New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Crystal Palace
We still aren’t quite sure what exactly it was that Pardew and his team had for Christmas dinner, but whatever it was, it disagreed with them massively. Prior to the festivities they’d won 9 games out of 17. Post turkey and sherry they didn’t win another until April. Yes, April! And they won 2 in total after Christmas, out of 21. Quite how they didn’t get relegated probably says more about those that did. But matter not, Pardew excused it all with a run to the FA Cup Final. A quick jig after a brief 2 minute lead said the final was pretty much the highlight of their season then.
Clearly they need to invest, even if it’s just to tread water, and they have so far made a few shrewd moves on the face of it. Well three, to be exact. Townsend, Tomkins and Mandanda. They’ve binned ten players in the process, most on frees or just released but did somehow manage to convince Rafa to fork out £10m for Dwight Gayle. Although in fairness that’s probably his level and he may well thrive there.
We must confess we have held this particular article back. And back. And back. We were waiting for Benteke to arrive but it looks like that one will drag on a bit. It’s worth noting that when / if he eventually does arrive that it will impact on their current starters. Feels obvious to say but one of them will miss out and it could very well be a Zaha or a Puncheon type but it very much depends on how they would then intend to line-up. You’d have to think that the likes of Townsend and Bolasie would still be safe though. Given how long we’ve waited though it’d be sods law that he completes his move an hour after publishing. But hey, you all know who he is and what he does by now so no biggie.
For Palace’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Crystal Palace Pre-season info
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Andros Townsend £6.5m
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Andros had a brief but ultimately successful spell at Newcastle at the end of last season, albeit one that involved being relegated! Granted, that’s not usually a measure of success, but for him personally it was a good spell. He managed 4 goals and 2 assists in just 13 games for the Magpies having been previously ostracised at Spurs despite his early career form there and forcing his way into the England squad as a result. So good in fact that he made Woy’s initial Euro squad this summer but didn’t make the final cut. Much to his relief we imagine, as it turned out. A few good performances at his new club to mirror his impressive Newcastle form and he will surely be back in the reckoning for Sam’s first squad.
For those unaware of him, he’s an attacking winger who can play either side, he’s very direct and quick, likes a shot on sight and will take on some free-kick duties too, probably sharing the direct ones with Cabaye. He could and should be an exciting cut-price fantasy prospect this season. With the early Palace schedule looking kind we would highly recommend taking a look at him or indeed his team-mate Bolasie who is £0.5m cheaper. Either could thrive.
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James Tomkins £5.0m
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The next two signings are both defensive ones and that fact may be significant given that Palace face West Brom and Stoke at home and Sunderland away as well as newly promoted Middlesbrough in 5 of their first 6 games. Palace only conceded 5 less at home than eventual champions Leicester last season and had comparable records to other top six sides like Southampton and Man City, no less. On that basis we’d expect many will be grabbing one of their less expensive options to begin with.
Tomkins comes in at £5.0m so isn’t quite as cheap as Souare at £4.5m but his PPM (points per minute) last season is superior as he only managed 8 less points having played 12 games fewer, if you pro-rata minutes played into 90’s. In all honesty though there’s not a lot we can see that would set him aside as a must have pick over anyone of his colleagues or indeed anyone else. He got exactly zero goals and zero assists last season. And just 3 bonus points. Yeah sure enough he got 8 clean sheets but that was for a different team so it doesn’t really hold water in the ‘arguments for’ camp. Souare got 7, just for the record.
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Steve Mandanda £4.5m
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After being so ‘positive’ about their first defensive recruit we will begin the next with a big warning about the second! Mandanda comes in as a very experienced top flight keeper having been first choice for Marseille for the best part of nine seasons and we fully expect that he will eventually become the Eagles number one choice between the sticks. That’s where the warning comes into play though. Not being avid Palace fans or followers ourselves we asked a trusted source, who is indeed both of the above, about the keeper situation over there and his response was that he expects Mandanda to be first choice but that GW1 may come too soon as he only began training with them on Tuesday this week. If you were thinking of including a Palace keeper then that sounds like a situation which needs monitoring closely in the coming week. Our take on this is that unless he’s arrived 3 stone overweight then a week and a half should be more than enough time to get a keeper ready to go and if he is indeed their intended No1 then we don’t see the need in holding him back but let’s see what the Lord says on the situation this week.
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Vote on our Captain Poll Now
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Good morning everyone, I must have tinkered with this team for hours but I’m pretty happy with it now. The only player with a question mark hanging over his head is Musa IMO, I want him but if I cant have him then I can switch to Gray easy enough. The reason I haven’t gone for Gray in the first place is in honesty I don’t think his fixtures aren’t that good apart from the opening game. I don’t think Liverpool are going to be defensively good but Chelsea probably will be or at least Conte will try. And for Musa’s debut he scored 2 against the best team in the world, they only way he could improve on that is with a hatti. What a debut, lets see how he does today.
