Here’s our first Sun Dream Team article for the 18/19 season. Here we go through the rules, some players stats plus a first draft team with some commentary
Sun Dream Team returns to FFGeek – rules, player stats and a first draft team
So after a decent season last season finishing on 7k and 12k overall with my 2 teams it’s back to it for the Sun Dream Team 18/19 season
The rules and rule changes
Dream Team have a section on the new rules so here’s the main 2 changes. By the way I’m ignoring the stuff about prizes and team limits etc. This is my summary only. You should rely on reading the rules yourself btw.
rule changes
Managers will be able to make transfers involving players that have already played in a Game Week. These will be completed at 7am every Friday
This is effectively the same as far as I’m concerned. It’s a pending transfer.
Each Game Week will run from Friday to Thursday making the first Premier League match of the weekend the first opportunity to bag some points.
Makes sense with Friday games becoming more common.
I personally think this below is new
The maximum a Player’s value may increase or decrease per Game Week is £0.1m.
The basic rules
11 player format. No Subs. No captains. 3 formations. The premier league and the domestic cups and European competitions are eligible competitions.
Point scoring
All Players
Goal Scored +5 points
Hat-trick (3 or more goals) +5 points
Assist +2 points
Who Scored Star Man +5 points
Who Scored Player Rating of 7 or more +3 points
Yellow Card -1 points
Red Card -3 points
Penalty Saved or Missed -3 points
Goalkeepers and Defenders
Clean Sheet +5 points
2 Goals Conceded -1 point
Each Goal Conceded Over two goals -1 point
Goalkeepers only
Penalty Save or Miss +3 points
Subs on and off are treated as if they played the full match
Price changes
Players prices change at 07:00:00 every Friday after the completion of a Game Week
The maximum a Player’s value may increase or decrease per Game Week is £0.1m.
The first round of Variable Player Pricing updates will take place after the completion of Game Week 3
Transfers
It’s 3 transfers per month although as gameweeks run from Friday to Thursday that monthly definition can be different to calendar months
There’s the pending transfer rules as I outlined above. You can reverse transfers subject to conditions but there are also rules around reversals where transfers effectively fund others
Player stats
Here’s a table of stats I’ve put together.
What it does is rank the players who were the top 30 point scorers last season and then rank them again by points per match, a value for money ranking and their whoscored ranking
The value for money calculation basically divided their price by their points per game.
Here’s the table
So you can see that the only players outside the top 5 teams of Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea were Vardy and Mahrez. These were the 5 teams in the Champions League last season as Man Utd, as Europa League winners, were allowed entry. Arsenal who were in the Europa League had no players in the top 30 points scorers.
Chelsea and Arsenal are in this seasons Europa League. Unlike the Champions League this is a much easier competition to rotate in and means that Hazard becomes a far less attractive asset.
The top scorers are also mainly strikers and midfielders in not only total points but also PPG.
This season is complicated by the late returners from the World Cup. That may see semi finalists and the finalists miss all games up to the International Break so they won’t start until GW5. It’s also worth noting that GW5 is when the Champions League starts. You can see my World Cup returners article with this link
Burnley are in the Europa League but will play 2 legs pre-season v Aberdeen to be able to play more games. The rules are incredibly tricky to follow but by my accounts Burnley could play 3 extra European games in August.
The tricky thing is that Dyche has 2 GKs, 3 CBs and 2 RBs and 2 LBs. In attack there are 3 strikers and 2 creative midfielders 1 who’s just come from a long term injury. I am tempted it’s just trying to get a feel for how much rotation there will be. Chelsea and Arsenal go straight through to the Group stage btw which is also in GW5
A first draft team
So here’s my first go at a team
Defence
I’ll start in defence.
Otamendi was the first name on the defensive team sheet such was his stats from last season and apparent importance to Pep. Argentina’s relative early exit should see him back fit for GW1. Picking a full back vs a centre back seems to be a trade off between attacking potential and gametime as the lesser exertions of a CB should allow more minutes played.
Smalling was next as with no World Cup and a full pre-season he should be fit to start and depending on signings must have a decent chance of continually playing.
Robertson was a tricky one as his high energy game and Moreno as a back up could make him vulnerable to rotation. However he was £1m cheaper than Van Dijk which swung it for me.
Midfield
Mahrez with no world cup seems insane value and should start with some good minutes. The good thing about Pep’s seemingly desire to win every competition means that City players will get minutes somewhere and rotation seems less of an issue than some other clubs who will shun the domestic cups.
Ramsey was a pick outside the 30 above where the midfield is basically a Man City fest. His price of £4m was favourable compared to his PPG of 4.1m While he only racked up 106 points he only played 26 games. He has 2 tough games to start but after that they improve. Also no World Cup and whoscored think he’s ok.
Mata is unquestionably an odd pick. I keep having to do a double take myself. Unless United make a signing for the RW position Mourinho will have no choice to play Mata until Rashford, Lingard and Lukaku return and even then there’s no natural player for that position. His PPG of 2.1 was pretty pathetic but it was diluted heavily due to substitute appearances. He maybe an early transfer or even just a filler for the moment.
David Silva actually produced some half decent stats. His PPG of 4.8 for a price of £5m could be worse and although 184 points is nothing special he was away alot with personal issues. He’s also 6th on the whoscored rankings which means a decent chance of 3 points every game for turning up. An early exit from the World Cup won’t have hurt. Should see some decent gametime with the other creator in chief of De Bruyne off early doors as well as Sterling due to the World Cup.
No Hazard as I’m sure he will be late back and probably rotated in the Europa.
Forwards
I’m hoping I don’t need to explain Salah.
Aguero like Silva also ticked a number of boxes stats wise and with the possibility of Jesus back late he should have a few games to himself.
Aubameyang hit the premier league running and seems excellent value at £5.5m
No Kane btw as I think he will be late back.
It’s worth mentioning Sanchez here who is at a very low price of £5m. His PPG was a pretty poor 3.8 but he surely can’t be as poor as he was last season again. He’s a striker though which is a pain.
Goalkeeper
I had a real problem with the GK position. The price for the premium UCL GKs seemed pretty excessive. Arsenal and Chelsea appealed but both are rotation issues for the Europa.
In the end I’ve rolled the dice on the save monster that is Fabianski in a West Ham defence that’s seen 4 new acquisitions in the hope that he can prove value. He certainly has a decent whoscored rating. Bad fixtures to start aren’t helpful.
Money in the bank
I’ve left some money in the bank. Possibly for Aguero to Kane or Aubameyang to Kane with another transfer.
It’s still a work in progress at the moment and will change undoubtedly
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