Here’s Stefan with his article on Sky Sports Fantasy Football’s under-performing XI. He talks through a number of this season’s flops in the premier league and Sky game.
Sky Sports Fantasy Football Under-performing XI: This Season’s Flops
We’re in matchday 35, with Man City as active champions and only 3 gameweeks left to the end of the 2017-18 Premier League season. Just like Draftkings and any other fantasy sports provider out there, Sky Sports is preparing for a new fantasy football adventure that’s going to be full of excitement and surprises. New season means new arrivals, revised price tags, evaluations, challenges and of course, a chance for more winnings! That’s why now is the perfect time to take a step back and see which players in the Premier League had a bad season and failed to live up to their potential.
While players like Mohamed Salah, David Silva, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne have been racking up big points all season long, there are quite a few players who under-performed and didn’t justify their high pre-season price tags on Sky Sports Fantasy Football. Here’s our take on this season’s flops – listed by position.
Joe Hart (GK)
Overview:
Price: £7.3m
Points: 71
It’s been all upside down for Joe Hart ever since he left Manchester City a few seasons back. His stay at Torino was a rather unpleasant experience, and this season as West Ham’s first choice for goalkeeper is no different. He had a string of poor displays and match-costing mistakes through the season that will probably cost him his spot in the England squad for the World Cup this summer.
West Ham have been pretty poor this season, and no one can blame that only on a single player. But still, conceding 39 goals in just 19 appearances should tell you something about Joe Hart’s form.
Lindelof (RB)
Price: £8.5m
Points: 51
Victor Lindelof was signed for a fee of £35m this summer from Benfica as a very promising young defender. Everyone had high hopes for the 23-year-old for in his debut Premier League season, but he simply didn’t perform as expected. That’s why he was kept mainly on the bench for the better part of the season. Lindelof has only 15 appearances all season long, and Mourinho’s side lost 3 times and conceded 13 goals when he was on the pitch.
Because of the competitiveness of the Premier League, young players, and especially new comers are dealing with a lot of pressure. Even though this can have a serious hit on their form and morale, we’ve seen players come back. Remember the time Salah played for Chelsea? He had only 13 appearances and 2 goals – but look at him now! This is a proof that it’s not all over for the Danish international just yet.
David Luiz (CB)
Price: £10.1m
Points: 35
Chelsea’s defence hasn’t been itself this season – and this is mainly because of how Cahill and Luiz played. Cahill was one of the top Sky Sports Fantasy Football points scorers last season, but now he has fallen down significantly. Luiz on the other hand is worse – by being barely recognisable and basically out of the team.
With only 10 games for Chelsea in which he managed to get 3 yellow and 1 red card, David Luiz will have to work hard to redeem his form, and return back to the strong and responsible player as many know him to be.
Michael Keane (CB)
Price: £7.9m
Points: 70
Keane is yet another defender that made our list. He looked like a very promising signing by Everton in the summer. But fast-forward towards the end of the season, Keane looks like a ghost of the player that dominated in Burnley’s defence last year. With 26 appearances, 42 goals conceded and only 23 tackles, he didn’t manage to live up to the £30m transfer fee, and Sky Sport’s £7.9m price tag.
Van Aanholt (LB)
Price: £7.9m
Points: 67
Patrick Van Aanholt made a move in January last season from Sunderland to Crystal Palace, and he was playing really well the first few months scoring 5 goals and 1 assist. This season hasn’t been a good one for Patrick though both – defensively and in the attack. 25 appearances with only 2 goals and no assists shows that Van Aanholt is not as involved in the attack as everyone expects. But when you think about it, it’s the same number of goals their number 1 striker Christian Benteke has. So can you really expect a left back to be more productive than the forward?
Crystal Palace has been fighting to stay above the red line the entire season, with their biggest issue being the attack. Thanks to Zaha’s impressive form lately, Palace finally got their lucky break by winning 2 and drawing 2 out of their last 5 matches. If they manage to stay in the Premier League next season, Van Aanholt will get the chance to perform better and prove the people who doubt him wrong.
Wijnaldum (RCM)
Price: £9.4m
Points: 77
Liverpool have been great this year, and there are a number of players in the starting XI who can take the credit for that. Salah, Firmino, Mane, Van Dijk, Karius, the list goes on… But the one player that hasn’t stood out and impressed is Georginio Wijnaldum. He had set the bar reasonably high last season with 6 goals and 9 assists. However, this season has been no where near as good for the Dutch midfielder. Aside from scoring only 1 goal and 2 assists, Wijnaldum has also completed less passes and won fewer tackles in comparison to last year.
Ander Herrera (CDM)
Price: £9.2m
Points: 55
Ander Herrera is known to be a very stable player with consistent performances – especially when playing for Manchester United. But it turns out this season is the exception. Let’s put this into numbers and see why Herrera is playing under his standard.
On 23 appearances so far this season in the premier league, he has made only 2 assists, and scored no goals. His cross accuracy is 11%, and he averages 37 passes per game. This is considered to be moderately low for a midfielder.
Renato Sanches (LCM)
Price: £8.8m
Points: 20
Renato Sanches was one of the top rising talents during the UEFA Euro Cup, but his career took a wrong turn somewhere over the years, and he hasn’t really developed and reached his potential yet. We can even say that he’s the most underwhelming player of the Premier League this season.
The 20-year-old made 12 appearances for Swansea this season. Out of those games, the team won only once and was defeated even 9 times. Sanches didn’t make any assists and his passing ratio is only 31.58 per match. This results in a very bad reputation in the fantasy world – as only 0.27% of all Sky Sports Fantasy Football players have selected Sanches in their squads.
Defoe (FWD)
Price: £11m
Points: 59
Jermain Defoe is a proven Premier League striker and no one can say otherwise. He’s scored 162 goals in 490 appearances for 5 different English clubs. When Sunderland was having a horrible season and got relegated, Defoe scored 15 goals and was one of the very few who actually played like they want to stay in the PL.
This season however, has been a good one for the experienced 35-year-old striker. He’s run into a string of bad performances ever since he joined Bournemouth. Defoe was part of squad 22 times and scored only 4 goals, with a conversion rate of 15%. This looks nothing like the player who scored 34 goals in 87 appearances for Sunderland.
Gabbiadini (AM)
Price: £10.3m
Points: 61
Manolo Gabbiadini was one of the top transfers last January as he scored 6 goals in 12 games in all competitions for Southampton. This year is different for the Italian. Even though he has had the gametime with 27 appearances, he has only scored 4 goals. This is not the form any striker wants to be in! It remains to be seen whether he will have the chance to recover and improve next season, as Southampton are close to being relegated from the Premier League.
Benteke (CF)
Price: £11.3m
Points: 73
It feels like Christian Benteke has been in the Premier League forever. He’s had a good run with Aston Villa, but not so much success with other PL teams. Crystal Palace bought the struggling striker back in 2016 in a deal worth up to £32m. And at some point last season, it seemed like a bargain since the Belgian scored 15 goals in 36 appearances for the Eagles.
This year though, the £120,000-a-week striker has scored only twice in 28 games and had 19 shots on target for the entire season. There are rumours that Roy Hodgson has lost his patience and is preparing to sell him. This decision wouldn’t surprise anyone, given that Benteke was supposed to lead Crystal Palace’s attack as their main striker.
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news.
GEEK LEAGUES
Fantasy Premier League: 5379-1967
Sun: FantasyFootballGeek SGDKX9Y3
TFF: FantasyFootballGeek PIN 8000919 Passcode 1159
Sky: FFGeek 8310511
