The Community Round Up

Last week’s launch of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game caused a wave of excitement as our community competed for low user IDs, discovered player prices and quickly set up their first draft teams. As you’d expect, we’ve been overwhelmed by the number of community articles and hot topics generated by the new game, while many FPL managers have also set up new leagues for the season ahead- read on to discover how to join up:

The Community Articles

With the paint barely dry on the first draft teams to emerge from the FPL launch, community writer Christina was already considering radical changes in his assessment of the best time to wildcard.

Getting the best of the new crop of players is key every year and The Puntmaster has been compiling another handy pre-season spreadsheet to assess the newcomers’ prospects. You can read his guide (which is updated as and when new players are signed) and grab the link to the spreadsheet here.

Amongst the most talked about new players is Southampton’s new winger and set-piece specialist Dusan Tadic, who joins on the back of 16 goals and 14 assists for FC Twente. Bowstring the Trout was on hand to run the rule over his prospects and assess how he will fit into the south coast side’s 2014/15 set-up.

Need to read up on Burnley’s prospects for the season ahead? Clarets fan Saint Steve-O offered this analysis of the Lancashire side’s squad, looking at Sean Dyche’s potential line up and tactics upon their return to the top-flight.

The release of the FPL game affords Fantasy managers a better idea of the budget options in defence, allowing us to assess the best cut-price partnerships for the season ahead. Lanley Staural’s rotation analysis warns against basing decisions mainly on home and away fixtures, though – his alternative view on rotation urges Fantasy mangers to look closely at the quality of the opposition rather than where the game is played.

Hottest Topics

When the FPL game began updating on Wednesday morning ahead of its mid-afternoon launch, our community members had some tough decisions on their hands.

Giggs Boson ignored a fire alarm at work, Epicfail put off the call of nature due to limited Wi-Fi access in his smallest room and Grim Reaper refused to answer the phone at work.

Another reason for logging into FPL swiftly after launch was to grab a low user ID. The Missing Link offered key tips on how to achieve this and, following the launch, it was clear many had listened- HeyDudes13 nabbed the impressively low ID of 12.

Rate My Teams for the FPL game have been posted thick and fast over the last few days and prompted some excellent discussions on formation and player selection. This includes Arsenal’s Number 19 Santi Cazorla’s look at the wealth of options in the Arsenal Midfield, as Fantasy managers weigh up the Gunners’ options in the centre of the park.

For Lionel’s Messi Boxers, Stoke midfield duo of Peter Odemwingie and Marko Arnautovic presents managers with another important choice to make when tapping into the Potters’ kind early fixtures.

Elsewhere, for those new to the site, Innsie’s guide on posting the perfect RMT and asking for help will be essential reading.

Among the key changes in 2014/15 in all Fantasy games is the wealth of credible new options in attack, with Chelsea and Arsenal among those to significantly strengthen in this area. Granville predicts that many FPL teams in particular will be flooded with new players.

As well as the launch of FPL, the Premier League also rolled out its Ultimate Fantasy Premier League game, which requires more hands on management during each Gameweek. Analysing the fixture list and assessing which players can be swapped in on Sundays and Mondays is crucial to success, according to Tommy Tour’s excellent guide to the UFPL Sunday and Monday clubs.

Our resident Sky Sports Fantasy game expert D1sable was also on hand to offer his pearls of wisdom on how to succeed.

Whichever Fantasy game you are playing, clean sheets, assists and goals remain key. In our discussion on which players and teams will gain the most points from these key attributes, Siva Mohan predicts Cesc Fabregas will be the top assister, while Captain Jack and Billy Gilmore were among those who see another prolific season for Daniel Sturridge. Chelsea was the popular choice in terms of most clean sheets, although The Missing Yobo believes Tottenham could be in the running for that accolade after new boss Mauricio Pochettino helped Southampton to 15 shut-outs last time around.

Finally, MJ6987’s hot topic, which asked the community to vote on costly FPL picks against cheaper alternatives from the same teams was a popular shout. The Eden Hazard v Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez v Aaron Ramsey and Robin van Persie v Wayne Rooney debates were amongst the subjects up for discussion, with some intriguing results polled.

The Community Tournaments

Already a raft of community leagues have been created in the FPL game. Blue Lion has set up his “So You think You are Smarter Than a Casual” league (429-5287), while Messimerized has two leagues in FPL, his self-titled open to all league (26-630) and his Official Deadzone League (26-631), for those who visit Fantasy Football Scout overnight. Deadzoners are also invited to enter Innsie’s H2H Graveyard Shift league (10934-12169).

For those Fantasy managers that like to take a risk with their transfers Arvin-ation has set up a FFS Punters league (37064-16263).

The elite Fantasy managers who have notched up at least one Top 1000 rank finish can once again join PDM’s Top 1000 League ANY Season (16542-5955). The last five winners of this prestigious league are Pocky, Gareth Rees, Tom Pearson, Evs and Loz Sutty.

Meanwhile, RoysCallerAnne’s FFS Old Farts Club league (2475 1316) is once again open to those in the community who are 35 years old or over.