RMT: epik

[epik]

Sorry Mo, Pool spots too valuable.

[From4corners]

Friedel: Great keeper imo. 14 CS last season and with Vertonghen coming in for Spurs, I like the look of their back four.
Me too, but bare in mind that these CS might be heavily reduced if the high defensive line, for which AVB is renowned, does not work. Although it should, looking at the pace of the 4 defenders in front of Friedel

Walker: Spurs defender who gets forward, sometimes steps up for free kicks.
Same as above, but a lot better choice if you would like one of the 5 back-5 from Spurs. I also had him drafted in my initial team as with AVB, he could be even further down the pitch more times. Time will tell.

Harte: Value pick. Leftback who has a mean shot and dead-ball specialist.
Not sure if he will start with Shorey being back at Reading

R. Taylor: Newcastle is also pretty good defensively imo. Nearly went with Krul instead of Friedel. Taylor can get forward and also excels at free kicks.
Not sure if he starts, also I wouldn't trust Newcastle with their European adventure this season.

Nasri: Decided I need some more City cover instead of just Aguero. Silva is too expensive so went
with Nasri. I think he'll have a better season than last--perhaps mentally he wasn't all there with his transitioning from Arsenall--and should be full of confidence from the Euros.
Full of confidence from the Euro's? Because...? He was shit and was criticized by the entire country. I also can't stand the guy, but I also expect big things from him this season.

Pienaar: This is only if he returns to Everton. One of the "breakout" players for me last season. Moyes knows how to spot talent and I think he's done well here. Pienaar has pace, can beat his man, but is also developing into a decent creative player.

Kagawa: Will steal Rooney's fantasy points. Rate him immensely. Very dangerous in the box; he's a finisher. Technically gifted, intelligent movement, can create as well as dribble through all four defenders.
I believe he will contribute to Rooney scoring more fantasy points.

Park: Kept on a leash at United. Never had the flash to permit him to play up front against competition like Rooney/Berbatov/Owen over the years. Will flourish at ambitious QPR with little or--hopefully--none defensive duties.
I am not sure, I hope he does though.

Torres: He sealed the Champions League match against Barca for you, paid you back for his fees, you've got to play him. Should be better mentally and with an incredible midfield to feed him: Hazard, Marin, Lampard, Ramires, Mata, I expect a good season.
Me too!!

Aguero: "He's a 35 goal per season player, Aguero" - Gary Neville
Can't go wrong there I'd think.

Cisse: He's outdone Ba. How the hell.
Class player, curious to see if he can live up to his form of last season.

Rudd: Value pick, 4.0 keeper that plays.
He doesn't play, Ruddy plays. Rudd is his back-up.

Britton: Value pick, underrated player, does well with Swansea's possession style and will manage 60+ passes for the new bonus points. Laudrup as manager means I like the look of Swansea's Dyer/Allen/Michu as lower priced options.
Yes, great player but not for scoring +2 in a game. Bonus points for passes? I wasn't aware of that. He got -0- BP last season and rules haven't changed. But yeah, good choice to come into your team when needed.

Barnett: Another value pick, cheap defender who plays and can be played further up as well.
I also think he will be one of the most popular lower-prices defenders this season.

Coloccini: Rock solid. Newcastle should be pretty good defensively. Only out for 1st week because of Harte's double week.
see R.Taylor

[epik]

Thanks for the help. I had no idea about Ruddy/Rudd jesus christ. Also I was mistaken about the 60+ passes "2 bonus points".

That is Sky Sports, I must've read it somewhere thinking the author was talking about the official one: http://fantasyfootball.skysports.com/the-basics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will have to tinker a bit.

[From4corners]

Plenty of time for that

[Joshua82]

I doubt Leon Barnett will be a starter for Norwich, he was 6th choice centre back under Lambert (behind Ayala. Whitbread, Ward, Ryan Bennett and Russell Martin). He's probably still got Ayala, Ryan Bennett, Ward and now Whittaker ahead of him now under Hughton, but time will tell. What I do know is that he's a clumsy clut who shouldn't be near the 1st team.

I like your team but will Kagawa, R.Taylor and Harte start? Good players though. Is it worth risking 2 Spurs defensive players when you could try and draft in a Manchester (utd/city) defender who should bring home to clean sheets? Cisse is a fantastic pick but how will he perform when it's Ramadan? Is Pienaar a good player to start with when Everton are notorious for their slow starts? (although I agree that he's a great pick, Good luck anyway

ps. I like that you're giving the likes of Park and Nasri a go, good to see something a bit different.

