds or Manchester City. So there's gonna be a lot of free head chips active. I played mine last week, but I've just about got enough players after I make transfers. for this weekend. It's a Frida deadline. Don't get caught out by that one. Six thirty PM UK time, which is ninety minutes before Sunderland versus Nottenham Forest kicks off. Today's episode will be a quick game week review, player shout outs, we'll have a look at stats and DEC CO from the most recent game week, listener questions, captaincy and transfers, and I've put together a free hit draft as well for those using it this week. Make sure you hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening for future episodes. I'm leave a five star review if you enjoy the show and it's patreon.com forward slash FPL General. If you want to support me as a full time FPL content creator, should be a link in the description for a seven day free trial. Game week review, the freehead did not go well. 85 points, couldn't even break one hundred, a red arrow from 430k to 550k. So dropped about 120,000 places. And like many teams in the Premier League around mid-table Not much to play for. I am now officially on the beach. So just gonna enjoy the last couple of game weeks. Try and make a few more fun transfers. don't care about rank at this stage. I went for double leads defense, Darlow and Bogle. Bogle went off injured half time in the second game. Nico O'Reilly thirteen pointer, Sunesse with six. looked like we were getting a second Sinesi assist, but the gods did not allow that to happen. Tavernier with nine, Semenio disappointed, Cherke brilliant, thirteen pointer, but could have been so much more. Thing was they have eight shots and eight chances created against Burnley. And somehow blank Chelsea was the big letdown. I went Captain Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, and Joe Pedro. Joe Pedro doesn't even turn up. Well back off the bench for an eight pointer. And Calvert Lewin also with an eight-pointer on my bench. Caddy Oglu, who I've been talking about all season. myself, stuck him on the bench, third sub, 15th man, 16 pointer. That just kind of summed up my free hit. So it wasn't to be Fine with the thought process, but results just didn't go the way I wanted them to or expected them to. So not the big boost in rank that I was hoping for. And like I said, enjoy the last couple of weeks of the season now. Um play my trouble captain chip. in Manchester City's double probably do Cherokee at this stage, the way he's going. Have a bit of fun with that one. And then I'm really looking forward to World Cup fantasy this year. Usually I don't bother playing the tournament fantasies, but given that I've kind of had a different FPL season this year. I will be all over the World Cup fantasy. So looking forward to getting stuck into that when the time comes. No new members joining the fifty ninety minute club. Even though we had two fixtures for a lot of teams, we almost got a triple Crystal Palace fifty ninth minute substitution, but they all went down at fifty eight minutes. For the final five game weeks of the season, I want you to keep a very close eye on the following five players because these are the five players you have a chance of getting a hat trick. this season. Martinelli. She didn't sound sure. Adliat Bourmouth, Ral Hemenez. And Belieber. Right, and so five game weeks to go. Hopefully one of those guys can get a hat trick or someone can sneak up. two fifty nines in the final five game weeks. We want We want a new member to the Hall of Fame to go alongside Evan Ferguson and Luka Milovoyevich. We want a hat trick. of hat tricks. Player stats from double gimmick thirty-three. Of course, some of these players played twice, so keep that in mind. The stats as always are from the fantasy football scout members area. Caddy Oglu had two big chances, with could have even been two goals for the Brighton defender. Pedro Porro, who is going to be of interest the free headers this week and maybe even the people making transfers. We're at the point in the season. teams with something to play for and Tottenham definitely tick that box. Paul took five corners for Tottenham. Nico Williams, another player from a team with something to play for. Nico Williams has been taking corners recently as well. He took three in that Nottenham Forest game. I think both of those players are of interest for assist potential and possible clean sheets as well. Cherokee over the two games. Ten chances created and nine shots in the box. Crazy numbers. Most of those of course did come in the Burnley game, but hopefully he keeps getting these starts. 