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.
I’ve entered myself as a champion in Potty’s UCL league. Any challengers?
wow i absolutely , bow down to this wonderful community my 100 pound target for Help for Heroes, has be reached from only 8 donations ( hear that mutts, did you say you double it lol) so as it such a great charity i have up target to 200 ,special thanks to son of a pitch (championship) , Demise (league 2), miles (leagues 2), andy( QB), silverback,(QB) Eddy ( Premier) gasco ( Premier) & Nathan ( QA) , i was only hope for a pound each to get our hundred pounds, i know lots of you are 16 and under, so please don’t be put of off donating by the big amounts the oldies put in 50 pence is as good as 50 pound , it all show you care, and if you can afford to donate don’t worry and please enjoy the leagues & cup , as i said before i don’t wish to shove this in people faces, so i have individually e-mailed every banterbury member, just so you have information and i dont spam the site with endless pleas
Cheers all , you wonderful people
With all this money Bench you finally can get your Manhood enlarged?
Help the Small People
Potty
Spotty don’t see a penny mate , electronically transfer straight to the Charity , i don’t want to get court money laundering again ! may have to go into hiding in a principality
Plus it took you two hands to pure me a shady last time !
Bench I know it’s not much and won’t break the bank but I’ll pledge £2 for every win I get in my league this season. That ok?
Your £2 is safe then?
Potty
You tight git – surely you can donate more than £6? :hippo:
wow innit , thats fab 😛
No probs Bench, I’ll ignore the 2 jokers but they do have a point, my H2H record is awful so don’t expect too much!
I intent to donate myself every round
What does the charity want with your Sperm Bench?
Potty
they are not get my sperm , you fecking stalker !
haha spotty need to e-mail about idea for round 1 of cup , next couple of days, cool ?
My current squad:
Begovic – Krul
Luis – Shaw – Vlaar – Wisdom – Duff
Mata – Hazard – Sanchez – Tadic – Eriksen
Jelavic – Rooney – Zamora
If I were to go with Costa instead of Hazard, where would you find the 0.5m?
Zamora —–> Costa
Hazard —–> Tiote
[someone] —–> [someone] – 0.5m
Or should I stick with Hazard? Or squeeze in both? It’s so tough to call!
superb midfield James, but I don’t really like your rotating 3 at the back, and the forward line is a bit weak for my money. how about a cheaper keeper pairing to fund some improvements at the back?
Hey Pippin, cheers, I’ll be wildcarding after gameweek 3 so Vlaar fills in quite nicely. Then I’ll reshuffle the keepers and defence.
My frontline could be better: Rooney – Jelly – Costa as I mentioned – which is what I’d normally prefer – but Haz and the midfield come at a price… What do you make of Hazard over Costa?
Probably also aiming for an early WC- poor team value killed me last season and I want to make a big play to boost it early this time around. Vlaar could pay off- good luck!
I had Hazard in all my early drafts and have traded him for Fabregas. I don’t know whether Jose will rest any of the players who returned later from the world cup, but if Fab gets the no 10 role ahead of Oscar for the opening two games I rate him highly above Hazard (who wasn’t sharp at all in the WC). Moving to Costa- he’s the target man, everyone will be trying to play him in, and I can see him bullying those two newly promoted defences. he seems hungry from the pre-season games so far. For me, Costa is key, and Fab over Hazard too.
I love the Tadic punt, but you could also downgrade him to Siggy/Puncheon/Arnie and get cash that way for your forward line.
Cheers, aye, hope we both get our team value up early!
Another way to get Costa would be to axe Tadic AND Eriksen AND Luis for cheaper alternatives… but I really don’t like how it ends up.
Fabregas over Hazard? If he gets the #10, maybe, but even so Hazard tends to perform better for Chelsea in general so his WC performances don’t worry me.
If you look at it… for the first 3 weeks, 9 of my starting 11 I see as ‘ideal’ players and Costa would be a 10th but my team always suffers with his inclusion.
Bottom line, for me, it’s Hazard OR Costa. I’ll make the call nearer the time
thanks for the advice.
So are you starting with Fab and Costa?
yes, Fab and Costa. Team is:
De Gea
Luis, Pieters, O’Shea
Fab, Sanchez, Mata, Arnie, Siggy
Costa, Rooney
Only issue is Siggy vs ManU in the first week (and my defenders rotate badly GW1) and Zamora(!) is my 3rd striker. But I think it’s minor
That’s a nice solid team. Your defenders have nice fixtures in GW1 don’t they? So not sure what you mean by ‘bad rotation’ sorry…
With Siggy, I have a similar issue, with Tadic playing Liverpool (A) first but both could still produce respectively.
Yeah, the three I have playing are fine but there are no better options on the bench (to go 4-4-2). I will just play Siggy- if he’s in the no10 role he might score anyway…? We’ll see!
Siggy for Tadic is a no brainer with Swansea’s easy start after GW!
What’s everyone think of Hangeland going to Palace?
Dreamers
I think his best years are behind him. Sort of typical Pulis signing but don’t think he will be a regular. Probably Dann & Delaney first choice at the back. Decent cover I suppose.
Prob TGP
are there any vets on here ? or people that deal insurance for pets ?? i have a epileptic 12 year old cat, that also has a bowel problem and arthritics, any quotes or website to get quote ?? 50 a month on meds and 350 for him getting a fight last week, no one will insure him ! cause of age and epilepsy
Bench
Sorry mate no. We have a few tropical fish and that’s all I’m allowed.
Pulis hoovering up every has-been centre half in the country? Seen this somewhere before! Don’t get his predilection for this but he sure likes to have a lot of them around. Wouldn’t register with me from a fantasy POV.
Happy new season gents. I’ve got that pre-season headache again. I’m pretty happy with my first draft but desperately want to get Costa in but don’t have the cash. Any suggestions?
Krul – Manone
Debuchy – Ferdinand – Shaw – Colocini – Davies
Mata – Siggy – Fabregas – Sanchez – Eriksen
Rooney – Remy – Naismith/Kane (5m)
Midfield is where it has to come from. Who are ur least set on 2?
That’s the trouble – I think they could all be hot. I suppose Fabregas downgrade would be better as Costa will be Chelsea cover. Can’t decide if jumping on the Costa bandwagon is a good idea or not
If u want to upgrade Kane, you need to lose 2 of those mids…
SAF
And to you mate.
To get Remy up to Costa you will need to either bring all your defenders down to 4.5 players or lose a star mid to a 4.5 or 5.0, it’s tricky, I’ve been there.
I’m considering Costa & Snodgrass in for Remy & Fabregas. Still not sure though…..
SAF
That may be a decent move. I think Costa will be very good this season.
Anyone watching Sharknado 2? You have to laugh or cry.
No because I can’t watch a sequel without first watching the original. And watching two pieces of crap is a bit much.