Official 2019-20 Sand League Draft Thread

Sonabert · Aug 7, 2019

good analysis , i like my lonely lily pad route,never been one to follow the majority ... time will tell

blech · Aug 7, 2019

blech said: ↑

As the draft is now over, I thought that I'd throw in a preliminary draft analysis here. These are tough for someone in the league to write, as everyone brings there own biases and projections to the table about which players are good value and which aren't, but it can still be interesting to hear what people think after it's all said and done, where things took unexpected turns, where things fell into place, etc. Before getting to any of that, it occurred to me that there is a more objective measure of which players were the "good" picks than relying on any one individual's views, and that is to trust the masses. And, the FPL site let's us see the % ownership for each player!

When I last checked, there were 41 players total who had 10% or higher ownership. One player on the list wasn't on anyone's roster, which leaves 40, and if evenly distributed, that would mean 5 popular players each. But the distribution wasn't so even.

1. Lokomotiv -- 9 players at +10%
Maybe this number is inflated, as it is includes GK Button, who is being picked because he only costs 4.0 and not because of his projected points, but he's still the most popular 4.0 GK. Even setting Button aside, I was surprised at how many popular players landed on this squad, including 3 defenders - Alexander-Arnold, Walker, and Maguire - 2 mid tier mids - Zaha and Pulisic - the darling low priced mid (Dendoncker) and 2 forwards (Aguero and Rashford). This is a squad with a lot of names that our showing up on a lot of teams, with a superstar available for captaincy. The presence of a 4.5 mid, 4.0 def, and 4.0 gk may signal a lack of depth, but a solid group. Yikes!

2. Aviators -- 7 players at +10%
Hal's number may be inflated by having 2 gks (Pickford and Ryan) since only 1 can play at a time, but he's got 2 def on the list from the top 2 teams (van Dijk and Laporte) and 3 mids (Sterling, Sigursson, and Fraser). I see some weaknesses and it will be interesting to see how the forward line pans out with purchase prices of 6.0, 6.0, and 6.5, but there's nothing wrong with a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 according to the major publications.

3. Stormin Gunners -- 6 players at +10%
All 6 are the real deal and cover all positions. 1 gk (Ederson), 1 def (Ake), 2 mids (Mane and Milivojevic), and 2 fwds (King and Jota). This is solid coverage that is approved by the masses, and while I'll try to leave my personal biases out, the addition of Lacazette was one of the picks were I personally groaned and thought he got it right.

4. blechs dawgs -- 5 players at +10%
As noted above, 5 was number for an even distribution, and seeing 5 sums it up as uniquely average. 1 def (Wan-Bissaka), 1 mid (Perez), and 3 fwds (Vardy, Firmino, and Jiminez). Time will tell if tripling up on the Foxes 2019-20 attack will pay off (I suppose that's quadrupling when I make Vardy my captain).

5. Tip's Terriers -- 4 players at +10%
1 def (Kelly) who may be more for price than points, and then 2 mids (B Silva and F Anderson) who need a first initial to be recognized and 1 fwd (Kane). Not winning the popularity contest, but I really liked the Martial pick in the 7th round were he was nabbed, and solid in goal even if not carrying a 10&er.

6 (TIED). BunchofMuppets -- 3 players at +10%
First three rounds were all +10% -- 1 mid (Salah), 1 fwd (Wilson), and 1 gk (Allison). But then Sonabert took the road less traveled and followed his own draft sheet. Or, had no sheet. Of course, reality is that placing the "C" on Salah every week will be a simple strategy that will pay off and allowed the opportunity to take some chances.

6 (TIED). Morning Glory -- 3 players at +10%
1 GK (DeGea), 1 def (Robertson), and 1 fwd (Aubameyang). These were rounds 1, 2, and 4. There were opportunities to grab several of the names mentioned on other rosters above, but the manager is insistent that he knows better than the masses...