[epik]

I doubt Leon Barnett will be a starter for Norwich, he was 6th choice centre back under Lambert (behind Ayala. Whitbread, Ward, Ryan Bennett and Russell Martin). He's probably still got Ayala, Ryan Bennett, Ward and now Whittaker ahead of him now under Hughton, but time will tell. What I do know is that he's a clumsy clut who shouldn't be near the 1st team.

I like your team but will Kagawa, R.Taylor and Harte start? Good players though. Is it worth risking 2 Spurs defensive players when you could try and draft in a Manchester (utd/city) defender who should bring home to clean sheets? Cisse is a fantastic pick but how will he perform when it's Ramadan? Is Pienaar a good player to start with when Everton are notorious for their slow starts? (although I agree that he's a great pick, Good luck anyway

ps. I like that you're giving the likes of Park and Nasri a go, good to see something a bit different.

Thanks, man.

I'll take your advice on Barnett. I know little about him.

Kagawa--in my opinion--is the best player at United. Even better than Rooney with higher potential. It would baffle me like nothing else if Sir Alex had him on the bench.

I too started off with the likes of Kompany and Evra but I looked at Spurs and I see the most solid back four in the league. I look at this:

Walker--Vertonghen---Kaboul---Ekotto

And I see quality in all four players and stability in the lineup. No one defender is as good as Kompany or Vidic but I think the Manchester sides have much more uncertainty in their starters and less chance to build that solid familiarity. Zabaleta/Clichy/Kolarov/Richards. United is worse with Ferdinand or Evans, Evra or the new younger LB signing? Who's at RB? Rafael, Jones, or Smalling?

I thought Spurs and Newcastle were good for hoping for clean sheets but the previous advice regarding European competition has me reconsidering Newcastle.

Harte I'm not sure will start maybe some Reading fans could chime in?

You're right about Everton and their slow starts. Perhaps this is the year though, lol.

Thanks for the help.

[Joshua82]

No probs chap, I can certainly see your reasoning regarding the Spurs defence, some good quality there. I hope they will keep clean sheers under AVP as he is attacking. I guess I'm looking at DeGea and Lescott personally for my Manchester coverage but I suppose even they could be prone to the occasional rotation.

I'm with you on Kagawa, so much skill, pace, vision and deadly finishing from what I've seen. He looks like a United player all over. I'm just trying to figure out how ManU will line up - Nani, Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez, Young, now Kagawa probably fighting for 4 places. Who's going to miss out?

[nikhilip9]

Kagawa, Cisse Rooney, Nolan/Noble/Whoever you can afford

[Ironfist]

I like this if only because it is a very fresh look compared to all the other teams.
Bear in mind that there's still plenty of time and as news about availability and injuries become known, you'll make more cahnges.
But... it's a nice way of thinking about things, well done

[epik]

Updated with 2nd draft. Thanks for the input, everyone.

On another note, I completely forgot about Hoilett. If he completes his transfer to QPR, I'll definitely make room for him.

[epik]

Updated with 3rd draft. Hoping Mancini will start Clichy every match.

[epik]

This week went pretty well. Got a bit lucky with some big points from Mignolet, Shaw, and RVP but missed out on those by captaining Hazard. Cazorla was also a poor pick. Arsenal let you down even if you're not a fan.

[epik]

General idea of Wildcard team. Obviously Benteke isn't playing so I'll swap him out for someone unless he rises a lot. Will try to game the week if there are any extreme risers but not really a big advantage in my opinion—after having slight success with it last season.



The idea is bargain-bit Keepers and defence and keeping it one starting defender per team. That allows some big guns further up the pitch. RVP, Aguero, Benteke. Happy with that. Midfielders it gets a bit muddier. Not as strong as a Mata, Walcott, Michu, Hazard sort of lineup from last season but they just don't draw me in as much this season. Lampard is one I definitely want though. So he should take Silva's spot the next GW unless Kagawa doesn't play.

Barkley and Kim are two low-priced mids that I think have that touch of class. Barkley has already shown his striking ability and Kim—in my humble opinion—was the catalyst for Cardiff's 3-2 victory over City.

He was the only one who was a constant forward presence. Good touches, composed, and aggressive. At times the only one who wasn't losing the ball immediately to City's pressing.

