The Double GameWeek

The thing is, are you going to take advantage of the double game week? Well for starters it depends on what Fantasy Football platform you're playing on. The only ones where this will properly work is Fantasy iTeam, the official FPL game. If you're using The Sun's Dream Team or Sky this may not be for you. Most probably know what I'm on about but if you don't then here goes:

The double game week occurs when fixtures are moved around because of European fixtures, or domestic cup replays etc. because of this players from the team basically end up getting a 2-for-1. A buy one get one free if you will. So essentially you can transfer in a DGW player, they can get more points than normal, then you can transfer them out at the end of the game week, basically getting free points.

The reason I'm discussing this is because, guess what? GW1 of this season sees a DGW for Chelsea and Aston Villa. Now, I'd advise getting as many points on the board at the start of the season as possible, I started Fantasy iTeam in GW6 last season spending most of the time playing catch up. So a double game week is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of this supposed loophole.

However, it's never as simple as it seems, with Villa facing tough opening fixtures it may be an idea to avoid picking Guzan or any defender, the obvious choice for many seems to Benteke, but I remain sceptical on that*.

Players from the Chelsea team look a safer bet for bringing in the points. I personally have Mata as my captain to hopefully have quadruple points from the first GW. But of course the danger lies in Mourinho and how he chooses to rotate his squad. Whether it will be Torres, Lukaku or Ba leading the line or a combo of the two. The midfield choices could also be complex. Whether Essien will come back into the team and will Luiz be playing as a CB or CM this season? The safest choices probably remain at Hazard and Mata but they will of course set you back quite a bit.

If you're playing on FiT you can wait to see how Chelsea line up for their first game, however with FPL you don't have that luxury, unfortunately. May your best judgement be with you.

*It is guaranteed that Benteke will score at least 5 goals in his opening two games

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New Kids On The Block

Last season several of the new signings brought over from Europe set the Premier League alight. Hazard, Cazorla not to mention Michu. So I thought it would be an idea to look at a few of the reasonably priced newbies to see if we can find the next Michu.

Emanuele Giaccherini MID 5.9mil SUN

A 28 year old Italian international, brought in by Di Canio presumably to play behind Sessegnon although he can also operate on the wing. Giaccherini featured heavily in Italy's Confederations Cup campaign playing in all 5 matches chipping in with a goal and 2 assists. He joins from Serie A champions Juventus, featuring 52 times for them but with many appearances coming from the bench.

Verdict: Could turn out to be a good signing but risky for the price

Paulinho MID 6.0mil TOT

This lad may be more familiar to you, he featured heavily in Brazil's Confederations Cup exploits
scoring 2 goals and also scoring against England in the 2-2 friendly. His success will depend on how Villas Boas employs him in the Spurs midfield. Whether Bale stays or goes will also impact his attacking role. Either way he'll definitely pitch in this season with a few assists and goals.

Verdict: Possible success story, especially if Bale vacates to the Bernabéu. Good choice if in need of a cheapish midfielder.

Andreas Cornelius FOR 7.4mil CAR

The young Dane has only had one full professional season in Denmark, managing to find the net 18 times. It was rumoured that some of the Prem's bigger clubs were looking at Cornelius before he was snapped up by Malky Mackay. He's also featured for the Danish national team 7 times scoring once in a World Cup qualifier. At a towering 6ft 4in he'll also dominate in the air, this could turn out well depending on how direct Cardiff decide to play their football.

Verdict: Looking for a cheaper striker who won't be chosen by many? It's a risk, especially with a newly promoted team.

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Player Selection: The Back Four

Your choice of defenders heavily impact what you can do with the rest of your team, so it may be an idea to work backwards and select the strikers and midfielders first. My advice would be that you aren't looking for any defenders above 6.5 million and if you choose 4 defenders rather than 3, you're looking for one defender for under 5 million. If you've plucked for 5 at the back then I have no words for you.

You should always practise what you preach so here is my current back 4 and coincidentally ones I would recommend taking a look at

Coleman EVE 5.6million

Seamus Coleman has looked promising ever since he arrived at Goodison Park from Sligo Rovers in 2009. A pacey full back who isn't afraid to get forward, Coleman is likely to pick up a few assists if he's regularly picked by Roberto Martinez. Since the retirement of Phil Neville and the recent injuries of Tony Hibbert, Coleman has emerged as the number one Right Back choice for Everton. With 5 assists last season, it's almost certain that he'll improve on that record for the coming season.

Shawcross STO 5.7million

While not as solid as they were last season, Stoke still brought in their fair share of clean sheets and to top that, Ryan Shawcross chipped in with the odd goal and assist to boost his total last season to 108; the 11th best defender. No longer under Pulis, I would hope that Mark Hughes doesn't try to alter Stoke's methodology (so to speak) as quickly as he would probably like to. I still see Stoke being a solid team who don't give too much away at the back.

