Fantasy Football 247 Team – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16
FF247 has finalised its selection for its squad in this our second season. Coming off a strong showing last season with a final ranking of 5921, we hope that we can go a bit better this time as we had a strong season and looked good for a top 1k finish for so long but just ran out of gas at the end! After seeing how our discussions went last season over transfers and team selection we were naturally more prepared. It was smooth as heck…well, more like long as heck. We started discussions several days ago and only came to a conclusion after the knives came out. Let’s just say the one with the biggest knife seemed more logical to the rest of the group. So with the season upon us, have a gander at the official FF247 team and our reasoning behind our team selection and captain choice.
Formation…
Goalkeepers
Thibaut Courtois
With Cech gone to Arsenal there is no longer the doubt over the starter that was hanging around at this time last season. With Chelsea being the best defensive team over the last couple of seasons, Thibaut fit in like a glove on a cash strapped side. We know we wanted some sort of CFC defensive cover and thought at 5.5 why not take the cheapest route in.
Wayne Hennessey
Price was the biggest factor in this selection, as we don’t expect to be sitting our number 1 Courtois anytime soon. However with Speroni being injured and a presser that some of us interpreted as Pardew leaning towards Wayne as his starter, we decided that he might actually be a 4.0 playing keeper. With that information in hand he became the stand out back up keeper to hopefully never see a game for us.
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Defenders
Per Mertesacker
Every decent FPL side needs a slow German. And if he plays for an Arsenal side with nice fixtures to start off with, well even better. Looking for a safe cheap-ish way into the Arsenal backline, we decided Per was our man. We would love the Frenchman Koscielny, but the 0.5 matters a heck of a lot when only working with a 100m budget.
Cedric Soares
The Saints are a canny lot – they build a star and then hitch their skirt and the scousers can’t resist. And then just go out and buy a replacement for a fraction of the price who looks better. So whilst young Cedric has a year to house-hunt in the suburbs of Kirby he will in the meantime be causing havoc down the flanks in Southampton much in the same way as his predecessors have. That’s the theory anyway as he looks an exciting prospect with assists in his locker and hopefully the odd goal. That allied to playing in one of last seasons best defences made us go all bleary eyed and well… scouse.
Robert Huth
Having helped Leicester stay up last season after a successful loan spell (they won 7 of their last 9 after his arrival) Huth looks like a mainstay in that defence and to help matters it was new boss Ranieri who originally signed him for Chelsea. Their opening 6 games are relatively kind so we are happy to find a German companion for big Mert.
Sebastian Coates
Bit of an odd one this as in all honesty anytime we’ve seen him in action previously he’s looked like the rear end of a pantomime donkey but apparently he’s found his feet a bit at Sunderland and we wanted a piece of his teams attractive looking opening fixtures.
Reece Oxford
Let’s call young Reece our ‘enabler’. He’s £4.0m. That’s pretty much all you need to know really but to expand slightly – there aren’t many (if any) in that price bracket that look like starting. He’s started a few pre-season and Europa games and actually played out of position in midfield so whilst we won’t hang our hat on a 16yr old getting game time there is an outside chance, especially as West Ham fielded a weakened team in the Europa last night and he wasn’t a part of that farce. If he looks like starting then happy days come GW2 & 3 given the fixtures. If not then he’s back to being an enabler.
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Midfielders
Eden Hazard
Not sure we have to explain this one. It’s fairly route one. Best player on last seasons best team. He will be one of, if not THE top fantasy scorer this season. Ignore at your peril!
Santiago Cazorla
We probably need to explain this one. Not in terms of us grabbing Arsenal cover but simply ‘why him over the others’. Simple answer is we’d have happily gone for Ramsey. Or Ozil. Or Walcott. Cazorla is on penalties and some free-kicks and he’s pretty good at both. We observed the Community Shield too and he interchanged positions with Ramsey with one going forward and the other holding.
