Time to go five at the back? The FPL talking point

Time to go five at the back? The FPL talking point

Images courtesy of Getty
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DefCon: What on Earth is it?

Many FPL managers are getting a lot of defensive contribution points this season, or “DefCons.”

Points could be obtained from every clearance, block, interception, and tackle.

Are defender-first strategies the best course of action given that defenders are currently so valuable?

Expert FPL Heisenberg and BBC Sport’s FPL Podcast discuss this week’s FPL talking point.

The case for a DefCon strategy is “Defensors are so good.”

Graphic showing players with the most FPL points this season: Haaland (forward) 62, Semenyo (midfielder) 48, Senesi (defender) 44, Guehi (defender) 43, Anthony (midfielder) 40, Alderete (defender) 39BBC Sport/Images courtesy of Getty
FPL Heisenberg: It pays to select defenders who can make defensive contributions. Let’s talk about Marcos Senesi, who has excelled this season and is worth his weight in gold.

This season, the Bournemouth defender has scored defensive contributions in every game. That’s a lot of 12 points, which is unusual and difficult to predict for a defender to score two goals in six games.

Senesi has the best defensive contribution points in the league, partially due to his defensive contributions. Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo are the only players with more points overall, with him sitting at third overall.

Statman Dave: This season’s strategy calls for DefCon at the back. I’ve been complaining a lot about it. Defensive players make up six of the game’s top ten players.

This season, the defense are absolutely fantastic. Tino Livramento, Jurrien Timber, Omar Alderete, Marc Guehi, and Senesi.

We’d never typically see that in fantasy football, but there are players like Moses Caicedo who have scored more points than Mohamed Salah. It kind of undermines the game’s worth.

The case against “Not the be all and end all”

Graphic showing players with most defensive contribution points this season: Senesi (defender) 12, Tarkowski (defender) 10, Andersen (defender) 10, Alderete (defender) 8, Cullen (midfielder) 8, Caicedo (midfielder) 8BBC Sport/Images courtesy of Getty
FPL Heisenberg: Defense contributions shouldn’t blind us. It’s still worthwhile to select defenders who have favorable playing conditions, who play for opponents with strong defensive defense, and those who have strong attacking threats.

Take James Tarkowski as an example; he can make defensive contributions, but in the upcoming gameweeks, I don’t see many clean sheets for Everton. Additionally, he hasn’t made any attacking contributions this season and hasn’t scored many goals or assists.

What data are gathered from this quiz?

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related subjects

  • Premier League
  • Football

Source: BBC

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