Bom Marley?

Who? Jensen Ackles?

I've always leaned towards nailed-on CBs who score the occasional header rather than their more expensive FB teammates.

*cool kids are retired!

No it isn’t.

Interestingly, Munoz and Lacroix would have ended up on the same points per game (4.2) had the defensive cons been in last season. 20 years of instinct would still tell me to go for the attacking defender but now it's weighing up the slow and steady, and more reliable, def cons versus the unpredictability but bigger thrill - and higher ceiling - of goals/assists.

Agree. Certainly not 'huge'. Attacking FBs are way more attractive, given the potential for points from many sources - CS, goal, assist, bonus. As you said, it will come down to price. A £1m difference, maybe, but only if we're tight on funds. There needs to be price hikes for the high scoring players so that managers are under pressure, thereby forcing us to consider the more defensive players. Last season, the premiums under performed, so money wasn't an issue.

That’s where they want you!

I'm using Edge and it works fine 🙂

Same on Chrome

Reece says it's now fixed and live.

What are you doing that could possibly be a higher priority?

And maximum of 2 points per game, why? Maybe there's a good reason, but it deems a bit dullard, may I say. 😀

Agreed. I can see why some people might like it, but for someone like me who enjoys the game but doesn't want to think about everything too much (I didn't enjoy the new Assistant Manager chip for the same reason) it makes me less likely to want to play next season.

Overhauling the BPS could have had a similar impact, plus the advantage of having a better BPS. But maybe they are en route to removing the BPS altogether.

Now everyone: "But maybe they are en route to removing the BPS!!!"

Waaay too complicated. I know 2 people who would not play this year if there was anything as complicated as AM again.
Step outside the echo chamber and talk to people who play FPL just for a bit of extra fun at the weekend (the extreme vast majority of players), you'll realise that nobody cares about stats/this.
It's a simple game. Player scores goal, player scores imaginary points, serotonin level goes up.

I think it's small enough of a change that if ppl don't like it, they can just continue to play the way they've always played (or at the very least, naysayers will be considering DC's when selecting bench fodder at the very least). If they think it's silly or unnecessary, then it actually doesn't affect them that much. As I said in my post below yours, it just means they have *something* to offer, beyond 2-3 appearances points. They're now a participating cohort in the game, another avenue to find value. I can't really see a downside?

You just know someone's gonna make a fixture ticker for XBlocks. Games gone.

Agreed. The beauty of FPL has been in its simplicity and focus on goals.

Less successful fantasy games have tried this approach of totting up defensive returns before. It's not gone well.

I’m overjoyed that it isn’t a new, execrable, gimmicky chip!

Very good point - 'I'd like to see people encouraged to actually think about a squad rather than all having the same fodder.'

Dream Team has introduced a substitutes chip you can use 5 times a season

but that is a totally different format

however its about time FPL took the best bits from other formats to move forward

they won't over complicate things...it's meant to keep the masses engaged imo

Indeed. It's a fun game, so let's keep the rules simple to follow, so we can see the points coming in during the game. Personally, I'd like to see a limit of 2 players per club, which might force us to consider players from the so-called lower ranked teams. It would introduce more variance in teams - most managers pick the same premiums, but when faced with cheaper choices from lower teams, I would expect to see a wider selection.
Cheaper Choices - bit of a tongue twister - might be a good Team Name 😉

I don’t believe you were ever top 5k, can you provide evidence to back up this claim?

No, it will be there.

Good question!
I'd not noticed it until you mentioned it.

(And now I'm looking more at the numbers than the replies!!!)

Will consider bringing back my 523 formation from 2017/18 season

We need pricing, and whether it takes into account the new rule.

Rice will be in every team.

Caicedo spent a lot of time at rb last season. He might not equal last year's points this year.

Gotta love guesswork.

Over the season there will be players who do it more often but on a game by game basis it's mostly down to luck. Have experienced this in other fantasy games.

I agree the subjectivity is obfuscating and a barrier to a good time. For example, according to Opta, a Recovery is "where a player recovers the ball in a situation where neither team has possession or where the ball has been played directly to him by an opponent, thus securing possession for their team". So this is what it's called if someone makes a woeful pass straight at you. But then if someone decides the pass wasn't woeful, then it's an interception: "This is where a player reads an opponent’s pass and intercepts the ball by moving into the line of the intended pass."

However, the FPL announcement says that if you tackle someone and then pass, you have racked up a tackle and a recovery. That is pretty out of left-field, and they allude to the (recovery) subjectivity with, "what they do with the ball after securing it is taken into account when awarding a recovery. The player will often be rewarded for starting a counter-attack [...]"

I'm not necessarily against trying to get the midfielders more involved in our decision, but not at any cost. This is another opaque system that will cause plenty of frustration as FPL and Stats Perform make their decisions, and we just have to trust them -- yet still make in-game decisions based on our non-understanding of their decisions. 😀

That said, I ain't all that bothered. I'm taking it less seriously these days (as you can tell!).

I wondered this, but then again I think it comes out in the wash. For example, we all get frustrated when someone registers an assist for either a sideways pass (followed by a solo wonder goal) or a ricochet into a teammates path, which sometimes turns 2pts into 9pts etc... what's the complaint here... that someone might get 1/10th of a 2pt bonus (i.e. 0.2pts) because of a questionable defensive contribution? They have to get TEN such things for it to start to be a big deal.

I'm repeating my prior comments, but the downside is so small that I think this can only be seen as adding something interesting and positive to the game.

Exactly. Especially if they get a price rise. 4.5m might tempt some people for the bench but there's so many mids that score goals so what's the point?

But a 4.5m nailed-on defensive mid might now be more appealing than a rotation-risk 4.5m attacking player.

100% correct. People sometimes don't like change, but this is a change that only has upsides in my opinion. Nobody is going to lose a mini-league and whinge that it was all because of this. It's easy to understand, has some value but isn't overpowered, gives us options without changing how we fundamentally play the game. It's an easy win, I can't understand what some are taking issue with.

I like it more than assistant manager as it remains directly about individual performance

Yes it will change the game, but i like that it's making me think a little. Even if I don't get more defensive players, I have to think about it

2 points is a good compromise. Might stop the game being flipped upside down

Will be interesting to consider data not just from last year to see what impact this rule might have

I'm glad forwards are included too.
Great to reward effort.
If I'm a lazy forward who likes to pick himself for FPL maybe I come back and make an extra tackle now and again

Maybe it makes my bench boost a tiny bit more interesting.
It often includes 2 cheap defenders with little prospects of points

It is fantasy football, yes. But if we're going to pick 11 players in a recognised formation, then encouraging us to use types of players often overlooked is i think good.

Yes maybe I'm clutching at straws.
But on the very occasionalblank gameweeks where there are limited options of interest, I may appreciate considering more defensive points

It's a brilliant free game. With a huge community. I enjoy talking about it with friends and family.
This change has given me more to talk about.

There we go. 10 defensive contributions by me.
I can bench myself now.

It does however remain to be seen whether i will be aware that my player was on 9 defensive blocks when he's subbed off on the 59th minute of a game that finishes 0.0. And how much upset that would add if I did know.

i like it. It is only 2 points. Most likely will help spread the template

This has to be trolling