Fun/Games Draft League - Which $1b Strategy Works BEST ?!

[DanEnglish]

$1 billion

Draft League Guide:
Which $1b Strategy Works BEST ?!

If you invested $1 BILLION into a new Premier league club - to draft just 22 players - what strategy works BEST ?! 

BACKGROUND:
Based on @Titjes hugely successful FMM Draft Leagues in 2021 + 2022 - this thread looks at which ‘draft’ strategy would be most successful? 

• could 22 wonderkids win the 1st season’s title … ?
• or would 22 oldies succeed beyond season one … ?
• do you go for speed or aerial threat?
• what works best 🤔 ?!

 
OUR TEAMS:
Here are the 5 teams - each has 22 players, costing <$1b in total, with a new manager - each replacing a bottom half club in the Premier League using the FMM editor.

——————————————————

1. FC Towers (Aerial)
This team is about aerial threat up-front (Lukaku!) with great crossers on the flanks (Dembeke!).

Managed by Jose Mourinho (!) in his preferred 442 formation - all players are aged 25-29, and the central midfield is particularly defensive, as will often be outnumbered down the center!  
 

2. FC Speedy (Pace)
This team is about pace up-front (Mbappe!) with great passers in midfield  (Barella! De Jong!)

Managed by Zinedine Zidane (!) in his preferred 41221 - all players are aged 21-25, so have potential to develop together.
 

3. FC Wonderkids (<21)
This team is about wonderkids (Haaland! Bellingham! Fati!) with the whole team aged 21 or less. How quickly will this team improve?

With ex-Milan manager Pioli + his 4231 DM - the only player aged 22 is Portuguese keeper Costa (otherwise this team would be at a disadvantage), plus they have a 15 year old Endrick on the bench!
 

4. FC Oldies (+30)
This team is about golden oldies (Van Dijk! Lewandowski! KDB!) with the whole team aged 30 or more. How quickly will this team decline?!

Managed by Didier Deschamps - this uses a 5212 to compensate for the aging players with decreasing pace. However they still have stars like Messi + Muller on the bench!  
 

5. FC Imports (22-29)
This final team are a mix of ‘other’ players who were based abroad (Martinez! Osimhen!).

Managed by Italian Allegri in his trusted 41221 - there’s no logic / strategy drafting them - except that they’re all good! They even have De Ligt on the bench!

——————————————————

QUESTION
Vote in the poll above - how will each of these teams perform?

I’ll holiday through the season(s) - updating you all with their progress!

So which strategy will WIN the 1st season’s Premier League?! 

What do you think … ? 🙂   
 

Edited March 2, 2023 by DanEnglish

[BatiGoal]

Haha, definitely looking forward to seeing how this pans out. For me, it's a close call between FC Imports and an another EPL team, giving the former the edge. Towers, Speedy, Oldies, Wonderkids will struggle to get into CL spot. 😉

[BakaSotong]

Voting for FC Towers, not really sure if they'd be competitive but I just wanna see some good ol' BrexitBall :3

[DanEnglish]

7 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Haha, definitely looking forward to seeing how this pans out. For me, it's a close call between FC Imports and an another EPL team, giving the former the edge. Towers, Speedy, Oldies, Wonderkids will struggle to get into CL spot. 😉

Nice 👍 my guess would have been the ‘oldies’ …

Teaser:
Top of the table looks interesting … but where are the other 2 ‘draft’ teams ?! …

… oh dear … it’s a poor start for FC Speedy (pace) + FC Towers (aerial) …

… though maybe it’s just a tough run of fixtures! Look at FC Towers first few games - ouch! Sorry @BakaSotong!

 
The good news? I’ll use the editor to ‘boost morale’ + ‘heal players’ every Aug/Sep, Dec/Jan, and Mar/Apr 🙂 …

… can these draft teams turn it around?!

Edited March 3, 2023 by DanEnglish

[broodje kip]

Oldies should do pretty well in here I believe 

[DanEnglish]

Update:
Mid-Season ONE !

It’s December 1st. The World Cup has started + the domestic league is paused. How are our draft teams performing … ? 
 

Top Scorers
Mbappe. Haaland. Lewindowski. Messi. Lukaku … and … er … Barbosa … but who is scoring the most?!

Spoiler

Liverpool’s Salah is top scorer - with 16 league goals in 16 games!

Unsurprisingly Haaland + Lewondowski are in the top 3 🔥

… but where are Lukaku, Messi + Mbappe?! 😲
 

League Table
After 16 league games - we have a clear league leader! 

Spoiler

1st place:
FC Oldies are top of the table (just) - led by their excellent defense ✅ but they’ve only scored 25 in 16 games 🔻

4-6th place:
Three draft teams are in the European places - with FC Wonderkids doing surprisingly well with a huge 34 goals in 16 games 🔥 

But where are our 5th team … ?

Oh dear. FC Speedy, lead by Captain Mbappe, are sitting in 11th place.

Surely they should be performing better than this?!
 

Team Details
If you want more detail …

FC Towers (Aerial)

Spoiler

In 7th place - our aerial team aren’t doing great. It seems Lukaku + Calvert-Lewin aren’t getting crosses into them, as Mourinho uses a 5122.

I’ve now changed Mourinho’s preferences in the editor - now he only likes 442 in ALL situations.

Hopefully this leave he plays our star wingers more often - Dembele is doing ok when he does play!

 

FC Speedy (Pace)

Spoiler

11th place is unacceptable for any team with Mbappe - who only scored THREE !

Theyre just not creating much from central midfield - right back Hakimi has their most assists with just four!

De Jong has been disappointing - 18 games with no assists? Ouch.

