Team Set Up

Hi!

Just opened a new topic for discussing team set-up subjects.

I'm now on David de Gea as goalkeeper; I decided to drop Walker and only have Baines now as a premium defender. Then Souaré, Friend, Evans and Neil Taylor in defence.

I absolutely want to have Agüero/Ibra as forwards and Eriksen, Ayew in midfield. This season I prefer to have a lower priced defence. Last season I had a too expensiv back-line at the beginning.

Cheers,

Andreas

As second goalkeeper I have Eldin Jakupovic. Perhaps he has some chances to get the one or the other game, we'll see. But another reason to choose him for me is his Swiss nationality. He was furthermore goalkeeper for the FC Thun, my hometown, when this small club of a 40k town reached the group-stage of the Champions League back in 2005. I think that was the biggest miracle in football I've ever seen.

I remember still today the most important scenes of the six games in groupe stage and the qualification against Dynamo Kiew and Malmö... They've nearly reached a draw in the away game against Arsenal and lost only by a last-minute goal of Dennis Bergkamp.

Hi Andreas.

We're not too dissimilar from the looks of things, particularly in defence!

GK - Courtois/4.0 fodder

This is changing on a weekly basis - I need to see more pre-season form before I choose my premium keeper.

DF - Baines/Shaw/Friend/Evans/Souare.

Seems like I have a left back fetish! Two premium options in Baines and Shaw, and then three rotators. I'm considering changing Souare for either Zuniga, Mee or Pieters, will monitor further next week.

MF - Hazard/Mkhitaryan/Ayew/Bojan/Capoue

Pretty settled on this to be honest, and have been for some time. I was looking at Redmond over Bojan but I'm convinced that Tadic will play in the hole behind the Southampton strikers rather than Redmond.

FW - Aguero/Lukaku/Wilson

Will monitor Lukaku further as I'd expect him to pick up minutes in pre-season next week. Settled on the other two.

There seems to be a Jakupovic bias here in Switzerland. I remember singing the "Berner Oberland" anthem at Highbury back in 2005 even though I'm from the eastern part of the country.

Anyway, FFS RMT has influenced my choice of players and I have changed my team around:

GK Mandanda/Jakupovic

with Mandanda starting in goal most matches

DEF Shaw/Stones/Gabriel/Evans/Friend

much to monitor here: Does Stones go to MCI, will Shaw and Gabriel start, who is that Friend guy who comes up top in value for money in FFS?

MID Mahrez/Tadic/Ayew/Barkley/Fletcher

quite settled, not sure about Barkley if EVE buy Gilfi, Fletcher is the safest choice amongst the 4.5ers at the moment, might change before the season starts

FW Kun/Kane/Caroll

another FFS influenced choice who have Kane top scoring in the first 6 GWs. Caroll is just a place holder for one of the many tempting 6.5ers

I think Stones would become a must-have at 5.0 if he does indeed move.

My current team:


The defense is light, but defensive rotation is good until GW5, and by then transfers will be made.

My first draft. Still a lot to think about it and wait and see what will happen on the transfer market.




Gallus how do we get this coloured fixture plug in which you got on your screenshot?

JohnSteed01 wrote:My first draft. Still a lot to think about it and wait and see what will happen on the transfer market.



Gallus how do we get this coloured fixture plug in which you got on your screenshot?

Hi mate, if you're using Google Chrome then go to the Extensions Store and search for "Better FPL".

Arhaych wrote:

JohnSteed01 wrote:My first draft. Still a lot to think about it and wait and see what will happen on the transfer market.



Gallus how do we get this coloured fixture plug in which you got on your screenshot?

Hi mate, if you're using Google Chrome then go to the Extensions Store and search for "Better FPL".

Thanks a lot.

My thoughts about some players:

- Mandanda: I'm not 100% sure, if he's really first choice at Crystal Palace. It's obvious that he should be of course, but what happens with Hennessey? So I hesitate to have only him as a sure starter in goal.

