FF247 Fantasy Football Site Team
Like most of you who are now tinkering around with your team, we have gathered our committee to see if we can work out a beginner team. This is by no means the final team, but this is a squad that we are ok with as of this moment. Basically a starter team, that we will now try and work from until we build something that we are relatively happy with come GW1. This team, like any other team will see guys depart and see new guys come in for them. Ok, so let us get onto our current selections and and first our thinking along that journey, and see if we can justify our reasoning.
And please, tell us what you like and where you think we could do better, we definitely take comments into consideration if for no other reason, so we have someone to blame.
Goalkeepers – Premiums we are considering
De Gea (6.0) – Very secure and adds stability to any team, big concern is the price point and is he really worth more than any other keeper? Most owned!
Ederson (5.5) – Similar to DDG, but .5 cheaper, a set and forget. Problem is he isn’t required to make saves, had half of what De Gea had and less than any other premium keeper. Yet, he was tied among high priced keepers in bonus points. Ties up coveted City spot.
Alisson (5.5) – Shouldn’t have to do a bunch more work than Ederson, so saves will be low. Also, like Ederson and probably more concerning, owning him would mean one less outfield player from LFC in our squads.
Lloris (5.5) – Very consistent and probably should be in more teams, but like some of the others above him, having him means one less outfield player from his team. Last year many carried a Spurs attack minded defender, one or two of their mids and Kane.
Best of the rest we are considering
Leno (5.0) – Very favourable price, but early fixtures and Arsenal’s defensive record from last season has us questioning if this is a shrewd move or fool’s gold. Possible downgrade to Leno from a higher priced keeper if Arsenal look sturdier could be a move in an early transfer for many.
Pickford (5.0) – Everton’s fixtures and his impressive 145 points from last season do make him somewhat attractive. Another thing in his favour is that he has a 4.0 back-up.
Fabianski (4.5) – Great price point, horrific fixtures, but who cares, isn’t getting save points his thing? Is his season repeatable though? Surely, he will make less saves and probably get less bonus points, but 4.5 is likely good value.
Patricio (4.5) – If we think he will have a similar season to Ryan or Lossl from last season, then this also good value here.
Defenders – Premiums we are considering
Azpilicueta (6.5) – Two straight seasons of 170 points or more makes his price understandable. Should be safe in the XI, which makes him a better play than his mate Alonso, for now.
Walker & Otamendi (6.5) – How can any Ota owner from last season forget that run of goals and that increase in value? Well, we can remember the good times, but fierce competition if Pep runs a back 4 and to some degree even a 3 back makes him an iffy play. Walker did good, but he is the same price as Azpi and money is tight.
Spurs defenders (6.0) – Seven of their eight are at this price. If they sell one or two, we will have another look, but they have a lot of quality to go around and we don’t want Mauricio to Poch us by rotating on us.
Robertson (6.0) – LFC should be tighter this season and they weren’t bad last season. Like the chances of him adding to his goal and assists and the best part is that Alberto Moreno is his competition.
Mendy (6.0) – More intriguing than the other City defenders, just not sure if he is done partying yet. If he looks secure in his starts, he should rack up the assists to go along with clean sheets.
Van Aanholt (5.5) – Always tempting, but this is a hard price point for someone who has his nice goal tallies offset by his lack of clean sheets. So, either he starts scoring 10 goals a season or starts getting more than 5-6 clean sheets or he is not good value.
Best of the rest we are considering
The 5.0 to 5.5 bracket – Usually it is guys from top teams that end up being the better assets in this price bracket, problem is that a lot of them are questionable starters at this point. Think of Otamendi and Davies from last season, cheaper than the premium, but turned out great. Bellerin (5.5) is an interesting option here, but word of Unai’s rotation from years past has us worried. Another option is Luke Shaw (5.0), we like to eat also, so his body type does not bother us. What bothers us is how quickly he might be watching from the bench. However, with Valencia’s injury and the possibility of all of Jose’s other fullbacks leaving/vacationing/being injured, our boy Luke might get a longer run out and at his price, he is tempting. Like a big chocolate cake.
Lovren (5.0) is really cheap and considering what renowned football expert Dejan Lovren said about him being one of the best defenders in the world, this could be a huge bargain. However, he is unlikely to feature right away after dragging Modric, Perisic, Rakitic and the rest of Croatia to a World Cup final. Greatness also needs a rest.
Burnley defenders are in the Europa, so until we see how serious they are about it, they are not in our plans.
