Promoted team analysis – Burnley
Last season
Runners-up in the Championship
93 points (highest Runners-up score since current Championship formation)
Won 26 games
Drew 15
Lost 5
Scored 72
Conceded 37 (lowest in the championship)
Previous season in Premier League:
2009-10 season – 18th (relegated)
Burnley returned to the Premier League following their runners up spot in the Championship gaining an impressive 93 points. The Clarets last stay in the Premier League was in 2009/10 season when they famously beat Manchester United at Turf Moor, sadly soon after manager Owen Coyle moved to Bolton midway through the campaign and despite a gallant survival effort they were relegated. The Clarets outfit that returns to the Premiership may be the bookies favourites for the drop but in manager Sean Dyche you can be certain that they will not go down without a fight. Let’s take a look at their prospects from a fantasy point of view…
The Manager – Sean Dyche
Dyche, who is known as the “Ginger Mourinho” has previously managed Watford and spent some time on the England U21 backroom staff, will keep his players feet firmly on the ground in an effort to re-create what Crystal Palace did last season and remain in the Premiership. A straight talking and no nonsense type of manager, Dyche favours a 4-4-2 system, in last season’s Championship the Clarets used this formation in 40 of their 46 league games. In his 85 matches in charge of the Clarets he has a win ratio of 47%. Dyche has been actively involved in the transfer market this summer and has brought in some seasoned veterans to strengthen his squad. Fantasy Managers should note that Dyche is not one to tinker with his sides, in last season’s Promotion winning team ten players started 38 games or more, Goalkeeper Tom Heaton, along with Jason Shackell and David Jones started all 46 matches.
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The Players
Let’s take a look at some of the players from last season and then some new arrivals-
GOALKEEPER –
Tom Heaton-4.5mln. The former Man United youngster was Dyche’s first signing for the club after arriving from Bristol City last summer. He should be nailed-on to feature in a significant number of games barring injury. Heaton played every one of his side’s league matches and was instrumental in Burnley’s impressive defence. He will offer fantasy managers a good option as a back-up keeper.
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DEFENDERS-
Kieran Trippier-5mln. This highly-rated right-back is likely to be a popular option as a cheapish defender. His set-piece ability and delivery helped him return an impressive 12 assists last season. (top assisting defender in the FPL last season had 8) He could be a consideration in some managers squads.
Michael Duff-4mln. This veteran centre-half played the vast majority of Burnley’s season, though remains to be seen whether Dyche will allow him as much game time in the Premiership.
Jason Shackell-4.5mln. Ever-present at the heart of the Clarets defence, Shackell was snapped up from Derby back in 2012 and has established himself as a key figure in Dyche’s strong backline.
Ben Mee-4.5mln. Mee is the first-choice left-back under Dyche and his three assists last season were overshadowed by Trippier’s tally. He will most likely remain an integral part of the starting 11 but is unlikely to offer fantasy managers the best return in points.
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MIDFIELDERS-
Michael Kightly-5mln. He produced 5 goals and 6 assists during his loan spell before he completed his move from Stoke in the off season. Classed as a midfielder but operates as a winger which could boost his appeal to fantasy managers.
Dean Marney-4.5mln. Marney was snapped up from Hull back in May 2010 – the central midfielder impressed with his several assists last season but let himself down though as he has a habit for picking up silly bookings and was suspended twice last season.
David Jones-4.5mln. The former Wigan midfielder arrived on a free transfer summer and immediately nailed down a regular starting role. Jones also takes a fair share corners to boost his appeal though probably not enough to make fantasy managers select him.
Scott Arfield-5mln. He was brought in on a free transfer from Huddersfield and was used initially as a sub for the first three matches before cementing his place in the starting 11, starting 42 of the following 43 league games. Possible differential potential.
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ATTACKERS-
Sam Vokes – 5.5mln. The former Wolves frontman was a crucial part of the Clarets campaign last year until injury curtailed his season. Having already suffered from a long-term cruciate ligament injury in 2012/13 he had started last season in fine form, with penalty duties helping him find the net 20 times. Unfortunately Vokes sustained another serious knee ligament injury in March and is set to miss the start of the upcoming campaign, rumours suggest a December return. If and when he returns to action and depending on fitness he could make good differential.
Danny Ings – 6mln. The standout player for the Clarets last season he was duly voted Championship Player of the Year. Ings made his debut for England U21s in October last year and with Vokes sidelined through injury, looks set to be the Burnley forward of choice and at only 6m he could make a few managers sit up and notice. Rumours are abound that Ings is wanted by Southampton as a replacement for Rickie Lambert so watch the transfer news.