'Cause I would like to trouble captain 'em. in thirty sex, although it d I think there's a still small chance that could be game thirty-seven. Nothing confirmed yet. And I don't own 'em, so I probably need to buy 'em at some point soon as well. Gibbs White had five shots in the box. What a fantastic hat trick he scorently. And Matoma also had five shots in the box. cross the two Brighton games. Pascal Gross was the midfielder we all should have went for. Hopefully some of you did. Nine chances created, got a couple of assists. Yeah, maybe even three assists over the two games. Anzo Fernandez had six chan, but not many points. Tavernier created five chances for Bournemouth. Over the two games, Tavernier's expected goal involvement was one point eight six. So justified pick there. Oli Watkins coming into form. just ahead of the World Cup. Will he make it or will he not? He's certainly doing nothing wrong at the moment. Four shots in the box and three chances created. I'm pretty sure Watkins is going to be my Equitique replacement. When I make transfers on Friday. I just need to figure out who replaces Anthony Gordon. in my midfield that's a much harder decision. Elsewhere up front, Erling Haaland had five big chances. across the two games and he was a big reason for my red arrow. I've had a great time without him for the last two or three months, but he was back m looking much better in the most recent fixtures. And finally Jared Bowen who will be back in my team this week, having not had him on the free hit. Thankfully he blind be did take six corners. So Bowen, very good option, regardless of what strategy you're on. He's got lots of points. He can hit Def Call and he takes corners where very few other forwards do. West Ham, take that box like Tottenham of fighting relegation. On the subject of numbers, the defensive contributions, so I've coupled these I've split them into players who play twice and players who played once. So the players who played twice, first of all, who got very good numbers, James Justin, well done if you're on him, you got yourself a lot of points. And his teammate Strike, they both got twenty seven DEF CON across the two games. Estev at Burnley, twenty six. James Hill on goal, but he did hit Defcon in both games. And Van Heka managed twenty two as well. And Kusanov at Manchester City. It could be an option for the run in cot twenty-one. Players who hit the F Cone in one fixture. As usual, Crystal Palace guys, La Croix, Munos, and Canville, whenever they have the double game week, we will be looking to those guys. The Sasi Canate. Both Tottenham guys Poro and Dancil. So those who take the punt on the free head will be looking for more of the same there. And finally Aiden Heaven at Manchester United as well, who's only three point seven million. Also had DEF CON. He's at home to Brentford this week. He probably starts again. And he probably should be in every free head team. On the bench. If you're trying to fit in, you know, expensive players, I think Mohammed Salah's gonna be popular this week. Some people will be saying their final goodbye to Salah. on the free hit just for one more game week and then you're gonna need cheap players on the bench, of course. So heaven at three point seven. has a nice ring to it, and hopefully gets you a clean sheet and some defensive contributions. Next section is the QA, the first one from the most prolific question asker of the season. The award goes to FPL Brooklyn. Who are the top two picks for each position in Gimme Thirty four? also have some good fixtures for the rest of the season. Basically, who are the transfer targets for those not on free hit this week? So this is myself and many others who have already used a free hit. Which teams and which players should we be looking at? for our final few transfers of the season. So The teams that have a decent fixture this week and The Fector's local K. for the run in. Arsenal, Tottenham. Manchester United. To a lesser extent Asin Villa because their final two games are tricky, but the next three look good. And we've also got Nottenham Forest, West Ham. And Liverpool. So which players come to mind from those teams? Obviously David, Raya, and Gabrielle at Arsenal. Think that'll be a very popular double up on free hits. I've got Gabrielle. Emmy Martinez, so I don't need to get David Raya. But if I was looking for a new goalkeeper this week, I probably would just keep it simple and get the Arsenal man. Pedro Poro I've already mentioned. I like him. Shavi Simons is looking very good at the moment. I like him whether it's free hit or for a transfer. that feels like a fun one for me to take when I'm getting rid of Gordon. you know, Shavi not someone I would usually go for, but again, I've got nothing to play for, so Get a player that I like and enjoy watching and has something to play for makes a lot of sense. Spuno Fernandez is very, very obvious. If you don't have him Make sure you buy him. He's probably the best captain this week in the Monday night game. Cunha, if he's fit, I like as well. There were some pictures today from the Manchester United training, which is Thursday. that Cunha was having a recovery day. while others were training, so be careful with that one. can't say for sure that you're gonna start with the game's not until Monday. So good chance that he will be okay. Uh Morgan Rogers, Oli Watkins, I think are very good