Here’s a post to introduce Sky Sports Fantasy Football back to FFGeek. We look at the new rules, a draft FFGeek team and some general thoughts on how to play.
sky sports fantasy football returns to FFGeek
Introduction
Sky Sports Fantasy football is quite a simple game but one that requires regular maintenance but not alot in total. It’s very different than all the other games in it’s scoring system and I therefore do approach it differently.
Last season I finished 34th overall out of I think around 1 million teams so it was a good season. This year I’ll be doing regular articles where I’ll be planning my team and captains for future weeks. I will only post my team on twitter each gameday so follow us with this link for those updates. I’ve also created a new FFGeek league. PIN is 8310511
Rules and rule changes
These are a shortened version of the rules to introduce the game. You should read the full rules on the site
The game unhelpfully doesn’t appear to have a section on new rules but I’ve put what I think are new rules in italics under a separate heading
The game only covers the premier league and no other competition.
The scoring system includes the usual trio of goals scored, assists and clean sheets. In addition to that there are pass and tackle bonus points which brings defensive midfielders into play. There’s also a man of the match award. The GK has save points as well.
There is a captain system where you can change the captain every match day to score double points. You can now fix your captains within limits in advance
There’s a reasonable number of formation options but only 11 players and no subs. There are no price changes. I don’t believe there are any restrictions on number of premier league players from 1 team but there’s nothing explicit in the rules.
You have 40 regular transfers for the season but can only use 5 in a gameweek . You can make them at anytime before the first match of a match day.
New Rules
There is a amended rule about goals conceded and points. I’ve copied a shortened version from the site:
Last season we deducted a point from a defender after conceding every goal. We will now only deduct a point after the 2nd goal has been conceded and every goal after that.
Sky have introduced what they call an overhaul but really that’s just another name for a wildcard.
You can make as many transfers as you want during that period. Here’s the time frames.
The first Overhaul period will be for the whole of game week 4 and up until the first kick off of game week 5.
The second Overhaul period will be for the whole of game week 28 and up until the first kick off of game week 29.
There are no games in GW4 so you only need to plan your team for the first 3 weeks and then you get an overhaul.
Those appear to be the basics
How I play the game
I have a few pages about Sky Sports Fantasy Football in my ebook which is principally on fantasy premier league 2017/18 so I won’t repeat all of that but here’s a precis.
Sky Sports Fantasy Football is fundamentally different in 2 ways to most other formats. That is the multiple captains and the pass and tackle bonus. It also was constrained by the 40 transfers although that has now changed with the overhauls.
My strategy was built around the captains. Effectively I would plan out the captain needs over the next 5 weeks and I would like principally the striker of a top 7 team to pick up the captaincy. To a large degree that dictated my team. As limiting transfers was a priority I would try and have set and forget attacking defenders from the top 7 teams to use as captain backups occasionally. The reason is that an attacking defender can often get a goal assist or clean sheet in well above 50% of their appearances whereas cheaper midfielders or strikers can easily be as low as 30%. I also don’t want to waste transfers changing cheap midfielders for every little spurt of good fixtures they have.
My ideal team structure
So my team would often consist of a structure like this:
GK cheap
2 attacking premium defs plus 1 cheap
1 premium midfielder as a captain option (preferably with pass bonus potential) . Then up to 3 pass and tackle bonus midfielders
3 premium strikers.
The strikers and the premium midfielder would be the natural captain choices
The caveat
I will say as a warning that I don’t know anyone who plays this way. Most people seem to play it in a similar way to FPL. The strategy or variations of it depending on the rules that season has served me reasonably well. Annoyingly I haven’t kept my scores but I have finished in the top 1000 each time over the last 4 years except for once. I also finished about 200 once.
I find that having a set and forget defence, GK and 3 mids who will tick over pass and tackle bonus points means I can save transfers and only make transfers when I need to for captain rotation. That meant I had a load of transfers ready to have a captain plan at the end of the season when there were postponements and captain requirements in many midweek games. The overhaul in GW29 will mean that advantage is blunted and it remains to be seen whether this is a viable way of playing. It’s possible that more Friday games could mean the need for more Captain transfers to offset the overhaul but I’m doubtful.
