Welcome to FF247 Fantasy Football Team Gameweek 1. We may not be, or indeed ever have been, the best team out there, but we are almost certainly the best debated one. At least we’d hope so anyway, and if anyone is debating a team more than we do then we send you and your family our condolences! This is not thrown together at the last minute. It’s debated to the Nth degree. It’s debated to the degree of friendships being stretched to the point of breaking. If it works then great, if it doesn’t then fine, but don’t ever say we didn’t try! We’ve had some moderate ‘success’ thus far, finishing 5k, 84k and 12k in the last three seasons. As we say, not the best, not the worst. Our panel is made up of five FPL ‘veterans’, all of whom are impartial in their FPL decisions, despite their various allegiances, so if nothing else then you can rest assured that the decisions made will be thought out and considered. You can follow the teams progress here and there will be as ever a weekly article detailing our transfers and progress. Here is our GW1 team and how we landed on it….
Our Team…
Sometimes, when you announce the official ‘Site Team’, there is almost a pressure to produce something wonderful that nobody else has thought of yet, almost as if we have some sort of access to a magical budget of £120m or something, which nobody else does, and suddenly we can have that sought after power 7 up top, backed up with the best money can buy defence. Sorry to burst any such bubble then, we work in the same world as everyone else and with the same constraints, and as such, compromises have to be made. And boy have they been!
Especially in midfield. That’s mainly because we didn’t much fancy the 3rd forward options in the ‘budget’ range. JRod was the obvious one but then West Brom aren’t exactly renowned for a free scoring style. We couldn’t justify, as much as we wanted to, a full out splurge in that spot for a Jesus or Kun to go alongside Lukaku & Kane so we sort of settled in the middle with Firmino.
Here’s a very brief summary player by player as to why they all made it:
Goalkeepers
De Gea
The safest route into the 2nd best defence from last season and a defence with a great set of opening fixtures.
Elliot
We don’t expect to have to use him much given Man Utd’s opening fixture list so he’s bench fodder really. The only time they run into any real opposition is vs Everton in GW5 and Elliot has Stoke at home that week, if we need him.
Defence
Kompany
The mainstay of City’s defensive resolve and looked great attacking wise when he finally returned from injury last season. We fully expect him to break down in GW1 and ruin all of that though!
Davies
If Kompany is to be our 1st transfer out, this may well be our 2nd but likewise we enter it with eyes wide open. Any chance to get in on the best defence of last season is too good to pass up. He’s ‘Rose’ dependent but then again Rose has been ‘returning’ since about January so we are happy enough to see how long we can keep this one up.
Cedric
Another attacking fullback and one with a great set of fixtures, in theory.
Suttner
Our 1st budget defender, not someone we expect to have to call on much initially, but if we do then he has pedigree as an attacking full-back too with 4 goals and 5 assists last season.
Long
£4.0m bench fodder, he’s first in if Mee or Tarkowski get injured but we shouldn’t ever need to go that deep on the bench anyway if we are paying attention every week. Or unless we get really unlucky.
Midfield
De Bruyne
Finished last season with a flurry and has had an impressive pre-season. Feels like City’s heartbeat and the least likely to be rotated, and has goals and assists in his locker at any given moment.
Willian
If Kompany and Davies are our 1st and 2nd transfers, then this could be our 3rd. Talk about planning ahead! Once Hazard is back then Willian becomes a risk but his form in pre-season has been good enough to convince us to roll the die on him for now.
Ince
Another one with a strong pre-season behind him. We needed to start dipping into the £6.0m market and we fancy Ince to carry this form into the season itself.
Carroll
Everyone’s favourite enabler. At just £4.5m he looks too good to pass up, especially as he may well be on a lot of set-pieces if and when Siggy finally relocates to Toxteth.
GroB
GroB will rotate with Carroll for us and offers up a very impressive alternative as he’s another on set-pieces and his ‘chances created’ stats in Germany are very impressive.
Forwards
Lukaku
There’s an argument not to go with him, we just feel that not to, is just too much of a risk. Their opening fixtures are against the exact type of opposition that United struggled against last season, but that he personally thrives against. He’s a flat track bully, basically. He has a flat track in front of him….
Kane
Probably the most debated player in pre-season in terms of whether to start with him or not. Wembley, poor pre-season, slow starter etc, etc. He’s also one of the few players who’s likely to suddenly put on a hat-trick before you’ve blinked.