Raheem Sterling
We wanted City cover from the off. The fixtures aren’t perfect but this is City and they usually produce regardless. Silva was considered and is a great choice. We just felt that Raheem’s pace would suit their style of play perfectly and with Aguero possibly still out for a week or so, there is a chance he may get pushed forward but either way we are happy to go with him. Plus he’s already showed in pre-season what he can do with the likes of Silva providing the ammunition.
Sadio Mane
Given his previous stats we expected a strong start to his Southampton career and Sadio duly delivered, culminating in ‘that’ hat-trick and we expect him to continue in a similar fashion this season as he looks hungry for goals as 11 of those and 4 assists in his virgin season would suggest. Their fixtures look good and we hope he will prosper accordingly.
James Milner
Oh, James! We hope to be repeating the infamous 007 saying a few times in the opening fixtures. He’s looked great in pre-season – scoring, assisting and being generally all over the place. It was a close call between him and Henderson and we could have gone for either. Hendo may have pens, we don’t know for sure. He certainly doesn’t look natural at them. Milner was the king of all set-pieces when at Villa. Either way we’ve opted for James and if he gets the set-pieces then all the better but his new lease of life and the fact that he has a target man in Benteke to work off suggests he may well once again start to deliver the returns he did at Villa.
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Strikers
Wayne Rooney
Back up top where he belongs. Last time he played a full season as an actual striker he got something like 34 goals. Hopefully that trend continues as we are putting faith in him to deliver something similar. Well ok, at least until Kun returns and United sign another striker and he’s shunted back to midfield to cover for the perrenially injured lot there!
Jermain Defoe
This is the one that may raise a few eyebrows. We get that, but bare with us here. Leicester, Norwich, Swansea, Villa and Bournemouth in the first 6 games hardly looks frightening. Defoe had half decent returns last season and much of that was from wide positions as he was forced to ‘do a job for the team’. With Wickham gone he should be instilled as the main striker and with his eye for goal and the addition of Lens to supply ample support we feel he is worth a small punt to begin with.
Diafra Sakho
This is where the forward planning comes into effect! We don’t want Sakho for an away game at Arsenal, but we are more than happy to have in come in for GW’s 2 & 3 with some decent home games in those and a strong midfield 5 in place for GW1. We will let him ride our bench and then decide who else sits in GW2 as that one looks like a nice headache that is building up already!
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Captain
HAZARD
He won a 4-1 vote amongst a 6 man committee. Don’t ask! Either way he’s our main man this week. Probably on the strength of what Chelsea did to the Swans last season in their two meetings. Out of interest the ‘1’ vote was for Rooney and he was our choice as Vice Captain.
Forward planning
We feel this is key and as such didn’t just pick a team for GW1. We picked a team / squad that we felt was good to compete for at least the first 3 GW’s but also with a plan in place for Aguero at the very least. Our plan for him is to downgrade a midfielder with a saved transfer in GW3 and upgrade a forward.
Thanks for reading Fantasy Football FF247 Team Game-week 1.
Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll
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no arsenal player in my team yet. just wondering if i should jump on the mert kos band wagon. i will get alexis when he comes back but i m not convinced. Santi maybe?
Up front Kane Pelle Rooney – Or Rooney Defoe Sakho & upgrade to a strong 5 man midfield Hazard, Mane, Sterling, Milner, Santi/Cesc?
Thanks
Id go for the strong man midfield and put cazorla instead of cesc as you already have haz mate.
Cesc Always starts strong. i mean always. thats whats making me wanna get him. Thanks for reply
dadinho – Starting with no Arsenal players is a massive mistake. Next to City, they are by far the most accomplished attacking team in the league. Avoid them at your peril.
+1 NIN. New season, new grav eh
Good luck to you fella.
Yep
Good luck to you too mate. You starting with Aguero?
Nope, nor Hazard! Risky as possible start tbh but that’s what I love about it!
Heh heh, madness 😉 I’ve gone with both now. Preseason planning went out the window after Pellegrini’s comments. Kun scares me too much so he’s in.
See your team NIN?
CC – After weeks of planning, this is the end result. Young/Bell-end are risks but i just don’t know what to do anymore so i’m sticking.
