FF247 Fantasy Football Site Team GW1
Knee deep in…
It seems like only yesterday that we were picking our GW38+ team… oh, hang on. Well, we might not be refreshed but we are certainly back regardless and much like many an FPL manager we have been struggling to find those dirt cheap defenders, whilst being knee deep in premium mids and wondering how on earth we then go about accommodating the Manchester contingent once they bother to grace us with their presence. Let’s go and see how we have decided to tackle it all, but first a quick recap on how last season ended for us:
2019/20 Result
Could have been better, could have been a lot worse. We wrapped up the season in GW38+ with 65 points. That saw us get a small red arrow but we only dropped a few thousand places. Overall we landed at 45,446th. Not great but not bad. Pre-lockdown we rose from about 165k to 45k so we were pretty pleased overall. That saw us with another top 50k finish, which we have now achieved in 4 out of our 6 attempts, and it’s also 5 out of 6 in the top 100k with 2 top 6k finishes in there. Again not bad, but nothing to write home about yet.
GW1 Musings
Goalkeepers
We’ve gone for two rotating £4.5mln keepers between the sticks. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but unfortunately there isn’t a clear set and forget £4.5mln option like Pope this season. Brighton’s Mat Ryan and Southampton’s Alex McCarthy rotate pretty nicely, giving us a fixture run of Palace, Newcastle, Burnley, WBA, Palace (again), WBA (again), Villa, NEWCASTLE, Villa (again), MAN UTD, *play each other*, SHEFF UTD, Fulham, SHEFF UTD (again), Fulham (again) and WEST HAM over the first 16 weeks of the season. Hopefully we can just leave them rotating and watch the clean sheets and save points roll in. All for just £9mln!
Defenders
Some of this is quite easy to explain, some not so much and other bits may require major surgery sooner rather than later!
The easy one is of course Trent, no explanation needed there. What we didn’t see coming was that he would have company in the (rather large) shape of Big Virg alongside him. One of our earliest votes was to decide which Liverpool assets to have with the intention of building from there. Rather surprisingly Salah was usurped by Andy Robertson leaving us knee deep in Liverpool defenders (quasi-midfielders). Which rather begs the question of how VVD got in there… Long story short, we needed a £0.5mln buffer in the bank to accommodate the arrival of said Mancs and so a downgrade was needed along the way (even that plan changed but more on that later..). Whilst considering a myriad of options our minds raced back to Kop’s Tips Article and his preference of VVD over Robertson. The rest is history.
With that pair set to be two of our intended back three every week we sort of lost interest in the others (as you’ll soon begin to notice) as only one of them will ever be called upon, barring any disasters. So cheap and cheerful was the order of the day. Burnley usually offer good value at the back and so Charlie Taylor got the call up. Ruben Vinagre is one of the cheapest ways into the Wolves defence, that’s assuming he doesn’t get sold soon as per the rumour mill. Young Tyrick Mitchell makes up the numbers at the back for us. He’s another potential timebomb but at £4.0mln we shall ride his wave until such a time as Van Aanholt returns and then he can go take his rightful spot at the back of our bench.
Midfielders
Having already decided on no Mo, or indeed Mane, our premium slots went to Aubameyang and Bruno. And to an extent Havertz. By way of explanation: we had an initial plan which seemingly involved lots of transfers to bring in the likes of Bruno and KDB. Including the former in our squad from the get go, and benching him, cut those down a bit. Havertz snuck in at the last minute at the expense of Alli. Essentially he ate up our aforementioned £0.5m buffer but with Bruno already in and KDB likely to come in for Auba in a few weeks, freeing up another £0.5mln, we felt comfortable with the switch, certainly more comfortable than we did with no Chelsea coverage.
Now that Allan Saint-Maximum has an actual forward to aim his crosses at rather than simply a deckchair, we felt he was worthy of a spot, especially as he was one of the more outstanding players during the ‘restart’ period.
Tomas Soucek managed to make his way in and out of our team at least 6 times during the final meeting. He clung on in there, although we expect he may be on our bench more often than not after this week given the above quartet. Truth is that had Bruno been playing this week we would have probably dropped him to a £4.5-er.
Forwards
We had Timo Werner in every draft until yesterday evening. It was then suggested that Leicester had better opening fixtures than Chelsea and with Vardy a ‘tried and trusted’ Premier League scorer we saw an opportunity to grab some ground on the 48% of managers who currently own Werner. We may well look to get Werner in GW3 or thereabouts once Chelsea have got their visit of Liverpool out of the way. It’s a gamble not going with Werner from the start but one we expect (hope) may just give us a slight edge early doors.
