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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So, Yaya is staying but are we rally going to pay 11 million? He had a fairly poor World Cup and his heart doesn’t seem fully with City anymore… I think I’ll stick with Silva. If he beasts hut again (as he probably now will) guess I’ll have to squeeze him in my WC re-vamp.
Hi James. As soon as i heard his interview i changed my plans and brought him in straight away. I refuse to be burned by Yaya ever again. It was painful. Hahaha.
11m is a huge outlay on him though. The fact he is definitely staying is causing a rethink.
Seriously hefty price tag, but worth it i reckon. Kun’s hammy will give up at some stage and that’ll be Yaya back on penalties.
I mentioned I was toying with 3-5-2 and he is the major reason for it.
Yep same here NIN he’s in mine. Midfields shaping up nicely now –
Yaya Ramsey Fabregas Siggy Tadic
Howdy init. Is this a 3-5-2 midfield? Or a jacked up squad?
No NIN that’s the entire team I can’t afford anyone else :hippo:
Hahaha. Sounds about right.
In all seriousness I’m looking at a 3-5-2 now having just had a first attempt at a team.
I expect 3-5-2s to be rather prominent come mid-August.
3-5-2 is looking fairly sweet isn’t it? Getting a good defence to go with the madness in midfield/up front is tough though.
True, need a raft of half decent 4.5m defenders who start to go with it. Anyone got any?
Chester. Someone on here mentioned Coloccini earlier. Think it was Mourihno. Not the actual Jose of course, or is it? ha.
Could be, we’ve got Kompany in the cricket league..
It’s money I just can’t being bring myself to pay…
Anyone think Richie Dunne/Danny Simpson are decent shouts as a back up defender? I’m struggling to find a good 4.5m backup.
Scrap that. It doesn’t work for my rotation. Pants.
Personally I think Collochini is a better shout. Guarenteed 90mins each match, newcastle captain and I would expect newcastle to keep more CSs than QPR
Good shout mate. Good shout indeed. Ta.
RMT please lads…
Bergovic, Krul
Cahill, Dawson, Jones, Collochini, Cameron
Mata, Fabregas, Shelvey, Tiote, Davies
RVP, Sturridge, Remy
Thanks in advance
Nice Mourinho. I was going to say I’d get someone else in for Shelvey but then I saw he was only 5.5 haha. Perhaps Noble on pens for the same price.
Not really sure how Chelsea’s defence will look with Felipe in – I’ve got Terry atm but that may well change, as it could for you with Cahill, just keep an eye on it.
I don’t see Tiote doing much, but that’s the price of having RVP I guess.
Diego Costa . .
Added. £10.5M
Takers??
Going Going Gone! He’s all mine.
Sold to the man in the funny hat.
Fair price do you reckon?
Less than RVP, Aguero and Sturridge
Same as Rooney
And greater than everyone else?
Yep I reckon its about right that GP. Top striker with proven pedigree that seems perfectly suited to the Premier League, playing for one of the favourites who should have won it last season and have improved their squad immeasurably and who have been crying out for a striker of his ilk. Convinced yet?
Ok he had a poor WC and sad ish end to the season but he was clearly injured.
Init,
Preaching to the converted:
How does this sound?
de Gea (Krul)
Debuchy, Davies (Hull) Shaw (Chambers, Cameron)
Sanchez, Eriksen, Nasri (Sigurdsson, Albrighton)
Rooney, Jelavic, Costa
Very well balanced squad that GP. Saw some chat earlier about Cameron and I agreed he may not start so keep an eye on that one. Personally I’m not a fan of Nasri but I get why he’s there. I prefer Jelavic over Long also, I know a lot don’t. I forgot about Sanchez and Eriksen myself. Dam back to the drawing board! Nice squad mate.
Init,
Yeah I’m aware of the chat on Cameron. I do remember he played midfield sometimes lsat season so that might be a bonus but that is my one questionmark just now. However I have plenty of options at 4.5 I can swap him for any way.
Nasri is my gamble. I have two backup mids who should play so it is calculated. I feel Nasri is best value out of the Man City mid, considering where I’m spending the rest of my funds.
Thanks for the check over.
ALl right lads, your input on these 3 options please:
Option 1:
Hazard + Yaya + Austin
Option 2:
Hazard + Arnautovic + Costa + 1.0m
Option 3:
Yaya + Arnautovic + Costa
Option 2 is quite unreliable. 2 Chelsea attackers?
Id prefer 3, but Id always prefer Hazard over Costa because of the penalties.
Option 2 by a fair distance for me Tekno mate.
Thanks lads. Ended up with some a little different. See my squad below.
Can anyone expand on the new dribbling bonus points please. Can’t seem to find it on the site
Mourinho.
The dribble is worth 1 point towards your players overall BPS score and not actually a ‘1’ point to your team.
I can’t find how a ‘dribble’ is defined for this purpose and how it is determined to have been successful.
Cheers mate, thanks for clarification
How is the BPS score calculated?
Players score BPS points based on the following statistics (one point for each unless otherwise stated):
Action BPS
Playing 1 to 60 minutes 3
Playing over 60 minutes 6
Goalkeepers and defenders scoring a goal 12
Midifielders scoring a goal 18
Forwards scoring a goal 24
Assists 9
Goalkeepers and defenders keeping a clean sheet 12
Saving a penalty 15
Save 1
Open play cross 1
Creating a big chance (a chance where the receiving player should score) 3
For every 3 clearances, blocks and interceptions (total) 1
For every 3 recoveries 1
Key pass 1
Successful tackle (net*) 1
Successful dribble 1
Scoring the goal that wins a match 3
70 to 79% pass completion (at least 30 passes made) 3
80 to 89% pass completion (at least 30 passes made) 6
90%+ pass completion (at least 30 passes made) 9
Conceding a penalty -3
Missing a penalty -6
Yellow card -3
Red card -9
Own goal -6
Missing a big chance -3
Making an error which leads to a goal -3
Making an error which leads to an attempt at goal -1
Being tackled -1
Conceding a foul -1
Being caught offside -1
Shot off target -1