Having already taken a look at both goalkeepers and defenders we now turn our attentions to the minefield that is the midfield! Get your midfield right and there’s a good chance that you will do well, although that’s much easier said than done as most FPL managers are currently finding out! Last season we were spoilt for choice as the midfielders racked up the points, but obviously that created its own problems in itself – i.e. getting the right ones in our teams at the right time! So with all of these issues to hand we have pulled together a few player ideas that we feel could really deliver over the coming weeks.
The Spurs Boys
Realistically every FPL manager wants / needs to get 5 attacking midfielders into their squad and let’s be honest, they don’t come much more attacking than Gareth Bale. From an FPL point of view the Welsh mans returns have been improving over the past 3 seasons and last season saw him finish with 10 goals and 14 assists. At £9.5m Bale is hardly cheap but he is a guaranteed starter and that is something which we can’t say about quite a number of the big money midfielders from the top 6 clubs.
Gylfi Sigurdsson (to be known as Siggy for the rest of the season!) took the FPL by storm after Christmas last season, scoring 7 goals and picking up 3 assists in 18 appearances for Swansea and as a result he was snapped up by Spurs during the Summer. Spurs were known as an attacking side under Harry Redknapp and this is not likely to change under Villas-Boas.
If Siggy is given the opportunity to play in the hole, he could be a great addition to any FPL team but for now we’re a little unsure as to how Spurs will line up in their opening game against Newcastle. Therefore we feel that for now Bale is a better option to Siggy, although it should be noted that Bale is currently owned by over 18% of FPL managers whereas Siggy is only owned by under 4% so Siggy could offer a differential, albeit at £9.0m an expensive differential.
The City Lads
We imagine that most FPL managers will want to get some City coverage into their midfield and in our opinion there are 2 options – David Silva & Yaya Toure. Up until Christmas of last year David Silva was the ‘must have’ midfielder as he seemingly picked up assists for fun. In fact Silva picked up more assists than any other player in last season’s FPL. When you consider the fact that Silva picked up 6 goals and 17 assists it’s easy to see how he managed to amass a total of 184 points last season.
Yaya Toure’s stats are not as impressive as Silva’s for last season, he scored 6, picked up 9 assists and finished on a total of 139 points. Now when you just look at those figures you will probably assume that out of the two we’re going to go with Silva, but you’d be incorrect! At £8.0m Toure is £2.0 cheaper than Silva and in our opinion he’s the only one of the City midfielders who are guaranteed to start. At this stage of the season picking a nailed on starter is one of the most important things to an FPL manager. While Silva will start the majority of games, we feel that there’s a chance he will share some game time with Samir Nasri.
The New Kids On The Block
In Eden Hazard, Shinji Kagawa and Santi Cazorla, Chelsea, United and Arsenal have each added quite an exciting prospect to their respective squads. However, unless you are feeling brave, we are going to recommend a watching brief on each of them.
In Hazard Chelsea have secured one of the most sought after prospects in Europe, but Roberto Di Matteo has already insinuated that Hazard will be given time to adjust to the rigours of the Premier League which would suggest to us that he may be rotated in the opening weeks.
Kagawa has been quite impressive for Man United in their pre-season friendlies and has at times operated in the hole behind Wayne Rooney. However with increasing media speculation that United are about to sign Robin Van Persie we believe that this will see Kagawa play in a deeper role, but only time will tell.
With Regards to Cazorla, Arsenal have signed him, Podolski and Giroud while it appears as though Robin Van Persie’s departure is imminent. All of this upheaval coupled with a difficult start to the season means we’ll wait and see how Cazorla settles in, although in the long run we expect him to do quite well.
The Welsh Contingent
As we mentioned in our feature on defenders, Swansea were one of last season’s surprise packages. The way in which they kept the ball on the ground and passed the ball with such ease took many by surprise. Since last season Swansea have lost their manager, as well as two of their star midfielders, so many might expect them to slide down the table this season. However in Michael Laudrup the Swansea board have appointed a manger who FPL mangers hope will adopt similar tactics to the Swansea of last season. If this is the case (and we expect it will be) then you might want to cast your eyes over Miguel Perez Cuesta (a.k.a. Michu). Michu joins Swansea from Spanish side Rayo Vallecano for whom he scored 15 goals last season from midfield and we fully expect Michu to play in the hole behind Danny Graham this season. Currently Michu is owned by less than 1.5% of FPL managers, representing a great early season differential for all FPL managers willing to take the risk on the Spanish import.
