After reading an excellent short article by @FPL_Fly, it inspired me to add onto what he spoke about, in terms of those seeking advice from the ‘experts’. If you haven’t read the article, then I wholly recommend doing so >> https://fantasyfootballpundits.com/fantasy-premier-league-what-ifs-and-should-haves-that-eat-you-alive/

So in brief, he talks about the subconscious mind and how we can trick it into getting the answers we really want for ourselves.

Consciously, we think the best route to the answer is to seek the advice of ‘professionals’ or ‘experts’ in the community, which is a logical approach to achieving the goal, but is it the right one?

Fly argues not, and I agree with him, because whilst it might sound completely logical to seek the advice of an ‘expert’, at the end of the day, you are only getting their opinion on the matter, and if you’re getting their opinion on the matter, then you’re not playing the game yourself, and if you’re not playing the game yourself, then what’s the point?

The reason why football and FPL is so enjoyable, isn’t just because of the game itself, it’s the debates caused by differences of opinion that encapsulates our total enjoyment of it all.

It’s people’s different interpretations of various stimuli in the environment that make things interesting and ultimately, what sets us all apart – if you follow the advice of an ‘expert’ despite something in your gut telling you they’re wrong, then you, Sir or Madamme, have become a sheep.

You must have courage in your own convictions.

I believe what a large majority of people do, is they have their own assertions already formed about things so, a hypothetical example could be;

“Despite Kane being out of favour generally in the FPL Twitter community, I think he’s going to do really well early on and smash the August voodoo”.

The simple point is, for whatever reason it might be, people will lack the courage in their own conviction to simply put Kane in themselves, they need validation on it.

So rather than simply going for it, you’ll actively look to gain that courage from a weighted (in your mind you will have added an extra weight of value to some sources) source (an ‘expert’), so that when you have put him in your squad and you look at him in your team, you’ll know it’s been backed by an ‘expert’.

This gives you the confidence to execute the move and be comfortable with it but in reality, that ‘expert’ can’t tell the future, they don’t know if Kane is going to start really well or not, so in essence, it’s a false sense of security.

However, having courage in your own convictions isn’t easy…

It’s easy for me to sit here and type this now, but last season I struggled with this all season after my confidence was knocked early on and I constantly found myself second guessing my own assertions.

In all aspects of my life, I have prided myself on my ability to go my own way and stick to it, because I knew that even if I failed, it was my decision and not someone elses, and I can live with that and learn from it, but if I were to listen to someone else and go a certain way because of their advice and it backfired, then I’m always going to be annoyed I didn’t go my own way.

Frank Sinatra did it his way and I want to do it my way and the same goes for FPL.

In my most successful season (16/17), I was repeatedly told and heard from veterans of the game and truly amazing FPL managers with consistently high overall rank finishes, that taking a lot of hits would never work and I should avoid doing it at most turns, yet that year I finished 11k, having never gone below 200k all season, despite taking 88 points worth of hits.

So this, and many many other examples out there that I haven’t heard about, serve to prove that you can achieve success from going your own way – just don’t be afraid to!

I’m not saying don’t trust ‘experts’…

There are plenty of amazing sources out there who know a lot about football and FPL managers who have had consistently high overall rank finishes.

Of course you should be listening to what they have to say, but there’s a difference between taking overall strategy tips about balance, for example, and asking which player they prefer and then proceeding to blindly follow it.

As Fly says, if you’re asking an “X or Y?” question, and both these players are nailed on in their respective teams, then you’re asking the person their opinion on the player, and as I stated earlier, if you’re just going to follow their choice, then it’s them making the decision for you and then what’s the point in playing the game?

You likely have the answer to your question already there, so you can trial Fly’s tip by coin tossing for it, or you can choose to trust your own assertion and simply go for it, rather than seeking a falsely weighted opinion from an ‘expert’ who cannot tell the future.

Either way, play your own game – by all means seek advice from sources such as ourselves and various veterans of the game, but beyond general strategy and statistics that are offered, you must pick the players for yourself.

We provide the tools, you must then make your own mind up.