The Squad

Cech, P CHE 144 3.9
Schwarzer, M FUL 108 3.3

Vidic, N MUN 182 5.0
Samba, C BLR 73 3.3
Tomkins, J WHM 52 2.8

Johnson, G LIV 63 4.0
Clichy, G ARS 77 3.8
Samuel, J BOL 49 3.1

Gerrard, S LIV 202 6.5
Arshavin, A ARS 85 5.5
Milner, J AVL 123 4.0
Osman, L EVE 134 3.8
N'Zogbia, C WIG 75 3.3
Gudjonsson, J BUR - 2.7

Rooney, W MUN 146 6.8
Drogba, D CHE 101 6.4
Adebayor, E MAN 110 6.2
Ebanks-Blake, S WLV - 4.9

79.3

Starman selections for the first weekend.

Drogba - Sat 12:45
Adebayor - Sat 15:00
Arshavin - Sat 17:30
Rooney - Sun 13:30
Gerrard - Sun 16:00

Superleague details.

FISO ISO
Pin: 8000149

A reminder that team names should be ISO...followed by your username, so for example NFG's team name is ISO-NFG ( hyphon optional )

As per last year the League is open so that we can all see each others squads.

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With 25 days to go until the start of the season, I wonder if the ISO winner MindVampire has had any thoughts regarding the team we'll use this year to start things off? I know that the game hasn't been launched yet, but I have a feeling that it may be available as from tomorrow, and the TFF player values have been out for a little while now.

I personally haven't looked at the fixtures or standalones or anything yet, so having an ISO team to mull over will probably kick-start my deliberations for the impending season.

You gotta first draft together yet MV??

Should have something posted by the weekend

Looking forward to it!

Right then lads... Hope you're ready for a heavy read
To start with, some general thoughts:
Lots of flanges covered by the Big 4 teams + AVL/ EVE/ MAN… therefore heavy weight options from those teams selected
There is a low number of player clashes in known flanges in this initial pick (GK 3 clashes excl. play each other, CB 3 clashes, FB 0 clashes, MF 2 clashes, STR 1 clash)
Good number of flanges covered (1 flange unmanned, STO v POR, 22nd Nov)
A few unanswered questions regarding a couple of the players will clearly need watching/ changing. Also TFFO is still not released, resulting in us not knowing (for sure) which defenders are FBs or CBs

Cech, P CHE 3.9 Solid pick for season, likely top 4 GK scorer, will play - therefore good CHE def cover
Reina, J LIV 3.8 Ditto for LIV

Carvalho, R CHE 3.8 Great value if he is 1st choice!? Has been most consistent CHE defender until last year.
Agger, D LIV 3.7 Rate him highly. Seems committed to LIV and with skrtel early injury should solidify a partnership with Carigger. Great value if this is true.
Tomkins, J WHM 2.8 Enabler. Lots of potential. Regular last year. Watching WHM buys though!?

Evra, P MUN 4.2 1st choice MUN LB. Injury last yr prevented him from being one of the highest scorers. Cheapest certainty in MUN def
Clichy, G ARS 3.8 1st choice ARS LB. Keep an eye on Gibbs but no contest in terms of proven TFFO ability. Like Evra very high likely scorer at a cheapish price. ARS def cover.
Bouma, W AVL 2.7 Enabler. 38 games yr before last. Dutch international. Recovered from injury. In AVL squad in recent friendly. Providing he is playing by prem start, GVFM.

Lampard, F CHE 7.0 Top scorer last year. Safest bet for CHE top tffo scorer. Top of diamond position in Ancelotti's 442 suggests more of the same.
Arshavin, A ARS 5.5 Impressive PPG last season. Now settled and with ADE gone, should be as good or better.
Malbranque, S SUN 3.6 Flange coverage. Most solid SUN option in Midfield
Geovanni HUL 3.6 Start last year was awesome. Flange coverage. Good potential VFM, even at 3.6m
Sidwell, S AVL 3.3 High PPG last year. With Barry gone should play regularly. Good pre season form. Great value.
N'Zonzi, S BLR 2.8 Enabler. Great potential. Flange cover. Highest risk Enabler in team though. Big Sam seems impressed. So he sneaks in initially despite CK

Torres, F LIV 7.0 Likely highest scoring TFFO player this year.
Rooney, W MUN 6.8 Who else for MUN attacking cover? Owen too risky, Rooney probably shades the Berb but could downgrade if needed.
Robinho MCY 6.5 City score goals. Robinho’s 1st year impressive. The nearest thing to a certainty to start out of City's numerous attackers.
Jo EVE 5.2 Will score lots this year. Good EVE cover. Only 1 clash with other strikers in first 14 games.

