Welcome to the Rotoworld Premier League draft ahead of the 2019-2020 season. The intention was to have an 8-team draft but due to some poor alarm/phone management, we were left with only seven managers when it came time to draft. [Send your hazing to @sean_sullivan_1 about missing his wake-up call]. For those who aren’t aware, if you do end up missing out on a manager, all is not lost, the odd man out in the head-to-head schedule each week will just face off against a “league average” opponent whose score is the average of the teams in the league for that week. No, it isn’t sexy to trash talk a computer-generated opponent but it’s certainly better than not having the draft at all or having to eliminate one team to ensure an even number.
The managers who DID manage to show up at the appointed time were (in order of their first round choices):
- Ben Dinnery
- Nik Argiropoulos
- Chuck Booth
- Jeremy Spitzberg
- Me (Neal Thurman)
- Steve Rothgeb
- Andrew Gastelum
The draft, as all drafts on the Premier League site are, was done in snake style meaning that the second round had the reverse order of the first round. We conducted the draft yesterday (Friday) morning Eastern Time and Nicolas Pepe had not been added to the list of available players If you were wondering why he wasn’t drafted. Here are the results of the draft as well as some thought on each round.
[[ad:athena]]
Round 1
BD - Salah
NA - Sterling
CB - Kane
JS - De Bruyne
NT - Agüero
SR - Aubameyang
AG - Mané
Not too much of note in the first round. I am, perhaps, a little baffled by De Bruyne going as high as he did here. He certainly has the talent to justify it but I’m still a little wary of his playing time. Best not to conflate him being a potential salary cap bargain at 9.5 who you can sell off if he isn’t playing as often or in as potent a role as you’d hoped with tying your entire season to his health, playing time, and positioning within Pep’s formation. Again, not a huge quibble, but the only one I could find with Round 1.
Round 2
AG - Vardy
SR - Pogba
NT - Lacazette
JS - Wilson
CB - Son
NA - Firmino
BD - Martial
Here come the quibbles and they revolve around both Manchester United players. Both are undoubtedly talented but neither have lived up to their potential and Pogba is still at least at some risk of being sold which would deprive Steve of his second round pick. We all give the credence we think reasonable to transfer rumors and bake them in to our evaluations. If Steve is convinced that Pogba is staying the this is a defensible pick Still, Gylfi Sigurdsson was approximately even on points with Pogba last season and comes without any of the risk. As for Martial, if he starts every week then this is a great pick but we can only say that for so many years before we all admit that it isn’t going to happen.
Round 3
BD - Zaha
NA - Eriksen
CB - Sigurdsson
JS - Bernardo Silva
NT - Fraser
SR - Jiménez
AG - Alli
Oddly, after a 2nd round that I didn’t love, the third round was hard to argue with. Jeremy picked up Bernardo Silva to backstop his De Bruyne pick (not that the two of them are necessarily job-sharing but having both almost certainly guarantees that you’ll have one, if not two, midfielders starting in City’s potent attack. For me, this is the risk you’re taking with City midfielders other than (perhaps) Sterling. Ideally, you’d get three (De Bruyne, B Silva, and D Silva) and you’d be pretty sure that you’re getting two of the three every week. Seeing how this draft played out, this isn’t an impossible strategy but it is certainly a risky one.
Round 4
AG - Robertson
SR - Alexander-Arnold
NT - Maddison
JS - Richarlison
CB - Rashford
NA - van Dijk
BD - Ederson
And there go the Liverpool defenders. No problem with any of them going here. This does feel like a pretty significant reach for Ederson though. I appreciate the notion of “set-it-and-forget-it” with a goalkeeper but this seems at least a few rounds to early even for that luxury. Guys like Pickford and Kepa who scored less than a point/match less than Allison/Ederson last season went a full 8 rounds later.
Round 5
BD - Digne
NA - Jota
CB - Mahrez
JS - Alisson
NT - Tielemans
SR - Pulisic
AG - Lucas Moura
Now we’re starting to see varying philosophies in picking. Do you want to go high-risk/high-reward with the likes of Mahrez and Moura – neither are guaranteed to start but both have been very productive on a per-minute basis – or do you want to go more steady with guys like Jota, Pulisic, or Tielemans who are going to start every week and be well above average contributors but with less chance of being elite.