The Newly Promoted Guys
West Ham’s Mark Noble is currently owned by less than 5% of FPL managers. This we feel is a staggering statistic given the fact that the 25 year old is the recognised penalty taker (he converted 7 in the championship last season) for the Hammers as well as taking free-kicks and corners. While Noble is likely to play just in front of the back 4, meaning he is unlikely to push too far forward, it must be remember that he is valued at only £5.0m, which we feel makes him excellent value. Noble feels like a great option for any FPL manager who is looking for a cheap midfielder that will start every game.
The Cheap Dates
Hands up how many have picked 14 players and then realised you’ve only got £4.5m left to spend on a midfielder?! A nightmare scenario when you then start searching for a decent midfield option with just £4.5m to spend! Having spent some time scouring the midfielders valued at £4.5m we believe we might have come across two who are certainly likely to feature for their respective teams in the opening weeks.
The first is Alex Kacaniklic of Fulham who joined from Liverpool in August 2010 as part of the disastrous Paul Konchesky deal. He has only featured 4 times for the Fulham first team and spent the second half of last season on loan at Watford. However the absence of Clint Dempsey from Fulham’s pre season friendlies has seen Kacaniklic start on the left side of Fulham’s midfield in 6 of their friendlies. Fulham have scored 15 goals during their pre-season and with a relatively easy start to the season Kacaniklic might just pick up a few assists or even a goal. Oh and he’s currently owned by only 0.2% of FPL mangers, now that’s what we call a differential!
The second midfielder worth £4.5m that we would like to highlight is Hal Robson-Kanu of Reading. Reading currently have injury concerns over both Jobi McAnuff and Jimmy Kebe, which means that Kanu may well get a run in the team at the start of the season. Kanu featured 35 times for Reading in the Championship last season, notching up 4 goals along the way.
Looking Ahead…
Ok so that’s the Midfielders dealt with, hopefully we’ve given you some interesting options to ponder over. Having already released our Goalkeeper tips article and Defenders tips article, that leaves just Forwards to come, which will follow on Friday.
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This article was written by Kop Warrior
gasco nice tinking with the doubles team mate looks good
hopefully it’ll be ok bench just waiting to see what FFC team looks like. any luck with the other thing?
no and am sure it was same password have to contact them
come FFC why r we waiting
Why Are We Waiting?
Is Hughes of Fulham a starter ?
what do people think of my team let me know
gk. cech
sub.gazzainga
df,clichy,enrique,coloccini, cuellar sub connolly
mid.nasari,kagawa,mata, sub neville cattermole
att.tevez,torres,suarez
You need a rethink on all those subs!!!
i useually play it with hope of no subs being needed , sometimes back fires but not very often
sometimes backfires!!! Mate, that tactic is suicidal!!!
why have 15 players thow u spread your money out all over and lets say 28 gameweeks u wont use any subs , i dont think its that bad
Soppy – You wont do very well if you dont think subs are important!!
ive done well previous years, well atleast i think i have whats average points a year people useually get ?
Quite a few of us finished around the 1000 mark last year.
Soppy that’s position 1000 overall not points!!!
overall rank??? shit me thats good ! lol might listen then and change it my highest total points is 2069 im guessing thats pritty poor then lol
Soppy, thats not too bad actually, especially if you were using those tactics,
Kop got 2252 last year.
Soppy – That’s bloody good mate. However I think you could do even better if you changed your tactics.
was that last year soppy? that was pretty good going
yeh thats with those tactics , i just try to picj players who bascially i know will play week in week out and finish top 10 in league and use cheap plyers as subs .
that was about 3 years ago i think but ive always used those tactics last year i got 1725 , im a fool for transfers thow ,ake quite a few sometimes .lol
Soppy – If you’ve got a decent bench you wont need to make as many transfers!!
true kop, can see it being a long night tomoz sorting the squad out lol!
You’d better hope that the site doesn’t crash like it did last year!!
Kop, I am hoping it does, to stop me from tinkering!!!
Mutley – I’m finished tinkering!!
Kop Good point I think even more players this year so could overload again (doubt It)
3 midfielders is an interesting tactic, but I feel as though midfielders can really rack up the points! I would recommend going with a 3-4-3 but that’s just my personal preference.
