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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This is it. Anything need to change? Fingers crossed on Justin starting.
2mib for Havertz to Bruno swap next week.
Thanks!
I have no issue with the players in your team, could do with some yellow though! :good:
Don’t get that Rosco…must have missed the memo
Looks fine Bees, just relax now, no need for panicky last-minute changes.
Hope you’re keeping well – things are pretty dire in your part of the world from what I can see. I hope it’s bearable.
Thanks Kralin. Will chill definitely chill now. First GW is usually crappy and this one more challenging than usual.
It is rough here in California. The worse was two days ago when all day looked like night with a dark orange sky. Woke up and thought it looked the end of the world. Now air quality very unhealthy…so stay inside and watch footy all day tomorrow. This too shall pass
How is your team shaping up? Happy with it?
I hope it picks up soon.
My side is a tad under-cooked – my research, desultory at the best of times has been non-existent this time – but I’ll be able to make a couple of corrections (if I need to) before GW3.
Best of luck for tomorrow.
Not too much time left
So much is unknown. All the best with it!
I need to learn how to read all the data tables. Some ok, some make my eyes roll back!
Evening all! I’ve been missing for a couple of weeks as sadly my mother passed away so I’ve missed a lot of the buildup on here. I’ve just put a team together and would like your opinions! Not sure if Cedric plays? Traore could easily become Foden in the hope he gets more game time this year but the likes of KDB and Sterling would be out of my reach at present. Happy to bench Fernandes this week to save a transfer next week. 0.5 still in the bank.
I’m very sorry to hear that igy4.
The side’s fine and I’d let it be and relax.
Ahh mate I’m so sorry to hear that, how are you holding up? Your team looks great barring Cedric, I’d probably move him on as I don’t think he starts.
Sorry to hear that mate.
Cedric won’t start, AMN and Bellerin are both ahead of him. Could get Dier instead of him maybe
Thanks Kralin and Rosco. I don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet. I’ve been back teaching at school all week so haven’t had the time to process it properly. The wife and child are doing a grand job of looking after me though!
Who would you shift Cedric for? I’d have 5.5 if I use all funds available.
Well that’s maybe not a bad thing, deal with it however works best, even if best is 100s of annoying children that belong to other people (my wife’s a teacher). At 5.5 the worlds your oyster, if you want to stick with the Gunners then Tierney would be my go to, after that Boly or any of the Sheffield lot!
So sorry to hear this Igy. You take care. Solid team minus Cedric and they guys have said.
That’s a bummer Igy. May she Rest in peace.
Condolences igy. FPL is a speck compared to that but I hope it offers some distraction mate.
Stay well and good luck for the season.
Only really Cedric concerns me there by the way.
my condolences buddy..may she R.I.P.
Igy, so sorry to heat that! My condolences to you and your family! May she Rest In Peace!
Your team is fine apart from Cedric. If you want Arsenal cover in defence you can go for a straight swap and get Tierney.
Oh Igy, I’m really sorry to hear this mate. You have my condolences.
So sorry to hear your news, that’s terrible. Hope you’re as OK as can be.
Regarding your team, it’s just Cedric really that’s a problem. All else looks good.
My condolences, igy4.
Your side looks great. Traore is a nice pick – he seems to have slipped (with his vaselined arms) under many a radar!
So sorry to hear that igy. Hope you and yours are holding up.
Thanks for all the support, it is much appreciated! It really shows why this is such a great community! FPL is definitely a good distraction!
Just curious, anyone has a team without TAA?
Is he a must have for the start of the season?
He’s been in all my drafts, that Pool defense seemed shaky in the CS, and pre season.
Just tried it out, w 1m ITB, to change Brewster to a better forward.
Pretty essential yes.
Kunal, I don’t have TAA and he’s not vital yet. He’s had no preseason and he’ll take a few weeks to get up to speed.
Have the courage of your convictions and gain some ground on the scared sheep who have him.