Joining Vardy are Callum Wilson and Aleksandar Mitrović. Wilson has decent top flight pedigree having recorded 14 goals and 12 assists in 2018/19 and though he struggled in a faltering and disjointed Bournemouth side last season, we feel his move to Newcastle could well rejuvenate his career, especially as he is joined at the Toon by his old mucker Fraser and will also have ASM and Almirón teeing him up. Newcastle play West Ham, Brighton and Burnley in their first four matches which should give Wilson the chance to reward our faith. If not, there are others at similar price points gagging for the chance to please us.
Mitrović also had a decent 2018/19 as he scored 11 goals and four assists for a relegated Fulham side, while last season he scored 26 goals to win the Championship Golden Boot. The Cottagers have a mixed start and are expected to struggle but if Fulham score, the Serbian is generally involved. Home fixtures vs Villa, Palace and West Brom coupled with an early trip to Leeds certainly give Mitro the chance to extend his reputation as a goal scorer.
Captain – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
A clean sweep of the votes here, again it probably needs little explanation. Vardy is vice.
Our GW1 team in full…
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Hiya lads. Thoughts on what will very likely be my team?
Just to point out the obvious one… I think Robertson will get off to a better start than TAA, therefore he’s the one in my team. Also, I’m a bit unsure on Pereira.
Looks GTG bud
You can go a couple of ways from Pereira if it doesn’t work out.
If you’re content with Robertson over Trent then it’s good.
I think I’d start with Vardy over Kane.
Cheers guys!
Interesting debate….but does anyone else feel like the whole FPL strategy has changed so much. Before it was solely based on who had the best team, it felt like you could accommodate most (not all), but most players you wanted.
Now prices are so inflated i feel im missing out on 5/6 players. I remember when Aguero was highest valued player at 11m and no one was close to that. Id love to see a 10m cap on players, makes it more about football and the players rather than dumb economics. I used to be able to have coverage from all top 5 teams, now its choose 3 expensive picks and budget the rest.
Players keep getting more expensive each season, but our budget stays the same. Idk, not a rant, just interested in what others think! Maybe its just me lol.
It’s a fair point, but I do have a different take. The budget limit forces each of us to make difficult choices rather than those days when we all converged on a similar group.
For example, I have 6m for a def. I need to choose between azpi, Doherty, vvd, or digne. Greater budget would lead toward an unconstrained approach.
Yeah I know, completely agree…might be fairer to say its just a little strict this year!
There’s an argument to be had for either side of that. I have played a game with no prices, it wasn’t football, possibly NFL, Mito will remember. From memory it was actually better and more enjoyable: you just picked based on judgement, not economy as you say.
This is a bit daft as it is now as we’re all debating / hunting for 4.0/4.5 starting defs/mids as opposed to discussing the merits of picking the best from the top players. Justin v Mitchell, who most of us wouldn’t know if they both knocked on our door right now with passports in hand as opposed to Vardy v Werner v Kane etc etc.
Other side is that it’s a juggling skill, almost a maths equation. I’ve spent most of my time picking mine checking price differences between combos, which in all honesty is just a pain in the arse. I want to be having the same debate with myself as per above, not piecing a jigsaw together.
Interesting take. Never really thought of it like that. Always quickly dismissed the idea by saying everyone would just buy the most expensive players which, having now properly thought about it, I don’t think would actually happen.
Exactly, it’s just a bias that comes from the prices, we automatically think the more expensive the player is the better the player is, but obviously it’s not that simple. There’s a lot of merit in a game that has no prices, you could even have no limit on how many players you can pick from one side…
Then there are price changes, a lot of hassle in that as we know, whether to buy immediately after a GW or risk being priced out, etc, that’s totally non-football related.
Without prices the game wouldn’t be any easier, it would just change the questions we ask ourselves playing it.
Pretty sure it was NFL now thinking about it. Great game. Mito won’t let me play anymore though, long and bitter story… :close_tema:
The cricket (I won The Ashes and the World Cup, just in case you hadn’t heard?! :declare: ) is almost similar, in that it has prices but they are so arbitrary they don’t really matter. Again more enjoyable.
Zed is spot on about the psyche when you add price differences, especially to this extent.
Interesting discussion. I’ve just tuned out of chasing TV, using the excuse of not making transfers early because of injuries, etc.
The reality is I really can’t be bothered to keep an eye on price fluctuations. I have images of people stood on the floor of the stock exchange, barking ‘buy, sell’ etc.
Init, to this I can only add that the Bundesliga is starting next Friday and we must not forget. I wish, one day FPL wake up to the fact that an hour before deadline with knowing who is going to play is a fairplay. Anything else is like you are doing the lottery and guessing what numbers will come up.