He created the 1st goal out of nothing. Out-Navas'ing Navas himself. A shimmy, drop of the shoulder, and a burst of pace to get by Clichy and put in the cross.



Kim also played a big part in the 2nd goal by providing a forward option and then fighting off Yaya to keep possession. Then he feeds Bellamy who won the corner that would provide Campbell with his 1st.



He didn't get any bonus points but MOTM for me.

Paulinho looks a good midfield option. He hasn't netted yet but he's getting opportunities and not hesitant to pull the trigger. With Dembele and Capoue seemingly more defence I think the potential is there for some goals.

Kagawa is class but there's a chance Moyes doesn't use him. Always a shame to see such a player on the bench.

Silva looks lively again and already put some points on the board. But City's attack looked a bit lethargic against Cardiff. But I'm betting they take care of business against Hull.

[epik]

Week 16.



Out: Giroud

In: Chamakh

Giroud with a streak of blanks and a consistently scoring cheap forward will free up bank for midfield.

Observations

Watch City Week 17 and consider swapping Toure for Silva as he may be pushed back into less attacking duties with the Spanish maestro back in action. Keep an eye on City in general to see how they react to losing Aguero to injury.

After Arsenal's Week 17 clash with Chelsea, consider bringing in Ozil or Walcott.

Replace Mignolet with cheaper options. McGregor of Hull is great for Home games. Marshall CAR, Mannone SUN, other cheap options.

[epik]

Didn't feel like it but this was one of my better weeks this season thanks to the average of 39pts. Went with Suarez cap and Walcott came out with a bang.

City defence weren't able to keep Swansea at bay. City are just leakier than they should be. I would recommend Arsenal or Chelsea for those looking for premium defenders.

[epik]

Suarez saved me once again with a great performance against Stoke. 2 goals, 3 bonus points. Sterling helps with an assist.

Hazard continues his form with a goal but surprisingly no BPs.

Lukaku with only an assist and Tiote's wrongly disallowed wondergoal gives me a Clean Sheet from Zaba, Kompany, and Toure which totals up to 9 points. Honestly I'd rather Tiote had that goal. Terrible call from the ref. Instant replay should be allowed. The officials with the replay would've had an answer for the ref before he walked halfway to the linesman.

[epik]

Moving forward, it looks like we're gonna have to bring Aguero in. Like Gary Neville said, he's a 35 goal a season player, Aguero. And with City's attack firing on all cylinders it just seems like too big of a risk to leave him out to try and find value elsewhere. That leaves us with the commonly used acronym SAS, which was perhaps originally used to describe Suarez & Sturridge but has evolved into what many FPL users see at their team selection page: Suarez, Aguero, Sturridge.

I've been afflicted with Big Number Syndrome and am now looking towards a bargain-basement collection defenders to rotate on fixtures. Because looking back at the clean sheets this season, it looks like some of the teams at the bottom of the table have as many clean sheets as many premium teams. Also defenders are where historically you'd get the worse value for your funds even though things have changed this season with many defenders like Jagielka and Terry getting consistent bonus points. Still, I can't afford Cole, Baines, Coleman, or Mertesacker so we're going ham with the cheapest defenders we can find and packing our offense to the rim.

Some defensive options.

3.9 Parr - Has been starting and Crystal Palace gets its fair share of clean sheets.
3.9 Bruce - Hull City might pull out the occasional CS and although everyone loves Chester, you can't go wrong with the manager's son. He's been playing well too.
3.9 Whittaker - Cheap option at NOR
3.9 Bennett - Another at NOR
4.0 Chester - Rose to 4 now but still a decent pick
4.0 Mariappa - Cheaper option than Gabbidon or Ward at Palace
4.2 Steven Taylor - Been injured so 4.2 is probably a steal for Taylor as long as he starts.
4.3 Vlaar - Slightly more expensive choice but good player and will likely get some BPs
4.3 Brown - Also back from injury, cheap option if Sunderland can turn their newly found morale and momentum into clean sheets.

In midfield, there were players like Silva and Eriksen who had not played much in the first half of the season so I wanted to get an idea of what everyone's production was minute by minute rather than going by the FPL site's "Points Per Game" which leaves you with players like fabio who just had one or two decent games. So I decided to see what it looked like when you calculate a player's Minutes Per Point ratio.

Of course, you'll have to consider the player's price on your own but this is the projected production if you had everyone remain healthy and playing as much as possible for the rest of the season.

