FPL player prices released(Goalkeepers and Defenders)

FPL prices are finally out, but there is still no point in doing full team reviews as there are probably more off season moves to be made by managers. But a quick overview of the more interesting prices released will be a nice warmup.First up Goalkeepers and Defenders. I will darken up all the important spots and even underline players who I think are the best defenders available right now. So you would not have to read through all of my babble :)

Goalkeepers 

• It looks like there wont be any 4 mil budget keepers this year as all starting keepers are at least 4.5 mil.

• Joe Hart is the most expensive keeper at 7.0 and someone I will never have in my fantasy team

• All last years budget keepers are now overpriced(Vorm 5.5, Krul 5.5) as teams like Newcastle and Swansea are unlikely to repeat last years defensive showing. Especially Swansea after switching coaches and losing Caulker

• De Gea is surprisingly 6.0 mil, as I expect him to play more games this season.Looking like the best keeper out there in fantasy right now.

• Best dirt cheap options seem to be: Ruddy 4,5 mil as Chris Hughton seems to have a more defensive approach than the previous coach had, Green 4,5 mil as QPR have invested some money in the back by bringing in Fabio and the new keeper, If either Begovic 4,5 mil or Sorensen 4,5 mil manages to nail down a starting spot they may be worth a look as well as Stoke will always be relying on defense for wins, or Federici( Reading) 4,5 mil as they are the team with least goals conceded from the clubs that have risen to the PL.

• As the goalkeeper rotation may cost you anywhere between 9-10 mil, the one big team keeper and 1 4.0 mil non playing keeper strategy might be an option  for this year. De Gea, Reina, Szczesny or even Krul for the believers in another great season from Newcastle might be options here. Also there are 4 mil defender options available for Reading, QPR, Norwich and no nailed on cheap options for the big teams so that might make that extra 0.5 or 1 mil spent on the expensive keeper even more reasonable.

Defenders

I will look at teams defenses separately here as there will be a time where you could want a defender from any team.

Man City 

Kompaly 7.5mil, Lescott 6.5 mil, Clichy, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Richards all 6mil and Kolo Toure the possible budget option at 5.5 mil. I never like super expensive defenders unless they have superior goal threat like Vermaelen or Baines. So no Kompany for me, but that leaves us with a bunch of players who could all be rotated. The players I like here are Zabaleta(especially with Richards playing for team GB at the olympics) and Clichy who seemed to be the favored full backs in the crunch time of last season. There is a need to examine preseason closely as City have a decent run of opening fixtures including 2 home games against easier opponents QPR and SOT and 2 away games against STO and LIV who are both not known for their scoring.

Man United 

 Vidic and Evra 7 mil- not someone I will be looking at as I think they are overpriced. Ferdinanand, Evans and Jones 6 mil, Smalling and Rafael 5.5 mil. Looking at all the possible rotation here for the below 7 mil options I see even more of a point in going for De Gea in goal.   

Chelsea 

John Terry 7 mil, A.Cole, Cahill, Ivanovic, Luiz all come in at 6.5 also Cech in goal is 6.5. This makes A. Cole the obvious player to pick here, as he is the only 6.5 defender who is nailed on.

Arsenal 

7mil Vermaelen, probably my favorite scoring defender, but with the alternatives much cheaper it might be hard to go for him. When fit, than Sagna at 5,5 mil is the best option for the Arsenal defense IMO, Koscielny also at 5.5 mil is good as well but could be facing rotation as Mertesacker is fit again(but personally I really dont understand why any manager would want the German playing)  Gibbs and Santos also at 5,5 mil but rotate each other. Jenkinson at 4.5 mil could be worth a look at the beginning of the season if Sagna fails to recover in time to start in the first games.  And again Szczesny could also be an option here at 5.5 mil, if you want someone who is nailed on for the first game.

Tottenham 

BAE, Walker, Verthongen all at 6.5 mil are all someone I will avoid in the start of the season until AVB convinces me that he can make his team defend in the PL. Kaboul at 5.5 mil offers a cheaper way in the Tottenham back 4 and could be worth a look considering their excellent starting fixtures of NEW(A),WBA(H) NOR(H), RDG(A) and QPR(H). But I fear there may be rotation here with Dawson(reportedly could be the next captain for Tottenham), Gallas, Caulker all at 5.0 mil, or any of them could start instead. Because Tottenham have a new coach in AVB and with good showings from some squad players in the training camp, things may change especially in that 1 CB spot. Again Friedel is an option here at 5.5.

Liverpool 

 Johnson and Agger come in at 6.5 mil and Skrtel and Jose Enrique at 6 mil. Carragher is 5.5 mil and Coates 5.0 mil but both are unlikely to be starting any games. !But there are rumors that Agger or Skrtel could leave Liverpool which puts both Carra and Coates on my watch list!  Liverpool have good defenders and the new coach plays a stile which produces clean sheets so if the fixtures look good any of these options could be worth a pick. There is also Reina at 6.0 mil

Everton 

Baines comes in at a more reasonable 7 mil this season and should be used as normal. Jagielka is 6 mil is overpriced IMO along with Hibbert, Distin, Heitinga all 5.5 mil. I personally dont see much value here even if Baines gets sold as there is no obvious budget option taking his place.  There is also Howard at 5.5 but I will avoid all of them unless they hit really good form or have a DGW.

