Why 4-4-2 #4

A little thought about football (soccer) tactics, again.

There are two conflicting demands:

• on the one hand, it's better to have many different players that can attack, so the opponent team can't know who mark
• on the other hand, specialized players know their job better

Why Yearly Fantasy Scout

One reason why a reform like Yearly Fantasy Scout would be good.

In Fantasy Scout there probably must be freedom in picking players, because the game lasts so long (forever actually) that nobody could consistently respect deadlines.

Scoring points too is something that, in some sense, has not a precise date, because the development of players is a continuous process.

But there are moments when points are scored and, more generally, comparisons between players can be made (e.g. when you have data about their club football performances, or when the national team managers call up the squads). In these moments, it's better if a straight computation - i.e. one based on a sum or a 1 vs. 1 comparison, not on an average - can be done.

Yearly Fantasy Scout

A reform for Fantasy Scout.

Each year, a scout can pick up to 10 players.

There is a separate scout ranking for each year of pick. The score of a scout is the sum of the points earned by the players he picked in that year.

Then there is a meta-ranking based on the rankings of each year. This meta-ranking is based on: most 1st places; as a tie-breaker, most 2nd places; as a tie-breaker, most 3rd places; and so on.

Why 4-4-2 #3

Another little thought about football (soccer) tactics.

Having just one forward restricts too much the options of attacking tactics: he can only dribble and shoot. Adding another forward enables a lot more options (because they can pass the ball back and forth), so he has a great marginal value.

Round

A never ending fantasy football (soccer).

Teams are composed by 15 players. 7 of these players are locked by the manager (he can change locked players in any moment).

When a new manager enters the game, he compose his team picking unlocked players from other teams (no more than one from each team).

In any moment:

• a manager can pick a free player, unloading a player of his team
• two managers can trade players

The seasonal score of a player is given by the goals he scores in the league multiplied by a factor similar to the one used for European Golden Shoe (if the player scores both in a summer league and in a winter league, only one of them - the one where he scored most goals - is counted).

The seasonal score of a manager is given by the sum of the scores of his best 3 defenders + 4 midfielders + 3 forwards. A seasonal ranking is computed.

All-around Fantasy Scout

A version of Fantasy Scout.

Each year, each scout (i.e. contestant) must:

• pick some under-20 players, up to 10
• select 1 out of the players picked the previous year to permanently represent him

Points are given to players according to their performance in each official competition, be it for club teams or national teams. Data can be taken from sites like zerozerofootball.com (see e.g. the stats of Messi in 2008/09). For each competition, the points scored by a player are given by the following formula:

competition coefficient * ((3 * goals scored by the player) + (1 * points gained by his team in the matches that he played))

The competition coefficient can be computed using a formula similar to the one designed by Marcelo Leme de Arruda to rank club teams.

For each year, a ranking of the players picked in that year - i.e. of the scouts that picked them, since each scout is represented by one player - is computed.

Fantasy Scout thief version

A Fantasy Scout variant.

Add the following rule: any scout A can pick a player C from a scout B without the agreement of B, if A gives B a player D who both is younger and has more points than C.

Fantasy football predictor

A formula to predict football (soccer) players' next performance for fantasy games sakes.

E.g. we want to predict Cristiano Ronaldo's score, who'll play next match away against Liverpool.

Ronaldo's expected score = Ronaldo's average away score * (average score of players away against Liverpool / average score of players away)

Why 4-4-2 #2

Thinking again about tactics, for a football (soccer) simulation.

It's always better to have one more defender between the opponent forwards and the goal.

Why 4-4-2 #1

First step for a football (soccer) simulation.

If there was no offside rule, having one or two players beyond all the opponent defenders, in front of the opponent goalkeeper, has some benefits (as well as some disadvantages!). But the marginal benefit of adding other players in that position is almost null.

Mark him out

Mechanics for a fantasy football (soccer) game.

Each matchday, each fantasy manager sends to the gamemaster both the formation of his own team and the name of the player of the opponent team that he wants to mark out.

The effect of the marking out depends: is the designed player in the formation sent by the opponent fantasy manager?

• If yes: he's marked out. What this means depends on the rules of the game: e.g. if the only used stat is goals scored, that players' goals are not counted.
• If no: nothing happens.

Fantasy battles

Fantasy football (soccer).

Before a league matchday, two fantasy managers pick each a fantasy team of 10 players: 3 defenders, 4 midfielders, 3 forwards.

Each player is paired against a player from the opponent fantasy team: defenders against forwards, midfielders against midfielders.

Before the matchday, for each real team the expected result is computed, just considering average goals scored vs. average goals conceded by the opponent team (home or away, depending on the fixture).

Then, the fantasy score of each player is given by:

• defenders: average goals scored - goals actually scored by the opponent real team
• midfielders: actual goal difference - average goal difference of the opponent real team
• forwards: actual goals conceded - average goals conceded by the opponente real team

Then you compare the fantasy score of each pair of player in the two fantasy teams, and each point of advantage means (in order):

1. midfielder: one offensive chance for his fantasy team
2. defender: one less chance for the opponent fantasy team
3. forward: one goal for his fantasy team (if there are enough chances)