UCL Fantasy expert interview
We take a look through a UCL Fantasy expert interview. Regular fantasy football manager and UCL Fantasy expert @aaron_graydon shares some information about how he plays the game. Giving his insight into some of his person life, how he likes to play the game and some of the thought processes he takes when making decisions.
Looking at UCL Fantasy expert thinking can be really helpful. With so many UCL Fantasy players it could be very beneficial when learning how others play the game. This can then help improve our own games and bring clarity to the way we think about decisions.
@aaron_graydon
Tell us a little about yourself
I am one half of the Main Event Champions League Podcast with Dan and come from Newcastle but have lived in Ireland and USA. I have just had my second daughter and so loving the lack of sleep.
I am a personal trainer as a job but massive fantasy sport enthusiast in which I play Fantasy premier league, champions league, NFL and even NBA!
Why do you play UCL Fantasy?
Similar to the previous interview, Dan and I played UCL fantasy to help us kill time in the job we didn’t like. It got us talking. When we were leaving the job, we did the podcast to continue playing. I wanted to play due to being a long time Serie A fan and having that as an advantage.
What is your rank target every season?
My rank target is honestly pretty modest. This is because as much as I love fantasy sports, and I retain a lot of knowledge, I am my own worst enemy. I also always overcomplicate my game so just as long as my rank is respectable, hoping people actually listen to me is all I ask!
How do you play the game?
I am a very cautious player which probably reflects in my ranks. But, I like to have a good mixture of “safe-floor” players who will guarantee around 5 points. This is due to ball recoveries and then players with the huge ceilings.
I always like to throw in one player that is behind the scenes just for my own entertainment too. We say on the podcast that Tuesday is for risks and Wednesday is for safety, and that is my strategy for captains!
Once I have my options for the full matchday, I select Tuesday’s captain as the player with lowest owned percentage from the options. I then switch to highest percentage on the Wednesday if I need to.
How do you like to use the chips?
Every season I have had a different chip strategy. In my first season, I played both chips in the knockouts. This season I’ve played both in the group stage.
I am a very cautious player. For that reason, I have mostly used my wildcard as a ‘get out of jail free card’ to save me in the knockouts. I’m interested to see how I play the knockouts differently this year. Even more so without a chip handy.
What has gone well for you so far this season?
My limitless wildcard in Matchday 3 worked a treat. I played my normal wildcard in Matchday 2. This was where a lot of people played their limitless. I was around 10-15 points behind people but then played my limitless. From that I climbed 125,000 places and ended with 20 points. This was ahead of some of those players so it paid off.
What are your plans for Matchday 4?
My plans for Matchday 4 are to get rid of some of my defenders. This is due to some risks not paying off or they have bad matches. But also start to focus on teams that will not rotate so as much. I would love to get Cancelo in my team. I will focus more on tighter groups to avoid an awful Matchday 5 or Matchday 6.
What advice would you give to other managers?
My advice would be to target some of these teams that will have to play their strongest 11 in all matchdays instead of chasing points! Meaning, if you don’t have a top point scorer from Bayern or Man City, the risk of rotation is too much for me so start to prioritise the other teams.
I would especially do this for players within them teams who played well as you can have starters in last two matchdays. We can also get a few price rises for the knockouts. Also listen to our podcasts!
If you missed our previous expert interview you can catch up here.
