Fixture Tracker – Fantasy Premier League 2014-15
We’ve all seen a few different ways of viewing upcoming fixtures, and the one that has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years is the colour-coded one. With this, you can instantly see each team’s approaching fixtures with an accompanying colour that corresponds to the difficulty of each match. This is very useful for both identifying teams that are potentially about to have a great run due to a kind set of fixtures, and also identifying weaker teams that can rotate well, i.e. when one team has a bad fixture the other will have a decent one, so you swap between the two players. For more info on rotation, check out Mito’s somewhat exceptional article on it 😉 Rotation Analysis Home and Away and Favourable fixtures
Many of these colour-coded tickers only show a few weeks in advance, which is very helpful for short-term plans, but not if you’re planning transfers for the long-term. It is understandable that these tickers are short-term, as teams’ form tends to fluctuate as the season progresses, so if you made a season-long ticker now, it may well not be a good reflection of how difficult a match is come Christmas or Easter. Who knows, maybe Villa will get off to a blinder and win 10 out of 15 (hahaha!), in which case a game against them would no longer be considered easy. Also, sometimes we may even disagree with the colour a certain match has been assigned by the fantasy football gurus that make the tickers! The ticker I have made is designed with both of these points in mind, and can be updated throughout the season as and when you see fit.
Customisable Tracker
Some of you may already have seen my earlier prototype after I posted it on the boards last week (much to init’s dismay :p ) – I have since added all 38 GWs to the tracker, modified the colours used and added a new custom search for individual teams, so even if you had the original please do use this updated version instead.
And it works like this: I have split up all 20 teams into four groups of similar ability, and then given every possible combination (of which there are 32) a difficulty rating of between A and E (5 difficulties as opposed to 3 for greater accuracy). Both of these factors are the variables that you can change, and doing so will automatically update the colours in your fixtures tab. Simply click on the ‘Variables’ tab as shown in fig.1, change any of the values in the cyan-coloured columns shown in fig. 2,
and you will be able to view your very own customised 38 GW fixture tracker as shown in the main image above. This is all explained in more detail in the ‘How It Works’ tab. Finally, I have made a ‘Compare Fixtures’ tab as well – this allows you to select only the teams you wish in order to see just how well they compare and/or rotate, without having the distraction of all 20 teams’ colours present. If you wish to use this tool then select the ‘Compare Fixtures’ tab and then click on the ‘Add Team’ drop-down menu as shown in fig. 3 and choose the team you want. You can do this with as many or as few teams as you wish. Though it seems rather simple, I found this last feature very tricky and would not have been able to make it work as well as it does without the help of Dreamers, so a huge thanks to him!
I have made the link read-only, so as to preserve the template in its original format for everyone in case the formulas stop working. Just save your own version of the file, and you will be able to customise it entirely as you see fit. Please bear in mind that this was made with Google Sheets and is intended to be used in that format so it can be saved in favourites for easy access; if you download it with Excel then the margins and borders will probably be off so will need adjusting. I am always open to suggestions for ways to improve it, so feel free to send me a message or post a comment below to that effect if you have any ideas. And finally, I have double- and triple-checked the fixtures, but there are a lot of them and after a point they all tend to blur together, so if you spot any mistakes please let me know as soon as possible!
Click the link below for the file. Hope it helps a few of you, happy customising.
Fixture Tracker – Fantasy Premier League 2014-15
Think I’m pretty settled on my team now but any improvements you’d make?
De Gea – Gilks
Filipe Luis – Mariappa – Ferdinand – Van Aanholt – Coloccini
Sanchez – Mata – Erikson – Sigurdsson – Albrighton
Rooney – Diego Costa – Pelle
Mighty,
One thought – bearing in mind Albrighton won’t contribute much, how about swapping out him and Pelle for Siggy and Bojan who will both play and rotate beautifully. That would also give you 0.5mln to upgrade one of your defenders.
Just an idea, you may not like it!
I’ve already got Siggy
Oh yeah – well that 2mln could upgrade Albrighton then
Nice one Cookie.. lol
Not sure about bojan though. Why do you think hell do well? Who would I upgrade Albrighton to?
Bojan has 3 goals in 3 pre-season games and the fixtures aren’t too bad. Albrighton + 2m = 6.5 for a midfielder gives you A LOT of options.
Bonanza has scored 3 in 3 preseason. When Ramsey did that last season, Init and Kop pointed it out and very few listened.
Cooks, who is Bonanza?
Who should I get to replace Albrighton?
Lads,
Is it too much having both Hazard and Costa? As well as also having Mata, Sanchez and Rooney?
Thoughts?
DaBomb – I think so. That’s like 20m+ invested in 2 players only that will overlap.
Post up your team Dabomb, I don’t think anyone would disagree with Hazard/Costa/Mata/Sanchez/Rooney It’s the supporting cast that accompany’s them as that’s over half your budget on just the five players (50.5)
Morning All
Myself and Jap Bryan’s lyrical skills have moved onto bigger things.
Club Promoter………SpinthatBottle…….has booked us up for a regular Friday slot on the island of FPL’iki for the next 38 weeks.
Jizzle in da Wizzle
Potty
MC Potts and Bry, comin’ too you live from FF24777777!
Which 1 is the best ?
Luis – Giroud – Jovetic
or
Cahill – Costa – Bojan
Jeet
I would say the 2nd, because all three are confirmed. Jovetic isn’t confirmed. Giroud could, read COULD, be replaced by Sanchez.
