Gameweek 1 doesn't always go to plan, and for managers who found themselves on the wrong end of a difficult opening week, the Wildcard is already on the table.

Whether it was loading up on players who didn't start, getting the squad structure badly wrong or simply finding yourself miles off the template, sometimes the cleanest solution is a full reset.

If that sounds familiar, here is the squad worth building around heading into Gameweek 2.

Goalkeepers

David Raya (£6.0m) is the standout set-and-forget option in goal, playing behind the best defensive unit in the league and as reliable a starting point as any manager could ask for.

Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) fills the backup slot as an affordable placeholder that keeps the budget flexible elsewhere.

Defenders

The defensive unit is built around depth and value across every price bracket.

Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) leads the line at the back, as safe and reliable as ever, the kind of player who quietly accumulates points week after week without ever needing to be the centre of attention.

Josko Gvardiol (£5.5m) got off to the perfect start with a goal in Gameweek 1 and is the Manchester City defensive pick of choice heading into a stage of the season with some very appealing fixtures on the horizon.

Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) comes in as a solid mid-price option, nailed to start and well set up for defensive contributions. Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) may not start in the next week or two, but he is the cheapest route into the Arsenal defence and is surely expected to force his way into the starting eleven before long.

Getting ahead of the curve on him now while the price is low feels like a smart play. Dara O'Shea (£4.0m) rounds out the defence and what a start he has made, racking up 18 defensive contributions in Gameweek 1 alone. As reliable as they come at this price point.

Midfielders

The midfield is where this squad really delivers. Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) anchors everything as the highest scoring FPL player since Carrick took the reins at Old Trafford, ranking first for expected goal involvement and returning in 14 of his previous 18 starts.

Dominic Szoboszlai (£7.0m) took Liverpool's penalty in Gameweek 1, which gives real assurance that he is the designated taker. That additional route to points only strengthens the case for owning him alongside his set piece involvement and defensive contribution potential. Elliot Anderson (£6.5m) was a defensive contributions machine last season and looks well placed to replicate that output at Manchester City, following the template that Rodri set so effectively in that role.

Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m) is nailed on for minutes at Everton, on set pieces and potentially on penalties, making him one of the best value picks in this price bracket. Meanwhile, Pascal Groß (£5.5m) rounds out the five as an affordable and reliable accumulator, completely safe for minutes and with penalty potential of his own following Welbeck's departure.

Forwards

Erling Haaland (£15.5m) is the foundation the entire squad is built around. Beyond the obvious points about ownership and pedigree, he is close to essential for Gameweek 3 and Gameweek 5, with Coventry and Sunderland both visiting the Etihad. Those are the kind of fixtures Haaland was made for, and having him in the squad for both feels non-negotiable.

Joao Pedro (£7.5m) is in excellent form after an 11-point return against Fulham in Gameweek 1, leading Chelsea's attack as the No. 9 with no European commitments in midweek to eat into his minutes. At his price he represents outstanding value for a player already delivering at the top end of his potential.

Sindre Walle Egeli (£4.5m) completes the forward line as the most affordable option available who is likely to see any meaningful minutes, keeping the budget as flexible as possible across the rest of the squad without leaving a completely dead slot at the bottom of the bench.

With Haaland anchoring the attack, Fernandes driving the midfield and a defensive unit packed with value across every price point, this is a squad built to compete from Gameweek 2 onwards and well beyond.

Let me be honest with you. There is no magic formula. No secret algorithm. No single template that guarantees a top finish every season.

What there is, however, is a way of thinking about the game that separates the managers who consistently finish well from the ones who spend half the season wondering where it all went wrong.

Here is how I approach it.

1. Process over panic

The first thing to understand is that FPL rewards process over panic. It rewards the manager who spends twenty minutes on a captaincy decision over the one who goes with their gut at 11pm on a Tuesday.

It rewards the manager who checks the next five fixtures before making a transfer over the one chasing last week's points. None of this is complicated, but it requires discipline, and discipline is harder than it sounds when your rank is tanking and your mini league rivals are pulling away.

2. 'How' over 'whether'

Start by thinking about how a player scores points rather than whether they score points. A midfielder who takes penalties, wins bonus points regularly, contributes defensively, and rarely misses a minute is worth far more to your squad than a flashier name who hauls a banger every four gameweeks and disappears in between. Build around reliability first and upside second, not the other way around.

3. Fixtures, fixtures, fixtures

Fixtures matter more than most managers give them credit for, especially in the opening weeks of the season. The early gameweeks can shape your entire rank before September arrives, and a premium asset stuck in a brutal run of away games at title contenders can cost you weeks of progress before they find any rhythm. Map out the first six fixtures for every team in your squad before you finalise anything. Do this every single week when you are making transfer decisions. It takes ten minutes, and it will save you countless headaches.

