New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Southampton
It has been another summer of turmoil down on the South coast as once more Southampton have lost a number of their key assets. Liverpool clearly felt that they did not have enough ex-Southampton players in their ranks so decided to shell out a reported £34m on Sadio Mane. Spurs splashed out £11m on midfield enforcer Victor Wanyama, while Graziano Pelle has buggered off to China where he will earn a reported £260k per week. The world has officially gone mad! However perhaps the biggest loss will be manager Ronald Koeman who has taken over the reins at Goodison Park. Koeman has been replaced by Frenchman Claude Puel who has spent the past 4 seasons in charge of Ligue 1 side Nice, and prior to that he had spells in charge of Lyon, Lille and Monaco. Over the years he has developed a reputation for developing youngsters and playing an attractive brand of football. This should see him fit in well at Southampton. Although he has big shoes to fill as Koeman had built on the work of Mauricio Pochettino. What he have seen in recent years is that Southampton typically spend their money wisely and judging from their latest two signings they have once more spent wisely.
For Southampton’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Southampton Pre-season info
Nathan Redmond (£6.0m)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]
After three years at Carrow Road Redmond decided to leave Norwich after they were relegated for the second time in three seasons. Redmond clearly wasn’t bought by Puel as his appointment was confirmed after the purchase of Redmond, although he has apparently been a long-term target for the Southampton hierarchy and we’ve seen how successful they have been over the years. The 22 year old will undoubtedly be seen as a direct replacement for Sadio Mane, but is he good enough to do so? Last season Mane scored 11 and assisted six while Redmond managed just six goals and three assists. Such basis stats are not always the best means to compare two players and some of the underlying stats suggest that Redmond can replace Mane. He created more chances per 90 minutes than Mane did. Surrounded by better quality players we must assume that more of these chances will now be scored! He’s certainly not the goalscorer that Mane is, he’s only managed to find the back of the net on 18 occasions in 174 league appearances. Although he did get his Saints career off to a flyer yesterday with two goals. Against… Zwolle. I would certainly expect him to pick up more fantasy points than in previous season but whether or not he’s worth considering will be determined by his price.
[divider_1px]
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.5m)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]
Just as many will view Redmond as a replacement for Mane they are likely to see Hojbjerg as a replacement for Wanyama. He is a defensive midfielder by trade but can just as easily play as a box-to-box midfielder. The 20 year-old has long been seen as one of Europe’s hottest properties and when he moved to Bayern back in 2013 many expected him to kick onto the next level under Pep Guardiola. Unfortunately it didn’t work out at the German club as he was kept out of the team by Kroos, Thiago and Schweinsteiger. Frustrated by a lack of game time he joined Augsburg on loan in January 2015 helping them to qualify for the Europa League where his tireless running and positivity going forward played an important role. He spent last season on loan at Schalke but struggled to cement his place in the side. What can we expect from him at Southampton? Assuming Puel adopts a 4-2-3-1 formation I would expect Hojbjerg to play as part of a two man holding midfield. He should have the physical strength to adapt to life in the Premier League and I expect Puel will work with him on the training ground to encourage him to get forward on a regular basis. Is he likely to be a fantasy asset? For now I would take a wait and see approach.
[divider_1px]
Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
[divider_1px]
Really want Mahrez in there, might switch him for Payet for the first 3 games weeks due to West Ham fixtures, then switch it.
I really want both though!
Gear
Lose Fabregas then maybe?
Yeah, it’s generating that extra 2m
Dump Redmond or Townsend? Or DDG to a 4.5 and work from there?
After a few changes finally managed to strengthen my front line a little still more than likely going to change but so far I have.
Courtois, Jakupovic
Shaw, Walker, Souare, McAuley, Lenihan
Mkhitaryan, Mahrez, Townsend, De Bruyne, Hojbjerg
Aguero, Grey, Long
Rogue
Good basis there. Relyng on Burnley and Southampton for goals each week may be dangerous however.
That it will be kinda hoping the rest of the field makes up for it or go with Kane plus 9m Stiker and swap De Bruyne for someone else.
I know we have a few Arsenal fans on here: what’re your thoughts on Theo for the opening few games? Is he as nailed on as possible considering so many will be late starting the season?
He could well be but I doubt it and with his price you could get other players who are nailed on and with Walcott you never know what you’re going to get anyway. I never truly had full faith in him.
Don’t pick Walcott at any time. Ever.
Thanks for the review Kop! Got me thinking.
I wonder how much value Redmond can provide compared to Long… then there’s J Rod of course!
There’s a lot of 6.5m strikers but I have a gut feeling about Long. Do we think he’s likely the 2nd attacker on the team sheet after Tadic?
Had to get Kun in somehow thoughts on my team this will be the last time il be touching it until a few days before deadline or so i say :’)
Ok let’s look @ the top 10% of point scorers from GK , Def MF & Fwd from last season table attached.
This is my opinion from stats
GK either go with two 4.5m or one premier GK 5.5m with a 4m your preference either way should end up on same points.
Def I would would get two premier def either two @ 5.5m or one @ 6.5m with one @ 5m play them every GW then pick two rotating def @ 4.5m just play them in there home or easiest games then take a stab @ picking a 4m def don’t worry if he doest start one will show them selfs then TF him in.
MF this is where it gets interesting pick two big hitters one with potential to get big points. Then pick two @ no more than 6.5m there were 36 MF players who hit offer 100 points & nearly a half under 6.5m. Then get steady Eddie someone who plays every game but doesn’t set the world on fire for 4.5m.
Fwds this is where it gets tricky in my opinion you need two from one of the top 8 clubs if not 6 clubs no where below 9m this should hopefully leave you enough for approx 6.5m plenty out there until someone shows themselves
Thanks for reading now get tinkering can we find another Vardy (I don’t mean in looks because that would be impossible) cheers 😉