Fantasy Football 247 Team – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
FF247 has finalised its selection for its squad this season. It was a long, heated meeting, full of opinion, argument, reasoning, debate, flirting, roast potatoes and furry hand cuffs. Yes it all went on, but finally the squad was chosen, difficult decisions were made, some top top players were left out, but as you all have found, we can’t choose everyone we wanted and sacrifices had to be made in all positions. The squad has changed quite drastically since our initial announcement a fortnight ago, as we’re sure yours has too. We have been able to see the club’s preseason friendlies, who is in form, who has nailed a starting berth and who has received favourable comments from their manager. We hope that, above all, our insight helps you to finalise your own team selection with just two days until kick off.
Formation
The biggest and most important decision was the choice to go with three premium strikers rather than a cheapie – in fact we were all quite agreed on that, which sadly wasn’t a sign of things to come! However, we felt that was an important first step because we wanted to maximise the potential of our strike force, which is, traditionally a big points contributor to any FPL squad. The three strikers have taken up almost 30% of the budget and it gave us clarity as to how much we had left to spend. On this basis, we are therefore looking at playing a 3-4-3 formation most of the time.
Goalkeepers:
David de Gea – we wanted United cover at the back. There were options in defence, but recent injury concerns over Jonny Evans and Luke Shaw took away those options. Phil Jones is an option, but with United actively looking for defenders in the transfer market, Jones’ injury record and the possibility of LVG rearranging his defence, we felt de Gea is nailed on to start, has little chance of being rested and at 5.5mln is cheaper than the keepers at the other big clubs.
Boaz Myhill – cheap 4mln keeper, we know he won’t be first choice at WBA, but budgetary measures ensured we go as “cheap as chips” – or roast potatoes. We are comfortable playing de Gea in every game. If the United keeper tweaks his hammy in the warm up, you have permission to shoot us!
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Defenders:
Joel Ward – as we witnessed last season, Tony Pulis had turned Palace into a lean, mean, defensively stubborn, clean sheet machine. Whether that solidity continues to be a feature now that Pulis has left remains to be seen long term but regardless we all agreed some Palace defensive cover was essential and there was little argument in the choice of Ward, who established himself as one of the first names on the teamsheet last season.
Steven Caulker – yep, we’re picking a Rangers defender and he’s not even the cheapest one. Caulker’s attacking prowess from set pieces fully justifies the extra 0.5mln investment over Rio Ferdinand, who may struggle to play every game anyway. With a decent set of opening fixtures, the appointment of Glenn Hoddle as coach alongside ‘Arry and good rotation with Palace, we feel Caulker will be a valuable and good point scoring member of our squad.
Erik Pieters – as we were reminded in Kop’s Tips, Stoke still boast a mean defensive record at home, so we wanted some cover here. With Bardsley fighting Cameron over the right-back slot, recurring worries over Huth’s fitness and Shawcross being that little bit more expensive, we plumped on Pieters. We will need to keep an eye on the claims of Marc Muniesa as he tries to displace Pieters as a starter, but we feel that right now, the spot is Pieters’ to lose and a decent preseason has probably affirmed that for Mark Hughes.
John O’Shea – with their late season form still firmly ingrained in our minds, Sunderland defensive cover was thought to be a decent option on a rotational basis with Pieters. We considered both Vergini and van Aanholt and we accept both these may offer more going forward than O’Shea – however, the thought was we needed a 100% starter and decided O’Shea is that, while the others may suffer rotation. With Wes Brown likely to be injured or suspended, O’Shea simply has to play!
Calum Chambers – bit of a punt this one and it may well be that we need to change it quite soon into the season. However, Chambers has made an excellent impression since his move from Southampton and with Mertesacker still lacking fitness and not due to play GW1, together with reports of Koscielny struggling with an Achilles injury, Chambers may well just get more playing time than first thought. An Arsenal defender at 4.5mln is too good to ignore – if after 2/3 weeks Mert & Kos keep Chambers on the bench then hopefully a decent cheap defender will have been identified from the early GWs.
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Midfielders:
Cesc Fabregas – likely to sit in the heart of the Chelsea midfield, this is unlikely to stop Fabregas continuing his excellent record in the Premier League – his preseason form has confirmed this and Mourinho has been talking him up over the last few weeks. Budget prevented us affording Hazard and we felt that Fabregas and the extra cash elsewhere will prove a wise use of funds.
Gylfi Sigurdsson – an impressive preseason has seen Siggy settle back into life at Swansea. A proven scorer and assister at Premier League level, we expect the midfielder to prove excellent value at just 6mln, especially now he will not be benched as he was at Tottenham.