Firmino
Poor old Firmino is our black sheep. We don’t want him really, we want Jesus or Kun ideally. They just kill the midfield more than it has been already, if that’s possible. What he does do is cover the potential Liverpool explosion for us. And he may well be on pens too. He’s taken 2 of them in pre-season anyway.
The team in full
FF247 Fantasy Football Team Gameweek 1
Kane (VC) Lukaku (C) Firmino
Willian Carroll De Bryune Ince
Cedric Kompany Davies
De Gea
Subs: Elliot, GroB, Suttner, Long
Our Captain is Romelu Lukaku, (our Vice Captain is Harry Kane)
The flat track bully’s flat track bully. He loves playing West Ham. It’s his debut game and it’s on TV on Sunday afternoon in prime time viewing. It just feels ripe for a big showing all round.
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Gameweek Tracker GW1-11
I wrote a piece on the midfielders at £6.0m and below. If your mind is made up, save yourself 1800 words 😉
The strikers have seized the budget this year. Last year, only the brave went for Aguero and Zlatan. The majority of us preferred to marvel at how balanced and ‘stacked’ our midfield was. With so many options upfront this year, going with just one premium striker does not seem to be desirable. At least it is not touted around these boards as such.
To add to the problem there is a dearth of cheap strikers to choose from to dilute the devastating effect of having two powerhouses up-top. Huddersfield’s Steve Mounie, priced at £6.0m, has had relative success in pre-season, although Bury, SV Sandhausen, Barnsley and Torino are hardly the most demanding of opponents. Jay Rodriguez is an alternative, but West Brom are hardly notorious for scoring goals. Without other signings following him through the door I doubt owners will reap the rewards, although I hope I am wrong. Sorry Cookie.
As such, our attention naturally turns to the midfield. Scissors at the ready. Like the people on the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, there is not much to go round. However, unlike those lucky souls, we have the wrong Jesus and there is only one Tom Carroll. Whispers that the central midfielder will take on set-piece duties should Sigurdsson up sticks only suffices to help us to contentedly fill one midfield spot, with a couple more cheapies yet to go. And now the article becomes clear – let us assess the midfield assets priced at £6.0m and under. I did warn you that I ramble.
By way of introduction, I sense I may burst a few bubbles here. If you are set on your team, go make a cup of tea and come back later when Mitro has a RMT for you. The reason for this is that, prima facie, the goals and assists a star player records in the Championship looks great when you draft him into your team. But there is a giant step up that is too often forgotten about, or played down.
To my dismay, and I do not know why I have not looked before, when digging up data for this piece, I uncovered a pretty shocking set of statistics. Last year’s newcomers were Burnley, Middlesbrough and Hull City who respectively scored 72, 63 and 69 in their successful Championship campaigns. In the Premier League they mustered 39, 27(!) and 37 goals, respectively. This does not make kind reading for anyone with a Championship golden boy in their team. I can already hear the ardent Geordies among us dismissing the stat as only one of those promoted sides stayed up and they expect Newcastle to do far better than all three of them. Well, if we go a year further back in time, when Newcastle got relegated with 44 goals, Bournemouth came up having scored 98 goals yet they only managed 45 goals in their first top-flight campaign.
To really drive the point home, Watford managed 91 goals when they came up with Bournemouth yet only 40 in the Premier League, and they finished 13th! Newcastle may do well, but there seems to be a limit.
So, without further ado, let’s jump into it.
AT
can you RMT mate 😉 good to go?
ffs Mitro, you made me post the last one in the wrong place! Your team is naff. Looks like mine
Ha ha
Cracking stuff pal!!
Defo keeping any eye on fraiser and Ritchie
JONATHAN WALTERS, £5.5m
You all know the score with Walters so, you’ll be pleased to know, I will not dwell on him. OOP (potentially) and some tasty home fixtures to put it succinctly. However, with away trips to Chelsea, Spurs, Everton and City every other week until GW 7, you would be well-advised to find a rotating partner. Unfortunately, Tom Carroll’s fixtures do not really fit the bill to keep it cheap. Perhaps a Huddersfield or Stoke defender (so rotating 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 each week) could release Walters’ full points potential.
Of course, every player at this price range comes with a bright warning light; there is always a caveat to each player, but that is the nature of going cheap. Try flying Ryanair! Further, these cheaper players can turn league tables. Riyad Mahrez and Josh King serve as recent examples of the benefit to researching where to put the pennies having already spent the pounds.
