Fantasy Football 247 team – Fantasy Premier League 2014/15
We are delighted to announce that FF247 will be running a site team this year, which will be competing in the FF247 Classic and Manager of the Month Leagues as well as taking its bow in the Banterbury Leagues. The main objective of the team however is to give you all an insight into our thinking and planning, which we hope will not only help you with your teams but also prompt plenty of debate, banter and advice along the way. Clearly with over a fortnight still to go until the season kicks off, plenty can still happen with any of the players we have selected – injuries, new transfers in or out, hell we may even have the odd bite to contend with! Therefore please treat this very much as a provisional squad for now and allow us to talk you through it and the thinking behind what we have come up with thus far.
Goalkeepers:
Tim Krul – as soon as the visit of the Champions in GW1 is out of the way, Le Toon face a pretty attractive run of fixtures. We feel Pardew has actually spent wisely this window (that could come back to bite us) and with Captain Coloccini fit and seemingly happy, we believe Krul is great value at 4.5mln.
Vito Mannone – this is one we need to keep a close eye on due to the summer acquisition of Costel Pantilimon from City. Both Sunderland keepers are priced at 4.5mln and once we have determined who is the no.1 they will come in to rotate perfectly with Krul, with our two keepers costing a total outlay of just 9mln.
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Defenders:
Filipe Luis – but what about rotation, we hear you cry? And you’d be absolutely correct to bring it up. However, we feel Chelsea’s opening fixtures are too good to ignore, they have the strongest defence in the league and Jose will be gunning for the Premier League title that he will feel his team threw away last season, despite him maintaining all year that Chelsea couldn’t win it. Can’t fool us Jose! New recruit Felipe Luis is, alongside Cesar Azpilicueta, the cheapest of the mainstream defenders and we feel that they wouldn’t have forked out €16mln to leave Luis on the bench on a regular basis.
Luke Shaw – United’s new left back has been deployed by LVG in the left wingback role in the 3-5-2 formation that United look like they are deploying this season. Therefore, as he will be given licence to join in the attacks we feel that he could benefit from a few assists, maybe the odd goal and could be a contender for bonus points, similar to Leighton Baines. Not only that, but with LVG breathing fire into the United dressing room, we estimate that they will be a more competitive force this season and clean sheets aplenty should be forthcoming.
Rio Ferdinand – cheap, experienced defender, who alongside Steven Caulker should make the Rangers defence more solid. Some attractive looking early fixtures make Rio a good option for us.
Adrian Mariappa – Palace left back and the only likely starter priced at 4.5mln. We need to keep track of Palace’s pre-season friendlies to ensure he retains his place but given the solidity they showed under Pulis at the latter end of last season we feel they are a good bet to continue that trend.
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Midfielders:
Juan Mata – now being played in his preferred and most effective no.10 position. Sat behind Rooney and RvP and with a sumptuous list of opening fixtures, we feel we may just see the Mata of old. If we don’t then he’ll be out of there quicker than you can say Yaya Toure!
Gylfi Sigurdsson – another with potential to be fantasy gold, but with the added bonus of costing just 6mln. A return to Swansea will see increased game time and two goals on his debut makes him difficult to ignore. He showed enough on the rare occasions Spurs did venture to utilise him to suggest he’s still the player that graced the Liberty a few short seasons ago.
Alexis Sanchez – everyone loves an out-of-position fantasy prospect and Sanchez is just that. Capable of playing up top, just off the striker or on the wing we feel he is hard to ignore, despite his 10.5mln price tag. Arsenal’s opening fixtures are mixed and they do face City, Spurs and Chelsea in the first seven matches but we feel, with the Gunners attacking talent, they are more than capable of scoring in all those matches. Whether they win them or not, we don’t care!
Cesc Fabregas – another world class midfielder down at the Bridge. Can be deployed just behind the striker or even deeper but has the ability to get involved in attacks, provide assists, score and it looks like he’s on set pieces as well. At 9mln we feel he’s good value and has the advantage of not being involved much at the World Cup.
