Fantasy FPL 2014/15 Transfer round up Part 4
Today we cast our eyes over four new imports to the Premier League all of whom come with a decent pedigree and will be hoping to make a name for themselves this season. Chelsea have moved to secure a new left back to replace the departed Cashley, Liverpool have signed another… yes you guessed it… attacking midfielder, Newcastle have gone and signed … yes you guessed it… a Frenchman and West Ham have signed a nutter. Let’s take a look see…
The FF247 league code for FPL is 14923-10423 by the way…
Anyway before we begin the analysis here is an update on all major transfers IN so far…
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Filipe Luis
So Jose continues to strengthen his squad, this time by splashing £20mln more of Roman’s petty cash on Brazilian left back Filipe Luis from Athletico Madrid. Luis has just come off an amazing season, where he helped Athletico win La Liga for the first time in eighteen years together with a great run in the Champions League where they fell at the final hurdle, beaten by fierce rivals Real. Described by some as one of the most complete left backs in world football, Luis’ uncompromising tackling, tactical awareness and aggressive positioning will likely see Cesar Azpilicueta return to his more favoured right side, where he will compete with Branislav Ivanovic. Luis will be 29 years old by the time the season starts, providing more experience to a defence that was rock solid last season and suggests that this term will be little different. Luis has not been a huge attacking threat historically, scoring just twice for Athletico in 127 games and assisting three times last season. However, he will be expected to link up predominantly with Eden Hazard down the left and plays more like a European than a South American, which probably explains his omission from Brazil’s World Cup squad – on the flip side, he’s had a proper rest this suimmer and as importantly, has not been exposed to the huge emotional trauma that his international colleagues were subjected to during the World Cup.
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Lazar Markovic
Sell your best player who just happens to be one of the world’s best players for a massive amount and use the money to add a significant number of players to the squad. Sound familiar? Correct this is exactly what Spurs did last summer and it now appears as though Liverpool are following a similar path, although the scousers will be hoping for better results! Brendan Rodgers has splashed out £20m for 20 year old Serbian international Lazar Markovic, making him the fourth new arrival at the club this summer. The youngster is a product of Partizan Belgrade’s academy and broke into the first team at just 17 before going on to make 46 appearance & scoring 13 goals for the club and this saw him named in the Serbian SuperLiga’s team of the year two seasons in a row. This form saw him move to Portuguese giants Benfica at the beginning of last season and he went on to score five times in 26 appearances for the Lisbon club and he was included by UEFA in their Europa League team of the year. Markovic has predominantly played from the left but he has also been deployed in the number 10 role behind the striker. No matter where Rodgers chooses to play him, his pace, trickery & vision should see him fit in well with the likes of Sterling & Sturridge. From a fantasy football point of view the obvious problem is potential rotation as no matter what formation Brendan Rodgers chooses to play in a given match a number of his attacking midfielders are likely to be disappointed, so our advice for now is to pay close attention to Liverpool’s pre-season games.
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Mauro Zarate
Mauro Zarate has arrived! Now the fun begins for all the fans of the Argentinean. When we say fans, we mean those who love players that can cause commotion on and off the pitch. How much damage he will do on it remains to be seen, as he struggled when leaving the comfort of Argentina in his previous venture to Europe. His stints in Italy with Lazio and Inter were somewhat unremarkable to say the least, but I guarantee you those Lazio fans will forever remember him and by that I mean forever hate him. He arrives at West Ham coming off one of his most successful seasons. He was the top goal scorer in the Primera Division of Argentina with 13 (they divide their seasons into two separate tournaments) including notching 3 braces in his last 4 games. Zarates’ talent has never been in question, but you sure as hell can question his character. He has caused quite a bit of trouble over his career including a Nazi salute (he claims he had no idea what it meant) when sitting at a Lazio game with the team’s fans. He ‘mistakenly’ punched a referee and got suspended for 3 games; he has been known to throw fits when he gets benched, etc, etc, etc… Sorry not actually done, he also made up a skin condition and went on vacation and he was rumoured to have had one of his Lazio managers fired by placing an ultimatum on the team… I could go on, but we will leave it at that. Zarate can play on any of the wings, as the CAM or as the highest forward, so he is versatile. He has good pace and is a very good dribbler, but this might also be his biggest downfall. He over dribbles and has been criticized for being highly selfish in the past. He will drive you nuts!! Hopefully Big Sam will play with two forwards or at the very least play Zarate somewhere along the attacking line. This is debatable though as we have seen Allardyce sometimes play with no forwards. We would call it a false 9, but that would be a lie; it was more like a holding-mid up top. If Mauro is on, then Hammer fans will be blowing bubbles forever, but if he is not…HEHEHE it could get dicey.
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Emmanuel Riviere
Just when we thought Pards had run out of recruits from the Foreign Legion, he pops out another one. Striker Emmanuel Riviere has joined Le Toon from Monaco for a fee believed to be around £6mln and becomes Newcastle’s fifth signing of the summer. Striking options have been the biggest problem for Pardew, well on the pitch anyway, especially with Papiss Cisse struggling to recover from injury. Why Riviere has chosen to leave the Principality for the Geordie Shores is beyond me – I’ve pondered this for a while and makes little sense unless he’s upset the Prince. Of course his starting appearances once Falcao joined have been somewhat reduced, so maybe, just maybe we’ve found a Frenchman who wants to work for his money rather than just sit on the bench and accept the pay cheque. Anyway, whatever his reasoning, in the season and a half he spent at Monaco, Riviere scored 14 goals in 44 appearances including ten in 30 games last season, but despite representing France in every youth level from U16-U21 he has yet to be selected for the senior national side. Maybe he hopes Didier Deschamps will see more of him in a Newcastle shirt than playing in the Champions League.
