I welcome other Sand League managers, and ONLY Sand League managers, to weigh in on their draft analyses of their team and the other Sand League Teams. I'll risk the ridicule and retribution by posting my analyses first, in the order of the Round One draft: 1. Stormin Gunners: a) IMO, it was a major mistake to go with emotion and select a good forward Aubameyang, when Salah was available. b) Not Norm's fault, but the value of Watkins might have fallen a bit with the switch of Ings from SOU. c) The decision on his first pick also meant that none of the high priced Top Mids were available when he picked 2nd. OK midfield. d) Good Goalkeepers e) OK Defenders Overall grade C 2. GameofOhhs a) Captain Salah can carry any team b) Very Good Defense c) Interesting Forwards. Wilson needs another good year; Iheanacho’s value dependent on his playing time which just got diminished by the arrival of Daka. Which Benteke will show up? d) Guess we’ll learn the excitement of ESR, Emil Smith-Rowe, and how soon he can become an impact player. Overall Grade A- 3. Kopite Jrs. a) Captain Fernandez b) Good forward value for the price. Let’s see if Toney can be as productive in the Premier League as last season. c) Strong Defense d) Good Mid supporting cast. e) Question strategy of two BHA Goalkeepers. Left money for upgrades elsewhere, but we’ll see how stingy Brighton is this year. Overall Grade B+ 4. Parraraiders a) Capt de Bruyne, Capt Grealish b) Solved his MCI problem with trade for Ward-Prowse c) Great Goalkeepers d) Shaw could be top defender after Robertson and Alexander-Arnold e) Calvert-Lewin top tier forward. Love Pukki forward, especially for his value. Overall Grade B+ 5. The Rising Son a) Captain Kane (Wonder for which team he’ll play? Will he be the first to take PKs if at MCI? b) Like Mahrez, but is he a rotation risk with Grealish’s arrival? c) Outstanding Goalkeepers d) I was interested in taking White ARS D 4.5 on. Let’s see if Arteta solves his defense problem this year. Rate rest of D as no more than OK e) Like Jota, the issue is playing time, but he scores for FPL when on the pitch. Overall Grade (with the uncertainties mentioned above) B- 6. Ryan’s Reds a) Top Defender with Alexander-Arnold and good Def supporting cast b) Three good value forwards. I especially like Jiminez if he returns to his form before the serious head injury. c) Two very good Mids in Son and Sterling. How will their playing times diminish with adding Grealish into the MCI starting rotation, and whether Son has to play as the lone striker instead of in the supporting role if Kane switches to MCI. d) GK ok if Pope produces and the Brentford experiment works. Overall Grade B 7. Aviators a) Capt Vardy and two other good forwards with Adams value increased with Ings departure. b) Very Good Def c) Three good mids in Sane, Harrison, and Gundogan. Hope Gundogan holds his place and have Grealish rotate with Sterling and Mahrez. Nice quick trade after noticing Grealish’s move to MCI forced Parraraiders to offload a MCI player. Expect Gilmour to warm my bench but have a good season with Norwich and gain value that I can use later. d) Goalkeepers just serviceable, unless de Gea wins the Man U goalkeeper competition. Overall Grade: B+ 8. FC Epikoinos a) Top Goalkeeper and a risk on Watford’s keeper b) Love Bamford leading the forward line, but unsure of playing time for Daka (who I also like) and Abraham. c) Defense is very good, outstanding if Konate cracks the Liverpool starting defense. d) How fast will Sancho acclimate to the Premier League, and will he become a dominate FPL scorer? Foden and Torres have the MCI rotation problem with their abundance of midfield players. Overall Grade B-
My assessment of each of the teams: 1. Norms team did take the left field approach of picking a player everyone else wanted to drop down their list compared to last season. He did however manage a good attack, with some solid forward and midfield acquisitions, and a fairly safe defensive arrangement that should be good for some consistent points. Very arsenal reliant, and the possibility of a maddison transfer could very well lock his team in or force him into a change he wasnt willing to make. Overall could be better, especially without a decent backup captaincy choice, but he still has a side that could perform well this season. 2. Game of ohhs is quite a likable team. A solid midfield and some nice defensive line. Forwards are lacking a bit of punch for my liking though. I love that he has salah which is captainable 80 percent of weeks, but can rely on potentially a well performing havertz in those off weeks. Greenwood will get some chances with rashford out too so theres some early goals he can take advantage on a mid priced midfielder that otherwise wouldnt get many starts. I would be concerned about the risk of greewood being benched for pogba, iheanacho losing time to daka and smith rowe if arsenal make a few late signings 3. Marks team is balanced overall. Some good picks in each position, should fare with a good end of season score. Things i like, his forward line is one of the better trios chosen potentially, he has some consistent players in bruno mount and raphinha and every position looks to have promise. Things that are potentially bad is some risky choices in unproven players, or uncertain starters. Toney for example comes with newly promoted brentford who noone knows how theyll fair. Mount is in a stacked chelsea side, and despite being a regular starter, maybe find his role dropped deeper in the midfield. Jorginho is buying 8 penalty goals and 30 plus starts, perhaps better options at that stage? 