New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Richards, Johnson, Okazaki, Wijnaldum
Newton’s 3rd law of Fantasy Football. For every expensive player you have there is an equal and opposite cheap player. Like it or not, FPL managers are going to have to fill out their squad with some pretty unfashionable players. For every Eden Hazard there must be a Graham Dorrans. Spent £7m on Ivanovic? Here, have this bench warming Reece Oxford. You’re welcome. It’s buy one get one cheap. Balancing the budget is one of the most frustrating, yet ultimately fascinating aspects of the game. So roll up, and take a gander at today’s car boot sale featuring Micah Richards, Glen Johnson, Shinji Okazaki and Georginio Wijnaldum. Offer ends August 8th.
Micah Richards (Aston Villa 4.5m)
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[/three_fourth]In 2006 an 18 year-old Micah became England’s youngest ever defender. The following year, he became Manchester City’s youngest ever captain against his future employees Aston Villa. Manager Stuart Pearce declared Richards the future of the club and no-one had any reason to dispute it. So it is one of football’s great mysteries that Gary Neville’s heir apparent made only 13 international appearances. In fact his record of 189 club games in the last decade, latterly in the shadow of Pablo Zabaleta, gives him a hugely undeserving CV. One can only imagine how his career may have progressed away from the Etihad, given a fair run in the Premier League. Lest we need to be reminded, the powerful right-back not only has the physique of a welterweight, but also the nous to provide from advanced areas. His 5 assists in 2011-12 were the most of any Premier League defender. This is a good thing, of course, as few will be relying on Tim Sherwood’s Villa for clean sheets.[divider_1px]
Glen Johnson (Stoke City – 5.0m)
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Unlike Richards, Glen Johnson has had little trouble holding down his right-back position at club and international level. However, last year saw many of Liverpool’s players have their least inspired in a red shirt to date and Johnson was no exception. Quickly becoming a scapegoat for frustrated Kopites, he’s found himself usurped both domestically and internationally by Nathaniel Clyne. And so on to Stoke, a club evolving quickly under Mark Hughes. The aerial bombardments have been replaced by calculated possession, and Stoke fans no longer arrive at the Britannia in World War 2-era helmets, but adorning top hats to doff in confused admiration. That being said, they still have an 8 foot beanpole up front, so if Glen can launch a few towards Crouchy, all the better for FPL managers.
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Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City – 6.0m)
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His 27 goals in 65 Bundesliga appearances made him the most prolific Japanese player in the history of Germany’s top flight. He also arrives at Leicester with an impressive international pedigree, netting 43 times in 93 games for the Samurai Blue. Okazaki’s 12 goals last season with Mainz were all inside the area, so if Claudio Ranieri’s men can supply the 5ft 8 poacher with decent service, he could prove to be a bona fide ‘Fox’ in the box for Leicester. With Vardy, Ulloa and Kramaric for company, competition for the frontline will be fierce, but Okazaki can also play wide and in the ‘False 9’ slot. Aged 29 and costing the club £7m, the former Shimizu S-Pulse star has clearly been brought in to make an immediate impact, and one would expect him to get a fair crack at the Premier League this season.
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Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle United – 7.0m)
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After winning a transfer tug-of-war with their Mackem rivals, it’s the Newcastle fans who welcome PSV’s Eredivisie winning captain to the North-East. The 24 year-old followed an injury ravaged 2013-14 with an impressive 14 goals and 2 assists in last season’s 32 appearances. These figures naturally pale in comparison with those of compatriot Memphis Depay, another leaving Eindhoven for Premier League shores, but then most players’ stats do. In Wijnaldum, Mclaren has brought in a young yet experienced Dutch international who has all the credentials needed to slot into England’s top tier. How this translates to FPL may well depend on those around him, but having already impressed in his first training session, the Geordies have a class act on their hands.
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Hey guys. Had a bit of a tinker and brought in Silva after sacrificing Clyne and Bellerin.
Any advice / tips / comments / abuse ?
😉
Very nice, if you don’t mind the weak back line.
I have a similar defence, but with Mertesacker, so there’s at least one definite, good scoring starter each week. Rotate two others around him.
I’d downgrade Adrian – there are much better 4.5 mil keepers you can use. I don’t know his rotation with Guzan though tbh
Strong mid. Same as mine!
Nice front line. You could swap Costa with Rooney, since you have Hazard already, and with the 0.5 mil from Adrian, you can upgrade one of your defenders to someone like Mert, Clyne etc. Then I think it’d be more balanced, and it’d do well. To begin with at least.
But hey, this is my opinion. I basically just suggested you make the team that I’m using, so of course I think it’s good – whether or not I’m right is a different story :’)
Yea, I really don’t like the weak defence and rotating round 1 strong defender does sound like a good idea if I can shave value somewhere.
Below is the fixture rotation for Guz / Adr. Although the H/A games aren’t perfect, it does seem that they rotate fairly well. For a while anyway. Its only my 2nd FFL so I might be missing something though. Thoughts?
Afternoon all!
Below is the slightly-tweaked-from-first-draft of Swirly FC to start the season! Your invaluable advice would be much appreciated. I’ve tried to go for what I usually do – a majority of cheap defenders and goalkeepers before then spending more on midfield and forwards with a cheap fifth midfielder.
