This week’s launch of the Fantasy Premier League game gave the community their first glimpse of the 2016/17 player price list.
Understandably, initial squad selection dominated our hot topics, while our community writers took a look at the best newcomers to the Premier League and unveiled plans to track FPL’s most experienced managers.
We also launched the first of our Rate My Team surgeries, looked at the community competitions that have launched and examined some key attacking statistics for those looking to draft in next season’s Golden Boot contenders.
The Community Articles
Thursday saw the launch of our first 2016/17 Rate My Team surgery, which offers a dedicated community article for those wanting their initial FPL squads rated. To start the series, I submitted my unsurprisingly dull selection, which pays particular attention to fixtures and flexibility.
Next season will see an expansion of Kavali’s Tracking the Veterans series, which monitors FPL’s most experienced managers and their decisions. For 2016/17 he is offering FPL stalwarts the chance to join the expanded group he is tracking and also the opportunity for less experienced managers to take them on.
Another returning regular community feature is The Puntmaster’s analysis of how next season’s Premier League players would have fared if FPL points were applied to their previous campaign, whether abroad or in a lower tier of English football.
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
With the FPL player list available, a raft of posts followed, delving into the most eye-catching picks. As well as finding out who the best maverick and dullard players are, we also asked for your views on 2016/17’s top bargains, with Eden Hazardous urging investment in Bournemouth’s keenly priced winger Max Gradel.
Among the most popular early picks is Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has been selected by just under a third of FPL managers so far. Bowstring the Carp believes that, despite his 11.5 price tag, the Swede is set for an excellent debut Premier League campaign.
The same cannot be said for defensive midfielders, who once again look set to miss out on points under FPL’s scoring system. We asked whether it was time to finally reward these protectors of the back line.
Another set of players who may not offer value are those with a short fuse, who like to use colourful language in front of referees. This season the Football Association and Premier League have announced a crackdown on dissent, which, according to our hot topic, could mean suspensions for some of the most popular players among Fantasy managers.
To help FPL managers select the best attacking players, Berbinho’s Forehead has gathered a wealth of key statistics over the last three years. Ludo has also been collecting attacking data with the conclusion that combining shots on target and big chances are the best way to predict goals.
We discovered that expectations of success are running high, according to Dazzy’s hot topic asking for the community’s realistic rank expectations this season. Elsewhere, Zasa was on hand with some valuable advice to new posters to help them get noticed.
The Members Tables
To add to Ludo’s analysis, my table on shots on target and big chances gives an indication as to who last season’s key players were. This is worth bookmarking to keep tabs on who this season’s Golden Boot contenders may be. Our Members area’s most popular table, Doosra’s Deadly Assassins, provides further insight into the art of goal scoring.
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.
The Community Tournaments
Oghash is offering free FFScout membership to the winner of his Gameweek 1 score prediction competition. Among the community’s head to head contests is Jac the Cat‘s search for FPL’s top players to compete against each other.
Meanwhile, Red Lightning has announced the launch of his opening day and Top 10K any season leagues, in addition to asking for details about the community’s other leagues. Among those to answer the call were Torres Magic, with news of his Last Man Standing league, and Oghash, who unveiled his Dead Zone league.
If you are running a community tournament and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round Ups please email me a brief summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spread sheet or head to head competition, at jonty@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
