FPL launch 2015/16 – New Rules and Player Pricelist
Finally, after weeks of waiting excitedly like a child on Christmas Eve, FPL has been launched for the 2015/16 season. With GW1 still the best part of a month away, there will be countless hours of tinkering ahead as managers try and ensure they get off to the best possible start in their pursuit of global domination. The price list will be carefully scrutinised to find this season’s Harry Kane, while many a club’s pre-season tours and friendlies will be monitored to see who is showing impressive form and which of the new transfers appears to be settling in the best. All of this is of course normal July and August behaviour for us frustrated FPL managers, especially those who didn’t get involved in Fantasy MLS and the U21’s Euro Championships and certainly for those that despise the cricket!
FPL have however given us some other innovative changes to get our heads around as we contemplate the season ahead – and it’s these changes which we will concentrate on first before we then take a quick glance at the first reaction to the price list.
Rumours were rife days before launch date that FPL were tinkering with the game and they haven’t disappointed. There are four new elements to the game, all of which we need to understand fully to maximise our FPL performance this season.
CHANGES
[clear]Wildcards
Managers will have two Wildcards to use during the season – however, Wildcard 1 can only be used in the first half of the season (before 28 December 14.00hrs). The second Wildcard can only be used in the second half of the season. If you fail to use your Wildcard in the first half of the season, you will lose it. The January Wildcard has been scrapped and does not exist anymore.
Chips
A new feature of the game is the “Chips” that FPL has introduced. There are three different kind of chips:
All Out Attack
Bench Boost
Triple Captain
All Out Attack
Allows you to play a 2-5-3 formation in the next gameweek.
Bench Boost
Points scored by your bench players in the nominated gameweek are included in your total score.
Triple Captain
Your nominated captain’s points are trebled. In the event of your captain not playing, your vice captain’s points will be trebled. If neither your captain or vice-captain feature then you will not benefit from playing your “Triple Captain” chip that week and it will not be reallocated to your team.
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The All Out Attack, Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips can each be used once a season and are played when saving your team on the “My Team” page. They can be cancelled at any time before the gameweek deadline.
However, please note that only one chip (including your wildcard) can be played in a single gameweek. For example – it would NOT be possible to play your wildcard in a big DGW and also utilise the Triple Captain chip.
What effect will these “chips” have on our selection?
Initially not a lot, unless you are planning to play one of the chips early on. However, we would advise caution and patience – as we know, early season can be very unpredicatable where it is not uncommon for promoted teams to gain surprise results, new transfers are still settling in and players who have represented their countries in summer tournaments will often be eased back into action slowly.
The Triple Captain feature seems the simplest chip to plan for – and the likelihood is that one will use it when one of your star names (Aguero, Hazard, Costa, Alexis etc) are either playing at home to a supposed weakened side or there is a DGW, which will likely only happen in the second half of the season.
Bench Boost will obviously require us to have a fully playing squad – the initial thoughts of this are that managers may avoid choosing two keepers from the same team (Foster, Myhill – West Brom etc) and will want to make sure that their fifth midfielder is likely to have a chance of contributing something more than a 2pt return (Gareth Barry fans be warned!).
The Gareth Barry example from above also applies to All Out Attack – managers will want five attacking midfielders and therefore it is recommended not to rush to use this feature to ensure that your fifth midfielder for that week (who is likely to be a cheapie), is not only a guaranteed starter, but that his attacking stats are good, as indeed are his fixture that week.
So those are the new features and at first glance they seem exciting innovations to keep us on our toes and will require us to concentrate our planning further.
Gone are the days of a simple RMT. It will now be, “Please RMT and I’ve activated my All Out Attack”!!