Fantastic team you have though I would ask yourself if you’d rather have Vardy & Brewster or Richarlison & Wilson.
Good point about not having him immediately, but surely he needs to be budgeted for? It’s quite a steep climb to get him…
Easy, downgrade Vardy and one can afford TAA.
‘scared sheep’?
Steady on old chap.
TAA is a wholly logical pick and it is very risky to go without him. Pretty good first fixture as well to help find his feet and remember what he needs to do.
We shall see. The eye test, as they call it, massively favours Robertson out of the pair.
I didn’t say it was illogical, playing the percentages at this stage sees you safely in the peleton.
But essential right now? Nah, not for me.
I have both…seeing them as equally essential.
But then I started last season the same and Norwich scored a last minute consolation (if memory serves).
Best of luck for tomorrow (and beyond).
Cookie, that’s been my thinking all round. Not the easiest games, no pre season and Pool haven’t looked great in pre season. I’m sure I’ll have TAA at some point in 4/5 weeks, don’t think he’s needed yet.
I like Vardy and Wilson lol, I can already pull Brewster to a Mitro, tryna find that extra 1m right now.
Son to Alli, there you go, Kunal.
Statistically, Alli does well under Jose.
That’s a great shout, might just do it!
Cheers mate
Kunal, I am on that road. Tired of the TAA euphoria after their lethargic performances this summer . I think Gomez should suffice with their current defensive show. Money, well spend elsewhere.
Ivan…how’s your team coming along? Let us take a look? Mine is 109 above.
All the best mate!
Bees, not finished yet but as you know, I like a gamble and for now working on this 😉
I can see what you mean Ivan. You could hit it big. Fingers crossed mate!
Hey Ivan, yup felt the same. I got burned for the most tparr post lockdown with him. And he’s been off colour at England too.
Thinking of waiting for 4/5gws to get him right now
Post lockdown Liverpool had the league won and gave a good impression of going through the motions. They didn’t have a huge amount to play for.
But that was then. On balance I think it’s wiser to start with TAA than not and if need be move him on.
Kunal, totally agree. With all the circumstances surrounding GW 1, the WC is imminent very soon. I predict- 50 % in GW 2, another 20 in GW 3, and then the rest will have no chance with their preaching for holding it for late, just surrender.
I’m one of those who usually waits it out on WCs Ivan, not afraid to use it if my team isn’t good enough but I tend to wait.
I just can’t help the feeling covid might have a play at any point, and ruin a team. Keeping Bruno in my team rn, means I should be able to do fine getting city players without hits, or minimal hits, we’ll see.
Nice team by the way, any reason to prefer ward process over ASM?
Six in 10 managers currently own him. If he scores big, your rank would be in big trouble.
No TAA is a move that’s brave, given his ownership and ability to provide with CSs, assists and goals, but you’ve used his funds well. Good luck, brave one!
Is james Rodriguez a guaranteed starter right from the off ?
apparently hes only started 1 game in last 11 months so I’d say no
Cheers one to watch then
Bar a raft of overnight yellow and red flags that is me all locked in for game week 1.
McCarthy & Ryan (had Martinez but unsure if transfer to Villa has concluded)
TTA, VvD, Doherty, Coady & Ake
Son, Havertz, Pereira, ASM & Burke
Werner, Ings & Martial
Good luck to everyone this weekend and for the season.
Jamie
Good luck to you.
I’ve been picking up strong Martinez to B&HA whispers, but as you have McCarthy then you’re covered plus Martinez is unlikely to turn up before Monday. Hmm.
Martinez to BHA? 😯 …but-but-but Ryan!
Take a gander
I simultaneously fell from my chair when I read the news.
goodluck Jamie..team looks set..
Great article, thanks! Not only does it help me with some of my choices, it gives me someone to blame too when it inevitably goes horribly wrong tomorrow :focus:
:hippo:
That’ll be Cookie then, I’ll provide his mobile and email address privately if you like :rofl: