Our telegraph fantasy football guru Stephen Troop reviews August and plans for September

Telegraph fantasy football

Last seasons top 1k telegraph fantasy football overall finisher Stephen Troop reviews August and looks at what September has in store for us and his teams

Our telegraph fantasy football guru Stephen Troop reviews August and plans for September

Introduction

This is the first, of hopefully a series of monthly review focusing on the Telegraph fantasy football game. Each month I will aim to review the previous month in terms of my own teams and look forward to the next month. In the comments section at the bottom of the article I can try and offer advice to those with questions too. I do have 5 teams so will avoid displaying them all and detailing every transfer plan and try to look at the general themes/issues across them all. I am happy to review this if there is demand to show them all or just the top performing one.

August Review

I feel relatively happy so far with my start across most teams. My teams have scored 173,166,155,146,144 and rank between 3.8k and 35.7k. Overall ranks are very skewed at this stage due to a lot of attempts at the first manager of the month (where players will have dedicated teams and use all transfers available in a month to try and win the prize). In subsequent months, players will more likely buy teams at the start of that month so this skew should die down. Small numbers of points can mean a big difference in rank at this stage too. My top 2 teams have also used no transfers (with 1 made in the other 3 due to injury). I try and get through August without using a transfer and assess the team once the transfer window closes and international breaks are out the way.

Key Players – Positive

Here is a list of the players I feel have performed well for my teams so far. In brackets is the number of teams out of 5 I have that player in currently.




GK

1) Forster £3.0m (3) and Foster £2.8m(2) have both provided 2 clean sheets out of 3. Good value, cheapish keepers who had great starting fixtures in defensive minded teams.

Defenders

1) Bailly £3.8m (4) – United coverage was essential for me with their starting fixtures. Bailly has provided 3 clean sheets and a goal so far. The goal was certainly unexpected but £3.8m is fair value for a united defender, attacking threat or not.

2) Stephens £2.6m (3) – Great value for a defender in a side who always get a good level of clean sheets. I also have Cedric in one team.

3) Smith (£2.3m) (1) – 1 partial and 2 full clean sheets for the Huddersfield captain is excellent return on investment. Has good attacking threat/assist potential too.

4) Dawson (£3.0m) (1) – Another friendly priced defender in a defensive minded team with good attacking threat. 2/3 clean sheets.

Midfielders

1) Salah £4.5m (5) – In all my teams. Offers exceptional value for a Liverpool attacker and his stats are good. Did get rotated in GW2 but have no reason to get rid.

2) Mane(1) – Only one team has the Liverpool double up currently. This is my top ranked team. I believe Salah is the better option if you are looking to bring just one in.

3) Mkytarian £4.7m (1) – Only one team has a United midfielder but he has performed well so far. So far no team has Pogba.

4) Eriksen £5.5m (2) – A Key Contribution machine with 3 in 3 games. Has been in the TFF perfect starting xi for the last 3 years and is 0.3m cheaper than Alli (who I currently don’t have in any team).

Forwards

1) Lukaku (5) (£6.6m) – reasonable points total so far for the player who always does well against lower placed teams. Missed penalty slightly dampers that.

2) Mounie (1) (£3.5m) – 2 goals in 3 appearances is good value for money so far and stats are good. 2 yellow cards is a dampener but the fixtures are good and I see no reason to get rid at such a low price.

Key Players – Negative

GK

None

Defender

1) Kolasinac £3.8m (2)– Looked a good buy at £3.8m as played at wingback could get a lot of attacking returns however has played in the back 3 rather than wingback and missed the game against Liverpool altogether. I plan on keeping for a bit at least with the hope that the Ox’s move to Liverpool frees up that wingback spot for him.

2) Daniels £3.2m (2) – One goal but 0 clean sheets so far. Bournemouth don’t look quite right although the City game they looked better. I don’t plan on getting rid but also wouldn’t recommend investment with good options in this price bracket.

Midfield

1) De Bruyne £5.7m (5) – In all teams and only 1 key contribution. Playing very deep which is disappointing as I felt he could get a big total this year.

2) Ince £3.2 (2) – Had good pre-season form and a good enabler price but has yet to return. With no decent options in this price bracket (Keeping an eye on Richarlison at £3.0m and Brady at £2.7m) I will keep until the fixtures turn.

3) Ritchie £3.2 (1) – Another enabler who had good fixtures and on the majority of set pieces. One key contribution so far is a bit disappointing but with the fixtures remaining strong and lack of alternatives at this price I will be keeping.

Forwards

1) Kane £7.0m (4) – Excellent stats and by all accounts should have scored a few. Goals must be coming and so will keep.

2) Jesus £5.9m (2) – A good price for his potential but has yet to deliver in what I thought would be a City side banging the goals in and getting off to a flying start. Did score against Bournemouth so not a total disaster and stats are good.

3) Rodriguez £3.9m (1) – Had good fixtures and pre-season form and is a gamble not paid off. 1 goal in 3 is not bad at the price but his yellow card and position change to accommodate Rondon is far from ideal.




Looking ahead to September

September is a key month in TFF for me usually. With the transfer window closed and first international break out the way it’s an ideal month to fix any big issues in the team with at least 3 gameweeks of data. My teams this time all have a good foundation and don’t require much change.

The key issue is De Bruyne however Man city are the early kick off this week so I can wait until after that game to transfer. With Tottenham’s fixtures favourable after Everton I will likely look to bring in Alli/Eriksen on Sunday.

My other issue is that Stephen’s may lose his place and at £2.6m makes it hard to upgrade without downgrading elsewhere. I will review the team over the next couple of games to see if his position is under threat/taken and if so I may transfer Ward (£2.3m) from Burnley. Burnley have looked impressive so far and have decent upcoming home games. I may consider Smith at (£2.3m) but don’t believe Huddersfield clean sheet run will last much longer.

Morata, Firmino, Hazard and Sanchez will need to be monitored. It’s unlikely I’ll consider Sanchez at £7.0m. Lacazette looks a better option at £6.0m in my opinion. Firminho takes up a valuable striker spot but could replace Jesus. Morata’s fixtures aren’t great but has started well and stats are good. It will be interesting to see him play with Hazard.

At the end of September there is a big fixture swing with Everton, Leicester and Chelsea and feel there could be some transfers to make then.

That’s everything from me this month. Please comment with any team related questions and to let me know what you would like to see in these articles in the future.

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