options for the next three games. Gibbs White looking hot. Gibbs another one I'm weighing up as my Gordon replacement. Anderson, who's already in my team, I still like him as as an option. Really sad news recently that he lost his mum, so thoughts go out to him of course. What a what a character he is to go out and play after that. And I'm quite happy to hold him for the rest of the season. Hopefully more defensive contributions to come as well. Nico Williams mentioned them, like him. If you're looking for a defender, I think he's a good place to go with some set pieces now as well. Gerard Bowen's another obvious one. Then you've got a few differentials, Maveranos, who's been scoring goals for West Ham. You've got Salah, you've got Virt, you've got Subor Sli. I still think Van Dijk as well. Very annoying. You free hit Van Dijk out, and of course he scores. It's been I seem to remember was at the start of this season where Van Dijk was scoring a lot of goals in Europe. doing very little in the Premier League as well. It's been one of those seasons owning the big Dutchman. But there's loads of options there. Next question is from Robin seventy two. Who's the best striker for this weekend? Robin is thinking of swapping Halland and some menu. for Salah and someone. Wildcard thirty five to get Halland back and cash is not an issue. Already own Tiago. So Tiago's fine. Yes not. Perfect fixture against Manchester United, but I don't think any of us would be surprised if Thiago scores in that one. It's totally fine to lose Haaland, but I would say only if you have your wild card left. And this is what Robin is planning. Um Robin can get any three Manches Manchester City players back. when the wild card is played the following game week. I like the idea of Sala for one week. I'm not sure I like the idea of Salah as a free transfer. I won't be going there. I might go there and game thirty eight as a final goodbye. Maybe even captain 'em because I can. I'm not Fighting at the top of many leagues. I'm firmly rooted to the bottom of most money leagues this season, which is which is fr refreshing in many ways for these final few weeks of the season. But I certainly like Sal on free head. I would definitely go there. He's a high ceiling player, he can get you a fifteen pointer. I like the home fixture against Crystal Palace. And then you can get him get your normal team back afterwards or a new wildcard squad. The question is who's the best striker for the game week? I'm gonna say Jared Bowen. Just because he's got those words to points. I like the fact she'd home to Everton. Oli Walkins Pushes him close here. But because it's the home fixture for West Ham, I'm gonna say Jared Bowen, and I'm biased because I've had him for quite a wee while. Next question is from Yabs. Can Pedro Poro be trusted on a free hit? Or is there a better budget option to use to go alongside Gabriel and Virgil? I don't think any Tottenham player can be trusted. Well it's a free hat. You take a free hat. And you go for some of these Tottenham players. They play Wolves. You are Officially relegated. Been rotating quite a bit recently. Tottenham have looked better. Bit of a manager bounce going on. I think you just gotta go there. If you're on free head, I think you've gotta go go Tottenham. I would go triple Spurs. them to win it. Back 'em to score goals, backed him to get a cleet. Even if they don't g keep a clean sheet, Poro can still come away with attack and returns or maybe Defcon like he did last week. So I think If I was free that week, I would be Gabrielle Virgil Porrel. probably being a three four three. I think Shavi Simons would be in and I'd probably just go Solanke as well. So I think Poro Xavi Simon, Solanke, free head, one week. If it doesn't work out, who cares? You don't have to look at them then and give me 35. for this week, when there's a lack of fixtures, when they play Wolves, when they need a result. Just go for it. Question from Wyatt. Why it needs a goalkeeper before a wild card in thirty five. Is Trouble Arsenal Defense viable? already owns Saliba and Gabriel. Raya looks like the best option. Yeah. I would just if you're already on double Go triple for one week. I think that's a good fixture for Arsenal home to Newcastle. Newcastle's been really struggling recently as well. Looks like Gordon will miss out, so that dense their goal threat. They haven't really had a striker all season scoring goals. So I think the clean sheet chances are pretty good for Arsenal this weekend. And obviously They need a result. and they need to work on their goal difference as well. So I would go triple arsenal defense. And then you can change things up with your wildcard in game week thirty five. Question from Sir Errol. Sir Erl has eleven players for the blank game week and two freeze. Should they use a transfer on a weak spot, for example Keen or Gordon. Or save the transfers for after the wild card in thirty five. So if you've got two freeze You've got eleven players. I would say let Gordon go