Fantasy Premier League 2019/20: 3 things to look out for this season
The 2019/20 season of English Premier League is about to begin soon and along with it, begins the season for Fantasy Premier League. Every here I post a blog at the beginning of the season in which I share some personal insights about the Fantasy Premier League.
Every season is different. You see different players, positions as well as clubs thrive every season. Some are expected and many others are unexpected. In this blog post, I'm going to talk about 3 key things which make this season different from the last one and how your fantasy football team could potentially be affected by it.
This year, the transfer window has been pretty quiet for the 2 big guns of last season, namely, Manchester City and Liverpool. Liverpool has just signed a couple of young prospects, although, they do seem to be looking for a potential left-back. Manchester City has also made a couple of signings with the intent of further bolstering their squad as they search for that elusive Champions League title.
However, this season, both the teams are enjoying a quiet transfer summer. Liverpool has only brought in a couple of young talents, but not right now. They potentially will try to get another left-back as a back up for Robertson. Manchester City, on the other hand, has
Last season, they held a commanding lead above the rest of the league in terms of points as well as talent. The other big guns in the league are desperate to cut that lead short. Manchester United have already shown intent by bringing in 2 big-money defenders and are desperately trying to swap strikers with Juventus.
The London clubs aren't far behind. Arsenal has signed Pepe, an attacking midfielder, and Dani Ceballos, a holding midfielder on loan from Real Madrid to strengthen their spine. They're on the lookout for a strong Centre back as well to give them a sense of security at the back. Their biggest derby rivals, Tottenham, have also broken the bank to sign Ndombele from Lyon. Chelsea, while lacking in transfers, will be full of energy under their new manager and Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard.
Other mid-table clubs have been busy during this window as well. Everton, Wolves and West Ham continue to build on their sides. Leicester is looking to strengthen their squad as well under the leadership of their new manager (relatively speaking) Brendan Rodgers.
The same can be said about teams at the bottom of the table. All 3 promoted teams, Sheffield, Aston Villa, and Norwich seem to be doing a Fulham in terms of transfers - breaking the bank to strengthen their squad. Will they be a one-season promotion or a longer fairy tale remains to be seen.
This season, there are already a few candidates that could potentially go down. Newcastle United seems to be a club in shambles after having let go of a Champions League-winning manager. They are strong candidates to get relegated this season despite a really nice jersey that even I, as a Liverpool fan, am pretty tempted to buy. The same can be said about Burnley, Brighton, and Southampton, which barely scraped through.
When it comes to taking in new signings, I'm always a bit vary. You don't know if they're going to get in the team right away or not. You don't know if the managers are going to be able to get the best out of them right from the start. On the other hand, they can be a really good value for money if you purchase them before the trend catches on. I had Salah and Robertson from GW1 when they joined Liverpool and I didn't regret it. However, the number of summer signings that I've been wrong about is a much longer list. My word of advice would be to proceed with extreme caution.
As I write this blog, I have just witnessed the 2 big giants of last season go head to head over the FA Community Shield title and produce one of the most entertaining matches of football. It's too early to say anything about this year's title race. However, the match made 2 things very clear.
What does it mean for my FPL team? At the start of the season, I'm going to keep a diversified squad as much as possible and focus on fixture ratings over player form. It's normally after the 3rd Gameweek when it starts emerging which player put in that extra effort in the off-season and which one was busy with their bellends and liver.
Picking players from the bottom of the table or newly promoted teams can be another challenging task. As I mentioned earlier, the promoted teams seem to be doing a Fulham in terms of transfers i.e. buying a bunch of players to strengthen their squad.
On one hand, it makes perfect sense for newly promoted teams to get new talent into the squad. The promotion brings along with it more money, in terms of sponsorship as well as telecast earnings. On top of that, they need reinforcements to deal with the rigor of the Premier League and to try and survive there for another season. These factors often push newly promoted clubs to go on a buying frenzy.
On the other hand, making too many changes into the squad can also lead to the loss of chemistry within the squad. The chemistry, trust, and camaraderie between the players is a very important factor that determines how a team performs. It's quite often that teams manage to reach levels of performance far above what is expected of them and punch above their weight if they are truly united in spirit. Changing the squad too much can mess with the locker room environment and once that goes downhill, it's very hard to bring it back up.
At the same time, teams at the bottom of the league often see their start players picked out by better clubs and have to keep focusing on either developing new talent from within their development squads or scout for talent from the lower division or other small clubs.
In terms of finding value for money in these squads, it's important to identify their players in form and focus on periods when they have easier fixtures. Transfering their in-form players during these periods can help you pick up points that a lot of other squads could potentially miss out on. At the same time, when reactive squads start putting them in, it'll increase your squad's value and in the end, leave you with more money when you transfer them out. A good squad picker should see at least 3-5% appreciation in their squad value during the season.
These are the 3 key areas I wanted to discuss before the start of this season of Premier League. I'll admit that personally, for me, the start of the season has been a bit low key as compared to last season. However, a lot of squads are building up in different ways this season. I have a feeling that it will really kick into full gear in the second month.
Every season is different. You see different players, positions as well as clubs thrive every season. Some are expected and many others are unexpected. In this blog post, I'm going to talk about 3 key things which make this season different from the last one and how your fantasy football team could potentially be affected by it.
