LMS Rookie Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

It doesn’t matter how good you are at Fantasy Football, how many matches you watch, or how many stats you scroll through — Last Man Standing is a different beast. And in LMS, the first few weeks are where most players knock themselves out.

Not because they don’t know football.
Because they don’t know the game.

Here are the most common rookie mistakes in LMS — and how to avoid joining the early exit club.

❌ 1. Trying to Pick the Same Team Twice (Old Habits Die Hard)

In old-school LMS setups — spreadsheets, WhatsApp, pub blackboards — loads of players have been caught out by accidentally picking the same team twice. It’s an easy mistake when you're guessing from memory.

LMX Advantage: That can’t happen here. Once you pick a team in LMX, it’s locked out for the rest of your campaign. The interface does the remembering, so you don’t have to.

But if you're coming from a manual setup, this is one bad habit worth breaking.

❌ 2. Missing the Deadline

You’re busy. It’s Friday night. You think you’ll pick in the morning. Then lunchtime arrives… and the early kick-off has started. You’re locked out. Eliminated without even kicking a ball.

LMX Tip: Our smart cut-off system makes deadlines crystal clear — and we send pick reminders, just in case life gets in the way.

❌ 3. Overlooking the Fixture List

Newbies often pick whoever’s top of the table. But that team might be away to their local rivals, knackered after midweek European travel, and missing three starters.

LMX Tip: Our fixture view shows you the whole gameweek, not just league standings. Use it.

❌ 4. Picking Against “In-Form Strugglers”

Every season, there’s a team who start slow and suddenly click. It might be a relegation favourite on a three-match unbeaten run. If you haven’t clocked that, and pick against them? You’re done.

Rookies trust the table. Winners read the signs.

❌ 5. Getting Too Clever, Too Early

Trying to be the maverick in Week 1 rarely pays off. Save your bold picks for later. The aim in the early rounds isn’t to outsmart everyone — it’s just to survive.

❌ 6. Thinking It’s All Luck

Is there luck involved? Absolutely. But don’t let that fool you — LMS rewards preparation, awareness, and restraint. The people who treat it like a proper game are the ones still standing when others are long gone.

🎓 The Bottom Line

You don’t need spreadsheets, spreadsheets about spreadsheets, or a footballing supercomputer.
You just need a plan — and the awareness not to shoot yourself in the foot.

LMS isn’t hard to play.
But it’s very, very easy to lose.