Season after season I make an FPL team, enter some leagues, then get bored with it and forget to update it regularly or even quit altogether. This year I am gonna do it properly and enter a seriously sized winning pot of €1 million on FanTeam.
I have also got myself a link for people to use to sign up which is fanteam.co/GPirlo and I am looking to get as many lads and lasses from the FI community as I can to enter to have a bit of fun with it.
€1 million is some sized pot with the winning team taking home 200k. The prize money is split accordingly the lower position you finish and goes all the way down to 5659. The absolute maximum amount of entries is 75000 and is €25 to enter.
There also weekly and monthly prizes for the top team, so even if I am having a stinker overall, I can win with one great matchday which will stop me getting bored halfway through the season 😀
The scoring table is pretty straight forward and nothing out of ordinary you would expect in a fantasy league.
And the game rules are also very straight forward and nothing out of the ordinary for fantasy league.
Pirlo’s Pearlers
My team is entered and I may make the odd change before the season starts but for now, here’s who I maxed out the 100M budget on:
GKs:
Rui Patricio – Wolves love a clean sheet and Patricio should rack up a nice score over the course of a season, whilst saving a million in the budget for not going for an Ederson or Alison.
Mat Ryan – Ryan can get through plenty of saves in a game for Brighton and for a low end 4.5m, i’ll stick him in as my 2nd keeper.
Defenders:
TAA – What can you say about Trent? He is the most expensive defender for a reason and given the quite tight price pool in defenders he is worth the 7.5m.
Joao Cancelo – I like full backs in fantasy footy and Cancelo has looked good post lockdown. He may hold down a regular first team spot and for 5m could be a snip.
Kieran Tierney – He has impressed since returning from injury and could get himself a fair few g&a next season so could be a real steal at 5m.
Ruben Vinagre – First choice Wolves left wing back Jonny has just done his ACL, so it will be expected for young Vinagre to step up. With several expected clean sheets and a good chance of some g&a, he is worth a go at a rock bottom price 4m.
Ben White – White was very good for Leeds last season and was a big reason why they won the Championship. They want to sign him up but Brighton may have something to say. Either way, he is the cheapest price you can get at 4m.
Midfielders:
KDB – What more do want from a midfielder? De Bruyne broke the all-time PL assist record last season and chips in with goals himself. Expensive but worth it.
Mo Salah – Another expensive one but even when Salah has a perceived average season his numbers are right up there. Get him in.
Raheem Sterling – He supposedly had a poor season, yet he was going for the golden boot in the last couple of matches. He fell short but much like Salah, goalscoring “midfielders” is what you need.
Tomas Soucek – Maybe a slight surprise but he is cheap and he looked decent at the end of last seasons campaign. Worth a pop at 4.5m
Declan Rice – This pick was the runt of the 15 and put in as had 4.5m left to use up. Of the options that were left, he should be the only regular starter and he will chip in with the odd g&a. But he will be a bench warmer.
Forwards:
Raul Jimenez – He was a G&A machine last year and plays almost every minute of every game. For 9m he is a couple of mil cheaper than your Agueros and Kanes to fit in the budget. See how he starts the campaign.
Che Adams – I liked what I saw from Che post lockdown and bagged himself a couple of well taken goals. He could strike up a great partnership with Ings next season who won’t be shy in feeding him. 5.5m is a good price.
Kelechi Iheanacho – There aren’t too many options below 6m so Iheanacho was the best of a bad bunch. If Leicester go and buy another striker I may have a rethink and bit of a shuffle but if not, he will do for a bench warmer.
Other bits and bobs
So, that’s my team but there isn’t just straight forward fantasy league stuff on FanTeam. One thing that’s caught my eye are the ‘match ups’ section where you back a player to directly outperfom another on a match day.
Looking at the Champions League matches coming up, you can see below some of the head to head match ups on offer. If you fancy Neymar to out perform Zapata, you can bet on it.
You can also build up an accumulator of multiple selections to make it even more interesting. This is obviously something you can’t do on FPL and is a cracking idea. Messi vs Lewandowski looks tasty. 😀
They also have a 5 a side function where on any given game night you select who will be the top performers and look to win a nice little pay off. Such as the following for Barca vs Bayern:
Fanteam isn’t all about football as they also offer NBA, NHL, NFL, Major League Baseball and others with fantasy leagues for whichever one floats your boat. You could have a team in all of em if you wanted!
On top of this they have a traditional style Sportsbook but with a twist as all of the above sports are included. So, you could build an accumulator with Wolves in the Europa, the Spurs in the NBA and the Lightning in the NHL. Cracker.
If any of this is of interest, than you can sign up using my link here fanteam.co/GPirlo and get cracking with a fantasy FPL team and/or have a look at all the other stuff that’s on there.
The more of the FI community going for the top prizes the better and will be a bit of competitive fun. 😀
Also don’t forget, if you love the Index or are just starting out than make sure to check out the ‘Football Index Weekly’ podcast’ with big John Nellis. It’s honest, funny and easy listening and you can have a listen here and on Spotify
All the best, good luck and give me a shout on Twitter for any questions!
Follow me on Twitter @GingerPirlo_FI
The Ginger Pirlo 