Aaron Ramsey – what needs saying? Massively stepped up to the plate last season, has continued that in preseason and has not lost his scoring touch. A goal vs the Champions in the Charity Shield should see him start the season in confident fashion and centred in the middle of a side full of attacking talent, we see chances aplenty for the Welsh international, who Wenger has always believed in.
Juan Mata – finally being played in his favoured no.10 position under LVG and with a lovely set of fixtures to begin with, we feel Mata will thrive this season as United attempt to hit back from last season’s disappointment. Having looked good on their recent US tour, Mata is enjoying life at Old Trafford and we see little risk with this selection.
Karim El Ahmadi – with 14 of our squad chosen, we were left with 4.5mln to spend. Half the selection committee were asleep and the others seemed distracted by something more interesting. Which was understandable, for there are little in the way of obvious contenders at 4.5mln in midfield. So we plumped with El Ahmadi, who should start for Villa and if he doesn’t we’ll find someone else but we intend for him to be on our bench all things being well each week anyway.
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Strikers
Wayne Rooney (c) – a no-brainer for us, especially with RvP still not fit. Just been made club captain by LVG, Rooney knows this is his time to push on again and continue the incredible form that has seen him score or assist 132 times in the previous five Premier League seasons. A lovely set of opening fixtures should see him hit the ground running and he should also be on some set pieces and penalties until van Persie returns.
Diego Costa (vc) – Chelsea’s new striker has finally given Jose someone decent upfront to benefit from the chances the world class midfield will create. Known as The Beast, Costa has already scored four times in pre-season, has looked happy, hungry and at home and like Rooney, was a shoe-in for us.
Stevan Jovetic – there was plenty of debate on this one and many will disagree with the selection. We considered a few players, namely Lukaku, Giroud, Jelavic, Sturridge and Dzeko. The latter two created huge debate. Sturridge we decided was just too expensive alongside Costa and Rooney. End of. So it was down to Dzeko vs Jovetic and to be honest, we could have gone either, there are valid arguments for both and we feel that both will score similar this season. Pellegrini’s recent favourable comments about Jovetic, the player’s good scoring form in preseason and the extra 0.5mln saved pushed the scales Jovetic’s way.
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Captain
Another debate, another argument, resulting in season-long blame being pointed if it all went belly up. We narrowly decided on Rooney as captain, with Costa as vice captain on the basis that Old Trafford on Saturday should be rocking for LVG’s first league match in charge. Swansea were thumped 3-0 at home last week so confidence is not likely to be high and Rooney will still be on penalties in RVP’s absence. Costa we also like and could do well and if Chelsea were at home, he may have won the vote, but a Monday night trip to newly-promoted Burnley may prove to be a tougher task than some expect.
So there it is – the FF247 team for the start of the season. Of course, if any negative news regarding any of our players comes to light in the manager’s press conferences, we reserve the right to change the selection, but fear not, we will announce any changes.
Hi.. So here’s my team. I’m all done barring a choice in mid / attack. As you can see from the pic I’m not sure whether to have:
Sterling / Austin or
Henderson / siggy and a 8.5 front man (prob be dzeko / jovetic).
I was all set on this team about 4 seconds ago then this just clicked in my mind..
Whaddya reckon lads ?
who’s henderson coming in for??
Sterling ? Have a look at the team mate.. The greyed out player
So.. Sterling / Austin or Henderson / 8.5 (prob dzeko)
I’d definitely take Siggy/Henderson and Dzeko/Giroud.
Cheers Calvin. If I go the siggy/ he do route (yet another decision to be made) do yo think my mid looks strong enough ? Only 2 genuine big hitters in there…
Makes me feel nervous.
Well, the whole thing is making nervous in truth !!!
Yeah I’d say so, Lamela isn’t small-fry. I have Hazard over your Lamela, but then you have Dzeko over my Bojan, so swings and roundabouts! Glad to see it’s not just me going with Lovren. I know he has stupidly high ownership, but it doesn’t seem to be from us enthusiasts at all.. you not fussed about his GW 2 and 3 then?
Yup. It’s definitely swings and roundabouts bud.. Lovren does have a huge ownership but I’m not overly concerned with week 3, I don’t think it’s a bad fix for liv personally. In my opinion liv have 2 hard games in their first 10 so I’m thinking a bit more long term with him. He’s 5.5 and he carries a massive goal threat.. What’s not to like !?
Also if he keeps a cleanie and scores a goal (hopeful) in first 3 weeks I think his price could rocket quite quickly.. All guesses and maybes at the min but I’m happy to have him in The ranks for all above reasons. Oh. And he’s NAILED.
Yes, that’s why I’ve got him. Happy to keep him through the harder games, but I just worry about his price dropping.. think I’ll stick with him though.
