I'm playing OFPL classic scoring in a 10-team league, and during the draft wasn't paying attention to how many GW1 Blank players I was picking up, ending up with 2 Man City (Jesus & Laporte) plus 2 Burnley (Wood and Mee), meaning even if all the rest of my outfield players are fit and selected I will field 10-man team at best. My team includes Chilwell and Pulisic who are also both doubts for GW1. So I'm considering dropping Mee for a short-term punt.
Available options I'm consider are Maitland-Niles (possibly becomes 1st choice RB/RWB if Bellerin is sold), Ajaji, Castagne, Stevens (which would be a Southampton double-up with KWP).
Mee and KW-P are both players you could drop in that format given the concerns. I like Mee more than Walker-Peters. I’d add Castagne and hold him for a bit. I would happily drop KW-P for the AM-N upside play as well.
Thanks, yeah I picked Mee before KWP. As much as I like Mee I don't see other people in my league jumping on him if I do drop him. I'll take your advice and put waivers in for Castagne and AMN.
I was 1st pick in the draft meaning I'll get nowhere near picking up new guys like Havertz in GW1 waivers. I'm not going to tank/sabotage myself, but having non-playing players in GW1 could work in my favour long-term if having a slow start helps me pick up other new signings given the late close to the transfer window.
There will be more OFPL stuff coming this year. I don’t think I can publicly announce it yet but a lot of the OFPL stuff I had planned to write for the Guide is going to be published online for another place that’s just down the hall from 3-4-3. Stick with the subscription here too tho because depending on what gets cut there I’ll have outtakes here + more stuff going forward from me and some other Official FPL game writers.
What are your thoughts on Jota (Wolves) as FWD2? The forwards flew off the shelf in my draft so I have Salah as FWD1 and stacked on midfielders with Grealish, McNeil, Saint Max, Pereira (WBA) and Harvey Barnes. Also wondering about your thoughts on Saint Max and Pereira, how you expect them to fare this season?
Signed up for your annual subscription, super helpful stuff!!
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it. I would want to have a better FWD2 than jota because of concerns over his playing time and lower production last season. I dropped him to No. 84 because of those concerns and the ability of Cutrone to take time, as well. However, if you have a midfield like that your second fwd doesn’t have to be a true FWD2 and you can successfully rotate him. This is why full rosters, deep benches and flexible tactics make for a better game. You could run a 3-5-2 with those players, nearly any 3 defenders and have a chance to win every weekend - that’s the sign of a good draft.
I noticed you have Ben White ranked pretty high on your position ranks, do you see him taking one of the starting spots at Brighton early in the season?
I like White and that ranks is based on him staying at Brighton. But also based on Dunk maybe not staying at Brighton; he’ll need to be the alpha centreback to get the clearances, interceptions etc necessary. Dunk’s a good 3” taller and imagine he’ll win most of the aerials if they’re paired.
Hi Gaffer. Love your content, thanks a lot for everything.
My team (10 team auction draft):
Dubravka Ramsdale
Azpi Chilwell Pereira Maguire Digne
Maddison ASM JWP MPereira McNeil
Willian Wood Haller R Moreno
Should I safely ignore Havertz/James and go straight for Wilson, seeing that my fwds are pretty crap? How much (%) would you invest of your FAAB money for him?
For a 10-team league you're pretty stacked actually. Wilson is right in that Haller-Rodrigo range (I'm lower on Wood than most). But I would be trying very hard today to do a trade to upgrade FWD at the expense of you 4/5 MID. Like can you sell someone on: Pereira or McNeill + Wood/Haller to get back a FWD1 like Jimenez or Auba?
I genuinely don't understand how some of y'all are walking out of drafts/auctions with these squad lists. This team is eye-popping. That midfield is an all-timer.
Yeah it can get a little crazy in an auction draft when everybody goes for tier 1 fwds. If you manage to hold out, you have Willian as your best fwd, but your defs and mids look pretty good.
Will try to induce a trade, thanks for the suggestions!
Hi John, because we are masochists, we have a 16 team league. I read your article on building your own ranks but wondered what you primary focus would be in a draft of this size? should I be picking players who I feel are likely to accrue their points more consistently over the course of the season, so I'm not left having to make team changes and roster pickups from a weak bench?
