The
new Premier League season gets underway in a few short days, which means most
people should have their fantasy teams complete with only a few injury doubts
and late fitness tests really impacting on final selections. That is, unless
you`ve entered yourself into a drafted league. In which case, you pour over the
football news websites for info on the members of your squad with an obsession
only Captain Ahab in Moby Dick could understand. If Martin Olsson is your third
defender, it`s probably a good idea to follow him on Instagram to see if the
pictures he takes give you any insight into that shoulder injury he`s carrying……
right?
The
draft was completed just over a week ago and I thought it was about time to
explain how the ragtag members of my squad came together. The overall theme of
my squad was `Out with the Old, In with the New`. In most other fantasy games,
a lot of teams will have the old reliables as bedrocks of their teams. Aguero,
Baines, Ivanovic, Silva, etc. But in a drafted league, it`s very rare that one
team would be packed with such players, and in a draft where everyone knows
their Jordan Ayews from their Andre Ayews, it`s even rarer still. So rather
than getting caught in lots of bidding wars over players, I felt it was better
to just pick out a few players and concentrate on landing them. And the players
I wanted to land were all new faces to the EPL. The reasons I will go into
individually, but at the outset of the draft I knew this season I wanted to
take a chance on these type of players to propel me up the league table, rather
than blowing my budget to outbid people on Costa and Hazard. Of course they
could all flop, get injured, be loaned off to the championship, etc, and my
team will end up propping up the table, but let`s see what happens.
I
ended up with eight new signings to the Premier League, and a player who is
playing with a new club this season. A very untested bunch. This meant that
between the sticks I wanted a more proven performer. My first selection of the
draft was the Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois. I had hoped to get him at less than the $31
I was eventually bid up to, but I was happy to have him keeping goal every
week. Chelsea had the fewest goals conceded last year and 17 clean sheets (11
at home), I realize other keepers gathered more points last season, but if
Chelsea get near to less than a goal conceded a game and almost half a season
of clean sheets again this year, I’ll be doing okay. Also if the defence falters,
I think Courtois is good enough to pick up the slack, plus Begovic is not a bad
replacement if Courtois does get sidelined for any reason.
The
most expensive member of my squad ended up being Memphis Depay at $49. Another
player I had earmarked for selection. With RVP leaving and Hernandez and Di
Maria looking towards the exit door, I thought the goals would fall to Rooney
and Depay to collect, with Mata chipping in too. He had a great record for Dutch
side PSV last season, 28 goals in 40 appearances. I`m hoping he`ll take to the
premier league from Dutch football more like a Ruud Van Nistelrooy rather than
like a Jan Vannegoor of Hesselink. Depay was to be my main forward and I would
have preferred to have paid something nearer the 31m Man Utd did for him, and
paying $49 probably hampered the money I wanted to spend on my defence later in
the draft.
Next
up was the midfield, and a player I had my eye on was Newcastle`s Wijnaldum. In
Holland he averaged a little under a goal every three games. I`m also hoping
that Steve McClaren`s knowledge of the English and Dutch games means he`s
fairly confident he`ll adapt quickly to the Premier League. I paid $22 for
Wijnaldum and would have probably paid a little more. The other midfielder I
wanted was Swansea`s new Ghana international Andre Ayew. At 25 he should be
coming into the best football of his career, and what has come before wasn`t
too shabby as he averaged around one goal in four games playing in France. He
plays more of a forward than a midfielder, and I expect him to shine at
Swansea.
As
a back-up forward I had hoped to get my hands on Leicester City`s Shinji
Okazaki, but when @GalinDragiev brought his value up to $12 I felt I had to
back off. Okazaki is one of Japan`s most prolific goalscorers and easily got to
double figures in goals at Mainz in each of the last two seasons.
My
most expensive defensive purchase was West Ham`s Carl Jenkinson at $10. He
averaged more points per game in Fantrax last season than both Trippier and
Janmaat, who went for $20 and $12 respectively in the draft, so I`ve got to be
happy with that. Rounding out my defence I have two players who have joined
Watford this summer and a new signing at Aston Villa.
Of
the three promoted sides Watford came up with the leakiest defence and new
manager Quique Flores has moved to shore things up at the back with a few new
faces. Jose Holebas comes in from Roma, while Allan Nyom was signed from
Udinese (though played in Spain with Granada) and with Flores having been a
right back during his playing days, I’m banking on him having an eye for a
defender or two. At Villa, Tim Sherwood has brought in Jordan Amavi as left
back. He may be only 21 but the Frenchman looks a class act and should
hopefully cement his place there. He was my next biggest defensive signing at $5.
Back
to midfield and another big signing was the $25 I spent on Man Utd`s Bastian
Schweinsteiger. He may have a `possibly injured` little red flag beside his
name every week and with United`s heavier schedule this season there is always
the risk of rotation in a crowed Man Utd midfield, but I thought he would have
went for a bit more than $25. He had one of his poorer seasons last year at
Bayern where he only managed 28 games and five goals. I actually consider
Schweinsteiger the biggest ‘gamble’ of my draft.
Rounding
out my midfield I have Fabian Delph to come in if a couple of my main midfielders are not firing. People often ask why certain players go to big
clubs when it looks like they will struggle to break into the first team and
could end up sitting on the bench for prolonged periods, or worse, just
forgotten about as their once bright career disappears. But every player backs
themselves to compete at the top level and they convince themselves that they
can be the main man at any side. If Delph is willing to back himself to be a
fixture at Man City, I can back him for a $5 bid. He`s clearly a talented young
player and I see no reason why he can`t get at least the same amount of game time as
players such as Milner, Fernando, or Navas even!
I also added new Villa midfielder Idrissa Gueye for $9. The Senegalese arrives from Lille for 9m and scored 4 goals last season in Ligue 1. As a late addition post draft,
I obtained the services of Villa`s Scott Sinclair, just as an extra body as players sit on the
Injured Reserve list. He has been in good form in preseason and with Tim
Sherwood brining an attacking style to the club, that means possible fantasy
points at the right end of the field.
To complete my trio of forwards I have
Danny Welbeck of Arsenal and Jonathan Walters of Stoke. Welbeck has yet to get
a decent run in the Arsenal team, but with the Euros coming up I’m hoping he
can force himself into some of Arsene Wenger’s plans and knock in a few goals.
He is currently out injured. Walters on the other hand is never very far from
Mark Hughes’ plans at Stoke City. He had his most prolific season scoring-wise last
year, and something similar would be much appreciated from the $1 acquisition.
So that was the thinking behind my squad.
Let me know what you think on Twitter @GarryIrwin, and look out for upcoming articles posted
on The Notebook. For a breakdown of how each team drafted, Galin Dragiev covers all the bases over at Rotoworld in his comprehensive IEFSA draft review. Until next time, remember to join the qualifier league and to
follow @THE_IEFSA on Twitter.