Riether FUL 5.5million

Not the best full back in the Prem by a long stretch, but reasonable for the price. I'm relying on Fulham to be a little bit more solid at the back this season, but Riether has nailed down his place in the Fulham team and chipped in with 6 assists last season.

Clyne SOT 4.8million

Another player who is a consistent starter for their team. Clyne was the last defender I chose for my team so I was working with limited funds, but I feel that with a season of experience and decent opening fixtures for The Saints, Clyne could be a risky but worthy investment.




Other Reasonably Priced Defenders:

Gibbs ARS 6.2 million
Dawson TOT 6.1 million
Distin EVE 5.7 million
Riise FUL 5.5 million
Coloccini NEW 5.4 million

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What If Bale Leaves?

The question I'm sure many fantasy football managers fear, but some will embrace it. The thing is, who is going to fill that Bale shaped hole left in the centre of your team? Well for starters, it depends on your formation. If like myself you're currently adopting the 4-5-1, it opens up the opportunity to resort back to everyone's favourite default formation, the 4-4-2. The list of striking options available for Bale's starting price of 9.2million isn't bad. But it's not the greatest either.

1. Giroud ARS 9.2
2. Hernandez MNU 9.0
3. Jovetic MNC 8.9
4. Cisse NEW 8.9
5. Berbatov FUL 8.7
6. Lukaku CHE 8.6
7. Lambert SOT 8.6

Only half the list are nailed on starters for their respective teams and with the unpredictable rotation policies at the bigger clubs, it may be a risk to pick the likes of Jovetic and Lukaku just yet.

If you're looking to pick up a like-for-like replacement for the Welshman then your midfield options are looking pretty good, any midfielder you pick will give you at least an extra 0.7million to put in your bank for later. That's pretty good when you consider that you can fit the likes of Mata, Cazorla and Hazard in.

If for whatever reason you feel that now your best midfielder is no longer available, you need to sure up the back line or buy a new keeper then I advise you take a cold shower and seek medical attention immediately.

If a player holding that kind of value did depart then it opens up many options for reconfiguring your team. Bringing in a 6.2mil replacement like Sessegnon would give you 3mil to work with. Perhaps meaning you can afford that striker who was eluding you or improve several players elsewhere.

Of course if Bale remains at Spurs then this whole post become irrelevant and everyone just carries on as per-usual. Until January, when I can bombard you with this post again. *Evil maniacal laugh*

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Player Selection: The Goalkeeper

It's relatively simple what you want from a goalkeeper in fantasy football, and that's clean sheets. Unless you're relying on going all 'Mystic Meg' and predicting which keeper will score a fluke from his own box. Some FiT players will go for the most expensive keepers such as the likes of Hart and Cech, and while they are guaranteed to get you decent points, they will take quite a chunk out of your £75million.

2012-13 Top scoring GKs:

(Points last season) (Final price last season)

1. Hart: 137 8.7million
2. Cech: 106 8.0million
3. Reina: 103 6.3 million
4. Begovic: 91 6.3 million
5. Howard: 86 6.0 million

While it's obvious that choosing Hart last season would've given you the most points by far, his price may have meant missing out on some outfield players whose points would've been more valuable to you. You can also see the 3 point gap between Cech and Reina, yet choosing the Liverpool keeper would've freed up 1.7million to spend on other players.

It's advisable to choose a more mid priced keeper just to make the rest of your squad more balanced and it always helps to work backwards so your keeper choice is the last thing you do. In terms of picking your team, not death...

Reasonably priced keepers:

Stekelenburg FUL 5.3million
Krul NEW 5.3million (If fit)
Vorm SWA 5.1million
Begovic STO 5.0million
Foster WBA 5.0million

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Tactically Speaking: Which Formation Is Best?

I've heard it banded around that strikers are where the points will be at this season. But I'm going to have to disagree. Granted out of the top three point scorers last season, two were strikers. But in the Top 10, 6 were midfielders. So it's important not to overlook the fact that midfielders can be cheaper but just as effective as their striking counterparts. However! Don't for one second get the idea that my master plan is to get everyone playing 4-5-1 and then showing up with my 3-4-3 team filled to the brim with strikers. The logic still stands that goals get the most points and relatively those who score the most goals are strikers. Unless you're Tottenham...

So depending on how you're doing finance wise, my advice would be to start off building your team in the default 4-4-2 formation, starting with the strikers first. Once you've sorted that pick the rest of your team, still in reverse; MIDs then DEFs then the keeper. If by the time you reach the keeper, you don't have the funds to make the signing you want, then it can be an option to trade out one of your strikers for a cheaper midfield option.

My provisional squad is in a 4-5-1 formation for this reason, but as the season approaches, I'm going to attempt to work a 3 defender system into my team, hopefully not sacrificing any of my best players. So that's to come later on this month.

Good luck building your teams! I probably haven't helped at all...

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Tactically Speaking: The First 6 Games

Instead of just picking the best players from the pool, I wondered if it would be a better idea to choose players from teams that have favourable opening fixtures. I did a few calculations (sounds way more impressive than it was). These were the scores (out of 18) for each team.

