After giving you a heads-up on the launch of the Sky Sports Fantasy Football game last week, we now turn our attentions to the player list. Starting at the back, we begin our series of articles by looking at the goalkeepers and analyse the candidates across the price brackets.
When assessing our stopper options, it’s important to keep bonus points in mind, a new scoring factor which was introduced at the start of last season. Considering that an extra two points are awarded for making five or more saves in any given match, selecting a keeper who is likely to reap points in this way is an obvious tactic. The Members player stats section is your friend here and has a Sky tab which highlights those keepers who benefited last season and also allows you to monitor their performance during the course of the upcoming campaign.
Goals conceded go some way to balancing the benefit of saves: your man between the sticks will be subject to minus one point for every goal shipped. This is where some cut-price keepers fall down, serving as a reminder that clean sheets are still the chief source of returns here, with five points gained for each shut-out.
The Budget Bracket
As you’d expect, the main men from the three promoted clubs are favourably priced. Burnley’s Tom Heaton and Robert Green of QPR are both 4.2, while Leicester stopper, Kasper Schmeichel, is slightly pricier at 4.3. The trio offer the cheapest routes into their respective defences and should benefit from the save points rule: all three will surely be kept busy. I’ve also a hunch that Schmeichel, as the son of a Premier League legend, may just garner favour when it comes to the man of the match (MoTM) awards. These are worth an additional five points and are judged by the Sky Sports journalist covering the matches – although they’re rarely dished out to keepers.
Looking at last season’s records, Burnley were slightly more resilient of the three new boys, with 18 clean sheets and 37 goals against – Leicester managed 18 and 43 respectively, whilst QPR registered 16 and 44.
At this point, it’s important to consider defender options before deciding on your stopper: if there’s an attractive alternative in defence, it may well influence your selection in goal. Burnley, in particular, have a budget defensive alternative in Kieran Trippier, an exciting full-back prospect whose displays will surely see their keeper overlooked by many.
Further up the price list, Adrian (4.4) is cheaper than any defensive team-mate and could be a steal if West Ham can replicate the resilience that saw them rack up 14 clean sheets over 2013/14. Admittedly, former number one Jussi Jaaskelainen was responsible for eight of those but since being installed as first choice, the Spaniard has earned rave reviews (in addition to 22 points in saves bonus) and looks set to continue in goal for Sam Allardyce’s side in the upcoming season.
Vito Mannone (4.6) looks a fantastic option if he can maintain last term’s heroics, with his save points making him better value than the Black Cats defenders. The Italian also delivered 11 clean sheets for Gus Poyet’s side and will be looking to ward off the challenge of new boy Costel Pantilimon next time around. Crystal Palace number one, Julian Speroni, comes in at 4.8 on the back of 10 clean sheets in 26 games under new boss Tony Pulis; the flamboyant Argentine also picked up 12 points in save bonus.
The Mid-Price Options
Southampton’s Artur Boruc is priced at 4.9 after producing 13 clean sheets in 29 appearances in 2013/14. If the veteran can come close to mirroring that form he looks a decent option, bearing in mind he is considerably cheaper than the current first-choice Saints defenders, though the departure of Mauricio Pochettino raises a question mark as to whether they can maintain the same sort of resilience under new boss Ronald Koeman. With games against only two of last term’s top eight in the first 12 matches, though, the opening schedule could barely be kinder. Stoke’s Asmir Begovic is also priced at 4.9. The Potters managed nine shut-outs in Mark Hughes’ first season in charge but, like Southampton, could be on to an encouraging start – they face just one of last year’s top six in the opening 12 Gameweeks.
Michel Vorm will set you back 5.0 and offers an interesting option. The Swansea stopper had a poor season in terms of clean sheets (five) and was restricted to 26 appearances due to injuries, though there’s no doubt he is capable of delivering – some of us will remember the 11/12 campaign where he kept 13 clean sheets in 37 games along with a number of penalty saves and MoTM awards. The situation requires some monitoring, however – rumours continue to circulate over Vorm’s future and the signing of Lukasz Fabianski, who will set you back a very budget friendly 3.8, could present us with a great value prospect at the Liberty.
