GW PL Reset: Surviving the International Break, Injuries, Danger… and What Comes Next

GW FPL Reset: Surviving the International Break, Injuries, Danger… and What Comes Next

Another international break has come and gone, and to be honest, I still don’t like it. They disrupt the rhythm of the Premier League season, hinder FPL momentum and leave us doing injury trackers more often than updating our teams. But as much as I complain, it at least poses a danger, and that always helps.

International football without betting is just friendship in disguise. With something at stake, it becomes intoxicating. Wales scored seven goals past North Macedonia — seven! — is a lot of fun to watch. Not just victory, but destruction. It’s rare for Wales to have a game so easy, and it was great to see us actually enjoying the football rather than hanging on. There is something very rewarding about watching Wales play with such confidence. I’ll take all that away before returning to the chaos of the Premier League.

I’m also keeping an eye on Scotland v Denmark. Moment tonight? Scott McTominay, a former Manchester United player who joins a long list of players deemed above and beyond, was discarded with the same carelessness that they do to stewards, past managers, former captains and anyone else who dared to be near the club for more than a month, scoring an outrageous Pelé-style thunderbolt goal. Contender for goal of the season? Very. The kind of attack that makes you wonder how a club could look directly at such a good footballer and ignore him. Scotland took advantage of the wave of the moment and won 4-2. Brilliant results.

But now the international excitement is over, replaced by an uneasy wait before the play-offs. Wales have Bosnia first, and then, if the stars align, Northern Ireland or Italy. A tense road, but we’ve somehow made peace with the idea that qualifying for a tournament should always feel like a three-act tragedy. Come March, we will once again sit with bated breath and hope to book a flight from Heathrow to somewhere sunlit next summer.

Back to FPL Reality: Injuries, Flags and Gabriel-Shaped Holes

The hardest thing about the international break isn’t the football. That’s the impact. Every manager knows the feeling: your FPL squad is finally sorted, your plans for the next three game weeks actually seem coherent, and then, international carnage.

This time, the pain came early for many managers. Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães, one of the highest scoring defenders in the game and a pillar of many FPL teams, is now reportedly out for two months. Two months! That’s the highest-scoring defender knocked out until January. Congratulations, international football.

There is rarely a “right time” for one of your premiums to experience a loss, but this feels particularly cruel. With a busy December, rotations coming up, fixture changes happening, losing a reliable defender with attacking threat and clean sheet potential is a headache that no one needs.

Like many managers, I decided not to wait. Price drops happen in the shadows, and I’d rather act early than see my army’s value drained away. So out goes Gabriel, and in comes Matty Cash, a much cheaper option, but one with strong upside projections over the next three weeks of play. If his stats line up and his schedule goes well, he could edge out Gabriel. And the extra money spent provides more flexibility in the future. Sometimes FPL rewards courage; sometimes it punishes you for it. We’ll find out this weekend

Playing the Game of Uncertainty

I have been hit with four players listed as “uncertain” for the weekend. That’s the worst part: the uncertainty. If a player drops out, fine, you handle it. But when your squad is full of “maybe”, “might”, “late fitness test”, and “should be available”, it becomes just guesswork.

I’ve fixed the most pressing issue by removing Gabriel. Other? I was sitting quietly. There’s a line between proactive management and unnecessary panic, and international breaks often tempt us to cross it. History tells us that many of these so-called “injuries” miraculously disappeared once the Premier League payroll, I mean matches, resumed. So for now, I’m going to trust the bench and hope this weekend’s press conference provides something that provides clarity.

Why The International Break Is So Difficult For FPL Managers

Every FPL manager feels it: breaks disrupt momentum and cloud judgment. Before the break, most of us were in a rhythm – observing fixture changes, planning captains, building bench depth. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

Here are universal truths about international breaks:

1. They create unnecessary decision-making pressure

When nothing happens domestically, we fill the void with speculation. “What if Player X gets injured?” “What if Player Y is benched?” “Should I use wildcards?” Ninety percent of the stress of an international break is self-inflicted.

2. They create more chaos than data

We get almost no useful information about players’ prospects in the Premier League, but we do get a lot of injuries. This is the worst trade-off in FPL.

3. They disrupt the rhythm of price movements

We often see fluctuating rises and falls as people panic or bet on early transfers. It becomes a mini stock market.

4. They destroy the team’s identity

You may have liked your team before the break. After two weeks of playing around, watching highlights, reading predictions and studying game schedules, you suddenly hate it. Nothing really changes — except your mood.

5. They give managers too much time to overthink

This is the biggest. With no compatibility underlying your thoughts, your mind fills the silence with tactics, plans, and doubts. FPL should be fun, but the international break often makes it a test.

Looking Ahead: Football Is Back…and Thank goodness for That

Despite all the uncertainty, all the injuries, all the flags and all the headaches, the good news is: football is back. Real football. Premier League football. Wolves football. And I, for one, can’t wait.

There’s something comforting about returning to a normal FPL week – watching the deadline stream, checking the line-up predictions, panicking on a Friday night, and then screaming at your screen on a Saturday afternoon when someone you’ve sold scores two goals. That’s the beauty of it.

For me, I’ve made the one transfer I needed to make, I’ve avoided markdowns, and I’ve given myself some breathing room in the budget. The rest of the squad remains as it is. I’m going to put aside the player’s questionable status and believe that at least two of them will miraculously recover in time.

Wolves are back, the Premier League is back, chaos is back and fun is back.

Game week is ready. Come on, Wolf.

Useful Links

Embracing Data for Strategic Decision Making

Top Ten Disasters we’ve handled during our time as DBAs