As the start of the Premier League season nears, the community is still left with plenty to ponder in their search for the perfect side.
Our community writers offer some top tips on decision making, tackling the transfer market and spotting gems from abroad. Meanwhile, our hot topic posters look at pre-season friendlies for clues on the best players to draft and the importance of having a flexible squad to react quickly to emerging trends. Finally we catch up on the latest community tournaments to launch and gather the latest statistics from our Members area tables.
The Community Articles
With a week to go before Gameweek 1 many Fantasy managers are still undecided on their 15-man squads. Oghash offered some useful guidance on making the best decisions, with holding off going to the toilet and standing by open windows among his unusual advice.
Following such advice may make it easier for Fantasy managers to spot kindred spirits. The community’s often fruitless search for like-minded souls prompted Disable to look at the different types of people Fantasy Football addicts meet in the real world.
Spotting the best prospects among those new to English football was the focus of NotsoAthletic’s analysis of the best and worst of the Premier League’s new faces from foreign leagues. Meanwhile, Anytime Scorer has been investigating how to second-guess the transfer market early on in the Fantasy Premier League.
In our latest community writer of the month vote, Kavali has been named as the top scribe by you for his Tracking The Veterans article series, which has relaunched in an expanded format for 2016/17. A £20 Amazon voucher is on its way to him.
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
Pre-season is still offering more questions than answers as Fantasy managers make the final touches to their squads.
We know Wayne Rooney will only be fielded in attacking roles at Manchester United, but, as our hot topic on the new regime at Old Trafford showed, there are still plenty of question marks over whether their ageing stars can be a success. There’s also some doubts over who will get the nod in defence under Jose Mourinho.
Jordan Rhodes has been in great form for Middlesbrough during the summer friendlies, but there are still concerns that such pre-season stars will be the real deal once the Premier League starts up again.
Picking a promoted striker like Rhodes can reap rewards, as owners of former QPR hitman Charlie Austin and Watford’s sharp shooting pair Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney can testify. As Ludo’s hot topic shows, however, there are plenty of other lower league forwards who fail to make the grade at the highest level.
Burnley’s Andre Gray is another prolific Championship striker who has already impressed in pre-season. Parm urges quick investment as he believes Gray is set to hit the ground running from Gameweek 1. However, Ron E urges caution in fielding the Burnley man against some of the Premier League’s tougher defences, as he has a reputation for struggling against top teams.
Bowstring the Carp has been gathering some further statistics from the friendlies to help sort the successes from the flops, which is an excellent compliment to our own, regularly updated, pre-season form guide.
Disable has been considering those players that have yet to shine in pre-season, which Fantasy managers may be unfairly overlooking, while Evs has also been casting his gaze over the best prospects amongst those players who are new to the Premier League.
Getting the best players is only half the battle in constructing the perfect FPL side, says Twister Saltergater. He urges FPL managers to make sure they carefully consider team balance so that poorly performing players can be drafted out swiftly for emerging stars.
Finally, Kavali is urging the best FPL managers who are within the top 20 of our Hall of Fame to get in touch to help out with his forthcoming 2016/17 tracking the veterans analysis.
The Members Tables
Among the latest Members to create their own tables is Forza Inter, who has been on the hunt for clues as to which midfielders are likely to score well next season.
Elsewhere, end of season team form and those sides who got off to a flier last season are the key issues considered in Kushal21’s latest tables, while Goalkeepers are the subject of moin-panwar’s latest offering.
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
Two popular community tournaments are set to return for 2016/17, with TorresMagic announcing details of next season’s Last Man Standing and Jaffalicious bringing us news of how to enter his FFS UEFA Champions League themed competition
There are is also a new tournament for some of our community, with HVT setting up the Irish Contingent League for his fellow countrymen and women.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round Ups please email me a brief summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spread sheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
