Fantasy Eliteserien Interview: Eurosport reporter Jonas Bergh-Johnsen

To offer a greater insight into the Norwegian top flight game we caught up with Eurosport reporter and avid Fantasy Eliteserien player Jonas Bergh-Johnsen.

As well as working for Norway’s Eliteserien broadcaster he has also been involved in developing Fantasy Eliteserien, including player prices and the new chips.

Niemi: You’re an avid Fantasy Premier League player. What’s your best finish in Fantasy Premier League?

Jonas: 228.

Niemi:How did last season go for you in Fantasy Eliteserien?

Jonas: 368. I was in a horrible position halfway through the season, but ended strongly.

Niemi: Besides the alternative bonus system and chips, what’s the biggest difference between Fantasy Premier League and Fantasy Eliteserien in your opinion?

Jonas: The top teams are more unpredictable. There are less safe picks from the top teams that are worth their premium price tag. Last year we had a situation where the players from the lower half teams were priced too low, and at the same time the expensive players didn’t deliver and had low ownership. If you were catching the price rises early on you ended up with a high team value. The budget was never an issue, and the game became too easy.

Niemi: You have been heavily involved in the pricing of the players in Fantasy Eliteserien this year.  How do you decide the players prices?

Jonas: It was an easier task this year, as we had to start from scratch last year. This season we had more numbers to work with. We did have to do some more research on the newly promoted teams. In fact all of the clubs have people interested in Fantasy, either in the staff or the players themselves, so we did use them as well. We listened to what the clubs themselves had to say.

Players that are new to the league are harder to price, as we don’t know what to expect from them. In general we did price the players higher this year. Some of them might be priced a bit higher than they should based on what they did last year, but the prices in general had to go up. We have probably priced some players wrongly, but that will always happen. Last year we had teams like Molde and Vålerenga who we expected to do really well, and therefore had players priced accordingly. In the end most of them didn’t live up to their price.

Last year we looked at the same model Fantasy Premier League are using, and looked at how they are pricing the players. Two of the other guys involved in the pricing were Martin Sleipnes and Vegard Vaagbø, both experienced Fantasy Premier League players. We all knew the principles, but it was hard to get the prices right as Eliteserien is much more unpredictable than the Premier League.

Niemi: Do you have any insight in how the price changes works this year? Have there been any changes from last year?

Jonas: I’m not sure how these algorithms works. Very few people know exactly how they work, sometimes they’re very unpredictable. We ordered the same game as Fantasy Premier League from the same developers, so in principle the changes should be the same. Because of the fewer amount of players the price changes are probably triggered faster. We haven’t asked for any changes to the transfer market from the developers, except for when Ohi Omoijuanfo got that 0.5 rise during one night last year. I owned Ohi when that happened, but it was really frustrating as it wasn’t fair.

Niemi: In hindsight, do you think you have priced any players wrongly?

Jonas: I regret we didn’t price Wormgoor and Teniste at 6.0. It also seems like the Molde midfielders might be a lot better this year, so guys like Hestad at 7.0 and Aursnes at 6.0 might be priced lower than they should. There was also a mistake with the Ranheim defenders. They are all priced at 4.5. I’m not sure what happened there, that wasn’t on purpose.

Niemi: Last year we had quite a few “out-of-position” players in the game. Some have been given a new position this year, while some have the same position as last year. Gilli Rolantsson is still a defender in the game, even though he started as a winger in all  of Brann’s games. What’s the reasoning for this?

Jonas: We discussed it with Brann themselves. At that point they were confident he would mostly play as a full back. We could either go with a midfielder that might end up playing as a defender, or a defender that could play as a midfielder. In the end we put him as a defender, and gave him a higher price than the others. I’m not sure if he’s worth it even as a left winger at that price though, maybe if he can find some form.

We also spoke to Lillestrøm about Melgalvis, Rafn and Knudtzon when deciding their position, so the input from the clubs have been taken into consideration here. We could have put Knudtzon as a striker as well, but decided to keep him as a midfielder as we like a possible out-of-position player. There’s room for that in this game. There’s always a few out-of-position players emerging through the season.