Newcastle

R.Taylor is 5.5 but not really nailed on, so I dont think he is that good of an option unless some other players get injured. Santon, S.Taylor, Simpson, Coloccini all at 5mil and surprisingly look good value as I expected them to be 5.5 mil. It looks like Debuchy might be joining them for france so I would suggest to avoid the full backs for the start as there are 4 of them. Also S. Taylor might not play all games right away as he is coming back from injury, so Coloccini is the man to go for here.

 Swansea

Every one of the established back 4 Williams, Rangel, Taylor, Chicho come in at 5 mil, a bit overvalued if you ask me, but if you believe in Swans doing well defensively it is better to go for one of the back 4 than Vorm at 5.5- I would prefer Rangel as he seems to be the most attacking option.

Stoke City 

Huth comes in at 5.5 mil and Shawcross at 5 mil- there is always value here as both are goal threats, but I will need to see some better defending performances for investment as there are better options for that money. Rest of the Stoke back 4 come in at 4.5mil and Wilson looks like the most nailed on option and finally classified as a defender

 Fulham 

Kelly at 4.5mil is one of my favorite budget options. He should be nailed on and also cheap. Hangeland at 5.0mil is an option too for the greater goal threat.

West Brom

Steve Clarke the new coach of WBA is known to be very defensive minded and somewhat to thank for the decent defensive output of Liverpool last season, where he spent his time as an assistant coach before joining WBA. I am just pointing this out as the WBA defenders dont come cheap, especially for a team that was not that good defensively last season. But as their new coach will surely bring improvement in that department we should be looking to invest some money in their back 4. At least we have gotten lucky here as WBA start with 2 difficult fixtures LIV(H) and ToT(A), as they currently have only 3 players nailed on at the back-Olsson, McAuley, Ridgewell. Whoever will be the 4th one will be the name in my teamsheet, the nailed on players are not set in stone either as a new coach can bring changes. Lets the game show us the budget option here.

Wigan 

Has been a team to avoid defensively in recent seasons, but after collecting 5 clean sheets and many big wins over teams like Man United, Newcastle, Arsenal, Liverpool in the second half of the season they need to be taken seriously this time out. Boyce at 5.0 played OOP at RM last season and is a good punt if you like offensive defenders, If you want something cheap than Fiqueroa at 4.5 is your man.

Aston Villa 

I suggest to avoid this team in the beginning of the season as they have a new manager(Paul Lambert) who showed that defending is not his strong side, while at the helm of Norwich last season. And he likes to rotate players which is always annoying.So lets take a wait and see approach with the Norwich defense.

Sunderland 

Oshea, Brown and Bardsley are all 5 mil and the fixtures look bad enough for me to wait for the first 4 weeks to see who will be the 4th starting defender as he will be a budget option. Bramble or the more likely choice Cuellar are all 4.5 mil. I would suggest to invest in that budget option unless the manager will start rotating them. 

QPR

 This team should do better this season, and investing in their defense when the fixtures improve is not a bad idea. Traore comes in at 5.0 and is an interesting option if he manages to get himself nailed on at the LM spot where he was mostly used at the end of last season, which would make him a nice OOP option. If you want a good nailed on option than Fabio at 4.5 mil is your man, Nelsen coming in from Tottenham is also on my watch list as he is only 4.0 and could be taking over CB spot from Onuoha or Ferdinand.

Budget options

Reading

 Looks like the best bet for a clean sheet by a relegated team but there are unceartanties surrounding starting positions. Harte was looking like a good investment at 4.5 mil as he is the set piece and spot kick taker for reading, like a cheap Baines. Now Reading have brought in Nicky Shorey who plays the same position and suddenly we have a logjam at that position. Also at 4 mil there is Gaspars Gorkss, but another CB (Adrian Mariappa) has been brought in to make the situation difficult for us. But I would like to believe that Gorkss will play as he played the second most games for them last season. Cummings at 4.0 mil should also be a starter, but I will watch the preseason closely to sort out this mess, as a 4 mil Reading defender seems like a must have.  

 Southampton 

Fixtures are poor and defensive record is poor so I would avoid initially. But Daniel Fox at 4.5 mil bagged 11 assists last season and is a good bet for some attacking returns this season as well.

West Ham

Guy Demel and Gerge McCartney should be nailed on options at 4.0 but Demel seems to have more of an attacking threat having created 2 assists with only 10 games during his loan move last season. I personally wont look much further at the expensive options, as I dont see them producing much better offensive results.

Norwich 

Appointment of a new manager should improve their defensive output, and I investing  in their back line for a measly 4 mil is a good idea, as soon as the fixtures get better. Best option seems to be Tierney for his attacking potential and he also seems to be the only nailed on 4 mil defender for them at least for now. 

Next up Midfielders and Forwards...

Check the rest of the prices out yourself at  http://fantasy.premierleague.com/player-list/