New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. West Ham
What a difference a year makes! Roughly 12 months ago, some bozo on here was ribbing this lot to the max, predicting a rough season and possible relegation due to the appointment of “woeful” Slaven Bilic as head honcho in replacement of the ever sturdy Sam Allardyce. An unknown French dude was supposedly the key to Hammers success but this bozo just didn’t believe it. Who was this character, you ask? None of your goddamn business, that’s who. Now, moving swiftly on; West Ham have been quite busy in the current window, snapping up some very interesting players, 4 of which we’ll cover in this here article. Two youth prospects (Domingos Quina & Toni Martinez) aren’t really expected to break into what is fast becoming a stacked Hammers team but they are worth a mention nonetheless. Quina, a 16 year old Portuguese attacking midfielder, has been highly touted as one for the future and West Ham have done well to nip in and take him on board. Martinez, slightly older at 19, was snapped up from the Valencia youth and is again seen as one for the future. Like Quina, he’s not expected to get much if any game time this season but as fantasy managers we’d be doing ourselves a service to keep an eye on the progression of Martinez and Quina as we may well be punting on them in a season or two. With those two now out of the way, lets have a peek at the Hammers signings that are more relevant to the upcoming fantasy season, shall we?…
For West Ham’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created West Ham Pre-season info
Håvard Nordtveit – Defensive Midfielder / Center Back (£5.0m) Classed as a mid in FPL
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Signed from German outfit Gladbach, this defensive minded Norweigan has seemingly been drafted in to help plug the holes in a Hammers defence that was pretty porous at times last season. Despite playing an attractive, attacking style of football and finishing a more than respectable 7th, West Ham ranked 8th from the top 10 in terms of goals conceded – shipping a hefty 51 times over the course of the season. A reduction of 10 or so goals may have resulted in a top 4 finish, what with there being just a four point gap between themselves and Manchester City. Considering this, it’s not surprising that Bilic went after a solid member of a rather impressive Gladbach team and we’d expect Nordveit to do a job for the Hammers. Looking at his attacking stats there’s not a whole lot to whet the appetite, fantasy wise. Nordveit spent a full six seasons at Gladbach but only managed to find the net on 13 occasions and contributed few assists, making him an unattractive pick for us fantasy folk. It’s worth noting that he has been classed as a midfielder in FPL. We all know the value of an out-of-position gem in the game we love / hate so much so had he been classed as a defender then those goal scoring stats wouldn’t look all that bad really; 4 last season and 3 the season before. Decent, but only if there were clean sheet points to go along with the odd goal, which there isn’t!
Fantasy Prospect; 4/10
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Gökhan Töre – Winger / Attacking Midfielder (£5.5m)
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Now, onto the attacking side of things and first up we’ve got a loanee drafted in from Turkish side, Besiktas, a club most of you will know from their appearances in the Champions League down the years. The Hammers have dished out £2.5mln to bring Töre in for the season with a view to making the deal permanent next summer for a further £7.5mln should he do the business. The Turkish international (26 caps, 0 goals) started out as a professional in Germany with Hamburg, making 24 appearances before moving on to the Russian league of all places to ply his trade for Rubin Kazan. That venture didn’t go all that well for Gökhan and he was soon out of there, signing for Be?ikta? in 2013. During his three seasons in Turkey, Töre saw plenty of game time, making 111 appearances in total and finding the net 19 times; far from a spectacular return we think you’ll agree. Add 28 assists to that tally and we’re starting to look decent but we’d have to think that Töre will need to up his game considerably if he is to be effective in the Premier League. At just 24 years of age there is certainly time for improvement and it will be interesting to see if he gets into the starting 11 from the off but one thing is for sure; West Ham have a few players that could easily force Töre to sit out most games unless he hits the ground running. One to keep an eye on for sure.
Fantasy Prospect; 6/10
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Manuel Lanzini – Attacking Midfielder (£6.5m)
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Here’s a name we should all know from last season as he was on loan at the Hammers, and has now been added to the permanent squad for the upcoming season. Lanzini started the season off rather quietly, appearing here and there and not really showing much of anything. That was, until playmaker Dimitri Payet was ruled out for a couple of months through injury. Young Manuel burst into life in the absence of Payet and proceeded to become a heavily fancied fantasy option, scoring and assisting regularly before he himself picked up an injury that kept him out for a while. It seemed that by the time Lanzini was available again, West Ham had switched up their formation and he took time to settle back in but an okay tally of 6 league goals from 25 appearances may be a sign of what is to come from the young Argentine. How this talent ended up playing in the UAE Arabian Gulf League is anyone’s guess but now that he is on board at West Ham we’d be foolish to overlook what will likely be a much cheaper alternative to Payet, although maybe not quite as productive, but we shall see. At just 23 Manuel Lanzini has a bright future ahead of him and once he can nail a starting spot we’d expect him to continue to do well. The main drawback is the fact he is off to the Olympics with Argentina so he may not be available for the season start. Keep an eye on that one.