The 4.5 bracket – In this price range we are looking for anyone who rotates or has decent fixtures in case we need him to auto sub in. Pick one or two and hope for the best. Daniels has a Rico problem, Holebas has a Masina problem, Jagielka is old, Fuchs can’t fuching defend,
Tomkins looks decent value, but we could be biting from the Wan-Bissaka apple and we wouldn’t want two Palace defenders.
Cedric could end up being the choice in the end assuming we don’t go down the Bamba or Doherty rabbit hole.
The search for the 4.0
Wan-Bissaka as mentioned above might be our guy. Every year we go for one of these guys and by week 3 he is no longer starting. Oh well, at least he is only 4.0. We are also keeping our eyes and ears open and monitoring Bennett from Wolves and Pelteir from Cardiff in case either wants to be a hero.
Midfielders – Premiums we are considering
Salah (13.0) – It is unfair to put him in this category, we are not deliberating over him, he is in. The other 14 spots are up for grabs.
City Mids (8.5 – 11.0) – Some of them, depending on what you think the mid-price and premium line is, could fall in different categories, but we thought it best to keep them together. We know we probably need one, maybe two if you look at their point tallies from last season. However, as we all know, their minutes could be tricky. With the exception of De Bruyne (10.0), the rest are harder to gauge. We will probably have one to start with, but it is certainly a situation that we have to monitor and we will need to hire a Pep mind reader so we don’t get stuck on the wrong City assets through the season.
Hazard (10.5) – Off to Madrid and even if he is not, he won’t be ready come GW1 so we will pass on him.
Sanchez (10.5) – Has looked solid so far, but Salah’s price really makes it hard to take a calculated punt on a what is a very expensive player.
Mane (9.5) – Doesn’t feel like a bad idea, but he is battling Firmino and Keita for a spot in our team.
Eriksen (9.5) – It feels wrong to go without him. He could be a sticking point with some committee members and force his way on the team before the deadline.
Best of the rest we are considering
The 7.0-8.5 bracket – Ozil (8.5) looks a touch overpriced to us, Ramsey (7.5) feels like the best option although if Mkhitaryan (7.0) can nail down a spot at Arsenal that be ideal.
Son (8.5) is gone to Asia for a while, so have a safe trip.
Siggy (7.5) could grab our attention and has a chance to make our 15 if he shows any signs of life before the deadline.
Groß (7.0) much like Siggy and perhaps by being 0.5 lesser also could sneak in when our team is reevaluated and if his fixtures are overlooked a bit.
If Pogba (8.0) was available right away, someone could take up his case, but for now, we will just let Jose troll him as we watch from a distance.
The West Ham midfield boys can clear their tough fixtures first, until then we will just observe.
The 4.5-6.5 bracket – Fabregas (6.5) made it, for now, we are intrigued. If he looks like he is going to start, he should pile up assists for fun. Pedro (6.5) would be given more consideration if some Chelsea wingers left the club.
Surely Milivojevic (6.5) won’t get that many penalty goals again.
Walcott and Richarlison (6.5) might be brought up again depending on the budget. In particular the Brazilian as he feels like an interesting early punt.
Mata (6.5) should start in the XI, but there is a worry about him being dropped quickly.
Lamela (6.5) similar to Mata, but he might be able to stay a bit longer in the XI.
Jota, Maddison and Sessegnon (6.5) are also battling for that punt spot on the team. Jota does interest us, with his possibilities of playing up top and his goal involvement. Always hard to trust a promoted team’s player though.
Ralls (5.0) seems to be a favourite of ours and if we had the extra 0.5 he be in over Ward (4.5) on our current team.
Costa, Kenedy and Cairney (5.0) would also be considered but Kenedy has really tough fixtures and the other two are either risky because we don’t know for sure if they will start or because they are on an awful team. Obviously there are more that are debated, but think that is enough covered.
Forwards – Premiums-ish we are considering
Kane (12.5) – Pricey, tired, possibly limited minutes, think we will wait and let him get rolling first.
Aubameyang (11.0) – A bit divided on this one. Think there is a consensus about all liking him, but some concerns about him being used wide and also his first two fixtures being iffy.
Aguero (11.0) – In for now, there are some thoughts that we could downgrade to Firmino and upgrade Keita to Eriksen. We do love Kun’s fixtures, but Jesus has magical powers and it wouldn’t be the first time he put the thought of benching Kun into Pep’s head.
Lacazette (9.5) – Nice price, wrong forward. A bit more interesting if he gets all the minutes up top, but still a wait and see for now.
Firmino (9.5) – Decent chance the tide turns and he ends up making the final team.
Lukaku (11.0) – The Romelu from the World Cup would contend for a spot, but he won’t start right away and he still plays for Jose.
Morata (9.0) – If someone on the committee wants him, they can put him on their personal team.
