Here’s an interview with last years Sky Sports Fantasy football FFGeek league winner Neil Fleeson. Not only did he win our league but he also finished 5th overall for the entire competition last year which is some acheivement given there are around 800,000 teams. This was no fluke as the year before he finished 6th overall. Here’s a bit of Q and A which I’m sure will help you with your team selection
Sky Sports fantasy football – An interview with 2013/14 FFGeek league winner Neil Fleeson
The questions are obviously in bold and Italics with the answers following.
1. Congratulations on winning the FFGeek league. We were the number 4 ranked league so it was some achievement. Even more impressive was your overall 5th ranking in the competition. Amazing. Did you ever think you might win it?
Thanks. I was very pleased to win the prize for 5th overall and I guess I should be happy with that out of about 800,000 teams.
However, I was a little disappointed at the end not to finish higher. It seemed unlikely that I could catch the winner but I had high hopes for second place. My team was perfectly set up for the penultimate (double) game week, with 3 captains lined up (Rooney twice and then Aguero, all in good home matches) but Rooney’s illness and injury and Aguero’s injury in his first match of the double game week put paid to my chances!
2. How long have you been playing?
I have been playing fantasy football for 2 full seasons. Last year in the Sky game I came joint sixth overall, so two years in the top ten of one of the major games is something that amazes me. I wonder if that has been done before?
3. Do you have an overall strategy that you implement?
Just to pick the best team to get as many points as possible!
4. What formation do you generally play?
Last year I played both 3-5-2 and 4-3-3, depending on which players had the best form and fixtures and also bearing in mind the captaincy options. This year the rules have changed so that 3-4-3 is now allowed. To start with I am likely to choose between 3-5-2 and 3-4-3.
5. What’s your defensive strategy? I normally go for the cheapest top 4 challenging defenders and try to avoid using transfers on them.
My strategy is to try to get a solid defence at a reasonably cheap cost, so that I have sufficient budget to spend on the attacking positions. Choosing the whole defence out of only the cheapest top 4 challenging defenders would make the defence a little too expensive for my liking. But it is not easy to strike the right balance. Certainly I try not to make many defensive transfers, although some of the best value defensive options may only become clear during the season.
6. What’s your midfield strategy? I generally try and pick those who are good for the pass and tackle bonus and cheap plus 1 or 2 big players who score/assist and get the bonus points. Barry was a good cheapie last season. YYT did it all, pass tackle and score.
For the midfield, I generally try to pick some heavy hitters (that I could be happy to captain if necessary), supplemented by perhaps a slightly cheaper player with good potential for points and a “cheapie”. My idea of a cheapie is someone much cheaper than Barry was last year.
Considering players that have a good chance of picking up bonus (passing/tackles/man of the match) is always a good idea. However, I would not tend to choose players like Lucas at Liverpool last year (even when it was thought he was “nailed on”) as he was not that cheap to my way of thinking and offers nothing else apart from potential tackle/passing bonus (and picks up a lot of yellow cards as well).
7. How far ahead do you plan for your captain? Do you normally use a midfielder or a striker? Plus did you often use your transfers for the captain and get the 3 captains in a week scenario?
I would look maybe ten weeks ahead for an overview and then plan more carefully for the next three weeks or so.
My first thought would normally be a striker but this depends on the team. So last year, for example, if I needed a Man City captain I would probably captain Aguero if fit but if I needed a Chelsea captain it would be Hazard, as the Chelsea strikers were underwhelming.
I remember having Hazard as captain for Chelsea’s away match at Man City. He was absolutely brilliant. Every newspaper, every website that I looked at had him as man of the match, except Sky!
I did not normally use extra transfers to get 3 captains in a week, as this would use up too many transfers. I remember that I did it once to bring in Benteke as captain for an easy home match, with another one to follow at the beginning of the next week – and he scored 2 points on each occasion!
8. Do you have any particular methodology for limiting the amount of transfers?
Not really. I don’t limit myself to any particular number of transfers per month. But obviously it is necessary to keep the overall number of transfers generally under control, so that you have transfers available until near the end of the season. It’s probably human nature though to use a couple of extra ones at the beginning of the season!
9. Will you return again to defend your FFGeek league title?
Yes, I will be happy to give it a go. I have already entered.
10. Do you play any other formats?
I also play the Barclays FPL game and the Uefa Champions League game. I find the Champions League game an interesting diversion from the Premier League and, of course, it comes with top quality football. Perhaps you might consider covering that one instead of a Championship game? (FFGeek note: Would like to do the Champions league but I think it will be too difficult to research so my intention is to do the Championship)
Thanks again Neil and good luck for this season.
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