Here’s site visitor Matthew W with his article on the biggest fantasy football player let downs this season so far
Sun Dream Team – the biggest fantasy football player let downs this season so far
Leighton Barnes is underperforming this season so far.
There’s really no way of knowing for sure at the start of the season which players are going to rise up and make managers proud, and which ones will flop. Harry Kane is currently flying high with dozens of points clear at the top of Dream Team tables; that much we might have been able to guess. Lukaku and Mohammed Salah are also doing well, for now.
Year after year, the popularity of fantasy football is increasing in terms of the number of players and the amount of money involved. In fact, the number of players in the U.S. nearly tripled between 2003 and 2010, to 56.8 million. But by 2015, fantasy online sports betting was contributing an estimated $26.4 billion to the U.S. and Canadian economies. The stakes are high for individual managers, too, at least for pride! Managers try to use their keen eye for class and form to pick out the point scorers. But who are the big letdowns so far?
Leighton Baines
Let’s start with Leighton Baines, an Everton regular starter, and England first-choice defender. Initially, we thought he would be a perfect pick and a consistent performer. So far, he has been a part of Everton’s struggle to stay out of the relegation zone and has only made a few fantasy football points this season, but keep in mind, he was picked by around 100,000+ people in Dream Team alone. To put this into perspective, that’s more managers than Rashford! This also probably means that around 11% of the managers are probably now considering a transfer option when the window opens.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Everton striker Gylfi Sigurdsson has also failed to impress. The striker set the club back $40 million in a summer transfer, and many believed the Icelandic would play a strong role this season. Though he has played 760 minutes at the time of writing, he is still yet to score and has a 6.44 rating on WhoScored. Managers who have picked him must be worried, but he still might find his feet at the club. At least let’s hope so.
Josh King
Another striker who has not yet lived up to his known potential is Josh King. He was the third highest goal scorer between January and May, but this season, he has only scored one goal in nine appearances in the Premier League. The Bournemouth superstar looked like a solid and great value option when players were being picked, but it’s hard to imagine that he will match that performance again anytime soon.
Riyad Mahrez?
A few weeks ago, I would have included Mahrez on the list. He stands at a price tag of £2.5 million in fantasy football and was a great winger that helped Leicester City to their surprising heights last season as the PFA Player of the Year. This season, the story has been different for Leicester as they struggle mid-league to gain traction. At the start of the season, Mahrez was not on a good run. Apart from a star performance against Brighton in which he picked up a couple of assists, he had very few points. But then again, Mahrez has recently scored a couple of goals himself, as well as earning two more assists. His rating is on the rise, and he might be worth holding onto despite the slow start.
A free kick by Mahrez
Victor Lindelof
Anyone who picked Victor Lindelof is facing a bit of a tough one right now as the defender has barely had any game time. He has played just 68 minutes over the course of two substitute innings this season so far, and as such hasn’t made many points for managers. We will have to see whether he gets more game time as the season progresses. Either way, you can’t really blame him.
These are the players that I have noticed have underperformed this season so far. Of course, anything could change with only 11 matches played by each team. There’s a long way to go. Player forms can improve, managers could give your players more game time to prove themselves, and if all else fails, you still have the transfer window when it reopens. Have you picked any players who haven’t performed as well as you thought they would?
BTW you can see my Sun Dream Team update and our Sun Pundit Simon Rowleys
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