- Stones: I'll wait with him, even if he moves to Manchester City definitely. I normally wait to choose players, who are new in a team. It's never sure, how fast they can adapt and what role they play there exactly. For the same reason I don't choose Mkhitaryan yet.

- Kane: Of course I'm eyeing on him, but I prefer Ibra for the start. Ibrahimovic is more expensive, so I could replace him by Kane easily if necessary.

- Ibrahimovic: For him I do an exception and choose him despite of the fact he's new at Manchester United. He's such a good player no matter where he plays.

- Redmond: I also choose him, despite he is new at Southampton. But at the moment I can't really find a better option in this midfield price range.

I'm also hesitating to field new players. There's a lot of rotation going on at the start of a new season.

Same thoughts on Ibra, I think he'll score big anything else would be a surprise.

What do you think about taking the risk and start with three high quality strikers and get a cheaper midfield. Aggy, Ibra and one out of Costa (has great fixtures), Kane, Giroud...

At the moment I'm not quite sure who to choose from the expensive midfielders and if they are worth the extra money comparing to the 6 to 7.5 prospects.

Quite often, the offensive players don't score a lot at the beginning of a new season. Expectations sometimes are very high, we are used to the scoring of the past season, but the reality is another story. I think it was two years ago, when during the first couple of GW's the best tactic was to have five quality defenders and to play in a 5 - 4 - 1 or 5 - 3 - 2.

But it's really hard to say, I'm just used to the fact, that once the season has started, everything looks different from all the thoughts you made during pre-season. That's why I thought it would be the best thing to have a free amount of transfers for the first two or three GW's.

For this reason the most important thing is to choose a set up, which is not too risky. The ownership-percentage may be a good advisor for that. And you should be able to switch easily from the chosen non-performing players to those who score well.

I can remember that season as they changed the bonus system and some defenders really scored high. Had Zabalata as captain in GW 3 or 4 and he scored 12 (24) points.

In my opinion it's getting harder and harder every year to find a good starting team. Lots of great players join the EPL every summer and almost all of the successful players stay in England.
The choice is pretty huge but the price has increased as well. Few years ago you just had a handful of players in the price range from 9 to 11.

You need luck to find a good mixture to succeed during the first 3 weeks until the international break. Can also save you a lot of problems with early hits and wildcard.

Thank you for your thoughts about new players. I will take that into consideration. I have my doubts about Ibra though:
- He has played only one season in a one of the three big leagues - and that was almost 10 years ago. The rest of his time he has scored against inferior teams in mediocre leagues.
- He is really old - I mean he is four years older than Wayne Rooney - very much past his prime you would think.
- He has had a disappointing EURO. Unless he scores big in pre-season I will certainly wait and see.

Ibrahimovic:

Because I played for years also the UEFA CL-Fantasy-game, I know the FF-scoring-potential of Ibrahimovic quite well. Normally I had Ronaldo and Messi in my team and not enough money left for Ibrahimovic, but he always was the dangerous differential striker.

I think there are some gifted players, they play still very good in a "higher" age. Alan Shearer was that type of player, then Teddy Sheringham (at the age of 40 he scored still in the EPL) or they change role and are more likely to prepare the goals, so at least you could earn the assist-points. Zlatan Ibrahimovic might be one of that player-type too.

Other points to consider are: - High ownership-percentage, - good fixtures for the next couple of gameweeks, - quality midfield-players in his team, what increases the probability of scoring.

If really Ibra should score badly so it's easy to replace him for example by Kane.

What did I write about Ibra?!

Headlines on srf.ch/football: After 190 seconds he performs magic with a wondergoal! And: After that match of Chelsea against Real Madrid you really have to think about Hazard. I already had thought about him before, but now it could become concrete.

mogwai wrote:What did I write about Ibra?!

Headlines on srf.ch/football: After 190 seconds he performs magic with a wondergoal! And: After that match of Chelsea against Real Madrid you really have to think about Hazard. I already had thought about him before, but now it could become concrete.