Round 6
AG - King
SR - Laporte
NT - Redmond
JS - Haller
CB - Felipe Anderson
NA - Özil
BD - Wan-Bissaka
A bit baffled by Mesut Ozil going off the board here. With Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos both having arrived there is a case to be made that Ozil will have a LOT of opportunities for assists. On the other hand, there’s an equally strong case that Ceballos plays behind the attacking three of Aubameyang, Lacazette, and Pepe with Torreira and Xhaka behind him. I’m sure Emery will experiment with both options early in the season but given what we saw (or didn’t see) from Ozil last season this is well earlier than this Gunner would have taken the plunge on the former German international.
Round 7
BD - Adams
NA - Barkley
CB - Milivojevic
JS - Pérez
NT - Groß
SR - David Silva
AG - Giroud
I was very disappointed that Jeremy prevented me from completing my Leicester City trio picking him one spot before I took Groß. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with a rock solid midfield of Fraser, Maddison, Tielemans, Redmond, and Groß – they’ll start every week and should produce excellent results. Luka Milivojevic is an interesting pick here. So much of his value is predicated on penalties and, while I don’t think he’ll get worse at taking penalties, the volume of opportunities seems likely to regress. Paul Pogba had the next most with 7 with Joshua King post 5 in the 3rd spot. If the loss of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and the lack of a credible center forward (as of this writing at least) sees Palace’s penalty opportunities dry up to league average then Milivojevic goes from top fantasy midfielder to just another guy.
Round 8
AG - Alonso
SR - Azpilicueta
NT - Doherty
JS - Deulofeu
CB - Pukki
NA - David Luiz
BD - Alderweireld
Perhaps I’m a little behind on my Chelsea news, with all the drama surrounding the team over the past few months “who is likely to start at left back?” hasn’t been high on the list of headlines. Marcos Alonso saw his star fade significantly over the course of last season to the point where no one should be surprised if Emerson is the starting left back assuming Frank Lampard does what he did at Derby County and plays four in the back. Alonso is a fantastic wing-back but minus a three-man center back group I suspect he’ll be exposed as a more traditional left back again. Perhaps Lampard restores N’Golo Kante to his rightful position in the Makelele role and that allows for leaving Alonso and his lack of defending in the line-up. Regardless, the fact that there’s a paragraph’s worth of questions about Alonso and almost 100% agreement that César Azpilicueta will start somewhere and be rock solid makes me wonder at the Alonso selection.
Round 9
BD - Lanzini
NA - Wood
CB - Zinchenko
JS - Coleman
NT - Jonny
SR - Pereira
AG - Willian
No real quibbles with the picks in this round. Zinchenko could see his spot snaked by either Mendy (once healthy) or Joao Cancelo (rumored to be headed to City from Juventus) but at this point it is certainly worth the risk. In retrospect, I probably would have taken Pereira over Jonny but, outside of the Liverpool backs, attacking stats from outside backs are hard to predict while I suspect that Wolves will keep more clean sheets than a Maguire-less Leicester City side. Still, I was hoping that Pereira would make it back around to me…he didn’t.
Round 10
AG - Walker
SR - Fornals
NT - Gomez
JS - Shaw
CB - Boly
NA - Chilwell
BD - Sánchez
I’m a little surprised at the popularity of Pablo Fornals. He had a nice season two seasons ago with 12 assists in La Liga but he only managed two goals and three assists in 28 starts and 7 sub appearances last term. Certainly some upside if he reverts but if you were going for a West Ham midfielder here then Yarmalenko would have seemed to be the better choice. Alexis is quite the wild card here. He seems to be a spent force but there is certainly some upside for a United side that currently has a questionable midfield pending potential moves for Dybala or Fernandes or both. I will toot my own horn here as well. Joe Gomez seems likely to get the lions share of starts partnering Virgil Van Dijk and maybe a few spelling Trent Alexander-Arnold. If he starts 30 matches then I’m going to be very happy with him in the 10th round vs his fellow defenders in the 4th.
