We’ll look at:

1.  A bit of background

2.  Best performers to date

3.  Star Man awards

4.  Injured players

3.  Best picks  in all the positions

Background

First of all remember there are 3 transfer windows in Sun Dream Team remaining with 3 transfers each only and the Sun Dream Team covers all forms of the game, Prem league, FA Cup, League cup, champs league and Europa league.  At the bottom of the page I’ve included a link to my previous article giving a rule summary

Here’s the transfer window information from the site:

The second Transfer Window will open at 09:00.00 BST Tuesday 9 October 2012 and close at 11.59.59 BST on Saturday 20 October 2012 or 15 minutes prior to the first kick-off if earlier with transfers scoring starting with Eligible Matches after this time.

The third Transfer Window will open at 09:00.00 GMT Monday 28 January 2013 and close at 11:59.59 GMT on Saturday 02 February 2013 or 15 minutes prior to the first kick-off if earlier with transfers scoring starting with Eligible Matches after this time.

The fourth and last Transfer Window will open at 09:00.00 GMT Tuesday 19 March 2013 and close at 11:59.59 GMT on Saturday 30 March 2013 or 15 minutes prior to the first kick-off if earlier with transfers scoring starting with Eligible Matches after this time.

So after this transfer window there’s a little over 3 months to the next transfer window and it includes the transfer window of the premier league.  Its important to think about whether a player could be sold during that time.  There will also be a considerable amount of Champions league, FA cup,  Europa league and Capital One cup games.

Here’s some key points to the Sun Dream Team game:

(i)   With only 12 transfers you need to pick for the whole season, unlike the other formats where you have enough transfers to pick players for clumps of good fixtures.

(ii)   Obviously the players who play in the most competitions and games are at an advantage.  However that has to be balanced out against the rotation that these players will endure

A few points on this:

(i)  Relegation threatened teams historically dont field strong teams in the cups and dont participate in Europe so  should be avoided

(ii)  Teams in the Europa league have historically fielded second string teams.  Spurs seem to be the exception so far.

(iii)  Champions league teams either rotate for the Champions league especially the group stages or in games prior.  Interestingly Man Utd and Man City are taking no chances with the Group stages this year and are fielding strong teams.

(iv)  Teams not in Europe or relegation threatened eg Sunderland take the FA and League cups the most seriously and  have historically fielded the strongest teams

(v)  With no assists, the focus will be on goal scoring midfielders and strikers.

(vi)    To get the bonus points you will need those players who contribute overall to the game.  Players like Mata and Cazorla who are the focal point of the teams midfield are at a huge advantage in Sun Dream Team.

(vii)   The emphasis on goals scored and lack of differentiation in points between goals for positions will mean an emphasis on elite attackers.

(v)   Defenders will see a focus on clean sheets

(vi)  You should pick on a teams marquee player who dominates the team in all ways

(vii)  Last year attacking midfielders dominated the Star Man awards.  This year midfielders have continued to dominate it

Best performers to date in Sun Dream Team

Here’s the best performers to date straight from the site:

Here’s some basics:

1.  Out of the top 13 point scorers, 6 are strikers and 6 are midfielders.  The other being a defender.

2.  9/13 will be in teams will be expecting to finish in the top 6

3.  The top 8 players are in clubs in European competitions

4.  Price doesn’t necessarily equal points.  The average cost of the players in the top 13 is pretty much dead on £4.0m and 5 are £3.0m or less.

Star Man awards

Here’s a cut and paste of the best performers in Sun Dream Team over the first 8 Sun Dream team rounds showing those players who have gained 2 or more awards:

Although its very early days here’s some points of interest out of the 18 top performers

1.  7  are  midfielders. 8 are strikers.  3/4 who have 3 or more awards are midfielders.

2.  Its not shown in the table above but heres the stats on the 77 star man awards to date

(i)  41 are midfielders

(ii)  20 are strikers

(iii)  11 are defenders

(iv)  5 are goalkeepers

Injured players

My site has a link to phsyio room which shows all injuries and when a return is expected.