Arsenal: 17

Aston Villa: 9

Cardiff: 8

Chelsea: 15

Crystal Palace: 7

Everton: 17

Fulham: 11

Hull: 9

Liverpool: 17

Man City: 17

Man Utd: 15

Newcastle: 12

Norwich: 8

Southampton: 9

Stoke: 12

Sunderland: 12

Swansea: 9

Tottenham: 16

West Brom: 11

West Ham: 9

Make of this what you will, but the teams who will probably be bringing in the most points will be no surprise to you. Man City, Liverpool and Spurs have decent fixtures. But United, under Moyes will have to face Liverpool and Chelsea which will provide a big test for the new boss. Of the teams with more affordable players Sunderland and Newcastle have decent fixtures. So it may be worth taking a look at cheaper options such as Sessengnon, Cabaye and Ben Arfa. Maybe even Altidore if he becomes a regular starter.

Man City seemingly have the best fixtures, but it will be difficult to predict who Pellegrini will pick based on his huge array of talent to choose from. Along with whether his rotation policy will be as erratic as Mancini's was.

Potential high point scorers from the first 6 fixtures:

Aguero £10.1m
Negredo £9.8m
Podolski £9.4m
Giroud £9.2m
Cisse £8.9m
Silva £8.0m
Gerrard £7.8m
Toure £7.6m

Potential bargain players from the first 6 fixtures:

Altidore £7.5m
Coutinho £6.9m
Navas £6.9m
Fernandinho £6.5m
Cabaye £6.4m
Johnson £6.1m

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Right, let's do this

So I've basically drafted together a quick provisional squad that I've based off previous performances last season and my limited knowledge. Also realising that apparently £75 million is really quite easy to spend when you've picked the most expensive defenders going and then wonder why you only have £0.2 million left for a striker.

So this is what I've come up with so far:

It seems a reasonably solid enough team, I feel the only weak links are Pilkington and McShane, but that's solely down to price constraints. However, I'm debating whether to tackle this season tactically, analysing the first six fixtures of each team and then drafting my team based on that. Exciting, huh?

So yeah, I have a lot of free time. I'm gonna kick some FiT ass.

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Football Hearsay Returns... Again

After my RVP prediction (Shameless plug here http://footballhearsay.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rvp-saga-more-smart-management-from.html) I went into hiding for a year. However, the season is well over and Arsenal fans have stopped trying to brutally murder me. So I return, this time with a slightly different objective and that is to focus on my new found passion of fantasy football. This 'passion' of mine has come about solely because this happened last season. A crushing victory might I add.



I'm basically a God

Despite there being an oversaturation of fantasy football tips and websites online, I'm doing this purely through boredom. So if anyone does come across this and wants to berate me for my terrible decisions throughout the season then so be it, but hear me now, I promise you nothing.

On that positive note, let's begin. Are we sitting comfortably?

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The RVP Saga: More Smart Management From Wenger?

On the face of it, the impending transfer of Robin Van Perise to one of Europe's elite clubs seems like any other situation where a player begins to feel too big for his boots. Where an Oil Baron's money and the lure of trophies crushes any thought of morals into extinction.

But then you begin to ask the question, why did Wenger allow Van Persie's contract to run into its last year? Surely by January, after RVP had been hitting goals home left, right and centre it must have entered the back of Arsene's mind. To possibly understand what he's thinking we need to go back to 2007, the club legend and all time top goalscorer Thierry Henry is sold to Barcelona at the age of 29, he probably had at least one more good season in him. But in an unexpected turn of events he was transferred to the Nou Camp for about £18 million.

While at the time, many Arsenal fans questioned the decision with bemusement at how the club could just discard their 'greatest player of all time' when they were in need of a leader. However, the wonder of hindsight showed us that it was a fantastic piece of business and not for the first time from the Arsenal manager. While Henry went on to win silverware at Barcelona he wasn't a regular in the first team and eventually made the jump across the Atlantic that all players who want less of a challenge do. Henry signed for the New York Red Bulls for a far lesser price than he arrived in Barcelona for and had he remained at the Emirates, Arsenal would've received that small fee instead of the £7 million profit they made.

Looking at Van Persie, I see a similar situation arising, while he had a fantastic 2011/12 season he is now 28 and by the end of his contract he would be 29, the same age as Henry. By allowing him to leave on the back of a golden boot season, Arsenal will be able to get a far higher transfer fee for him rather than paying him an extortionate fee to sign for a few more years, or allowing him to leave on a free next year.

Whoever signs him in this window, because he will leave this year, will get a few decent seasons from him before he fades into mediocracy. But while Arsenal don't want to be the feeder club for the 'bigger' teams in European football, this gives Wenger a chance to spend big while keeping in check with Financial Fair Play.

If I'm right, then Van Persie leaving Arsenal will be one of the best things to happen to the team this year, despite all the cynicism that has come from the Arsenal fans.

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