Fantasy Football Ramblings part 1

Fantasy Football Ramblings part 1

Welcome to Fantasy Football Ramblings part 1. There is one thing that you can always count on from FF247, when there is a clown needed to pass the time, they send me out. They usually only let me out of the dungeon during International breaks for Bore Off articles, but seeing that this off-season is kinda depressing compared to the last couple of years, I have been called on early. Hopefully I can distract you a bit through the upcoming weeks while FPL kicks off or simply finish you off if boredom was about to kill you anyway, I am fine with either outcome.
This transfer window is sure to be one of the most exciting ever, as even cash strapped (there are none) teams will look to purchase players. However if rumours of early transfer fees are any indication, I fully expect teams to just start buying the talented parts of players instead of the whole thing. Actually I am bit surprised Wenger hasn’t tried this method or maybe he has, Ozil’s eyes were probably worth 40mln and Madrid just threw the body in. I would say let us begin with the article, but having read back the last couple of sentences, it looks like I was rambling on about nothing. Looks like I am in mid-season form then.

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As I started to write this article, I noticed the sad news about Cheick Tiote, RIP buddy, and my sincere condolences to the family, friends and team-mates of Cheick. For those of you didn’t get a chance to read what Alan Pardew had to say here is some of his words:

“I’m devastated to hear the news about my former player and friend Cheick Tiote,” Pardew said. “From the moment I arrived at Newcastle, Cheick was a wonderful presence around the dressing room and his performances on the field often defied belief. There were days when he must have covered every blade of grass on a football field and it didn’t surprise me that clubs like Manchester United were being linked with attempts to sign him. None of us will ever forget that incredible day when our Newcastle team came from 4-0 down to draw an unbelievable Premier League game against Arsenal, with Cheick’s incredible goal in the final moments of that game one of the iconic moments in Premier League history.”

Now turning a bit to fantasy matters. Some moves or speculation of moves have caught my eye. Not everything is all rosy though, while impressed with certain players, there are some concerns. Bernardo Silva is a very talented player, there are many who make a direct comparison with the original Silva, David. On paper this looks like a good signing and on video he sure does, but we are more concerned with what this means for City attacking threats and more than just that, we really are wondering about rotation, well I am at least. With the new Silva in the mix, they now have Sane, Sterling, D. Silva, KdB and Jesus vying for some time. We all (and by all, I mean me) assume KdB and Jesus are virtual locks. If Kun is definitely up top and he probably will be, we could see Jesus shift out wide. Surely Pep will divide up the minutes between the rest and likely use the spare parts to rest the “sure” starters on occasions. So it seems that while very talented, the new Silva offers a bit of headache for us and might leave many of us passing on the City midfield at the start of the season until we figure out the pecking order and what role rotation will play. On a City side note, Gundogan just asked me to remind everyone that he is still alive.

In other important FPL news, Yaya Sanogo will be leaving Arsenal. One of the few players who were extremely overpriced despite being about £4.7 on average for his 4 year stint in FPL. Who will ever forget that assist he got for his owners that he got back in the 14/15 season. Now now, no need for tears, FPL taketh away and every so often they giveth. Sanogo might be departing, but as he leaves the great Aleksandar Mitrovic is on his way back. He is so much better to have around than any Yaya. Missing sitters, wild celebrations, tackling his mates, diving over pitch invaders, getting tossed from games, we don’t just want him back, we need him back. I have been on twitter every day voting in every poll that asks if Newcastle should keep him or loan him. Pretty sure those twitter polls matter, so please vote!! We need Mitro!! The Newcastle one, not the hit master from the boards.

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Word is that Mohamed Salah might be on his way to Liverpool. Last year I remember thinking Mane was a solid player, but they had different holes so I really didn’t understand why Klopp and company went for him instead of what seemed to be pressing needs. When Mane left for AFCON and later got injured, I wondered if LFC could hold onto a top 4 spot without him. So it could be said that I was wrong about them not needing Mane as he was a real good addition. Thinking Salah could be a similar scenario. The left footed Egyptian adds a ton of pace to rival Mane on the other side of the pitch. Thinking if he does come to the EPL, he will feel like he has a point to prove after his stint with Chelsea didn’t work out as he probably had hoped. Hopefully Salah will offer us a cheaper way in than Mane, but if statistics over the last couple of seasons are anything to go by, I would expect them to start a similar price, if he is confirmed at Liverpool.
Virgil van Dijk is also rumoured to be on his way to Anfield and if true he will continue the tradition of Southampton only exclusively selling to LFC. 😉 That would be a great addition to a side who has often gotten critiqued for, how do we say this…defending like shite.
Continuing with Liverpool, just because I can. I wanted to talk about Mr. Boring himself, James Milner. I was looking through his stats a bit and wondered how he would have done if he would have been categorized as a defender instead of a midfielder. So he missed out on 36 points, since he only got one point instead of 4 for his 12 clean sheets. He also missed out on his goals being worth an extra point, so seven points more there. If you add the 43 points to his tally, he is the top scoring Liverpool player, what’s more he is the top scoring defender in the whole game. His final score would have been 182 points on the season. I thought about going game by game to see how many if any bonus points he gain, but I couldn’t be bothered, sorry…I provide a service, I never said it was a good one. I will however say that if my half hearted calculations are right he would have gained 102 more points in the BPS system and would of ended up with 784 which would have landed him second only to Azpi among defenders and 8th overall. If he is still on pens and he is classified as a defender next season, welcome to Mito’s XI, Mr. Boring. He won’t be no Lovren, but he will have to do.

If some of you didn’t get a chance to read a ‘Points per 90’ comment I made on the board that included some pictures and some formation stuff catch it quickly here https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/live-match-chat-gameweek-38-fpl-news/comment-page-11/#comment-411502 I point you to that because I am really high on Kieran Trippier if Walker leaves and Poch hands him the starting job he could be a steal. I won’t go into it, since the link will give you a bit of the info that has me salivating over him if he comes anywhere near the FPL form he showed at the end of this past season. Another player that will probably be worth considering is Jermain “The Fossil” Defoe not because of pp90 stats, but because of his new situation. Last year Defoe managed 15 goals, which was more than half of Sunderland’s goals, who only managed 29 as a team. It was incredible he was able to put up 15 considering the level of players around him. His new team Bournemouth scored 55, which was the 7th highest and one more than Man United. They also finished first in earning penalties, that is almost sure to not be repeated, but if by chance it is, one has to figure that will be a bump for Defoe in goal scoring. The Cherries had 5 different takers of said pens, so Jermain should get dibs considering his pedigree. Another person that I will really have an eye on is Kelechi Iheanacho, I didn’t bother mentioning him in the PP90 because he only played 537 minutes, so that was not enough to really get an idea if he could stay anywhere near his ridiculous 8.7 (just snuck the stat in) average for a season. In many ways this is an eye test, because his minutes have been so sporadic in FPL terms, that you be betting on talent over proven production. I love that pace and love his finishing to go along with good vision when looking to pass, so he could accumulate more than just goals. If his move does go through to West Ham or a similar club and pre-season fixtures or the manager gives me a good indication that he will definitely start, I might be in on that right away. In particular if he stays at City until FPL opens and transfers afterward so he is priced at a low 5.5 or thereabouts.

Thanks for reading Fantasy Football Ramblings part 1

This article was written by Mito21

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