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Fantasy Footie 25/26

road2ruin

road2ruin

Q-School Graduate
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For those that are interested in this and to avoid clogging up the main footie thread I thought I'd stick this here if anyone is interested.

This is mine although will be tinkering up until the deadline.....

Screenshot 2025-08-14 at 14.43.34.png
 
As I said in the other thread, I have redrafted 100 times so this will probably still change before tomorrow night. But I think I'm nearly there. Currently looking like this:

1755180471144.png

GK: Most years I rotate two 4.5s, but I consistently get that wrong and the guy I leave on the bench makes 12 saves and gets bonus points etc etc. So I'm just going for one solid keeper this year, and Dubravka could well start for Burnley and is only 4.0.

DF: Van Dijk has been a mainstay of my teams, I think he's a no-brainer with the extra defensive contribution points as well as clean sheets and the odd goal. Murillo should also be good for clean sheets and def cons. Van de Ven was a good price at 4.5, and I did have Wan-Bissaka for ages, but I realised Brighton's fixtures rotate better with Spurs so I've now gone for De Cuyper. Reinildo is my 4.0 choice because Sunderland have easier fixtures to start than Burnley or Leeds do.

MF: I had Salah for a long time, but I can't really make it work with him and Haaland, and I can't bring myself to remove Haaland. Salah trailed off last season and I think this could be a transitional season of him passing the torch to Wirtz as the main man - hence Wirtz is in here. Palmer feels like a must-have with Chelsea's early fixtures. Kudus will get loads of minutes with Spurs losing Son, Kulu and Madders. Ndiaye could have been Sarr or Mitoma but he's got the edge at the moment. Reijnders for 5.5, with Rodri and Kovacic still injured, feels like you'd kick yourself if you don't have him and he rips it up for them, so in he goes.

FW: As above, I couldn't ignore Haaland, I think he's going to hit the ground running and smash goals in their early games. Watkins as well, apparently been in great form pre-season and Villa have pretty easy-going fixtures for the first 7 weeks. Fullkrug looks like he'll be starting for West Ham this season so a good bench option.
 
Orikoru said:
As I said in the other thread, I have redrafted 100 times so this will probably still change before tomorrow night. But I think I'm nearly there. Currently looking like this:

View attachment 59089

GK: Most years I rotate two 4.5s, but I consistently get that wrong and the guy I leave on the bench makes 12 saves and gets bonus points etc etc. So I'm just going for one solid keeper this year, and Dubravka could well start for Burnley and is only 4.0.

DF: Van Dijk has been a mainstay of my teams, I think he's a no-brainer with the extra defensive contribution points as well as clean sheets and the odd goal. Murillo should also be good for clean sheets and def cons. Van de Ven was a good price at 4.5, and I did have Wan-Bissaka for ages, but I realised Brighton's fixtures rotate better with Spurs so I've now gone for De Cuyper. Reinildo is my 4.0 choice because Sunderland have easier fixtures to start than Burnley or Leeds do.

MF: I had Salah for a long time, but I can't really make it work with him and Haaland, and I can't bring myself to remove Haaland. Salah trailed off last season and I think this could be a transitional season of him passing the torch to Wirtz as the main man - hence Wirtz is in here. Palmer feels like a must-have with Chelsea's early fixtures. Kudus will get loads of minutes with Spurs losing Son, Kulu and Madders. Ndiaye could have been Sarr or Mitoma but he's got the edge at the moment. Reijnders for 5.5, with Rodri and Kovacic still injured, feels like you'd kick yourself if you don't have him and he rips it up for them, so in he goes.

FW: As above, I couldn't ignore Haaland, I think he's going to hit the ground running and smash goals in their early games. Watkins as well, apparently been in great form pre-season and Villa have pretty easy-going fixtures for the first 7 weeks. Fullkrug looks like he'll be starting for West Ham this season so a good bench option.
Click to expand...
Re: Salah. I've been happy to pass over him this season although I still think he'll be a strong option. I just think that the goals are going to be more spread around this year and even more so if Isak were to join. I am happy to go Haaland this season. I did try a Salah/Haaland draft and it ended up being a really weak side so scrapped it pretty early on.
 