4. Captain holds the key

Captaincy deserves its own conversation because it genuinely cannot be overstated. Double points from your captain means a single decision defines your week. I have had gameweeks where nine players barely contributed and still posted a score worth smiling about purely because the armband went to the right player. The reverse is equally brutal, and there is nothing worse than watching a popular alternative haul while your captain sits on eight points. Take it seriously every week without exception.

5. Think hard about Haaland

Now for the one that trips people up more than almost anything else. Ownership. Erling Haaland is over 70% owned heading into this season. Seventy percent. And right now, I am building a Bench Boost Gameweek 1 squad without him. Not because I think he will blank, but because it suits my squad structure and chip strategy at this particular moment. The lesson here is simple: ownership figures tell you what other people are doing, not what you should be doing. Pick a player because you believe in them. If you are putting someone in purely because you are scared of what happens if you do not, that fear is not a strategy. That is just noise.

5. Beware new signing syndrome

New signings are another annual trap. Pre-season excitement has a way of inflating expectations for arrivals who then spend their first two months adjusting to a new league, a new system or a new country. Unless the minutes are genuinely nailed down, patience is almost always the smarter call.

6. Chipping forecast

Chips are powerful and they are finite. Have a rough plan for each one before the season starts. Not a rigid schedule, but an idea. Managers who use chips reactively after bad weeks tend to waste them. Managers who have a framework tend to deploy them at exactly the right moment.

7. Trust the process (even if you're in six millionth place)

And finally, be patient with your process. Last season I was ranked around six million overall after Gameweek 5. Six million. I changed nothing. I finished ranked 837. The process works if you give it time, and the managers who end the season at the top are almost never the ones who were making the most noise in October.

Trust yourself, do the work and back your convictions. The rest tends to take care of itself.

Rejoice, Manchester United fans: you have a new manager who has played for the club before. Finally, someone who understands what Old Trafford is about and won't be about to bring any of that three-at-the-back rubbish with him.

Manchester United seem to oscillate wildly between philosophy: David Moyes, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Jose Mourinho were all ‘traditional’ in their tactics, their aura and their will to firmly replicate the Sir Alex Ferguson model for how to manage in the Premier League, with Louis van Gaal, Ralf Rangnick and Ruben Amorim continental choices designed to bring fresh, modern ideas to a club gone stale.

And so, Old Trafford's overton window has shifted back again towards a former Ferguson disciple, with fans wanting to see ‘United DNA’ once again with Michael Carrick. But will the former midfielder even bother to offer the style of play that United fans yearn for?

How will Michael Carrick play at Manchester United?

Whisper it, but Michael Carrick plays with a back three… only in build-up, though. Most often at Middlesbrough, Carrick would operate with a 4-2-3-1, which would morph into a 3-2-5 shape.

One full-back would push on into the line of attack, with another staying behind in the back three: as you can see below, that's the left-back who's bombed ahead, with the right-back building up. The two midfielders would then roam, waiting to pick up the ball from the backline and progress forwards. It's all very modern and Pep Guardiola, isn't it?

There are other similarities with the sky blue side of Manchester. Like most modern coaches – including Pep, yes – Carrick set up his side in a 4-4-2 shape out of possession, with markers pressing zonally.

The Boro boss wanted to be pressed, too. Carrick would often ask for three or four defenders to stay deep and invite pressure during goal-kicks, even with one of Dan Barlaser or Jonny Howson dropping from the double-pivot between the two centre-backs.

No, it's not particularly ‘United DNA’. Those who want attacking football may be pleased to see that no one scored more goals than Boro during Carrick's first season. They ranked high for possession, so there's certainly the intention to be protagonists with the ball.

But according to Opta, Middlesbrough were the third-slowest team in terms of attack during 2022/23. Yes, the stats bods caveat that by adding that, “Only Coventry had more shots from fast breaks than them (21)”.

This isn't their Unai Emery: it's certainly not a second coming of Sir Alex. It's more like Enzo Maresca or Mikel Arteta. United, like others before them, have fallen down the positional play pipeline (not that it's the worst thing in the world).

Who are the winners and losers of Michael Carrick becoming United boss?

Perhaps it's damning on Amorim's philosophy that the biggest winners are the attackers and the biggest losers are the defenders.

There's one fewer centre-back spot up for grabs now, Manuel Ugarte has lost the man who got the best out of him at Sporting, and Bruno Fernandes could well be finally free of playing a deep-lying midfield position, re-deployed as a no.10 at last.