MATT RITCHIE, £6.0m
A favourite of the fantasy guru (I say that highlighting the fact that Kante and Matic have 13%+ ownerships). Armed with Premier League experience already and coming back up tightly clutching set-pieces and penalties, it is no surprise to see many jumping on him.
Ritchie scored 15 and assisted 17 in the Championship with Bournemouth but could only follow it up with four goals and six assists in the Premier League. Interestingly, his percentage contribution towards the Cherries’ goals also fell from 32.7% to 22.2%, although I do not think this is a common trend.
Last season for Newcastle he registered 12 goals and eight assists. He was on the pitch for 81 of their goals, giving him a 24.7% involvement. Given the recent history of promoted teams, a similar involvement would suggest that he will end up on near enough the same as what he managed for Bournemouth, penalties and all. I suspect he may rack up a few more of each, though.
ANTHONY KNOCKAERT, £6.0m
An impressive 15 goals and nine assists for Brighton last year gives the Frenchman a 33.8% involvement in the goals he was on the pitch for. As a side that managed 74 goals last season, one might expect them to be in the high 30s for goals, similarities being drawn with Burnley and Hull City. This would leave Knockaert with just shy of 13 goals and assists should he keep his % involvement up, something Ritchie failed to do in the top-flight mind.
There is the added caveat that Chris Hughton is wary of starting the winger against City, mindful of the fact that he has only played 18 minutes of football since damaging ligaments in his ankle in the first pre-season fixture. One to wait on, especially with City and Soton up first.
TOM INCE, £6.0m
Before anyone gets carried away with the stats of Huddersfield Town’s new recruit, it should be noted that his new side became the first team ever to get promoted to the Premier League with a negative goal difference. However, there is cause for optimism. Mounie has shown that he has an eye for goal and Ince was bought with Huddersfield’s woeful attacking exploits firmly in mind. The ex-Derby County man registered 14 goals and eight assists last year, impressive given that Derby scored fewer goals than his new club and he was only on the pitch for 49 of them, giving him a staggering 44.9% involvement. This is underpinned by 19 goals and assists in the 2015/16 campaign and an impressive 11 goals and two assists in just 1600 minutes of football the year before that.
The warning label attached to his £6.0m price tag then is that the side he is joining scored just 56 goals last season. Comparing Huddersfield to other promoted teams is difficult. Middlesborough’s 63 is fairly close to it and, worryingly, they only managed 27 in the Premier League having signed Rudy Gestede and Patrick Bamforth and recruiting Alvaro Negredo on loan. Like Boro then, there are a few unknowns. With respect to Huddersfield in their Championship incarnation, they lacked a proper striker. At 5’ 6”, Nakhi Wells did not fit their playstyle, and January recruit Collin Quaner never seemed to be in the right places, showcased by a solitary goal in nine starts (adding another to his tally in a four minute cameo against Blackburn Rovers).
Whether Mounie and Ince can carry on their impressive preseason form remains to be seen, but they are certainly arrive into an improved side. With the pair spearheading the attack I would expect to see a high percentage involvement from Ince yet again, but it is his involvement in what that is an unfortunately large unknown. On the plus side, Huddersfield’s opening fixtures are among the best in the league. It may be an opportune time to take the risk.
PASCAL GROß , £5.5m
Pascal Groß, or Gross or GroB as we like to call him, will save you an extra £0.5m over the previous three, which could prove crucial given how much must be spent upfront this year. He comes into the season with three goals in pre-season, albeit one of those was against Crawley Town, whom BHAFC put six past, and another against Norwich City (the other against a strong Atletico Madrid side).
Last season Groß scored five and assisted six in an Ingolstadt side that failed to fend off relegation. This works out at a fairly decent involvement of 30.5% in their 36 goals. However, Brighton have been played him behind the striker in a 4-4-1-1 formation in pre-season, the position he was deployed in 11 times for Ingolstadt (in a 4-2-3-1). In those 11 games, he scored three and assisted five more of the 17 goals he was on the pitch for, culminating in a rather impressive involvement of 47.1%. Of course, the small data pool diminishes the strength of the evidence somewhat and, unfortunately, the season before he played nearly all of his games in central midfield, where he only managed one goal and six assists in 32 games. This is definitely something to be on the lookout for should Brighton utilise him more defensively at points in the season.