Price only maters if you want to sell him though mate… Otherwise just ride out the bad times and wait for his hat-tricks to roll in !
True that. Think I had Kos pretty much all of last season so it didn’t matter that he dropped a few 0.1s early on. You’ve sold me, thanks.
Id prefer Siggy and Dzeko/Jove there. But I believe both Sterling and Austin are favourites to score in GW1.
Hi guys
So I’m still tinkering (sober this time) and have only one thing outstanding
A) Bojan and Fabregas
B) Sigurdsson and Giroud/Dzeko (or an 8,5 million striker)
My team is as follows
Mannone – Krul
Terry – Chambers – Lovren – Baird – Bruce
Sterling – Mata – Ramsey – Fabregas – Isgrove
Costa – Rooney – Bojan
Please help me out, thanks
can’t tell you how many times people write B) instead of b) haha- stick to 1 and 2 😉
my teams quite similar and i have gone for bojan. its down to personal preference.
Yes, hehe
Will do that next time.
It’s really tempting to get another top class midfielder in the team, i.e. fabregas.
Plus chelsea have great fixtures.
I’m a little worried for bojan but he’s bound to find the net at least twice. Then he’s on par with Giroud probably
But thanks
Anyone think Henderson is great value at 6.0m. Rodgers has said he wants to see a lot more attacking from him this season, and he didn’t do to bad last season.
not for me, i see him as too defensive. if rodgers plays him more offensively, could be well worth a shout, I’m gonna have to see that before i stick him in my team!!
I think so Ant.. Just whether he can actually score the goals. He was looking better attacking wise towards the end of last season playing quite high up the pitch, making those final “assist” passes.. Some just weren’t paying off.
He could be this years Rambo ! (Could….)
Well I’ve completely disregarded him so that’s a promising sign…
Lol james
There are better options at 6M who play at a more advanced position than Hendo and are more attacking with their set pieces.
If Rodgers plays Can with Gerrard in the deeper role then he’s a shoe-in.
But that’s not always gonna be the setup.
It’s a wait and see for me because Can is young. But Henderson will definetely score more goals this season because that is the part of his game he has been working on
What does everyone think of Pelle from Southampton? Considering him currently…
Duthers
I’ve got him in my team. His record is superb over the past 2 seasons.
His record and saints opening games make him look a good differential. What is the rest of your team looking like?
A great option and should offer great value. Currently on Austin, but finding additional 1.5M desperately to accommodate him.
Currently debating if dzeko is worth the extra 1 mil
I’d say he’s definitely worth the extra 1m, his team’s overall attack is devastating in comparison.
Absolutely couldn’t agree more with this statement…
+1 in fact
Hey guys please rate my team. I have tried to get a decent coverage and some differentials.
Charizard – Zapdos – Mewtwo – Hitmonlee – Gloom – Vaporeon
Was thinking about putting Bojan in for gloom to free up funds elsewhere.
Thanks
Hitmonlee is weak sauce.
True but he’s got one hell of a left foot
too many pokemon not enough footballers
Is this not fantasypokemonmanager247.co.uk?
oh yeah, my mistake
You sure you want Zapdos? He’s got double weakness to Ice, could be tricky. Then again you have Hitmonlee who would OHKO many Ice pokemon.
What are you lot jabbering on about?
Ha ha Kop… M with you mate. I have literally no idea
They’re trying to catch’em all (Pokemon)
Kop
You think he should have a Dragon type? Or maybe Tyranitar? Obviously Tyranitar’s weak spot is the double weakness to Fighting, but if Mewtwo has some Psychic moves he covers that. Tyranitar could OHKO several pokemon with the right moves as well.
I myself like starting with Ninjask, using Sword Dance a couple of rounds to buff up Attack, then Baton Pass to someone like Pinsir. It’s a common strategy so it rarely works, but if it does my Pinsir can OHKO the entire opposition’s team.
I really don’t know…but can I have some of whatever you’re smoking?!!
Ah but Tekno, do you have all of the Chinpokomon?
Yeh with rotation I think it a an alright squad I’m left with 0m in the bank though
My team:
Foster – Krul
Lovren – Flanagan – Debuchy – Dummet – Cameron
Sanchez – Mata – Sigurdson – Eriksen – Davis
Costa – Rooney – Zarate
I’m not convinced about the Bojan hype. He hasn’t performed well for a while, so I thought Zarate might be an option. Any suggestions are welcome.
Remaining TB – £0.5
Jama – I’m far from convinced that Zarate is worth 6.5m! If you’re not interested in Bojan you could consider Fletcher?
Bojan will rotate well there with Siggy.