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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Sorted
Coleman has terrible fixtures to begin with. How frequently will Navas play? He only got the lower end of 2000 minutes last season.
Other than that I like it.
Is anyone thinking about ings as sturridge is out for the beginning of the season.
Reckon Benteke will be first choice if the transfer goes ahead
I’m thinking Pool will more than likely bring in another forward before the season kicks off, I’m hoping that they could sign Benteke as I’d think he could do well there fantasy wise.
Unless he morphs into some sort of Leo Messi in preseason, then no. Cant see Liverpool players being top picks to start with, to be honest.
Morning everyone.
Well after a whole night of messing around with my team ive given up for the time being. This years fantasy seems the hardest and most interesting yet. With the new features it seems we need a full team of starters, and the more attacking players we can get the better. The problem is tho £100m just isnt enough. You cant have a well balanced team with Aguero, Sanchez or Costa, Hazard without other areas becoming weak and its left me with a dilema. Should i go without them all.
Walcott vs Sanchez.
Walcott is £2m cheaper than Sanchez which is quite a lot of money that could make the rest of my team stronger. When Walcott play’s he’s up there with the best of them ( end of last season), but my problem is will he play?. Arsenal’s midfield is jam packed and its makeing me feel really uneasy making this change. Will he play?.
Fabregas vs Hazard
Hazard costs a whopping £2.5m more than Fabregas, and thats alot of money. If you go with Fabregas you can make a really strong team, but can you go without Hazard. Its such a hard dilema that i just cant make a decision on.
Silva/ Yaya
Yaya has dropped in price this year to only £8.5m. He wasnt up there last year points wise but the season before he did really well. If ge could find that form this season he could be a really good buy.
There are great differentials this season but its a big gamble. Whats your thoughts on the above players.
Morning Ant,
I’m finding it impossible to get my team together too!
For me, Walcott is a great choice. He seems to play when he isn’t injured or returning from one. For me, until they buy a striker Walcott’s position is safe. Sanchez and himself are the only two who can operate that number 9 role and so I don’t see either being dropped.
Hazard. Can’t go without him in my opinion.
Silva. It’s killing me because I can’t squeeze him into the team. Personally hoping for De Bruyne’s signature and wishfully thinking he’ll be less.
Other (cheaper options) to consider: Depay, Payet, Ritchie, Ayew (not personally keen on), Hendo
Ant – rather than trying to cram in as many stars as possible, try and just work off value. By that i mean set out a lineup that keeps all areas strong and has a good bench. I had an arse about with it at stupid o’clock and came out with this. It’s by no means a definitive route, but maybe it could come in handy as a starter guide to balancing your squad. Getting all the stars isn’t going to happen so maybe pick two and work from them. Anyway, here’s the values i came out with…
GK’s
4.5m + 4m
DEF
5.5m x2, 4.5m x3
MID
Hazard, 8.5m x2, 5.5m x2
FWD
Aguero, 8.5m, 6m
Again, this is just a guide to balancing. Add player at those values, or close too, and your squad should be decently balanced. Then it’s up to you to tweak it to your liking. Hope this helps :thumbup:
Thanks mate. I have a go and see what i come up with.
Sounds like good advice NIN :dance:
Looks good NiN, i’ll give that a try.
Atm I’ve got 5.5m tied up in Courtois, do you not think him or Cech is worth it
photek – Just see what you think of the balance mate and then work from there. Let me know what you think.
Re GK’s, it’s not that i think they are poor value, but i’d rather have an Arsenal/Chelsea defender than their GK’s. If the saving on the GK means getting in Ivanovic, Kos, even Mert, then i think it’s worth it.
Morning everyone – so are we all excited about the chips? I love chips. With gravy, they’re even better.
How’s the planning going?
More importantly, an early breakthrough for England – Watson out.
Morning, Senor Cook. Yeah, really like the chips i must say, but i’m more of a pepper and vinegar man myself 😉
The above balance guide is as far as i’ve gotten and i wont be tinkering for a while yet. It’ll be the same as usual, couple of big boys and then whoever else fits. Any thoughts on squad balance or personnel yet yourself?
Just nipping to the shop for smokes. Back in a jiffy.
You should of said NIN, I got some supplies this morning!!
Haven’t really looked except a brief trawl through the price list for the above article – I’m liking the likes of Depay, ADM (if stays), Yaya, Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott, Fabregas at 8.5-9mln. My first impression is that the value is there.
This would mean going without some of Hazard, Alexis, Silva etc, but it may just mean affording Kun with another premium striker – maybe – I haven’t done the maths, but as I type, my head is thinking, “5 man midfield, 2 premiums strikers and a cheapo striker?”…….
….damnit…I now feel like playing about with it!!
Another wicket for England!
Heh heh 😉 Yeah those seem like the ones to bring the most value. Depay is almost certain to make my team, and Hazard and Aguero will definitely be in there. Rambo at 8.5m you say… yoink
NIN, i’m slightly embarrassed to say i’m thinking about Ozil – a lot of chat that Wenger wants to play him more centrally.
If he’s deployed as a “10”, then yes, assists all over the place you’d imagine. Really have to watch them closely in preseason though. Wally up front, as a mid in FPL, is just about as good as it gets.
yeah so everyone says, but no one has mentioned Giroud!!! Has everyone forgotten he exists!
When Walcott doesn’t start, what a waste of 9mln.
I am appalled Blue. Did you not think I would see this? :noshake: #Ozil
Giroud is on the missing list. My money is on init’s cellar
Yeah that’s the problem with young Wally, boat load of dosh arsing about doing flip all. At first glance, Rambo looks the pick of the bunch from Arsenal, and even he’s a crock!
Shite, I’ve been busted by Mito……
And Lyon is out now!
England very much in control, particularly with the new ball available in 5 overs.
Had a feeling food would come into this somewhere! Should have called the article ‘FPL Lunch’
Thought I had and you’d just corrected it!!
Here you go then, first draft – defence needs some work….and haven’t looked at rotation pairs…
Cookie how confident are you Browning will start
Silver, I don’t even know who Browning is – I just auto completed the defence…..
…it was just an experiment to see what a “value” midfield would allow to afford elsewhere….on this basis, a premium midfielder would mean a big question of whether to Kun or not Kun!!
I thk your right your team could be a lot stronger without Kun but who’s brave enough 😉
Ruddy – Rudd
Azpi – Cedric – Matthews – Morgan – Richards
Hazard – Ramsey – Deapy – Henderson – Ritchie
Aguero – Gomis – Deeney
Deeney is gold at 5.5
I agree!