RYAN FRASER, £5.5m
If you are still with me, Fraser has only recorded one assist in pre-season, although he has not featured in all the games and did manage three goals and eight (or nine, according to FPL itself) assists in just 1800 minutes last season as he cemented his place in the starting eleven throughout the second half of the season. With the wealth of talent in Bournemouth’s attacking ranks this year, expect him to come off often and to start from the bench occasionally. Playing West Brom from the off has bore-draw written all over it and from Manchester City in Gameweek 3 onwards, their fixtures are miserable. One to avoid for now, I think.
JAMES WARD-PROWSE, £5.5m
There is something unappealing about relying on a player who takes set-pieces and lacks the attacking flair of the likes of Ince and Fraser, although his four goals and four assists in 1800 minutes last season gave him a tally that was not far off the latter’s last season. He more or less became a reliable starter towards the end of the campaign, although he is often substituted off.
If your hands are in the £5.5m bucket though, JWP may be the one to punt for. Their opening fixtures – if opening extends to the first 11 games – are as good as you could ask for, and I am not one for planning transfers for my cheap midfielders a few weeks into the season when Fraser’s fixtures turn sour and Groß’s pick up. There will undoubtedly be a bigger problem (or six!) to worry about.
AT – have you moved off Fraser?
Nice article. Grob looks interesting. Have 2 of these at present
Purely based on fixtures and managing to find an extra £0.5m for Ince with fixtures, yes.
Gross looks good. May bring him in after City and Soton. Haven’t looked at new signing Propper yet. He’s supposed to be good. Also £5.5m.
Opinion about Luka Milivojevic CRY (5,0m). Set Pieces taker including penalties. First 5 GWs decent – except GW2 (Liverpool Away) ??
Also I think Xherdan Shaqiri STK (6,0m) is worth to put in watchlist. He can score, assist and is on set pieces. Stoke has horrible start, but from GW9 -> it can turn to gold.. any thoughts?
Hey Ballstein. I can’t say I’ve looked at any Stoke players given their fixtures. Without Arnie I think they’re in for a tough ride too. As for Miliv, I’m not sure how many he’ll score to make up for his ridiculously defensive playstyle.
JONATHAN WALTERS, £5.5m
You all know the score with Walters so, you’ll be pleased to know, I will not dwell on him. OOP (potentially) and some tasty home fixtures to put it succinctly. However, with away trips to Chelsea, Spurs, Everton and City every other week until GW 7, you would be well-advised to find a rotating partner. Unfortunately, Tom Carroll’s fixtures do not really fit the bill to keep it cheap. Perhaps a Huddersfield or Stoke defender (so rotating 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 each week) could release Walters’ full points potential.
Of course, every player at this price range comes with a bright warning light; there is always a caveat to each player, but that is the nature of going cheap. Try flying Ryanair! Further, these cheaper players can turn league tables. Riyad Mahrez and Josh King serve as recent examples of the benefit to researching where to put the pennies having already spent the pounds.
Thanks AT I enjoyed that
Good stuff At well put to together I’m on Ritchie at present but been looking at Grob but not sure who have you got appreciated mate 😉
Yeah I would probably be on Gross if they didn’t have City first. On Ince at the moment.
All very tight. No clear winner, unfortunately.
On Ince because I think Huddersfield are going to continue to go attacking while I can see Brighton and Newcastle being a bit more defensive
Thanks AT very useful info. This will help me alot
Great read AT. The more I read the more uncertain I am about my team. I think I should just avoid the internet until Friday
Cheers lads. Sometimes better SAFs!
Thanks for the analysis AT. So what order would you choose them in
The million dollar question. I think Walters is a bargain but I’d want a rotation partner which, in a way, makes him more expensive.
Ince’s stats and his fixtures probably make him my number one. Followed by Gross and Fraser, although I’d probably bring Gross in a after City, maybe even Soton and Fraser’s fixtures go south after two weeks. Maybe transfer one for the other.
Knockaert’s fitness makes him a no go for now.
Great work that AT! Real shame we couldn’t have had that as an article last week, but I’m sure you understand why and that we defo would have.
Got Ince, Walters and Carroll myself right now. Going to have a final tinker later though once I’ve gone over all this again!
No problem at all, Init. It was more for the readers that I thought it’d be better as an article – pretty pictures to look at instead of the boring text 😉
Top stuff AT, but you’re wrong on J-Rod 😉
Only kidding mate. Great analysis and really useful as we try and finalise our teams with less than 48 hours to go.
