Fantasy Football 247 Team

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!

[divider_1px]

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.

[divider_1px]

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.

[divider_1px]

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.

[divider_1px]

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.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football 247 Team – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15. This article was written by the FF247 Manager and backroom staff.

Follow @FantasyFooty247