Let me know what you think cheers, I could be persuade to ditch Mkhit for Zlatan
Dare you captain Musa? I’ve got him too and debating it.
IDK last season I kept going for random captain choices like that and it didn’t pay off, this season I’m just thinking about making the safe choice every week with my captain. Its boring but I lost out on a lot of points last season from my risky captain picks. Musa is someone I would def consider giving the arm band to though, I will see how it goes :p
…and the seed is sown haha. Tbf I’ve got Kun, Zlat and Musa and I reckon any or all could bag a brace on opening day.
Thats the problem in having Zlat and Aguero there is a captain dilema, if you only have Kun its an easy choice unless the fixtures are glaringly obvious. Im even tempted to jsut armband Aguero week in week out for the whole season and seeing how that tactic pans out lol. I find it hard to be that boring though, I bet first week I have either Musa or a defender as a captain
+1 on price locked Bruce. keeps the wonga safe
ja 😉
Morning All! What do we think if this team? I know I have a lot of money with Aguero & Ibra I just think they’ll be impossible to get in later on. Also Snodgrass over Kouyate? Cheers!
Pretty good I just think your midfield is a bit risky, not all of them are guaranteed to start especially Ramsey. And even Hazard is a risk, I have him currently but might remove him. I actually think Fabregas is the safer bet. Tadic and Snodgrass I cant really comment on, dont know what they have been doing.
I would try and get like Mahrez and/or Townsend probably.
To clarify, Hazard will start I mean he is risky because he might just be shit again. But in all honesty I expect him to have a great season
Cheers lukealike, I’ll have a think!
Ayew signs for Hammers…as an OOP striker? Thoughts?
If he is guaranteed to start I would snap him up
I might give it the first 3 games to see where he plays and let’s the Hammers get past Chelsea and City.
His best position is coming in from the wing. Like Antonio did middle of last season. Now he would have Antonio helping from behind & Carrol nodding them down to him, Payet diagonal to him. Goals goals goals.
Dont think it matters if he gets called a striker or not.
Think WHU are still in the market for a pacy striker, Jordan Ayew suggested bur may end up keeping Sakho & Valencia. They are definitely searching for a quality LB. I think Bilics Plan A1 is 2 DMs 1 striker (Carroll/?) Plan A2 1 DM 2 strikers Carroll+?
Bads news for Byram & Feghouli bandwagons but they will get their chance in cups & Europa.
look at west ham fixtures, i think i will have a go…er…for now
will see another 7 days
Anyone considering this Chelsea player Sunderland bought yesterday? Papa Djibouti or something like that. He doesn’t seem to be on the FPL list though?
I dont know much about him, I just know he is a striker and they paid 8mil for him. Might impede on Defoes playing time I guess
He’s a CB
Manyana means next week with fpl
I was hoping he was listed at Chelsea and would be 4 million. So guess he will be 4.5
If he’s in as a DEF but plays CM then maybe. By all accounts he’s defensive minded though.
Yeah like I would have thought that if he was a Chelsea player last year he should already be in the site, right? I assume he’d be 4.5 at the most
Oh im losing it, IDK what striker I am talking about lmao not this guy then
He was in loan last season
On loan*
Ah right okay that must be why then. I just thought they would have red flagged him on the Chelsea team.
Morning all hope all is well , how is everyone’s team coming along I’ve been tinkering again can’t help it any thoughts.
Hey no.1 personally I wouldn’t be going into the season with two 4 mil players so I’d downgrade Musa or a midfielder to get and extra .5 atleast.
For me, Baines is key. I want to wait and see how Musa will be doing. Ayew was a must before Swansea signed Llorente or whatever his name is spelled. Pool have terrible fixtures, however, Firm is a goalpoacher. Ibe, can work out but still, it’s Bou. Team looks decent but I have my doubts.
Thanks guy’s obviously this is subject to change ie ayew is signing for west ham and mosa was impressive against Barcelona and will see how he gets on tomorrow. Oh and stones to city should go through this week.
All depends where Musa plays with Vardy. If he plays up top he could be an option but if he plays on the wing he might not be best option
Wait, still a lot of teams have to be done in just 1 week time right? Which teams have been mentioned in articles? Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Money United, Leicester, Liverpool, WHU, Soton, Burnley, Hull, Mid, Money City. Hmm, 7 to go in 7 days? 😉 Uhoh. Innit, get some peppers up that arse. ;P
No chance. One left on new signings which is simply to hoover up the ‘best of the rest’. Then it’s straight into the normal schedule – Fixtures, Capos, Tips, Site Team, Team Talk and then eventually Live Match Chat. Business as usual.
Aaah okay. 😉
The EPL teams now have billions and billions to spend. I think they should overtake Europe by force now. If not, that’s just poor man.
I swear, the team relegating to the second or third division in England will earn more than the entire Eredivisie put together, all the teams. Fairplay my balls!