FF247 Fantasy Football Site Team GW1
We’re back! Last season was something of a disappointment as we finished with our lowest rank since we first introduced the site team back in 2014/15. We don’t set ourselves any goals at the beginning of each season but at the very least we want to beat last season’s final rank. Hang on, is that a goal?! Just like the rest of you we’ve spent five minutes hours agonising over who to include in our GW1 squad and we’re finally there. Are we happy? Ask us that around 6pm on Sunday evening!
Below we have outlined some of our thought process when picking our squad. Hopefully it makes sense!
Goalkeepers
When we posted our very provisional squad a couple of weeks ago we had two £4.5m keepers. This then became a premium and a £4.0m option before reverting to two £4.5m keepers. Finally, we landed on Rui Patricio (£4.5m) and Ben Hamer (£4.0m). Why this option? Money. It’s as simple as that, we needed to free up cash for investments further up the pitch. Why Patricio and Hamer? Wolves were a solid outfit in the Championship last season and on the face of it, it would appear as though they’ve strengthened their squad over the summer and they should hopefully be a source of some early season clean sheets. As for Hamer…well he could be any £4.0m option.
Defenders
Initially we had Ederson as our keeper but following his display in the Charity Shield, Benjamin Mendy was drafted in for some City defensive cover. City will undoubtedly pick up their fair share of clean sheets over the opening game-weeks while Mendy should also chip in with some attacking returns.
Andrew Robertson has been in our squad from the beginning. Along with VVD he appears to be the Liverpool defender least susceptible to rotation and with a certain Spaniard as his competition he really should start every game!
Luke Shaw is something of a gamble. With Ashley Young as his competition he really should see more game time but Jose clearly isn’t a fan. We accept he’s probably a transfer waiting to happen but we’re banking on a couple of early season clean sheets before Young returns.
Our defence is completed by the Crystal Palace pair of James Tomkins and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Both Palace and Tomkins finished last season in fine form and the hope is that they carry such form into this season. We’ll probably require Tomkins sooner rather than later thanks to Jose and Shaw! Wan-Bissaka is in due to the fact that he’s £4.0m and is
set to start the season at right back.
Midfielders
Mo Salah is Mo Salah.
Christian Eriksen was a late arrival to our squad. If we’re being honest we probably wanted a City midfielder but with uncertainty around which of them will start we’ve gone with the safety of the Viking and with an opening day fixture against Newcastle he could very well be amongst the points. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that we have £0.5m left in the bank and the likelihood is that this will be used to bring KDB in for Eriksen in the very near future.
Richarlison is in simply because of Everton’s fixtures. This is most certainly a fixtures over form punt. We’re hoping that his reunion with Marco Silva will see him rediscover the form he showed when he first linked up with Silva at the beginning of last season.
By the time we got to our last two midfield spots money was rather tight. Tom Cairney was chosen on the basis that that Fulham try to play an attacking brand of football and he is the attacking cog in their midfield. We don’t expect very much from Dale Stephens, simply that he delivers two points when called upon.
Forwards
Given City’s early season fixtures Sergio Aguero was one of the first names on our teamsheet. We’re well aware that he may be rotated with Jesus but he only needs 20 minutes to rattle in a few goals.
When Roberto Firmino scored and assisted in Liverpool’s final preseason friendly the following question was asked, “Did Firmino scare us into reshaping the team?” The answer was yes. Mo Salah might score the majority of the goals but without Firmino the Liverpool attack doesn’t function. This means that unlike many other forwards he’s a great source of assists as well as goals.
Josh King takes the 3rd forward spot in our team thanks to his preseason form and Bournemouth’s early fixtures.
Our GW1 team is…
Captain – Salah
We could say that this was a unanimous decision but that would suggest we actually took a vote! Someone suggested Salah as captain and nobody disagreed. He’s the obvious candidate.
Thanks for reading FF247 Fantasy Football Site Team GW1
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PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
Usually we run an article and ask people to get involved and cover the friendlies with any info they can gather. And it’s usually fun but in all honesty it’s usually also a bit messy and difficult to refer back to. This season we have one link that you will need need for all such info, courtesy of Mito –
Here you will find all the pre-season info you could ever wish for in one place – line-ups, scorers, assists, match info, sarcastic comments…
SET-PIECE TAKERS LIST
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The League Codes for FF247 for the 2018/19 season are as follows –
The main public FF247 League is sponsored by Starting 11, which anyone is welcome to join, can be accessed using the following code 1581-751 (auto-link below).
The prize pool for this is £250.
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League Code: 1581-751
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So little time left!!!
A lot of money invested in the defence, but I am going for premium defenders rather than budget midfielders/forwards this season. (At least to start with).
With that in mind, what do you think?
The team:
I started reading and thought, here we go again “heavy on defence” that must mean the rest is just a “dumpster fire”.
I will admit I actually quite like it.
Question mark over Kane for me, never seems to start well.
Might make a last minute change to aguero and save the money to change back if Kane gets over his no-goals-in-august-illness…
Mane and Zaha or Firmino and 7,5 mid?
Mane and Zaha
Firmino and 7.5
+1
Hi guys, hope everyone is doing great! I’ve been travelling for nearly a month for holidays. Here’s my first post for my new team. Took a few risk early on. Is Shurrle gonna start? Any thoughts are appreciated!
Ready to go in my opinion
cheers mate
Moura and Schurrle both slight risks for me. Moura game time. Schurrle could be a great shout, but I’d prefer to wait and see.
Moura for me is more of a short-term pick. I think he’s the best Spurs player in pre-season by a mile. Thanks for the input mate!
Hey coys – yes Schurrle should start but I’d prefer Sess or Mitro for Fulham attack if you can squeeze out another 0.5
If i were to do Mahrez -> B Silva, that would free up a lot more dough! Thanks mate
Hey coys, where did you get to on hols?
I like the Schurrle pick. I’d have him myself if I didn’t have Mitro. I covered Schurrle in the new signing articles so I looked at his stats a lot and they stack up, he just hasn’t played much recently.
I’m more sceptical on Moura but you’ll know more about his prospects than I.
Hey Init! Great to hear from you. Was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Brazil the last 3-4 weeks. Still recovering from all the travelling. Thanks for the thoughts on Shurrle as he seems great value if he can prove the saying “Form is temporary, class is permanent”. As for Moura, he’s more of a fan pick 😉
Wowzers. Did you just google ladyboys and set off in pursuit?!
Seriously though mate, hope you had a brilliant and memorable time. Did Brazil myself about 15 years ago and it amazing.
Didn’t know your into those kinda stuff mate, LOL. I’ve been to Brazil 8 years ago and it’s really good to be there again. Here’s a memorable pic from the where I stayed in Rio de Janeiro
Vietnam and Malaysia are great, never been to Brazil, but that picture is amazing!! Want to be there right now!!
Vietnam & Malaysia has amazing food! Thanks Zed.
Guys would u bring in Patricio and mendy for ederson and Cedric, or leave as is?
i would, man u
i mean Patri and Mendy
Cheers dawid. I’m leaning towards that now. I think i will actually.
Word of warning to everyone the FPL web site and app are already becoming quite slow, make your final changes as early as possible or you run the risk of your final transfers not going through when everything crashes at 6pm-ish.
+100
0.5 in the bank. Any suggestions appreciated
KP, i really like it!
you could squeeze Sanchez in, can be a great move.
my only issue is Luiz. are you sure he will start?
btw i have just realized that your team is almost the same as mine so ofc i like it
(i have mane and de gea over sanchez and patricio)
EVERY year I wish that I had some money saved itb after GW1, but I never do…