Well, one swallow does not make a summer. Looked slow and unfit throughout but it may be a different matter in two weeks time.
On Hazard we are on the same page though

One week before kick-off, my team looks as follow:



Lloris, Jakupovic;

Morgan, Souaré, Friend, Evans, Neil Taylor;

Hazard, Sigurdsson, Lamela, Townsend, Leko;

Agüero, Ibrahimovic, Musa;



Big changements: - Lloris in goal. I would like to have Spurs-cover in defence, because a lot of managers have Alderweireld in their teams. So I go without ManU-cover in defence and most chosen player David de Gea. ManU-defence was not reliable over the last two seasons, doesn't look settled yet. No one really knows, which defenders are nailed on their positions.

- No premium defender. More important in my point-of-view is to have five playing defenders and the possibility to rotate them.

- Sigurdsson: Because of being not sure if Ayew stays at Swansea, I take the secure option and go for Sigurdsson.

. Lamela: I absolutely wanted Eriksen or Alli as Spurs-mid, but now take the risk and go for Lamela because I need that one million to spend for a better third striker.

- Townsend: Really not sure about him, but it seems to be the best option for a midfielder at this price range.

- Musa: Normally I don't go for players, who are new in the PL. But here I take the risk. I wasn't sure at all about Rondon and feel better with Musa having in my team. He has quite a high ownership of 12.2 %.

Similar line up for me.

De Gea, Jakupovic

Baines, Friend, Morgan, McAuley, N. Taylor

Fletcher, Townsend, Tadic, Lamela, Hazard

Ibrahimovic, Agüero, Negredo

Hödi wrote:
GK Mandanda/Jakupovic
DEF Shaw/Stones/Gabriel/Evans/Friend
MID Mahrez/Tadic/Ayew/Barkley/Fletcher
FW Kun/Kane/Caroll

Almost done - not much has changed:

GK Foster/Heaton (since Mandanda might not start, good WBA/BUR rotation)
DEF Azpiliqueta/Shaw/Stones/Friend/Koné (Gabriel injured/no doubling up on WBA, Koné moving to EVE)
MID Hazard/Tadic/Sigurdsson/Phillips/Capoue (Hazards per-season form plus uncertainty about Mahrez future, Sigi for the first two at least, rest for funds)
FW Kun/Kane/Caroll (unchanged, Caroll out as soon as Calleri will get here)

Good luck everyone. For the first time ever, I'm settled on my team 24 hours before launch!

Lloris / Jakupovic

Valencia / Baines / Stones / Evans / Amat

Hazard / Tadic / Lamela / Bojan / Capoue

Aguero / Ibra / Long

All the best for the upcoming season to everyone!

Keep an eye on this forum from time to time!

Hödi wrote:

Hödi wrote:
GK Mandanda/Jakupovic
DEF Shaw/Stones/Gabriel/Evans/Friend
MID Mahrez/Tadic/Ayew/Barkley/Fletcher
FW Kun/Kane/Caroll

GK Foster/Heaton
DEF Azpiliqueta/Shaw/Stones/Friend/Koné
MID Hazard/Tadic/Sigurdsson/Phillips/Capoue
FW Kun/Kane/Caroll

Sigi possibly not starting, so last (?) reshuffling:

GK Foster/Heaton
DEF Shaw/Walker/Stones/Friend/Amat
MID Hazard/Firmino/Deulofeu/Townsend/Capoue
FW Kun/Kane/Long


Good luck everybody!

I see we won our first fixture at the weekend there, good job folks!

How are we feeling on the WC front? Triggering it soon?

Well done guys.  

I used my two free transfers for GW 3 and changed Taylor to Amat to free some money and brought Barkley in for Siggy. Everton has some decent fixtures from now on. Rest of my team looks pretty solid for me so far. No need to take hits or WC atm.

Having Kun and Ibra from the start was gold. A lot of people have a hard time now to fit them in cause of the price. Negredo was a great choice too so far.