It’s not fair play because it disadvantages people outside of the UK time-zone and also those who have lives outside of fantasy football (e.g. who can’t be checking and making last minute changes),
Kralin, I insist that a fair deadline is when everyone is aware of the the starting team (at least for the first games). There are enough challenges throughout the game besides that. FBL, MLS, FUCL have it.
I’ll take your word for it Ivan.
Kralin, I am sure the FPL will come to terms one day, just not yet. As always, everything happens last here. As one politician said, can’t remember his name, “If there is an end to the world, I wold like to be in Britain, I know it will happen last”
Am I good to go? Unsure on Vardy vs Kane
I think Kane is going to have a good year, so I’d say you’ll be alright
Is Reed simply a self indulgence? That’s not a criticism btw.
Of course! Feels weird going with 2 £4.5 mids but it’s the only way I can get the heavy hitters in.
that said I’ve seen him strike a ball pretty cleanly on occasions. Reckon he’ll be banned from doing that in the Prem however.
He’s a regular starter isn’t he? That’s what’s important
Well that’s somewhat up for debate now we have Zambo back but fingers crossed.
ok…. still not sure
Do I go with Ings or Werner
Different would be that I have 2m left over to start the season for kdb/Fernandes if i stick with Ings, or 1m if I have Werner.
Who is the better option?
Tough but I think I’d go Werner.
Werner I would say has the better chance of a haul in GW1 if your view is narrowed down to that.
I have more faith in Chelsea than Southampton at this stage.
Werner.
Based on your team structure, only two mill in the bank would help you get either of them (Son to Bruno)!
Well, i want to do Son->Fernandes and Auba->kdb over gw2+3.
My dilemma was whether to bring in Werner over Ings, plus the slight risk of price rises if i do that.
ok, after scrolling through…. more thoughts.
Have done Ings->Werner……
But should I do Son->Havertz?
I really wouldn’t start over-tinkering with your side too much now, hf.
Son is perfectly fine to start with. I’d want to take a gander at Chelsea before over-investing in their players. And they play Liverpool in GW2.
true Kralin.
Will leave as it is.
Overthinking, and the season hasnt started!!!!!
Okay then…I think it comes down to this (both with 0 ITB):
A) with Bruno
B) without Bruno
A. But start with one of Son or Havertz and bring in Bruno in GW2 for either one of the above or Salah if he looks off the pace :good:
Thanks, Rosco! What’s your take on the new Newcastle boys? Will Wilson start from the get-go?
Yeah I think he def wil, put it this way, in 4 years of playing FPL I’ve never owned a Newcastle player.. I may start with 3 .. help!! :hippo:
😯
I have Rosco, you YouTube b@st@rd :rant: :rofl:
Well that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it :wacko: :laugh2:
I slightly prefer B there, Tornado
Cheers Chips!
B I think
I think Taylor is first choice over Pueters
Thanks, Smash! Pieters and Traore could be any 4.5 def and 6.5 mid.
A.
I think B is too weak in defence Tornado.
Cheers GP! Appreciate it
Good evening fellas,
Used to be a regular on this site until a couple years ago, decided to make an FPL team again this season after taking a break from it
Hope everyone is doing well, great to say some familiar names on here.
Was wondering what you guys think of having Saliba on my team from the off? He is very likely to start Arsenal’s first few games due to David Luiz’s injury and his solid performances in pre-season, and at 4.5 he saves a lot of funds which can be invested in other places. Thoughts?
I remember you mate as I have your image saved from H&L! I think Saliba coukd def start and make the spot his own!
Hey Veer welcome back chances are he will start but is a risk he could break though this yr
What do you guys think of my team so far? Pretty similar to a lot of teams I see posted on here, we seem to have all been inspired by the site team LOL
Love it, don’t like Bruno on the bench though, similar to my team but I’ll be getting a placeholder for Bruno and he can come in GW2
That’s a good point Rosco, do you think it would make more sense if I had Son in his place for this week and then use the 1.5 to get him next week?
Hi Veer, Saliba is a risk and your subs if doesn’t play won’t get you much so maybe wp Southampton
Hi veer!
I’m not sure on Saliba from the off but I like the rest.
Hey Veer, good to see you, hope you are well :friends:
Great to see you Veer, hope you’re well.
Having read through some Arsenal forums today I wouldn’t touch Arsenal central defenders, on their say-so!
Bloody hell, Veer! Great to see you back on the boards mate! Make sure to get doing H&L again!
Thank you all for the warm welcome, crazy to think I started playing FPL and chatting with you guys on forums (first on FFC and then here) at the age of 13, now 20 and still asking the same people for advice with my team :drinks:
Been some hard times for us Arsenal fans recently but Arteta gives me a lot of hope for the future, praying we can make the top 4 this year and push on from there. Think Saliba-Maghalaes could be a dominant CB pairing for many years to come.