I also don’t like Liverpool’s schedule for the first few weeks, but it’s up to you as always
i know got it tough 1st couple of gw but transfers will happen
Clichy, Nasri, Kagawa, Tevez will all be rotation risks fairly early. Cech and Mata don’t play in GW3. None of your subs are good enough to replace them. I’d go with the advice always given by the best players on this site and pick your team with 15 players who are certain to play.
why wont cech and mata play gw3 ??
Soppy,
They don’t have a game in the PL as they have a European game. So GW3 only 18 teams play.
Soppy, Chelsea and reading have no match mate, that’s why they have a dbl gw in week one! Best to plan a few weeks ahead IMO mate.
yea thanks guys just looked , dont worry thow gonna see how it goes to start with i think . then will see how things go .. thanks thow guys all advice will be taken aventually i bet lol thanks thow people
Hey guys!
What do you think of this draft?:
Krul/Frederici
Kompany/Hangeland/Shawcross/Williams/Cuellar
Yaya/Bale/Ramires/Noble/Allen
Aguero/Torres/Prog
1.5m in the bank for RVP/Rooney in wk2?
looks strong mac good luck
Cheers gasco…do u think Ramires will get a start? I was thinking of going with Larsson but he’s away to Arsenal..
i’ve had ramires from the start i think he’s one of the most likely but who knows
Nice one! Best of luck for Sat!
Mac, my only comment would be Liverpool’s starting fixtures, you may want to wait and draft Allen in, in about 6 weeks time, otherwise it’s a good squad.
Cheers Mutley…I was thinking of getting in early before a price increase but your prob right! Any suggestions on who to replace him with?
Any cash in the Bank Mac?
Yeah, you said 1.5m, maybe Pienaar on the other side of the City
Yea, Pienaar is a great choice but I was thinking of keeping the cash to get RVP or Rooney in wk 2…any recommends for 5.5m? Or shud I change tact?
Dyer?
Ireland?
Good call…swansea have decent fixtures…done! Cheers mutley!
y dont u drop kompany n buy hart…sell krul n buy coloccini or any newcastle defender…in dat way u’ll have players from both man city n newcastle….
krul + kompany= 13.0m
hart + coloccini= 12.0m
you save 1.0m here…..
but its all upto you…..good luck….!!!
Is Hart fit, he missed the CS and missed the England game???
Yeh Mancini said he’ll be perfectly fine for the Southampton game.
BREAKING: Van Persie just failed his United medical. Tests revealed no sign of heart or brain cells.
BREAKING: RVP has failed his medical at Man United. Doctors say its a back problem which was caused by carrying Arsenal for the past 4 years …
Haha!
Arsene,
On a serious note, i know Arsenal fans are not happy but here were the options.
1 do the transfer 6 weeks ago to give themselves more time to prepare and maybe bring some additional players in, but the only offer was 15m back then so a 9 million loss.
2 Keep him and he goes on a free next year, and end up with a player who would have been at 75% of last year cos his heart was not in it. 24m + 1 years wages loss
3 Sell him abroad for 10m but it was never really an option as RVP did not want to go abroad so would never have agreed terms with anyone.
All round a bad situation for Arsenal, but hell they made the best of a bad Job IMO
The only reason they would have kept him is if they thought they wouldn’t get into the champs league without him. That would have effectively paid the transfer fee, as getting into champs is 40 mils worth of revenue I seem to recall
Fair point, but would they be guaranteed to do it with him in the team?
I think so.
My prediction for this year is
City
United
Chelsea
Arsenal
Tottenham
Everton
Let’s see how wrong I am by the end of the season!
An unhappy RVP is useless to us. He’d do the same thing he did to the Dutch locker room in the Euros. I’m quite happy that he was sold, despite that it was to Utd. However, If Arsenal stands pat with the new funds, it’ll be a different story…
Young Ferdinand or Fabio of QPR who’s best for points in rotation ?
Fabio.
Do you reckon he will start regularly?
Yeah! He’s just as good as Rafael. Fergie bought the twins in to eventually replace Neville and Evra. Neville left earlier than expected and so Rafael has been used more regularly. As Evra is world class, Fabio’s not likely to be used for a few years. If one of them’s good enough to play for Man U, then the other must be good enough for QPR (since they’re essentially the same player, one LB, one RB).
Ok gonna slot him in and rotate when QPR play away
Kop I now know what you were going on about with your doubles team. FFC is not very punctual posting his own team lol
Lol, I think we need to send him on a training course – “Working to deadlines”
Are a lot of people starting Federici because of the double game week? I have him but am not sure how Reading’ll fare against Stoke and Chelsea right off the bat.
