Myself and eleven other fantasy enthusiasts got our heads together and completed a mock draft. Here’s what happened at the start of the tail end of the draft in rounds 10, 11 and 12!
You can read Part 1 here…
And Part 2 here!
Round Ten
My Pick
I feel like Billy Sharp is someone in between a safe bet and a punt. The recent signing of Lys Mousset from Bournemouth probably decreases Sharp’s value a little but there should still be a space for Sheffield United’s talisman.
In Son Heung Min and Josh King, I’d already got my two forwards who will most likely feature in my lineup week in week out. I like to use my FWD3 spot as a “flex” type slot between my MID5, dependant on fixtures. I feel that Sharp may be goal dependant in Fantrax but should reach double figures in terms of goals this season.
Those who follow English football will know that Sharp has been crying out for a shot at the big time for the past decade. If you pick the right fixture to start him in, the Blades hero will surely pay dividends.
Value Pick
This is the time of the draft where you realise the skill of those you are drafting with. For me, this is another excellent round and there’s some great value to be had here, especially considering we are talking about pick 109 to 120.
I love the Willy Boly pick here. Snatching a defender who ranked at 12th in his position last season at pick 120 is excellent work.
Staying with Wolves, Leander Dendoncker is another who is built for Fantrax scoring. He could easily finish with five goals and five assists these season while scoring well with his defensive contributions.
Ashley Barnes, too, remains criminally undervalued.
Surprise Pick
A tough one. At this stage, it’s hard to draft badly as long as you’ve got your solid core in place already. Anyone picked at this stage should be a high upside punt.
The whereabouts of Tammy Abraham remains unclear. In fact, no one is sure of who will be Chelsea’s number nine this season, whether that be a false one or a real one. Confusing. For me, his value will massively increase in the unlikely event that he does re-join Aston Villa.
We will ignore Rondon’s appearance here by the way. If he had stayed at Newcastle, this pick would have represented incredible value.
Round Eleven
My Pick
This pick has “punt” written all over it! Leandro Trossard is the latest Brighton signing to come into the league with incredible statistics from his previous club. He will be hoping he can improve slightly on Jose Izquierdo’s contribution and improve drastically on Alireza Jahanbaksh’s.
Much has been written about Trossard, the overwhelming majority of it good. With Anthony Knockaert’s departure to Fulham confirmed, it looks like the Belgian will join Solly March on the Brighton flanks. March is definitely the safer option out of the two but a new signing is always intriguing.
Value Pick
The managerial change at Newcastle United hasn’t been well received by many. One of the few that may actually benefit is Jonjo Shelvey. The mercurial midfielder fell out of favour with Rafa Benitez last season but could be given a new lease of life in a new regime. He generally scores well in this format, largely because he takes set pieces and shoots a lot. He’s great value at pick 122 if he regains his spot.
Elsewhere, James Tarkowski at pick 130 is nice having finished 16th amongst all defenders last season as is Schar at 124 having finished 18th with an average of 10.84 points per match.
Surprise Pick
There’s a few picks here that aren’t anywhere near my own radar. Fernandinho may lose his spot in that Manchester City midfield to Rodri before too long. Regardless, I’ve never rated his FPL value.
Having said that, the Brazilian is more valuable in FPL than Andre Gomes and Mateo Kovacic, both of which I will be steering well clear of in my drafts.
David De Gea was the third goalkeeper off the board. For this to be of any value, he will have to re-discover the 2017/18 version of himself, rather than the woeful 2018/19 model. Even then, round 11 is way too early to be drafting goalkeeper’s in my opinion, unless it’s Alisson Becker.
Round Twelve
My Pick
This is the first pick that I made that may have been a bit of a waste. I was probably suffering a little from “draft fatigue” when picking Xherdan Shaqiri, but at pick 137 I felt it was worth the roster spot under the thinking that he may see some early season action.
Shaqiri clearly isn’t one of Jurgen Klopp’s favourites. A start on the opening day against Norwich City wouldn’t be a huge surprise but Shaqiri will probably one of those dumped back onto the waiver wire after three or four weeks.
Value Pick
After seeing Oliver Norwood leave the board four picks after mine, I wished I’d gone for him. Norwood could be a sneaky little pick this season and I think he represents excellent value at 141. It’s unknown what the signing of Ravel Morrison might do to his value though. Norwood’s FPL value reminds me a lot of Tom Cairney’s value coming into last season which is why I’m not going for him earlier. If he drops to round 12or below, I think he’s worth the risk.
I also like Ben Davies here, especially if Tottenham don’t end up singing another left back. Danny Rose is already half way out of the exit door, leaving Davies as the obvious first choice. He has DEF1 potential if he plays every week and was one of the best defenders in the game for the first half of the 2017/18 Togga season.
In the unlikely event that Romelu Lukaku stays, you’d do very well to get him at 139.
Surprise Pick
John Stones is one of those defenders I have very little interest in due to being completely clean sheet/goal dependant. Hugo Lloris is probably the third best goalkeeper in the game so in that sense it could be seen as good value getting him fourth. Still, too early to draft ‘keepers for me. I’m looking at 15th/16th round or not at all.
Teams SO Far
Fantasy Football 92 