5 things you HAVE to read before picking your Fantasy team

Picking your Fantasy Team is easy. You can pick any players you want. However, here are 5 things you HAVE to read before picking your Fantasy Team that can help you:

1. Try to find synergies among your team (assist + score, defenders)

Always try picking your Fantasy team in which all players harmonize well. For example, it makes no sense to line up the offensive players of a team and the defense of the direct opponent. In this way you automatically limit your maximum number of points. Either the attackers score goals and do well, which makes your defense suffer, or the opposite happens. So always think about the harmony in your team.

Therefore predict

• low-scoring games -> GK (VC) + 2 DEFs + 2 MIDs (C)
• a 0-0 -> GK + 4 DEFs from both teams
• a big win (3-0, 5-1, etc) -> 3 MIDs + 2 FWs from winning team
• a “crazy” game (2-2, 4-3, etc) -> MIDs + FWs from both teams

2. Keep your budget low to earn bonus points & win ties

Secondly, think about your budget when picking your Fantasy team. Especially in Pursuit tournaments, your budget is key to success! The idea is to reward players who behave like a real manager and save money by selecting players whose price is lower than their potential would suggest.

At Pursuit, there is no greatly limited budget. You can buy the most expensive players if you want. If you buy cheaper players, you will be rewarded with bonus points. These are credited at the beginning of the tournament. Players with more expensive players will follow you and try to catch up!

• Among the 4 defenders, pick the cheap one, unless you anticipate an assist/goal
• Captain a cheap player who will overperform

3. Go against the tide

The best Fantasy players are those brave enough to avoid following what the crowd is picking– and, of course, make the right differential pick so think long and hard about who you spend your big money on.

Ownership in fantasy soccer refers to how often the entire field of participants line up a particular player. Especially in big fantasy tournaments you should therefore bet on players that are hardly ever set up by fantasy managers. The idea is simple. The most frequently nominated player usually has the highest expectation value, that’s why everyone lines him up. But why should you choose a player with a lower expected value?

The ownership is displayed on the top right corner in percent. Less ownership automatically means an advantage over the rest of the field if the player has a good score performance. It is not just about finding a player with less ownership, but also about the potential of the player to score one or more times.

• Find players who other managers will neglect and only you’d have picked
• Avoid the most popular picks, as everyone will have them – and if they do bad you’ll have an advantage

4. Invest on young stars / upstarts

When shopping for bargains from the smaller clubs or young talents, it’s worth checking who’s been taking set-pieces and penalties in pre-season.

4️⃣ 𝙕𝙞𝙮𝙚𝙘𝙝 (8.5)

Affectionately referred to as ‘The Wizard’, Ziyech is a technically gifted player and can deliver excellent set-pieces.

⏰ 2,686 mins
⚽️ 8
🅰️ 21

7 of these returns came in just 6 #UCL appearances, suggesting Hakim can produce against top class opposition. pic.twitter.com/dn2oiNh6qB

— Fanteam (@FanTeamOfficial) September 10, 2020

• They are not well-known yet and you can find them cheap (last year Foden or Greenwood)
• Managers will give them many chances to prove themselves
• Less prone to injuries & more endurance

5. Prefer players from teams that you expect to do well

It sounds obvious, but lots of Fantasy players fill their team with additional risks that have to be avoided: the cheapest possible players to save budget, players that rarely get games, holding midfielders that are unlikely to get a goal or assist bonuses, and defenders with no chances of ever rotating in.

Another common mistake is to select as many players as possible from the big-six clubs, on the basis that they win more games, score more goals and get more clean sheets. The reasoning is sound, but the big six clubs also rotate a lot more. 

Picking your Fantasy Team

If you’ve followed all of the above tips on picking your Fantasy team, every member of your squad will be an asset, but just as a reminder: don’t ever waste money on players that aren’t going to guarantee you at least the two points for playing 60 minutes each week.

• More goals & wins -> more points

Picking your Fantasy team in Pursuit

Improve your game and read these in-depth strategy guides for Pursuit 5 & 7 tournaments.

• DFF Strategy: How to beat Pursuit 5 – Single Match Contests
• DFS Strategy: How to beat Pursuit 5 – Single Match Contests with many goals
• Pursuit 7 DFS Strategy – How to do well in contests with many matches