What kind of manager are you? 16-team leagues can rise or fall on your ability to play the waiver wire and free agent game. If you live in California or Australia, if you work weekends, if you sleep late, you should prioritize getting regular starters in your mid and late rounds. If you’re an active manager, snagging high value PPM players (Trossard, Foden, Mount) that you actively rotate, using your bench and waivers to fill in will give you an edge in those matches when they start. At the end of the season you’ll see they only finish 35-50 in total points but it’s concentrated into 20-25 starts. That’s huge value head to head.
Really interesting points, John. I love actively playing the waivers and free agency but I am on the west coast of the USA and with the timing of the waiver wires, it's easy to get beaten to the best free agents. Never let it influence my draft but it sounds like it's time to adjust accordingly, thanks!
Q: How about waiver? Can't see anything else in the pipeline at the moment especially with no Messi now.
A: There’s a decent amount of waiver options depending on when you drafted: Havertz, James, Wilson (seriously), Fraser (no, seriously), van de Beek. but with the window open until October I expect more moves especially if players fall ill/injured early.
Plus there are undoubtedly moves that will happen which aren’t being reported. And Arsenal keep signing defenders!
Q: What would your thoughts be on drafting both Sterling/Mahrez if available. Almost guaranteed to have at least one start each week and good chance at a goal between them
A: Love it. They play together fine, 25+ times your getting both of them and this team will score 100 again. That’s not really a handcuff so much as stack insurance that one definitely plays each week. But for pure value? Both justifiable inside the first round / at the turn.
That’s tougher for me because I don’t see Foden getting the starts he needs to justify the draft cost there. If I get Bernardo early will I look for Foden at value but I’m not reaching to make that happen.
Not entirely sure where Foden will play when he does play, back end of the restart he was paying wide forward. I like Bernardo Silva this year with the departure of D. Silva
Q: In terms of Chelsea, I've got both Werner and Havertz in my top 10 overall. Too high expectations?
A: Top 10 for total points scored this season? Yeah definitely. If you're figuring out draft day value, that's fine for Timo. I'm not putting Havertz inside my top 20. Young, crazy competition, and there are plenty of better risks. He'll be a 2nd RD pick in a lot of drafts tho.
Q: You have fifth pick in an eight team OFPL draft league. Assuming Salah, Sterling, KDB and Mane go 1-4, who’re you taking at five? Please don’t say Auba.
A: In an 8-team league I'm taking Trent and I'm thanking everyone for letting him fall. Only 24 forwards can start every week there which means I'll be able to get good value and depth there later. There's only one Trent.
LOL. I totally missed that you also jumped Sterling up into the top 4. I'm actually taking BRUNO there. The distance between him and TAA on total points makes it worth the pick (I also have Bruno ranked 1-1 so it's a no brainer to me)
Q: Can you expound on why you’re so high on Ben White? He’s expected to primarily play in a 3ATB with Webster/Dunk so why is his upside/ceiling so much higher than those two? Granted he did well at Leeds but now back with Brighton.
A: Just a feeling that he will end up wining enough duels tackles interceptions and clearances to have a solid floor. I also still think Dunk could get sold and be a backup somewhere or in rotation. If he stays after deadline ends his value w/ Brighton would be closer to White
If you want TAA and you're the 4th pick, you'll have to take him. That's true of all the first round players and it's why many "experts" laugh about trying to parse the top end of the draft. If you WANT Werner, it doesn't matter if I rank him 2nd or 10th, he's not going to be there in round two. Same thing with Trent. On total points is he worth it? No. Once you consider how much much more valuable he is than everyone else? Sure he could even be the 1-1.