because you can probably improve on someone who's currently in your starting eleven. with a shiny new midfielder, there's a lot of good midfield options with high ceilings. Try get yourself a ten plus pointer with that transfer. Michael Keane I'd probably keep now. Brandwaite is injured. Keen came off the bench, Keen probably plays this one. And as much as I like Jared Bowen Again, West Ham Everton. be that could be a nil nil. And Michael King comes away. with a good return. We know he's a goal threat. We know it's great for DEF CON. So keep Michael Keen. But Cell Gordon. Question from Frongay. Should they go Tiago or Solanke? My notes here say for one week only, if it's free head. Solanke. If it's for the rest of the season. It's Tiago. Question. from O L Solankier van Devin. So this question tells me double Tottenham defense or Maybe two attackers. It sounds like Shabby Simons maybe is already going into this team. Maybe this is even just a transfer. and trying to s Tottenham Acid to get. I would favor Solanke over Van De Ven. Again, just chase the golds against wolves. Could be a high score and fixture. Wolves have the shackles off. So they I think there's a decent chance they score in that one. It's just more fun getting Solanke than than Van De Ven. I mean both players are capable. of good returns, but I think if and do get the striker. Question from Gavin. Gavin's 13 points behind the mini league leader. Does he go for an aggressive all in free hit with a maximized first eleven? And the non playing bench. or a more balanced approach. Imagine if today was the day your idea changed life. Imagine if you could help someone pay for university, help your community build a new playground, or help a child make it to that dream competition. With GoFundMe it's all possible. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform. Trusted by over 200 million people. Every week, ordinary people meet their goals and do extraordinary things. Your ideas matter. GoFundMe just for emergencies. Want to raise money for your kids' football team? Or raise funds for a small business, a charity, or event. GoFundMe turn ideas into reality. And help adds up. Fundraisers you start for someone else raise up to five times more. So think right now. Who could use your help? Don't wait for someone else to bring change. Today, start your fundraiser in just minutes at gofundme.com. That's gofundme.com to start your fundraiser. Gofundme.com. This is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe. I put a quick draft together for this podcast which I'll talk about soon and Even even putting All your money into the eleven. You can still have decent bench players like Harry McGuire and Heaven, for example, are both Pretty cheap at Manchester United. So even if you go heavy with your leaving, you're gonna have One or two solves that. have a fixture and will play. So I wouldn't I wouldn't worry too much about your bench. Uh thirteen points It's a very small gap. Especially when your freehead's active. Even if your rival in the mini league is also gonna be on on Freehead this week. So I wouldn't get too clever with it. If you're, you know, forty, fifty points behind at this stage, that's when you probably need to overthink things a wee bit. Keep it simple, play the fixtures, get the guys you think are going to get the most points, pick a solid captain, probably Bruno Fernandez. And just hope that your mini league leader Maybe makes a mistake or two, or just is not playing as optimally as you are. in this game week and thirteen points is definitely doable. Question from James. If you cave in and buy Salah for a final goodbye in Gimme 38, Will you remove yourself from your own league, or does the league cease to exist? Good question. Maybe the maybe the league is null and void then. Asterisk season if I The one who created the no Salah, no Hall Money League. uh by Salah for the final gaming of the season I probably will just have to kick myself out. Like I've been doing to everyone else this season. Um people won't even notice I'm gone. I think I'm around fifty fifty fifth or fifty sixth in the league out of I don't know four or five hundred probably left at the stage. Um shout out to number one in the No Hala, No Salah Mini League. It's still Stuart Brandt. 