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Players Price List – initial reaction
Unsurprisingly, last season’s budget FPL gold, Harry Kane has shed his “cheap as chips” price tag and opens the season with a price of 9.5mln. So who is this season’s bargain basement striker? If you fancy a punt on newly promoted Watford or Bournemouth, then Troy Deeney and Callum Wilson start the bidding at 5.5mln. Among those priced at 6mln are Leicester’s Loenardo Ulloa & Jamie Vardy as is Liverpool’s new striker Divock Origi. If they don’t excite you then among the crowd at 6.5mln are Saido Berahino (WBA) and Daifra Sakho under the tutorship of Bilic at West Ham, who started the Europa League campaign with a brace. Bafetimbi Gomis of Swansea is priced at 7mln as is the fit again Jay Rodriguez at Southampton. If you’re still not enthused and if you can stretch to 7.5mln you have such names as Danny Ings at Liverpool and Falcao at Chelsea (what a bargain if Jose gets him firing).
New player prices – some of the new players to the Premiership or those who have changed teams that may interest you:
Petr Cech (Arsenal) – 5.5mln
Micah Richards (Villa) – 4.5mln
Gerard Deulofeu (Everton) – 6.5mln
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool) – 5.5mln
Firmino (Liverpool) – 8.5mln
James Milner (Liverpool) – 7.0mln
Memphis Depay (Man Utd) – 8.5mln
Maarten Stekelenburg (Southampton) – 5.0mln
Andre Ayew (Swansea) – 7.0mln
Dimitri Payet (West Ham) – 7.5mln
And some selected old favourites:
Sergio Aguero – 13mln
Diego Costa – 11mln
Olivier Giroud – 9mln
Eden Hazard – 11.5mln
Cesc Fabregas – 9mln
Alexis Sanchez – 11mln
Theo Walcott – 9mln
David Silva – 10mln
Yaya Toure – 8.5mln
Angel Di Maria – 8.5mln
Wayne Rooney – 10.5mln
You will all have your own views and may spot the glaring bargain that I have missed. So please share your thoughts below on both the new changes to the game (the chips) and also your thoughts on the prices and maybe you’ve even begun to draft your initial squad.
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Hi all, feel like I’m discarding the tried and tested 3-4-3 this season too easily.
To create what a high scoring attack I’ve created this team:
Ruddy (Rudd)
Clyne – Cedric – Richards (Morgan Hoban)
Hazard – Depay – Hendo – Ritchie (Anya)
Aguero – Rooney – J-Rod
Obviously J-Rod is dependent on preseason form/game time but feel like he could be gold at £7m.
To go from 3-5-2 to this I swapped Ozil and Azpi to Rooney and Richards. I no longer have an Arsenal attacker which is slightly worrying but I feel like United in its current selection state offers great points potential for Rooney.
Thoughts greatly appreciated.
AT – Personally, i only deviate from 3-4-3 when i need to, or just want to change it up for a bit. With a 3-4-3, having a premium striker to go with Aguero is just going to cause problems somewhere else more often than not. In this case, it’s midfield. Hendo and Ritchie isn’t strong enough, for me.
What do you think of a midfield of Puncheon, Hazard, Silva and Ritche?
If Puncheon’s fixtures weren’t so tough I’d like it but Palace have a really hard time of it to begin with and I’m not sure how many points he will bring you.
I agree with AT. If Palace had better fixtures I’d like that midfield but not right now. Who would be your fifth mid?
Wanyama at the moment Matt.
Ah right well I’m not too sure that’s worth it mate. Having a 4.5 mid is pointless and he’s a defensive player too and like GP says I’d have Cabaye before Puncheon. Puncheon only seems to hit it off in the run in of the season.
Burnsy
Depending on the cash situation I guess but id have both Cabaye and Bolasie before Puncheon I think.
I have tried a balance side. What’s your thoughts?
Burnsy
Depending on the cash situation I guess but id have both Cabaye and Bolasie before Puncheon I think.
Don’t know why this is here :noshake:
Not a fan of Toure Agbonlahor or Dyer but the money seems spread around well.
I might look at Memphis in place of Toure. Also Deeney for Aghbonlahor.
Players seem much more expensive than last season????????
Does this look better?
Any recommendations PLZ.
I think there’s too much money tied up in Costa, Kun, Sanchez if I am honest. It leaves the rest of your midfield dependent on players who may not even settle into the EPL. The defence is very light too. I am currently leaving out Kun until he regains match fitness, and opting for Ramsey over Arsenal. I would also want Hazard/Fab in there somewhere. For me, it’s a no I’m afraid.