80.0 No spare cash!? (flexibility regarding responding to injuries in the enablers would suggest freeing up a little cash is needed IMO)

GK + CB + FB stategy
Discounted VDS due too Foster playing more games. Several trade off thoughts, eg. Reina + Clichy v Almunia + Johnson considered. Reina wins in my initial thoughts selection, as he’s pretty immune to Rafa’s rotating. Both safe season long picks, 20 + clean sheets each predicted.

Carvalho should be first choice, but is one to watch pre-season.
With 6 players in goal and defense from the big 4 it is worth considering widening the team width here!? eg. hangeland of FUL (if still there) or if Carvalho doesn’t look like a cert to start. It could be said that Carvalho + Agger leaves too many unanswered question!? I believe both will start the season and both will be 110+ point scorers but i'll be particularly interested in the opinion of other FISOers on this one!

As part of overall defense strategy I like to have cover for the big 4 teams in defense to cover for lone flanges when a big 4 attacker has been rotated or is injured.
Evra fits the MUN ticket here although Brown looks very tempting at 3.4… Oshea and Rafael in particular suggest Brown is probably too risky to start with!?
There is a slight question over Bouma, which I hope will be answered in the next few friendlies…

Midfield + Forwards

Lampard v Gerrard or both - Overall, I considered a similar team with 1. Gerard + Drogba/ Anelka over 2. Torres + Lampard. Option 1 is 1.1/ 0.6m cheaper than option 2 but I am pretty sure that option 2 will significantly outscore option 1. Value elsewhere will prove that option 2 will be affordable. Also I believe it would be risky to leave out Torres. I think he is the one player that could emulate the Ronaldo or Henry-like mega points of previous years. Fitting both Gerrard and Lampard in harms overall balance IMO.

Arshavin v RVP - Arshavin wins on value for money and his impressive PPG last season
Jo v Cahill. A part of me would prefer Cahill (Arteta if fit). Jo seems (recently) less injury prone though. Jo wins out initially because of minimising striker clashes and the overall affect the choice has on lesser MF choices in flange coverage. During early analysis, Midfield X + JO always seemed to look better than Cahill + Striker Y.
Sidwell v Young – Hard. I really rate Young. Will downing affect his points return? Not significantly I suspect. But with Barry gone Sidwell looks decent value for money. Having the highest point scorer for each of the big 4 and AVL, EVE, MAN is just a bit too costly. IMO Sidwell’s PPG and likely increased starts offers the best compromise to ensure a good number of big hitters and a passable defense.
Robinho v Tevez v Adebayor v Ireland (v RSC v Bellamy) Well any of the first 3 will probably prove to be the top MAN scorer this year… Which one? Well, Robinho allows us to change to either of the other big 3 if its not him… and he’s definitely the most likely to start IMO.
NZonzi sneaks past Milijas? (WLV) as the midfield enabler. Milijas also looks interesting. Malbranque + NZonzi are picks considering overall squad width and flange coverage and are admittedly not exactly sexy LOL

I was going to post some more stats, but this post is already looking a bit heavy... (so they can appear when the players come under scrutiny)
Anyway, Hopefully these thoughts represent a good starting point for us to optimise our starting squad from

Great to see your thoughts and ideas MV.

My first thought was to be worried about Agger and Carvalho being nailed on in their spots. They also are in teams where we already have defensive cover (keepers).

N'Zonzi who?

Attacking choices look great MV, never heard of Zonzi but so long as he plays he’s worth a punt. I had a go at my own squad last night and it’s really similar to mine, in fact it’s identical with the attacking options from top 4 sides. Loads of potential combos with the top 4, but I reckon that’s a solid base to start from.

My only concern would be in defence as well.. I wasted too many subs last year fannying about with the likes of Agger. A punt on one from Agger/Carvalho would be ok but both maybe a tad risky. I’m liking the rest though, Tomkins looks a great shout. A Spurs player would be nice but not essential initially and that’s what subs are there for anyway.

Interesting squad selection MV - and quite different to all of my initial drafts.

Without going into player specifics, I would probably be tempted to switch one of your expensive strikers for a cheaper option and spend a little more on the defence - Agger / Carvalho / Clichy / Bouma do cause me some concern as they have all either been injured, benched, or by their own standards have had poor seasons in 08-09. However, I could live with this selection for now and you have given enough scope in midfield and up front to tailor the squad to requirements when it becomes clearer who the starting defenders are likely to be.