Hi Gaffer. I am long term OPL draft addict. Thanks for the excellent cheat sheet. Do the OPL rankings take into account player scarcity (I.e. there are very few strikers in OPL with a large drop in quality vs. there being many GK with a limited drop in quality). I would typically expect this to justify picking GKs late in the draft (and Neil Thurman has written about this recently) but see some GK are quite high in your list. I am drafting later tonight (10 man OPL). so your thoughts would be much appreciated
YES! The OFPL Cheats do take into account player scarcity; my general rule for doing the Top 180/200 cheat sheet is to use a version of Value Based Drafting. It's not simply about getting the best player (ie - player who scores most points). Especially in OFPL where you must have 2-5-5-3 you need to identify when (or where in a draft) you take certain positions. I will take any player at any time but only if the value proposition is right.
In the top 100 you have both white and Harrison - players that are new to me - what are your thoughts here. Is there another emi buendia amongst these two ?
No neither of them is Emi. Your best shot there are Pereira and Eze.
White I like quite a bit, though as I've written many times before there is some discount in his value if Dunk stays. That would be a good partnership for Brighton, but I'm not sure it will be fruitful for FPL managers with the two splitting the centreback spoils.
Harrison is part of a small group of players which Bielsa trusted last year. His philosophy in the Championship was to use a small group heavily and until we see him change that pattern in the Prem we need to draft based on what's been demonstrated. The City player is one of the more exciting prospects; he'll likely be a bit frustrating to own in draft but is a fine depth play and could win you a game or two across the season.
I'm playing OFPL classic scoring in a 10-team league, and during the draft wasn't paying attention to how many GW1 Blank players I was picking up, ending up with 2 Man City (Jesus & Laporte) plus 2 Burnley (Wood and Mee), meaning even if all the rest of my outfield players are fit and selected I will field 10-man team at best. My team includes Chilwell and Pulisic who are also both doubts for GW1. So I'm considering dropping Mee for a short-term punt.
Available options I'm consider are Maitland-Niles (possibly becomes 1st choice RB/RWB if Bellerin is sold), Ajaji, Castagne, Stevens (which would be a Southampton double-up with KWP).
My team:
Ramsdale, McCarthy
Laporte, Chilwell, Gomez, Mee, KWP
Aubameyang, Pulisic, Redmond, Bowen, ASM
Jesus, Wood, Adams
Mee and KW-P are both players you could drop in that format given the concerns. I like Mee more than Walker-Peters. I’d add Castagne and hold him for a bit. I would happily drop KW-P for the AM-N upside play as well.
Thanks, yeah I picked Mee before KWP. As much as I like Mee I don't see other people in my league jumping on him if I do drop him. I'll take your advice and put waivers in for Castagne and AMN.
I was 1st pick in the draft meaning I'll get nowhere near picking up new guys like Havertz in GW1 waivers. I'm not going to tank/sabotage myself, but having non-playing players in GW1 could work in my favour long-term if having a slow start helps me pick up other new signings given the late close to the transfer window.
Sating that there is one Burnley fan in our league, so if anyone's going to grab Mee it'll be him.
Excellent to see more of the ofpl stuff
There will be more OFPL stuff coming this year. I don’t think I can publicly announce it yet but a lot of the OFPL stuff I had planned to write for the Guide is going to be published online for another place that’s just down the hall from 3-4-3. Stick with the subscription here too tho because depending on what gets cut there I’ll have outtakes here + more stuff going forward from me and some other Official FPL game writers.
What are your thoughts on Jota (Wolves) as FWD2? The forwards flew off the shelf in my draft so I have Salah as FWD1 and stacked on midfielders with Grealish, McNeil, Saint Max, Pereira (WBA) and Harvey Barnes. Also wondering about your thoughts on Saint Max and Pereira, how you expect them to fare this season?
Signed up for your annual subscription, super helpful stuff!!
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it. I would want to have a better FWD2 than jota because of concerns over his playing time and lower production last season. I dropped him to No. 84 because of those concerns and the ability of Cutrone to take time, as well. However, if you have a midfield like that your second fwd doesn’t have to be a true FWD2 and you can successfully rotate him. This is why full rosters, deep benches and flexible tactics make for a better game. You could run a 3-5-2 with those players, nearly any 3 defenders and have a chance to win every weekend - that’s the sign of a good draft.
I noticed you have Ben White ranked pretty high on your position ranks, do you see him taking one of the starting spots at Brighton early in the season?
