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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I do not see AYEW (WH) in teams even though his transfer to West Ham would mean he will be in an attacking position and in for assisting Carroll – am I missing something if so who else at 7,5?
Hi colonial, I think Ayew is a great bet at £7.5m. Probably the best, maybe Walcott too (if he lives up to potential, ha!). The question marks lie in him starting this game really.
Ok we shall have to wait for Cookies report after presser- thanks AT
Deulofeu and Tadic or Barkley and Redovno?
Redmond#
Deulofeu and tadic
Without seeing your team, could I suggest Deulofeu and Redmond and spend the £1m wisely?
Any suggestion?
Seen a predicted team sheet (albeit from a fairly weak source) of Swansea playing a five-back. Has this been a trend in friendlies, or been hinted at by the gaffer? If so it would make Amat nailed, surely?
Think they are more likely to play a back four By far, the doubts seem to be over if they will play a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 Diamond or some other formation, but the 4 back seems to be the only sure thing. Think Amat starts regardless, probably teamed up with Fernández.
Morning!!
What do you reckon to my team; Good to go?
Morning Mitro,
Who are those subs hiding? If it’s Smith and Kingsley/Amat I think you may be playing a slightly too risky strategy. Upgrading one would help no end.
Like the DDG/Valencia punt, fortune favours the brave.
Good to see Leicester cover. Being dangerously overlooked (myself included), especially against Hull.
+1 hey Mitro I agree with everything AT says here I would and am only going into the season with one 4.0 Mil defender and right now it’s Smith but if someone else is more nailed then I’ll do a quick change to them.
im going with fry from middlebrgh, but im not sure if its the best pick for a 4.0 def..:s
Hey nauj I wouldn’t go with Boro cheap players as they have brought in one or two defenders so might not play.
nauj, talk of Barragan dropping into CB if Ayala isn’t fit. And when Ayala is fit (very soon) there is no chance of him playing. I like the look of Amat the most. With only three central defenders at the club – one being new, the other coming back from injury – I would expect a place on the pitch. Kingsley has also been very good in preseason (where Taylor hasn’t had one) so I would also not be surprised if Kingsley startes at the weekend.
Cannot see Brad Smith starting for Bournemouth personally.
ok i can see kingsley or amat a good option then..
Cheers AT. Smith has been playing most of preseason so why do you think he wouldn’t play?
He could well do Matt, I’d just be surprised to see Daniels dropped.
You’re probably right AT I’ll probably go with Amat then cheers mate.
Deulofeu/lamela/Redmond
Pick 2 please
Lamela and Redmond.
Cheers!
deulofeu lamela
Hey guys!
Need advice before D-day tomorrow!
Please rate!
I wouldn’t go with Sagna mate rest of the team is okay.
nice team. i would go with stones if u want some city coverage.