I'd also be slightly worried about Geovanni and Jo. Last season Jo got a few games due to Evertons urgent need for a striker - but with the Yak and Saha I would put Jo in the same bracket as Owen, Pavyluchenko, Bent, Santa Cruz and various other strikers as having reduced game time due to having 'better' players ahead of them in the pecking order. Geovanni did start like a train last season, but I think that Hull will struggle more this season than last, and didn't he have a bit of a falling out with Brown??

These slight concerns aside - it has many of the proven names and gives reasonably good coverage for the opening few months. Cheers

A very different squad to my first thoughts MV, but you've clearly thought through the options and have a good spread of players with great coverage. Caveats on enablers all make sense too, but all being very cheap could lead to replacement issues.

It's a tough call getting a balanced squad with this year's prices, so there's going to be more compromises than usual in my initial line ups. Seems to be more uncertainty in the make up of starting line ups in my mind too.

Firstly, can't argue with the keepers.

Like NM I got stung by Agger last season who I've always rated and seemed great value at the time when a regular starter in the pre-season, but was the first transfer out of my squads. I'll still be tempted by him in the odd squad this year though! With Carvalho I've had doubts over his fitness and commitment recently, but he'd prove excellent VFM if a regular starter. Again depends on the "if". I don't usually go for such cheap defensive enablers at this stage, but I agree that Tomkins is one to keep an eye on.

Full backs look good, with caveat on Bouma. Same for midfield and N'Zonzi.

Strikers look a touch on the pricey side and I'd echo PG's thoughts on strengthening the defence. Just one striker clash is going to be tough to beat though, and no-one jumping out from the cheaper strikers so not going to be easy. Knock on effect of needing Everton cover as well....

Anyway a good starting place for the ISO squad and I'm sure there'll be a few tinkers as the potential starting line ups start to become a little clearer.

Cheers

Great initial feedback.
Will write more when my internet is not so unstable at home

I've got a few doubts about the defence. Agger wasn't favoured over Skrtel last season, will this season be any different? Carvalho I guess is one to watch pre-season. Could be a bargain but even if he's first choice can he stay fit?

Same goes for Bouma but I suppose by the time the season starts we should know if he's properly back. I know nothing at all about Tomkins

Not sure about Jo either, he looks good value but with Yakubu back and Everton often playing with just one forward he could be in and out the side too much.

Overall I like the look of the squad, decent while being quite different to my own likely choices.

Interesting selection, but effectively - given that Lampard (along with Gerrard) is now priced as a striker - this formation contains 4 expensive strikers, and one medium-priced one, so I'd be surprised if it is anywhere near as potentially competitive as previous ISO starting squads because it is not well-balanced. There are also far too many players with injury and/or selection question marks against them (i.e. about half the squad).

All the same, it would make for an interesting competition because - IMHO - a lot of fairly instant surgery may be required. Of course, things may change when the (real life) transfer market has settled down a little and it's become clearer who will be taking some of the set pieces and penalties at various clubs (notably Man Utd and Villa).

Sorry to be so critical, and this squad may serve the specific purpose of ISO well, but I don't think that it pays sufficient heed to the new paradigm of midfielders priced as strikers. One casualty of this, I think, is the tactic of having 2 top dollar keepers

Some very interesting choices MV which will test out the best of FF managers.

Given that I go on holiday on the 8th I may have to skip ISO this year unless team selection is confirmed early.

'Balance' is an interesting concept.

I would/could argue that a stars and donkeys approach might have some reward in this game where you can captain your stars (Lampard, Ars, Torres, Roo, Robinho etc here) from individual flanges and get double bubble from their supposed high scoring. You could then fill your gaps with regular players from lesser teams to gain extra flange coverage.

This is taking the example to the extreme to demonstrate the theory but I do believe the captaincy/flange rules give you the nod to stretch the balance logic.

I've had two or three goes at assembling a squad and I'm still struggling to get anything close to a balanced side, so critising this team wouldn't be fair.

I'm probably going to go with three very different strategies this year, one based on defence, one based on attack, and one somewhere in between, which should make the game very interesting.

As for the ISO-Squad, if the game started tomorrow then I'd be happy to go with it, but at the same time I'm hoping a few things become clearer over the next couple of weeks to help us improve it.