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Strikers
Wayne Rooney – seemingly happy with life under LVG at Old Trafford, we consider Rooney a must for our team. Has been in good scoring form on United’s tour of the US and LVG has already stated he sees Wazza as a no.9 or 10. With RvP having spent pre-season on the beach, we expect Rooney to hit the ground running in the league and like Mata and Shaw, will benefit from no European competition this season.
Diego Costa – Jose has been courting Costa for some time and sees the Brazilian Spaniard as the cure to his striking problem. With just Fernando “Row Z” Torres and Chelsea Pensioner Drogba as competition, Costa is the no.1 striker by a long way. With a supply line of Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Schurrle and Fabregas behind him, expect Costa to be one of the stars of the league. Now fit again and with an injury plagued World Cup behind him, Costa scored 27 times in 35 games for Atletico Madrid last season and will be eyeing a similar return this term.
Blanks!
You will have noticed that we have left three spaces blank – one defender, one midfielder and one striker. This is where you, our community, come in. We have 14.5mln left in the bank to fill these spots and would appreciate your thoughts and ideas as to who should be added to the FF247 squad. Do we fill them according to what we have left as of now or do we sacrifice a big name elsewhere to provide more balance? These are the questions we will be asking ourselves over the coming days and weeks ahead of the season and hope you will help us decide as you continue to discuss your own teams on the boards too.
6 out of the 15 are in my team.
Thanks for the article guys.
I hate to say it but you’re helping the competition a bit too much. Or should I call you my brothers and sisters? 😛
Hi Raz, It’s there to be agreed or disagreed with but most will go with their own choices regardless but this is our take on the situation so far. Like yourself, only 6 of the 15 so it’s not creating a template team but most of us will have 5-8 similar at the off we think. The core.
Let’s call us distantly related if that’s ok?
You’d only be that lucky. 😉
Question, haven’t seen any Chelsea friendly’s. What role have they given Fabregas? Number 10? Or deeper?
8 are in mine, theres not going to be much variety in the attack at least this season, nor with the goalkeepers 😛
Fantastic article and great to see FF247 has a team!
I am looking forward to seeing the weekly decisions as the season onfolds
I have 6 of the team plus Ward and Simpson and Hazard instead of Rio, Mariappa and Fabregas.
I like Costa and Sanchez and would love to have them in my side but can’t see how they fit in at the mo.
Can I ask one question though, what formation are planning to play?
Evening Horse, will probably be a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 but much depends on where we spend that last bit of money. We prefer 3-4-3 but it will depend on getting value for that final 3rd striker spot.
Shame you haven’t got another 0.5m as you could go Jelly/Long for GW1-4 then Ings for GWs 5-8 if Burnley look ok by then.
Saying that Jelly only came on for a cameo tonight.
It is a pity Leicester have poor fixtures. I bet Nugent ‘s confidence is high and he is hard working and on pens.
It will be interesting to see who you pick.
Horse it’s all subject to change at this point as is everybody’s but that 0.5 can be found and we like the Jelly / Long option so it may well be but hopefully pre-season will shed some more light on it all. Nugent’s fixtures are a bit disastrous to be honest!
3-5-2 seems the way to go, for me. I’ve considered everyone in the 5.5m-7m range for forwards now and although there’s some decent shouts in there i prefer the likes of Siggy, de Jong etc. Suffer with shitty Zamora until some value is built and hammer the United/Chelsea schedule hard is the plan of action. Decision time in gwk4, to Studge or not to Studge….
NIN, this is exactly why I’m considering a 3 week approach with a WC in GW4. It seems to be split fixture wise to suit that perfectly to me.
Hi init. I’d rather not use it so early. Thinking maybe switch mid+Costa for mid+Studge and from there plan to get Yaya in there around gwk 6 or 7, keeping 3-5-2. If he explodes before then it might be WC time.