Cool. Like Caulker in there, could be great if he nails down a berth.
If he fails me two seasons in a row….. :whatever:
I know. I will definitely get sanchez but now i could go without one of them if the replacement is good so far i think i ll be ok with Mane and Sterling and one of them will go for alexis by GW3 or 4. I have raheem from city as i think he will be great for them and hopefullly swap him with silva after he goes through his usual 5 6 games rut.
thanks for the reply
Been playing around with my team and be greatful on some feedback thx
This late in the game, i’d say finalize that team.
Team is locked but just after feedback and rotation of players
Razor that is solid mate. Just don’t like Ward or Wanyama. I’d change the former for another regular starting 4.5 defender from a different team, and the latter to a 5.0 mid with funds from changing Butland to a 4.0 (you should just play Cech every week).
I would play cedric ahead of francis or huth. Newcastle has been a disaster in early season games conceding something like 3.6 goals on avg over the first 4 fixture the last 3 years. he might get an assist and a CS
Quick question guys
Option 1: downgrade mings to baker bearing in mind my 5th defender is Taylor(Newcastle) then upgrade Milner to coutinho.
Option 2: keep Milner and mings
Starting line up at the moment is
courtois
azplicueta, Cedric, clyne
hazard(C) Milner, mane, cazorla, depay
Rooney(VC) , Wilson
Bench: Schwarzer, Defoe, mings, Taylor
Amar – Screw Coutinho, you’ve got the best L’pool mid already :thumbup:
Aha, cheers NIN.
Milner all day. he will be a monster i think.
Thoughts on team, think I’m set for tonight (from AUS)
From Aus? My condolences 😉
Pretty Broad selection of players there mate, should be able to Cook you up some decent points. I Wood say that Costa’s a bit risky but Mourinho played similar mind games with him last season, and he went on to play and score, so your risk for that one. The Root of your problems though is doubling up with Ogbonna and Oxford, I’d change that pronto.
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
Nice work, actually pretty funny, Cricket not going well. Well done you’ve won the Ashes. Which defender do you think I should get?
I’m not sure at all whether or not Ogbonna will be a starter when Reid and all the others are fully fit, so if you know more than me there then by all means keep him (though I think Jenkinson is a shoe in after the Arsenal game for the same price).
I’d look to upgrade Oxford to a 4.5 like Huth, Bassong (Olsson when fit), Muniesa etc. Costa to Kane/Benteke could fund this and also allow you to get a 5.0 in for Wanyama, but your call mate.
Thanks mate. Who would be the best rotating 4.5 defenders?
coates and francis they rotate well i think.
16 times. Might not risk that.
Will do Mings and Oxford and then will get a 5.0 defender which isn’t WHU
Who do you think I should get, Lescott?
PvA maybe or Cedric if you dont have him already
Is ritchie worth it at 6.0. I mean 17 goals and 15 assists are not easy to overlook. as many times as i redo my team and he always finds a way in
The potential is there but he wont make my squad. Time will tell whether he’s worth £6m.
they have a great run of fixtures and if wilson is as good as it seems then he will most probably provide the ammunition and he seems to know how to score. who did u put in your midfield at that price range ?
I know they do, i’m not saying he’s a bad pick, he’s just not making my team. Post 145.2
i saw your team. I think Belerin is at risk of being rotated with debuchy. Just risky i think.
otherwise i like the rest as i have most of them myself
I like the kane Kun combo stick with them and change the 3rd one based on how the 5.5 perform.
I also thought abt young but ritchie found his way in
I think he definitely is for that price dadinho. That record may not translate too well into the Prem but it’s worth a shot I think. Have gone for Gradel instead myself for the same price, but I do love a good punt
i think it s a gamble worth taking as well. allows me to save money for elswhere and if he gets an a few points people will jump on him and i might make a few quids
before using my WC. he does have a better run of game after GW3 so may be i ll wait and see. Cause i am sure he will do well in the 3 games against Lei, Nor, Sun with watford coming as well.