The transfers
This year, the transfer window has been pretty quiet for the 2 big guns of last season, namely, Manchester City and Liverpool. Liverpool has just signed a couple of young prospects, although, they do seem to be looking for a potential left-back. Manchester City has also made a couple of signings with the intent of further bolstering their squad as they search for that elusive Champions League title.
However, this season, both the teams are enjoying a quiet transfer summer. Liverpool has only brought in a couple of young talents, but not right now. They potentially will try to get another left-back as a back up for Robertson. Manchester City, on the other hand, has
Last season, they held a commanding lead above the rest of the league in terms of points as well as talent. The other big guns in the league are desperate to cut that lead short. Manchester United have already shown intent by bringing in 2 big-money defenders and are desperately trying to swap strikers with Juventus.
The London clubs aren't far behind. Arsenal has signed Pepe, an attacking midfielder, and Dani Ceballos, a holding midfielder on loan from Real Madrid to strengthen their spine. They're on the lookout for a strong Centre back as well to give them a sense of security at the back. Their biggest derby rivals, Tottenham, have also broken the bank to sign Ndombele from Lyon. Chelsea, while lacking in transfers, will be full of energy under their new manager and Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard.
Other mid-table clubs have been busy during this window as well. Everton, Wolves and West Ham continue to build on their sides. Leicester is looking to strengthen their squad as well under the leadership of their new manager (relatively speaking) Brendan Rodgers.
The same can be said about teams at the bottom of the table. All 3 promoted teams, Sheffield, Aston Villa, and Norwich seem to be doing a Fulham in terms of transfers - breaking the bank to strengthen their squad. Will they be a one-season promotion or a longer fairy tale remains to be seen.
This season, there are already a few candidates that could potentially go down. Newcastle United seems to be a club in shambles after having let go of a Champions League-winning manager. They are strong candidates to get relegated this season despite a really nice jersey that even I, as a Liverpool fan, am pretty tempted to buy. The same can be said about Burnley, Brighton, and Southampton, which barely scraped through.
When it comes to taking in new signings, I'm always a bit vary. You don't know if they're going to get in the team right away or not. You don't know if the managers are going to be able to get the best out of them right from the start. On the other hand, they can be a really good value for money if you purchase them before the trend catches on. I had Salah and Robertson from GW1 when they joined Liverpool and I didn't regret it. However, the number of summer signings that I've been wrong about is a much longer list. My word of advice would be to proceed with extreme caution.
The title runners
As I write this blog, I have just witnessed the 2 big giants of last season go head to head over the FA Community Shield title and produce one of the most entertaining matches of football. It's too early to say anything about this year's title race. However, the match made 2 things very clear.
- If any of the other big clubs in the league need to make the title race interesting, they have a heck of a job to rise to the standards of Liverpool and Manchester City.
- At the same time, if these 2 clubs need to retain their dominance, they have about 1 week to work out the chinks in their armor. Both teams' defenses were caught out way too many times and their strikers need to fine-tune their finishing. Sadio Mane will barely get any time to recover. Salah and Sterling were a bit wasteful with their opportunities. They are the 2 midfield powerhouses that 1 in every 3 FPL teams have in their squad. Every half-decent FPL squad needs to have at least 1 of these 2 (or be banking upon Aguero/Mane to do a similar job instead). In case the points from these 2 dry out, it'll be interesting to see which players in these 2 teams pick up the slack.
What does it mean for my FPL team? At the start of the season, I'm going to keep a diversified squad as much as possible and focus on fixture ratings over player form. It's normally after the 3rd Gameweek when it starts emerging which player put in that extra effort in the off-season and which one was busy with their bellends and liver.
The promoted teams
Picking players from the bottom of the table or newly promoted teams can be another challenging task. As I mentioned earlier, the promoted teams seem to be doing a Fulham in terms of transfers i.e. buying a bunch of players to strengthen their squad.
On one hand, it makes perfect sense for newly promoted teams to get new talent into the squad. The promotion brings along with it more money, in terms of sponsorship as well as telecast earnings. On top of that, they need reinforcements to deal with the rigor of the Premier League and to try and survive there for another season. These factors often push newly promoted clubs to go on a buying frenzy.
On the other hand, making too many changes into the squad can also lead to the loss of chemistry within the squad. The chemistry, trust, and camaraderie between the players is a very important factor that determines how a team performs. It's quite often that teams manage to reach levels of performance far above what is expected of them and punch above their weight if they are truly united in spirit. Changing the squad too much can mess with the locker room environment and once that goes downhill, it's very hard to bring it back up.
At the same time, teams at the bottom of the league often see their start players picked out by better clubs and have to keep focusing on either developing new talent from within their development squads or scout for talent from the lower division or other small clubs.
In terms of finding value for money in these squads, it's important to identify their players in form and focus on periods when they have easier fixtures. Transfering their in-form players during these periods can help you pick up points that a lot of other squads could potentially miss out on. At the same time, when reactive squads start putting them in, it'll increase your squad's value and in the end, leave you with more money when you transfer them out. A good squad picker should see at least 3-5% appreciation in their squad value during the season.
These are the 3 key areas I wanted to discuss before the start of this season of Premier League. I'll admit that personally, for me, the start of the season has been a bit low key as compared to last season. However, a lot of squads are building up in different ways this season. I have a feeling that it will really kick into full gear in the second month.
Feel free to share this with your mates or comment below to tell me about your thoughts. I'm also putting in a screenshot of my current squad (even though I'm quite likely to change parts of it in the coming days).
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| Peace Bros. F.C. |
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