6 (TIED). Kicking & Screaming -- 3 players at +10%
1 def (Digne) and 2 mids (de Bruyne and Maddison). Interestingly, the first 9 picks were +10%, and it was K&S with the #10 pick of Ericksen who grabbed the first player below that magic figure. Not sure if they were banking on him staying with his current club or a transfer coming through, but the transfer clock is ticking and we'll find out soon. I obviously like the Maddison pick as I'm expecting the Foxes to score at will this season and I'll be happy to share a few with others on the team, and I was literally kicking and screaming when he took De Bruyne and Joe Gomez right before me in rounds 1 and 7, so it will be interesting to see how this one pans out. Perhaps not the most popular according to the masses, but this was the team that seemed to be working the closest off of my draft sheet.

What say each of you? Which pick right one or two before you was the most painful?
Click to expand...

I mentioned De Bruyne and Gomez as a couple of players who I had begun to think would fall to me and were snatched right beforehand, and Martial was another that I was thinking would be there if I just waited another round. Those were drafting moments of disappointment.

On the other hand, my bias for the Leicester attack is now known, but I had agonized about whether to take one of Maddison, Perez, or Tielemans with the 4th pick, precisely because I didnt think any of them would return to me for the 5/6 turn. When Maddison went as the next pick in the 4th round, I knew there was no chance that we could go all the way down and back without Perez and Tielemans being draftes. I certainly didnt plan to take both Perez and Tielemans at 5/6, as I didn't think either would return.

The other 2 that surprised me were to get Lanzini at 13 and Stones as pick 120 to end the draft. Time will tell, but those picks cheered me up as we pulled into the station. And, truth be told, the combination of getting a healthy Lanzini as my 5th mid and spending 5.5 on my last defender rather than squirreling away the cash will make it hard for me to participate in the Pepe lottery tomorrow.

Norm Coyle · Aug 7, 2019

The Aubameyang pick was the most disturbing and should have been passed so that I could have both Arsenal strikers. Unforgiveable

Norm Coyle · Aug 7, 2019

Also Pépé has texted me this morning that he only wants to sign with Stormin Gunners, so you should all be disgruntled about this and let him go where he wants...

Tpadams · Aug 7, 2019

blech said: ↑

As the draft is now over, I thought that I'd throw in a preliminary draft analysis here. These are tough for someone in the league to write, as everyone brings there own biases and projections to the table about which players are good value and which aren't, but it can still be interesting to hear what people think after it's all said and done, where things took unexpected turns, where things fell into place, etc. Before getting to any of that, it occurred to me that there is a more objective measure of which players were the "good" picks than relying on any one individual's views, and that is to trust the masses. And, the FPL site let's us see the % ownership for each player!

When I last checked, there were 41 players total who had 10% or higher ownership. One player on the list wasn't on anyone's roster, which leaves 40, and if evenly distributed, that would mean 5 popular players each. But the distribution wasn't so even.

1. Lokomotiv -- 9 players at +10%
Maybe this number is inflated, as it is includes GK Button, who is being picked because he only costs 4.0 and not because of his projected points, but he's still the most popular 4.0 GK. Even setting Button aside, I was surprised at how many popular players landed on this squad, including 3 defenders - Alexander-Arnold, Walker, and Maguire - 2 mid tier mids - Zaha and Pulisic - the darling low priced mid (Dendoncker) and 2 forwards (Aguero and Rashford). This is a squad with a lot of names that our showing up on a lot of teams, with a superstar available for captaincy. The presence of a 4.5 mid, 4.0 def, and 4.0 gk may signal a lack of depth, but a solid group. Yikes!

2. Aviators -- 7 players at +10%
Hal's number may be inflated by having 2 gks (Pickford and Ryan) since only 1 can play at a time, but he's got 2 def on the list from the top 2 teams (van Dijk and Laporte) and 3 mids (Sterling, Sigursson, and Fraser). I see some weaknesses and it will be interesting to see how the forward line pans out with purchase prices of 6.0, 6.0, and 6.5, but there's nothing wrong with a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 according to the major publications.