Fixture Ease

Heres my assessment of the order of easy  fixtures faced by each team over that period:

1.  Arsenal

2.  Man U

3.  Newcastle

4.  Man City

5.  Liverpool

6.  Fulham

7.  Everton

8 . Tottenham

9.  Sunderland

10.   Southampton

11.  Stoke

12.  WBA

13.  Aston Villa

14.  Reading

15.  Wigan

16.   QPR

17  Chelsea

18.  West Ham

19.  Norwich

20.  Swansea

Obviously you only get 3 transfers at the end of that period and there are unknown fixtures with the Cups but it will give you a guide for any marginal decisions

Best Picks

GK

 Alhabsi – Foster  – Begovic (All £1.5m)

Im not convinced of the wisdom now of spending alot of money here.   WBA and Stoke are improving defences.  If any GK’s can get 7 ratings its these guys who are good shot stoppers.  Stoke are out of the capital One Cup as are WBA  but will seek to compete in the FA Cup.  Stoke in particular have a strong statistical defence and I expect them to get clean sheets

DEF

 Ivanovic  (5.0m)  Vermaelen (£6.0m)  Baines (£5.5m) Rafael (£4.0m)

The 4 Rolls Royce defensive options with the leading attacking potential.  I’ve left out Kompany £7.0m) as it  seems a step too far in price.  Ivanovic and Vermaelen play champs league and Everton will compete to win the FA Cup.

Chelsea have difficult fixtures but Ivanovic has shown his ability to top up points with goals.  I wouldn’t go for anyone else in the Chelsea defence.

Arsenal are through the worst of the fixtures and Vermaelen is the safe attacking pick.  I personally don’t think he’s worth the additional spend over Gibbs though (Gibbs injury needs monitoring) .

Everton have barely had a clean sheet but Baines is practically a winger and takes free kicks and pens.  Everton continue to have good fixtures and it seems likely he will be up there at the top of the defensive leader board.  Everton have good defensive stats and clean sheets will come.

Speaking of practically a winger, Rafael with the other injuries to Utd defenders remains the best Utd choice. The back 4 and the CMs are still the same that got 20 clean sheets last year.

G Johnson  Zabaleta (both £4.0m) Gibbs (£3.5m) Vertonghen(£4.5m)

Liverpool are through their difficult  fixtures and will see  a few months of better returns.  Johnson is easily the most offensive of the Liverpool defenders and will attract the goals and attacking additions.

The City defence will come right.  Despite what all the pundits are saying the basic underlying defensive stats are strong.  However £6.0m for Hart and £7.0m for Kompany are big money gambles.  Zabaleta has competition from Richards and Maicon  but has the versatility and seems to have the trust of the manager that will give him a number of games.  He’s also a bargain at £4.0m in comparison to everyone else.

Arsenals defence has improved immensely and will attract clean sheets.  Gibbs is the best value option to me and still has the attacking potential to get additional points

Tottenhams fixtures are reasonable and they have the advantage of the Europa league which AVB seems to be taking seriously.  Vertonghen is a ball playing scoring centre half who is secure in his place and should continue to provide 7’s and the odd Star man award

 Huth (£2.0m) STaylor(£2.5m)  OShea (£2.5m) McAuley(£2.0m) Figueroa(£2.0m)

Here’s the next tier of players that all have attacking potential and in my view will not be relegation threatened.  Therefore they will all be in teams competing for the cups although Stoke, Newcastle and WBA are out of the Capital one cup which hasn’t helped. Figueroa is the exception to the above.  However, despite Wigan doing poorly and having difficult fixtures hes got a reasonable amount of points.  He plays in an advanced wing back position, has an eye for goal and Wigan have a home game against Bradford in the Capital One cup. Theres no guarantee he will play here but Wigans lack of depth may see him start

Richardson(£1.5m)  W Reid (1.0m) 

A few gambles here if you want fillers.  Richardson will play as an attacking midfielder although his game time hasn’t been established to date.  He has Ruiz and Kacaniklic ahead of him but is one of the few players classified as a defender who plays in midfield .  Reid has a real eye for goal and West Ham have started more solid than expected.  However the fixtures are about to turn against him and West Ham will start conceding more regularly.  Reid is an injury monitor.

Midfield

 Hazard (£4.0m)  Fellaini/Pienaar (£3.5/3.0m)  YYT (£4.5m)  Morrison £2.5)  Cazorla(£4.0m)   Mata (£5.5m)

Heres the first tier in my mind.

Hazard – an eye catching player who will get bonus and 7’s.  Chelsea’s fixtures get harder but there is still some value in the Champions league where RDM will play the full team

Mata – has come from nowhere to be the number 1 scoring midfielder.  Directs the team around the pitch and heavily involved in the game.  The sort of player Sun Dream Team loves and this is shown with the most Star Man awards.   Pick either him or Hazard for your team

Fellaini/Pienaar – pick one.   They have good fixtures but are out of the Capital One.  Unfortunately they aren’t in Europe so there’s no additional games.   Fellaini is injured so check the latest position on this as it may effect your decision.

YYT  – the most certain pick in City’s midfield.  Doesn’t score enough for me.  Seems a bit of a favourite of Sun Dream Team though and the fixtures are about to get easier.  Played in an advanced position last week which may even improve returns further.