Patrick Dorgu is a big winner, as one of the more dynamic full-backs who will surely be tasked with the role of being the more advanced of the two: Amad Diallo, meanwhile, is surely a loser of Carrick's arrival, given that Amorim's entire system seemingly only benefited him at times.

He will surely have to now play as a right-winger – and compete with Bryan Mbeumo – or be the advanced full-back under the new boss… and he's not really a full-back. Other big casualties would depend on how Carrick adapts his template at Old Trafford: Luke Shaw can surely only play the more conservative full-back role these days, Mason Mount is a fit for left-wing or no.10 depending on whether Fernandes or Cunha start, and several centre-backs (such as Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro) might have futures as full-backs if the other full-back in the system is more attacking.

Arguably the biggest question, however, is around Kobbie Mainoo – and it's not certain that Carrick will rely on him any more than Amorim did.

The 3-2-5 build-up shape of United resembles Amorim's. There are stark differences between how the two managers get to that shape but Mainoo remains likely to play as one of those ‘2’ – and considering he is better suited to a three-man midfield, Carrick may be as reluctant as his predecessor to place the youngster in such an exposed role.

He'll have to hit the ground running: Manchester United take on Manchester City this weekend when Premier League action resumes.

Liverpool began this season as huge favourites to retain their Premier League crown, but Manchester City put a huge dent in those dreams at the Etihad Stadium.

Not only did Pep Guardiola’s side – in the Catalan’s 1000th game in football management – defeat the incumbent champions, they made them look weak and flustered.

Although the Reds had the ball in the back of the net at 1-0 – before a contentious VAR call – there was no question the hosts were good value for their three-goal win.

Arne Slot threw everything at Jeremy Doku and didn’t land a punch

Usually, in such an emphatic performance by City, this sentence would lead into a stream of paragraphs waxing lyrical about the unstoppable force of Erling Haaland.

And he did, as per usual, get himself on the scoresheet, netting the opener shortly after seeing a penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili.

But in the tale of this game, Jeremy Doku is the protagonist.

It is his goal, City’s third in the Sunday evening clash, that will pop up as you scroll through your chosen social media platform on Monday morning.

However, boiling his performance down to that one moment, an admittedly sensational curling strike from outside of the box after cutting in on his right, is to diminish his overall impact on the game.

Starting on the left wing, he found himself up against young right-back Conor Bradley.

The 22-year-old is no slouch, having kept former Ballon d’Or runner-up Vinicius Jr quiet in that same one-on-one battle earlier in the week.

Against that backdrop, Doku drifted over to the right flank a couple of times early in the game, likely deemed to have a better chance running at the slower and older Andy Robertson on that side.

But after a couple of runs at Bradley, it quickly became apparent such overthinking wasn’t necessary.

The Belgian had the beating of his man, and not only his man, but his man’s cavalry as well.

Taking a look at Ibrahima Konate’s heatmap from the Etihad meeting, you’d be forgiven for thinking Slot had started the Frenchman at right-back.

He may as well have done, based on the amount of time he spent over on that side with doubling up on Doku with Bradley.

It made little impact, highlighted best when the pair rushed over to retrieve the ball, only to botch the interception and gift Doku the ball back, which led to Haaland’s chance from the spot after the winger was tripped by Mamardashvili.

Konate didn’t have the greatest day in the office, City having seemingly set their press up to direct the ball to the Frenchman, leading to multiple turnovers – a point Guardiola wouldn’t be drawn on in his post-match interview with Sky, so as not to single out and embarrass the centre-back.

And it was to the 26-year-old that the unenviable task of trying to stop Doku’s shot for the third goal fell, the Belgian’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-them feet making Konate look well off the pace in comparison.

But the blame cannot fall solely at Konate’s door, as Ryan Gravenberch’s heatmap also shows a suspicious trend towards Doku’s zone.

As the game went on, with the Konate-Bradley tandem not laying a glove on Doku, Slot appeared to drag the Dutchman into the dance to spare Konate’s blushes and allow him to focus more on Haaland.

At that point, however, the damage was done.

Doku was withdrawn in the 74th minute to a standing ovation at the Etihad, having put in one of his most complete performances to date.

Job (not quite) done, Bradley was ordered to stand down just under 10 minutes later, still dizzy from the onslaught he’d been subjected to.

The same trio that had kept Vinicius Jr and co quiet on Europe’s biggest stage just days earlier had been bamboozled by one tricky Belgian.

Slot told Sky pre-match that he’d analysed City 250 times that week. He’d seen Doku coming; he just couldn’t stop him.