City players back in week 1 then. That makes things more complicated.
Reading this, I think they still might miss the first game week?
It says reaching the final would see a team missing 2 game weeks, so it makes sense that a week before means still 1 game week?
Sounds like Chelsea may even be in the mix to miss a week.
Sounds a right minefield.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53651865
Am I missing something. Even if Utd get to the final, they'll have 3 weeks off before the league starts again. Isn't that enough.
If you go for the KDB / Bruno option you are guaranteed to have a home captain all season. Very tempted personally.
My initial team:
Ryan / Button
TAA / Dallas / Ferguson / Walker-Peters / Vinagre
KDB / Fernandes / Ziyech / Pulisic / Soucek
Jimenez / Martial / Bamford
Not too convinced with Fernandes at 10.5 though, may swap him for Salah and turn Ziyech into something cheaper. Newcomers are always super tricky.
How do you know this?
My first draft (before fixture announcement):
GK
Ryan/McCarthy
DEF
Alexander-Arnold/Shaw/Vinagre + Lamptney/Ferguson
MID
Bruno/DeBruyne/Aubameyang/Saint-Maximin + Stephens
ST
Martial/Mitrovic/Wood
My plan is to have 15 players guaranteed to play most of the games. I reckon you can rotate between Wood, Mitrovic and Lamptney depending on fixtures. It remains to be seen if Nathan Ferguson becomes a starter for Crystal Palace. Not any good option for a 4.0 defender or 4.5 midfielder, is there?
I have now upgraded Jimenez to Werner and downgraded Bamford to Davis. Actually in my league I doubt anyone will have Salah, so he could be an advantage but to get 4.0 to turn Ziyech into him I would need to swap Werner for a 5.5 striker and they are all crap. I think Martial and Werner could get me good numbers. There aren’t really that many great options up front below 8.0. All are either backups at good teams or main forwards at weak teams. I need to have 2 good strikers.Fernandes had the best PPG over every other regular-playing player this season (albeit, he only played since Jan). More so than de Bruyne. For a player that is 1m cheaper, plays in a more advanced role most of the time, with the attacking talent infront of him, Bruno, for me (along with TAA), is the first name on my team sheet.
A lot of people have got Ziyech in. I agree with you & in my experience, it usually doesn't work out bringing a shiny new toy signing straight away. If Pulisic isn't injured when the season starts, he's a much safer bet at only 0.5m more. Like you mentioned, I believe Salah is also pretty much nailed on to be in my team. There's certain players you can't risk not having, like Salah, because everyone else will have him and if he hits the ground running (which he probably will), you end up falling behind everyone else.
After looking at your team, maybe it would be worth downgrading Jiminez/Martial, and upgrading Ziyech to Salah, and playing a 3-5-2?
United and City rotate home games.
Same as Everton and Liverpool.
Plus loads of other clubs
If you are going that route, I think I’d rather have Tony M as my United home captain.If you go for the KDB / Bruno option you are guaranteed to have a home captain all season. Very tempted personally.
If you are going that route, I think I’d rather have Tony M as my United home captain.
Martial been reclassified as a striker. 1 less pt for every goal and loses 1 pt for every clean sheet.
He's still a great option for one of the 3 forwards but I captain my attacking minds for the reasons above. Usually between Salah, Mane, KDB, Bruno, Sterling, Son..... basically.
Rashford n Greenwood been classified as midfielders this new season too so become more appealing again.
Apparently the game leaked that we're playing Arsenal at home on the opening day
Penalties can be a factor. So Bruno, Salah, Aguero/De Bruyne, Auba, Kane takes them. In Chelsea I am not sure. Werner or Ziyech. The guy taking them is extra good pick particular Ziyech if he takes them.
If De Bruyne is on pens over Aguero then I think he should be in your team since he gets rotated less.
Can we still get penalties like crazy or will the numbers go down? If like crazy then Bruno should be great to have.
Do you know if he is going to take pens or not? Maybe too early to know.
Apparently the game leaked that we're playing Arsenal at home on the opening day
Really starting to be settled on my team now after a fair bit on tinkering today. Obviously fixtures could change the team again.
Ryan (Button)
TAA, Vinagre, Egan, (Taylor), (Ferguson)
Salah, KDB, Greenwood, Grealish, Saint Maxim
Jiminez, Werner (Davis)
I would have one of Bruno or Martial in there personally.Really starting to be settled on my team now after a fair bit on tinkering today. Obviously fixtures could change the team again.
Ryan (Button)
TAA, Vinagre, Egan, (Taylor), (Ferguson)
Salah, KDB, Greenwood, Grealish, Saint Maxim
Jiminez, Werner (Davis)
First attempt. Good captain options in the middle and bench typically get minutes for their team (less Murray) so always an option to swap Dallas and Egan about to suit difficult fixtures. Team will no undoubtedly change before fixtures announced/season kick off.
Ryan
TAA - Doherty - Egan - James - Dallas
Fernandes - Sterling - Salah
Antonio - Martial
Subs: Fabri - Romeu - Murray - Stephens
First draft of:
McCarthy - (Button)
TAA - Saiss - Wan Bissaka - (Bardsley) - (Ferguson)
Fernandes - Salah - Saint Maximin - De Bruyne - Pulisic
Ayew - Antonio - (Davis)
Will most definitely amend before the season starts. Keeping my eye on Pulisic to see if he stays fit. Don't really like putting new signings in my team immediately so will have to see how Ziyech gets on.
Bit of a headache with all these big hitters in midfield, especially now that Martial is playing brilliantly and he looks like a necessary up front. Opinions on Aubameyang? Lacazette linked with Juve, could mean that Auba is starting up top every week supported by Willian/Pepe. He's already a big scorer, with more potential BPS, clean sheets, more points for goals coming from midfield, could be a huge scorer this season.
Anybody round here a fan of any of the promoted/lower tier teams in the league? Do you have any info on players with a low price that might have a chance of playing?
Overall finish of 7089 last season, hoping to push even better this time round!
You're leaving that attack exceptionally weak as it looks like you'll play 3-5-2.
Superb midfield, but Pulisic is already injured now isn't he? And the Manchester boys won't play week 1.
I'm planning on going for a 3-5-2 right now. I see so many points coming from midfield this season. Defence I try to balance and don't go all out on (except Trent) due to the fact that defenders don't pull as many points as midfielders/forwards.
One of my issues is that I'll have to miss out on Martial, which could really hurt me. Albeit, as you mentioned, it gives me a great midfield. The only way of really fitting Tony in would be to downgrade TAA, which is crazy to think of.
I've not done any research on Pulisic at the moment, I'm just wondering if he'll be fit for the season start? Ended last season in great form and was looking like one of Chelsea's best players, for 8.5m, which to me sounds like a steal. If he's still injured by the start of the season, I'll most likely replace him with Willian or someone of that ilk.
You're right though, with the Manchester teams not playing that first week, it really creates even more of a headache, especially because so many of their players are sought after on fantasy football. It might just end up being an early wild card again for a lot of managers, which is annoying.