I like White and that ranks is based on him staying at Brighton. But also based on Dunk maybe not staying at Brighton; he’ll need to be the alpha centreback to get the clearances, interceptions etc necessary. Dunk’s a good 3” taller and imagine he’ll win most of the aerials if they’re paired.
OH and I forgot to mention I also drafted Calvert Lewin, I'd reckon you definitely him higher as a FWD2, ahead of Jota?
Yeah and damn, that’s a Very Good Team™️
Thank you!! Built using your ranks as a reference. Will be coming back through the season to look at whatever else you have cooking for draft leagues.
OFPL 10 Team Draft Result...
Schmeichel, Ramsdale
Alexander-Arnold, Digne, Aké, Saïss, Chilwell
Pulisic, Fraser, Pogba, Fernandes,Foden
JRodriguez, Wilson, Mitrović
Any thoughts on swaps with the following. My initial thoughts in parathesis.
Players available for pickup
DEF
Reece James (for Saisse)
FWD
Batshuayi (for JRod)
Haller
MID (no swap)
Eze
Ward-Prowse
Bowen
Add James for Saiss for SURE; I would also add Michy for JRod ASAP. Your midfield is stacked with stars, don't overthink it.
My bad, 9 team draft
Hi Gaffer. Love your content, thanks a lot for everything.
My team (10 team auction draft):
Dubravka Ramsdale
Azpi Chilwell Pereira Maguire Digne
Maddison ASM JWP MPereira McNeil
Willian Wood Haller R Moreno
Should I safely ignore Havertz/James and go straight for Wilson, seeing that my fwds are pretty crap? How much (%) would you invest of your FAAB money for him?
Cheers!
For a 10-team league you're pretty stacked actually. Wilson is right in that Haller-Rodrigo range (I'm lower on Wood than most). But I would be trying very hard today to do a trade to upgrade FWD at the expense of you 4/5 MID. Like can you sell someone on: Pereira or McNeill + Wood/Haller to get back a FWD1 like Jimenez or Auba?
I genuinely don't understand how some of y'all are walking out of drafts/auctions with these squad lists. This team is eye-popping. That midfield is an all-timer.
Thanks for the Feedback! Appreciate it.
Yeah it can get a little crazy in an auction draft when everybody goes for tier 1 fwds. If you manage to hold out, you have Willian as your best fwd, but your defs and mids look pretty good.
Will try to induce a trade, thanks for the suggestions!
Hi John, because we are masochists, we have a 16 team league. I read your article on building your own ranks but wondered what you primary focus would be in a draft of this size? should I be picking players who I feel are likely to accrue their points more consistently over the course of the season, so I'm not left having to make team changes and roster pickups from a weak bench?
What kind of manager are you? 16-team leagues can rise or fall on your ability to play the waiver wire and free agent game. If you live in California or Australia, if you work weekends, if you sleep late, you should prioritize getting regular starters in your mid and late rounds. If you’re an active manager, snagging high value PPM players (Trossard, Foden, Mount) that you actively rotate, using your bench and waivers to fill in will give you an edge in those matches when they start. At the end of the season you’ll see they only finish 35-50 in total points but it’s concentrated into 20-25 starts. That’s huge value head to head.
Really interesting points, John. I love actively playing the waivers and free agency but I am on the west coast of the USA and with the timing of the waiver wires, it's easy to get beaten to the best free agents. Never let it influence my draft but it sounds like it's time to adjust accordingly, thanks!
Q: How about waiver? Can't see anything else in the pipeline at the moment especially with no Messi now.
A: There’s a decent amount of waiver options depending on when you drafted: Havertz, James, Wilson (seriously), Fraser (no, seriously), van de Beek. but with the window open until October I expect more moves especially if players fall ill/injured early.
Plus there are undoubtedly moves that will happen which aren’t being reported. And Arsenal keep signing defenders!
Q: What would your thoughts be on drafting both Sterling/Mahrez if available. Almost guaranteed to have at least one start each week and good chance at a goal between them
A: Love it. They play together fine, 25+ times your getting both of them and this team will score 100 again. That’s not really a handcuff so much as stack insurance that one definitely plays each week. But for pure value? Both justifiable inside the first round / at the turn.
