I suppose the poker term here is 'don't tap on the glass', so, good luck for the rest of the season, god speed

It's not an fpl review thing, it's a Haaland specifically thing

You could say this about poker, but people still play. The variance is where the ups and downs come, that's the game

If I get your example, that’s hindsight, you don’t have that info at the start of GW. By optimal I mean a season-long strategy that beats any other. Do you take the highest PPG player, or gamble on predicting others’ swings? Sleep easy knowing you made the right GTO decision and didn't gamble

Definitely yeah, umpteen ways to play the game, though maybe one game theory optimal way to play as regards captain right now

Going against the top scorer in the game is -EV. Fixtures tweak things a bit, but nothing outweighs a huge PPG gap. When others get closer, captaincy will actually become a meaningful choice again, so yes imo in the current game state all those non Haaland captains are wrong

Yeah, he’s my captain every week. It’s like poker: why start with jacks when you can start with aces and let the rest play out? Haaland is still the reliable 'ace' in FPL terms. Form plays a role, but we’re not at the point where he isn’t the best starting hand

Just meant that not captaining Haaland brings stress you could easily avoid

Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to challenge, I knew it was just a flippant comment. I enjoy FPL when the edge comes from finding points beyond Haaland, instead of gambling the armband for rank. Finding these fine margins and treating it like a marathon

To what end though, what would that achieve

All this faff just to avoid captaining Haaland though…

Right, you can't lose your mind if you made the right decision, but got the wrong outcome. Just be happy at consistently making correct decisions, the outcome is whatever really

2FT rolled, no transfers made. 940k OR

Head said wait for WHU/MCI for the Haaland TC.
Heart said stick to the long held plan and TC Haaland v Leeds — felt like he’d want to give them a kicking

Still rueing not holding Xhaka season-long

#FPL

Plus afcon transfers, so...

The free hit expires at the end of this half of the season btw

"he's due"!

"the likes of X"

I don't actively follow template, and I do believe, particularly this season, just playing solid high average, low variance players and being quick to bring in value rising stars is enough for a respectable rank rather than punting for the world

I did make the Gabriel - > VVD move. Do now think that if the original plan, which it was, was Arsenal defence then should have just stuck to it. Then you get a good problem like picking which one Arsenal defender, like yours

Paqueta odd man out

It's marginal maybe for which of the non Gabriel Arsenal defenders is best, definitely not a step backwards, you could be right as it's cb v fb and Gabriel is an exception

One step forwards better than one step sideways

"he's due" vibes, or

My experience as I got older is it takes effort to stay healthy, so, hope a park outing is start of a good habit for you. Park run is also good for self belief

Easy to say, but running helps. Consistency gives self belief. Being outside too, but you probably know that if you have a dog.

This is the one

All true, there’s plenty to weigh up in a captain pick. But last gameweek, and probably this one too, when all factors are considered, the answer is Haaland. Until it isn’t.

True two superstars would completely change team structure. The optimal play could well be to pick both and build around them, but that would shift the game in a way that’s not necessarily for the better I'd say

Imho picking a captain who isn’t the best player each week isn’t strategy, it’s gambling, that's what mean by saying "gambling" . The optimal play seems simple: captain the highest points scorer in the game every gameweek and you maximise your total points

Optimal play would then be alternating between the two best players each week (?), then that'd be tiresome if two superstars. If every player could only be captained once a season (the end of this thought imo) , that’d be the perfect rule to achieve the real objective — keeping the gamblers fed