Jeet, +1
Cheers guys
Question of the day for you all; a lot of teams seem to have a forward line of Costa, Rooney and Bjorn (or similar), a defence that encompasses a mixture of £6.5, £5.5, £4.5, £4.0. The difference seems to be midfield, most have a Siggy or Snoddy leaving space for four premium such as; Mata, Fab, Hazard, Erikson, Lamella, Silva, YYT, Ramsey, Sanchez, Sterling. So what you fine people suggest are the must have four big hitters?
I’ll kick off with; Mata, Fab, Silva, Ramsey. I appreciate your selection will be dictated by other selection in your team but this may be a useful guide for others pondering this question.
I don’t think there are must haves in midfield – personal choice dictates whether one wants to spread team coverage, go hard and fast at the start with a view to wildcarding early or whatever.
I like the team coverage as I think I’d find it hard to ignore City & Liverpool despite their “tougher looking start”.
So with a forward line of Costa, Bojan & Rooney a suitable midfield may be: Sanchez, Silva, Sterling, Eriksen, Siggy…..for example!!
Morning all!
Agree with you Cookie but it’d be really hard to afford that, it would leave you with 22.5 + 9.0 for all defenders and keepers. Only with a defensive line of 5 x 4.5 you can make it. But it’s an idea, to go uber cheap at the back and very very strong going forward.
It’s doable Albertini, or Sanchez becomes Ramsey, Eriksen to Tadic for examplw
Albert, I’m actually considering that. At least until we know who the heavy hitting defenders are. With none sure what the starting line ups will be in the likes of Man U and Chelsea, steering clear and stocking up on premium mids/forwards is starting too appeal. At present I have one £5.5 and everyone else is below that in defence. Foolish? ill tell you in a month!
Yes it is for sure and it doesn’t sound like a bad idea at this stage of the season.
Yes it is doable, not foolish!
Alex that’s why I’m going with Debuchy and DDG, two dead cert 5.5 routes into two top teams’ defence.
Calvin, so what is the rest of your defence prices; £4.0/£4.5? Which ones?
Well no, I have Luis and Caulker too – I do get your point about Chelsea defs not being certainties and will change Luis to one of the others if it seems any of them are more likely. Going without a Chelsea def with their fixtures is crazy though in my book. And Caulker is worth the extra 0.5 for being nailed and a goal threat I believe.
Have Krul, Mariappa and Duff making up the rest. Duff is very questionable, but I wouldn’t be playing him until GW 5 anyway so have decided to give him until then to see if he holds down a place.
I’m sat on Sterling (c) – Mata – Sanchez – Barton for my midfield quartet at the minute, I’d love to fit a Man City player in there somewhere though as I don’t want to start the season without a player from the champions.
I’m on the bandwagon for both Roo and Mata to start, making my mids –
Mata-Sanchez-Sterling-Siggy(Barton/Hoilett)
Ready to plug in a City mid for whoever underachieves.
I’d say Mata and Rooney are must haves. Mata is playing is preferred role now and Rooney up top. Chances of goals as well as assists is high with both. In addition to that, since RVP might be out for the 1st game or 2 Rooney and Mata would be taking corners and spot kicks. Not to mention the easy fixtures for United in the beginning.
NZ Alex – Allo allo! Four ‘must have’ big hitters you ask? Rooney, Costa, Mata and Hazard/Cesc, for me. I’d throw Ramsey in there too but the United/Chelsea cover is more important.
I personally think that Costa is enough for Chelsea cover, so that removes the headache of Hazard/Fabregas for midfield. I also think that Rooney is plenty enough for United cover, and if you want a second then Young at £5.5 is worthwhile.
From Arsenal I don’t think Sanchez will start off as strong as people are hoping (although I hope he does!), consequently I think Ramsey is the best option. He’s had a great pre-season and seems to be right where he left off last season.
That leaves me with the following, for coverage of as many top teams as possible. I’d have 4 of Sterling, Silva, Ramsey, and Lamela.
Didn’t see the original question Alex. My four must-haves are Rooney, Mata, Hazard and Debuchy. Going without the first two is madness given their fixtures and the positions they have been playing in pre-season. I expect Hazard to resume tearing it up, and at 5.5 Debuchy is a fantastic route into what has historically been a very solid defence. Expect them to keep a clean sheet against Palace in the first game and his price to rise, so will be having him from the get-go.
If a 5th is allowed then I’d add Costa to the list. It’s a tad risky as he is totally unproven in the Prem, but most newbies suffer due to the pace and physicality of the league, and he will not be phased by either. If he gets off to a good start it will take a hit or two to accommodate him in your team due to his high price, so better to take the chance and start with him I say.
Hi Alex, I’ll add that bio you sent later. My 4 must have’s are Rooney, Costa, Mata and Fabregas. And Sanchez. And Siggy after GW1. I’m also squeezing Sturridge in there as a personal must have as I think he’ll be consistent all season regardless of fixtures.
Thanks for all the comments boys. It made for some interesting reading when I woke this morning! It’s interesting that with such a wealth of fantasy experience the suggestions are actually very different. Will be interesting last week as people begin to nail down their final teams. Keep the comments coming!
Bojan & 6.5 midfielder
Or
Pelle & Albrighton?
The first
+1
Which midfielder?
Btw I already have siggy