Not done Fantasy League for years, takes up too much time when people are injured/dropped/etc (as @Orikoru is finding before it even starts) but when I did a work one in the late 90s I ended up winning as I had a bit of insider knowledge. It was the year Barnsley were in the Premier League and I knew, being local and my wife working in the box office, that Neil Redfearn took all the free kicks, corners, and penalties, as well as getting a few goals from open play. Being a Barnsley player, he was peanuts to put in the team and got loads of points from goals and assists. If you can find that type of player for one of the lower teams then you can do quite well.
 
road2ruin said:
Re: Salah. I've been happy to pass over him this season although I still think he'll be a strong option. I just think that the goals are going to be more spread around this year and even more so if Isak were to join. I am happy to go Haaland this season. I did try a Salah/Haaland draft and it ended up being a really weak side so scrapped it pretty early on.
Click to expand...
The way I see it, not having him allows me to have Wirtz and Watkins, instead of a poorer striker such as Strand Larsen say. So if Watkins + Wirtz outscore Salah + Strand Larsen, then it's worth not having Salah. And I think they will do. I don't think Wirtz will be a long way behind Salah for the price difference.

I also had early drafts with Haaland, Salah and Palmer, but overall there were too many weak links. i.e. as above, Stand Larsen was my second striker in most of those drafts, so it meant going 4-5-1 for the first gameweek.
 
Orikoru said:
As I said in the other thread, I have redrafted 100 times so this will probably still change before tomorrow night. But I think I'm nearly there. Currently looking like this:

View attachment 59089

GK: Most years I rotate two 4.5s, but I consistently get that wrong and the guy I leave on the bench makes 12 saves and gets bonus points etc etc. So I'm just going for one solid keeper this year, and Dubravka could well start for Burnley and is only 4.0.

DF: Van Dijk has been a mainstay of my teams, I think he's a no-brainer with the extra defensive contribution points as well as clean sheets and the odd goal. Murillo should also be good for clean sheets and def cons. Van de Ven was a good price at 4.5, and I did have Wan-Bissaka for ages, but I realised Brighton's fixtures rotate better with Spurs so I've now gone for De Cuyper. Reinildo is my 4.0 choice because Sunderland have easier fixtures to start than Burnley or Leeds do.

MF: I had Salah for a long time, but I can't really make it work with him and Haaland, and I can't bring myself to remove Haaland. Salah trailed off last season and I think this could be a transitional season of him passing the torch to Wirtz as the main man - hence Wirtz is in here. Palmer feels like a must-have with Chelsea's early fixtures. Kudus will get loads of minutes with Spurs losing Son, Kulu and Madders. Ndiaye could have been Sarr or Mitoma but he's got the edge at the moment. Reijnders for 5.5, with Rodri and Kovacic still injured, feels like you'd kick yourself if you don't have him and he rips it up for them, so in he goes.

FW: As above, I couldn't ignore Haaland, I think he's going to hit the ground running and smash goals in their early games. Watkins as well, apparently been in great form pre-season and Villa have pretty easy-going fixtures for the first 7 weeks. Fullkrug looks like he'll be starting for West Ham this season so a good bench option.
Click to expand...
I've had a last minute switcheroo - Murillo & Van de Ven out, Porro and Diouf in. I've been swayed by Porro since he's likely to be on corners, free kicks etc in Maddison's absence. Murillo is pretty expensive at 5.5 if I'm just relying on defensive contributions, and if Forest aren't as good as last season, then that could be a bust. A lot of people are backing Diouf too since he's a very attacking full back / wing back.
 
81 points for GW1 although I did use my bench boost to get it out the way. Will probably roll my transfer this week as I don't want to make any knee-jerk decisions such as Joao Pedro to Woods etc.
 
I am currently top in all five of my leagues, but I also used bench boost to ensure a good start! I figured this is the only time I can guarantee everyone's fit and playing, so made sense to use it straight away.

Was tempted to dump Diouf but I think I'll stick this week as well. He can sit on the bench anyway.
 
70 points with the bench boost. The bench scored 21 so more than did it's job but Chelsea let me down with Palmer and Pedro blanking. Poor choice of captain further damaged the score!

Getting fed up with Palmer, he's done very little in FPL for 20 odd games now.
 
road2ruin said:
81 points for GW1 although I did use my bench boost to get it out the way. Will probably roll my transfer this week as I don't want to make any knee-jerk decisions such as Joao Pedro to Woods etc.
Click to expand...
I usually keep try to keep the first 3 weeks worth of transfers, seems pointless doing transfers just for the sake of it.
 
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