Bonus points were a key topic amongst our community writers and hot topic posters this week, with the re-launch of the Members Area providing a wealth of statistics on the underlying factors behind their allocation. The community has also been looking ahead to next season’s emerging stars as well as analysing the lessons learned from 2014/15. We round all this up, plus find time to look back over the years to discover who are the best Fantasy Football managers of all time and best ever forwards in the game.
The Community Articles
Last season saw the Fantasy Premier League game make some tweaks to its Bonus Point System (BPS), which is used to allocated bonus points. Changes made included giving full-backs more of a chance of gaining these extra points. In a thought provoking article on the BPS Dead star wants to see further reform, and more bonus points going towards the unsung anchor men of midfield.
On the same issue, I’ve revisited my research from earlier in the year on bonus point magnets in defence. With the Members area statistics at my disposal, this update aimed to pinpoint 2014/15’s top backline bonus performers and find out why they did so well. Innsie then popped by with this excellent analysis of baseline bonus points amongst defenders, where goals, assists and clean sheets are stripped out.
Predicting prices is a key part of a Fantasy manager’s summer. Dat Guy has taken that one step further by launching his price predictor challenge for the community to take part in during the long evenings ahead.
For some Premier League players, the season is set to get underway far earlier. With West Ham set for a long campaign as they enter the early stages of Europa League qualification, Guy Demel has been looking into whether early European competitive action helps or hinders teams at the start of the Premier League season.
Another team to start competitive European action earlier this season is Manchester United, who qualified for the Champions League after clinging onto fourth spot in 2014/15. Here Ruth NZ looks back on their campaign and ahead to their 2015/16 prospects, as part of his summer series of team reviews, which also took in Liverpool this week.
With such a large global fan base, Manchester United-supporting Fantasy Football managers are in danger of letting club loyalties blind their Fantasy decisions. The importance of statistics and not letting personal prejudices guide our choices were among issues covered by Swegshinji, in his look at the Moneyball theory in Fantasy Football management.
The community paid tribute to our community writers in our latest Community Article of the Month vote. The winning article was The Search For Fantasy Football Gold by Ludo, who earns himself a £20 Amazon voucher.
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
The release of our updated Hall of Fame, which tracks those Fantasy managers who perform well each season, provoked lots of debate in The Casual’s discussion on who is the best FPL manager ever. Later in the week, the community also took part in a lively discussion on which player is the best Fantasy forward of all time, with those who remember the days of Thierry Henry getting misty eyed.
Forwards of last season also came under the watchful eye of the community, in our discussion on whether Harry Kane’s epic goal scoring feats will ever be repeated by a similarly cut-priced attacker. In addition, Charlie Austin’s inclusion in our Team of the Season prompted this discussion on how much is too much for players like the QPR ace, should he switch clubs and return to Premier League action.
Getting off to a strong start is not essential to a good overall rank at the end of the season, but it certainly helps. In our discussion on lessons learned from our 2014/15 Gameweek 1 sides, Doolittle lamented his focus on a cheap defence, while Cheesoid took too many risks with Remy Cabella and Stephane Sessegnon among his first week punts.
Proving his commitment to Fantasy management, Disable has already started compiling a watchlist for his Gameweek 1 squad. According to our discussion on must-haves and must-avoids for 2015/16, many of the community, such as Old School, believe Sergio Aguero is essential. Meanwhile, players to avoid, for those such as QPR Expects Glory, include Wayne Rooney. The Serjeant is also getting impatient and provided this list of Fantasy Premier League start dates in anticipation of the launch of the 2015/16 Fantasy campaign.
Finally, Beavis rolled out this handy list of those players in search of a new club, after finding themselves out of contract at the end of 2014/15. Among those on the move is Christian Fuchs, who has been ditched by Schalke and was unveiled as a Leicester player this week. As Portsmouth Bubblejet’s analysis shows, however, the Austrian is unlikely to improve the East Midlands side’s clean sheet potential.
The Members Tables
Couti and the Belowfth has taken advantage of the launch of our 2015/16 Season Membership to compile this series of ‘BAPMAPs’ Members Tables, looking in detail at the underlying statistics behind the FPL’s bonus allocation.
For the definitive look at Fantasy Football’s best attacking assets in 2014/15, Lanley Staural has compiled this table. The attacking attributes of midfielder during 2014/15 are the focus of Asquishypotato’s latest table, which focuses on goals per minute for midfielders. This is handy for highlighting those that, even with few starts, are able to take their chances well.
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.