Vardy (9.0) – Does anyone know if he will be around for GW1? Vardy might be the least talked about good forward in FPL.
Best of the rest we are considering
Zaha (7.0) – Love this guy, love him more if he was still a mid and there were no rumours of him leaving, yet he still gets a spot, and if something does happen, Arnie is sitting right there winking at us.
Arnautovic (7.0) – Could easily be him come GW1, this guy finished strong last season and he looks in great form in pre-season.
Tosun (7.0) – We feel more confident about the other two 7.0 guys.
Austin (6.0) – Use him while he is fit? He probably ends up being dumped in the end, but when he is fit and plays, it is hard to argue that he is not good value. He would easily outscore similarly priced defenders and mids if he managed to play similar minutes.
Tentative GW1 team
So after all that, this is where we are now, this however will not be where we end up, that is guaranteed. We thought we give you some insight into our thinking so far. There are still more debates to be had about certain players, formations, upgrades and downgrades that should polish this side up. Austin is likely to feel the wrath of our committee members again, since he is about as trustworthy as Daniel Sturridge when it comes to injuries. Our fifth mid will be a sticking point. Perhaps some downgrades and adding another premium defender could be something we get behind. Our keeper situation is not resolved, some will come back and try and convince the rest that Premium keeper is the way to go or the Everton duo is better. Perhaps even a 4.5 with a 4.0 and invest the money elsewhere. We will post our official GW1 team much closer to the deadline once we come to a conclusion. But for now, tear this team apart!
If you wish to follow the teams progress more closely you can do so by clicking here.
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PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
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It’s been a busy summer already with Arsenal, Everton, West Ham and Chelsea appointing new managers, Manchester City adding to their already dominant squad, Man Utd continuing to splash the cash and Liverpool trying to protect Karius by beefing up their midfield. Spurs may even have a new home soon.
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Here’s my latest try.. Planning to go with 3 strikers, the usual suspects. Defence need to be hefty, hence the selection. Jota playing OOP, already discussed a lot here I believe. Want to be lucky with Everton’s opening fixtures, so Pickford I’d my pick. Have 0.5m OTB to make Sane–>> KDB as and when required.. what do you guys think? I think 7-8 premium players are enough, right?
Arsenal cover?
You can’t cover everyone. Arsenal has a couple of hard games can assess later
I’d prefer Auba over Kun to start off with. But it is just a personal preference.
Yeah I get the Auba over Aguero preference no right or wrong answer there that’s for sure
I am thinking of starting wqith PEA instead of Kun as well Smash.
That frees up a city place for their great fixtures from GW2.
The problem is of course trying to finger out who is going to play the most minutes in the City side
Yeah one thing for sure as we want some City coverage
After GW-3 possibly. Or can get Arnie+Stephens out for Ramsey and 4.5m forward.
I like Arnie there.
After a couple of games I would assess Mihki, Cassette Tap and PEA.
I’m done now, baring injuries for GW1 and 2.
Bailly will likely drop to a lower price option, using a similar approach for Azpi.
The £5m MID slot has loads of options once things bed down, inc Wilshere and most of the Wolves MID.
Schmeichel to Chelsea, shifts things….
JM undermining Man Utd, is worth keeping an eye on
City rotation always an issue
Kane vs Salah
All will become clear by Sept.
If hazard, william goes Pedro might be a steal at 6.5. I am keeping an eye on things their. If he dose I’d look at other players
Looks a decent team to me. I’m not convinced Mendy plays but team news closer to the start date will determine that we see City next week regardless
At the back you could try drop Robinson to vvd. He had 1 pre-season goal and had to headers on target v man u. If he can get 3 odd goals and his clean sheets start coming in could be an interesting move. You the have 1m to play with.
Jose & Pep are making it rather difficult when it comes to picking my GW1 squad!
Might just avoid them till they settle their sides, got Kun and Mahrez but will have to monitor the latter, want a Man U defender but it’s like picking the lottery numbers at the minute!
Yeah only Smalling seems nailed currently
How about starting with triple Scouse, Kop
Hey Horse. How are you mate?
I’ve currently got 3 and I don’t think that will change but I am starting to tinker towards only having 2…. which 2 I don’t have the foggiest at this point only Salah is certain.
I am good Matt.
I like that Liverpool don’t rotate anywhere as much as the Manchester clubs and play very attacking football and their defence is going to be more solid this season.
I have Salah and Robbo at the mo. Have Keita Bobby and VDV on my watchlist.