Fantasy Prospect; 7/10
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Sofiane Feghouli – Winger / Attacking Midfielder (£5.5m)
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Last, but most certainly not least, a player who has been making waves for a number of seasons in La Liga for Valencia; Sofiane Feghouli has been and still is an excellent player and is currently West Ham’s most exciting summer signing by far. Four seasons at Grenoble was enough time for Los Murciélagos to realise his talents and snap him up, and there he has stayed, bar a brief loan spell at Almeria, steadily improving as the seasons go by. Deployed mainly as a wide player, although at times shifted to a central attacking role or even the odd time as a central midfielder, Feghouli has almost always done what was asked of him to a high level and we’re expecting him to continue improving in a more free flowing attacking West Ham team. Work rate is the first noticeable trait in Feghouli. The Algerian has no issues with helping out on the defensive side as well as providing a skillful outlet at the other end of the field. 31 goals in five seasons at Valencia, a club who are almost always chopping and changing due to financial issues, is a decent return, considering. Feghouli is a good creator also, ticking another box for us fantasy managers. At international level, Feghouli is second only to the mercurial Riyad Mahrez in terms of importance to the team and even that is debatable. 11 goals in 40 appearances for Algeria is an excellent return, we think you’ll agree. All in all there’s no real downside to this signing and once priced reasonably he could well be one of the gems of the upcoming FPL season. Of that there is no doubt, even less so if the Hammers manage to snag one of the top strikers they are currently trying to sign. Watch this space people, Sofiane is an excellent player and should suit the fast pace of EPL.
Fantasy Prospect; 8/10
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Morning everyone!
Great to be back playing FPL, deleted my team early last season. Could someone remind me how you link your team?
Also, on the transfers page there’s an option for creativity and threat, how exactly does FPL calculate that?
Great work so far FF247 team, the hot comments thing is a smart addition :biggun:
Hi Veer, hope you are well and welcome back! You need to go to your FPL page, go to Gameweek History, copy that URL, come back here, go to your profile page and then paste that URL into the website box. And save.
Hey innit, good to see you! Done that now, but doesn’t seem to have changed.. Does it take a few minutes to update it?
And how’s your team looking so far, got any interesting punts in there?
Looks like it’s worked for you. As for my team I’m just building up a wish list at the moment. This is what I have compiled so far, nothing out of the ordinary really.
Feghouli :say-what:
Something feels wrong about paying 5.0 for a Sunderland defender. However PvA does have some set piece duties and Moyes doesn’t hurt my feelings if I plan to own one of their defenders. That could end up being a very shrewd choice, not many teams with him in it.
Mito, he (PVA) and Arnie are in there simply because they are 2 players I always intend to buy and never get round to. And often get decent points and always annoy me when they do because I haven’t got them. Hopefully at least one of them makes the cut this time.
I get it, I always want to own Tadic and I never do.
What’s the thoughts on Stones? If he goes to City surely with his 5 million price tag will be appealing.
Stones needs to learn how to defend first!
50 million for a guy who can’t defend.
He can’t. Imo he’s very overrated.
Yeah I agree really overrated. However 5 million for a city defender appeals to me
Possibly. But the City defence wasn’t great for a lot of last season and I’m not sure if he’ll improve it. A lot will depend on Kompany!
I buy Stones if I knew he start at City. If Kompany is back then the defence improves substantially, but that also means Stones won’t play. I am just not sure he plays on that team. He is not going to start over Otamendi.
The thing is you don’t spend that kind of money on a reserve do you? But guess they have on Sterling
@Smash, I suspected someone would say that and my answer was going to be Sterling.
Two differences between stones/sterling:
1) City wont buy someone pep didnt ask (unlike with Pellegrini);
2) stones is good on the ball, which pep likes for a CB.
So, while I share everyone’s views on his price v defense ability , I’d say, If he goes, he plays. Ahead of mangala, surely. Kompany? Maybe not before his 1st injury.
I be shocked if City actually did buy him for that, as part of some deal that involves other players, maybe. I just don’t think he is that good, I see him as an ok defender, something you can buy for 10 million somewhere else. However if they do pay a huge sum for him, he will have to play at some point. However if Kompany and Otamendi are fit, he will not see the pitch, unless they play a 3 back. To be honest, I prefer Mangala. But he didn’t cost 50 million, so I can see why Stones would play over him.
Agreed, DMC. At 5mln he’s straight in my team if he goes to City.
And mine
I think if he signs for crazy money and being a Pep signing he will play. I don’t necessarily think that’s the right decision. Otamendi has not pulled up any trees and Kompany really has injury problems. I do agree that he’s probably worse than what they already have
Well tbh I think he’s varrer went the wrong way when everton turned down chelsea’s offer last season I think it was. Messed with the boy. Before that, he looked very composure with Jags. I like the bloke and honesty I dont think you can buy better for 10 mil. 50 is of course another story but that’s because there’s too much money around. Also, wasnt mangala near 40£?
