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.
Is it worth having both Sanchez and Hazard with only Shaw as a premium defender (with 4 x 4.5mils to rotate)
Or is it worth downgrading one/both of them to either Fab/Ram in order to upgrade one/more of the defenders?
If you think i should downgrade, who should it be? And to who?
I think it’s a good idea, mainly because it’s different to what everyone else is doing so it could give you a headstart. Only problem is that the defence suffers but if you rotate hull/burnley and palace/qpr you should be sound.
If you were to downgrade i’d say Sanchez because Hazard is clearly the best of the chelsea midfielders but Sanchez we don’t know yet and Ramsey has look great in pre season. Perhaps Sanchez —-> Ramsey.
Good advice…. I think I’m gonna leave it for the time being….
My current defenders/gks are:
Mannone Krul
Shaw Rosenior Mariappa Ferdinand Collins
what do you think of these guys?
DaBomb,
I think for the money available that’s relatively strong. you could downgrade Collins to a 4.0m player and then upgrade Rosenior to C.Davies. Also, it’s worth noting that mannone may not be nailed so keep a look out.
As well as that you could move Shaw to a 5.5m united defender. to free up more cash and maybe put Debuchy in or get another 5.0m defender.
Marippa and Ferdinand solid picks.
Good luck
that sounds good – I think shaw however, if nailed on will be fpl gold in van gaals formation so im hoping to keep him. who would you downgrade collins to though/ Like who would start at 4 mil?
Ashley Young freaking 0wned Luke Shaw. Not just a little, but a whole bit.
Caulker for Ferdinand, as he will be cert to play whilst Ferdinand could be rested. and he did very well with goals and assists last season
In my experience i have always regretted not starting with 2 premium defenders.
I guess so… but I currently have 1 premium defender – playing as a mid as well as 5 top class mids/strikers…
Afternoon all dos anyone know What Man U staring 11 was yesterday
De Gea
Keane Jones Evans
Valencia Young
Herrera Fletcher
Mata
Rooney Welbeck
I wrote this out – with spaces to make it look like the actual formation, but it has been compressed
You have to use dots or something else to keep them separate……………….like that.
De Gea; M Keane, Jones, Evans; Valencia, Herrera, Fletcher, Young; Mata; Rooney, Welbeck
3-4-1-2
Smalling was injured, so Keane replaced him at the CB.
Young and Valencia took the wing back roles, which means competition for both Shaw and Rafael. Both played well too.
Mata played in the hole.
Who are your must haves?
Who are the first names down on your team sheet in relative positions?
1. Defender
2. Midfield
3. Forward
1. debuchy AND luis
2. mata OR silva
3. rooney
Defender: Anyone nailed form Chelsea. For now, Cahill and Luis seem like the most nailed ones.
Midfield; Ramsey is continuing his last season’s awesome performance and is showing how essential he is.
Forward: Rooney. Not a fan of this pick, but since RVP seems like missing out on initial GWs, it will be ideal to have Rooney.
1. Terry
2. Mata
3. Unsure, I had RVP as my guy for the season but LVG’s comments have put me off, Jovetic is the only one showing real form from the strikers department.
from what i believe… at best, shaw and young with rotate for the LWB position.
not just match to match, but even as substitutes within a match.
i think van gaal will use shaw when he wants to defend and young when he wants the team to attack!”
so expect a lot of 1 pointers from both of them even though both might play really really well, they will still just get half a chance each.
Jasprit – is this just your thinking or do you have other info?
no other info, but all of the recent actions of LvG and the form meter point towards it.
young has shockingly played very well, and if LvG can play valencia at RWB, no reason he wouldn’t play young at LWB.
LvG also criticised shaw for not being fit enough and has him training separately. even if shaw does get fitter, it is obvious young is right now a better attacking option and might be used when van gaal wants to go all out attack especially against smaller teams.
Jasprit – has lvg a policy of dropping pple that much?
not really, but if he feels someone is not fit enough, he will push them a lot and not confirm their place in the team till he feels they are. (sneijder for example was pushed a lot and LvG kept saying that his place is not confirmed till he proves his fitness levels)
plus kuyt is the perfect example of how he can deploy an attacking player at the wing back role when he wants to go all out.
even if shaw gets fitter, i think he will still be rotated with young depending on the situation.
Perhaps Jones or Evans are best?
definitely. i have personally gone for de gea. but at least for now i would suggest jones over shaw any day. saves half a mil too.
Sound. It now means I can freely switch between Hazard or Costa before the deadline… as I’m still undecided.
same here. hazard is a personal favorite but the only problem is, if i take him, i don’t have a definite partner for rooney up front.
sturridge too expensive, unsure about dzeko and jovetic’s playing time, lukaku has terrible fixtures and anyone else just doesn’t seem good enough.
costa makes the team more balanced… at least for me.
plus hazard has not trained enough. after having a disappointing world cup.
logic says costa, heart still stuck with hazard 😛
Precisely jasprit! Hazard is a class player who, over the season, I expect to be the top scoring midfielder. But if he doesn’t get fit soon I worry he’ll make another slow start!
All BPL ball has not yet been kicked, and yet, Costa is already a big and expensive boat I’d hate to miss out on! He’s already settled in too.
Plus, Hazard has to do nearly all the work himself for points, but Costa will surely have dozens of chances to put away…
My head (Diego) is winning over now…
I seem to be going away from Sanchez & Shaw anyone else thinking the same
Have neither to move away from…
+1
Ramsey for me and then use the 1.5m to strengthen other positions
Yup. I dropped Shaw and Sanchez too. Ramsey is showing great form and LvG played Young in Shaw’s place against Madrid, where he played really well.
Nasri or sterling? Neither city or pool coverage in my team.
Prob sterling
sterling over nasri, but i would suggest get that extra 0.5 mil and go for silva. really consistent.
Nasri.