Balance is also vital as your star players won't feature in every flange. Although you may star them more than not, having an enabler that may or may not play as your only standalone cover for 3 or 4 games could make a massive difference to your teams score. It's not such a massive problem if the enablers have good points scoring potential, but how many of them appear to have this potential before the season starts? Zaki and Ireland were good enablers last season, but how confident would you have been handing them the armband before the first ball was kicked?

As a preference I like to have a couple of star players who'll pick up the armband if playing (Lampard, Gerrard, Torres types), a handful of mid ranged midfielders and strikers from good teams outside of the top 4 to provide cover (Young, Arteta, Defoe, Taylor etc), and only a couple of enablers from teams that either I already have cover for elsewhere, or who should give me points in the standalone flanges (Geovanni worked his way into most of my teams last year to cover the standalones). I do use the big-name loading tactic in FPL, but this game has less flanges to consider.

That said, there is undoubtedly more than one way to skin a cat, and I've found that in the past 2 seasons flange coverage has not been as important as it was the season before - but with the pricing changes I would imagine that balance would be all the more important as it simply won't be possible to have a team full of stars and enablers and still cover the games. There also seems to be an ever growing gulf between the defences of the top 4 and the rest (Everton excluded). What this may mean is that the balance of the team should be geared towards having a tried and tested defence, and giving yourself a high PPM at the back and sacrificing one of the big name players to accommodate.

In my early drafts I've abandoned the idea of having one of the big name players from each of the T4 (Lampard/Drogba, Gerrard/Torres, Rooney/Berbatov, Arshavin/Van Persie) as it just obliterates the budget and leaves you with too many weak points in the squad. This in itself is quite scary as you just know that all of these players will have good runs, and you can only realistically pick 3 from 8.

I played with only 3 for all of last season and came out OK. I started off United-free and bought Ronaldo when fit. Was then Arsenal free or Liverpool free for the rest of the season. It felt awful having no attacking Liverpool players for the run in but I picked up some double CS points from starring Reina or Arbeloa while crawling up into the top 10.

I also had good 'balance' and a good proportion of big club players at the back.

As I said, it felt wrong but it worked. No idea if it actually is the best tactic

Filling a squad with a combination of top-priced stars from the top clubs and several cheap enablers is not a viable strategy in TFFO - because replacing the cheap enablers will often require 2 transfers each. It's better to start off with a more even distribution of player values and then make adjustments when the real bargains of the season become apparant.

I can't see Bouma, Tomkins or N'Zonzi getting many points and, unless a real bargain for the relevant price and category emerges, it will take 2 transfers each to get shot of them. I'd also be trying hard to get some better midfield options - Young or Milner of Villa and Cahill or Fellaini of Everton - rather than Malbranque and Sidwell, neither of whom I see as major players. Anyway, compared with most of the midfield prices, Vidic at 5 million is an absolute steal and, once again, will get more points than Carvalho and Aggar combined - he might even outscore both Rooney and Berbatov again. After Lampard, he is the next name I'll put down in my own squad.

Finally, I think that Jo is a poor selection as he will be behind Yakubu and Saha in the pecking order at Everton - Carlton Cole, for one, is a stronger pick for only a little more cash and I have a feeling that Ewbanks-Blake of Wolves will be a great bargain.

I'm considering the always fit Kuyt (5.3 midfielder ) rather than Gerrard/Torres and/or relying on Vidic for my United coverage as he could easily outscore all their midfielders and strikers. Arshavin and Lampard are probably must-haves,; although if Eduardo is full fit, and Arsenal don't buy another striker, he could be a snip at 5.3.

If I'm really short of cash, I may even consider Ben Foster as a cheap keeper. If Fergie says that he is a shoe-in for England's World Cup squad, surely he must have decided to select him on a fairly regular basis; if he plays 20 Premiership games, he will be a bargain at 3.0.

Not too sure about Bouma AK, I personally think that he'll be picked for most games as soon as he's fully fit (which may be a few games into the season) as he'll add experience to the Villa back 4 (much needed now that Laursen has retired). He played most games before his injury and was one of our best players.... could be the steal of the season if Villa return to the form which they were in during 2008, but I'd tend to agree that it is probably best to 'wait and see' if the budget allows anyone with a more nailed on probability of playing.

I guess we all have a slightly different idea about how it is best to set-up for this season...

As for the suggested team, I would probably prefer it to be slightly different, but it is nothing that I couldn't do myself once the season starts if necessary.

