Well another season of the Barclay’s Premier League is just about upon us. That means it’s time to gather up the usual suspects, register that online league and spend an inordinate amount of time putting together that perfectly balanced team that you’ll change about every hour and half until the first gameweek deadline. Come, join the fun by registering a team on the Premiership's website. You can find the details for my "public" league on the sidebar.
I’m going to try and post weekly, although I’m going to aim to have a few more in the lead up to the season kick-off where I explore who to take in each of the positions.
I find the first week to be one of the hardest times to pick a team, followed closely by the second and third weeks. The simple matter of it is that before a ball is kicked, nobody has any idea how well any of the players will play. Will the old war-horses manage to pick up where they left off, even after a terrible (or fantastic) run at the World Cup? Should you go with the newly signed strikers popping up around the league? Should you line your substitutes’ bench with players from the recently promoted sides?
I guess the big decisions to make before you start looking up who to pick, is where do you want to focus your efforts? Do you want to try and rack up points by loading up on expensive strikers who hit the net a lot, consistent midfield players, or a solidly defensive back line? I’ve tried pretty much all these approaches, and personally, I prefer to concentrate the bulk of my cash in the midfield and defense, hopefully with a decent and consistent striker.
The simple fact of the matter is, clean sheets get a lot of points and if you have a defender who gets forward (even just on set plays) they get a lot more points for scoring than the rest of your team. The defenders from the top four are almost always a good investment, and any defender with a good goal tally is worth a pick. The easy route in picking these guys is to simply look at the top of the player ranking and take who you like.
Richard Dunne has been a solid pick over the last few seasons but his value has steadily increased to reflect this. Patrice Evra, Leighton Baines, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson are all worth while defenders to have in your team if you want someone to go forward and pick up goals and assists. Conventional wisdom says to pick Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, but after last season where both of them spent more time broken than on the pitch you may not want to rely on them as your core of defense. Vidic looks to be starting the season but Ferdinand is already on the treatment table and you don’t want to be stuck dealing with transfers for injured players after week one. So, it’s a tough call. The discovery of the season, last year, was Arsenal’s Thomas Vermaelen. I think he scored in the first game and went on to get 7 goals last season. He’s nowhere near as cheap as he was and he’s unproven but he’s young and likely to be hungry to continue his form so if you think nobody else in your league has him, he could be worth a run.
The wild cards (in that others in your league may or may not pick them) that I think anyone should consider are any of the Aston Villa defenders – James Collins, Stephen Warnock and Carlos Cuellar (who is doubtful for the first gameweek but could be worth the longer term investment). Tottenham defenders would also be a good choice to include or at least have on your watch list if you’re unsure and want to see them play a game or two before going for them. Michael Dawson got a lot of deserved good press at the end of the season and in the lead up to the World Cup while Verdan Corluka seems to be one of those players always involved in the play going forward. If you're looking for mid-value defenders any of these players should be considered.
And, finally, to fill out any “cheap spots” you can look for the players valued at 4.5 or 4.0 and choose from last year’s performers or give a promoted player a run. This is a bit like Russian roulette though as any of them could be amazing or simply terrible. I’ve been sticking with Stoke defenders as my cheap options but Wigan’s Maynor Figueroa is someone who plays a lot and can get forward when afforded the opportunity. Of the new sides, West Brom’s Marek Cech is worth a look, and while I love them, my head just can’t let me pick any Newcastle defenders until I see them play a few games. Stephen Taylor has done well in the past but he starts this season injured and while Coloccini was the big signing a few years ago he’s also guilty of some real clangers defensively.
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