I’m prob gonna start him over krul at home to totenham. still not decided tho…could be a last min decision! Who’s ur other gk?
Mignolet. I like Krul too, but as other people have warned me, Newcastle has a tough first two weeks. Also, it’s Newcastle’s first season in Europa and it may wear the players down. I’m holding off Krul and Coloccini until I see they can handle playing more often.
Tough decision for a Gooner then! If you pick Mignolet you’re doubting arsenal to score?! Frederici it is! …ps interesting point on krul…food for thought.
I have never understood how a keeper needs resting- by and large he just stands there for the whole game. If people were to ditch a keeper would it be krul or mignolet?
I have no idea what to expect from Arsenal this year. Sunderland will be a good test for them since they’re not great but an above average squad. It all depends how the team responds after losing RVP, but all of Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud looked spot on against Cologne in the pre-season.
Cisse at Newcastle is no longer classed as injured. Anyone got any news on this? Will he start this weekend?
RMT please! Any help is grately appreciated! Ive pulled my hair of because of FF..
Jussi/Federici
Clark-Williams-A.Cole
Michu-Bale-Yaya-Mata (Mata to Kagawa in) GW2
Torres(C)-Graham-Tevez
Subs: Noble, Cuellar, McCartney
3 mil in bank for Rooney.
Worried about two Swansea players up top.
Hello, am I pleased I found this site. Please rmt:
Fed (DDG)
Hangeland, Clichy, Enrique, (McCartney, Fonte)
Ramirez, Lamps, Bale, Yaya (Noble)
Tevez, Torres, Pog
2m left to bring in Rooney for Torres wk 2 or 3
Will Clichy start? Liverpools fixtures are tough so Enrique wont get much points. Also Pog.. Not going to score points
Who would you swap Clichy and enrique for? Just wondering if liverpool’s early start to season in Europa league might compensate – that little bit sharper…
What about Rooney, RVP and Pog on top?
That’s too many Utd players up front for my risk appetite. I would wait and see if Rooney and RVP can actually play well together first until going all out for both. I, like FFC, elected to choose 1 Utd and 1 City forward. City plays Southampton in week 1, while Utd has a tougher matchup against a rather stingy Everton side.
Rooney or RVP out? For Tevez?
For me I’d take RVP out and see how he performs in week 1 before committing 13 mil for him. Mancini has backed Tevez to start and at 9 mil he saves you 4 mil in the bank and you can probably upgrade someone in the midfield and still have 2-3 mil left over. Just my advice though mate, good luck!
Or what about Ivanovic? will hi play? or are he on carantine for the red card in charity shield?
Sorry bout my english
He won’t be serving a ban according to reports. Who do you have in midfield and on defence?
Fantastic Eleven,
Ivanovic is free to play, read the full report here –
http://www.fantasyfootballcheat.co.uk/2012/08/14/gameweek-1-the-suspension-report/
kee: Friedel (Rudd)
def:
Ivanovic,Pearce, Terry (Turner, Shawcross )
mid: Guthrie, Duff, Kagawa and Bale (Kacaniklic )
I would recommend downgrading RVP for Tevez for sure then. You’ve got no City players and they have a relatively good start on the year. Use the funds saved from there and upgrade Guthrie to either Michu (easy first 8 game schedule for Swansea) or Pienaar; although Reading does have the double game week.
Do you think Michu will play at all. they got Sinclair, Dyer, Routledge and Britton. why not Yaya Toure? If I get Rid of RVP and Guthrie I got 8,5M.
Michu will play, go type his name in Wiki and have a read, it’s worth it
Michu will be starting, he’s had a great pre-season
Done
You think Tevez is better then Torres?
Fantastic 11, Long term yes Tevez, but GW1 Torres has two games
I¨ll start with Tores then. and later to RVP or Tevez. Thank you all for great feed back
Your welcome
Sorry had to step out there, but I concur with everything that everyone else has posted. Michu will hopefully be a great pick up and Torres is good for the double game week. Good luck and you’re welcome!
Urgh ! More changes ! Help please
Jussi (De Gea)
Lescott Walker Hangeland (Clyne Fabio)
Kagawa Hazard Michu Guthrie (Noble)
Tevez Torres Pog
GW2 -Rooney/RVP in for Torres
or Bale in for Hazard
GW3 – Pienaaar in for Guthrie
5.0 in the bank for these changes
I know about the risk of having the new signings but this game is about taking risks isnt it ?
help ?
Pauly, looks a reasonable squad to me