4. Mals team was being built quite good at the start, will be a team to look out for over the season. Perhaps maybe ran out of steam towards the end of the draft. Maybe this will mean little given most of these players will serve the bench most weeks. Kdb, grealish and dcl are a good trio to base captaincy on over the season. Each should contribute a sizable final season score for mal. What i dont like is the final choices, kante, livramento and asm are probably all players whod id try to avoid. Still not end of the world. 5. My side, ill leave my comments brief. I took a risk with some players, jota pepe mahrez mbeumo cavanni rodrigo. Im hoping over the season these players can turn it on enough to make it worthwhile. Kane at city or spurs doesnt concern me, i figure he will be nailed on at either club. Hoping a few of my players cause some surprises this season, especially in defence and midfield 6. Ryans team is my favourite. Especially early on. Son plus sterling is my favourite combo from the first 2 picks. His 3 forward choices is probably the most nailed on 3 strikers combo out of the 8 of us. Some good defensive options, but maybe lacking in a decent gk. Only negatives id point at is the gks and maybe some of the mids could fall flat, but he has built a very nice side. 7. Id describe hals team as a safe quiet team. Most of the players will play most weeks, score somewhat well and consistent. Mane and vardy is a good combo, 2nd to ryans sterling and son combo imo. I would however worry that not enough fire power is found outside of those 2. Firmino adams and harrison are going to contribute, but a lot may rest on buendia to playmake well for the villains. 8. Eriks side has a good defensive core but perhaps is overly reliant on bamford sancho and barnes. With fodens injury and torres perhaps seeing less than his fair share of game time, it is hard to see where his team points will come from. A solid defence will at least keep some scores ticking, and perhaps daka could be a revelation this season. Time will tell. I like the prospect of sancho and bamford tied in with a solid backline, i dislike that it is so reliant on a few players.
So who's itching to make the first squad adjustment. Send me a Private Message. (I won't tell anyone!) LOL
Does Sand League have all 8 managers? I still need to get Ryan's Red and Aviators into All Rocks and Statler & Waldorf Cup. I sent the league codes. FC Epikoinis needs to join All Rocks only. Sent the code to Eric as well. Cheers!
Just a friendly reminder to load your draft team in today making sure the 15 players match your draft and adjusted for any transfers made The deadline is 90 minutes before Brentford v Arsenal kick off today Best of luck everyone - and new players check the other threads for the various competitions we have going across all three leagues
Auba looks like he will be out with illness, is it too late to do a redraft? My first pick is Salah just kidding, good luck everyone
None of my forwards or mids have scored, but almost all of my defenders have, I guess it’s something although I don’t know what…
Quite pleased to get Lukaku, Pogba and Varane the last few days and a nice Hattrick from Bruno It’s all downhill from here!
Hi all Ive updated prices for the following players (Up 0.1m) Fernandes Pogba Richarlison Tsimikis (Down 0.1m) Auba Pepe Daka Lanzini I havent reordered the spreadsheet to reflect new prices but i have adjusted each team's price as well. Please be aware that each person's remaining budget will now potentially be inaccurate, as the value of the team is different to the price spent on the players
This season is doomed for Arsenal unless we get a new coach who can turn things around. Henry is the one who can do this, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Henry will energize the players and fan base, greatest gunner to ever wear the shirt in my opinion and will restore Arsenal to the former stature that Arsenal had under Wenger where they made the top four every season. Retourner Thierry!
Henry could light a spark that would motivate the club, I don’t see Arsenal as motivated at all under Arteta. The best they can do is mid-table with the current manager. Henry could motivate them to the top four.
Quite the snag. Major kudos for your pick-ups. Now go back to sleep and don't concern yourself about the Ronaldo sweepstakes. In fact, if you see he's added, give me a call so I can get back in the hunt.