The Differential overdrive

The concept of a differential and its usage are not new, even in fantasy footballing parlance. The term has been copiously overused this season by fantasy football pundits and managers alike. I have been hearing it week after week on blogs and podcasts. Differential is almost in vogue. To the extent, that not using one is akin to “missing out”.

Is differential all that important? If I don’t use it, will I freefall into the fantasy football abyss?

Differential, to me, reflects a sign of managerial incoherence and desperation. It invariably means your ranking is in a state of limbo. Neither up nor down. So you are ready to put all your hopes (and fantasies) on “hot picks” suggested by some geeky number crunching FFF (‘Fantasy Football Fan’ like me) or go with your “gut instinct” on some freaky no good player with close to zero ownership believing that he will give you the much need impetus up the fantasy football ladder.

A fantasy football team should be based around players who guarantee returns on full season basis. Each player has his ups and downs during a season. The only question that needs to be asked: Will your chosen star shine the brightest come the end of May?

In my honest opinion it is best to stay away from differential/s. In a 4 week cycle, a differential will very rarely give you more returns than a player with high ownership. The reasoning behind high ownership is that the player has some class and form which the differential does not have.

Changing your differential each week means wasting your weekly free transfer for little or no obvious gain. Leave “match to match” tinkering and blind faith induced punting to others.

Is it worth going for a differential and thereby missing out on a big player? No way. At various stages of the season, Costa, Kane and Aguero have been in great form scoring all sorts of goals. It would be plain stupidity to even look past these three (or even two) at any given point of time.

Have more than one differential in the playing eleven? Now that’s a death wish. Load too many differentials and see your stocks plummet. You can include a couple on the sub bench to give you an occasional blip on your otherwise downward trajectory (Trainspotting, huh?).

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