PS: interesting thoughts about Kyut (I've considered the same thing) but I think that picking Foster is a step too far at this stage - I'd prefer to spend an extra 0.3 and get Green from West Ham (who is more likely to play in an improving defence).

On the subject of balance I'm still yet to find the right answer and in the last 3 years I've run a number of different initial strategies (balanced, all out attack, big defence, team focused, etc.) and each year a different one rises above the rest.

Last year the balanced side that I expected to do the best was my best side - first time this has happened since I was a single entrant! One of my worst sides was based on all out attack starting with Torres, Rooney, Adebayor and Yakubu up front with Lampard and Gerrard leading the midfield until Ronaldo was fit - don't ask about the rest of the squad although only one was sub £3m and all but one were regular starters. This team ended up about 180th so worked out okay even with such a top heavy approach. The previous season my best side was a last minute entry based on all out attack and my balanced side was nowhere. So as I say I'm none the wiser.

The main rules I work for my initial squads on are:
maximise coverage, which MV has achieved in his initial squad
all but one (or two at a push) guaranteed to start, which is still work in progress
only one (or two at a push) enablers, which is going to be tricky this year.

I've managed to get this on my own initial squad but more compromises have been made than usual.

Oddsman is obviously best placed on how to set up your initial squads. Are you joining us this year?

I'm probably going with Ebanks-Blake as well in most of my squads, as I've seen him quite regularly when he was at Argyle and I think he can make the step up to the Premiership if he puts his mind to it. Wolves are very attack minded and won The Championship inspite of weaknesses in defence. Kightly is another possible from them.

I also think Osman is worth considering in midfield if his knee holds up. He proved to be a good pick last year and is still reasonably priced. It'll also be interesting to see if Gosling or Rodwell break into the first team, although it's not worth starting with either.I avoided Vidic last year and it cost me dear, so even though I hate paying that much for a defender I may have too.

There are plenty of decent goalkeepers out there and I think the important thing is finding two whose fixtures don't clash too often, certainly one from the big four, if not both, with Given, Howard and Schwarser all possibles. Almunia still looks the best value to me though.

Another interesting Utd player could be Macheda. He won't get many games as a striker, but I'm wondering if Fergie has an attacking midfield roll for him in mind?

I just wish they'd launch the bl**dy game so I can start looking in earnest. I'm on holiday for the start of the season, so they'd better not launch it three days before like last year.

It is very frustrating isn't it.

I just want to get my teams picked and paid for so I can get on with the next 3 weeks without checking the Telegraph site every 20 minutes. I've now got a few squads worked out, but they don't mean toffee if there are any other rule changes.

Have just moved house so not got broadband at home yet - Will look properly at the selections etc once back at work tomorrow!

Pienaar (if he re-signs) is another good Everton option; at 3.6, he has the potential to improve enough to lift his points tally to 150.

Vidic would be good value at 6 million, so I think that he's a no-brainer at 5 million.

Full backs are always my biggest headache, and this season doesn't look any better. I may take a punt on Wes Brown and Hutton moving to Everton would be useful. Perhaps, I should follow PG's good advice about Bouma who is also supported by Villains on other threads.

Does anyone have a flange checker spreadsheet they care to share?
I don't have a scooby how to make one but would be nice to have to check coverage of my draft.

Surely this game has too come out tommorrow unless they are starting a week late like the Championship. This could let us all see who starts the first games for the cheap players.

I'd appreciate it too.

I'm traditionally a TFF man so use Bram's site which only works in days, coupled with a printout of the BBC fixture list.

Not really ideal is it - probably why when picking my teams I consider flange coverage less than some of you do.....

Murf - I gave you a sheet last year or was it the year before, what have done lost it ?

I've got one (not given it a thorough test yet) which is part of a far bigger spreadsheet covering team performance and form but it still needs manual checking to spot flange coverage - can't seem to fathom out formulae that automatically update when match times changes!

I almost didn't enter last year due to the website 'issues' so everything was a bit last minute and I didn't use any spreadsheets or consider flange coverage in any way other than getting a general spread of clubs!

In fact for a while I was going to use the ISO team and just play that without my own team! Then I thought I'd use ISO as a base and just tweak it but then I threw it out and started again based on one of my TFF teams

If they ever launch... this will be my first year as a multi-entrant, my 'single entrant' team and my debut ISO season. Hence any help with the daunting prospect of being a multi-entrant ( ) would be appreciated

I would appreciate it as well if anyone is willing to share. Although not sure what a Flange is but if it helps pick my squad great and thanks in advance.