Thought Mangala was in the mid to high 20s, but who the hell is counting nowadays.
I think there’s a £50m player in him somewhere he just needs the right people to bring it out in him. Kompany and Pep will probably do that in time. The irony now of course is that Koeman probably would too. He’s got two outstanding ‘attributes’ or ‘traits’ right now. One good, one bad. The good is that he is class on the ball, he stands out head and shoulders above most when you see him live and he would grace most midfields as a DM. He reminds me a bit of Alonso in respect of his coolness on the ball and his awareness and the way he plays with his head up all the time. The bad is that his concentration span when defending is akin to a goldfish. It’s not that he’s a bad ‘defender’, he’s actually ok when he’s faced up and switched on, it’s more that he switches off momentarily and gets caught out doing so an awful lot – look at the Aguero goal in the semi-final and the Fellaini goal in the other semi. Kun got ahead of him and beat him because he switched off, same with Fellaini but that was more a lack of awareness of where his opponents were. Good thing is such weaknesses are easily spotted and fairly easily fixed with some proper coaching.
Stones capo anyone?
Everton fans – Thoughts on mirallas at 6.5?
And delafeau for that matter? Who is a better player in my opinion
Morning all can I get members thoughts on haveing both Ibra & Kun.
Leaves the rest of the team a bit weak imo. Mkhitaryan is a good alternative to ibra
Depends who you want in the midfield i think. There’s a ton of mid range picks that could do well so if you’re with a couple, or a few of them then yeah i’d probably splurge on Ibrahimovic and Aguero. If you’re leaning more toward a premium filled midfield then i’d say it’s nigh on impossible to squeeze the two high priced forwards in.
Ayew and Tadic or Mahrez and Gradel/Feghouli?
Based on last season, I probably take Ayew and Tadic if all things were equal in terms of fixtures. Having looked at the fixtures, none of them start out with great ones.
I believe I would take the Saints and Swans guy. Tadic was a great asset last season in FPL if you had him during the times he was playing. When I looked into his numbers I started noticing that his points were better than basically all mids with the exception of Mahrez. If you give Tadic the same minutes as Ozil, Payet, Sanchez, Alli, Eriksen he would have outpointed them all. One other notable exception was Firmino who would have finished on 237 only 3 behind Mahrez if he had the same minutes as the Algerian. However his minutes were less than 2000 and he has loads of competition for a spot this season on top of the fact that if Sturridge stays healthy, Firmino won’t log those heavy minutes at forward.
I am not sure I even answered
oh well I least I put something out there.
Cheers. I dont want Feghouli but Gradel looks a bargain at 5.5. Firmino performed well last year as a false nine, not so much at number 10. However, he isnt likely to play there this year. Good points about Tadic. Ayew could play as a striker this year and his opening 2 fixtures are nice so I’m liking the look of him
Hey guys, hope your teams are looking great.
Can I please have your thoughts on my team. got 0.5mill in the bank
thankyou in advance…
@Stewy, if the season was starting this week and Payet was verified as training and most likely playing in GW1, I be happy to roll with that team.
Just one question, since you say you have.5 itb, any reason why you don’t replace Paredes with a starter? Or are you stashing to allow you to be a bit more flexible in the market for GW2?
Hey Mito, love that post u did earlier on. I was just going to save that .5 for GW2 just that like you said bit more flexible but for some reason I don’t feel I am making the right move
Well, you have Baines and Shaw that you will most likely never sit. The other two rotate well in terms of fixtures so as long as everyone starts, you should be ok. I probably hold Paredes and see if someone pops up that might start for that 4.0 price, maybe even him. If by the deadline no one has arrived then you will have to make a decision depending on how confident you are on the rest of your team. I probably wouldn’t worry about it for now.
ok, cheers for that
Might be better to get a 4m defender with less ownership though because once people start selling, his price will drop.
@Milburn, apparently that is done by percentage of owners who sell him, not just the total amount. So even if he is owned by 200,000 more it would take a lot more people selling for the price to drop. That’s why you see some people who are barely owned still managing to drop in price. However I am not completely sure of this and one thing that will happen is, that if people who don’t pay attention see everyone else selling they will also. So his higher ownership may have a negative in those terms, that the more people see others selling the more likely they are to do the same.
Could be wrong though about that being done through price falls being done by the percentage of owners who sell you though, so if someone knows different, love to hear it so I am better informed.
Ah right I didn’t realise that mate, thanks
Read a boro fan’s comment that Downing was not impressive for them in championship and may have some competition their new signing Viktor Fischer. Keep an eye on pre-season i guess.
I dont think Downing is a guaranteed starter. Fischer and Gradel are better options at that price
for me its a bit heavy on Chelsea up front, Id be putting m Kitty (MUN) in there instead of Hazard.