One of the most underrated edges you can obtain in Fantasy Premier League is acting with as much information as possible; some FPL managers choose to make early transfers, which sometimes can come back to bite you.
The bulk of this information is acquired through the Premier League managers’ pre-match press conferences, which usually happen on the Thursday and Friday before the weekend’s games.
At these media sessions, managers will generally give updates on the availability of various players and sometimes tell us how long their injured ones are expected to be out. However, they are not obliged to tell the truth or to be completely open, and some of them are more reliable than others.
With Gameweek 12, which has an 11am GMT (6am ET) deadline on Saturday, coming off the back of an international break, there will be extra emphasis on keeping across updates on players who have been away with their countries and also those who pulled out of national-team duty this time.
Here we look at some of the Premier League managers who have proven to be dependable with what they say about players’ availability and others who are less than helpful on that score.
The good
At the top of the list sits Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou.
Since he took charge of the north London club, Postecoglou has been a delight for FPL managers. (The Australian was a keen FPL player himself and, in August, he said he was “gutted” he had to give the game up when joining Spurs.)
Maybe he’s looking after the FPL community as a result, or his straightforward injury updates could just be part of his natural style. You always get direct answers and approximate timelines regarding injuries to his players.
For example, before Gameweek 9, Postecoglou stated that Son Heung-min was unlikely to be fit for the game against Crystal Palace and, sure enough, he wasn’t in the squad. The following gameweek, before Spurs played Aston Villa, he told us Son had trained and he should be OK for the weekend, and he did indeed start.
There have been many examples of this kind of clarity since Postecoglou has been at Tottenham.
Postecoglou has become known for his straightforward injury updates (Jaimi Joy/Getty Images)
It also seems like Fabian Hurzeler is another one to watch out for. The new Brighton head coach has had a great start in English football and the early indications are that the German is also quite FPL-friendly — although quite not on the same level as Postecoglou.
Danny Welbeck was taken off on a stretcher late in their Gameweek 8 match against Newcastle with a back injury at a time when fellow forward Joao Pedro was coming back from a long lay-off. Hurzeler specified that Welbeck’s issue was nerve-related and that he was back in training, which was a huge surprise for FPL managers given the way he’d left the pitch a few days before. Welbeck duly started against Wolves in Gameweek 9. Joao Pedro also returned in Gameweek 11 after Hurzeler said he would be back soon in that same pre-Wolves press conference.
Liverpool’s new coach Arne Slot also seems upfront. He has provided specific timescales on his injured players several times which have turned out to be correct.
The bad
Mikel Arteta and Eddie Howe are by far the hardest managers to read when it comes to team news. They are either very vague or sometimes, shall we say, they could be accused of being economical with the truth. We have seen this from the pair of them for several seasons now.
This season, Arteta stated that the widely-owned Bukayo Saka was unlikely to face Liverpool in Gameweek 9. Not only did Saka start the match, he played 84 minutes and scored. In fact, in his recently published book, Saka’s Arsenal team-mate Oleksandr Zinchenko revealed that Arteta “likes to play games with the opposition. I’ve seen him tell injured players to come on the team bus and walk into the dressing room with their wash bag to put the other manager off the scent”.
Arteta pretty much admitted to this when asked about Saka’s fitness after that Liverpool game. “I don’t want to make it easy for anyone,” he said. “The opponent has to make sure they do their homework, like I have to.’’
On Howe’s second anniversary as Newcastle head coach at the start of this month, a reporter joked by congratulating him on managing them that long without telling the truth about injuries. “Thank you very much — that means a lot coming from you,” Howe responded with a smile.
Newcastle head coach Howe typically keeps his cards close to his chest (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola is another one who can be hard to read, with his vague and sometimes sarcastic answers. On top of that, due to Manchester City’s squad depth and Guardiola’s propensity to rotate his players, it’s always a tough task to predict his line-ups or glean much into his comments.
Before City played Bournemouth away in Gameweek 10, Guardiola stated Rico Lewis was “the only player we cannot rest. We would like to rest, but we cannot do it…” Lo and behold, Lewis was only on the bench at the Vitality Stadium, although that could have been due to fellow right-back Kyle Walker making a quicker-than-expected return from injury.
On the whole, his press conferences are insightful but Guardiola is not an easy manager to read.
It can pay off to keep track of each manager’s press-conference traits as it can potentially make a huge difference.
For example, over 1.1 million FPL managers transferred Saka out before that Arsenal-Liverpool match last month where he went on to score nine points. It may have helped them to know that Arteta doesn’t always give the full picture.
If you are serious about FPL, this is another ‘skill’ to add to your locker. I think we can get a solid idea of how forthcoming managers are after about half a season of listening to them speak to the media. This is enough time to see how direct they are or if they tend to be playful with the truth.
It’s especially important to monitor press conferences right after an international break. Popular assets such as Saka, Cole Palmer, Antoine Semenyo and Bryan Mbeumo all pulled out of international duty this month and are now doubts for the weekend, so this will be another good litmus test for a few managers.
The NFL (National Football League) in the U.S. actually requires teams to provide accurate and specific information regarding injured players to the league, their opponents and the media. If they are caught failing to do so, they can face penalties, fines or even see the involved player(s) suspended.
I think this kind of approach would be music to the ears of FPL managers and, who knows, in the coming years it may come into effect.
For now, though, we will have to use our intuition and judgment — which is probably a bit more fun.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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