Alongside top scorer Rashford, look who is their 2nd top scorer …

… bargain buy Barbosa !!!  
 

FC Wonderkids (<21)

Spoiler

Sitting in 4th, just four points off the top, I’m happily surprised how well these wonderkids are performing…

… how much is due to Haaland’s 13 goals …

 … well wide attackers Fati + Saka also scored 12 combined - so the goals are being shared across the  front three!
 

FC Oldies (+30)

Spoiler

At the top of the table, FC Oldies can only get worse. They’re aging, slowing, deteriorating …

Lewondowski + De Bruyne are lethal, plus their defense are doing brilliantly (conceded 11 in 16 league games). 

Poor Messi. He’s played only a few times, and isn’t performing that well 😞  
 

FC Imports (22-29)

Spoiler

Sitting solidly in 5th, our mix of imported talents are doing well.

Lautaro Martinez + SMS are providing the goals / assists .. but again it’s the defensive players who have the highest average ratings!

… while Depay + Leao have been disappointing, this guy (injured for a week) is doing well.

Not bad Gnabry, not bad! 🙂   
 

Next
After giving our teams a ‘heal + morale bonus’ - we’ll holiday forward towards the season’s end.

Will any of these teams win the league? Will any team’s manager get fired?! Let’s see …

Thoughts?! 🙂 

Edited March 3, 2023 by DanEnglish

[Blitz86]

Love this idea looking forward to see how this pans out should be interesting

[DanEnglish]

Update:
Near End-Season ONE !

April 1st update. This is no joke … 🙂 

Spoiler

Surprisingly, Calvert-Lewin is the top 10, ahead of strike partner Lukaku!

Lewondowski is now top scorer - 24 goals in 28 league games!

… with Lewondowski’s team FC Oldies top of the table - two points ahead of Man. City.

But where is FC Speedy (pace)? Mbappe’s side are somehow not in the top 9 !

Got to feel sorry for Everton. After losing Calvert-Lewin on a free in the draft, they’re now bottom of the table, with a horrific goal difference!

 
 

 
One final ‘heal + morale bonus’ on April 1st - then we’ll see who wins the league, who finishes top 4, and if any managers are fired! 

Edited March 4, 2023 by DanEnglish

[BatiGoal]

I forgot FC Imports would be stripped off their pace, height, and age. They're basically a bunch of leftovers 😆

[DanEnglish]

8 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

I forgot FC Imports would be stripped off their pace, height, and age. They're basically a bunch of leftovers 😆

Haha 😂 yes while they are a bunch of leftovers (I was thinking of calling them ‘best of the rest’) … 

… they are a tall + fast bunch of leftovers!

Half their squad have 15+ pace and half have 15+ aerial!

Edited March 4, 2023 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Update:
End-Season ONE !

July 1st. The season has finished. How did our draft teams perform … ? 

[note - this was all done BEFORE installing the March / Winter data update]
 

Top Scorers
One legend won it all! 🏆 

Spoiler

This guy won all three (non-youth) awards …

With a HUGE 35 goals in 37 league game, Lewondowski was certainly top scorer + player of the season!

Haaland + Lukaku were obvious candidates for the top 10, but Fati + Gnabry may be slightly more surprising 🔥   
 

 
League Table
So who won the league?! 

Spoiler

Only 1 draft team could compete with Man. City - with Lewondowski’s FC Oldies winning the title 🏆 on the last day of the season!

Three other draft teams all finished in the European places - with just four points separating them - though they’re a HUGE 11-15 points off the top.

Then … in 9th are Mbappe’s FC Speedy. How did they score so few + finish so low?!

In terms of goals scored - both the aerial + pace clubs scored the fewest of our draft teams - twenty goals less than the title winners! 

In terms of conceding goals - both FC Oldies + FC Towers conceded far fewer than our other draft sides.  
 

Team Details
So WHY did two teams concede so few + what makes the difference in one team scoring so many? Let’s have a look

<coming soon>

FC Towers (Aerial)

Spoiler

 

FC Speedy (Pace)

Spoiler

 

FC Wonderkids (<21)

Spoiler

 

FC Oldies (+30)

Spoiler

 

FC Imports (22-29)

Spoiler

 

Next
This was all done BEFORE the March / Winter update. 

So next - I aim to repeat this experiment - but will do it AFTER installing the March / Winter update! Do you think anything will change?

Thoughts?! 🙂 

Edited March 4, 2023 by DanEnglish

[StuartM]

Another great experiment Dan. Guess who I picked? Yep, the speedy team!

I don't expect anything to change next time out as I think the big name players are mostly unchanged (from Scratch's post).

Lewandowski is very good, in my mess about Mallorca save he is still overpowered in season 4 at Barca, even though his stats have dropped he's at nearly a goal a game (I found the same kind of thing with Lukaku on FMM22)

[broodje kip]

As expected. My guess went on to win the league  

[DanEnglish]

2 hours ago, StuartM said:

Another great experiment Dan. Guess who I picked? Yep, the speedy team!

I’ll make sure to put DC Gabriel in one of the teams when I re-run this experiment on the new update then 😜 

2 hours ago, StuartM said:

Lewandowski is very good, in my mess about Mallorca save he is still overpowered in season 4 at Barca

Wow that’s a surprise! I would not have expected that!

10 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

As expected. My guess went on to win the league  

You’re too good Broodje, too good 👍 

[BatiGoal]

5 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

So next - I aim to repeat this experiment - but will do it AFTER installing the March / Winter update! Do you think anything will change?

I still feel FC Imports underperformed a bit with 12W 12D 4L in 28. A few of those draws will become wins after the March update. I keep faith 🙏