Ashley Barnes – 4.5mln. Barnes arrived from Brighton during the winter transfer window and his first 10 appearances for the Clarets came from of the bench. When Vokes was sidelined Barnes took his chance appearing in each of the final 11 Championship fixtures.
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New Arrivals-
Dyche has strengthened his squad with six new arrivals this summer Michael Kightly, Matt Gilks, Marvin Sordell, Matthew Taylor, Steven Reid and striker Lukas Jutkiewicz have all completed their moves to Turf Moor. Journeymen pro’s like Taylor and Reid are already known to fantasy managers whilst Jutkiewicz will offer competition up front.
Fixtures
Burnley face a baptism of fire on opening day with a home fixture against Chelsea, the real Mourinho will be in town with his stars hoping to get their Premiership challenge off to a good start. Next up is Swansea away before Man Utd and LVG visit Turf Moor. If the Clarets get a point from these three fixtures they will be doing well.
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Summary
Will Burnley stay up? Im not sure. Could they provide some scares to the opposition? Probably. Whatever happens and with Dyche in charge you can be sure that it will not be because of a lack of effort.
Hi guys,
Can you rate my team atm please?
Surely will change before kick off but this is what it’s looking like atm.
Mannone (Krul)
Terry ©, Shaw, Vlaar (Trippler, Bruce)
Ramsey, Hazard, Eriksen, Albrighton (Davis)
Remy, Costa, Roony (vc)
Already changed.
Mannone (Krul)
Terry ©, Shaw, Vlaar (Trippler, Debuchy)
Mata, Hazard, Sigurdsson, Albrighton (Shelvey)
Remy, Costa, Roony (vc)
Not sure about Shelvey. Who should I swap him for?
Shelvey is not a very bad option at that price you know. Otherwise there is Steve Sidwell. But I would prefer Jonjo anyway unless you can raise your budget a little bit. Is it really necessary to spend 5m on a promoted team defender? I mean Trippier(Burnley) of course. Of course he has the potentials for assists with corners and free kicks but clean sheets will be hard to come by. I say swap him to a Palace defender Mariappa. Use the extra 0.5 to swap Shelvey to either Snodgrass/Sigurdsson(if he goes to Swansea).
Some would say Kieran Trippier to be the poor man’s Baines. Hope you have not forgotten Nicky Shorey.
Yeah that is a good call Snodgrass in for Shelvey. Good call on the clean sheets as well. If this season is anything like the last, it’ll be cleansheets at the early stages (who can pick it though). Cheers for the help tinkering!
I like your squad. There’s always a risk picking a foreign based player in that they time to adjust or just don’t work out. remember Shevchenko?
I find the only real questionable new recruit I have is Costa. With Chelsea lacking so hard in a striker last season, the pressure will be on Costa to succeed. He might be shaky at the start, but I think he will find form fast with the support of his Athletico fellow players and international players like Torres and Azpil in the team. Fingers crossed.
A couple of recommendations mate. I would downgrade hazard to fabregas, to free up some cash. Id go Shelvey to snoddy myself, and perhaps upgrade Remy. Keep in mind the possibility if he joins Liverpool he wouldn’t be starting…
Perhaps downgrade vlarr to duff from Burnley, looks like he could be starting and you seem to have allot invested in your defense.
Cheers for the advice bro!
I don’t fully agree with the Hazard move (I am a huge Hazard fan though). I believe Fabergas will fall back at the start of the season and thread balls forward to Hazard and Oscar as they both have 2 years experience in the EPL and in Chelsea. So saying that, I can only see Fabergas picking up a few assists at the start of the season (I could be dead wrong). I’ve changed Shelvey for Snoddy and I’ve changed Remy with Lambert. I want to invest in defence for the start of the season as I didn’t last season and it ruined me.
Same problem mate. Lambert will still have the rotation problems. Pelle’s there as well. Gomis is there and can be an asset if Remy leaves(will save you 0.5 more).
Hmm yeah good point on the rotation. Might go Pelle for now as his fixtures look like they can produce some goals. Might change it again before the first game. Who knows, Lukaku might go to a rival club or something haha.
*Not Remy,Bony..
I’m back and ready to go Monty!
Cheers mate !! I think we should send the mail to elle now. Same team,I reckon. But I have actually forgotten the password. It was saved on my browser. If you do remember it care to drop in a mail for me. Otherwise we have to go for a new team.