Round 11
BD - Maguire
NA - Sané
CB - Lloris
JS - Stones
NT - van Aanholt
SR - de Gea
AG - Vertonghen
A great upside pick on Sane. When the draft happened we were at the height of Sane-to-Bayern rumors. Maybe the move still happens but, if not, Nik will be rolling our Sterling and Sane every week alongside Eriksen. That’s a potent midfield. I’m a little shocked that Patrick Van Aanholt lasted this long. The popular narrative is that Palace are falling apart but PVA has been consistent for four seasons now on a points-per-minute basis and he seems to have locked down the full-time job. Last season he was the 12th most prolific defender yet here he is available a few picks after the 32nd most prolific defender from last season (Maguire). My point is that PVA’s value wasn’t much predicated on Wan-Bissaka being on the other side and, as such, his value shouldn’t slide much with AWB’s departure.
Round 12
AG - Mkhitaryan
SR - Deeney
NT - Jesus
JS - Rose
CB - Pickford
NA - Kepa
BD - Joelinton
I have a hard time seeing Mkhitaryan seeing the field much this season. As an Arsenal supporter, I’d much rather see those minutes go to Joe Willock or Alex Iwobi or Reiss Nelson or, well, anyone really. The Joelinton pick will be a fascinating one. Not having seen him play I don’t have a sense of whether he was worth the massive transfer fee. His stats don’t look fantastic but with Newcastle seemingly interested in splashing some cash this summer he could get the sort of support that his predecessors haven’t and turn himself into a surprise pick. My Gabriel Jesus pick here is just a reminder that handcuffing is important. Maybe this is the season that Aguero sustains an injury or Pep starts a load management program with an eye toward that illusive (for City, not Pep) Champions League trophy. The point being, remember to pick up insurance as appropriate. I’d also suggest picking up one of Batshayi or Abraham if you went with Giroud and Origi if you picked up Firmino. Heck, I might even spend a late round pick on Lukaku if you went for Rashford until such time as the Belgian’s move away from Old Trafford is confirmed.
Round 13
BD - Schmeichel
NA - Keane
CB - Delph
JS - Mount
NT - Patrício
SR - Ward-Prowse
AG - Kolasinac
I really like the Delph pick here. Always a fan of picking defenders who will play further up the pitch while still picking up clean sheet points. Delph might not score a ton playing at the base of midfield but as defenders go, he has some upside going that way this late in the draft.
Round 14
AG - Leno
SR - Rüdiger
NT - Foster
JS - Aké
CB - Holebas
NA - Mendy
BD - Barnes
Love the Mendy pick here and very frustrated with myself that I went back-up goalkeeper over taking this flier. Mendy may well be relegated to the doghouse but he has been so good on the rare occasions he’s been available and in good graces that you can’t argue with that sort of upside in the next to last round. Also love the Holebas pick. On a per-minute basis he was very good last season and if he were closer to 36 starts than the 27 he got then he’d likely have looked more like the Wan-Bissaka, Chillwell, Coleman range of production.
Round 15
BD - Ritchie
NA - Fabianski
CB - Stevens
JS - Dubravka
NT - Davies
SR - Pope
AG – Heaton
Happy to get Davies here. The rumor mill has Rose being shipped off…somewhere and while mooted replacement Ryan Sessegnon is young and hasn’t done particularly well when stationed as a fullback. Furthermore, players have typically taken some time to get accustomed to Mauricio Pochettino’s system. We’ve seen a number of players come in and struggle early before picking up the pace after a while. With Sessegnon still not really settled in the Premier League in general it is reasonable to expect him to take some time before he’s a threat to Davies’ playing time.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with my draft. I’m strong at forward with the Aguero/Jesus handcuff and Lacazette. I’m rock solid in midfield with Fraser, Maddison, Tielemans, Redmond, and Gross who will all start every week and who are all likely to be above average (but not elite) fantasy producers. At the back, I don’t have elite talent but I have four guys – Doherty, PVA, Gomez, and Davies – who have the potential to be top 20 fantasy defenders and the fifth – Jonny – who should be a steady contributor at the bottom end of the top 25 or so. I believe in Wolves so Patricio as my starter with Foster as my back-up is fine and I suspect that by mixing two likely top half goalkeepers I’ll have a good match-up most weeks. I’ll give my draft a B as there are a few pick that, upon reflection, I’d do differently but overall, a team I’m happy to go into battle with as the season gets started.
