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
Quick RMT if you’d be so kind:
Green, Krul
Filipe Luis, Evans, Lovren, Vlaar, Wisdom
Ramsey, Erikson, Markovic, Sigurdsson, Rodwell
Rooney, Costa, Dzeko
Hi Lionel, good to see you mate,
Not sure about Markovic my friend, though you best hope a Liverpool fan comes on and comments as they are better qualified.
Keep a close eye on Wisdom, not sure he is a guaranteed starter right now. The rest looks very solid mate.
Lione;- Gonna have to let you know about Markovic after Sunday mate has he has been injured last two preseason games. Nothing serious (I hope) but he does look a talent. For now I would prefer Sterling if you looking for Pool cover. Also not sure about Lovren, still have doubts over or defence although I do think it will be a lot better!
Cheers guys. Markovic is definitely the gamble but I figure you can have one at the start of the season (i.e. Michu 2 seasons back) and with Rodwell to come in I don’t think it’s too many points lost if he doesn’t play the first few games. Agree about Wisdom too but of the potential 4.0 starters I think he’s the best bet. Hoping that definite starters elsewhere will allow an early transfer to be used on those two in GWs 1-3 if required.
BBC Sport ?@BBCSport 1m
.@Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen joins @FCBarcelona for a fee of around £15m
no surprise, Wenger implied y’day he was unlikely to sell him to United. Now, if City had come in…..
Thanks for all the great comments everyone! Slightly overwhelming :’) Glad it seems to be working well for you. And again, TheDreamers was a big help too for the comparison tool.
I honestly thought it was about pretty patterns but now!…..
Nice teams looking around. I was hoping for spurs advice on Lamrla or Eriksen. Lamela came with a huge pricetag an expectations then was injured. Eriksen is the obvious one. Ponochiotino eill get the best of of the douth american surely. Potential to be the new bale? Maybe. I heard on talksport, Poccy likes yo play 3 behind the striker interchanging so either for me at this stage. Id like some confirmation from a Spurs supporter tho
“it’s going to be our year, for sure. And we’ll finish above the scum. COYS”
there you go mate, that’s pretty much covered what they will say.
Cheers Donut!
Anyone bn watching Chelsea pre season? Wheres Fabregas bn playing? Has he scored?
Ok gents and ladies, rip my team apart please (be gentle!)
I like it Alex….one thing though…no City….
Cookster, cheers lad. I know but it’s tricky picking a city player unless your going yyt and then I seem to lose balance throughout the squad. I has silva over mata but tbh I feel mata will score more. I could do sterling to nasri but I’ve never been a fan. Who do you recon is the best bet?
Personally I would spread cover around the teams and I think it’s dangerous to ignore the best attacking unit from last season.
I love it Alex, it’s got 1o of the same players as my current squad
That should be 10 not 1o
Koppster, we leaped frogged each other last season, looks like it could be a close run thing again! Any standout changes to make?
As Cookie has already pointed out you have no City coverage, nor do I at present. Like you I cant seem to fit Yaya in without disrupting the balance of the side. You could consider Silva?
Kop. Yer mate, he’s been in and out. Maybe mata or sterling, with an extra 0.5. Cheers boys.
Nice team Alex!
Pay attention to de Jong, according to physioroom he is doubtful for the first game.
Cheers Albert. The trouble is. Who is better for 7mil?
Terry is a rotation risk will not get as much game time as last season anspd if they play Luis rb azpa lb then ivanovic might also play a cb role
Thanks Konrad. Do you have chelsea cover? Who did you go for?
This is how my team looks like now after giving up Hazard, Sanchez and Shaw!! Yeah it was a bit hard 😛 😛