@dmpwright’ 23/24 Expert Season Review

In this article we take a look at @dmpwright‘ 23/24 expert season review. Here our expert looks back on the season passed. He talks through some of things that went well for him and also some of the things that didn’t go so well.

@Dmpwright’ 23/24 expert season review can be extremely helpful for Fantasy Football managers moving forward. Dan is a Fantasy Football Hall of Hamer. This means he has been one of the best mangers around for some time.

What Went Well?

I was pleased to close out the season with an OR of 1.3K. In fact, it was my third consecutive top 2.5K rank and my fourth top 10K finish in as many seasons.

Some of my personal highlights from a Fantasy perspective include Alexander Isak’s end-of-season hauls, double-digit returns from Ben White and Joško Gvardiol in DGW34 and DGW37, respectively. I was also an early adopter of the Arsenal defence and held onto until my second wildcard.

Cole Palmer will also go down as one of the great FPL assets. While I didn’t catch some of his early hauls (more on that later), he proved to be both a fantastic enabler and all-round Fantasy asset all season long.

A big part of my success this term was my decision making in the second half of the season. This is highlighted by my 127th-place finish in the ‘Second Chance’ league. Things started to click once the potential blank and double Gameweek schedule started to take shape around GW21-GW22. I came up with a clear plan of how I wanted to navigate the blanks and doubles. I only deviated from my planned moves when injuries and rotation arose.

A key part of that plan was the decision to navigate BGW29 using free transfers. This enabled me to save my Free Hit chip for DGW34. There I loaded up on the likes of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Michael Olise, Ebereche Eze and 26-point hero Ben White. All of whom helped me achieve a rank-boosting 140-point haul.

My decision to use transfers through to BGW29 was a calculated risk. But that wasn’t without fortune. In order to target teams that played in BGW29, I didn’t load up on either Liverpool or Manchester City players for their double in GW25. Nor did I back Bournemouth assets in GW28, and fortunately I wasn’t too badly punished.

Focusing my transfers on BGW29 players also meant I owned the likes of Jarrod Bowen for his hattrick in GW26. That was another personal highlight! Another important aspect of my ‘BGW29/Free Hit 34’ strategy was my use of the second wildcard in GW30.

Playing my wildcard in GW30 gave me a head start on those who used it in DGW35. It allowed me to make gains from players who would later become template picks when they were still relatively low owned. A great example of this is Alexander Isak, whom I brought in on my wildcard. Isak had 6.6% ownership of FPL managers at the time of his 15-point haul against West Ham.

What could have gone better?

Fortunately, more things went right than wrong for me this season! In general though, the first half of the season wasn’t great for me. I had a decent enough start, rising to an OR of ~16K by GW3, but had plummeted to ~475K by GW7.

I played my first wildcard in GW8 with the aim of arresting my slide but didn’t make any meaningful gains until around GW22. It’s hard to pinpoint the reason(s) for my early-season struggles. Overall though, I feel like I was reacting to situations a lot of the time rather than making proactive decisions or moves aligned to a specific plan.

There were definitely a few disappointing transfers in that period too. One of those was Matty Cash on my wildcard. Others included short-term moves like Jamaal Lascelles and Kostas Tsimikas, and my ill-fated decision to bring in Darwin Nuñez for Ollie Watkins in GW14. That was the decision I ended up reversing in GW18 after a net loss of 15 points.

Moussa Diaby was another disappointing pickup on my wildcard. His 13-pointer in GW10 was his only significant return and yet he remained in my team until GW18, despite losing his place in the Aston Villa starting XI in GW13.

I was also late to jump on Cole Palmer, who only came into my team in GW16. This again speaks to a slightly passive approach in the early part of the season. Ensuring I’m as proactive as possible with my moves throughout the season is definitely a learning I’ll take into next term!