Everton’s Tim Howard is priced at 5.4, having ended as the highest scoring goalkeeper in the game with 147 points last time around. The Toffees stopper still looks very good value – all the more so with Seamus Coleman now joining Leighton Baines in the premium bracket in Roberto Martinez’ back-four. Ties against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United in the first seven may deter initial investment, though.
The arrival of Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham brings Hugo Lloris (5.4) into contention as a result of the Argentine’s impressive defensive record as manager of Southampton. Lloris undoubtedly has the talent and remains one of Europe’s best keepers on his day – perhaps the new manager can have a positive effect and improve Lloris’ Fantasy performance after he finished fourth highest goalkeeper overall with 115 points last term.
The Premium Prospects
Manchester United delivered 13 clean sheets during David Moyes’ ill-fated year at the helm and one of the few players exempt from criticism was shot stopper David De Gea (5.8). The Spaniard has grown in stature with each passing season and under new manager Louis Van Gaal, further improvement is expected as the Red Devils look to recover from last term’s disaster.
Elsewhere in the premium price bracket, Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny looks a good option at 5.7. Despite their capitulations on the road at City, Liverpool and Chelsea, the Gunners conceded just 41 times last season, the fourth best backline in the Premier League. If, as many anticipate, Thibaut Courtois is named as Chelsea’s number one, a 6.0 price tag could still prove great value. After a shaky start, the Blues managed 18 clean sheets (more than any other team) last time around and there’d be no surprise to see a repeat from Jose Mourinho’s resilient side. If Petr Cech remains in the picture, though, opting for a Blues defender looks the safest route.
Selection Tactics
As goalkeepers tend, on average, to be the lowest scorers of all the positions, in my opinion, it’s best to pick one keeper and, where possible, stick with him for the season. Transfers are precious and should be preserved for those areas of the team with the biggest points potential.
Although goalkeepers and defenders generally score fewer points than midfielders and forwards, there’s an argument for spending a chunk of your budget at the back – given that we cannot rotate players in the Sky Sports game, picking some reliable week-in, week-out options helps prevent unnecessary restructuring of our backlines.
In a future article, I will go into more detail about ‘value’ to bring home this point more clearly but for now I’ll just give you some food for thought.
Taking Petr Cech as an example, for a price of 5.8, the Chelsea keeper returned 132 points and was the second highest scoring goalkeeper overall – his average of 22.76 points per million (ppm) was bettered by only two forwards. Olivier Giroud with 22.94 and Luis Suarez with 31.82 ppm. Of course, these players scored a lot more points than Cech – albeit for a significantly larger price – and while it’s important not to get hung up on value rather than points, it’s something to consider.
Why risk budget on a mid-to-premium priced midfielder/forward who may suffer an indifferent season, when you can all but guarantee high value for money and a predictable points return from a premium goalkeeper/defender? Chelsea seem likely to offer similar defensive returns under Jose Mourinho once again and if Cech, or Courtois, can nail down that number on spot, they look the best on offer for those prepared to shop in the premium bracket.
Alternatively, opting for a mid-price option who offers a security of save points and is good for 10+ clean sheets is also worth considering. The likes of Palace, West Ham, Southampton and Sunderland apply here, with Mannone’s heroics last season a clear example – from only 28 starts, the Italian earned an extra 30 bonus points, the equivalent of six clean sheets.
Clearly, though, there needs to be an element of balance, which leads me onto my second tactical point. In my opinion, setting your team up with a mixture of cheap and premium players offers a tactical advantage over a team comprised of mainly mid-price players and this is largely due to the ability to easily (using one transfer) swap big hitters from the top sides in order to captain them and target specific fixtures. If you don’t set up like this, and have mid-price players across the board, then you can be limited with scope for a single transfer, which inevitably will cause you to reconstruct your team on a regularly basis, wasting valuable trades.
Sky Sports Fantasy Football Scout League
We’ve already set up the official Scout League with a top prize of £1000 to the winner. If you’ve tinkered with your Sky team and are looking to get involved, our league name is FFScout and the code is 8009000.