Niemi: You have also been involved in the process of picking the new chips for this season. Why couldn’t you go with the same chips as in Fantasy Premier League? How did you decide the three chips?

We couldn’t pick the same chips because Fantasy Premier League had the exclusive rights to them, and they didn’t want to share the chips with anyone else. The Wildcard is free for anyone to use though. We sat down to find three new chips that weren’t too powerful, but at the same time they couldn’t be too weak either. In the end we chose two fun chips in my opinion, in “Striker Rush” and “Park the Bus”, and a more dull chip in “Double Captain”.

We considered a few options. At first we had quadruple captain when using “Striker Rush” and “Park the Bus”, as you had the possibility of captaining one of your players in addition to double points for all your strikers. In the end we decided it would be too powerful. A lot of the options we considered gave out too many points. We also considered double points for every midfielders, but then we would have three very similar chips. “Double Captain” was the chip we ended up with. In my opinion it’s the dullest, but it could be a good chip during a double gameweek.

Niemi: Which chip do you think will be the most powerful?

Jonas: “Striker Rush”. The number one overall used it the first week and hit the jackpot. I guess that’s the one most likely to bring more points. “Park the Bus” could also give you a lot of points if you manage to bring in Double Gameweek defenders.

Niemi: Besides the obvious picks like Ohi, Haugen and Koomson, who do you expect could do well during the Double Gameweeks coming up?

Jonas: I started out with Granli and Vetlesen as cheap budget option, but most likely they won’t get too many points. I also got Jonsson on my bench, as I expect him to get back into the starting XI, and kept Wormgoor on my bench during the first Gameweek even though he had a blank. This week I bought Koomson for my team.

I do regret not getting Kabran though. I wasn’t sure how good he was and there were also rumours that he was going to be benched. Him, Sigurdarson and Børufsen are fighting for two spots in the team, and I’ve heard he hadn’t been very good in training until the final week. They considered benching him for the first game, and give him a 30 minute appearance from the bench. Combined with the fact that he blanks this gameweek, I decided to give him a pass at first. I’ll definitely get him in before his Double Gameweek.

I also considered getting Hou Sæter over Vetlesen as I expect him to get some attacking returns, but in the end I couldn’t find the extra 0.5.

Niemi: Which players are essential in your opinion?

Jonas: In my opinion it’s too soon to pick players that are essential. Nothing has settled yet. There might be some rotation at Molde and Strømsgodset, I’m not sure if Fardal Opseth can keep it up yet, Adegbenro is too expensive in my opinion,  slippery pitches and cold weather don’t suit Helland and Bendtner. However, The day Bendtner starts firing he becomes essential.

I did listen to the “Fantasy FK” podcast, where they had been looking at the Rosenborg players Fantasy teams: Only one out of eight had Bendtner in their team, they all had Helland instead. I do like Wormgoor at 5.5, he’s a bonus magnet, likely to score a few goals and might be on a few set pieces. He was probably the first name in my squad.

Niemi: Which players do you see as potential bargains?

Jonas: I would definitely look at Stabæk players, there’s a lot of value in there.

Niemi: Eirik Ulland Andersen, a player with high ownership, is going under the knife and will miss at least next gameweek. Who’s a good replacement in your opinion?

Jonas: I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t find out he had an operation scheduled. I wouldn’t have had him in my team if I’d have known. Koomson looks like a good pick, that’s who I went for. I would also get in Kabran as soon as he has a fixture, he’s fairly cheap as well.

Niemi: Who will be a good differential for the next Gameweek?

Jonas: Ejuke is probably my pick this week. He looked fresh against Kristiansund, and he’ll most likely pick up a lot of bonus points even though he doesn’t score. He is easy to notice as he’s running with the ball a lot, so I think the commentators are likely to reward him with bonus points. Grindheim at Haugesund, and Saltnes and Hauge from Bodø/Glimt could be good differentials as well, but maybe not for this week.

Niemi: Who’s your captain this week?

Jonas: Got to be the lord – Bendtner.

Niemi: Do you believe anyone can challenge Rosenborg for the title this season?

Jonas: No.