Monty what is your team looking like now?
Morning all lets get back to the football would we put Mata & Rooney in the same team to start Man U start looks good Hi Elle I will come back to you later
Silverback, I don’t see any issue with putting in both Rooney and Mata, I have them in my team. I get pretty much all of the concepts of fantasy football apart from this ‘cover’ business, don’t buy it.
The thing is where is mata going to play because if it’s out wide I don’t want any of that but if it’s behind the striker it would be good. If I was going to double up I’d get RVP and Rooney..
Surely he won’t be out wide, LVG knows how to get the best out of great players unlike Moyes. If he is played wide then all of this pre-season excitement at a new start will be dashed in one minute haha. RVP is just too expensive for me at this early stage when every 0.5 counts – I’m only just about happy with the overall balance in my squad, so to lose 3 mil or so from a position would destroy it.
The thing is Rooney will probably play behind the striker so where will mata play? We don’t know until the game starts but I’m staying away from mata and Rooney for now.
I hear you. Really hope he doesn’t blow it with his selection. My favoured line-up with the current squad would be similar to this:
____________RVP_____________
____Kagawa________Rooney____
____________Mata____________
_______Herrera________________
______________Carrick_________
Shaw___Evans___Jones___Rafael
_____________DDG____________
I guess Fellaini over Carrick while Carrick is injured. Rooney would not be stuck out on the right, but should be playing a more fluid role. If they worked on it well enough I don’t see why the two or three behind RVP couldn’t be interchanging throughout the game – gives them more freedom and also makes it harder for defenders.
Got 2 teams. 2 drafts. Trying really hard to squeeze in a Chelsea defender but the only way to do that is to get Fabregas in for Hazard. Not sold on that unless he plays a more advanced role that really looks less likely. Have a look.
DDG,Elliot
Debuchy,Mariappa,Wisdom,Flanagan/Jose Enrique,Duff
Hazard,Ramsey,Tadic,Snodgrass/Sigurdsson,Albrighton
Rooney,Sturridge,Dzeko(will see if he nails down a spot,otherwise Giroud and Bony are the alternatives for the same price)
Krul,Manone
Debuchy,Mariappa,Wisdom,Duff,Flanagan/Enrique
Eriksen,Ramsey,Hazard,Snodgrass/Sigurdsson,Albrighton
Roon,Sturridge,Dzeko
Btw,are you going for Persie?
Norfolk-meant for you mate.
Completely agree with your fabregas statement mate.
I really like your teams, with negredo injured dzeko might cement some playing time however Jovetic is still lurking. It’s weird how different we have lined up. I also love snoddy and sigurdsson. I love hull but I would go sigurdsson as snod might be rotation risk with ince and sigurdsson will play behind the striker hopefully.
Here is my team,
DDG,(myhill)
Shaw,luis,B Davies,(wisdom,Yun)
Tadic,eriksen,Sanchez,de Jong,hazard
Pelle, Costa, (Zamora)
How puntalicious is that 😉
That’s a good team tbh. Sometimes punters do reap the rewards early on. Can see you are going for a 3-5-2. I have no complaint with any players on your team. Some would say get a second playing keeper but I am OK with a non-playing one if budget is tight and if the first choice is DDG who would start all the games for sure. Just make sure you choose a non-playing keeper with low ownership so that the you don’t suffer the price fall.
I am actually not sold on Costa. I am not saying that he will disappoint you but I will probably not take that route. He should take some time to adapt and may get off to a slow start. The fixtures though say different.
Who is Yun?
Last year I went Brady from the get go and ended up 200 in the first 5 weeks so I have to take punts. Costa’s fixtures are great but with all the punts I am taking I could be forced into a very early wildcard but it’s all or nothing. As for DDG I don’t want to rotate and be annoyed when I make the wrong decision so DDG it is plus he has easy fixtures.
Yun is the qpr lb who might get game time only 4.0 nailed on is wisdom even he is not nailed on if Gamboa signs.
Duff is still a possibility. No signings yet for Burnley.
Last year Brady and this year Tadic. You can get off to a real good start. Anyway,good luck mate.
You 2 mate.
Who runs this site now is it potty?
I just checked out the old one and it brings back good memories 😉
Good team def little leak but you cant have everything Enr & Sig for me
ok what do we think of Cameron or Vlaar (is Vlaar being sold) Stoke have easier start
Vlaar Cameroon is not nailed with bardsley there.