*If both explode
My thoughts for what it’s worth.
Mariappa – Nooooooooooooooo, Palace will get battered week in week out, better to pick a non player (and i never advise that) and save 0.5m
I’ll now reveal my secret weapon, he’s not had a mention on here so far. Get Townsend in the midfield, as a cheap option.
Hi Mutley, are you really disliking Palace that much? How come? Pulis turned them into a fortress at one point to the extent that teams were happily doubling up on Palace defenders! Anyways, yeah good luck with Townsend 😉
Townsend? As a good luck charm?
Well done, pretty nice team.
As a cheap option for striker I’d choose Long/Jelavic from Hall or Nugent from Leicester.
And Mariappa…hmm… with 4.5m you can take Cameron from Stoke City
Hi steee-veh, thanks! Jelavic is definitely on our radar. As for Mariappa we like Palace at the moment but the defence will likely see an overhaul come the kick-off. We like Stoke too but will have to monitor Cameron’s game-time given all of their new purchases such as Bardsley.
Yes, I like Palace as well, but I think it’s better to add 0.5 and buy Ward/Delaney. Well, that’s my opinion and maybe Mariappa is just stupidly underrated by me, we’ll know quite soon!
By the way, what are your thoughts about Loic Remy’s success in QPR?
Thinking they are still looking to sell him given the money situation to be honest but if he stays then he could be an option. He looked quality when in the prem last time. He’s a cut above QPR level for sure and may be one to look at if he stays.
But on the other hand I think 7.5m is too much for QPR player even if it is striker of that level like Remy.
Maybe campbell, targett and ward prowse maybe… think thats 14.5, just a quick suggestion (not much thought)
}Target is now in doubt becoz saints has jus sign bertrand on loan
Im also got 6 players from ff247 team
yeah true, theres countless options for def at 4 mil though!!
One of these is close…. (I hope)
A.
Courtois/Krul
Shaw/Davies/Debuchy/Targett/Mariappa
Hazard/Sanchez/Siggy/Albrighton/Valencia
Costa/ Giroud/ Dzeko
also have the option of giroud and mariappa—> lukaku and 4.0 def.
B.
Mannone/Krul
Shaw/Luis/Debuchy/Targett/Mariappa
Hazard/Sanchez/Siggy/Albrighton/El Ahmadi
Costa/ Rooney/ Dzeko
thought please
Hi hazard, Rooney will destroy you if you go without in our opinion. Not only will he score well but he will be a good captaincy option for many. He’s a pain as he’s not a differential but more a must have to keep pace. In our opinion. He may bomb. He won’t though 😉
The more games RvP goes without a pre-season game, the more worried I’m getting. I wonder if he’ll be one of the World Cup players that gets rested for the start of the season. If he doesn’t get a couple of games under his belt soon I’m gonna have to change him for Rooney. Either way, a Man U striker is a must IMO.
He looked really tired and unfit in the world cup (I won’t be tweating him to tell him that by the way #lessonlearned)
I imagine he’ll start his season from the bench.
Great article FF247 – Good to have a team to copy, I mean be inspired by and provoke debate. Yep. That’s what I meant.
You’ve convinced me on Rooney. Had him for most of last year too but was going to bin him. And…… I can’t believe it’s only 2 weeks to go!! Before we got to August it seems ages away. Now it seems really close. :manic:
I can’t tell if you meant sweating him or tweeting him. I assume the former.
Well, I’m gonna look like right plonker going against my own advice (see Round Table article) if I go for Rooney. But, I’d like to add the caveat that I prefer RvP this season when fit.
Disclaimer out of the way, getting Rooney would allow me to have a decent 3rd striker. Sweet.
Sweet? Is that a bedroom name for Chins?
Questions about the best looking player, bedroom names… Mito. You’re out of control!
Sweet
You called?
dont think rvp is worth the extra 2 mil imo
yeah agreed, can always strengthen up the mids by taking out dzeko if needed!!