Whether you are preparing for an offline player allocation or ranking your players for an automated allocation, the first question is the same: Who is the top player in PlayTheGame? And the next question is similar: Who are the next 20? Or 50?
When we re-ran last season’s stats to take account of changes to this season’s scoring categories – Minutes Played replacing Average Goals For and Against, and the removal of successful passes from the Defence category – the name of Gareth Barry popped out of our computer first, and why not? He missed only one match last season and he was an integral part of an Aston Villa side was capable of some excellent attacking play on its day, which enabled him to provide ten assists. And it did not hurt that he took a good penalty, which helped his total of nine goals.
So is Barry the man to get this season? Well, it depends. If he moves to Liverpool, he stands to benefit from a greater number of League Points if – and it may be a big “if” – he plays as many games. But those clubs are more inclined to rest key players before Champions League matches, which has not yet been an issue at Villa Park. Furthermore, will he take time to settle in and be as effective as he was with Villa? And will he take the penalties at either club?
If he remains at Villa Park, will there be a hangover from his falling-out with Martin O’Neill, the manager? Will his form suffer, even though indications from recent matches are that the Villa faithful will reserve their judgement of his lack of loyalty? There are doubts, and reasons to question whether Barry will be top man again. But in the list of the Top 200 players we have made available as part of our Offline Allocation Kit, we have given him the benefit of the doubt.
Goalscoring midfield players who provide assists and are the focal point of their teams’ attacking approaches finished in the next three positions last season – Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo. But as we update our Top 200 to take account of developments in the transfer market, we are already marking Ronaldo down. The surgery that means he will miss the opening month or so of the season may have made a move to Real Madrid less likely, but it has guaranteed that he will not be racking up the Goals, Successful Passes and Assists any time soon, let alone the Minutes Played.
Perhaps Paul Scholes, who missed so much of last season, will take over at number four, but here again, squad rotation could be a significant factor. And a fully-fit Frank Lampard would be a contender – but you have to wonder whether the transfer talk about Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho, his old boss, will have affected him.
Speaking of players who should see more playing time this season, don’t forget John Terry, the Chelsea defender and captain. And other defenders worth a high ranking include Joleon Lescott, the Everton man who qualified at centre back and left back and revealed a hitherto-unsuspected nose for goal last season, finding the net eight times. And behind him was PlayTheGame’s top goalkeeper, Tim Howard. If Everton remain as solid this season as they were last, then both should be good value again.
Among the forwards, Dimitar Berbatov and Emmanuel Adebayor have also been difficult players to rank. Adebayor has now signed a new contract at Arsenal, so last season's second-highest goalscorer now looks safe to rank high in your Wish List. Berbatov, though, has appeared distracted and uninvolved in Spurs' pre-season matches as he sulks over the club's refusal to offer him at cut price to Manchester United.
Then there is Michael Owen, the great enigma. Will he be fit? Will he be the same player? Will he play behind two other strikers, as he did with some success last season? Will that boost or cut his value?
Elsewhere, pre-season injuries have altered plans. Kenwyne Jones of Sunderland will miss at least a couple of months of the season, while Wilfred Bouma suffered a dislocated ankle on Saturday and could be out until the New Year.
If you would like to know how others are thinking, then we can help. We recently held an offline player allocation in a 10-team Times in-house league - which, incidentally, we believe could be a potential Guinness Book of Records entry as the first such event in fantasy soccer history. Full details of how it went are covered in the blog entitled "Beer, Banter and Nicklas Bendtner", including a table showing all 200 picks. But here is a sneak preview of the first round:
1. Phil Myers (Fantasy supplement editor): Cesc Fabregas.
2. Michael Morgan (Times Online): Steven Gerrard.
3. Tom Pride (Assistant Night Editor): Gareth Barry.
4. Mick Hume (Columnist): Wayne Rooney.
5. Lee Wilkinson (Times Online): Fernando Torres.
6. Nick Szczepanik (Football Writer): Joleon Lescott.
7. Tony Cascarino (Columnist and Former Republic of Ireland forward): Mikel Arteta.
8. Richard Duce (Sports News Editor): Carlos Tevez.
9. David Chappell (Managing Editor): Paul Scholes.
10. Bill Edgar (Football Writer and TheGame podcast stats guru): Petr Cech.
Plenty of food for thought there - and still 190 picks to go.
Comments (5)
Before Managers decide on their RANKING, they need to be sure they will be in an active League. Many who like leagues of 15 or 20 managers are stuck at 1/15 and will never play.
They can leave the league. If they want a big league go to POST INVITES HERE (18 July)
or join Caribbean Goal Connection
Password concacaf or
active managers Password active
Go to INVITE ONLY FIRST
Both leagues have a few spots left
Posted by Little Cayman | July 25, 2008 7:45 AM
Posted on July 25, 2008 07:45
You mention the possibility of Barry going to Liverpool, but how quickly are you picking up transfers? There appear to be several that happened days ago that have not been reflected yet. With allocation deadlines fast approaching, should you not be keeping up better with transfers?
PTG - We will do our best to update player movements as soon as they are officially announced, but feel free to let us know if there is anyone you think we have missed.
Posted by Jay Tucker | July 27, 2008 12:44 AM
Posted on July 27, 2008 00:44
The main problem I can see is that I have ranked all players in my wish list, but when players leave Prem League (Muntari, R. Wright, Eagles) they are not removed, so having to remove manually to avoid getting them in allocation. Also, haven't seen any new players added to All Available Players since I joined and I believe there are some (Riga, Olofinjana, Meyler, Colgan, Ngog, Behrami)
PTG - A update to the player lists is scheduled for today.
PTG - The player lists have been fully updated with players removed and added, but please be aware that these players will not have been removed from your wish lists, although they will obviously not be allocated to your team. If you believe that any players have been missed, (not including today's transfers) then please let us know.
Posted by Jay Tucker | July 30, 2008 12:56 AM
Posted on July 30, 2008 00:56
Im just wondering whether all my players score or just 1-11.
PTG - You have 14 active players that score for you - the starting 11 and then your 3 subs. You then have 6 players which sit on your bench but do not score unless you make them one of your active 14.
Posted by martin ginley | August 4, 2008 6:03 PM
Posted on August 4, 2008 18:03
Darius Vassell for my 20th pick? In addition to a wish list how about also introducing a "wouldn't touch with a bargepole list" for players who I'd like to avoid...
PTG - this functionality was considered, but it is impossible to guarantee that you wouldn't get a player because of the way the allocation system works, particularly in bigger leagues.
Posted by daeguowl | August 22, 2008 4:07 PM
Posted on August 22, 2008 16:07