Team Selection Advice

Picking a fantasy football team can be a stressfull experience. Many people enter leagues with friends or work coleagues and endure endless stick when their teams fail. I know because i’ve been there, but not anymore!

Im going to give you advice which will allow you to walk into work with confidence and say ‘my team is going to win this year’. Obviously i cannot guarentee that you will win and it is still possible you could end the season with lots of egg on your face but i will do my best to help you and hopefully you will be the one dishing out the eggs.

Depending on the rules of whatever league you decide to play in there are a number of tactical approaches you can use. If your budget is relatively small you may be forced to concentrate on either a strong attack or a strong defence, you may be able to chase your formation or you may even have a subs bench. These are things I will go into in detail later but there are some general things to consider when trying to pick a successful fantasy football team.

General Tips for Picking a Great Fantasy Team.

1. Study the scoring system! Usualy when you enter a fantasy league points are awarded for goals scored, assists, man of the match performances, and clean sheets. Often there are also points docked for yellow and red cards and most leagues now give points for being in the starting line up. The number of points awarded can vary greatly so it is important you understand what you are going to focus on, scoring goals or keeping clean sheets?
2. No defensive midfielders. Scott Parker is a great player for Spurs but lets face it his job is not to score goals or even create them yet as he is not classed as a defender he wont pick you up any points for clean sheets. When you pick midfielders go for the ones who take set pieces, score goals or create them.
3. Set pieces generate consistant points. Study the promoted teams and see who takes their corners, free kicks and penalties. Where the transfer value of someone like Lampard is inflated because of his record over many seasons, some of the promoted sides may have players who take all their set pieces, they could be a massive bargain!
4. Get a cheap keeper. Although there are points available for celan sheets it makes little sense to spend a large chunk of your budget on a top keeper. At the end of the season they may have five or six more clean sheets than a mid table keeper but the extra millions you spent would be better spent somewhere in your strikeforce or midfield. Also, goalkeepers from teams lower in the league tend to be awarded man of the match more often than those at the top, simply because they have more saves to make, on a good day they can win a match.
5. Use transfers wisely. If your transfers are limited avoid subbing out a player every time he has a bad couple of weeks. So often you will find that a striker who hasnt scored for a couple of weeks goes and scores a hattrick as soon as you sub him out, have faith in your selections. On the flip side though, if you have transfers to spare at the latter part of the season study the fixture list and pick strikers who are facing weaker opposition and replace anyone who is injured.