FF247 Site Team Game-week 1 FPL Tips
Welcome to the FF247 Site Team Game-week 1 article.
A blank page. A clean slate. A slab upon which to paint fantasy football glory. 15 slots to fill with the finest at our disposal. This should be easy then. Last seasons heroes go in first – Vardy, Payet, Kane, Bellerin, Cech, Ozil and Toby. Add in the best of the new arrivals and transfers- Ibra, Pogba, Feghouli, Miki, Stones, Redmond, Valdes and Mane and we should be good to go, yeah? Dead easy. Oh hang on, what do you mean there’s a budget? And a formation, you say? Back to the drawing board then… and the reality that you can realistically only have a small handful of the aforementioned stars. And the skill is not only in picking which of those to take but also in finding the bargain ones who will produce consistently to augment the top boys. That’s the journey on which we all set out on right now.
What we will do over the next 38 weeks is publish that journey, step by step, blow by blow. Now for those of you who have followed us before you will know that by ‘blow by blow’, we sometimes mean that literally. It’s a committee. And we vote on the decisions each week. It’s not a very civilised committee at times, but it’s a committee. Democracy in it’s purest and most volatile form, basically. And that’s just when we have one transfer decision to make, this week we had 15….
Who picks the team?
Just to fill you in on the details a bit, the committee is made up of five very experienced fantasy football managers. They have all had some some degree of success in FPL, as well as other fantasy football games in their own right. None of them purport to be fantasy experts by any means but all have an in-depth knowledge of the Premier League. This is despite four of them not actually residing in the UK! One of them does, but one is in Ireland, one is in Monaco, one is in America and the other is from Cloud Cuckoo Land. An eclectic mix. You can probably guess who at least four of those are!
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Onto the team itself…
This wasn’t actually as painful as we expected it might be. Probably because we realise we are all just p*ssing in the wind a bit, at this point. What do we have to go on really, info wise? A bit of pre-season, some past reputations and hope and gut feeling. Do you pick Townsend or Lamela, as one example? Who really knows. As such we’ve picked a team which we feel covers the main bases –
The key decisions –
Forwards
Aguero – must have, end of. Pep’s teams tend to be exciting and produce goals. He’s at the sharp end of that point. For us it’s not a case of whether to, it’s a case of Aguero +14 others.
Ibrahimovic – To Ibra or not probably influences most fantasy team set-ups this summer. He’s pricey but is he worth it? We’ve decided to err on the side of caution. He usually delivers. If for some reason he flops then it’s much easier to exit that strategy than it is the other way around.
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Midfield – We feel Hazard may be about to be on fire again. He looked back to his usual self in the Euro’s and has had a decent enough pre-season. We can’t figure out the slump last season. He seems to have literally just switched himself off and then on again. Maybe it was just a gap year. Maybe it was Windows 10. Either way he’s in.
Firmino makes the team on the basis that a Liverpool inspired Klopp side will be attack minded and he is absolutely key to that. His inclusion somewhat ignores any fixture bias as they don’t have the best start on paper but they do also have a decent pedigree against the ‘better’ teams.
Lamela is probably our punt here. Hopefully he can kick on and be a bit of an under the radar star. His pre-season form certainly suggests potential.
We have high hopes for Redmond. That’s it really, we have high hopes for him! He’s been deployed in very attacking roles in pre-season and has produced so far. Let’s see if that can translate into actual FPL points.
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Defence
We have tried to mix a couple of ‘assist-meisters’ with a bunch of other cheapies who rotate well in terms of fixtures. It’s not an ‘ideal’ defence by any means, probably more functional than anything. We could improve it by losing a midfielder but this is what we went with.
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Keepers
This was probably the only decision which was contested with any vigour. Ultimately we decided to go with a couple who tick the two boxes of rotation and cheapness.
Here’s our team in full. If any surprises pop up in the press conferences tomorrow then we will of course alter accordingly. We shall be sure to post in the comments if this happens though.
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If anyone is interested in following the site teams progress then you can do so here
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Thanks for reading FF247 Site Team Game-week 1 FPL Tips
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Vote on our Captain Poll Now
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Hey guys, I’m back.
Here’s my team!
Hi Ruben, can’t really faulty that mate. Maybe take the vice-cappo’s armband off Coutinho and hand it to Ibra?
Is anyone concerned about Fabio’s signing and the implications on Friend?
I wouldn’t bother with it, just get Gibson and let others worry about it. Friend will probably stay the starter, but you can stave off the worry by just doing a sideways move.
Good
I don’t know man, Coutinho is my favorite player & I believe he will be picking points for me if Agüero’s glass ankles fail. Hehe.
Nice team Ruben, you even have a Pope to bless the team before it hits the pitch.
Haha thank you! Hopefully I can get off to a good start this year.
Hi Ruben,
Nice team etc etc blah blah blah.
Right, now onto the important stuff – You playing Fantasy NFL again this year?
Sup chins!
Most likely will, yes. When does it start tho?
Not agreed a draft date yet, but the season kicks off Sep 11th, so lots of time to reseach / set draft picks lists etc.
Let us know via the whatsapp chat either way though as we’ll need to recruit a replacement if you don’t fancy it.
@chins
Alright, that sounds good. Need the time in order to get ready.
Definitely will let you know soon, if I decide not to join!
Guys, ibra or Sanchez? and why?
Ibra easy. Fixtures are better for Man Utd than Arsenal and Alexis is only just getting back to fitness.
See how Ibra goes for the first 3 gameweeks and then can swap to Alexis if you’d rather him going forward
I’d go Sanchez, but then i am a Gooner that cant’ stand Ibra, so maybe not all that impartial.
I think both could score a few goals in the opening 3 weeks. I just think you know what you’re getting with Arsenal re. chances created. Liverpool should be an open game. We have a good record against Leicester. And we’re going to spank the wotsit out of Watford.
I think United might take a little while to find their rhythm with 2 new players in their front 6.
That said, based on ownership %’s, i’m wrong.
Hi Constantine;
Sanchez for me! Sanchez has been playing in the prem. If Ibra does hit the first game week I’m thinking ppl could off load him and the price may drop because of ownership (39.7%), this also could go the other way. Sanchez is only owned by 8.5% could be a good differential. Finial point on Sanchez is that he is 0.5 cheeper. That’s my reasoning. Could be wrong though, only time will tell.
Sanchez if he hits the ground running extra point for goals scored and can score just as much if not more than Ibra also I think some Defense will be strong on Ibra he has a big name and there will be some defenders trying rather hard to keep him quiet.
Souare and Kane or Baines and Vardy last change of the night and then shutting off a seeing what happens.
Soare & Kane. Spurs are definitely going to score.
Lads, thoughts?
What do you thing? How to optimize midfield/attack
I wouldn’t have Negredo as I prefer Gray, Wilson and Long who are all the same price. As for the rest of it, I would have Eriksen over Alli, but that’s just personal preference really… Nice team!
Thanks for a tips. I think about a pair Barkley/Payet or Hazard/lamela instead of Firming/Alli what do you thing?
Hey guys! Please help….especially with the defence. Thanks!