Thanks Pippin.. Very helpful comment. I will reassess my team again. My last year strategy was to use 1 strong defender and 2 average ones with very expensive mid-and attackers.
This may look descent squad.
Abd
Bit too reliant on Bournemouth for me. I’d ditch Cookie or Boruc.
With a name like Steve Cook he can’t be anything but a prima donna.
:thumbup: Mito
Thanks. I prefer Cookie coz i can find another average keeper.
I’m not sure about bringing in Firmino and Payet. They are both unproven in the PL and the Hammers have difficult fixtures
Thanks. I will give Firmino first transfer chance of the next gameweek. Payet will be dropped out of the plan.
Morning everyone,
Our good friend NiN posted a quite sensible price breakdown per position incase you may not have seen it. Well worth a look.
Weeks to go yet and a lot of preseason to play do don’t get too worked up just yet.
Haha, init’s snap was dodgy enough, now we’ve got a dodgy snap of a dodgy snap
Here it is, only visible
GK
4.5m + 4m
DEF
5.5m x2, 4.5m x3
MID
Hazard, 8.5m x2, 5.5m x2
FWD
Aguero, 8.5m, 6m
NiN
I can read that fine. Your eye sight mate. I’m saying nothing 😉
Oi!
How are things mate, been messing with your team much?
On the jollies right now mate so only getting on just now as is coffee time and the youngster is asleep.
Catching up on all the comments at night and having a quick look at my team but leaving it on the autoselect when I’m done.
I know my definte list though. Not surprisingly Kun and Hazard make up the two-man list
Nice one. Yeah the two of those are definite’s, might add Ivanovic to that list but that will take some tweaking.
GP, that was an excellent post by NiN.
Morning, lads!
Please RMT:
Ruddy / Rudd
Azpilecueta / Cedric / Coates / Huth / Mings
Hazard / Depay / Ramsey / Henderson / Ritchie
Aguero / Gomis / Deeney
Henderson or Chadli?
I don’t like Coates and I don’t know how much Huth is?
I’d go for Milner.
Matt,
How come you don’t like Coates? Sunderland got a lot more solid when Coates came into the team. Huth is 4.5.
Honestly it’s probably just feelings of when he was at Liverpool but I’ve never thought of him as a good player. Would you think of Morgan instead of Huth??
That’s a fair point, haha! Yeah, possibly. Toying between Schmeichel & Hamer & Norwich defender or Ruddy & Rudd & Leicester defender.
Ye that’s what I was thinking if you go for the double Norwich GKs then I’d go for Morgan. I think Ruddy and Rudd will be better than Schmeichel and Hamer to be honest.
@MightyWhites, if Chadli maintains his form from last season and stays fit, I would say he is the better option. Hendo played 800 more minutes than Chadli but only scored 2 more points than him. Plus I much rather face Tottenham’s fixtures to start off with than those of Liverpool.
MIto – Thanks for that, would you get Chadli in from the start as he faces Man U or get him in on gameweek 2?
Well last season United handed Spurs a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford, but the previous two seasons it was Spurs who beat them. Ideally I think you would want Chadli after they clear united, but I am not sure you want to be making plans for transfers already. As you most certainly will find bigger problems in your squad that need addressing, as we get an idea where the managers are going to play guys and if they are actually going to play. So I probably have him from the start and avoid the extra dilemma.
Mito, yeah that’s a good point! How’s your team looking?
Over the season maybe whichever, but with initial fixtures its probably Chadli for now.
At the back… on last season perfomance a 1ts line 5m keeper is worth 30 points more than a 4.5m
I havent seen anywhere else to get points that cheap and simply, and Im sure there is a defender in that mix who could be swapped out for a cheaper one who could get similar or better points.s
Hey Mighty good well balanced team not sure on Chadli although Tot have a nice run of games & I,m still mulling over the two Rs in goal good start .
Silverback – Cheers! Who would you go for instead?
Hey Mighty if Chadli can keep his place with Tot run you could get him from 2nd GK you could also swap Richie for Sinclair this would give you cash 1m to up grade GK