Morrison – great value for the attacking fulcrum and star of this underrated team.  Shame they’re out of the Capital One.

Cazorla – in my mind a must have.  Runs the Arsenal team.  They’re still in the Capital  One cup and the Champions league and have a great run of Premier league fixtures.  He’s also incredible value.

 Ben Arfa (£3.5m)  Dembele £3.0m) Sahin (£3.0m)

The first 2 are eye catching players that the Sun Dream Team likes.  Both have the advantage of playing in the Europa league although whether Ben Arfa will play is questionable.  AVB seems to want to win it so Dembele  seems to have the most game time certainty.  Dembele is involved centrally in the game more so a better pick.  Both are a little dubious on goal output which worries me.

Sahin is the man Mourinho would never sell apparently.  Has had some recent eye catching performances.  Liverpool have good fixtures and are in an easy Europa league group where hopefully, given Sahins easy introduction to the season, will see him pick up games.  Plays in the advanced set of midfilders.  I would only play if youre not playing Suarez as 1 player is sufficent Liverpool exposure

Allen (£2.0m)

Really difficult to pick budget players.  Allen wont score anything.  He does consistently get 7’s as the Sun Dream team like his possession play

and lastly the gambles

Bale (£5.5m)  Dempsey (£5.0m) Silva (£6.5m)

Bale is interesting.  A poor start but has come right and consistently picked up 7’s.  Has competition for Star Man awards in this team though.  Will play alot of games with AVB taking the Europa seriously.  Spurs have reasonable fixtures and easy Europa league fixtures.  Every Sun Dream Team should have 1 Spurs player, its just which one you pick.   Dempsey is similar but probably needs less rest.  However, he is easily rotatable with Siggy though and isnt that all action involved figure the Sun Dream Team likes.  Last year though he scored 17 goals in the Premier league alone so he just couldn’t be ignored   I would stick with Bale.

Silva last year received 31 7’s and is the involved all action player the Sun Dream Team likes but is he too rotatable?  City will play alot of fixtures and he has the possibilty to win Star Man awards every week but just too expensive

Strikers

RVP (£8.0m)  Aguero (£7.0m) Suarez (£6.0m) Rooney (£7.5m)

RVP and Rooney if you want Utd coverage are probably the best options.  They have very good fixtures and the midfield will be subject to extreme rotation.   RVP and Rooney though will be the mainstays of the attack.

The fact that Suarez cant shoot seems to make no difference to the Sun Dream Team assessors.  A Star Man and 7 magnet he is the top ranked striker despite a difficult start.   28/70 points came from the Norwich game though.  Also favoured by a total lack of other options at striker for Liverpool.  Has great involvement in the game for a striker and does everything right except score.

Aguero  – total quality.  Will be rotated but has such talent he has to be the main man

Ba Jelavic Carrol (All £3.5m) Berba (£4.0m) Torres (£5.5m)

The 2nd tier all  of which are in teams that will compete in the cups.  Unfortunately I can see Ba rested in the Europa and Everton and West Ham are out of the Capital One cup.    Ba is now the main man and now seems to be getting Star Man awards to match.    Jelavic is total quality but at the moment doesnt seem to get the 7 or star man rewards.  This maybe due to a perception of him just being a finisher.  Carrol although he may be in a relegation fight I think will dominate Star Man awards in this team

Berba is exactly the type of striker that the Sun Dream Team likes.  Heavily involved in the game and very skillful.  A Suarez who can score goals.  Needs to get fit but will be a major force.  He has 2 Star Man awards already

Torres is an option simply because there’s no other choice at the Chelsea at the moment.  That situation will be rectified in the Jan transfer window without doubt but for now he’s going to start in every game.  That  for a top 4 team is a big bonus.  Chelsea will win alot of games and he should see his share of 7’s and goals but inconsistent form and the likes of Hazard and Mata will see little Star Man returns.  Fixtures are against Chelsea apart from the Champs league.  Hazard and Mata look better options

 Crouch Lambert(both £2.5m)

2 options that are slightly cheaper.  Both are heavily involved in the game and Lambert also has pens to his name.  Both have reasonable fixtures although Stoke is out of the Capital One cup .

Di Santo (£1.5m)

A filler if funds require it.  Di Santo has started well.  The best of the very cheap options and Wigan have Bradford at home in the Capital One cup.

OK hope that gives some food for thought.  Remember there’s no fixtures until the 20th so leave your transfers to as late as possible to avoid international break friendly injuries.

There’s more articles under the Sun Dream team category of the site and if you want to ask any questions leave them in the comments section under this article and I will come back as soon a I can

http://www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk/the-sun-dream-team-comes-to-fantasy-football-geek-rule-summary-and-views/