Ok ... so, you probably would have seen the FUThead competition around getting the TOTY picks right.

As normal, my fixation with stats led me to create this (apologies for any users on mobile!), and without completing my picks - it's simply a very tough year predicting how those 50,000 footballers will think! I've taken the full 2014/15 season as I couldn't find a site that had the calendar year only. But, given it's not a statistical competition, should not matter too much:


My thoughts:
General ...
• For me, there are a few shoo-ins - Messi, Ronaldo, Thiago Silva and Neuer. The first 2 are no a brainer and Thiago Silva - generally I think he's still a standout player and with PSG winning the title for the past 3 seasons, them doing relatively well in the CL, he's penned in.
Attackers ...
• That leaves one attacker to be chosen ... genuinely cannot see it being anyone other than Neymar or Suarez.
• Lewa and Muller have been great, scoring heaps of goals, Bayern pretty much romping to another title, they have an outside chance of getting in. But, back to the Neymar/Suarez debate ... these 2 both scored in the CL final, albeit that Suarez's goal was more important.
• I'm thinking Neymar might just edge it given his performances this year.
Midfielders ...
• Tough selection!
• Iniesta - even though not the stellar year, he'll still be in there
• Vidal & Pogba are definitely in with a shout given the Juve performances. Vidal has blended well with Bayern & Pogba can be thankful (for this selection process) that Juve are returning to form.
• Hazard as we know is in a floundering team and will miss out. Simply cannot see him being named in there, even though his 2014/15 season was terrific.
• Kroos & Modric will probably not get a showing given Real didn't win a thing & are 3rd in La Liga.
• Rakitic ... hmmm - scored the opener in the CL & has been decent.
• A sneaky CDM thrown-in ... possibly Busquets gets the nod for being a quality underrated, unnoticed player ... Will probably miss out.
• Aging Pirlo - another sympathy vote possibly ... ?
Defenders ...
• Certainly hope the 'concept' of a traditional LB-CB-CB-RB will not be selected - like last year. If so, I think we could see 4x CB's. If not ... tough one to get right.
Goalkeepers ...
• Neuer.
• De Gea - United did better - thanks to him! But, don't think he can dislodge Neuer.
• Whilst there may be a (dare I say) 'sympathy vote' for Buffon, he is simply not the best in the world. Bayern did get to the semi finals on the CL and still won the league (albeit a ridiculously easy competition last year). Still think Neuer will be riding the WC high and 'The Professionals' will recognise that.

Regardless of the FUThead competition, it's an interesting discussion nonetheless. Your thoughts?

Well well ... time for this again. Prices are already taking a whack

For reference, this is the sheet I used to track some pricing & when they released them - https://goo.gl/Je8AE3 (times are local NZ - GMT+13). The

Unfortunately, from the 23rd/24th, the pricing effectively becomes useless given the volume of coins that flooded the market. If they do follow the same timing around release, it will be interesting to see if the prices follow the same trend.

Regardless - little bit of useless info ...

I am hoping that the drop is around 50-60%, it was higher last year but the starting point was also much higher. I can afford the team I want with a 40% drop so anything more than that is a bonus and I can then buy a few of the informs I have been after.

Prices were completely butchered when I was messing on the phone app last night. With PSN down, I decided to watch TV and have a clean up of the club, go on the concept squad builder and see what happened. All the 80-85 players that always have a bit of value the first few months have dropped right down.

So Kiwi, who would you have had in instead of Marcelo and Modric?  Would Alaba have been your left back?  I'm not sure who shouldve been in there whilst its hard to disagree with the forwards i wonder if Suarez merited a place.   Even Bale perhaps but in face of the competition maybe thats fair enough.   I can see your point about Modric as well, hard to really think what he has done in the last year thats stood out for club or country.

Did have a look at market last night for the TOTY, there did as you mention Kiwi appear to be a lot of cards on the market.  Wasnt really following prices though as no interest in buying any of these guys.   Not really interested in any TOTY as i wont be able to afford the other ones anyway.

Poor show though that i couldnt play a match last night as i was told that this feature had been disabled temporarily.   

Going back on the past voting,  it shouldn't necessarily be 2 fullbacks and 2 centre backs.  Way back, there were 4 CB's selected one year.  For me I believe Boating & Chiellini should probably have been ahead of Marcelo (definitely) and Ramos (possibly). Dani Alves is probably the most deserving defender this year. 

I do think that the voters get too caught up in selecting a team,  rather than the 4 best defenders in the world.  Ramos is still an influential player,  but probably not one of the 4 best defenders anymore.

I genuinely thought Vidal would've made it, with Juve getting to the final of the CL, big move, and being in the news - even if not for the best reasons.

yeah Vidal would make sense too, CL final, Copa America win, and won league with Juve and playing well with Bayern.  Also can see an argument for including Boateng in the defence.  It seems that year in year out the team is made up of around 60/70% of 'core' players.   I bet if you looked at team from 5 years ago, it wouldnt be much different.  Bit boring from that point of view.

Oh yes ... the stats look good ...

15 min after released - on the market are:
• Iniesta - 10
• Pogba - 4
• Modric - 7