Fantasy League News 2017/2018

[picasso]

Great write up Rosie. These reports are making this competition so much more interesting.

Bad week for me as I’m now knocked out of the cup (some typically underhand tactics from a Spuds supporter playing his freehit card and filling his team with spurs and West Ham players) and two of my team are even fighting amongst themselves.

Second half of the season is going to be just as exciting!

[bongosdad]

Well done Oz! and thanks for another great write up Rosie.

Wild card done!

[samhubball]

Things have changed for football fans. It used to be that only the team you supported had the power to ruin your weekend.

Not anymore. These days, fantasy football allows you to spread that burden around the Premier League, so that you can feel disappointment over and over again.

When going head-to-head with your mates, you negotiate a minefield of decision-making every week in the pursuit of pride, bragging rights, and – in some cases – a decent financial windfall. Who to pick? Who to captain? When to use that New Year wildcard?

Long story short, we think there are five types of fantasy football managers.

But which category do you fall into and what do your fantasy football tactics says about you?

1The Top Loader
Be honest. In August, you started with Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku and you worked backwards.



Defenders, you reasoned, need not cost more than £5m apiece.

Liam Rosenior and Gareth McAuley haven’t added much, you admit, but at least you can fit in three Man City attackers.



Or maybe you went with Burnley's Ben Mee and James Tarkowski on a whim, and 69 points later, you can’t believe your luck.



Either way, your team is distinctly top loaded. Caution is for wimps. You lead front-foot forward like a 90s Newcastle United team.



It’s wildcard time and it’s not escaped your notice that Pogba is fit again and Ozil is back in form. How can you squeeze them into a midfield already containing Salah, Sterling and De Bruyne?



Two words. Angel. Rangel.



Captain: Mohamed Salah

Team Name: Murder on Zidane’s Floor

Charlie conspiracy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
2
The Strategist
Like many great (real life) managers before you, you know great teams are built from the back. You unashamedly employ a 5-4-1 formation with a defence (recently) packed with Burnley players. You also know the value of a reliable top goalkeeper.



You refuse to pick any of Liverpool’s front line - not with Jurgen Klopp’s infuriating rotation policy scuppering your plans every third week.



Instead you fill the defence with wing backs in an effort to harvest both clean sheets and assist points, and you stay at least four steps ahead of your league rivals by keeping a close eye on the fixtures for the month ahead. Forewarned is forearmed.



On matchday, you arrive at your hometown club’s stadium at 14:15 with three layers on, a thermos of coffee and the comforting knowledge that you’ve left no Fantasy Football stone unturned.



How will you use your wildcard? You won’t. Not until after the January transfer window.



Captain: David de Gea

Team name: Pique Blinders

Maverick, Top Gun
3
The Maverick
Your picks are based purely on personality. You deal in unpredictable, mercurial talents. If they’re not what you’d call a ‘top bloke’, then they don’t belong in your side.



The club you support is represented as many times as league rules allow, and you refuse, on ethical grounds, to pick players from rivals.



You automatically make your favourite player your captain, despite the fact he’s a striker who has scored five goals in six years.



You’re always telling your mates there are no characters in football anymore and you think Mario Balotelli was the best thing that ever happened to the Premier League.



How will you use your wildcard? It all depends on who hits the headlines during the international break.



Captain: Saido Berahino

Team Name: The Krazy Gang


4
The Trooper
You trust your instincts implicitly.



Your side has been on the decline since November, but you constantly remind yourself that, whilst form is temporary, class is very much permanent.



The boys will fire again soon. Walcott will get a game one day; Chicharito is still a dead-cert Golden Boot contender.



As for your mates - let them have their moment. The Salah bubble will burst; Sterling will run out of steam.



They tell you your head is in the sand – like a reporter at a Nigel Person press conference - but you know the Fantasy Football race is a marathon, not a sprint. Time will bear out your unquestionable genius.



How will you use your wildcard? You won’t bother. For you, a wildcard is a cheat card.



Captain: Javier Hernandez

Team Name: Lallanas in Pyjamas


5
The Chiller
You built a team in five minutes way back in August. You may even have selected ‘auto-pick’.



You’ve completely forgotten about it.



You don’t know who your captain is, and you’ve certainly never heard of this ‘wildcard’ business. You’re busy living your life. Your Instagram is getting a right working over.



Your evenings don’t get ruined by a late Stoke consolation goal robbing you of clean sheet points, and, when football players are on the end of meaty challenges, your first concern isn't about who you're going to replace them with in your squad.



Somehow, unbeknownst to you, you’re top of the league. Your friends hate you.



Captain: Riyad Mahrez

Team Name: Joe Bloggs FC

[samhubball]

Taken from.the bbc 3 website
Found it very funny so thouht I'd share it with you. Bongo - you are Mr toploader

[MissWinnie]

Brilliant find, Sam!!!

I'm mostly a top loader with a little bit of maverick.

I definitely get more excited by points from goals than clean sheets and feel like I've had a little splurge buying Jones

The maverick part of me cost me squillions of points when I refused to buy Suarez on principle. My other on my high horse refusal to allow him to join my Warriors was ... umm... a certain Mr Terry . I confess to captaining RVP ion my first season when he was playing v Villa but felt so guilty after he got a hat trick, I never captained an opponent again.


I think there should be another category of tinkerer. Tinker tinker, that's me. Has cost me oodles of points in transfers overer the season. New year resolution: I must let my team gel

[stateside]

Love it!!! Not playing but still following. I have barely watched a top flight game in December if any. I don't remember. I got to watch some awful FA cup games last week, but league wise I am now supremely confident I would have won 3 or 4 Brongo's (sp) by now and would be propping up the league. I didn't even know Burnley have good defenders. Is it because Ashley not good enough for Villa Westwood is playing in front of them or is he not good enough for the Clarets either?

[bongosdad]

Lowton plays every week Stateside. I think Westwood is on the bench most weeks. They have a good team is season.

I'm defiantly a top loader but I think it's cost me points in recent weeks. So I've activated my wild card and I think my side is more balanced now. In fact mouth watering!

[VillaRosie]

Great read Sam.

Definitely a top loader with regrettably some traits of maverick and strategist which is more than likely why the TAG’s are complete rubbish. It’s down to my managerial issues. 🤪


Always start with choosing the strikers first and work backwards.

Try never to put ex Villa players in the team.

Klopp and Pep’s rotational system drives me spare.

Not proud had Suarez as captain however strangely at the same time there is one Prem side whose players I never consider. 😜😝😛😋

[yubbywelch]

I'm 2,4
Yep I'm 24

[yubbywelch]

Bingo Lowton is in my side and hasn't played the last 10games