By the way I always set an alarm on my phone an hour before the first game of any match day so I can check the first lineup if I’ve got someone playing especially if it’s a captain. Obviously it doesn’t go down very well if you’re out or just about to have your evening meal but I find it useful otherwise you’re bound to forget.
My first draft team
So with an overhaul in GW4 (which has no games) you only need to plan for the first 3 gameweeks which is what I’ve done. It is an early draft and there will be changes.
So here’s the team as it stands:
Defenders and GK
So firstly the prices of defenders appears to be rather ridiculous this season. Presumably due to the rule change. So someone like Alonso is £10.0m having got 179 points last season. Vertonghen is £9.8m and scored 148 points last season. However Hazard who scored 238 points is £11.8m. Eriksen who scored 220 is £10.8m
So having premium attacking defenders as well as 4 captain options is a non starter. The defence was the best I could come up with. So I need to go back to the drawing board.
So for the moment I’ve picked defenders with good first 3 fixtures. I’m hoping Blind will take the LB spot for Man Utd.
Midfield
Coutinho is a reserve captain option and apart from Ozil is the attacking midfielder who has the best passing stats. Liverpool have reasonably good first 3 fixtures.
Southampton’s first 3 fixtures couldn’t be much better so it made sense to have Tadic even though he has to be top of the promises so much but delivers so little list. I wouldn’t normally have him but over 3 games it’s worth throwing the dice.
Mooy made sense for Huddersfield. He has good set piece involvement and maybe even some penalty prospects. Only a few players had better pass stats than Mooy in the Championship although how much possession they will have remains to be seen. His tackle count was also pretty good and should increase. That plus the fact that Huddersfield have good fixtures to start makes him worth a gamble.
Lastly I’ve gone for Will Huges who’s signed for Watford. Needs monitoring for starts but his pass and tackle stats for Derby last season were excellent so I’ve thrown him in to square off the budget
Forwards
The 3 attackers are there totally due to captain rotation which you will see below. I really wanted Lukaku to start with but with solo fixtures in GW1 of Arsenal playing Leicester on a Friday and Chelsea Everton on a Monday meant 2 striker slots were filled. That’s unless I made a transfer or put Ozil in midfield as a captain option. The Monday of Gameweek 2 emphasised Man City’s need as a captain and Spurs Chelsea as 1 of 2 fixtures on the Sunday mean’t Kane was in. Again I would rather a striker was a captain than a midfielder purely as they have more chance of scoring. Arsenal are 1 of 2 games on the Sunday GW3 as well. You’ll see below in the captain planning section.
Captain Planning
Here’s where I consider a top 7 team has a viable captain fixture or where there are limited fixtures the only fixtures available. I’ve only put my teams captain options next to the fixture and bracketed the reserve choice(s). Names with an asterix* mean the lineup in that game can be viewed before the matchday starts
Friday 11 August
Arsenal v Leicester – Lacazette*
Saturday 12 August
Watford v Liverpool – (Coutinho)*
Chelsea v Burnley
Brighton v Man City – Aguero
Sunday 13 August
Newcastle v Spurs – Kane*
Man Utd v West Ham
Saturday 19 August
Swansea v Man Utd*
Liverpool v C Palace – Coutinho
Sunday 20 August
Spurs v Chelsea – Kane
Monday 21 August
Man City v Everton – Aguero*
Saturday 26 August
Bournemouth v Man City – (Aguero)*
Spurs v Burnley – Kane
Man Utd v Leicester
Sunday 27 August
Liverpool v Arsenal – Lacazette
The FFGeek league
Join our league the code is 8310511
If you also play FPL, buy our 57 page Ebook “a guide to fantasy premier league 17/18” with loads of graphics and detailed stats on 150+ players from last season. Only £3.00. There is a couple of pages on sky sports fantasy football as well
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