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Afternoon everyone.
Howdy FH, how’s your team looking?
Toying with changing to a 3-5-2 but here is what I have;
Mannone/Krul
Debuchy, Shaw, ward, Chester, Targett
Mata, Ramsey, Fabregas, de Jong, El Ahmadi
Rvp, wickham, Dzeko
Hi Fergie. van Persie, eh? What a surprise! Haha.
What can I say? First name on the team sheet. I really believe Louis van Gaal will revitalise him this season.
Mate, i was the same, had him in there straight away but for now i’ve decided against it. Risky business!
People seem split on whether or not to have him this time.
Big time. It’s a big call either way as he’ll either wipe the floor with the opposition or be a 12.5m kipper.
United’s very kind opening fixtures are in his favour. Will be very interested to see Rooney this summer. At 10.5 he may just offer a more affordable option.
Yeah, our fixtures are superb in fairness. Hmmmmm…
Fitness permitting I’ll definitely have one of them at the start. Mata also, I want to take advantage of the kind fixtures. Do you think Shaw is worth the money?
You’ve swayed me back towards the flying Dutchman now, it requires a serious shift in my squad though. I think Shaw is worth 6m, it’s fitting him in that’s the problem. Mata & Robin/Rooney is more than enough i think.
You will change over and over again before deadline. No point getting stressed out just yet
Considering moving out Luke Shaw now and getting John Terry. Back 5 would then be Terry debuchy ward Chester Targett
Haha, i’ve been stressed since the bloody game launched! Hahaha. Terry is a great shout as i see a goal or two in him during the first month or so. Like Shaw, i’m struggling to keep him in my squad when i put van Persie back in.
That’s a shit hot defence you have there. I have no idea who this Targett guy is but i presume he’s a 4m numpty of some sort?
Targett is indeed a 4.0 defender however he is at Southhampton and plays as a left back. Watching brief this summer to see if he is given the chance to replace Luke Shaw.
Anybody got any insight into Stoke’s defence? Cameron looks tempting but they’ve now signed Bardsley.
Pieters – Huth – Shawcross – Bardsley is how I reckon they’ll line up. Don’t know if Cameron is gonna be preferred over Pieters or Bardsley though. That’s why I have Begovic.
Yeah, just realised he’s the safest bet over Shawcross. Check my team out below.
What are people’s thoughts on Hull? Fixtures for the first few weeks are OK, and I’m thinking about either Jelavic or Long as a value 3rd striker. I reckon there’s far worse options…
They’re a Steve Bruce side…usually less goals and more clean sheets. Saying that, Long over Jelavic any day of the week!
Remember that Hull have Europa League. They will surely suffer from that.
Yeah, fair point Tekno. I like the idea of a 3rd striker the 5.5-6.0 price bracket. Guarantee there’ll be a player in that range who starts the season on fire: question is, who? Fletcher has potential, so too Gayle and Agbonlahor. I’m not convinced about Wickham or Zamora, Ings I don’t know enough about. As for Crouch, no way in the world!
Right, after some tweaking, this is what I’ve settled on so far.
I know I’ve doubled up on United attacking potential but I’ll swap out RVP/Mata after the easier fixtures dry up.
Begovic (Krul)
Vlaar Bruce Azpil (Wasilewski, Mariappa)
Mata, Oscar, Sanchez, Lamela [random punt so far] (Albrighton)
RVP, Bony [until/unless he moves], Austin
Thoughts, all?
Bruce only starts when Hull play 3 at the back, which they don’t always do. Azpi could lose his spot to Luis. Vlaar has awful fixtures after the first 3. Lamela should be replaced (got him on my watchlist, but he needs to prove himself first. 8.0 is far too much).
Yeah, will be watching out for Lamela over preseason.
I thought Bruce went with back 3 more often than not, but could swap him out for one of the starting duo CBs.
Completely forgot about Luis and that Azpi was LB last season, time for a rejig.
Webstar I would definitely get Eriksen in ahead of Lamela given that they are the same price. Rest of the team looks okay, some weak spots but that’s clearly calculated in order to allow RVP and Sanchez so can’t argue with it. Is it changing much? Just when I think I get close to asking for a RMT I end up changing loads and being unhappy with it again!
Ha, tell me about it. I’ll be chopping and changing over the next few weeks as and when transfers come in and preseason results roll in. Let’s see what you’ve got so far?
Well since you’re asking, but it’s in no way a finished product! Haven’t even looked at fixtures, rotating pairs, or the promoted sides yet.
De Gea
Debuchy, Terry, Vlaar
Silva, Fabregas, Mata, Walcott, Eriksen
Rooney, Weimann
(Guzan/Krul, Upson, S Taylor, Naismith)
Does nobody fancy Andy Carroll? If he manages to avoid injuries I can see west hams play being focused on him. Looked decent at the back end of last season
Best 8-9m striker?
Bony for me. Lukaku if he finds a new club. Giroud, but don’t like his fixtures.
Probably Bony or Dzeko
Not convinced on Dzeko’s starting potential.
Will have to wait and see how Giroud lines up with Ozil and Sanchez…could potentially be a (kind of) dark horse.
I’ve gone for Bony now, but if he moves then Gomis is in his mould at 7m.
Webstar ,y thinking is that Dzeko really did well at the end of last season. He had taken Negredo’s place. Add in the fact that Aguero is made of glass and Dzeko should get very good game time.
Hmmm, your logic makes sense, another one to watch over the preseason.
Dzeko for me. Even with his limited game time he still gets more goals than most, and with that team supplying him he will rack up the points again. For the same latter reason, Giroud would be my second choice.