Now that the English Premier League football season is over and Manchester City has raised the cup as champions of the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history, football fans in the UK and elsewhere throughout the world are counting down the days until the 2013 season kicks off. For fans who take part in Premier League Fantasy Football, the offseason is the perfect time to review the successes and failures of the past season and formulate a strategy that will help your club bring you home a championship during your next fantasy football season.
Understand the Point System of the League You Play In
One of the biggest mistakes that Premier League Fantasy Football Managers make is not understanding the scoring system for the league that you take part in. To maximize the points that your club scores on a weekly basis, make sure that you know how many points you are awarded for goals scored and how many, if any, you are awarded for assists or tackles. If you are penalized points for yellow cards received or red cards received, you should take that into consideration as well. Understanding the point allocation for different events in a match will allow you to optimize the team that you send out to the pitch each week and ensure that you put your best foot forward.
Check the Listing of Available Players Frequently
The Premier League is a long and grueling season. With teams and players competing in events such as Champions League or national team events, players are injured frequently and may miss significant amounts of time. If you have a player in the lineup day in and day out who is on the bench, this will negatively impact your fantasy team. When one of your players is injured, that is a perfect time to check the waiver wire and see if there is a striker or forward on the market who you can add to your roster and start before the next match. Since players also go through cold spells during a Premier League season, it is also worthwhile to keep an eye on the players that are not claimed on anyone’s roster to see if you cannot make a midseason or late season acquisition that can push your team through to the elimination round and championship match.
Pickup the Top Players from Bitter Rivals
One of the hardest parts about playing fantasy football is cheering for your bitter rivals. This is essential though if you want the best talent on your roster. Even the staunchest Manchester United fan may need to pick up a player like David Silva and hope that he puts up big numbers every week. A fan will need to look down deep inside during the weeks that they are playing their rivals head to head and decide if they can handle cheering for players on the opposing side who are on their fantasy team. If you are an Arsenal fan and cannot imagine cheering for Jermaine Defoe at the expense of your own team, you may not be ready to be a successful Premier League Manager. At the end of the day, some fans and fantasy owners are able to remember that fantasy football is simply a “business” that cannot be dictated by passion. Other owners may decide that it is not worth winning at all costs and will either pick players exclusively from their favorite side or bench players who are playing against their beloved team. While neither strategy is necessarily wrong, not playing the best players each and every time a team takes the pitch will cost an owner and may keep him from winning the title in his fantasy league.
These are a few tips to fantasy success next season. You have all summer to figure out any other tricks for success. Good luck and enjoy Euro 2012!