Yeah there won’t be much rotation especially in defence but with the recruits we brought in this summer I’m worrying there might be a bit more rotation up top. If Sturridge stays fit he could come in for Bobby at times, Lallana, Wiji and Milner could come in together as a midfield to give Keita, Hendo and Fabinho a rest. Salah and Robertson seems to be most safe in all honesty.
What are your thoughts on TAA?
He’s going to get rotated. Klopp stated already that Clyne and TAA will both get game time. The one that is more fit before each weeks game will start so he’s a massive risk I think!
Any love for Mane?
I don’t know! Not so far but he could be good. I don’t think I’ll be going with him.
I might have to Horse!!
We find out about City next week. There’s no way they will start the season with their youth team
Agreed Smash. But apparently Sane didn’t feature last night because he needed a rest!!!!
Morning fellas. I’ve decided to go with 4-4-2 this season but I’m thinking of having it rotate between a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3. Which would you say is the better option? I’m not sure if I like the 3rd striker options or the 5th mid options. Thoughts everyone?
Hi Matt.
I have been thinking the same. I am currently on 3-5-2 as feel like the midfield options are pretty strong this season. Especially been 6.5-10m. The likes of Bobby & Laca at 9.5 interest me for being able to get a pretty strong 3-4-3 going but of course this early on there are still some unknowns. If they nail down spots then could be great. I was toying with something like this as a draft
I like it mate. That back line is a bit risky though I think but we still have a few weeks to finalise stuff.
Most definitely is quite suspect but in principle would be 2 decent defenders with 2 rotating 4.5s to fill the last spot. Silva could also become Keita if that works out as they are the same price.
Not bad then mate. Sounds good.
Hey Matt..As per the current conditions, 4-4-2 seems to be the correct formation. It would change when all the WC players are back. Rest, need to wait till the next week for Cookie’s article on press results..
That’s true mate!
I have two questions:
1. Why do people think Davies is locked in? He suffered massive rotation near the end of last season. Is Rose not fit for the start of the season?
2. Why have people got Richarlison in their teams? He averaged 3.3 points per match last season.
1. Rose palyed at the WC and will take a rest for a while.
2. Ricarlison is playing for Silva at Everton where he started last season well before tailing off. He is nailed on. He has had the summer off so should be fresh for the new season
+1
Everton paid 50m for Ricarlison. He’s locked in to play and has a great fun of opening games. He’s worth a punt at 6.5
Hi
I currently have Richalison as IMO he will be nailed on to start following his price tag plus Silva loves him from the Watford days. I think he will grab goals/assists as he is that sort of player and I personally think they will set up around him to try n make that happen.
For Davies, perhaps they are looking short term with Rose being at the World Cup so being less likely to start.
Hey Ben,
1) Davies seems ok until Rose returns then its fear the rotation time!
2) There is optimism that Richarlison can rediscover his form of early last season after a good summer ‘s rest. He has scored already for Everton who have good fixtures on paper. 6.5mln is a bargain if he hits the ground running.
Everyone is looking for this season’s Michu!
Bring back Michu!!!
Michu died in December that season. Was great until then. Soooo many refuse to sell him because of the value they had built up in him that season.
Thanks guys. Hmmm…. maybe I need to change my team…. again.
Currently looking at this.
Love it except Lacazette, 2 very hard opening games and not a locked in starter.. lot to be spending. At the same price Vardy has a much better opening 3
Considering Laca myself. If you can find somewhere you would be willing to take £1.5m out, I’d grab Auba (although I can see Laca’s appeal and if he looks set to start I may well go that way, although Init has told me to stop trying to be clever…
).
AT, that may have had more to do with Moura than Laca!!
I thought it was just in general :winktongue:
Definitely in general. I have to try and make fantasy fun somehow after Fulham has forced me to edit that article several times
Well now I have Shaqiri :lurker: 😆
Hello all,
Hope you’re all excited for the upcoming season! Would love to get your feedback on my team! Have 1m in the bank to maybe upgrade Eriksen to KDB once he’s starting.
Thanks a lot!
Hi, mate. I do like it. Not sure on Mane although WHU (H) is a perfect opening round game so might be worth a punt. Daniels should play at the start but I’d be surprised not to see Rico (new LB) get the nod after he has served his three-game suspension. Not sure I’d want Bou defender either. Is Neves £5.5m? I’d probably downgrade him to a £4.5/5m.
Oh, also, I assume by Eriksen you mean Mane? I’d probably take Erik from day dot.
What AT says here. Neves is 5.0 but I still don’t think he’d be a good FPL option.
Ahh. Well, in that case, swap him to another £5m or grab someone like Gunnarson at £4.5m. Neves will probably score a few screamers if you want to just show replays to your mate when they are celebrating the mini league win!