Cheers!
theswirly,
Quite a solid looking team there mate! Like it a lot. Only thing i’d say is to look at downgrading Speroni to perhaps Rudd or Hennessey which frees up a bit of cash to upgrade Baker to a 4.5 nailed on defender. Unless your planning on rotating your keepers you won’t really need Speroni with Cech on field for most weeks i’d assume.
Cheers, Tom – solid advice there. As I’ve said to James below, I’m thinking that the ditching of Baker and downgrading of another player (probably an outfield one, if I’m honest) is the best thing to do.
Hey Swirly. Nice to hear from you again! It’s a nice looking side, though I’m not sold on the double Liverpool attack, especially given their away fixtures. I am kind of envious of Costa, but after hearing about his lack of fitness in a 4-2 defeat to NYCFC, it’s made me feel more assured about having Rooney instead. One to monitor. Also, given you’re spending the max 5.5m on Cech, is Speroni necessary?
Cheers, James – good to hear from you too bud! It’s been a long time since the season ended and my mind is starting to focus on the fantasy footy more and more now! Excellent advice – I’m thinking a downgrade to upgrade Baker is a great shout the more I think about it. Will delve back in later and have another think!
I trust all is well for you? How’s your team coming along?
It’s a big call going into the season without City coverage mate, I’d happily sacrifice either double Chelsea coverage or Man Utd to get one of them in to start the season with, they look likely to score a lot of goals again this season.
Hi guys, quite happy with this draft. Still tossing up whether to go with Sterling & Cazorla or Walcott & Yaya. Thoughts on this team?
Hey Tom. Tough call that! Hmmm… is Walcott and Sterling an option? 😉 in fact, y’know I think I’d downgrade Janmaat or Milner here, to make it happen.
Hi James. Didn’t think of that. Certainly and option!
If you’re benching Vardy with Sunderland (H) then maybe you don’t need him at all? So he could even be downgraded for the cash.
I hope Rodriguez gets back into the starting XI for Southampton! I started out with Mane but Jay’s price tag and pre-season form have tempted me away…
Being a Southampton fan i’d really like to see J-Rod and Pelle up front. Should be good for FPL if Koeman does pair them up! Thanks for you help mate
Apologies if this has already been posted, but confirming fears about Leicester’s Morgan not being ready for the start of the season, a local news source has posted this:
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Leicester-City-captain-Wes-Morgan-set-miss-start/story-27465592-detail/story.html
The Jamaicans are having a great run in the current cup, they’ve just knocked out the Americans in the semi’s and will play Mexico in the final, something dodgy was supposed to have happened in the Mexico – Panama game but I don’t know what yet, I’ll have to you tube it later after the tour de france finishes. Completely unrelated to the point Bry but I think theirs no chance of Morgan making GW 1.
I watched that game, Andy. It centres around a couple of dodgy decisions from the ref. First the sending off for tame use of the arm, secondly a harsh penalty in the last minute of normal time. The second consecutive dodgy last minute penalty Mexico have had. It was fantastically entertaining, but felt very unfair on Panama.
Great stuff stuff Bryan. Appreciate the heads up.
After looking at posted teams I noticed that very few have included Kane and instead opted for costa. But when I look at the Spurs fixtures I get a feeling that Kane may do extremely well through GW11 with the Spurs fixtures rather kind until the end of Oct. Considering Costa didn’t look his usual self against NY bulls and the saving of 1.5 could be used in other areas of the team, this seems like a valid way forward. I mean that’s turning Caz / Rams into Silva or Henderson into Caz / Rams
Any thoughts?
Just a crazy idea of how the team could look below and would not be the finished team, but what do people think?
ohyesali – Most of us will go with just one £10m + striker and, for obvious reasons, that one is generally going to be Aguero. Seeing as Aguero isn’t likely to be 100% fit for the start of the season, it leaves us in a predicament as to who to pick instead, and how to get Aguero when he’s fit. Costa is the perfect option really as he’s (c) material in GW1 and is only £2m cheaper than Aguero. This means we can bank a little and buy Kun when he’s back with one FT, or, make a £2m upgrade somewhere else in the team and downgrade that very same player to release Kun funds, when he’s back. With Kane, we’d have to bank £3.5m rather than £2, and Spurs’ GW1 fixture is one that doesn’t seem too favorable. That’s how i see it anyway.
To cut a long story short: Aguero
*Should really have gone with the short answer to begin with! D’oh!
what Nin said
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Hello All, Back at it again, trying to build a solid 5 midfield, and still having a strong defence. I am worried about the attack though. Wilson and Costa will most definitely play most weeks, Wilson is a newbie to EPL, IS IT WORTH THE GAMBLE ?
Gunner – I don’t think it’s worth it. I see these 3-5-2’s running into problems sooner or later so, for me, it’s best to stick with a 3-4-3 and roll with it.
Thanks NIN, I will agree to you , it is a risk too far and not worth it. I think its safer to go 3-4-3 as you stated
Hey GL – can’t argue with that midfield but consistency up front is the trade off. Most of the drafts I’ve seen that are going with 3-5-2 have Deeney in place of Ighalo for a bit more stability. I can’t really see a way for you pull out another .5 mil from this lot though!
Coiriles, Thanks for you comments, you are right it will be difficult to to swap Ighalo latter if he didnt work out. I think the 3-5-2 is generally too risky even though i was thinking of changing wilson to Aguero later, But i will stay clear and rethink a 3-4-3 setup