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.
off to sleep now. ( it’s 6.00 a.m. in india by the way)
thanks for the lovely chat everyone! and for all the help for my team! hope i was of some help too.
really excited for the new season!
Chins if you’re about, who is Jonathan Fordyce?! Check your link for FPL…
Who? What? How? When?
Oh I see.
I think I can fix that……
Hmm…. Doesn’t seem to have worked.
Guess they’ve reassigned the user reference numbers or something. Let me guess, it’s only affected me?!
Frikkin parallel universe BS is kicking off again isn’t it?!! :manic:
Ok, Fixed.
Cheers for letting me know.
Anyone interested in playing NFL fantasy shoot me an email. Mito3802@hotmail.com I still have 4 spots open. Just make sure that if you join in you can see it through, don’t want anyone quitting and messing up the league since it is a H2H league.
Hey lads. What do you think of my team atm?
Mannone (Krul)
Davies, Debuchy, Filipe Luis, Jones (Wisdom)
Sigurdsson, Mata, Eriksen (Ince, Salah)
Lukaku, Diego Costa, Rooney
Would Mata to Young and Ince to Ramsey be a good call? I know Mata can and will pull big points but it looks like Young is in form after his two strikes against Madrid. Would I shoot myself in the foot if I got rid of Mata?
If you want erratic points, then Young; if you want consistent goals/assists then Mata who’s looking very good under VG. I like your Ince to Ramsey call (bar Arsenal’s starting fixtures), but Young to Mata, not so. Also, why Salah? Chelsea’s midfield is more bloated than a hippos ass. Perhaps, upgrade Salah to Ramsey? That quite a bit of money on the bench.
Good call. When creating teams for this season I’ve always put mata jones and Rooney in. So to get young in is have to loose mata. Might keep that as an option after a few GWs to see how the points are played out throughout the team. If Young scores in his first two games I’ll buy him. What do you think of my revised team?
Again, the team’s set up well. I think you’re a ManU fan so you’re pretty invested in ManU. If it were entirely up to me, I’d make a Mata to Silva change just for some ManCity cover. I would have also gone with Fabregas but I see you have Costa as Chelsea cover. Also with Ramsey, Arsenal’s first ten are not as easy as compared with the other top 7. Your subs bench is pretty weak, but I think that’s a general problem with FPL this year, the players who’re expensive are right up there and the ones down there are pretty low.
Hiya guys. How we doing? RMT please!
Bit nervous about showing this, but been tinkering and pretty happy with it so far. Need some differentials so suggestions welcome.
What a pile of shite.
Get out. Get out now.
PS. I secretly like it. I think this could be Crouchies breakthrough season.
Me too mate. Especially if he joins Big Sam at West Ham (Ooh, that rhymed).
Big concerned at the lack of Man Utd coverage in my team. And Chelsea. And first team players.
Morning
My first go at this . . .
Lot to be said for 2 up front. Still can’t get over the poor mid start last year.
What price is Cameron? Gametime in question. Young had stormer last night and is prob Shaws competition. Suspect Shaw will start but you never know. If Mannone starts the next pre season game, what u gonna do?
Otherwise I like it
Dreamers
Thank you for reply.
Cameron is 4.5. He is being monitored.
The Sunderland goalies switch easily enough.
GP, I LOVE it!* The quarries I have are similar to Dreamer with the added problem of Big Bobby. With Remy and Austin I’m starting to think he may not even get on the bench. Have you monitored him preseason? Also are you normally a 3-5-2 man? its almost hard not too with the plethora of quality in mid.
*Disclaimer; its very, very similar to my team
Hey Alex,
Not normally, usually 3-4-3. As you say, some fantastic midfield talent to utilise.
Zamora has been sharing the time pre-season. I’m sure he’ll always be at least on the bench for QPR. He has the ability of getting goals and that is vital in the PL.
Thinking I will use Cesc for weeks 1 & 2, instead of Silva and then switch.
GP, Its not a bad move it also allows you to see which Silva is going to turn up and assess whether Fab will gain an advanced berth in the blues attack. Are you pretty set on your team
NZ
Not definitely, always willing to change if I think it is for the better.
TGP – thing is if Mannone starts, it’s not clear who is first choice.
Dreamers
But I can use Krul until it is clear who is No. 1, then transfer if necessary.
True.