The hectic final day of the transfer window provided the inspiration for a raft of discussions on the new additions to the Premier League last week. We also take a look back at the best members tables of the previous few days and catch up on the risers and fallers in our community leagues taking place.
The Community Articles
While many Fantasy managers were preoccupied with the Premier League’s new players such as Manchester United recruit Radamel Falcao, Tiggsy reminded us that the more established players still have something to offer. His passionate defence of Steven Gerrard sparked a fascinating debate as to whether the Liverpool captain still has what it takes to succeed in the Premier League.
Another established name in the community is the FFS UEFA group. Elninorules dropped by to tell us about their latest intriguing group contest for Fantasy managers, this time based around hockey.
The Hottest Topics
With a grand total of £835m spent, this summer’s transfer window was one of the most exciting for years and offers us plenty of new options heading into Gameweek 4. Danny Welbeck’s 11th hour move to Arsenal emerged as the key transfer from a Fantasy point of view, according to this deadline day discussion. McNulty was also on hand with further expert analysis on Welbeck’s prospects, which if he can grab a central striker role, look highly promising.
Another fascinating transfer was Falcao’s loan move to Manchester United. With manager Luis Van Gaal unlikely to find room for all his attacking stars there was plenty of debate over the potential starting XI. However, our discussion will prove grim reading for Juan Mata owners.
While Falcao’s goal scoring prowess is not in question, Balotelly pondered whether the Colombian striker could hit the ground running or would need time to adjust to the Premier League. Turns out from his research that Falcao has a very strong track record of settling in quickly into new sides.
For Lanley Staural, one of the biggest talking points from the transfer window was whether it had hammered the last nail into the coffin of the so-called template team. With even more options in teams such as Manchester United and Liverpool, he is convinced we may have seen the last of the template squad this season.
The Sports Guy’s guide to constructing a wildcard team acknowledges the increase in choice this season, but still maintains a rough template exists. He asked, who realistically would have a wildcard team without Gylfi Sigurdsson or a Chelsea defender?
At 6.5m and climbing, Sigurdsson is no longer an option for Sporting in his search for a 6m midfielder. His discussion on the best mid priced midfield assets did, however, offer up some slightly cheaper alternatives. Among those touted were Gameweek 3’s surprise stars, Swansea’s Nathan Dyer and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin, who both bagged a brace. In our discussion on why so few managers have Dyer in their squads, a key factor to emerge was an unwillingness to pair him with Sigurdsson, who is seen as the best Swansea midfield option. But, argued Applebonkers, is Sigurdsson a player that can be relied on every gameweek?
Our resident Southampton expert Lucy also joined this budget-friendly midfielder chat to warn managers against drafting in Morgan Schneiderlin, due to his more withdrawn role in most matches.
Elsewhere, Gargamel visited to tell us about some of the updates to his Gargatron tool, which offers Fantasy managers a greater insight into their performance. JWF is among fans of the Gargatron and also told us about another another useful tool, the FPL Stats Calculator.
Price changes also continued to vex the community, after the realisation that it will be far harder to anticipate rises and falls this season. Quibit‘s glass was half full though as he put a positive spin on this development.
Finally, with the international break offering some time for reflection, Courtois in the Rye, asked the community to recall some of their worst ever Fantasy Football moments. We also looked ahead to the new season and asked what new strategies and tactics we will adopt. Jinswick revealed he is going to be more aggressive with transfers and will look to make at least one hit a week. Meanwhile, Van Gaalelujah is among those looking to save their wildcard for the second half of the season and target double Gameweeks.
The Members Tables
Danny Welbeck’s move to Arsenal got me wondering as to how well he compares to other Fantasy favourites. My shot accuracy members’ table shows the former Manchester United fares very strongly against last season’s top strikers and could prove exceptional value at a price of 6.9.
Shots in the box remains a key guide to goal scoring prospects, according to The Fantasy Freak’s ‘most threatening forwards’ table, which is a must read for those considering freshening up their forward lines.
Wakey has been looking at last season to see which defenders had the most touches in the penalty area. He has kindly left the time filter open to allow members to see how the current crop of attacking defenders are faring. Another to look at attacking defenders this week has been Why Always Mesut, with touches in the final third his guide to goal scoring prospects from the back.
Oz Lotto, meanwhile, was focusing on midfield attacking potential. As was Koflok, who looked at chances created for his midfield point machine table.
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 these work. Also be aware that when making a table tags (such as ‘shot accuracy’ or ‘assists’) are now available to help others find them more easily.
The Community Leagues
In Zep’s Dead Team Challenge, where managers pick a Gameweek 1 squad that has to stay unchanged throughout the season, Kerrazy and Michudagawd are joint top with 198 points and an overall rank of around 2,000. The highest scorer in Gameweek 3 was Canadian Football, with an impressive 82 points.
Doosra has emerged as an early favourite to claim AZ’s Early Bird Cup. He won all three of his group games to book himself into the last 16. AZ also won all his group games and is another one to watch in this competition.
In @OFCProdicgy’s Scout Picks Challenge, which is loosely based on our own Scout Picks Timtastic was triumphant in Gameweek 3 with a score of 60 points.
Greek Fan has rocketed to the top of the Fantasy Football Scout moderators and contributors league, closely followed by Mark in second place.
The safety score in TorresMagic‘s Last Man Standing was 37 in Gameweek 3. This meant 92 teams were eliminated and 1,410 progress.
