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.
Looking for some feedback please
Krul/Mannone
Shaw Davies Debuchy (Coliccini, N Taylor)
Henderson Mata Fabregas Sanchez Siggy
Gabby Rooney Lukaku
Is Gabby a bad option up top? I have 0.5m left in the bank. Think Henderson will have a solid season this year and will score more than he did last year, what do you think?
kopthis – I really don’t like any Aston Villa players this season. They were all over the place last season and have bought badly this summer, for me. Hendo is a decent shout but there’s better optios in that range like Snoddy/Puncheon for example. Debuchy is a good short term pick i think but gwk’s 4-7 look a bit rough so keep that in mind.
Thanks NIN, Would you say go to a £6m striker or is there a decent 5.5m striker that I’ve missed?
Yeah I looked at Puncheon, I’ll have another look at that spot now
The other option as you said below is upgrade Henderson and downgrade to Zamora.
Bojan at Stoke might be a decent return
I’ve got my eye on him but want to see how he starts
kopthis – Frazier Campbell is about the only 5.5m forward that i kinda like. Will he outscore the likes of Siggy though? I doubt it.
The defence is too expensive for my liking. Lukaku could be a good purchase, but Gabby is a dud as it stands.
Hey guys,
I’m liking the FF247 team so far, i’m sure by the start we’ll have a beast of a team to enter :]
I currently keep flicking between a 3-5-2 and a 3-4-3, i can’t make up my mind on if to go for 5 good mids and put in a cheap striker or 3 big hitters up front and a cheap 5th mid.
What’s everyone else’s thoughts on the formation?
photek – 3-5-2 for me. I cant settle, or even come close to settling on a 3-4-3 that i like. It’s my preferred formation but starting off i’m going 3-5-2 with a view to switching a bit later in the season.
You struggling to get value for money in the forwards NIN?
Hi migs. Yeah, big time. I’m seeing more value in the likes of Siggy, de Jong etc than in 5.5m-7m forwards. I’m leaning towards a beast midfield and just suffer with poxy Zamora for a while. I remember last season a lot of managers still had Brayford around December! Makes me think that having Zamora loitering around for a while isn’t all that bad of a move.
NIN- Ok definitely something to think about. nothing a wildcard cant fix if things go really really pear shaped
migs – Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but yeah, it’s there if needs be. I have a Studge/Yaya plan set out so i’m happy enough at the moment.
Hi Photek at the moment I have a 3-5-2 but almost certain this will end up as a 3-4-3 but I just can’t decide which midfielder to lose and whether a more expensive forward will deliver more than the mid.
Hey Photek, Im well and truly on 3-4-3 BUT, and this is a big BUT, 3-5-2 i s starting to look very appealing as there are some very tasty midfielders and some good cheap forwards. Ah the joys of fantasy. Good luck pal.
photek – I know there’s still two weeks before we confirm our teams but I’m currently on 3-5-2 and I don’t see this changing before the deadline!
When I play 3-4-3 I don’t like to spend more than 8.0m on my 3rd striker and at the moment I’m really liking any of the strikers in the 6-8m bracket so I’ll probably pick up a 3rd striker priced at 5 or 5.5m.
Photek- I am currently debating which formation to go with as well. You could also justify a 3-5-2 with reasoning that players such as Sanchez, Walcott when he is back, Sterling and a couple others are actually playing as wingers/forwards. This adds to the appeal of playing 3-5-2
Im currently sitting with a 3-4-3 with Dzeko Rooney and Costa upfront. Dzeko is a slight worry though with Jovetic being in such good form. For me there’s nobody who really stands out in that 6.0-8.5 range IMO, considering Lukaku but cant find the funds. The 3-5-2 is starting to look more attractive atm. If i do go 3-5-2 im def looking to get a 4.5 3rd striker and beast up that midfield. Decisions, Decisions..
thanks for all your thoughts guys
This is my 9th season in fpl and i’ve always been a firm believer of 3-4-3
but I think theres some real value in 3-5-2 and i am starting to lean towards it more and more. As you say, there isn’t alot of appeal in strikers under 8m and yet there is some potentially good points to be had in mid-priced to higher priced midfielders.
I currently have roon – costa -dzeko up front but if i downgrade dzeko to a 5m cheapie (like Bent) i can have a midfield of mata – sanchez – fabregas – de jong – siggy
I think this is worth it when i look at it like that and sanchez is really another striker anyway.