Likewise what about Foden and Bernardo silva, looking likely to fall on the turn at around pick 36, is this something you would advise?
That’s tougher for me because I don’t see Foden getting the starts he needs to justify the draft cost there. If I get Bernardo early will I look for Foden at value but I’m not reaching to make that happen.
Not entirely sure where Foden will play when he does play, back end of the restart he was paying wide forward. I like Bernardo Silva this year with the departure of D. Silva
Q: In terms of Chelsea, I've got both Werner and Havertz in my top 10 overall. Too high expectations?
A: Top 10 for total points scored this season? Yeah definitely. If you're figuring out draft day value, that's fine for Timo. I'm not putting Havertz inside my top 20. Young, crazy competition, and there are plenty of better risks. He'll be a 2nd RD pick in a lot of drafts tho.
Q: You have fifth pick in an eight team OFPL draft league. Assuming Salah, Sterling, KDB and Mane go 1-4, who’re you taking at five? Please don’t say Auba.
A: In an 8-team league I'm taking Trent and I'm thanking everyone for letting him fall. Only 24 forwards can start every week there which means I'll be able to get good value and depth there later. There's only one Trent.
LOL. I totally missed that you also jumped Sterling up into the top 4. I'm actually taking BRUNO there. The distance between him and TAA on total points makes it worth the pick (I also have Bruno ranked 1-1 so it's a no brainer to me)
Q: Can you expound on why you’re so high on Ben White? He’s expected to primarily play in a 3ATB with Webster/Dunk so why is his upside/ceiling so much higher than those two? Granted he did well at Leeds but now back with Brighton.
A: Just a feeling that he will end up wining enough duels tackles interceptions and clearances to have a solid floor. I also still think Dunk could get sold and be a backup somewhere or in rotation. If he stays after deadline ends his value w/ Brighton would be closer to White
Could TAA be a top 4 pick in the draft? Having serious considerations picking him over mane or salah
If you want TAA and you're the 4th pick, you'll have to take him. That's true of all the first round players and it's why many "experts" laugh about trying to parse the top end of the draft. If you WANT Werner, it doesn't matter if I rank him 2nd or 10th, he's not going to be there in round two. Same thing with Trent. On total points is he worth it? No. Once you consider how much much more valuable he is than everyone else? Sure he could even be the 1-1.
Got offered Fernandes and vvd for salah and Digne , what you think ? Ofpl
Why? It’s a lateral move at best
Hi Gaffer. I am long term OPL draft addict. Thanks for the excellent cheat sheet. Do the OPL rankings take into account player scarcity (I.e. there are very few strikers in OPL with a large drop in quality vs. there being many GK with a limited drop in quality). I would typically expect this to justify picking GKs late in the draft (and Neil Thurman has written about this recently) but see some GK are quite high in your list. I am drafting later tonight (10 man OPL). so your thoughts would be much appreciated
YES! The OFPL Cheats do take into account player scarcity; my general rule for doing the Top 180/200 cheat sheet is to use a version of Value Based Drafting. It's not simply about getting the best player (ie - player who scores most points). Especially in OFPL where you must have 2-5-5-3 you need to identify when (or where in a draft) you take certain positions. I will take any player at any time but only if the value proposition is right.
Thanks very helpful! Is there any chance you will be producing a tiered list for OPL?
In the top 100 you have both white and Harrison - players that are new to me - what are your thoughts here. Is there another emi buendia amongst these two ?
No neither of them is Emi. Your best shot there are Pereira and Eze.
White I like quite a bit, though as I've written many times before there is some discount in his value if Dunk stays. That would be a good partnership for Brighton, but I'm not sure it will be fruitful for FPL managers with the two splitting the centreback spoils.
Harrison is part of a small group of players which Bielsa trusted last year. His philosophy in the Championship was to use a small group heavily and until we see him change that pattern in the Prem we need to draft based on what's been demonstrated. The City player is one of the more exciting prospects; he'll likely be a bit frustrating to own in draft but is a fine depth play and could win you a game or two across the season.
Really useful - thanks
What would your overall 15 players to have in ofpl ?