Will be fun watching people rip their teams up next week- can see it now, ‘I knew I should of got Kane’, ‘We knew City would score for fun’ etc etc!
Haha, I hope I am Cookie! If he was at another side I think I’d have him, but West Brom have never been a go-to attacking side.
That will probably be me! At least I have Kane and two City attackers haha
To be honest I think its positive he’s at WBA.
At any other club the goals would be shared around but WBA have been crying out for a striker for ages. Plus he’ll play as they have little else.
Of course I’m massively talking my
own book here.
At various times this week i’ve thought about a more expensive 3rd striker but after going on so much about him I can’t now not pick him. Esp with those fixtures.
Yep, very true. 7 goals in 8 pre-season games is poor though.
Hey Cookie, how’s it going? I’m on currently on J-Rod as well. I keep messing around with Firmino and even Jesus as a 3rd striker but it leaves me so light everywhere else. I think the tried and true 3-4-3 with a cheapo 3rd striker is a safe way to start until we see if any of these budget midfielders can actually perform when it counts. Who are your other 2 strikers? Did you pony up for Kane and Lukaku?
Hey Red, hope you’re well my friend. This is what I have at the mo.
All good Cookie, thanks. Hope all is well with you too!
Damn, Carroll as a playing 4th midfield option really gives you a beefy defense. Hard to fault that team, other than having to play a WBA striker, lol. Hegazi will be an early transfer waiting to happen as soon as McAuley is back though, won’t he?
Possibly yeah Red, though I could make Hegazi into Phil Jones by getting Ben Davies instead of Kola.
AT, this is a fantastic post and really helpful analysis. I’m waffling between a couple different ideas and this is a great read to help finalize things. You should be writing articles my friend, well done. Best of luck this season!
Thanks for this, Red. Best of luck to you too!
Tell Init that 😉 (joking Init hahahah)
Many thanks AT!!! Great stuff here!!
Cheers Mito
Thanks very much for this AT
Hope it helped!
Here is where I am ATM. Planning on playing the WC after GW3 .
Interesting that PM, very similar to mine in terms of spend split only you got Alonso instead of a mid. You may well be right to have done so. Good luck mate!
basically putting it here as a new comment so that i dont have to look for it by going back so many pages..:p
yo init…thanks for the input..yea redmond was not my first choice..just went with the fixtures..any other prospect replacing redmond?
i”ll swap romeu as it seems a valid point.
also what do u think about this? option 2: firmino out Chicharito in
in midfield salah or mane in? does it make sense? and defence a 6mil or 6.5 mil defender?? walker or alonso? makes sense to free up some funds anywhere..?
Hi mate, I’d stop and read AT’s essays above on the Redmond options, looks like there’s a good few there with great analysis of them. I’m sure Kop will touch on them in Tips later too although AT’s is specific to your topic here.
The Chica thing could make sense yeah, just depends which way you want to go with it. Not overly enamoured with him myself just yet though. His returns last season weren’t great. All those away games too coming up. But hey who knows. I’d like Mane in mine so I wouldn’t dismiss it.
I’ll get off now though as this fence is getting wobbly
Interesting though premier league is a different story as is playing on a regular basis
Interesting that Smash. Guessing Kane waltzes it if rehashed in terms of that data and how close they actually came to completing said minutes? No idea what Laca played though, that said. Guessing the * just means it wasn’t in the PL?
Comments welcome!
Piksi,
Rangel is not likely to be a starter, so you’ll have Mee coming off your bench which is not ideal.
I’d maybe consider getting Tom Carroll as your 4th mid and use that 0.5mln to upgrade Rangel.
Thanks Cookie!
Question: Will Stones start? I can’t believe I’m even considering him, but he grabbed a few goals in preseason and may just prove a bargain in an improved City squad with great fixtures.
Also, for those who watched the United match yesterday, Pogba or Mkhi???
I think Stones starts. Not sure he will score a few goals though. I watched the game Pogba did get forward a lot more but he’s end product was pretty awful. Mkhi got fouled every time he got the ball
Thanks Smash! I feel like Pogba is often trying to do things that justify his price tag, which causes him to try to play outside of his means. Fair assessment?
Yeah definitely only diffference was that he seemed at least closer to the goal than on the half way line