Hey Folks, we’ve already come to the first overhaul in the Sky Fantasy Football League and this is my team going forward – which I think makes for a very enchanting read!
In our Sky community, I do feel the first overhaul comes too quickly, as now all of our initial teams (after the hours, days, weeks of planning – not so much this season I suppose) crumble, and all realign surprisingly similarly. I’m seeing higher ownerships of particular players than ever before!
I’m here to point out my key players, my attacking strategy and my ideas on where the season is going. Just so I don’t bore you now, there’s a bit about my credentials at the bottom of this article, but I can assure you, I overthink Fantasy Football more than most of even those who think they overthink Fantasy Football.
Goalkeepers
Jose Mourinho’s second season in charge and given the fixtures and price, Hugo Lloris seemed like a sensible decision. What a let down that was for the first 4 games. In fairness, only Emiliano Martinez at Villa has been a standout decision, but given their lack of a fourth game pre-overhaul, I didn’t even consider him.
Going forward, the ONLY price-effective option to my mind is Vincente Guaita. Priced in at a tasty 6.6m, he follows my blueprint for being a cheap keeper at a defensive-minded club. Despite the defensive injury crisis at Palace, Roy Hodgson has that team well drilled and it pays dividends at a reasonable rate looking at their prices. Given their fixtures I see clean sheet bonuses racking up before the Christmas rush.
Karl Darlow has done well at Newcastle but Martin Dubravka is returning from injury sooner rather than later. Rui Patricio (Ownership in top 1k (1ko) 23%), one of my saviours last season, and Martinez (1ko 17%) do deserve a shoutout going forward but Guaita’s ownership of 4% amongst the top 1000 teams currently does him excellent justice as a differential as well. Matt Ryan and Nick Pope are great keepers too, but I see both teams struggling this season.
Sidenote: I’d try and set up a team now that won’t need altering for at least 2-3 weeks. The sky format of 40 transfers over a season sounds good, but I’m already down to 36 (like most of you I’m hoping) and want to start saving some of those for what will be a more turbulent season than any other.
Strikers
I like standard formats, but in a usual season, I think it’s best to look at the deep end of the point-earning pool for now and work our way to the shallow end. I am a classic FF player in stubbornness, but it is something I am trying to remove from my game this season. Not having a Liverpool defender last year cost me ridiculously, as did not having peak Luis Suarez, Robin Van Persie etc. This season I am now basing my attack around penalty takers, as should you.
Funnily enough, this leads to my exclusion of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He reeks of Teemu Pukki and I don’t care that Carlo Ancelotti is at the wheel, that bus has taken a wrong turning down success road and will soon be making the third exit at realism roundabout and following the one way street of mediocrity lane. I hope Everton do well, but something smells fishy at the moment, and with Richarlison on penalties, I’d give it a sidestep.
Heung-min Son or Harry Kane (or Gareth Bale)…?
Take your pick, but again, go Kane because he’s on penalties and is racking up assists. Something else I’ve introduced into my game the last two years is avoiding injury-prone players. Kane and Sergio Aguero are exceptions to the rule. Given Spurs next two games are Sunday and Monday, this allows for great captain choices as well.
The Mo Salah v Sadio Mane debate has finally been settled. Mane is a better player, but Salah is a better point scorer. We all know that N’Golo Kante is a fine player, but let’s face it, he’s not a point scorer. Using that logic and Mo’s penalty-taking bonus, and his greedy attitude, he’s hard to ignore. Scoring both goals (whilst away from Anfield for once!) shows that even on a Liverpool bad day, he’s the person to turn to.
Now we have the cone and the ice cream, it’s time to decide what topping we want. And what a selection we have. Raul Jiminez, Danny Ings and Neal Maupay stand out for me. So far I’ve got Jiminez in, purely on the fact they play Monday night so that’s double bubble for Mexico’s main man. Ings and Maupay both have fairly standard routes going forward, so then it comes down to your faith in a team/player/managing style. I had Maupay on my Football Manager account before he came to the Premier League, so of course I’d be sticking with him, despite the fact he has no idea that we won Ligue 1, the French Cup and the Champions League, two years from now. There’s nothing wrong with having Jamie Vardy or Callum Wilson either. (You’ll notice all of these are penalty takers btw!) I’d check the ownership, cross-reference that with when they’re playing and gut feeling, and go from there!
