Plenty have argued that the goalkeeper position is the most important on the football field, the custodian a vital cog in any squad. In Fantasy terms, however, the goalkeeper has gradually slipped into oblivion.
He’s become an afterthought, a position that needs to be filled rather than one that is considered a key contributor to our squads or starting XI. It’s time for the Fantasy games to address this – goalkeepers should be one of our priority positions, with significant rewards for good selection.
You only have to scan the latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) rankings to realise the issue. Joe Hart, the City keeper, is currently the top rated stopper in the game, with a miserly 121 points – that’s some 81 points behind Robin Van Persie, the leading striker and 80 points behind the top midfielder, Gareth Bale. Perhaps more significantly, with 121 points, Hart is roughly the equivalent of Lukas Podolski up front (117 points) or Aaron Lennon in midfield (118) – both bit part Fantasy assets who many would hardly consider mainstays.
At this point, we have to give credit where it’s due and remember that the FPL is a game that attempts to reward goalkeepers – there are save points on offer, available exclusively to keepers and yet, it’s clear, that these are not enough to allow this position to bridge the gap and take on a significant level of importance. This situation is compounded by the bonus points system that leans towards attacking players and very rarely recognises goalkeepers – Asmir Begovic is the current top earner with just seven bonus points.
In the Sky Sports game, the goalkeeper situation is exacerbated by the fact that there are no save points on offer. Hart can only gain from clean sheets in this game and his total of 107 points, whilst top ranked for goalkeepers, is some 116 points behind Santi Cazorla, the leading midfielder, and a huge 135 behind Luis Suarez, the top ranked forward. Indeed, by comparison, Joe Hart has fetched the same number of points as Fernando Torres in this game and less than James McCarthy of Wigan – again, then, Hart’s importance as an asset seems severely underplayed.
Quite simply, clean sheets are not enough. They’ve been in decline in recent seasons and this term we could be heading for the worst ever season for five years. Back in 2008/09, there were 247 shutouts on show in the Premier League, an average of one clean sheet every 3.08 matches. By 2010/11 this had dropped to 191 in total, an average every 3.91 matches. While we saw a slight recovery last season, currently this term is tracking an average of a shut-out every 3.92 matches. In simple terms then, in the last five seasons, the clean sheet has declined as a Fantasy football scoring method. Have the games adjusted their rules accordingly? Empathically, I’d say they’ve stood still.
Adjusting the balance with the price list is not enough and, in fact, when you look at a stalwart keeper like Pepe Reina, back in 2008/09 when, statistically, there were more clean sheets about, you could acquire his FPL services for 6.0. He started this season at the same price, despite the fact that clean sheets are seemingly far harder to come by. Low and behold, this season Reina has 86 points to his name, in 2008/09 he scored a mammoth 169 points. The decline in points output is pretty obvious and yet, presumably to balance increases in attacking positions, Reina’s initial price has been frozen.
As mentioned, the FPL have at least attempted to compensate for keepers with save points and while this successfully narrows the gap between the heavy-hitter clean sheet getters and the budget and mid-price keepers, it still falls short in terms of bringing goalkeepers in line with the other positions.
Fantasy games now have to find the confidence to take matters further. Goalkeeper points scoring needs examining in detail with save points established as the norm, with points for clean sheets hiked for goalkeepers and perhaps even used as a multiplier or an unlock. In effect, goalkeepers should be rewarded further for clean sheets when they are seen to be an effective last line of defence. Let’s double the save points awarded when a clean sheet is won or, presuming the data gathered is correct, award a point for each save if a shut-out is achieved.
Looking at Joe Hart as an example, given that he has fewer saves to make playing in front of the City back four, he would not benefit greatly from double save points when a clean sheet is won. However, if saves were awarded as points in a clean sheet scenario, he’d be 16 points better off – taking him to 137 points in total (Hart earned just one save point in a match with a clean sheet this season). Jussi Jaaskelainen, the keeper with the most saves in the FPL game, would be 29 points better off, having kept eight clean sheets. Minus the nine save points he already gained from these matches, this would take him to 141 points. Jaaskelainen’s biggest points haul would have come against Fulham in Gameweek 3 when he made eight saves – he would therefore have amassed 14 points – two appearance points, four for the clean sheet and eight save points.
Are these totals that wrong? Shouldn’t a keeper have the opportunity to rival strikers and earn double figures without having to pull off a penalty save? Wouldn’t it be more exciting to watch your keeper fling himself to make save after save knowing that, if he can just keep his sheet clean, these would convert into points at the end of the match? In my view, this mechanic would rejuvenate keepers and make them a position that excites when watching games, rather than a player that can only lose you points as the match goes on.
These are radical changes and some serious modelling would be required to ensure balance is achieved but, looking at the obvious decline in clean sheets and the gradual decay of the goalkeeper as a position of importance, it seems obvious that such a step has to be considered. When we see squads with non-playing goalkeepers and top ranked managers settling on budget and mid-price stoppers in order to spend in attacking areas, it screams out that there is a balance issue.
Fantasy football should attempt to mirror reality in order to create a compelling experience. It’s up to the games to react and address this or go on letting the goalkeeper become a meaningless commodity when, in reality, he’s possibly the most important player on the pitch.