11 K overall. So having a great season without those two. Uh but the gap is pretty small, so all eyes on that. I'll keep I'll keep that updated right throughout now till the end of the season to see who wins that mini league. Yeah, someone actually wrote to me recently, uh, What's the prize for winning? the no Sala, no Haaland mini league. And I just wrote back and I said it's a sit down meal with both players, Salah and Haaland. I think they might have taken me half seriously on that one. The reply was something like I hope Hope you can make that happen so. Maybe I need to try and do that. Yeah. So yeah. No Salah. All season. Give me thirty eight. I mean I would like to get 'em. I've been playing this game. O FPL for A stupid amount of years, you know. way before existed in the league. And he's been an absolute legend in FPL, as we all know. We've all got Brilliant memories of Onan. I always remember In particular a St. Patrick's Day in Glasgow. In the pulp. It can steep. Watching Liverpool play. Watford? and Sala scored four times and he got one assist. he got was it twenty six points maybe? And I always remember thinking, Is that really happening? Or is it the Guinness? And I didn't know till the next day that it actually did happen. So great memories with Salah. I would like to get him for one last shot. Probably captain on the last day. Problem is I don't have any cash. I've I think I've got one point four in the bank. Gonna make two free transfers for this game week, so If I wanna get Salah, I'll probably need to start thinking about it around game week thirty six, thirty seven. It's not straightforward. So it's de it's not a definite, but if I can make it happen, I would like to. Moving on to Captain C my boss team transfers and a free hit draft. Captain C is pretty straightforward, I think. Bruno Fernandez playing at home against Brentford. Every man and their dog. Except those chasing, I think will Captain Bruno Fernandez this week. The other options that man Mahamad Salah is at home to Crystal Palace. I don't mind that. He's never a sh a certainty to start, which is the issue. Uh Jared Bowen is at home to Everton. I don't hate that if you're chasing. And Ollie Watkins is a way to fill him. But I think anything other than Bruno Fernandez this week is looking for trouble. My team before any transfers are made I have I don't have eleven fit players at the moment. I think I've got nine fit players and I've got two transfers because I've got Ekatike and Gordon. to remove Brennan Bueno is flagged, but I don't think that'll be an issue. And the non-playing players on the bench are Cole Palmer, who also decided not to play in the double. in either fixture, even though he's on the pitch for one of them. James Hill, no fixture, and Nico O'Reilly. I nearly said Matt O'Reilly there. Josie Saddles on the bench as well. So the starting eleven at the moment. So the starting nine. Emmy Martinez, Virgil van Dijk, Gabrielle and McGuire. So that's fine. Elliot Anderson. Mbuemo and Captain Brino. up front yard bone in Tiago. So once I make two free transfers, I've got a decent eleven. Obviously no badge, but I'm not gonna take any hits. The thing I'm struggling with is which midfielder to get, because there's too many options. The striker position is easy. Ekitki to Watkins, that is getting done on Friday afternoon and then figure out the midfield replacement for Gordon. I've noted down loads of options here, Deck and Rice, but it's too boring. you know w with five game he's to go. Gibbs White an exciting option. Morgan Rodgers Do I want more Morgan Rodgers and Ollie Watkins? Maybe not, so maybe I go somewhere else. Xavi Simons is probably one in the race at the moment 'cause Excite me the most. Harry Wilson's had a fantastic season. I've never owned them. Have Philem tailed off is the big question, and has he tailed off? And then there's the Liverpool guys, Florian Virtue I owned for a while, and Sebossley, who I'm pretty sure I haven't owned at all. It's probably gonna come down to Simon's Gibbs. probably is gonna come down to those two. I think I'll go Tottenham. Yeah, and enjoy the pain. At least I'll only have one Tottenham player, whereas the free head managers will have to suffer through three blanks. When wheels win one nil. To wrap things up, here is a free hit draft, and this will give you an idea, I think, of what people will be doing on free hit. If you're not Raya Gabrielle, double arsenal defense. Virgil van Dijk home the palace, Pedro Porro for the wheels fixture. Bruno Fernandez, Mohamed Sala. Xavi Simons and I've put Morgan Rogers in this one along with Ollie Watkins in a three four three. And up front. is also Jared Bowen and Big Dominic Selenki. So that feels pretty template, but it also feels pretty good. The Bange players Freddie Woodman, Liverpool third choice goalkeeper, 3.9 million, because it looks like Alison and Mamar Dashvili will miss this one. even start Woodman against Crystal Palace as a differential if you're not going for David Raya. And elsewhere on the bench, uh I was able to afford heaven, Harry McGuire, and then Josh King went in as the fifteenth man. I think I had zero point one million in the bank for that. So Good luck to the free headers. Even better look. Better luck to the non-free hitters. I wish you all a fantastic game week, a much better game week than the double. Thank you for listening. to you on the other side. It's patreon.com forward slash FPL General for more content. I'll be doing a live stream Thursday night and there'll be loads of content throughout the day on Friday in the run up to the deadline. If you want to just say thank you for the podcast it's buymacoe.com forward slash FPL General. Have a good one, folks, and I'll talk to you next week.