Midfielders
Well, my theory of midfielders being the lowest scoring players over the season has gone out the window (along with defending in general which we will get onto shortly). I always appreciate managers who play the opposition, so usually I find myself with players of a low ownership, who are ‘due a good game’ and have good fixtures. However, this year is different. At the time of writing this, my midfield consists of Kevin De Bruyne (KDB) (another player I refused to put it last season), Bruno Fernandes (who I luckily put in straight away last season), James Rodriguez and Jack Grealish. This foursome are currently the most owned midfielders in the game. And here’s why (it’s obvious). KDB and Bruno take the lion’s share of set pieces, including penalties. Rodriguez and Grealish play quite far forward, for teams seemingly with new verve. Only Bruno isn’t in the top 5 for points out of these, and at that price, would be the one I’d be looking at dropping.
Alter’not’ives: Jorginho won’t always get as many penalties as he’s had, Michael Antonio falls into the injury prone list (whilst having some bad fixtures…if they exist this season remains yet to be seen), and Zaha is too inconsistent for my liking, although he is playing as a striker which is tempting and I’ll be keeping my watchful eye on him.
Alternatives: Harvey Barnes is more my style, an attacking-minded midfielder with an attacking defender behind with which to work. Mateusz Kilch at Leeds is a bonus penalty-taking cheap midfield and Leeds look very comfortable currently.
Defenders
Anyone who plays the Sky Fantasy Football must be looking at the team I’m building and assuming I have completely given up on defenders. Well if they’re not going to try, why should we?!
There used to be, and still is, a massive case for picking the cheapest defender in a defensive team who starts every game. This was good until tackle and pass bonuses came in a few years ago. But now in these crazy times I think that mindset will reap rewards over the next few months. Matt Doherty and Lucas Digne sounds so good (started the season with both), but so far it’s been a waste of time. I laugh at those (finally) who have multiple Liverpool defenders. I see the appeal of Trent, due to his set-pieces, but I’ve always preferred Andy Robertson in terms of attacking play, but given their prices in these volatile times, I don’t think either are worth considering.
James Justin at Leicester and Tyrick Mitchell at Palace have both been delightful, but Ricardo Pereira and Patrick Van Aanholt are soon to return. Lamptey is very cheap and looks bolted on to start, but relying on defenders to get bonus points that aren’t clean sheet related really grims me out, and although I like Brighton’s approach, they need to stop playing out from the back so often.
Joel Ward IS in my team. Over the years this man has dug me out of a tight spot more times than I care to mention and doesn’t get enough credit. A double up on Palace (Guaita) might seem ludicrous, but giving the attacking options it allows me, I’m happy to go with it. Also consider the attacking options listed above, the points will be coming from there. The clean sheet bonuses will be few and far between, so maybe doubling up is just a longer process to return the same amount of points? Who knows.
My second choice is Matty Cash at Villa. This follows on from the Martinez discussion earlier and is a cheaper, more attacking way of getting those clean sheet bonuses that Villa may contain. He’s nearly a whole million cheaper than Tyrone Mings.
Again, I’ve got my metaphorical foodstuff and now it’s time to decide what condiment I want.
So far it’s Stuart Dallas from Leeds. Any player who gets 3 tackle bonuses, and a shot bonus(!) in their first four games, with only one yellow card, despite playing Liverpool away and Man City (where they only conceded one shot on target) doesn’t need much more saying about him.
With this starting 11 I have 0.3m in the bank! And there’s so much joy to be had at this end of the price range with defenders. There’s Ezri Konsa, Fernando Marcal, Jannik Vestergaard, Rob Holding and Javier Maquillo all available at this price, allowing a full out attack which must be the answer to this mental year 2020. Surely things will calm down by next year. But whilst the Villas are beating the Liverpools 7-2 why not captain Fabian Balbuena. Back to back clean sheets against Leicester and Wolves coinciding with his return to the first team are not coincidental, so the fact their next three games are Spurs, Man City and Liverpool, hasn’t even got me worried that I’m considering this man to be my ultimate wildcard saviour! at the expense of…Dallas? Cash? Even Bruno? Because although there’s a 100m to spend, remember much like driving, it’s a limit, not a target.
Me: I’ve been doing the Sky Fantasy Football for 8 or 9 years and have had a few finishes in the top 50 of the public cash leagues. I am an Ipswich supporter (I’m not fanatical given our current circumstances, but supportive), but this allows my judgement to be clear. In my mini-leagues my friends are Tottenham and Liverpool supporters, needless to say the Spurs boys are ahead of the Liverpool boys for once. Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season, I think we’ll need it!
