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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Oops
Looks good Hatter
Not personally sold on Deulofeu but liking the rest.
Morning all,
So I’ve narrowed it down to a pretty much template team or one with all the “big gun” forwards.
Which do you guys prefer?
Cheers
Morning all Hammers team 1 for me mate although fancy Lei to beat Hull convincingly , if we knew Musa was a starter I would try & get him in good team 😉
Cheers Silvers
tbh I’ve had team 1 all week and only just had a panic this morning about Vardy v hull which made me rethink. I will stick with my gut and go with the original plan.
You all set?
Just a couple of decission to make Bolasie a concern & if I should change one of my 5m def to a 4.5m & my other 5m def to Walker.
Nice team
The only defensive change I would make us Williams to someone like Morgan tbh. Don’t think theres any chance Hull will score.
Bolasie will be good once he’s moved to Everton but with all that up in the air he might not play this weekend IMO.
Guys, last minute dilema – Hazard/Lamela vs. Firmino/Eriksen???
(considering no other attacking coverage from those teams and most likely WC after GW3)
I think Haz will have a good season, but opening fixtures aint the best, plus he had a short rest and pre-season.
Appreciate the advice!
Considering the prices tag also, I doubt that Hazard will jump in price in the first 3 GW. Which might not be the case for Firmino. Ahhh… cannot wait for tomorrow!
It’s not last minute, you have until tomorrow morning…. Lol just kidding I know what you meant
That is a tough one, I’d say Hazard. If he doesn’t perform it’s not too hard to replace him. But if he hits the ground running you need to make money to bring him in.
I think he will perform
Hey Butcher! True. On the other hand I am trying to look at the potential point from the combination and Lamela brings a lot less than Eriksen. Plus I don’t think I will cap Haz soon, as I went Kun and Zlatan. Thanks!
I think it must be Hazard/Lamela because Hazard is such a strong points scorer as against Firmino. Whist Erickson may be a better choice than Lamela( because of free kicks, the difference between having Hazard as against Firmino is much greater
Hi guys here’s my team.
Wht do you thnk of it? Any advices?
Hey Nauj, great attack; lack of United would worry me though. May as well punt on Kingsley/Amat/Smith for the £4m defender just in case they start and you aren’t doubling then. I’d ditch Francis as I think he could play CB. Not sure I’d want Foster every game.
Right finally got what (I think ?) I want…. Comments would I be appreciated. I changed out bellerin to save money for a better midfield, had to hve Redmond as he’s been doing well….. Am I set? My mate is sitting next to me pulling his hair out trying to get sorted! Haha
Hi Jol, I like it mate. Couple of points:
– Don’t know much about Sinclair but will he be getting a look in with Ighalo and Deeney? Even if he does, their fixtures are horrendous. If you only have him in because you haven’t bothered to shift it to your desired 3-52 with Ibe then I’d drop him to a £4.5m and save the cash (or use it elsewhere). At this point it makes sense to say I am a fan of 3-4-3.
-Don’t think you need Mkhi and Ibra. Read this very long article on statistics that essential said it is statistically unfavourable to have two attackers from the same team. Maybe Chelski mid – Hazard if you can.
-Stones may be a good choice in the long run, hope he starts this weekend for you. Not a clue on Paredes and Smith though which means you could start GW1 with 10 men.
Thanks for the input mate, I suppose he may not get a look
In your right, may have to change him out or just play ibe, may have to adjust before tomo now! Lol
I’ve had Ibe and Smith in a couple times between changes. They were big (ish) money moves, so surely they’ll play? As an Aussie I do fancy Smith too!
Hi all, any improvements to be made here?
Preferable to have Lloris in net for Spurs cover I know but struggling to fit him in. Don’t think Baines -> Williams downgrade would be worth it.
Just noticed how similar my team is to the site team! I picked it first 😛
Hi AT, I think I’d stick as you are. Probably not worth the downgrade as you say. I’m not overly convinced on Spurs opening fixtures in terms of clean sheets anyway.