Great to have the FF247 team up and running! Can I ask as to why there is no City exposure? Also, I see you have gone with three from both United and Chelsea, which looking at their fixtures might pay off, but I like to spread the risk a little bit especially in the beginning of the seasons we not sure how teams will shake up. if either United or Chelsea have a poor start then your team suffers. On the flip side you could reap the rewards, but to me that seems a more risky approach, why you guys think?
Hello migs, you make a very good point mate. At present I also have 3 and 3 from those 2 clubs. If i change it will be because of spreading the wealth and not worrying about a poor start from them. I think they will both hit the road running and I’m a firm believer in doing what your gut says! 😉
Hey NZ! Ok cool fair enough. You have any City and Liverpool cover?
Migs, at present Dze but I am eyeing up Henderson. Yourself?
Yeah I have Dzeko and Sterling/Markovic. I need to see a bit more of United though
We should add Liverpool to this as they too amassed over a hundred goals last season though without king Luis in there ranks now they are slightly easier to dismiss, I guess this just boils down to the fact that we can’t have everyone in our teams just yet with only a 100 million budget and on the face of it uniteds and Chelsea ‘ s fixtures look far easier to predict.
Hi Andy,
We’re certainly not ignoring Liverpool, however we think it might be best to wait until GW4 to bring in any Liverpool cover. Sterling has looked good in pre-season.
Dismiss/ignore is probably a little unfair to the mighty reds but at this stage most teams are built around the fixture list rather than players form, I’m looking forward to GP’S future friendly updates to throw a few spanners into the works of the regarding the must have ‘ s to start the season with.
Hey Andy, are you the one interested in fantasy NFL? Might not be you as the other Andy had a different grav. But I guess you could have changed it. Let me know as I am going to start to place teams in the league.
Yeah I want some of that action please mito, chins is the other person who I can remember being interested, I was actually just thinking of creating one on yahoo but I’ve never actually played it before so I’d probably have ballsed it up. Be so glad if you could sort it out please, you’ve got my email so keep me in the loop
Cheers.
Ok Andy will email you later today. Yeah, Chins is in the loop already. Bryan wants some action and apparently conducted 25 mock drafts yesterday and watched 400 videos in preparation. I do it through Espn, so make sure you have an account with them. It’s free. So will send you official invite from league in a couple of hours.
Hey Migs,
They’re good points that you make. At the moment the team like everyone’s is a work in progress and it could change considerably before the deadline.
With regard to United, their fixtures are just too good to ignore and LVG appears to be getting the best out of Rooney & Mata in pre-season. Chelsea’s opening two fixtures should see them pick up a lot of points and depending on how they go in these games we can look to change things if needed.
Obviously City are the current champions but their opening fixtures are quite tough and then you have the Dzeko/Jovetic situation. However don’t be surprised if either Silva or Yaya turn up in the final team.
FF247- sho its too tough to call hey. I am certain of Rooney and Shaw, for me they will be great value. Would love to work Mata into my team but just not sure how. Agree with Costa and Filipe Luis from Chelski, but Fabregas would be overkill for me. Rather Silva in his place then. Good luck with fitting everyone in
FF247, will we see you in the doubles league too?? More than two of you I know, but it’s a collaboration, which is the main thing I reckon.
Hi Calvin,
No we wont be entering the doubles league, we’ll leave that purely for teams managed by two people.
Barkley, De Jong or other?
I have Lukaku up front but no other Newcastle players
Tell a lie I have Collicini
kopthis depends on how quickly De Jong settles in, I think he could do great. I’m still not totally convinced with Barkley and regardless of what Martinez says he will still rotate him a bit.
Top 10 owed players Rooney,Sturridge,Sanchez,Barkley,Shaw,Howard,Costa,Vlaar,Hazard &Krul
Great to see a site team fellas! Starting to worry about Jovetic.. he may well en up making me go against my own advice in the Round Table article and have Giroud over Dzeko instead, which makes me feel like a class A pratt!
Hi Calvin we would never say you are a pratt
:thumbup:
Calvin, don’t beat yourself up mate, that’s what we’re for!! It’s a bloody tricky one at present with regards city. We all know they will be up there at the end of the season but which player do we take? It’s amazing how few teams have any city coverage (regards less of their tough-ish opening to the season).
Cheers Alex. I have 2 City at the moment, but am debating taking both Silva and Dzeko out now. Dammit, I was happy with it a few days ago!
Calvin. Dze has just exited my team. No city coverage which worries me a little but hey, what can you do?!