Fantasy Football!

The collaborators of this blog play ESPN's EPL Fantasy Soccer. Obviously, we're not sponsored because not many people (if any) read this blog, so I'm not trying to sell anyone on this particular brand. I just thought I should clarify incase someone reading this plays a different version. Having spent way too much time on my team this year (as opposed to last year when I threw a team together a month into the season), I figure it's worth a post.

Strategy

I am not as well versed in the Premiership as my partner. My only hope against him is that he over-thinks it or half-asses it. And injuries; a few key injuries could set him back. My point is, this is the strategy of someone who watches the EPL, reads the new stories, but reads very little analysis and does even less of his own. The strategies I'm going to talk about are what shaped my team as I began to remove and add players to fit into the salary cap.

Throw away players - With his knowledge, the owner of this blog may take extremely cheap players that he thinks are likely to play actually play and earn him a few points when they play. I was never going to bother with the research for that. I picked some of the main players that I wanted on the team and then picked a few "throw away" players for my subs. In most cases, I hope that these players actually don't play. Defenders are the cheapest players, but if I pick a Blackpool defender who starts, I may well earn -6 points every time Ashley Cole has a day off. I also picked Danny Shittu, because I have a puerile sense of humor.

Youth - Unlike MLS fantasy, I would run out of money very quickly if I took too many top players, but too many cheap players and my score would be negative. So, this year I decided to go a little lower with my mid-priced players. I selected young players who I think show promise and may earn starting spots this year. The Jacks Wilshere and Rodwell are in my midfield as well as Gareth Bale. I had Chico Hernandez, although I dropped him deciding that I don't want two Manchester United forwards (Rooney was too consistent last year to pass up). Of course, if these guys rarely start, their value is going to decrease and it may take a massive realignment of my team to start earning points.

Defense - I spent a lot on starting defenders, Vermaelen and the like. While I almost never captain any of the defenders, last year my defense formed a solid base and gave me consistent points even when I captained a striker who phoned it in that week. I still have Freidel in my net and Richard Dunne, although I worry about Villa without O'Neill. That's why I have Joe Hart as my back-up keeper. If I were to make one recommendation, he is it. Hart may earn the starting spot at Manchester City, but costs only 3.5 million.

Anyway, this strategy will probably last two or three weeks into the season and then I'll start fiddling. After all, I dropped Fabergas and Drogba because they won't play in the opening weeks, but I'll probably want at least one of them eventually. Oh well, even the best battle plan never survives first contact with the enemy.