[epik]

So we have Luis Suarez leading the pack with a point earned every 8.12 minutes on the pitch. That is extraordinary but the Argentine is not far behind with a point earned every 9.3 minutes.

We see that Sturridge has also been quite busy at 11.7 and even with United's issues Rooney maintains production at 12.2.

These forwards are all elite in my opinion and Sturridge in particular makes the case for always having three forwards in your team. Because even the best midfielder in Eden Hazard is picking up a point every 13.0 minutes.

Ramsey is right up there with Hazard with 13.2 and many are excited for his return for injury but it's not assured that he'll arrive in similar form. Oscar and Silva have not played as much this season but are still high production players at 13.4 and 13.64. The case for Lallana remains quite strong considering his high minutes played at 1668. His points aren't a fluke and will likely maintain a decent return although with Eriksen his points have all come fairly recently with the departure of AVB and some consistent playing time. Eriksen could prove to be on the way up.

[epik]

Week 23

Wildcarded this past week and didn't get the double rises I was hoping for. Lallana, Kolarov, Sturridge, and Januzaj all took longer than the deadline to rise so I'll have to continue swapping players out carefully for the players I chose for my final team.

This week I finally had to let Lukaku go even though I got him in at 7.4 I couldn't justify not having Aguero or Sturridge in the team. Even if Lukaku goes on a run it won't be at the rate of return that SAS offers.

Kolarov's rise was delayed after his blank today. But I still think he'll deliver a good amount of points in the coming weeks. I don't think I'll keep Lallana long. Might try to adjust to fit in Ozil, Silva, or Johnson. Really wish I could afford better defenders and keepers but we'll see how it goes.

[epik]

Post Wildcard disaster. Only four players brought in points. In that sense, lucky to walk away with 48 pts. Left 6 on the bench with Parr. In hindsight, palace at home vs. Stoke makes much better sense than Hull or South away.

Really don't know what I was thinking.

On the bright side, people who doubled up on Coleman and Baines took a thrashing.

Injury to Chester might take up the FT for next week.

On another note, this week's Parr vs. Kolarov illustrates what I mean by rotating cheap defenders vs. premium ones.

[epik]

Squad sheet heading into Gameweek 23.

Let's hope the derby puts Suarez into a fervor.

[Ironfist]

You've concentrated too much on your midfield and strikers and completely neglected your defence.
Awful selection full on 2nd rate/string players, doubtfuls and streak players. Leave the rest as is, but redo defensive line.

[Mav3rick]

I like your midfield stats, the only thing missing from them is whether or not the scoring rate is sustainable going forward.

Erikssen, Lallana, Cayabe and Ramsey are all priced around the same and if you look them up in ASliga you could compare their indexes to see how "involved" they are are therefore how likely they are to sustain their scoring rates.

[Mav3rick]

I do agree with IF above though. Although I know you have acknowledged the lack of a decent defence, I do think that the solid value in a couple of premium defenders will give you a basis for a team.

[Sutter Kane]

Now that Lovren is out, I wouldn't go for Shaw and Boruc.

[epik]

Agreed, I do believe a couple defenders from ARS or CHE might be beneficial.

Although it was a bit unlucky Parr got injured as that was a CS as well. Kolarov was put in as a sub and Aguero went off early. Still, lucky to get a goal from Yaya and Mannone put on quite the performance.

[epik]

Now that Lovren is out, I wouldn't go for Shaw and Boruc.

Got any recommendations? I'm considering premium defenders like Kosc, Terry, or Cahill unless I can find some good cheap rotations.

Current team to work with for GW24, 1 FT.

[epik]

I'm liking WHM fixtures. Demel and Collins potential picks. Adrian is a great keeper who was the Real Betis #1 and I think he should hold his spot. I'm in no hurry to ship Boruc though so unless Adrian is about to rise I don't think I will take a hit for it. Aguero out if injury is bad takes precedence and maybe Chester out.

WHM


SUN


So O'shea seems a decent pick as well.

Who should I bring in for Aguero? Dzeko nailed? Or is Jovetic threatening now?

[epik]

Considering

Adrian

Evans
Vlaar
Collins
Demel
Santon
Debuchy
Chico
Williams
O'shea
Brown
Caulker

Kim
Sterling

Dzeko

[epik]

J.Rod fixtures look decent. Wanted to swap out a defender but got too many SOU players.

Aguero + Boruc -> J.Rod + Adrian

Yes/no?