It’s been several weeks since the Premier League ended and our community writers and posters are getting more than a little restless, as they anxiously await the launch of player prices and the 2015/16 season. To help scratch that Fantasy Football itch, our community articles have taken a look at the promoted teams’ chances of success and also put some popular Fantasy management assumptions to the test. Meanwhile, a platter of transfer talk, as well as rotation strategies, have been on offer in our hot topics to satisfy the community’s hunger as the long wait for the start of the new season continues.
The Community Articles
For Fantasy managers like Doolittle it has already been a long enough summer break from the game they love. With just weeks to go before the expected launch of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and other games, Doolittle has shared his thoughts on how the community can cope with the Fantasy management summertime blues.
A good way some of the community have found to help the summer months pass quicker is to carry out some hard analysis of the previous season’s successes and failures. The Shoe Maker has been leading the hand wringing with a look back to see how three of his Fantasy management assumptions from last summer panned out.
Red Lightning, meanwhile, has been embroiled in statistics from the last few years to assess whether there are any lessons to be learned for Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich from the 15 other teams who have been promoted since 2010.
Another of our community writers to have been passing the summer months with some impressive research is Ruth NZ, whose summer-long team-by-team analysis series won the June community article of the month vote. These were community articles in their truest form, with Ruth NZ canvassing your views to help in his analysis.
Don’t forget, if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.
The Hottest Topics
For some, the wait for the launch of FPL is getting particularly unbearable. Daniel has been leading the impatient charge and this week cast a look back on FPL’s launch dates from the last decade.
Transfer activity is at least satisfying some craving for Fantasy information while we await the new season. Beavis has been trying to make sense of the transfer talk whirling around Old Trafford so far and pondering whether world soccer heavyweights such as Sergio Ramos and Bastian Schweinsteiger swap La Liga and Bundesliga glory for the cut and thrust of the Premier League?
At least Fantasy managers have the fixtures and the ability to create rotation spreadsheets for comfort. In our discussion on rotation, Doolittle warned of the pitfalls of rotating attackers, while for Jaffalicious, keeper rotation is potentially full of hazards and missed points.
Pondering potential rule changes to FPL are helping to pass the time for many. Palace Ash launched this discussion based on some of his dream alterations, while Pasqualinho sparked a debate as to whether FPL should limit the number of free transfers.
Elsewhere, Y€$, is occupying his time by assessing the best formation to use next season. He favours a three-man defence, while RuthNZ joined the discussion to propose playing four at the back.
Another popular past time for the impatient Fantasy manager is mulling over the prospects of each team for the campaign ahead. Accounting for Chris’s look at under and over-achieving teams next season proved particularly controversial when the issue of Southampton’s forthcoming campaign cropped up.
Can West Ham be among next season’s over-achievers? Rukawa certainly thinks so, thanks to their busy summer in the transfer market already. Hammers fan Doosra was among those to join in his discussion on their chances.
For the last part of the previous season at least, Leicester were one of 2014/15’s over-achievers. The Foxes scramble to survival was not enough to ensure their manager Nigel Pearson remained in post, though, after he was surprisingly sacked in midweek. What does 2015/16 have in store for the midlands side? If their new recruits like Shinji Okazaki can replicate their form in other European leagues they may just survive another day. Here our resident Bundesliga expert Portsmouth Bubblejet was on hand to reveal more about the Japanese international, who has scored 37 goals since he first arrived in Germany in 2011.
The Members Tables
KyleShaughnessy has been taking an in-depth look at the second half of the season defensive statistics of Premier League sides in his latest table. Errors and goal attempts conceded are among the figures he focuses on.
If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.
The Community Tournaments
Killian Long has won the FFScout league in the UEFA U21 Championships game and came 21st overall. Aguero was second, while Tobias took third place closely followed by Roscola in fourth.
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