With the first half of this season's fantasy league competition coming to a close, it's time to explain there are crucial steps each manager will have to take to make sure their team is ready for the restart.
As set out in the rules, this season there are two Segments to the competition. The first ends with Gameweek 20, which is the set of games from January 2.
Originally the next Gameweek, and Segment, was scheduled to begin on January 14 but we have had to bring this forward by three days.
With Tottenham Hotspur and Everton deciding to slot their rearranged Premier League in on January 11, slap in the middle of the two Segments, it created a scheduling challenge.
It's not ideal to start a Gameweek on a Wednesday as, traditionally, fantasy managers pick their teams on a weekend. But in order for us to make improvements to the game, and also to give as much time as possible for reselecting squads (a task which has to be completed by the start of the next gameweek), it has to be a midweek start.
The main visible change to users will be a new transaction log. It will show in great detail all the moves made, from formation changes to add/drops to promoting/demoting captains.
Although you will have to reselect your squad, you keep the points from Segment 1 to go towards the season total. So in effect you get two competitions from Gameweek 21 onwards, for the second Segment and another for the overall table.
So this is how it will all work. The last games of the first Segment take place on Wednesday, January 4 when Everton play Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United host Manchester United. At that point we'll know who the first phase champion is, and then on Thursday, January 5 all the new changes will be rolled out, which will mean a short down-time for the game.
The game will also switch to Gameweek 21, which is the start of Segment 2, on January 5. All squads are cleared, player values are reassessed and a handful of player positions may change in relation to where they have been playing in the first half of the season.
Squads have to be reset due to the changes we will be making to players' values, meaning some squads could become over budget. At this point of the season, managers will have an idea of who they want based upon form in the first half of the season. But the new values are likely to mean most managers are going to have to do juggling to some degree.
Players such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Demba Ba will not be as cheap as they were at the start of the game. Their price will reflect their recent performance. And David Silva, who is in 50% of teams, is likely to be higher than his current price of £8.9 million. His value has not changed much since the start of the season but as a key signing he is likely to come at a premium. That is likely to lead to a drop in ownership.
And there will be changes at the other end of the pricing spectrum. Some managers have taken advantage of cheap players who have dropped in value, signing them in order to create space for more expensive players. While this is certainly not against the rules, some players were dropping to a price which created a way of circumnavigating the values system.
For instance, fleeting appearances in poor team performances have led to seven defenders dropping below the original base value of £4.0 million. The situation is more severe in midfield with 23 players having dropped below base value. Adlene Guedioura of Wolves, at £3.0 million, has become the cheapest player in the game and, despite scoring just nine points all season, his ownership has risen 0.3% this week; this is clearly not because managers think Wolves are going to start doing well.
Newcastle's Dan Gosling is in 4.2% of teams. That move backfired last week of course, when he started and was given a straight red card away at Norwich. Another seven strikers have dropped below the base price, with Sammy Ameobi at £3.2 million in 3.7% of teams.
But managers are going to have to enjoy that while it lasts, as we will be placing a block on value drop at a predetermined price.
We will not yet be able to reintroduce the "market" system of transfers whereby managers keep the profit from a player when they sell them. That will be back, though, for the start of the 2012-13 season.
The first game of Segment 2 is that Spurs v Everton game on January 11, which means all managers have from January 5 to the kick-off of that game at White Hart Lane on the Wednesday night. All squads must be reselected ahead of this game otherwise points will not be scored for the weekend games.
Gameweek 21 locks at Spurs v Everton.
That does create something of a conundrum for fantasy managers - do they load up on Everton and Tottenham, given it is a double Gameweek and transfers will have to be used to then replace unwanted players? Everton's second game in the week is away at Aston Villa, but crucially Spurs have two home matches (three in a row and four in five in January) with the visit of struggling Wolves at the weekend.
However, those considering loading up on Spurs players should note that after playing Wolves, Harry Redknapp's side must face Man City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester United within the following six Gameweeks.
Anyone with any outstanding questions on the Segment 2 switch can email fantasy@soccernet.com.