3. Stormin Gunners -- 6 players at +10%
All 6 are the real deal and cover all positions. 1 gk (Ederson), 1 def (Ake), 2 mids (Mane and Milivojevic), and 2 fwds (King and Jota). This is solid coverage that is approved by the masses, and while I'll try to leave my personal biases out, the addition of Lacazette was one of the picks were I personally groaned and thought he got it right.

4. blechs dawgs -- 5 players at +10%
As noted above, 5 was number for an even distribution, and seeing 5 sums it up as uniquely average. 1 def (Wan-Bissaka), 1 mid (Perez), and 3 fwds (Vardy, Firmino, and Jiminez). Time will tell if tripling up on the Foxes 2019-20 attack will pay off (I suppose that's quadrupling when I make Vardy my captain).

5. Tip's Terriers -- 4 players at +10%
1 def (Kelly) who may be more for price than points, and then 2 mids (B Silva and F Anderson) who need a first initial to be recognized and 1 fwd (Kane). Not winning the popularity contest, but I really liked the Martial pick in the 7th round were he was nabbed, and solid in goal even if not carrying a 10&er.

6 (TIED). BunchofMuppets -- 3 players at +10%
First three rounds were all +10% -- 1 mid (Salah), 1 fwd (Wilson), and 1 gk (Allison). But then Sonabert took the road less traveled and followed his own draft sheet. Or, had no sheet. Of course, reality is that placing the "C" on Salah every week will be a simple strategy that will pay off and allowed the opportunity to take some chances.

6 (TIED). Morning Glory -- 3 players at +10%
1 GK (DeGea), 1 def (Robertson), and 1 fwd (Aubameyang). These were rounds 1, 2, and 4. There were opportunities to grab several of the names mentioned on other rosters above, but the manager is insistent that he knows better than the masses...

6 (TIED). Kicking & Screaming -- 3 players at +10%
1 def (Digne) and 2 mids (de Bruyne and Maddison). Interestingly, the first 9 picks were +10%, and it was K&S with the #10 pick of Ericksen who grabbed the first player below that magic figure. Not sure if they were banking on him staying with his current club or a transfer coming through, but the transfer clock is ticking and we'll find out soon. I obviously like the Maddison pick as I'm expecting the Foxes to score at will this season and I'll be happy to share a few with others on the team, and I was literally kicking and screaming when he took De Bruyne and Joe Gomez right before me in rounds 1 and 7, so it will be interesting to see how this one pans out. Perhaps not the most popular according to the masses, but this was the team that seemed to be working the closest off of my draft sheet.

What say each of you? Which pick right one or two before you was the most painful?
Click to expand...

Interesting analysis, thanks. Let's hope my actual points bear some relation to this!

As a first-time drafter in this format, the thing that I got caught by was budget was more of an issue than I expected. Early on I assumed that since any given team will likely only have one player £10m, whereas our 'normal' teams may have 2-3, that I wouldn't hit budget constraints, but that clearly became wrong as we went on.

The range of money ITB is interesting though - one team has £6m left but I spent every penny. I think this partly is because I took Sane who is probably overpriced for how much he'll actually play...

pato2384 · Aug 7, 2019

The most painful choice was the one after seeing your top choices chosen right before your go next...uggh.

Norm Coyle · Aug 7, 2019

That’s what I had with Aubameyang picked right before my pick. But Mane is a solid 1st pick also...

Norm Coyle · Aug 7, 2019

Hoping Ozil isn’t a bust but maybe he will return to form?

David Bartels · Aug 7, 2019

blech said: ↑

Perhaps not the most popular according to the masses, but this was the team that seemed to be working the closest off of my draft sheet.

What say each of you? Which pick right one or two before you was the most painful?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write up! I agree, we seemed to have players ranked similarly- nice of the randomizer to place us at the turn where we could frustrate each other. Hoping some of my less popular picks pay off- I enjoyed this draft as it gave me a chance to get some players that I think are in line for a good season but that I don't own in the global FPL game due to price (e.g. Doherty).

Best of luck everyone!